Page 51 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate

I smiled. “Yes, a date. Aren’t we due for one?”

“Maybe.”

“Great—I’ll call Hector and Faye to come up for a visit, and we can have our date.”

She frowned. “Your sister and her husband?”

“Yeah, we’re family now. You need to meet my family, right?”

“We’re family now.” Something about her flat tone made me feel an edge of guilt. “I guess I can’t argue with that. So long as the knight sets up the guest area.”

“The knight will do whatever the princess wants.”

She smirked. “Anything?”

“Anything.” I winked. “We have some catching up to do.”

Chapter 16 - Robyn

“I don’t need help,” I said for the third time in a row. Faye was a curvy rendition of her brother with hazel-brown eyes that sparkled like gems when she was concerned. “I promise I’m fine.”

With a hand propped on her round hip, she sighed. “Are you sure?”

“Faye, please.”

Gentleness echoed from her expression that carried a hint of anxiety. “So, you’re an heiress. How does that happen?”

“Usually, by accident,” Hector chimed, his blue-violet eyes a soft contrast to his onyx hair and muscular arms. “Get with the times, Cherry Pie.”

I snorted when Faye pierced Hector with a critical glare. “I am a perfectly modernized woman, thank you.”

My hands felt weird, hanging in the air. Why was I holding them like this? Everything felt awkward and compact, with three extra people in the house. While one of them may have been the size of a growler jug, I didn’t discount her energy, especially being a possible witch-wolf hybrid with superpowers.

Speaking of, that girl was captivating both Cliff and Sydney simultaneously. They were sitting snug at the table, crowded over the baby like she was the most precious thing on the planet.

Cliff cooed at her. Sydney touched her tiny hands. Sydney laughed whenever she squeezed too hard.

That was the perfect picture there, wasn’t it? My mate with our daughter cooing at a sweet baby like they had never been apart their whole lives. Pain came swiftly then to remindme about the lonely nights I spent with Sydney by myself in this house without any help. Even my mother had been less than thrilled to participate in caring for her grandchild. Dad visited a few times. Mostly, he was preoccupied with his life.

Everybody seemed to know where to stand and what to do. They knew what to say to each other. But me? I was stuck in the middle of the kitchen with my hands up like a T-rex who was trying to dry dishes.

Cliff gently rocked Sierra in his arms. “Who’s the prettiest baby?”

Sydney lightly tapped Sierra’s arms. “Yes, the prettiest baby princess baby.”

“You said baby twice, Sydney.”

“Because she’s a baby!”

Hector and Faye chuckled admirably. I stepped back and shrank into the corner of the kitchen while trying to share the laugh. I couldn’t.

I didn’t want to.

I pressed myself against the counter and tried not to think about the days I spent with Sydney in my arms in the living room when she wouldn’t stop crying. I would stare blankly at the wall until I could manage to soothe her with something—a lullaby, cartoons, the baby wolf mobile—and then I would do a round of crying myself.

Daddy is here now.

Yeah, he was here now. But somehow, that felt more painful.

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