Page 154 of Game of Destiny
“I bet she was beautiful,” he said in a dreamy voice.
“She was.” He hummed.
“She was always meant to wear white and gold. She was born for it. I’m happy she got to take her rightful place, even if it wasn’t by my side.” It was the first time I had heard him speak like that. It made me feel a tiny bit hopeful. Maybe we could all move forward and put this mess behind us. James would gain some perspective and heal. His wolf would return and things would settle down.
Chapter 74
Amie
"Relax,” Finlay told me and put his arms around me. I sighed and leaned against him. “Better. If this is stressing you out this much, we can always cancel the call. I can call your mother,” he said as he gently rubbed my back. I smiled at how casually he talked about calling my mother. A couple of months ago, I hadn’t spoken to her in years, and now he talked about calling her like he had done it all his life. I loved it.
“No. It’s okay. I’m nervous, but I want to do it,” I told him. “You will be there so it will be fine.”
“And I will put an end to it if it gets out of control,” he reassured me. I nodded. It was just after dinner and almost time for the call with my aunts and uncles, and mom and dad. We had decided to take the call from our home and we had asked the pack to give us a couple of hours for an important call. Our closest people knew what the call was about and I had received a lot of support and advice from all of them.
“Did you ever meet uncle Mark?” I asked as we settled down on the couch.
“Yes, briefly. He was still Alpha when I went to my first Alpha meeting, but there was so much going on with my old pack and me settling in as Alpha, I didn’t talk to him,” Finlay told me. I nodded, it was understandable. It had been years before the two of us had met, the Eagle Forest pack would have held no special meaning to him. I took out my phone. Finlay placed his hand on my cheek and made me look at him. “I love you,” he said and kissed me.
“I love you, too.” I gave him a kiss back and then took a deep breath and answered the incoming call.
“Hello,” I said as I saw the screen. I had expected three pictures with each mated pair in one of them. Instead, they all sat at my parents’ kitchen table and my dad was walking back from where they had set up the phone.
“Hi, Armeria,” my mom said.
“Oh look at you, Amie. You are the spitting image of your mother,” Joy said, she had tears in her eyes. As did Sally. Mark had an expression I couldn’t read. I didn’t know if he was upset or angry, or a mix between the two.
“This is Finlay, my mate,” I told them.
“Hello,” Finlay said. They all greeted him and there was a pause.
“I have so many things I want to know, but I don’t know what to ask first,” Joy said and smiled.
“Let’s start with what my parents have told you,” I suggested. It turned out, my parents had been tight lipped. I did a short recap of the last ten years. No details. Sometimes Finlay jumped in when he thought I skipped important parts or didn’t put enough emphasis on things. It helped me relax, as he made it feel like our usual banter.
“You spent four years with humans, green bean?” uncle Jonas asked. He looked a little pale at the thought.
“I did. They were really kind. Well, most of them. There is always a bad apple or two,” I told him.
“We appreciate you getting her out of that place, Alpha Finlay,” uncle Mark said with a serious face.
“I knew there was no other way,” Finlay told him. I had noticed when he addressed the former Alpha, he was colder than with the others.
“I can see why the two of you are mated,” Sally said with a giggle. Both Finlay and I grinned at her comment.
“It was lucky that she agreed to mate with me. Our pack would have rebelled if I had tried to introduce another Luna,” Finlay told them and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I giggled, but then I saw the look on everyone else’s faces and the mirth vanished right out of me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. Finlay noticed my changed mood and looked back at the screen as well.
“Nothing,” Joy told me. “It’s not something worth talking about. We are here to talk about you.”
“Mom?” I asked.
“The mood in the pack has taken a turn for the worse the past week. Word has spread about what happened at the Game and there are those who think James let the pack down, again, for losing you a second time. His own mood hasn’t made things better,” Mark told us.
“Cindy made a move on him and ended up in the cells,” Jonas said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry,” I told them. Part of me felt it was my fault.
