* Liverpool Beta Female Kyile Steward (Ashleigh and Brent's Mother) *
The packhouse door slams shut, I hear footsteps making their way towards the living room.
"I'm home," Ashleigh calls out, her voice strained. She sounds upset. Shit, what happened at that party?
I looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 11.20 pm. We aren’t expecting the kids home until well after midnight.
"In the living room, honey," I call back, pausing the TV show Robert and I were watching.
"How was the party?" I ask as she makes her way toward us.
She looks a little shaken, paler than usual. I frown at my daughter's appearance. Something happened.
My mate groans as I move off the lounge away from his comfort. I send him an apologetic look. We’d set up a date night for tonight so we could reconnect and not worry about the kids since they would be out for most of the night.
"What happened?" I ask. I’m beginning to feel uneasy with the lack of words from my daughter.
Usually, Ashleigh likes to debrief and chat my ear off for at least half an hour after an event like this. Tonight though, nothing.
She shakes her head as she moves closer to us. Her eyes are glassy, her hair is windblown and messy, and she is holding her heels in one hand. I look down, frowning, and see her feet dirty and covered in dust.
Did she walk home? Not that it’s far, only a few blocks away, but she also knows she could have called one of us, or Oliver and her brother were also there to drive her if needed.
I half-expected her to stay at Chloe's tonight, since Chloe's parents are away.
"Ok, hun, why don't you go up and shower, and I'll bring you some hot cocoa and a cheese toastie?" I coax her.
She sighs, nods, and heads for her bedroom.
"I wonder what that was about," Robert mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck and frowning as he watches our daughter head to her bedroom.
"I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out," I reply, leaning in and planting a kiss on his cheek. "I won't be too long."
It only took about 10 minutes to prepare the snack for Ashleigh. Right now, it looks like she just needs some love and no questions asked, so that's what I'll give her.
I have a funny feeling. This is going to be about that boy of hers, if my suspicions are correct, which I know they are.
She is Zander Blackwood's mate, and I swear if that boy hurt my baby I will quite happily knock some sense into him. I haven’t even told my mate or Alpha about this news. It isn’t my place to say anything. I feel that Ashleigh will let people know when she is ready. I understand why she has kept it a secret, so I'll help my daughter in any way I can.
I lightly tap on the door before opening it to let her know I’m coming in. I open the door and see her sitting on her couch by the window in her pajamas, staring out at the night sky.
"Here you go, honey," I say before passing her the plate of food and hot chocolate.
She jumps, startled that I entered her room. Okay, something is definitely wrong here. She is not usually so spaced out.
"Thanks, mummy," she whispers, taking the food and turning to look back outside. She slowly sips the hot chocolate, closing her eyes in comfort with each sip, the plate balanced on her legs.
I sit next to her on the couch, leaning in and stroking her hair, comforting her, and letting her know I am here for her.
I look curiously at her hairpiece, running my fingers around it each time I stroke her hair. It was exactly as I remembered it, so beautiful and elegant. I was proud that Ashleigh wore it. Proud she has a mate, that she accepted him.
"I told him I loved him after we mated last night, and tonight, one of his exes announced she is pregnant with his baby," Ashleigh whispers so softly I nearly missed it. My heart clenches at the pain she’s in. Lola whines in my mind, wanting to comfort our pup.
"I don't know what to do, mum. I tried... I tried so hard, but one thing after another thing just comes up every time we are going well. Something always tears us apart. I don't know how many more things I can handle. Do I forgive everything because that's what mates are supposed to do? Why should I forgive everything he did when he didn't even consider the impact beforehand. Why should I continue to forgive when he didn't even think about me before this. I have been the most forgiving with him, and I don't know how much more I can handle."
I try to wrack my brain for something to say that would help. With so many unanswered questions, and the most challenging thing was that I didn't know. Before giving my daughter the answer, she needed to hear, there were too many variables.
"I'm sorry, honey," I said, kissing her on her forehead. "Before anything else you should talk to him. I'm sure he is also freaked out and doesn't know what to do either"
"I just left him standing there with her. I felt him wanting me to stay. I knew he wanted to follow me to talk, but too many people were around. I wanted to comfort himbut at the same time, I just wanted to leave and process everything without anyone being around. It hurt so much, but now I feel numb."
I frown as I could feel her slightly shake next to me. I grab one of the blankets off her bed, lift the plate of food, and place the blanket over her legs. She grabs the plate and starts eating alternately sipping the hot chocolate again. Her shaking slows as she calms down.
I see her wolf peek through her eyes as she sits, trying to calm herself. It made sense when I saw Kia, her wolf wants to kill the girl, and Ashleigh is trying to control Kia. I can feel her aura rolling off her in waves of frustration and anger. She considers the pregnant girl a threat to her mate, a threat to her and Ashleigh.
'Lola, can you speak with Kia, try to calm her down? Even if Ashleigh is Zander's mate, we don't want to start a war with Kia trying to take control,' I ask.
'Sure, I'll see what I can do.' Lola goes to the depths of my mind to reach out to Kia and see if she could help calm her down.
"Honey, you two have been through a lot already, and while you may think you forgave him if you are still hurting over all of this, he needs to redeem himself before anything further happens. You should try to talk to him and figure this out together."
Ashleigh nods and silently sits there looking into the night sky, holding her mug. I give her one more kiss on the cheek before heading out. Her shaking has stopped, and Kia has settled down. I could see her natural colour coming back. I am more comfortable leaving her in this state than when she arrived home.
"How did you know he was my mate?" she asks softly as she finishes her drink.
I tilt my head, sitting back down, looking back at her moving one of her wet curls out of her eyes.
"His mother and I were best friends. She was from a neighbouring pack. Granny and Pa were a part of an old country pack back in the day until I found out I was mated to your father. They decided to move closer to the city because I was mated to the pack’s Beta and wanted to be around you kids. Molly found out she was mated to Zander’s father when she visited me one weekend. We promised to keep in touch no matter what, even though the boys still had bad blood with what happened. I asked your uncle if I could still see her because I knew her before I was mated to your father."
She nods in understanding, taking in more information about her mate, "We found old photos in the cottage. Some were of you and his mum."
I smile sadly. "I miss Molly every day. She was my best friend. You cried every night for two weeks when I told you that you couldn't see Zander anymore. It was almost as though the bond was already working in a way. "
She smiles softly. " I don't remember the cottage or even visiting it when I was younger."
"We tried to go as often as possible, but with more attacks that were happening at the time, it was getting harder to be safer. Then when your brother was born, your father felt uncomfortable every time we left the pack land."
She stretches and yawns her body relaxing after Kia stopped putting up a fight. I hoped she would understand and help process this with her. Ashleigh needs Kia now more than ever.
"Why don't you head to bed, honey? Try to get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow you can try to speak to him."
I picked up the plate and mug off the couch and headed towards the door. Putting my hand on the door, I turned back to my daughter, "I understand why you didn't tell anyone, and I'll keep your secret for now, but until you decide, I just want you to know that you are my daughter, and your father and I love you very much, we only want you to be happy. Everyone will understand, you do not need to worry about you and Zander if that is what you choose."
I blow her a kiss one more time before heading back downstairs to be with my mate, who is sitting patiently waiting for my return.