[Rock]Corrine got up, a little flustered. Carmen was bright red with embarrassment, and Cathy looked like she’d just swallowed a mountain goat starting at the wrong end. Beth was hiding her face on Mike’s shoulder, but I was pretty sure it was because she was laughing. That reminded me. “Mike, I need to talk to you outside, do you mind?” I asked. “Sure, Rock,” he replied, patting Beth’s back. Carmen got off my lap and I headed out through the front door with Mike. Once the door was closed, he turned to me. He fought it for a moment, then started laughing. “You okay?” “I know I should be grossed out or angry that you just basically told our entire family what you and my sister do in your bedroom, but the look on Cathy’s face killed me. If I didn’t have the Beta face down, I would have laughed when Beth did. Oh, goddess. What did you need to talk to me about?” Mike asked. “It’s about your father. I know you were looking for him all last week because you wanted to give him a chance to repent or something like that. I don’t think he will and I wouldn’t believe him if he did, but I had Rhett track him down for you.” “You asked the warlock for help? I thought you wouldn’t want much to do with him.” “He’s an ally and a great help,” I replied pulling out my wallet. I dug through it for a bit and found the scrap of paper with the name of the motel and the room number. Mike took it from me and looked at it. He pulled out his phone and looked it up, then nodded. “Thanks for this. You didn’t have to go searching this is my job and my decision. I’m hoping, with a little time to cool down and feel what it’s like to truly be alone, he will have a change of heart. I don’t want my dad to realize what he lost and not have an option to get it back,” Mike said. “That’s a caring stance, but I don’t think it will help much. There is something in the way he hates that makes it stick in his mind as right. He thinks the world is against him and he’s doing the right thing. Those people are the hardest to change and the most dangerous,” I told him. He nodded. “I have to try or I won’t feel like I did enough. Just this once, though. I’m not going to waste my life trying to change the unchangeable. I’ll see if he’s learned from this, let him know the pack is open to him if he sees the light, and leave him alone if that’s what has to happen.” I patted his shoulder. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t fix everyone or everything. Sometimes, you have to leave someone to figure it out themselves.” “At least I can come to you for the dad-like phrases and life advice.” Mike laughed. “Well, I have been around a lot longer and I’ve seen more of the world than you. You’re my family now. If you ever need anything, let me know. We should get in. I bet they’re all calmed down, now. Sometimes, you have to scare people into compliance.” “It only works until they’re not scared of you anymore. So, don’t use it too often, and make sure to keep them on their toes about whether you’re a friend or an enemy.” I nodded. “Sound advice. Come on.” We headed back into the house. Carmen and Beth were the only ones in the living room. I could hear people whispering from the formal dining room. Though I couldn’t hear what they were whispering, exactly, I could tell Carmen did and she didn’t seem happy. Heading over to her, I took her hand and pulled her up to stand. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me as tightly as she could. They were upsetting her. “Do we need to leave?” I asked.“I want to try to make this work, but Cathy and her daughter are making this difficult.” “Can they hear you as well as you can hear them?” “They can and they can go to hell. I’m really getting tired of hearing horrid things from that woman from the next room because she’s too stupid to realize that just because my eyes don’t work doesn’t mean my ears don’t,” Carmen growled. “She’s just bitter because this gathering is supposed to be about us and not about her,” Beth replied. “When we do the baby shower, she’ll keep her mouth shut. My uncle will come and goddess knows Cathy doesn’t want to make an Alpha upset with her constant need for attention.” “Your uncle’s an Alpha?” I asked. “Yes. My mother’s oldest brother, though my cousin will be taking over in a couple of years. We’ll invite him and his mate, too. Wait ‘til you see how growly a gathering of Alphas can get, it’s hilarious.” Carmen laughed. “I think you’ll find it pretty funny. I get a kick out of it, too. They talk about their territories, then they find a subject they all dislike and they start rumbling.” “We should go eat. You haven’t had anything since lunch and I don’t want you to get too hungry,” I told Carmen. “Me getting too hungry isn’t as scary as you getting too hungry. Come on.” She let me go and took my hand, pulling me to the dining room. Everyone was seated around the table with chairs left for the four of us. The little ones in their high chairs and boosters squirmed when they saw me. Few of the adults looked comfortable. We took our seats and people started passing around food. There was a lot, but not as much as I would have cooked for this many people if they were trolls. I got some of everything, including a large steak that took up most of my main plate. They had two plates per person on the table. Whenever someone passed something to Carmen, someone else told her what it was. Did they think she couldn’t smell it or something? Carmen didn’t respond to them, she only dished out her serving, then passed it on to me. I didn’t like it, but she didn’t seem all that bothered. It gave me some insight into how she was treated before she came to live with me.The pasta salad I made with Carmen was great. I didn’t realize how many different ways pasta could be served. Carmen’s immediate family all took big helpings of it, but the others took either small scoops or none at all. I saw Queenie silently stop her mate from taking any. I stood, making everyone at the table freeze, then I grabbed the bowl from the boy and served him some, all the while glaring at the girl. Werewolves, I’d learned, didn’t have food allergies or sensitivities. I didn’t give him a lot, in case there was something he didn’t like in it, then I passed it on to the next person, who served themselves some as well. Sitting again, I took a bite of the pasta salad and put my hand over Carmen’s. She turned to me and smiled. I smiled back and picked up her hand to kiss it. “Mike, have you figured out everything you’re going to need for three babies?” I asked. “We have a few heirloom items from our storage, but it looks like some of them aren’t exactly safe anymore. We’ll need a third of each item. There’s a large crib that needs some work and should hold all three babies until they’re about a year old.” “I can help with that. I do woodworking and carving as a hobby. Let me know what items you need made from wood and I’ll get them started. There should be plenty of time for me to get them finished before the babies come. If you want, I can take the crib home with me tonight and see how to make it safer for the babies,” I offered. “That would be great.”“We could just buy you a new one. Something beautiful and modern,” Cathy said. “There’s no reason to use something mass-manufactured when you have a quality item that needs a little refurbishment,” I replied. “Something old and clunky can’t be very good for the babies,” she scoffed. “It was good enough for me and my sister. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be good enough for my children. Or are you saying my mother made a poor decision in using a crib that had been in my family for generations instead of buying something new and shiny?” Mike asked. The pressure in the room changed. She wasn’t questioning a common wolf and the disdain of a Beta was something with added power. She backpedaled as quickly as she could, then focused on her food. Our meal went along like that. Stilted conversation, Cathy trying to say I was wrong, Mike or Beth siding with me, and Cathy taking back or changing her opinion. Maybe she felt more powerful because she was so far away from me. I didn’t know, but it was fun to watch. I made sure to give my opinion on everything. By the end of the night, I had placed myself pretty firmly on Cathy’s ѕhit list. Conrad seemed to like me and I stood up for Corrine a few times, which made her smile at me at least once. It appeared this family had spoiled Cathy, making her overly opinionated and entitled. I didn’t normally mind people who had strong opinions, but she didn’t even know what she was talking about. Carmen was often the focus of some asshole backhanded comment from her aunt. It was no wonder Carmen was fine around the other trolls, her aunt acted like one. With the shocked looks everyone gave whenever Carmen talked back, I was fairly certain she had never done that before. Cathy glared at me whenever Carmen responded to her catty comments with something equally mean. After the first time someone tried to chide Carmen for talking back and I growled at them, the family stopped. For the first time, Carmen got to stand up to the people in her life who talked ѕhit and I was happy to be there to ensure she wasn’t silenced. By the end of the night, both Carmen and I were thrilled to be going home. She looked exhausted and I was tired of having to exert myself to make sure she was heard. If Carmen never wanted to do that again, I would back her up. When we reached the house, Carmen was already asleep. I unlocked the door and carried in the bowl from dinner, then put it in the fridge. Once it was safely tucked away, I went back for my mate. She snuggled into my arms as I carried her into the house and down the hall to our bedroom. I took off her shoes and put them where they belonged, as well as my own, before locking the front door. As carefully as I could, I stripped my mate down to nothing and tucked her into bed. I went to the garage to assess the wood I had. Mike gave me a list of everything he and Beth needed that I could possibly make. I had stopped by the packhouse with him to get the crib and I needed to pull it into the garage, too. It looked like several of the bars had been gnawed on pretty good. I decided I would need to replace them and get a safe sealant, so they could be chewed again. Maybe my child would be the next one to replace the bars or even my grandchild. I would teach them all about carving and woodworking, so they could. I opened the garage door and pulled the crib from the back of my truck, along with a couple of other things. There was a changing table with drawers that were wonky, some broken shelves, and stools that were unstable. It would save them a lot of money to have me fix it all, and I didn’t mind. Setting the alarm on my phone, I got to work sanding down the legs on the little stools so they sat flat. I made a plan for creating tougher shelves and fixing the drawers so they closed tight and smoothly. When my alarm went off, I already had the stools fixed and the drawers partially reassembled. I took a shower and went to bed next to Carmen. As soon as I was lying next to her, she sought me out without waking. She did that whenever I went to bed after her or if I left bed and came back. With Carmen in my arms, I drifted off for a brief nap. In the morning, we’d see Gemma and she could give us the full story of what happened at the mating conference. We’d only gotten a few updates in the evenings, and they were short. I knew she loved to talk and would tell us everything. Maybe it would make her feel better about not finding her mate. I would pray for her to find him in the next conference.