[Carmen]I woke up late the next day. Rock wasn’t in bed again. I couldn’t ask him to stay in bed the whole time I was sleeping, though. It was asking a little much when he already spent the whole night with me. After dressing in some jeans and a tank top, I went to the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day. I loved the Sundays Rock and I spent together. Even though things hadn’t calmed for us entirely, I was looking forward to what he had planned. Going to the nightstand, I put on my watch and checked the time. It was eleven in the morning. I really needed to do better about not wasting the days I had alone with Rock. Heading to the living room, I listened keenly to try to locate my mate. I heard the shuffling of papers coming from the dining room. There was a deep sigh that followed and I knew exactly where he was. I went into the dining room and walked over to Rock’s preferred chair. When my hand touched his shoulder, I felt him reach out and wrap his hand around my waist. Rock pulled me into his lap and held me tightly. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I decided to read the letter Trent sent. We should have read it last night. I’m sure you’re going to want to go to the pack lands after this….” “What happened? Why didn’t he call me if it was important?”“From the rambling nature of the letter, I would say it was because he didn’t know how to talk to you about it. He’s asking for your forgiveness. He talked to your parents on Friday after Mike told him what the fae said. It looked like he was hoping to leverage their guilt over harming Mike and the pack to get them to accept us. “Trent said he got angry about your father saying ‘the goddess has forsaken our family and I no longer feel any compulsion to follow her idiоtic ‘plans’….’ That was a direct quote. Trent told him he could leave the pack or be banished. Then he gave your mother the option of staying if she rejected your father. “Your father called you his property, which pissed me off. It looks like your mom rejected him, choosing you, Mike, and the goddess over her mate. Your dad rejected the pack and left. I don’t understand. I can’t imagine a fae ever picking anyone but their mate in a situation like that. Even over the goddess, we pick our own happiness,” Rock told me. Shock kept me from replying. My mom picked me over my father? Did that mean she accepted Rock as my mate? Things like this didn’t happen in wolf packs, either. Normally you went with your mate. My surprise overshadowed my anger at my father for calling me his property, but not by much. I hurt for my mother. I knew how much it hurt to lose a mate. Being rejected had been one of the most painful things I’d ever felt. “Can we go to the pack lands?” I asked. “I want to see my mother.” “Are you sure? Part of me worries this is some sort of ploy to make you sympathize and try to get you to reject me. I don’t like how she hurt you the last time. I’ll take you. I’m not saying I won’t, but I want you to understand that she is not acting like any person I’ve ever met,” Rock warned. “I know. If she tries to break us up again, I will never speak to her again, but she’s in pain, I need to be there. You don’t know what this feels like, I do. Please, Rock. I need to go to her. I don’t want to do this over the phone.” “I’ll take you, Carmen. I’ll stay by your side the whole time, though.” “Thank you, Rock,” I replied, kissing his cheek. He let me off his lap and I started getting ready to go out. Rock went into the kitchen while I was finding socks, a cover, and my sneakers. I’d been a little sad when I found the bite mark healed this morning, but now I was grateful. I didn’t want my mom to focus on that. When I was ready, I waited by the door for Rock. He handed me a covered bowl, then got his shoes on. I held it carefully, so I wouldn’t spill whatever he put in there. He took the bowl from me and we headed out to the truck. Once we were on the road, with me holding the bowl, I let my curiosity get the better of me. “What’s in the bowl?” I asked. “When someone is injured, fae bring blessings with them. Like the one the fae gave Beth the other day. As a spring fae, fertility and birth is a big part of their magic. If they chose to give Beth the blessing, there wouldn’t have been any cost associated. When someone is hurt, you don’t expect payment for your blessings and they don’t come with downsides very often. “These are small blessings, not ones that could cause major shifts in the world or even their community. I made your mother a blessing for strength and fortitude. If she eats this, she will feel stronger and it will help her heal,” Rock explained. It was a peace offering, even if he didn’t intend it that way. My mother would see it as him trying to help her heal and caring for her, even though she was a bit of a bіtch to him. I smiled and kept an even more careful hold on the bowl. I didn’t know anyone who would call the fae selfish after knowing that. We drove in relative silence. I felt like I needed to say something, but I didn’t know what. Rock was being so sweet. When we reached the pack lands, the guards gave Rock directions to my mother’s house. He was stern, but pleasant. It made me really happy. I loved how in charge he was at every turn. I could lean on him and he would take care of everything I needed him to. Rock helped me out of the truck and held my hand as we headed to the front door. It felt weird to knock, but I did. After a few moments, the door opened and I could smell Beth. “Carmen, I didn’t know if you’d come.” “I didn’t know what was in the letter from Trent until after eleven. I would have come last night if I’d known. Where is she?” I asked. “In her room. She doesn’t want to leave it very much. Probably because it still smells the most strongly of her mate. Darla told me that happens a lot with people who lose their mates after marking. What’s this?” “Rock made her some food,” I replied. “He’s really good in the kitchen.” “Hello, Rock. Please come in. Corrine wanted to have a chance to talk to both of you. I didn’t know if we could arrange it. I shouldn’t have doubted the bond between parents and their pups,” Beth said. “If I had known, we would have cancelled the barbecue last night. I know how important family is. I’m still a little wary, but I wouldn’t keep my mate from her family if she really wanted to see them,” he told her. We went into the house and followed Beth back to my mom’s room. All of the familiar scents of the house were almost nostalgic. I couldn’t believe my dad was really gone. “Corrine, Carmen and Rock were at the door. Rock made you some food, isn’t that nice of him? I’ll go fix you a plate,” Beth said, then left. “Carmen? You really came? I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t protect you more. I went along with your father’s ideas and actions. I should have seen that Rock was your mate. I just didn’t want to lose you after fighting to keep you with me for so long,” my mom said. I went to where I heard her voice. Gathering my magic inside me, I pushed it out to the room and I could see the outline of her and Mike on the bed. I reached out and put my hand on her cheek. She looked up at me and I could see a color that was blacker than the blackness I normally saw. It was a void inside her where her connection to her mate used to be. Almost thirty years of a bond had been torn out of her by the roots. I knew only a sliver of that pain. It wasn’t a pain that would subside like the physical pain did. Her bond was more established than mine had been with Jordan. “I’m here, Mama. You’re not alone. You have us. I know a little of what you felt, but no one else can truly understand the pain of making the decision you did. I know you picked Mike and me over Dad. I’m willing to try fixing things with you if you can accept Rock as my mate. If you can’t, then I can’t keep putting myself out there,” I told her. “Carmen…. I believed him. I believed him when he said the… I mean, Rock did something to make you think he was your mate. He never really believed that. He lied to me. How could my own mate lie to me? How could he try to hurt you? How could he doubt our goddess’ plans?” An errant tear rolled from her eyes, but it wasn’t like her normal tears. I could feel the pain in it. She really didn’t understand how all of this happened. “He kept telling me we could save you from the fae. All we had to do was get the ranked members of the pack to get you back and present you with a better mate. We had to break the false bond between you and your fake mate. It always felt a little wrong, but I thought that was my nerves about crossing the fae. “They killed your grandparents and I didn’t want to be declared an enemy of the fae. I also didn’t want you to suffer with someone who wasn’t your mate. Your father had me convinced that you should have a wolf mate. I don’t believe that anymore. The goddess blessed your brother with the pups he’s been longing for after he accepted you. “If it weren’t true, then she wouldn’t have done that. The goddess kept trying to show me it was true. She even gave me a dream where I saw your rejection by Jordan Gates. I saw you find Rock in a club and saw how much you loved him. I ignored the dreams and kept on with my misguided belief that you didn’t know any better. “You’re smarter than I was giving you credit for. I knew you couldn’t be manipulated, but I didn’t want to believe my mate was wrong. He was so sure of it. What I saw on Friday told me he knew. He knew you were real mates. He knew why Mike and Beth couldn’t have pups. He knew what was hurting our pack and our family and he never did anything to fix it,” Mom sniffled. Beth came back in the room with a plate of food for my mom. I sat beside mom when she took the plate. She looked over. My magic didn’t reach far enough to see what she was looking at, but the way she looked up made me almost sure it was Rock. “Thank you for bringing Carmen and this food. It looks lovely. I’m sorry I was so rude to you, Mr. Beaumont. For all that my husband and I called you a monster, you never acted like anything but a loving and protective mate in all the times I saw you. Even the first time, when you brought Carmen home. You always saw her, didn’t you?” she asked. “There are lots of blind fae. One of my friends was born blind. My sister-in-law is blind. The fae don’t put a lot of importance on things like that. I understand why you didn’t want to give her up, but I think you did Carmen a disservice by forcing her to live with people who didn’t understand her. “I’m waiting to see if you’re sincere, though. I will not forgive you until I see the change. Most fae are unforgiving. I am half human, so I’m a little different. Once I see the change myself, I’ll forgive you,” Rock answered coolly. My mother nodded. “I deserve that. I’ll do my best to show you that I’m sincere. I could promise you, but I don’t know that you’d trust that after our history with promises to the fae.” She stopped talking and ate the food Beth had given her. I rubbed her back while she ate. Physical touch was important to werewolves. Like our animal counterparts, we wanted to be touched by those we loved and trusted when we were hurt. “This is very good. I didn’t expect that,” Mom said. “Rock is a very good cook. He wanted to bring something to help you heal,” I told her. “I’m sure he takes care of you very well. Someone who puts this much care into something they cook for a person they don’t like very much puts even more care into what they make for those they love,” she murmured. “Eat, then we can lie down,” I replied. I pulled my magic in. I couldn’t keep it up for too long, or I would end up exhausted. It was nice to be able to see my mom, though. Even if it was just the outline of her. When she finished eating, Beth came and took the plate. Mom leaned against me and I hugged her. Beth stopped on her way out of the room. “Come on, Rock. They’ll be safe in here the only exits are out there. Let them comfort their mother. You and I can get to know each other better while they rest.”I nodded to him and he accepted. The door closed behind them and we moved to lay on the pillows. Mike and I were on either side of mom. We each wrapped an arm around her and laid close to her. Mom cried quietly, not those big fake sobs like when she was trying to control us with her tears. It broke my heart to hear my mother honestly crying. This was my father’s fault. If he hadn’t lied and if he’d accepted the goddess’ plan instead of having to be ‘right’ then this wouldn’t have happened. I would never forgive him for this.