Chapter 45: The Pack
Samara
I’m struggling to stop crying. Roman is helping me, but it’s been so long since I’ve my emotions are bubbling up inside me
familyTE. T
Althea leads us to the office that used to be my father’s. Even walking up to his door, the door that I came to at least once every day to see him, brings back a flood of memories. I reach out mentally, grasping for Roman. He mentally wraps himself around me, steady and strong, helping to keep me grounded.
“Oh, Samara, I’m so sorry. All of this must be so overwhelming for you.” Althea says.
“It is,” I whisper, just as Roman wraps an arm around my waist.
“I’m right here,” he whispers in 1 my ear. I notice a flicker of a frown on Althea’s face before it’s gone.
“Maybe it would be better for her right now if she’s with you. I’m sure this is a lot,” Althea says to Roman
“Yes, I agree. The mate bond will help keep her steady.”
When we step into the office, it’s surreal Nothing is the same, not the smell, not the furniture, not even the placement of the desk. I watch as Sawyer walks to the desk and sits behind it like he belongs there.
“Easy, beautiful,” Roman says, holding on to me mentally and physically
Roman sits across from Sawyer, and pulls me into his lap, kissing the side of my head.
“So, Theo got you out. How?” Sawyer asks as Althea sits in his lap.
“Mom had come to get me. She got me into the secret passage, you know the one at the end of hall?” I ask, looking at Althea
“It’s not there anymore, but I know which one you’re talking about,” she says, making me wonder why it’s not there anymore
but “Well, she’d just gotten me inside the room when a wolf snarled behind her. She told me to run and find Dad or Theo b
Pierce begins purring, a low, deep, rumbling sound as Roman’s arms tighten around me.
“Theard her die. I heard Dad’s wolf howl, and then the attacker started coming after me. I ran down the stairs and just stood there, not sure what to do,” I say, not able to go on as the memories flood my mind again.
“That’s when Theo found her,” Roman says, kissing the side of my head. “He was looking for her and found her in that hidden space. He helped her get out of the packhouse and told her to run. It must have been after that when he was killed. While we were searching for Samara after you found Theo, she was already gone,” he says.
“You’ve seen her memories?” Sawyer asks Roman
I have.”
“Did he say anything else to you?” Althea asks.
“Just to run and to not trust anyone. It’s why I didn’t tell anyone who I was, not even Roman. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. Alpha William’s pack members found me. I gave him a false name, told him I was an omega, and I’ve lived in his packhouse ever since. He adopted me, gave me his name, but he never knew who I was,” I say.
Sawyer looks at Ro
at Roman. “Do you believe that?”
“I’m sure you’ve felt Samara’s power. It’s stronger now that we’re mated, but even when I first met her, I knew she was an Alpha.”
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“Alpha William… he knew your father, didn’t he, Althea?”
“I believe he did,” she says
“So, he probably knew who you were. He never saw your wolf?” Sawyer asks me,
“No. I snuck off his pack lands every night to let Ayla run”
He raises his eyebrow at that. “And he never knew?” he asks incredulously.
“Remember, Sawyer, he’s an Alpha of a southern pack. They aren’t as wise, wealthy, or powerful as we are up here,” Roman says. I’m thankful for the mate bond that let’s me know that Roman is saying these things to protect Alpha William, not because he believes what he’s saying. He wants to make sure that Sawyer has no reason to go after Alpha William, not that he’d have a chance to anyway.
“Now that is very true,” Sawyer says, just as there is a knock at the door. Before Sawyer can respond, the door opens and a young girl and boy enter the room. She looks to be about eight and he looks to be around five.
“We heard Uncle Roman was here,” the girl says. She looks so much like Althea that there can be no question that this is her
oldest daughter, Sloane.
“Oh, hello, I didn’t know anyone else was here,” she says politely. Althea stands and walks over to her daughter and son. The boy looks more like Sawyer than my father or brother.
“Sloane, Slade, this is your Aunt Samara,” Althea says
“Uncle Roman, you found your mate?” Sloane asks. “Congratulations!”
ut how I lost my family?”
“He didn’t just find his mate, Sloane. Do you remember me telling you about how
“Yes,” the girl says, watching me intently.
“This is my younger sister, Samara. I thought she was dead, but she was just in hiding. So, she’s not just your Uncle Roman’s
mate, she is my sister, your true aunt.”
I climb out of Roman’s lap and walk over to my niece and nephew. “Hello,” I say, crouching down
Sloane looks at me a moment, then throws herself into my arms. “Aunt Samaral
I hug her tightly. “It’s nice to meet you, Sloane.”
1 look up and see Slade watching me. I open an arm and he runs into my embrace. “Hi Slade,” I say, kissing the top of his head.
“Oh my goddess, mom, the pack is going to be so excited, aren’t they? Sloane asks as she steps back
“Yes, they are. As you know, our family was well loved. They will be very happy when they realize that my younger sister survived that horrible ordeal,” she says.
“It is almost dinner time, why don’t we head out to the dining hall. Til alert the pack that we have an all–pack announcement,” Sawyer says, standing from behind his desk, I realize that Roman is already standing behind me and when I stand, Sloane and Slater rush to hug him
He swings S
I’m so
Sloane onto his back and picks Slater up, holding both pups easily and naturally.
so glad you found her, Uncle Roman,” Sloane says
“Me too, beautiful,” he says, kissing her cheek before tossing Slater into the air and catching him as he squeals in delight.
Watching my mate holding my sister’s pups makes something deep and visceral inside me yearn to have pups with this man.
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“Uh oh, I know that look,” Sawyer says, watching me.
I blush, not realizing that my thoughts were so easily read on my face.
“Stop teasing her Sawyer,” Althea says, as Roman leans in to kiss me.
“I’ll be happy to give you as many pups as you want, my gorgeous mate.”
Sloane slides off Roman’s back and takes my hand as we walk out of the office and into the dining hall. While this area looks more like I remember, it doesn’t feel the same as it used to. However, as we walk in, I hear several gasps and people begin to turn and stare at me. I realize that it’s the older generation of pack members that are staring, people who were adults when my parents were Alpha and Luna,
“Thank you all for gathering on such short notice. I have a very special announcement to make,” Sawyer begins, wrapping an arm around Althea as he looks at me. Roman is still at my side.
“I see some of you recognize who this might be, but I’m so thankful to announce that my dear friend Roman has found Althea’s long–lost sister, Samara. Not only did he find her, but they are fated mates.”
Now the pack does gasp, all of them, and every eye turns to me.
“Samara? Little Samara?” people begin asking me in whispers as if they’re afraid that I’ll disappear if they talk to loud.
I step forward, feeling their need to connect with me. Ayla pushes forward too, wanting to connect to the pack that she never had a chance to be a part of.
Several pack members burst into tears and very similar to what happened in Roman’s pack, the pack pushes forward, everyone trying to get to me, bug me, tell me they love me, tell me they’re so happy I’m alive, pretty much anything and everything. I take my time, walking through the crowd, reassuring them at I am indeed Samara, hearing over and over how much I look like my mother.
When I feel Roman’s surprise, I turn to see that the pack members are also approaching him, thanking him for bringing me home. I smile when he finally gives up telling them that my home is now his pack, not this one.
While I expected to sit With Sawyer and Althea at dinner, the pack has other plans and insists that I sit with them, telling them how I got away. Roman sits with me and Sloane somehow inserts herself at our table as well, but I don’t see my sister or Sawyer until well after dinner.
“Well, I knew they’d be happy to see you, little sister,” Althea says when Roman and I finally get back to them.
“It’s good to see so many familiar faces, and sad to see so few, if that makes sense,” I say,
ate says
“It makes perfect sense,” my mate says.
“I’ve had a room made up for you. I’m sorry that I didn’t keep your old room intact. After several years, well, 1 just didn’t expect that I’d ever see you again,” Althea says.
“That’s okay. I’m not sure I’d want to sleep in that room. I was just a child back then.”
“It’s my room now,” Sloane says, “right mom?”
“That’s right. You’re about the age that Samara was the last time I saw
w her to
Alpha floor.
too,” Althea says, as we walk up the stairs to the
Again, the memories come flooding back of my parents yelling at Theo and Roman to stop using the stair rails as slides or Theo tugging on my pigtails as he raced past me down the stairs. When I get to the top of the stairs, I stop, staring at the end of the hallway, the last place I saw my mother.
There’s a side table with flowers on it in front of what used to be the doorway to the secret passage.
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I’m right here,‘ Roman says in my mind. I turn and take his hand like it’s a lifeline
“I’ve put you in this room,” Althea says, standing at the end of the hallway. I follow her past her old room past Theo’s old room and past my old room. Thankfully, this room was an overflow room for guests or to use as a staging area for big parties when we needed a place for people to get ready.
I say goodnight to Althea, Sawyer, Sloane, and Slater. Then, I kiss baby Aria who Althea is holding in her arms, and I step into the room, leaving the ghosts of my family in the hallway
As soon as the door is closed, I turn to Roman. Without a word, he opens his arms, and I walk into them, letting him hold me while I sob for the loss of my family all over again.
Cooper
A difficult homecoming.
