The Broken Wolf
Chapter 73

“DINNER’S READY!” we hear Della yell across the yard and all the kids immediately drop what they’re doing and take off running to her, the two older boys emerging from inside the house and joining them. We turn and make our way as well. Honestly, I’m starving. Everything today happened so quickly and neither of us had lunch.

“Princess Molly! Sit by me!” Stevie says and scoots down to allow me to sit on the end next to him. I happily oblige and Seth sits across from me next to a little girl. She looks up at him, towering over her as they are sitting and her eyes widen.

“You’re big,” she says to him, though she doesn’t seem afraid like Stevie had been , though being locked in a cell may have helped cause the fear.

“You’re small,” he tells her with a sly smile and she giggles at him. “What’s your name?”

“Jenny,” she tells him with a wide smile. “I’ll be four next week!”

“Wow! Four?!” he tells her, acting surprised and causing her to giggle more. “Are you the youngest?”

“Yes, sir,” she says but is interrupted.

“It’s PRINCE Seth,” Della calls out to her.

Little Jenny’s eyes become even wider. “Are you a real prince?!”

Seth nods to her. “I am. And Molly is my Princess.”

“You’re not a real princess,” she says to me, frowning.

“I’m not?” I ask her, confused as to why she thinks that. “Why not? Prince Seth is my mate.”

“Princesses wear pretty dresses,” she tells me, as if it’s the obvious answer and it makes me smile.

“I have pretty dresses,” I tell her. “I couldn’t walk out here to see you if I had worn one, though.”

Little Jenny seems to think about that for a moment and nods her head curtly. “I guess that makes sense. But don’t you want to wear pretty dresses all the time? I want to.”

The little girl next to Jenny looks at her sister and rolls her eyes. “Not everyone likes dresses, Jenny.”

I laugh out loud at that. “I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I don’t know your name.”

“I’m Eleanor,” she informs me.

“Eleanor is right,” I tell her. “Sometimes I like to wear pretty dresses, but not all the time.”

“What does a princess actually even do?” Eleanor asks me.

Della looks absolutely outraged at her daughter. “Eleanor! That is inappropriate.” I hear as she sounds horrified, though Alex appears to be stifling a laugh.

“Honestly, I’m not exactly sure,” I tell her and make a face. “I’ve only been a princess for a few days. I think it’s mostly just wearing pretty dresses.”

“That’s not true,” Seth says with a smile. “Princesses replace problems in the kingdom and how to fix them. So far, Molly has demanded and been helping to make new laws to protect kids.”

I can’t help but blush a little bit at Seth bringing this up. I hear Alex as he’s bringing over some bowls of soup to the table. “You are?”

“Umm, yes,” I tell him.

“Did you tell Benjamin?” he asks me, tilting his head. “He’ll be so happy to know that.”

“Umm… no, I didn’t,” I tell him and I clasp my hands and look down at them in my lap. “I don’t think he’ll be very happy about it, actually.”

Alex looks at me, a look of complete confusion on his face. “Why wouldn’t he? He’ll be very proud that you’ve already started work on something so important.”

I look back down at my hands, afraid to see his face. “Because I’m working with King Peter on it. He’ll be enacting and taking credit for it as we’re concerned some packs will be upset about it. He didn’t want that to fall on Seth and me.”

“What exactly is in it?” Della says, taking a seat between Stevie and two of the older boys as Alex sits down between Eleanor and their other son.

“We’re still working out the specific details,” I begin to tell them and look at Seth, unsure if I should tell them. He looks at me and nods encouragingly. “Essentially, the plan is to make it illegal to murder any wolf before they shift.”

Alex looks at me with a look on his face that I’m not exactly sure what it is. Pride, maybe? “That will make him so happy.”

They pass out bowls and we begin to eat. Stevie looks up to me. “Do you want to pass that law because the King killed Benjamin’s sons?”

His comment causes me to stop and I look up at Seth, whose eyes are as wide as I assume mine are. I knew he was terrified at the Falls when he found out that the King was there, but I didn’t think about why. I guess everyone out here knows, though.

“Yes, it is.” I tell him quietly. “They were my brothers.”

“If they were your brothers,” the older boy next to Alex begins, “then is Benjamin your dad, too?”

“Yeah,” I tell him with a small smile. “He is.”

Alex looks at me and smiles, but he doesn’t say anything. I haven’t really decided what to say to the kingdom about my parentage. I’m well known as Alpha Randal and Celeste’s adopted daughter. There’s absolutely no denying that publicly, but it would also be difficult to deny being Benjamin’s when anyone sees my eyes. Perhaps that is causing some of the issues between us, because we both know it’s going to require a complicated explanation.

“But you didn’t grow up here, did you?” he asks.

“That’s enough talk of that, Ezra,” Della interrupts sternly. “We’re lucky to have the Prince and Princess with us tonight. Eat your dinner, no more questions.”

All the kids look down and eat their dinner and I look at Seth who gives me a small smile, but seems unsure.

You haven’t considered that we’ll have to explain my parentage, have you?

Nope.

We’ll figure it out. It will be fine.

I take a bite of the corn chowder and it’s absolutely amazing. It’s sweet, and creamy and smoky from being cooked on the fire. Jenny hands me a biscuit and tells me to dip it in and try it and she’s right. That somehow makes it even better.

“Della,” I say and she looks at me nervously. “This is absolutely amazing. I don’t know how much time we’re going to have, but I’d love it if you could teach me how to cook on the fire. It just adds more to the flavor. Seriously, it’s so good.”

“I’m so glad you like it!” she tells me, beaming. “I’ll be honest, I was nervous to cook for a princess who is also a chef.”

“You shouldn’t be,” I tell her, taking a few more bites. “It’s honestly one of the best things I’ve eaten.”

We all continue to eat our dinner. Jenny drips a little bit down her dress and tries to wipe it, but is struggling to do so. Seth takes the napkin from her and helps her clean it up as she just beams at him.

“Thank you, Prince Seth,” she tells him with a giant smile on her face, looking up at him. The little girl is clearly smitten with him and it makes me smile to watch, because I’m pretty sure he’s smitten with her as well.

“Molly,” Alex asks, drawing my attention from the sweet interaction between my mate and the little girl. “How long are you planning to stay?”

“Honestly,” I begin to say, looking to Seth who just shrugs at me. “I’m not sure, but if we’re imposing, please let me know. I just want to meet some of the other wolves out here, see what the main needs are and what we can help with. Obviously, some of the houses we passed need some repairs, but I don’t want to just throw on a new roof and ignore any other needs that may be.”

“You’re no imposition, we’re happy to have you both,” Della says.

“Like Della said, we’re happy you’re both here. I can take you to meet the families in the houses we passed tomorrow and if you’re good to stay another day, we can go north the next day.”

Seth speaks up. “Thank you, Alex. That sounds like a good plan to start with. You all have clearly formed some type of pack here. I assume all the rogues aren’t in it?”

“You’re correct,” Alex says, placing his spoon on the table. “We’re all fairly close, except for Benjamin. He’s out a little bit farther to the east. We’re the farthest to the North Western side. All the others are in between us. There are plenty of other rogues outside of our area. They generally leave us alone, though.”

“You’re Benjamin’s Beta, right?” I ask him and he nods proudly. “What about his Gamma? I’ve not heard anyone reference him.”

“That was Albert’s father, who is a part of your current pack,” he says, a hint of sadness to his voice. “They decided to join another pack when given the chance. They didn’t want to bring Albert out here.”

“I didn’t realize,” I say, getting lost in thought. “That would explain how he’s been able to work his way up so easily. It’s in his genes.”

“Oh, yeah,” Alex says with a nod. “I’m sure he’ll work his way up as high as anyone will let him go. His father is a good man. Truly, the only reason he left for another pack was because he was worried about raising kids out here.”

“I guess I can understand that,” I say to him. “You all seem to have done OK, though. There’s so much love and happiness here. Speaking of- didn’t you say that Della’s parents live with you all? I didn’t run them off, did I?”

“Oh, not at all, Princess,” Della tells me and I grimace at her formality. “They help keep the children of those guarding the perimeter at night. They had just left when you arrived, but they’ll be so excited to meet you tomorrow at breakfast.”

“Is there anything I could help with for breakfast? Or learn?” I ask.

She stops to think for a moment. “Have you ever made bread on a fire?” she asks. I shake my head at her.

“Oh, goodness. If you want to learn, I can show you in the morning,” she says and I become super excited. “Your mother is actually the one who taught me. Would it be alright if I invite them for breakfast as well?”

“Of course!” I tell her, excited at the chance to learn something new. “I’d really like that.”