The Broken Wolf
Chapter 98

I take a seat and read one of the books about the history of witches, though it’s written by a human, so it’s most likely wildly inaccurate. There’s a soft knock at the door and as it cracks open, I can smell Audrey entering the room.

“Good morning, kids,” she says brightly, coming to sit in the other chair next to me. “It’s so nice to finally see you in here, Molly.”

I smile at her, closing the book. “Thanks. It’s nice to be here, I think…”

“Peter and I have met with the office staff and they have been informed of the plan and the changes that will come,” she tells me and while she’s smiling, I can sense the sadness and see it in her eyes. “It doesn’t make sense to set up the office across the hall, so I’m going to show you my office. We’ll have you moved into this one so you have the back entrance once the change is official.”

Seth nods to her, barely looking up from the pages spread out over his desk. “Seth, are you listening?” she asks.

“Yes, Mother. You’re moving Molly’s office here. You want to show her yours. I’m listening,” he says, seeming very irritated and still not looking up.

She looks at me and rolls her eyes with a smile, standing as she does. I follow her cue and stand, but it doesn’t feel right to just leave. I chance walking around the desk to tell Seth goodbye, even though he seems deeply interested in what he’s working on. As I approach him, he immediately looks up at me and takes my hand. Leaning down, I k**s him and he pulls me closer to him.

“I love you,” he says, breaking the k**s and releasing me.

“I love you,” I whisper, feeling slightly embarrassed that his mother is still in the room and watching us. I stand and walk towards her to leave, and she just beams at me.

We exit the room, closing the door behind and I follow her down a fairly long hall. “It makes me happy to see how much he loves you, Molly. Truly.”

“He’s so short with other people,” I say quietly, not sure where anyone is and if they can hear. “It’s so odd that he isn’t with me.”

“It’s because he loves you,” she tells me, looking over her shoulder, giving me a smile. “I’ve never seen him be that kind to anyone. I was always worried about how he would treat his mate because he’s a real a*s to everyone else.”

I can’t help but laugh at that. “Well, you have nothing to worry about. He’s been amazing to me since we met.”

We stop at a door and Audrey puts her hand on the handle to open, but she stops and turns to me. “We can do whatever you want in your office. I’m just showing you this so you can get an idea of what you need in it. I know it’s not your style. Just look past that.”

I smile and nod. I had already considered that I wouldn’t love how it was decorated, but I’d never tell her that. She opens the door and motions for me to enter first. I step in and notice quickly that everything is so bright. The walls are white, and everything is trimmed in gold. She, like Seth, has a sitting area but all the furniture in hers is white and pale pink. Her desk and chairs are white and it’s nice. It’s just very… clean.

“You don’t have to lie and tell me that you love it,” she says lightly, walking past me as I look around. “I won’t lie to you. Your home at the Lunar Falls Packhouse looked like a dungeon.”

I laugh a little at this. “I know,” I tell her. You should have seen it before dad remodeled it. But there was no window, and I was with Omegas most of the time, so I didn’t want anything fancy if anyone came over.”

She nods at me, taking a seat on the light pink couch. “That makes sense. You seem to be very considerate, Molly.”

“I try,” I tell her as she motions for me to join her, and I oblige. “I just started observing everyone carefully when I started to not fit in and, well… I just realized some things.”

“That’s partly why I asked you to join me today,” she tells me and I start to feel nervous. “You don’t NEED to see the Queens office. It looks almost exactly like Seth’s does now, just smaller and I didn’t luck out with a fireplace. The men required those.”

“Sounds like Seth,” I say and she smiles and nods.

“I wanted to talk to you, and just make sure you’re OK,” she says, taking my hand. “You looked pretty… shocked… when we left you guys. I imagine this is all a big change for you, and pretty overwhelming.”

I nod, not trusting my voice to give her an audible answer. She doesn’t grant me any grace though, and waits for an answer. “It’s just been a really big change, and really fast,” I whisper.

“I know. It felt so quick and overwhelming for me when I met Peter. One moment you’re getting to know your mate, having a lovely time, and then suddenly you’re marked and you’re a princess,” she says, almost sadly.

“Seth told me how to control the link before he marked me,” I tell her and she smiles. “He said you’d mentioned before how difficult that was for you.”

“I guess he does listen. And you couldn’t even link before that, not really,” she squeezes my hand and looks like she could cry. “I can’t imagine how hard this has all been for you. I wanted to be there for you more, but you had Lily come into your life and, well… I definitely didn’t want to overstep there when I found out about your brothers.”

I nod to her, not sure what to say as I stare at my black heels. “I’m so sorry, Molly. For everything that has happened. None of it was fair to you, and in everyone’s hurt, well I just want to make sure that Seth has been thinking about your feelings in all of this, because I know most everyone else hasn’t.”

“You raised a very kind man,” I tell her and she looks relieved. “While everything has been chaotic, he’s made sure to take care of me. He’s been very thoughtful.”

“Every mother hopes they raise a good man. I knew he would be a good king. There’s never been a doubt in my mind about that. But if he would be a good mate… you never know until you get there,” she says, seeming to be relieved and proud of her son. “I don’t want to pressure you, you’ll have that from everywhere else. But, have you two discussed the matter of a child?”

I nod, a little embarrassed, but the entire kingdom will be asking soon enough. “We’re trying. Well, I guess it’s more just not preventing. I’m hoping we can have more than one though.”

Audrey’s face looks delighted and she’s so happy she could burst. “I can’t wait. Since you kids will be taking over, I’ll have plenty of time to help take care of the baby. You must take care of yourself, Molly. No more using magic to heal people.”

“I don’t plan to do that again,” I tell her and look down at my feet again. “If I’m being honest, I’m not even sure how I did that.”

“Lily told me that your magic is strong. That it always has been,” she says cautiously. “She’s right, that it could put a target on you if the knowledge becomes public.”

I nod in understanding. “I understand. I’m not sure I even want to learn to use it,” I say, confiding a deep secret with her. “I didn’t have it for so long, and I didn’t grow up knowing that I was missing it. I just don’t think that I WANT it. It would hurt Lily to know that, though.”

“I can understand your hesitation, Molly,” she tells me, releasing my hand. “If you want to learn or not, Peter and I support your choice. We just need to be sure you’re safe.”

She reaches to the side of the couch and lifts up a gift bag. “I have something for you. Well, it’s the first thing for your office. Please, go ahead and open it.”

I reach forward and take it from her hand. “Thank you,” I say, lifting the paper out of the bag and reaching in, pulling out a picture frame. I’m expecting a photo of Seth and myself, though I don’t think we’ve posed for any, or perhaps of my family. Instead though, when I turn the frame over, I’m left silenced, tears pricking my eyes.

“Lily helped me get it,” she whispers and when I look up, I can see that she’s also crying. “The hardest thing you will have to do is to support Seth when he makes a mistake, and he will. I never knew about your brothers. Peter never even told me about the prophecy. I’m so sorry, Molly, truly, I am.”

She grabs a tissue from a table and gently dabs the corners of her eyes. “When he told me of the memory you had of him when you woke up, I wasn’t sure what would come of any of this. You have endured so much, and continue to give so much of yourself, just to keep everyone happy. I hope that when you sit at your desk and see yourself and your brothers it brings you some happiness, and it reminds you of just how thankful I am for you, and your forgiving heart.”

“I’ve never seen this photo before,” I whisper, running my finger across the frame like it’s the most precious thing I own. Actually, I think it may be. A photo of me and my brothers. My brother’s that I barely remember, and didn’t remember for years. I’d give anything to have them here.

The door slams open and Seth stomps in, looking around the entire room. He moves quickly over to us. “What did you say to her,” he hisses out at his mother.

“It’s not like that,” she tells him but he’s not listening to her. He comes over and kneels next to me. I can’t replace the words to say, so I just turn the frame to show him.

“Oh, Love,” he says, gently placing his hand on the frame and he smiles. “You were so precious.” He scoops me up into his arms and sits where I was, placing me in his lap.

I look over to Audrey to thank her, and she’s looking at us, beaming with pride. “Thank you,” I whisper again, choking on my tears. “I… it… it’s just amazing.”

“I very much appreciate your willingness to work with us on stepping down, though knowing that you don’t even want my job,” she says with a sad smile, “helps to ease the sting of it. I will require lots of babies to occupy my time, though.”

“Hopefully we can give you that,” Seth says with a smile, though his eyes never leave me.

Audrey laughs lightly. “It’s almost time for you two to head upstairs before Peter makes the announcement. Just enough time for a quickie in your office.”

“Mom,” Seth exclaims.

“Oh, come now. We’re wolves,” she says, standing up. “You know, you were likely conceived on that same desk. Hard to be sure though. There were lots of chances.”

“Keep it up and we’ll conceive a pup on your couch,” Seth says, a growl to his voice while I just sit there, my face beet red.

She smiles and walks to the door. “Whatever it takes. Just clean up.”