I knew Jane had reservations about bringing the girls with us to our childhood pack. She was maltreated there and her only good memories were of she and I, but even all of those weren’t good.

She didn’t know what I knew - now that she was Luna she would be treated with respect and kindness.

They were good people who followed bad leadership to preserve their own lives. Most would decide to do the same in the face of a powerful tyrant, if only to keep their families safe.

It was still going to be difficult. We would see people that had mistreated her. I was going to have to face Beta Douglas who had whipped both Jane and I and helped my father hang me from the gallows.

My mother was another issue. Jane’s only memories of her were being ignored for eighteen years and then her overreacting to us being mates and causing a fuss that turned into us being beaten and separated.

I knew my mother hadn’t intended any of it when she told my father we were mates. She had believed at the time that I would reject her, and we could move on. Until that day she hadn’t known the extent of my father’s hatred, nor my commitment to spending my life with my true mate.

We would also have to deal with my cousin Jessica, who had paid a witch to lock away Jane’s wolf.

I had realized the previous night, as we were preparing to leave that technically, Jane and I weren’t fully mated. I had marked her and she had branded me, but now that she had her wolf, she could mark me as a wolf.

She had wanted to mark me over the brand to hopefully hide it, but I wouldn’t let her. I loved carrying her name on my flesh. Instead, she sunk her teeth into the opposite shoulder and our night had been full of passion and a renewed closeness unlike what we had experienced previously, which I hadn’t thought possible.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I noticed today that completing the bond was helping her anxiety as we flew closer to the east.

We were on the private plane which it turns out Crypton was the pilot of, and headed towards the place that was no longer home.

It was my hope that the children would tug at my mom’s heart and bring her and Jane together. She loved children, and she had wanted me mated as soon as I was eighteen because she wanted grand pups.

Her true objection to Jane wasn’t necessarily that she had been a servant in our house. It was that she had no wolf. That presented the possibility that any grandchildren might not have a wolf, as well.

My mom knew better than anyone my father’s hatred for those with no wolf, and I knew her objections were based on a fear that her eventual grandchildren would be mistreated.

Jane and I had discussed this all and more as I reassured her that my mother’s reactions to her would be different now that my father was gone.

She trusted me, but it was hard for her to imagine.

I watched Jane following after Selly who was opening and picking up everything on the plane that wasn’t bolted down.

Amy was sitting in her seat on the plane looking out of the window with fascination.

Soon there would be a third pup that belonged to us. A son, the High Priestess had said. Jane hadn’t told me yet and I wondered if she knew it was a boy.

Selly finally came back to her seat and leaned against her window, looking out at the same sky Amy was observing. After a little while she slumped in her seat, drifting off to sleep to the vibrations of the plane’s engines.

Jane tried to walk past me to take her seat, but I pulled her onto my lap instead and held her close. She nuzzled her forehead against my neck and sighed, resting her full weight against me.

I smiled to myself and then placed a hand on her belly. She sat upright and looked into my eyes.

“You knew?” she smiled.

“Silly mate. I could scent him weeks ago,” I revealed.

She wrapped her arms around me and laid her head back on my chest. I held her firmly as I stroked her back with one hand. Eventually, her breathing turned deep and even, and I knew she was asleep.

I was glad she was getting some rest.