10. The Strength in Kindness

10

The Strength in Kindness

ANNALISE

I ’d known my mate was powerful and dominant. But until this moment, I hadn’t understood how gentle that strength could be.

How forgiving.

“Mother. Father. I’m so glad you’re here. Stay for a while. Annalise and I have a lot to share with you.”

I smiled as Myrna broke away from her mate, flinging herself into Rebin’s strong arms. “My baby, my baby boy, I’ve missed you. Please forgive me, forgive us…” Her words became incoherent as Rebin stroked her graying hair. Her pain was palpable, and I felt Rebin forgive her even before he uttered the words.

I smiled, then turned to his father, who had stepped forward, his head bowed. “I’m sorry, daughter,” he said quietly.

The word took me by surprise. My own parents had died in the last shifter war, and it was strange to hear that word from a man my age, but it also felt like an apology. He turned to Rebin and spoke quietly, fervently, apologizing in stark language that left no doubt that he knew and regretted how he’d treated his only child.

When the two men had embraced, Myrna wiping her wet face as she looked on, I kneeled next to the basket. “Would you like to meet your grandchildren?” Both of them went silent, shocked when they saw the three bundles I revealed as I pulled back the quilt.

As his father held Myrna steady once again, Rebin reached into the basket. He picked up Cora and Bea, while I lifted Seren. She gave a soft gurgle and extended her chubby fists to Myrna. When I didn’t hand her over, she grunted adorably. She might not be able to speak just yet, but she knew how to make her desires known.

Myrna glanced at me, and Seren, and then at Rebin. “Is she… Can I?”

I turned to my mate with an unspoken question in my gaze. Was he ready? Was it enough? He’d been so hurt by these two. He hesitated, then sighed as Seren made grabbing motions toward his mother again, letting out a plaintive cry. “She insists.”

Seren’s pale eyes met her grandmother’s blue ones and, for the first time in months, I found my own eyes welling up. If Rebin wasn’t ready, I wouldn’t force it. We had years ahead.

Rebin hummed, brushing a kiss on the top of my curls. “Better listen to the little Alpha, then,” he teased.

Or I thought he was teasing. A quiet place in our bond made me wonder if he’d been able to hide something from me after all. He kept his eyes on his mother, but one corner of his mouth twitched upward.

“Seren, this is your grandmother,” he announced, as I handed the baby over. Piers was there in an instant, hovering behind his mate, gazing with rapture over her shoulder at the baby.

“She’s perfect,” he murmured. “They all are. Tell us, please.”

“Tell you what?” Rebin asked, confused. But I knew, and when Myrna’s tear-filled eyes met mine, we said the word together.

“Everything.”

Our laughter bounced off the calm water of the lake, scaring the trout, though our girls merely echoed our joy with their own happy gurgles. Rebin’s smile was guarded, and his father’s head still bowed, though when he’d touched Seren’s arm, she’d grasped his hand with her small fingers like she would never let go.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy to truly forgive, no matter how strong my mate was, or how many apologies were spoken. There would be many more painful conversations, hard words as well as gentle ones, and work to rebuild something that resembled family.

But it was a start.