Chapter 250: Grace
The office was too small now that everyone was home, and we had visitors and new additions. Rhys and I had also both agreed that until we knew exactly where everyone stood on what was going on, we didn’t want them to see everything that we were working on.
Alana brought in tea and snacks, and I jumped to my feet to help her. I had been sitting in the room awkwardly with Maizie’s mom and Rhys’ mom while I had been waiting for everyone else to arrive.
“You should have told me what you were doing!” I exclaimed. “I would have helped!”
“That is not your role, Grace,” Rhys’ mother, Kerris corrected.
I had no idea what I was supposed to call her. I didn’t grow up with a real family. My dad hated me. My mom died. Luna Ava tried, but even she fell flat before she inevitably died. I grew up with Kinsley being a jerk and that was the extent I knew about family. Rhys was awesome. We were exactly what the other needed in life. But outside of him? I was still learning what family was.
I didn’t even know what I was supposed to call her... Kerris felt too personal. Mom felt like too much. Luna Kerris felt too formal. There was no handbook on this sort of thing, and I was probably the least experienced person in this department here.
“My place is with my friends,” I responded coolly to her, but my heart squeezed uncomfortably in my chest. I wanted her to like me, more than I really cared to admit. But not at the expense of my friends or the people I cared about.
“Dear, Rhys called me here to help you learn your role as a Luna Queen. Not as an Omega.”
“What’s going on?” Rhys questioned as if he sensed my anger the moment he walked in.
Alana’s cheeks were a bight shade of red as we put the snacks and drinks she had brought up on the conference table. None of them were fancy, but to be fair we had only arrived home 30 minutes ago. There was no way to describe the fatigue and heaviness I was feeling. But all I could think about was how wrong all of this was.
“I was just reminding Grace here of her place,” Kerris said with a sickly-sweet smile that made me want to cringe away from her.
“Her place?” Rhys frowned.
“Well, you have her running around with the help!” Kerris exclaimed like it was obvious as the sun rising in the morning.
“You mean our friend, Alana?”
“Friend? You’re friends with an omega?” His mother frowned.
“I’m friends with a lot of people, Mother.” Rhys said a lot calmer than I would have. The rage I felt just beneath his surface though told me he was putting a lot of effort into not going off on his mom.
She scoffed at him though, and Rhys couldn’t hide his anger from his expression. “You are more than welcome to not keep company with my friends, but you are the one to be leaving, not Alana. And if you continue to make her uncomfortable, then I will not be asking you to leave.”
Kerris looked at him with her mouth wide open. Very unbecoming of an ex-Luna Queen if you ask me, but I kept my mouth shut. It was a miracle the Rhys and Sawyer had turned out as well as they had with a mother like that. I wondered if she had always been like this or if he only gotten worse with age the way my father’s views had.
“Hi, sorry, we’re late!” Maizie apologized as she bounced into the room in complete Maizie fashion, Sawyer, trailing behind her like a lost puppy.
“Who died?” Maizie asked, reading the mood in the room in total Maizie fashion.
“Nobody,” I answered before muttering under my breath, “Yet.”
Alana laughed, and weird looks were shot our way, but we ignored them. I was glad she didn’t think we were turning our backs on her just because one woman had an unjust opinion.
“Maizie,” Laura tried, but Maizie’s look turned dark. “Who invited her?”
“Sorry, Maiz,” Rhys shrugged. “We gotta meet with everyone, I wanna see what they all know.”
“She’s clueless, Rhys.” Maizie argued. “She doesn’t know shit about anything.”
Rhys didn’t bother responding. Maizie was just being Maizie. She was allowed to be mad at her mom. She was allowed to have her feelings, and if I was being completely honest, I was glad she wasn’t acting as vulnerable as she had been back in the Golden Pack. But I also knew that Rhys was right about this, and we needed to gather all the information we could from them. We were running out of time, and now we had new perspectives.
“Maizie, you have no idea what I’ve been through since you’ve left.” Her mom said cooly.
I knew Maizie’s side of the story. We had talked about it. And I also knew, deep down, she really loved her mom. The same way Rhys did, even though she hadn’t been the kindest since arriving. But both of their knowledge on what was going on was going to be invaluable, and maybe there was more to each of their stories. It felt wrong to judge them so quickly, but I also would stand by both Rhys and Maizie if things took a turn for the worse.
If you thought the pre-meeting was chaotic, then I don’t know what you’d call the actually meeting. All I knew is that I felt overwhelmed, and Rhys had a headache. We had gotten absolutely nowhere, and had been sitting around that stupid table for hours before Rhys finally told everyone effectively to get lost. Laura and Kerris both left angrily, and the rest of us slowly made our way upstairs to the Alpha Suite. Alana had tried to slip away with the moms, but I looped my arm through hers and dragged her upstairs with us.
Iris and Michael were sitting on the couch arguing about who knows what siblings argue about. Sammy was running around, talking to her baby doll, playing some random game she had come up with to entertain herself since her bestie no longer lived here. And Rhys was pouring everyone a round of drinks. And for the first time since I had escaped the prison, I felt like I was home.
I knew it wouldn’t last, and we had work to do. The Vampire Queen and Princess would be arriving any time now, if all went well on their end. And tomorrow, we would reconvene with a plan to take down the Red Blood Pack and everyone who had helped them, but for tonight, for this one moment, I was grateful to be home again with everyone I loved within arm's reach. We may not have a plan yet, but we were going to figure it out. Together.
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