In fact, she knew that Alina had imparted a lot of wisdom to her that she would teach Thia. “I just wish it could be you, Alina,” she whispered. “You’re the one with the ability to be gentle and firm at the same time. I’m just a damn bull in a china shop with my opinions and outrageous statements.” She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Dammit, Alina. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Jen leaned her head back against the wall, her daughter sleeping blissfully, and let herself weep. Her heart split wide open for the pack’s loss … for her loss.
Sally gasped at the same time Costin’s arm tightened around her. She was seized by a knife-like pain. She knew through the bond that Costin felt the same thing.
Titus’s head slowly turned toward her. She saw the sheen of tears building in his eyes. “Papa Vasile and Grandma Alina are with the angel now.”
He was so intuitive and keen, which was a blessing but also a curse.
Sally opened her arms to him, and he crawled over from where he’d been sitting and climbed up into her lap. She wrapped both arms around him and pulled him tightly against her, as if somehow she could shelter him from the pain of this loss.
Costin buried his face in Sally’s hair, and she felt the wet drops of his tears on her neck. There were no words that could be said at that moment to offer comfort. A massive chasm had been torn open inside of them where the alpha pair had once been. Life would never be the same again. Their world, in the blink of an eye, had been completely turned upside down. The ground had dropped out from beneath them, and she couldn’t catch her breath.
Vasile was a bold male who led with a steadfastness that often left Sally in awe. She remembered the night she’d questioned his decision not to tell them about the vampires killing children. She’d seen the weight of that responsibility, but he had not crumbled beneath it. Instead, he’d done what an alpha does. He’d respectfully reminded her of why he had to make the hard choices.
“And what you feel is best is always right?” Sally asked.
“No, I am not always right. But that doesn’t change the fact that decisions must be made. This is not a democracy. A wolf pack would not survive if it were. This is a dictatorship. I am alpha. I am the strongest, and those I care about will submit—period. I make decisions that I think are best for everyone. I listened to wise counsel, but ultimately the choice is mine, and the consequences are mine as well. I realize that it is still difficult for you girls to understand. In the Canis lupus world, there has to be one leader and many followers. Otherwise, there would be utter chaos. The health of the pack is paramount. You may not like it, but you will accept it.”
“I get it,” Sally said. “But it doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I never claimed it would be easy,” Vasile said calmly. “Vent to your mate. Drink hot chocolate with your females, and think of all the ways you’d like to injure me because of your irritation. Ultimately, though, just like the males in the pack, you must obey.”
Sally let the memory fade, but she realized she finally understood what Vasile had been telling her that night. He’d known it would be hard for the girls to accept their place in the pack, but he loved them, all of them, and he’d proven that over and over by making the hard choices and dealing with their consequences. He was a man of worth, and he’d been an amazing alpha.
And Alina was the other half of his soul who had complimented his strengths and weaknesses perfectly. Two people who had come to mean the world to Sally. Just gone. From one breath to the next. It almost made her want to hold her own breath because breathing seemed to make it worse. It was unfair that she continued to draw breath, and yet they were gone. Even as she thought this, her heart broke all over again as she realized the pain Fane must be enduring.
“Fane,” she whispered. No matter the pain that the pack was feeling, it wouldn’t hold a candle to the pain he was going through, and he didn't even have his mate and son to help comfort him.