She nodded, despite his close-mouthed declaration.
"And the ever-patient Hawk. Give me a hug."
"Nice to see you, Auntie," he said, enfolding the women in his arms.
"I'm Grace, Finn's mum," a beautiful woman with long auburn hair and grey eyes said. I got to my feet and took the dish she held out.
"Hi, I'm Jules. This smells delicious! Come and sit down. We need to find some more chairs."
"On it," Brandon said, disappearing down the hallway.
"Thanks for coming, Mum," Finn said, wrapping his arm around the much smaller woman. "You got the news?"
"Yes." She looked from him to me. Like most mothers, she seemed to be able to hold a whole world of information in one word. "Finn, are the two of you OK? The things people are saying... You didn't call?"
"Sorry, Mum. Things have been just insane. I got into a dominance fight with half the single blokes..."
"He's a man who was experiencing the first flush of his mate bond and had her taken away from him in handcuffs, Grace," Ophelia said gently.
"That was..." Grace shook her head. "A bad business."
"So you're Ophelia's daughter? Kelly's sister? Sorry," I said. "The family trees here seem kinda..." Don't say incestuous, don't say incestuous. "Convoluted."
Grace went to reply, but Ophelia said, "No, though I would have been proud to have a daughter like Grace. My son, Max, was one of Finn's fathers.”
“Oh.”
Silence hung over the room for a moment as everyone noted their conspicuous absence.
“Max was sent through the gate for insubordination,” Ophelia said. I saw Grace pale as she took a seat, her hands restlessly shifting the place setting around until it was just so. “Finn’s other fathers, Grey and Rhydian, went with him into exile. But that was an ugly, ugly business. Let’s eat, shall we?”
I watched Ophelia take a seat at the end of the table, sitting between Hawk and Jack, regal as a queen. “Why aren’t you alpha of Sanctuary?” I said. I probably shouldn’t have. There was no doubt a good reason for this, one no one wanted to talk about, but I was pretty much done with the secrecy. Sanctuary was just that, a lovely safe place to land, but there was so much secret squirrel shit going on.
"I was, for a very long time, and then my daughter challenged me and she won. Now, could someone please pass me the mashed potatoes?"
The rest of the meal went by peacefully. I watched the interactions closely, trying to get a sense of how everyone fit together. We'd been existing in the hothouse of the honeymoon cottage for some time since I'd shifted, and this was one of the few chances I'd had to see how things worked on the bonded side of Sanctuary.
Ophelia was a natural leader, charismatic, keeping the conversation flowing and making sure to include everyone in it. I wondered what it must be like to be her daughter and alpha. I was supposed to be the hostess, but I was little more than a player in the scene she carefully orchestrated.
As was Grace. Finn's mum was quiet throughout the meal, smiling and contributing when prompted, but otherwise, just a silent presence on the other side of Finn. When it all wound down and dessert was finished, the two of them got up to go.
"I'll be by tomorrow," Ophelia said. "You can't be expected to come to my home now that the alpha has instated this ridiculous house arrest." She smiled when she saw my expression. "Don't worry, it won't be too early. You have quite the number of men to attend to."
"I want answers, Ophelia," I said. "I don't need therapy, just some clues about what's going on, so I can make the best decisions."
"Of course, darling. All I know is yours to command. Grace?"
Finn's mum stepped forward from where she was giving her son one last hug. "I'll walk home. Need to burn off some of that amazing food Hawk cooked."
"Very well, goodnight all."
And then it was Ophelia, out.
"Julie, can you see me out?" Grace asked, coming closer.
"Of course—"
"I'll come with," Finn said.