Lena looked slightly uncomfortable, and I doubted my decision to be open with her. I felt bad about the way she was shifting uncomfortably on her feet and avoiding making eye contact with me. She had only followed me to try and be friendly, and I had just made her feel awkward about it.
I hadn’t intended what I said to be a bad thing. It was just a fact - I saw this as a fresh start. To Lena it was unthinkable that somebody might see losing everything as a good thing, and her offhand comment about me losing a mate because I had a child was revealing. Lena assumed I had a mate because I had a child, and Ares thought it was shocking that I didn’t have a say in my relationship with Luc.
It was comforting to realize that this was such an important value to this pack because that meant they
