Larksong Grotto With apple blossom in her hair

She'd said all she needed to say to Reek. His pleas fell on deaf ears and she acknowledged them with nothing but the violent baring of her teeth. She'd made it clear that the Silver Creek wolves owed him nothing and would give him no quarter, not after how disrespectfully he had treated them all. Whatever he claimed, in the eyes of the family who had cared for the two girls since their birth, he had taken them without permission. He had violated her family. He had violated her. Despite the obvious toll the strain took on her daughters, Saena could never forgive him for that. She could never make peace with him, not even for the good of her children. She would always, always seek to end his life if she caught him in the open.

On second thought, she lifted her eyes to him, glowering, and told him, "we are wolves. Honourable wolves. We know better than to trust rats." You were a bad father when you cheated, she wanted to cuttingly add, but Laurel's cold tone sliced her to the core and rendered her speechless. Her eyes panned to her daughter, shocked, and then narrowed as a tempestuous fury began to build in her breast. Who had raised this spoiled bitch? Saena would never have allowed one of her children to speak that way, to her or to anyone else. Whether Reek was to blame or Silver Creek, she didn't know. What she did know was that Laurel needed a good attitude adjustment, and she needed to be steered back on the right course.

But that was beyond her control at the moment, so she turned sidelong, as though preparing to leave, because she was about ready to. But her eyes remained on her ruddy daughter as she countered, "I love you more than you can possibly know. All three of us do. I always have, since the second you were born. I — we — gave up everything we had for you. Traveled hundreds of miles through our worst nightmare to keep you safe, so we could raise you in a comfortable home and make sure you were never left wanting. We are your family. Your family needs you to be whole." As she spoke, her ears shifted from against her scalp to high and proud. She would never apologize for the things she'd done for her children. And if Laurel was ungrateful for all the things Silver Creek had done for her in Saena's absence, then Laurel could hurt herself alone. She didn't care if her daughter loved her or hated her. She cared that her daughter was safe and well and unhurt and cared for, and she could not be assured of any of those things while Laurel was with Reek, who had replaced her (twice, it seemed) with other children already.

"I got very sick, I would never have left you on purpose, and I came back to find you the second I got better," she said, "but I'm not going to beg and bargain for your love, Laurel. You're not a child, but if you want to be treated like an adult, then act like one. Come with us, talk with us, give us a chance to make things better for you. If at the end of that you still think I don't love you, then you can make your choice and never see me again, if that's what you want." Her glare snapped to Reek and Jhala, who addressed the children as if she had any right whatsoever to say anything here, and Saena added, "or continue to behave like a child and never know any better." Your choice. She would not bargain for her child's love. She would not make promises just for her child's affection. She could live without it if she had to, though it would kill her to do it.

Indra's wail caught her off guard, and her ears slicked back then. Whatever daggers Laurel tried to throw through her breast, Indra at least had not been sullied by her sister's bad attitude. "That's just not possible," she said gently, "but you can always come visit." It was a concession she had no intention of making when she came here, because she didn't trust Reek to respect the boundaries that came with that and she didn't trust him to send her children back, but if that was what it took for her children to come away with her and for them to be happy, she would have to permit it. Only one way, though. He would never be welcomed to seek them out himself. Especially not now.