Broken Bonds

XL. Bad person

While the first part of this chapter still kind of falls under the warning, there is a place from which I guess it is safe to start reading. Do not read from the start! I will highlight the first sentence of the safe for reading part. But please bear in mind that I read all chapters. If reading the last bit confuses you, feel free to ask questions.

The next couple of hours or was it days, Rey was starting to lose track of it, passed in the same kind of routine. Rey bringing the child to Elaine's room, Elaine yelling at her to get out, but she would be staying for longer and longer periods.

Brynn had serious doubts that Rey's plan was working, but Rey could already see bits of improvements here and there. At least, she hoped that's what they were.

While in the beginning, Elaine refused to as much as glance in Rey's direction, there were moments now, when she caught her staring at them in wonder. She would avert her gaze quickly but was way too late. Rey already saw her.

The little girl was a bit of a spawn of evil every time someone else, even Rey, held her when they weren't inside Elaine's room, but she relaxed almost immediately after Elaine was forced to keep them company. She could definitely tell her mum was close by.

But on this particular day, something was bugging her because she was moodier than usually. Rey tried her best to calm her down, which wasn't as easy as it seemed. The little girl was expressing her discomfort in quite a loud way, and at one point she almost started to cry. While Rey had many qualities, silencing a crying baby was not one of them. Her panic was rising every second, and she contemplated leaving the room.

That's when Elaine surprised her by saying: "Give her to me."

Rey almost dropped the baby.

Yeah, okay. It wasn't one of her proudest moments, but was it real? Or was she already in a stage when she started hearing things?

"What?"

"Well, I just thought ... Since you always claim we have some magical connection ... It is worth a shot. Besides, you look thirty seconds away from a heart attack. But you don't have to. You know what, forget it."

"No!" Rey rushed out to say a lot louder than necessary and it brought the little girl over the edge as her sounds of protest turned to full-blow crying: "We are not forgetting anything. Do you think you can sit down?"

She got up from the chair and by the time she walked over, Elaine was already sitting on the bed, supported by one of her pillows. She outstretched her arms and Rey carefully placed her daughter in her arms.

The little girl looked around, taking in the sudden change, and when her eyes landed on Elaine's face, her cries started slowing down. Her small hands curiously reached out to her mother, and Elaine's lips stretched into a hesitant smile.

Rey watched the scene in front of her in awe. She was barely breathing, too scared to burst the bubble, but someone else took care of it as the door was kicked open and Talon came rushing in: "Is everything okay? I heard crying ...."

His words got stuck inside as his eyes fully took in what was happening, and the shock on his face measured that of Rey when Elaine asked her to give her the child.

"Everything is fine." Rey smiled at him. "More than fine actually,"

It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine afterwards. Elaine's mood could shift from better to worse in a matter of seconds, but things were slowly getting better. Rey could see it in the way the red colour started returning to Elaine's cheeks and also in the cries of her daughter as they turned into laughter.

Although she was still wary around the little girl, Rey no longer had to force Elaine to spend time with her. Even now, she happily cradled her daughter in her arms as Rey watched over them.

She would give them privacy in a heartbeat, but Elaine's condition was for someone to always be in the room with them. Otherwise, she refused to see her. Rey had a hunch it was because Elaine feared she would hurt the baby which was complete and utter nonsense in Rey's opinion. But if it was needed to be done, she was going to do it.

Brynn wasn't the only person that disagreed with Rey's unconventional methods. Some of the pack members started voicing out their distrust and even tried to keep Rey out of Elaine's room in the beginning. But as time progressed, Brynn stopped breathing down Rey's neck and even convinced the pack to let her off the hook. On the other thought, maybe it was Talon who convinced them that things were turning better.

Rey didn't have much time to pay attention to him, her hands too full with Elaine, but from what she heard, the sudden twist of events was taking a toll out on him as well. The alpha did his best to keep it together, but it was painfully obvious how worried he was about Elaine and how he would rather spend time with their daughter than deal with his alpha duties.

As Elaine's walls started crumbling down and their daughter cried a lot less, the pack noticed an improvement in their alpha's mood and even in his appearance.

Rey had to agree with them. He did look better.

Rey watched Talon walk inside the room, the signs of all the stress eating him from inside settled on his face. But the smile on his lips as he watched Elaine and their daughter spoke for itself.

Rey stood up almost immediately after he walked in and said: "I will leave you alone for a bit."

She didn't want to disturb their family moment, but she also didn't want to disappear without saying anything in case Elaine would protest. She didn't. Her attention was too focused on her husband and their little girl.

Rey aimed for the door but changed her mind at the last second and turned around once more. Talon sat down on the bed next to Elaine, the little girl still safely tucked in her mother's arms, but her own chubby arms were trying to reach for her father. Talon's eyes held so much love inside them as he watched her, and Elaine was also slowly getting there.

Rey ignored the painful tug of her heart and said: "You should think of a name for her."

Both his and Elaine's eyes widened as they turned their attention to Rey and then exchanged confused glances between themselves. Rey chuckled a bit. The two idiots seriously forgot.

"Good luck," she wished them and closed the door behind.

She made it outside of the house when she saw Brynn coming up the stairs to her. Rey muttered a curse under her breath because she really wanted to be alone for a minute. She made a run for it, but Brynn grabbed her hand before she even had a chance to put her feet on the first step.

"I would like to be alone for a bit if you don't mind."

Brynn didn't let her leave. Instead, she did something entirely different. She wrapped her hands around Rey's waist and pulled her into a tight hug: "Silly girl, you don't have to be so strong all the time."

Rey battled the tears threatening to fall as she said: "I so want them to be happy, but why does it have to hurt so much?"

"Because you are in love with him," Brynn didn't say it like a question, she said it like a statement and Rey didn't have enough energy inside her to deny it. "And I know you will always wish him happiness because that's the kind of person you are, but it is okay to feel sad about it, darling. It doesn't make you a bad person, it only makes you human."

"I do feel like it. Like a bad person," Rey confessed.

"You are as far from a bad person as one can get, my love."

Hearing Brynn's words, Rey smiled a sad smile, but it quickly turned into irritation as she noticed a newcomer.

Her: "Are you kidding me?" came at the same time as Mac's: "Where is Talon?"

"What are you? A messenger of bad news?" She asked him.

He answered, not missing a beat: "Depends on how you take the dead body we found in the woods. Bad news? Or good one?"

"The what?" Brynn and Rey blurted out at the same time.