Chapter 26

Sarah POV

“Aw, Daddy!” Grace pouted after ice cream had been devoured with gusto.

“Sorry, pup,” Zane said, chucking her gently under her chin. “That was the deal: I get to come to the park with you all, but I do have to take this meeting. It will only be for an hour or two.”

Grace nodded and shrugged, looking no happier, then shrieked when Chloe launched herself at her, tussling with her very softly. Soon, both girls were giggling while their father looked on with quietly beaming pleasure. He hugged both of them, lingering for a moment with Chloe, which I took with approval to mean he was being careful to pay attention to them equally.

“I know you had dessert first, but I expect you’re still hungry for your lunch,” he said as he stood and straightened his crisp blue shirt. He pulled out his phone and headed back for his car, where I was sure Ollie was waiting.

Determined to put thoughts of my lovely bracelet from my mind, I chatted with the girls as we ate sandwiches, noodles, and fruit salad. To my delight, Chloe seemed to feel she had been left in charge of us and oversaw the distribution of food with great care, making sure everyone had a napkin and something to drink.

Grace started giggling about something while I was trying to spear a grape with my plastic fork, and I looked up to see her quietly mimicking the “werewolf aggression” pose I had used earlier, completely with crossed eyes. Chloe laughed so hard I was worried she might pee, and I laughed hard enough that I needed to wipe my eyes with my napkin.

Grace looked proud of herself, and it was lovely to see her coming out of her shell. She would always be a little reserved, I thought, compared to Chloe, but she was gaining confidence. I couldn’t help but wonder if being away from her aunt were helping her.

“Next time,” Chloe said thoughtfully before a grape up into the air and catching it in her mouth, much to her sister’s delight. “I will carve your face into your bracelet, and then everyone will see it’s your property and not dare to take it from you.”

“That would be more priceless than if it were covered in diamonds,” I said before I leaned over and kissed her cheek. I looked at both of them. “You are both more priceless than diamonds.”

Grace smiled, then looked to see if there were anything more in the basket. After clapping her hands, she reached in and pulled out her book. In short order, both girls were basking in the dappled shade with their eyes closed, and I read to them in a soft tone.

“And then the Nightingale began to sing.

“‘That is it!’ exclaimed the little girl. ‘Listen, listen! And yonder it sits.’

“And she pointed to a little gray bird up in the boughs.

“‘Is it possible?’ cried the cavalier. ‘I should never have thought it looked like that! How plain it looks! It must certainly have lost its color at seeing such grand people around.’

“‘Little Nightingale,’ called the little kitchen-maid, quite loudly, ‘our gracious Emperor wishes you to sing before him.’

“‘With the greatest pleasure!’ replied the Nightingale, and began to sing most delightfully.

“‘It sounds just like glass bells!’ said the cavalier. ‘And look at its little throat, how it’s working! It’s wonderful that we should never have heard it before. That bird will be a great success at court.’”

I paused, checked to make sure the girls really were asleep, and quietly closed the book. I looked at my arm ruefully, then got a grip. My life had taken the most wonderful turn for the better, and I needed to appreciate it, not dwell over the bracelet and that horrid she-wolf and her spawn.

But, to be fair, it wasn’t the bracelet’s loss itself that upset me. In truth, I felt worse for Chloe, who had so painstakingly made something for me and then was treated so poorly by a werewolf, one of her own kind. Shouldn’t that mother have been more concerned about how she was upsetting two alpha girls than about putting me in my place?’

And I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Zane’s decision over how I needed to deal with the situation. On the one hand, I was pleasantly surprised I’d actually gotten her to back down, but on the other hand, it was a reminder that as the goddess mother of two alphas, I had a lifetime of similar confrontations ahead of me.

I had always known I would need to be strong for Chloe, but now it wasn’t just that my daughter was an alpha, she was Zane Cavendish’s alpha child. One day, Chloe would be responsible for billions of dollars and who knows how many workers. I made a resolution as I sat there in the shade with the girls sleeping beside me, I would never let some random werewolf mistreat me again.

I was about to wake the girls, knowing otherwise they’d never fall asleep at their bedtime, when I heard laughter and turned to see a street magician in full face makeup, top hat, and tails juggling red-striped white clubs for a family nearby. Someone shouted for someone else to come see, and that woke the girls, who were soon staring at the performer.

He finished his current juggling set with a flourish, and everyone nearby applauded. The high notes of the girls’ applause had been joined by a deeper percussion, and I turned to see Zane was joining us on the blanket. Oddly, he had changed his entire outfit and was now wearing a light wool suit. I supposed he had dressed up for his tele-meeting.

The magician headed toward us and acknowledged Zane with a little bow before showing us nothing was up his sleeves and then producing a bouquet of silk flowers that he waved around with a smile before, poof! They were gone again.

The girls loved it, and he bowed.

“My lady,” the magician said to me, which made me laugh. “Perhaps you would do this poor performer a great service and come stand up here with me?”

“Do it, Mommy!” Chloe shrieked while Grace nodded.

With a little nod, I stood up and walked to the magician’s side.

“And you, Alpha Zane?” he asked next, gesturing to his other side.

Zane smiled with good humor and stood on the right of the magician, with me on his left.

“This next trick is one I learned straight from the lips of Harry Blackstone himself,” the magician said, and though I could clearly see the werewolf wasn’t old enough, I smiled and nodded. “Many years I studied under him, and this he told me: practice until it becomes boring, then practice until it becomes beautiful!

With that, he conjured a little box from seemingly thin air and then, with a little bow, invited me to open it.

I did so, then gasped.

My bracelet was inside!