How much can love save?
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Leila is torn between keeping away from her mate and saving her Pack. She believes staying away from him is best for the both of them. But the only way she stands a chance at protecting the people she loves is if she accept...
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~LEILA
I liked burying my worries on being busy. Even when Rey was away, I baked endlessly every day. I baked for the family. I baked for the soldiers. I baked for the camps. I just wanted to do anything but think. I didn't want to think. But thoughts had other plans for me.
I held Rey firmly, her hair on my nose as I sank my face into it. I sat on the rocking chair on the patio that faced the garden. My breath hitched every now and then, trying not to think of Ayla's words that buried their claws deep into my head.
"Mommy...you're shaking."
"I didn't realize it. I'm sorry sweetie." Fresh tears rolled down my face.
"You are sad."
"You know I would never leave you, right? I would never give you away, or abandon you...ever."
"I know, mommy."
"Sometimes...sometimes, I don't know how to protect you, Rey." I sobbed unintentionally.
She pulled away to look at me. Her sad eyes lingered on my wet face together with her little fingers.
"You always have a way to protect me, Mommy. I can trust no other person if not you...and Daddy."
I hold her small fingers in my hand. "Daddy and I want you to be safe until all this is over. But sometimes safe means away from us."
She stared at me.
"But we never want to give you away."
"I understand. I understand everything, mommy."
"I don't know how long it will take, sweetheart."
She nodded, "I understand."
This time I sat at the piano, staring at the keys, after the omegas finally got the courage to chase me out of the kitchen. I hadn't played ever since I came back here and I usually played for Rey.
It was an expensive purchase but Rachel had gotten us a pianoforte when I asked her to back then. I played every after dinner to calm my depression. I played to put Rey to sleep. And I also played because Rachel liked it...and I liked it. It reminded me of my parents.
Touching the keys now felt strange. I feared the aching in my heart would make my fingers stumble horribly on them, but it made me fluent. What came out of me was sad.
Sometimes I liked how the notes reflected exactly what was in my heart.
I closed my eyes and brought my mind back to my daughter's. Ayla had kept a spell on her land. I couldn't peek through Rey's eyes to see what she was doing. But I could hear her links every night.
Nick and I had told her to link us every day and tell us how she was doing.
