Xander didn’t know how to act with the robot in the back seat.  Regina was so happy about Silver, talking day and night about the things Silver was doing. It sounded like the woman was alive, but now that he had seen her, he doubted Regina. 

She didn’t smile, laugh or even move during the whole car ride. With the children in the back, he expected her to smile and play with them. But even as Mary babbled and Rich giggled, Silver remained still. He had never seen anything like this.  

Regina didn’t seem to notice the same things he did. She smiled as she drove, talking on and on about her family and how excited she was.  

It wasn’t expected that everyone related to the Royal Family would pick up and travel across the globe, but most of the family had gathered. Cousins who didn’t even know they had more family out there. To protect themselves, they hid, who knows how many people out there are distant relatives somehow.  

Regina on the other hand was full of excitement. 

Cornielia had told her before they left on this mission that they were gathering family. Months later and most of the people who said they were coming were settling down in the Jansen pack. And the others that couldn’t travel or were busy were going to be calling in or watching videos later. 

It was almost 120 years after the Royal Family was attacked and had to disperse. Finally, they were going to be a family again. 

She had so many things to show her family, baby Rich being one along with her other children. 

Then there was the fact that they finally had Mathias and from what they knew, no more Blood Wolves could be created. Things were finally coming together and Regina couldn’t hold in all her energy. 

If the roads were good, they could make it to the pack house within a day. Of course, that doesn’t count numerous bathroom breaks, feeding breaks and needing to get out to move around; wolves don’t do well sitting still for hours on end.  

The sun was setting as they pulled into a little town, hoping to find a hotel for the night. They still had several hours to go and they were all exhausted.  

“Sammy, Nora, grab the bags. Come on Mary Berry, hold onto my hand.” 

Xander directed as he opened doors, leaving Regina with Silver and Rich. The barely awake toddler nodded, listening to her father and clutching his hand. With one direction from Regina, Silver followed along like a puppy. 

‘You okay?’ Regina directed the thought to Sammy who was rubbing her hands together and kept looking around; usually she didn’t have this much energy. 

Sammy nodded, closing the doors and following the small family into the little Inn they had found.  

“Good evening, welcome to th-” 

The young man’s soft voice halted as Sammy closed the front door. Xander shared a smile with Regina as the man stared at Sammy, who was staring back. Her wolf eyes were showing which was a clear sign of what was happening. 

Sammy was mates with this young boy. 

“Erm, welcome to the Jayden, I’m Barker’s Stop. How can I help you?” 

Nora let out a giggle as Sammy smiled. Realizing his mistake, the poor boy’s skin darkened.  

Xander didn’t let his sputtering stop him, stepping forward to order some rooms.  

Jayden couldn’t get a word out and coming to his rescue was an older woman with a motherly smile.  

“Forgive Jay, he doesn’t do well with strangers and we don’t get many people at this time. How can I help you lovely people?” 

‘He’s kinda cute.’ Nora shared through the family link; it was Sammy’s turn to blush. ‘You two would make such darling babies!’ 

Sammy slapped her sister’s arm, causing eyes to draw to the two of them. Nora just smiled and waved while Sammy ducked her head. 

“Thank you for your help, have a good evening.” 

Regina watched as Sammy crawled to the hallway where their rooms were. The first time she had met Xander, she didn’t want to leave his sight for a second. All wolves recognized the pull, even the old woman had a knowing smile. 

‘Go on, do something!’ 

Regina looked up to see the woman doing the same with Jayden.  

Yet neither one said anything.  

“For goodness's sake!” Nora came stomping down the hall, making the group jerk up at her entrance. “Jayden, this is my sister Sammy, she recently turned 18 and she loves pineapple on her pizza. Sammy, this dude is hot and this is your chance, take it. Jayden, step up, my sister is hot and she is one of a kind.” 

Silence filled the room, both targets smiling at each other. 

“Pineapple on pizza? Who does that?” 

Regina and Nora started to walk away as Jayden spoke. 

“What? It adds flavor. Like adding honey on a ham and cheese sandwich.” 

Mother and daughter laughed as the new couple finally was able to share a couple of words. Down the hall, Xander left the door open as he tucked Mary Fae into bed. 

“Sleep tight Mary Berry, I love you, my princess.” 

“Love you Xixi. And love Gigi and Rora and Sammy. And baby Richi.” 

Regina chuckled at her good night declaration, needing to say I love you to everyone in her family. It was a good thing she fell asleep or else she would have started talking about grandparents and cousins. She did that once, Regina didn’t want to go through that again. 

“I’m gonna stay up with you guys, I need to get details from Sam.” 

Xander crossed his arms, assuming dad position as Regina laid Richard down. 

“I don’t like this. He lives out here, a whole day away! Are we supposed to let her move out? Or do we ask him to move down to us? I don’t even know if long distance would work for a newly mated werewolf couple? What if he breaks her heart? Or she gets hurt because he-” 

Regina shut him up with a kiss, stepping back to let him breathe.  

‘Sammy is not going to disappear in one night. Your little girl will be back and chitchatting your other baby. No need to worry Xan.’ 

Nora just laughed, falling to the couch and pulling out her phone. 

With everyone settled, Regina turned to Silver. She was by the wall, staring ahead completely still. 

‘Get dressed and ready for bed, brushing teeth, hair and using the bathroom.’ 

Silver obeyed, leaving the couple alone.  

“Do you know what’s going on with her? She doesn’t seem normal.” 

‘Normal is such a horrible word.’ Regina walked away, falling to the large bed. ‘Think about it Xan, she was in some time of prison of practically her whole life, 15 whole years. She didn’t get a childhood or any teenage years. Of course, she’s different.’ 

Xander followed, joining her in a private link. ‘Still, what do we do with her? She obviously won’t talk to a therapist; I don’t even know if she can speak English. How do we help someone who isn’t even there?’ 

‘We give her time and support.’ She leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling at Nora. ‘Things will all work out in the end Xander. Believe in me and believe in fate.’ 

Sammy came back almost a whole hour later along with the sound of a bell. Nora stood up, smirking at her sister who was beaming.  

“So...” 

“Shut up Nora.” 

“Oh come on! Ya love me.” 

Samantha sat on the other side of the couch, making a big motion of pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Doesn’t mean I gotta like you.” 

The two continued to bicker as Regina and Xander watched. Eventually Silver came out and the girls went to their connected room next door. Peace enveloped the group as they fell asleep. 

____

Samantha was usually one to do things on time and in order. Yet the next morning, she was the last one up, dragging her feet and slowly crawling. Nora thought it as all one big joke, making snarky comments and the such. As much as Regina understood, they really needed to get on the road to reach the pack house before lunch.  

It brought up the big problem, Sammy’s mate was miles away from where they lived and mates don’t do well apart. But how could you ask one person to leave their family behind? 

By the time they were ready to check out, Sammy was lingering at the doorway, unwilling to move. 

‘Sammy, I will make sure and Jayden are able to work things out.’ 

She looked up at her mother, was able to give a weak smile before walking out and closing the door behind her.  

Jayden apparently had the same thought, he stood in front of the desk, holding his hands together. 

“Hey there Sammy, so, um, I wanted to talk to you about something really quick if, um, that’s okay?” 

“Go ahead Jay, I’ll check them out.”  

Xander went over to the desk, talking to the woman while Sammy went to Jayden.  

“I know I live pretty far but I talked to Luci and if it’s alright with you I’d like to move down to Montana.” 

That grabbed Xander’s attention. He jerked around; eyebrow raised at the man. 

“I’m actually an orphan because of an accident, Luci raised me because we are in the same pack. I love my family here, but I’d rather move than ask you to leave everything behind.” 

Silence followed and was broken by Xander’s loud laugh and a slap to Jayden’s shoulder. The man was somewhat bulky so he didn’t shake must, but he was defiantly startled by Xander’s reaction.  

“Now this is a fine man, Sammy, I don’t think we need to worry about him.” 

Xander went back to the desk, finished up with Luci and Jayden came back with two suitcases. 

Sammy opened her mouth to talk but Jayden peat her to the punch.  

“Luci will be sending me more stuff; these are just clothes and things I’ll need or don’t want to lose.” 

Jay went back to give one last hug to Luci then followed his mate out the door and to the car. For the first time in their marriage, Xander was glad he had a truck that could fit 8 people. He liked cars, they were easier to drive but Regina insisted on getting something bigger.  

Nora was smiling the whole time, Sammy was the skinniest so she was stuck in the middle with Jayden on her other side. This gave her the power to squish the new couple closer and gave her the chance to laugh at their blushing faces.  

The only thing was that with Jayden’s dark skin tone, it didn’t stick out nearly as much as when Sammy blushed. Nora was going to enjoy this ride.  

Regina knew the house was gonna be big, but when Xander made that turn, her mouth dropped open.  

The house was several stories tall and sprawled across a wide-open field. She had no idea how they go the money to make such a house; if you could even call it that. It was more like a cabin that took a growth potion into a mansion.  

“It’s so big! I could fit so many marshmallows!” 

“Yes,” the car laughed at Mary’s comment. “I bet it would fit thousands.” 

“Nora is thinking too small, maybe even millions.” 

Regina glanced back to see her baby’s eyes blown wide in magical amusement at Sammy’s words. 

Cars filled the small parking lot and people were everywhere in brightly colored shirts. As they pulled in closer, Regina could see people with phones or papers, walking around, sitting at tables and going into the house. It looked like some kind of carnival. 

Xander parked the car and Regina turned as far as she could to look Mary Fae in the eyes.  

‘Look at me Berry.’ Once Regina saw her joy filled eyes, she continued. ‘There are a lot of people here so I need you to stay with Nora, Sammy and Jayden or me and Gigi. Now, what do you say if you get lost?’ 

Mary sat tall, ready to say what had been drilled into her. 

“Stay still, call for an andult, and say I’m the baby of Regina and Xander Cooley.” 

‘Good girl.’ 

With that, the family poured out of the car, Rich in Xander’s arms and Silver attacked to Regina.  

Right off the bat, a woman came to talk to them. She was about average height with bright blonde hair and a cheery smile. 

“Hi there, English? Espanol? Française? Zhōngguó rén?” 

“We all speak English, nice welcome party.” 

“Thank you, so over there,” She pointed over her shoulder at a table. “We have name tags and t-shirts. It’s up to you but we have shirts for which child you are, just some kind of way to organize everyone. We also have some simple translation papers for those that don’t speak the same language. Enjoy your time here!” 

She ran off, talking to another car that had parked. 

‘I like what they have done, very well organized.’ 

‘We should have them plan our parties Gina, I bet they would do it perfectly.’ 

They made their way over to the table, everyone staring in awe. There were so many people of all sorts of colors and sizes. From tall, and pale, short and round and others with dark skin and long braided hair. There were grandparents sitting in chairs, children running around and parents flittering about.  

Regina couldn’t have been happier.