2-Laying the Plans

"What are you girls whispering about now?" Ingrid asks her daughters as they get ready to leave for work.

“Nothing, just our new jobs,” Ada smiles at her mother.

“Ada, lying to everyone else comes as natural as breathing to you. I, however, know when you are full of shit,” Ingrid stares at her daughter. “Speak the truth, or I will have King Lewis remove you from the floor and put you in the dungeon.”

Ada goes wide eyed as she stares at her mother. Of all she-wolves, Ada knows Ingrid will not put up with all this. Ada will spend the night in a cell if she lies to her mother again.

“We were discussing ways to be noticed by the Crown Prince,” Ada admits.

“Well, I can tell you, having met the boy several times, he likes intelligence above everything, modesty, honesty, and loyalty,” Ingrid can’t help the smile on her face as she remembers Bär’s last visit a few months ago.

He came to see Lewis but started a conversation with Ingrid about running the household that ended only as the sun went down.

“Mom?” Emma asks with a smile. “Where did you go?”

“What are you talking about?” Ingrid asks, shaking her head to clear the thoughts.

“You were daydreaming,” Ada says, with raise eyebrows.

“Oh, that is completely ridiculous,” Ingrid rubs her head. “I guess with you girls being grown and not needed me, my wolf and I may be ready to accept what happens to widows.”

“MOM!” Emma hugs Ingrid tightly. “You can’t give up now. We still need you. We don’t have a mate yet; you have to be there when we find him. You can’t leave us.”

Ingrid holds Emma to her.

“It was bound to happen one day girls,” Ingrid sees sadness take over Ada as well. Ingrid opens an arm and Ada piles in. “I may not live to see forty, but I got to see you two grow up. That is about all I can ask for.”

“She-wolves live 150 to almost 200 years. You are only 37,” Ada tells her mother as she fights holding back tears.

“Oh, I know my darling,” Ingrid kisses their heads. “I promise to fight as long as I can. I promise to be here as long as I can.”

“I’m going to pray the goddess gives you a second chance. I’m going to pray for it,” Emma says, not holding back tears at all.

“Me too, Mom, me too,” Ada adds.

Ingrid’s phone goes off reminding them to leave for work.

“We need to go girls, can’t be late,” Ingrid rushes them out the door.

At the Palace, the girls hurry to the top floor to start their day.

They start in what will be Bär’s room. While Ingrid begins her own day.

She starts by making the coffee and checking emails. She sees three new invitations for events that will happen after Caleb and Lewis are retired, so these will be for Bär. She puts them to the side to call him after lunch when he will be returning to his office in New York from training.

Lewis comes in and they discuss what needs to be done while each having a cup of coffee.

“The girls mentioned you drifted this morning,” Lewis starts as they are about to break for lunch.

“Oh, that was different,” Ingrid admits.

“If you need a break, I’m sure we can arrange it,” Lewis offers.

“Oh, thank you, but I’m about to be unemployed and I’m mateless. There are worst ways to end a life,” Ingrid smiles.

“So, you are resolved?”

Ingrid nods. “On the day I lost my mate I knew, I knew every day was a gift from then on. I’ve lived long enough to see my girls grown. I would like to see my grandchildren, but the goddess has her own plans.”

Lewis wipes a tear away.

“You will be missed old friend.”

Ingrid nods and they go to the dining hall for lunch.

Ingrid sits with the she-wolves her age while the girls sit off to the side with other young people.

“You sure you want to take it that far?” Emma asks as she sees Ada put the pheromone spray in her pocket.

Ada had it mixed at the apothecary and left before lunch to pick it up.

“You need to give me some of your sweat and skin too. We are identical. No one will believe I am mated to the Crown Prince unless you are too,” Ada tells Emma in a soft whisper.

“I want my fated mate,” Emma tells Ada.

Ada slowly stands and motions for Emma to follow.

When they are out of sight and earshot, Ada slaps Emma across the face.

“Don’t ever say that again. Unless our fated mate is Bär, we will reject whomever we get. We will reject him. You and I will do it,” Ada demands of her sister.

“I don’t want to,” Emma shakes her head.

Ada sees sweat beading off of Emma’s head. She takes the collection slip out of her pocket and collects a sample.

“I’ll tell Mom, I’ll tell the Kings,” Emma warns as Ada rips her hair out of her head.

“No, you won’t, Emma,” Ada tells her. “You won’t because you will feel anything that happens to me. If I am whipped, you will you feel it. If I die, you will break in half. Wolves can survive losing a mate, Mom is living proof. But no wolf ever survives losing their twin. There is not a single wolf strong enough for that. So, you are tied to me. You can’t turn me in for this, the punishment for what I am planning is death. And you are not strong enough Emma, you will never be strong enough to continue to live if I die. So, suck it up, buttercup. You are all in for all of it. Just like me.”

Emma falls to her knees crying as Ada marches away back to get more spray. Bär will be here in two weeks. The countdown has begun.