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The days that followed saw new alliances formed, sealed by betrothals and weddings. Jessica gave full permission for Rose to be betrothed to one of the former enemy pack members, and Gloria was likewise promised, ensuring the Black Cold pack lived on despite Asher's efforts to have the pack eradicated.
Robin, for her part, was happy to return to the packhouse in Albany, content to run her own pack again, but lasting friendships had been made, and many were the visits between the packhouses as Asher's former alliance broke up and made friends with the packs they'd been coerced to join. Maria continued to offer advice to her daughter-in-law, but in the months after the battle, she gave advice less and less when Robin proved a quick study. The presence of her mother-in-law provided comfort, however, and Robin treasured the quiet evenings when it was just the two of them, talking over late night coffees, much as she had done with Satine. Her former housekeeper had found new happiness with Roger's brother Simon, who proved to be as good a man as his brother, but Robin resisted the urge to seek out a new mate of her own. She knew Ashton wouldn't want her to be alone, but Asher's treatment had left scars that even the most steadfast love hadn't been able to heal, and she knew it would be quite a few years before she even considered letting another man into her life.
She did have one consolation; Jo had escaped being conscripted, and now that Asher's rule was broken, he visited the packhouse in Albany as often as he was able to. He also spent a lot of time with his mother, rebuilding the relationship Asher had tried to destroy, and Robin was pleased to see her stepson had turned into a fine young man, far removed from the bratty teenager she'd first met so many years ago.
In short, she reflected, as the months rolled by, she had everything she could have ever wished for. She had a pack who was loyal to her, her two children were growing up safe and loved, her stepson was now her biggest fan, and she was free, answerable to no man or woman, able to live her life as she wished. She knew her father would be proud to see his daughter had come out on top, and Rosa, who was a frequent visitor to the Albany packhouse, was relieved things had turned out so well.
"I do regret being forced to sell you," she told her daughter, "but at least now you're living a good life, and you seem to be gathering quite a loyal following."
"I'm everything Asher wasn't," Robin said with a rueful smile. "It's my mission to replace his legacy of tyranny with one of acceptance and understanding. It's up to the new generation to do with those lessons as they will. Take Jo. He was the rudest bastard around when I first met him, and now he wants to be my Beta when Maria retires. How's that for a turnaround?"
"I take it you're going to accept?" Rosa asked shrewdly.
Robin shrugged. "He's a good young man now," she said. "I think he'll do fine, and Maria's already endorsed him in any case. Satine is over the moon, and she's threatened to give me a good hiding if I don't take him on."
Rosa smiled and squeezed her daughter's hand. "Then that's all I can ask for," she said. "I'm just glad you're not too mad at me."
"I was furious," Robin admitted, "and I admit I almost didn't want to forgive you. But I realised you had no other choice, and god knows what would have happened to us otherwise. And in a way, I'm thankful for the lessons the experience taught me, and I'd go through it all again to come out on the other side and see a much brighter future for the generation to come after us."
"You're going to remembered long after you cross the Wheel," Rosa predicted.
"I'd settle for being remembered as the alpha who showed a better way," Robin said, laughing. "Now come on! I've got to show you what Maria's done with the greenhouse. To hear her tell it, she singlehandedly brought it back from the brink, and I can't say that she isn't half telling the truth, because in reality, she probably did."
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