"I am." She pointed at Randall's still form. "He threatened the kids."
"He threatened you, too."
"I don't care about me." A sob escaped her throat. "I can't believe I beat him."
Sarah pulled her into an embrace. "You did what any good mother would do."
"The kids are okay?"
"They're fine. Mom took them back to her house."
"Where's Ty?" Valerie's voice was muffled against Sarah's shoulder.
"He's around here somewhere. He was frantic. I was just faster."
Growling suddenly echoed all around them, a deep, raw, guttural sound. Valerie stepped back, and they both spun toward the sound. A huge wolf stood where Randall had been. In their embrace, they had missed him shifting.
Sarah pushed Valerie back. "He can't fight both of us at once, especially if one of us is a--"
Randall launched himself at Valerie before Sarah even finished her sentence. Valerie threw her hands up in an attempt to block his assault, but the force of his weight as it collided with her knocked her over backwards. She fell flat on her back, and Randall jumped up on her chest. His mouth foamed in the moonlight as he bared his teeth.
Valerie closed her eyes, knowing she couldn't beat him this time. She waited for the pain, but a sudden burst of light made her look up. A stream of flame hit Randall in the side and knocked him to the ground. She scrambled out of the way as another stream of fire joined the first. She turned to look, and Sarah and Tyson stood side by side. Within moments, Randall's wolf had been incinerated.
Tyson immediately shifted back and dropped down on his knees next to her. "Are you okay?"
She blinked as she stared at the smouldering heap of ash. "I'm fine. Better than he is."
Sarah shifted back, too. "That felt good." She glanced at Valerie. "I think. It did, right?"
Tyson helped Valerie to her feet, and she brushed herself off. "You're damned straight it's a good thing." Relief flooded through her. "I'll never have to worry about him again."
Valerie threw her arms around Tyson. "Come on. Let's go home."
He kissed the side of her neck. "I've never heard sweeter words."
Chapter Twenty Four: Reconnecting
Tyson “Ty” Hale
The entire family was in the living room of Vinia's home, and one by one, they took turns cuddling Mitchell, who was loving every second of all of the attention.
As Valerie took her son back, Tyson looked at each person. They all shook their heads no. Relief made his heart skip a beat as he stared at Valerie.
"He doesn't have the gene. We would be able to detect it by now if he did."
"Even though he's not five yet?"
Tyson nodded. "Baby wolves may not be able to shift until they're five, but if he was a shifter, we would already know."
"That's why Randall was so frustrated. He knew it, too, but he couldn't admit it without automatically losing his alpha status." Valerie shook his head. "And he would have killed Mitchell if he had given him that injection."
Colton nodded. "Exactly."
Valerie snarled. "He's lucky he's already dead."
It had been almost two months since that night in the woods, and life at the ranch had settled into a comfortable, familiar pattern. Valerie had gone ahead with the divorce, which had been easy to finalize after Randall's death was announced. While it was unnecessary considering he was dead, Valerie had wanted the paperwork making it official.
Each member of the family had spent time around MItchell since, but today had been their deadline to make their final determinations. In all the weeks that had passed, no one had gotten even a glimpse of anything wolf-like from the little boy. And with Londyn having the same lack of detection on the dragons' parts, they felt secure in their conclusion that Randall had failed to produce an heir.
