I remembered standing between her and Knox, refusing to back down. Remembered everything we’d done to get past her, to build our life together despite her attempts to tear us apart.
There were still a few gaps, still some moments I couldn’t quite grasp. But I had almost everything now. Almost all of my life was back where it belonged.
In the end, fucking Mary Thorne was useful for something.
“I enjoyed my time with Knox,” Mary said, a cruel smile spreading across her face. “We got to reacquaint ourselves like old times-”
“Stop lying,” I cut her off. I was done listening to her bullshit. Done playing her games. “You don’t want him anymore. Now all you want is to hurt me.”
Mary’s smile disappeared. Something ugly twisted across her features, her eyes going wild and bright with hatred. She stepped forward, jostling Blake in her arms, and my baby started crying harder. Thomas, hearing Blake’s cries, joined in, his wails piercing the night air.
“And with reason!” Mary snarled. “You took everything from me, bitch! Everything! My father is rotting in jail because of you! My baby isn’t heir of the pack because of your bastard kids! You’re the cause of everything that’s fucking wrong in my life!”
Spit flew from her mouth as she screamed. She looked insane. Completely, utterly insane, standing there with my baby in her arms, blaming me for every bad thing that had ever happened to her.
I wanted to tear her apart. Wanted to rip Blake out of her grip and make Mary pay for every threat, every attack, every moment of fear she had caused. But I couldn’t move. Couldn’t risk her hurting my daughter in retaliation.
Someone stepped up beside me.
“That’s not true,” Cole said quietly.
His eyes were glued to Thomas, crying in Mira’s arms. I could see the pain on his face, the desperate longing.
“Please, Mary,” he said, and his voice was softer now. Almost gentle. “Give us the babies. Let us take them somewhere warm. Feed them. Put them to sleep. They’ve been through so much already. They’re scared and hungry and they need to be cared for. Whatever you want from us, whatever revenge you’re looking for, the babies don’t deserve to be part of it.”
For a second, just a second, I thought I saw something flicker in Mary’s eyes. Hesitation, maybe. Or doubt. But then it was gone, replaced by that familiar burning hatred.
“You,” she snarled at Cole. “You shut the fuck up. You tried to take my baby from me. You made sure Knox knew the baby was yours! Worst mistake of my fucking life, letting you get close enough to figure it out.”
Cole tensed beside me, anger radiating off him.
“I wasn’t trying to keep Thomas away from you,” he said, his voice strained. “It wasn’t jail, Mary. It was a guarded house where you could be with him while serving your sentence. And I told you we’d raise him together until he was eighteen and could choose who he wanted to live with. How is that taking him away from you?”
He shook his head, something like disgust crossing his features. “You’re selfish and unstable. I thought the delivery had changed you, thought maybe becoming a mother would help you see things differently. But it only made you worse.”
Mary actually flinched at that. For just a moment, hurt flickered across her face. Real hurt, like Cole’s words had actually gotten through whatever walls of crazy she’d built around herself.
But then Mira stepped forward, her arm tightening around Thomas.
“Let us out of here,” she said, her voice cold and controlled. “Let us walk away, and you might see your babies again when they’re older. If you try to take us by force, the babies will bear the consequences.”
She flexed her claws, letting them catch the moonlight. Letting us see how close they were to Thomas’s tiny body.
Crazy bitch. Crazy, evil bitch who was threatening to hurt a baby just to save her own skin.
“You’re not leaving this place with those kids,” a voice growled from behind me.
Ryder walked out of the cabin door, his face hard as stone, his eyes locked on Mira. He looked dangerous in a way I hadn’t seen before, all that friendly charm stripped away to reveal the alpha beneath.
Mira froze when she saw him.
“Hello, Mira,” Ryder said, his voice dripping with contempt. “Your father sends his regards.”
Mira’s eyes went huge. “He - he knows-?”
“Yes. I spoke to him. Told him exactly what his daughter had been up to. How she’d been helping to kidnap babies and terrorize innocent people.” Ryder smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “He was disappointed. Again. Said he thought cutting you off would make you finally grow up. Guess he was wrong.”
Mira’s face did something strange. Not hurt exactly, but something close to it. A tightening around her eyes, a slight tremor in her lips. Like she was fighting to keep her composure.
