“Fuck him,” she said, but her voice wavered. “He’s never been a good father anyway.”
“That’s funny,” Ryder said. “Because from what I hear, he gave you everything. Opportunities. Resources. A pack that would have welcomed you if you hadn’t been so determined to destroy everyone around you. But you couldn’t stand that I chose someone else. Couldn’t accept that Jasmine was my mate and you were just a girl with a crush.”
“I was more than that!” Mira screamed, and now she was shaking. Really shaking, her whole body trembling with rage and pain. “I was supposed to be your luna! Your mother promised me! She said if I just waited, if I just got rid of Jasmine, you would see-”
“My mother was wrong,” Ryder cut her off. “And so were you. Jasmine is my mate. She always has been. And nothing you did, nothing you could ever do, was going to change that.”
The fight seemed to drain out of Mira all at once. Her shoulders slumped, her grip on Thomas loosening just slightly. She looked lost. Broken.
Now I understood why Mira and Mary had become friends. Why they’d found each other and bonded so quickly. They were the same. Both of them insane. Both of them so wrapped up in their own egos that they couldn’t see how wrong they were. The same mental issues, the same inability to accept that the world didn’t revolve around what they wanted.
Two broken women who had enabled each other’s worst impulses.
That’s when footsteps sounded in the woods.
Everyone tensed, hands going to weapons, claws extending. Was it more rogues? Reinforcements? Some new threat?
But then a deep voice rang out through the clearing.
“Thank you for letting all of us know how you feel.”
A man stepped out of the trees.
He was tall. Really tall, with broad shoulders and a face that looked like it had been carved from stone. His eyes were cold and hard, sweeping over the scene with an authority that made even our wolves back up a step.
I had never met him before, but I knew immediately who he was.
Jackson Bennett. Alpha of Shadowcrest Pack. Mira’s father.
Oh shit.
Mira’s eyes went wide as plates. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, her voice cracking. “You made it very clear I wasn’t welcome around you or the pack anymore when I came asking for help.”
Jackson stopped at the edge of the clearing, his gaze fixed on his daughter. His expression was hard to read. Disappointment, maybe. Weariness. The look of a parent who had tried everything and failed.
“I’m here,” he said slowly, “because even when I cut all ties with you, you’re still dragging our pack and our family name through the mud with your actions. I thought I could leave you alone to live your life, that maybe without my influence you would finally learn to be a decent person. But you’re not even capable of that.”
He took a step forward, and something changed in Mira’s face. Not fear exactly. Something sadder. Like a little kid who had disappointed someone they desperately wanted to impress. Despite everything, despite all the horrible things she’d done, some part of her still craved her father’s approval.
And he was standing there telling her she would never have it.
“So I’ll be taking you back to Shadowcrest,” Jackson continued. “Where I can monitor every damn breath you take. Where you’ll be under guard every second of every day. Where you will never, ever be able to hurt anyone again.”
Mira swallowed hard. “No,” she said, and her claws moved closer to Thomas. “I’m not going anywhere with any of you.”
“Wait!”
The word tore out of my throat before I could think about it. Everyone turned to look at me, staring like I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had. Maybe what I was about to suggest was the dumbest idea I’d ever had. But I couldn’t see any other way out of this that didn’t end with those babies getting hurt.
“I was your original target,” I said, looking directly at Mary. “All of this, everything you’ve done, it was about me. About getting revenge on me for taking Knox from you. Right?”
Mary’s eyes narrowed. “What’s your point?”
“My point is that I’m the one you want to hurt. Not the babies. Not Cole. Not anyone else. Me.” I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “So let’s settle this. A challenge. Me against one of you. If you win, you walk away. We let you go, no pursuit, no consequences. If I win, you give us the babies right now. Unscathed.”
Mary and Mira looked at each other.
