“My delusions?” I laughed bitterly. “Lady, I don’t want your psycho boyfriend. You can have him.”
“I intend to. But first, let’s discuss your... children.” The way she said the word made it sound dirty. “Your bastards. His dirty little secret that he’s desperately trying to hide.”
“Don’t talk about my children.” My voice dropped to a dangerous level.
“Oh, the half-breeds?” She smiled wider, showing teeth that looked too sharp. “I can smell them on you. Mongrels. Mutts. Neither wolf nor human, belonging nowhere.”
“Shut your fucking mouth.” My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms.
“The truth hurts? Here’s more truth for you.” She leaned closer, her perfume cloying and artificial. “Knox’s parents arrive next week. Marcus and Serena Raven. They eat humans like you for breakfast. Literally, in some cases.”
My blood ran cold at her obvious delight in my horror.
“They’ll take one look at those aberrations you call children and demand Knox fix his mistake. And he will. He always does what daddy tells him.” She straightened, smoothing her dress. “Run now, little human. Take your mongrels and disappear before the real wolves decide you’re more trouble than entertainment.”
I stepped closer to her, close enough to see her perfect makeup and smell her expensive perfume mixed with the wild scent all werewolves carried. “Call my children mongrels again. I dare you.”
“Mongrels,” Mary repeated slowly, savoring each syllable. “Mong-rels.”
My fist connected with her perfect face before I consciously decided to move. The crack of impact was satisfying until her head snapped back into place, nose already healing from what should have been a break.
“You little bitch!” She lunged at me with inhuman speed.
We crashed into Noah’s coffee table, wood splintering under our combined weight. Her nails raked across my arm, drawing blood, but my new strength surprised us both. I wasn’t justholding my own against a werewolf; I was actually landing hits that made her grunt in pain.
We rolled across the floor, a tangle of limbs and fury. She got her hands around my throat but I drove my knee into her stomach, forcing her to release me. My elbow caught her jaw and her fist found my ribs in return.
“Mama?”
The small voices froze us both mid-grapple.
The twins stood in the doorway. Thea clutched Mr. Unicorn while Rowan held his sister’s hand, both staring at us with wide eyes.
“Why are you fighting the mean lady?” Thea asked in a trembling voice.
Mary shoved me off with brutal strength, standing and smoothing her hair as if we hadn’t just been trying to kill each other. “These are the mongrels?” She looked at them with such disgust it made my blood boil all over again. “Pathetic. They even smell wrong. Tainted.”
“GET OUT!” The roar that came from my throat didn’t sound human. It carried power I didn’t know I possessed, authority that made even Mary step back in surprise.
She touched her throat where bruises were already forming. “This isn’t over. You’re nothing but a temporary inconvenience.”
“Leave now or I’ll show you just how inconvenient I can be.”
“Enjoy your time while it lasts,” she hissed, backing toward the door. “You have your days counted. Once his parents arrive, once the pack votes, you’ll be nothing but a bad memory.”
The door slammed behind her hard enough to rattle the windows.
I stood there shaking, knuckles bloody, ribs aching, adrenaline making everything feel surreal. My children stared at me with tears streaming down their faces.
“Mama?” Thea was crying openly now. “Are we really mongrels? Are we tainted? Is that why the mean lady hurt you?”
“No, baby. No.” I dropped to my knees and pulled them both into my arms, ignoring the protest from my battered body. “You’re perfect. You’re my perfect babies and anyone who says otherwise can go to hell.”
“But she said we smell wrong,” Rowan whispered against my shoulder. “She said we don’t belong anywhere.”
“She’s a jealous, cruel person who wanted to hurt us with words.” I pulled back to look at their faces, thumbing away their tears. “You belong with me. Always. And you smell like my favorite people in the whole world.”
“You were really strong,” Rowan said, his observant nature not dimmed by trauma.
