Chapter 6: Breaking Points

Mary Charles Hemstrong stood in the private medical facility on the edge of pack territory, tapping her manicured nails against the reception desk while the lab technician processed her request.

The hair sample was sealed in a small plastic bag in her purse, collected so easily from that child it had almost been disappointing.

"The DNA comparison will take approximately forty-eight hours," the technician said, sliding a form across the counter for her to sign. "We'll call you as soon as the results are ready."

Mary signed with a flourish and left without another word.

Two days to confirm what she already suspected, what she'd seen in her husband's face when he came home rattled and distracted after running into his past, and now inviting his old mate who has a child that looks exactly like him.

Two days to plan what she would do if that child turned out to be his.

She drove back toward town with her mind already working through possibilities and contingencies, because Mary hadn't gotten where she was by leaving things to chance.

She'd married Dynan three years ago knowing exactly what she was signing up for, knowing that being an alpha's wife meant playing the long game and protecting her position at all costs.

A child from his past shouldn't have been a threat, not really.

Dynan had been with other women before her and Mary had never cared because those relationships were finished and irrelevant.

But the way he'd looked when he came home that day, the way he'd been so desperate to lose himself in her body like he was trying to forget something, that had set off every alarm bell in her.

Meanwhile across town, Daggy sat in her mother's living room trying to explain what had happened at the palace while Britty napped upstairs.

Mitchell listened with her hands folded in her lap, her expression growing more troubled with each detail.

"So they just arrested him?" Mitchell asked when Daggy finished. "Without any evidence or explanation?"

"They said he stole something but Lincoln swears he didn't take anything."

Daggy rubbed her temples, exhaustion and stress. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Mama. Everything feels like it's falling apart."

Mitchell stood and moved to put the kettle on, her way of dealing with crisis by making tea. "Have you heard from him since they took him?"

"No, and when I tried to go back to ask Dynan what was happening, the guards told me the alpha was busy and I should go home."

Daggy's voice cracked on the last word because she didn't even know where home was anymore. "They wouldn't tell me anything except that Lincoln was being held for questioning."

"Maybe this is a blessing in disguise," Mitchell said carefully. "Maybe this is the universe giving you a chance to step back and really look at your marriage."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daggy said, taking a cup of tea from her mother.

"I mean that you've been carrying a lot of secrets, baby. Secrets about Britty's father, secrets about why you really left pack territory, and now you're discovering that Lincoln might have secrets of his own."

Mitchell reached over and squeezed her knee gently. "Sometimes things have to break before they can be rebuilt properly."

Daggy wanted to argue but her phone buzzed with a text from the hospital and her heart dropped before she even read it.

"It's Dad," she whispered, reading the message twice to make sure she understood. "They're saying I should come now, that his vitals are dropping and it might be time."

Mitchell's face went pale and she set her tea down with shaking hands. "I'll get my purse, we need to go."

They rushed upstairs to wake Britty and explain that they needed to go back to the hospital, and Daggy held herself together through sheer force of will because falling apart wasn't an option right now.

Her daughter needed her to be strong, and her father needed her to be there for whatever came next.

The hospital was quiet when they arrived, and her father looked smaller somehow, diminished by illness and the machines that had been keeping him alive for the past few weeks.

Mitchell went straight to his bedside and took his hand, tears already streaming down her face.

Daggy hung back with Britty, trying to shield her daughter from the worst of it while her own heart was breaking.

"Mitchell," her father rasped, his voice barely audible. "You're here."

"I'm here, love. I'm right here." Mitchell pressed his hand to her cheek, her whole body shaking with suppressed sobs.

He turned his head slightly and his eyes found Daggy. "Baby girl, come closer."

Daggy moved to the other side of the bed, still holding Britty's hand. "I'm here, Daddy."

"Take care of your mother," he said, each word an effort. "And that beautiful granddaughter of mine. Don't let anyone hurt them."

"I won't," Daggy promised, her vision blurring with tears. "I promise."

Her father smiled, just a little, and then his eyes drifted closed. The machines started beeping, alarms going off as his vitals crashed, and nurses rushed in to push them back from the bed.

Daggy pulled Britty into the hallway while Mitchell refused to leave, her voice breaking as she begged her husband to stay with her just a little longer.

But he was already gone, slipping away while Daggy stood helpless in the corridor with her crying daughter and no idea how to fix any of the broken pieces of her life.

The nurses came out ten minutes later with Mitchell between them, her legs barely holding her up, and the look on her mother's face told Daggy everything she needed to know.

Her father was dead. Lincoln was in a palace cell for crimes she wasn't sure he'd committed.

Dynan knew about Britty and was probably already planning his next move.

Daggy held her mother and daughter while they all cried together in the hospital hallway, and she wondered if this was rock bottom or if there was still further to fall.