Chapter 4

My claws were inches from his trembling lashes when a powerful blow knocked my arm aside.

Lucas stood in front of Mark, his face hard.

"You were really going to kill him right in front of everyone?"

The guards who'd run off came back with more wolves and closed in around us.

Gasps broke out around me, and everyone looked at me with suspicion and hostility.

Then a shriek cut through the noise.

Mina stared into his lifeless eyes, and her knees gave way beneath her.

She'd been trying to move the "fake body" out of the way when she realized it was real!

Her brother was dead!

Mina threw herself against Lucas, her eyes full of hate.

"Lucas! She killed my brother! She's openly challenging you as Alpha!

"Break her bond with Mark right now! Throw her out of the pack!

"No. That's not enough.

"Kill her! She has to pay for my brother's death!"

The looks on their faces made me laugh in fury.

"A life for a life?

"My mother, the Luna, devoted herself to the Moon Goddess for this pack. After everything you've done to me, aren't you afraid of divine punishment?"

Mark finally snapped out of his shock.

"You can't even have pups. You're the one who threw the pack's entire line of succession into chaos, and you still have the nerve to talk about divine punishment?"

He spoke as if he had every right to judge me.

"Faye is kind. She's carrying on the pack's bloodline in your place! You should be grateful to her!

"Not acting like a jealous shrew and trying to kill her!"

He pointed at the severed head on the floor and raised his voice. "And that doesn't give you the right to kill an innocent man! Bella, you've gone too far!"

He had a real gift for twisting the truth.

I almost wanted to applaud.

Faye's soft little voice chimed in right on cue. "Babe..."

She went over to him, tears pouring down her face.

"It's all my fault, Bella. Don't blame him. Blame me."

She moved toward me as she spoke, one step at a time.

When she was close enough for us to hear each other breathe, the grief vanished from her face.

"You really are hard to kill. I gave you enough wolfsbane to kill anyone, and somehow you're still alive.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I was never poisoned at all. I just didn't want you to have the antidote.

"Watching you suffer, watching you get weaker every day. Isn't that fun?"

I'd already known the truth, but hearing her say it still made my blood run cold.

This monster had killed my daughter!

Faye seemed pleased with my reaction.

"And two years ago? I was never pregnant."

Her voice was full of cruel delight. "I just wanted to watch everyone turn on you. I wanted to watch Mark break his bond with you for me.

"I heard the water cell was freezing and damp. You must've suffered terribly down there.

"And I know you were already carrying a pup when they locked you up. A rare miracle for you, wasn't it?

"Losing it must have been quite a show.

"Did the blood turn the whole cell red?"

She watched the color drain from my face and relished it. Instead of stopping, she chose even crueler words, striking where it hurt most.

"You always wanted to make your mother a grandmother, didn't you?

"Isn't that why you put up with everything and refused to leave Mark?"

She laughed under her breath.

"Such a shame, Bella.

"Dead women don't get to be grandmothers.

"Not in this life, not in the next. You'll never see her again."

Her words hit me like a thunderbolt. Suddenly, everything made sense.

No wonder my daughter had put up with it all and refused to leave. It was because of what I'd said to her.

I was so furious I could barely think straight.

My clawed hand shot up and closed around her slender neck.

"Too bad. The dead woman you're talking about is still alive."

Her smug little smile froze in place, and her feet kicked uselessly in the air.

"Let her go!"

"Bella, have you lost your mind?"

Mark and Lucas shouted at the same time and started to rush me.

The wolves around us were frozen in shock.

Lucas lunged at me so fast the air whistled. He reached for my arm again.

"Lucas, we were mates for almost 20 years. Five years apart and you can't even recognize me."