It took another half hour before all the Elders arrived, and in the meantime they waited in a big conference room. Cliff sent one of his packmates to get Taylor coffee and a bagel with cream cheese.
Just as she was stuffing the last bite in her mouth, Oswald walked in…trailed by Jerrold and one of Jerrold’s men, a big, sullen-looking redhead.
Celia ran over to him, wailing and spouting fresh tears. “She attacked me for no reason! She just punched me in the face, and I wanted to attack her, but I held myself back!” She hurled herself into Oswald’s arms. “Daddy, she’s crazy!”
Oswald flashed a glower at Cliff, and Taylor’s heart sank.
Oh, great. The one neutral Elder. The one guy they desperately could not afford to antagonize.
“She did not attack you for no reason. Why were you even in the garden with her?” Cliff said furiously.
Celia sniffled and dabbed at her nose with a handkerchief. “She said she wanted someone to show her around the property. She was complaining about how bored she was, that you keep leaving her alone, that you’re rude and thoughtless.”
Taylor tried to defend herself, but Oswald said angrily, “Silence! Let my daughter speak.”
“Yes, let her talk.” Jerrold smirked.
Celia continued, her voice a high-pitched whine. “When I mentioned that I was Shelley’s mother, she went crazy. She yelled at me that she would never let Shelley have Cliff, and she punched me in the face. I think she broke my nose.”
Shelley’s mother.
Better and better.
No wonder she hated Taylor. She must still think that her daughter had a chance with Cliff – if only Taylor were out of the way.
Taylor saw Celia sneak a glance at Jerrold, who met her gaze and nodded ever so slightly.
Taylor glanced at Cliff. “I saw it,” he muttered.
Obviously Jerrold was behind this, trying to stir up trouble. Anything that rattled Cliff and made him look bad would be to Jerrold’s advantage.
“Daddy, shehurtme. No one is safe around her. Think of the children.” She widened her eyes dramatically and looked at Serafina, Dax and Roger.
Serafina snorted. “Gee, thanks for caring. Last week you told me we were a bunch of mongrels from a family of freaks, and we should have been drowned at birth.”
Celia ignored her. She looked up at her father, her eyes huge. He was patting her on the back and totally buying her performance. “You need to demand that this woman is…removed. She can’t go to another pack, given that she’s completely crazy, so there’s really only one option. We should just do it now and get it over with. I’ll do it if you want.”
Cliff let out a growl and leaped in front of Taylor. He bared his fangs. “Anyone who tries to take her from me can certainly try. You’d want to write your will first.”
“Not so fast,” snapped Juliette, one of the Elders. “It’s time for Taylor to speak.”
“Are you calling my daughter a liar?” Oswald drew himself up to his full height and glared at Juliette.
“If the shoe fits,” she said, at the exact moment Cliff said, “Like mother, like daughter.”
“How dare you mock Shelley after the way you led her on?” Celia sniveled, but Oswald flushed and looked away. Apparently he knew that his granddaughter had behaved badly – it sounded as if it had been pretty obvious to everyone in the pack.
Taylor fixed Celia with an indignant glare. “I was just leaving Cliff’s room to get breakfast when she met me in the hall and claimed that she was there to do my werewolf training. She said Cliff was too busy training for the Alpha Trials. We went out into the garden, and she told me that Cliff was leading me on, that he was never going to be my mate, and that she’d help me escape the pack grounds if I wanted to.”
“Liar!” Celia screamed.
“And when I said no, she threatened me and went all fang-y. That’s why I hit her.”
“Lying bitch!” Celia lunged towards her, and Oswald grabbed her and held her back.
“I’ll call James and we’ll truth-challenge her,” Cliff said.
“I forbid it,” Oswald said quickly.
