“It’s nobody’s baby yet! You’ve all been watching the hospital, so I haven’t been able to switch him out like I wassupposedto.” Her voice was a high-pitched, accusatory whine.
“Earvin’s coming, and he’s got reinforcements,” she added to Jarrod. “He’ll kill you. He’ll kill her. He will. You’d better get out of here.”
“You were going to take that baby out here and bury it. You foul, evil murder!” Constance snarled at her.
Mary was swaying where she stood, still gulping in air and struggling to catch her breath.
“I’ve been saving babies, not killing them!” Petra wailed. “It’s true! Earvin told me to kill the male babies that look weak, and replace them with these babies who were bred to be superior. But I didn’t. I hired a man to raise all the babies in the woods. He takes wonderful care of them. He raises them like his own children, out in the woods, in nature! It’s paradise there! That’s where I was taking this baby. It’s true, I never killed one single child!”
“Where the hell are they, you bitch?” Constance howled at her. “Where are our children?”
“I will only tell you where they are if Jarrod grants me full immunity,” Petra said quickly. “I’ll tell you everything. But you have to promise that I will not be charged with any crimes. Jarrod must swear a blood oath. Otherwise, you will never find them. It’s a big country.”
“You weak, treacherous bitch!” Earvin burst through the underbrush and lunged at her. He had six Enforcers with him, and they ran over to surround Mary and Angela, blocking them off from Jarrod and Craig, who stood close to Petra.
“Earvin!” Petra screamed.
Her brother shifted and ripped out her throat.
Mary shrieked in horror, and Angela turned to the side and threw up as Petra lay twitching and gurgling in the dirt. Earvin shifted back and stood there, naked now, blood dripping from his mouth. Angela took one look at him and threw up again.
“Now you’ll never know where they are,” Earvin snarled at Constance and Briony, who stumbled back, wailing. “Nor should you. They don’t deserve to be in our pack. I only replaced the weak, inferior ones. You should be grateful to me for giving you strong, successful sons, who would bring pride and honor to our pack.”
“You dumb bastard,” Jarrod growled at him, his eyes glowing with rage. “Your sister was as stupid as you are. Petra used a secret bank account to pay a man in Wisconsin ten thousand dollars a month. We already found out where the man’s property is, and we’ve contacted the nearest pack. The children must be there. They will be returned to their mothers.”
Earvin’s eyes flared with rage and he choked back a snarl.
“You think you’re so smart? You’re going to die. All these women are going to die. And I’ll be able to talk my way out of this, I assure you. I’ll blame it all on Petra, and nobody will ever know.”
“I issue a Death Challenge,” Jarrod said quickly.
The Enforcers glanced at each other, and then they all bowed their heads.
“Are you crazy?” Earvin shouted at them. “Kill them all! Kill that bitch first!” He jerked his head at Mary. His blood-stained teeth made her gag.
“A Death Challenge is sacred,” the men intoned.
“You will all be killed. You will be hunted down and executed.”
“We can’t interfere with a Death Challenge,” said one of the Enforcers.
Jarrod’s eyes were cold. “That’s right,” he said. “They can’t.”
The two men circled each other, eyes locked, fingers flexing by their sides. The air seemed to crackle as they tried to hold back their beasts, as if an electrical storm were centered on the clearing, whipping the dried leaves up in little eddies. Mary took a step forward – with no idea what she intended to do – but Angela grabbed her arm and held her back with a strength that was ninety percent fear.
The skin of Earvin’s face was rippling as his wolf tried to fight its way to the surface, the ends of his fingers elongating as they sought to become claws. His jaw looked misshapen and too long. It was clear he was barely hanging on to his self-control.
“Did you really think they’d break pack law for you?” Jarrod continued. “Maybe if you were a true Alpha.”
Earvin gave a low, deadly growl, his eyes going wolf, and Mary felt the hair on her arms and at the nape of her neck stand on end in a primal response to a sound that she instinctively knew meant sudden, bloody death.
Jarrod gave a mirthless grin. “A true Alpha rules through loyalty,” he said. He allowed his face to go furry, his fangs descending and vicious claws bursting from the tips of his fingers. “A true Alpha rules through trust. But you, Uncle Earvin? You rule through fear.” When he spoke again, his voice was harsh and distorted. “Because you’reweak.”
Earvin gave a howl of rage and hurled himself at Jarrod, fully transforming in mid-leap. Jarrod went wolf just as quickly, and they hit the ground together, rolling over and over, snarling and snapping. Earvin’s wolf was smaller, but he was driven by anger and madness. He swiped his claws across Jarrod’s flank, leaving long, parallel gashes that gouted dark blood onto the forest floor. But Jarrod was younger, stronger…and Earvin had betrayed his pack and threatened his mate. With a surge of strength and a howl of triumph, he threw Earvin off, sending him tumbling through the fallen leaves with a sickening cracking sound.
Earvin lay panting, his form strangely twisted. It looked like his back was broken – something that shifting wouldn’t heal.
Jarrod walked slowly across to him, his flank dripping blood, panting from the exertion of the fight.
He stood over his uncle, who growled and snapped at him even in that moment of complete defeat.
Their gazes locked. Jarrod’s gaze was sad, questioning. In Earvin’s there was nothing but thwarted rage.
Jarrod lowered his great, shaggy head, and tore out his uncle’s throat.
