Page 59 of New Blood

“That’s not true! William never touched me,” Danielle cried out, looking all innocent.

But she wasn’t fooled. This little bitch had been a thorn in her eye ever since she’d joined their pack, ever since she’d found out about her relationship with her father.

“Liar! I’ve seen your love letters. You even initialed them. As if that would disguise that they were from you.”

Danielle shot a pleading look at Jude. “That’s not true. She’s lying.”

Jude seemed to believe her, because he said, “You should leave, Eve. Now!”

“Don’t let her manipulate you!” Eve replied, shaking her head. “I want her to leave the house tonight and never come back.” She glared at Danielle. “You won’t come between me and Jude. I won’t tolerate you like my mother did. Jude is my mate.”

With his hand still around her wrist, Jude jerked her to the side.

“Nobody is gonna throw her out. And I’m not your mate, Eve. I’m Danielle’s.”

Dumbstruck, Eve’s heart stopped for a second. “What?”

“Danielle and I are mated.”

Gasps coming from the door drowned out her own choked sound of disbelief. It felt as if the world around her was spinning.

Danielle’s gaze shot to the open door. She hadn’t heard anybody approach while Eve had accused her of the vile lie that she’d had an affair with her father. It was evident that their loud voices had awoken other members of the household, and they’d come to investigate.

Flora was the first one to enter the room, but she wasn’t alone. Violet and Byron followed her, Thaddeus on their heels. More sounds came from the hallway, indicating that some of the others had also heard the argument.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Jude reach for his pajama pants and pull them on, before he picked up her bathrobe and tossed it to her. He shielded her from the view of the intruders so she could put it on.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Byron demanded.

Danielle looked past Jude and realized that Wendell, Mason, and Owen had also entered the room, though it appeared they didn’t know yet what had happened. They’d arrived after Jude had announced that they were mated.

Eve pointed toward her while addressing her brother, “She stole my mate from me! That fucking whore just stole him! She tricked him into mating with her.”

Jude growled low and dark. “Another word of disrespect toward my mate, and I’ll forget that you’re a woman and beat the living daylights out of you.”

At his words, Danielle felt better. Jude would stand by her, despite the awful lies Eve was spreading.

“What the—”

Byron’s eyes ping-ponged between Eve, Jude, and her until he finally seemed to understand what was going on. He glared at Jude, making a step toward him, anger rolling off him in waves.

“You slept with this fucking little nobody and disrespected my sister?” A grunt underscored his words.

“Another word against Danielle, and I’ll teach you about respect. So for everybody in the cheap seats who hasn’t heard it yet: Danielle and I are mated. She’s mine, and nothing and nobody will change that.”

Jude looked even broader and bigger now as he stood there dressed in only his pajama pants, defending her and laying down the law. He was truly the alpha.

Danielle looked at the small crowd that had assembled in the master bedroom, most of them dressed in pajamas or bathrobes, with Thaddeus and Owen still dressed in street clothes, just like Wendell who was carrying his cat in his arms.

Violet looked distraught, while Flora’s face was unreadable. It appeared that nothing could shake her inbred stoicism. Jude’s men, of which more were arriving, judging by the sounds of footsteps echoing in the corridor, looked surprised, but not displeased.

The two people who were spewing anger and hate were Eve and Byron, and it appeared they were feeding off each other’s fury.

“You had no right to do this!” Byron now spat, his lips pulled into an evil snarl. “You’ve disrespected my entire family by shacking up with that little floozy.”

“Enough!” Jude yelled.

But Byron was on a roll. “You’ll pay for this.”