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But as much as the look on her face seemed to go straight to my soul, so did Stone's words. Warmth glowed in my chest. Was that really how he saw me?
"She is the best mate I can imagine, though I'm hardly worthy of her," he said.
"You're enchanted by her," she said. "It's all nonsense."
Her eyes locked on me, and Stone twisted to see me standing there. Anger flashed in his eyes at my direct disobedience--although really, it was Liam who had promised to keep me away. Stone hadn't bothered to talk to me, as usual.
I raised my chin as I met his gaze. "Sorry. Fierce fighter and loyal mate, I had to be by your side."
He made an annoyed sound. "Loyal mate? Does that mean you have forgiven me?"
"It means I'm considering it." I stepped to his side.
My mother was staring at me with hatred. It was such a cruel look that it made something inside me wither, and even though I was grown, part of me still wanted to duck behind Stone like a frightened child.
Was that how she had looked at me all my life? I'd been desperate to be loved, like any child. To win her affection. To have her look at me with love instead of with disgust, as if I were a monster. Now I could see that struggle was always pointless.
And now that I had Dylan, it was easier to see that she was the monster.
Suddenly, Stone's hand cracked against her face. Her head jerked to one side, and her body followed, as she slammed into the gravel.
"Look at my mate like that again," Stone growled, his alpha power vibrating the very air around us, "and I will not be able to maintain my sense of mercy. My patience is for their sake--" his gaze swept quickly to me and Aiden, and for the first time, I realized my brother had moved to my side, as if he meant to protect me from my mother's venom. "But I think you would probably be more valuable if you fed the worms than if you continue this miserable existence. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she gritted.
Stone made a small, disbelieving laugh.
"Yes, alpha," she said quickly, desperately, as Teresa took a step toward her.
"Good," he said. To Teresa, he said, "Take her away. Make her boundaries clear--she will stay within neutral territory, but near here, in case Amelia ever desires to speak to her. Or you know, kill her. Whatever Amelia wishes."
My mother's face was pale but set.
Cole and Teresa pulled her away. Stone turned to me. "Do you want to see her?"
I shook my head. I felt shaken from seeing her and the way she hated me, and all I wanted suddenly was to be wrapped up in Stone's arms.
But I didn't know how to ask the dangerous alpha for such a small thing. Even though he had done big things. He had tried to tear down the dangerous world and rebuild it for me into something safe. He had made me a home.
Two homes, really.
I held out my hand to Stone. Although he often looked at me with anger and frustration, he never looked at me the way she did, as if he despised me.
"Take me home." I said quietly. "If your work here is done."
He took my hand. And then, as we started toward the car, he swept me off my feet. He cradled me against his chest, carrying me through the night, over the blood-soaked ground.
"I can walk, you know," I said, but it was just teasing.
I was right where I wanted to be.
CHAPTER46
Cole
The next day,I kept an ear out for rumblings from the pack. Teresa and I met in the library to discuss them. Both of us were worried Stone was pushing the King pack to the brink of what they could accept. I knew what it looked like from their perspective. First, we had gone to get revenge against the Longroad pack, and returned with Amelia as a suspect—only for her to take a place of honor besides Stone. Amelia had run away, and returned to be unpunished, driven back only because she needed Stone. He did not look powerful, not when Amelia was around.
And now, the pack was excited about doubling their territory—but suspicious that Stone intended to protect the Longroad pack and absorb them into our pack. “After the long war between alphas and the tension between our packs, I can understand the fears.”
