Chapter 134

Evie, dear, now that Dane’s children are out of the way, I have a proposition for you. One that will bind him to you forever. You’ll have to get your hands dirty, but it’s guaranteed to work. All your dreams will come true forever. Are you interested?

My mother had sent me that message, just as I thought I was becoming a better person.

Yes. Tell me what I have to do.

When my mother told me I’d have to get my hands dirty, I thought there might be murder involved. Maybe blackmail. Definitely lying.

I hadn’t expected mind control.

She set up a time, and a week ago we met deep in the middle of the forest after midnight. I was so paranoid someone would see and follow me. Dane, maybe. Or that huge oaf of a wolf who was always following Aurora around. What was his name? Trajan. He would be a problem.

But the person I’d feared following me the most was Archer. Of anyone in this damned pack house, he seemed to be the only one who cared where I went or that I lived or breathed anymore. When he returned from hunting Remington Reed the day before I was to meet my mother, I thought I was doomed.

But no. It turned out no one cared where I went that much, so I was to meet her.

I went to the clearing she specified and waited. Even if she was there before me, I knew she’d keep hiding and make me wait. She loved to watch other people squirm.

I wouldn’t give her the pleasure. I went to a rock in the middle of the clearing and plopped down on it. For the next twenty minutes, I did my best to look completely bored. I was an actress, after all. Even if it seemed I might never work again with the way things were going.

“Evie.”

I heard her voice before I saw her, but she had miscalculated and stood too far downwind, which meant she didn’t startle me because I already knew she was there.

I sneered at her. “Hello, Mrs. Jamison.”

She rolled her eyes. She really did look young for someone with a nearly 30-year-old daughter. But wolves were like that. Our aging was slow. Many wolves lived to be 150 or 200 years old. Dane’s grandfather had been close to that, though he had never looked it. Once a wolf passed 30, they seemed to slow down. No human would ever accurately be able to guess how old they were.

My mother scoffed at the name. “Don’t call me that. I’m sick to death of it.” She made her voice high and whiny, like she was mocking a child. “Mrs. Jamison, I’m hungry, Mrs. Jamison, I want my toys, Mrs. Jamison, I want my mommy.” She spat on the ground. “Brats. It’s a shame the Reeds wouldn’t let me kill them. I hate children.”

I didn’t flinch. My mother had raised me. Of everyone in the world, no one knew how much she hated children more than my brother and myself.

“Why do you watch them then?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s the easiest way to get close to power without having to get on my back, like you did. You watch rich people’s children; you learn their secrets. How else would I have known about Aurora’s little birthmark? Without that, you never would have known to get that tattoo and trick Dane into believing you were the little girl who was ‘kidnapped’ with him.”

“Was she kidnapped?” I asked.

My mother gave me a sugar-sweet smile. “Now, now, dear. A lady has to keep some secrets. I’ll tell you this, she wasn’t kidnapped as an eight or nine-year-old. No, they had her from the time she was a baby. Whether or not they kidnapped her then, or her mother gave her up…” She shrugged one shoulder. “You only get that information if you pay for it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re always such a pleasure to deal with, Mother. I can’t believe you’d charge your own child for information that could help me keep us both in power.”

“You want power? Take this.” My mother produced a small package from her pocket.

I opened it. “A ring?”

I touched the metal. Magic zinged through me. Terrible, unpleasant magic. The power I had from the goddess surged in answer, my hands flashing bright. I dropped the package. My mother hissed and picked it up.

“Stop that. If your fucking goddess powers screw this up, I’m going to be pissed. This cost me almost all the money you gave me.”

“It cost what?” My jaw dropped.

“You heard me.” She shoved it back into my hands. “Now, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to wait until that ceremony, then you slip it on and activate the spell.”

“What happens when I do?” I asked.

She smiled. “It’s mind control. Dane will become yours. Forever. Then you can do whatever you want. Be his Luna or kill him and take Blue Ridge and all his businesses and money for yourself. Everything we want is in reach at last.”

“Alpha, wait. Running away is not the answer.”

I held onto Aurora’s shoulders. The Reeds were advancing. The ring weighed heavily in my pocket. My mother’s words beat in my ears. Everything you want is in reach at last.

But I couldn’t activate the spell if we didn’t do the ceremony. I took a breath and turned to the oncoming Reeds. Using all of my acting experience to make my voice loud and commanding, I said, “Stop! This is pointless. We’re all here. Produce the children now, and we can all move one step closer to what we want.”

To my surprise, the Broken Forest wolves obeyed. Instead of attacking, they stopped.

Then I heard a child’s voice say, “Mommy! We’re here!”