Turning back toward Angela, she finally nodded. "I'm ready. I appreciate everything you all have done for me, but I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go out and figure how I'm going to take care of me and my baby."
Angela gave her another soft pat on the hand. "I'm so happy to hear you say that, honey. Now get some rest. Tomorrow, you'll start your journey, and I've got a feeling it's going to lead you exactly where you're meant to go.
As she watched the nurse leave, Dia prayed the woman was right and that she would end up where she was meant to be.
I just want to find my home.
Chapter Twelve
He watched her walk through the door, head back, shoulders squared, and utterly confident. It wasn't a surprise to see Miriam that way. Stone had seen his mother act that way for as long as he could remember. She was the alpha female of their pack, just as his father had been the alpha male. When Stone's father had passed away, Stone had assumed that role. Not just because he was his father's only child, but because the entire pack knew he was the strongest, most cunning, and definitely the most lethal out of all of them.
When it came to women, though? Not his department.
Sure, he could pass judgement on a female of his pack, but this was more. They needed to find out how old Mrs. Jones had come into her magic, and who else, other than her great-granddaughter, she was working with.
Stone watched as Caleb bowed his head in deference to his mother, but the old woman didn't. It was a snub that he knew would not go unpunished by his mother, which was very bad for Mrs. Jones, because Miriam had been mourning the loss of Dia since the day Stone had told the pack she had died.
His mother had loved Dia from the first moment she had met her, and had treated her as a daughter right away. Even though he knew he could trust her, he hadn't even told his own mother that his mate was still very much alive. And after losing her own mate five years ago, Miriam had taken the loss of Stone's mate harder than anyone else in the pack. Now she was looking for vengeance on Dia's behalf.
"Tell me, Patty; why would you do anything to harm your alpha?"
Mrs. Jones turned her head away.
His mother spoke again. "Tell me why you tried to hurt my son."
The little old lady spat in Stone's direction. "He's no alpha to me! The moment he mated that human whore, he stopped being my alpha. I tried to stop it, too! That day in the street in front of the human whore's shop, I almost killed her then. It would have saved him from the human's clutches! He just had to go and save her, though. I knew then they would probably mate, and if he did, I decided he was a lost cause. But I'll be damned if I follow a man who fornicates with human filth. Imagine if they had a child together! Blasphemy. It would be an utter abomination. We need to keep our shifter lines pure, and the human tart was only going to corrupt him."
Miriam stepped in front of Mrs. Jones's chair and bent down until she was nose to nose with the bitter woman. "That human was my daughter, and whether you liked it or not, your alpha's mate. You know what the sentence is for someone who makes an attempt on an alpha or his mate? Death. Tell me now, Patty, why you attacked my son tonight, and what you had to do with the attack on his mate, and I'll forgo the death sentence."
"I'd rather you kill me, you human-loving bitch." Mrs. Jones sniffed in annoyance, as if none of them were worth her time.
That was a serious mistake on her part.
His mother grabbed the arms of the chair and stared at the old woman until Mrs. Jones looked away, a reminder of who was alpha here and who was not. Stone knew Miriam wouldn't torture the woman because of her old age. His mother might be lethal, but she drew certain lines in the sand and refused to cross them. It would be interesting to see how she chose to handle this problem. It didn't take long for him to find out.
Using one hand to grab Mrs. Jones by her wrinkly face, Miriam growled and flashed her fangs. "You'll tell me what I want to know, or I'll end you, old woman. I don't need a pack hearing to be your judge, jury, and executioner tonight."
"I already told you to kill me, then."
Miriam shook her head. "That's not all I'll do. You'll tell me how you came to obtain the magic, and who else was involved in this scheme besides your great-granddaughter, or I'll exile your whole line after I kill Danielle in front of them."
Mrs. Jones sucked in a sharp breath, as if she couldn't believe Miriam would carry through on her threat. It was by far the harshest sentence in pack history.
"Think of it, Patty," his mother whispered. "Think of how I'll snap Danielle's neck in front of every person who's remotely related to you before I banish them from our pack. They'll have no place to go, no way to eat, and nowhere to call home, all thanks to you. And the best part? I have better plans for you now. See, for you, instead of killing you, I'll leave you alive so that you have to leave with them. Eventually, one of them will get so angry at you for what you've done that they'll kill you themselves. Is that how you want to end? By the hands of your own kin? Despised and left to rot in the middle of nowhere?"
Mrs. Jones struggled to pull her face out of his mother's grip, but failed. It took her a few minutes to stop fighting to get free, but eventually, the reality of not only her situation, but that of her children's and grandchildren's, must have sunk in as she started to cry silent tears.
"I made Danielle do it. It's not the child's fault; it's all mine," Mrs. Jones sobbed.
"Where did you get the magic, Patty?"
Mrs. Jones opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. They watched her get frustrated as she did this several times, before Stone figured out what was going on.
"She's been spelled not to speak the name."
The old woman nodded furiously, agreeing with him, as Caleb suggested, "Should we untie her hands to let her write it down?"
Mrs. Jones nodded again as the beta looked at his two alphas for the final answer.
Stone was ready to tell him yes, when his mother put a hand to Patty's shoulder and said, "Not without some ground rules first." Leaning back down to look Mrs. Jones directly in the eye, she said, "If you make one suspicious move to cast any more magic, I will personally guarantee the torture of Danielle for a long, long time before I finally kill her. You understand me, old woman? Your actions can mean a great deal of pain to your own kin."
Mrs. Jones nodded warily this time, and then Miriam gave Caleb the signal to untie her hands.
Looking around, Stone saw a notebook and pen on an end table next to the sofa and walked over to pick it up. When he turned back around, Mrs. Jones was rubbing her red, raw wrists and watching Stone with pure hatred. He didn't give her the satisfaction of a reaction, just handed the notebook and pen to their captive and gruffly ordered, "Write it down now."
Sulphur Springs Pack
Alpha's daughter is a witch.
She blew house up.
"How in the fuck is a shifter also a witch?" Caleb bellowed angrily.
Mrs. Jones sat there with a shit-eating grin on her face, as if she knew the answer and would never tell. The old bitch probably did know.
The sting of betrayal ran through Stone again as he looked at those words and wondered if the alpha he had spoken to during negotiations had known what his daughter was doing. It would mean war if he had. Stone would never let something like this go. That witch had been the one to kill his mate's parents, and very nearly his mate and cub, too.
None of them had time to say a word before, faster than any ninety-year-old woman had a right to move, Mrs. Jones took that pen and shoved it into her own neck.
No one had seen it coming, and truly, even if Mrs. Jones hadn't already been facing a death sentence, they wouldn't have been able to help her, anyway.
The spurting from the hole in her neck let them know that she had hit her carotid artery and would bleed out in minutes.
The old woman had decided to go out on her terms rather than theirs.
As much as Stone hated her, he understood that sentiment. He wouldn't want anyone controlling his future or death, either.
Stone, his mother, and Caleb stepped away as Mrs. Jones slumped in her chair, letting her life literally drain away. Red covered the old woman's neck and, little by little, the spurting slowed down until it was just leaking in a small, steady flow. Her eyelids flickered a few times before they closed and didn't reopen again.
The three of them stood there, watching as one problem passed away, leaving them with two more: the witch in Sulphur Springs and Danielle. Now the question was: Which problem should he go after first?