***
“This is your mate?” Mary’s eyes ran over Ryan. “Clearly a man but also clearly pregnant. What is freakier than that?” She drawled. “A pack full of freaks.” Mary began to laugh.
“If I stay here for long, I might become a donkey or something.
“Mary?” Sally gasped just as everyone began to chuckle. A donkey stood where Mary stood a second earlier.
“What?” The donkey rolled its eyes at Sally. “Even they think it’s funny. “That sounds like a title of a book actually.” The donkey laughed as Ryan turned to look at the high priestess and Deloris with questioning eyes. “Like that book…A Quiver Full of Arrows. This one will be, A Pack Full of Freaks… get it?” The donkey grinned at a horrified-looking Sally.
The amused chuckles soon turned into laughter as both the high priestess and Deloris shook their heads at Ryan, indicating that neither of them had turned Mary into the talking donkey.
“Oh, my god…” Ryan gasped when it dawned on him who the culprit was. He gave a laughing Jeremy an icy glare as he placed a hand on his stomach and willed his baby to change the talking donkey back to human. Nothing happened. “A little help, Jer…” Ryan said helplessly.
“When you behave like an ass…” Stan roared with laughter.
“Shut up, Stan.” Ryan groaned as he watched Jeremy crouch before him and touch his stomach. “This is serious.” He stared at Jeremy with worried eyes. “It’s just a baby. It shouldn’t be able to do this.”
“Well… she did mention a donk…”
“It’s not funny, Jeremy…” Ryan snapped.
“Shhh…it’s okay, baby,” Jeremy murmured, getting to his feet and giving Ryan a gentle kiss. She’s back.”
“Look at that…” A restored Mary sneered, clearly oblivious to what had happened to her. “Not only are men sleeping with other men, they are actually getting them pregnant.” She snorted. “Surely this should disgust you, Troy.”
“What?” For a moment, Troy stared at his guardian with eyes filled with dazed incredulity. But he recovered and asked what he’d been dying to ask since Mary had stated that Reynard had wanted to kidnap him and Jeremy.
“Why did Reynard want my brother and I?” Troy rasped.
“You, my dear child, are special,” Mary said softly. “With that aura you have, yours would have been a powerful essence to absorb.” She explained. “I guess your brother too. But he wasn’t with you and your father that day, as was your usual routine. So they took just you.”
“So…he just wanted to kill us?” Troy looked shocked.
“Not kill, my dear.” Mary rolled her eyes. “Sacrifice.”
“Same shit,” Philip growled, making Mary focus on him for the first time.
“You…” Mary whispered. “I remember you. You’re the alpha who led the attack on…” Before she completed her sentence, a fireball flew straight at a relaxed-looking Philip, accompanied by a collective gasp from the pack members gathered.
With a terrified scream, Troy made a desperate dash for his mate but before he could get to Philip, the fireball bounced off Philip and then went out, to everyone’s shock and relief. But Troy’s terror at seeing his mate’s brush with death turned into blinding rage. He stopped running towards Philip, turned around, shifted, and then charged at a wide-eyed Mary with a loud rage-filled growl.
“Nooo…” Gloria shifted and intercepted her son before he could get to where Mary stood. ‘Listen to me son,’ Gloria said urgently on her mind-link with Troy. ‘You don’t have to do this, please.’
‘She almost killed my mate.’ Troy growled angrily. ‘I won’t have that.’
‘Calm down, baby.’ The brown wolf nuzzled the angry golden wolf who kept trying to sidestep it. ‘Please.’
‘I can’t calm down.’ Gloria had never heard her son sound more furious. ‘No one messes with my mate. Especially not her.’
A shocked Mary stared. She couldn’t hear whatever conversation the two wolves were having but she could tell that the bitch was trying to prevent her own son from attacking her. And that stunned her stupid.
‘Philip was never in any danger, son.’ Gloria cooed. ‘Ryan took care of that when Mary almost killed the high priestess. If you hurt her, you will regret it later. Leave her to me. Please…’
‘I’m…’ The golden wolf shook his head. ‘What I just felt…it was horrible.’ He gave a breathless whimper. ‘I never want to feel that way again.’ He said shakily.
‘Shift.’ Gloria urged and watched as her son shifted back to human. She shifted too but before she could say any more, both she and Troy were clothed…she in a t-shirt and leggings, and Troy in a t-shirt and shorts. “Thanks, Sweetie.” Gloria blew Ryan a kiss. Although like other werewolves, she couldn’t be bothered with nudity, she knew how much nudity bothered her son-in-law.
“God…” Troy breathed, staring at his trembling hands. “I’ve never been this terrified in my… Philip…” He breathed when his mate stepped in front of him and drew him into his arms.
“Shhh…I’m here.” Philip murmured as a trembling Troy tightened his arms around him. “It’s okay.” When Troy almost desperately sought his mouth, Philip gave in and kissed him.
“Troy?” Mary sounded as if she was being strangled. “What…what…”
“You just tried to kill his mate, you bitch.” Gloria growled.
“What kind of mother are you?” Mary breathed with a look of utter disgust on her face. “Not only did you turn him into an animal, you also turned him gay?” She roared.
“Ideally, I wouldn’t dignify such a stupid question with an answer but I’m going to make an exception this time.” Gloria rasped as she started walking towards Mary. She looked as if she’d had it. “You appointed yourself his mother, suppressed his wolf and very being, sent someone to kill his brother, attempted to kill his mate, sent a rabid rogue to kill his mother, kidnapped his best friend, and then had the audacity to lead a war against his pack. And you think that makes you a mother? If ignorance is bliss, then you must be the happiest person on the planet.”
“You foolish woman!” Mary screamed just as Gloria reached out and slapped her so hard she fell to the ground.
Gloria didn’t stop there. She picked Mary up and landed more slaps to everyone’s amused satisfaction. They had their orders not to harm any of the warlocks but a good beating never killed anyone, right? As a warlock, Mary didn’t have the strength and skill of a seasoned warrior of Gloria’s caliber. Gloria therefore had the upper hand. The slaps were so swift and sharp that they left Mary too dazed to concentrate enough to use magic to shield herself. Gloria finally let Mary go when she begged her to stop.
But the harm had already been done.
Mary opened her closed fist and looked at the wisp of hair in her palm. It was Gloria’s. The warlock stifled her satisfied smile. All the stalling had finally paid off, she thought with glee. No one took notice as Mary took a lock of her own hair and tied it with Gloria’s.
“The temptation to end your life right now is huge, trust me.” Gloria breathed as she stared at the kneeling warlock. “But I will let the council decide your fate.” She turned to go but suddenly gasped and fell to her knees. What happened next took just a few minutes but it felt like hours.