We got out and walked over, Al moved so Carol was tucked close to his side as they faced us. I walked over and took Carol’s free hand in mine. “I wanted you to know that I forgive you for what you did. Congratulations on finding your mate, and I hope you find happiness.”
Carol started to cry as she moved to hug me tight. “Thank you, I’ll live in a way that makes you proud.”
When she released me, Al moved in and hugged me as well. “Thank you for that, I’ll take good care of her.”
They went back to hugging each other as Dennis moved over to Kayla. “You know your mate needs to answer for what he did, my daughter’s future was taken and now she’s dead because of him.”
“I know. I have something to tell you first, though.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a syringe and handed it to him. “I can’t do it to myself, my wolf won’t let me. It has to happen, though.”
She opened the passenger door to her car and removed her coat, tossing it in the back. She unbuttoned her blouse enough to pull it off her shoulder. “Please.”
He sniffed the needle. “Wolfsbane? There’s enough here to kill your wolf.”
Carol ran to the car. “No, Mom, you can’t do that!”
“It’s the only way to be free of the Alpha command, dear. The only way I can survive when the bond breaks. Your father will die, that can’t be stopped. I have to do this.” She looked at Alpha Coleman and nodded. He jabbed the needle into her shoulder and pushed it in, then closed the door. Carol ran to the other side and got in, reaching her Mom just as she started to scream.
We moved away to give them some privacy, but even I couldn’t eliminate the sound of the screams as her wolf was torn away from her soul. When it finally stopped, she waved us over and Dennis opened the door.
“Scott did to me what he did to your daughter, what his son tried to do to you,” she said. “He wanted me and he just did it. She didn’t kill herself, though.” We all looked at her in shock. “With him gone, she was going to go back home. Scott knew that if she changed packs, his Alpha command would be gone and she would tell you everything. He killed her and made it look like suicide.” Dennis was clenching his hands, trying to hold back a change. His son pulled him away to cool down.
“Carol, I’ll never regret having you or your brothers, but I regret that I wasn’t strong enough to stop him from taking me.” She hugged her daughter tight until the men were back. “Dennis, you have to stop him. Just promise me you won’t punish my Pack for the things he did.”
“I promise. Your Pack will continue on.”
“Thank you. Now Ella, Scott believed this might be a trap. His men are out there, they are going to follow you then take you out when you are away from people.”
I looked at Remi, who was already linking her warriors. “How many?”
“Six warriors in two vehicles, both Jeep Cherokees.”
“We’ll take care of them.” Carol had gotten out and was back next to Al. “Now what?”
Alpha Coleman looked at his son. “You need to take your mate back home, she can’t get caught up in any of this. Take her car.” He looked at Remi. “I’ll make a few calls, I need to have two other Alphas there to witness the charge and officiate the challenge. I won’t let that man see the sunset.”
I looked at Kayla. “What do you want to do now?”
She thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. I can’t go back to our Pack, not this way.”
“Mom, come back with us,” Carol said. “You are going to need help, I need to be there for you now.” She looked at Dennis. “If that is all right, of course.”
“That will be fine. Al, call ahead and let Doc know what happened. Kayla, thank you for the information. You are welcome on our Pack lands as long as you wish to stay.”
She bowed her head to him, then sat back. He closed the door and in moments she was asleep. “Do you need help with his men?”
“No, we have people. You guys get going.” Remi and I gave them all hugs, then watched as they drove out. “Come on, we need to talk to our security guys.”
Ten minutes later, we left the restaurant with Jimmy and Melody behind us. Our private security guys had been briefed on our route and the threat, and had left a few minutes before us to set up. I had made it clear that I didn’t want anyone hurt, we just needed to get away clean.
I spotted the tail cars after five blocks. We kept driving our route as I looked for our security guys. They must have had some contacts locally, because two Fargo police cars had our tails pulled over to the side of the road in minutes. I laughed a little as they were ordered out at gunpoint and forced to kneel down in the street. I got a call from one of our guys. “Yeah, we had enough from what Kayla said to make a 911 call on a potential carjacking in progress. I told them you were carrying cash and being followed.”