“That’s not true!” Her heart felt like it was breaking in half. She’d never heard of this story before. Sure, there were skeptics at first who didn’t believe the mages had come back then, but her father had been one of the first ones to sound the alarm.
“It is. Then Grant had him labeled a traitor and the council sent him to Siberia, where he died a few months later.” he insisted. “I was a baby back then, and my mother and I …”
Her throat burned, recalling the things he had mentioned before. “W-what happened?”
“What do you think happened?” Joanie’s voice was dripping with venom. “We were taken to a safe house at first, to a family in a neighboring clan. But they found out about … about Grayson’s imprisonment and then they kicked us out. I went to all my old ‘friends’, but each and every one of them turned their backs on us.”
Ransom’s face was hard as granite, but it was obvious he was struggling with the memories again, as he had the other night.
“I’m sorry for what you went through,” she said. “But my father wouldn’t do that.”
“Lies,” he said. “Mother, you lived through it all. She’ll realize that Grant Anderson’s been lying to her.”
Joanie smirked. “Does it matter, Ransom? What he did and how we suffered, that was the real crime.”
Realization passed across his face. “What are you saying?” Ransom growled.
“My boy,” she began. “Your father and I had a complicated relationship. Our marriage was arranged by our parents, but I was happy because he was able to keep me in the lifestyle I was accustomed to.” Her teeth bared. “But he played a dangerous game. Wanted to hedge his bets. Play on both sides to see who came out on top.”
Ransom went visibly pale. “No.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” she said. “Your Anderson whore is right. Your father was a traitor. But he didn’t deserve to die in prison alone. We didn’t deserve what happened to us! To be treated like garbage because of your father’s sins.”
“You lied to me.”
“I did it to protect you,” she said. “I couldn’t tell you the real reason why we kept moving from place to place. Why other Lycans shunned us and threw us out of their homes when they found out who we really were. And why we were forced to become Lone Wolves.” Her eyes darkened.
“You told me it was Grant Anderson who was the bad one,” he said. “That’s why we needed to get our revenge.”
Isabelle’s heart dropped. “That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it?”
His head whipped over to her. “Isabelle, it’s not what you think.”
But she couldn’t reply. Her mouth had turned to dust and her throat burned. The implications of Joanie’s words were too much. When he tried to reach out to her, she swatted his hands away.
“Stop this,” Ransom said to his mother. “There’s no need for revenge. You have a grandson now—”
“No need for revenge?” Joanie screamed. “Have you forgotten what it was like for us? Out in the streets, fending for ourselves? The things I did to make sure you never went without?” Evan began to wail and wiggled in her arms. “Stupid brat! Shut up!”
Isabelle gasped. “Joanie, please—”
“Don’t call me that!” she hissed. “My name is Caroline Joanna Charles, rightful Lupa of Connecticut.” Turning to Ransom, her voice softened. “You should have been Alpha. You would have been Alpha now if Grant Anderson’s actions hadn’t sent your father to prison!”
“Can’t you hear what you’re saying?” Ransom said. “Have you gone insane? He betrayed us, our kind! He would have let the mages take over and kill Lycans—”
“Why do you think he sided with them? Mages are so efficient at killing rivals.”
“Please, Mother,” he begged. “It’s all in the past. We have a good life here. Pops—he did us good—”
“Don’t look at me like that, Ransom. He wasn’t much different from the men who came before him,” she scoffed. “The only difference was he was stupid enough to fall in love with me. The only good thing that man did was die and leave me his insurance money. But then again, belladonna will do that to you.”
“Shut up!” he growled.
Isabelle couldn’t process what the hell was happening. However, she did notice something strange. “Where are you going, Joanie?” she asked.
“I told you not to call me that, you little slut.” She tightened her hold on Evan, who was now full-on bawling. “I’m going where neither of you will find me.”
Maybe Joanie didn’t think they’d notice, but Isabelle did. During their lengthy conversation, she had been inching her way toward the gate, farther and farther away from them. She had been stalling, but for what? “Why are you slowly walking away?”
“You think you’re so smart, huh?” She glanced toward the edge of the property. “It doesn’t matter, I suppose. My new friends will be here in—ah, here they are.”
Right outside the gates, the air shimmered, and a crackle of electricity in the atmosphere made Isabelle shiver. A large red blur appeared, and when it came into focus, her skin crawled. Mages. A group of them stood there, at the edge of the property line.
“Bastard!” Ransom growled. “I should have stuck the dagger into your gut!”
One of the red-robed figures stepped forward, lips turned up into a smile, but his eyes were cold as ice. “I was surprised by your actions, boy. I didn’t think you’d be the martyr type. While I hated leaving the dagger behind, it made for very good optics.”
“What’s going on?” He looked at his mother. “What is he saying?”
“Who do you think has been helping us?” she said nonchalantly.
“No!” he shouted. “That’s not …” He looked at Isabelle. “I didn’t know, I swear it.”
She didn’t know what to believe anymore. Her chest was so tight, she feared it might implode.
“They came to me a few years ago,”
