Chapter Twelve
Taylor felt a shockwave roll over her.
“That’s a lie,” she spat.
She didn’t know why she said it, though. She knew next to nothing about werewolves, after all, so maybe the woman was telling the truth.
In response, the woman threw her head back and laughed with malicious glee. “Oh, honey. Cliff didn’t tell you. The truth is, Cliff isn’t planning on being your mate at all. You’re just his latest toy, his latest plaything. He’s every bit as much of a whore as his brother Grant, but he’s a lot more manipulative about it. He gets a thrill out of it. At least Grant is open about the fact that he’s just a man-whore.”
Queasiness washed through her. Cliff had admitted that he was conniving and manipulative.
Celia rolled her eyes. “Obviously Cliff isn’t going to bother wasting his time training you when he’s got what he wanted from you.”
“He told everyone that I’m his intended mate.” Taylor’s voice trembled as she said it, and she hated herself for that.
Celia raked her with a scornful glare. “That old line. Yes, that’s how he reels them in. And his packmates know better than to tell you the truth, at least until after he’s gotten what he wanted. You think you’re the first slut he’s manipulated into his bed? You’re not even the tenth, or the twentieth. Welcome to the wonderful world of werewolves, sweetheart. The men are all whores – before, during, and after their mating ceremony. You should run while you still can.”
Taylor stood there, heart pounding in her chest. She was rocked to the very core.
Now Celia’s gaze turned pitying. “I do feel a little sorry for you. After all, you’ve probably only got a couple of weeks to live, and if you stay here, you’ll spend those weeks watching Cliff waltzing one woman after another into his bed. If you want help sneaking off pack lands, I’ll take you right now. It’ll be your only chance.”
Leave? Sneak out? Yes, she wanted her freedom, but not like this. Not running away.
And damn it, if Cliff had lied to her, then she wasn’t going to slink off like she’d done something to be ashamed of. She still wasn’t convinced that he had, because this woman had obviously had some kind of agenda from the start, but if it was true…she’d spit right in his face.
She took a deep breath and did what she always did when somebody was bullying her. She summoned her inner Chantelle.
She had been a shy, chubby child when she’d met Chantelle in kindergarten. Chantelle had stuck up for her for years. But one day, Carol had taken the two girls aside and said, “Chantelle isn’t always going to be there to stick up for you. You’ve got to learn to defend yourself too.”
“But how?” Taylor had asked. “I don’t know how to.”
“Yes you do, because you’re a very smart girl. You’ve seen Chantelle do it dozens of times. So next time somebody bullies you, first of all, tell yourself you’re worth too much to let anyone push you around, and when someone insults you, they’re the one with the problem. And secondly, just ask yourself what Chantelle would do in that situation.”
Chantelle wouldn’t let some random bitch make her question her self-worth.
The fact was, the woman was almost certainly lying. Who knew why?
But she just didn’t see Cliff as being that conniving or dishonest. Why would he go to such great lengths just to mess with her head? Frankly, if he’d asked her out on a date – before she’d known he was a werewolf – she would have said yes.
“We’re done here,” she said. “I’m going back to the house to get something to eat. If the only way to learn how to be a werewolf is by having you train me, I guess I’ll be blissfully ignorant.” She started back down the path between the hedges.
Celia quickly moved to block her. “Bad move,” she said. “And did you know? Some people don’t even survive their training.” Her eyes glowed with malice, and her pupils grew unnaturally large. Fangs shot down from her gums, and her ears turned pointy.
Taylor felt a jolt of alarm. If Celia went wolf and attacked her, Taylor had no chance.
Before she could fully shift, Taylor hauled off and punched her in the face, hard. She heard the crunch of bone; she’d broken Celia’s nose. Celia fell back with a shout of rage, and fur began to cover her skin.
Taylor took a step back, heart hammering in her chest. If she ran back to the house, would she make it in time?
There was a frantic rustle of leaves, then Cliff burst through the row of hedges, followed by Roger, Dax and Serafina.
“There she is! Told you so!” Roger said triumphantly. “Told you I’m a super-smeller.”
“Oh, thank God you’re here!” Celia sobbed, suddenly turning all weepy and helpless. “She went crazy! She tried to kill me!” She tried to fling herself at Cliff, who stepped back in disgust.
“I did not,” Taylor protested, shaking her hand, which stung from the punch.
Cliff put his arm around her shoulders. “Of course you didn’t,” he said, and she felt an enormous weight lift from her.
“Of course you’d take her side!” Celia spat at him. Hmm. A moment ago she’d been acting like Cliff couldn’t wait to get rid of Taylor. “I demand an Elder Assembly!”
Minutes later, they bustled into the town square and hurried up the steps of the town hall. It looked so ordinary – a squarish red brick building with white shutters and geraniums planted out front.
It took another half hour before all the Elders arrived, and in the meantime they waited in a big conference room. Cliff sent one of his packmates to get Taylor coffee and a bagel with cream cheese.
Just as she was stuffing the last bite in her mouth, Oswald walked in…trailed by Jerrold and one of Jerrold’s men, a big, sullen-looking redhead.
Celia ran over to him, wailing and spouting fresh tears. “She attacked me for no reason! She just punched me in the face, and I wanted to attack her, but I held myself back!” She hurled herself into Oswald’s arms. “Daddy, she’s crazy!”
Oswald flashed a glower at Cliff, and Taylor’s heart sank.
Oh, great. The one neutral Elder. The one guy they desperately could not afford to antagonize.
“She did not attack you for no reason. Why were you even in the garden with her?” Cliff said furiously.
Celia sniffled and dabbed at her nose with a handkerchief. “She said she wanted someone to show her around the property. She was complaining about how bored she was, that you keep leaving her alone, that you’re rude and thoughtless.”
Taylor tried to defend herself, but Oswald said angrily, “Silence! Let my daughter speak.”
“Yes, let her talk.” Jerrold smirked.
Celia continued, her voice a high-pitched whine. “When I mentioned that I was Shelley’s mother, she went crazy. She yelled at me that she would never let Shelley have Cliff, and she punched me in the face. I think she broke my nose.”
Shelley’s mother.
Better and better.
No wonder she hated Taylor. She must still think that her daughter had a chance with Cliff – if only Taylor were out of the way.
Taylor saw Celia sneak a glance at Jerrold, who met her gaze and nodded ever so slightly.
Taylor glanced at Cliff. “I saw it,” he muttered.
Obviously Jerrold was behind this, trying to stir up trouble. Anything that rattled Cliff and made him look bad would be to Jerrold’s advantage.
“Daddy, she hurt me. No one is safe around her. Think of the children.” She widened her eyes dramatically and looked at Serafina, Dax and Roger.
Serafina snorted. “Gee, thanks for caring. Last week you told me we were a bunch of mongrels from a family of freaks, and we should have been drowned at birth.”
Celia ignored her. She looked up at her father, her eyes huge. He was patting her on the back and totally buying her performance. “You need to demand that this woman is…removed. She can’t go to another pack, given that she’s completely crazy, so there’s really only one option. We should just do it now and get it over with. I’ll do it if you want.”
Cliff let out a growl and leaped in front of Taylor. He bared his fangs. “Anyone who tries to take her from me can certainly try. You’d want to write your will first.”
“Not so fast,” snapped Juliette, one of the Elders. “It’s time for Taylor to speak.”
“Are you calling my daughter a liar?” Oswald drew himself up to his full height and glared at Juliette.
“If the shoe fits,” she said, at the exact moment Cliff said, “Like mother, like daughter.”
“How dare you mock Shelley after the way you led her on?” Celia sniveled, but Oswald flushed and looked away. Apparently he knew that his granddaughter had behaved badly – it sounded as if it had been pretty obvious to everyone in the pack.
Taylor fixed Celia with an indignant glare. “I was just leaving Cliff’s room to get breakfast when she met me in the hall and claimed that she was there to do my werewolf training. She said Cliff was too busy training for the Alpha Trials. We went out into the garden, and she told me that Cliff was leading me on, that he was never going to be my mate, and that she’d help me escape the pack grounds if I wanted to.”
“Liar!” Celia screamed.
“And when I said no, she threatened me and went all fang-y. That’s why I hit her.”
“Lying bitch!” Celia lunged towards her, and Oswald grabbed her and held her back.
“I’ll call James and we’ll truth-challenge her,” Cliff said.
“I forbid it,” Oswald said quickly.
“On what grounds?” Elder Maurice spoke up, his voice laced with scorn. “She isn’t an Alpha contestant. They’re the only ones who have immunity, and only until after the trials are over.”
Jerrold spoke up quickly. “I extend my protection, and invite her into my pack. If Cliff wishes to extend any kind of challenge to her personally, then he is challenging me, and it will have to wait until after the trials are over.”
“Use your heads, people,” Juliette said impatiently. “We all know that Cliff publicly forbade both Shelley and her mother from coming anywhere near his house or property.” Celia glared at her with hatred. “Cliff would hardly invite her to his house when his new mate was here, knowing that she’d been trying to hook him up with Shelley for years. Logic therefore tells us she went uninvited, seeking out Shelley’s perceived rival.”
The Elders gathered together, and conferred, grumbling. Then Phineas stepped forward. “Celia will stay off of your property and will stay away from your mate. If you wish to address the matter further, it will have to wait until after the trials. And now, I’ve got a ten o’clock tee time and I don’t want to be late.” They started to file out of the room.
Jerrold brushed past Cliff, who grabbed his arm. The redheaded man let out a low growl of warning at Cliff. Jerrold jerked his arm away and smirked. “Something on your mind?”
Cliff glared at Jerrold. “Stay away from my mate!” he barked at him. “If you want to come after me, have the balls to come after me directly.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Jerrold murmured, and he and his packmate left.
Cliff gave Serafina a twenty dollar bill. “Go to the ice cream store, and buy hot fudge sundaes for all three of you,” he said. “Thanks for helping me find Taylor.”
Roger and Dax whooped in glee as they rushed off.
Taylor spun to look at Cliff. “So, when were you going to tell me that I’ve got about a ninety percent chance of dying?” she said bitterly.