Page 23 of Broken Mate

“I’m so happy!” she said and then looked at Ledger. “You worked a miracle.”

He held up his hands. “This was all her.”

“To think,” Jericho said as he held out his hand to Ledger, “I could’ve saved myself a lot of heartache if I’d just come back to Sheridan and mated Payton right away.”

She smacked his stomach and he let out a humorous grunt.

Ledger laughed and shook Jericho’s hand. “Right?”

The words shot a spark of interest through her. “I wonder how many other wolves have survived wolfsbane poisoning.”

“I’d be interested in that as well,” Jericho said.

Ruby and Esmerelda came forward to hug her. There were a few other people she didn’t know that smiled and waved at her, and she returned the greetings. Small sandwiches, dishes of coleslaw, potato salad, a fruit salad, and finger-foods. It was like a picnic had been set up inside the diner, and slowly, Anais relaxed to enjoy being with her new friends.

Suddenly, a low growl erupted from Jericho and he stepped toward the door. Ledger stiffened and joined the alpha. Anais looked at her aunt, who talked with Payton, and shrugged.

The door was thrown open and in stepped her father. Immediately, Ruby pulled Anais behind her, as if protecting her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Payton pull out her cell phone and send a text.

“You don’t have permission to be on my pack lands,” Jericho growled.

“I’m here for my daughter,” Renfield Arnauld announced. He spotted her and looked her up and down. It made her feel like she needed to take a thousand showers to rid herself of his venom. “You’re healed.”

“You sound surprised,” Anais said. She refused to let him scare her anymore and stepped from behind her aunt.

“How?”

She decided not to answer that. “You can inform Gaia her betrayal didn’t end like she hoped.”

Renfield bared his fangs to her and Ledger took a threatening step closer, a low growl echoed through the diner.

His gaze latched onto Ruby. “Ah, my traitorous sister hiding what’s mine.”

“I am not yours!” Anger coursed through Anais. How dare this man try to act like she owed him anything. “I have a new pack, filled with people who love me.”

“You’re my daughter!”

“You still have a daughter at home,” she said. “Go back to that little duplicitous bitch and forget all about me. I renounce you as my alpha and as my father.”

“I never gave you two permission to leave, which means both of you still belong to me.”

Ledger stepped forward. “I’m Anais’s mate. And mates trump asshole fathers.”

“You are not welcome on my land,” Jericho said. His alpha power was so fierce it blanketed the entire room. “If you don’t leave immediately, I will take it as a sign of aggression, and my omegas, who are outside surrounding your entourage, are ready to end the fight right now.”

Renfield startled and turned around to look out the diner’s windows. Just as Jericho had said, her father’s men held their hands up as the sentries to the Sheridan Pack kept them under control.

“You can fuck off peacefully and never return,” Jericho said. “Or the maggots can feast on your carcass.”

Renfield Arnauld took a threatening step toward Jericho, but he could not hold a candle to the much younger, much stronger alpha. Jericho’s claws came out, as did Ledger’s, and both took a menacing step toward her sperm donor. Anais never thought she’d see her father scared, but she could scent his fear. It gave her a wonderful sense of justice.

The solidarity of the pack filled her heart. “You can’t hurt me anymore.”

Renfield looked around, a sneer on his face. “I came to bring you home, but I see you’ve been completely corrupted. You’re no daughter of mine anymore.”

Anais smiled. “Thank the High Luna. Now, get the fuck off my pack lands.”

****

Later that night, Anias lay in Ledger’s strong arms. Her fingertips played with his chest hair.

“We’ll have to go home hunting tomorrow.”

“We can wait for the housing project to be finished,” she murmured, boneless and content.

“Mm. That’s a good idea. I love you, Anais Klayman.”

She loved hearing her new name. “And I love you, Ledger Klayman.”

The End