Alex was a bit quicker on the uptake. “Someone gave you the tea, hoping you’d miscarry,” he guessed quietly. “That’s why you insisted I come.”
“Who would do such a thing?” her cousin asked, horrified.
Caleb stiffened and leaned forward out of his formerly relaxed but watchful pose. “Laurie Bell.”
“Aye,” Rory all but snarled.
“Laurie Bell?” Shannon’s voice was high, filled with disbelief.
“Who’s Laurie Bell?” Kiesha asked.
“The pack’s midwife,” Alex answered.
Shay laid her head on Rory’s shoulder, and he stroked her back in a gentle caress. She wasn’t sure which one of them the gesture was meant to calm—him or her.
“But that’s—” Shannon sputtered.
Shay shared a glance with Kian. “Kian said she hates you—all of you—and always has.”
Kian’s gaze flicked past hers to Rory’s, and Shay had the sense that they were communicating.
“Kian warned me and Da about her, but we never listened. Thought his dislike of the pack was skewing his perception. I’m sorry,” Rory said to his brother. To the rest of them he said, “It didn’t seem possible, and after my mother died, well, Laurie Bell was a great help. Almost a surrogate mother. She definitely smoothed my transition to alpha.”
“And you felt guilty for killing her mate,” Shay added.
“Why?” Caleb asked. “It was a fair challenge. He knew the potential outcome, even insisted on it. Why should you feel guilty for giving the man exactly what he asked for?”
“We outlawed death challenges a long time ago, but even so, there are times when you aren’t given a choice,” Alex said. “It’s the nature of the beast.”
“But I don’t understand. Why would Laurie Bell do such a thing?” Shannon burst out. Nikolai pulled her closer to him and stroked her arm in a comforting manner.
“A woman scorned,” Shay murmured.
They all looked at her.
“What did you say, Shay?” Rory asked.
“A woman scorned,” she repeated a bit louder. “You know the saying, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shannon stated.
Shay shrugged. “It makes perfect sense to me. Rory told me Laurie Bell was raised with the expectation she and your father would mate. Can you imagine how she felt being tossed over, and for a lowly omega?”
Shannon scoffed. “Shay, everyone knows my father mated my mother because she was pregnant. Besides, he was a right bastard. Who would want him?”
Shay shook her head. “I don’t believe that. I think what really happened is your father impregnated your mother because he wanted to mate with her.”
There was a stunned silence in the room.
“I’m feeling a little lost here,” Kiesha admitted. “Could you go back to the beginning for those of us who don’t have a clue what you’re talking about and explain?”
Very aware of Rory’s silence behind her, Shayla explained her thought process. “When explaining the history of this house and its occupants, Rory mentioned that not only the alphas, but at one time the betas and members of the council used to live here. He said his father and Laurie Bell grew up together under this very roof, and it was always understood the two of them would mate.”
Shay looked at Shannon, who appeared pale and shaky. “Shannon, you’re the one who explained how shifter males valued strength in a female. The stronger the female, the stronger the pups,” she reminded.
“Yes,” Shannon agreed with a slow nod.
“So, that being the case, your father mating your mother because she accidentally got pregnant never made sense to me. She was a shifter. From what I’ve learned, shifter females can only get pregnant while they’re in heat. Your father could have easily avoided her during this time if he’d really wanted to. Correct?”
Shay paused for a moment to let that sink in, still aware of Rory sitting entirely too still and quiet. “I think what happened is your parents fell in love. Maybe it started out as a casual fuck on his part, but something about her captured him. He knew his father, hell, the entire pack would never accept your mother as their future alpha’s mate unless he had a pretty compelling reason so…”
“He got her pregnant, knowing how shifters feel about bastard children,” Kiesha concluded.
“That’s my take,” Shay said in agreement.
“With twin boys,” Shannon added. From her expression, Shannon was beginning to agree with Shay’s analysis of the situation.
“Rory and Caleb will have to confirm if I’m right, but I’d imagine with the pack’s mortality rate being what it is, your mother being a proven breeder would have given her instant status,” Shay commented.
“It did for a while,” Rory mused.
“But it wasn’t enough,” Shannon added. “Ma was always having to prove herself, prove she was worthy of being alpha-fem. The pack never fully accepted her as my father’s equal, or his mate.”
“How much you want to bet Laurie Bell kept things stirred up? Nothing that could be traced back to her. Just a few seeds of doubt planted here and there.” When no one commented, she continued, “Again, this is all speculation on my part.”
“It’s a good theory and would explain much,” Nikolai said.
“So what do we do now?” Kiesha asked. “I hope you plan to fry the bitch.” She placed a protective hand over her rounded belly, and Alex’s hand covered hers. Her expression showed her horror at the thought of anyone trying to harm her unborn child.
“I’ll handle it,” Rory said in a tone that said the issue was closed.
“Dead woman walking,” Caleb said in an undertone.
“No,” Shay disagreed, glaring at her mate. “We’ll handle it together. My biggest concern is that she may not be the only threat.”
That started another round of questions, this time from the men in the room. Ignoring the others, Shay kept her gaze on Rory’s until he finally nodded. “We’ll handle it.”
She gave him a small smile. “Right answer.”
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. The e-mail she’d been waiting for from the herbalist was in her in-box. “Kiesha, Shannon, tell Alex, Nikolai, and Caleb what Conor told me,” she instructed as she opened the e-mail.
She vaguely heard Nikolai say in a grim voice, “Conor’s involved in this?”
“What’s that?” Rory murmured.
Turning the small screen where he could view it to, Shay said, “The herbs in the tea.”
As Rory read, his hazel eyes sparkled with gold. A flush rose from his neck to fill his face. His gaze lifted from the screen. “You know I won’t let her live for this insult. Don’t even think of trying to talk me out of killing her. She threatened you, our child. Pack law allows me to exterminate her.”
“You’re alpha. You make the law,” Shayla reminded him.
He bared his teeth. “Exactly.”
Shay judged the others’ conversation to be winding down, and handed her phone to Alex. “These are the herbs she placed in the tea.” The herbalist had listed each ingredient and its effect on her pregnancy.
After reading the screen, Alex said, “She’s canny. The mixture she gave you would have taken time to take effect, long enough that no one would have suspected her of being the cause. One of these herbs increases blood flow. There’s a good possibility you would have bled out if help wasn’t rendered in time.”
“And in a crisis situation, we’d have called for the nearest medical personnel—Laurie Bell—leaving her on hand to ensure the results she desired,” Shay said.
Shannon shook her head. “Say she did manage to kill you and the baby, Shay. What would be the purpose? What satisfaction could she possibly gain?”