Page 71 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

Beth’s heart thundered in her chest. She was sure that if Matilda walked through the door, between Taryn’s wolf and witch powers, her mother would be dead.

“Your dad isn’t gone from your life forever. He went back to Angel’s Creek. That’s in New Mexico and is about six hours from here. Seven hours if we count pee stops. You can go down there as often as you want and stay as long as you want. If you want to meet halfway for a day and go do something, I know he will meet us. He just can’t be here.”

Her words didn’t seem to have an effect on Taryn.

“Listen. I need you to control your hate and anger. This is exactly what Mother wanted. When you are angry and hurt, your emotions are in control, not logic or reason. You can be easily controlled when your emotions are in charge,” Beth said. “I know that you would want to hurt her if she walked in the door. But, Baby Girl, that would make you just like her. That would put you on the dark path of magic.”

Taryn stared at her mother as though she didn’t recognize Beth. Then, slowly, Taryn’s eyes and face returned to normal. Her claws became human hands again.

“That’s my girl,” Beth said, soothingly.

A couple of hours later, Taryn said, “I need to take care of Pegasus.”

“Okay, let me call Jenna’s mom to find out if you can come over.”

Jenna begged Taryn to stay the night at their house. Beth wasn’t sure that it was a good idea.

“Mom, please. Life’s got to get back to normal for me. Staying at Jenna’s is normal.”

“True, but what about what happened this morning?” Beth asked.

“Won’t happen,” Taryn said.

“Okay.”

Beth went back to the house and sank down on the couch with a glass of wine and the bottle sitting next to her. She wasn’t stupid enough to think that one glass was going to be enough. She leaned back and put her feet up on the coffee table.

Her kitchen door opened and Beth groaned. She wasn’t in the mood for her mother.

I guess it’s a good thing that Taryn is at Jenna’s.

“You aren’t welcome here.”

“That’s no way to talk to your mother,” Matilda said. “I see that the filthy wolf shifter finally got the hint and left town.”

“Get out of my house.”

“But, Darling, don’t you see? It’s for the best. I have something exciting to show you.”

“I’m not interested. I don’t want to be a part of your life. Please, just go.”

“Look,” Matilda said eagerly as she pulled the amulet off of her neck.

She held it in her hands and muttered something. A weird crackling sound, like a cross between static electricity and thunder, vibrated through the air. Beth looked around, bewildered, as a thin blue line creased the air behind Matilda. It got bigger and bigger until it looked like a portal of sorts.

“We can travel back and forth in time. Think about it. We can go into the past and change things and go into the future. Together we can rule the world.”

“You are insane,” Beth hissed. “You have absolutely lost your mind. This is wrong on so many levels.”

“No. We can make this a world where witches rule. I’ll be queen. You and Lyla can rule beside me,” Matilda said.

“That’s how you got the amulet,” Beth said. “You found a way to go back into the past to get it.”

“No. I was that Matilda, burning at the stake. I used my last bit of energy to hide it. As you can imagine, the landscape has changed over the last several centuries, so it took me a while to find it. But I did on my last trip to Europe.”

“You’re telling me that you’re an evil witch, reincarnated from an evil witch?”

“Yeah. With all the other paranormal activity in the world, you find that hard to believe? Look behind me. Peek into it and focus on a time. You can go anywhere and be anywhere you want to be. We could stop John Proctor from being hanged and keep Giles Corey from being pressed to death.”

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