Page 72 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

“No,” Beth said, snatching the amulet out of her mother’s hand.

“Give that back. You don’t know the power that it holds,” Matilda said.

Beth dashed into the kitchen and yanked open her junk drawer. She grabbed a hammer.

“Don’t do it,” Matilda screamed. “You don’t know what will happen.”

Beth set the amulet down on the counter and brought the hammer down on it as hard as she could. The crystal shattered and flew in a million pieces. The setting on which the sigils were written was distorted, ruining the symbols.

The blue line snapped closed and Matilda collapsed to the ground. “How could you?”

“Easy. And here is something else that you should know. I’m done with you, and I’m done with you meddling in our lives. You know I don’t believe in violence, and I don’t believe in using my magic to hurt anyone. But hear me well. If you come near me or Taryn again, I will stop your heart, just like that.”

Beth snapped her fingers, and Matilda’s heart skipped a beat.

“If you go near Conner, his friends, family, or anyone else, I will end you. I will consider it an act of defense, and I will not lose a second of sleep over it.”

“I’m your mother,” Matilda said, haughtily.

“You are the egg donor. Father raised me. I suspect that you had a hand in his death, too. I was afraid of you and then I was afraid of becoming like you. No more. Am I clear?”

She snapped her fingers again, causing Matilda’s heart to lurch, just to make sure that the dark witch got the message.

Matilda glared at Beth and then stormed out the door.

As soon as she left, Beth got on the phone. “Savvy, can you come over? I need you.”

“On my way. Is this a one-wine bottle night, or two?”

“You’d better bring the whole case.”

Savvy showed up twenty minutes later. As soon as she saw the shards of crystal and the bent setting in a white cotton cloth bag, she gasped. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes,” Beth said and explained what happened.

“Do you think that she’s done?”

“I don’t know,” Beth said. “But she’ll have to start from scratch. I’m sure that she’ll leave me and mine alone.”

“Let’s take care of this before we do anything else.”

They drove up to the mountains and found a small sacred area where they practiced their arts and communicated with nature. After casting a strong nullification spell, they buried the bag.

Then, they went back to Beth’s house. They only made it through one bottle each before they fell asleep.

Conner called her the next day and let her know that he already bought some land. It had a nice four-bedroom house on it, with a sturdy barn. They were going to expedite the closing, so it would be his soon. She told him what happened with her mother and said that Matilda wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

“I’m sorry. I can’t risk it,” Conner said. “I love you and Taryn.”

Life trudged by for the next couple of weeks. She and Taryn missed Conner. They constantly talked about him.

Then, one evening, Taryn said, “I’m going to have a little brother.”

“What are you talking about?” Beth said.

“You’re going to have a baby,” Taryn said, gently touching Beth’s tummy. “He’s a wizard and a wolf shifter.”

She thought about what Taryn said. She had been tired lately and breakfast had been extremely hard to make with her stomach constantly rolling.

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