IAN CAUGHT THE SHIRT JAX THREW AT HIM WITH A NOD of thanks and quickly pulled it on. Clothes didn’t magically shift with a person, and Ian shredded his when he lost control and attacked Vynn.
Who was still passed out, he noticed in amusement.
Amusement instantly fading, he glared at first Farrah and then Luke. “What the hell is going on here? Why are you here, and what do you have to do with any of this? And what the hell did you do to me?”
“We’re shifter enforcers, my crew and I. And we’ve been following the drama around here. We caught this one edging close to the confrontation, and we figured she’d escalate things, so we caught her.”
We? Looking around, Ian noticed for the first time that all the new shifters were there. Blake, Liam, Dmitri, Damara, and Noah. And Luke, of course. Unable to believe he hadn’t noticed them, he asked, “And what you did to me?”
“My shifter gift. I can force changes.”
Fuck, what a gift. That had to be handy as an enforcer. And then what Luke was, what his crew were, sunk in. Enforcers. Shit. They were shifter law, and they had the authority to put rotten shifters down. And he’d just tried to kill another shifter in front of them.
“I can tell what you’re thinking, Ian. And we’re not going to put you down for going after Vynn. You were provoked. Although you would have killed him if you weren’t stopped, and that would have been unacceptable. The only thing that’s saving you today is that we know that was out of character for you. But we won’t be as lenient if there’s a next time.”
Nodding, Ian opened his mouth to speak and paused when a crashing noise sounded from the woods behind him. Zane burst through the tree line, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he panted. Seth scowled and started toward him, but stopped when he noticed Dmitri stepping forward with a sharp look and a glare. Moments later, Kian followed him out into the clearing, focused only on Zane.
“Why did you keep running? You knew I was following you, and I gave you a direct order to stop, though why I’m surprised you disobeyed, I’ll never know—” cutting himself off abruptly, he looked up and noticed the full clearing. Looking at his tigers in disbelief, he barked out, “What the hell is going on here? Why are you here?”
“So you are alive,” Karis said in relief. “We were told you were being held here against your will and we came to retrieve you.”
“What, you were going to fight my friends? On what basis?” Kian barked.
“We were told you were in trouble,” Karis replied with a glare directed at Zane.
Shaking his head, Kian said, “Zane, what has gotten into you? You try to kill Ian and me, and then you call the tigers in to do your dirty work for you when you don’t succeed? You are not the noble tiger I once thought you were.”
“If that’s what you believe, then I will not stop you. There is obviously nothing I can say,” Zane replied stiffly.
Karis looked back and forth in confusion before realization dawned. Stepping forward, he growled out, “Zane has been trying to kill you, my prince?”
“I think there’s more to the story than that,” Luke interrupted, nodding to the woman still struggling in his arms.
Kian looked over and seemed to notice Farrah for the first time. “Why are you holding onto one of my tigresses like that?” he demanded. “She should not be held so.”
“Oh, I think she should,” Damara spoke up, her accent thick.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Jax asked, not seeming to direct it to any one person. “Is Zane trying to kill Kian and Ian, or is Farrah?”
Zane remained quiet, but Farrah spoke up, panic briefly flitting across her features. “It wasn’t me. It was Zane. He tricked me.”
“Explain,” Seth barked out.
Stiffening, she glared at him, but didn’t argue. “He came home a couple months ago, acting crazed. He—he forced his attentions on me,” she said, casting her gaze to the ground before looking back up. “Afterward, he was ranting, telling me all these plans. Said that Kian wasn’t good for the War Cats, that he had become useless. And since he was next in line, he intended to take care of Kian and take his place. I came here to warn my prince. That’s all, I swear.”
Staring at Farrah, a woman he hated with every fiber of his being, even he had to admit she wasn’t lying. He’d listened carefully, and there hadn’t been an off note in her voice. Zane had finally decided what side of the fence to fall on, and it was the wrong one.
“I fucking knew it,” Seth said, his voice quiet with rage. He took a step forward but Kian held up his hand.
Staring hard at Zane, he said, “Is this true? I want to hear it from you.”
Brow furrowing, Ian said, “Kian, I know he’s your cousin, and you’re close. You don’t want this to be true, but you had to hear what everyone else did. There were no false notes in her voice.”
Shaking his head, Kian finally took his gaze off Zane and looked at Ian, an apology in his eyes Ian didn’t understand. “I should have told you this earlier. I wanted to. I meant to. But I could never seem to find the right time. That doesn’t excuse it, though.” Pausing, he took a breath before speaking again. “Lying is Farrah’s gift. She can successfully tell a lie without one false note. It is not completely foolproof. If you listen hard, you can hear the truth when she speaks it. But not in the lies. You can never tell with those. The proof is when she tells the truth. Her voice changes slightly. Nothing noticeable unless you’re listening for it, though. It is how she gets away with so much. You have my profound apologies for not alerting you to this sooner.”
Ian stared at Kian, unable to comprehend what he was saying, and the magnitude of it. Farrah’s gift was the ability to lie without detection. My God. For almost nine years, he’d berated himself for being so blind, for being so weak, as to fall for who she pretended to be in the beginning. He’d thought he was defunct, a failure as a shifter. The fact that his gift was undeveloped, and he’d suppressed it deep back then, was still accurate. But everything else…
He’d been blaming himself for the way Shelby was treated. Blaming himself for years for the abuse his daughter endured. But it wasn’t all his fault. Sure, some of it still rested on his shoulders, but now he could lay the blame where it truly belonged—on Farrah and her tribe.
“You should have told me,” he said hoarsely. “All this time—you just should have told me.”
“I know. And I will always regret that I did not. But right now, we need to get to the bottom of this.” Glaring at Zane, who was standing stubbornly with his arms crossed and still not saying a word, Kian said, “Tell me what’s going on, Zane.”
When he still remained silent, Liam stepped forward. “Look, man. I know you’re offended to your core right now that everyone suspected you. But we need to know the truth. The enforcers need to know. We have a job to do, and if that one,” he said with a jerk of his head, “is the one behind this, we have to know.”
Exhaling, Zane unfolded his arms, staring off into the trees. “I went home as you ordered me to a couple months ago. I was feeling insecure, upset, angry, confused—I was feeling it all. And yes, I did go to bed with that viper, but it was consensual,” he spat, with a glare Farrah’s way. “It was an epic show of bad judgment, and I regretted it immediately. The next day, I was speaking to your father about some things, and I didn’t know it, but she was listening in. I only figured it out later by piecing some things people who had seen her told me, but by then, I was too late. She’d stolen my credit cards and my car and taken off.”
Eyebrows high, Ian registered the truth in his voice and glanced at Alex. Alex had hacked into Zane’s credit card activity, and they’d been monitoring him, but apparently it wasn’t Zane they’d been tracking. It was Farrah.
“I set out to track her,” Zane said stiffly. “I feared the worst. But it turns out, I am not as good a tracker as I thought I was, and she always stayed just beyond my reach,” he admitted grudgingly, looking pissed off at himself. “I didn’t catch up to her until just now. You know the rest.”
Everyone was silent as they digested what he said, and Ian glanced over at Seth. Seth and Zane had come to blows over Amelia, and he’d always been adamant that Zane was out to cause trouble. But the truth in Zane’s voice rang clear and true, and Ian could see by the way Seth’s eyes were wide and shocked that even he had to admit the truth of it.
“And what did she overhear that caused such a reaction?” Kian asked slowly.
Zane ignored him, looking off into the woods again. It was clear he was done talking. Ian looked at Farrah, who wore an expression that was a mix of defiance and fear.
“Why don’t you answer that, Farrah?’ he asked softly.
“Fuck you.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, I’ve had enough of this,” Damara said. Stepping closer to Farrah, she said, “I can see that these are good men, and they’re not going to do anything to hurt you, to force it out of you.” Smiling coldly, Damara put her face in Farrah’s. “But I’m not them. I’m not a man who has too much honor to beat the truth out of you. I’m a woman, same as you, and I will do whatever it takes to get to the end of this so we can all go home. Now I suggest you start talking, and you better tell the truth. We’ll all be listening very closely to make sure you are, and I’m sure Kian will tell us if you slip up with a lie.”
Farrah’s eyes flicked over the clearing, lingering on the War Cats. Looking back at Damara, she said, “I want protection when this is over.”
Studying her closely, Damara nodded slowly. “You have it. Now talk.”
“I overheard Zane and the alpha talking, as he said. And I learned that Ian is actually Kian’s half-brother.”
What? Stunned, he stared at Farrah, but he’d been listening closely, and he’d heard the notes of truth in her voice. They were subtle, but they were there. Glancing over, he looked at Kian who was looking just as stunned as he was.
“Go on,” Damara said, impatience coating her voice.
“Because of my decreased rank,” Farrah said, “I was not allowed to have money or a vehicle of my own, so I borrowed Zane’s. I did not have a plan at first. I made my way close by, but after the first night. I knew Zane was following me, so I began moving around. At first, I was angry. It coated my every thought. Ian had given me a deformed baby, and I’d lost my revered spot in the clan, and now—he was one of our royalty? I just wanted him to pay, to make him suffer. So when no one was home at Rocky River, I weakened the supports for the roof. I didn’t care who got hurt, or even if no one did. I just wanted to make him feel a tiny bit of what I’d been feeling.
“But after that, it occurred to me—if Kian were no longer in the picture, Ian could take his place. One day, he could rule the War Cats. Ian and I have a child together, and I’m already a member of the tribe. Of course he’d come to me for help, and then we could rekindle our romance, and I would rule by his side. So I set out to make that happen. I paid a girl at the diner to slip something into Kian’s food. He always eats the same meal. But when two of the same meals were ordered for the shifters, the idiot girl put the poison in both. I thought, surely they would both die, but luck was on my side and they lived. After that, I decided if I wanted it done right, I needed to do it myself.”
Silence descended on the clearing as Ian looked at her in disbelief. She had a little smile flirting on her lips, and she truly looked pleased with her story. She was more mentally unbalanced than he’d known, and he thanked God all over again that he had Shelby with him and out of Farrah’s clutches.
“You tried to kill our prince?” Karis demanded, outrage coating his voice and etched in every line of this body. He started stalking toward Farrah, some of the tigers following, but halted abruptly as Blake and Liam stepped in front of them, arms crossed and feet planted wide.
“Trust me, you don’t want to do that,” Liam said mildly, looking almost bored.
“We’re not enforcers only because we’re strong and excellent fighters,” Blake continued, lips quirked up. “We all have gifts that make us the best at what we do, and you do not want to get on the wrong end of that. Just look at your friend over there after feeling Luke’s gift. And I assure you, that was mild in comparison to what some of us can do,” he said with a nod to where Vynn was still unconscious on the ground.
Glaring at Farrah, the War Cats reluctantly backed down. Ian glanced at Kian to see if he was going to speak, but he was still frozen, his face set in a mask. Concern welled up in Ian, but he couldn’t think about that, or the revelation of them being brothers, just yet. He needed to get the rest of the story from Farrah.
“And that was you who vandalized Holly’s car?”
Eyes narrowing, she glared daggers at him. “I saw you with her one day, and I watched her as she talked to our daughter on the playground at school. That whore was trying to take what’s mine. You and Shelby belong to me, and she had to go. So yes, I did that, and had more still planned, but you brought her home with you. How dare you. Giving her yourself is bad enough. But men cheat, this I know. But giving her my daughter is unforgivable.”
“Oh get off it, Farrah,” Ian replied, beyond disgusted. “You never wanted Shelby. She brought you shame, remember? And you sure as fuck never wanted me.”
“You are both mine until I decide otherwise, and I had not done so,” she hissed out, eyes flashing with her tiger.
“This is all so very fascinating,” Damara drawled out. “But can we get to the end of this? I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to go home.”
“The arrow yesterday—Zane’s arrow—that was you, as well?” Kian asked, speaking up for the first time.
Ian glanced at him in surprise. He’d figured Kian had recognized the arrow yesterday, but he hadn’t thought it was Zane’s. Although he really should have, considering all the grief the prince’s second had given the fighters over time.
“It was,” Farrah replied, bringing his attention back to the present. “I found Zane’s bow and a quiver of arrows in the trunk. I’ve been practicing, and I got pretty good. But obviously not good enough, because I missed yesterday. And then I saw Ian heading this way today and I followed. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I thought I could come and tell him how much I missed Shelby, try to get in his good graces by using our daughter. That’s obviously how that whore did it.”
Gritting his teeth, Ian resisted his tiger’s urge to attack the person talking about his mate like that. For thinking their—no, his—daughter was a pawn to use at her whim. Woman or not, his tiger wanted to tear into Farrah, but she wasn’t worth it. Besides, the enforcers wouldn’t let him get very far anyway.
Farrah squealed in fury, trying to break away from Luke’s hold. “What the hell are you doing, you idiot?”
Luke snapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrists, and Farrah thrashed in anger. Mood instantly improving, he felt his lips curl up as Farrah stomped her foot in anger.
“They’re unbreakable,” Luke told her as she tried to use her shifter strength to break them open. “All you’ll do is hurt your wrists.”
Panic crossed her features as she turned to Damara. “Why is he cuffing me? You promised you’d protect me if I told the truth.”
“And what better place to protect you than shifter prison? Come on, Farrah, you didn’t actually think you were going to get away with this, did you? You’re not stupid. Unhinged, but not stupid.”
They all watched as Luke drug Farrah, kicking and screaming, from the clearing. No one spoke until the racket faded away, and then Blake cleared his throat.
“I think it’s time for us to get out of here. We’ve been on the road for a while, and we’re ready to get home. Although I know all of the enforcers genuinely regret not being able to test our skills on each of you fighters. Some other time, though.” Looking at the War Cats, he said, “Let this be a warning to you all. You came dangerously close to starting a shifter war, and you didn’t even have all the facts. Your tribe is too willing to jump into fights at a moment’s notice. And we don’t care how old and esteemed your tribe is. We won’t hesitate to put an end to it if you all push the boundaries one more time.” Glancing at Kian, he said, “Keep that in mind going forward.”
Kian nodded stiffly, gesturing at Vynn. “And my tiger? Will he be okay?”
“He should be fine in an hour or two. I used too much power in my voice, and I apologize for that.” Glancing at Ian in admiration, he said, “I don’t know how you remained conscious. You must be very strong.”
As one, the enforcers turned to leave the clearing. Pausing by Alex, Liam said, “Tell your mate no more dragon battles in the sky. It was in a remote enough location, but it still carried risks we should not be taking.”
Alex looked at him, eyebrows high. “You knew about that?”
“We were there. And before you ask why we didn’t step in, we were about to when she broke free and your crew arrived. We’d had our eye on Ivan for a long time, and his kidnapping Cammie gave us an excuse to take him in. But your mate took care of that for us. When you warn her of no more battles, give her our thanks, as well. Her taking care of it meant less paperwork for us,” he said with a smile, turning and following the others from the clearing.
Karis nodded, gesturing for one of the other tigers to shift. Once he did, they both picked Vynn up, carrying him with them. Silence once again descended on the clearing, and Jax cleared his throat. “We never did ask who called the tigers in to begin with.”
“It was me,” Zane replied stiffly. “And no, I didn’t do it to cause problems. But after Farrah shot the arrow, and it struck Kian, I knew I was in over my head. She stayed a step ahead of me the entire time, and if her aim had been a little truer, she could have killed him. I called Vynn and told him someone was trying to kill Kian, so they would send in reinforcements, or at the very least, someone to watch his back. It didn’t occur to me that they would assume the Rocky River fighters were trying to kill him.”
“We all appreciate you looking after him,” Ian said after no one else spoke.
“I didn’t do it for you, or any of your fighters,” Zane replied with disdain. “I was looking out for my prince. I do not require thanks from you.”
Typical Zane. Ian guessed some things never changed, and it was a nice realization. Other things changed drastically, like a person’s whole worldview, from thinking he had no family at all, to being told he had a brother.
“Zane—tell me what you mean by saying Ian is my half-brother,” Kian said, his thoughts obviously on the same wavelength as Ian’s.
“Just that, Kian. You share a father.”
“I’m going to need more than that,” Kian replied with a scowl. “And if you were talking to my father about it, then you know the details.”
Exhaling, Zane rubbed a hand over his head. “Alpha was tricked by Ian’s mother. You know your father values purity of line, of nationality. Lydia passed herself off as full Indian, a tiger shifter come from the homeland. And she looked the part, but it was a lie. He did not find this out until later, however. He wanted to begin his dynasty, and it did not matter that she wasn’t his mate. And he was happy when she got pregnant. They decided to name the baby Kian, because that was Alpha’s father’s name, and what he wanted to name his first born son.
“But when the baby was born, it was clear he wasn’t full Indian. His skin and hair were too light, his eyes blue. Alpha confronted Lydia, and she admitted that her father was American. So as soon as she was back on her feet, he told her to take the baby and leave. He never wanted to see Ian again. And he didn’t, until Ian showed up eight years ago.”
Mind blank, Ian stared at Zane, trying to process what he was saying. He couldn’t believe he had a brother, and that it was Kian. And he hadn’t even realized it.
“Lydia tried to get in to see Alpha a few times, but he wouldn’t be budged. She tried everything, even naming their son Ian,” Zane continued. “She wasn’t bold enough to name him Kian after everything that happened, but she got as close as she could. Nothing she did worked, but she never gave up. And then she died and Ian was put into foster care when he was two. Alpha was relieved, because he wouldn’t have to deal with her any longer, and Ian would have been too young to remember if Lydia told him of his heritage. And you were born by then, Kian, only seven months after Ian. He didn’t want you touched by this.”
“What the fuck,” he heard Seth say from behind him. “He sounds like a major asshole jerk, and you were better off without him in your life, Ian.”
Face darkening, Zane started to step forward, but Kian held up a hand, stopping him. “He is only telling the truth. He not only sounds like one, he is one. I just never realized the depths it went to before. What was he talking to you about when you first went home?”
“He wanted to know if you and Ian had figured it out, and he wanted me to come back here and do what I had to do to force you to leave. I didn’t know before, Kian,” Zane said, a look of remorse crossing his features. “I didn’t know you had a brother, or about any of this. Alpha only told me when I got home because of what he wanted to know. I wouldn’t have kept something like that from you.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Kian said. “And perhaps I shouldn’t have sent you away. I am glad you are back, my friend.”
Zane’s face hardened like stone. “I’m not back. In fact, think it’s best if I leave the tribe.”
“What?” Kian asked, shock in his voice.
“You believed the worst in me, Kian. The other stuff was bad enough, but you believed I was trying to kill you. Yes, that was my arrow, but you should have known better than to believe I was the one who shot it. I need some time away. Away from you, from tribe politics… just away. Take care of yourself, my prince.”
They all watched as Zane strode away. Eyes troubled, Kian said, “I’m going to go now, too.”
“Kian—”
“I’ll be all right,” he said, cutting off Ian’s protest. “I need some time to digest. But I’ll be back. I would like to get to know you as my brother.” Giving them a strained smile, he turned and walked in the opposite direction Zane did.
“Well,” Sam said, clearing his throat. “I’m glad we didn’t have to fight the War Cats, but that was a major shitstorm of drama that just went down.”
“It really was.” Alex looked at Ian closely, shaking his head. “Cammie really was on point when she said you and Kian shared the same features, but who could have guessed you were brothers?”
“I know I didn’t.” Ian was still in shock. In a matter of days, he’d found his mate and learned he had a brother. Looking to the Red Moon and Bear Claw shifters, he said, “Thank you all again for showing up today. It meant everything to me, and I know it did to my fighters, as well. But I think we’re all ready to get our mates and go home.”
Everyone murmured in agreement, and they all set off through the woods. Ian moved quickly, eager to hold Holly and Shelby in his arms. His world, his beliefs, had been rocked today, and knocked off its axis, but he knew holding his family would make everything better.