Angus sat in the chair and rubbed his face, saying nothing to any of them.

Sheena and Bri sat across the table from each, head in hand. They’d sent Carleton and Elsa to their room because they simply couldn’t handle more people fretting. Erin was doing enough of that for everyone. And it was starting to become more of a rant.

“Bastards. They’re all fecking bastards. Well, except the aliens—they’re alright. Real sweeties, most of them. Here, Bri.”

A cup of stimulant slid in front of her. Bri looked up at Erin and smiled. “Thank you. Do we have any pain killers? My head is hurting something fierce.”

“Yer poor head. Fecking immoral bastards, every last one,” Erin said, going to the bathroom to hunt for tablets.

Angus groaned from his chair. “Pay Erin no mind. She’ll be like that until the two of ya are yer old selves again. If Nate knows what’s good for him, he’ll keep the one that done this out of Erin O’Shea’s sight. She’d tear the skin from him before I could get across the room to beat him senseless.”

Sheena laid her head on her arms. All this passionate caring about what couldn’t be changed was way outside her comfort zone. She had the mother of all headaches, but also knew she was lucky to be alive. She was still quietly coming to terms with the fact that someone seriously wanted her dead. At least Novus Prime had only put a male leash on her.

Angus rose to answer the loud knock on the door. Darcone stood outside. Saying nothing, Angus waved him in. The alien’s gaze went straight to Bri, and just like that, another truth was out there for the collective MacNamara approval.

“I hope ya beat the hell out of him,” Angus said.

“Hurt him, I did. Kill him, I did not.”

Bri laughed. “That’s so sweet, Darcone. Did you save his death for me?”

Darcone’s responding snort was a surprise to all of them. Turned out he had a sense of humor after all. The alien walked to the table and stared down at Brianna.

“Is good you live.”

Bri nodded slowly. “Yes, it is good I live.”

“Nate…” Darcone drifted off, shrugged. “Saved you, he did. Happy, he is not. Father bad.”

Sheena lifted her head too fast and winced. “Are you saying Nate’s father did this to us?”

“Kill you, he tried.”

“Fecking cock-sucker bastard,” Erin spat.

Sheena had to move to keep from getting sloshed by the steaming cup of stimulant Erin pushed under her nose. Her gaze went across the table to her wicked sister who was trying desperately not to laugh at Erin’s creative swearing.

“How can you find anything at all about this funny?” Sheena demanded.

“Sense of humor, I have. Get one, you must,” Bri said firmly, perfectly mocking Darcone’s speech pattern. She dissolved into a fit of giggling over the alien’s chastising tap on the back of her aching head.

Then they were all suddenly laughing, letting out the hysterical kind of relief that comes when you’ve barely missed dying.

As tears ran down her face, Sheena thought her head might actually explode before she stopped laughing.

* * *

Nate stood at his office window, frowning as he looked out through the small circle. It was hard coming to terms with the fact that his job had made him nothing more than a captured aviary trapped in a cage all these years.

His mother had confessed that she lied to him regularly and today his father had just tried to kill the woman he loved for no good reason. Not that his father knew he loved Sheena. The man obviously didn’t know him at all, but what the hell? What kind of gullible putz was he that he didn’t automatically sense the evil in the man? Darcone had. The alien he’d known forever had taken one look at his father and known he was up to no good.

“Talking to yourself is a bad habit. Just don’t start answering—you’ll find yourself in rehabilitation for the mentally unsound.”

Nate turned at the sound of her voice. “It’s called self-reflection.”

Sheena snorted. “When you’re being self-critical, it’s called whining. You’re not gullible. You’ve just been naïve about your parents. That’s what happens when you spend over a hundred years on an airship. The world went on changing without you.”

“It’s done a lot more than change. The world has officially gone mad, Sheena. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Neither do I,” Sheena said, dropping into a chair.

Nate slid into his chair and stared across the desk at her. “If my father hadn’t wanted your deaths to look like an accident, you and Bri would both be dead right now. And I just let him waltz right into your room and shoot you.”

“Nate, he’s not a known serial killer. He’s your father.”

“Maybe that’s a lie too. My mother’s been lying to me all along. She told me so.”

“And I told you first, but that doesn’t help the hurt you must be feeling,” Sheena admitted.

“Yes, you did tell me first. You told me a hundred years ago, but I didn’t fucking listen.” Nate drew in a breath. “Well, I’m listening now and you deserve the whole truth. Angus and Erin are from another universe. The Guardians are using the alien travel portal to jump between our mirror worlds. The current Angus and Erin were abducted for the sole purpose of replacing your parents.”

“Yes, I know all that.”

Nate snorted. “Of course you do. Did Angus tell you everything?”

“No,” Sheena answered, shaking her head slowly, mostly because it still hurt. “Angus never said a word. Neither did Erin. I found out from a more knowledgeable source.”

“Montgomery?”

“No, not him either. Scott doesn’t know anything. Why are you grilling me over this? Maybe I found out from my father’s notes. Did that ever occur to you? He left me all his private research.”

Nate narrowed his gaze. “I might not be a genius like you, but I’m good at reading people, well—other than my parents. So I’m not buying that either. I understand why you might refuse to tell me such a thing, but at least stop lying. I hate myself enough already.”

Sheena chuckled at his remorse. “You’re right. I’m a terrible liar. That’s why I don’t do it. I just say nothing and hope no one asks me questions.”

They stared at each other across the desk. Nate sighed and nodded, coming to the right decision for once. He felt it in his gut.

“I love you, Sheena. I always have and I probably always will,” he said finally. “If you want the real truth from me, I don’t even care how you found out about Angus and Erin. But if you have any clue about what’s going on with my parents, I’d really like to know at least that. My mother may be a habitual liar, but my father doesn’t usually try to kill people I care about. I figure there has to be an explanation that makes sense somewhere in the mess of my fucked existence.”

Sheena nodded. “Your mother likes power and she lies to get her way. Stop pretending that’s not true and you’ll be fine. Follow your own gut. Here’s what I know about your father—Bri said he was at the execution she witnessed. Six people were incinerated while your father and the Novus Prime director watched. What none of us knows is who those people were. We need to find out. I think that answer will tell us what kind of political shit show we’re dealing with.”

“My father will tell you nothing. I tried to talk to him. All I got out of him were slurs and he’s currently denying his part in my creation. He blames my mother for what he feels are my weaknesses. I liked it better when he simply ignored me for half a century.”

Sheena smiled at the man she adored. Nate was her weakness. God help her if anyone ever found out. “I can get your father to talk to me. I just need your cooperation.”

“Will what you do hurt him?”

“You have him locked in a cell because he intended to kill me, Admiral Tiberius. Do you honestly care if it hurts him?” she asked.

Nate sighed heavily. “Not really, but I’m not used to being this much a hard-ass. You’re going to have to let me ease into the role. The bastard is still unfortunately my parent.”

“What I plan to do won’t hurt him. In fact, he won’t even remember our conversation, if I don’t want him to.”

“Are you talking about some kind of brainwashing? Is that what you did to Montgomery?”

Sheena raised an eyebrow. “Novus Prime paid General Scott Montgomery to seduce me. I was his target and his job was to keep tabs on my activities. He’s lucky he still has all his man parts.”

“Right. Fucking bastard. What was I thinking? He deserved to have his mind violated.”

Sheena shrugged at Nate’s sarcasm. “I’m angry that the organization I worked for all these years thinks I’m some kind of problem that needs such close monitoring. Well, I just became one because their actions makes me wonder what else they’ve been hiding from me.”

“Welcome to my world,” Nate said.

“I know. If it helps any, the Guardians aren’t behind any of this crap fest,” Sheena said.

“My father worked for them. How can you be so sure?” Nate asked.

Sheena paused, stared at the man she loved, and then decided to just tell him. “Because I’m being recruited to be one.”

Nate pushed back in his chair and stared. Sheena? A Guardian? “You’re certainly smart enough. But…” What could he say to her? Stay and be my wife instead. Don’t take the highest honor on the planet. He couldn’t do that to her. He wouldn’t. She hadn’t done it to him even when he was being a naïve idiot.

Sheena shrugged once more. “I haven’t said yes to anything, but I’ve talked to all of them. While they were testing me, I tested them back. I needed to know if they were telling me the truth about their motivations and their morals. I discovered they were.”

“So what explains my father then?”

Sheena smiled. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

“How are you going to do that?” Nate asked.

“I have a way of making people tell me the truth.”