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“Why?” Dove asks.
“Because of me and my sister. We were disgusting to our father, an abomination that he could never get over. It wounded his pride to know we were half him.” She's looking at the mountains behind the lake now. “That hate ran so deep that he poisoned our brother against us and together they made it their mission to kill every single tau child in existence, starting with their own blood. For years we hid, doing everything we could to protect ourselves from our their anger.” She turns back to the girls. “Even after our father was gone, my brother continued that legacy. You don’t know him the way I do. He will never stop trying to kill us. My brother has dedicated more time than you can imagine to this crusade, and he is ruthlessly efficient. I can’t stop you from going, but I beg you to consider the consequences if you are caught.”
Damn. I have no idea what to say to that. Neither does anyone else, considering the silence that follows. I never imagined the white-haired man might have a family of his own. In truth, I never really gave much thought to the motivation behind this campaign to systematically wipe out hybrids, especially since we came across Halle.
It’s Dove who eventually breaks the tension. “You don’t have to be scared of him—not anymore. You’re not alone in this. We have each other, and together we can stop him.”
Hester gives her a sad smile. “It won’t be enough. You don’t understand his drive. He doesn’t have a conscience and he will do just about anything to gain what he wants.”
“So what do you suggest, Hester? We just sit by and do nothing? Hope that when he dies, this dies with him?”
“He’ll never stop. This will never stop. All we can do is hide.”
“Where’s his facility?” Callum asks. “We’ve tried to locate it a number of times but never managed to.”
“I don’t know.”
“Why is he breeding them?” Cade’s follow-up question gains everyone’s attention.
Hester glances away, and my stomach knots. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care if you believe me or not.”
“Can’t you just call him and ask him? I mean, he is your bro,” Sawyer says sarcastically.
“I’m not going within ten fucking miles of him. When I tell you he is a psychopath, I’m not lying. He’s the most evil person I have ever come across.”
Her labored breathing fills the air, and I suddenly wonder what the point of all of this was. We’re still in the dark. She’s related to that asshole, and yet she doesn’t seem to know anything about him. I’m with Cade—I don’t believe her.
“You don’t know where he is, you don’t know what he’s doing. You don’t seem to know a fucking thing. So, what do you know? Other than he’s crazy?” Callum steps closer to her with each sentence. “We’re fighting for our lives here. Anything can help.”
“If I knew anything that I thought could help, I would have used it against him.”
“Hester,” Dove says in a soft voice, “what happened to your sister?”
Hester flinches as if she has been struck, and the color drains from her face. What did happen to her sister? Why are they not together if they were both being hunted?
“Freya wanted out of this life. She was tired of running, tired of being afraid of our brother. I helped her get free, even though it broke me to do it. I bound her powers and changed her appearance using magic. I haven’t seen her in a long time, and I hope I never do. It means she managed to find whatever peace she was looking for.”
I don’t know whether I feel better or worse knowing that her sister is out there somewhere living a normal life while she left Hester—and all of us—behind to face this hell.
“Why didn’t you go with her?” Halle asks. No doubt she is thinking about her own mother and the fact that she would have gone anywhere with her as long as they were together.
“At the time, I wasn’t ready to stop fighting. I knew I could save more of us. I was starting to build the Sanctuary and toying with the idea of creating a safe place for us. I wanted Freya to run it with me, but she was tired, and I didn’t have it in me to ask her to stay. Stupidly, I thought I could fight our brother alone. I considered everything you’re saying now, but there is no winning this. Even without the tau he has captured and turned to his side, he has an army of hunters—dedicated, loyal followers who hate our kind just as much as my brother does. They will hunt without him even asking. The old wounds between them and us run deep, and there is nothing anyone can say that will stop them from doing what their families have done for generations. All you’re going to do is get yourselves killed—if you’re lucky. There is no way this ends well for any of you.”
“But it could,” Cade says. “If we join forces with Callum’s coven, we stand a chance.”
“Their magic is too volatile.”
“Power in the wrong hands will always be dangerous,” Callum retorts.
“You know what?” I interject. “Maybe we need some of that. You said you’ve been fighting your brother for a long time and that you’ve never managed to get the upper hand, so maybe it’s time to start fighting dirty. Maybe we need to use all of the weapons available to us.”
I’m willing to use whatever it is that will keep Dove and the girls safe. The thought of any of them being locked away and forced into heat so they can carry the next generation of super soldiers makes my stomach fill with ash. I can’t allow that to happen to anyone else ever again.
“I need to know if he has my child,” Dove adds, and my heart breaks for her. For us.
