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"No," he said, almost savagely, then added, "I mean, you don't understand. My father is Vernon Jenson, and he married Rayanne Jenson in a human civil ceremony some ten years ago."
I stared at him. "Your father married our mother? That means - "
"That I was right. I am your brother. By marriage, granted, but kin all the same." He smiled. "And you have a brother and two sisters you really need to meet."
"What?" Rhoan's gaze jumped between me and Evin. "Mum wouldn't do that."
Evin raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't she?"
"Because she swore never to have any more children after the way we were treated. And a civil ceremony? That means they're not soul mates - "
"But they love each other all the same. It may not be the deep, forever connection of a wolf mate, but it's still there and still real. And we have siblings to prove it."
"Fuck," Rhoan said, and thrust a hand through his short hair. But when he glanced at me, his eyes were bright and shiny. "We have brothers and sisters."
And underneath those words ran one joyous sentiment: We are no longer alone.
We had siblings. We might not know them, nor they us, but we had blood kin. We were a part of a family unit. And for wolves who had been so alone for so long, that was a powerful realization.
"But why the hell would Mom swear such a thing? And why would Blake want to kill you?" Evin asked.
"Mom's never said much about your reasons for leaving, only that it was for the best. And certainly Blake's never mentioned you."
"He wouldn't, especially after what we did to him last year," Rhoan said. "But I bet he's been plotting his revenge since then."
"A revenge he denies being a part of." I squeezed Quinn's hands then pushed away from his warmth. His grip loosened reluctantly - a reluctance that echoed fiercely within me. I didn't ever want to leave this vampire's side. It was a surprising revelation given how long it had taken me to realize I even loved the damn man. I walked across the room to retrieve my coffee cup. "But we have several avenues to explore to find the link. And I think if we manage to undo whatever has been done to my memories, we'll discover he's very much behind it all. Because it's certainly his voice I keep hearing in my mind, telling me to enjoy my new life while I can."
"Then let's go kill the bastard," Rhoan said, voice flat and deadly.
"Hold the anger in check," Jack snapped. "Riley's safe. The rest of it can wait. We are guardians, and we have the people behind these revenge killings to stop. That has to be our priority."
"Then am I to gather," Harris said, his arms crossed and face as impassive as ever, "that your presence here is the reason why the Perth Directorate has not responded to our request for help?"
"Basically, yes," Jack said. "Although I have to say, there will be some ass-kicking in Perth, because they did not flag your request through to us as soon as they got it."
"We were wondering what was going on. Hanna - " Harris hesitated, then glanced at me with a smile, "Riley kept insisting it should have been a priority-one message, even if the request came from a small-town cop in the middle of nowhere."
"'Should' being the operative word. When we did actually receive it, we accessed your system for details and saw your search for information on one Hanna London. And of course, Hanna London just happened to be the spitting image of our missing guardian. We got out here as soon as we could."
On Quinn's private jet, no doubt. The Directorate wouldn't have been able to move that fast, even if it was to recover a missing guardian. Whatever else it was, the Directorate was still a government department, and they are always bogged down by paperwork.
"How is the investigation actually going?" I asked. "Did you get much information out of the two shifters we caught at the brothel?"
Jack shook his head. "Several contact names - two we tracked down and one we didn't. This organization is like government - lots of different sections that don't know what the other is doing or where it is located."
"Meaning we might not have much better luck with the vamp."
"We can but try."
"We also have the pilot who'd come to pick him up in custody," Harris said. "The helicopter is privately owned by a company listed as Daskill Holdings. I was checking the validity of the licenses when the vamp gained control of my deputy's mind and sidetracked me."
"Daskill? I've heard that name before." Jack frowned. "Rhoan, contact Sal and get her to do a complete background check on that company and its owners."
Rhoan nodded and reached for his phone. As he made his call, I walked across to the machine and made three coffees, sliding one across to Rhoan before picking up the other two and returning to Quinn. After handing him a cup, I turned to face Jack.
"Are you going to interrogate the vamp?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Meaning you don't want to?"
