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“Fuck,” he muttered, staring at Tarun and feeling even more concerned.
“I’m going to gather a couple of our best warriors and head your way. We should be there tomorrow morning. Hopefully we won’t be too late.”
Luke frowned, shaking his head. “No. I don’t want anyone else in danger because of me.”
He could hear Jameson sigh, the sound full of exasperation. “How many times did y’all put yourselves in danger for the War Cats, Luke? You and Noah were here a lot, and you two were hated for a while because of your animals. Yet you came anyway. And when the Drako came for Jess and Kian, you all showed up to help. Let us return the favor.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Good thing I didn’t ask for your opinion. Look, I know you guys are excellent fighters with powerful gifts. But you’ll be outnumbered. Let us even the playing field. Besides, my sister’s there, man. You can’t expect me to do nothing while a war rages on right in front of her.”
Luke couldn’t argue that, and didn’t even want to. If his sister was still alive and in Tarun’s position, nothing could keep him away. And as much as he hated others being in danger because of him, if the War Cats presence helped the Enforcers and Tarun survive, he wasn’t going to argue it any longer.
“Thanks, man. Tarun is still looking a little shell shocked, but I’ll have her call you when she snaps out of it.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Ending the call, he followed Tarun’s gaze out the window, frowning as he thought. Something was bugging him about what Jameson said. Something right there, teasing the edge of his brain.
He sucked in a breath as it hit him, and then all the puzzle pieces came together. Jameson didn’t say shifters were coming after the Enforcers—he said pride. It was lions who were going to attack.
His mind flashed back to a moment long forgotten, a moment he’d buried along with all the other memories from his childhood. Someone talking to Jerry about his gift, and the way he could make it to where people weren’t physically able to speak about whatever it was he’d put a gag order down on.
That was what was bugging him about the mercenaries not speaking. He knew of only one shifter who could do that.
Jerry. The lion who’d killed Luke’s mother and sister, who would have killed Luke if he hadn’t escaped—all so he could take the alpha position over the pride.
The pride.
Fuck.
“Luke? What’s wrong?”
He glanced over at Tarun, vaguely feeling relief that she was coming out of the trance she’d been in. She was looking at him with concern in her mostly green eyes, her tiger clearly close to the surface.
But it felt like their positions reversed and he was the one in the trance, and he was having a hard time snapping out of it.
It was like that one memory surfacing from his childhood broke the chains on the box he’d shoved all those memories in, and they were slamming into him rapidly.
His dad, teaching him what it meant to be a man, and telling Luke things he needed to know when he was Alpha one day. His mom, giggling as his dad kissed her neck—the image melting into one of her sobbing after he died.
A lifetime of chasing Lara around their small town, laughter permeating the memories—so much laughter. And then his mom’s face the night Jerry attacked, when she told him Lara was already gone.
Watching from the backyard as Jerry stabbed his mom to death.
All that loss because of one man with a thirst for power who lusted over something that wasn’t his.
“I don’t get it, though. Why come after me now?”
Tarun moved in front of him, her eyes full tiger, her brow wrinkled with concern. “Luke, talk t
o me. You’re not making sense. What’s going on?”
Finally shaking himself from his thoughts and the daze he’d been in, he gave her a quick peck on the lips, his voice urgent when he spoke. “Get dressed. We need to gather the Enforcers and talk. Now.”
Tarun bit her lip anxiously, watching Luke as he paced through the bar. They were still waiting on Liam to come out of the kitchen, and he wouldn’t speak until everyone was in there.
Her tiger was pacing inside her, matching the pace Luke was setting, her tail flicking rapidly. Tarun did her best to ignore her as she focused on her mate. What Jameson told her, and then told Luke, was disturbing, no doubt. Terror and hopelessness had held her frozen in their grip for a while after she heard the dire prediction of their fate.
