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“It doesn’t look like it to me,” she replied shortly, shrugging him off and moving to Kian. Before he could stop her, she studied the wound, looking up with a frown on her face. “This isn’t right. There’s so much blood around it, but the wound is mostly closed. This doesn’t make sense.”
Fuck. “I really need you to get Shelby back inside the house. I can’t handle the thought of either of you getting hurt.”
Frowning, she looked like she was about to get stubborn and demand answers, but Cammie spoke, beating her to it.
“I agree that they need to get inside, but now I’m not convinced you’re the target, Ian.”
“What? I just had an arrow shot at me.”
“No, Kian had an arrow shot at him. He was the target.”
“But someone was messing with Holly. It makes sense that they’re going after me. Maybe they mixed up Kian for me.”
Frowning, Cammie looked between the two of them and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, now that I’m paying attention and really looking, you two do have a lot of the same facial features. It’s uncanny, really. But Kian h
as darker skin and black hair. You’re lighter skinned, with light hair. And your builds are a little different. That would be what was obvious to the shooter, not your facial features. They were too far away to be able to see those clearly.”
“This makes no fucking sense,” Ian muttered in frustration.
Watching as Kian made his way to the arrow, he was deep in thought and barely noticed the way Kian stiffened. Turning, Kian said, “I must go now.”
“What? Kian, you can’t leave. Now more than ever, you have to see that.”
Whirling around, Kian glared at him. “I see nothing. But regardless, I am a prince. You can’t tell me what to do. I’ll come and go as I please.”
Shocked, Ian watched him turn and stride to his truck. Silence echoed through the yard as Kian started the truck and peeled out, gravel spitting under his tires.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Alex said. “I’ve never seen or heard him act like that.”
Ian nodded in agreement, glancing over as Holly spoke, her voice incredulous. “He’s a prince?”
Exhaling, Ian tried to come up with an explanation, but came up short. He didn’t want to lie to her, not any more than he had to, but they were quickly piling up. And he was afraid they would bury him, along with any chance he had to make this work with her, when the truth finally came out. Holly wouldn’t take kindly to being lied to. Maybe waiting to tell her everything wasn’t the best idea. Sooner rather than later would probably be wiser.
“Dude, what the hell is wrong with Alex?” Chase asked, voice worried.
Shit, what now? Whipping around quickly, he saw that Alex was stiff as a board, his body vibrating, eyes wide, and gasping for air. He was having a vision. Alex’s gift was seeing the future, and Ian couldn’t help being hopeful this was one that would help with finding out who their would-be murderer was.
“Oh my God. Is he having a seizure or something? Shouldn’t we be calling 911? Why is everyone just standing around like this is normal?” Holly asked, voice scared and frustrated at the same time.
Oh fuck, Holly. Holly was seeing all of this. How the hell was he going to explain this to her? Exhaling, he acknowledged that maybe it was time to tell her the truth. She’d seen and heard too much at this point, and it was something he was going to have to tell her soon, regardless. Before he could reassure her, Alex started gasping, muttering something under his breath that made Cammie freeze.
“Tigers,” he said with a gasp. Locking eyes with Ian, he said, “The tigers are coming. War Cats. A lot of them.”
Mind blank, Ian stared at him for a moment, trying desperately to grasp what he was saying. When he finally did, dread dumped into his system, turning him cold with fear.
“Tigers?” Holly asked, voice a few octaves higher than normal. “What is he talking about? Someone tell me what in the world is going on.”
Swallowing hard, Ian glanced over and locked eyes with her. “Holly, please take Shelby and get inside. You two aren’t safe out here.”
Setting her jaw stubbornly, she shook her head. “No. Not until someone tells me what’s going on. None of this is making sense. You all sound absolutely crazy.”
“Please, Holly. Get yourself and Shelby in the house and out of the open. I promise we’ll talk as soon as we’re done out here. I swear,” he told her, staring into her eyes and willing her to go along with it.
Searching his eyes for a long moment, she finally exhaled, nodding as she held her hand out to Shelby. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go inside. We can play Barbies again, or whatever you want.”
Shelby hesitated, casting him a frightened gaze that made his stomach hurt, before she walked over to Holly and took her hand.
“Could you send the others outside when you get in?” he asked softly.
