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He stabbed a finger toward Shae. “You’re pushing it, girl, pushing it hard. You better watch the way you talk to me.”
She stared him down, and Kasen spun on his heel and left the suite, slamming the door behind him.
Shiya let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d held. “Damn, you’re good. Can you really beat him?”
Shae laughed. “Girl, no, he’s vicious in a fight, but you can’t let him bully you. Kasen won’t go but so far. He knows Dad would cut his balls off if he hurt one of us. So aside from that, what’s going on, Shiya? Kasen told me something I didn’t like to hear. I especially didn’t like getting it from him and not you.”
Shiya couldn’t meet her sister’s eyes. “Kasen should get his mouth off my busi
ness.”
“It’s not just your business, is it? I mean, you’re out here on a job. You begged Dad to let you do it. I knew it would be hard, but I was confident you could pull it off.”
“And now you’re not?” Shiya rose, getting her back up.
Shae grabbed her wrist and tugged her down. “Don’t get your panties in a wad, Miss Missy. Just tell me straight. Did you have sex with those monsters?”
“They’re not monsters!”
“Shiya.”
She sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “Shae, they’re not. They’re men who happen to be able to shape-shift into polar bears.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
Shiya looked up. “Haven’t you ever been tempted?”
Shae laughed. “Of course! Are you kidding me? They’re all sexy as hell. It’s like the gene guarantees they will have bodies a woman wants to lick day and night. My job has me kissing one of them every now and then, and let me tell you, not one does it wrong. But at the end of the day, I know what they are. I know their kind tortured and killed our mother.”
“So all humankind should be punished—no killed—because of the murderers.”
“Not the same.”
“How?” Shiya faced her sister down and waited for Shae to give evidence that would change her mind or destroy the love she felt for Birk and Kotori. “Did you know Dad and Kasen agreed to kill their entire families, even people who are not shifters?”
Shae gasped. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. Kasen told me himself. I thought he was just saying that to get to me, but he said Dad thought it was a great idea so we don’t have to revisit places after a couple generations when a new shifter is born. What about the innocents? What about the children? We will be no better than what we’re trying to eradicate from the earth.”
“We’d be murderers ourselves,” Shae agreed. “This is the first I’m hearing about this, but you bet your ass I’m going to bring it up in the family meeting next week. I’ll put a stop to it, and I’ll get Sakura to help.”
Shiya blew out a breath, relieved. “Good.”
Her sister laid a hand on Shiya’s knee. “Sweetie, that doesn’t change the fact that those two guys . . . What were their names?”
“Birk and Kotori.”
Her sister gaped, and Shiya frowned.
“What?”
“You love them. I heard it in your voice. You actually love them—both!”
Shiya stood and rushed to the balcony door as if she had some urgent business there. When she swung open the door, cold air swept in, clearing her mind and calming her down. She closed it after several minutes and faced her sister. If she could convince Shae of her seriousness, then the rest of the family would come easier. Not because Shae was hard, but because she loved her the most.
“I’m not turning them over,” she said. “Yes, I love them. Whether you think it’s wrong or not, I do. I won’t let Dad and Kasen kill Birk and Kotori.”
“Do they love you?”
