“I had no choice, brother. Father is holding Rylee in the basement, she has been there for weeks and if I can’t lure you there either by using her faked disappearance or by using India, he is going to kill her, his own daughter, our sister.
Garrett took a step back at Cillian’s confession and turned to look at India,
“As far as I can tell he is being truthful.”
“Tell me that isn’t fucking true, Cillian.” one of the men shouted from the cell and Cillian nodded his head in shame.
“I’m afraid it is. I know how much you like my sister, but I was sworn to secrecy. I couldn’t tell you or he would harm her and despite what you might think of me, I couldn’t let him hurt her.”
“I don’t like her, I love her!” he shouted, and Cillian hung his head.
The other man came towards the door of the cell and spoke to Garrett.
“I was told by your father that you and your mate had something to do with Rylee’s disappearance, that’s the reason I came to get her.” He gestured to India. “Your father said we would turn her over to you when we got Rylee back.”
“What’s he really up to, Cillian?” Garrett asked, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know, he just wanted you back home more than anything, I swear I don’t know why, I think he may be a little unhinged, Garrett.”
“You tried to mount my mate.” he got up in his face and Cillian closed his eyes and sighed.
“I didn’t, not really, it just had to appear that way so that she would tell you and you would follow me home. Then when the blonde attacked me, I thought for sure she would tell you, but she didn’t and I was getting desperate. I could overpower her easily, Garrett, I am twice as strong as she is. I even made sure I was overheard saying where we were going but you got here much faster than I thought. I was going to take India home, knowing you would follow us there.”
Garret stood up and turned to India who confirmed he was telling the truth before he turned back to his brother.
“You must know something! Why does he want me back home so desperately that he will keep Rylee prisoner to get me there?”
“I swear I don’t know, but I believe him when he said he would kill her, his own daughter. I think she found out something about him. They had an almighty row, and then he told me to do this. I wasn’t allowed to visit her; neither was anyone else, and even Mom thinks Rylee has run away. I truly think he has lost his mind.”
“Let them go.” Garrett gestured to the cell and Jay unlocked the door to let the two wolves out. “You can come back to the compound with us, I don’t think it’s safe to go home just yet. Cillian, you are going to go home and tell him you seduced my mate and that I am hot on your heels looking for revenge. Do whatever you have to do to protect Rylee, I will do the rest.”
“Maybe I should go with him,” India said but Garrett shut her down before the words were out of her mouth.
“You have no idea how cruel my father can be, it’s out of the question.”
“Does anyone in the pack know what she looks like?” Kandis spoke up as she came down the last few steps to face him.
“No,” Cillian shook his head, “I’m the first to meet her.”
“Then I will go with you, pretend to be India.” She grinned, and Garrett smiled despite the situation. His father would get more than he bargained for with Kandis.
“Take my truck, you won’t all fit in Bree’s car. I will follow with the Mustang and Bree can bring India and the girl-my daughter, Anjelica,” Jay corrected himself just in time and India held her breath, but Garrett didn’t seem to notice the slip.
“We should go with Cillian; it will look less suspicious, and I also want to be there for Rylee. I swear, we didn’t know what his father was up to,” the taller of the two men said, and Garrett knew he was right.
He nodded his agreement.
“The rest of you go straight to the compound and stay inside the gates until we come back.” Garrett pulled her close, planted a kiss on her head and then as quickly as that, they were gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
India
Bree packed the car and India carried a sleeping Kali and put her in the back seat beside her. Anjelica would ride with her father and follow them in a little while after he made some calls to the station and his older kids telling them he would be out of town for a while.
Garrett and the others had a five and a half-hour drive to get to Cillian’s pack by which time they would all be safely back in the compound. Cillian would message his father to say it had gone to plan and they would be there later in the evening, just in case he had others on the lookout for India too, he would call them off.
India called her sister and spent the next fifteen minutes giving her a condensed version of everything that happened and asked her to tell no-one except Seann. She didn’t want Garrett to find out about his daughter after a long list of other wolves. She would take her home and get her settled while she waited for him and figured out how to tell him.
“I have met Garrett’s father a few times before, he is a little scary. His Mom is sweet, but I don’t even think Garrett likes his father very much,” Bree said as they drove on. “He has other siblings apart from Rylee and Cillian, another two brothers I think but they left the pack many years ago and I don’t even know if Garrett has had any contact with them.”
“I haven’t met any of them either except Cillian, but I don’t have any desire to meet his father now after this stunt. He was going to kidnap me to bring Garrett to heel, which he must know would never happen, he is too much his own man. Garrett is furious at him and I am a little afraid of what he will do to his father when he gets there. What kind of man keeps his own daughter locked up!”
“My Dad was a bit of a tyrant, but he was never cruel, just cold and strict, not very cuddly,” Bree said, shaking her head, “Hope seemed to be able to bring out his softer side, but Seann and I rubbed him the wrong way, I guess.”
“I always think of my own Dad as just a little irresponsible, he left Imogen and me in such a financial mess when we thought they had both died, but he has always been kind and I just can’t imagine him locking us up, what the hell,” India was shaking her head.
Kali woke up and Bree had packed some snacks and drinks to tide them over until they got home. She ate a bag of chips and India gave her a juice box and she stayed as quiet as a mouse, seemingly content just to be close to India.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled in through the gates of the compound and she asked Bree to take them straight to her cabin. It had been a long drive and she wanted to get Kali settled in. Bree promised not to mention Kali to anyone until after India had introduced her to her father.
The Den was probably already full of people, wolves had a knack for knowing when something was going down and it was the first place they would go to for information. She wanted Garrett to meet his daughter before all of them knew about her, but she didn’t even know when he would make it home again, hopefully unscathed. She shivered as she realized his father was a danger to him, given the chance, would he hurt him?
The lights in the cabin were on and she gathered their belongings and pushed open the door and went inside. Imogen was sitting in the chair by the fireside and hauled herself upright when they came in and hurried to greet her sister,
“I am so glad you are okay Indi,” she hugged her tightly. I was so worried when you told me what happened.”
She released her and Imogen bent down to eye level, with a little difficulty, to introduce herself to the child as India closed the door and the blinds to hide the little girl from prying eyes,
“Hello Kali, I’m Imogen. I’m India’s big sister.” She smiled, and the little girl looked unsure and glanced at India.
“It’s okay Kali,” she encouraged her, and Kali smiled shyly at her new aunt.
“I’ll make some tea,” Imogen said as India took Kali through to the guest room to get her settled in. The bed had been turned down
and there was a new soft fleece blanket with a unicorn in the center and a soft dolly propped up on the pillows and a selection of storybooks on the bedside table. There were also some new pajamas that matched the blanket and the little girl was happy to shed her clothes and put these on. Imogen had done all of this to make her feel at home.
Kali slid under the quilt and India read her a few pages from the book she chose. The little girl's eyes were already closing after only a few pages, so she turned out the lamp and kissed her cheek, leaving her with just the glow from the nightlight. They were a family now, her, Garrett, little Kali and the new baby. She couldn’t wait for Garrett to come home and see his daughter again after all these years.
She gently closed the door and sat opposite her sister as they sipped their tea and snacked on some chocolate chip cookies Imogen brought with her and India went over everything that had happened, leaving out none of the details.
“It was such a fluke that Jay happened to arrest Edwards and had been the one to take the child with him to the foster carer, otherwise it may have taken much longer to figure out where they were and what happened. By that time, I could have been kidnapped and Kali would still be with Darla. You told me to go to Jay’s home with Bree, you must have sensed that was where I needed to be, Imogen.”
“I guess so, but the images and thoughts that used to come to me have been fuzzier since I got pregnant, I hope after this little one comes that I will have a lot more clarity again. I never thought I would miss my ‘Feelings’ as Mom used to call them.”
“I know, but I’m glad you told me to go, Garrett has his daughter back because of you.”
“No, honey, you did all the hard work, I just gave you a nudge with what I was feeling at the time. Hope swears it’s the fates at work,” she smiled.
“She is adorable and resembles Garrett a lot, I am excited and nervous at the same time but I need to tell him before he sees her, his reaction could be damaging to Kali if he doesn’t believe it’s her and after all this time and the hell he has been through, I don’t know what to expect.
India cleared away the dishes, more for something to do and Imogen leaned back in the recliner, her stomach was sticking out comically from her small frame and she groaned as she eased a tiny foot out from under her ribcage,
“I should have told you; Seann and Liam took some men and went to meet Garrett and the others before he confronts his father, but they will stay in the background, it’s just a precaution in case he needs them.”
“Cillian thinks his father has lost it, gone crazy,” India told her sister, “I am glad he has them there.”
“Why does he want Garrett home so badly?” Imogen asked.
“We don’t know that, Cillian doesn’t either, only that he would stop at nothing to get his wish. It has something to do with Rylee, Cillian said she found out something about their father and confronted him with it and was leaving the pack when he imprisoned her. The part Cillian told us about mating her to some older wolf was also true but there was much more to the story than just that. Garrett says Rylee is stubborn and independent and her father can’t control her every move which he hates but she is a grown woman and entitled to her own life.”
She finished her tea and glanced at the clock. Garrett would be almost there ,and her stomach was churning at the thought of him being in danger once again. Did life ever resemble anything remotely normal around here?
“Kali is adorable, India. I can’t believe Garrett still doesn’t know about her.”
“I know. I tried to tell him before we left Jay’s house, but the timing was awful and he was furious with me. I thought it better to wait until this was all over and his head was clear again.”
“Why was he angry?”
“Because I didn’t tell him about Cillian trying to have sex with me and him following me around. I thought he was just trying to make Garrett jealous at first and then after he attacked me in the woods, I was afraid to tell him in case he killed him.”
“Well, I told Seann almost everything, but I left out the part about Kali too just in case something slipped out. I told him I would stay here with you until they got back so I guess they will come straight here.”
“We may need a bigger cabin now with two kids,” India smiled but her heart was bursting with love for her unborn child and the little girl who would become her daughter.
“Show me what they have done to the extension. I didn’t want to go poking around in your cabin when you weren’t here. I didn’t know if it was safe to go behind the heavy plastic they have pinned in place.”
“Yeah, it’s fine, almost finished, the plastic is to try and keep the dust out of here. Come on, let me show you what they have done so far.”
She pulled aside one side of the plastic sheeting, clicked on the light and stepped through. One wall was clad in shiplap and the other three walls were only half-painted as they were building another room at the back, but it was easy to see what the finished product would look like. The solid wood floor was finished in medium brown hickory and there was a bank of windows where the garage doors used to be. There was a new stone fireplace with a wide mantle and new wiring above for a TV.
“It's lovely, India and much bigger than I expected.”
“Lachlan’s team were able to extend it out the back by about another ten feet so we will have another bedroom through here and we will use the front part as a den/ playroom. With one kid and another on the way, we should fill it quite quickly,” she grinned, “I also want to redecorate Kali’s room to suit a little girl and the smaller one next door for the new baby, Garrett said I can do whatever I like with it.”
“The Den is huge, but there are always other people there, too, so privacy isn’t easy. But having the bedroom next door to ours for a nursery will be fine. Hope and Bree will move out eventually and I will probably complain that the house is too big.” Imogen smiled.
She clicked off the light and closed the plastic sheet over and they went back to the living room to wait on news. India poured another cup of tea, anything to still her ragged nerves.
Imogen chuckled.
“I wonder what they will make of Kandis, especially if she gets pissed off at them.”
India laughed too, Kandis could best most wolves in a fight, even some of the larger males.
“It was her idea to pretend to be me when she gets to the compound with Cillian, I only hope she gets away with it. It seems she is constantly in the line of fire and usually to protect one of us,”
“How did you know for sure when Cillian was lying or telling the truth.” Imogen was curious.
“I don’t know, my lie detector seems to get stronger and more accurate by the day, but I was positive when I heard him lie and again when he later told the truth. I think it works better when the person is emotional, and I am really paying attention to them.”
“You have exceptional talent, Indi with your lie detector and your amazing sense of smell.”
“And you are the fastest wolf in the entire pack, that’s a pretty awesome talent too, Imogen and not forgetting your premonitions.”
“I know it is and I know that you feel our parents sometimes made you feel second best and I hated it for you.”
“They did it a lot, Imogen. I was always told how smart you were, how pretty you were…”
“And I heard how brave India was, how creative she was, how the boys would be beating down the door for a date,” Imogen smiled. “I don’t think they meant to hurt us, but our parents did have a knack for making us feel like they favored the other.”
“I always thought you were their favorite, especially Dad’s.”
“And I thought it was you, especially Mom’s.” Imogen smiled.
They both laughed at how absurd it all seemed now as their lives had taken on such a different turn. A year ago, they were working dead-end jobs just to pay the rent, thinking they were orphaned and not a solid plan in sight. India was extremely happy with her lot!
; Hope sent a text to say that Jay and Anjelica had arrived at the Den and she would get them settled in for the night and they would all meet up in the morning, hopefully Garrett and the others would be home by then too.
“Let’s try and get some sleep, love,” Imogen said, and they went into the master and climbed on top of India’s huge bed. She fell asleep holding her sister’s hand, as they used to do when they were still kids. India wished she could sleep, too; block out her worries for a few hours, but Garrett was in mortal danger and she lay in the dark, trying to stop her mind from conjuring up dark thoughts.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Garrett
His father’s pack was smaller and their home was nowhere near the size of the compound, but it was still a daunting task trying to cover all angles to make sure the other wolves had his back. He was spreading them thinner than he wanted to and had never been as happy to see Seann and the others. They would all stay close, but hidden from the pack wolves until they were called on or trouble broke out.
Cillian’s two friends, Garrett had not yet asked their names, were going to try and keep any curious wolves away from his father's cabin.
“Cillian and Kandis will drive through the gates any minute now then I will give them half an hour and follow them. It’s important that they think I have come alone, and the guards will stand down once I am inside and my father thinks he controls the situation. I had to persuade Kandis to act a little frightened or he would be suspicious and she is wearing my shirt so that she smells like me.”
“We will be here waiting, howl when you need back up, my friend,” Seann slapped him on the shoulder and they saw the headlights of Cillian’s car approach and they retreated a little further back into the surrounding woods.
Garrett watched until the car entered the compound and then skirted back around and went further down the road to pick up his vehicle. He waited outside under the cover of the trees, not wanting to be trapped if any of his father's men were patrolling, but he didn’t pick up any scents out here, his father was arrogant enough to believe his plan had gone just as he wanted it to.
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