He glanced at his watch for the hundredth time and then fired up the engine and raced toward the entrance, they would expect him to be in a hurry and furious as hell, he better play the part well because cruel and bat shit crazy as his father appeared to be, he wasn’t stupid.
The guards on the gate didn’t hesitate to open up for him but he didn’t recognize any of them and he knew he was right, his father thought he was completely in control and was expecting him right on time, they had been instructed to let him in.
He went straight to his parent’s house and screeched to a stop, leaving the car door open and ran inside without knocking.
Kandis was sitting in a chair by the fire and Cillian was standing behind her. His mother was in the love seat and she looked as if she had been crying for days. Two of his father's enforcers were in the room and his father turned around from the window where he had been watching him approach the house.
“Welcome brother.” Cillian smirked, playing his part and Garrett scowled and ignored him and went to Kandis and hugged her, as would be expected if she really was India and then turned to his father.
“Would you like to explain what the fuck you think you are doing, kidnapping my mate!”
“Welcome home, Garrett,” his father said calmly, and he had to resist the urge to grab him by the throat. He really disliked him intently; how was it possible to hate your own father so much?
“I guess the goal was to get me here. Now I’m here, so explain.” He growled and the two goons moved a little closer to protect his father.
He looked from one to the other and smirked.
“I would break both of your arms before you even had a chance to lay a single finger on me, so back the fuck off!”
The older one took a step back but the younger of the two had more foolish bravado and leered at him.
“Come on then, give it your best shot.”
Garrett looked at his father and his eyes never left his face as he reached out and grabbed the enforcer and pulled him so hard toward him, at the same time he raised his other fist and it met his face with a sickening crunch and he sprayed the room with wolf blood. Kandis screamed and jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall but nobody was paying her any attention, exactly as she hoped.
“You broke my fucking nose!” the wolf screamed but Garrett still held his father's gaze.
“Is that supposed to impress me.” he sneered, you’re just a damned thug.” his father spat
“I gave up trying to impress you many years ago, I no longer give a rats ass what you think of me. India and I are going home.” Garrett said calmly.
“No, you’re not. You will stay right here until I am finished with you. If I give the word, my guards will cut you down without a second thought, sit down, we have things to discuss.”
“No please, don’t do this,” his mother cried out and Garrett looked at her and saw the anguish in her eyes,” “I am so sorry, Garrett, I should have told you, all of this is my fault.”
She was openly sobbing and Garrett wanted to know what she was talking about, but he had a feeling things were going to get a little rough in here and it would have to wait.
“Cillian, take the girl downstairs and lock her up and bring the brat up here. She should hear this, too.”
Garrett knew he was talking about Rylee, but he couldn’t give himself away or he would know Cillian had told him everything. He also made a show of protecting Kandis, who had them fooled into thinking she was India.
“Leave her the fuck alone, this has nothing to do with her.”
His father took a gun from his pocket and pointed it at his son.
Garrett knew he would never reach him in time before he pulled the trigger and it would be all over. The bullet may not kill him, but it would disable him long enough to let them finish the job.
“Rumors of a white wolf joining your pack reached me a while ago and the elders tell me they are rare, but they have special gifts. Precognition, premonition, all of these things would be useful to my pack, give me an edge over others if you like. The girl already confirmed that she is the white wolf and will be staying here with us permanently, but you, Garrett will not. Cillian will bite your mark from her neck and claim her as his own, you will eventually be nothing more than a memory. I will then rise to the rank of alpha as I will have all of the power at my fingertips.”
Garrett stared at the man; he was even more unhinged than he thought. He needed to alert Seann. If his father forced Cillian to bite Kandis in front of him, he would see she had no previous mark. He would realize she wasn’t India and would probably kill her. He also had the sisters mixed up, he thought India was the white wolf.
“What is it you want from me?” he asked quietly, trying to diffuse his father’s madness just enough to let him think.
“I want you to witness your mother’s shame, you and your sister both and then she will be mated to Jeremiah who will not become alpha but his family are the wealthiest in the entire state so he will be useful. Cillian will mate with your whore; we can overlook her ‘bitten’ status and her choice of bedmate for the gifts she will bring us. You will be banished from my sight forever and if I ever see you again after tonight, I will kill you.”
Garrett felt like he had stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone and shook his head.
Cillian came back into the room, dragging a struggling Rylee by the arm and she had a hood over her head.
“She was spitting on me like a she-cat, so I put the hood on.” Cillian shrugged and pulled his sister close to his side, where she struggled against him, to no avail.
“Please don’t do this, Will. I am begging you.” His mother wailed and ran across the room to his father, but he turned the gun on her and barked at her to sit back down.
Garrett took his mother's arm and helped her into the chair that Kandis had vacated and out of the line of fire as she cried inconsolably. He would kill the bastard for pointing that gun at his mother but first, he had to get everyone in position.
In his rage, his father hadn’t noticed but the guard outside the living room window had been replaced by Liam and he guessed the rest of them were also nearby. He hadn’t called for them, he couldn’t without alerting his father, but they were here anyway and he was grateful.
“What shame can my mother possibly have. She lived with your nastiness for all these years and raised your kids without complaint. You are the worst father a kid could ever want and a lousy mate for her, you’re the one who should feel shame, father, not her.”
His father threw back his head and laughed maniacally and Garrett knew he hadn’t quite grasped the extent of his madness.
“Father! I am no father to you. Tell him, my dear, who his real father is.” He was still laughing, and Garrett felt the blood drain from his face as he waited for his mother to deny this accusation.
“Mom?”
“Your darling mother is no better than a two-bit whore and took another man into her bed.”
His mother jumped to her feet and charged him, slapping him hard across the face, despite the gun he held in his hand.
“I was in love with him! He was my mate, but we were pulled apart by our families. We were both forced to mate with others and I have been miserable with you, miserable without him. My children are my only source of joy and you will not take that from me.” she was screaming at him now, all of her pain, all of her anguish poured out as she released her hatred for the cruel man she was forced to mate with.
“Take him and throw him into the street!” his father yelled, and the two guards looked uncertainly at Garrett. The younger man’s nose was already healing crookedly, but he wasn’t game for another punch.
“Who is my father, Mom?” he asked her gently, and she sobbed as she cried out.
“Owen was your real father, Son. Owen Donovan.”
Garrett didn’t have time to absorb the news when he turned around and Will Adair pointed the gun at him and he knew with certainty he w
as going to shoot him. His rage had taken him over completely and he was going to cut Garrett out of his life one way or the other. He was too far away to charge him and if he moved to the side the bullet would hit his mother.
He closed his eyes and pictured her face, her burnished copper hair, her emerald green eyes and his heart broke to think he would never see her again. Life’s a bitch and then you die!
He opened his eyes again to face his fate without fear when there was an almighty crash and a huge brown wolf came flying through the window, spraying glass everywhere and he tackled the shooter to the ground.
Seann!
Will Adair screamed in pain and dropped the gun and his mother raced to pick it up as Seann’s powerful jaws shook him, throwing him against the wall and knocking him unconscious.
Everything happened so fast he thought he must be dreaming when Rylee came in the front door with two more guards who were clearly on her side. Guns drawn; they took her father’s goons to the basement to lock them up while Garrett stood in stunned silence.
It all happened so quickly. One minute he thought he was going to die and the next his father was unconscious and his men had been disarmed.
Seann shifted back and Rylee handed him his clothes she had retrieved from outside and Kandis pulled the hood from her head. Cillian had helped Rylee escape through a basement window to alert Seann and the others and Kandis wore the hood and Rylee’s clothes so that his father would think it was his daughter.
He knew everyone outside would have heard what his mother told him.
He turned to his alpha whose face was impassive as he watched him.
“Did you know?” he asked Seann.
“No, Garrett, I didn’t. If I had known you were my brother, I would have told you.”
“What about the others, he turned to his mother.”
“Cillian and Rylee are Will’s as are your other brothers, Garrett. I never meant to lie to you son, but he found out a few weeks ago when he found an old photo I kept of Owen when he was younger. There was no denying you were his and then your sister overheard and now I know that he held her prisoner and sent Cillian to do his dirty work, threatening to kill her if he didn’t.”
“Did my father know?” Seann asked her and she nodded.
“Yes, he knew but neither of us could do anything about it without hurting the rest of our families. He wouldn’t have hurt your mother, Seann, or his kids. He was just unhappy at the unfairness of our lives.
“He was always quite distant with Bree and me but less so with Hope.” Sean said and she shrugged.
“He told me once that Hope reminded him of me when we were still young. Not in looks but in personality.
Garrett turned to the others,
“Mom, this is Kandis, she is an enforcer with the pack, my mate is safe at home and I need to get back to her, tell her what’s gone on here tonight.”
“I knew she wasn’t your mate, it felt wrong.” She smiled. “Bring her to see us soon, we will deal with your f… with Will. Go home, son.” She hugged him and he turned to the rest of his pack.
“Let’s go,” Seann called.
He hugged his mother and sister goodbye, and Rylee promised to visit soon. He turned to Cillian and saw a strength in him that had been missing before, and he hugged him, too. He had done the right thing in the end, and he had been protecting Rylee. He was still his brother.
Seann stood outside by the car, waiting for him and barking out orders to the others.
“Liam, take Kandis with you; the others have left already. I am going to drive my brother home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
India
Garrett had called briefly to say everyone was okay and they were on their way home and India got out of bed and went into the living room. She would never sleep now and had to think how she was going to tell him about Kali. She hoped the little girl would sleep right through until morning, giving her a chance to explain to him before she woke up.
She unpacked the little girl's bag and put her things away. She only had a few outfits to wear and a raggedy looking cloth doll that had seen better days. She hid the empty bag out of sight and went into the kitchen to make some food. One thing was for sure, Garrett would be hungry when he got home; he was always hungry.
She mixed up some batter for pancakes and put some bacon under the grill and Imogen came through from the bedroom rubbing her eyes. She put her jacket and shoes on and they sat by the window until the car pulled up in front of the house.
“I will have Seann take me home, give you some space, you and Garrett have a lot to talk about,” She hugged her sister and waddled out to the car, taking the seat Garrett vacated.
He came into the cabin, scooped her up in his arms and held her tightly until she could hardly breathe. He was always a little intense, but this was something more and she was afraid to ask him what had happened, but she had to know before she told him about his daughter. She glanced nervously at her bedroom door, but it was still firmly closed.
He reluctantly let her go and sat down at the table. She put a plate of food in front of him and he scarfed it in minutes. She ate a little herself, but her stomach was in knots as she waited for him to finish eating, she could sense there was something wrong.
“What happened, Garrett?” she asked him quietly.
He pushed his plate away and drank his coffee as he took her through the events of the night and she listened patiently as he told of his father’s plan to capture the white wolf, who he mistakenly thought was India and not Imogen. He wanted to keep her there, forcing Cillian to mate with her and Rylee to mate with Jeremiah so that she would be mated to an extremely wealthy old man and his father could be alpha. That was never going to happen, the pack didn’t think he was fit to rule but he was too blinded by hatred to see it. When he told her that his father wasn’t really his father at all and that Owen Donovan was, she wanted to cry for him.
“That must have been a shock, Garrett, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not, not really. He hated me for years and I never understood why and my family are still my family, we share a mother and Seann is also my brother, it could be worse.” he tried to joke and she reached for his hand and squeezed it.
“Bree and Hope are also your sisters,” she smiled.
“Seann's father was always very good to me and now I know why.”
She got up and quietly cleared the dishes as she thought carefully about how to broach the subject of his daughter. She wiped the sink and kept her back to him as she spoke, coward!
“I have a lot to tell you too, Garrett, you won’t believe what happened, but it’s all good. It all started when I had the idea to try and find more photos of Kali for you and Imogen had a feeling that I should go to Jay Donovan’s with Bree.”
She turned around to face him and his head had fallen forward, he was asleep!
Shit, that hadn’t gone exactly to plan.
She coaxed him up from the chair and helped him through to bed and he collapsed on top of the sheets. She eased off his jeans and covered him up, she would just need to tell him in the morning. Why was it so difficult to give him good news? It was like the fates were conspiring against her.
She checked on Kali who was still sound asleep, brushed her teeth and got into bed beside Garrett. She snuggled into his side and his arms came around her and she breathed in his scent deeply as she succumbed to slumber.
She was dreaming when her phone buzzed and she saw that it was still dark outside. She glanced at the clock as she tried to focus her eyes and saw that she had only been asleep for a little more than an hour. Garrett was still out, and she slipped out of bed and went into the living room.
She opened the text; it was from Bree.
‘Imogen’s in labor, she wants you here.’
‘I will be right there. Can you ask Anjelica to come and sit with K. Garrett still doesn’t know about her, he fell asleep last night?’
‘She’s here, I will send he
r down now. I haven’t told anyone either.’
She dressed quickly, then found clean jeans and a shirt for Garrett and put them on the bed. She went to the window to watch for Anjelica coming, let her in, and showed her to Kali’s room before she woke Garrett.
“Garrett, Imogen is in labor.” She shook him, and he jumped up and pulled on the clothes she handed him. They were out the door in less than two minutes, and she knew she had dodged another bullet.
She stopped when they reached the Den and put a hand on his arm.
“Before we go home again there is something that I need to tell you. It’s important and I started to tell you last night, but you fell asleep on me. I promise it’s all good, but you need to know before we go back home.”
She didn’t give him a chance to answer and went inside and ran upstairs to her sister’s room before he could stop her.
Imogen was propped up in bed, her breathing heavy and her face beaded with droplets of sweat. She reached out a hand for India and she sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her back until her contraction eased.
Seann was pacing the floor like a caged animal, stopping every now and then to sit beside his mate and wipe her brow and he looked as if he was going to throw up. He looked at India and he looked so helpless. Big bad gruff alpha was at a loss what to do when his mate was in pain.
India grinned,
“Seann, Garrett is downstairs, go have some breakfast with him. Imogen will be here for a while yet. I can call you if she needs you,”
“Does Garrett know yet?” he asked, and she knew he meant Kali; Imogen must have told him.
“No, keep him away from the house, Anjelica is there with her.”
He nodded and kissed his mate before going downstairs.
“Thanks, he was driving me crazy.” Imogen tried to smile, but another contraction hit her and she groaned as the pain washed over her.
“They seem pretty close together, Imogen.”
“Where is Roisin?” she ground out just as the door opened and Seann’s aunt came into the room.
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