The Secret

by Loribelle Hunt

  She stood slowly. Testing used and sore muscles. Her cat stretched in languid satisfaction. What the hell did it know? She dressed with precise movements, strapping on weapons, pulling on boots. The sense of being on borrowed time rode her hard. Her sister was in danger. The feeling was so strong, it was easy to ignore the blinking lights on the Christmas tree as she passed by the living room. She hovered outside the kitchen door a moment, eavesdropping, before entering.

  “I say she goes. Never seen a better tracker,” Asa said.

  “No way,” Carlos and Declan said in unison.

  She moved enough to get a glimpse inside, saw Asa roll his eyes. “You’re only protesting ’cause you claimed her. Neither one of you is thinking straight. She’s a tactical advantage.”

  Even though they didn’t know what she was, didn’t know she was a shifter, the comment made her blood run cold. She stepped inside.

  “What’s going on?”

  Carlos and Declan gave her the reserved look she’d come to know meant they were holding back information. Thankfully, Asa didn’t feel the same reticence about sharing.

  “Carlos has someone inside. We’re going in tonight.”

  Finally. It was difficult to hide her excitement. “I’m going too.” Her voice shook a bit, but if anyone noticed, they didn’t say anything.

  Carlos opened his mouth, and she knew it was to protest. She held her hand up, glared at both males. “Forget it. My sister is in there. I’m going.”

  Declan and Asa weren’t surprised by her declaration, so she knew Carlos had filled them in. She wasn’t happy about that, but at least it saved time explaining.

  “You don’t know that for sure,” Declan said.

  He had to be as eager to go inside and look for his brother as she was her sister. Was he trying to spare them both the disappointment if they didn’t find their siblings? Spare her the pain if Jaz wasn’t there?

  But she was. Sunny couldn’t explain it, but she knew, and she knew time was running out. “She’s there. And I’m going to get her out,” she said stubbornly.

  Carlos cursed under his breath and paced. “You stay right with us. No going off on your own. And you follow orders. If we say get out, you do it.”

  She nodded her acquiescence, but she had no intention of complying.

  Hours later, she was anxious to get moving. It was almost three a.m., and she was cramped from hours of waiting to move inside the fence. They’d found the least patrolled area and cut away a portion of chain-link big enough to squeeze through in human form.

  She exhaled a sigh of relief when Carlos gave the signal to move. She was operating purely on instinct now. They entered a back door, and she ignored a hiss when she broke away from them. Minutes later she found a door down a short hallway and rested her palm on it a moment before twisting the knob.

  It was locked, but easy to pick. It opened to reveal deep stairs going down. This was where the Society kept its prisoners. She couldn’t explain the leap in logic other than her reaction to the scents wafting up at her. Terror and pain and defeat and regret. She swallowed a lump in her throat and stepped down, shuddering when she reached the bottom. It was dimly lit, row after row of locked doors like any good dungeon.

  There was a single guard sitting behind a desk, apparently asleep. She moved quickly, stealthily, knife in her hand. She dug the blade’s tip in the underside of his chin before his eyes snapped open.

  “Keys,” she demanded, sensing the others entering behind her. It made Sunny’s lion nervous, but she knew she could trust them.

  Her prisoner took a deep breath, and she knew he meant to scream. She dug the knife harder, turning a trickle of blood into a stream. “I wouldn’t.” She gave him the grim smile borne of years of disappointment in her people. He jerked, tried to nod.

  “In the desk.”

  Asa moved around them and retrieved several sets, turning to give her a speaking look. She knew what he expected, knew he was right, but taking a life didn’t sit well with her. Even if the man in question was a scumbag. She moved before her hesitation could compromise the mission, slit his throat cleanly, and grabbed one set of keys. She’d deal with the guilt and horror of her actions once her sister was safe.

  The first cells were empty, the next few occupied by men in irons. She heard the others snarling their fury and barely restrained herself from echoing them. Iron would prevent shifting and healing. Over time, it would sap away strength and fight and will.

  She moved on and discovered the women. Most cringed when she approached, but took off once she’d freed them. She didn’t offer comfort, didn’t ask if any were shifters. None were her sister. Only three doors were left. The first two were empty but ripe with the smells of blood and fear and death. None held the scent of family. Her gorge rose in her throat at the last door; her hand trembled as she twisted the key.

  She heaved a huge sigh of relief at the sight of the figure huddled on the bed, at the recognition that flashed in her eyes. She knew they were in trouble when she opened the cuffs and helped Jaz stand. She swayed on her feet. Her wrists were cut up and blood encrusted, and she had cuts and abrasions everywhere that wasn’t covered by her jeans and T-shirt. Sunny felt a heavy load of guilt. She’d been getting laid while her sister suffered.

  Carlos stuck his head around the half-open door. “We have to get moving.”

  Sunny heard the sounds of fighting coming down the corridor and went to look. Shit. It was the only way out, but there was no way she could get Jaz through in human form. In their smaller animal forms, though, they might be able to slip through. She went back to Jaz and gently took her hands, squeezed her fingers.

  “We have to shift,” she whispered, knowing she wasn’t giving only herself away to Carlos, who waited outside.

  Jaz’s eyes widened, her fear easy to read. She shook her head. “We can’t risk it. Too many males here.”

  “We can trust some of them. The ones who came with me.”

  God, she hoped they could. Carlos, apparently tired of waiting, stepped inside to hurry them up. He looked worried. And confused. Jaz didn’t cringe, but she didn’t move close to him either. The fighting in the corridor had moved closer. She let go of her sister’s hand and put some space between them.

  “Now, Jaz. We have to hurry.”

  She yanked her boots and clothes off and reached for the change inside her, felt her cat’s euphoria at being freed. When she looked up, Carlos wore a stunned expression that quickly morphed into anger. Trapped inside the cat’s body, she cringed. As far as keeping secrets went, this was a huge one.

  She turned and snarled at her sister for hesitating, and the reminder that freedom was close spurred her into action. In less than two minutes, she stood at Sunny’s side in her cat form. Carlos studied them both, his body shaking with what Sunny hoped was not rage. She wasn’t holding her breath. There’d be one hell of a lecture later.

  “We’ll distract them so you can slip by,” was all he said for now, however.

  They followed him into the shadowed hallway. He strode straight down the middle, joining in the fighting, as she and Jaz pressed as close to the ground as possible and moved through the shadows against the wall. She didn’t allow the sense of triumph to distract her when they made the stairs unnoticed or when they exited the house by the same door she’d entered.

  They made it three feet before a voice stopped her, shouting into the dark. “The females! Don’t let them get away!”

  She looked for the source of the voice, saw a man she recognized as Burns running toward her, the same man Arthur was after. If half of what she’d heard about him was true, there was no way she could fight him and win, especially while trying to protect her injured sister. He was still several yards away when a wolf barreled into him from out of the shadows. She held her breath, frozen in place for a second. They’d finally found Arthur.

  Burns shifted and fought back, howling rage and madness, which snapped her mind back to their precarious situ
ation. The werewolves were fighting between her and Jaz and their escape route. Then she noticed the man she’d seen on her recon trip. He gestured to her to follow him. He stepped out of his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and shucked his jeans before shifting into the form of a giant lion. Then he walked away. Her heart pounded as she led her sister in his direction. This must be Carlos’s inside man.

  They skirted around the fighters, sticking to the shadows as they rounded the corner of the house. The lion waited by the fence line, and as she drew nearer, she saw a tunnel had been dug under it. She pushed Jaz forward, nipping at her heels to get her to move past the lion and under the fence, and then she followed. When she turned, the lion was gone. She could only assume he’d left to assist Carlos inside the house.

  Once in the swamp, she caught the scents of some of the escapees, thankfully moving in the opposite direction of the one she and her sister needed to go. Some of them were male; she had no idea how they’d react to female shifters. It was obvious the Society was trying to control them. For what purpose, she couldn’t begin to guess. She picked up her pace, snarling and nipping at Jaz when she slowed.

  When they reached the small yard behind the safe house, she hid Jaz in the brush while she looked around. Certain no one had been there during their absence, she bullied her sister inside and, after both changed back to their human forms, let Jaz collapse in exhaustion on the bed.

  Then she started to clean. There wasn’t enough time to do it properly, but as soon as the men returned—she refused to believe they wouldn’t all make it out—they’d have to leave. The Society might be down, but such a small force of invaders wouldn’t be able to take them out. She doubted even the formidable rage and sorrow of Arthur’s wolf could defeat Burns.

  First she packed everyone’s bags, leaving them at the front door; then, wadding up all the bedding from the sofa bed, she stuffed it into a large garbage bag and left it there too. She wanted to remove any trace scent, fingerprints, or DNA from the house. If Burns survived, he would seek out the intruders. Try to reclaim his prize hostage. The others would do what they could to confuse the trail to the house. Thankfully, it was forecasted to rain in a few hours, which would further muddy any scents left outside. But that still left the house. If he was smart—and there was no denying Burns was—he’d look for vacant or short-term rentals in the area. If he found the house it would be easy enough to trace it back to Julian. She couldn’t remove all evidence they’d been there, but she’d do her best.

  In the kitchen she found some heavy-duty gloves and pulled them on. Using a spray bottle of bleach, she cleaned every surface in the house, every door handle, every spot of wall she remembered anyone touching. The used paper towels also went in a garbage bag left by the door. Last she pulled out a vacuum, not surprised when her sister didn’t budge at the noise. She was changing the bag to discard when the others returned.

  Carlos and Declan wore matching furious expressions. Asa took in all her work and nodded. “Excellent. We need to move out ASAP.”

  He began moving bags from the house to his SUV and hers. She scowled when she noticed all the garbage bags were going into her vehicle. He caught her gaze after his last trip.

  “We should stick together. We’ll find someplace down the highway to dump your car.”

  “Why my car?” she complained.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “We’ll all fit in the Excursion.”

  She pressed her lips together. Hell, he was right, but she hated to give up her sporty little hybrid SUV. Course it wasn’t really hers. Julian kept a fleet of vehicles. This was just one of them. She sighed.

  “Fine.”

  “Where’s your sister?” Carlos finally asked.

  “Sleeping. Someone will have to carry her out.”

  Asa nodded. “I got her. You want to get the bedding?”

  “Yeah.”

  She grabbed two large garbage bags and then followed him down the hall. He was scooping up Jaz, wrapped in the comforter, when she entered.

  “I’ll get her in the SUV, then take yours. We’ll meet up in about an hour. Keep your cell on.”

  She nodded, thinking it odd he was taking command and Carlos was letting him, until she got a good look at Carlos’s face. He was beyond pissed at her. He was livid. His teeth were ground together, skin pulled tight over his cheeks. With a sigh, she moved to the bed and stuffed the pillows into the first bag. When she reached to pull one corner of the sheets free, he went to the opposite side to help.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Can we talk about it later? It’s a story I don’t want to tell three times.”

  Declan walked into the room. “But we’re both here now, baby.”

  His smile made her shiver. It was a touch cruel, a lot mean. His eyes narrowed into a glare when he reached forward to touch her face and she cringed back. “I’d never hurt you.”

  She took a deep breath. “I know,” she said softly.

  She did know that. She’d never have risked her sister if she didn’t. But taking that final step into full trust was hard. Didn’t they get that?

  Carlos took the sheets from her and stuffed them in the bag before leading the way out of the house. He tossed them in the rear of the hybrid, then went to the Excursion and got behind the wheel. She climbed into the back with her sister, who even in exhausted sleep seemed to recognize her as an ally, as family. She moved to lay her head in Sunny’s lap.

  Neither of her men spoke. Her men. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She’d definitely crossed the line to acceptance in her mind. Jaz moaned and tried to move away. A nightmare. Sunny crooned to her, soft nonsense words until she settled.

  “She needs a doctor.” She looked up to meet Declan’s gaze. The controlled fury was still there, but seemed to be pointed in another direction now.

  “When we get home. We can’t know who to trust here.”

  She gently rubbed her thumb over Jaz’s wrist. “She’s already starting to heal. She needs sleep more than anything.”

  She could tell by his expression he didn’t agree, but he kept his opinion to himself. Not all the worry and fear was for her and her sister, though, and she felt guilty for forgetting she hadn’t been the only one searching for someone.

  “Your brother?”

  “Gone. Again.” His tone was bitter and uninviting. She didn’t press for more information. He’d tell her when he was ready.

  Silence reigned again until her phone chirped and Asa directed them to his location. They found him waiting on a dirt road; he’d already ditched the car. He climbed into the third-row seat, and once they were back on the highway, Sunny met Carlos’s glare in the rearview mirror.

  “Talk, kitten.”

  That had to be a good sign, right? That he was still using pet names? She stroked her sister’s hair away from her face and wondered where to start.

  “Our dad was a werelion, and so was Mom’s father. She wasn’t like us.”

  “What pride, kitten?”

  She frowned. “I don’t remember. Somewhere in north Georgia, I think.”

  He nodded. “I must have seen you then. That’s why you seemed so familiar when we met. What about your father?”

  She took a deep breath, experiencing that pang of sorrow she always did when she remembered her parents. “When he discovered what we were, it scared the hell out of him. Not that we could shift,” she hurried to add when she caught Declan’s low growl. “He was afraid that if others knew what we were, they’d try to use us. I was too little to really remember those days. Dad told us later to always hide what we could do. That when he took us away, there were already rumors of females who could shift, and males who were hunting them. He made us change our appearance. Our names. Everything.”

  “That’s why the background check came up empty,” Carlos whispered. She would have called him on that, but hell, she’d done the same to him.

  She took another breath, pain and horror filling her now instead of i
rritation. “We thought it was overkill. His protectiveness. I thought it was overkill. I was sixteen, and I’d met this boy. A wolf. I thought he was as crazy about me as I was about him, because hell, I was sixteen. I knew everything,” she said bitterly. “I swore him to secrecy and let him see what I was. A long time later, I found out his father was a member of the Society. A few weeks after I showed him, our parents died in a car accident. We didn’t know if it really was an accident or if someone was after us, so we split up.” She tensed up tight. She still counted that as the worst day of her life.

  “So you see, I couldn’t tell anyone. I told once before and probably got my parents killed.”

  The silence that fell over the vehicle was frightening. It was Asa who finally broke it. “So now we keep this secret, between the five of us.”

  She twisted in her seat to look at him, trying to gauge how serious he was, but his gaze was fixed on Jaz, who’d sat up during the telling of her story.

  “Sunny.” Her eyes were filled with dismay, and she shook her head. “You know better than to tell.”

  “We can trust them.” She squeezed her sister’s hand, but the words didn’t seem to register. She was staring at Sunny’s neck.

  “You mated one of them.”

  “Two, actually,” she said drily, still a little stunned at her wantonness. Her greedy lust for both men.

  It was a long time before Jaz spoke. She nodded first. “Okay. We trust them. Now what?”

  Sunny smiled, joy filling her at being reunited with her twin. “We take you home. Where you can recover. Safely. And you won’t have to worry about hiding or running anymore.”

  She knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but Carlos, Declan, and Asa already knew what they were. No one would have to pretend. Though they might go crazy overprotective.

  “Where’s home?”

  “North Carolina.” It was unwelcome to recall how little they knew of each other now. “It’s a big house. Plenty of room for all of us, and it borders a protected area of forest. You can run without fear there.”

  Everything, all the pain and sorrow and emptiness of the last few years, was worth it to see the joy light in Jaz’s eyes at the prospect.