Evan's POV

----

It takes a few moments for me to recover.

She's alive.

And she has a family. Family she never knew existed. That had to be good, right?

When she leaves, I lie down on my side and stare at the door, hoping that nothing bad happens to her. Her father wouldn't try to beat answers out of her, would he? I don't know anything about the man, but I hope that he has at least some decency to not hurt his daughter.

True, he is probably grieving over the death of his son, but Zara had no control over that. He has to understand that.

I try to relax, but my muscles keep clenching up tight.

The minutes trickle by and soon I'm up on my feet and pacing around the room.

What's taking so long?

The door unlocks and swings open.

I stop pacing and watch her step in before I envelop her in my arms.

Fuck, she smells amazing. I relax as the door closes and locks again.

She's not trembling, so things must have been okay.

I pull back to give her body a once-over for any new injuries.

"I'm fine," she says.

"Did you see Ryan?"

She nods. "He's in bad shape. I don't know what Kairo's going to do to him, but it doesn't look good."

I pull her back into my arms, needing to feel the comfort of holding her in an effort to block out the nightmare around us.

He's my brother... Fuck, this is so hard.

On one hand, I want to help him get through all this, but on the other... He killed his mate. He left us without letting us know where he was or if he was alright. Then he comes back from nowhere and demands his land and position when he abandoned it for five years?

Sure, he had some shit he had to work out, but who was he really? How does one go from being a good guy to killing his mate in a fit of rage?

He's my brother... But that doesn't excuse him for what he has done.

"Are you okay?" she asks me, her dark eyes examining my neck.

There must be bruises from Ryan trying to strangle me to death.

My own brother tried to kill me...

I pull her back against me. "Yeah. Just peachy."

She sighs and tries to pull back, but I maintain a firm hold. She gives in with a huff. "Seriously, talk to me, Evan. Ryan tried to kill you. He's your brother. I'm no psychologist, but that's messed up."

"I'm dealing with it."

We settle down on the floor, my back pressed against the concrete wall and her back pressed against my chest and my nose in her neck. She takes comfort in my arms, while I take comfort in her.

Memories flicker through my mind of all the good times and bad times with Ryan growing up. Random puzzle pieces I never noticed before were beginning to connect. All the little things he said and did were starting to create the bigger picture of the wild-eyed man who tried to end my life only moments ago. It was hard to believe that underneath it all, he was seriously messed up and no one did anything to try and help him or prevent him from turning into this.

Before boredom has a chance to set in, the door opens and the same tall, dark-skinned guy I saw come for Zara earlier stands before us. He tosses a plastic water bottle and I catch it with ease. Seeing it makes me realize how thirsty I am.

The seal's already broken and before I turn the cap, Zara's grabbing it from my hands.

"Is it tainted?"

My brows furrow at her as I look from her to the guy.

"Can't take any chances," is all he says.

She growls and turns back to me, her expression pissed. "They added diluted wolfsbane to the water to keep us from shifting."

Mentally cursing, I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. If they'll only give us tainted water, what choice do we have but to drink it or risk dehydration?

"Fine," I mumble, taking the bottle from her, twisting the cap off, and lifting it to my lips.

I feel his dark eyes staring at me the entire time before I pass the bottle to Zara. A slight numbing sensation spreads from my mouth, down my throat, and out to my arms and legs.

Zara takes a gulp and makes a face. "You guys made it stronger this time. Why?"

He nods his head to me. "Can't trust males to co-operate. Father wants to talk to you now."

Zara's hand grips my arm. "What does he want with my mate?"

"More questioning."

"It's fine, Zara," I tell her despite the crawling of my skin. "If they wanted to use force, they would have already."

She exhales a controlled breath before nodding.

Getting to my feet, my legs are tingling as if they had fallen asleep. I stretch and shake my arms and legs out, but it does nothing.

"Come on," he says to me as I step out of the cell and he closes it behind me and slides the lock across. "I'm Muse, by the way. Father wants to hear all sides connected to Ryan."

I nod. "Alright. Just ease up on the wolfsbane. I'm a lightweight compared to most guys."

His eyes crinkle a bit as he tries not to smile. He knows what I mean. He's not a thick-set guy either.

He follows me through the basement and up the stairs. When I reach the top, I see Kairo standing in front of the window, looking outside into the darkness with his thick arms crossed over his broad chest.

There's no one else around, but two empty chairs.

"Have a seat," Zara's father tells me.

His back is to me as he continues to stare out the window.

The living room is lit by a single lamp in the corner and filling the room with a pale yellow glow. The furniture has all been pushed around it and piled on top of each other to open the space. All that remains are the two wooden chairs.

Taking one, I sit down and wait for the questions to come.

He's silent for a few minutes. The cool night air blows in through the open window. The faint sounds of crickets chirping outside greet my ears.

"Hear that?" He begins.

I nod, not that he sees it. "It's quiet."

"Peaceful," he turns away from the window. "For now."

In the yellow light, I see the scars etched across his bare chest as he leans against the window frame. He doesn't look very old, not even forty, but the scars that mar his skin tell of a hard life that I've never had to live.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"What's your name?" he asks instead of answering my question.

"Evan Crestview."

"Ryan's brother?"

"Yes."

"Did you belong to this pack?" He gestures around the living room.

"Yes."

"And what was your position?"

I don't like his repeated use of the past-tense.

"I'm a runner."

"So, you got here before the rest of the warriors because you're faster?"

"Yes."

He doesn't need to know the details.

He nods and steps toward me, taking the empty chair and turning it around so he can lean his arms on the back.

"I'm Kairo, leader of the Shadow Rogues. I'm Zara and Muse's father. I have..." he swallows before he hardens his jaw. "I have six pups."

A soft whimper from the corner of the room catches our attention and I look over to see a caramel-faced girl, curled up in a ball, peer out from under a blanket on the couch. Her eyes fill with tears and she starts whining.

Kairo sighs. "Baby, I'm going to be a few more minutes. Go on and find a bed upstairs to sleep in."

She shakes her head no and refuses to move.

Heaving another sigh, Kairo massages his face with one large hand before he gets up and walks across the room. He kneels next to her and whispers something as he brushes his fingers through her hair. Her bottom lip protrudes and her hands slip out from under the blanket to sign back in response.

Rising, his head tilts a degree when he turns and his eyes meet mine.

Snapping my mouth shut, I look away in embarrassment at being caught gaping at him like an idiot. He is such a big and powerful looking man that seeing him crouching next to a young girl, barely in her teens, caught me by surprise.

His feet carry him into the kitchen while Muse steps away from the basement door he'd been leaning against and walks to the front door. He opens it and looks out, says a few words to a guard stationed outside and closes it before walking across the living room to the kitchen.

Their low voices whisper to each other for a few moments as I sit there and look over at the girl on the couch.

She pulls herself up and wipes her nose and cheeks with her hands. Her blanket rests on her lap and I look away when I realize she's naked. Don't they have some clothes for her to wear?

Kairo and Muse return and Kairo hands the girl a glass of milk. She takes a sip as he bends down and says something softly to her. She looks up at him with big eyes and sticks that bottom lip out further.

"Eyrica." He uses a commanding tone this time and she lowers her eyes and nods her head.

Without a peep, she gets up from the couch and, holding the blanket in one hand and her glass of milk in the other, goes upstairs with Muse following behind her.

"Where's Ryan?" I ask when the two are out of sight.

"In the other holding cell. I can't risk having him around my youngest." He sits down on his chair again and leans his arms on the back of it once more. "She'll leave first thing in the morning with Muse. I can't have her around right now."

I nod. I know I wouldn't want my kids anywhere near here either. Things are messed up, but to what extent?

"Is the rest of my pack in the large holding cell?" I ask.

"Yes, and I had Emily transferred with them. Ryan had her and Eyrica together in the other small cell."

"Emily?" I'm confused. Zara told me that Emily had been with her this whole time, but what is Emily to him?

"Emily is mine. My responsibility to keep safe. I made a mistake with her pack and I hoped to find her again and set things right with her."

He shifts his weight in his seat, glances out the window briefly before huffing and turning his attention back to me.

"I'm an Enabler, you see," he says in a low voice. "My ways may be unorthodox, but I make the rules and I make things happen. Ryan's war has been called off for now because he turned his back on me after I made all this possible for him. What he told me half a year ago when I found him might not be the truth and it is the truth that I am after. I don't want a repeat of what I did with Emily's pack."

His dark eyes bear into me, and I try not to squirm in my seat. I keep my eyes lowered as I process this information.

I know what happened to Emily's pack. They were all slaughtered while she was in school. She was the only one who survived and a neighboring pack took her in while searching for someone else who would be interested in adopting her. That's when Alicia came in.

"Now," he says, narrowing his eyes at me. "In order for me to get the whole story, and to know whether I have been lied to again, I am interested in hearing your side, starting from when Ryan left your pack."

Dumbfounded, I stare at him for a second before lowering my gaze to my hands in my lap. I take a deep breath and tell him everything. How I had a crush on his mate but didn't know and when he found out, he lost it and killed her. How he took off and left me crying next to her lifeless body. How my parents tried to cope, but eventually signed over the territory to Alicia and Rick so they could try and start over somewhere new.

Kairo listens, asking a clarifying question here and there before he gets up and starts to pace back and forth when I finish.

"When I first met Ryan, he told me some rogues had taken over his family's territory and he wanted to get it back," Kairo says. "When I arrived today, Ryan was trying to kill you. He blamed you for everything. He has never taken responsibility for his own actions. I, myself, am still trying to take responsibility for my actions of the past, but I am man enough to admit I fucked up."

He goes back to the window and peers outside for a few minutes.

I swallow. The tension builds.

Ryan would have killed me like he killed his own mate. He would have killed Zara too, I'm sure of it. All of us.

Kairo's thick and gravelly voice cuts the silence. "He made a fool of me and my pup is now dead. He killed his own mate and tried to kill you—his own brother."

I try to swallow, but can't.

He turns to me, the light casting shadows across half of his face.

"What are your feelings toward your brother now?"

"Conflicted," I rasp out, my voice barely audible.

He nods curtly. "I want justice."