They made good time. A little over an hour later, with Zack unerringly following a trail that, most of the time, Lina could barely make out, they emerged at the edge of a small clearing nestled against the rocky side of a hill. A wood-and-tin shack, barely larger than the Land Rover, precariously hugged the rock wall behind it. A nanny goat tethered with a long chain attached to a collar on its neck didn’t look up from where it grazed in the center of the clearing.
Zack stood up a little straighter and held out a hand to stop her.
“What?” she asked.
“We’re being watched.”
The goat lifted its head and bleated before returning to its grazing.
She didn’t miss that Zack’s right hand slowly slid behind his back, where his fingers wrapped around the gun.
“This is stupid,” she said. “Liam Pardie!” she called out. “My name is Lina Zaria-Alexandr. We need to talk to you.”
“Holy shit,” Zack whispered. A large, dark-brown wolf slowly stepped to the edge of the clearing, his body still half concealed by vegetation. His unblinking green eyes, a different shade than Brodey Lyall’s but just as intense, warily watched them. He was every bit as big as the Lyalls in their wolf form.
She shook off Zack’s arm when he tried to stop her. She stepped forward. “Liam, please. We need to talk. I have some important news for you about your daughter.”
The wolf didn’t blink, didn’t move.
She heard Zack swallow hard behind her. “Bring the bag,” she told him.
He slowly stepped forward, carefully unshouldering it and setting it in the middle of the clearing. He finally found his voice. “Padre Sanchez told us how to find you. We’re not with the Abernathys, we swear.”
The wolf snorted, but whether it was in derision or not, Lina couldn’t tell. Still, he didn’t move from his place at the edge of the clearing.
She pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket, unfolded it, and laid it faceup on the ground next to the bag.
“What’s that?” Zack asked.
“Proof,” she said. “I printed it up in the business center while you were checking us out of the hotel in Seattle.” She grabbed Zack’s arm, and they stepped back to where they’d entered the clearing. “We’re friends of the Lyalls. I have something you need to look at. See for yourself,” she called to the wolf.
He warily tested the air with his nose before slowly advancing to the piece of paper. They watched as he read it…
And suddenly, a tall, beefy, naked man with dark-brown hair and green eyes the same shade as the wolf’s was crouched in front of it. “Jesus wept,” he whispered as he sat back on his haunches with the paper clutched in his trembling hands. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
Zack let out a soft whistle. “Hellooo, baby,” he whispered.
Lina nudged him, hard, with her elbow. “Stop that. You’re married.”
“Hey, Kael doesn’t mind if I look.”
She shot him a silencing glare.
He shut up.
They watched as Liam stared at the picture on the paper for several long, silent minutes. Then he looked at them. “Ye know her?” he asked, his voice choked with emotion.
Lina took a deep breath. She had to agree with Zack. The guy was hunky. She’d yet to meet an ugly wolf. “Not exactly.” She nodded toward his shack. “Can we please go inside and talk? Maybe with you clothed?”
He finally seemed to realize he was naked. “Oh, eh, right. Sorry.” He stood and grabbed the bag, carrying it to the shack. They slowly followed him, and by the time they’d reached the doorway, he’d pulled on a pair of jeans. He sat on a low bunk, the paper in his hands.
He couldn’t take his eyes from the picture, a printout from the Venice TV station’s staff directory on their webpage.
“She’s beautiful,” he said. “Looks just like her mum, she does.” Now Lina could hear his Irish brogue. He looked up at them. “So what’s this about? Is she all right?”
Lina nodded. “It’s a long story, and it’ll take me a while to get through it. But please keep an open mind. You’re a wolf shifter, so some of what I’m about to tell you won’t sound far-fetched.”
He laughed, but it sounded like the humorless wolf snort they’d heard earlier. “My life’s a feckin’ hell, it is. I couldn’t protect Maureen. I’d promised to love her, protect her, and see what happened? My mate, dead because I had to leave, and our baby girl raised by someone else.” He looked heartbroken. “If I go back and they get wind I’ve returned, they’ll hound me to hell and back to find my baby girl.” His expression turned vicious. “I’d rather have my throat ripped out than put her in jeopardy.”
“But that’s just it,” Lina said. “She’s already in jeopardy. And so are the men she’s destined to mate with.”
“Men?”
Lina took a deep breath. “Let me start from the beginning. Get comfy.”
Three hours later, with shadows lengthening over the tree line and all hope of returning to the car before dark right out the damn window, Lina finished the tale of what had happened. Liam hadn’t interrupted her. Zack, who’d managed to find a comfortable position to sit in along one wall, had dozed off. She suspected he wasn’t deeply asleep, and her last, final revelation would certainly awaken him.
Liam looked stunned. “I was right that those bastards are the ones who killed Charles and Ellie Lyall?”
“Yes. And who the hell is Ysimel? I saw her in a vision.”
Liam looked startled. “She’s the reason for the blood oath. It was what her clan demanded for her mate to be able to claim her.”
“Ah.” A lot of things clicked into place and made sense now. “That answers a few more questions.”
Liam chewed on everything for a moment. “I’m still confused. You’re telling me you’re involved because you think those damn cockatrice are partnering up with the Abernathys against the dragons and wolves?”
“Sort of.” She took a deep breath. Zack would kill her for not revealing this factoid in Seattle, when the last of the miniswarm of visions had hit her and confirmed for her what Lacey had told her. “My mates’ last name is Alexandr, but spelled with a ‘dr’ and not a ‘der’ at the end. Your wife’s maiden name was Alexander, spelled ‘der.’ She was actually a distant cousin of the Lyalls.” Zack’s left eye popped open.
She had his full attention now.
Liam nodded. “Aye. I knew Maureen was related to the Lyalls. That’s why I went to speak with Charles and Ellie. I was hoping their pack could protect her. Charles and Ellie had a reputation of doing stuff like that. So?”
“Jan and Rick Alexandr, my mates, are also distantly related to the Lyalls, and to Maureen. As am I, through my father. So you see, this really is a family matter.”
Zack stared at her. “Fuuuck me, kiddo. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know for sure until that very last vision in Seattle. Lacey told me back when I first met her that it was a possibility, but she wasn’t sure.”
Liam looked confused. “But why are ye telling me all this?”
“Because you need to get your ass back to Florida, to the Lyall ranch. Major shit is going to happen soon, and they are going to need your help. Specifically, your daughter is going to need your help.”
“Do the Abernathys know who she is yet?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, but she’s going to meet the Lyalls really soon. That’s when they figure out who she is. I can’t see everything, unfortunately. I only see what the funky vision fairy, or whatever it is, lets me see.” She smiled to lighten the moment. “Besides, your daughter deserves to have her dad give her away at her wedding.”