But right now, there were more important things to concentrate on. Celebrations could happen later, when the mess surrounding me and Evin had been cleaned up.
“A truckload of shit is what’s been happening,” I replied. “But the first thing you need to know is the fact that there’s whole chunks of my memories missing. I know who you all are, but I can’t for the life of me remember your names. In fact, until a moment ago, I couldn’t even remember my own name.”
“What?” my brother said.
“It’s all part of the plot,” Evin said. He was sitting on the edge of the desk, his stance suggesting he was ready to fight. He wasn’t about to trust the three men in my life—and I couldn’t entirely blame him. Not with the dark and dangerous look my brother was flinging his way.
Evin added, “According to her driver’s license, she’s Hanna London. I’m her brother, Evin. We were supposed to be here for a week.”
“So you’re part of it?” My twin stepped forward, anger practically oozing from every pore. He wanted someone to blame—someone to take his frustration out on—very badly indeed.
I grabbed his arm. “Not willingly. And would you mind introducing yourselves? I can’t exactly do it.”
He glanced at me. “I’m Rhoan, that’s Jack over near the door, and Quinn is the brooding presence behind us.”
I looked over my shoulder and gave him a smile. And noticed for the first time the fading scar down the side of his face. I reached out and touched it gently. Saw again the truck hitting the black car, that car rolling over and over, and shivered inwardly. He was lucky to be alive. I guess we both were.
He caught my fingers and kissed them gently. “Do you know why your memories are so sketchy? Was it the accident, or was it deliberate?”
“Deliberate.”
He touched my temple with his free hand and power washed around me, warm and familiar. “I can feel the imprint of another. We might be able to undo it.”
“Good. But not right now.” I turned around and looked at Jack. “We’ve had two murders here in Dunedan, both revenge killings very similar to the one I was investigating in Melbourne. This time, Harris and I managed to capture the killer and the helicopter pilot who was coming to pick him up.”
Jack shook his head. “Even kidnapped, you still manage to find yourself in the middle of a murder investigation.”
“Even when she was repeatedly told to keep her nose out of it,” Harris murmured, humor touching his lips as his gaze met mine.
“Ah, well.” Jack walked across the room and helped himself to some coffee. “I’ve been her boss for years and, let me tell you, getting her to obey orders is impossible.”
“But in this case, it was a good thing.” I leaned back against Quinn. His warmth and his smell soaked through my pores, filling a void I hadn’t even been aware of until now. “Because it was the similarities of the murders here to the ones I’d been investigating in Melbourne that began triggering memories.”
“Probably because whoever was doing the memory rearranging didn’t know enough about your life to make it stick.”
With the back of my head resting against Quinn’s chest, his voice seemed to rumble right through me. It was a wonderful sensation.
“That makes sense, because the stuff they didn’t know about—like my seagull shape and clairvoyance skills—I could access, but my wolf shape, and the knowledge of who and what I was, I couldn’t.”
“So why didn’t they erase your mind completely?” Harris asked. “That would have been a whole lot easier, surely?”
“It would have,” Jack said, “but Riley has extremely strong shields. Most vampires wouldn’t break past more than the first few layers of memories.”
He could, as could Quinn, but even they were no longer able to dive deep into my subconscious. I’d grown too strong over the past year.
The thought made me smile. It was nice to actually remember.
“Which is why you’ve lost the everyday stuff and not most of the deeper, instinctive information,” Rhoan said. His gaze went to my ear. “Have you been wearing a set of those nulling implants like the ones that Kye placed on you several months ago? Because I haven’t been able to feel your presence, and Quinn wasn’t able to sense you.”
“Not until about an hour ago,” Quinn added. His lips brushed the top of my head. “You have no idea just how much of a relief that was.”
I smiled and placed my hands over his. “We took the implants out about then.” I glanced at my brother. “When I disappeared, did you go talk to Blake?”
His thin cold smile said it all. “Yes. He claimed to know nothing.”
“And you believed him?”
“No. But I couldn’t kill him, either—not until we found out where you were. He’s still under surveillance.”
“Blake?” Evin said, sitting up a little straighter. “You mean our Blake? The leader of the Jenson pack?”
“The very one,” Rhoan said, still eyeing Evin critically. “With that hair color, I take it you’re from the Jenson pack?”
“Yes.” He was staring at the two of us with an odd sort of expression. “You’re Riley and Rhoan Jenson, aren’t you?”
I raised an eyebrow at the edge in his voice. “I think we’ve already established that.”
“No,” he said, almost savagely, then added, “I mean, you don’t understand. My father is Vernon Jenson, and he married Rayanne Jenson in a human civil ceremony some ten years ago.”
I stared at him. “Your father married our mother? That means—”
“That I was right. I am your brother. By marriage, granted, but kin all the same.” He smiled. “And you have a brother and two sisters you really need to meet.”
“What?” Rhoan’s gaze jumped between me and Evin. “Mum wouldn’t do that.”
Evin raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because she swore never to have any more children after the way we were treated. And a civil ceremony? That means they’re not soul mates—”
“But they love each other all the same. It may not be the deep, forever connection of a wolf mate, but it’s still there and still real. And we have siblings to prove it.”
“Fuck,” Rhoan said, and thrust a hand through his short hair. But when he glanced at me, his eyes were bright and shiny. “We have brothers and sisters.”
And underneath those words ran one joyous sentiment: We are no longer alone.
We had siblings. We might not know them, nor they us, but we had blood kin. We were a part of a family unit. And for wolves who had been so alone for so long, that was a powerful realization.
“But why the hell would Mom swear such a thing? And why would Blake want to kill you?” Evin asked.
“Mom’s never said much about your reasons for leaving, only that it was for the best. And certainly Blake’s never mentioned you.”
“He wouldn’t, especially after what we did to him last year,” Rhoan said. “But I bet he’s been plotting his revenge since then.”
“A revenge he denies being a part of.” I squeezed Quinn’s hands then pushed away from his warmth. His grip loosened reluctantly—a reluctance that echoed fiercely within me. I didn’t ever want to leave this vampire’s side. It was a surprising revelation given how long it had taken me to realize I even loved the damn man. I walked across the room to retrieve my coffee cup. “But we have several avenues to explore to find the link. And I think if we manage to undo whatever has been done to my memories, we’ll discover he’s very much behind it all. Because it’s certainly his voice I keep hearing in my mind, telling me to enjoy my new life while I can.”
“Then let’s go kill the bastard,” Rhoan said, voice flat and deadly.
“Hold the anger in check,” Jack snapped. “Riley’s safe. The rest of it can wait. We are guardians, and we have the people behind these revenge killings to stop. That has to be our priority.”