The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,73
my father. It means my mother, sometime in her life, had a relationship with a Shifter.”
“Yeah.” Ben sat stunned, and Walker and Tiger were quiet.
A voice that had been whispering through an earpiece to Walker came clearly through the silence. “Shite.”
“Tell Sean hi,” Ben said to Walker, then he gathered Rhianne close and held her as comfortingly as he could.
Tiger’s announcement that Rhianne had decided he was her mate spun through Ben’s head, not really sinking in. He had a lot to process, but the miles between here and Austin were many. He settled in to think, his stunned brain whirling.
In spite of the five-hundred mile drive, Ben still had no clear answers by the time they reached the Austin Shiftertown in the early hours of the morning. Ben helped Rhianne out of the SUV in front of Liam Morrissey’s bungalow to hear crickets and a cool breeze ruffling the leaves of the tall trees.
At four in the morning, Shiftertown should be dark and quiet, all the little Shifters curled up peacefully together, but no. Lights were on in most houses, and there was plenty of movement in the darkness between them. Many Shifters were nocturnal, and all were nosy as hell.
Dylan leaned on the railing of the porch next door to Liam’s home, with his sort-of mate, Glory, a crazed Lupine, next to him. She was almost calmly dressed in skin-tight jeans and a leopard print T-shirt. Sean Morrissey’s mate, Andrea, rested a hip on the railing next to Glory and held her young son in her arms. No sign of Sean.
The front porch of Liam’s house was likewise crowded. Yep, the gang’s all here. Liam, his nephew Connor, the rangy young woman who was Tiger’s long-lost cub, Liam’s mate, Kim, and Tiger’s mate, Carly. And the cubs, who were the only ones not silent.
“Who’s that?” Young Katriona, Liam’s offspring, pointed at Rhianne from the safety of her mother’s arms.
“A guest.” Kim Fraser-Morrissey spoke firmly. She left the porch and made her way to where Tiger and Walker surrounded Ben and Rhianne. “Welcome, Rhianne. How about we take a load off inside with some wine, while the Shifters argue?”
“Nothing to argue about,” Ben said. “Rhianne’s Shifter. She didn’t know. Blame her parents, not her. No need to interrogate her.”
“Exactly.” Kim was a smallish woman with curly dark hair and a skewering gaze. She was in courtroom mode, which meant she used her cute smile and steely voice to drive home a point. “That’s why she’s a guest, not an inmate.”
Rhianne, who had calmed during the long ride from New Orleans and even slept on Ben’s shoulder, unwound herself from Ben. “Actually, I would enjoy wine.”
She sounded more like her usual self, less panicked and more assured. Ben kissed the hand she’d kept twined through his and released her.
Kim threaded an arm through Rhianne’s, adjusting Katriona on her other side.
Carly, who greeted Rhianne with a wide Texas smile, paused as the two women went into the house. Tiger broke from Ben and Walker, his mission over, and went straight to her.
Ben watched Tiger take his son from Carly, lifting the little guy in gentle hands. He settled the cub, Seth, in the crook of his arm, then reached over and touched the cheek of Tiger-girl. His daughter relaxed a long way, sending her father a happy smile.
Tiger handed Seth to her—Tiger-girl cuddled her brother close, a look of love on her face—then Tiger bent and kissed Carly. And kissed her. A long time went by.
Walker flashed a rare grin, chuckled, and leapt back into the SUV. He had a mate to get home to, a giant Kodiak bear Shifter who was a sassy, take-no-shit woman.
Ben was left alone to face the Morrisseys.
“She didn’t know,” Ben repeated. “I didn’t know. The Tuil Erdannan side of her masked it.”
“Ah well.” Liam rested his arms on the porch railing. “Now Shifter Bureau knows it. Sean was typing his ass off after Walker called him.”
“I’ll bet.”
Sean, a Guardian, one of those frightening people with big swords who sent Shifter souls to the afterlife, had access to the Guardian Network, a database of Shifter intel that was part magical. Guardians were champion hackers and could put whatever information about Shifters they wanted into human computer systems.
Ben figured Sean had been busy making it look as though Rhianne had been part of the Austin Shiftertown all along, instead of a rogue, undocumented Shifter who could be detained, interrogated, drugged, and possibly terminated if she was perceived