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reached out to her but she slipped away just before he could lay
his hand on her.
    “I’m sorry…” Even without the
mating finalized, the pain of turning from him gnawed at her stomach. “If you
touch me now, I’ll never get it out.”
    “Tell us, so we can help you,”
Turi urged. He wrung his hands, clearly uneasy and wanting to help.
    “There’s no easy way to say
this, so I’ll just put it out there. On the way here Ty told me a little about
your…well, I thought clan at the time since he forgot to mention you’re
bears.” She ran her hands through her hair, pulling the blonde strands into a
messy ponytail and used one of the elastic holders from her wrist. “He told me
your sleuth has been assisting with the rogue tiger issues, first with Pierce,
and now with Randolph.”
    Turi straightened in his seat;
she clearly had his attention. “Yes. We were on the mission with Ty when Pierce
was killed.”
    “Then you’re aware Randolph
has taken over where Pierce has left off?” The twins exchanged a glance and
then nodded. “He’s my uncle.”
    “He’s what ?” Turi
nearly shouted, popping out of the chair like a demented jack-in-the-box.
    Tears filled her eyes,
threatening to spill over, and Turi’s agitation wasn’t helping. She moved away
from the fireplace, going anywhere she could so she didn’t have to look at the
hurt in Turi’s eyes. It was as if she had betrayed them because of her
heritage. She had been brought into it, she didn’t choose it.
    “Hey.” Trey stepped in front
of her, cutting off her escape path, and reached his hand out to her, his
fingers gliding along her arm, caressing her tentatively. “It’s okay.”
    “Okay? How can it ever be
okay?” She nodded back at Turi. “Look at how he took the news. If anyone finds
out, they’ll look at me the same way. Like I had something to do with
Randolph’s actions, or that I have the same views he did. I’ve been raised in
the Arizona clan my whole life, I’d never do what he’s done, or even think
about it.”
    “I didn’t think you would.”
His voice was low and soothing. “Now come here and explain how he’s your
uncle.” Trey slid his arm around her waist, pulling him against his body.
“Turi’s not going to say anything.” He shot a glance at his brother, giving him
a shut-the-hell-up look.
    “Randolph and my mother were
siblings. Their parents were a mixed couple, a tiger and a human. According to
my mother, my grandmother always despised the fact she had to spend her life
with a shifter, and passed her hatred on to her son…Randolph. It’s strange
because even though he was a shifter, she didn’t show him half as much hatred
as she showed her husband. Maybe she knew that she’d breed a monster with her
hate, one who would fight against shifters as a whole. He was her only chance
to bring down the group she despised so much.” She kept her gaze on Trey,
taking strength from him, while ignoring Turi. “My mother was the second born
and human. Neither of her parents paid much attention to her. To her father,
she was a lesser being, and her mother was so devoted to pass on her hatred to
Randolph she didn’t care about my mother.”
    “Go on, angel,” Trey provoked
when she paused.
    “My mother had a rough
pregnancy, and she wasn’t expected to live through my birth. Chad’s mother,
Kathy, was her best friend…when my mother passed away, Kathy took me in and
raised me as her own daughter. I knew my aunt as my mother and Chad as my
brother until I was in my early teens. That’s when she explained everything me.
After she died, only Chad and Mason knew. We kept the secret in order to keep
me hidden from Randolph. To keep my heritage hidden from everyone, even him. I
don’t believe he knows. When Kathy took me in and told Mason my heritage, they
decided to make sure it remained a secret.”
    “Does he know you’re alive?”
Turi asked.
    “I don’t know…” She pressed
her head against Trey’s