“No!” She ran forward, her hand going around his, stopping him releasing the thing he was now certain lived inside him. “Not here. Not now.”
“It’s true, then?” he asked, his eyes fixed on hers, as the now-familiar sense of shock at her touch threaded through his veins.
“Yes. I believe so,” she said quietly.
“Who are you?” he asked. “I mean, who are you really?”
“My name is Amara,” she said. “As for who I really am, I’m not sure you would understand.”
“Try me,” he said.
“I think that is for your uncle to explain,” she said, moving to stand by his side, facing Darius. “Darius.”
His uncle didn’t seem fazed by one of the servants, a shifter even, calling him by his first name. “Uncle? Seems as how you both know what’s going on, what the real truth is, don’t you think it’s time I knew?” Kane asked quietly.
“Yes. It is. But I want you to know one thing, Kane. What I did, everything, has been to keep you safe.” Darius came close, standing five feet away as if waiting for Kane’s reaction. Did he see the beast inside Kane, and know that he was ready to attack him, for whatever it was he had done, whatever lies he had told Kane?
“Are you really my uncle?” Kane asked.
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
“And my parents? Are they dead, or did you kidnap me?” Kane asked.
Darius held up his hand, palm facing Kane, as if to ward off any more accusations. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“So they are alive?” Kane asked. “I trusted you.” He took a step towards Darius, fists clenched, ready to fight.
“No, Kane,” Amara put her hand in his, trying to calm him. “You need to listen to what Darius has to say. You need to understand.”
“Understand? My whole life has been one big lie. And now you are on his side too? Is that why you are here? To try to seduce me so I won’t think badly of him?” His temper was rising and the bracelet on his wrist was tight, so tight it felt as though it was cutting off his blood circulation.
Amara sensed the change in him, and her other hand went to the bracelet covering it. “Take deep breaths. Don’t let it control you.”
“Don’t let what control me?” he asked. “This thing inside me. What happens if I free it?”
“If you free it now, everything that we have worked for, will be for nothing,” Darius said, his voice unusually harsh, filled with pain and grief.
“Kane. I know this is hard,” Amara said. “You don’t know me, you don’t know anything about me, but I’m asking you to listen to Darius before you do something you’ll regret.”
“Regret? What, like trusting a man who you thought had your back? Who you thought had your best interests at heart? When all the time he has been lying to you?”
“Kane. I have always had, and still do have, your best interests at heart. But this goes deeper than you, or me.” Darius shook his head, and if Kane didn’t know better, he would have thought he heard a strangled sob come from the throat of the man whom he had never seen cry, and whom emotion often came hard to. That spoke to Kane more clearly than words.
“I need the truth,” Kane said simply. “I want to know what is going on and if I really am one of…” He couldn’t say the word; he had his suspicions, beyond any reasonable doubt. But he knew that once someone else spoke the words, there would be no turning back, his life would be over.
“I’ll tell you what I know.” Darius turned to face him. “But first I need you to promise me you will not act irrationally.”
“You have taught me how to weigh up the evidence, and to act calmly. But that is a lot easier when it’s business.” Kane shook his head, trying to wake up from what was about to become a nightmare reality. “But I promise to try to be rational.”
Darius glanced nervously around as if he was expecting someone to be lurking in the shadows, his fingers going to fiddle with the ring on his little finger. The ring he always wore. So there was much more at stake than Kane could ever have known.
“I’m not the only one with a secret,” he said to Darius.
Darius shook his head imperceptibly. “This has to stay between us three.”
He looked at Amara. Whoever she was, Darius must trust her implicitly. “Tell me everything, Darius.” Her hand tightened around his, telling him she would be there for him, lend him her strength if he needed it. But he didn’t know her.
Then he didn’t know anything anymore.
8
Amara listened to what Darius told Kane, although she already knew everything, and more.
When Darius had asked her to go to the boathouse, she had been scared of what he intended. But what he told her was in some ways scarier than anything she could have imagined and she felt the weight of the collar around her neck intensify.
“Kane, please understand whatever has happened was done to keep you safe.” Darius came closer, keeping his voice low, and looking him straight in the eye, willing him to believe his words.