The door opened, and Vero and Hunter, disguised as a Kurjan, strode into the room. “How could you not tell me?” Vero asked, his voice a low rumble of anger.
She turned to keep him fully in her sights. She’d only met him in dreamworlds, and he’d always seemed pretty mellow. He was anything but that right now.
“I didn’t think you needed to know,” Drake said.
Vero just stared at him, and for a moment, Hope thought he might take a shot at Drake. “Well, you’re a fucking bastard.”
She caught her breath. So much for those two being on the same page.
Drake glanced at Hunter.
Hope was very careful not to look at her cousin. She couldn’t give him away, so she kept her focus on Vero. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Rage mottled Vero’s handsome face. “I have a brother.”
“Not for long,” Drake said. “As soon as we announce this mating, I’m going to spend a good few days with him. There isn’t going to be anything left, I promise.”
Hope looked at Drake and then Vero. “What do you mean you have a brother?”
It was Hunter who spoke. “Apparently Paxton’s true father was a Kurjan named Talt. He was also Vero’s father.”
Hope’s world spun away and came back. “Wait, what? Pax is a Kurjan?”
Chapter Thirty
Hope couldn’t breathe as she looked at the males around her. “Pax is not a Kurjan.” That was impossible; Drake was just messing with them all. “He can go in the sun. He doesn’t look anything like a Kurjan.”
Drake smiled, and the sight was not pleasant. “Apparently our scientists were hard at work pursuing more than one avenue with their research. Paxton’s mother was taken during the last war. A few demonesses were experimented upon. It was a dangerous and new type of in vitro fertilization, because Talt had not yet mated Vero’s mother. Most of the females died, but Paxton’s mother lived.”
“She must’ve been terrified,” Hope whispered, horror filling her.
“Yes,” Drake said. “But according to the journal, she was more frightened of the demon nation than of us. So when she discovered she was pregnant, she followed orders.”
Hope sat back in her chair, feeling as if she might fall. “So, how?” None of this made any sense.
Vero shook his head. “I can’t believe it. I remember my father as being cruel, but I didn’t think even he’d do something like this.” He looked at Hope. “Apparently they genetically altered Paxton in the womb, so he would look mostly demon like his mother. They made the Kurjan genes dormant until…” He swallowed.
“He was hit by those darts?” Hope asked, her eyes widening. “Those were meant for Paxton, not for me.” That’s why the drug had disappeared from her system while it had seemed to take hold in Paxton’s. It was all unbelievable. “What was Talt’s grand plan?”
Drake shrugged. “From what I’ve read, the plan was for Paxton’s mother to raise him in the demon nation, train and guide him, so we’d have somebody on the inside. It was brilliant, really. But then a few years in, apparently she changed her mind.”
“Of course she changed her mind,” Hope said. “She saw how people should live and how women should be treated. No doubt she knew instantly she didn’t want her son growing up in your environment.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Vero said, tapping the leather-bound book in his hand. “They ordered her death, and Paelotin followed through.”
Hope’s mind spun. “So Paelotin was working with the Kurjans from the beginning?”
“Yes. He was paid a fortune,” Drake said.
“When did you find out?” Hunter asked Drake directly.
Drake looked at Vero and then glanced at Hope before turning to stare at Hunter. “I discovered Talt’s journal about ten years ago.”
Vero took a step back, his blue eyes widening and his shoulders squaring. “You discovered I had a brother a decade ago?”
“You don’t have a brother,” Drake returned quickly. “Paxton Phoenix is not your brother. Biologically, you may share a sperm donor, but considering he’s going to be dead before next week, I wouldn’t get too attached.”
“I just saw him,” Vero said. “I don’t think he’s going to survive the next couple of hours. You’ve shot him full of too many of those darts.”
“That would be unfortunate,” Drake said. “But it took that much of the drug to awaken the Kurjan genes. He needs to be half Kurjan before I kill him. I want to take him into the sun and show him how much it hurts. He’s always made fun of me for not liking the sun—it’s time for him to feel her bite.”
Hope shook her head. “He never made fun of you, but he did see the real you, and I didn’t.” She should have listened to Paxton. “So much for trying to find peace.”
She looked at the other two warriors in the room. If there was ever a chance to cause a problem for Drake, this was it. “Vero, do you know what the Kurjans are doing with all the enhanced females?”
Vero shifted his gaze to Drake before returning his focus to Hope. “It’s my understanding that they’re just cataloging them.” He winced. “Kind of like wild animals. Like geese or moose.”
Her jaw dropped. “You mean they’re tagging the women to keep track of them like scientists do for certain animal species?”
“That’s what I’ve been told,” Vero said. “This is the first time I’ve actually been in this camp. It doesn’t feel right, though.” He looked at his cousin.
“No, it certainly doesn’t,” Hunter said.
Drake’s gaze wandered to his computer area and back. “Harold, make yourself useful for once and escort the future queen to her room. Vero, I need to speak with you. We have plans to make.”
Hope’s heart leaped. She tried to keep the outrage on her face as Hunter gestured her toward the door. “I’m not done with this,” she said, her head held high as she swept out of the room.
Hunter followed her and shut the door, his hand instantly on her elbow. “Keep moving,” he whispered.
She walked partially into the great room. Noting that the room was vacant, she turned and hugged her cousin. He’d grown and filled out in the time they’d been separated.
He hugged her back, patting her shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I am,” she said. “How about you?”
“I’m fine.”
It was time for Hunter to come home. “We have to save Paxton.”
Hunter’s jaw visibly hardened. “This is a two-pronged mission. First I get you out, then I get Paxton.”
“I am not leaving without him.”
“You are,” Hunter said, his fingers firm on her arm as he pulled her across the great room to the back, where a sliding glass door led to a massive snow-covered deck. A trail had been kicked through the snow on the other side of the deck toward a dark and foreboding forest.
Hope tried to pull away.
Hunter ignored her, staring outside. “I have transport waiting for you, but we’re going to have to run.”