He broke off, chanced another look in Shea’s direction.


“She’s a fucking miracle. My miracle. The day of Rusty’s graduation party, she spoke to me and she was so afraid. I knew those bastards had taken her then. Several nights before that, she’d tried to reach out to me, but she was drugged and all I felt was her confusion and disorientation, but I knew it was her, and I knew something was terribly wrong. But again, what could I do? I didn’t know where she was. I didn’t even know who she was. Just her name. I’ve never felt so goddamn helpless in my life. But then she called for me. She’d escaped and was running for her life. Those bastards tortured her. They drugged her and tortured her and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about it. But I could get to her as fast as I could. I could do that much. And I could do everything in my power to protect her. So I did.

 “Could I have asked for your help? Yeah, but then I would have had to explain everything. I would have had to combat your disbelief. We would have wasted time that Shea didn’t have while you decided whether to believe me or lock my ass up in some mental facility. By the time we came up with some damn plan and coordinated KGI and figured out who was going to do what, it would have been too late for Shea, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

 Ethan’s lips tightened into a fine line. He understood. He understood all too well and Nathan knew it. He’d once been faced with the situation of having to go in and rescue his wife, and he of all people knew Nathan’s frustration and why he’d made the choices he did.

 Swanny merely nodded. Didn’t offer words, just nodded his agreement.

 Donovan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I get it, man. I do. I just wish you’d come to us from the start. It’s been killing us to see you this way and not know what if anything we could do to help. You’re my brother and you have to know there isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do for you. Whether you’re crazy or not.”

 Nathan smiled. “I know. I do know that, Van. I know I could have done things differently, but at the time it was what I thought I needed to do. I hate that I hurt you and the rest of the family. But when I came back…I wasn’t the same man. I wasn’t sure I could ever be that man again.”

 Donovan put a hand on Nathan’s shoulder and squeezed. “You haven’t changed. No matter what you might think, you haven’t changed. Not to your family. We love you and support you unconditionally.”

 Then Donovan glanced over at Shea. “We’ve got a shitload of stuff to process. I’ve been in touch with Sam. Our first priority is safety. Our second priority is figuring out who we’re dealing with. I’m going to analyze the footage you uploaded and hope to hell it gives us something to work off of. Sam is also ringing Resnick’s bell to see what info he’ll cough up.”

 Nathan nodded. “She goes nowhere without me. Just so you know. It’s not an option.”

 Ethan snorted. “Hell, like we can’t figure that out? I’m tempted to call Ma and rat you out, but no one wants her on our asses right now. I’m more afraid of her than I am of a whole terrorist cell.”

 Donovan didn’t look as convinced. “I get that you want to protect her, Nathan, but it’s entirely possible the safest option for her won’t be tagging along with you.”

 Nathan was already shaking his head. “She’s tough, Van. She’s saved my ass more than once. Her looks are deceiving. She’s got more steel in her spine than a lot of men I know. She won’t accept us sticking her in some hole, and furthermore I don’t want that. I want her with me. All the time.”

 Donovan blew out his breath. It went against his grain to ever put a woman in danger. His instinct was always to bury them as far underground as possible and then go kick whoever’s ass threatened them.

 But Nathan knew that Shea was different. She’d been on her own for a year, and she wasn’t going to fall apart at the first sign of danger. They were…partners…for lack of a better term. He needed her every bit as much as she needed him. She kept him centered. Grounded. And the only way he’d ever be convinced of her safety was if he could see her at all times.

 Donovan opened his mouth to speak but then fell silent, his gaze riveted to Shea. Nathan turned to see her get up from her seat. She wobbled a little as she started toward where the men were gathered. Her face was pale and her entire demeanor told him she was in shock.

 She gripped the closed journal and took another step. This time he hurriedly rose and crossed the distance to take her other hand. He led her to where the others sat and then simply put her on his lap so she could be near him.

 He wrapped his arms around her and whispered close to her ear. “It’s okay, baby. Whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”

 “You need to know this,” she said, her voice scratchy.

 Realization hit him in the gut. She’d been crying, even though the signs were gone from her face. He pressed his lips to her shoulder, not knowing what else he could do to comfort her. Not until they knew what she’d learned from the journal.

 She raised haunted eyes to his brothers before turning her gaze on Nathan, hurt and confusion brimming in her liquid gaze.

 “Grace was right. They weren’t our real parents.”

CHAPTER 26

SHEA’S chest hurt so badly that she could barely squeeze air into and out of her lungs. She was more afraid than ever. Terrified.

 And everything she’d thought she’d ever know about herself—her life—was all a lie.

 Nathan kissed her shoulder again, and his hand slipped up and down her other arm in a soothing pattern. His brothers and Swanny looked curiously at her, their gazes going from her face to the journal she held so tightly in her grasp.

 “I don’t even know how to explain it.” Numbness was rapidly spreading through her veins until she felt disembodied.

 “Start from the beginning,” Donovan said gently. “What did you mean by they weren’t your real parents?”

 Her breath hiccupped out of her mouth and her shoulders drooped with fatigue and disillusionment. “Apparently my parents…the people who raised me…were scientists. They were heading a top-secret, government-funded project. No one but a few high-ranking government officials even knew of its existence, and they were all military officials. My mother remarked in her journal that it was doubtful the president or members of Congress ever knew about the project.”

 “What the hell were they researching?” Ethan asked.

 “They weren’t researching,” Shea said softly. “They were creating. Me and my sister, Grace. Though now I wonder if she’s even my sister.”

 Nathan stiffened against her. “Wait a minute. Back up.”

 She stood, suddenly no longer able to sit still against him. She paced away and then turned to face the assembled group again.

 “According to my mother…” She shook her head and swallowed back the knot in her throat. “According to Andrea Peterson, Grace and I were lab-created experiments. Who knows who my real parents were. I doubt they even knew each other. They chose ‘samples’ from a selection of people who were particularly gifted and possessed ‘unusual talents,’ though none of the so-called abilities are outlined in her journal. And then these samples were basically mixed, implanted in a volunteer uterus, and they took the baby when it was born.”

 The looks of horror on the men’s faces were a mirror of her own disgust. Nathan’s face was drawn tight, his eyes dark, nearly black.

 “What was their objective?” Ethan asked.

 Shea sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure Andrea knew. She was told they were going to study psychic anomaly occurring in the human population and how or if it could be reproduced through controlled experiments. But she grew increasingly more concerned with the way Grace and I were used. She expressed guilt and remorse for being part of a ‘devil’s creation.’ ”

 Tears burned the edges of her eyes. Devil’s creation. That was what her own mother considered her and Grace. Some abomination, not from God. She and Grace had been created in some sterile laboratory to be poked and prodded, their abilities used for God only knew what.

 Nathan stood, as if he couldn’t remain seated a moment longer. His fingers were curled into tight fists and his agitation was broadcasting so strongly that it filled her mind, swamping her with his rage and his horror.

 She turned away, no longer able to stand the terrible look in his eyes.

 His hands slid over her shoulders, and he turned her, almost roughly, to face him. He gripped her, holding her there so she had no choice but to comply with his silent demand.

 “I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking right now,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t know because you’ve shut yourself off from me. I can only guess as to why, but it’s bullshit. You have to know I don’t give a damn. You’re not some lab experiment. Not some accident of science. You’re a fucking miracle. My miracle. I don’t give a shit how you came into existence but I thank God every day that you did. Has it ever occurred to you that you were born with a much higher purpose? One that transcended whatever fuck of a reason those bastards played around in their goddamn lab for?”

 She stared up at him in awe, so shocked by his vehemence that she couldn’t even begin to know how to respond. What could she say to that?

 A tear slid down her cheek and he thumbed it away, his expression so fierce that it should have scared her. And then he simply pulled her into his arms, cupping her head to his chest as he held her tight enough to crush her ribs.