Chapter Eighty-Five
Isla
It happened all at once.
Bags crinkled.
Will shot off the bed.
Linc stepped in front of the half-open bedroom door.
Weapon drawn, aiming toward the darkened hallway, Will barked orders. “Stand the fuck down!”
Eyes wide, holding takeout, Linc slowly raised his arms. “Um, Isla?”
“Don’t fucking move, intruse.”
Staring at me, Linc swallowed. “He says he’s your brother?”
“Oh my God.” Grabbing the sheet around me, I made to get up.
“I said. Don’t. Move.” Emphasizing his last two words like a cardinal edict, Will stepped toward the door. “Lincoln, retreat.”
“I-I’m sorry.” Linc looked from me to his father. “I didn’t see him when I got out of the car.”
“You did nothing wrong.” Will moved another foot. “Drop that fucking weapon, or I drop you.”
Gun in hand, Wolf stepped out from the shadows. Except he wasn’t aiming, and he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring at Will. “Bravo.”
Will’s stance barely straightened a millimeter, but it was enough for me to realize what I wasn’t seeing—surprise or shock. “Legend.”
Furious, I glared at my brother. “Put your damn gun away, Wolf.”
“Tell Bravo to lower his aim.”
Oh my fucking God. I was going to shoot Wolf myself if Will didn’t.
I glanced at Linc. “It’s okay, Linc. For real, he is my brother.” I looked back at Wolf. “Even though I don’t feel like claiming any familial ties while he’s being an idiot. Apologize to Linc for scaring the crap out of him, Wolf.”
My brother didn’t apologize. He kept his focus on Will. “Trahern. Not Legend. Not anymore.”
“Kitchen” was all Will said, jerking his chin once toward the opposite side of the cabin.
Linc took off, then Wolf followed, shoving a Glock he wasn’t carrying the last time I saw him into his back waistband.
Finally lowering his aim, Will looked at me. “You should’ve told me King was your brother. You also should’ve told me you’re the daughter of Severn King.”
A shift happened. One I knew. “It matters who my family is?”
“In this case, yes.”
“Why?”
“Is Coast still alive?”
Seeing as he was using my father’s call sign, I assumed Will knew his reputation.
I’d heard some of the stories about my father’s time on the Teams from my brother, albeit heavily edited and made palatable for a kid.
Not that it mattered. I knew what my father had been.
What he may still be, depending on who you asked.
I answered with the only truth I knew. “I don’t know.”
“Explain,” he demanded.
“It’s self-explanatory. I don’t know what happened to him. He left on a deployment. I never saw him again. I don’t know what else you want me to say.”
“Is Trahern your brother by blood?”
A familiar mistrustfulness pinched a sudden, pounding headache. “Yes.”
“Are you positive?”
My already jagged nerves scraped across an uncomfortable subconsciousness. “What are you saying?” I demanded. “And if you already knew who I was, why didn’t you mention it?”
“You and your brother have different last names, and it was your fact to tell.”
I let out a half laugh that was part disavowing and all falsetto but hid nothing because the genesis of doubt I’d spent my entire life trying to reject had been born long ago.
I was five when I first realized the much older boy in our house looked nothing like me or our mother, but I gave Will the same story I’d always given myself.
“Two kids, two parents who couldn’t agree on anything.
My father named Wolf. My mother named me. ”
“You have your mother’s surname.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway because it fit in the same box I’d stuffed the rest of my childhood into. “Yes. Funny how that whole naming thing works.”
“What does your brother think happened to Coast?”
I didn’t miss the difference in how he referred to the two men of my family. “Wolf says our father is dead.”
“Proof?”
“What does it matter?”
Will inhaled. Then, for the first time, I saw something close to concern etch across his features. “Because Coast had a reputation.”
“I’m well aware.” It was no secret that my father liked to threaten violence. The only problem was that it was never a threat. It was a promise.
Will stared at me for a long moment. Then he gave me a piece of my family history I’d never known about.
“No one had ever seen a picture of you, let alone knew your name, but Coast made one thing abundantly clear with every Teams guy he ever encountered.” His intense gaze holding mine, he imprisoned my breath.
“He said he wouldn’t only gut any Tier One who touched his daughter, he would feed him his entrails, then kill his entire family. ”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Will wasn’t finished.
“When Legend made the Teams, he made the same proclamation.”