Vision Revealed (24 page)

about it every night when my sire preached to us about how things should be.”

“And your sire is?” Josh demanded.

Jin stared at him then glanced at the others watching her. They knew the truth, or had

guessed they sniffed it out by now, but she needed to voice it, and the sooner the better.

“Leo Pard,” she told him, the lump suddenly in her throat making it almost impossible to

voice the two words.

Josh slammed the bar with his fist and Thad pushed himself away from where he stood,

growling fiercely. Race and Tore, who sat together at a table, immediately were on their

feet, the hostility in the room too thick to cut with a knife.

“And yet you paraded around as a hunter,” Josh howled, glaring at her with a fierceness

that made her wonder if she’d be able to tell them everything before they killed her.

Kane leapt in front of her, snarling at all of them while his body seemed to grow before

her eyes. Jin hurried around him, turning her back on the hunters and placing her palms

flat against his solid chest. His heart thumped fiercely in his chest and she didn’t doubt

for a moment he would fight to the death for her. Her heart swelled, feeling more honored

by his aggression than she should with the life-threatening smells behind her.

“I must do this,” she whispered, waiting until Kane lowered his gaze to hers. “Please,

Kane. Sit down. This must be howled and their judgment passed down will be honored.”

“Like hell,” Kane growled.

“You promised me,” she reminded him. “If you can’t honor that promise, then get out.”

He glared at her and for a moment looked as if he’d throw her over his shoulder and

bound out of the bar, ruining her opportunity before she was allowed to have it. As much

as running from all of this had its morbid appeal, Jin knew she was doing the right thing.

“I’m serious, Kane. The only way I can mend any of the past is to offer complete

honesty now.”

Kane didn’t say anything but shrugged away from her touch, turning from her and

pacing the length of the room before returning to face her, stopping inches from her and

clasping his hands behind his back. He was standing down. In spite of the obvious

strength it took for him to do so, Jin would accept that and not ask him for more.

She turned, once again facing the hunters whose anger stunk up the bar, although they all

glared at her quietly. Jin cleared her throat.

“When I was ten my mother left us,” she said, not sure why she decided to start there.

There was no sympathy in the harsh looks all of them gave her. Reminding herself she

knew they would react this way, she forged ahead, willing herself to spill out her story

before she lost her nerve. “If I’d been smart I would have run too. That wasn’t how it was

meant to be though. My sire dug his nails in deep, keeping me by his side whenever he

went anywhere and howling to me nonstop about his visions and that if it weren’t for

them the two of us wouldn’t make it.

“Night after night I fell asleep and endured nightmares of my sire and mother fighting.

They would fight tooth and nail, tearing into each other. I think the nightmares came to

me over the years because as I grew older the things I remembered them saying made

more sense to me.”

Thad’s mate poured beer from a tap and its rich scent had everyone glancing her way.

She handed a tall, frosty mug to her mate and then filled more glasses, coming around the

bar and serving everyone. She met Jin’s gaze, her red hair capturing the glow from the

fire and showing off her incredible beauty. Jin murmured her thanks when she was

offered two cold mugs and passed one on to Kane before sipping at hers. The beer

churned in her gut and she put the mug on the table in front of her. Her head needed to be

clear to accurately explain a lifetime of secrets to those who had a right to hear them.

“My sire was convinced his visions were the backbone of our survival. My mother

wasn’t as convinced, but since she didn’t have visions, her howling fell on deaf ears.”

She remembered the night she heard her father confess the horrible truth to her mother. It

was the night she stormed out the door and never returned. Jin remembered the terrible

fight as if it were yesterday and her hands shook. Clasping them together didn’t help calm

her nerves or stop the painful sparks from shooting up her spine.

She couldn’t look at any of them as she continued, but smelled their undivided attention.

“There were several dens who started in the mountains but moved into the States who my

sire stayed in touch with. Apparently as my sire grew more obsessed with these visions,

his relationships with his friends became more estranged.”

“Imagine that,” Josh grunted.

Jin didn’t mean to look at him. It would have been easier if she hadn’t. There wasn’t any

stopping the truth at this point, in spite of how terrible it smelled. “He’d been gone for

almost a week,” she began, her voice cracking as she continued watching Josh. “My

mother and I didn’t know where he was, but when he showed up, she was hell-bent and

determined to get him to admit to her he was fucking another female.”

Something hardened in Josh’s green eyes. He already knew. Her voice wavered, a

sudden damning sensation that maybe she wasn’t doing the right thing causing her spine

to stiffen. Her emotions were peaking inside her with enough fierceness to draw forth the

change. No matter how many cleansing deep breaths she sucked into her lungs, the pain

raking over her insides wouldn’t subside.

“We’d heard too many times about the dens he’d been close friends with and how the

females who mated with the males in those dens possessed a level of having visions that

made their males unworthy of them. My sire was convinced if males and females mated

based on how well their visions came to them they would have cubs who were even more

blessed with the ability to see how the future would play out.”

“Yet he mated with a female who didn’t have visions at all,” Josh pointed out, causing

everyone in the room to look at him.

“You’re right. He claimed it was because he was young and stupid.” Jin shrugged,

knowing it would be impossible to justify her sire’s behavior and not wanting to try. “He

was insane. You smelled that on him. I realized it when he came home and told us

proudly that he’d saved his friends’ dens.” She almost choked when she exhaled and

jumped when Kane’s hand rested on her shoulder. Reaching for him, she gripped his

hand but continued looking at Josh. “I don’t have to share this part,” she offered.

Josh straightened, shaking his head so slightly probably no one else noticed until he

spoke. “It’s a lie,” he announced.

“What’s a lie?” Thad asked, looking confused when he stared at Josh.

“Maybe it is,” Jin said, knowing Josh would be better off believing it was. Who wanted

to go through life knowing they were sired by such a monster? “The only proof I have is

what he told my mother so many years ago in our den.”

“What did he tell her?” Race asked, shifting his attention from Josh to Jin.

“He told her that he raped the females of two dens. They were females with visions as

strong as my sire’s. He told us proudly that he did it so those dens would have cubs who

would be stronger, more capable of taking care of themselves than if the females had bred

with the males they’d taken as mates.”

“Who were those dens?” Tore asked.

“Many years later when my sire dragged me to Arizona, he showed me the list of dens

he believed had leopards with powerful visions.”

“You’re not answering the question,” Tore growled.

“How did he compile this list?” Josh demanded, interrupting Tore.

The two males glared at each other and Jin hurried to continue. “He’d traveled for

several years, leaving me alone to fend for myself in the mountains before coming to get

me and taking me to Arizona. He’d met with many dens, spending time with them and

making friends as well as enemies. He was crusading, although I didn’t know it at the

time. But that was when he told me he’d murdered several of his friends.” She

remembered him breaking down and crying when he told her and feeling nothing for him

as his emotions clogged the air. “I didn’t have a clue how to stop him,” she told them,

knowing they felt as little remorse for her as she had for her sire. “But he told me he

killed the Bards and the Draps.”

Josh roared, taking his beer and slamming it against the wall. Glass exploded and beer

showered against the wall. “How dare you walk among us, carrying the title of hunter,

and all the while knowing the extent of the monster among us without telling us?”

“He would have killed you in cold blood if I told you,” Jin argued, unwilling to hold

back any longer. She shook as she pointed at him. “If I’d come to you and told you that

you were my half brother you would have killed me too.”

“It’s not too late,” he roared, coming at her with his hands fisted and his teeth growing as

he neared.

“And if you had, you never would have been able to hold on to the title of hunter,” Jin

yelled. “No one knew how terrible he was at that point. I couldn’t tell you. Don’t you

see? Not at that time.”

Kane leapt in front of her, refusing to let her around him when she tried. “Hear her out,”

he demanded.

“Stand down, male,” Josh growled.

“You aren’t putting one claw on her.” There was enough fierceness in Kane’s tone to

show all of them he would attack if provoked another second.

Jin wished she could see the other’s expression but Kane held her behind him, his grip

on her unbreakable.

“If her crimes merit her death, nothing you do or say will prevent that justice from being

carried out,” Race informed him.

Jin fought Kane’s grip on her arm, enduring the pinch of her skin as she struggled to

move around him. “They’re right, Kane,” she said, her words garbled as her emotions

raged damn near out of control inside her. “I’ve told you as long as I’ve known you it

might come to this.”

“Your coming forward with the truth doesn’t merit your death,” he told her, focusing on

her only a minute before turning his searing glare on the others. “If you want to hear her

confession you’ll promise not to touch her, regardless of what she says.”

“You aren’t in a position to make that demand,” Tore announced.

“I just put myself in that position. Swear it now or we’re leaving.”

“Kane,” Jin implored.

“Swear it,” Kane roared.

The room grew deathly silent. None of the hunters said anything. She watched their

expressions, sniffing the air, although at the same time afraid to allow a shred of hope to

appear that any of them would agree to the terms.

“There is something in this for all of you,” Kane said, his sudden calm tone almost as

bad as the silence that preceded it.

“What are you talking about?” Jin whispered when he focused on her.

“What is in this for us?” Josh and Tore asked at the same time.

“You know what you must do, little cat,” Kane told her, stroking the side of her face. “It

isn’t right to endure the promise of death and avoid what really must be done.”

She studied his face, her gut twisting with so many nerves she couldn’t catch her breath.

“I’m not taking the cowardly way out of this by facing death,” she argued, shaking her

head.

“That’s because you’re starting to see there is only one action that will truly bring peace

between you and these males. You were a hunter, Jin. And I believe you ran with honor

in spite of holding so many truths from all of them. But keeping those secrets ate you

alive. It isn’t your death that will bring peace to all of this.”

She stared at his perfectly chiseled features as meaning sank in. “I can’t,” she whispered.

“You don’t understand. It would be leading deadly predators to a helpless being who is

incapable of defending himself.”

“Wait a minute,” Tore hissed, overhearing her.

“Swear you won’t kill her.” Kane sliced his hand through the air. “Before another word

is said or question is asked, give your word, all of you, that you will not kill her.”

“Why is she so important to you?” Thad asked.

Jin shot her attention to the short-haired male, wishing he hadn’t asked. As she feared,

Kane didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“Because she is my female. And trust me, I’ll kill to protect what is mine.”

“You come to us demanding to be the fifth hunter and believe taking her as a mate will

secure you that title?” Josh demanded.

“I’m securing that title on my own merits, not that of my mate. Just as each of you claim

your rank without the credentials of the female running at your side.”

“Then you admit she is a tarnished female.” There was a small smirk on Race’s face as

he reclined in his chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him. “Do we want to know

why you wish to mate with her if she will destroy your reputation?”

“Are all of you truly this blind?” Kane asked, sincerely sounding baffled. “Do you not

see the strength it took for her to come forward? She was safe, secure, having left this life

behind. But Jin knew what the right thing to do was. She knew in her heart and in her

soul that running to you, demanding you hear her howl would be the honorable thing to

do. Like hell she would tarnish me in any way. I would be honored to have her run by my