“Hardly surprising,” the other man said softly. “It’s taken me a while to catch him. Otherwise, I’d have brought him here sooner.”

“Catch him?” I frowned, staring up at him with confusion, taken in by those soft eyes that belonged to my men.

“First, I think I should introduce myself.”

“This is Frank Gunner, Sabina,” Eli rasped, and I cut him a look. He hadn’t moved from behind the desk, but I could see he wanted to. I knew he wanted me close, and since this bastard was my attacker, I figured it was understandable.

I smiled at Frank and murmured, “Pleasure to meet you, Frank.”

“I just wish it was under kinder circumstances,” he rumbled.

My smile grew tight, and I moved past Cyrilo, darting out of his way as I slipped over to Eli. When I was by his side, my hand on his shoulder and his fingers entwining through mine, only then could I breathe a sigh of relief.

The twins weren’t doing as well. Ethan was scowling at Frank, and Austin was staring out the window.

I was confused as hell, I’d admit, and with Cyrilo here, I was more nervous than I thought I’d ever been in my whole life. And that included having to deal with the aftermath of Austin’s attack.

Selfish, maybe, but hell, I wasn’t perfect.

I released a soft breath, trying to get my control back, as I questioned, “What’s going on?”

“Frank is Austin and Ethan’s uncle.”

Frank beamed a smile at them. “Am indeed. Mighty fine day it was to find you here. Never would have believed it if it wasn’t for this piece of shit storming into your territory.”

I blinked. “Your uncle?” I wasn’t sure why that came as a surprise, but then it clicked when I took in the similarities between the nephews and uncle. “I thought twins were rare.”

Frank shrugged his shoulders. “We are. But we beget twins in my line. Always have. Always will. Got a set of twins of my own, and one of them has already given us another set.”

His pride beamed out of his smile.

But I wasn’t as happy. “Why didn’t you come for Austin and Ethan then? I thought twins were to be ashamed of?”

Frank shrugged. “Whether we were cursed or blessed is something I don’t bother thinking about. We are what we are, and that’s that. Truth is, I didn’t even know Lucas had the chance to have any sons. Had I known, I’d have been a part of their life without hesitation.”

I cleared my throat. “Lucas is dead?”

Frank whistled under his breath. “If he is or isn’t, I haven’t heard from him in…” Another whistle. “Twenty or more years. Maybe even thirty. Wasn’t a good egg, all told.”

I winced at that candor, then muttered, “Why are you here? To bring…him?”

He crinkled his nose. “Truth is, ma’am, I’ve been watching this fool for a while now. My granddaughter brought him home, and though they’re mated, he never felt right to me. Always shady, never settling down, getting into trouble left and right, but she pleaded with me to transform him, and like a fool, I did.

“She called and told me about him coming back to her boasting about taking out some woman.” He blew out a breath. “I managed to track down his whereabouts, but the bastard must have overheard me talking with my granddaughter. He ran off.”

Instinct had me asking, “And he hurt her?”

Frank, for the first time, lost his joviality. “Yes. He did.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

His nostrils flared for just a second. “She was a fool for letting him into her life. We have a choice to reject the mate bond when the mate is a bad egg.” He cleared his throat. “His punishment will be hers when it comes time for it.”

My mouth worked a little as I processed how he was trying to hide from his pain before a memory whispered inside my mind.

Two wolves had been there that night.

Two.

Not just one.

Her? The female? His mate?

My she-wolf howled like she knew I was right, and with that sound ringing in my ears, I decided it was a kindness not to mention the granddaughter’s involvement in my attack. Instead, I spoke to my brother, “Well, seems like even in all these years, you’ve yet to change, Cyrilo. Not even getting transformed could shine up the pile of shit you are. Not even the blessing of a mate bond.” A mate bond that would see both of my attackers die.

Maybe there was justice in the world, after all.

A surprised breath billowed from Eli’s lungs. “You know him?”

I gritted my teeth, tipped my chin up, and confirmed, “He’s my brother.”

A snarl escaped Ethan, and when he flew across the room to attack Cyrilo, I moved toward him to try to stop him, but I wasn’t surprised when Austin shifted and dove into the fray. The two of them got caught up in a tussle, snarling and snapping at each other, but even their fighting, which was anything other than playful, didn’t snatch my attention totally away from Cyrilo.

He hadn’t shifted in response to the attack.

Hadn’t responded in any way aggressively, other than to rear up and fall back as his cuffs controlled his movements.

“The silver,” Eli explained as he stood up and moved from behind his desk and strode over to me.

I wanted to melt into him when he put his arm around my waist and tugged me close, but I couldn’t.

Not when the enemy was in our midst.

I sucked in a breath, trying not to feel like I had the last time I’d seen Cyrilo.

Trying to forget what he’d done to me, to my baby, to Kian, but it was impossible.

He’d always been working on Daddy’s orders. His minion.

“Last time I saw you, you were smiling at me when you forced us off the road,” I rasped.

Cyrilo didn’t even duck his head in shame, he just stared stonily ahead.

I heard Ethan snarl some more, and Austin growled at him, focused on controlling his brother, but it was Eli who murmured, “What did he do?”

“Drove into my little car. He was behind the wheel of a pickup truck with massive bull bars on the front. We didn’t stand a chance. None of us did.”

“Thought I’d fucking killed you until I saw you on goddamn TV one day at some carnival dressed up like a gypsy,” Cyrilo snapped, peering over at me long enough to slam me with his hatred. “Proudest day of my life was telling father I’d cut out the scum from our line. You shamed me, bitch.”

“I shamed you?” I squeaked, my eyes widening, and then I felt the way Ethan and Austin were tearing into each other, their blood actually spilling over this conversation, and I did what I was slowly learning to do.

It was, as always, a learning curve, but I breathed in, sucked in calm with some oxygen, and blew it out in a measured flow as I closed my eyes and focused on their bright energy balls which, as always, were there the second my eyelids shut.

I worked on soothing them, calming them, and as I did, the strangest thing happened.

I saw more balls of energy.

About twenty-five more.

When I focused on them, I recognized that one was Daniel, and there were a few people in the house who were linked to those energy balls.

Even crazier?

I could sense the bitch back in town.