The Billionaire Shifter’s Final Redemption: The Billionaire Shifters Club #6

by Seere, Diana

  Asher turned toward the new voice, on edge, ready to shift and fight. His fingernails thickened, the slow tingle in his skin turning into a buzz he knew well, a pre-fur warning sign that made his lips thicken, his teeth ache, and his bones start to crack.

  Zachary.

  Zach stood there, ashen-faced, holding a tome in his hands. “Where is Sam?”

  Images, fast and furious, mingled with Asher’s sense of scent, allowing him to pinpoint her exact location on the grounds. While the family joked that Asher’s olfactory nerve was the least capable among them, it was still fine enough to do the job.

  Alarm flooded Zach’s face as his eyes met Asher’s. An unspoken exchange took place, the human-turned-shifter seeing Asher’s imminent change before him.

  And then he devolved, curling back into human form, the tug inside like the yank of a rope, the tightening of a knot, the hard pull of discipline forcing his body to do his will’s bidding.

  Zach’s eyes widened like saucers.

  “How?” The intensely emotional single word held so much meaning, for Asher knew that Zach struggled, still, to control his shifts. What was second nature to any born shifter was an ongoing internal battle for his brother-in-law, a painstaking process broken down into constituent parts and agonizingly practiced.

  A deep breath centered him until he could answer Zach with a steady voice. “How can you read so fluently? You are asking me questions I cannot answer. Now, what did you mean when you said ‘a spell’?”

  “Was—is—Tomas looking for a specific spell in the old books?”

  Manny stepped out of the shadows and made his presence known to Zach. “All that was stolen was a book, sir. And—” Frowning, he pressed his earpiece with one finger, the scowl deepening. He caught Asher’s eyes. “Another, sir. Another book stolen, from the Rosini compound outside of LA.”

  “Absolutely not a coincidence,” Asher barked. “What in the hell is Tomas searching for? Between this and the cat shifters in all of those cities—”

  “Cat shifters?” Zach choked out, slamming the book in his hands onto the desk. “What on earth?” His fingers curled into his palms as anger rippled through the man’s thick body. “Asher, what aren’t you telling us all?”

  Oh, if only you knew, he thought to himself. The fox, his cat scar, the vision through Tomas’ eyes, the weakening, the public big cat sightings, the deaths—it was all too much.

  And then there was Samantha.

  Of whom he could never get enough.

  “It is time for a meeting,” Asher said slowly.

  Manny nodded curtly. Zach’s eyes narrowed.

  “How much don’t we know?” he growled, making Asher’s skin light up again, his blood pumping hard, furious, protective.

  Not against Zach.

  In alliance.

  “We will reveal everything,” Asher said, fighting the instinct to reveal absolutely nothing. Old habits were hard to break.

  “We?”

  “Samantha must be there. All of you must be there. As I said, it is time.”

  “Time for what?”

  A haunted feeling crept into Asher’s bones, one that filled him with the wisdom of centuries of ancestors before him. It was gravid. Deep and heavy, the weight of the world, the past, the universe upon his broad shoulders. Closing his eyes, he sighed.

  And answered.

  “Time for a reckoning.”

  * * *

  After rising early and skipping breakfast, Sam sat at her lab table, eagerly going over the results that had been delivered overnight.

  Asher was more than capable of fathering children, the first report told her.

  Good.

  But she wouldn’t let herself get distracted thinking about that. To her relief, the sperm showed no feline shifter markers. Whatever contagion he carried, it had not yet moved into that important part of him. His children would carry the gene for a wolf shifter, but the mother would determine what they would ultimately express after birth.

  A vision of russet fur flashed before her eyes. A small creature with white markings, pointy ears, bright eyes, and fluffy tail. Overwhelming tenderness washed over her. She ached to hold the little red-haired thing, the living being who was closer to her than anyone else on earth, born from her womb.

  Blinking hard, she pushed the papers aside. What was the matter with her? She was beginning to believe her own fantasies. She reminded herself that the daydream of a sleep-deprived, lovesick, stressed-out scientist was not evidence. It was wishful thinking.

  Turning her attention back to the package from the lab in Boston, she smiled. This was evidence; this was hard data. Asher would be relieved to hear the infection hadn’t affected his gonads. Their—er, his—children would not look like Tomas Nagy. Zach would help her uncover more about Asher’s cat problem. If it was a virus, they would somehow develop an antivirus. They just had to find it.

  Soon.

  She turned to another report about Asher’s DNA. Her heart began to pound. His sperm didn’t show feline shifter contamination, but there was something unfamiliar. Traces of unnatural chemicals that must have come from a lab. A new serum? More tests were needed. She would need more samples from him. Her face flushed as she thought about how she’d collected the first sample. They would follow proper scientific procedures next time.

  She wouldn’t let him assume she’d caved to his demands and assumptions about how their lives would intersect in the future. If he wanted to pursue their relationship, he would have to learn to respect her as a person. And maybe part fox, or whatever the hell she was.

  Her phone rang. Zach! She picked it up and cried, “Perfect timing! I need you to come to the lab as soon as you can. We—”

  “After the meeting. Everyone is getting together in five minutes at Asher’s place. He asked me to escort you myself.”

  Sam climbed down from her lab stool. “He asked you?”

  “Well, he commanded,” Zach said with a snort. “He knows I’m the strongest of the shifters. Your well-being is more important to him than his own pride.”

  She flushed. Having Asher go all alpha protector male on her could be a little flattering, she had to admit. “I’m ready. I’ll be waiting outside the lab door—”

  “No, stay inside. I promised him I’d tell you that. I’ve got Manny with me to open the doors.”

  “You and Manny and the goons I’ve already got hanging around? Isn’t that excessive security, even for Asher?”

  To her surprise, Zach didn’t laugh. “Maybe not. I’ve learned a few things you don’t know. And so has Manny. Honestly I’m surprised Asher hasn’t whisked you away to Fort Knox by now. If what I’ve learned is true, the Stanton estate isn’t remotely safe.”

  “What? What have you learned?”

  “It’ll be a lot more efficient to tell everyone at the same time, which is why we’re meeting,” Zach said. “I’m really sorry, but it’s complicated and—”

  “OK, OK, then hurry up and get over here!”

  “Will do.” He hung up.

  Sam took off her lab coat and glasses and tried to settle her nerves. When Zach arrived a few minutes later with Manny at his side, she rushed out of the lab building and sprinted to Asher’s cabin. The security guards, Zach, and Manny all had to run to catch up. If he wasn’t going to tell her anything, she wanted to hurry things along.

  Asher’s home was as gorgeous as ever, although the crew of security guards (both human and shifter, some in their wolf, cat, or bear form, marching around its perimeter) took something away from its magazine-shoot charm. With Manny’s escort, the guards cleared the entrance for them, and soon they were inside Asher’s library with the rest of the Stanton family. All of them, even the babies.

  In silence, everyone nodded to each other and then turned to Asher.

  Asher, who was staring at Sam as if they’d been parted for a decade.

  Mine, he said.

  Mine, she whispered silently, blinking back the arrival of u
nwanted tears. Her heart didn’t feel right unless he was with her. Now it thudded in her chest with renewed energy, its Beat loud and steady.

  The others in the room saw the current sparking between them and said nothing, at least not aloud. They knew what this was. Each of them had experienced it—or a pale version of it, in her unscientific opinion—for themselves. He was her One. She was his One.

  That was fate.

  “Manny will present the most recent developments,” Asher said, clearing his throat as he turned away. She fought the impulse to run over and put her arms around him. He’d taken so much of the burden of shifter survival upon himself. He needed to learn there were others available to help carry the weight.

  “Morning,” Manny said, looking a little uncomfortable with the entire Stanton family and Sam staring at him. “Two major developments. One, we believe Tomas is experimenting with a new serum.”

  “On other shifters?” Sam asked, thinking of Asher’s infection and the lab tests.

  “No,” Asher said gently to her, as if they were the only people in the room. “Transient humans and animal deaths, across the country and moving closer.” His voice grew stronger. “I believe he’s making a move on the Stanton compound with some kind of enslaved bioengineered shifter army.”

  Everyone gasped.

  “But they’re dying, so as horrible as that is, it’s not much of an army,” Gavin said.

  “Gavin! That’s a terrible thing to say,” Lilah said.

  “We should leave the ranch,” Edward said, grabbing Molly’s hand. “Go into hiding someplace else.”

  “Agreed,” Derry boomed, his arm around Jess.

  Zach put out a calming hand. “I thought so too, but then I discovered something in one of the books here in Asher’s library. However dangerous it is to stay here, it’s probably safer than anywhere else.” He looked not at the bookshelves, but at Sophia, his pregnant bride, who frowned at his intense tone and began rubbing her belly. “Believe me, I have every reason to be careful.”

  “What did you discover?”

  “Tell us, man!”

  “What book?”

  The demands for information were too numerous, swift, loud, and overlapping for Sam to identify the speakers.

  Zach waited for them to settle before saying calmly and firmly, “There’s a prophecy.”

  Sam felt enormous pride in her former employee, who didn’t sound at all nervous to be facing such a fierce, survival-hungry crowd.

  “There are countless prophecies,” Gavin said. “Each contradicting the last. One foretold the discovery of cheese on the moon. Another of a breast-shaped continent with Eden at its nipple on the North Pole. Are you suggesting we take action on those wild tales too?”

  “This one was different,” Zach said. “It—”

  “I beg your pardon, but how can we be sure you’re interpreting anything correctly?” Edward asked. “None of us can be sure of what the old texts say, other than a few words here and there. Isn’t it possible with even a few words misinterpreted that you—”

  “Enough,” Asher said. His voice was soft, but as usual, it carried the weight of his alpha position. Like a switch flipping, everyone immediately fell silent. “Let him speak. Then ask your questions, if they deserve the time, which I doubt.”

  Zach nodded to Asher. “This prophecy mentioned us. Specifically. Each one of us.” He looked at Gavin and Lilah, then Derry and Jess, Edward and Molly, his beloved Sophia with their expected child, Asher at his desk, and then finally to Sam. He held Sam’s gaze for a long, tense moment. “Everyone in this room.”

  “Perhaps I should leave,” Manny muttered.

  Zach spun around to face the man who had protected Stantons for so long. “I mean everyone. Even you, my friend.”

  Sam could see Asher’s eyebrow arch in surprise. “You hadn’t mentioned that to me,” he said. “How fortunate then that he has remained here with us today, we will—”

  A chill ran down Sam’s spine as she said, “Please let Zach speak.”

  She alone had dared to interrupt Asher. But rather than be displeased, he gave her a smile that made her knees wobble.

  “Indeed,” Asher said with a deep bow. “My apologies.”

  Zach continued in a firm, confident voice. “I have not misinterpreted a word. It’s not the same for me as it is for you. It looks like English. I don’t see the odd letters or vocabulary unless I concentrate. This prophecy doesn’t name anyone, but the details are exactly us—a family of two wolf brothers, two twin bears, and a lion. Their fated mates from the human world, although bonded with shifters since ancient times. Their human friends and”—he paused, looking slightly embarrassed—“servants.”

  A wordless ripple went through the room, but nobody interrupted.

  Zach went on. “There will be a battle with a powerful enemy, clearly Tomas. But this battle, according to the prophecy, will be in a big city on the water. The Book, the prophecy says, will determine the balance of this battle. Without the Book, neither good nor evil will triumph, and centuries of uncertain suffering will result for all of Earth.” He cleared his throat. “I’m paraphrasing, of course. The syntax of the original is pretty archaic, but the meaning is clear.”

  “Book?” Gavin asked.

  “What book? Do we have it?” Sophia pointed at Gavin. “You have a library in Boston, don’t you?”

  “As do I,” Derry said.

  “Gavin’s books don’t have pictures in them like yours do,” Sophia said, flashing a teasing grin.

  “Do you know if you have any book that might fit that description, Gavin?” Zach asked.

  “There is no description,” Gavin snapped. “Just that it’s important!”

  “There is an illustration,” Asher said. “Each one of you must come over and study it for the possibility you have this tome in your possession or remember seeing it somewhere. I myself, alas, cannot remember ever having seen it.” He took an ancient book from behind him, set it on the desk, and propped it open at a colorfully illustrated page.

  Gavin jumped to his feet, caressing the cheeks of one of his children before striding over to look inside the book. “Hell’s bells,” he growled. “I’ve seen it. But not in many years. I don’t know where it is now.”

  Everyone else came over to study the page. Nobody but Gavin remembered ever having seen it.

  “Where did you see it last?” Asher demanded.

  Gavin scowled at him. “England, I think. At school maybe.”

  Asher slapped his hand on the table. “Think!”

  “I am!” Gavin looked equally frustrated. “But it’s just a dim memory.”

  Baby Dellie let out a howl as Lilah stood, bouncing the child. To Sam’s great surprise, Asher moved across the room and softly whispered to Lilah, who handed the baby up to him. With a gentleness she had never seen, Asher held the baby, cooing in its ear as he turned her to him and lifted her up, smiling into her face. Dellie giggled, the sound delightful, the sight of Asher like this making Sam’s heart speed up.

  “Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh,” Asher said as he brought the little girl into his arms, turning her around to see everyone, his head bowing as if in prayer. His nose brushed against the baby’s fine hair, and Sam’s entire being filled with supreme joy as she realized what he was doing.

  Sniffing.

  He was sniffing his little niece’s head.

  Domestic and adorable, the simple gesture made him so human, so real, the kind of man you could envision as a warm, loving father. A father to her children. Their children.

  Their future.

  “How can you remember seeing it but not remember where it was?” Derry asked Gavin, pulling Sam out of the moment, Asher focusing on the conversation once more as the baby happily played with his shirt cuff buttons.

  Gavin pointed to the illustration on the book. “I was a child. Or nearly so. It was amid many, many other books.” Gavin’s voice was remote and dreamy. “I don’t know why I haven’t forgotten it
completely, actually. It’s not remarkable in any way. Just a book.”

  “Yet you do remember,” Lilah said, stroking his back. Smiling at Asher, she made faces at her little girl, who stared in openmouthed amazement at her mother. The incongruity between the adorableness of the baby and the horribleness of the topic at hand was too much for Sam.

  Gavin shuddered visibly. “That illustration gave me nightmares. For years. The headmaster once told me if I did not control myself better and desist crying out in my sleep, they would have to send me home. I was deeply ashamed. Afraid of what Mother and Father would say.”

  “Then it’s in England,” Edward said. “At school, perhaps.”

  “Or Rome,” Molly added.

  “Wasn’t Tomas in Rome?” Jess asked. “When we were chasing him?”

  “But now he’s here,” Asher said.

  Manny cleared his throat. “I beg your pardon, but, Mr. Asher, may I describe the thefts I told you about?”

  “Of course.”

  Manny addressed the room. “There have been deaths, as I said. But there have also been strange burglaries of shifter families all over the country. Break-ins. The Rosinis were confused because there were many valuables that were left behind but nothing important taken. Other families reported the same pattern.”

  “He’s looking for the book. The Rosinis have a library,” Edward said. “I’m pretty sure none of those idiots would notice a missing book. I’d be surprised if they know how to read.”

  All the Stanton men broke out in appreciative laughter. Even Sam knew they loathed their playboy tiger cousins in Southern California, though she’d heard one of them, Lars, wasn’t quite as bad as Edward made him out to be.

  “When was the last burglary?” Edward asked.

  “Yesterday,” Manny said.

  “Then he still hasn’t found it.” Edward put a protective arm around Molly. She had been in particular danger from Tomas since the beginning, and the stress showed in both their faces. He wanted her blood.

  Literally. Her blood had been used to create the shifter serum Tomas had stolen from LupiNex and converted into a biochemical weapon.

  “No. But he’s closing in, and fast.” Gavin’s words chilled her as he held on to his son, Tobias, the baby using Gavin’s thumb as a teething ring. The cherub had bright blond hair and big, round blue eyes like Asher’s. The thought made her look at her One.