Broken Loyalty (Jacky Leon Book 3)

by K. N. Banet

  I snickered as she threw her hands up and went to the stairs, a stomp accentuating every step, telling me when she was out of earshot again.

  “I can help,” I said as he started lifting dishes.

  “No, you are going to sit down and wait like a proper guest. This is my house, and no guest ever sets my table,” he said with a bit of that Alpha sharpness I hadn’t heard from him in a while.

  “Excuse me?” I raised an eyebrow and dared to grab a bowl off the counter, sniffing to identify it as a potato dish. There was a lot of cheese too. I put it on the table while he watched, his grey-blue eyes narrowing in on the bowl, then flicking up to my face.

  “Why can’t you just do things the way I want sometimes?”

  “Because I don’t recognize Alphas, and I’m not a subordinate,” I answered, staring him down. “If you had asked nicely, I would have sat down.”

  I watched him work through that. This wasn’t the first time we had the discussion, but asking him not to order me around was asking him to do something against his nature. As for me following orders? I could. I tried for Hasan and the family if they needed me to or I was out of my depth with something.

  But this? He had tried to be an Alpha with me, and I certainly wasn’t going to ever let that happen.

  “My apologies. You’d think I would have figured that out by now. It’s because you’re in my house. I’m used to being in charge of everything in my house. There aren’t many people who willingly talk back to me in my own home.” He gave me a small smile. “Kind of refreshing, actually.”

  “Sure.” I snorted and found a seat, letting him finish setting the table, my job of reminding him that he wasn’t completely in charge done.

  7

  Chapter Seven

  Carey and Landon came down a few minutes later and took their seats. Heath sat at the head of his rectangular dining table, Carey and Landon on either side of him, and I was next to Carey. That left a couple of empty places for food to sit out of the way once everyone filled their plates.

  Carey launched into a description of her day and how her tutoring went after school. Heath listened as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, and I thought it was touching.

  “So, this is your first time not working?” Landon asked. It startled me enough to nearly drop my fork.

  “Oh, um, yeah. I’m not used to this idea of running a business but not working every night. Dirk, the new bartender? He told me I didn’t need to be there, that they could handle it. I didn’t want to hover, so I left and…” I shrugged. I needed to keep myself from rambling to the wolf, who barely ever said ten words to me.

  “You get used to it,” he said. “Work comes and goes. Father and I have been on both sides, quietly controlling a business or being really hands on and helping out wherever we could. When you have to hide your immortality, it’s important to know when either is necessary.”

  “Thank you. Kick Shot just feels like my home.”

  “It’s the only business you own, and you’ve worked there alone for over seven years. Of course it does.” Landon watched me carefully. “But in ten years, you would have had to step aside anyway and let others work there because werecats aren’t out to the humans. They were already beginning to think you were a werewolf because of your interactions with our family.”

  “I know.”

  “You’ll be okay. You could spend the time opening a second business. Throw yourself into a new project. That’s what I do.”

  “My son doesn’t know how to stop working,” Heath said, cutting in. “Of course, I also can’t convince him to move into his own place. He’s an overachiever who refuses to leave the nest.”

  “I moved out for fifty years until Carey was born. Then you needed Richard and me home,” Landon retorted. “Once she’s old enough to need less help, I’ll find my own residence again.”

  “You could find a mate and leave sooner, and we both know it,” Heath pointed out. “Carey and I would be fine, especially since she’s out of diapers now.”

  “DAD!”

  I covered my mouth to keep from laughing.

  “I’m not interested in a mate,” Landon said evenly. “Or in being an Alpha of my own pack or anything else. We’ve had this discussion.”

  Heath sighed heavily.

  “Dad! Why would you say that in front of Jacky?” Carey demanded, grabbing her dad’s sleeve. Heath looked down at the hold and gave me a look.

  “I’m certain everyone at this table understands that everyone else has been in diapers at some point in their life,” he answered, finally looking at his daughter. “Including Jacky.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “I didn’t mean anything by it, Carey,” he said finally. “I would never embarrass you on purpose. I’m sorry I seem to have now. I promise not to bring up that sort of topic again with company around.”

  I was surprised by his even tone and the care he handled it with. Carey was the literal kid at the table, and I knew how fragile a kid’s self-confidence could be. My own parents used to say all sorts of embarrassing things about my sister and me, more often about me. Unlike Heath, they didn’t acknowledge it when it happened and an apology certainly never happened. Not that they had been bad parents, just normal ones for their time.

  He’s such a damn good father, and I must be getting old. I think that only makes him more attractive, and I hate it.

  “Moving on,” Landon declared, looking back at me. “The key is to find hobbies, something to fill your time. Before Carey was born, Richard and I coached sports for young werewolves. It passed the time, and they couldn’t play with the normal kids, so they would have missed out on the chance otherwise.”

  “That was very sweet of you,” I said softly.

  “It was Richard’s idea,” he said as if it was a curse.

  “I don’t want to talk about Richard,” Carey said quietly.

  My heart squeezed.

  “Then we won’t,” I promised her. Looking back at Landon, he seemed distant, sighing heavily.

  “My apologies, Carey. I wasn’t thinking.”

  I looked up at Heath, who wore a dark expression as he looked between his children, then at me.

  “You could volunteer for the community,” Heath finally said, turning the conversation off Richard and back to me. It helped ease the bruised feelings at the table, ones I knew I was going to grill Heath about once dinner was done. “Help clean up a park, get your name on something, or not. You can coach sports or teach classes in something you have training or experience in. Most Alphas are passing their time by helping corporations learn how to work with werewolves with training courses about our kind and how to integrate us into their workplaces. Construction is big for werewolves right now, which is why you see a lot of us in real estate, so we know those industries. Since we see things as longer-term investments than humans, we offer unique perspectives and educate humans as we can about them.”

  “That all sounds like a whole lot of public speaking I’m not really about,” I pointed out, leaning back in my seat. “But that’s it? When you have a little secret to keep, you do…nothing? Or you do it from the background?”

  “Yeah. I’m certain your siblings understand it.”

  “I don’t know. They have families who have run and worked in their businesses for generations. I think Hasan’s butler is fifth generation or more,” I mumbled. “I would need to start establishing those sorts of relationships now and hope I picked trustworthy people.”

  “And that’s bad, why?” Landon asked, frowning.

  “She hates people being in her space,” Heath reminded his son. “Jacky is apparently even more of a shut-in than most werecats.”

  “Probably,” I agreed, unable to deny it.

  “Do you know the names of the Tribunal members?”

  “Not off the top of my head, which is pretty sad since they wanted to execute me.”

  “Do you know how their government works?”

 
I waved a hand a little, answering with a ‘kind of.’ “I know they have a couple of groups that do their dirty work, and I know the werecat portion of the Law. Do I need anything else?”

  “No, but you probably don’t plan on doing business with other supernatural species,” Heath said, shrugging. “I’m just trying to showcase to Landon how much of a shut-in you really are.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered, staring at him. “No werecat does business with other supernaturals. We’re not exactly well loved, and people tend to ask us to die for them when they find out we’re around.”

  He winced at that. “I can’t say you’re wrong.”

  Heath and Landon had good points about my current situation. I needed hobbies, ones I could throw myself into to pass the time without feeling like I was doing nothing or getting bored, the way I did with video games. I easily got bored once I beat them and had to find a new one to pass the time. Constantly trying to find the next one could get tiring in its own right.

  I needed something consistent I could do. Volunteering could be good, but I had no idea where to start. It was definitely something I needed to think more about later.

  “Thank you for the advice,” I finally said to Landon, who nodded but didn’t otherwise respond.

  As dinner ended, Carey was released to go play video games for a couple of hours before her bedtime. Heath made me a coffee, probably knowing I would be up for several more hours, and we went outside, letting Landon keep Carey company.

  “What happened at the table?” I asked softly as we sat on his back porch.

  “Landon is getting more comfortable talking about Richard, trying to get past it. Carey isn’t ready to acknowledge it happened,” Heath said, staring at the open field of his backyard. “My oldest son did a lot of good in his lifetime, and he had been a great brother to Landon. He protected Landon from a lot when he was young. What happened in Dallas was…”

  “Unexpected?” I finished for him, hoping I got it right.

  “Yes and no. Richard was always close to me until we took over the Dallas pack, and stronger wolves moved in. He found himself slipping out of power since a lot of my inner circle were wolves strong enough to be Alphas one day. Then Carey was born, and he found himself second fiddle again to a younger sibling, this one seemingly even more special than the last. He only turned bitter in the last decade or so. Looking back, it’s easy to see. It wasn’t at the time.”

  “And Carey will always remember the brother who hurt her, but Landon wants to remember the brother he was close to for so long, even if it’s hard,” I said, nodding as I understood. “That’s a difficult place to be.”

  “I wish I could help them work through it, but I’m still trying to…I should have caught it. I should have been a better father to Richard. How am I supposed to help my remaining children when I’m trying to put my failure with Richard behind me?”

  “So, the bluster about how he declared his side and you wrote him off, is you trying to convince yourself.” I felt comfortable saying it. Heath and I had been through a lot. “Plus, you seem to look at Landon and Richard as if they were still children through all of this, Heath, and they weren’t. Richard wasn’t a child when he died; he was a grown man who made his own decisions. They weren’t children. They don’t…need their father to be with them every step of the way and their decisions aren’t yours. You even pointed it out at dinner. Landon lives with you, and he’s what? One hundred and sixty something years old? How long ago was the Civil War?”

  “You’re close enough,” he said sadly. “He’s only around for Carey. We all know it. Even if I joke that he can leave now, he knows I need his help, and he’s never been one to do anything away from the family. Even when he lived on his own, he was ten minutes away, and Richard was his neighbor. We’ve always been close and that’s even stronger thans to being pack animals.” He looked down at his whiskey and sighed. “You’re right, by the way, about Richard. I keep trying to convince myself that it’s all okay, and he made his choices. But it’s never going to be okay, and I just need to live with that. He betrayed me, and I’m still trying to get past it. I don’t speak to many of my friends in Dallas anymore. They all knew Richard and saw the clean up with his body there after you were taken away.”

  “You’ll be fine in the end,” I told him gently. “I know you will. Richard was not some sign that you failed as a father. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that, and I don’t care how many times I’ll have to say it in the future, but it wasn’t you. It was him.”

  “Yeah…” He threw back the rest of his whiskey and poured another. “So, back to you. We were talking at dinner about what you can do with your new free time.”

  “Eh, not me. Let’s pick a different topic.” I was done being the topic of discussion, but I wanted to say something about dinner. “Actually, let’s talk about how Landon spoke to me tonight. That was new.”

  “I told him why you were coming over. He’s generally good at these types of things. He’s never been talkative, but he was my second-in-command, Jacky. He knows how to help someone find a new direction when they seem a little lost. He just extended that to you, which is a good sign. It means he is finally warming up to you.”

  “I don’t know why it matters so much to me.”

  “He lives in your space,” Heath pointed out.

  “Thousands of people live in my space, and I don’t give a flying fuck about them most of the time,” I reminded him. “Half the time, I don’t even care about my customers because they annoy me to the point of no return.”

  “He’s a werewolf in your space. A threat?”

  “Possibly.”

  Then the realization hit me, and it made my stomach sink.

  He’s your son, and I want him to like me.

  I looked away from Heath, staring into the dark world beyond his back porch. When had this become such a problem?

  “I should go,” I said softly.

  “Wait, have a real drink with me. Please.” He looked up at me as I stood, and I stared down at him, swallowing as his eyes seemed to shine in the dark with the telltale signs of loneliness.

  “You know, I’m sure anyone in Dallas you once considered a friend still is,” I whispered.

  “No, Jacky, they’re not. They’re my old pack, and I gave them away. Every time I go back, I become less of an old friend and more of the Alpha who left them. Tywin sees me more as a threat since time has passed. He wonders if I ever might want to take over again. If maybe I’ll get bored with my life of fatherhood and normal problems. They were all relieved to hear the North American Werewolf Council gave me a job, which requires me to stay here. Relieved. More and more often, I call into meetings. I haven’t driven into Dallas since before the holidays.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought…”

  “I hoped it wouldn’t be like this, but I knew better,” he admitted. “I think we all hoped I would still be a good friend to the Pack, but it’s too volatile. Tywin has the right to lead without feeling paranoid. The way I left was disastrous. The Pack suffered greatly for my mistakes with Richard, Emma, and Dean.” He gave me a small smile. “Jacky, you’re the only drinking buddy I have left.”

  I sat back down, understanding now why Saturdays were so important, and he kept coming back.

  “You’re the only drinking buddy I’ve had in over a decade,” I said with a small smile in return. “We’re a mess, Heath.”

  “We are. But that’s why I said you could come over tonight. I wasn’t going to leave you hanging out to dry when you needed someone or something to help pass the time.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You know you’re welcome here any time, right?”

  “Don’t try to make me part of your pack,” I ordered, knowing what would happen if I suddenly dropped by several times a week. He would start to see me as someone he had to take care of.

  “I would never.” His tone was too innocent.


  “Bullshit.”

  “Okay, yes, but still, the offer stands.” His grin was wolfy, and if it wasn’t so fucking attractive, I would have hated it.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Good.”

  An hour later, Carey ran out to give me a good night hug and one to her father. Once she was gone, I fiddled with my glass, staring at the liquid swirling around. Landon didn’t come out and join us, but I noticed lights turning off inside, indicating he was preparing to head to bed as well.

  Soon, it was just Heath and me in the dark. Even the porch light was off. We could see well enough in the dark, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem would have been there even if the lights were on.

  Heath watched my every move, and the moment both of his children were gone, there was no mistaking the heat in his gaze. Something had gotten him interested, and I knew it was time for me to leave if we wanted to keep up this act that we had no secrets, and the attraction between us wasn’t threatening to boil over.

  “I’m going to go,” I said carefully.

  “Have a good night,” he said, not arguing this time.

  8

  Chapter Eight

  Saturday came fast. I was clawing at the walls, wanting to work. All week, I tried to figure out what sort of hobby to do in my newly-acquired free time and failed to find anything that sparked my interest. Every day, I went to Kick Shot before opening, only for Oliver and Dirk to say I wasn’t needed once I was done looking over the books from the night before.

  Tonight, though, I was going to bartend, something normal. Dirk could take the night off, and he would fucking like it.

  When I walked in, they were both there, ready for the pre-open talk we had every day.

  “Okay,” I said loudly as I strolled to them. “Tonight, I’m going to be behind the bar,” I announced.