by K. N. Banet
“No, you made him sound like someone unimportant. For years, I looked into different werecats I knew, and it seemed like you had come out of nowhere. For all I knew, you were an accident a rogue made, not the daughter of Hasan.”
“That was exactly the way I wanted it. I didn’t ask to be…royalty, I guess. I didn’t ask for anything. I needed time to myself. Then everything started happening.”
“What changed for you? I’m sure you heard me talking to Mikkel about it. It’s been stuck in my head since.”
I didn’t know how to answer. I looked at my hands and considered the things they had done, both in human and in feline form—crushed wolves, fired guns, eviscerated vampires.
“I was forced to acknowledge I’m a werecat,” I finally said, looking up at her. “That the world we live in is violent, and if anything I love is going to be safe, I have to be willing to kill for it and…die for it if I have to.”
“And kill you have,” she said softly. “You killed a good friend of mine while we were trying to capture you.” She didn’t seem to be very hurt, but I figured they all went into this insane plan with the belief they might die or wouldn’t all make it out.
“I was once your friend,” I reminded her. It still hurt. The betrayal of being in the cage with her on the other side. I would have survived the loss of a friend, I could have done that, but to see her in that chair burned my gut, making me sick, a deep ache in my chest.
“Sometimes,” she said, looking away. “Most of the time, I just felt sorry for you. I thought you were so lonely. You didn’t seem to have adjusted well to being a werecat, and I thought ‘I can’t leave her alone. She could accidentally hurt someone because she lacks training.’”
“Ah. So, I wasn’t the only liar.” It only made the hurt worse, burned a little more.
“I guess not.” She seemed a little guilty.
I didn’t know where to go from there. If she was there to try to turn me to their cause, she was failing. I wasn’t going to turn and join their little cause, their rebellion, but at the same time, I understood their problems.
It wasn’t fair that werecats were able to be called to Duty. We had a protective streak that was taken advantage of, and it put us at risk of dying for people we didn’t know or care about. I knew the logistics, why Hasan had wanted it in the Laws; it was to give the werecats some purpose in the changing world. It made us functioning, useful members of the supernatural society, and that gave us a wall of protection.
“Are you on watch tonight?” I asked, going to the back of my cell.
“Yes.”
“Want to give me any hint on how to get out of this?”
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do now, Jacky.” Lani sighed, almost like she was disappointed. “You won’t give us the location of the wolves—”
“I don’t know where they are,” I reminded her. She nodded in recognition of my words.
“Fine. You won’t tell us where you got the magic you aren’t supposed to have.”
“And I won’t.”
“So, really, the only thing that will stop Mikkel from killing you now is Hasan conceding to our demands. We’re tired of his decisions not being in the best interests for the werecats. We’re tired of the nepotism and the strict rule he enforces at the cost of werecats’ lives.”
“How many werecats have died since I went to Dallas?” I asked, leaning on the back wall. “Truthfully. I know of three. Gaia and Titan, who were the victims of vampires. Jabari and I handled that for the rest of you. We made sure that due was paid for all of you. Then there was your friend, but when you invade the territory of another werecat, death is a possible outcome. If she didn’t want to die, she wouldn’t have done it. Are there any I’m missing?” When Lani didn’t immediately respond, I continued.
“While werecats of this country don’t talk to me, my family does, and I’ve heard nothing. The werewolves got the message and backed off, realizing no one was interested in pursuing closer ties. No werecats have been dying except the ones I’ve dealt with personally.” I sighed. “You know what I think this is? I think Mikkel has been pissed off for over eight hundred years that Hasan brought peace, even if it meant losing a little freedom. He’s probably always wanted to do things differently but couldn’t. Now, he’s found some reasonable excuses to push forward to claim his own power.”
“You don’t know fucking anything, Jacky,” Lani snapped. “The whole lot of you have broken the backs of werecats for centuries. Mikkel told me how it was before the War. He told me how a werecat could do as he or she pleased. We could take territory where we wanted it, not having to dodge other species because we’re not allowed to force them out.”
“I know Hasan,” I said evenly. “And I know he would never purposefully do anything to hurt the werecats, his own kind. If you had contacted him peacefully, he might have listened. He might have come to an agreement about this, but you let that motherfucker push you into the deep end.”
“I let him?” Lani shook her head. “No, I could see the writing on the wall the moment word went out you would be Hasan’s representative in the Americas. For a long time, I thought Hasan was doing the right thing, then there was you. Do you know how disgraceful everyone sees you? You are the smudge tarnishing the great Hasan. You are the evidence that, in the end, he only cares for his family. You are the piece we all needed to see that the isn’t looking out for us. He’s just propping up his own family.”
“Why don’t you let me step down, then? Why did none of you come to me and say no? I would have. I would have backed down and taken it to Hasan, telling him the werecats here didn’t feel comfortable. I would have done that for you, damn it, but you never gave me the chance. You went straight to violence, Lani.”
“He wouldn’t have let you,” she answered. “He would have sent Jabari and Hisao to put down the dissenters. Everyone here knows that. He doesn’t even fight his own battles anymore. He sends his little army and hides.”
“No…” I refused to believe he wouldn’t have listened. I refused to consider him a tyrant.
“Yes. Not every werecat wanted to be a part of the new experiment with the Tribunal. What do you think happened to those who didn’t?” Her bitter, cutting smile told me exactly what she wanted me to know.
Hasan…Did you really kill everyone who didn’t agree with you?
I was rattled because I could see it. I could see him, Jabari, and Hisao hunting down the ones who wanted to continue the War. I could see Zuri, honey on her tongue, convincing others to stand down or die. I could see Mischa, roaming, grabbing rogues, and forcing their compliance.
“Mikkel is still here,” I pointed out, looking to hold on to something.
“He’s been very good at hiding for a long time. For the longest time, I didn’t understand why he was so private, much like you. He would visit me but asked me to never tell anyone about our relationship. He was hiding to stay alive, to keep the hope we wouldn’t be ruled by Hasan. We’re werecats. We deserve to live our own lives, away from the rules and stipulations of others. That’s how we lived for so long before, and Mikkel has only been keeping that dream alive. There should never be a werecat forced to bow down to anyone, especially not an irresponsible child.”
“You can’t win this, Lani,” I said, shaking my head in dismay.
“Yes, we can. If you haven’t noticed, we already are.” She reached into her pockets and pulled out ear buds. I heard the music come on and knew she could still hear me if I spoke, but the message was clear. The conversation was over.
I slid down and sat at the back of my cell. My stomach growled in protest, angry that a meal, no matter how meager, had been skipped.
17
Chapter Seventeen
I was awake and starving four days later. I realized on the second day without food that they were serious, even if nothing was ever said. The message was clear—give them what they wanted or starve to death long before they planned on killing me.
<
br /> My guard walked out, probably for a shift change, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. As long as the cage stayed closed, the idea I needed constant supervision was overkill. They were lax, and they had reason to be. I wasn’t going anywhere. I knew that because I had tested the bars already. Sure, if I shifted into my werecat form, I could knock them down, but that would take time I wouldn’t have. They would be waiting on the other side by the time I was free, and I would be a very dead werecat for the effort.
I needed something else.
And now six days into my captivity, I was stumped. Even if I got out of the cell, I had to get out of the basement, out of the house. With seven werecats between me and freedom, that seemed unrealistic. The hunger wasn’t helpful as my body burned through calories I desperately needed. I was certain I was already dropping weight, an unpleasant thought since four of the werecats holding me were bigger males.
“Are we going to feed her today?” Fiora asked upstairs. I knew all their names now, picking them up as they talked among themselves. “She’ll fade and die before Hasan meets our demands if this keeps up.”
“I want her to beg,” Mikkel answered. “Where are Carter and Sam?”
“Outside on patrol,” Lani answered. “Since this isn’t any of our territories, I thought it might be best to send out people and keep an eye on our surroundings.”
“Damn it, Lani! I told you we can’t leave the house! Our scents could be picked up outside,” Mikkel snarled, and something slammed onto a table or countertop.
I shook my head sadly as Mikkel’s true colors peeked through the charismatic leader he seemed to be. He had a temper, something I had seen a glimpse of several times.
“We can’t let anyone sneak up on us, either,” Lani growled back. “They’ll get in and kill us before we can even fight back. You know I’m right!”
There was a short silence above me as I knew everyone upstairs were weighing the points Lani and Mikkel made.
“You’re right,” Mikkel conceded. “They could think Carter and Sam are just rogues, checking out the area or passing through. There’s no reason they would jump to it being us.”
“There’s plenty of reason,” Fiora pointed out. “But I’m with Lani on this one. Better to have some idea we’re about to be attacked than have no idea what’s going on.”
“I’ll relent to the women in my life,” Mikkel said with no small amount of sarcasm and annoyance. “You win, but I only want Carter and Sam doing the patrols. Do you understand? If it’s just them, they could be seen as two rogues looking to settle down. If they smell more of us, they’ll pick up on it much more quickly.”
“Of course,” Lani agreed. “Fiora and I were going to take their shifts downstairs.”
“Ah. You can spread them out a little more than that. I don’t want both of you exhausted all the time.” He switched from annoyed to sympathetic and sweet. I perversely wondered if Lani was okay with Mikkel’s other lover being in the house. It was clear by every conversation I heard, Mikkel was fucking both of them. He was unabashedly into both of them, and they were both into him.
Maybe they’re all down for some fuck fest of a relationship, and it works for them. Live your best life, Lani, because it’s going to be a short one once I get out of this fucking cage.
“You never answered my question. Are we going to feed her today? I know you want to break her, but it seems like she’s going to starve herself. Her face has already thinned out, and we need her alive.” Fiora pressed the issue, annoyed. With what, I couldn’t really tell. It wasn’t like I was asking to be starved. That was their decision. I was just going to live with it.
Or die with it. Whatever comes first, I guess.
“I should go down and talk to her again,” Mikkel said thoughtfully. “Maybe she’ll listen today.”
“Good luck,” Lani said with boredom.
I hadn’t broken down in the six days they had me and had no intention of giving them anything anytime soon. Lani tried every day to talk to me about the Hasan problem, about how they were right about wanting to overthrow him and my entire family. She was hoping to sway me, and I continued to throw it in her face. If she couldn’t do it, none of them would be able to.
I heard Mikkel coming down the stairs and narrowed my eyes on him as he came through the door. He grabbed the chair and pulled it closer, sitting close to the bars. I stayed in the back of the cell, staring at him but refusing to speak first.
“Good evening,” he said lightly. “Here we are, yet again, Jacky. I grow tired of these talks.”
“Me too,” I snapped.
“I guess you still aren’t ready to play nice. That’s okay. I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world.”
“Good for you.”
“We’re asking very simple questions. All you need to do is answer them, and this all stops.”
“I don’t know where the wolves are, and I’m not telling you how I have pack magic,” I growled. “We’ve gone over this.”
“Then maybe you can tell me how to sweeten the deal for Hasan. What else do I need to get him to step down?”
I stared blankly at him. I didn’t really have an answer for him, but I wanted him to understand I wouldn’t even tell him that. Mikkel sighed, shaking his head.
“Don’t make me torture you.”
That got me. A shiver ran down my spine as the rush of fear quickly raced through my system. Mikkel grinned, all teeth.
“There’s a reaction. You don’t want to be tortured. No one ever really does, so I can’t say I blame you. You see, though, we’ve had you for nearly a week, and I grow tired of having you down here. Either answer me now, get something to eat, and don’t get tortured, or I’ll start tomorrow night, and it won’t be pleasant.”
“Torture is never pleasant. I look forward to seeing how you make it somehow worse than anyone else. Somehow, I think it’s not going to be all that bad,” I said, swallowing the fear. Fuck.
He growled, annoyed with my answer, and stood, stomping out of the room. I heard clanging upstairs and Lani’s and Fiora’s shocked gasps. When Mikkel stomped back into the room, he carried a toolbox and dropped it at the cell door. In his other hand, he had a large loaf of bread.
“You have twenty-four hours,” he snarled. He tossed the bread into the cell. “You can eat that. It’ll settle your stomach and get it to stop growling. Maybe it’ll give you the energy you need to survive what I plan on doing to you if you keep up the attitude.”
But offer nothing much else in the way of sustenance. Fucking asshole. I shouldn’t have taunted him. I crossed a line.
I picked up the loaf, my eyes on the toolbox as I took a bite. Mikkel walked out, leaving me to ponder my next move. The loaf wasn’t drugged, meaning he had probably taken it from the other werecats to feed me.
Fuck. I need to get out of here. Where the hell is my family? Have these motherfuckers hidden me so well, no one can find me? That’s not good.
My eyes welled up for the first time since they had captured me.
I was well and truly alone, and that realization was sinking in.
A tear fell down my cheek.
The minutes ticked by. They came down and asked questions, and I ignored all of them, refusing to budge. I knew what I was asking for. I knew what I was risking, but my secrets were mine.
When it must have been twenty-four hours, Mikkel walked back downstairs, looking me over.
“How was the bread?”
I didn’t answer. My best idea for this entire event was to say nothing. The moment I started to speak, I didn’t know if I would be able to stop. If they got me answering anything, they might be able to get me to answer difficult questions. I couldn’t risk it.
The rest of the werecats walked down after him, flanking him, lining up alongside the cell.
“This is going to hurt,” he promised me softly. “This is your last chance to tell us what you know, particularly about how you got your pack magic. You found a way to get the one a
dvantage the werewolves have over us, and we deserve to know how. We’re done letting them set the terms.”
I said nothing, staring him down. I knew better than to taunt him now. With all seven of them in the room, I knew this was going to be a long, painful event.
“Fiora, guard,” he ordered. I watched the werecat pull a gun from the back of her pants and hold it on me. Mikkel opened the cell, and I still didn’t move. He strolled across the cell.
Without warning, he punched me in the gut, knocking the air out of me. I doubled over, but he wrapped a hand around my neck and forced me to turn my back to the rest of them. He lifted me up as I tried to breathe and let go of my neck before giving me a mean right hook and sending me back down.
“We’re starting off easy, Jacky. We’re going to make this slow. Let’s say…we’re going to test your limits. Why get out the pliers when a few punches could get you talking, right?”
He sounded as if it was an interesting discussion. I pushed up, only to regret it as the tip of his boot connected with my ribs. A second kick hit my gut.
“Rules, everyone. We’re not breaking her bones. We’ll save that for later. Always make sure Fiora has a clean shot on her. There’s no reason for any of us to get hit back if she knows she’s going to die for trying. Right, Jacky?”
Yeah, I wasn’t stupid enough to try to grab one of them when they had me in a crowd like this. I was going to take the beating. A beating I could live through, even if it hurt like a son of a bitch.
He grabbed my hair and pulled me back to my feet. I clamped my mouth shut to keep from screaming. I wanted to scream more than anything in the world, but I didn’t want to give him that, not this early. I would eventually, but not yet.
A hand reached through the bars and yanked one of my arms back. My other arm was yanked back next, and a chain was weaved around both of them and the bars, holding me in place. The last loop of it went around my neck, forcing me to keep my head up as best as I could.