Jackie finds that she is. She sits up, and leans against Maya's shoulder for a minute, subconsciously rubbing her cheek against it, layering her scent over Maya's. "Yeah," she says. "Let's eat."
*~*~*
Nick's entrance back into the military compound goes a little more easily than he expected. The guards are so dumbfounded to see him alive that they don't even seem to remember that he was hanged for treason. He capitalizes on the confusion by immediately saying he has important intelligence and needs to speak to all the officials who are currently on base. A few minutes later, he's in a room with six lieutenants who are all asking questions at the same time.
He feeds them the story about going undercover and adds in just enough detail about how he got out of the complex that nobody questions him. He tells them about finding the wendigos and calling Leo to send his team, and about how Mitchell had been killed. Then it's the tricky part. Leo is missing, he says, because they were closely pursued, and when werewolves offered him shelter, he accepted. But Leo refused.
"He decided he would rather take his chances and continue to fight," Nick says, "but I knew that one of us had to be left, to keep this town safe. So we went separate ways. And if Leo did survive, he could be injured, and it's imperative that we find him right away. We're going to organize into five different search parties…"
A number of things work in his favor here. For one thing, the men are used to his authority. They've followed his orders for years. And Mitchell was never exactly popular. He ruled through fear, and to a lesser extent, respect. Nick is genuinely liked and admired by the troops, so they're happy to see him return and willing to take his word that he isn't a traitor. Lastly, needing to 'look for Leo' is an immediate directive, an urgent order he can give to keep anyone from thinking too hard about what's happening.
He gets them all divided into teams and then says he needs to go grab some weapons, since he doesn't have any. It takes a few minutes to get his gear, including a radio. Then he finds a quiet place in the barracks and turns it to the channel he had told Ryan to use. They had taken Mitchell's radio off his body. "Ryan, you there? Come back."
A moment later, Ryan drawls into the radio. "Hello, Nick. What are you wearing? Over."
"You're hilarious," Nick says, "but this isn't the time. Is everything ready? Over."
"Yes, we've deposited Leo's body in the alley behind the bank. They'll need to actually look for it, because it's somewhat hidden, but if they do a thorough search, they'll find it. We found a couple of the wendigo bodies and dragged them there as well, to make it look like he went down fighting them. Over."
"Brilliant," Nick says. "I'll call you later tonight. Out."
He tucks the radio away and heads back out. The teams are ready to go. He chooses one that will go nowhere near the bank. He doesn't want to be there when they find Leo's body, doesn't want to make it look like he influenced that in any way.
He slides back into the familiar routine of a search-and-rescue patrol. They're a little different from the norm, but he's done them before. The Callaghan pack was going to use Solomon to spread the word that there would be extra patrols in town, so no supernatural creatures are lurking in the shadows.
About two hours have gone by before his radio crackles. "Captain Donovan? This is Delta team, come back."
"Go for Donovan," Nick says.
"We've found Leo, sir. Over."
"How is he? Over."
"He…he's gone, sir. Over."
Nick gives it a moment to leave the impression that he's struggling with it, then says, "Bring him back to base. Alpha, beta, delta, reconvene at HQ. Epsilon, return to standard patrol. Out."
He puts his radio away. His men murmur condolences. They head back to base. He winds up back in the same room with the same guys. A quick examination of Leo's body and he confirms that the wendigos killed him. It's lucky that they use teeth and claws, the same as a werewolf does. He makes up some bullshit about the width of the claw marks making him sure it was a wendigo. Why not? Mitchell did the same sort of thing all the time.
"What are we going to do about them?" one of the lieutenants asks.
Nick shakes his head. "Seven were killed in the firefight earlier. Leo was found with two more. There's only a couple left. And I'm not going to send out a bunch of people to look for stragglers. Not at night. It's too dangerous. We'll do another thorough search in the morning. For now, double the perimeter guard, and let's get some sleep."
Everyone agrees. Nick realizes in that moment that he has no idea where to go to sleep. He's not going to go back to the house he lived in. Helen will be there, and after the way she treated Jackie, he has nothing to say to her. He knows he can't avoid her forever, and at some point he'll have to deal with her, but it's not something he's up to right now.
He doesn't have a room in the barracks, and it seems morbid to sleep in Mitchell's or Leo's. So instead he checks the roster and finds the room Jackie had been assigned. Somehow he's not surprised to find Valerie already there, curled up in Jackie's bed. There isn't room for two on the militia cot, but he's slept on the floor before. He grabs a few of Jackie's pairs of fatigues to use as a pillow and a jacket to use as a blanket and falls asleep thinking about what the next day is going to bring.
*~*~*
Ryan doesn't sleep much that night, sitting by the radio in case Nick needs to call him for anything. He's been thinking a lot, carefully mapping out the things they're going to need to think about in the coming weeks. A lot is going to change, possibly very quickly, and they need to be prepared.
As the sun rises, he comes down from the balcony where he's been sitting. A few of the pack members are up and about, and of course there are two on watch. Maya is still sleeping, curled up in a corner, and Jackie is sprawled across her. Ryan shakes his head and starts making himself some breakfast.
The radio crackles. "Ryan, come in, over."
Ryan rolls his eyes a little. Nick is still so…formal a lot of the time. Rigid, even. Ryan has to admit that he likes the precise, military man. Partially because it's so much fun to be imprecise in return. He picks up the radio. "Good morning, Nick. I hope you're pining for me."
Several of the betas giggle. Maya stirs in her sleep and rolls over, rubbing a hand over her face and yawning. There's a moment of silence, and then Nick says, "You forgot to say 'over.'"
"I beg your pardon," Ryan says, amused. "I'm not used to conversing this way. Over."
"You shouldn't stay at the library today," Nick says. "We're getting patrols organized to hunt down however many wendigos might still be alive, and since the library is known to be empty, they'll search it. Head down to the water treatment plant. It's one place they won't look. Over."
"How delightfully morbid of you," Ryan says. "Over."
"Stop quipping and follow orders. Over."
"I do like being ordered around by you," Ryan says to another chorus of giggling. Maya is sitting up now, and rolls her eyes as she reaches for the mug of tea Jared is handing her. "We'll get moving. Over and out."
"It's just 'out.' Over."
"What? Bloody hell, over."
"'Over and out' is redundant," Nick says. He sounds amused. "If you're saying out, obviously you're saying over. So, it's just 'out.' Out."
Ryan sets down the radio. "Smug little fucker," he says, but he can't stop the smirk rising to his face. Or the blood rushing to his dick. He decides he had better get up and take a little walk while the others are getting ready to go. They reconvene a few minutes later. Jackie is awake by then and nearly breaks one of their lanterns when she tries to toss it to Spencer and uses far more force than anticipated.
"You'll get used to it," Maya assures her, staring at Jackie in a mixture of adoration and hunger. Ryan just gives a little snort and takes the lead. He always does when they move together, ranging out ahead to scout for any dangers. But the early morning streets are quiet.
The water treatment plant is covered in wendigo blood and smells terrib
le, but it'll keep them safe for a day or two. They settle down and start making plans to occupy themselves for the day. Maya says she's going to run on a quick circuit to make sure nobody's lurking in the vicinity. "I'll go with you," Jackie says, jumping to her feet, overshooting, and tripping over herself.
"You stay here," Maya says, and mutters affectionately, "before you hurt yourself."
"I'll go with you," Ryan says, and Maya gives him a nod. They don't talk as they do a quick scout of the area. The water treatment plant is isolated enough that nobody else is nearby. Maya heads up to the roof to get a bird's-eye view, or at least that's the excuse she gives. They've been up there for a few minutes while Maya shuffles and hems and haws. Ryan waits until she's just about to speak and then interrupts her. "Yes, it's normal."
Maya gives him a dirty look. "You don't even know what I was going to say."
"You were going to ask if it's normal for you to be feeling even more possessive of Jackie," Ryan says, and Maya scowls at him. "Yes. She's now your mate and your beta, which makes you feel even more protective of her than before, plus you did just watch her nearly die, which I have to assume has some psychological effects. It'll probably last a few days before you stop wanting to brand your name on her forehead."
"I don't want to…yeah, I do." Maya hangs her head.
Ryan laughs. "I don't think she minds, to be honest, so don't worry about it."
"Do you feel that way about Nick?" Maya asks.
"No. I've never wanted to brand Nick. I want Nick to brand himself. Get a tattoo that says 'property of Ryan Callaghan' right on the center of his chest."
Maya cracks a smile at this. "Glad it's not just me."
"Yes, well." Ryan stretches and then gives a shrug. "You did figure us out. Though, you know, it really wasn't kosher of you to go telling Nick the things I told you in confidence. A lesser person might be annoyed at you for that."
Maya's smile changes to a scowl, but then she looks away and mutters, "Sorry."
"Well, I'm not a lesser person," Ryan says and then adds quietly, "Thank you."
At this, Maya's head jerks around. "Come again?"
Ryan changes the subject. "How is Jackie feeling?"
"She seems to be okay," Maya says. "I mean, she's dealing with it okay. It's…a lot. But I think she's going to be all right." She lets out a breath. "What do you think is going to happen now?"
"It will depend on a few factors," Ryan says. "Nick can't make too many changes too quickly, or else he'll face mutiny. He'll have to tread lightly. My guess? He'll rescind the kill-on-sight orders for you and Gisela, and anyone else who might be facing one. Make sure that anyone who gets captured is treated humanely. When that doesn't cause the end of the world, we might be able to broach the subject of a truce. But really, how things will play out in the long-term will depend on one thing: what's outside."
Maya nods. "We can get out now."
"With Nick's help, it will be relatively easy, yes," Ryan says. "If the world out there is better, then personally I see no reason to stay here. We could notify whatever authority is in charge of rescuing small towns recovering from despotic rule, and leave it to the professionals."
"And if it's not better? If it's really as bad as Mitchell made it out to be?"
"Then we'll stay here. And we'll make Cold Creek into a place that's safe for everybody."
"That's awfully sentimental of you," Maya says.
Ryan shrugs. "I'm not entitled to a little sentimentality now and then?"
Maya looks dubious.
Ryan laughs. "Thank you, Maya, for reminding me of my place in the universe. And now, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go harass Nick over the radio until he remembers how much groveling he owes me."
*~*~*
It takes Nick about twelve hours to decide what to do about Jackie. He's fortunate in that nobody there knew what happened to her. The two men who had helped Mitchell torture her were both killed by the wendigos—fortunately for them, as Nick would have done much worse—and the man Valerie had tased only had a foggy memory of what had been going on. "What the heck voltage did you use on that poor bastard?" Nick asks his daughter when he finds that out.
"Oh, uh, the highest one?" Valerie asks, and Nick pinches the bridge of his nose. "I wanted to make sure he'd go down!"
"You're lucky you didn't kill him," Nick says, but then loops an arm around his daughter's shoulders and presses a kiss against her temple. "I'd better teach you how to use those things properly."
Since nobody knows what had been going on with Jackie, it doesn't take long for people to inquire into her disappearance. After some thought, Nick decides to tell the truth, or at least a modified version of it. Jackie was on the raid with them. She was badly wounded and dying, so when they took shelter with the Callaghans, the alpha offered to turn her, and Nick accepted.
There's a lot of stir about this, and several disparaging comments. Nick doesn't let that fly. He takes the loudest of the assholes and says, "When you've held your dying child in your arms and known that your chances of saving her were slim, and someone offered to save her life and you've looked them in the eye and said no, then you can talk to me about my choices. Until then, I'd like to cordially invite you to keep your opinions to yourself."
Most people shut up after that. There are still a lot of questions, and Nick is the first to admit that in the long run, Jackie might help bridge the gap between the two sides and bring an end to the war. "But that's a long way off, and our priority is still keeping the humans in this town safe," he says, which soothes some ruffled feathers. He knows he has to take things slow, that trying to rush into a peace will only result in a rebellion that will get him thrown out on his ass.
In the meantime, he's assigned someone else to the duties Leo has held and is cleaning out Mitchell's office. He's thinking about the next time he'll be able to go see the Callaghans when he finds something amazing at the bottom of one of Mitchell's drawers.
"Where are you off to, Capt—sorry—General Donovan?" the man at the gate asks him.
"Captain's fine," Nick says. "I don't think I'd make a very good general. Anyway, I'm going to go check on Jackie."
The guard chews on his lip. "Shouldn't you bring, I don't know…a team?"
"My daughter isn't going to hurt me," Nick says, "whether she has fangs and fur or not."
The guard seems a little skeptical about this but doesn't protest further. Nick walks through town and out to the water treatment plant where the pack is lounging around.
"Dad!" Jackie is on her feet the instant he comes through the door, and knocks Nick backwards with the force of her hug. But she's getting at least some control over her werewolf strength, because she doesn't actively break Nick's ribs.
"Hey, you," Nick says, hugging her just as tightly. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay. Good, even," Jackie says. When Nick opens his mouth, she says, "and before you go off on some sort of weird guilt trip, I'm totally okay with being a werewolf, and I know it wasn't even your decision, that you let Miranda decide because what the hell do we know about secondary drowning? I didn't even know that was a thing."
Nick sighs and rubs a hand over his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I…I should have dealt with Mitchell a long time ago."
Jackie shrugs. "Well, it's not like I got anywhere in my attempt to dethrone the bastard, so I think you can be forgiven for that."
After a pause, Nick shakes his head. "Here, walk with me," he says, and they head outside for at least the illusion of privacy. "I feel like I owe you an apology for more than just that," he says. "Your life would have been so much easier if I hadn't adopted you. I had no idea what Mitchell had done, that he was responsible for the murder of your parents, but…you could have had a normal life."
Jackie is staring at him in surprise. "You're apologizing for that?" she asks. "Geez, Dad. Don't get me wrong, I hated Mitchell with the fire of a thousand suns, but I always knew that you had no idea what he'd d
one. Yeah, maybe things would have been better for me if I'd been adopted by some average Joe, but there are good odds they would have been a lot worse too. A lot of bad things happened to the random citizens of this town. Besides, you're an amazing dad. Do you think I don't remember what you put up with when I was a kid? How insane I was? I remember all the times I would wake up screaming and you would, would hold me for hours and hours until I calmed down. How you would hold me and walk around the house all night if you had to. A lot of really shitty things happened in my life, that's no lie, but I've never wished I had been adopted by somebody else."
Nick feels his eyes sting a little. He hooks his arm around Jackie's shoulders and pulls her into a hug. "You're a good kid, Jackie."
"That's what happens when you have two amazing dads," Jackie agrees, and Nick huffs out a little laugh.
"On that note," he says, "I have something to give you. I found it in Mitchell's things. I won't lie, it's probably going to upset you. But I think you should have it."
"Oh, great," Jackie says. "Okay. Let's see it."
Nick pulls the magazine he had found in Mitchell's drawer out of his jacket and hands it to Jackie. Her hands smooth over the cover, the TIME logo, the picture of Leo carrying her as a child, the headline 'The Murder that Galvanized the Nation.'
"He kept this?" Jackie's voice is thin and strained. "What, as, as some sort of sick trophy?"
"Yeah," Nick says quietly. "But that's not why I want you to have it." He takes the magazine out of Jackie's shaking hands and opens it to the page he had marked. It's the first page of the article about the Jacksons' murder, and it's a full page picture, a studio photograph that had been taken the previous Christmas. Darryl, Latisha, and Lashontae Jackson, the caption reads. Jackie is eight years old in the picture, sitting on her mother's lap while her father stands behind them, smiling at the camera.
"Oh…oh my God," Jackie chokes out. She flips through the article. There are two other pictures on the subsequent pages. One of her parents on their honeymoon, on some island somewhere wearing stupid touristy clothes. Another taken right after she was born, both of her parents fussing over her as a baby. "I never…" Jackie has to take a deep breath as a few tears slide down her cheeks and splash onto the pages. "I never had any pictures. I…I couldn't even remember what they looked like, really."
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