by K. N. Banet
“Haley,” I answered. The elevator stopped on our floor, and I started off, taking the lead to find our rooms. I stopped at mine and pointed Heath to his. “I’m going to call my family and let them know what I learned and what I’m planning from here. They might have some advice.”
“I’ll be available if you need me,” he responded before going into his room. I stumbled into mine, tripping over my bags. With a growl, I threw my duffel across the room and kicked the rolling suitcase after it. I wasn’t really angry, only frustrated. The entire situation was a powder keg, and I didn’t know who was about to strike a match. If Jabari was already dead out in the woods, there was no hope for the Seattle pack if they tried to harbor his killers. Hasan would call the entire family down to take justice.
Including me.
I sat on the bed and pulled out my travel laptop, opening it and frowning as I saw none of my family was online on the unique little program they used. I needed to report and I wanted the feedback of the family without having to send several dozen texts. I sighed and tried messaging Zuri, my safest option to see if she could get the family together. When she didn’t reply, I admitted defeat and grabbed my phone to dial Hasan.
“Jacqueline, how was your flight? Have you met the wolves? Were they hospitable? Do I need to send Hisao—”
“Everything’s fine!” I said quickly. Dear god, he jumped straight to sending Hisao. I really hope it’s because Hisao’s the closest and not for his other apparent talents. “So far, everything with me and Heath is fine. I got a bunch of information, but I think we’re going to need everyone for this.”
“Hold on.” Further away, I heard him talk more. “Send my children word we’re having a family meeting in one hour.”
“Yes, sir,” Hasan’s butler answered.
“Jacqueline, still with me?”
“I’m here.”
“Tell me what you know first,” he ordered.
I launched into it, giving him the replay of landing and what I’d learned since. I explained to him what Geoffrey said and what he meant and how Heath was now working for the wolf pack to discover their own lost members. That part made him growl, but he offered no comment, letting me continue.
“He’s currently pulling in his pack for questioning. From scent, sight, and tone, I believed him to be serious. I don’t think the pack knowingly caused us any problems. Now we have to hope they listened to their Alpha and haven’t gone after our cats.”
“So, my son tried to play this Alpha like a fool.” Hasan sighed.
“I don’t think so,” I countered. “I think Jabari just didn’t want to play his hand over the phone and didn’t want to wander the city looking for the home base of the pack. It’s not his fault Alpha Lewis stonewalled him. He tried the safest option he could, then moved on.”
“You’re pragmatic, daughter. I can agree with what you say, but Jabari—”
“Isn’t the politician Zuri is, or you are. It was one of the first things everyone told me about him.”
Hasan was silent for a minute, then started to laugh.
“You’re right, you’re right. He’s not a politician. Zuri took all the talent and drive for that sort of work in the womb and left Jabari with the ruthless nature of a warlord. He’s good at physical problems.”
“He can’t get physical with the wolves anymore. Well…he can but…”
“No, you’re right. I’m proud of you. What else did you learn?”
I glowed for a second. He’s proud of me! I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. After all the trouble I had given him and the family, I could still salvage something and prove I was a functioning, useful member of werecat society. Before everything, I had wanted little to do with him and even less with the rest of them. Now, that was the most important thing I had heard all week.
The shift in my feelings made me pause for a second. Was it because I felt guilty about this? Or was it something I never thought I wanted until I had a real chance of getting it?
“Alpha Lewis gave me contact information for a park ranger who knew the werecats, the one he used to pass messages along. They had a deal that werewolves were allowed to go camping out there, so keeping in some form of contact would have been important.”
“Jabari was also going to hunt down the humans who knew about the werecats,” Hasan said, giving me another important piece of information. “We found out because both Gaia and Titan had Zuri’s emergency number for werecats, and the humans must have been told if anything happened, she would be who to call. They didn’t know who they were talking to if I remember right from Zuri.”
“So, they left something in place in case there was an accident or something terrible happened. Smart of them. I was planning on questioning the ranger tomorrow.”
“Just…don’t wander off into the woods, Jacqueline. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I promised. I didn’t want to go out into the woods until I knew the danger that was in them. With two werecats confirmed dead and Jabari missing, whatever was in there was more than I could handle.
“Be ready for a family meeting. I’m sure they all have opinions.”
“I don’t really want to deal with Davor,” I said, moaning with childish annoyance that did nothing for my case of being a thirty-six-year-old who could handle her own life.
“Davor will take time to get used to you, and he was close to Liza. Closer than any of us saw coming when I adopted and Changed her.”
“Will you tell me what happened to her?” I asked softly. “Or tell me about her? It would be nice to know this woman I’m supposed to live up to.”
“One day, but I have never expected you to live up to her. I just expected you to be you and happy with it,” he promised.
“Okay. It’s just sometimes, I feel like so many other people know more about what happened to her than I do. You never told me werewolves killed her. I learned that from someone else.”
“I’ll give you the basics, then. She was killed by werewolves who were sport hunting. She was young, only out of my household about forty years. They had heard stories from an old werewolf about the war and wanted to see for themselves what kind of dangerous beast a werecat can be. The problem was, Liza was never violent or on guard the way many of us are. She didn’t have it in her. They caught her by surprise on a full moon, right at the edge of her territory. She had no idea they were there, didn’t think to scent the wind. She killed three before the injuries, and the remaining four finished her.” Hasan took a shaky, deep breath. “I remember receiving word. The surviving wolves had gone to their Alpha, thinking they would be heroes.”
“And?”
“And to make sure I didn’t rain destruction on his pack, he and his inner circle swiftly executed the young wolves after they gave their testimonies to him before reporting to the Tribunal what happened. Because he did that, I decided to step away from the Tribunal for a sabbatical and grieve instead of going after him.” I heard a chair squeak, envisioning Hasan sitting behind his desk, leaning back with a tired look on his face. “Davor was heartbroken, Jacky. It’s not uncommon for the unrelated children of a werecat to fall for each other thanks to the closeness a family can sometimes share. While many of you have seen each other as siblings, Davor and Liza saw each other as possible mates and danced around it for years. Zuri spent years teaching Liza how to woo him while Jabari and I tried to teach Davor how to approach her with his feelings.”
“Then, she was gone. And now I’m her replacement.”
“To him, yes. One he thinks can’t live up to what she was because he doesn’t care for you in that manner. The rest of your siblings don’t think that way anymore. Niko, for example, has quite enjoyed hearing about your adventures these last several months with werewolves living in your territory.”
“Want to tell me why he’s called the Traitor now?”
“No. That’s his to tell.”
“I tried.” Shrugging, I laid back on my bed. “And the rest of them?”
“Zuri’s been mildly impressed with you this last week. There’s not much I can do about their behavior toward your chosen profession, but eventually, they’ll come around. I did, so they’re bound to.”
“How often do you talk to them about me?” I demanded, realizing it was more often than I thought it was.
“Does it matter?” He chuckled. “I’ll see you for the family meeting. You probably want to relax and settle in at your hotel.”
I grumbled as he hung up on me. The conversation had felt much more relaxed than I thought it would be.
I rolled off the bed and went to the adjoining door between Heath’s room and mine, knocking once. I heard his side unlock, so I unlocked and opened mine. We stared at each other for a moment. I didn’t know what he was staring at, but I knew what I saw.
Heath looked like he had laid down for a nap, wearing only soft pants and nothing else. His broad, tanned chest was completely on display, and I realized he had a touch of chest hair, just enough to be masculine without feeling like I was looking at a gorilla. And his pants were too low. He worked out. There was no way werewolves were naturally that cut.
He had three kids with three different women, Jacky. Of course, he’s good looking enough to get women out of their clothes.
“Can’t say I blame them,” I muttered.
“What? Jacky? What did you need?” I blinked and looked up at his face. I didn’t know how long I had been staring at his abdomen. A frown slowly morphed into a predatory grin as he looked down at himself. “Can’t blame who for what?” he asked softly.
“No.” I shut the door in his face. “Absolutely not.” I locked it and walked away, heading straight for my bathroom. I had thirty minutes before the family meeting. I could talk to Heath when he was decent.
“Jacky!” Heath was laughing. “I’m sorry! I put on a shirt. What did you need?” The fact that he was talking through the door made me glare at it.
“You’re an attractive man, Heath Everson, but I will not get teased for noticing it.”
“Of course not! If I teased every woman who noticed, I would have no female friends. Please. You knocked. What did you need?”
“I was going to tell you how my call to Hasan went, but I think I’m going to shower and get ready for a family meeting. I’ll update you later.”
“And if I call Carey, what should I say? It’s going to be her lights out time soon.”
I cursed and stomped back to the door. “Call her right now so I can talk to her.”
He hadn’t lied. He had thrown on a shirt.
“I’m sorry, I am. I forgot how fun it was to make you flustered. It’s been months.”
“I think you like the attention,” I growled softly.
“I do, actually. Remember what I said. I have three kids, and I’m a werewolf. At the time, I was an Alpha. It’s nice to be seen as just a man sometimes.” He was still grinning. “Come on, Jacky. I didn’t even know you found me attractive.”
“I have eyes,” I snapped. Also, I could smell the lie. My glare didn’t stop until he sighed.
“Fine. I’ve smelled it on you before but never paid much mind to it. I wasn’t trying to bother you when I opened the door. I was thinking I could get in a little more sleep before grabbing some dinner, but then you knocked.” The goofy grin faded to a somewhat arrogant smirk. “Who would have thought that a daughter of Hasan himself would find a werewolf attractive?”
“I have blood that pumps through my veins,” I hissed. “I bet my sisters would also say you’re a looker if I asked them. Admitting you’re good to look at is different from sleeping with the enemy.”
He shook his head, his smirk refusing to leave. Instead, he started to chuckle—that damn chuckle.
“If it helps, you aren’t a bad thing to look at every Saturday night yourself, Jacky.”
“No, it doesn’t help.”
13
Chapter Thirteen
The call to Carey went about as one could have expected. She was glad we were safe, and Heath was very careful to make sure nothing about what was going on in Seattle was brought up while he talked to her. I followed his lead when I was on the phone, then handed it back to him for his time with Landon. He would tell his son everything, including about me, so I walked out. There was nothing he could say that would surprise me. He’d learned a lot over the course of the day, and I had to give up a lot of information about the world of werecats to get through my meeting with Alpha Lewis. He would probably repeat all of it.
I locked my door when I was back in my room, making sure the damn wolf couldn’t sneak up on me. I was annoyed by his attractiveness, his arrogance about it, and the way he thought it was a good laugh to tease me about it.
I’ll just have to make it a point to completely ignore him now.
I moved my laptop to the small desk in my hotel room and found I had barely enough time to open it and get into the video conference program for the family meeting. Videos began popping up, and I sighed, seeing the quality of my laptop’s camera.
“Sorry, using a shit laptop for this trip,” I said quickly before anyone could call it out.
“It’s fine. We’re just glad to see you made it there safely,” Hasan said, almost a dare for any of my siblings to say anything to the contrary. “Now, everyone, Jaqueline has already given me a progress report. The Seattle pack isn’t hiding our killers.”
“Knowingly,” I added. “The Alpha is going to commit to a round of investigations into his pack to make sure.”
“What would have caused this?” Zuri asked quickly. “Is there any reason to believe the pack might be hostile?”
“Four wolves went missing in or near the werecats’ territories,” I explained. “They had a long-standing deal that werewolves were allowed to visit and camp when it wasn’t a full moon. Those wolves went missing a month ago, and two weeks ago, Titan and Gaia were found dead. There’s some reason to believe the werecats may have died in a revenge killing.”
“Do we know anything about the bodies?” Hisao asked softly. It sent chills down my spine.
“No. They were cremated per werecat custom by the time Jabari arrived,” Hasan answered. “That’s why I never brought them up. Complete dead end.”
“Maybe not,” Zuri countered. “Is there any way to speak to those who saw the bodies?”
“Jabari met with the park rangers who found them and had nothing special to report. They were human. They don’t have our sense of smell or anything to help them without contacting the authorities, which we’re lucky they didn’t do.” He sighed. “Jacqueline, please be careful.”
“I always am,” I cheerily responded, feeling my gut sink. By the looks of everyone on screen, they didn’t find my cover attitude funny or reassuring. I sagged, letting it go. “This is a clusterfuck up here. If Jabari and the Seattle pack had talked, we could have avoided some of this, and he might have had backup out there.”
“You will not go looking for him, Jacqueline. Do not make me say that more than once.”
“I won’t!” I growled. “I’m pointing out the obvious. If the damn wolf pack here had given him a meeting, they would have been able to exchange this information. As it is, they had no idea Titan and Gaia were dead. The damn rangers at the park didn’t even tell them, probably worried it was the wolves who did it. Their lack of intel was the first thing I fucking noticed while I was there. I also noticed my lack of intel. They’ve lost four damn wolves. Heath is planning to extend his stay to help them find answers.” I leaned over and rubbed my forehead. They didn’t need to know about my embarrassing moment with the wolf, though it was partially why I was already a touch frustrated with the trip.
“This is bigger than expected,” Mischa commented lightly. “Well, we take the punches as they’re thrown. Are you worried about Heath’s loyalty? Are you in any danger?”
“No,” I mumbled. I quickly explained what I heard Geoffrey say. “On top of that, for helping me, I agreed to let Heath ge
t to know me. That’s my problem, though, not any of yours.”
“How much have you told him so far?” Hasan asked carefully.
“That poor bastard,” Davor mumbled softly, earning a growl from our shared werecat father.
“Just who I’m related to by werecat standards, though I used my position with the Seattle Pack too. Needless to say, it came as quite a shock for the wolves.” I chuckled dryly. “We’ll see what else he comes up with to ask. He promised it wouldn’t be anything that can be used against me or other werecats.”
“Then buck up and start talking to him. It sounds like you need him to remain in our corner, even though there're other wolves involved. If that’s all he wants, give it to him,” Zuri said with all of her regal nature. Ever the politician, just like the wolf next door.
“He promised to help, so he will. Wolves are like that.” Niko was leaning back haphazardly in his chair. “I don’t know much about Heath Everson, though.”
“He’s…” I tried to find the best words, something that wouldn’t put my family on guard. I didn’t feel the need to protect myself or be protected from Heath, but telling them that would be going too far. “He’s a typical family man with sharp canines. He jokes about how having kids and sometimes being furry has ruined his dating life. He’s also a natural politician who can read a room well. He honors his word, so far as I can tell. He promised me in Dallas that his pack wouldn’t give me trouble, and when one tried, he shifted and handled it, putting an older wolf in his place.” I smiled a little. “He comes in and drinks a beer, or several, every Saturday night and is protective of his daughter. He trusts me with her, so I trust him with this.”
In one second, I realized I actually enjoyed the man’s company a lot of the time. I liked his visits to my bar on Saturday and thought they were a nice addition to my week. A time when I could talk to an adult supernatural about supernatural things or just bitch about work.