Family and Honor (Jacky Leon Book 2)

by K. N. Banet

  “Why would anyone say I told you so?” Heath’s brows lowered and came together, framing his intense eyes. He obviously didn’t like what I had to say.

  “I’m the American daughter. The one who…does everything wrong or something. I was told not to come out into these woods, and I did, thinking I could get away with it. Here we are. Once they have me on a call, I’m going to hear about it.”

  “How…” Heath blew out a frustrated breath. “How do they ever expect you to be one of them if they don’t give you the chance to grow?”

  I shrugged. Hasan was right when I had spoken to him on the phone. I flourished when I wasn’t around the family, especially my siblings—the ones who made me feel small and treated me even smaller.

  He didn’t continue questioning me. We sat quietly, chewing on fire roasted rabbit in dirty clothes as the sun was falling. The sky was growing darker, and it was time to put my personal issues aside. It was comforting to have one person who understood where I was coming from. Heath was insulted on my behalf, and that was a relief.

  When the sun was finally completely gone, Heath dared to ask one more question.

  “Why doesn’t Hasan deal with them and help you?”

  “I don’t…really know,” I admitted. “I know that in Changing me, they resented him a little too. Maybe he just hasn’t found the right way to bring the family back together.” Jabari snorted. I threw up my hands in defeat. “Okay, Jabari, tell me what you know. I’m only relaying what Hasan told me.”

  “Nothing,” he said tightly.

  “No, please. You obviously have a thought.”

  “We did resent him, but I didn’t resent him because you were too soon after Liza’s death. Davor probably does, but not me. I resent he made you by breaking all the rules he had placed on the family. He didn’t raise you. He isn’t your father in your heart the way he is for everyone else. I consider all my siblings equally, blood or not, because I know he took them in as babes and children, bringing them into this family as my siblings, and they only ever knew this family. I resent him for making you and expecting us to care for you as a sibling when we’d never even heard of you.” Jabari looked back over at us. “He didn’t even get your permission to join this world. You still don’t know whether you want it, and because of that, you do as you please, living the life you want without considering other werecats follow rules for a reason. That’s why I resent him…and you.”

  I didn’t miss the change in his tense. His resentment wasn’t past tense. He still resented that I was in the family…could possibly always resent my existence.

  “Then why did your family help her with the Tribunal if you don’t want her?” Heath asked, once again growling as he spoke. “Sounds like you would be just fine with her—”

  “Don’t say those words, wolf,” Jabari snarled. “Don’t ever say those words. I might resent him for making her, and I might resent her, but I will never abandon a family member to die. None of us are that cruel.”

  “I could have told you that,” I muttered to Heath. “Don’t push his buttons, please.”

  Heath huffed, shaking his head. Jumping up, he walked away, frustration apparent in every line and angle of his posture.

  “And you, Jacky, hang with wolves,” Jabari muttered. “The only reason I don’t consider that a betrayal to the family is because you didn’t fight in the War, nor were you alive when Liza died. He’s not the worst wolf, but he’s certainly not one I want around. He’s moral and strong, but he doesn’t know when he’s not the strongest male in the room or when something isn’t his business.”

  “Not every wolf is the bad guy or the enemy,” I whispered, rubbing my arms as the night grew chilly. “He’s not a bad guy.”

  He grumbled in disagreement but didn’t try to say anything against it either.

  “Change. They will come soon.”

  I stripped and did as ordered without an argument. Tonight was important. Nothing could go wrong. If that meant he and I had to stop arguing for a night, we would. I was willing to let him ignore me for another seven years if it meant getting through the damn night.

  “Remember, it will be okay if one or two get away. We’re aiming to capture one, use it to find any remaining vampires and find out where they came from.” Jabari continued to talk, and I could hear the old general in him. “Keep them from getting on your back. Like always, that is our biggest vulnerability except for our underbelly. I don’t want them to get their hands into those wounds again, either.”

  I nodded as I walked up to the mouth of the cavern and stared out into the trees. Even though wehad hiked up the cliffside to get into the cavern, the trees were tall enough I couldn’t see the tops. While I watched the entrance, Jabari Changed. Heath was the only one staying in human form for the night. We needed someone with opposable thumbs to help restrain the captured vampire.

  The plan wasn’t difficult. Jabari was certain the vampires wouldn’t be able to resist coming after us again, even though we chased them off the night before. We were a threat to whatever they were trying to establish, and it was either them or us dying in these mountains under the light rain that now refused to stop. If Jabari’s assumption about their killing addiction was correct, they weren’t in the right mind to truly consider what possible risks they were facing.

  Which meant all we had to do was injure them as best we could before they retreated, and keep one from leaving.

  “I’m ready,” Heath called out from near the fire. Jabari huffed and jumped out of the cavern, leaving us alone. I stepped back from the entrance, going into the darkness behind Heath to lie in wait. Our scents were around everything, which would make it hard for the vampires to tell which of us was actually in the cavern. Their noses weren’t nearly as good as ours.

  The night grew darker until it blanketed the world, the only light from the fire. The cloud cover and rain blocked out the moon and stars, making the world outside the cavern seem just as dark as the cavern where I was hidden. I knew everyone could see well enough, but it was still a pitch black night, and Jabari had said the vampires wouldn’t be hindered by it. Their eyes were even better than ours in the dark.

  It felt like an eternity. I worried they would never show. Heath moved around the cavern, tending the fire and checking Jabari’s things. He toyed with a silver knife while the fire blazed. He made sure there was always wood drying nearby, ready to go into the flames when it was needed.

  And we waited.

  “I hate this,” I said, echoing the night before. “Do you think Jabari is okay out there?”

  He sighed and shrugged. He wouldn’t speak unless it was absolutely necessary. With his indifferent posturing, I understood his answer. He thought so, but he mostly didn’t care. Well, he might have cared if it meant we were going to survive, killing the vampires who took so many, but he didn’t care about Jabari.

  I couldn’t find anything else to ask, so I went back to waiting in silence. Like the night before, the world was too quiet, aside from the rain. Maybe it was the rain that made the world seem silent, though I figured there were probably a number of creatures that were supposed to be making all their nightly noises.

  Instead, it was just rain on stone and tree, our only comfort.

  Until I heard the first of several branches snap and break, creaking of wood under weight, trees rustling.

  “They’re coming,” I told him. Heath tensed but continued to pretend he was doing something important and tending the camp. The idea was for him to seem as if he was keeping everything nice while Jabari and I went out and hunted the vampires. They would come after us because they had to, but first they would take advantage of Heath being ‘alone.’

  Jabari was out there, hiding and waiting. He was going to block off their escape once they came inside. I was going to engage inside and protect Heath if he needed it. Jabari had made it clear, under no uncertain terms, he wouldn’t purposefully get Heath killed, but then said Heath was best off being the one in human fo
rm because werewolves were weaker than werecats.

  Which meant my brother had put one of my few friends and allies in the prime spot to get killed. If someone was going to be considered an easy target, it was going to be the person without their fangs and claws out.

  Heath stood up and stretched, giving a fake but believable yawn. I could smell no exhaustion on him. He seemed well rested, just like I felt.

  “Oh, look,” someone said outside the cave. “Did they leave you to die, wolf? Were you not important enough?” The vampires were suddenly at the mouth of the cave, all four grinning, a little sick, a bit twisted, and very excited about what they saw in front of them. “Or did they think you were worthless in their hunt for us? Foolish of them. That makes them terribly outnumbered, and we’ve proven ourselves against two werecats already.”

  “You didn’t fight the ones you killed in their true forms. The Moon Cursed are more powerful as beasts,” he said softly. “And the cats are the most powerful of all.”

  “We can kill them once we have fresher blood,” the younger man explained, shrugging away Heath’s comment. “Our last wolf is weak. You’ll be a worthy replacement.”

  I watched Heath’s body snap to attention in a second. I could tell he wanted to jump for them and attack. My heart ached for him for a second.

  They still have a wolf alive. It’s probably killing him to know that.

  And my heart burned for the poor wolf who must have been their captive for a month, a replenishing food source that made them more powerful than normal. He was probably starved and dying by now.

  The leader, the more mature woman, stepped in further, but the others didn’t. She didn’t seem to have a worry in the world.

  “Come on, wolf. You know you’ve lost. You can’t beat all four of us. We’re going to feast on you. Just make this easier on yourself, and the rest of your days can be comfortable.” Her words were sickeningly sweet like poisoned candy. “The other wolves tried to fight, and we made them each beg for death by the end. The last one will know only misery in his final moments, but you don’t have to.”

  “You taste so good, too,” the little woman said, a mad giggle escaping her lips.

  “I don’t beg,” Heath said with a small smile. “I’m an Alpha. Others beg me.”

  There was a coldness to his words that made me want to shiver. It was that Alpha power he would have for the rest of his life because he had already proven himself worthy of the role.

  Never forget, he retired willingly, Jacky. He’s just as much of an Alpha right now as he was the day you met him. He knows how to survive and come out on top.

  “Oh? Would you like us to beg you for the privilege to kill you?” The leader laughed serenely. “You have fallen low, Alpha. There’s no pack to protect you here.” She waved in her companions. “Come. Let’s feed. Once he’s incapacitated, we can go kill the werecats, and these mountains will be ours.”

  Heath didn’t move, letting the vampires approach him. They continued to come closer and closer, confident he was alone. I knew if they came too close, they would finally see me. My dark hideaway would only work for so long.

  “I have something better than a pack,” Heath finally whispered as the leader was only five feet from him. “Jabari, now!”

  I jumped out, knowing the order was also for me. I landed behind Heath, snarling viciously. The leader jumped back a step, her eyes wide as I heard the thump of Jabari landing in the mouth of the cave. The younger looking woman screamed, jumping toward her leader.

  “It’s a trap! They tricked us!” she screamed. The younger man’s mouth dropped open, and I saw he had no tongue. That was why he never spoke.

  “Kill them!” the leader shrieked. “Kill them now!”

  I roared in time with Jabari, causing small chunks of the ceiling and walls to crumble off from the echoing vibration.

  We were done playing hide-and-seek.

  23

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I leapt forward as Heath jumped to the side to get out of my way. My target was the leader who reached for Heath, so she couldn’t get away. I slammed into the leader, who screamed as my fangs met their mark in her upper arm. With a yank, I heard bones break and dislocated her arm. While she screamed, I shook my head viciously, trying to tear the limb off. Something slammed into my head, causing black spots to appear in my vision. I let go of her and felt someone kick me in the side, and nails ran across my hide. I swiped at the second attacker, scoring flesh and earning a scream in return.

  “Jacky! Above!” Heath yelled.

  I looked up as best I could and saw the leader had climbed up onto the ceiling, hissing. I jumped aside as she fell for me, trying to get on my back. She couldn’t make a grab, and I spun, putting my back end to the wall, so I could see them all in front of me.

  Toward the mouth of the cavern, Jabari was snapping and snarling as he tangled with the older man and the young woman. That left me with the leading female and the mute, both enraged and staring directly at me. That was good. It meant Heath could back off and stay safe while we worked on the vampires, weakening them to run or capture.

  And if I killed one or two in the process, no one was going to be mad.

  I snarled, my hackles rising as I lowered my head. I didn’t wait for them to make the first move, pouncing forward. They both dodged, and I spun around to meet them again. The mute tried to grab for me, and I slammed my body into the wall, shaking him off. The leader slashed her wicked nails at my left flank. Since I wasn’t a horse, kicking backward wasn’t a very effective move. I tried to snap back at her, but she jumped away, hissing.

  Before I could go after her again, arms wrapped around my neck. I snarled, shaking, and trying to get them off as they began to squeeze. I had no idea how Jabari was doing or where Heath was. The arms grew tighter, and my head began to spin. Where I had been hit began to throb painfully.

  Then they relaxed as something screamed. I jerked away and found the mute with a silver knife in his back, trying to grab it. Silver wasn’t special to killing vampires; sunlight and fire were best. Draining them completely only put them to sleep until someone gave them blood.

  But a knife still fucking hurt, and I could see Heath reaching for it to go for another attack. The mute noticed him, but I wasn’t able to intervene before the leader attacked, jumping onto my back.

  I ducked my head down, trying to keep her nails from clawing out my eyes as she raged at me. I bucked wildly, hoping her grip with her legs would loosen as I made it to a wall. I jumped into the wall, letting my side slam into it with full force. It knocked the air out of me, and I heard more bone crunch as the vampire’s leg was nearly crushed between me and the stone. She slid off me, screaming, but when I turned to get a bite, aiming to rip her head off, the mute was back on me. He held my jaw open, refusing to let me clamp down. And I was trying.

  Then he started to push my mouth open, and I struggled, trying to pull away. When he dug his heels in, I couldn’t move him. I tried pushing him next, but he moved with me, directing me with his grip on my jaw. He had one hand digging into my nose and pulling up and the other pushing my lower jaw down. I couldn’t swipe him because of the angle he had, standing beside me.

  For a second, I knew I was going to die if I couldn’t figure out what to do. The best idea I had?

  “HELP!” I screamed in my head to everyone, knowing my jaw was about to break. There was a chance the vampire was going to rip my entire snout off.

  “BUCK HIM OFF, JACKY!” Heath roared over the commotion. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing, but I hoped he was fucking alive after everything because I wanted to thank him.

  I reared up onto my hind legs, an unnatural stance for a werecat, bringing the little vampire up with me, his feet leaving the ground. Because he lost his ability to plant them, he couldn’t hold my jaw open anymore. I snapped it closed, taking off several of his fingers from the hand holding my bottom jaw. His inhuman scream didn’t bother me as I dro
pped back to my front feet, swinging my head to send him flying.

  At the same time, a woman screamed near me. I turned my head to find the leader reeling back from Heath, who had deep punctures in his neck, openly bleeding. The leader was staring at her left hand, and it took me a full second to figure out what was wrong with it.

  Heath had broken her wrist so effectively, her hand was backward on her arm and useless. He snarled, fur beginning to show on his face. He lunged for her, stabbing a silver knife into her chest. Her eyes went wide as he pulled it out. The blood loss would counteract whatever she had gotten from him.

  I rushed for them, barreling into her. Something connected with my side and knocked me and her to the wall away from Heath.

  “Run, Heath. Go for the shelter!” I screamed. “Go!”

  I don’t know if he listened as I rolled around with two vampires, each trying for my most vulnerable places. The mute was slower and weaker than he had been, trying to rip my head open, but his attacks on my abdomen were furious. The leader was still trying for my eyes. I pulled my back legs in and swiped out with them, mimicking a move one saw house cats do often. I tore someone open, and by the style of the scream, I figured it was the mute.

  “No!” the leader screamed. “No!”

  I continued to kick, shredding flesh and muscle and organs under my back claws until the vampire stopped trying to attack me, and there was only whimpering left from the body next to me.

  “Retreat!” the leader screamed, jumping away from me. “Run!”

  I heard screams toward the entrance and turned to follow the running woman. Jabari latched onto her, growling. The other two were already gone. He yanked hard onto the arm I already mangled, and I heard the tearing and popping of it being torn off. She screamed and slashed out at his face, scoring several lines over his snout and nose. She was already disappearing into the darkness by the time I made it to the mouth. Jabari stepped in front of me, shaking his big head, the arm still in his mouth.