“Yeah, so I was told,” I answered, shrugging. He really knew how to put the spotlight on a girl.
“Now, she’s not here to help us defeat the traitors, so don’t expect her to. However, all efforts about saving my daughter? She’s going to be a part of those. You’ll respect that, am I clear?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good. Now I want two teams. A small team will be on the mission of reclaiming my daughter so she can be returned to safety. You’ll work with Jacky, so put whatever problems you have with werecats aside. My daughter is more important. The second team, a larger force, will continue to flush out the traitors and bring their numbers down. However, I want some captured and brought in alive for interrogation now. They must be feeling their losses, and that will weaken their resolve to continue down the path their on.”
I stood uncomfortably next to him, listening to the orders being handed down. After a few more lines of similar rhetoric, I tuned him out. There was still a lot I didn’t know, but now wasn’t the time to find out.
When Heath was done, everyone started talking amongst themselves of their own accord. He leaned closer to me, and spoke quietly. “I’m going to stick close to you. I love and trust my wolves, but you’re an unknown factor. I have two who were alive during the war. One’s a Beta, and not very aggressive, but he might hold a grudge. Lost his parents and a sibling back in those days. He also loves Carey, so he’s going to join the team with you. The other will hopefully avoid you, but he’s…he’s got a few screws loose, which is why he isn’t in my inner circle, no matter how powerful he is. I don’t want you alone where he can find you. Understand?”
“I don’t need your protection,” I said softly, narrowing my eyes on him. “Not from two wolves, anyway.”
“You’re also working to get my daughter back. I’m never going to be far just because of that.”
“Fair point,” I conceded. “You should keep a line of communication open. Your traitors might call.”
“I’ve already considered that. It’ll be your team’s job to manage the phone I’m going to have you set up.”
“My team?” I said that probably louder than I should have. I laughed, shaking my head. “Oh no. I’ll work with a team. I haven’t been a werecat long enough to give up that bit of humanity, but I’m not a leader. I don’t do in charge very well. Please tell me that’s not your intention.”
He smirked. “Not fully, no. I want you working with whatever leader they’re going to put up on the pedestal.”
“Thank God,” I mumbled, shaking my head. I caught a glance at a group already walking up to us. “Looks like we have our team.” I nodded to the four wolves headed our way.
“Looks like it,” he agreed, turning away as well. “Teagan, Laurent, Chrissy, and Sheila. Some of my smarter wolves. They’re good. Teagan is the one I was mentioning. The Beta wolf.” He pointed out each respectively, giving me a chance to know their faces and names before the work truly began. He nodded to the one in the front, but I didn’t need him to.
Years with Hasan and the few times I had met with Lani in person taught me to see the walk of one of the older supernaturals. For werewolves and werecats, age meant power, a slow, steady growth in strength as the world continued to knock us down. Teagan had the air of being powerful, much like Heath next to me.
“What makes a Beta wolf?” I asked.
“Slower growth in strength. A calmer disposition that lends them less power in the pack. They aren’t the bottom of the pack, still able to fight for a place that suits them, but they make others protective, and they’re less likely to resort to violence.”
“You know, since we’re on this topic. Why do you wolves use Alpha and Beta and that nonsense? Wasn’t it disproved that wolves do it?”
Heath chuckled. “You say that like we should care. The scientist knew werewolves and thought the same rules applied to real wolves, so he saw what he wanted to see while doing his research. No, real wolves don’t have such a strict rank structure as we do, but then, they aren’t part human. Humans need leaders and control in their lives. Routine. The Alpha and pack structure is to appease that need, but remain as wild as we’re able to be.”
“Interesting,” I murmured, nodding. “Like all things in our lives, a blend of animal and man.”
“Exactly,” he agreed.
We waited for a few more moments while the group made their way through the large warehouse. They had started a fair distance away and now they were nearly upon us.
Teagan was stiffer with each step closer, and was the first one to speak. “A werecat, Heath? Really?”
“Hm. An oath-sworn werecat, but yes, a werecat.” Heath didn’t seem perturbed by Teagan’s obvious aggression, and therefore, I didn’t let it bother me. “Teagan, she’s not old enough to have been a part of the war. She’s innocent in all of it.”
Teagan looked me over, calculating and severe. I wasn’t sure what he saw, but after several heartbeats, he visibly relaxed. “You are a young thing, aren’t you? What are you doing in this mess?”
I gestured to his Alpha. “Someone here thought it was a good idea to send Carey to a werecat for protection without telling the werecat it was part of his plan. I was called to Duty before I even knew how bad things really were here.”
“Huh. Heath, that’s a bit rude of you, don’t you think?” Teagan frowned. “I was there when the Laws were signed. If Hasan was still walking around in the world, he’d have your head for not giving the cat fair warning.”
“It’s not against the Law to keep my security plans a secret,” Heath replied, shrugging.
“You know Hasan?” I perked up slightly. A wolf that knows my…father? I never thought I would see the day.
“Not really. I was just there, and so was he. Big, powerful son of a bitch, even back then. I swear, I think he’s the first of your kind because of how old he is.” Teagan smirked. “From my understanding, you werecats still worship the ground he walks on.”
“Kind of,” I said, shrugging. “It’s just rare to hear anyone outside our own kind mention him.”
“Are we going to get to work?” Sheila asked, tapping her foot, her hands on her hips. “I’m sure after this is all said and done, we can play friends with the werecat, but Carey is more important than this.”
“Yes.” The Alpha nodded, gesturing to the Beta wolf. “Teagan, I’m going to need someone in charge of this group—”
“We’re all going to vote for Fenris,” he answered. “You’ve brought a werecat in. You can’t expect him to take it as well as I might.” The Beta wolf eyed me again. “He’s going to make her life hard, you know that, right? He’s not going to let her out of his sight.”
Oh, well that’s pleasant. The angry, crazy one is going to join in on the fun, is he?
“No. I’m not going to accept that. Either you or me. I’m not letting Fenris lead the team to save my daughter just because he’s going to want a piece of the werecat. It’s not going to happen.”
“You might have to fight him on it. He’s not here right now, but when he gets back and finds out about this?” Teagan snorted. “Alpha…”
Heath growled, a sound that made my bones vibrate thanks to how close he was. I stepped away slowly, trying not to draw the eye. I didn’t want pack fights over me, so I cleared my throat until the Alpha looked in my direction.
“What?” he snapped.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised.
“Teagan, you’re going to be in charge of this team. You might not be a violent wolf, but I trust you to keep the others directed in the right ways. Chrissy, Laurent, Sheila? Any problem with that?”
“No sir,” they answered back in unison.
He never took his eyes off me, searching my face for something. “You’re a foolhardy feline if you think Fenris is someone you can handle. My daughter’s life is in your hands right now, along with these wolves beside me, and that means you’re an honored guest of my house. I would protect any of my wolves
from each other if I felt the reason for their pain was unjust. I don’t let my wolves get bullied for circumstances beyond their control. I’m not going to let a guest of my house be treated that way either.”
I raised my hands in mock defeat. “Then hover, but don’t fight my battles for me. Some of your wolves might need a hard lesson in what it means to pick a fight with a werecat. You should let them learn that lesson.”
“Foolhardy,” he repeated.
Probably, but I couldn’t risk the reputation of the werecats as a species by hiding behind the coattails of an Alpha werewolf. I had to take his word that he would protect me, but I also had to stand up for myself. As long as I wasn’t jumped by a group too large for me to handle, I was going to be fine.
Hopefully.
He exhaled a long breath in exasperation and looked back to the werewolves I was going to be working with. “I’m going to check on the others. Keep an eye on her, and god damn it, if Fenris shows up, come get me.”
“Yes sir,” they responded, once again in unison like dutiful little soldiers.
16
Chapter Sixteen
Suddenly, I was alone with four werewolves that I had just met. I lifted a hand and waved. “Hi.”
“Hello,” Chrissy said, looking like she smelled something awful. “So. A werecat in a werewolf war.”
“Yeah. I would rather not repeat that conversation, so let’s just get to work, shall we?” I tried for a smile and knew it failed by the eyeroll Chrissy gave me.
Sheila started to laugh, leaning on the other female. “Certainly. We can take this into the offices and set up a phone in case we get contacted. Laurent, you know how to monitor cell phones, right?”
“Yup. I can hook something up where we get calls and texts on my laptop. Can only do one number, though.”
They started walking, letting me trail behind them. I was out of place, listening to them discuss technologies I knew little about or had only heard of in movies. We went to a different part of the warehouse, entering into an ‘office’ filled with cubicles for the most part. On one side of the room, however, there was a meeting table with several chairs and a whiteboard.
Without talking to them, I wrote what I knew about the situation.
“What is she doing?” Laurent asked softly behind me.
“Ask her,” Teagan snapped, seeming annoyed by the question.
I wrote everything from Carey’s name to the timeline of my time with her from the moment she showed up to the moment she was taken. Then I wrote even further, my own timeline to finding the pack.
Carey was missing now for over twenty-four hours and time was everything. At least in the human cases of missing children. She wasn’t taken by sick humans, though, who would try to dispose of her. She was taken by werewolves who needed her, and if she died, none of them would have a chance in Hell of surviving the wrath that would come down on them. The circumstances were different.
The thing that had me worried was that I wasn’t an expert on any of this. As I wrote what I remembered about the wolves that attacked me, I kept coming back to that. I was running off instinct and whatever I picked up from television, movies, and books. Hell, even video games. I was so far out of my damn depth that I felt like an imposter.
“It’s everything I know,” I finally informed them, stepping back when I was done. “Carey got to me on Saturday morning, very early. Probably around one in the morning. On Saturday evening, we were attacked for the first time. Five wolves. I didn’t check their bodies or their vehicles for information. At the time, I was playing defensively, so I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s your job,” Teagan said, not unkindly. “A werecat isn’t meant to go into the offensive with these types of situations.”
I nodded in agreement. Things were different now, though. “Yeah, well…We left my place and went to a small motel, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. The information your Alpha had previously collected on me made it easy for the traitors to track me, though, something I never knew to expect. More than thirteen of them that time.”
“Wait…how did you get away from the first five?” Sheila asked, stepping closer. “Five werewolves are no joke.”
“I killed them,” I answered, raising an eyebrow. “Five werewolves for a werecat? That’s…well, it’s not child’s play, but it’s not even footing either. I had the upper hand, especially since one was in human form and more focused on grabbing Carey.”
“Jacky is right,” Teagan cut in. “Normally, we wolves need a hunting party of ten or more if we’re hunting big game like a werecat. Those wolves learned that the hard way when their first group failed, so they sent a bigger group the second time. In werecat form, though, you should have been able to take out most of them before dying.”
“I wasn’t in werecat form. I was in human form. They had planned their attack well. Getting to Carey was the only thing I was worried about, and I didn’t think I could spare the time to Change.” I sighed, closing my eyes for a second, remembering the action. “I jumped in, human and stupid, and killed a few before they were able to put me down. They’re carrying silver, by the way, so when we do find Carey, be mindful of that.”
“Shit,” Chrissy growled. “That’s low of them.”
“Right?” I chuckled darkly. “In the last week, they’ve put five silver bullets in me.” I started to laugh, a bit too high-pitched. “Oh, this is a fucking disaster.” I was laughing harder now, bending over.
The wolves stepped away from me as I laughed until I cried. I was in the middle of a werewolf pack having what was probably a nervous breakdown. Carey needed me, but my brain was refusing to function properly as the severity of what was going on once again pressured me into freaking out.
Warm arms wrapped around me. “Woah there, cat,” Heath whispered. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. None of this was supposed to happen.” A hand rubbed over my hair, and I was led to a seat. “Jacky…are you going to be okay? Do I need to put you in a safe house?”
“No. No safe houses,” I finally managed. “Ah, shit, Heath, you brought this down on me and I wasn’t ready for it.” I rubbed my face, trying to wipe the tears away.
“I know,” he whispered. “I know.”
“How?” I looked up, finding him kneeling in front of me. He gave me a sad smile. The other wolves were behind him, looking various degrees of concerned and freaked out.
“I did a lot of research on you, Jacqueline. I know you have two living human parents and a twin sister who is a successful doctor. You didn’t make it through med school, though, opting to become an EMT instead. You’re not a soldier. You aren’t a killer. You saved things once, and it was that reason I picked you over the other werecats to protect Carey.” He sighed. “I’m sorry my actions have changed that for you.”
“You know too much,” I said softly. “My family…They could have been at risk because of you.”
“I’ll see all the information burned and deleted myself, the moment this is all handled,” he promised. “You don’t have to keep going, Jacky. You can stay here and let us handle the rest. You can go home right now and I won’t begrudge you for it at all.”
I shook my head. “Too late for that. I’m fine now. Thanks.” I pushed him away a little, standing back up to get some air. “God. Sorry about that. I’ve been running on fumes.”
“You look like it, too. I take it the wolves put those bruises on your face?” Laurent pointed, gesturing to my entire face.
“Yeah.”
“Huh. I thought werecats were cold-blooded killers,” Chrissy said thoughtfully. “You don’t seem like that. You definitely don’t seem like someone who’s killed…over ten werewolves in the last week.”
I crossed my arms protectively again. “I did what I had to do,” I said softly. “I’m fine. Let’s continue. They’re armed with silver. Does your pack keep a supply of it?”
“Yes, but it’s more for self-preservation. Rogue wolves causing trouble and the like. We�
�ve never authorized its use on your kind or anyone in the pack proper.” Heath was watching me curiously. I knew he was probably thinking about my breakdown, everything he knew about me, and everything that had happened. He probably thought I was weak now, because I was suffering from a moment of massive panic and insecurity about it all.
That was why I had pushed the topic back onto the job at hand, and I was going to force it to stay there. “Where did you keep the supply?”
He shook his head. “Everywhere. Everyone had a small supply for self-protection from other wolves, though the rule was to use it only as a last resort. There’s no secret stash I can point at and say ‘the guns are right there.’ That’s going to have to change. I won’t feel comfortable letting my wolves keep silver after this.”
“Sir, they’re not going to be your wolves soon,” Teagan said softly.
“What?” I raised an eyebrow, intrigued by that new revelation. Heath’s glare at Teagan made it apparent that he hadn’t wanted that to come out. “Heath, I’m in the middle of this now. I need to know what the fuck is going on.”
For what it was worth, he looked back over at me and finally nodded, gesturing for me to sit down. “This goes into how this all started, I think. You’re right. You do need to know what possibly set this off.” I sat down and he picked the seat across from me. “I’ve been planning on retiring,” he started, clasping his hands in front of him, resting them on the table. “It’s for my daughter and myself. I’ve been an Alpha consistently for the last hundred years, and a Council Alpha for fifty.”
Oath Sworn Page 17