by K. N. Banet
“Jacky, please! Just…”
“I’m fine with you having a crush on Jabari, but if you think I’m going to let you act on it before you’re forty, you’ve got another thing coming,” I said with a laugh. Hopefully, by then, she would be over it, and this would be a thing of the past.
She did the dignified thing and stuck her tongue out at me, then walked into the bar. I jogged to catch up, grabbing her before she could go up the stairs.
“They’re staying in the apartment until they find their own places. One of them might move in up there permanently, so we’re going to my house,” I explained fast.
The squeal of excitement made me wince.
“We’re going to your house?” she asked, her eyes wide with mischief and joy.
“Yes.”
“Who’s there?” Dirk called. I saw him move to the top of the stairs, looking down at us. “Oh, Jacky. That must be Carey? Heath Everson’s daughter?”
“That’s right. Carey, this is Dirk.”
“Hi, Dirk!”
“Hello. Nice to meet you.” He didn’t come downstairs, disappearing from view and calling for Oliver to come out. The next thing Carey and I saw was the young manager showing up at the top of the staircase.
“You must be Miss Everson!” Oliver grinned, bounding down the stairs and extending his hand to the twelve-year-old like she was somehow going to be his boss too. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Call me Carey!” She shook like a kid shook hands, with too many movements. Oliver didn’t seem to mind, though, and I remembered how he had shaken Heath’s hand.
These two are going to be friends, and I’m not sure whether that should make me happy or scared.
“Okay. Carey and I have a short walk to get to my house. If there’s anything you two need, send me a text.”
“Of course, Miss Jacky.” Oliver waved as I dragged Carey out, who was waving back with her signature grin.
“He’s cute,” she said as the door closed.
“Also too old for you,” I said sternly. At least he’s human. That should count for something. “What do you want to do today?”
“Can we play video games?”
“Yes, always.” Throwing my arm over her shoulder, she wrapped one around my waist as we walked into the woods together. This was the first time I’d shown her the path to my house, and as we drew closer, I grew nervous.
Will she like it? It’s not warm like her home or comfy like the apartment. It’s really clean and sharp. It probably won’t appeal to her at all, and she’ll want to go back to the bar.
When it came into view, I heard her small gasp.
“Those are big windows,” she pointed out as we entered the clearing around my home.
“I like being able to see my woods,” I said softly. “Makes me feel connected.”
“It’s really…clean. White.”
“I know.” I loved it, the juxtaposition of the woods and dirt to the clean house with strong lines and hard angles. The large windows I cleaned once a week to make sure there were no smudges, so I could always see my woods without anything in the way. My front patio only had one chair and a small table, for those mornings I wanted to sit outside and enjoy the quiet.
I led her inside, letting her touch everything, my heart racing. Since the house was built, only one person had ever visited it, and that was Jabari. He hadn’t stayed there for the entire visit after Washington while he healed, but he’d been over. I’d been just as nervous then as I was now. He’d inspected too, and I was left wondering what he’d thought when he was done.
Carey’s exploration seemed less judging and more curious, though. She looked at things I used to clutter the shelves, read the titles of books I kept, and even inspected the rugs under her feet.
“What do you think?”
“I like it,” she answered. “So, where do we play games?”
I chuckled and led her into the living room again, opening a cabinet and showing her the gaming consoles I owned, some of them older than her.
“Cool!” She jumped onto my couch, kicked her shoes off into the middle of the floor, then held her hand out, expecting me to hand her a controller.
It was perfect.
I should have brought her here sooner.
I gave her the desired controller, grabbed one for myself, and we got started. Time flew by, and I had to stop playing to make us dinner. I even made two hot cocoas with it, and she was delighted at how I put whipped cream on top instead of marshmallows.
“Can we put a movie on while we eat? Can we eat out here?”
“We can,” I said, giving in to her every demand. When I put her dinner on the coffee table, she dug in as I flipped through the DVDs to put on an animated movie I knew she liked and could watch a hundred times over.
“So, really, how’s school?” I asked now that we were out of the hearing of anyone who could report back to her father. I never told him what Carey told me, never violated that trust. They both knew if I felt Carey was in danger, that changed. But how she was feeling, her secrets, things she needed to get off her chest- I was the friend who could hear those things and keep them secret.
“It’s okay. I’m ahead because of my tutors. My teachers all love me, but other kids won’t play sports with me. They think it would be unfair because I’m from a werewolf family, so I must be special too.” Carey shrugged. “Same thing it’s always like in school.”
“And no boys.”
She made a gross face. “None of them are cool like Jabari. They don’t care about being strong. They think they’re cool, but they’re really boring and dumb. Jabari isn’t boring or dumb.”
“If you judge everyone against Jabari, you are doomed to end up with a supernatural, not a nice human—”
“So?” Carey frowned at me. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Do you want to be one of us?” I asked softly. “Have you given it any thought?” I didn’t know if Heath ever asked, and I knew his feelings on the matter. If there was one person he was totally okay staying human through her entire life, it was Carey. He didn’t want their dangerous world for her.
“Not really, but I have a lot of time to make that decision,” she answered, not giving me a real answer, which was for the best. If she said yes right now, I would have to tell Heath. He had the right to know if his daughter was strongly considering it, and she would need a certain education before she tried to jump in with both feet, asking for the Change. If she had said no, I was certain my heart would have broken.
I was more conflicted than Heath.
“Well, if you fall in love with a supernatural, they might not…want you to remain human, Carey.” I couldn’t believe I was having this talk with her. She was only a few months away from thirteen. Only one more grade, then she was going to be a high schooler.
She gave me a big shrug.
I’d opened my mouth to say something when cold flooded my veins, and a beacon of energy popped up in my mind. Without thinking, I was on my feet, a snarl contorting my face and making my chest rumble. My territory was mine, and within it, I defended things I was willing to kill for.
And the werecat who just stepped into my boundaries was going to feel every ounce of my rage at their presence. Like Gaia’s land had felt angry and violent, I pushed similar feelings into the land, sending my warning.
Leave or die, cat.
I was just about to start stripping down to meet the challenge in werecat form when it was gone. I stared through the windows, pinpointed on the direction I had felt the werecat.
Coward.
“Jacky?” Carey’s voice was small and scared.
It nearly knocked me on my ass. I looked down at her, eyes going wide. She was pale and curled up on the couch, staring at me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, realizing what she must have just seen.
“Are we okay?” she asked in that same tiny voice.
“I’m so sorry. Oh, Carey, I’m sorry.” I went down
to my knees in front of her.
“What happened?”
“A werecat entered my territory. Gone now. I…”
“So, we’re safe?”
“Yes. We’re safe,” I promised. “Whoever it was left when they got my warning.” I remembered that all of the Everson family now knew about my territory magic, the deep connection I had to the land. Carey had even seen it before when we first met, and the werewolves came for us. “Did I scare you?” I asked softly.
“No. I was scared someone was coming to get us,” she said weakly.
Relief flooded me. Not me—she wasn’t scared of the monster on its knees in front of her. She was scared of whatever monster I would defend us from.
“How did you know?” I asked, leaning to put my head down, my focus divided between her and monitoring my territory. I tracked Heath and Landon’s steps. I waited for the intruder to come back.
“You were looking…away. Like you could see something I couldn’t. It made me think of when the wolves came for us at Kick Shot. How you stood before you told me who was coming.”
I’m lucky she’s so smart. Or screwed.
“I’m going to take you home,” I said gently but firmly. “I need to go check out the scent of the werecat who just entered and figure out if he or she might come back or was just looking around.”
“So, it might not be a bad thing?”
“It’s most likely not,” I said, trying to lower my heart rate, which was still pounding, racing as if I had just run for miles. “I’m sorry you were scared.”
“Not your fault,” she said. “What about dinner?”
“We’ll pack it up, and you can take it home.”
I didn’t feel safe leaving her in my home, the center of my territory, when a werecat could be waiting just outside the edge of my territory.
A fight was still very possible.
5
Chapter Five
“You’re back early,” Heath said as he opened the door and met us outside. Carey walked past him and held out the food for Landon to reheat. I stared at the Alpha wolf, wondering what he needed to hear and what I should withhold or fudge, so he didn’t panic. A panicked father could turn a simple meeting between two werecats into a bloodbath.
“A werecat stepped in, then back out of my territory. I brought her back here because I need to check out where he or she was. Most likely, it was a rogue sticking their head in, testing the waters, and will have probably continued on their way by now. Another possibility is a werecat traveled down here and wanted to get my attention to talk since Hasan has asked me to represent him. That’s bound to happen.”
“There’s more, isn’t there?” he asked.
“There’s a chance I get to the edge of my territory and find myself in a territory fight,” I said softly, nodding. “Not the most likely since a werecat willing to fight me would have come straight for me, no need for tricks. If someone took over my territory, they would find this area overrun with my family.”
“Of course. Does Carey know?” He didn’t seem scared or concerned, only serious. He knew I was trying to treat this as safely as possible, even if the chance it was a threat wasn’t high.
“She figured it out when I reacted. She’s seen it before and put it together on her own. She was a little shaken, though.”
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t ask. He expected me to explain.
“The first day she was with me,” I told him but didn’t elaborate. He knew about the wolves who came to the bar. He knew how his daughter, eleven at the time, had to pull a silver bullet out of me, then we had to go on the run.
“Stay safe,” he said finally. “Please.” There was worry in the lines of his face, and he seemed a little older at that moment.
“I’ll try,” I promised.
As I drove, the anger came back.
How dare they? This is my home.
I was usually angry when rogues passed through, testing my borders. I’d had a number of territory fights already in my life, a regular occurrence for any werecat who held land. Rogues were always looking for a home or just loved to roam. Sometimes, their intrusion was purposeful, looking to claim something for themselves. Sometimes, it was more accidental. One of the rogues I had met had been in human form, driving. They were on the road, and their path accidentally took them through my territory.
It had been nearly two years since I’d dealt with rogues coming into my territory. Things had changed. With Carey, especially with her as close to me as she had been, all my instincts had screamed to kill anything and anyone who approached. Territory fights weren’t generally fatal, but I had people in my territory I would kill for.
I parked a mile from the edge of my territory and probably a ten-minute jog to the spot where the werecat had breached the line, which told everyone of my kind to stay back.
I debated on Changing into my werecat form before heading to the disturbance; with light fading fast, I knew it was the best choice. Keeping my eye out for passing cars, I quickly stripped, closed the car door, locked it up, and hid my keys in the dirt. Anyone with a nose could find them, which didn’t mean much. I would know they were there long before they could take my car anywhere.
I hated having to be paranoid in my own territory, but I was living by the ‘better safe than sorry’ mantra, going out to check where the werecat had come into my borders.
I snuck into the closest trees and Changed, letting it roll through me and ignoring the pain. Over time, it hurt less, or maybe my tolerance for the pain grew.
I took off at a slow walk, keeping my nose in the air, wondering if I could catch the scent of the other werecat. It was close to forty-five minutes since they breached my territory. They could be miles away, which was for the best.
When I reached the spot, I saw the footprints. They were big, definitely pointing to the werecat being a male. Sniffing around confirmed the assumption, but the scent was quickly fading. With no scent of the cat in the air, I could reasonably guess the werecat was gone, but I still followed the tracks to the very edge of my territory. He’d only come about ten feet in, and I could see how he wandered back on the same path he had used.
Something made me edgy, but I put the sensation down to this being the first rogue to come into my territory since I took the Oath to protect Carey and everything unfolded, leading to werewolves living within my borders.
It’s been over a year. If someone was looking to get back at me for showing a little kindness to the wolves, they would have struck by now.
At least, that was what I wanted to believe. I wasn’t generally paranoid, but the speed and unexpected nature of the werecat’s step into my territory were trying to convince me that something was wrong.
Satisfied- if still edgy- the werecat was well and truly gone, I walked back to my car, staying away from my border since I could feel nothing outside of it. Beyond my borders, I was blind, and that worried me. The male werecat could be downwind and just outside my border, and I wouldn’t know it.
And the fact that it’s a male is a problem. He would be big enough to give me a real challenge, and there are no werecats younger than me, not that I know of. I would be going up against someone bigger and with more experience.
I was thankful he’d decided to leave. If there was anything good about the entire event, it was that he had decided to leave without a fight.
I made it back to my car and was back in it fully dressed within a couple of minutes, not wanting to stay out in the cold in human form any longer than I had to. I didn’t go back to Heath’s, instead sending him a text that the werecat was gone, and I would let him know if it came back. Then I focused on getting home, parking at my bar, and running through the woods back to my house.
Once I was secure in the center of my territory, the edginess subsided, but a small fraction of it remained, and I knew it would bother me for a few days.
I felt like I was missing something to do…
That’s when it hit me. I had two
new employees and had yet to tell them anything about what was happening.
“Fuck,” I mumbled. “If I get kicked out of my territory, they’ll be living and working in a building someone will probably burn to the ground.” It was typical procedure for a werecat to erase evidence of the previous occupants. They would destroy my home and rebuild. I would be legally expected to hand over titles and deeds to anything I owned, and if I didn’t, they would forge copies and signatures to take everything from me. If I was kicked from my territory and tried to fight legally, I would be expected to try for a rematch to take the land back.
Even considering it is a pain in the ass, I can’t let some fucking werecat take my territory. This is why my siblings have many of their businesses outside of their territory. It keeps them safe from losing their sources of income. Hell, this is why most werecats don’t keep most of their business in their damn territory.
I rubbed my temples as I sat down on my couch. With a sniff, I could still smell that Carey had been in my space. It was terrifying. A stark reminder that, under no circumstances, could I ever lose.
I checked my cell to see Heath had messaged me back, glad nothing was wrong. He even added that he let Carey know, something I was grateful for. I had given her such a fucking scare with my reaction to the intruder. It wasn’t common to see any scars from what Carey had gone through, and like the men in her family, she didn’t talk about it to me. But for just that moment, it had been there—the fear I would be shot at again, that she was going to be taken, and she wouldn’t see her family anymore.
I had to stop thinking about it. I had to put Carey aside for a moment to consider my other problems. She was safe with her family. Those two wolves would fight to the death for her, and she would get away. She was smart like that. I bet Heath even had a plan already set for her if anything was wrong, and none of the supernaturals around her could or would protect her.
I dialed my eldest sister, Zuri, preferring to talk to her over Davor about Oliver and what to do if I lost my territory. I didn’t see it happening any time soon, but the intruder had been a wakeup call.
