by K. N. Banet
When did I become so fucking violent? I used to help people more than I hurt them.
I didn’t dwell on the thought, glaring at Lani, who was clutching her face. I could smell the blood in the air, knowing I busted open at least one part of her face, probably her nose. I picked up the food, not really caring about the dirt and dust. She did have one point. The food would fill my belly. Even though it was dosed in tranquilizer or sleeping medications, it was food.
As I took the first quick bite, the other werecats made it downstairs. Mikkel went to Lani first and looked over her face, then glared at me. I bared my teeth.
“She came too close to the cage,” I explained as if it was reasonable; it should have been expected the monster inside would lash out. I wasn’t going to be the perfect prisoner for them. There was no way in hell I would give them anything they wanted.
“Carter, get Lani upstairs,” he ordered, his eyes not leaving me. The southern werecat helped Lani up, cursing at the blood still pouring from her face. Once they were gone, Mikkel came close to the cage as well. “Come and try that on me.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” I said softly, taking another bite of the meat and rice. “This is good. You should try seasoning to cover up the smell and flavor of the crushed sleeping pills, though.”
“Will it keep you from assaulting anyone here?”
“No.” I smiled tightly.
“You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you? All we need is the passcode to your phone, Jacky.”
“I’ll give you a number,” I said, lifting my chin in defiance. I rattled off the phone number almost too fast for them. Someone scrambled with my phone and began punching it in, but Mikkel didn’t pay attention, keeping his glare on me.
“It didn’t work,” the female said with a bored sigh. “She’s playing us.”
“It’s not her passcode. It’s a phone number,” he said, his eyes narrowing on me further. “Whose?”
“Call it and find out,” I dared.
I wasn’t finished eating and knew if I ate slow enough, I could possibly get around the drugs in it. If I inhaled it like I was starving—and I was starving—I would be out like a light. I took another bite, looking down at how much I had left. There was a lot, and from the lack of a powdery texture, it meant the drugs were thoroughly mixed in. My prior EMT training and failed medical school classes were still helping me.
Mikkel pulled out his cellphone and punched in the number from memory. I was surprised he had been listening well enough to catch it.
“Who are you, and how did you get this number?” Hasan asked, not sounding scared or worried—angry. By now, my entire family would have figured out that something went terribly wrong during the full moon.
“Hasan,” Mikkel said in greeting. “It’s Mikkel, son of Ishkur.”
“Did you kill my daughter?” Hasan went straight to the point. It almost made me laugh when an offended look flashed across Mikkel’s face. Everyone in the room could see how little Hasan cared about Mikkel and only wanted to avenge me.
“No. She’s right in front of me, having the dinner I so kindly gave her.”
“It’s drugged,” I called out. Mikkel snarled at me, and I heard Hasan snarl in return on the other end of the line.
“Quiet or I’ll send someone in there to fuck up your face,” Mikkel threatened. “I wasn’t planning on talking to you so soon, Hasan.”
“Don’t threaten my daughter, tell me what you want,” Hasan growled. “You were clearly intending on talking to me, eventually.”
“Ishkur wouldn’t have wanted us fighting,” Mikkel said with a sigh. “I want you to step down from the Tribunal.”
“And what would that get you?”
“I think werecats need to leave the Tribunal completely, and you stepping down will be a clear sign of our intentions. We should no longer be beholden to the other species and their inane rules to keep us in line. We should no longer have to listen to an old male who decides his family is more fit to rule than anyone else. Jacky here is the best example of that, isn’t she? Young, inexperienced, and has gotten into trouble. She also allies herself with werewolves. Did you really think the werecats of the Americas would be okay with that?”
Hasan’s answer to him was a long moment of silence. I swore I could hear every heartbeat in the room and Hasan’s on the other end of the line. I could hear Lani whimpering upstairs as someone cleaned up her face and the trickle of running water in a steel sink. I heard the animals outside as night fell, coming alive for a night of foraging and hunting.
“Let her go,” he finally said. “She never wanted power; she was just trying to do what was right, and I thought it would suit her to represent me in North and South America. I thought it would give her something to pass the time and teach her. She’s not a ruler, I am.”
“I really love how you don’t try to excuse the werewolves,” Mikkel pointed out with a chuckle. “We all thought Liza was weak, but maybe it was you. Maybe you’ve weakened and passed it on to the little, delicate flower of a daughter you lost.”
My heart jumped into my throat. That was cold. If I knew anything about Hasan, it was that he didn’t wear his anger on his sleeve, but he was probably fuming now.
“Tell me,” Mikkel said gently. “Does Jacky have the same problem? Created by weakness, therefore, she’s weak?”
“She’s stronger than you know,” Hasan answered. “Liza always had a tender, trusting heart.”
“Yet you still aren’t trying to excuse the werewolves.”
“She’s a woman in her own right, and her relationship with the werewolves could bring a resounding, permanent peace between our kinds. You weren’t there, Mikkel—”
“I was there during the War,” he growled. “They killed a human child of a werecat and laughed about it. They killed my brother. We made them suffer for it. And now we talk about peace.”
“It wasn’t the first war,” Hasan explained. “It was the third, though the first two were much smaller. Our kinds have been fighting since the dawn of time, since our creation, but you don’t know this because you weren’t there. Jacky has a chance of creating a symbol of peace with just one werewolf, and I decided I would let her try. And you’re forgetting, her relationship with the wolf has nothing to do with him being a werewolf. She loves his human daughter; saved the girl’s life. That kind of bond is permanent. We all know this. It’s deeply ingrained in what we are.”
“They—”
“If you are so foolish as to think werecats can survive without coming together with the other supernatural species, you are more of a fool than I ever thought. Ishkur would be disappointed.”
“How dare you.”
“He was my brother. I dare.” Hasan’s tone was cold. “I was there when he approached the wolf pack that killed his son, and they laughed in his face and refused to offer the wolf who did it to face justice. I was there when the War began as your father exacted his revenge and killed the entire pack in a single full moon. I was there when he died, boy. You weren’t, but you hold on to all the anger many of us have fought to let go and move forward.”
“You let them cut off your balls,” Mikkel accused. “You walked away when they killed Liza. I’m amazed your own children speak to you.”
“Justice was done. The Alpha of that pack knew to kill the wolves who had done it, and he did so without a fight. He wanted to maintain the peace just as much as I did, even when I was angry. Continuing in that good faith, I walked away, yes. I think I deserved a chance to grieve the death of a child.”
“You’ll step down,” Mikkel ordered. “Or Jacky dies by the next full moon.”
“You won’t live to the next full moon,” my werecat father promised. “Let me speak to Jacqueline.”
“She can hear you,” Mikkel snapped.
“Daughter, do you know anything?”
“No. They beat the hell out of me and brought me somewhere, but I have no idea where. They thought I would call the f
amily for help and have protection if they made me paranoid enough. I guess they were hoping to have more bargaining chips. Or the chance to kill a few other members of our family.”
“Most likely,” he agreed. “I’m sorry you’re there.”
“We knew it was risky. I nearly got past them. They didn’t catch me until I was out of my territory.”
“Good job. I love you, my daughter.”
My heart pounded, and I closed my eyes. He was saying goodbye just in case.
“Yeah. Love you too, Father.” Father felt formal, but it was good for Hasan.
I hoped it wasn’t the last thing we would say to each other, but Mikkel hung up the call and turned his phone off.
“Check that every twelve hours for voicemails,” he ordered one of the other males, tossing the phone across the room. When he looked at me, he slowly took me in, judging me, weighing me against some scale in his mind. “You nearly did make it out. If you weren’t so…disrespectful of everything being a werecat means, maybe you would have lived a long and powerful life.”
“Go to hell,” I growled.
He was laughing as he led the rest out of the room. Someone mocked me saying goodbye to Hasan, and I distinctly heard the comment ‘weak child’.
I would show them a ‘weak child’.
When I ripped their fucking throats out.
16
Chapter Sixteen
Monday turned into Tuesday. I barely ate, and I tried my best not to sleep.
The next full moon was still weeks away, but I knew better than to think it would take that long. For them to kill me, for me to get rescued, or for me to escape—one would happen long before the full moon came overhead again.
Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and I was beginning to notice a pattern. They woke up around noon and stayed up late into the night. They left one person downstairs with me while I was awake, and that person changed on a rotation with the others.
It was Wednesday evening when Mikkel came back down, holding dinner.
“We want the wolves,” he said without any preamble. “You’re going to deliver them to us.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” I said with a smile. “You’ve lost your ability to trick anyone by making that phone call, and no one I care about is stupid enough to accept a trade.”
“He’s your ally.”
“He has a daughter he wants to see grow up. If I were in his shoes, I would pick her too,” I retorted. “There’s nothing on this earth that will get him to choose me over his daughter.” And that’s what I like about him. He’s a good father, and nothing is going to change that.
“Why don’t we call him and find out?” He lifted my phone and waved it around. “Certainly, you want to go home.”
“You’re planning on killing me, and that’s okay. This isn’t the first time I’ve been held for potential execution. I was okay with it the last time, too.” So long as I’m not being tortured.
“You’re stubborn. You have a strong will. That’s a good thing, but don’t let it lead you to stupidity. The werewolves don’t care about you enough to attempt a rescue, so why throw your life away for them?”
“I thought I was weak. You said I was weak to Hasan, just like Liza. Mikkel, do you possibly think you can win this?”
“Yes, because Hasan won’t risk another child.”
“You’re right. He won’t risk another child. He’ll burn down this world for me or any one of my siblings, you fucking idiot. There’s no winning here. There’s only destruction. There’s only a lot of dead bodies at the end of this.”
Let’s just hope that mine isn’t one of them.
“You have a lot of confidence in him.”
I only shrugged. Even if I was killed, my siblings would scour the land near my territory for months—even years if they had to—to get at him. Hasan would make sure no one in this building lived when he was done. Was I confident I was going to make it out alive? No, but I was very confident Mikkel wouldn’t either.
“Why don’t you tell me how you learned pack magic? Certainly, that won’t betray anyone.” He didn’t bring the food closer, and I was starting to realize that starving me may become a new tactic. That was an unpleasant thought. Werecats needed a lot of calories, and they were already barely feeding me anything worth its weight.
“No, I don’t think I’ll tell you that, either,” I answered, stepping back from the bars. I couldn’t. If I told werecats I couldn’t trust that a fae had gifted me the ability, the fae wouldn’t be safe. I didn’t even know if every fae could even do it. Brin hadn’t been normal, that much I was certain of.
“Did you make a deal with one of them? Perform some sort of ritual with a werewolf? Was it Heath Everson?”
I sighed, giving Mikkel the best bored look I could muster.
“Would any werewolf ever give pack magic to a werecat? And before you ask, no, they don’t know. If you think I told two werewolves, allies or not, I had the ability to use pack magic, then you have lost your mind. Which I should have realized sooner since you’re here, holding me prisoner when you know who is going to take you on. Picking a fight with my family is absolutely something that could get you committed.”
He sighed and walked out of the room with the food, proving my private assumption correct. Wonderful.
“Well, this was a fun chat,” I called out as he left. He didn’t stop, continuing upstairs. I heard the bowl clang in a sink upstairs, the distinct metal and ceramic clattering.
“Lani, you didn’t tell me that she thinks she’s a comedian,” he commented. “We’re going to starve her out. I’m tired of the attitude. Maybe hungry, she’ll be more willing to cooperate.”
“It’s a defense,” my once friend replied. “She’s freaking out. Keep her down there longer, and she might crack, but it’s unlikely. She has a spine of steel, and she’s not afraid to die.”
“Odd for someone so young,” he said thoughtfully. I heard something thump but couldn’t identify it. “I was really hoping to get one of his older children. Zuri would have been a fine catch or Mischa, one of the older daughters. They both know me and would listen. They would recognize the problems I’m trying to fix.”
“From the sound of her conversation with Hasan, they anticipated it being a trap to prey on Jacky and use it to get to more of them. They left her to rot, and she’s still holding out for them. Maybe…”
“Maybe?” Mikkel seemed interested in whatever Lani might be thinking. To be honest, I was too.
“Maybe I can convince her. Give me a few days, maybe a week.” A heavy sigh punctuated that. “I wish we were in my territory. I don’t like flying blind like this. We need time with her, and we might not have it. If we were in my territory, we would at least have some defenses.”
“The same could be said of Carter’s territory or mine, but you know why I picked this location. Our territories would be the first places they checked, and they would go in force. We can’t win an all-out fight against the entire family. That’s why I was hoping to get one or two with Jacky, but in the end, they didn’t give us that, so we make do.” Someone walked around above me. The basement seemed to be directly under the kitchen, and they didn’t much care if I heard whatever they were talking about. Who was I going to tell? “You can talk to her more, but stay away from the cage, love. Please.”
I rolled my eyes. The only important thing I just learned was at least three of these weren’t rogues. They were werecats with territories, used to relying on that magical bond with the land, just like I was. They were just as out of their element, being in a location without the distinct feeling of ownership and away from home.
“She won’t pull that cheap stunt again, don’t worry.”
I snorted loudly, shaking my head. I knew any minute, another of the werecats would come down and sit with me, which meant silence would be expected.
“How did you deal with her for six years?” he asked, and I knew he’d heard me.
“For six year
s, all she did was exist. It wasn’t so hard,” she answered. “Everything changed after Dallas, though. She changed. Something about whatever happened with being called to Duty made her a bit harder, a bit more aggressive. Like she’s come into…something.”
“What was she saying? That Hasan Changed her without asking for her consent?”
“I’m not sure if she was lying about that. She got a rise out of me, then…” Lani snarled. “It was the stupid underhanded move of an angry child. She just wanted to inflict some pain.”
I nodded to myself. She was right. I was pissed off when I did that.
The voices went unintelligible, meaning Mikkel and Lani were whispering now, keeping it from even my hearing. All that told me was they didn’t want me listening in anymore.
It felt like hours later when Lani came down the stairs, a gun at her hip and without food in her hands. She sat in the chair one of them brought down and placed next to the door. The bruising on her face was already yellow, a sign of accelerated werecat healing. By the timeline, I figured most of my bruises were nearly gone, and many of the holes were closing up well, but it was going to slow down if they starved me.
“Good evening,” she greeted, crossing her legs. It was a pose I was familiar with.
When we met, she had been the first werecat to ever come calling to my territory, curious to see who the new face was. She had sat on my couch, in the exact same position, explaining she had a territory between Houston and San Antonio. We had talked, and I had lied to her about nearly everything. I could still remember the lies, even if they were just lies of omission.
“Hi,” I greeted in return.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure, I’m not going anywhere.” I threw my hands up, gesturing to the cell I was in. It must have taken months for them to set up.
“Did you ever really hate him?” Lani gave me a concerned look, the look of a friend who knew I had a rocky relationship with my werecat father.
“Yes. There was a time I hated him. I never lied to you about that or how complicated it was between us. I just never told you who he was.”
