Broken Loyalty (Jacky Leon Book 3)

by K. N. Banet

  “Did you just shift back?” I asked softly. I hadn’t been paying attention to how long I was running.

  “I had about thirty seconds to get ready with human hands, then you showed up with that one on your ass,” he answered. “You were running for us for a good long time.”

  “Five minutes isn’t long,” I whispered.

  “It was an eternity, and we almost missed you, Jacky. We almost missed you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Landon had already Changed back and was prepping the truck to go. I was about to Change after he was dressed in case a human came by so they didn’t see two naked men on the side of the road. We had caught the scent of the werecats and knew they had caught our scents. Luckily, we had laid down a lot of trails in preparation, and they were lost in them, trying to track us. Then you called out.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Let me get a blanket. I’m sure I have one in the truck. You need to stay warm, and I…I can’t keep looking at this. They…” He lifted up and tapped the back window. “Landon? Got a blanket in there?”

  “They beat me,” I finished. “I know.”

  I felt it land above my head as Landon shoved it through the small window. Heath arranged it over both of us but kept a proper distance between his warm body and my tired and beaten one.

  “How did you find me?” I finally asked.

  “With the help of your family. Landon and I did a lot of groundwork, finding scents and trails in your territory and where they drove off with you. We tried to track the specific car, but that’s fucking hard. Not impossible, but really damn hard. We lost them, but by then, Hasan and Jabari could reasonably guess a few locations where Mikkel was likely to try to hide you. This was the fourth place we tried. When we caught the scent of the werecats, we headed back to the truck to report it and knew we needed to head out as we caught even more scents on the wind. We were hoping to mobilize your family to get you, then you called out.”

  “I escaped,” I said heavily. “They were planning on torturing me. I had to try.” My words were getting slower, thicker. “Got lucky.”

  “Jacky…” His fingers brushed my face. “You did good. Get some rest. You’re safe now.”

  My eyes were suddenly heavy. He was right. I was safe now. With Landon flying down the road, probably going over seventy, and Heath right there—I was safe now.

  19

  Chapter Nineteen

  I woke up when the truck slowed down. I thought I was still in the cage, but it only took a moment to remember where I was, and I was moving, which meant Heath was right beside me. He and Landon had looked for me. They had waited on me to get to them.

  Tears welled up in my eyes.

  “Are you okay? We’re nearly there. Another fifteen minutes. Hold on,” Heath said suddenly. “Jacky?”

  “Thank you,” I choked out. “You didn’t have to risk everything for me. If they had caught you, they would have killed you. You didn’t have to help find me. Carey—”

  “Yes, I did,” he said back in a hard tone. “Damn it, Jacky, yes, I did. Don’t tell me I could have left Carey without a father. Don’t go there. Landon and I knew what we were risking. I made the call.”

  I turned my head to see him better. His eyes were the frosty ice blue of his wolf form, and his dark hair was falling over his face. The entire thing became too intimate in a single heartbeat.

  “Heath—”

  “If you think for one minute Carey would ever have loved me again after leaving you to the ‘bad people,’ just to keep her safe, you are sorely mistaken,” he growled. “If you think I could have lived with myself, then you have lost your mind, and I’ll talk to Hasan about seeing you committed. I couldn’t not help, Jacky. I had to be there to find you. And now here you are, away from them.”

  Feelings choked me—the overwhelming, crushing sensation in my chest making it hard to breathe.

  “I was so scared,” I finally admitted. “I tried to be strong, and I kept silent. I didn’t tell them anything, but I accidentally slipped with my pack magic when they attacked me. They were going to torture me to find out how I got it. They want to overthrow Hasan and restart the war against the werewolves. I was so scared. I didn’t think I would ever have a chance to get out, and…”

  An arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me close.

  Fragile. I was feeling so fragile, the strength that had carried me for nearly a week failing as my forehead touched his chest, and tears fell. The intimacy was gone, only a strange comfortable feeling like I belonged there. That Heath comforting me was as natural as breathing. A funny feeling that should have scared me more than anything that had just happened.

  “You did well,” he murmured. “You got out. You’re going to our safehouse. Hasan is there, along with all of your siblings. I think. I don’t know them all.”

  I nodded silently against his chest. Words failed me as I soaked in the comfort, the solid force he represented—unfailing loyalty, unfailing friendship.

  He’d come when he never had to.

  After another minute or so, I pulled away, knowing it was time to break this up.

  “This is all so wrong,” I said, running a hand over my face, trying to wipe away dirt and possibly dried blood. “This was never supposed to happen.”

  “Rulers must face challenges from all angles, including those from within. Hasan and I spoke long about it, about how the signs were there, but he felt confident his children would be able to fight and confident his werecats would always follow the rules of engagement, like one-on-one fights.”

  “But you know better,” I said softly.

  “I do, and I didn’t need to impress on him that he fucked up by leaving you defenseless. A group of werecats was possibly planning an attack on you. You needed backup.”

  “We’re not werewolves, Heath. We’re werecats. We don’t naturally do anything with the whole in mind. We’re solitary and prefer to be alone and dictate our own lives. We don’t group hunt. That’s a wolf tactic. Ironic since Mikkel hates werewolves but used your tricks to capture me. Fucking hypocrite…” I groaned. “If we had met his force in kind before this happened, before I was taken, he would have painted it as my weakness. As Hasan’s. My friendship with you would have colored it as us using wolf tactics, not him.”

  “He explained all of those things to me,” Heath growled. “Ask me if I care.”

  “You didn’t have to get involved. You won’t impress wolf ideology on us. It doesn’t work that way,” I snapped back. I wasn’t sure why I was pissed about this.

  “You worked just fine with Jabari,” he reminded me.

  “In special circumstances, and look at how he reacted to having help. It’s not natural for us.”

  “It’s natural for you. You work well with me. Maybe it’s not true of other werecats, but it’s true for you.”

  “Apparently I’m a freak,” I grumbled. “Maybe it’s the addition of pack magic. I don’t know, Heath. I’m easygoing? But don’t try to turn Hasan into a werewolf Alpha. The werecats will turn a very small revolt into a very big one. If he starts acting like you or trying to do things the way you do, this is going to get worse, not better.”

  The truck turned down a dirt road that got bumpy. Heath stood and jumped out of the truck bed, leaving me there alone. We must have been on his property if he felt comfortable enough to do that. I sat up, holding the blanket to my chest, and looked over the field, completely empty except for the five parked cars. There was a small house at the back with trees along the back of it. I scooted to the back window of the truck and opened it.

  “Where are we?” I asked Landon, now that Heath had run off.

  “Richard’s farmhouse,” he answered. “We’ve been thinking of selling it, but…”

  “It was perfect for a safehouse,” I concluded. “Who’s here?” I had a feeling Landon paid more attention than his father.

  “Hasan, Jabari, Zuri, Davor, and Niko.”

  We were mis
sing Hisao and Mischa, which surprised me. Landon stopped by the other cars and got out. I sat in the truck bed for a little longer as I could already see what was going to happen.

  Carey was somehow the first person out of the farmhouse, running for the truck. Zuri was right behind her, looking flustered, but I saw the moment she caught my scent on the wind and saw my head poking up from the truck bed. Hasan and Jabari were next.

  I tried to stand as Carey screamed incoherent syllables. Keeping the blanket on was tough enough, but when Zuri reached me, I realized quickly, I needed to give up that hope. She pulled the truck bed down, jumped in, picked me up, and jumped out with me in her arms. It was an awkward sensation since she always seemed delicate. She was a werecat, so I knew she was strong, but this was strange.

  “Let me walk,” I demanded, struggling. “I can fucking walk, Zuri.”

  “Shut up, little sister,” she snarled at me. “You’re bleeding and bruised. If you think I’m letting your feet touch the dirt, you are sorely mistaken. I can’t believe you.”

  My face heated as we passed Hasan and Jabari, who had stopped halfway to the truck. Carey was still screaming in the background, and I looked over Zuri’s shoulder to see Landon pick her up and hug her tightly. As I was carried inside, I saw a wolf run to his family. Why Heath had decided to Change was beyond me. His ice-blue eyes found me, only for a second, then Hasan’s body blocked my view, and I was inside.

  I was dropped on a couch, and Zuri grabbed my cheeks, holding my face to stare at her.

  “Does anything need stitches? Was any silver used?”

  “I was grazed. Right shoulder. Probably doesn’t need stitches, only bandaged.”

  She snapped her fingers, and Jabari disappeared from the room, running off to get a first aid kit, I guessed. Hasan stood silently, staring down at me, but Zuri was still leading this charge.

  “How many?” she demanded.

  “Um…” I did a rough count. I knew the answer to this, but for some reason, it was suddenly hard to put it all together. “Eight attacked me. Killed one…When I escaped, I think I killed another, but I don’t know. He was shot with silver twice, but another one could have stopped him from bleeding out. I don’t know.”

  “We’ll plan for seven, then,” Zuri said with a growl. “Father?”

  “Mischa and Hisao will be here tonight,” he said evenly. “Did they beat you, Jacqueline?”

  “Yes,” I whispered hoarsely. “Yesterday.”

  He snarled in barely disguised rage.

  I caught new scents and heard footsteps. Turning my head, I saw Niko, Davor, and my two employees come in through a back hallway.

  “Shit, Jacky,” Davor muttered, shaking his head. “Did you have a fight?”

  “A few.”

  “How did the wolves rescue you with seven werecats around?” Zuri asked, pulling my attention back on her.

  “They…didn’t, really. Well, they waited for me, so they were a big help.” I explained the chain of events, from the werecats scenting the wolves to my desperation, knowing I needed to get out because I was going to be tortured for information about my pack magic. The fact that Heath and Landon had been around had pressed the issue but also gave me the chance to escape. I wouldn’t call them my rescuers, though.

  “How did they find out?” Hasan asked.

  “I was sloppy,” I admitted. “During their initial attack, I…called out, trying to tell them it was stupid to try to kill me. Or something. I think I might have even begged for my life. Sorry.” I was ashamed of it now. I had begged Mikkel that first night to not do what he was doing. I had said please.

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said in return, going down on one knee next to me. My heart squeezed as he leaned over and put his head on my shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. I should be the one apologizing.”

  “I don’t…” Frowning, I looked over him at my oldest sister, the one who knew our father the best. Jabari walked back in at that moment, his eyes dark with feelings I didn’t understand.

  “It was always a risk,” Zuri said. “We knew when the Tribunal was being formed, many werecats wouldn’t appreciate the idea of a centralized ruler, not even one like Father. Younger werecats fell in easier, not knowing any different and respecting us for our age and power, but older cats…”

  “Hated the idea, even if they liked Hasan,” I finished.

  “Exactly. Before the formation of the Tribunal, werecats weren’t centralized. We answered to no one except each other in a more communal fashion. If a werecat pissed off enough other werecats, we banded together to kill the troublemaker. But there were no Laws, no leader, and no one was forced to bow,” Zuri explained as if it was out of a history book, but her eyes gave me a sense of the weight my family had been burdened with in those early days.

  “Why do we do it now?”

  “It was a condition of peace,” Hasan answered. “To make peace, to form the Tribunal, I agreed to control the werecats. If I was to keep them safe from outside threats, I had to keep them from being a threat to others.”

  “Mikkel says you killed dissenters,” I said softly, trying not to make it seem like I believed the accusation. I needed the truth, then I would make a judgment.

  “I killed a few,” he told me honestly. “And that’s why I’m the one who should be sorry. None of you were ever supposed to be at risk like this. I always thought if anyone had a problem with one of you, they could and would come to me. Then I hid for a century. I lost touch, lost my relationships with everyone. They don’t know me anymore; therefore, they can’t trust me. We announced you, and I thought if anyone didn’t like the idea, they would just come talk to me, or Jabari, or Zuri. Any one of us.”

  “It was the final straw that broke the camel’s back,” Zuri said flatly. “But don’t worry, Jacky. We’re going to wipe these upstarts off the face of the earth. I’m going to bathe in their blood come the full moon.”

  Shivers ran down my spine, but I kept my eyes on Hasan. Like me, his werecat form had gold eyes, which were on display. Ignoring Zuri’s bloodthirst was easy when he had me locked in his gaze, studying me, trying to find some piece of a puzzle he was missing.

  “Jacky, you don’t have to represent the family. You know that, don’t you?” he asked, looking over my face. I could only imagine what I looked like. I had dropped weight, lost blood, and fought more than a few times in the last week. I had been bitten, clawed at, and shot.

  It seemed like every year, my life grew more dangerous as if it was making up for something.

  “I want to,” I replied, trying to put strength behind the words. “I wanted to do this, I wanted…” Closing my eyes, I considered my reasons when I accepted the responsibility. “I’m a member of this family, and you do great things for our kind. I just wanted to help you. I never wanted to rule, but I wanted to help and keep my own mistakes from coming back on you. It hasn’t even been a year, and I’ve failed. Lani is out there with Mikkel, and she wants me dead. My only friend and I couldn’t even keep her. Mikkel thinks I’m a disgrace with wolf magic and allies.” I leaned over, ignoring how Zuri tried to hold me up. “This is all my fault.”

  “This is our fault,” Hasan corrected. “But don’t worry, I fully intend to remind them why I am the werecat who rules, and they are the ones who must learn to follow.”

  “Did you ever want to rule?” I asked, swallowing.

  “No, but there were no other options. It was rule through the Tribunal or allow the werewolves to wipe our kind out.” He stood and walked out of the room, leaving me surrounded by my siblings and the two humans who I had been hoping would never see me like this. They were the ones I had to keep safe in my territory. How would they ever trust me now?

  “Dirk, take Oliver to the other room,” Niko ordered. I heard the shuffling as the two humans left.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long week, but I’ll be fine. I need some sleep.”

  “You mentioned Lani,” Zuri pointe
d out, lifting my head again. “Tell us more while I bandage you up, please.”

  I dropped the blanket, exposing the newest of my injuries. While we could leave injuries alone as werecats, it was safer to treat them as needed. Zuri got to work, disinfecting them and cleaning out the dirt.

  “She’s helping them. Apparently Mikkel is her lover, though I’m certain he’s fucking another of the females in their little group. None of them seem bothered by it.”

  “That’s not relevant, and you know it,” Jabari growled, coming around where I could see him again. Niko and Davor moved to flank him, staring down at me as Zuri worked.

  “She’s pissed off at me. I think she hates me more than she really believes in Mikkel’s cause. I lied to her through omission for years, caused a bunch of trouble that got her into hot water with other werecats with the Dallas incident, then proceeded to ignore the trouble I had made for months while she stewed on who I was. She stopped being my friend probably a year ago, and that’s fine. I just never thought she would be my enemy.” I laughed bitterly. “I called her. I called to check on her as things started to get weird around my territory because I was worried about her. Because that’s my job, right? To keep an eye on the werecats of the area. She never breached my territory, so I had no idea…she was covering for them. She knew, and…” I sighed, trying to ignore how badly it stung.

  “She’ll be executed for this. You understand?” Jabari had no remorse. I nodded, knowing the fate of the werecats who had taken me, including Lani—especially Lani. “Now that we have you back, we can formulate a plan. I’ll need to discuss it with Father this evening, and we’re still waiting on Hisao and Mischa, but then we’ll attack. They’ll pay for this.”

  “Good,” I said without remorse. I knew Jabari would kill everyone for the family. He would rather see us the last werecats left on Earth than see one of us hurt. He was a good older brother that way. I looked past him at Davor and Niko. “I’m sorry Dirk and Oliver happened to be around for this.”

  “You did everything right,” Niko said patiently. “You put them where they would potentially be the safest before the trouble truly began. That’s all that matters.”