Shades of Hate (Jacky Leon Book 5)

by K. N. Banet

  “The geas itself gave it away,” Alvina said softly, nodding. “The inability to confirm or deny—the problem with geas, something I warned both rulers in this room of.”

  I nodded. “Two plus two equals four. I had a two and a four. It wasn’t hard to figure out the missing piece of the puzzle.”

  “So, how does your theory end?” Callahan demanded. “Start from the beginning of your theory, how her death is involved in this.”

  “My theory in full? I believe Price sent the young werewolves to kill Liza and covered it up neatly by using plays on words. He never told them to kill her, maybe only said she was a threat, and he hoped she would be dealt with one day. I think he then killed them himself to keep their words from getting back to someone else. When asked if he sent the werewolves to kill Liza, he could flat out deny it, and there was no one else to question because he had killed them. My family never had the opportunity to look further into the incident. Because they could smell no lie, there was nothing to be done except grieve. Now, a hundred years later and his identity protected, he wanted to strike again at the ruling werecats.”

  “Why you?” Alvina was curious, but not as if I was a child. She was genuinely interested in what I was saying, her eyes locked on me with that twinkle.

  “I’m not the best of my family. I try to maintain the status quo, but I do what I believe is right, even if it goes against traditional ways of thinking and solving problems. That makes me dangerous. I exposed my kind because I worked too closely with a werewolf, a member of an open species.” I didn’t say Heath by name because it was familiar. I couldn’t say Alpha Everson because he wasn’t one. He had to remain unnamed and given no thought. “It makes some werewolves nervous that I’m willing to travel to Russia and help destroy that pack when it would protect my family. My human family. Imagine what I would do to protect my werecat family in a century. Imagine how much trouble I could cause.”

  “And you are the youngest and most vulnerable, for all the trouble you cause me,” Hasan pointed out. I could only nod. “My youngest will get herself killed, eventually. I’m sure everyone in this room believes that. It would be all too easy to speed that process up and make it believable it was just the way things go.”

  “Price?” Callahan turned to his werewolf again, almost as if he expected Price to plead guilty. “How do you plead?”

  “Innocent,” he snarled, glaring at me.

  And there was no lie. Everyone in the room was wide-eyed as they looked at Price, heads turning slowly. Hasan stepped forward, but Callahan was still between them.

  He tells no lies.

  “I think she may believe all of this, but those humans could have lied to her or been mistaken,” Price clarified.

  “Price, I have them,” Geoffrey said softly. “They’re in my custody. I could ask them right now. She wouldn’t have been that bold if they were lying.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Smell no lie on me,” Price snapped. “I am innocent. I don’t lie. I believe in the truth.”

  “What do we do now?” Alvina asked. “I’ve never seen this. How interesting.” She leaned on an arm of the couch, bringing her feet up, looking downright cozy.

  “I think this is an attempt for Jacky Leon to cover up her own bad behavior,” Price growled, pronounced thanks to his already gravelly voice. “You exposed your people, you have foolishly run around, and maybe I should ask you to address the rumors of stealing werewolf magic.” Price spit toward me.

  “What?” Callahan snapped, turning on me.

  “It’s not the point, and I didn’t steal anything,” I fired back.

  “Can you speak with telepathy in werecat form?” Callahan demanded.

  “It’s not the point,” Hasan snarled next to me.

  “It’s a fucking important one!” Callahan yelled. “How did she get the magic of werewolves? What dark sorcery did you and your fucking mother do?”

  Werewolves, who had been growling, went silent. The scents of the room varied widely—fear, anger, confusion, shock, and betrayal. There were so many, I couldn’t identify who was feeling what.

  He knows about Subira.

  “It wasn’t her. It was given to me by a fae,” I corrected, trying to protect my family by throwing myself and Brin to the literal wolves. Alvina leaned forward, her eyes on me.

  “It would take an incredibly powerful fae to gift such an ability,” she said softly. “Who was it?”

  “You met him…Brin from my trial.” I looked at Hasan after I answered, wondering if I looked as scared as I felt.

  “There’s no lie,” Hasan said softly to her, looking past me as he touched my shoulder. “We knew this would come up eventually, but Jacky has preferred not to speak about the meeting she had with this fae, as is her right. It was a personal moment.”

  Alvina nodded slowly. “We’ve never been able to locate him. Not terribly uncommon as many fae are very good at hiding, but if he’s so powerful he can grant abilities such as this, he’s someone I need to speak to…Brin.” Alvina had a faraway expression as she settled back into a comfortable position, tasting the name as if it was a wine. “We’ll come back to this.”

  “Why not deal with it now?” Callahan asked, glaring at his fellow Tribunal member.

  “Because it’s not why we’re here,” she snapped. “We’re here to discuss one of your werewolves trying to assassinate her, and this…”—she smiled—“is a distraction tactic that even worked on me. Get back on topic.” Her words were like a lash through the room.

  Price was bold enough to speak first.

  “And none of it changes the fact I am innocent,” he growled.

  “Maybe this is a misunderstanding, and another werewolf pushed this. We’ll help you find out who.” Callahan was just as confused as the rest of us.

  “I can verify the truth,” Alvina offered, “if both of the participants are willing. I would search their memories and find their personal truths—what they saw, smelled, said, and heard.”

  “I’m willing,” I declared.

  “I’m not. I’ve never lied to another werewolf, and I won’t be subjected to a test of my innocence,” Price countered. “My honor won’t allow me to be subjugated by another species to prove myself.”

  Everyone raised an eyebrow at Price, who shook his head again.

  “Price, it doesn’t look good for you to be against this,” Harrison said blandly. “While I hate Jacky, I wouldn’t want to give her any more ammunition to keep coming back with this. Just verify the truth with the fae mediator, Queen Alvina, and move on.”

  “I’ll do it, and I’ll let Alvina verify that a fae gave me my ability. Just so you can’t continue bitching about that,” I said, glaring at the werewolf I knew killed my sister and tried to kill me. “What? Too scared to back up what you believe to be the truth?”

  “I expect my fellow wolves to back me up because they know my honor is unimpeachable,” Price snapped back.

  Now the werewolves need to choose between protecting and trusting one of their own or throwing him into something he doesn’t want. Good play.

  The answer was obvious—the werewolves believed in doing anything for the pack.

  “Price, you don’t have to. I have faith in you,” Callahan said, turning his narrowed eye gaze on me. “But you are more than welcome to.”

  “Yes, because my daughter’s honor isn’t unimpeachable. We all understand the implication. Don’t try to be coy. You’re not good at it,” Hasan said, both insulted and insulting, not finding Callahan and Price as smart as they obviously thought themselves. He was a different man than I was used to. With his children, he was patient and kind but fierce. This was cold and removed, underscored with pure confidence that he was better than them in every way. He hadn’t acted this way the last time we spoke to Callahan, but I had been the troublemaker then. That was the only difference I could find, except for Corissa’s absence.

  “How does this work?” I asked, looking at Alvina, who rose to her feet i
n one graceful, unbroken movement, which seemed to be both practiced and natural.

  “Simple.” She reached out and placed her hands on the sides of my head, covering my ears. “Close your eyes, and don’t be scared.”

  It felt as if the ground fell out from under my feet the moment I closed my eyes.

  36

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Alvina’s presence was like a strong wind, whipping through my mind as it found a space where it could fit. I saw memories flash as if I was reliving everything in reverse and forward at the same time.

  “I know what a lie smells like,” Alvina whispered in my head. “Think of the moment the humans told you about Alpha Price. Concentrate on it. Right now, I’m on a magical ride through your memories, where I know you don’t want me. You have…a very dangerous romantic life for the position you’re in.”

  Shit. She knows about Heath.

  Just like that, I went to the memory of my birthday, seeing him tell me how much he cared for me. My mind tried to go through the steps, showing how he fell in love with me, and I had barely noticed it until it was too late to come back from. I hadn’t noticed until it was impossible to ignore. How he looked at me, the memories now colored in a different light, knowing where we were now. It also showed me how I fell for him, the steady rock, who had many of the same principles, always willing to fight for what was right, even if we disagreed, as we did with Gwen.

  “Concentrate, Jacqueline. This isn’t my business, and I won’t tell anyone. Concentrate. The longer this takes, the more likely they are to think you are hiding something or something is wrong…Alpha Price, not Alpha Everson.”

  I concentrated on Alpha Price’s name, thinking about the humans I caught. It was a strange way of going through my memories. It started with the first attack, then the warning on the door. After that, I tried to skip when I’d been sniped, but still had to relive it. We flowed through the hospital on fast forward as I tried so hard to get to the right point.

  Why is this so hard?

  “Minds and memories work in funny ways. You want me to know the truth. Your subconscious believes every step is important and is forcing us to walk through each step to the inevitable reveal. Yes, before you ask, I can hear your thoughts, every single one. I’m as much a part of your mind right now as you are.”

  Understanding, I let her see the theories as Heath and I tried to walk our way through the situation. I was able to shove Zuri out of the picture, not needing a third opinion. She was helpful, but my sister wasn’t involved. The same was true for my conversations with my family about the BSA.

  We finally reached the interrogations. Alvina already knew the smell of a lie, so she hummed in my head when the scent never came.

  “The humans believe they tell the truth. This Sam Blake wanted to be healed and to be part of something great again. He was easy to manipulate by an Alpha, who could give him both of those things. He understands right and wrong, though, and eventually realized he had done something very wrong.”

  Yes.

  “I will tell the others you speak the truth of your encounter with these humans and the truth you received. Now, for the second order of business, something I am, admittedly, very curious about.”

  Brin, the fae.

  “Yes…I can feel his magic on you now. He made a space for it, and the gift has intertwined with your curse. Only he could possibly take it away from you. I don’t know if I have the power to do it.”

  You’re the Queen of the Fae.

  “I’m the third to hold the title,” she admitted. “My mother, Titania, was the first. My elder sister and the oldest daughter of Oberon and Titania was the second. There aren’t many fae more powerful than me, and those who are…They’re my family.”

  I don’t like the sound of that.

  “I don’t either. Think of this Brin.”

  I took myself back to the motel and the moment I met Brin, the Irish fae who refused to tell me his clan.

  “I remember his face, but he doesn’t seem powerful,” Alvina whispered, very apparent she was talking to herself.

  I made it to the night of the full moon and his act of gift giving, feeling how uncomfortable I had been.

  “No…it cannot be.”

  Who? What don’t I know?

  “He always did like cats. He would have considered it a small thing for one of his favorite species and a woman who needed help. My dear brother, Brion, always did like cats. That’s his real name, so you understand how grand a gift you were given. King Brion of the fae, firstborn of Oberon and Titania, the first of the royal family, and the first of the Sidhe. Thank you for allowing me to see this memory. You’ve given me a great gift. I did not think I would ever discover what happened to him.”

  She left my mind, and I was left stumbling into the real world, falling against Hasan as she stood very still. My heart was pounding as her words echoed in my head.

  I’ll unpack this later. Don’t have the time to be thinking about that.

  “Jacqueline, daughter of Hasan, speaks the truth. My formal recommendation is as stands. Bring the humans and have them verify what they said to her and verify the identity of Alpha Price or that someone was impersonating him.” Alvina spoke while staring at me with wide eyes. “As for the other, her gift is of fae magic, not that of the moon cursed. I cannot remove it or alter it in any way, and it was a gift freely given with no bargain made.” She sat down and became a statue. “It is unique to her, and therefore, there is no threat to the werewolves of more werecats getting this gift.” She repeated nothing of what she had said to me. “It is not the sort of gift just any fae can give, so don’t think about trying to convince others to give something similar to anyone else.”

  “Alvina, Queen of the fae and member of the Tribunal, has spoken,” Hasan declared. “Your move, wolves.”

  “The humans can clear this up,” Alvina said again. “Callahan?”

  “I’m not bringing in humans to condemn my werewolves.”

  “Don’t play favorites. I’ve executed fae for less than what he is accused of doing. Don’t protect a potential murderer who won’t submit himself to me. He might be a werewolf, but we made a deal eight hundred years ago—in the end, they all answer to the Tribunal. I’m willing to call the other members if this can’t be resolved among us. We’ll make an entire trial of it.” She yawned. “But I’m tired of this. Jacky has been nothing but forthcoming, while your werewolf has hidden behind the pack, playing on the idea that his honor is perfect.” Smiling, her teeth weren’t human, not even close. They had been earlier, but now they were more like a shark’s. “And no one has perfect honor.”

  “A duel of honor, then. A common fae tradition that would do well between a werecat and a werewolf,” Price said loudly, stepping forward. “Silver blades, human forms, and no magic. Whoever wins will be the accepted truth of this matter. I’ll put my life on the line for it.”

  No, you just found a way to kill me and get what you want anyway—the ability to walk away without any sort of repercussions.

  Hasan and I looked at each other at the same moment.

  “This is up to you,” he said softly. “He’s an older wolf, and you’re a young werecat. On a full moon, I would have the fullest confidence in you, but…”

  “In human form, we’re more even, which makes it fair,” I finished, nodding. I turned back to Price. “I’ll also put my life on the line. A duel of honor, trial by combat…whatever you want to call it.”

  “Needless waste of life,” Alvina muttered. “And it might not even give the truth.”

  “He’s correct. It’s a fae tradition and would suit nicely for the problem we have,” Hasan said as he went to her. “I would ask a small favor. Two silver blades, if you will.”

  Alvina nodded and raised her hands. In a blink, each hand closed on a hilt. Both blades looked exactly the same, a matching set.

  “Daggers,” she decided. “If you’re allowing me to set the terms. These are silver da
ggers worn at the waist of a fae guard. Traditionally used to fight off assassins in close quarters, every member of my guard has one made this way for their uniforms. They are not ceremonial and are kept very sharp. They have no magic on them, something each of you can verify with your noses.”

  Callahan crossed the room and grabbed the one offered to him without hesitation. Hasan took the other more slowly, and I saw the worry of a father as he picked up the weapon his daughter was about to fight with.

  “The humans are a much better idea,” Alpha Lewis muttered, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, well, take that up with your other Alpha,” I growled across the room. “He’s the one who refuses to go with easier options. He really does want me dead.”

  Price glared at me.

  “Once the duel of honor has begun, it cannot be stopped until one of two things happens,” Alvina began as each ruler sniffed the blades, then handed them off. It was heavy in my hands. “The obvious is death. If someone dies, the duel is over. The other option is for a side to concede, admitting they were wrong, and allowing the other side to exact punishment or retribution. This can include death. Considering we’re dealing with a werewolf and a werecat, I have a feeling someone is going to die, anyway.” Alvina seemed annoyed. “This ritual was started by the men in my family, and I’ve always hated it. Alpha Price, it doesn’t endear you to me that you mentioned it without understanding its history.”