by K. N. Banet
“See, her family lived in one of the deepest fae realms. If they were in the Market, that meant they weren’t law-abiding citizens. In my three years here, her entire life had passed. At first, I couldn’t believe it was her. Her entire life, she had wondered if she would ever see me again. She had seen decades pass. She wasn’t a long-lived sidhe. There was too much human in her blood and not enough power. That also made passing between the realms difficult. I never saw her or any of her family again.”
“Oh…” I found one of my dining chairs and sank into it. “I see. So, Brion might be the first, but there are fae who are potentially…generations away from the origins of their clan.”
“Hundreds of generations,” Heath whispered. “And they’ve fallen through the cracks. Then there are those who have come here and lived their entire lives in our realm. These things are slippery with the fae. That’s why you can’t ask how old they are. Brion might be four thousand years old on our calendar, but how many centuries has he seen pass in the blink of one of our years while he resided in the fae realms?”
“Holy shit.” I nodded. “And there are others, other fae.”
“Yes. The sidhe rule what we know, as the children of Oberon and Titania, and they have the most connection to this realm, I think because many of them have a human origin, but no one really knows who and what rules on the other side and how. Most who go to the fae realms either don’t come back or don’t have the chance to explore to get those sorts of answers. It’s a completely different world, Jacky, and we’ve only scratched the surface.”
I kind of wanted to be sick.
“Father, you were telling me about Rian. Did that fae smell more human than him?”
“Definitely. If I knew him under other circumstances, I would say he’s a pure fae, but not a royal fae,” Heath answered. “He’s not as pure as his father or Alvina and Oisin, but he’s certainly not half-human. I’ve met a handful of the more powerful fae who follow their clans. He’s like them.”
“So, the more powerful the fae, the less the human means to them?” I asked, looking between the werewolves.
“It seems like it,” Heath answered, shrugging. “Most clan fae are considered pure, even though there is one human in their origin. Oberon and Titania were so powerful, it left no humanity in them. They don’t care about who their human side came from, only how close they are to the source of their power and which parent that was.”
“Okay. Well, thanks for the crash course in fae…sidhe history,” I corrected. “And the other types of fae…not our problem?”
“I don’t know enough fae politics to tell you that,” Heath answered, grimacing. “I wish I did. Maybe one of them knows, but…” He looked pointedly at our sleeping guests, then shook his head. “I think they’re pretty useless at this point if they couldn’t even name the very famous last son of Brion.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t figure it out after all these years,” Landon said, glaring in the same direction. “Though he’s not the last son of Brion now, is he? And if they were visiting the Market, they would have never run into him.”
“Because law-abiding fae don’t go to the Market,” I mumbled, more of a reminder to myself than to anyone else in the room. The Market, which I had yet to visit, was a pocket realm that served a particular purpose, like the Tribunal Chambers. It was originally a fae black market, but other species got involved, and it became an open secret. The fae weren’t allowed to freely use it unless they wanted to break their own laws, but the Tribunal as a whole didn’t discourage its use because it was too useful.
“What do we do now?” Dirk asked, looking between us.
“We go about our days,” I answered. “Heath and I can’t really go anywhere, which puts you two in charge of everything. Dirk, you’ll be working with Oliver, and I’ll call if I need something brought here.”
“Landon, you know the protocol if your Alpha is unavailable,” Heath said softly. “Go on, you two.”
I watched them leave and had that feeling I couldn’t describe. For some reason, I felt like I wouldn’t see either of them for a while.
12
Chapter Twelve
“Can we talk now?” I asked when Heath sat down with me at the table. “About yesterday.”
“Sure,” he agreed, leaning close to me and reaching to play with my hair. “I was in a mood yesterday, but that’s not a good excuse.”
“Why the mood?”
“I don’t like how much I’ve hurt your life,” he whispered, his fingers making a curl in my hair. “I don’t like that we’re being used against us. I know we talked about it, and I know you were only teasing yesterday, but it still bothered me. Another way I’ve failed. If I hadn’t ruined things with Richard without knowing, had never sent Carey here—”
“Don’t go down that rabbit hole,” I said, pulling away from him. “Don’t do it, Heath. We all make our choices. Hasan didn’t have to turn me into a werecat. I didn’t have to run away from his home before I was ready. I didn’t have to move to Texas, so close to the Dallas pack. I didn’t have to keep fighting for Carey, even though she was taken from me. I didn’t have to let any of you move into my territory. The problems could have stopped if I had turned you down. At the time, I knew you were just using me as a potential shield for the quiet life you wanted to build with Carey and Landon while she grew up. I wasn’t a fool. This is an unproductive exercise, as one of my family would probably say.”
“I know. I’ve lived over two hundred and fifty years,” he reminded me. “But you’re too important to me to ignore it as I’ve always done. Well, not always. Richard damn near brought me to my knees and made me start it up again. It’s hard being immortal and not looking back to see where I’ve made the wrong decision. It takes constant effort.”
“With a couple centuries behind you, I bet you’ve had a lot of places you think you’ve messed up,” I whispered. “And I get it. Look at the human problem I’m dealing with. They figured it out from what I’ve done in the last three years. I made my own choices as well, Heath.”
“Would you change any of them?” he asked, giving me a soulful look.
“No.” I didn’t even need to think about it but offered an explanation. “To change any of the decisions I’ve made would potentially make me feel as though I’m not living up to my own beliefs or make me a hypocrite. My beliefs in what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s in between. I won’t ever change what I’ve done, and I don’t regret any of it.”
“Then I’ll do my best to get myself out of this…funk,” he promised, giving me a small smile. “If you don’t regret any of it, I won’t either.”
“Is it that easy?”
“No, but remember what I said about earning you? Well, I’ll just have to work a little harder,” he said, closing the distance between us and planting his lips on mine. I responded exactly how he probably wanted me to, completely into that kiss the moment his lips touched mine. The people we were protecting were asleep. There was nothing to stop us from heading back upstairs. I growled and grabbed him before he could get away, reminding him I was the stronger person in this relationship, and usually, I held back.
He surprised me by breaking my hold with a grin.
“As a wolf gets more dominant, he gets stronger,” he murmured. “I think we’re about equal right now.”
“Do all rogue werewolves have this problem? Getting more dominant as they stay alone?”
“No. I really think it’s because I’m always setting my will against yours. Not because I want to be more dominant than you, to give you orders, but I love a good argument, and instinct means I want to win. It’s a constant drive and how every werewolf grows more dominant over the years unless they’re a submissive wolf. A Beta stays the way he or she is forever.” We’d had the discussion before, but it needed repeating because he wasn’t slowing down. I purposefully stopped comparing how big his werewolf form was compared to my werecat. “Dominance needs space to grow up pac
k ranks or…an Alpha with a werecat.”
“Is that why Callahan and Corissa are still in power? They’re always throwing their will against Hasan’s?”
“Probably. When the Tribunal originally formed, it didn’t include every werewolf in the world. It took time for them to get everyone in line, for them to get every other Alpha to bow their head in submission,” he said, shrugging. “So far as I know. I had a couple of packmates that old in Dallas who would know the timeline better.”
“Including your Beta,” I pointed out. I couldn’t remember the werewolf’s name, but it had been Heath’s Beta and another werewolf who had been around during the war. One was almost nice, and the other tried to kill me until Heath made it clear I was their ally.
“Yup. So, don’t think you can hold me anywhere,” he teased, leaning in to kiss me again. “The Alpha in me told me I needed to break that hold and rose to the occasion.”
“I see,” I murmured before he kissed me again, a pleased growl coming from him as he claimed me. Werecats didn’t have an instinctual need to dominate and claim the way werewolves did. We were solitary creatures who wanted to keep our territory under control. It was a different mindset. As long as Heath was coming to my bed and in my territory, I felt as though I had control over the situation.
My phone started to ring, and I cursed as I saw the name on it.
“I need to run to my office at the bar to take this,” I said, jumping up. “It’s family.”
“Go. I’ll hold things down here,” Heath promised.
“Thank you,” I called as I ran out the door. As I booked it down the drive, I answered the caller. “Yes, Zuri?”
“Family meeting, right now. It’s about the fae situation,” she explained.
“On my way.”
I threw open the back of the bar and raced up the stairs. I needed to know what they knew, but they couldn’t know what I knew. It was a line I was going to have to walk, as terrible as it was. I wasn’t going to risk them getting involved. It was just Duty, no matter how complicated it was after that.
I got onto my computer and joined the call already in progress. My siblings had beaten me there.
“Jacky, thanks for jumping on,” Hasan said as I came in. “We know you don’t keep your office in your home, so Zuri decided to call.”
“It’s pretty damn early on a Sunday, too,” I said, sighing. “What’s going on? What have we learned?”
“Earlier, we were able to deduce the situation with the fae,” he said carefully. “Footage of King Brion was captured at the Market. We don’t know what his purpose was, but assassins attacked him.”
“Why is he back after so long? And the footage is secure from humans, right?” Davor asked, frowning as he did something on his computer. “Jacky, your system is down.”
“It’s getting an update.” I had Dirk shut it down for this very reason. “Bad timing. Also, I told you to keep your damn nose out of my security system.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Davor mumbled, his hands leaving his keyboard.
“The footage is secure. It went to all members of the Tribunal. One of Corissa’s wolves caught it, and she was keeping all of us informed of the development. It’s not public, so far as I know,” Hasan explained. “Oisin and Alvina have been hard to reach.”
“Are we at risk?” I asked, looking between my siblings. “Why does this bother us?” I knew why it bothered me, but I didn’t know how deep my family was in this situation. Brion and Heath told me Hasan once had a friendship with the king of the fae, but none of my family said too much about the before times—before Liza’s death, before Hasan disappeared for a hundred years. I knew why and understood. They were still getting their own footing, and a lot of what had been no longer applied. One hundred years changed everything. It was a similar reason why I didn’t often talk about being human.
“Brion was a good friend before Liza’s death and remained one as I went into grieving. Then he disappeared. I don’t know what this means for us yet,” Hasan said. “I don’t know where he was or why he’s returned, but I need to watch my back, and you all need to watch your own. He’s back, and assassins are after him. I know who sent them, so there’s no reason for us to try to find that out.”
“It would be his brother,” Zuri said, nodding in agreement. “Brion is more powerful and the rightful king, dictated by their own laws. If his son had taken the throne, this would be a simple power exchange to let Brion have his seat back, but Oisin has the throne and will do anything to keep it. We were once allies with Brion, so we need to be on high alert. Jacky, fix your security system today. Davor needs to be able to watch out for all of us.”
“I’ll be helping him,” Niko added. “That way, if something happens, we’re alerted if you don’t get the chance.”
I needed them to offer more information without giving up what I knew.
“Why didn’t his son take the throne?” I asked, frowning. “I mean…”
“Good question, and I would love to know the answer to that as well, but Cassius and his wife disappeared two months ago,” Zuri mumbled, rolling her eyes. “Cassius should answer the summons of the Tribunal, but he’s a smart man. He’s not going to go anywhere near his uncle right now.”
“Why don’t we know the answer?”
“Because it was after Liza died and before you joined the family,” Davor explained, his words more hushed than normal. “We were insular for the last century. We didn’t care about anyone but the werecats we ruled. Nothing else mattered.”
“If I had still been sitting on the Tribunal, I would have talked to Cassius,” Hasan said, regret in his words. “He was a friend’s only remaining child. I should have been there to help the boy transition to power. I’ve seen him over the last few years, but he’s not the man he once was. He’s tangled up with the cambions and the nagas. He has friends among them and has been withdrawn from fae politics for at least a few decades.”
“Friends?” Mischa frowned. “We don’t even have friends among the nagas and the cambions. How does a disgraced fae princeling have friends with them? They’re tiny, insular, and powerful species who don’t take kindly to outsiders.”
“Not true,” Hisao countered. “I trained their ruler as an assassin. She was a Tribunal Executioner for many years. She was one of the two on standby at Jacky’s trial. She and Cassius were lovers once, a passionate, and toxic affair. They’re friends now, which is better for all of us. So, I could reach out to Kaliya and see if she knows where Cassius is.”
“I wouldn’t ask her for anything,” Hasan mumbled. “Dangerous and unpredictable, that one.”
“The best ones often are,” Hisao retorted. “She owes me a favor, though. I gave her information this family has guarded for a long time. It was related to demons and was pertinent to her case when she was trying to discover and free the cambions from their torment. She hasn’t exposed that information, and neither have those around her, but she still owes me.”
“I would rather we stay out of this,” Zuri said quickly, and Jabari made a noise of agreement. This was more political than war, and we all knew Zuri handled that much better than her twin. “I only mentioned I would like to know as a passing curiosity. I need to keep Amir safe, and Kushim is politically neutral. If we allow it, we will get dragged into this mess by Oisin in an insane power play. This could break the Tribunal.” Everyone in the family nodded, understanding the stakes.
At least everyone is reaching the same conclusion Heath and I did. Looks like everyone is on the same page.
“Agreed,” Hasan said softly. “Jacky…”
I stiffened. “Yes?”
“Have you heard anything from that fae recently?”
“I’ve never gone looking for him, so he’s not a contact I’ve watched out for,” I reminded him. It wasn’t a lie. “I don’t keep fae contacts.” Also true. “I keep my head down when it comes to other supernatural races. I don’t live near any of them.” All true. None of that had changed i
n the last twenty-four hours. Brion sought me out. I was a werecat contact he needed, not the other way around.
“A simple no would have sufficed,” my father said with a small smile.
“Sure, but maybe if I reminded you, you won’t ask me questions with obvious answers in the future,” I answered smoothly. Lying to my family was a skill I was becoming uncomfortably good at. They couldn’t know who was in my house. They couldn’t know how my Saturday evening had gone. They couldn’t know anything until this was over and I was released from my Duty and the damn bargain I had to make.
His small smile evolved into a soft laugh. “Fine. Everyone, you know how this works. If you learn anything, you need to report it to the family. If you receive any unexpected fae visitors…”
I let him talk but stopped listening. He was telling us to do everything I couldn’t do. There was too much at stake. The best-case scenario was Brion reclaiming his throne and taking his wife back. Then I could tell them all it was a quiet event I had needed to keep quiet. They would understand and know I had made the best call.
I had to believe they trusted my judgment.
“Stay safe,” Hasan said, then disconnected.
“Jacky, get your security back online,” Zuri ordered once more, then hung up. She would have been the safest to tell, but I hung up the call. She was also the most selfish. She had a child she needed to care for, so she couldn’t run here to save me.
I put my phone on silent. They wanted my security back up for Davor to monitor, but I was about to shut them out completely. I couldn’t risk it—couldn’t risk them. When I made it back to my home, I went into the security building, ignoring how Heath saw me and followed me.
“Jacky, what are you doing?” he asked as I started unplugging everything.
“Making sure they can’t find out,” I answered. “I’m supposed to give Davor control of my security system, so he can help watch out for me, but I can’t allow that.”
