Echoed Defiance (Jacky Leon Book 4)

by K. N. Banet

  “So…” For the first time since I had seen her in the entry hall at Everett’s, she was concerned.

  “I know we had a good relationship before we became teenagers, but I don’t remember most of it,” I said softly, looking back at the picture. “Wish I could, but we only have the hands we’re dealt. It’s fine.”

  “Jacky…”

  “We’re not here to go down memory lane, especially since I can’t go with you. Do you have your bag? We need to go.” I felt cold and knew I was behaving that way, but I couldn’t deal with the emotional load those pictures tried to put on me. I put them behind me and looked for my werewolf. “Heath? We clear to get out of here?”

  “We’re clear!” he called back, coming out of a small room. “Had to hit the bathroom. You seem preoccupied.”

  “I bet I did,” I mumbled.

  I walked out of the house, trying to banish Gwen’s face from my mind. She was looking at me as if I had two heads. I was the first to get into the car, and Heath stood with her while she locked up the house. He was ever the gentleman he always was, holding her duffle bag.

  Once we were all inside the car, no time was wasted to get away.

  “Where are we going?” she asked from the back.

  “I don’t know,” I answered.

  13

  Chapter Thirteen

  Heath was the one who found us a place to hide in the unfamiliar territory. We had to pull over and do a fast search of realty listings, and he picked a small, abandoned farm outside the city that wouldn’t go to auction for another month.

  “If there are contractors working there, we’ll go to the second place. We’ll keep going until we find an empty one,” he said as he pointed it out. “Because it’s at auction, there probably won’t be. They don’t flip these houses. They auction them off for as much as they can get to pay the debt on them. The flippers are normally the ones who buy.”

  “Good idea. And it’s not connected to either of us,” I pointed out. “There are no favors to call in and give us away.”

  “Exactly. To cover our tracks, I’ll buy it through my company and say it’s for Carey when she’s old enough to live on her own, get married, or something. I own properties all over the country, so this won’t surprise anyone. Plus, it’s good to have a place so close to the hospital.”

  “Why?” Gwen was curious as she leaned through the seats. “I mean, you all have private jets. It’s not like it takes any supernatural very long to get to us if they have the right connections.”

  Heath looked around her at me.

  “I get hurt a lot, I know.” I tried not to roll my eyes.

  “Yes, you do,” he murmured. That made Gwen lean back and look between us, but she didn’t say anything.

  It took us thirty minutes to get to the house, and Heath pulled in when there was no one there. We parked in the back, keeping our car out of sight. If anyone drove by, we wanted them to think the property was abandoned until the auction. We set up in the back bedroom, Heath checking floors before Gwen and I were allowed to walk in.

  “So, what’s the plan now?” my twin asked, looking around with a bit of disgust for the abandoned, century-old house.

  “We wait,” I answered, shrugging. “There’s a chance this blows over.”

  “For that to happen, the Russians would need to leave the country.” Heath was looking at his phone as he sat down on the floor. “From the looks of it, they’ve disappeared from the hospital but haven’t left the country. The Minneapolis pack is having a hard time tracking them, which doesn’t bode well for anyone.”

  “Do you think they’ll give up whatever hunt they’re on and go home? Once they do that, this is over before it even starts.” I needed some reassurance from Heath to keep some hope this wouldn’t blow up. Sure, I’d already had a bomb dropped on me with Gwen being involved and a murderer, but that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This could get much worse than a simple hide-and-protect plan.

  “Depends on what they’re looking for, and if they find anything.” He kept staring at his phone. “Mind you, I don’t have all the information since I’m not considered essential. No one even asked me about what Dallas knows, coming up here to help you with a werecat thing.”

  “Any chance Tywin is keeping it a secret?”

  “To help me? No. To protect himself because he helped us? Definitely,” he answered. He shook his head, sighing. “I wish it wasn’t like this between us. I naively thought we would remain friends, and I could stay connected to the pack in some way. Only Carey has had a good interaction with them in months.”

  “I keep hearing about Carey,” my sister said, ignoring what we were talking about. “Your daughter, right?”

  “That’s right.” Heath looked up and gave my sister the same distrustful look he had when he first met her. I knew he had problems with how this went down, and I understood them. I just didn’t want it to become an argument, not another one.

  “How old is she?” Gwen stepped closer, looking at me, then back at Heath. “My oldest is ten.”

  What’s she doing?

  “She’s thirteen and my youngest,” he said.

  “How many do you have?” Gwen tilted her head to the side.

  “Three…two alive, one dead. My oldest was two hundred and fifty-three when he passed away. My middle child is one hundred and fifty-seven.” Heath smirked as he put his phone away. I wanted to laugh when I looked at Gwen and saw her face. “I’m two hundred and eighty. I was Changed during the American Revolution. I was a soldier in Washington’s militia. Some advice? It doesn’t matter if they’re fifteen or two hundred, children never get easier. Not for their parents, at least.”

  “Well…you would know, wouldn’t you,” Gwen said, sitting down away from both Heath and me. “Did you Change them?”

  “My oldest, Richard. I Changed him because he wanted it when he was old enough to understand what it meant. It was a risk I really didn’t understand. I didn’t know much about my own kind at that time. My middle boy was born a werewolf because his mother was one. My youngest is human. I’m hoping she chooses to stay that way.”

  Gwen only nodded, silently considering. I knew the look. She was forming her opinion about him as a werewolf and a father—as a man. I didn’t want her judging him or to deal with her possible condemnation of him.

  “Ever been married?” she asked, looking up again.

  “Gwen,” I snapped. “Maybe his personal life isn’t your business.”

  “I’m just asking. I’m hiding from werewolves, and you…brought one with you. I just want to get to know him.”

  “Don’t you work with some?” Narrowing my eyes, I slid down my wall to find a seat. Four walls in the room and we each claimed one as though it was our territory, our bubble of safety from the others. I didn’t like it. I wanted to sit next to Heath, but I didn’t know how much I could trust Gwen.

  If she learns Heath and I might have some sort of romantic relationship, she’ll find even more reasons to judge him and me.

  “It’s fine, Jacky. Yes, Gwen, I’ve been married twice. Both have passed on.”

  “My condolences,” she said, chewing the inside of her cheek. I had never realized she had the same bad habit, but the way her jaw was moving, and her cheek looked, it was pretty obvious. “Tell me, Alpha Heath Everson, have you ever beaten a werewolf you were in charge of?”

  I hissed, but it was nothing compared to Heath’s growl.

  “No, and I would appreciate not ever being compared to Alpha Vasiliev, Doctor Guinevere Duray. You have seen the worst of us, and I can see the judgment you’re already making. You made it clear the moment you found out who I am and more specifically, what I am. I can only imagine the things you see come and go from that hospital, but let me tell you a little secret. Not every werewolf is a monster, just like every human isn’t a racist, a serial killer, or a rapist. We all have our bad ones.”

  “You’re right.” She lifted her hands. “My apologies
. I’m stressed and angry. I don’t like the idea of hiding here until this blows over. We should be—”

  “It’s our first and best option,” I reminded her. “You don’t really understand what’s at stake, do you? I hate to say it, sis, but in the eyes of the Tribunal, Alpha Vasiliev’s life was worth more than yours. He was an Alpha who was cruel and awful, from what I’ve heard, but he brought stability to a large group of werewolves, and without him, it seems most of Russia’s werewolf population will fall apart. There’s a very likely chance they will not care why you killed him, might not even care you did it on purpose, only that he died in your care.” I wanted her to understand. Her life depended on her understanding, and for all of our issues, I couldn’t live with watching my sister die.

  “What happened to the Jacky I knew who stood up against bullies and injustice?” she snapped. “You got kicked out of medical school for punching a guy in the face, so he wouldn’t accidentally hurt a patient because he wouldn’t listen to you. Don’t you want to hear about what I possibly have? What if I can say we can take down that Alpha—”

  “He’s dead! You killed him! Does it matter anymore?” I couldn’t believe it. She wanted to keep trying to get into trouble.

  “She wasn’t the only one,” my sister yelled across the room. It made both Heath and I jump in our skins. “That female werewolf? Her name was Devora. She was forty-five and had been in the Russian pack for twenty years. For many of those years, she tried to keep her head down, but there’s an expectation of females in that pack. They’re sex objects, to be used whenever a male is…” My sister took a steadying breath. “She was raped, repeatedly. She couldn’t freely walk around without putting herself in danger. Eventually, she was picked to become the mate to a male who had impressed Alpha Vasiliev. She didn’t choose him, didn’t want him. After her mate fell from grace and lost the interest of their Alpha, he beat her. Her complaints and pleas fell on deaf ears. Her Alpha told her that her role in the pack was to keep her mate satisfied by whatever means necessary, just as she had kept all the males satisfied before mating. She killed her mate. In the end, she killed him as he tried to beat her to death. Her pack didn’t bring her to the hospital. Oh no, that’s the story they wanted to spin after the fact.”

  “Who took her?” Heath asked, his voice taut.

  “A lone male brought her, claiming to be her brother. A true beta werewolf. A submissive who just wanted to make sure his sister lived. She had so much to say…”

  “Why didn’t she tell any of the American werewolves?” Heath demanded. I knew Heath could get pissed, had seen it a couple of times, but now he was facing an injustice I knew he couldn’t tolerate. He was too good a man. He and Landon had told me about Alpha Vasiliev’s cruelty, but rumors and evidence were two different things.

  “She was scared. I…I volunteer in the ER because my kids and husband are gone, and I have a lot of free time. There are not many heart surgeries needed, you know? She talked to us, but she didn’t trust any of the werewolves. She spoke to us humans—not the fae, the vampires, the witches, or any other supernatural. She had only ever been a human and a werewolf. She didn’t know them, but she believed the humans in the hospital could help her. The reason you all never knew about the brother was she wanted to protect him. And the Russian werewolves who followed them? They shipped him back to Russia as fast as they could.”

  “Who else knows about this?” That poor brother was in trouble if he wasn’t already dead.

  “All employees are sworn to secrecy. We talk amongst ourselves, but we do not talk to outsiders. There are a lot of threats and punishments which make it very clear we shouldn’t talk to outsiders. If they found out I was telling you any of this for any reason, I would lose my job, probably more, but I’m already in deep because my team and I decided we were finally going to take action. We were done with watching innocent women get treated like Devora.”

  “How many?” Heath was quiet, his emotions gone. His scent was a blank slate that left a million options, but I had a strong idea he was enraged.

  “I’ve seen three, but it wasn’t until this week I learned they were all connected. There are probably six or seven total, in the time I’ve been at the hospital. One girl even had stories about Vasiliev himself a friend of mine had to listen to. A few days ago, I caught a couple of the werewolves who work with me talking about it. They saw me and explained what they were talking about, both visibly upset, angry, the Tribunal and the North American Werewolf Council hadn’t stepped in. Too many bodies were showing up. Russia was already destabilizing, but they couldn’t say anything, thanks to the hospital’s gag order.”

  “I wonder what was happening,” I mumbled, looking at my werewolf. “Heath?”

  “Modern technology and medicine happened,” he whispered. “Things were always bad in Russia, but we could never put a finger on how bad and no one in the pack would speak out, not to us. Alpha Vasiliev never let anyone from the NAWC in the country. He let Callahan in…” Heath growled softly. “Corissa has never been to Russia. Callahan would have wanted to protect her.”

  “What are you talking about?” Gwen sat up a little, her anger written clearly in the lines of her face. My sister hated feeling out of the loop. I remembered her as a teenager, getting annoyed when I talked to my friends about something she didn’t hear about.

  “Callahan and Corissa are the two most dominant werewolves in the world. They sit on the Tribunal. Callahan has always personally dealt with Alpha Vasiliev, from what I know. I’ve never heard of Corissa meeting him. I thought if they knew he was a misogynist, Callahan would have never put Corissa in the position to have her position weakened by an asshole like Vasiliev. But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? They knew.” Heath chuckled darkly. “They put stability in Russia over the lives of potentially dozens of females of their own kind. And if Vasiliev was Changing them personally, the Tribunal would never need to know females were going into the territory. He was picking from the human populations around him, and there were no other packs to call him out.”

  “Heath, that means he could be into all sorts of shit,” I said, swallowing the bile rising up.

  “If he’s giving females away like prizes, I promise you, he is, and probably his entire inner circle. He wouldn’t give anyone less than loyal to the death a seat at the table with him.”

  “Why wasn’t he put down years ago?” Gwen stood up and began to pace. I couldn’t really blame her for that question. I was thinking the same thing.

  “Because…Russia has hundreds of wolves. Over the centuries, he defeated packs and merged them into his own. There was a time the Tribunal and the councils didn’t have as much power. He’s still living in those times. Potentially hundreds of werewolves could die if there was an all-out war between the western world and his army.” Heath rubbed his face. “I need to walk.”

  He was on his feet and had walked out before I had the chance to grab him. I was worried about him.

  “Heath, wait!” I called out before he could get out of the building. He turned, his eyes full of pain.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry…” I lost the words I wanted to say. I didn’t know how to approach him when he looked like that. “What did you mean by modern technology and medicine?”

  “Modern technology is becoming more prevalent in even the most rural areas and more affordable by the day. The females in his pack are probably starting to afford it, and if they have a loving brother or a family member or a friend…they can get out. Modern medicine keeps people alive for longer. With proper care, a wolf can survive the long flight from Russia to the United States, and suddenly, Alpha Vasiliev’s problems get a worldwide spotlight. Things we only theorized about are now being proven as true.”

  “Oh, okay…You can…go for your walk.” I waved to him, surprised when he turned back to me, took three easy strides, grabbed my face, and his mouth took mine in a desperate, passionate kiss.

  When he pulled away, I
was panting.

  “I hate all of this,” he whispered.

  “I know.”

  “It could be Carey one day.” The fear in his eyes told me where his mind went. “And the excuses the hospital werewolves gave your sister? An Alpha’s right?” He shook his head slowly. “That’s not good enough to excuse this. I can’t abide by it.”

  “You’re a good man,” I whispered, reaching out to touch the scruff on his jaw. “We will never let that happen to Carey.”

  He nodded, then kissed my cheeks.

  “I’m glad you’re in our lives, and you might be the only person I trust to uphold that promise,” he murmured before letting go. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to see if there’s any information I can fish up. I might give Tywin a call too.”

  “Okay. I’ll be here with…” I gestured at the door. He nodded, kissed me one more time like he couldn’t resist the urge, then left.

  Walking back into the room, I was well and truly alone with my sister again. When it happened at her house, I knew Heath was nearby, but this time, I had no such assurance. I was immediately uncomfortable.

  “There’s more if you want to hear it,” Gwen said as I took my seat again.

  “I don’t.” There was only so much discussion about rape and abuse I could take in one day.

  14

  Chapter Fourteen

  I stared across the room at her, my eyes on an older body. Twelve years wasn’t that long, not in reality, but it took its toll on a person, especially one with a busy life like Gwen’s. She had wrinkles I would probably never get, smile lines around her eyes. We were only in our thirties, but it changed the body, and human bodies were so fragile.

  “Why did Daniel leave you?” I asked, rubbing my hands together. “I’m sorry, by the way. Um…”

  “I worked too much,” she answered, looking away. “I was always gone. When he kicked me out, he said…it wouldn’t be like I lost any time with the kids…I already barely saw them.”