by K. N. Banet
“No,” she admitted softly. “We were thinking about leaking the video, hoping someone would deal with it. Then he came in, attacked by one of his pack. He came in, and we…we were so mad, Jacky. We were so angry, and I was in the right place to do something about it. Why hope someone else can fix it when you have the chance?” The desperate look on her face was seeking validation I wasn’t sure I could give her. Not yet, although I wanted to. My heart raced as I considered what I would have done in her shoes. Possibly the same thing if I had a group of people around me who felt the same.
But murdering someone on the operating table was a line I wasn’t sure I was willing to cross. Taking justice into my own hands was a terrifying thought.
“And how do you feel now that people are dying?” Heath asked, obviously bordering on anger. The hint of a growl in his words and the lockdown on his scent was what gave him away. It seemed like a reflex to external problems, that quirky ability he had.
My sister summoned a lot of strength at that moment, looked up, and glared at Heath, her hazel eyes catching the light from her cell phone.
“Alpha Vasiliev didn’t deserve another day on this planet. If I have to die for that, then so be it. I’ll die knowing he’s gone and can’t hurt anyone else. If I can expose that entire pack before I die, even better.”
“Well, obviously the Russians know what the hospital doesn’t want them to know,” I finally said, trying to put the thoughts out of my head. I wanted to focus on my sister’s safety, not the moral quandary of her decision to murder the werewolf Alpha. I would have plenty of time to battle myself over it once everything settled down.
“Yeah,” Heath agreed. “We need to stop chatting and think about our next move. You said you have video of Devora’s account somewhere? That’s good. We can use that. For a long time, we’ve only had whispers of what might be going on in Russia. We knew it was bad, but we had no idea he was…” Heath growled. “Fuck, I could kill him myself, but…”
“Politics,” I murmured, knowing what he was trying to overcome.
“See? Even now, you’re both more worried about the political fallout than doing what’s right,” Gwen snapped as she pushed herself to her feet. “My friend is dead, but I promise you, she didn’t care about the politics, not when we had Devora in our care. She wanted to do this just as much as I did. And you two…Jacky, I never expected you to care about politics. What’s more important? Politics or the lives of women?”
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed softly, looking up at her.
“We didn’t know,” Heath snarled. “We had no idea what he was doing to his females. We knew there were some isolated cases, but for all we knew, those could have been from natural pack fighting. We knew Vasiliev had issues, but we didn’t know…No one would talk to us…” Heath dropped her cell phone and stomped off, but he didn’t leave. The distinct sound of each of his footsteps echoed in the room as he paced. When it stopped, he filled the silence. “You could have sent the video to any werewolf in America, hospital be damned. Who was going to punish you more than for murdering a man? We would have pushed the issue, done something. You didn’t even give us a chance, and now we’re going to see dead bodies who didn’t need to die.”
“I did what I had to!” Gwen yelled across the room. “Everyone told me he could do whatever he wanted because he was the Alpha! The hospital was adamant that nothing we said was going to work. That no one had the authority.”
“And that makes you ignorant,” Heath roared back. “The deaths of a lot of people could be on your hands before the end of this. The hospital played you to keep you quiet, so they could maintain their impartial nature.”
“I am not some ignorant child—”
“You look like one from where I’m standing.”
I closed my eyes, trying to focus. Now, I understood. Heath was angry because he hadn’t know what was going on in Russia. He felt guilty, and I was certain when this got out, lots of people would join him. He also didn’t like the undercurrent of blame my sister was giving off. I knew Heath. He would have never tolerated the abuse of those females if he had really known what caused it. Never. He would have thrown himself into a battle he’d lose if he had known the true extent of the problem. If he could have helped, he would have.
My sister was carrying a lot of anger, as well. Anger no one had stopped Vasiliev before, and maybe because Heath was right. She could have broken hospital rules a little earlier and got the video out there. That could have stopped people from dying, like her friend, maybe even Devora, since the NAWC would have stepped in and taken custody of the female before the Russians could silence her.
I leaned on the wall, my mind trying to pick it apart. Going to my family for help was out of the question. I couldn’t drag Hasan into this without getting him and me into serious trouble with the Tribunal. This wasn’t a werecat issue. It was mine because Gwen was my human family.
Russian werewolves, Mygi Hospital, the North American Werewolf Council, my sister, me, Heath—so many things to consider, and I was getting lost in it all.
“Why don’t you just admit it?” Gwen finally said, breaking through my thoughts. I had tuned them out and lost track of their argument. “You’re only mad because someone called you out, and you’re trying to cover your tracks. It’s easy to say you would do something in hindsight when the job is already done. It’s the politician’s response. A lawyer’s idea of a defense. It might hold weight in a courtroom, but real people don’t believe you and never will.”
“I do,” I whispered. “I believe him.”
Heath chuckled at my sister’s shocked face.
“Jacky—” Gwen tried to speak, but I shook my head.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m tired, and we have no plan. Someone is dead, and we’re too busy arguing with each other.” I drummed my fingers on the wood floor. “Heath, if we can get hold of the video, do you think we could send it to someone?”
“I know we could. It wouldn’t be hard for me to get it to the Tribunal, actually. Or we can use Gwen’s name to send it in to cover up you and me getting too involved. There are lots of options here.”
“Good. I’m going to call the hospital. Sis? I need their number.”
“Why?” she asked, reaching for her phone.
“I need to talk to them. While I’m doing that, Heath, do you think you can grill my sister about where we might find it?”
“I can do that. Jacky, are you sure you want to expose yourself to the hospital?”
“Yeah. I need to know at least one side is taken care of.”
My sister rambled out a number to her superior, and I punched it into my phone as I walked out of the room, then out the back of the house again.
As it rang, I considered what I would say.
“This is Doctor Jacobs. May I know who is calling?” He sounded like an older gentleman or maybe just a tired man—someone who desperately wanted a nap.
“Hello, I’m Jacqueline, daughter of Hasan. I’m calling to speak about Doctor Duray to someone in charge.”
“Oh my God,” he said softly. “I…”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain. I need to talk to someone in charge.”
“Is it true? Are you really her sister?” the man asked as though he hadn’t heard what I said.
“I’m her twin. Give me to someone in charge.”
“I’ll transfer you,” he said quickly, and I was put on hold. The line reconnected quickly.
“You call at the worst times, you werecats,” a new man said, power exuding from his voice. “It’s very early in the morning.”
I hadn’t been paying attention to the time. It hadn’t even crossed my mind it was probably nearing sunrise.
“Do you want me to apologize?” I asked softly. “If so, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I know why you’re calling, Jacqueline, daughter of Hasan. Your sister.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know where she is?” He seemed
curious.
“Yup.”
“Ah, so she somehow reached out to you. I’m going to assume you don’t care what she did, and you want to protect her. Honorable. There’s no reason for you to ask for what you want, I’m pretty sure I can guess. You don’t want her implicated in the death of Alpha Vasiliev and punished accordingly. We have been performing interviews with everyone who came into contact with the Russian werewolves, including the rest of her surgery team. She’ll be given the same punishment as the rest of them.”
“And what’s that?” My hand tightened on the cell phone as I began to worry.
“She’ll never work in the medical field again.”
“You won’t have her executed?” I practically lost my balance and fell, I was so relieved. Stumbling, I leaned against the side of the house for a sense of stability.
“Of course not. That would expose us as having a less than perfect record. We can’t allow that at Mygi. See our self-interest is in line with your needs. Also, I have no intention of upsetting the daughter of a Tribunal member by killing her human family. If we had known she was your family before we hired her, we wouldn’t have brought her on. That’s playing with fire and leads to possibly having political ties we don’t desire.”
I wanted to laugh, an insane bubble rising, I could barely resist. Something felt comical about this entire conversation.
“So, you…you don’t have any intention of hurting her?”
“None at all,” he said warmly. “She’ll be quietly moved out of the area and told to never try to find work in medicine again. Her life will be ruined, and she’ll no longer have a career, but that’s a fair trade for what she did.”
“What do you think of what she did?” I didn’t know why, but I wanted this man’s opinion. He was willing to let my sister walk for murder.
“I’m upset because if it gets out, the reputation of the hospital is ruined, but I understand healers can sometimes get wrapped up in their moral righteousness,” he said with patience that reminded me of Hasan. “We have this system in place for a reason.”
“I just realized, I never caught your name.” I had no idea who I was talking to.
“My apologies. I’m Director Johansson. For posterity, since I know you are a werecat, I’m an Immortal,” he answered.
“What type of immortal?” Every supernatural was immortal.
“An Immortal.” When I didn’t respond, I could hear his realization I wasn’t getting it. “Ah, you don’t understand. My kind, we’re just called Immortals. We’re humans who don’t die. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“That’s very interesting.”
“Hmm, yes. Most never meet one of our kind, and many around me don’t understand what I am, but that’s not the topic at hand. Is there anything you would like to discuss beyond the fate of your sister?”
I considered that. I had no idea what the agenda would be for an Immortal. Was he like the fae, always making deals and bargains? Or was he more like humans and witches, with a moral code of his own? I didn’t know what I was talking to now, and my desperation about Gwen’s situation had distracted me when I had started this phone call. Now, I was more wary.
“How would the Russian werewolves find out who was involved with Alpha Vasiliev’s care?” I asked. “Has the hospital told anyone?”
“No,” he said quickly. “We haven’t. We don’t intend to, but we have a missing ER nurse.”
“I heard,” I whispered. I didn’t confirm the girl’s death. I didn’t know this Director Johansson and didn’t want him to know exactly what I knew. “She would know.”
“Yes, and that makes this world very dangerous for your sister. Jacqueline, it was nice of you to call, and I’m glad you reached out. I’m sorry I can’t help more if I wish to maintain the hospital’s neutrality in these stressful times. If you need care, please feel comfortable knowing you can come to us at any time. It’s my hospital’s privilege to serve the family of Hasan and all werecats.”
“Have a good morning,” I replied, then hung up, sighing. The hospital was out of the way. For a moment, I was relieved. Hopefully, Director Johansson was trustworthy, and I could forget about the hospital while dealing with the werewolves.
As I walked back inside, glad for that news, I heard Heath and my sister continuing their conversation.
“She’s good, most of the time. She’s had trouble, but I think she’s good,” Heath was saying.
Stopping at the door, I listened, knowing Heath was talking about me.
“Trouble,” Gwen mumbled. “She’s always been good at finding it.”
“Well, she didn’t find it this time. You gave it to her,” he said with a sharp tone, only dulled by a touch of humor. “I’ve seen her in troubling situations a few times, you know. She’s only gone looking for it once, and it was sanctioned by her family. We went to Washington to investigate some missing and dead werecats and werewolves. Most of the time, trouble finds her.”
I walked in, smiling at the way Heath tried to defend me.
“You weren’t telling that story right,” I commented, putting my phone in my pocket. “I went to investigate two dead werecats, and I needed you to introduce me to a werewolf Alpha in Seattle, so I could get information. Then we learned about the missing werewolves. Whatever happened to the one who survived?”
“He’s recovered as much as he can,” Heath said softly, watching me walk across the room to lean on the far wall, away from both of them. “He emailed me once to say thank you, then disappeared into his pack to continue healing.” He shifted his weight on his legs, his eyes never leaving me. “How did the call to the hospital go?”
“Good. Director Johansson spoke to me. He knows what his staff did, but it’s not going to be a death sentence. Gwen, you’ll never practice medicine again, but he has to protect the reputation of the hospital, so he’s not going to report you to the Tribunal, the Russian werewolves, or anyone else. Apparently, this has happened before, and this is the hospital’s typical response.” Her eyes went wider as I explained the outcome of the phone call. Without giving her the opportunity to comment, I continued. “This does a couple of good things for us.”
“Yes, it does,” Heath agreed. “And we can talk in the car about all of them. Gwen told me where the USB was hidden, and we need to go get it.”
Nodding, I followed him out of the house, noticing how quiet my sister was, but didn’t let it worry me.
I just told her she has no future in her career. She’s going to need a moment to process that.
16
Chapter Sixteen
“So, the Director wanting to keep the hospital out of it means the Russians only know what they can theorize or get out of the nurse,” I explained further as Heath started the car. “They might not have any solid proof of Gwen’s or anyone else’s involvement in the death of Alpha Vasiliev. Publicly, it’s still a surgery gone wrong and hopefully, will remain that way.”
“Strange, because if they did have proof, thanks to Sarah, why haven’t they taken it public?” Heath hummed as he started down the long dirt drive. “They could go public and get the hospital to hand over the rest of the staff, including calling your sister in to stand trial in front of the Tribunal.”
“Well, if we go public with the pack’s crimes before they go public with Alpha Vasiliev’s murder, we can swing the Tribunal in our favor.” I leaned back in my seat, trying to relax. “Let’s just get this USB, then go from there. I bet the werewolves don’t know the death wasn’t accidental, which we can use. No one will ever have to know.”
“What about avenging the death of my friend?” Gwen asked. “Are we going to forget those werewolves killed her?”
“No, we won’t forget,” I answered, only somewhat pissed off my sister needed to nail that morality sword into my back. Of course, I wouldn’t forget about the death of an innocent human nurse. Just like I wouldn’t forget the death of Devora or countless other female werewolves at the hands of this pack.
>
“There’s not much we can do about it yet,” Heath said. “We don’t know where the Russians are staying in the United States; no one does. From the sound of it, the werewolves in the area didn’t even know how many are here. We also don’t have nearly enough of a force to go against them. Not everything can happen right now.” Heath looked around at us as he stopped at the end of the drive. “Let’s do this one step at a time. We’re talking about exposing the Russian werewolf pack for the very criminals everyone has believed they are for years. Step one is getting our evidence. If we can send it in, Gwen never needs to have her memories read by the Tribunal, and they never need to know she killed Alpha Vasiliev. Step two is rounding up the group. We need to crush the pack completely, but at that point, neither of you should be involved. Okay? We’ll leave that last part up to the Tribunal werewolves. They’ll be forced into action by the public outcry of the Russian’s behavior.”
“Agreed,” I said, nodding. I could accept that. Doing my part, then letting others more capable finish it was how these things were supposed to work.
“Fine,” Gwen said tightly.
Heath punched in an address my sister must have told him and started driving.
“Tell Jacky what you told me,” he ordered as we got onto the dark road. The long night felt like it would never end.
I had been at his dinner table the evening before. We had been laughing, and Landon had been opening up to me. Neither of us had expected a two-hour drive to Dallas, a five-hour flight to Rochester, or the last four hours going back and forth with my sister of all people.
Dawn should be in another couple of hours. Right?
“Sarah hid the USB at a hospital safehouse, just in case. Some of the staff volunteer to maintain them instead of doing other jobs. I have an inactive area of medicine when it comes to supernaturals, so I volunteer in the ER. Some doctors volunteer to travel to see patients who pay high prices. Some volunteer to help Mygi Pharmaceuticals. She picked safehouse duty.”
