by K. N. Banet
He snarled at our approach.
“Down,” I ordered Heath as I sank to touch my belly to the mud. Without comment or a fight, Heath also dropped down.
Jabari snarled louder, lowering his head in anger.
“Jabari, can we take this inside?” I called out mentally.
He jerked his head back and took several steps away, backing into the house. I don’t think he intended to go inside. I never told my family about my fae-gifted ability to mentally talk in my werecat form. I figured they had enough to worry about, and the fewer people who knew, the better.
He pawed at the ground and turned away after a moment. I took my chance to get up and lead Heath in. With my body, I righted the couch, but there was no door anymore.
Jabari began shifting back into his human form right in front of us. I stayed a werecat, and Heath made no move to leave his wolf form, either. When Jabari was done, just about as fast as I could Change, he stood up straight and looked between us.
“Hold. I’ll make the building safe.” He stomped into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.
I moved out of his way as he went to the center of the living room and began to carve a symbol into the wood floors. I had never seen anything like it before, and part of that annoyed me. I knew it was a rune of power, but I didn’t know werecats could do them.
“Ah. This should work…Yes. Perfect.” He leaned back to examine his work. “They won’t be able to enter now.” His eyes fell on me. “You shouldn’t be out here, little sister. Explain.” After a pause, his dark eyes narrowed on me. “In human form.”
19
Chapter Nineteen
I began my Change and panted softly once I was human.
“Hi, Jabari.”
I tried to smile a little, but he was a fearsome man. Dark skin and a face that pointed to a rich African heritage, he was intimidating and fierce. He kept his hair short, cropped close to the skull. His nostrils flared in anger.
Heath was grunting behind us as he Changed, but neither of us bothered to look at him. I was a little wary of my older brother now.
“Start talking, Jacky,” he snapped. An ancient accent I couldn’t place began to change his inflection. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Um…you missed your reports for a week, so a family meeting was called. I was the closest and…because you had trouble talking to the local wolf pack, I asked Heath to introduce me to see if I could take them off the list of potential suspects. Hasan agreed. I’m not here without permission.” I stood up slowly and tried to turn my head to check on my wolf. I hissed in pain, and suddenly, large hands were on my cheeks. One lowered to my collar bone, and Jabari growled.
“Stupid,” he said shortly. “They should have sent Hisao. I don’t need the local wolf pack or information from them. I need someone who can help me kill four juiced vampires.”
I winced as he poked and probed the deep punctures in my neck. The bleeding was already slowing as my body worked to correct the issue.
“Please, stop. It hurts.” I tried to pull away, but he snatched my jaw and held me. “Jabari.”
“I’m going to look over—”
“She said stop,” Heath growled as he stood up. I tried to shake my head, warning him off without pissing off Jabari more. Instead, my older brother snarled viciously.
“You. You’re supposed to be a good male. That’s what I’ve been told at least.” Jabari spit on the wood floor between them. “And yet you let Jacky come out here, and she’s been hurt.”
“I don’t need your fucking protection,” I growled this time, trying to push him away. “You wouldn’t do this to Zuri or Mischa.”
“I would,” he snarled. “Don’t act like a fool. If they were hurt like this, I would kill whatever did it without considering the consequences. I also know they wouldn’t get hurt like this.”
I yanked my head away harder, gasping at the pain but able to break his overbearing hold. He cursed and reached out to me, but I stepped away from him faster and leaned on the kitchen counter near Heath.
“I’m here to help,” I hissed. “I’m not here to be babied. And this isn’t Heath’s fault. I asked him to come with me to Washington, but he came out into these woods for his own reasons.”
“What could those be?” Jabari sneered in the wolf’s direction. “It seems every time you’re with him, you get hurt. Obviously, I heard about Dallas. Forgive me if I don’t like his presence here. Or yours.”
“I might give you that one,” Heath agreed. “But I’m out here looking into the disappearance of four wolves. I was pretty sure they were connected to the missing werecats. Those vampires had some choice things to say that confirmed it.”
“Ah.” He shook his head. “There are no wolves for you to find. They’re all dead, I believe.”
“So, you…you figured it out, or did you find them?” I watched him carefully, holding a hand over the more tender side of my neck.
“You will leave at dawn and report everything I tell you to Father.” He grabbed a chair from the side of the room and sat down. His nakedness didn’t bother me, but I would have appreciated him having a bit more care with it. I grabbed my shirt and jeans, pulling them on. If we were safe inside, I wasn’t going to sit around naked. I handed Heath his clothing, keeping my eyes up.
“I’m not leaving these mountains without you,” I replied once I was clothed and feeling a little better. “Not with those vampires out there. You said they were juiced. What does that mean?”
“It means they’ve been feeding off supernatural blood,” he answered. “They started small, taking the wolves to boost their power. It made them strong enough and fast enough to handle Gaia and Titan as a group as long as they took them down one at a time. Now, as you can see, they’re strong enough to tumble with us.”
“How long have they been up here?” Heath asked, finding another chair. He gestured for me to sit down, and I took it, but not before I caught the blood on his shoulder. When I reached to touch it, so I could get a better look, he pulled away. “It’s the bite, and the bleeding should stop in a few more minutes.”
“Okay.” I sat down without bothering him anymore. I stared at Jabari, who was staring intently at Heath. I could hear him shuffling around the kitchen, drawers being opened and closed, then water running. A few moments later, he was next to me again.
“I’m going to make sure they’re clean,” he said gently. I tilted my head and let his gentle hands wipe down the punctures, knowing Jabari was watching and absorbing every little detail of the scene. “So, they’ve been feeding on supernaturals, but why out here? None of this makes much sense. The entire pack lives in Seattle. This seems like a bad place to hunt supernaturals.”
“My guess? They were thrown out of their nest or left to try out something on their own.”
He sat like a soldier giving a briefing, his shoulders and back straight. Did he know how to slouch? He didn’t have any visible signs of injury, but he looked thinner than the last time I saw him over seven years ago. It was an unhealthy thin, though, not like he’d shed a couple of pounds because he wanted to.
“Who cares? They killed two werecats and have been drinking from supernaturals. They broke the Law in a way that gives me full right to kill them without needing to ask anyone’s permission. I’ve been trying to track them back to their nest for days. They don’t leave a trail, which has slowed my progress.”
“Ah,” I frowned. “So…they came up here from wherever. They captured and killed the four wolves, draining them for a power boost, then took on the werecats. Did they drain Gaia and Titan?”
“Yes, though that wasn’t reported to me by the humans,” Jabari answered, smiling viciously. “They’ll have to answer for that. It’s pretty apparent when a body has been drained. I didn’t get to see the bodies, but it’s the only way to account for the vampires’ power.”
“I can imagine,” I muttered. Heath hit a particularly sore spot, and the water made something sting like a bitch.
I hissed, pulling away a little. Jabari growled a warning.
“Sorry. I saw some dirt, and I didn’t want to leave it,” Heath whispered. “I’m listening. You two can continue.”
“So, this is Heath Everson.” Jabari snorted. “Hasan said he was probably harmless.” I felt Heath tense slightly. “You know, sister, if you want him out of the way so you can keep the little human girl, we can arrange that.”
I snarled now. “That’s not funny to joke about, brother.”
“My son won’t let you take his sister,” Heath said tensely.
“Then we’ll kill both of you. It wouldn’t be—”
“Jabari, stop!” I snapped. “I like Carey, Heath, and Landon. They’re good. Threatening them to get a rise is not something I’m going to tolerate. I don’t want to take Carey away from anyone.”
Part of me knew Jabari was just trying to rile Heath as an excuse to dismiss the wolf as untrustworthy. It was a classic move of the family—goad someone into actions they can’t take back. On top of that, Jabari’s insane and obvious distrust of anything wolf was clear. Jabari wouldn’t kill Heath unprovoked, no matter what I wanted. The family would never kill people just so I could have Carey all to myself, but Jabari would certainly use that very scenario to bother someone.
He looked over my face and leaned back, relaxing in his seat.
“I tease, little sister.”
“Oh, I fucking figured, but other people probably don’t realize that.”
Heath was holding the back of my neck a little too tight for me to be comfortable. He had been holding me while he cleaned out the holes. Now, I had the sneaking suspicion he was trying to hold himself back.
Or he was thinking about killing me before Jabari could kill him. Then, only Landon would get Carey, or her human mother would have to be tracked down. It was the only rational response to someone talking about killing you and giving your child away, and I was stuck in the middle of my brother and a man I considered a friend.
“Heath, are you almost done?” I asked softly. His hand relaxed.
“Yes. Let me see if they have bandages around here.”
“No. You know how I feel about bandages. Makes Changing harder.”
He sighed and looked between me and Jabari. “Did your family teach her that?”
“My family is her family. No, we didn’t teach her that. It’s an interesting idea, though, the entire problem would be easily avoided if neither of you came out here.” He gave Heath a cutting smile. “Forgive me. I’m protective of my siblings, and Jacky is our most vulnerable. I want to make sure you understand if anything happens, you’ll be the first one here to die if I had the choice.”
“I have a daughter. I understand.” Heath seemed unperturbed, but I knew better. I had known this man for long enough to know when his behavior was a careful mask. His emotions were on that tight leash, and I could smell nothing on his scent.
“You also have two sons.” Jabari’s change in tactics annoyed me. Now, he wanted to play a nice guy? Really?
“I have one son,” Heath corrected. “I had two once but no longer.”
“So, you know what it means to lose a loved child,” Jabari whispered. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t offer me fake condolences. He betrayed me and tried to kill his siblings. I don’t regret Jacky killing him while I was fighting for the rest of my pack. No one should.” His face was blank. “Yes, I know what it means to lose a loved child, but he killed what was between us before he was ever at risk of dying. Grieve for families who don’t understand each other well enough to stop something terrible from happening. That’s what happened to us.” His eyes flicked to me before he turned his back on us.
Jabari also caught that and narrowed his eyes on Heath’s back then on me. “Hasan only told me the basics of what happened last year, probably so I wouldn’t come and yell at you. Would you like to clarify?”
“It’s just like Heath said…” I shrugged. “I was supposed to protect Carey and get her out of the fighting over the pack. That was my Duty, you know? I killed anyone who stood in the way of that goal.”
I knew Heath’s look at me was about my family. I didn’t think I had told him too much about my relationship with my werecat father, but he had obviously inferred something that hit close to home. Something Jabari realized hit close to home.
“Well. Come dawn, you two shall leave, and there won’t be any more of this violence for you, Jacky.”
“I’m not leaving without you, and Heath isn’t leaving until he can provide proof of the fate of the wolves who disappeared here.”
“Then Heath can stay, and you’re going to go. I don’t need your protection, little cat.” He shrugged.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, adding strength to my words. “I’m seeing this through.”
He scoffed. “There’s no need. Let the family—”
“I’m part of the damn family.” I swallowed on a lump of fear as he bared his teeth at me. He wouldn’t reject my words, but he wasn’t as soft or easygoing as Hasan was. He was the battle-hardened oldest brother and was rougher around the edges than our werecat father. “As everyone constantly reminds me, I’m part of the damn family, and that means I have responsibilities. This is part of being in the family, and I’m going to see it the fuck through. I wanted to do this, Jabari. I wanted this. I wanted to make sure I didn’t cause something that got two werecats killed. I…I’m not walking out of these woods a failure.”
“I have a suspicion Hasan never wanted you in these woods,” he growled. “Am I wrong?”
“No, but I’m here now. I tried to check something out, and we were planning on being out of here by night fall. Things didn’t go as planned.”
He shook his head, looking away from me. “The smell of gasoline?”
“Yeah. The ATV’s fuel line was cut, and we’re pretty sure our car is in the same or similar state.” I rubbed my hands together. “It was a choice between staying here or trying the car and maybe having to repair it in the dark.”
“And we’re too far from civilization to have just run for it,” Heath added.
“Yes, you are.” He frowned. “I really want to be angry with you, little sister.”
“You aren’t?” I raised my eyebrows.
“No. I should call you careless and stupid, but I’ve had my own troubles this trip. They destroyed my satellite phone on my second night out there. They cut off my contact with the outside world, and since then, it’s been a back-and-forth hunt. They want me because I’m a danger to them. I want them for vengeance. I don’t even know how many days I’ve been out here doing this, but it could take weeks before they start to weaken and need to feed again. Maybe months, depending on their age.”
“So, why don’t we all leave?” I asked softly. “Let them have the mountain?”
“For one, that’s cowardly,” he answered, grunting in disapproval. “But that’s not what I think you’re going for. If another werecat had shoved Gaia or Titan out of their territories, they would be expected to walk away. They lost, and it’s only right they move on and let the new werecat settle in. With this, it’s about more than just land. These vampires are an immediate danger to anyone who comes into this area. They aren’t controlled by their Maker unless one of them is the Maker. You think if we leave, they’ll live peacefully out here and cause no harm? They’ll prey on humans until it becomes apparent there’s a problem.”
“Then everyone will wonder why they weren’t killed earlier if we knew about them,” Heath finished. “We could let the Seattle nest know.”
“No,” Jabari rejected that immediately. “I won’t trust the nest. They could have tossed out their troublemakers irresponsibly and might not want the blame to fall on them. I’ll see them when all is said and done.”
“Have you ever been in a vampire nest?” I asked, eyes going wide. “Jabari?”
“Of course. I hate it, and I wish I could burn them in their home, but I’ll go if it’s compl
etely necessary. The last time was…collecting important vampires and inviting them to meet with Father to form the Tribunal and bring peace.”
“That was eight hundred years ago,” I reminded him. He only shrugged. “So, can I stay without being told I’m baggage you have to protect? Because I’m going to stay.”
“You will follow my orders. Both of you.” He glared over at Heath. “Do you understand that, Alpha wolf?”
“I do.”
“Then let’s start planning our next move. With three of us, we might be able to end this sooner rather than later.”
For the rest of the night, I learned why the world called Jabari the General.
20
Chapter Twenty
We headed out at dawn. Jabari Changed back into his werecat form while Heath and I stayed human, wearing our clothing. The plan? Well, to start, we were going to find Jabari’s clothes. He’d stashed them and wanted them back, along with the rest of his things. The only problem was it left us only being able to ask him yes or no questions while we hiked.
Heath and I remained silent for most of the morning. I checked my phone, which had been safe through the night, to find that it was nearly noon when Jabari stopped at a cliffside and looked back at us.
“Is this the short uphill part you talked about?” I looked up the cliff, frowning. This wasn’t uphill. This was fucking mountain climbing.
He nodded and continued walking, and I sighed at Heath as we followed. He shrugged like it didn’t bother him. He’d been eerily silent all night after the initial conversation, not arguing with Jabari or questioning anything. He just fell in line, and that bothered me. Heath was an Alpha, and he was being…submissive.
