20. Chapter Twenty

This was my first time in Japan. As the plane landed, I wished I could enjoy it. I wished I was on a family visit to see my enigmatic assassin brother.

Regretfully, that wasn't the case.

I yawned as the plane taxied to its terminal. I had slept on the flight, unable to keep my eyes open after a very long night and morning. I had been lulled into it, and when I woke up, I was grateful to get some sleep while I had the chance.

Heath didn't text me again, and Gwen couldn't since I still had her phone, which was blissfully quiet during the flight. Sergey hadn't reached out, something I was going to take as a good sign for the moment. I had to trust the new Alpha to protect my family from the troubles in his pack. If he let them get hurt, his ability to bargain was gone, and I would make it my personal goal to destroy the entire pack. He seemed like a smart werewolf, so I was certain he knew that was the case.

It took thirty minutes, but I was eventually able to get off the plane and meet Heath at the end of the ramp. Gwen wasn't far behind me.

"Where do we go now?" she asked, looking around. "I've never been to Japan before."

"Neither have I," I said, also searching the surrounding airport.

"Let's go to baggage claim. Maybe Hisao is waiting for us there," Heath said, grabbing Gwen's elbow and leading her. I followed, trying not to stare at where he touched her. It wasn't a danger thing—it was a jealousy thing. He could touch her in public, and no one would blink an eye. She was human.

I scanned the crowds. From what the pilot said, it was nearly three in the afternoon. What made that hard to deal with? It wasn't the same day we left Chicago. What had been a Saturday morning takeoff was a Sunday afternoon landing, and apparently, Sunday afternoon at this airport was insanely busy.

I caught his scent before I saw him and noticed the moment Heath caught it as well. With the crowd, we were both struggling.

It's probably easier for me. He's probably overloaded with scents right now.

Hisao wasn't the tallest man, but when I saw him, I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. His severe gaze caught mine, and that relief left me as fleetingly as it had come.

"Here," I told my group and started walking, weaving through the crowd to my brother. He didn't move a muscle as I walked toward him. Once I was right in front of him, his eyes left mine, and he looked over at Heath and Gwen behind me.

"Mischa told me what's going on." His words were curt. "Let's go. I've prepared the jet—no need to wait. We can take off in two hours. We'll wait on the plane."

He turned on his heel and walked away. I reached back and grabbed my sister's hand, keeping her close. Heath took the back of the group, and we followed Hisao into the depths of the airport, past security checkpoints not meant for passengers. He didn't look back, talking in Japanese to the staff as he walked. When he gestured back at us, I could only guess he was telling them we were with him.

These people knew him, which made me wonder how often he took the jet. I was privileged to be Changed by an insanely old, wealthy family. From my knowledge, the family owned three private jets. One was maintained by Zuri and Jabari, who used it to hop between their territories in Africa. One was kept here in Japan by Hisao. The last was in Western Europe, shared by Davor and Niko. Hasan rarely left his island by human means, and I had never felt comfortable with the wealth I had, preferring a simple life. Mischa was the enigma. I assumed she didn't have one because of her lifestyle, roaming the continent like she couldn't stop her feet.

"Get on," Hisao ordered in a soft growl when we came to the small jet in the hangar. I jogged up the steps, looking back to make sure my sister and Heath were following. Hisao came up the stairs last and locked us in.

The private jet was simple, understated, luxurious, but not ostentatious. Something about that bothered me. I was expecting more. This was my first time on one of the family's jets.

"Do you have the evidence Mischa mentioned?" my brother asked, looking down at me as I found a seat.

"Yeah. I was thinking I would go through it while we were flying. Not all of it has to do with the werewolves, so we need to figure out what to do with the rest."

"Of course. Father might not approve, but there could be something we can keep in the family to use at a later time."

"Why? He's got spies," I said with a snort.

"He won't approve how you got this information," he said, sitting across a table from me. Looking away, he eyed Heath. "How did you get pulled into this? Her twin killed someone. That had nothing to do with you."

"When we first learned something happened, we hoped I would be able to keep violence from happening between Jacky and the pack. I know Sergey and a few others from the Russian werewolf pack. If I don't know them personally, I've read the files kept on them by the North American Werewolf Council. My son has probably met them, and I can call him."

"We were hoping this wouldn't become a huge deal," I said softly. "We were hoping we could keep Gwen in secret, but then those fucking werewolves killed a girl and…" I shook my head, thinking about how we found ourselves at this point. "They don't know Gwen killed their Alpha—they can't—but they do know she was with Sarah, trying to expose the abhorrent shit the pack was doing to their females and submissives. That's what they're angry about."

"How did they find out?" Hisao asked, watching me again.

"Sarah played her hand and tried to dictate the terms of the agreement with the Russians in Minnesota. She was an idiot—"

"Jacky!" Gwen's insulted, hurt shout echoed in my ears. Hisao didn't speak loudly, so in comparison, Gwen sounded like she was screaming through a megaphone.

"She was," Hisao agreed. "Humans don't dictate terms to us. We're more powerful in every way. We also have more at stake."

Well, I wasn't going to go that far, Hisao. Shit. I was just going to say she obviously had no experience with negotiating. Hell, even I made a couple of mistakes talking to Sergey.

"Bullshit," Gwen muttered.

"Please, tell me your viewpoint," Hisao said, looking past me. I heard my sister's heartbeat speed up. She was close enough, I caught the hitch in her breathing. She probably hadn't expected Hisao to call her out.

"We have so much to lose. We don't have centuries to live and do whatever we please. We can't spend fifty years or more building wealth to live for five hundred years. Most of the time, we can only struggle every day for what we have. We have to fight for every single day. We have a lot to lose."

"Yes and no," Hisao whispered. "You live in the present, but so do we. Everyone else on this plane lives to see the years pass by, far more than you ever will, but we still live in the present, struggling every day. We make attachments we aren't willing to lose because we've had them for so long, and they should be immortal. You know that one day, your human parents will die of old age. My father is endless, and I will destroy anyone who dares to try to stop his journey through the ages. My siblings are endless, and I would do the same for them. My family has spent centuries building peace after centuries of fighting nearly decimated us. Do not begin to think you have more to lose."

Centuries? The war eight hundred years ago didn't last that long.

"So, your life is worth more than mine?" my sister dared to ask. "Because you've been promised immortality, and someone might dare to change that?"

"No, not worthless. You just made the mistake of thinking we're without feeling. That we build nothing of worth during our years. I wanted to correct that assumption."

"Sure." My sister sounded disbelieving. "Jacky—"

"I'm not getting into a philosophical debate of immortality versus mortality. I'm undecided." I lifted my hands. "There're better things to talk about."

"I can comment," Heath said softly, looking around at us. "I've had and still have both mortal and immortal family members who help me keep perspective. I've lived long enough to understand immortality, long enough to know I should be long dead." He sat across the aisle at a different small table area with four chairs. "They're different. Immortality brings with it long, if sometimes ignored, relationships. There's confidence, but it has to be worked for. There're a lot of immortals who will continue to struggle every day for wealth, just like humans. But wealth isn't the point." He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Wealth will never be the point.

"Humans love each other for their fragility. One day that person will be gone, and we cherish the mortality for as long as we can, as hard as we can. Immortals form connections based on the endless. Who do we want by our sides for the centuries to come? Forever is a long time when death is only possible in a violent way. Stay out of trouble, and you get forever. That's a massive commitment and not one to be taken lightly. I will love my daughter every day of her mortal life as best I can. I know my son will stay by my side endlessly."

"Yes." Hisao nodded slowly, which made me appreciate my assassin brother more. "I like that way of thinking about it. Very insightful of you, Alpha Everson." My brother wiped his hands, but I didn't know what he was wiping off. Maybe it was the topic. "Now, it's a long flight to Mischa. Please get some rest. She's asking me to take you somewhere that's very special to her, and I might not have the chance to say it later, so I'll say it now. You will all be respectful of her home. Under normal circumstances, outsiders aren't permitted. She only keeps a runway and fuel for the plane, when she needs it and for the locals. This isn't a commercial camp that sees many people coming through."

"Anything else?" I leaned back and spread my legs out, a little upset I didn't get much time to properly stretch them out between flights.

"Don't contact the Russians until we've had a chance to confer with her. Feel free to discuss the options and ideas you might have about how to approach this, but we're not confirming anything."

"Should I call Hasan?" I hadn't missed how my werecat father hadn't attempted to call me back.

Something angry flashed in my brother's eyes—something directed at me.

"No, that won't be necessary. He, Mischa, and I have all spoken on it. By the time we land, the entire family will have been briefed. Zuri and Jabari have been off the grid on a long camping trip. We've had to get one of their humans to go find them."

Oh. They're all pissed. I should have expected that.

He stood and walked out of the main cabin into the small cockpit at the front of the plane. After twenty minutes, a human came out and asked us what we wanted to drink. He wasn't Japanese. His accent was close to Russian, but I wasn't proficient in the small nuances of similar accents. He disappeared back into the cockpit once we were served and left us alone.

"I'm always grateful I can hide my emotional scents when I meet your family," Heath whispered, looking across the plane at me.

"He's pretty scary," I agreed. "You know, he once offered to teach me how to endure torture."

"That's…" Heath sipped his drink, not finishing. Then it was like a light bulb went off. "Hasan believes my ability is a real Talent, you know. I don't think I ever told you that. He commented on it when I met him at my safe house in February."

"You didn't," I replied, raising my eyebrows. "How was meeting my entire family in their—"

"They aren't your family," Gwen mumbled behind me.

It felt like an attack.

"Don't ever let one of them hear you say that," Heath cautioned. "In fact, don't ever say it again."

"They're not biologically related to you—"

"Leave it," Heath growled as I sat in silence at my sister's words. "That is not your place."

"Heath, it's okay," I finally forced out, reaching to him and patting his thigh in a friendly way. "It's fine."

"Your family was taken by werewolves," Gwen said boldly. I turned back to her as she raised her chin. "They…"

"What is your problem?" I demanded, keeping the anger and hostility I felt out of my words. Instead, the emotion that clung to those words was my pain. Why was she saying this?

"Nothing. Obviously, I'm the one who doesn't understand anything," she said, looking away.

"I'm here, pissing off the family I've had for over a decade, and not for the first time, to protect and help you. To finish a fight you started. What…what do I need to do or say to get you to stop attacking me?" I shook my head, unable to understand her.

"Family doesn't tell you to stay away," she said, looking down at her hands. "You asked why I never reached out? I was angry at you for being a werecat and never coming home. I was also told not to. When they saw I worked at the hospital, they told me not to."

I schooled my face before I could give away anything to Gwen, but Heath picked up every scent. As I turned to look at the front of the plane, his eyes went wide as my fury built and stewed.

Which one did it? Hasan? Zuri? Which one would do that? She knows the secrets of the supernatural world. Why couldn't she reach out to me? Why couldn't I know she was there? Which one of them decided to interfere in my life like that?