30. Chapter Thirty

Iwoke up in a bed. My body was stiff, and I felt like a mummy as I tried to bend my limbs and met resistance from tightly wrapped bandages. I could smell someone in the room with me and blinked, trying to wake up more and clear my vision.

"You and Hisao slept the whole way home," Mischa said with a touch of humor. "Heath called, using the satellite phone I gave him, telling me everything that happened. Since then, Father has been talking to Callahan and Corissa. No decisions have been made yet since they want to speak to you, Gwen, and Heath."

"Does it look good?" I asked, hating how dry my throat was. "Water?"

"It looks good, better than you, for sure." Her voice was closer this time. Grabbing my wrist, she guided my hand to a glass.

Once I had it in hand, I tried to drink and realized I was still flat on my back. I dumped water all over my face, making me shoot up, which sent more pain through me, but Mischa laughed.

"Works every time," she said, all too pleased with herself.

"You do this often?" I asked, glaring at her.

"I did it to Hisao not but an hour ago," she said with a grin. "You've been back for just over an hour. I did it to him in the back of the truck."

"You are evil," I accused, shaking my head as water dripped off me.

"I've been told this before," she said, taking the glass. She put it down on the side table and grabbed a second glass. "Here."

I chugged the glass of water, with Mischa holding it for me, her free hand on the back of my head. It was tender and loving, something I didn't expect after the prank she had just pulled, but I appreciated the sentiment. I felt like a child, but not in a bad way. She was my older sister, and she loved me. I had just been through something hard, and she wanted to care for me. That was all.

"Thank you," I whispered. She kissed my forehead and backed away, her smile fading.

"So, what do you want to talk about first?" she asked.

"Well…when do I see Father?" I asked in return.

"After you have a proper meal," she said. "I told him I wanted you and Hisao to have half a day to rest and continue healing. Heath as well. He drove back, with no help from either of you. He only got to sleep when he got here. He got out of the truck and nearly fell off his feet. My people had to get him inside."

"Thank you," I said again, so grateful for how much my family really cared. We didn't agree about much, ever, but when one of us was down, we cared. It felt like I was always the one down, and recently, that was the case, but I knew from their histories, they had all probably done this for each other, and one day, I would probably do it for them. Not that I wanted trouble for them, but it was inevitable.

"We need to talk about something else," she said, sighing as she sat down on the bed next to me.

"Them," I guessed.

"Yes, them." She nodded and licked her lips. "They're in the entertainment room, talking to Gwen. From my understanding, things are very tense. I know they saw you on the trip back."

"My mother watched me Change, and I said hello. Then I passed out," I explained, groaning. "Oh, I can only imagine how she felt. Actually, I kind of know. She screamed. I remember her screaming."

"Okay, we can handle this. Do you want to talk to them?"

"I think I need to," I whispered, rubbing my hands together and chewing the inside of my cheek. "Yeah, I'm going to talk to them. The sooner, the better, right?"

"If that's what you want. I'm more than okay with hiding you from them."

"No…I need to do this." Standing, I smiled sadly at my sister. "For closure."

The pain I saw reflected back was too intense. Standing, she grabbed my hand.

"Then let's go. I'll take you to them, my brave little sister."

She led me through the house. Hisao saw us at one point, and Mischa told him where we were going. He only gave me a solemn nod of respect before going into his room. Mischa took me down two flights of stairs into her basement and stopped at a set of double doors.

"They're in there."

I listened, not moving, barely even breathing.

"Gwen, I can't believe you kept all of this from us," my father said, his tone the same as I remembered—hard, strict, and a bit overbearing. He didn't have the soft, gentle patience of Hasan. Maybe he used to, but I knew this Michael Duray, the one who was hard on his daughters because he ‘wanted what was best for us.'

"I couldn't tell you. You would have had me committed. And I don't regret any of it. I don't regret working for the supernatural species. I regret so many things in my life, but that isn't one of them."

I smiled as I grabbed and turned the handle, slowly opening the door to give the people inside time to realize I was coming. Gwen was the first person I saw, and her smile was bright.

"Jacky! It's good to see you awake."

"It's good to be awake," I replied as she met me halfway. The hug was tight, metaphorically bone-crushing. "I'm happy to see everyone is here, safe and sound. I couldn't stay awake to see the rest of the journey home."

"You did great, sis," she whispered, her arms refusing to budge. "You were so amazing."

"Thanks. It means a lot to me to hear you say that." I lowered my head to her shoulder and just held her. Twins torn apart by life and change, brought back together by the weird ways of the universe.

I'm not letting you go, sis. Not again.

When the hug finally ended, Gwen turned back to our family, moving an arm around my shoulder as we looked at the family.

"You…" My father was still trying to process what he was saying. Looking at my mother, I noticed she was pale again. Daniel said nothing, his eyes narrowed on me. His kids were asleep on the couch next to him. I still, after everything, didn't know their names. I would ask Gwen the moment I had the chance.

"I'm a werecat," I confirmed for the room. "Shane and I got into a car accident on our honeymoon. Through sheer luck, a rich man on the island, who often hung out with tourists, found our vehicle and us still inside. Shane didn't make it, but the man made the decision to save me. He Changed me right there." I pulled away from Gwen as I stepped closer to them, clasping my hands. "Twelve years ago, I made the decision to cut off contact with all of you because I was going to have to live a new life. I don't age anymore. I haven't aged since that day. I'm…immortal unless something kills me. I thought it would be easier to never go home. I didn't want to watch all of you…"

"Grow old," Gwen finished for me, her tone giving away the step after that. She stayed back, but her presence was supportive.

I didn't want to watch all of them grow old and die.

"You were always doing your own thing," Helene said, looking away. "I never thought you would become a…"

"A monster?" I asked, feeling the blow cut open my wounded heart.

"Yes. You knew how we felt about werewolves, witches, and faeries. And you…"

"What did you want me to do, kill myself?" I lifted my hands in defeat. "I did what any sane person would do. I made do. I learned. I adjusted. I continued on with my life, except now, I don't lock my door during a full moon. I'm the reason people should. And let's get to that. We're not monsters. We don't attack people at random for no reason. There are some cases of werewolves losing control, but there are…thousands of good werewolves. Things are going to happen, so let's put the misguided prejudice to the side for a moment." I wanted to rant at them, but cut myself off before I let it go on too long.

Heath. Landon. Iosif. Devora. Ivan. Ranger. Sheila.

I didn't need to fight for them, but I wanted to. I never knew my mother believed werewolves were heinous monsters, but it was clear in her scent.

"I…I can't deal with this," she decided, standing up.

"Mom!" Gwen stopped her from leaving. "We can finally have Jacky back!"

"You can, but I can't condone this—"

"You literally saved a werewolf's life!" I snapped, turning to her. "Ivan, that poor beaten boy? He's a werewolf, Mom. He was beaten because he tried to rescue his sister from being abused. He killed a man as revenge when they killed her. He was a hero who fought for his family, and they beat him regularly. And he's a werewolf. What? You can touch him, but you can't talk to me?"

She turned to me. "Which one were you?"

"Which werecat? I was the tawny, striped one, smaller than the black one."

"Ah. You looked back while we were going up the stairs," she said, nodding slowly. "So, what now? You're a…werecat. Do you have a job, a business, money? Was all of this your fault?"

"I have what I need to get by." I wasn't telling them about the family fortune. "No, none of this was my fault," I promised, looking at Gwen for a minute.

"I just told them they were kidnapped to get back at you and me," she whispered. "They'd been asking so many questions, I didn't have a chance to flesh out the details."

"We'll need to fix that," I said, eyeing her, then going back to my mother. "Gwen called me and asked for help. The werewolves who took you didn't know she and I are related. They didn't know until shortly before they put you on the plane to Russia. Or so the story goes. It doesn't matter anymore when they knew. I never acted against them, Gwen did. So, they had no reason to come after me." I sighed at the end as no one said anything for a minute. Daniel was quiet, listening but not really. This wasn't his family.

"This was Gwen's fault?" Michael was pissed, but I didn't wince as I would have when I was human. His fury and disbelief didn't scare me anymore. I had Hasan, whose quiet nature made his fury more terrifying. I had Hisao, who was a proficient killer. I had Mischa, who could do real damage.

No, I wasn't scared of my human father anymore. His reaction, his disbelief that his perfect daughter was the one who caused this was the last cut I could take, though. He had wanted it to be my fault. He had been hoping Gwen couldn't fall more, and this was all something that I did.

I wondered for a moment what I ever did to make this father unable to love me once I started growing up and becoming my own person. Then I realized it didn't matter anymore.

I have a father. He holds me when I cry. He believes me when I speak. He gets frustrated, but he cares. He doesn't expect perfection, and he allows me to make my case. He apologizes. He's not perfect, but he's a good father.

And his name is Hasan.

Privately, staring at Michael Duray, I let go of the pain and rejection I had felt in my human life. I had my werecat family. It would never be perfect, but it would be, and always was, better than this.

"Gwen," I whispered, turning my back on the family. "If you have anything you want to tell them, anything at all—stuff you've always wanted to say, but feared how much it could damage your relationships—now is the time."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to have their memories wiped of everything that's happened—the kidnapping, being hostages, me, all of it. My family will get the right people to do it, and it'll be better for them in the long run. Your kids should be able to have normal lives."

"You don't want to see us anymore?" She took my rejection of them as a rejection of her.

"Not you," I promised. "I think I figured out the root of our issues. Them. They're the problem. It was never us."

"You can't do that," my mother said, looking between us. "You can't blame your mistakes on us, and you can't wipe our memories without our permission."

"I can do both," I said with a tight smile. "You won't remember, and it's for the best." I wanted to laugh as I gave that line. "Do you really want to remember any of this? You'll never be able to go back to a normal life. We'll have to manage you, keep an eye on you to make sure you don't expose our secrets. And if you did expose us? Being my human family wouldn't stop a werecat or any other supernatural from killing you in retaliation. It's dangerous. Don't be a fool." Now I was ranting. "And as for blaming you for our mistakes? Gwen and I were equally good kids. We loved each other, and we loved you, but you two were awful, and we ended up turning against each other. Dad just proved it. Gwen's at fault, but he wants to blame me. I don't know what I ever did to upset you two, but you hate me, and that's okay. Fine."

"You caught him cheating on me," my mother hissed, glaring, her green eyes like acid. "At ten. And even when I told you I didn't want to know, you felt like you had to tell me. You confronted your father. You tried to break our family because you thought your dad was a bad person. I loved your father. I have always loved your father, and I do not believe in divorce, so we worked it out. Then you had the gall to ask me why I would want to keep a bad husband. You created more problems in our family than any of us could have ever dreamed. It didn't end there, either. You started acting out after that. You always think the world needs to be the way you want it to be. You didn't listen, didn't understand the world didn't work that way, so you acted out."

"You two resented me," I whispered. I didn't remember being ten.

The overwhelming silence that filled the room was broken when my niece screamed in her sleep and started kicking. Gwen and Daniel rushed to her, helping her up and whispering that everyone was okay, and they were free and going home soon.

When I looked back at my mother, I glared at her.

"Take the memory wipe. If not for me, then for them." I tilted my head to my niece and nephew. "Because they don't deserve to grow up like that."

I turned on my heel and walked out, closing the door softly to keep from scaring the children. Mischa was waiting for me on the other side.

"Closure?" she asked, then opened her arms and waited for me to either speak or grab her.

I'm strong. I have a family, and it's not Helene and Michael Duray.

I truly believed it.

I opened my mouth to tell Mischa the same thing as tears welled up in my eyes. She wrapped her arms around me as I leaned into her shoulder.

I cried away my human parents one last time—a final goodbye.