7. Chapter Seven

Carey ran to my car when I arrived at the Everson house. A picturesque thing with a wraparound porch, it was a beautiful home. Not that I had a moment to appreciate it since I got out of the car and was attacked by a thirteen-year-old.

"Dad beat you and told me you were coming!" she declared, grinning. "He said you were right behind him, but that was like an hour ago."

"I wanted to clean up," I said, giving her the hug I knew she wanted. We walked to the door together, my arm over her shoulder and hers around my waist. "I know we text, but you never told me how you were doing after Monday. Want to say something before we go inside?"

"Not really. They come, they leave. Everything goes back to normal. Dad would never let them take me, and I know you wouldn't either." Her nonchalant words carried more weight than I figured the young teen realized.

The loyalty and faith she had in us was heartwarming…and correct. There was nothing on this earth that could take her away from Heath Everson, who loved his daughter more than the sun.

And there was no one who could take her away from me. The world had tried that once before, when I had just met her, and nearly succeeded. I would never allow it again.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know you can, right?" I stopped her before we got to the door and turned, so we were face to face again. "I know it's hard having people look too closely at your life and judging you for things that shouldn't be their business. If you ever feel like you can't talk to your dad or brother, you can talk to me."

"Yeah, I know." Her one-shoulder shrug told me she wasn't taking this nearly as seriously as I was. Or she wanted to avoid talking about it in general. Carey was much like her family of werewolves. If topics were too emotional or vulnerable, they weren't going to bring it up and made it seem like whatever it was didn't matter. I was used to the act and had seen it falter on many occasions, but I never tried to force it. Not with brute force, at least. I knew how to fool Carey into talking to me.

"Fine, don't talk to me," I replied, lifting my hands up in defeat.

"Jacky!" The whine nearly made me chuckle. "It's not easy. All the kids at school know I was raised by werewolves, and now, a lot of them know what happened in Dallas. Like, it's not hard to search for me on the internet, and everyone has the internet. Some have really mean parents too and…" Her face screwed up into a pout, something I thought she had outgrown. Turning away, she looked to the street and kicked a small rock off the concrete walkway to the front door. "And they don't even know about the people who come here and make Dad feel bad or worry Landon. I hear them talk! I hear how other people talk about us all the time…"

I glanced at the door, particularly at the windows on either side of it, seeing Heath and Landon each hanging out in one. They could hear her, definitely eavesdropping on the conversation. I narrowed my eyes, and Heath was the first one to notice he'd been caught. I watched him tap Landon, and they moved away from the windows. Once they were gone, I turned my attention back on Carey.

"I can't imagine how hard it is for you—"

"It's harder because I don't have a mom," she mumbled. "They all notice that, too. It's whatever, though."

Yes, you do. It's not whatever, Carey. I'm right here.

My heart clenched. No. I couldn't try to fill that role. I wasn't her mother. I couldn't be her mother. I could be a fun aunt or a friend, but I wasn't her mother. The woman who had that responsibility was gone and had never come back. Heath had never lied about it, and she had never reached out to Carey as far as I knew.

Fucking bitch doesn't know what she's missing.

"What can I do?" I asked gently, squatting to be on her level. "Do you want me to help out?"

Her eyes went big…very big.

"Do you think you could…come to my school stuff?"

"Um…not parent-teacher conferences—"

"No, like the science fair!" She reached out and hit my arm. I pretended it hurt and rubbed the spot, but in reality, I had barely felt it. "Don't be dumb. Or like…I want to start playing soccer in school or maybe softball. Or volleyball! I'm human, so they can't stop me. You could come to my games! Last year, I didn't do anything because Dad and I didn't know anyone, and the year before that, I missed like half the school year, but this year, I'm going to do a lot. I'm going into the eighth grade. I need to start worrying about college."

I tried my best not to be surprised by her ideas of college already. She was thirteen. I didn't start worrying about college until I was sixteen. Then I remembered my twin. She started worrying about college when she came out of the womb.

If anything, Carey's a good middle ground.

"I can definitely go to those," I promised. Then I had to deliver the bad news to her plan. "Carey, it might not help with the fact your dad is a werewolf Alpha. Me showing up…To everyone here, I just own a bar. That might not have the effect you want."

She shrugged even more. Somehow, only Carey could make one shrug seem even more impactful than the last. It was an entire language done with one simple movement of her shoulders.

"I know I'll outgrow a lot of this stuff. I'll get out of school and go to college. Maybe no one will know where I came from or who I'm related to at college."

Unlikely.

"But maybe they'll be cool with it if they do know. Right now, it's just…" She sighed. "I'm fine, I really am, Jacky. It's always been like this. It sucks, but I'm going to be okay. As long as I have you, Dad, and Landon, and no one is getting hurt, I really like my life, and everyone else sucks. It's their problem, not mine. That's what all the other human kids used to say. They said when they got out of high school, it all changed. College was way easier."

"Okay, then." I smiled and straightened up, looking to the door. The father in question was back at the window and gave me a weak smile before disappearing again.

Nosy wolf. He's so protective but tries so hard to give her space.

I somehow got her through the door, and she went toward the kitchen. I turned to see Heath hiding behind the door as I closed it.

"Does she…talk to other kids like her?" I asked softly.

"Regularly," he said with a tight smile. "She still messages friends she grew up with from the Dallas pack. Once she turned thirteen, I was ordered to create an account on some social media thing for her, so she could talk to them more. She never told you?"

"Nope." I shrugged this time. "It's not really my business, though, is it?" I chewed the inside of my lip, something about her having a social media account bothering me. "You monitor her online, right?"

"Me and Landon," he answered, his tight smile becoming more genuine and relaxed. "Yeah, we would never let her talk to strangers on the internet. We don't hover, but she knows we know her logins, just to make sure. And when strangers try to add her, we run a quick background check on them just in case, block them from her account, or monitor them other ways."

"Wow. Okay." I wasn't expecting all that. My parents hadn't monitored my sister and me on the internet. We were a little older when it became available to us, and no one really understood the dangers of it yet. Somehow, I had half-expected Heath not to understand either, though it was a stupid assumption. He wasn't one of those ancients who was behind the times. He stayed up to date, just like my werecat family, and took advantage of everything new technologies made possible.

"I noticed when I looked into you years ago, your human accounts were still active," he said slyly. "There are a lot of old pictures of you still on the web."

"Yeah…" I sighed. "Hasan and I left them because of my human family. If I had suddenly disconnected everything, they would have noticed. Instead, I've let them go dead, killing them off slowly through the years. What about you?"

"Hmm, that makes sense." He nodded slowly, then looked in the direction Carey had run off to. "Landon and I don't have them. We can because people know what we are and all of that, but it's never seemed safe when it comes to werewolves, so I had a blanket ban on werewolves in the Dallas pack. Carey is human. Imposing my personal ideas of werewolves and the internet on her didn't seem fair."

"Makes sense. Let's go before they get suspicious."

"Oh, Landon will keep her busy for however long is necessary," he murmured, leaning in to kiss me. "He's got us figured out."

"Of course he does," I mumbled, stepping back and heading for the kitchen. "Doesn't mean I'm going to give you what you want every time you want it."

The growl I got in response made shivers run down my spine, but I didn't stop moving. I went into the kitchen and started helping with dinner until Landon stole a spoon from me and silently pointed for me to leave. Carey's laughter followed me out.

"Come on. We can hang out on the back porch while those two destroy my house," Heath whispered, leading me away.

"I can never do anything here." With an eye roll, I obliged, heading into the backyard. As I did, I decided to strike up a normal conversation. It was better than playing with fire while Carey was just inside. "If you don't mind me asking, how's the werewolf doing? The female from Russia?" I found my favorite seat on his back porch as he grabbed two drinks from a new mini-fridge. He was obviously setting up his backyard for future barbecues. With who, I had no idea, but he had the entire set up built-in now.

"She passed away Tuesday morning," he answered, sighing heavily. My gut twisted. That wasn't the news I had expected. I had been hoping to hear a story about how she was recovering. "Last night, a submissive member of the pack stabbed the Alpha. Silver knife, to the heart, human form. He's not dead, but he was flown into Mygi for emergency surgery."

"Shit," I breathed out. "That's…"

"Yeah, it's not looking good for Alpha…" Heath growled softly as he held out the drink. "I shouldn't be telling you any of this."

"I would never tell my family what you tell me," I reminded him. "I'm sorry you lost her." I didn't reach for the soda, watching him as he finally gave in, put it on the small table between us, and sat down.

"He probably deserved getting that knife," Heath said, the animalistic growl still in his voice. "That knife should have killed him, but since they could stabilize him and get him to the hospital here in the States, he'll probably make it. A good surgeon and some magic can fix fucking anything."

"You hate him," I whispered. "Heath, did that Alpha kill the female?"

"If he didn't, he allowed it to happen." Heath turned his drink around in his hands. "An Alpha sets the tone and pace for the pack. If my pack had seen me hitting Landon to put him into place, they would assume it's okay for them to hit their werewolf children or possibly any wolf not as dominant. If they saw me hitting Carey? They would hopefully report me to the NAWC, but the bad apples would possibly…"

"Hit their own kids," I finished, letting a harsh breath out. "And you think the Alpha…"

"The Alpha is not a good man. He never has been. It seems like things are finally boiling over with that pack, and it's going to destabilize the entire region."

"Don't think I don't notice you won't tell me his name," I murmured, narrowing my eyes.

"Don't think I'm foolish enough to think you would stay out of it," he replied softly. "You have dangerous siblings, and if you go back to Hisao and say, ‘This Russian werewolf Alpha is abusing his submissive wolves,' I don't know what your brother would do. That's scary."

I nodded, grabbed my drink, cracked it open, then put it back down, a little frustrated.

"Fine, you're right. If I thought…He probably wouldn't. My family doesn't get into werewolf affairs—"

"No, but you don't see her as just some werewolf who died, do you?" he asked, pointing at me. "You see a woman who died, and you're hoping that Alpha doesn't survive. I don't blame you. In fact, I respect the hell out of you, Jacky. But you're a werecat, and we both know how ugly things get when your kind sticks its nose into werewolf affairs. Generally, with you nearly being executed."

I winced. He was right.

"It sucks," I mumbled, "that there's nothing we can do."

"It's not our business. The only reason I know what's going on is I'm still a recognized Alpha, pack or no pack. They'll keep me up to date because there might come a point…If the Russian pack falls apart, there are a lot of wolves who will need new homes," he finished, sipping his drink. "I wouldn't bring them here, but there's a chance I might need to help some."

"You don't sound too upset about that." He didn't seem to think of it as a burden or a potential problem, just acknowledged the possibility as if it was Carey coming home with a project from school, a thing that happened.

"I'm not. I would keep them outside your territory, help them recover, then find them a new home. It would be a temporary thing. I don't want a pack yet, not for another decade, at least. I'm enjoying this life where there aren't fifty-plus werewolves needing me every moment of the day. For the first time in Carey's entire life, I'm home when she's back from school almost every day. I won't give that up for anyone or anything." He looked at his drink, took another sip, and smiled. "I won't give up on this either." He waved a finger between us. "Bringing in a lot of wolves, starting a new pack…"

"You don't need to finish that thought. I know."

A new pack would mean he and I would have to distance ourselves from each other. There would be no more dinners at the Everson household, no more Mondays with Carey, no more stolen kisses when no one was watching. Neither of us wanted to stop whatever it was we were doing, but a full pack of werewolves would make everything too dangerous.

He didn't continue, and neither did I. We enjoyed our drinks, and I thought about a young female werewolf dying in a hospital. I tried not to, but there was a processing time. I wasn't sure why it stuck out to me. People died every day, and I had killed my fair share of werewolves, werecats, and vampires, but this one bothered me a lot.

"Is there really nothing the North American werewolves can do?" I asked softly, looking over the backyard. I heard Carey's pony nicker in the barn, and my eyes flicked to it, instincts immediately perking up. I pushed them aside, ignoring the way my stomach growled. I avoided the horse for this very reason.

"Yes and no. We brought up the female to the Tribunal werewolves. They rule all of us and keep the peace between different councils. If they want to do something about the Russian pack which is way too big for its own good, they will. The European Werewolf Council is closer and might have more sway on the matter, and they have older wolves in that part of the world. Not much older, but older. If there was a need for a hostile takeover, the Tribunal would call on those packs. It would destabilize the entire region, though. A massive pack that covers most of Russia would have to be broken up. Alphas would need to step in and take in all of those wolves and relocate them to new areas or move to Russia."

None of that sounded pleasant. I was about to say so when the door opened, and Landon stepped out.