22. Chapter Twenty-Two

The sky grew darker outside the cavern. Sometime during the afternoon, I napped, leaning against the rough rock wall. Heath woke me up and offered something I wasn't expecting—meat.

"Rabbit. I went out and caught a couple before it got too late," he explained. "I cooked it as best I could."

"Would have eaten it raw," I said, chuckling. "Thanks."

I took whatever the body part was he offered and bit into it. Gamey and tough, I had to pull the meat from the bone, but it was calories I was certain everyone needed. Jabari quietly sat across the cavern, ignoring us, but I could see the clean bones beside him on the ground. If he did what Hasan always trained me to do, he would bury the carcass. I was lazy about it, but this wasn't my territory where I could manage who was or wasn't on my property. Leaving evidence was a bad idea.

Heath sat next to me, leaning back on the wall as well, chewing on his own pieces.

"Did you get enough?" he asked loudly, obviously directed at Jabari.

The ancient werecat turned to us and nodded. "Thank you. It will be good to have less of an empty stomach for tonight."

"Have you been eating?" I had been a little concerned about how thin he was since I had seen him in the cabin.

"I hunted for small prey when I had time, but most days, I needed to sleep so I could continue the hunt for the vampires," he explained, eyeing me. "You haven't eaten since you've been out here until now, have you?"

"No. Like I said last night, we weren't planning on making this a camping trip. We were supposed to be back in a town by nightfall, with hot food and water," I sighed.

"Then, you need to finish that." He pointed at the piece of rabbit in my hands. I made a point to show him the bite I'd already made and then took another, chewing loudly. Heath huffed, a smile coming over his face.

His closeness made me comfortable in the strange situation we found ourselves. This was the second time my wolf and I found ourselves in a tough place and knowing he and I had survived before made me hopeful we would again.

"Do you think Carey is worried?" I asked softly. "About both of us?"

"Yes, if Landon told her. If he didn't, she'll pick up on his mood and figure out something is wrong. What about your family? You promised not to go into the woods and to call in every night."

"They're probably pissed…" I shook my head, realizing that was probably wrong. "No. Some of them are probably pissed. At least one will think I've gotten myself killed and not care, and a few might be worried, but they'll probably also say ‘I told you so.' Hasan will be worried and angry, but more worried. His anger will be his focus once he knows Jabari and I are both alive and back to safety."

"Why would anyone say I told you so?" Heath's brows lowered and came together, framing his intense eyes. He obviously didn't like what I had to say.

"I'm the American daughter. The one who…does everything wrong or something. I was told not to come out into these woods, and I did, thinking I could get away with it. Here we are. Once they have me on a call, I'm going to hear about it."

"How…" Heath blew out a frustrated breath. "How do they ever expect you to be one of them if they don't give you the chance to grow?"

I shrugged. Hasan was right when I had spoken to him on the phone. I flourished when I wasn't around the family, especially my siblings—the ones who made me feel small and treated me even smaller.

He didn't continue questioning me. We sat quietly, chewing on fire roasted rabbit in dirty clothes as the sun was falling. The sky was growing darker, and it was time to put my personal issues aside. It was comforting to have one person who understood where I was coming from. Heath was insulted on my behalf, and that was a relief.

When the sun was finally completely gone, Heath dared to ask one more question.

"Why doesn't Hasan deal with them and help you?"

"I don't…really know," I admitted. "I know that in Changing me, they resented him a little too. Maybe he just hasn't found the right way to bring the family back together." Jabari snorted. I threw up my hands in defeat. "Okay, Jabari, tell me what you know. I'm only relaying what Hasan told me."

"Nothing," he said tightly.

"No, please. You obviously have a thought."

"We did resent him, but I didn't resent him because you were too soon after Liza's death. Davor probably does, but not me. I resent he made you by breaking all the rules he had placed on the family. He didn't raise you. He isn't your father in your heart the way he is for everyone else. I consider all my siblings equally, blood or not, because I know he took them in as babes and children, bringing them into this family as my siblings, and they only ever knew this family. I resent him for making you and expecting us to care for you as a sibling when we'd never even heard of you." Jabari looked back over at us. "He didn't even get your permission to join this world. You still don't know whether you want it, and because of that, you do as you please, living the life you want without considering other werecats follow rules for a reason. That's why I resent him…and you."

I didn't miss the change in his tense. His resentment wasn't past tense. He still resented that I was in the family…could possibly always resent my existence.

"Then why did your family help her with the Tribunal if you don't want her?" Heath asked, once again growling as he spoke. "Sounds like you would be just fine with her—"

"Don't say those words, wolf," Jabari snarled. "Don't ever say those words. I might resent him for making her, and I might resent her, but I will never abandon a family member to die. None of us are that cruel."

"I could have told you that," I muttered to Heath. "Don't push his buttons, please."

Heath huffed, shaking his head. Jumping up, he walked away, frustration apparent in every line and angle of his posture.

"And you, Jacky, hang with wolves," Jabari muttered. "The only reason I don't consider that a betrayal to the family is because you didn't fight in the War, nor were you alive when Liza died. He's not the worst wolf, but he's certainly not one I want around. He's moral and strong, but he doesn't know when he's not the strongest male in the room or when something isn't his business."

"Not every wolf is the bad guy or the enemy," I whispered, rubbing my arms as the night grew chilly. "He's not a bad guy."

He grumbled in disagreement but didn't try to say anything against it either.

"Change. They will come soon."

I stripped and did as ordered without an argument. Tonight was important. Nothing could go wrong. If that meant he and I had to stop arguing for a night, we would. I was willing to let him ignore me for another seven years if it meant getting through the damn night.

"Remember, it will be okay if one or two get away. We're aiming to capture one, use it to find any remaining vampires and find out where they came from." Jabari continued to talk, and I could hear the old general in him. "Keep them from getting on your back. Like always, that is our biggest vulnerability except for our underbelly. I don't want them to get their hands into those wounds again, either."

I nodded as I walked up to the mouth of the cavern and stared out into the trees. Even though wehad hiked up the cliffside to get into the cavern, the trees were tall enough I couldn't see the tops. While I watched the entrance, Jabari Changed. Heath was the only one staying in human form for the night. We needed someone with opposable thumbs to help restrain the captured vampire.

The plan wasn't difficult. Jabari was certain the vampires wouldn't be able to resist coming after us again, even though we chased them off the night before. We were a threat to whatever they were trying to establish, and it was either them or us dying in these mountains under the light rain that now refused to stop. If Jabari's assumption about their killing addiction was correct, they weren't in the right mind to truly consider what possible risks they were facing.

Which meant all we had to do was injure them as best we could before they retreated, and keep one from leaving.

"I'm ready," Heath called out from near the fire. Jabari huffed and jumped out of the cavern, leaving us alone. I stepped back from the entrance, going into the darkness behind Heath to lie in wait. Our scents were around everything, which would make it hard for the vampires to tell which of us was actually in the cavern. Their noses weren't nearly as good as ours.

The night grew darker until it blanketed the world, the only light from the fire. The cloud cover and rain blocked out the moon and stars, making the world outside the cavern seem just as dark as the cavern where I was hidden. I knew everyone could see well enough, but it was still a pitch black night, and Jabari had said the vampires wouldn't be hindered by it. Their eyes were even better than ours in the dark.

It felt like an eternity. I worried they would never show. Heath moved around the cavern, tending the fire and checking Jabari's things. He toyed with a silver knife while the fire blazed. He made sure there was always wood drying nearby, ready to go into the flames when it was needed.

And we waited.

"I hate this,"I said, echoing the night before. "Do you think Jabari is okay out there?"

He sighed and shrugged. He wouldn't speak unless it was absolutely necessary. With his indifferent posturing, I understood his answer. He thought so, but he mostly didn't care. Well, he might have cared if it meant we were going to survive, killing the vampires who took so many, but he didn't care about Jabari.

I couldn't find anything else to ask, so I went back to waiting in silence. Like the night before, the world was too quiet, aside from the rain. Maybe it was the rain that made the world seem silent, though I figured there were probably a number of creatures that were supposed to be making all their nightly noises.

Instead, it was just rain on stone and tree, our only comfort.

Until I heard the first of several branches snap and break, creaking of wood under weight, trees rustling.

"They're coming,"I told him. Heath tensed but continued to pretend he was doing something important and tending the camp. The idea was for him to seem as if he was keeping everything nice while Jabari and I went out and hunted the vampires. They would come after us because they had to, but first they would take advantage of Heath being ‘alone.'

Jabari was out there, hiding and waiting. He was going to block off their escape once they came inside. I was going to engage inside and protect Heath if he needed it. Jabari had made it clear, under no uncertain terms, he wouldn't purposefully get Heath killed, but then said Heath was best off being the one in human form because werewolves were weaker than werecats.

Which meant my brother had put one of my few friends and allies in the prime spot to get killed. If someone was going to be considered an easy target, it was going to be the person without their fangs and claws out.

Heath stood up and stretched, giving a fake but believable yawn. I could smell no exhaustion on him. He seemed well rested, just like I felt.

"Oh, look," someone said outside the cave. "Did they leave you to die, wolf? Were you not important enough?" The vampires were suddenly at the mouth of the cave, all four grinning, a little sick, a bit twisted, and very excited about what they saw in front of them. "Or did they think you were worthless in their hunt for us? Foolish of them. That makes them terribly outnumbered, and we've proven ourselves against two werecats already."

"You didn't fight the ones you killed in their true forms. The Moon Cursed are more powerful as beasts," he said softly. "And the cats are the most powerful of all."

"We can kill them once we have fresher blood," the younger man explained, shrugging away Heath's comment. "Our last wolf is weak. You'll be a worthy replacement."

I watched Heath's body snap to attention in a second. I could tell he wanted to jump for them and attack. My heart ached for him for a second.

They still have a wolf alive. It's probably killing him to know that.

And my heart burned for the poor wolf who must have been their captive for a month, a replenishing food source that made them more powerful than normal. He was probably starved and dying by now.

The leader, the more mature woman, stepped in further, but the others didn't. She didn't seem to have a worry in the world.

"Come on, wolf. You know you've lost. You can't beat all four of us. We're going to feast on you. Just make this easier on yourself, and the rest of your days can be comfortable." Her words were sickeningly sweet like poisoned candy. "The other wolves tried to fight, and we made them each beg for death by the end. The last one will know only misery in his final moments, but you don't have to."

"You taste so good, too," the little woman said, a mad giggle escaping her lips.

"I don't beg," Heath said with a small smile. "I'm an Alpha. Others beg me."

There was a coldness to his words that made me want to shiver. It was that Alpha power he would have for the rest of his life because he had already proven himself worthy of the role.

Never forget, he retired willingly, Jacky. He's just as much ofan Alpha right now as he was the day you met him. He knows how to survive and come out on top.

"Oh? Would you like us to beg you for the privilege to kill you?" The leader laughed serenely. "You have fallen low, Alpha. There's no pack to protect you here." She waved in her companions. "Come. Let's feed. Once he's incapacitated, we can go kill the werecats, and these mountains will be ours."

Heath didn't move, letting the vampires approach him. They continued to come closer and closer, confident he was alone. I knew if they came too close, they would finally see me. My dark hideaway would only work for so long.

"I have something better than a pack," Heath finally whispered as the leader was only five feet from him. "Jabari, now!"

I jumped out, knowing the order was also for me. I landed behind Heath, snarling viciously. The leader jumped back a step, her eyes wide as I heard the thump of Jabari landing in the mouth of the cave. The younger looking woman screamed, jumping toward her leader.

"It's a trap! They tricked us!" she screamed. The younger man's mouth dropped open, and I saw he had no tongue. That was why he never spoke.

"Kill them!" the leader shrieked. "Kill them now!"

I roared in time with Jabari, causing small chunks of the ceiling and walls to crumble off from the echoing vibration.

We were done playing hide-and-seek.