27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

We arrived in the pitch blackness of the night. Jabari turned our lights off but kept the SUV running. Quietly, we waited for the humans to roll up and meet us in the park they had picked out. There was no one around, which made it perfect.

I tapped him and pointed to the two trucks that came in at the same time. They must have lived nearby and driven at the same time on their way to meet us, because it was the same thing they did when meeting Heath and me.

We got out of our vehicle first and let them approach. I sniffed the air, paying attention this time to John's scent. My brother had been right. There was a smell of chemicals to him I hadn't noticed before. I was focusing too intently on what I had to deal with and didn't catch what had been right in front of my nose.

"So…" Haley stepped up closest. "It's really good to see you both alive…" She looked between us and frowned. "Are you really related, or is that just something you tell people? Because I'm not seeing it."

"My father Changed her into a werecat," Jabari explained. "That makes us siblings, though it doesn't have to. We choose to have that relationship."

"It's not a biological relationship at all," I made sure to point out when Gina raised an eyebrow. "It's complicated." It was funny because the relationship between werecat siblings was an odd one. Like Hasan had mentioned on the phone, talking about Davor and Liza, it was perfectly acceptable for it to become romantic as long as the werecats weren't actually related. I glanced at him, frowning. Jabari and Zuri were from a different time, though…

No. Stop. Don't need those images.

My mind was going interesting places now that I was safe from immediate death.

"Ah." Gina nodded slowly. "So, will you tell us what happened?"

"Certainly." I took the lead, letting Jabari just stand there and be intimidating. "We discovered that you had a small infestation of vampires who had gone rogue and were looking to take over this area for easy feeding. You know how Gaia and Titan regularly helped save humans? Yeah, that was about to be flipped on its head. They were setting up so they could take any random hiker or camper, feed on them, then kill them without being noticed. There's a lot of space out there to hide a body." I waved a hand at the surrounding mountains. "And no one would have found them, but your missing person reports would have skyrocketed."

"Oh my god…" Gina covered her mouth. Haley just let hers drop open.

John was uncomfortable. He was the only one who hadn't yet spoken and seemed fidgety.

Yeah, motherfucker. I knew it.

"So, we killed them. They won't be a problem. You're looking at a long time without any supernaturals in those mountains." I smiled blithely. "Heath and I hadn't planned on staying out there. We wanted to get back out before dark. We're lucky Jabari got to us. He had already been actively hunting the vampires when they attacked us."

"Why were you still out there?" Haley asked softly.

"That's the part we're here to deal with. Someone cut the fuel line on the ATV you left us. We didn't want to risk walking back to the car and getting there after dark because if someone was smart enough to sabotage the ATV, they would have also sabotaged the car. Turns out, we were right. When we got to the car earlier today, the electrics had been cut. We got it running, but some things weren't working." I stopped, deciding to change the subject for a moment. "If Heath got our saved werewolf to a medevac, that means he didn't wreck the car. He had to drive at night without headlights."

"Yeah, I checked in on that. It was definitely two werewolves being flown out. The Seattle pack asked for them to be taken there, then information after that is classified. You know how the werewolves are." Haley was rubbing her hands together. "Could the vampires have cut the fuel line?"

"No. We made it back to the cabin in broad daylight. They wouldn't have been able to." I sighed. "Which makes me need to ask a question. John, did they offer to turn you?"

John took a step back as the human women gasped in their shock.

"What kind of offer would you-"

"You have cancer," Jabari commented blandly. "What kind?"

"Lung," he answered, bitterness tainting his words and features. "Never smoked a day in my life and got fucking lung cancer."

"Life isn't fair, is it?" I said gently. I felt for him, I did, but I didn't let that change the cold rage that the sympathy couldn't bury. "So, you what? Did you approach Gaia and Titan to Change you, and they said no? Then you were approached by the vampires because you had information they wanted about the locals?"

"Pretty much," he snapped. "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me? Humans are protected, right? You can't."

"Not today," Jabari hissed. "We have more pressing things to do than cover up the death of a human." He glanced at me, and I knew what to say. Deep in my bones, I knew what needed to be said, and I wondered where I heard it before.

"But one day, you'll get a knock on your door," I explained to him. "One day, a werecat will come to have you pay your debt, and you'll be left wishing you'd let the cancer take you. I would recommend running. Run as far as you can and as fast as you can. You might earn yourself more time if you do it well enough." I grinned viciously. "I make no promises that the werewolves won't come for you immediately."

John paled. Ignoring the betrayed women, he turned and ran back for his truck, jumping in and screaming off.

Haley looked back at me, terrified.

"You can…"

"By supernatural Law, if a human is introduced to our world, they are beholden to our Law. They face the same punishments as the rest of us, based on our species. Gaia and Titan were open to him about what they were, and he betrayed them. Not only that, he helped a pack of vampires break the Law, several times over." Jabari's explanation was one I couldn't have put better myself. "Humans are generally considered innocent in our world. Werecats particularly like to protect you, but he lost that right and place in our eyes. He's no more than another animal who will eventually have to be put down for the crimes he committed against our kind. Because he's human, we'll give him a chance to run." Now my brother smiled. "He won't make it very far."

I wondered who he would call to fly out here and deal with it if he wasn't going to do it himself. While I was capable of giving the threat, I wasn't sure I was ready to kill a human.

"I asked them to Change me once…" Haley whispered. "Would either of you come back one day—"

"No," we both answered. I looked up at Jabari, who gestured for me to continue first. "Changing someone into a werecat is adding them to your family. The werecat becomes your parent and must spend years making sure you can survive in this world. Neither of us is looking for that sort of responsibility, and you don't want to invite either of us or our family into your life. You have a good life here. Live it. Leave the monsters to the monsters."

"Is that why they said no?"

"Probably. Gaia seemed like she didn't want much company, not even from her mate." I shrugged.

"She…how do modern people put it? She strung him along for years and was constantly changing her mind like the turn of the seasons," Jabari said softly. "Their romance was one for the ages, always back-and-forth, hot-and-cold. It was why their territories didn't overlap. One decade, they would be the perfect mates, the next, she wouldn't want to see him." He chuckled sadly. "She never wanted children. Neither did Titan. They spent their centuries entertaining themselves with each other."

"I'll miss them," Gina murmured, wrapping her arms around herself. "And John…how could he?"

"The possibility of death drives many to do things that seem out of character," I said gently. "You two will be able to move on. It just takes time. Now, we have to go. It's a drive back to Seattle, and we have things to take care of."

"Of course. Thank you for…everything." Haley reached out to shake my hand, and I accepted. I waved at Gina, who seemed utterly heart broken.

As we drove away, I watched the women console each other over the loss of not just two friends, but the betrayal of a third.

"What's next?" I asked Jabari.

"We get to Seattle and contact the family. After that, shower, sleep, and spend a day taking care of ourselves. We haven't eaten properly in days. Hasan will notice and chastise us both for not taking better care of ourselves."

"After that?"

"We need to visit the Seattle nest and have a discussion with the Master. He threw out his vampires knowingly and left them to be someone else's problem when he should have executed them himself."

"All of that sounds fun. Care if I sleep on the drive?"

"No. Go ahead."

I let the lull of the engine take me under. I was tired, but we weren't done yet. A small nap wouldn't kill anyone now.