28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jabari woke me to ask what hotel I was staying at. I yawned as I told him, then stretched out.

"Why? Where are you staying?"

"I never got a hotel room since I wasn't planning on staying in the city."

"Of course," I muttered, shaking my head. "My room has one bed, but there's a couch that might pull out into a bed. I didn't pay attention when I booked."

"Thank you. Do you have any way to contact our family?"

"Yup. A laptop. Did you forget one of those, too?"

"I brought a cellphone and a satellite phone. I didn't need a laptop. I was only going to report in nightly with Hasan."

"Then the cellphone was out of service, and the satellite phone was broken. This is why you have backups," I told him, crossing my arms.

"Says the one who walked into the woods and her ways out were sabotaged," he retorted. "We'll tell Father all of it, and he'll judge us accordingly."

"Joy, but since it's my room with my money, I call the shower first."

He sighed heavily. "But I was out there longer."

"I don't care." Well, I did because he probably looked and smelled the worst. I was pretty sure we both reeked, but, in the end, I was getting my shower first.

He silently shook with laughter, something I wasn't expecting. When we pulled up to the hotel, it all stopped as we saw several obvious werewolves hanging out at the front. I stepped out first, frowning.

"Can we help you?" I asked loudly. It probably seemed out of place, but I wasn't walking closer or letting Jabari get near them. Not because I was worried about his safety—I was worried about theirs.

"We were just in a shift change…You're Jacky Leon?" When I nodded, the wolf who spoke stepped closer to me, straightening up to seem more professional. "Alpha Lewis asked us to wait here and report when you arrived, so Alpha Everson knew you were okay. He should be here soon. He's debriefing Alpha Lewis on what happened."

"Thank you for the report. You can clear out now. I've got an edgy, pre-War werecat who probably wants to come inside without having to deal with you." I tried to sound like I was joking, and I kind of was, but the wolves also knew that no matter how casually or teasingly I said it, the threat of a very old, cranky werecat wasn't to be taken lightly.

"We'll head out, then. Thank you for everything. I know you guys only brought back one of our boys, but it's good hearing at least one came back."

"It was my…" I almost said pleasure, but nothing about the last few days was a pleasure. "It was my honor to help," I decided on, smiling at them kindly.

Once they were gone, Jabari went to find a parking place while I waited at the front door. He was carrying both bags as he approached and gave me the one without the heads. Together, we walked into the hotel and got up to my room while I explained where Heath was. I had booked it for a month, so I knew it was still mine.

Upon getting in, I threw Jabari's gear bag on the table and went to the bathroom, jumping in without giving anything else any thought. I needed that shower, and I was going to have it.

I could hear him moving around in the room, and it died off while I was shampooing my hair. Finally, something surprised me.

"JABARI!" Hasan's voice came through my laptop speakers, loud and crackling. And he was both relieved and angry. "You're alive! Where's Jacky? Why are you on her laptop? Answer me while I tell your siblings—"

"Here, Father!" Zuri said quickly. I heard the jumbled mess of the rest of my siblings all jumping on. Had they been waiting around for us to contact them? Most were excited to see Jabari on, but after Hasan asked about me, I only heard Zuri and Niko wonder where I was.

"Quiet! I can't tell you anything while you're all yelling," Jabari snapped. It went silent. I began to rinse the shampoo from my hair, and once it was out, I leaned on the wall of the shower to listen better.

"So, continue," Hasan ordered. "Where's Jacqueline?"

I wanted to snicker as he went back to calling me Jacqueline. Jacky was apparently only for the rare slip.

"We're back in Jacky's hotel room, and she's in the shower. I decided to get this call moving so she could talk to you when she gets out. Now, I'll get the report done for both of us. I know the majority of what went on with them, so I'll relay that."

"So, them. The wolf was out there too and survived?" Niko asked quietly. I almost didn't hear him.

"He was." Jabari was getting annoyed at being interrupted. "It was four vampires thrown out of the local nest, pointed toward the mountains to cover up their killings. Has happened before and will happen again. These nest Masters and Mistresses always have a hard time killing their creations. They were riding death highs and juiced on supernatural blood. You know how it goes. Stronger and faster than usual." Jabari snorted. "We're going to need another night here to handle the politics with the nest. I'm going to take Jacky, so she can experience it—"

"Inside a vampire nest after you accuse the Master of a crime is not safe. I don't want Jacky going," Hasan snapped. He must have been insanely worried about me, which made me feel a little better.

"She handled herself well out in the park. All her injuries are minor, and she stomached some traditional executions. I even saw her go into a frenzy for one of them. Had to haul her away and force her to back off to get the information I needed. She'll be fine in the nest, and I want the back up."

"You want Jacky as back up?" Davor snorted. "What the hell happened out there?"

"I met our sister," Jabari answered softly. "And I saw the loyalty she commanded from the werewolf, Heath Everson. He's a werewolf, and I hate him, but he's one of the best I've ever met."

"You hate him, but he's the best of them?" Zuri sounded incredulous. "Please explain."

"Don't worry about it, sister," Jabari said in a calming tone. "It's not important. What is important is, I think she's completely capable of handling a trip to the Seattle vampire nest with me. Maybe Heath can join us to represent the wolves. I'll inquire with him on his return. I told him I would handle it but I hadn't known everything then."

"Where is he?"

I closed my eyes. He respected me as backup now? It hadn't felt that way the entire time out there. Looking back, I remembered how he had started to teach me things, started to listen to me, and stopped making rude comments.

Jabari quickly gave them the same explanation I had given him. Then he backtracked and began his tale about what happened in the woods.

I purposefully took the slowest shower of my life, listening in. I wonder if he knew what I was doing, or if he wasn't paying attention to the time. There was one part I was most interested in hearing, and when he finally got to it, I finally had to move on to rising off the soap all over me to get out of the shower.

"I had to make a rune of power to protect the cabin. They didn't have one and had been completely vulnerable when I arrived and helped them against the vampires."

"Why didn't she make one?" Hasan demanded. "All of you…" The snarl that came from those speakers made me want to sink to the bottom of the tub and hide.

"I never went to teach them to her," Jabari answered softly.

"Neither did I," Zuri admitted as well.

"Damn you both. Your mother gave you one job. She gave you one of her most valuable skills to help protect our family and…" The restraint it took Hasan to stop was more than I could have ever mustered. "We'll talk about this. You'll both fly to me, and we're going to discuss this."

"Can she even do them?" Davor asked, derision in his voice. "Talentless—"

"You'll show up too, so I can put you in your place," Hasan snapped. "Actually, all of you will be coming home in the next three days for a long talking to. She is my daughter, just like all of you are my children. You might not care about her as your sister, and that's fine, but I am done with this level of disrespect and lack of care for her safety."

"Father, we have lives—" Mischa tried to say, but Hasan wasn't having it. My heart was racing.

"You will put them on hold. That's an order."

"I was going to stay on her territory for a couple of weeks to make sure it's safe and teach her. She had some choice words for me when we last talked about the runes of power." Jabari sounded like he was completely willing to take the beating. "I've failed her as an older brother enough already, and that was made very clear to me. I'm not going to continue to do so."

I had to close my eyes. Tears unexpectedly threatened me, and I couldn't figure out why those words meant so fucking much. I hadn't come on the mission expecting I would get that much.

Damn you, Jabari. You heard every word we said about you out there and never told me.

"I'm proud of you," Hasan said, much gentler than he had just been. "I won't accept more neglect from any of you when it comes to her safety or inclusion in this family."

Jabari launched back into the talk, how we planned the next couple of days, what our game plan was. I finished cleaning off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel. I dried off slowly and didn't use the hair dryer, wanting to keep the ability to hear. I was able to check my injuries in the mirror, wincing at the nasty bruising on my jaw and face. It would wear off quickly, but it looked pretty bad. They would know when they saw it that something had nearly happened. The rest of the cuts were scabbed over, and since nothing was deep or fatal, I didn't worry.

Slowly, Jabari got to where we were now, in my hotel room and how the next few days would go. My clothes were in the room, so I finally left the bathroom, and his head jerked, his dark eyes landing on me.

"Good shower?" he asked.

"Hi, Jacky!" Zuri called. "Glad you're alive!"

"Yup, good job out there!" Mischa said next.

"Thanks," I tried to say as the rest of the brood tried to talk at once. Davor was the only one who didn't say anything…not yet. "Good shower. Let me put some clothes on, then you can go, and I'll talk to them, so they can see I'm alive."

Jabari only nodded before looking back at the screen to continue talking to the family. I honestly didn't want to talk to any of them, but once I was dressed, I switched places with Jabari.

"Hi, everyone," I said, aiming for cheerful.

"Jacqueline," Hasan whispered in a sad and concerned tone. "What happened during those fights that led to that?"

"One of them got a good grab on me and tried to tear my head in half, using my snout as the starting point," I answered, swallowing. One of them gasped at my explanation, but I didn't catch who. "So, Jabari left something out."

"What?"

"I have a fae gift," I said softly. "And before any one of you freak out like he did, I didn't ask for it, nor did I trade for it. It was a gift. Ran into this fae that decided I needed some help last year when I was protecting Carey."

"Fae are known to meddle if they feel it might benefit them down the road. They walk roads we can't understand, and some of them are known to see the future," Hasan explained carefully. "What was the gift?"

"Pack magic," I whispered. "I can communicate like a werewolf while in my werecat form."

"Oh." His eyes went wide. Others in the family weren't much different. "And you've had this for…several months now."

"Yeah. Only a few trustworthy people knew before Jabari, and that was because I used it while we were rescuing Carey. They've kept it quiet, and I don't have much reason to use it. I figured…if it got out, it would be bad. They all agreed with me." I could name those people on one hand. The only people alive who knew about the gift were Heath, Landon, Carey, and Tywin, the current alpha in Dallas.

"If a wolf pack you didn't trust learned that, they would hunt you down," Niko said plainly. "We'll keep it a secret, but that's really useful. Really useful. Hasan, the ways we could—"

"We'll discuss it another time. Did it help you deal with the vampires?" He was leaning on a hand now, much like The Thinker.

"Yeah. It just made communication easier. It's not like I am suddenly a superhero or anything. Being able to talk in werecat form is useful." I shrugged. "Should have told you sooner, Hasan. Sorry."

"You live and learn," he said, dismissing my apology and forgiving me at the same time. "Who was the fae?"

"Nope. Not telling you that. Don't need or want anyone tracking him down. He might remember he gave it to me, and I might suddenly owe him something."

That made half of them laugh, including Hasan.

Before I could continue, Jabari was out of the bathroom and clean. I narrowed my eyes on him.

"Really? You were in there like…five minutes."

"I don't need an hour to get clean," he retorted. "Move over so they can also see me."

"Put some fucking clothes on!" I yelled, pushing him away before he could sit down. "And actually dry off! Don't get my shit wet, asshole!"

Jabari backed away, his hands up. He went to get a towel, dried off as I asked, and put on some clothes. When he came back, I moved my chair over and let him bring the second chair around to sit next to me. The entire time this was happening, our siblings either sat with horror on their faces or snickered, nearly an even split between the two. Hasan just had an indulgent smile on his face.

Right as Jabari sat down, there was a knock on the door, and I sighed.

"Let me get that. It's probably Heath."

I jumped up before any of them could say otherwise and went to the door. I was right. When I opened it, there was Heath, still dirty from the forest, the rain, and mud.

"Hey," I said softly, leaning on the door frame. I had missed him a little, realizing it as I saw his tired grey-blue eyes. He felt sane compared to the ones I left on the video call.

"Hey. I just wanted to let you know I got in safely. I'm going to shower and order some room service. Want to join me? Some real peace and quiet while I give you an update on what Geoffrey wants?"

I glanced back at Jabari, watching over the top of the laptop, listening to our siblings talk about the last couple of weeks. When I turned back to Heath, his eyes had narrowed, and he was looking over me at Jabari.

"Yeah, I'll come over. Just knock on the dividing door when you're ready."

"Thank you."

I closed the door as he walked to his own. I didn't sit next to Jabari on the call, lying out on my bed instead, trying to stretch tired muscles.

Jabari and the family talked about what they thought was the best course of action to reprimand the Master of the Seattle nest. There was a chance that could go sideways, but I only half listened. He would probably drill me on it repeatedly before we went.

When Heath knocked on the dividing door, I jumped up and ran out of the room.