29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ifelt at home sitting at his table, watching him sigh in exhaustion as we waited on food to arrive. On his way back to the hotel, he'd bought a case of cheap beer, which made me laugh, but I totally took one.

Jabari better not give me shit when I go back over there. I fucking earned getting a little tipsy before passing out.

"Have you called Carey and Landon yet?" I asked as I cracked it open.

"No. I had Geoffrey send them a message I was safe as I flew in with Carter, but I haven't slowed down enough to call them yet. I don't want to be yelled at."

I looked over my shoulder and sighed. "Yeah, I took a long shower, so Jabari had to deal with the brunt of Hasan's anger. I'm sure he'll remember that he hasn't yelled at me soon and demand my presence, but I'm safe for now as they discuss the last couple of things we have to do before we go home."

"Like?" Heath frowned.

"We're going to talk to the Seattle vampire nest."

"Ah, fuck, Geoffrey was mentioning that. He doesn't want to send his wolves because he doesn't trust them at all. He wasn't sure what to do about them."

"Would you like to represent him and come with us?" I asked, sipping on the beer.

He shrugged. "Let me text him and see if that works for him." He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to the Seattle Alpha. His phone dinged immediately with a reply. "That's an affirmative. He would love an outside wolf to go represent him."

"Doesn't it make him look weak?" I leaned back in my seat, kicking my feet out.

"Sure, but his wolves are all wary now. After I debriefed him, his inner circle passed the news. He's going to keep it from going to violence by imposing a ban on seeing vampires until tempers cool. If one of his pack went, there would be a fight, and that makes him look stupid. I'm a safer bet since none of my wolves died," he growled softly.

"Carter. That's our living wolf's name?"

"Yeah. He should survive. They put a feeding tube in him and half a dozen IVs. He didn't have any major organ failure, but his body was eating away at his muscles. He'll be in rehabilitation for months. I've never seen a werewolf that starved, and it was only a month."

"A month where a naturally high metabolism body was also being depleted of his blood at a rate that would have killed most things," I reminded him. "As an EMT, I would have rushed him to a hospital, but where we were made that impossible, and we had things to finish. Once we were in the car, I kept an eye on his vitals, but it was all I could do."

"I figured that's why you sat in the back with an unknown werewolf," he said, smiling a little. "Thank you."

"Of course," I murmured, pulling my beer to my chest, a little uncomfortable. "Right now, the plan is we take a day to eat, rest, and heal. Tomorrow night, we'll go to the nest and handle it, then leave in the morning."

"Good. Only two more nights until we get to go home."

We get to go home. We. I smiled at him.

"I miss Carey. Call her before the food arrives. I'll answer the door." I slapped the table a couple of times to rush him. He chuckled and started dialing while I waited impatiently. It only had to ring once.

"DAD!" she screamed. "Dad, you're okay! We were so worried!"

"Hey, baby girl!" he said happily. "I'm fine. I'm safe. A little bruised and cut, but nothing I can't handle."

"You promised everything would be fine! That you would be back before the end of the weekend and…" I heard her sniff, and my heart broke a little. "You promised." Another sniff and I knew she was crying.

"I know. I did promise," he consoled her gently. "This is life sometimes, baby girl. It's going to be okay. We're only going to be here for two more nights, then we can come home, and everything will go back to normal."

I hadn't told him Jabari was planning on following us home for a short time, so I let him keep that delusion for the moment. I would break it to him after we finished our business in Seattle. No reason to piss him off unnecessarily when we had shit to do.

"And where's Jacky?" she demanded. "She promised not to get hurt too! Landon couldn't tell me anything!"

"Where is your brother?" he asked softly. "And Jacky is fine, she's right next to me. We're waiting on dinner."

"I'm behind her. She grabbed the phone before I could." I snickered at Landon's annoyed voice. "Are you really well?"

"I am and should remain so." He eye-balled me hard as he said that. "But I would like to talk to you about business when you send Carey to bed."

"Dad! Let me talk to Jacky, at least! I've been so worried!"

He held the phone out to me, sighing heavily and dramatically—the man who was jealous of his daughter's best friend. I took the phone with a smile.

"Hey, Carey," I greeted happily, not the fake cheerfulness I had used on my werecat family. The joy was genuine for her—always.

"Are you really okay?" she asked softly, the worry in her voice making me feel loved.

"I am, kiddo. It was messy, but we did it. No, we're not going to give you the details."

"Was it bad?" She was so quiet.

"It was pretty bad," I answered. "But we're all okay."

"Good. I guess I should let Dad and Landon talk now that I know you're both okay, huh?"

"That might be good. Don't worry, we'll catch up when we get back. You might be interested in something when I get home." I eyed Heath, who gave me a narrowed-eyed stare.

Oh, that makes you curious, wolf? Wait until you find out I'm talking about introducing her to Jabari.

"Good night, Jacky."

"Good night, Carey."

I handed the phone back to Heath, and he told her good night as well, then launched into an explanation of the last few days to his son and what we were planning next. When room service knocked, I got it and separated our food out, the same order we had last time. I heard another knock right after, and Jabari received his own food.

I started eating and tuned out Landon and Heath, focusing on Jabari alone in my room. Oddly, I heard my siblings still, meaning the family meeting wasn't actually done yet.

"Where is she? Why are you eating alone?" Zuri asked, her voice a little tight.

"She's having dinner with Heath and talking to his family. He'll be going with us to the nest tomorrow night, it seems."

The walls were so thin. I didn't think Heath could hear as well as I could, but I figured it was common knowledge among the group now that nothing said was secret. Maybe Jabari thought I was too preoccupied to listen to him because he continued.

"Heath is protective of her. She's very protective of his daughter. It's not normal. I've never seen a friendship quite like it before, but they trust each other beyond measure."

"Interesting. I figured it would be a phase, and they would go their separate ways, eventually." Hasan sighed. "She's treading ground none of us have before, allying with a werewolf so closely."

"She is. After I was Changed, none of them would accept me, and I tried." Niko that time.

"Is it appropriate? She's a member of this family. It's funny to tease her about it, but she's eating with him and not Jabari."

"He understands her better than I do," Jabari admitted. "Much better than me. She's probably spent more time with him than I ever did with her. It's really our fault. We neglected her, and now, we must suffer the consequences."

"Everyone calls Niko the traitor," Davor mumbled. "I wouldn't even protect a wolf's kid—"

"Davor, I swear on everything I am, if you do not stop, I will come, claim your territory, drag you home, and reeducate you," Hasan snapped. "She isn't Liza. She doesn't try to be Liza. You must stop hating Jacky for something out of her control."

"No, she has more backbone than Liza," Jabari said. "She's tough when she needs to be and righteously angry when it's called for. Not what I was expecting. Not the na?ve girl I thought she was, just still learning."

"Now you're on her side," Hisao pointed out with a bit of bitterness I didn't expect. "I should have been out there with you."

"It would have gone smoother, yes, but she was effective and followed orders. No reason to be angry at how it went." Jabari paused, and no one cut in. "She said I was heartless."

"Excuse me?" Zuri sounded offended, the precursor to a rant.

"She was angry," he said before his twin could continue. "And she was correct, in a way. We were all callous about the death of her human fiancé. We've all lost people and learned the hardships of this world over the centuries. We never gave her the chance to grow and learn. We expected her to be like us immediately, and she wasn't, so we thought she was a failure."

I finished my food and walked to the dividing door. Heath frowned at me as I sat down, my ear angled at it to hear better.

I didn't want him to see the tears in my eyes.

The silence stretched out before one of them sighed. Another coughed for a moment.

"And there's one last thing I wanted to discuss before letting you go for the evening."

"Please, Jabari, then yes, you need to rest." Hasan was back in concerned father mode.

"Have you ever encountered someone who can block the emotional currents of their scent? Heath Everson's scent tells one nothing about his emotional state. You can smell the powerful Alpha, his age and sex, but if his face is angry, his scent won't be. When he shows you nothing, there is nothing to get."

My heart thudded. This was about Heath. I wasn't the only person who noticed the intense control my werewolf had over his emotions and scent.

"No, but considering how the body works, those scents should be uncontrollable," Hasan said, thoughtfully. I heard a weird tapping sound, realizing that must have been him tapping his desk. "Some werewolf lines have Talents much like werecats. It could be possible that's his, and he doesn't announce it like I don't announce mine, and Zuri doesn't announce her own. I wonder if any of his children picked up the ability."

"None of us have picked up your Talent, so I wouldn't put much hope on the werewolves passing along theirs any more successfully. I'll do some research," Zuri told everyone professionally. "If that's all, I'm heading off. Jabari, stay safe dealing with the vampires tomorrow. I'll wait at Father's for you after you're done helping Jacky with the runes of power."

"Thank you, sister."

There were goodbyes, and I was left listening to Jabari pull out the mattress in the couch. Heath was watching me, his conversation with Landon finished.

"It's time to get some sleep," I said, yawning to punctuate the point.

"Do you want to stay over here?" he asked softly. "You can have my bed."

I almost said yes. He was more comfortable than Jabari and the family. We fought and nearly died together more than once now.

"No. I'm going back to my own bed," I said with a yawn. "Good night, Heath."

"Good night, Jacky," he replied, his eyes never leaving me as I left the room. I felt that gaze burning into my skin long after I closed the doors between our rooms.

Jabari said nothing from his bed, and I slid into mine without bothering him.

Finally, we were all asleep in relative safety with one last thing to finish up before leaving for home.