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5. Chapter Five

Ipicked up Carey promptly at four in the afternoon at the family's dark brown brick, two-story farmhouse. She had just enough time every Monday to do two things—eat a snack and do her homework. She wasn't allowed to come with me until the homework was done. The snack was just her preference.

"Stay out of trouble," Heath said to her as he walked her to my car. "And don't give Jacky a hard time."

"I never do, Dad!" Carey rolled her eyes at me as she stepped in front of her dad and grabbed the door. Months before, she had let him open the door for her. Now, she was doing it herself, and every time Heath tried to do it, he felt the sting of his little girl not wanting his help. How did I know? I could see and smell it, but past that, I was once the same little girl, rejecting the help of an adult because I could do it myself.

The poor man is never going to survive her teenage years.

"So, what are we doing today?" Carey grinned at me as she put her seat belt on. I lowered her car window so Heath could say something before we drove away.

"I was thinking we would try baking that cookie recipe. The one I told you about last week."

"The strawberry ones?" Her face lit up like the sun.

"Yup. What do you need, Heath?" I looked around her and smiled at her father, knowing he was probably getting annoyed with waiting.

"I want her home by nine tonight. You can feed her dinner. I've got calls to make, it seems, and she's better off with you while Landon and I work."

"A whole extra hour…" I sighed. "Fine." I dragged it out, smirking at Carey, whose laugh echoed around my car.

"Funny." Heath shook his head in disapproval before kissing his daughter's forehead and stepping back up onto the dark wood, wraparound porch.

"He loves you," I whispered to her, closing the window. "Let him open the door sometimes."

"It's weird. I can open the door by myself."

He's trying to teach you what a gentleman does. I didn't say that to her, but it ran across my mind. How many times had I talked to Shane about that? How women looked to their fathers, who were great or terrible examples of men. Heath was a great father, there was no denying that, and I knew Carey wouldn't recognize how good for at least another few years. Maybe when a boy breaks her heart for the first time or hurts her feelings.

"Just do it. He'll appreciate letting you remind him you're still his little girl."

"No one opens your doors. Or pays for you. Or anything like that." She shrugged like that was explanation enough.

"Because I'm an adult." And I would love a man to open the door for me if he wants to sleep with me, but that's not something I can tell you. "And he's not my father. My father will still try to open the door for me." I pulled out of the driveway and began the short drive home with her. She had this intense look of concentration on her face for a moment then popped a question I was expecting.

"Your human dad or your werecat dad?"

"Both," I answered, trying to sound nonchalant. "But my human dad doesn't know where I am or can't see me anymore."

"Could he find you? If something bad happens?"

"No," I murmured, shaking my head. "I took the last name, Leon, right after I was Changed. It's common for our kind. Not that last name specifically, just a new one. I thought I was being funny."

"What's your real name?"

I gave her a side-eyed expression, letting her know she wasn't going to learn that ever. Heath knew and he'd been able to track down my human family. When I thought about it, it was funny. He could back track my life to humanity and learn about me, but he couldn't find anything about my werecat life. Oh, he'd found fake names and bank accounts, which had taken him years to put together, but he couldn't connect me with Hasan or the rest of the family, something the family took a lot of care with, not only for my privacy but also for theirs. Unless someone knew beforehand, they weren't going to find out without someone in the family telling them. Since werecats never offered that information to outsiders, the secret was safe.

"Why are you so nosy today?" I asked as I turned down the highway to get to my bar.

"Because I can." She gave the same nonchalant shrug from earlier. "I like hearing about you. You're my friend."

"Thank you." I smiled down at her. "Cookies and cards tonight, though. I'm not up for a lot of heavy conversation."

"Okay." She smiled back and pulled her legs up to her chest, sitting in a little secure ball in the passenger's seat. "You know my birthday is next month, right?"

"Yup. It's marked on my calendar. Twelve years old. You excited?"

"Not really. It's another year closer to sixteen, though, when I get to learn to drive."

Priorities. Carey had the right priorities.

"Well, what do you want this year? Twelve is important, too, you know."

"Not really!" With a huff, she sagged into the seat. "I don't know what I want. Dad's been asking too, and I just don't know what to tell him. What did you want for your birthday?"

"I…" I realized that I couldn't remember. Damn dead spot in my memory. Part of me wondered if it was from the car accident. Hasan didn't know of anyone else who had lost so much of their memory during the Change. It was common for werecats to lose bits and pieces, but I lost nearly six years of my childhood. "I don't remember, actually."

"Then it can't be that important." Carey crossed her arms. "Maybe I'll ask for a dirt bike like the one you have."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll love that…"

Carey laughed, but I could tell she was strongly considering it. Amazing. Heath was going to be so mad at me for that if he had a problem with dirt bikes. He'd bought a large piece of property between Tyler and Jacksonville, so maybe he would be fine with it, but I knew his property was so he and Landon could shift during the full moon, not for Carey to run around and get bitten by snakes or break her arm on a dirt bike.

I pulled in front of the bar, closed on Mondays like normal, and unlocked the door for her to follow me in, climbing the back stairs together to my small apartment. I pointed to the table, a silent order for her to park her butt in a chair while I got stuff out for cookies. It was ritual now. Monday was the day she came over, asked me girl questions, or just wanted to talk to an adult who wasn't her father or brother. We cooked, baked, played video games, anything either of us was interested in. Once, I took her walking on some of the trails behind the bar, keeping her away from my house.

"Any cute guys at school? Or girls?" I asked, pulling out everything we needed from the fridge and pantry.

"No. They all know my dad is a werewolf which means they think I might be a werewolf—"

"We've already established you go to school with shit kids," I reminded her. "But not all of them are shitty. Are there any you like at all?"

She shrugged. "Dad says I need to hang out with other kids my age, but…I've always hung out with werewolves and werewolf families. Normal kids are…boring. And scared of me. And my dad."

"Yeah, I know." I tried to give her a sympathetic look as I put two bowls down on the table. "Is anyone teasing you?"

"You can't tell Dad," she said pointedly.

"I don't tell your dad anything."

"Then, yeah, there are a couple of boys who tease me. Never enough to tell the teacher. A few of the girls move away from me when I try to sit with them. It's not a big deal. My old school was like this too, and it's okay. I still see my tutors on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and those kids aren't as smart as me."

"If it becomes more than teasing, you'll tell me or your dad," I ordered.

"I know," she huffed. "You know, he was annoyed with you yesterday."

"You know, I think I got that impression," I said, thinking back. "What's his problem?"

"You don't tell him anything. Dad is used to people telling him everything, and he doesn't like that you don't. He knows it's because you're a werecat, but he's a control freak. He likes to know everything, and now he doesn't. He says you keep secrets."

"I do. More from him than you, actually." I sat down and cracked open the cake mix that was the base of the cookies. It was a recipe I had found online when I was human and loved so much, I tried it with every cake mix I could find. I didn't bake often, but this was my go-to baking project. "He didn't like how you didn't make him pay for me at the bowling alley."

"Oh, because I know Alphas pay for their wolves when they do things together. It's an Alpha's way of saying he'll take care of you. But you don't want anyone to take care of you, and…I know if he acts too much like an Alpha, you'll want him to leave. Then I have to leave too, and that would be awful."

"You're perceptive. Maybe you should tell him everything I've told you about werecats. It might help him." I raised an eyebrow. "Why haven't you?"

She gave me a sly smile. "I like finally knowing more than him."

I laughed, shaking my head with dismay for her poor father. "I think he might like to hear things I'm telling you. It'll help him."

"We've been doing this for months, and he's only getting…weirder," she said, her face screwing up in confusion. "Like, every week he's asking more questions and getting nosier. I don't get it."

"Let me talk to him. It's not like I'm going to make you a werecat or anything."

"No, you just like having someone safe around," she whispered, giving me a look.

I had explained to her she was always welcome and why months before. We fulfilled each other's needs in that way. She wanted a woman to talk to, that was obvious. One who knew everything, both girl problems and supernatural problems. It helped that she felt safe with me. And I needed someone I could safely share with, who didn't threaten me or feel threatened by me. We were symbiotic, Carey and me. It wouldn't last forever, but I started treasuring the Mondays we shared after only a few short weeks, something that only began to ease her nightmares. The feeling I would burn down the world to make her smile never faded. It was always there, ready for something to spark it.

"So, cookies," I declared, showing her everything I set out. "This recipe is so easy, you're going to die. Promise."

"Are we just doing strawberry?" she asked. "Can we put chips in it?"

"We are going to do plain strawberry, and I was thinking…" I had a surprise up my sleeve. I grabbed another box and a bag of chocolate chips. "Yellow cake, whatever flavor that is, with chocolate chips. Like how yellow cake almost always has chocolate icing."

"I love yellow cake!" She made one of those high-pitched girl noises, grinning. "And then we're going to play something while they bake."

"And after, I'm going to order us food. If I'm going to bake, I'm not going to cook."

"That's cool." She was still beaming as I sat back down.

Together, we poured, mixed, and stirred. I grabbed two cookie sheets and taught her how to roll the right size balls for good cookies as the oven preheated. Once it dinged, we had two full trays of cookies and extra dough for another batch. Once the cookies were in the oven, we played solitaire together, me teaching her the rules. I had already taught her spider and hearts but figured poker of any sort was off the table for at least a couple of years. Solitaire was easy and would give her something she could do when she was bored.

"You can always download it onto your phone," I reminded her. "You would learn faster."

"I like learning from you."

I wanted to melt. I liked teaching her.

When the first batch of cookies was done, I pulled them out and placed them on racks to cool and put the second batch in. Carey wandered off to my bathroom. Leaning on the counter, I began to think about how awful it would be to kick Heath, Landon, and Carey out of my territory. It would hurt not to see her so often, and I couldn't imagine how she would feel if she suddenly had to move because I didn't want them around.

I can't do it. Not to her. There had to be another way to make everyone out there calm the fuck down. There had to be a way to appease the insular natures of the werecats without throwing her out just to get rid of Heath and Landon. I could always tell them they just needed to move out of my territory, but would Heath trust me with her after that? It would be a major inconvenience and could give him the impression they weren't safe around me.

And they are. They are safe with me.

Carey walked back in, but I busied myself with checking my phone, seeing if anyone had texted me. By now, Jabari would be in Washington, maybe talking to other werecats in the region about the two who were killed. I didn't know if there were bodies found or not, or how everyone even knew they were dead. There was no news, though. Hopefully, Hasan would keep in touch, and Lani would call me back.

The alarm for the oven made me jump. I quickly turned it off and removed the cookies before anything was burned.

"Are you okay?" Carey asked softly.

"I am," I lied, smiling easily at her. I wasn't. I wasn't normally so jumpy or distracted, not with people around—never with people around. This was the second time in front of her I'd lost track of my surroundings. Including Saturday with Heath made it three times. Three times in three days. Unusual, to say the least, but the recent news had me distracted. I grabbed a plate and two glasses. Carey couldn't walk over to me fast enough as I swiftly poured the milk, moving too quickly, and over poured. She grabbed the glass before I knocked it off the counter as I cussed darkly.

"What's wrong, Jacky?" Her words sounded woeful and sad.

"Nothing. There's just a lot on my mind, and I was rushing to get you milk and…" I shook my head. "Go sit and I'll—"

"I got it!" She smiled and ran to grab the paper towels. I snatched them from her and pointed to the table. I was too edgy now, especially since she was noticing something was off. I cleaned up as she sat back down. I put her milk and the cookies in front of her, grabbing my glass last.

"Why don't I just turn on a movie tonight?" I suggested, smiling weakly.

"Okay."

Turning on the most recent superhero movie, we watched from the table, eating cookies. I ordered Chinese food absentmindedly as the movie played, and it got there fast. I made two plates of Mongolian beef and fried rice, making sure I fed her before shoveling the rest onto my own plate. I could easily eat it all, but I always made sure Carey had enough food. There were even a couple of days when she had told me to stop giving her food. When the first movie was over, I turned on another. It was a good distraction for her, something to keep her eyes off me while my mind continued to wander.

The other werecats could force me to give up Carey. My palms grew sweaty. If they hated that wolves lived in my territory, they could force the issue. They had to see it wasn't so bad, they could work with their wolves.

Unless their wolves wanted to kill them because they were possible threats.

What if Carey was in danger? Or Heath and Landon? What if a werecat decided to try to claim my territory to teach me a lesson?

The very idea paralyzed me for much of the second film. When it was over, Carey jumped up and took our empty glasses to the sink.

"Jacky…" She touched my shoulder when she got back. "It's nine thirty." She yawned, and I groaned.

"Sorry. Let's get you home. I wasn't the best company tonight."

"It's okay. We all have bad days." She didn't seem sad, but I felt guilty. "You'll be better next Monday."

"Yup." I smiled and herded her out of my apartment and back down to my car. She texted her dad with my cellphone as we got into the car. What amazed me was he didn't call, not that he ever had before. Normally, when I was a little late getting her back, we told him, and he just said it was fine.

"He's not mad," Carey finally announced next to me. "He says he got caught up with work. Who's Jabari?"

"My brother," I answered quickly then clamped my jaw. "Don't…"

"Tell anyone? Okay. I don't like people meeting Richard and Landon either. They just…scare people off. Big brothers, right?"

"Right," I agreed. "He's a very private man, and if Heath learns about him, you know your dad is going to look up everything he can."

"Oh yeah, he is that nosy."

I let the conversation die out until we were in front of her house. "Be good for your dad. Tell him I'm sorry for being back late with you."

"He'll understand." Carey yawned as she slid out of my hatchback. "Good night, Jacky."

"Good night, Carey."

I watched her walk inside, her dad meeting her at the door. He tilted his head at me, leveling me with a confused stare. I wasn't normally late. I just drove off, hoping he would forget about it.

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