12. Chapter Twelve

"Can we talk now?" I asked when Heath sat down with me at the table. "About yesterday."

"Sure," he agreed, leaning close to me and reaching to play with my hair. "I was in a mood yesterday, but that's not a good excuse."

"Why the mood?"

"I don't like how much I've hurt your life," he whispered, his fingers making a curl in my hair. "I don't like that we're being used against us. I know we talked about it, and I know you were only teasing yesterday, but it still bothered me. Another way I've failed. If I hadn't ruined things with Richard without knowing, had never sent Carey here—"

"Don't go down that rabbit hole," I said, pulling away from him. "Don't do it, Heath. We all make our choices. Hasan didn't have to turn me into a werecat. I didn't have to run away from his home before I was ready. I didn't have to move to Texas, so close to the Dallas pack. I didn't have to keep fighting for Carey, even though she was taken from me. I didn't have to let any of you move into my territory. The problems could have stopped if I had turned you down. At the time, I knew you were just using me as a potential shield for the quiet life you wanted to build with Carey and Landon while she grew up. I wasn't a fool. This is an unproductive exercise, as one of my family would probably say."

"I know. I've lived over two hundred and fifty years," he reminded me. "But you're too important to me to ignore it as I've always done. Well, not always. Richard damn near brought me to my knees and made me start it up again. It's hard being immortal and not looking back to see where I've made the wrong decision. It takes constant effort."

"With a couple centuries behind you, I bet you've had a lot of places you think you've messed up," I whispered. "And I get it. Look at the human problem I'm dealing with. They figured it out from what I've done in the last three years. I made my own choices as well, Heath."

"Would you change any of them?" he asked, giving me a soulful look.

"No." I didn't even need to think about it but offered an explanation. "To change any of the decisions I've made would potentially make me feel as though I'm not living up to my own beliefs or make me a hypocrite. My beliefs in what's right, what's wrong, and what's in between. I won't ever change what I've done, and I don't regret any of it."

"Then I'll do my best to get myself out of this…funk," he promised, giving me a small smile. "If you don't regret any of it, I won't either."

"Is it that easy?"

"No, but remember what I said about earning you? Well, I'll just have to work a little harder," he said, closing the distance between us and planting his lips on mine. I responded exactly how he probably wanted me to, completely into that kiss the moment his lips touched mine. The people we were protecting were asleep. There was nothing to stop us from heading back upstairs. I growled and grabbed him before he could get away, reminding him I was the stronger person in this relationship, and usually, I held back.

He surprised me by breaking my hold with a grin.

"As a wolf gets more dominant, he gets stronger," he murmured. "I think we're about equal right now."

"Do all rogue werewolves have this problem? Getting more dominant as they stay alone?"

"No. I really think it's because I'm always setting my will against yours. Not because I want to be more dominant than you, to give you orders, but I love a good argument, and instinct means I want to win. It's a constant drive and how every werewolf grows more dominant over the years unless they're a submissive wolf. A Beta stays the way he or she is forever." We'd had the discussion before, but it needed repeating because he wasn't slowing down. I purposefully stopped comparing how big his werewolf form was compared to my werecat. "Dominance needs space to grow up pack ranks or…an Alpha with a werecat."

"Is that why Callahan and Corissa are still in power? They're always throwing their will against Hasan's?"

"Probably. When the Tribunal originally formed, it didn't include every werewolf in the world. It took time for them to get everyone in line, for them to get every other Alpha to bow their head in submission," he said, shrugging. "So far as I know. I had a couple of packmates that old in Dallas who would know the timeline better."

"Including your Beta," I pointed out. I couldn't remember the werewolf's name, but it had been Heath's Beta and another werewolf who had been around during the war. One was almost nice, and the other tried to kill me until Heath made it clear I was their ally.

"Yup. So, don't think you can hold me anywhere," he teased, leaning in to kiss me again. "The Alpha in me told me I needed to break that hold and rose to the occasion."

"I see," I murmured before he kissed me again, a pleased growl coming from him as he claimed me. Werecats didn't have an instinctual need to dominate and claim the way werewolves did. We were solitary creatures who wanted to keep our territory under control. It was a different mindset. As long as Heath was coming to my bed and in my territory, I felt as though I had control over the situation.

My phone started to ring, and I cursed as I saw the name on it.

"I need to run to my office at the bar to take this," I said, jumping up. "It's family."

"Go. I'll hold things down here," Heath promised.

"Thank you," I called as I ran out the door. As I booked it down the drive, I answered the caller. "Yes, Zuri?"

"Family meeting, right now. It's about the fae situation," she explained.

"On my way."

I threw open the back of the bar and raced up the stairs. I needed to know what they knew, but they couldn't know what I knew. It was a line I was going to have to walk, as terrible as it was. I wasn't going to risk them getting involved. It was just Duty, no matter how complicated it was after that.

I got onto my computer and joined the call already in progress. My siblings had beaten me there.

"Jacky, thanks for jumping on," Hasan said as I came in. "We know you don't keep your office in your home, so Zuri decided to call."

"It's pretty damn early on a Sunday, too," I said, sighing. "What's going on? What have we learned?"

"Earlier, we were able to deduce the situation with the fae," he said carefully. "Footage of King Brion was captured at the Market. We don't know what his purpose was, but assassins attacked him."

"Why is he back after so long? And the footage is secure from humans, right?" Davor asked, frowning as he did something on his computer. "Jacky, your system is down."

"It's getting an update." I had Dirk shut it down for this very reason. "Bad timing. Also, I told you to keep your damn nose out of my security system."

"Yeah, sorry," Davor mumbled, his hands leaving his keyboard.

"The footage is secure. It went to all members of the Tribunal. One of Corissa's wolves caught it, and she was keeping all of us informed of the development. It's not public, so far as I know," Hasan explained. "Oisin and Alvina have been hard to reach."

"Are we at risk?" I asked, looking between my siblings. "Why does this bother us?" I knew why it bothered me, but I didn't know how deep my family was in this situation. Brion and Heath told me Hasan once had a friendship with the king of the fae, but none of my family said too much about the before times—before Liza's death, before Hasan disappeared for a hundred years. I knew why and understood. They were still getting their own footing, and a lot of what had been no longer applied. One hundred years changed everything. It was a similar reason why I didn't often talk about being human.

"Brion was a good friend before Liza's death and remained one as I went into grieving. Then he disappeared. I don't know what this means for us yet," Hasan said. "I don't know where he was or why he's returned, but I need to watch my back, and you all need to watch your own. He's back, and assassins are after him. I know who sent them, so there's no reason for us to try to find that out."

"It would be his brother," Zuri said, nodding in agreement. "Brion is more powerful and the rightful king, dictated by their own laws. If his son had taken the throne, this would be a simple power exchange to let Brion have his seat back, but Oisin has the throne and will do anything to keep it. We were once allies with Brion, so we need to be on high alert. Jacky, fix your security system today. Davor needs to be able to watch out for all of us."

"I'll be helping him," Niko added. "That way, if something happens, we're alerted if you don't get the chance."

I needed them to offer more information without giving up what I knew.

"Why didn't his son take the throne?" I asked, frowning. "I mean…"

"Good question, and I would love to know the answer to that as well, but Cassius and his wife disappeared two months ago," Zuri mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Cassius should answer the summons of the Tribunal, but he's a smart man. He's not going to go anywhere near his uncle right now."

"Why don't we know the answer?"

"Because it was after Liza died and before you joined the family," Davor explained, his words more hushed than normal. "We were insular for the last century. We didn't care about anyone but the werecats we ruled. Nothing else mattered."

"If I had still been sitting on the Tribunal, I would have talked to Cassius," Hasan said, regret in his words. "He was a friend's only remaining child. I should have been there to help the boy transition to power. I've seen him over the last few years, but he's not the man he once was. He's tangled up with the cambions and the nagas. He has friends among them and has been withdrawn from fae politics for at least a few decades."

"Friends?" Mischa frowned. "We don't even have friends among the nagas and the cambions. How does a disgraced fae princeling have friends with them? They're tiny, insular, and powerful species who don't take kindly to outsiders."

"Not true," Hisao countered. "I trained their ruler as an assassin. She was a Tribunal Executioner for many years. She was one of the two on standby at Jacky's trial. She and Cassius were lovers once, a passionate, and toxic affair. They're friends now, which is better for all of us. So, I could reach out to Kaliya and see if she knows where Cassius is."

"I wouldn't ask her for anything," Hasan mumbled. "Dangerous and unpredictable, that one."

"The best ones often are," Hisao retorted. "She owes me a favor, though. I gave her information this family has guarded for a long time. It was related to demons and was pertinent to her case when she was trying to discover and free the cambions from their torment. She hasn't exposed that information, and neither have those around her, but she still owes me."

"I would rather we stay out of this," Zuri said quickly, and Jabari made a noise of agreement. This was more political than war, and we all knew Zuri handled that much better than her twin. "I only mentioned I would like to know as a passing curiosity. I need to keep Amir safe, and Kushim is politically neutral. If we allow it, we will get dragged into this mess by Oisin in an insane power play. This could break the Tribunal." Everyone in the family nodded, understanding the stakes.

At least everyone is reaching the same conclusion Heath and I did. Looks like everyone is on the same page.

"Agreed," Hasan said softly. "Jacky…"

I stiffened. "Yes?"

"Have you heard anything from that fae recently?"

"I've never gone looking for him, so he's not a contact I've watched out for," I reminded him. It wasn't a lie. "I don't keep fae contacts." Also true. "I keep my head down when it comes to other supernatural races. I don't live near any of them." All true. None of that had changed in the last twenty-four hours. Brion sought me out. I was a werecat contact he needed, not the other way around.

"A simple no would have sufficed," my father said with a small smile.

"Sure, but maybe if I reminded you, you won't ask me questions with obvious answers in the future," I answered smoothly. Lying to my family was a skill I was becoming uncomfortably good at. They couldn't know who was in my house. They couldn't know how my Saturday evening had gone. They couldn't know anything until this was over and I was released from my Duty and the damn bargain I had to make.

His small smile evolved into a soft laugh. "Fine. Everyone, you know how this works. If you learn anything, you need to report it to the family. If you receive any unexpected fae visitors…"

I let him talk but stopped listening. He was telling us to do everything I couldn't do. There was too much at stake. The best-case scenario was Brion reclaiming his throne and taking his wife back. Then I could tell them all it was a quiet event I had needed to keep quiet. They would understand and know I had made the best call.

I had to believe they trusted my judgment.

"Stay safe," Hasan said, then disconnected.

"Jacky, get your security back online," Zuri ordered once more, then hung up. She would have been the safest to tell, but I hung up the call. She was also the most selfish. She had a child she needed to care for, so she couldn't run here to save me.

I put my phone on silent. They wanted my security back up for Davor to monitor, but I was about to shut them out completely. I couldn't risk it—couldn't risk them. When I made it back to my home, I went into the security building, ignoring how Heath saw me and followed me.

"Jacky, what are you doing?" he asked as I started unplugging everything.

"Making sure they can't find out," I answered. "I'm supposed to give Davor control of my security system, so he can help watch out for me, but I can't allow that."

He joined me. There were a lot of cables, and I was dismantling the entire system—two computers, a server, six screens, and a number of electronic accessories that went with each of them. Dirk was going to lose his mind when he saw what he needed to put back together, but I didn't let that bother me. I would help him if I had to, but I had to make sure Davor couldn't see what was happening in my territory.

"Won't this help give us away?" Heath asked once we were done. "I would see it as a bad sign. If any of my werewolves had a security system that crashed, the first thing I would do is go check it out. I would call, send people, or go myself, anything I had to do. I've done it before."

"I told them the system was getting an update. They asked me to bring it back up today, but it's early Sunday. I have time before they start questioning why it's not up yet. By the time they realize it's down on purpose, they'll still need to take several-hour flights to get here and see what the problem is. I think this will buy us twenty-four hours we wouldn't have if Davor saw Fiona and Rian on camera. They're not in the same city or even the same country, Heath. I don't have the same leash you kept with your werewolves because it's impossible to enforce. Werecats are supposed to be independent."

"Sometimes, I wonder if your family should start bringing leashes into the equation," he mumbled, both teasing and truthful.

"Ha." I pushed him slowly out of my security room. "Now we have a day to figure out how to keep this hidden."