Chapter Twenty-Three

Iwoke up to a gentle shake, blinking to clear my vision as I tried to focus on Davor, who was hovering over me.

"Morning. Time for your watch. I'll stay up an extra thirty minutes or so for you, just like Niko did for me," he said, stepping back as I sat up.

"Thanks," I said with a large yawn before rubbing my eyes.

"Yeah. I'll meet you in the main room," he said, leaving me as I swung my legs off the bed and pulled my boots back on. When I walked out, he was poking the fire, which seemed to be dying off.

"Do you mind if we let this die for when we leave, or would you like me to throw another log on?" he asked, looking over his shoulder as I rounded the busted couch.

"Let it die. It was never really cold in here," I said, dropping down onto the couch. "So, you were supposed to talk to Niko about your theories about the werecat. You have any working theories on that yet?"

"There's a couple, but one is more likely than the other," Davor said, sitting on the far end of the couch, fire poker still in hand. "I'll go with more likely first. It needed a den and decided this was familiar to its mind and would work. The destruction… could have just been it in a mood at any given point while it stayed here. The second is that this place was something personal, and it both destroyed what it lost but wanted to stay in it. Far less likely. There's nothing to indicate that a werecat had lived here at all before this werecat had come in and stayed in it."

"Neither of those seem… good enough," I said, watching Davor's face in the low light of the dim cabin.

"I don't like them, but I can't explain this without thinking something out of the ordinary is going on. How far out of the ordinary is what I'm trying to put my finger on." Davor sighed. "I hate not having answers, but while I forced us to stay here, I have to admit the answers aren't here."

"Well, we got to sleep in beds, so that"s nice," I said, shrugging. "While this only added to the mystery, it's something we needed to know. No harm in it."

"Thank you for being so reasonable," he said. He held out the poker, and I put it against my side of the couch just in case I needed it. "It's a pity your first time dealing with this isn't a more standard Last Change werecat."

"Nothing, and I do mean nothing, I ever deal with for the family is standard." I leaned further back into the couch, staring at the ceiling. "Apparently, I can't be the good standard werecat the family needs me to be."

"I wouldn't go that far. If you consider it, none of the family is standard or do standard things when compared to any of our own kind," he said, chuckling. It was sad, that little laugh. It took me a moment to catch how he was being self-deprecating with it. It made my head roll to look at him again.

"Yeah, that's a good point," I said softly, staring at his profile. "Not every werecat does this, huh?"

"None of them do this," he said, shaking his head. "We're not like the werewolves. We don't have systems in place for local werecats to deal with events near them. We have our family, and we control everything. We do everything." Davor looked toward me. "Have you ever noticed that we don't spend too much time with other werecats? Mischa is the most talkative with our own kind, and it's purely because she's almost always on the move. She goes through their territories and sees them, but I wouldn't really say she's friends with any of them. Sometimes drinking buddies, but being a rogue, she's able to really monitor them, and they know that.

"Zuri and Jabari? They don't associate with any werecats outside the family unless it's required by their duties. Neither does Hisao. Niko and I never have, either. He would do business with the fae before another werecat. You had a friend once. That was refreshing to hear about, in hindsight."

"Up until she learned what family I was part of," I muttered.

"Exactly."

I lowered my head, understanding his point.

"We all have our own reasons for staying out of it… or being kept out of the community our people have, but in the end, we're all outsiders to a world we rule. We're not standard, Jacky. That's not just you. It's all of us."

"Has it always been this way?"

"Yeah. There were no recorded or spoken of cases of werecats being born before Zuri and Jabari. It immediately made them different from the older group Mother and Father were a part of, or any of their Changed children. Mischa was the first non-biological child of our family, which clearly marked her in some way, but perhaps I've been in too much therapy, and I'm seeing things there that I shouldn't. Hisao has been an assassin since before he became a werecat. I'm an introvert at heart, and I was always too interested in other things. Niko was raised by werewolves…" Davor trailed off. "See where I'm going here?"

"Yeah, I do. We're a family of weirdos."

"I think the only time we haven't been was when Hasan was alone," Davor said softly. "When he was a new werecat, following the lead, like the others, of the original werecat. Subira was always an outcast, though. That I know for certain."

"Because she was a witch." I figured that much.

"Because she was a woman," Davor corrected. "Being a witch was why she was Changed."

"That's right," I said, sighing heavily. "Because her mother died."

"Yeah." Davor nodded, sinking onto the busted couch.

It was a sad story, the origin of the Subira I knew. She was the biological daughter of the original werecat with a witch he had claimed as his own. When her mother died, he had wanted to keep his daughter alive, immune to the sands of time and more durable against the violent world they lived in. He needed a witch, she had told me, so he risked her life by Changing her against her will. If she had died, he knew he needed to find a new one at that point instead of later. She had survived, and one day, she thrived. She met Hasan somewhere in there, a man Changed by the original werecat, and they became mates, bonded through magic and everything.

I opened my mouth to ask something, but my mind went blank, and the question was lost.

"Jacky? You okay?" Davor asked, tilting his head to the side. "You've been quiet for a long time."

"Oh, I'm fine. I had a thought, but I lost it," I said, huffing in frustration, trying to recall the question that had come to my mind.

Was it a question? There was something. What was it?

"Ah. I know that feeling all too well," Davor said, chuckling. "Well, I'll let you get to watch without further distracting you. It's been quiet, some wildlife passing by, but nothing to be concerned about. In three hours, wake us up. There are some snacks out, but we'll do a normal breakfast when we're all up. Oh, feel free to walk around outside, but stay close to the cabin. We did. You'll smell the patrol path."

"Okay. Get some rest, Davor." I waved him off as he patted my shoulder as he passed, heading into one of the back bedrooms.

It was only an hour into my watch that I decided I needed to stretch my legs. I tried to walk quietly, sneaking out the door to hopefully not disturb my brothers like they hadn't disturbed me. Birds greeted me as I found the scent trail left by Niko and Davor. They hadn't pushed out very far, only fifteen feet from the cabin. I walked the path, watching the trees, looking around as I listened to the world around me—the water, the birds, the leaves in the wind.

It was truly serene in a way that I had missed for a long time in my territory. There was the smell of my brothers, but it was light, as they were new like me. It wasn't the permeated scent of anyone who regularly walked around the cabin. It would blow away in the wind and be reclaimed entirely by the natural scent of this place.

Unlike my previous watches, I felt better now, less fearful of every little sound. I was finally adjusting to this place of constant light, new smells, and familiar sounds. For the first time, I didn't have thoughts of the Black Forest creeping up in the back of my mind.

This is nice. I can see why werecats go out this far to disconnect from the danger and drama of being around everyone else.

I knew I would get lonely, eventually. I could never live in a place like this permanently, but I could see myself spending time out in places like this to recharge and feel alone in a good way for the first time in a long time.

I heard something snap, and it sent the birds flying, leaving the world quiet. I looked for the source, wondering if another bear had stumbled onto us or if I was going to be dealing with wolves. When nothing else happened, I continued to patrol, but something felt wrong now. I wanted to be alert, but something in the back of my mind was telling me that I could relax, that I should relax

Disturbed, I tried to head to the door, shaking my head as I realized how hard it was for me to stay focused on the world around me.

A growl stopped me ten feet from the door, my instincts screaming that if I ran, I would die. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a hulking monster walking out of the tree line. It had to be over eight feet tall, if not taller, but I couldn't judge properly. Its face was a werecat, but the shape of the body was too human. Cat eyes tracked my every movement, a pale green like some cougars. Everyone knew the werewolf equivalent, a classic movie monster. I was staring down something I had hoped to never see, and it was my possible future. It was formed in some bipedal form but used its paw-like hands to stalk toward me ever so slowly.

Silent. The steps were silent until it touched another dry branch, and that little snap happened again.

How long has it been stalking us?

I tried not to breathe, moving slowly as I maintained eye contact with it. Once I turned my back to the cabin and stared it down, I knew it had caught the scent of my fear.

I need to scream. I need to wake up Niko and Davor. Come on. Scream. I have to do anything, damn it!

I couldn't. When I opened my mouth, no sound left it, leaving me reaching for my throat with one hand as I backed away. Using my free hand, I groped for the door handle as I fumbled, moving a little faster now. So long as I was looking at it, I wasn't running prey but a retreating predator, backing off out of respect. It was all I could do to not think about how Rainer had nearly killed me when he'd gotten his hands on me in a similar situation. I had to focus on now, but it was so damn hard.

Only a few more steps, I think. Why can't I scream? I'm trying, and it's not…

Oh gods. I think…

It lunged, stopping all my thoughts, snarling loudly as I hit my heel on the patio, nearly fumbling enough to give it the opening it needed. Now, it was only ten feet from me, though.

I heard boots hit wood from the inside, hurried, and doors swinging open.

"Jacky?" Niko called.

Right as he said my name, the werecat jumped for me, claws out and ready to tear me apart. I was paralyzed.

Something solid hit me from behind, and I slammed to the ground as the werecat soared over me and hit the cabin, tumbling through the open door.

"Davor, gun!" Niko screamed.

I scurried to my feet, trying to move farther away from the monster now inside the cabin. Niko was just outside the door, his eyes focused on the werecat. It came out quickly, going after him, making him jump and move.

"I need my claws!" Niko yelled as he ran across the clearing around the cabin, doing his best to stay out of reach of the werecat, but only barely.

Davor was in the door before I could get close to the cabin.

"Jacky, move!" he yelled as he lifted the dart gun I had seen before.

Running for the cabin, I slid as I tried to make the sharp turns I needed to get to Niko's bag. The claws would be on top. I found them, yanking them out haphazardly, ignoring that they were silver. I hissed at the cut I gave myself, but it didn't slow me down. I rushed past Davor, running for Niko and the werecat. Niko wasn't getting out of the fight unscathed, that much was certain. He was already favoring his left leg, blood hitting my nose as I saw the claw marks through his pants.

"Hey!" I roared, causing the werecat to break his concentration on Niko for a moment, giving my brother time to step away. Davor got off a shot, hitting it in the shoulder.

Someone screamed.

I threw the claws into the grass near Niko as I squared up with the werecat, not able to think about much else as the now-injured monster focused on me once again. This time, I wasn't paralyzed by fear, the adrenaline of what was happening pumping too hard through me. It lunged, and I knew the moves, having fought a monster all too similar to this one before. All I needed to do was keep it from getting its hands on me, but it was a struggle. This werecat was just as fast as Rainer and probably more powerful. The only difference in its behavior from Rainer was that it was totally lost in whatever rage and frenzy washed over it, while Rainer had been focused on a goal. He'd had some thought left to him, while this werecat didn't.

It felt like forever, but Niko joined the fight once again, silver flashing through the air as he jumped for it, slicing it.

Someone screamed again.

With it focused on Niko, I turned and ran back for Davor, knowing I was the weakest one in this fight. I wasn't supposed to be in my human form for this, but I wasn't certain I would have the time to Change. Thirty seconds wasn't long normally. Right now, it was long enough to give that werecat an easy chance to kill me. I felt the need to help, but I wasn't sure how I was supposed to do that now.

I didn't have long to think about it as something hit the wooden wall beside me then hit the ground.

Without thinking, I jumped into Davor, sending us flying as something went off. My ears were ringing as I tried to figure out what had just happened.

I didn't have long to think about it as sharp claws sank into my thigh and pulled, this scream coming from me as it used that deep grab to lift and throw me away from the cabin, rolling toward the trees until my abdomen hit a trunk.

Dizzy and in pain from the back-to-back impacts, I struggled to even lift my head. I was rattled, and I didn't have time to be, but when I tried to stand, I stumbled hard.

I need to move. I can't leave them to fight that…

"So, the rumors are true. You really don't know how to stay down."

I didn't know who was talking, but something slammed into the back of my head. It wasn't a werecat's force, but it was perfectly aimed and had an immense punch behind it.

I blacked out instantly.