Chapter Six

Iwas woken up by my phone vibrating. With a soft groan, I reached over to see Bethany Kirk, the BSA agent who was my contact with the rest of the organization. She passed word to me a lot, and I told her anything I needed the BSA to hear.

I know I was planning on calling you today, but was five a.m. really necessary?

Heath didn't stir. There was a reason I put my phone on vibrate. My hearing was sensitive enough to catch it when it was on my bedside table, but it didn't bother him. I wasn't trying to hide anything, but with my family all over the world, I didn't take the chance of letting them call and wake up both of us. He didn't get calls from a pissed-off sister in Russia. I did.

"Hold on, Bethany. Let me get out of the bedroom," I said immediately upon answering.

"Holding," she replied but stayed silent after that. I threw on a shirt and pajama bottoms, both of which I realized were Heath's, but that was only a positive. They smelled like him. I quickly made my way downstairs, keeping my steps light to keep from waking up Carey. I went into my office and locked the door, yawning as I sat down.

"What's going on? You know the time, right?" I asked, yawning a second time.

"I've been ordered to give you certain information, or I wouldn't be calling, I promise," Bethany said, sounding equally tired now that she was able to speak. "I got the call an hour ago and had to report in early."

"Anyone dead?" I rubbed my tired eyes.

"I'm not privy to anything specific. I'm going to tell you everything I know as it was passed to me. I have the memo right in front of me."

"I'm listening," I said, knowing Bethany was probably just as confused as I was. Hearing her mention a memo, though, told me this was going to be the official language or her telling of it. This wasn't going to be the nice chats we normally had when something was going on.

"Your presence has been ordered at the Dallas BSA office."

Ordered… There are only a few reasons they can legally do that…

"The meeting will be tomorrow at five in the morning. You are allowed to bring a plus one; however, that plus one cannot, under any circumstances, be a werewolf."

Shit. No Heath or Landon, then.

"Neither you nor your plus one can be armed. Failure to follow either of these rules will only cause the meeting to be rescheduled on a daily basis at five a.m. until we, the BSA, see compliance. If you come with a werewolf, you are forgoing your plus one and will be attending the meeting alone or not attending at all, in which case the meeting will be rescheduled under the same terms as stated previously. You will not be the only supernatural in attendance, all of whom may look poorly on failure to follow these procedures set forth. This is not a meeting about any legal troubles you may or may not be in." Bethany's grumble almost made me smile. "The memo doesn't tell me the nature of the meeting or what it's even about," she explained, her voice losing that lawyer-like quality it had while she was explaining, becoming more casual for a moment. "It doesn't say who else will be at the meeting, either."

"Well, damn. The timing sucks, but the timing always sucks, huh?"

"Yeah, it does," Bethany agreed, sighing. "The rest of this is jargon, but you'll just come, go through some standard security procedures, and be escorted to the meeting room."

"And with only twenty-four hours' notice to prepare for whatever this is," I said, trying to keep my tone positive. This wasn't her fault.

"Yeah…" Bethany didn't seem pleased, either. She was also clearly out of the loop. "This sort of thing can only be done by a handful of people in the BSA. I've never been witness to anything like this."

"There's a lot neither of us have ever seen or heard of before," I reminded her. "The BSA is, for better and for worse, a little secretive, and there are things that don't make it into the reports or official language, I bet."

"You're right, but having me deliver the message, I would hope my superiors would at least give me any information to ask potential questions… However, if it's not written down, no one can report on it or say it over a potentially unsecured line of communication. Considering we've had multiple issues involving you, either directly or tangentially, I can logically see why they are keeping this to the minimal level of knowledge required to get you to attend."

"Is there anything else I need to worry about?" I asked, not able to read said memo myself.

"Ah, yes, there's one…" Something banged. "Okay. There's a soft gag order. Mention this to as few people as possible, and if it leaks that this meeting will happen, is happening, or has happened, then you'll be held accountable for it if an investigation points to you being the one who leaked it."

"Oh, wow. I wonder what sort of punishments they have whipped up."

"I wouldn't doubt if it aimed at your finances considering your situation, income, employment. There are a few ways the BSA holds werewolves accountable when necessary, but it's dependent on the supernatural's circumstances. If it's a lower-ranking werewolf, the BSA works with the Alpha to come to a decision. With any Alpha, we go to the NAWC and discuss it with them. There are too many variables," she finished. Her tone gave me the clear visual of her shrug, and I agreed. There was no reason to get into any more detail when I could get the picture clearly enough.

"I'll follow the orders, including the stipulations of my plus one. You can report that to whoever needs to hear it," I said, leaning back in my chair as I thought about the one option I had.

"I will, thank you." There was a beat of silence that made me wonder if she was going to hang up on me. "Jacky, I don't think you should tell Heath any more than you were ordered to be here at five am."

"Worried?" I asked softly.

"Honestly, I am, and I… I have a really strong feeling that Heath would know just enough to put something together that could cause both of you problems. He used to be a member of the NAWC. If that hasn't made him privy to a lot of things I don't even know, then I'll eat my badge. So, to keep both of you safe, you should be very vague with him. Tell him where you will be and what time. Tell him when you leave. I can't tell you not to give him that, but I highly recommend you keep all other details to yourself until we both know more."

Okay, then… Tell him nothing that could require him to lie under oath or get sniffed out by a strong nose.

"I understand and will follow that recommendation," I promised. "Thanks, Beth."

"I'm not only your handler," she reminded me. She was the closest person to a friend I had inside the BSA. "I'll let you go. Apologizes for needing to call so early."

"No worries. Have a good morning." I hung up and dropped my cell phone on my desk. "Fuck," I muttered, the strong language seeming too loud even at such a low volume. It was the only thing I could say, though. It was my entire mood. I knew why she had to call so early and give me twenty-four hours' notice. It was just enough time to call in any of my family if I had no proper backup in the country. If they were hoping for me to bring a family member, that was a bad sign right off the bat.

They could be thinking I might invite someone outside my family, but that's so unlikely. There's no way. They know my family rules the werecats.

I knew what I had to do. I had planned to ask him how he wanted to deal with the BSA situation, but now that was going to be decided for us. I texted Niko, wondering if he would even be awake. It was too damn early, in my opinion, but some people out there liked to be awake at five in the morning.

After ten minutes without a reply, I went back upstairs and put my phone back on my table before getting into the shower. I needed the water because going back to sleep wasn't a great idea. Heath was going to wake up in only an hour, and trying to sleep only for the alarm to go off didn't sound like a good time.

Maybe the shower did it, but while I was washing my hair, he was awake and joining me well before he normally woke up. He didn't say or try to start anything, only helping me, massaging the shampoo with me. He gave me a reason to stay under the hot water longer than necessary, though, enjoying this with him when we had the chance. With a kiss, I turned off the water when we were done.

"That's not nice," he said, chuckling. "I was enjoying this."

"Me, too, but I was supposed to take a quick shower," I said as I grabbed my towel. Once I was wrapped up, I threw him his own.

"Any reason? It's pretty early, even for me."

"I got a call, which led to me texting Niko, and I'm impatiently waiting for a reply. I need to talk to him today."

"You would tell me if it was an emergency, right?" he asked as we dried off.

"Absolutely. We'll talk about it more once I get ahold of Niko and figure some details out," I promised, kissing his cheek. "You go do whatever you need to do, and we'll meet up later."

"I'll be heading to Dallas to talk to some people about these plans, then. We could break ground fast if I really push this."

"Um, if you're going to Dallas, meet me and Niko at the mansion later today. I'll let you know when we head out, and we'll talk there."

"Sounds great. I'll text Landon and tell him Carey is his for the day, then." He swooped in to kiss my cheek.

It was already six when I grabbed my phone to go hide in my office until Niko replied to me. I had to get out of that bathroom as fast as possible because I hated having to bite my tongue with Heath. I wanted to confirm Niko would go with me, though, before I told Heath anything. If I had my plus one decided and ready to go, I knew he would be more comfortable the moment he heard it. Beyond that, I wanted him to focus on the werewolves, not whatever this nonsense was.

I waited only another thirty minutes, playing games on my computer to pass the time. Niko's reply was short, saying he would meet me and bring some breakfast with him. I could hear Heath leaving, only the smell of coffee left behind finally tempting me to leave my office to get a mug of my own.

When Niko arrived, I locked us in my office, not saying anything yet. He gave me a breakfast sandwich and another cup of coffee, then sat across me. We ate and drank our coffee until he broke the silence.

"So, what's going on?" he asked, wiping crumbs off his hands.

"I have a meeting tomorrow in Dallas, and I'm allowed to take one other person; however, that can't be a werewolf," I explained, doing the same because the biscuits were a bit dry and crumbly. Not my favorite, but I made no complaints because Niko didn't have to bring me food. It was thoughtful of him, considering I'd messaged him so damn early in the morning.

"Dallas? A meeting with werewolves or humans?" he asked, leaning back as he relaxed.

"Humans. The BSA called the meeting. I wouldn't doubt if there will be werewolves there, though, since I can't take any werewolves." With a tight smile, I gave him a look. "You know what Heath's relationship with other werewolves is like right now, right?"

"We've talked about it. Banning Heath from the meeting is certainly a message."

"Yeah, and… I won't be able to keep you a secret from the BSA forever. We both know that, right? The fact that we've been so quiet about everything that's happened in the last few months is already an achievement. I was just thinking about it after you left yesterday, just another thing we needed to do eventually…"

"We're going to hard launch me into the public through a meeting with an agency of the United States government?" Niko's eyes went a bit wide as he realized what I was saying.

"Zuri did the same." I reminded him cautiously.

"She did, didn't she?" Niko huffed.

"And we were dealing with a murder. This is a meeting potentially with werewolves, potentially not. They did give me enough time to fly someone in if you want me to?—"

"I'll do it."

I was left speechless by how fast he decided that. I really was thinking that I would need to spend some time trying to explain more of my reasoning.

"Are you sure?" I finally got out, stumbling over the words.

"Yeah. It'll be good. If it's just humans, then I'll be able to see how the BSA works, maybe offer some input and advice in the future even though you'll continue to be their main contact. If it's with werewolves, we'll get a chance to remind the BSA and the werewolves that Heath is only one of their concerns." Niko started smiling, too many teeth visible for my instincts to feel comfortable with.

Oh. Yeah. They won't only see Niko, son of Hasan. They'll see The Traitor. I should really stop making plans before I've had coffee.

"Well… with that…" Thrown off, I needed to figure out my next steps. "Heath knows I asked for you, but he's left for Dallas to work on the pack's project. We'll meet him at the mansion in the city, but he won't stay the night with us. I don't want the BSA thinking he knows too much?—"

"Wait, he's not allowed to know?"

"I was given a clear warning not to tell him too much, and if anything leaks, I'll be responsible if it's traced back to anyone in my circle. Niko, I don't even know what this meeting is about."

"This is beginning to sound suspect," he pointed out before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Don't I know it…" I said, sighing.