them yet.” He was frowning now, and I kept pushing.
“My self-esteem doesn’t need the reminder. You left me that little book in case I forget any, and I’ll keep practicing. Promise.” Honestly, I had been serious when I said I didn’t care if I knew them or not. The pain had come from never being told about them, never being offered them. Now that I had them, I was grateful, but I wasn’t going to practice them for hours on end, the way Jabari wanted me to. I had a business to run.
Speaking of which… “Jabari, really. I have to get the bar up and running for today.”
“You need to hire help,” he mumbled petulantly. “As your older brother, I should tell you it’s unhealthy to work alone like this without assistance.”
“And I will take your concern into consideration.” Not. “But it’s time for you to leave.” I want my own space back, damn it.
“Fine. See you later in the year for the holidays at Father’s.” He turned around and wrapped his arms around me. It was the first time he’d ever hugged me, and I accepted it with an open heart, hugging him back. The events in Washington and the last three weeks had helped Jabari and me find the very thing we had both wanted—understanding of each other. With that, we became the siblings Hasan always wanted us to be. I still had work to do on the others, but Zuri was backing me up more and more.
“Did Hasan tell you what he was planning?” I asked softly.
“Yes. Do you want to know?” He pulled away when I nodded. “He wanted to give you temporary free rein to be his contact with North and South American werecats much like Zuri and I handle Africa, Mischa handles Russia…” He trailed off, staring at me with concern. “Jacky?”
“Are you serious?” I sounded like a dumfounded fool.
“You aren’t to do anything dangerous in the beginning. We’ll all be ready to step in if you need help, but you wanted to help this time, and…I recommended to Father you might need a job with the family. You need a place equal to ours, something you can be proud of. Did you like helping me in Washington?”
“I did,” I answered, kicking a rock as I absorbed what he said. “What if I fail?”
“If you ask for help when you need it, you won’t fail. He’s planning on approaching you with it in a few weeks, so act surprised when he tells you. He likes surprising his children, and I just ruined that for him.”
“I’m not ready,” I said, my voice stronger that time. “Damn it.”
Jabari laughed. “No, you’re not ready to do what Mischa does or what Hisao and I do, but no one is when they start out. If you don’t want it, you don’t have to accept.”
I shouldn’t want it, but my newfound feeling of responsibility demanded a different answer. “This is what our family does. As long as I can continue to run my bar and live my life, I’ll help the werecats of North and South America as best I’m able, and if I can’t, I’ll find the werecat who can.”
“Good. He also wants you to be our direct liaison with werewolves for any political problems that don’t require his presence with the Tribunal. The North American Werewolf Council is the strongest of their councils right now, but he wants to introduce you to the Tribunal werewolves, or you can ask Heath to…”
He was still talking, but I’d checked out. I turned away from him and started walking for my bar, letting those words ring in my head.
Hasan was giving me a whole lot of responsibility.
“Sister, wait! One more thing!” he called out. I turned slowly and saw him looking through a briefcase. Yeah, even ancient African warlords had briefcases now. He pulled out a piece of paper, sighing. “Father told me to give this to you at the right time. Since I’ve healed, and you’ve learned the runes, you’ve decided to throw me out. That makes it time for you have this.”
I walked back and took the paper. It was a deed.
“Oh, fuck.”
“You said we would take their lands as spoils of war…so we did. Father has decided since North America is yours, and it was your idea, it belongs to you. He’ll have someone burn the home down later this week if you want to go watch.”
I started walking away again.
Jabari didn’t follow me, laughing as he