human mother would have to be tracked down. It was the only rational response to someone talking about killing you and giving your child away, and I was stuck in the middle of my brother and a man I considered a friend.
“Heath, are you almost done?” I asked softly. His hand relaxed.
“Yes. Let me see if they have bandages around here.”
“No. You know how I feel about bandages. Makes Changing harder.”
He sighed and looked between me and Jabari. “Did your family teach her that?”
“My family is her family. No, we didn’t teach her that. It’s an interesting idea, though, the entire problem would be easily avoided if neither of you came out here.” He gave Heath a cutting smile. “Forgive me. I’m protective of my siblings, and Jacky is our most vulnerable. I want to make sure you understand if anything happens, you’ll be the first one here to die if I had the choice.”
“I have a daughter. I understand.” Heath seemed unperturbed, but I knew better. I had known this man for long enough to know when his behavior was a careful mask. His emotions were on that tight leash, and I could smell nothing on his scent.
“You also have two sons.” Jabari’s change in tactics annoyed me. Now, he wanted to play a nice guy? Really?
“I have one son,” Heath corrected. “I had two once but no longer.”
“So, you know what it means to lose a loved child,” Jabari whispered. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t offer me fake condolences. He betrayed me and tried to kill his siblings. I don’t regret Jacky killing him while I was fighting for the rest of my pack. No one should.” His face was blank. “Yes, I know what it means to lose a loved child, but he killed what was between us before he was ever at risk of dying. Grieve for families who don’t understand each other well enough to stop something terrible from happening. That’s what happened to us.” His eyes flicked to me before he turned his back on us.
Jabari also caught that and narrowed his eyes on Heath’s back then on me. “Hasan only told me the basics of what happened last year, probably so I wouldn’t come and yell at you. Would you like to clarify?”
“It’s just like Heath said…” I shrugged. “I was supposed to protect Carey and get her out of the fighting over the pack. That was my Duty, you know? I killed anyone who stood in the way of that goal.”
I knew Heath’s look at me was about my family. I didn’t think I had told him too much about my relationship with my werecat father, but he had obviously inferred something that hit close to home. Something Jabari realized hit close to home.
“Well. Come dawn, you two shall leave, and there won’t be any more of this violence for you, Jacky.”
“I’m not leaving without you, and Heath isn’t leaving until he can provide proof of the fate of the wolves who disappeared here.”
“Then Heath can stay, and you’re going to go. I don’t need your protection, little cat.” He shrugged.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, adding strength to my words. “I’m seeing this through.”
He scoffed. “There’s no need. Let the family—”
“I’m part of the damn family.” I swallowed on a lump of fear as he bared his teeth at me. He wouldn’t reject my words, but he wasn’t as soft or easygoing as Hasan was. He was the battle-hardened oldest brother and was rougher around the edges than our werecat father. “As everyone constantly reminds me, I’m part of the damn family, and that means I have responsibilities. This is part of being in the family, and I’m going to see it the fuck through. I wanted to do this, Jabari. I wanted this. I wanted to make sure I didn’t cause something that got two werecats killed. I…I’m not walking out of these woods a failure.”
“I have a suspicion Hasan never wanted you in these woods,” he growled. “Am I wrong?”
“No, but I’m here now. I tried to check something out, and we were planning on being out of here by night fall. Things didn’t go as planned.”
He shook his head, looking away from me. “The smell of gasoline?”
“Yeah. The ATV’s fuel line was cut, and we’re pretty sure our car is in the same or similar state.” I rubbed my hands together. “It was a choice between staying here or trying the car and maybe having to repair it in the dark.”
“And