a small cave carved out of the mountain. Jabari trotted in, and we followed. A moment later, he came back into view, holding a large hiking bag and dropped it.
“He’s going to shift back now,” I told Heath softly while turning my back on Jabari.
“Are you going to try to get some sleep before tonight?” he asked, directing himself the same way, his back to my sibling.
“I don’t know. You should. You have one of the more active parts of this,” I reminded him.
“Yeah. Bait,” Heath snorted. “I never thought I would be in the sort of company where I was the weakest creature in the room.”
“It can’t be good for your ego,” I said, smiling a little. Then I let the smile drop. “Don’t keep pissing him off. He can and will kill you if—”
“No, I won’t,” Jabari cut in. “He has his opinions, and I have mine, but Hasan will have my head if I killed him without cause, even though he is just a wolf.”
I sighed, looking over my shoulder to see him pulling up some pants. “He’s not just a wolf. He’s Heath Everson, a friend of mine, and he’s Carey’s father, who is someone important to me.”
“Carey…the little human girl you protected and saved on Duty.” Jabari sounded like he was trying to remember as he said the name. “Eleven years old. Human.”
“That’s her,” Heath confirmed, keeping his back turned on him. “Nearly twelve, actually.”
“No, she won’t let us forget that,” I muttered, smiling again. “She’s not very excited, though. She doesn’t know what she wants.”
“She asked me for a pony last year. I’m looking into getting her a horse this year.”
“That’s sweet of you.” I patted his shoulder.
Jabari eyed us. I didn’t like the look he had, but he didn’t comment.
As we stood there, I tried to broach a topic he had carefully avoided all night. I tried to bring it up when he was making our plans to take out the vampires.
“Aren’t you going to ask how I telepathically talk in werecat form?”
“I don’t want to know why you can speak like a wolf,” he snapped. “Or what you had to do to get the power.”
There was an accusing note, and I let my mouth fall open.
“You think I would offer something or sell something in exchange for—”
“Pack magic? I don’t know, would you?” he asked. “I don’t want you ever using it with me again. Is that clear? I don’t need you or anyone in my head.”
“A fae gave me the gift,” I said, growling in anger. Why couldn’t Jabari just fucking talk to me? “For free because he saw me injured, desperate, and running for my life, trying to protect a girl. But fuck me, I guess. I’m just a fucking traitor to my kind for finally have an edge that would make most werewolves fucking terrified of me since I can do what they can.”
“Hell, I’m still uncomfortable with it sometimes,” Heath muttered.
Jabari’s eyes narrowed. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not natural. Werecats don’t have that kind of magic.”
“Heath, will you go out and begin laying down your scent for the vampires to find?” I asked softly. His words were ringing in my head now, and Jabari was pissing me off, giving me a whole load of hypocrisy I couldn’t tolerate.
“Certainly,” he said, walking away again and back down the cliffside path.
“You sent away your little protector,” Jabari noted. “He enjoys speaking up for you. We won’t talk about how he protects you and probably coddles you when you make a mistake.”
I snarled. “He gives a damn, at least.”
“Excuse me?” My brother growled in response. “You think I don’t?”
“Maybe you should try acting like you fucking do!” I yelled at him. “No, he’s right. The moment you saw me last night, you started treating me like I was no better than the mud we’re covered in. And this shit about the gift I was given not being natural? What the hell kind of hypocrisy is that? I saw you draw a fucking rune of power just last night, Jabari, and I didn’t give you shit.”
“Mother taught Zuri and me how, to teach it to the family,” Jabari said, his tone dangerously close to rage. “Don’t you dare relate what she gave the family to whatever a fae did to you. What did this fae ask for in return? Mother asked for nothing.”
I took a deep breath. “Brin didn’t ask for anything either. He had a human wife and half human children. He