the ground. If he did what Hasan always trained me to do, he would bury the carcass. I was lazy about it, but this wasn’t my territory where I could manage who was or wasn’t on my property. Leaving evidence was a bad idea.
Heath sat next to me, leaning back on the wall as well, chewing on his own pieces.
“Did you get enough?” he asked loudly, obviously directed at Jabari.
The ancient werecat turned to us and nodded. “Thank you. It will be good to have less of an empty stomach for tonight.”
“Have you been eating?” I had been a little concerned about how thin he was since I had seen him in the cabin.
“I hunted for small prey when I had time, but most days, I needed to sleep so I could continue the hunt for the vampires,” he explained, eyeing me. “You haven’t eaten since you’ve been out here until now, have you?”
“No. Like I said last night, we weren’t planning on making this a camping trip. We were supposed to be back in a town by nightfall, with hot food and water,” I sighed.
“Then, you need to finish that.” He pointed at the piece of rabbit in my hands. I made a point to show him the bite I’d already made and then took another, chewing loudly. Heath huffed, a smile coming over his face.
His closeness made me comfortable in the strange situation we found ourselves. This was the second time my wolf and I found ourselves in a tough place and knowing he and I had survived before made me hopeful we would again.
“Do you think Carey is worried?” I asked softly. “About both of us?”
“Yes, if Landon told her. If he didn’t, she’ll pick up on his mood and figure out something is wrong. What about your family? You promised not to go into the woods and to call in every night.”
“They’re probably pissed…” I shook my head, realizing that was probably wrong. “No. Some of them are probably pissed. At least one will think I’ve gotten myself killed and not care, and a few might be worried, but they’ll probably also say ‘I told you so.’ Hasan will be worried and angry, but more worried. His anger will be his focus once he knows Jabari and I are both alive and back to safety.”
“Why would anyone say I told you so?” Heath’s brows lowered and came together, framing his intense eyes. He obviously didn’t like what I had to say.
“I’m the American daughter. The one who…does everything wrong or something. I was told not to come out into these woods, and I did, thinking I could get away with it. Here we are. Once they have me on a call, I’m going to hear about it.”
“How…” Heath blew out a frustrated breath. “How do they ever expect you to be one of them if they don’t give you the chance to grow?”
I shrugged. Hasan was right when I had spoken to him on the phone. I flourished when I wasn’t around the family, especially my siblings—the ones who made me feel small and treated me even smaller.
He didn’t continue questioning me. We sat quietly, chewing on fire roasted rabbit in dirty clothes as the sun was falling. The sky was growing darker, and it was time to put my personal issues aside. It was comforting to have one person who understood where I was coming from. Heath was insulted on my behalf, and that was a relief.
When the sun was finally completely gone, Heath dared to ask one more question.
“Why doesn’t Hasan deal with them and help you?”
“I don’t…really know,” I admitted. “I know that in Changing me, they resented him a little too. Maybe he just hasn’t found the right way to bring the family back together.” Jabari snorted. I threw up my hands in defeat. “Okay, Jabari, tell me what you know. I’m only relaying what Hasan told me.”
“Nothing,” he said tightly.
“No, please. You obviously have a thought.”
“We did resent him, but I didn’t resent him because you were too soon after Liza’s death. Davor probably does, but not me. I resent he made you by breaking all the rules he had placed on the family. He didn’t raise you. He isn’t your father in your heart the way he is for everyone else. I consider all my siblings equally, blood or not, because I know he took them in as babes and children, bringing them into this family as my siblings, and