Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,65
knew you would fight hard if it was needed. I didn’t think they would attack you so blatantly.”
“How…” I stopped and considered a different approach. I couldn’t just question this guy. I needed to know he would be receptive. Hasan was the same way in that regard. “May I ask you a few questions?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” He raised an eyebrow.
“How did you even know about me?”
“Oh.” He snorted, a small smile finally overcoming the angry stone expression. “I thought you had something difficult to ask. It’s simple, really. Someone came to me, wondering why a werewolf opened a bar in Jacksonville. It must have been right after you showed up. I got curious and drove out, but stopped when I realized that I was about to cross the border of your territory. Started digging into you after that, but I didn’t want to out you to your humans, so I told them that you were private and that if anything happened, they could let me know and I would deal with it.”
“Fucking hell. Do you know a guy named Joey?” I asked, eyeballing him hard now.
“I do,” he murmured, the small smile turning into a predatory grin.
“What all do you know about me?” I demanded, crossing my arms. I even tapped a foot as I waited for an answer. “I think I deserve to know, because I was living a very quiet and happy life before you decided I should be a part of your daughter’s protection detail.”
“Everything I could find. It’s decent intel. I know your full name is Jacqueline Leon, not Jacky. I know you have a lawyer in New York and an accountant up there. Through the accountant, I found a few of your aliases. I like to know who and what is living in my state, and since you were fairly close, I figured you could come in handy. You have, even if it wasn’t exactly the outcome I wanted.”
“Really? Your daughter was taken from me—”
“You died for her, which means a lot to me,” he snapped. “I’m angry she was taken, but I’m not foolish enough to think it was your fault. It’s the wolves who took her and they’re going to pay for that.”
“Even though you failed, you bought us some damn valuable time,” the wolf driving said casually. Stacy stayed quiet, which was probably for the best. A nineteen year old didn’t need to wade into this serious of a conversation.
“Exactly. You were able to keep my daughter out of the line of fire, which meant I could focus on finding out who is and isn’t loyal to me here in Dallas without worrying about her as much. Harrison told me she made it to you, since you had called him. Did you tell him that the wolves grabbed her back?”
I nodded. “Last night.”
“He hasn’t contacted me yet…” Heath shook his head, growling. “Damn. He probably doesn’t want me to make this a bigger bloodbath than it already is. Still, stupid of him to keep that kind of a secret from me.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t say what I was agreeing with, opting for letting everyone believe what they wanted to believe. “So, where are you taking me?”
“Your hotel. I looked it up when I realized you were here,” the Alpha answered. “You’re going to get your things and come with us. Don’t make it hard, please.”
“No, of course not,” I said, my throat tight and my mouth dry. “And where are we going?”
“You’re terrified,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s no reason for you to be.”
“What do you know about werecats? I’m out of my territory. I’m in the same city as a werewolf war that should have nothing to do with me. I was attacked twice and a little human girl, your daughter, was taken from my protection, which was never a place I ever thought to have a girl. In my protection, that is.” I leaned over for a moment. “Of course I’m terrified. If I really believed you weren’t going to kill me for losing her, then that’s just one problem off the list of them. I’m breaking the Law by even fucking being here, and that’s a big fucking problem, too. A bigger one than what you’re dealing with.”
He watched me as I leaned back into my spot, away from him. Far from him.
“You’re right. You do have a lot of reasons to be worried.” He inclined his head. “So…what side do you choose?”
“While I was protecting Carey, I