I think I have a point.”
“Yes, I make sure they all know, but do you know when the last real Tribunal concerning a broken Law was? A very long time ago. A lot of wolves barely make it to fifty, which means they weren’t alive for it. To them, the Law and being in front of the Tribunal is a horror story, not something that actually happens.” He yanked his hand away, looking down at it. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Did you forget I’m the stronger species?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No. I actually never believed it. I’ve only met one werecat, and it was in passing. I couldn’t believe that she would be able to beat me, and I didn’t think you could stop my strike. Consider me educated.”
“Same. You have a point.” I crossed my arms again as I realized he wasn’t going to try again. I couldn’t really be mad at him. If I had been challenged like that, I would have gone for a control hold too. I knew he had wanted ownership over my throat to make his point and his position in the ranking clear, but this was exactly what I had been telling Carey.
I had to prove I was the top predator, and it made the Alpha very insecure. He didn’t like that he couldn’t take me, still staring at his hand and flexing it.
“How old are you exactly?” he asked, giving me a curious look. “If you’re like my kind, you get stronger with age. Call me curious.”
“I’m thirty-six and I’ve been a werecat for ten years,” I answered, looking away from him. I was a baby compared to the other werecats. “I’m the youngest werecat I know of by…ninety-two years.” I looked back over at him, watching him absorb that information.
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“You?” I was curious, probably too curious, and the adage about cats’ curiosity came to mind. I smirked. “Call me curious.”
“I was Changed during the American Revolution, at the age of thirty. I’m two hundred and seventy-eight.” He didn’t like his answer.
I overpowered a nearly three hundred-year-old werewolf. I knew my kind was stronger than his, but he was old in their terms. Not by werecats terms, but for his kind, he was a survivor. With werewolves and their dominance struggles, they died easier, faster, than my own.
“Wait,” Stacy cut in. “Can I ask more?”
“Stacy,” Heath chastised softly, giving her a look.
“It’s fine.” I shrugged. I figured if there was nothing to do about Carey until we got with the rest of the wolves, I might as well help educate the wily youth about other supernaturals, especially if she planned on joining the ranks.
“Fine,” he relented.
“Why are there no other young werecats? I mean, there’s young wolves all the time. Lots of them. Everywhere.”
“I know the answer to this one,” Heath said before I could open my mouth. “It’s a cultural difference.”
“Yeah.” I nodded in agreement. “We’re solitary. We don’t go out looking for companionship most of the time. To Change someone is putting someone in our care, probably for a long time. Like…if and when Heath or whoever Changes you, they’re going to be responsible for you until you can handle things on your own. That’s a bit of a turn-off to werecats.” I sighed. “Also, we practically never Change someone without consent and years-long education about it and our world beforehand. Then you have to account for failures. So a werecat can invest thirty years in adopting a baby, raising it as their child, offering the Change, doing it, and…”
Well, I had heard from Hasan how heartbreaking those cases were. He hadn’t done something like that in two hundred years, and he’d told me about two failures he had ages ago. I could still remember the shadows I saw in his eyes when he talked about the two young men that it happened to.
“Oh. So…there’s no process like there is with us?” She frowned. “Why? There must not be many of you.”
“There never will be. We’re not community-oriented. We’re territorial and stand-offish. We don’t want too many werecats. There’s not enough land to go around between us, you werewolves, the fae, the vampires, and so on. Our numbers are healthy right now, though.” I yawned, suddenly tired. “You done? Any more?”
“You said that werecats practically never Change someone without their consent…but you were. Did anyone get into trouble for it, or is it just rare?”
Heath’s eyebrows went up. That was something I really shouldn’t