Scarred Resolve (Jacky Leon Book 10), page 4
I must have turned pale or something as that reality was thrown in my face because his face collapsed, and guilt filled the air around us.
“I’m sorry. That was harsh. Pa wouldn’t do it unless you were already too far gone, but the seed would be planted. I don’t want to do that to either of you. I just want to make sure you know what you were risking that night. I want a promise you won’t do that again.”
“I promise,” I said without even considering if I could keep it.
“Thank you.” He released me slowly. “None of this works without you, and if we lose you to that… I don’t want to see all of this lost, you know? I don’t want to lose you, not just for Pa’s sake, but mine and Dirk’s and Carey’s. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you threw yourself between Hasan and us.”
“It was nothing.”
“Bullshit. I can name all the people who have ever done something like that for me on one hand, and only one of them ever faced that level of danger in the process other than you. So, I’m going to look out for you, damn it. You can’t stop me.”
“Only if I’m allowed to keep looking out for you.”
“Obviously. That’s what family does, right?” Landon smiled, and the tension finally left again. “How does it feel when you…?” He made a claw hand.
“Powerful,” I answered, looking at the darkening forest. It was getting very late now. There was only a dim glow in the sky now, and soon, we’d be in the dark. “It’s painful, too, but the Change always is.” I flexed my hands, looking at them and thinking about what I’d made them do. Landon’s hand suddenly covered one of mine.
“It was just us, and I wasn’t going to let him kill you. I didn’t want to die either, so I embraced it. I had first seen it from him, and when we fought the witches, there was a bit of a struggle between me and one of them that led me to do it accidentally. Since then… I just remember that feeling of doing it the first time and…” I closed my hands into fists, resisting a little to go down the path and show him now. He was worried, and showing it off was just throwing his worry back in his face.
All he did was put his free arm around my shoulders and hold my hand with his.
“And that’s what makes you great, Jacky. You’re willing to fight like hell for people you care about and what you believe in. Just don’t lose yourself in the process. We need you. Believe me.” Then he broke all that contact and moved to slide off the rock.
“Let’s head back. It’s getting dark. Dirk probably wants to head home. What he wants is more important to me than you are.” He flashed me a smile.
There’s the Landon I know.
“Yeah, let’s go.” I hopped off and walked beside him back toward the house.
“Why were you out here?” he asked as we found the little game trail I had used to get to the rock.
“Just taking a walk, enjoying nature, thinking about stuff. Then I decided to stop thinking and just enjoy the alone time. I don’t get as much alone time in nature anymore. Even now, I can smell werewolf on the trail. Not just you, but all the pack. It feels less private, but I take what I can get. I can at least tell when there are actually werewolves around, so that helps me try to claim that feeling of being truly alone yet safe because I’m in my territory.”
I was grateful for his nod of understanding. If there was anyone in the werewolves who appreciated being alone sometimes, it was Landon. We both had our issues. Mine were burned into my brain from my Change into a werecat, and his were from how the people he should have trusted treated him. It didn’t matter that they were wildly different circumstances; it only mattered that we each understood the need.
5
CHAPTER FIVE
When we got home, Dirk was waiting on the patio by the front door, drinking something. Heath was stepping outside with a tray as I lifted my hand to wave, not wanting to yell. Heath’s smile as he put the tray down on the small table next to Dirk made one spread across my face.
“Thank you for finding her, Landon,” Heath said, his eyes still on me.
“I didn’t find her for you,” Landon said with a snort before he smiled at his father and went to sit across the table from Dirk. I was surprised not to find any hint of a lie in that sentence, but not surprised enough to think about it too long.
“I just went for a walk. Niko and I had dinner, but we got done before the pack meeting.” I kissed Heath’s cheek as I tried to step around him to see what sort of snack he put out for Dirk. His arm wrapped around my waist, and I was forced to watch as Dirk took a massive bite out of half a sandwich. Landon grabbed the other half and started in on it as well, leaving nothing else on the plate except a glass of water.
“And you didn’t want to be cooped up waiting on us to get done,” Heath said, filling in the reason I went for my walk.
“Yeah, and walking is good for thinking. Nice of you to feed them while waiting on me. I keep telling you that you can use the bar’s kitchen if you want food—”
“That was my sandwich,” Heath said, his smile tightening, but I knew he wasn’t angry. It kept Dirk and Landon from interrupting because they wanted the food. It was a noble, if annoying, sacrifice.
“Oh, my condolences,” I teased, poking his stomach. “How was the meeting?”
“We’re doing it,” he said decisively. “The pack house, which, in this case, will have werewolves on shift living there. We haven’t figured out that part, but the basic plans and ideas are settled, and I already know who to speak to about the land.” I could tell how excited he was. He loved building, loved development. It was one of the main components of his work. “Can I show you the plans?”
“Absolutely.” I gestured to the door, knowing he would have those plans inside. He looked at the werewolves on our patio.
“Hey, if either of you needs Jacky for anything, now is the time,” he said, snapping them out of their single-minded effort to make his sandwich disappear. Dirk stopped eating, chewing fast to get a chance to say something.
“You had dinner with Niko today?” he asked, as if he had been barely paying attention when I had said it only moments before.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“Can…” His lips thinned as he pressed them together, concentration taking over his expression. “Can you tell him that I don’t need to see him every other day?”
“No,” I replied with a smile. “You’re an adult. He’s an adult. You’ve known each other for a long time. You tell him.”
“He’s just—”
“No. I’m not getting in the middle of that ever again.” I started walking toward my door. “He’s your father. Handle it.”
“Jacky!” Dirk called out as I opened the door, Heath chuckling behind me.
“You heard her,” Heath said before closing the door behind us. I saw everything piled on my dining room table and went to sit down as he locked the door.
“Come on! I know he’s being nice, but it’s a lot. I live with my mate, and Niko is always coming over!” Dirk complained outside the door as Heath continued to chuckle before he sat next to me.
“Have a nice evening, Dirk!” I called back. “Thanks for talking to me, Landon. Drive safe!”
“Come on. I told you she was going to say that.” Landon’s patient voice wasn’t raised, but my ears were some of the best in the supernatural world. I listened to them walk away and their truck start. It wasn’t until I felt them pass the bar that I focused on my fiancé.
“Tell me all about this pack house,” I ordered, smiling at him as I put my chin on my hand.
“Well, it’s going to be a gathering space, not a home, so we’re not going to have proper bedrooms. I am going to put a basement, though, with some living quarters for anyone who might need to crash there. I’m talking a barracks situation. I don’t want to build a mansion across the street, so this area will be underground, and it won’t be overdone or fancy. It’s also for security. If we’re attacked, the basement will be the safe room or rooms, depending on the situation.”
“Explain that a bit more to me?” I asked, frowning until he brought out a rough sketch with the title of BASEMENT written on it.
“There will be a small hallway leading to three large rooms. One of those will be the weapons locker.” The rooms were all the same size but fortunately labeled. “We’re installing a nice security system for that, but you probably won’t care.”
“No, I won’t,” I agreed. “I know you’re going to secure it properly. Does this mean…”
“That your security building won’t have so many firearms anymore? Yes. We’re going to remove the bulk and leave only bare necessities in there for Dirk or whoever might need to grab something to protect themselves. Landon and I are also going to place the majority of our personal firearms in there as well. We’ll figure out how to organize it later in the plans. Moving on.” He pointed at the next room, this one labeled BARRACKS. “This will be where a werewolf or anyone we trust can stay if they don’t have arrangements or need our protection.” He pointed to the last room. Its label said it all. HOLDING CELLS. “This one is… well, you remember where I put Ranger in my last home.”
“Yeah…” I nodded, remembering the little closet that had been turned into a cell. I looked closer, seeing the lighter dashed lines. “And those are different cells, yeah? Three of them?”
“I’m not going to put people in cages they can’t stand up in, but we need a secure place for hostiles we might want to question. Ranger ending up in one at my house was insane circumstances, but with… with the way Fenris turned out, and the ever-present threat of Callahan losing his patience about my independence, we need something.”
“Of course. So how does this work as a safe room?”
“The basement door will have a bunker door. Each of these rooms will have a bunker door. Lines of defense. Once the building goes into lockdown, each door will close in five seconds and lock, giving people time not to be in their way. For anyone stuck in the hallway here, there’s going to be a small closet of supplies under the stairs. Each room will have a closet for supplies.” He pointed to each little dotted line area and sighed. “As much as I would love to just build a clubhouse, I also have to be practical about the safety—”
“I know. This isn’t scary. It’s a lot, but we need a lot,” I said, smiling. “Every single one of those werewolves deserves a safe space they can run to and feel secure in. This will be that. Now, tell me the fun stuff.”
He smiled again and did just that. Two stories tall, with game rooms with computers, dart boards, big TVs, and more. A kitchen they would keep stocked or let people bring what they needed to cook in at any time. Every pack member would have a unique code to get into the building and enjoy the stuff, all covered by Heath and Landon.
“The parties the pack could throw…” I said, chuckling.
“That’s just the inside. We’re going to build a little back from the road and try to keep some tree coverage, and with that, we’ll make a backyard space with multiple grills, maybe a pool.” He brought out a new drawing, showing the main building and some ideas for a yard behind it. I could see it already. Carey’s next birthday party was going to be memorable if she wanted to do it at the pack house.
“I haven’t seen an actual meeting room yet,” I pointed out as he put that drawing aside.
“That’s right. It’ll be done in the main room downstairs. The couches and everything are a great place to have them all. I didn’t want to stuff them into a boardroom-style situation. Pack meetings have official discussions, but when I need to tear a werewolf down, I’ll use my office.” He grabbed the first floor drawing again, pointing to a room. “A proper office so they can also get ahold of me while I’m working but don’t need to be in and out of your home all the time. I know you haven’t really complained, but I think you deserve to have some peace over here.”
“Our home, but I’ll let that slide,” I teased, smiling. “Can I bother you over there?”
“Oh, don’t you worry. You’ll have a code for everything,” he promised, leaning closer.
I kissed him. I wasn’t getting locked out, not that I had worried about it. He was right. Whenever there was anything happening, good or bad, I had werewolves walking around my house, eating all the food. I loved supporting the pack, but I was excited to have a tiny bit of distance again. The pack house was still close enough to the center of the territory for my warnings to lock down to work, and that was important, too.
“You’ll be able to have family over and keep an eye on which werewolves they may or may not see,” he continued after the kiss.
“It’ll cut down on the potential threat of violence, that’s for sure,” I said, chuckling. “I know everyone is trying to get along, but there’s been a few toes stepped on with Niko’s arrival.”
“Oh, I know,” Heath said, laughing as well. “They were told, but that warning didn’t really sink in until they saw him, huh?”
“It was certainly a scene,” I said, groaning. There had been some posturing, some poorly considered comments, and even a couple of shoves, but it settled down in one evening as Heath and I laid down the law for both sides. With Landon and Dirk backing us up, both levelheaded, and Dirk’s relationship to Niko in the open, it all worked out. Niko tried to stay away from the pack, aside from the obvious werewolves with certain last names, and the pack was told not to mention him to anyone. If they weren’t Dirk, Landon, or Heath, then they didn’t get to contact him in any way except through me, and they had to clear it with Heath first. Niko wasn’t the only thing the pack was required to stay hush-hush about, and they didn’t put up any fight about it. We all moved on, and the next day, the pack acted like there wasn’t a second werecat in the area.
“Well, that’s all of that…” Heath pulled all the drawings together, ordered them, then put them in a neat pile with several other things he had stacked on my table. I had no doubt they were work-related for him, but I didn’t get nosy.
“Want to watch a movie with me?” I asked him, and his response was exactly what I wanted. He got up and took my hand, pulling me to the couch. We cuddled as he found one of our shared favorites and hit play. I could hear music from Carey’s room, keeping one ear open for anything else as Heath’s hand moved lower.
“She’s not asleep,” I whispered.
His hand moved up to my stomach again without needing me to say anything more. Once the movie was over, however, he scooped me up like I was already his bride and carried me to our bedroom.
I had no complaints or warnings as he slowly underdressed me. I took my time doing the same for him, reveling in how this attractive man in peak form was always coming to bed with me. The touches were soft, leaving goosebumps on my skin as he drove the need between us higher. Our lips only brushed together, never fully committing to the kiss, as we toyed with each other, seeing who would finally escalate this into what came next. Once the teasing and tension became too much, I pushed him onto his back and made sure the night would be imprinted on my skin and his, like every night we’d shared together already was.
6
CHAPTER SIX
Iwas woken up by my phone vibrating. With a soft groan, I reached over to see Bethany Kirk, the BSA agent who was my contact with the rest of the organization. She passed word to me a lot, and I told her anything I needed the BSA to hear.
I know I was planning on calling you today, but was five a.m. really necessary?
Heath didn’t stir. There was a reason I put my phone on vibrate. My hearing was sensitive enough to catch it when it was on my bedside table, but it didn’t bother him. I wasn’t trying to hide anything, but with my family all over the world, I didn’t take the chance of letting them call and wake up both of us. He didn’t get calls from a pissed-off sister in Russia. I did.
“Hold on, Bethany. Let me get out of the bedroom,” I said immediately upon answering.
“Holding,” she replied but stayed silent after that. I threw on a shirt and pajama bottoms, both of which I realized were Heath’s, but that was only a positive. They smelled like him. I quickly made my way downstairs, keeping my steps light to keep from waking up Carey. I went into my office and locked the door, yawning as I sat down.
“What’s going on? You know the time, right?” I asked, yawning a second time.
“I’ve been ordered to give you certain information, or I wouldn’t be calling, I promise,” Bethany said, sounding equally tired now that she was able to speak. “I got the call an hour ago and had to report in early.”
“Anyone dead?” I rubbed my tired eyes.
“I’m not privy to anything specific. I’m going to tell you everything I know as it was passed to me. I have the memo right in front of me.”
“I’m listening,” I said, knowing Bethany was probably just as confused as I was. Hearing her mention a memo, though, told me this was going to be the official language or her telling of it. This wasn’t going to be the nice chats we normally had when something was going on.
“Your presence has been ordered at the Dallas BSA office.”
Ordered… There are only a few reasons they can legally do that…
“The meeting will be tomorrow at five in the morning. You are allowed to bring a plus one; however, that plus one cannot, under any circumstances, be a werewolf.”
Shit. No Heath or Landon, then.
“Neither you nor your plus one can be armed. Failure to follow either of these rules will only cause the meeting to be rescheduled on a daily basis at five a.m. until we, the BSA, see compliance. If you come with a werewolf, you are forgoing your plus one and will be attending the meeting alone or not attending at all, in which case the meeting will be rescheduled under the same terms as stated previously. You will not be the only supernatural in attendance, all of whom may look poorly on failure to follow these procedures set forth. This is not a meeting about any legal troubles you may or may not be in.” Bethany’s grumble almost made me smile. “The memo doesn’t tell me the nature of the meeting or what it’s even about,” she explained, her voice losing that lawyer-like quality it had while she was explaining, becoming more casual for a moment. “It doesn’t say who else will be at the meeting, either.”
