Page 15 of Cruel Revenge (Jacky Leon #12)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“ H ave a good day today,” I said, kissing Heath’s cheek before he left for the Tribunal.

Already, werewolves were gathering at the packhouse.

Everyone was there, including the four I needed once Heath was gone.

Carey was avoiding her father all morning, something that would last until tomorrow, but since Heath knew why, neither of us pointed it out to her that we could notice.

“You’re the one who needs to hear that,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. “You’re going to be okay today, right?”

“Yes, I will be okay. We’ll get through it. Talking to you last night made today easier. Now, get out of here before she figures out that you know.” I gave him a light push, and he smiled, kissing me one more time before going down the steps and beginning the easy walk toward the packhouse.

It was nearly eight, and I had all day to prepare for the unavoidable dinner. Once he was gone, I went inside to find Carey, discovering her in her room with headphones on already, a book open in front of her.

“Hey,” I said loudly, knocking on her doorframe. She wasn’t spooked, probably expecting me.

“Hey,” she said nervously. She covered it up enough that most wouldn’t notice it. Her scent really gave her away, though. “So…”

“You’re going to be in the meeting with your guards to explain the plan later today. You need to know everything about the security before we leave. They’ll be here right after the rest of the pack leaves for the Tribunal.”

“Okay. Yeah.” Carey took out her headphones and stood up, wiping her hands on her pants. “I’m nervous about today. I wasn’t expecting to be this nervous.”

“You’re meeting your mother. I’d expect some nervousness. She’s probably just as nervous.”

“I bet,” Carey said, her tone flat and her scent shifted from nerves to something else, something a little angry.

I almost asked about it, but then thought better of it. We tried not to call Carey out about her unspoken emotions, letting her feel and maintain a level of privacy about those feelings. She couldn’t smell ours, so it wasn’t fair to use our ability to smell hers against her.

“Well, come on. We need to talk to the werewolves.” I held her door open and closed it for her once she left to go into my office. I met her there and watched as she started looking at the wedding binders.

“You can forget about messing around with those today. I don’t think I can focus on the wedding while facing the fact that your biological mother is in my state.”

“You don’t own Texas, Jacky,” Carey pointed out, smiling.

“No, I’m the werecat in charge of all the Americas,” I said with a toothy smile.

“And you hate that job,” Carey retorted.

“I hate it less in more recent months. The werecats have been playing nice since we all worked together in Dallas. The BSA hasn’t needed me in months for my other role as the representative to humanity. Such a mouthful, that title.” I rolled my eyes, getting a chuckle out of her.

“Yeah, it is. I’m happy you’re doing better, Jacky. I know how much you hated all of it when it started.”

“Everyone needs to be adaptable. Expecting life not to change through the years is unreasonable… And I’m a moon cursed.

I Change a lot,” I said with a smirk, making her roll her eyes.

“Plus, I realized that holding my positions and staying on top of them means I get to live more freely than if I let them get out of hand or tried to ignore them and my place in the world entirely. Werecats don’t want to overthrow my family, humans think everything is fine and don’t see a need to come ask questions…

” I shrugged. “And really, that’s all I want.

To be able to live peacefully with the people I care about.

I’m just settling in with the fact that to live peacefully means to put in the work so I can. ”

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“I know,” I said softly.

“It’s not bad. You’re still Jacky. And now with the witches, you and Dad have to work a lot to make sure we’re all safe.

Because we can’t just ignore what they’re doing.

They’re trying to cause problems, so the powerful supernaturals have to fight for the weaker ones.

We have to stop them from hurting people. ” Carey smiled.

“And honestly? That’s so you. You’re always fighting for everyone else.

You say it’s because you want to live peacefully, like you’re trying to sound selfish or something, but really, you just believe in justice and fairness and everyone being able to live how they want to live if they aren’t hurting anyone.

I’d say you were just avoiding who you really were for a long time. ”

I studied her, listening to her carefully. It wasn’t the first time someone called me out, and if anyone knew me well, it was certainly Carey Everson.

“You give me too much credit,” I said as I sat down finally, breaking the long silence left behind by her statement.

“You give yourself too little,” Carey retorted. “And I bet all the money in my college savings account that everyone I know would agree with me.”

“I won’t take losing bets even if I think everyone is wrong,” I said, shaking my head. But I was deeply moved by her faith in me and her perception of who I was. “Sometimes, I feel terribly selfish,” I admitted. “But that’s for me to deal with, not you.”

“Please. Selfish? You mean a person with values and character, because you don’t just fight for your right to live the life you want, you fight for everyone’s. So long as they don’t hurt others, and if they are, you’re willing to stand up and take them on.”

“It’s just the right thing to do,” I pointed out. “I’m not seeking these situations, you know. I’m not trying to play hero or anything.”

“But a lot of people don’t do it, and even if you aren’t trying to be a hero… you are a hero to a lot of people.”

She’s not wrong about that first part. A lot of people don’t do the right thing. A lot of people turn a blind eye to the suffering of those they don’t feel are the same as them.

“Thank you, Carey.”

“Just being honest.” Carey’s casual shrug dismissed the entire topic.

“I think you’re biased,” I said, huffing with a smile.

“Well, even if I am, I’m not wrong,” she said, sticking her tongue out at the end, looking years younger than sixteen for a moment. She finally sat down, crossing her legs. “Where are they?”

“They’re on the way,” I said, chuckling as I felt the young werewolves driving together over the road to my side of the highway.

“And you know you don’t get to dictate their schedules.

This is for you, so you’ll wait on them as long as necessary.

They’re the ones losing their own time to protect you, Carey. ”

For her credit, Carey winced. She wasn’t one to have too much of an attitude or entitlement with those who worked for her father.

She dealt with the guards begrudgingly or ignored them so she could try to live a normal life, and ignoring them was generally what the werewolves with her wanted.

Heath never wanted anyone to feel intrusive in her life if she had to have guards with her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound so…” She slumped. “Bitchy.”

“Apology accepted this time. It’s a big day for you. I imagine there’s a lot on your mind.”

“Yeah…” Carey looked away, clearly going to those thoughts.

A few minutes later, the werewolves arrived, filing into my office, knowing there was a meeting this morning, just like the morning before.

“Good morning, Jacky! Hey, Carey!” Stacy grinned at us, taking the lead.

She wasn’t the most dominant werewolf of the group, but at their age, age still mattered.

Arlo was more dominant than her, and Kody was equal to her, but Stacy had been a werewolf the longest and was involved in important missions long before she Changed.

Meeting me was one of those. She had too good a head on her shoulders to make her listen to a teenage boy.

“Good morning, Stacy,” I said, smiling as I stood back up. I shook her hand, keeping this as professional as possible while being surrounded by teenagers and a couple of kids in their early twenties.

Heath joins the Tribunal, and I become the manager of the young ones. Funnily enough, I feel like I have the easier job.

“Morning, guys,” Carey said, smiling from her seat. “I’m the reason we’re here today.”

“Obviously. Don’t worry, you’re a good reason to get out of bed early,” Arlo said with a grin, leaning down to Carey, who pushed his face away when it got too close to her. He only laughed. “I let you do that.”

“I know,” Carey said, rolling her eyes, looking back to me.

I ignored the uncomfortable smells around that interaction, knowing I had to keep them very secret. Arlo was openly flirting with Carey, and it wasn’t harmless. There were some real, if young, feelings there. That was new .

I’ll just file that away to talk to someone about later. Carey, or Arlo… or Heath…

“On to the point of this meeting. Carey and I are going out to dinner tonight. We’re going to review the security plan for it. Heath knows we’ll be out of territory.”

“He does?” Carey asked, looking up quickly.

I smiled in a hopefully reassuring way.

“He at least needed to know that we were making out of territory plans that weren’t already on the schedule.”

“Fair enough,” she said, settling down without questioning it further.

Lie by omission, but it’ll be cleared up later.

“Here’s the restaurant layout with its parking lot,” I said, hitting a button on my keyboard and pulling up an image.

“And here are the positions I want you in for this. We’re going to be on earpieces with mics, keeping an open line of communication, except for Carey.

Benjamin, you’ll be in the work truck Dirk got, handling that.

Stacy, Kody, and Arlo, you’ll be posted up at different points.

You’re all required to check in every five minutes.

Everyone will remain openly armed. Don’t be afraid of having it visible.

You’re also going to be dressed for the job.

Be obvious. It makes you look less suspicious to local law enforcement and those who may just see you around.

You’re on security and you’re going to look like it. ”

“Benjamin, are our suits ready?” Arlo asked, looking at the smaller, younger werewolf.

“I’ll text Olivia and see if she can help with them,” Benjamin said, scrambling to get his phone out.

I chuckled. She was already being given mom jobs, and she wasn’t even married to Teagan.

I hoped she was okay with it, but after the last conversation I had with the boys about her, I wasn’t going to pry any further.

I let Benjamin finish the text and put his phone away again before continuing.

“There will only be one person aside from staff inside the restaurant with us,” I continued. “Her name is Courtney Lane.” I hit another button on my keyboard, bringing up her picture.

“Oh,” Stacy gasped the moment the face came up.

Her relation to Carey was obvious. The femininity of Carey’s face came from her, as well as Carey’s blonde hair.

She was an elegant woman who clearly did every skin regimen and anti-aging technique in the book to keep herself looking beautiful.

She had baby blue eyes, which had more grey and didn’t look anything like Carey’s stormy blue. Those were Heath’s eyes.

“None of you will be messaging Heath to tell him about Courtney Lane,” I said, eyeing the werewolves. “You will leave my future husband to me. He doesn’t know, and he won’t know.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison without the strength they had the day before, but their eyes glittered with knowledge as their scents revealed their surprise at my lie. It was a lie purely for Carey’s benefit. All four of them were smart enough to figure that out.

“She’s my biological mom,” Carey said softly, not looking at them, but at the image. “She wants to meet with me and talk. I have questions I want to ask her. Jacky agreed to help me do this. I’m afraid Dad won’t let me.”

“She’s your mom…” Stacy said, nodding as if that was just enough of an explanation to go along with everything.

“Let’s finish this briefing and make sure everything is set up,” I said, moving past this revelation so Carey didn’t have to explain any more to the young, curious werewolves.