Page 39 of Cruel Revenge (Jacky Leon #12)

“I jumped out of a car on the highway,” she explained, remembering that poor choice. “I thought I could get away… and I did for a minute… for a price. I messed myself up really bad… and Jacky got to me first, and I told her to bite me.”

“Carey…” Benjamin gasped. “Does that mean Jacky didn’t see you through it or anything?”

“I Changed here… alone, in the cage,” she continued. “I don’t know where Jacky is…”

Finally, Carey let that realization hit her. She pulled the blanket around herself and knew she might never see Jacky again.

My mom could be dead. She’s finally my mom, and she could be dead.

“Deep breaths, Carey,” Benjamin called in a whisper over the boxes.

“It’s Jacky. She’ll survive anything,” Arlo said, his words trying to lift her mood.

“But she can’t save everyone,” Kody mumbled, just loud enough to be heard.

Carey sat up, having no idea that Kody had even woken up.

“Kody, you’re up!” Arlo’s enthusiasm was a stark contrast to Kody’s words. “Good. Look, she did her best?—”

“Yeah, I know,” Kody said, cutting off Arlo. “It didn’t save my sister.”

“Your sister tried to help me… if you blame anyone, blame me,” Benjamin said, and Carey saw him sink beneath the boxes, losing sight of his expression. “It wasn’t Jacky’s fault. I made a lot of mistakes.”

Kody didn’t reply, but something broke, and Carey heard his tears. Her heart sank as she fought tears, knowing the pain he was living through. She’d lost Richard. The grief of that still hit in weird ways, especially since they knew how he died and what caused his betrayal of the family.

They sat in silence and let Kody grieve. There wasn’t much else they could do. No way out of the cages, no way to avenge Stacy, no way to get help.

In the silence after the tears, Carey made a bold prediction, hoping it would remind the werewolves of who was still out there.

“Dad is the Tribunal Alpha now. He can mobilize every werewolf in the world if he needs to. And Jacky… Mom. My mom is a member of the werecat ruling family. They’ll find their way to us.

I promise.” Carey took a shaky breath as tears filled her eyes.

“They’ll make sure these witches pay for killing Stacy. ”

“Damn right!” Arlo sounded vicious. “They saved me from that murderer werecat and kept me from being framed!”

“Jacky and Landon were able to stop Fenris,” Benjamin reminded us. “All the way in Germany when he entered the Last Change.”

“Jacky and her family also fought all the werewolves, witches, and a werecat in Alaska,” Carey said, nodding.

“Alpha went all the way to Germany way back in the day to help Jacky save her human family… and they freed the Russian werewolf pack from their Alpha,” Kody added. His voice was hoarse, but stronger than it had been.

“The sound of hopeful children… like screeching. It makes my ears want to bleed from how terrible it sounds,” a strange voice said, making Carey nearly jump out of her skin.

She recognized it. She turned to the source and saw the male witch, the man with two voices.

The one who nearly killed Jacky. Carey had been trying to escape, but she had seen the awful things this witch had done to her mom.

Carey couldn’t stop herself. She bared her teeth and hissed, the reaction coming so naturally.

“Interesting to see how fast the Change really… well, changes a person,” the witch said, staring down at her. “Not the first time I’ve seen it but still interesting.”

“Fuck you,” Carey growled. “You won’t get away with this.”

“Oh, you cute little thing…” The witch crouched, coming down to Carey’s level. “You are so much like Jacky… Impressively bold for having so little to back it up. You will struggle until your last breath and find a way to keep going, just like she does, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Carey snapped.

“Be careful… I might see how far that is, like I did her,” the witch said, smiling.

It was off kilter, insane, and uncanny all at once.

A smile that didn’t belong to the face, as the feminine voice grew more powerful than the male.

“I always love to see just how resilient you moon cursed really are… and if you’re to be my warriors, I need to know what you can handle.

” She leaned closer. “And I need all the data I can get to account for all variables.”

“Leave her alone!” Arlo snarled. Benjamin and Kody’s own rumbling growls rose up underneath his, a chorus of them, a warning from a small pack of werewolves willing to fight together for the same cause.

“Wolves… so noisy…” The witch rolled his eyes with a shake of his head, but the feminine voice stayed the strongest of the two.

He met Carey’s gaze again and started to reach out.

Carey felt something grab her throat and tried to pull away, but it held firm.

The reaching hand brushed her cheek. “They are easier to control, more malleable to the magic, and are easier to have many of since they are meant to be in groups…” The witch sighed, almost wistfully.

“But I’ve always been partial to the werecats. The defiant and solitary, the strong-willed, righteous, path-forging werecats…” With a cruel smile, the force on Carey’s neck grew stronger but still wasn’t painful.

Carey was still filled with fear, regardless.

She could no longer hear the growls from the werewolves trying to get the witch’s attention away from her.

It was just her and this witch, who seemed to be filled with so much evil, her mind screamed that it was too much.

In the same way Carey knew that Subira, Hasan, and even Zuri and Jabari were ancient , so was this evil.

“It’s more fun to break them.”

Then it was gone, and Carey was free to scurry across the cage as far as she could to get away from the witch. Her palms were sweaty enough to make her slip, and she fumbled over the blanket, but she had to get away.

“But sadly, I don’t have time right now.” The witch stood up and snapped his fingers. “Will someone tell me why I can’t get on the plane and leave yet? I’ve been demanding it get done for over an hour now!”

“Sir, all private flights are canceled. The only way we can move them is with the semi, but they’ll be able to knock it over if they struggle and get too much attention. We’d never get through the border to Mexico, where the BSA won’t be able to reach us.”

“Figure it out!” he roared. “Tell the idiot in BSA to allow just one flight up for us. We don’t need to get far. We just need a moment to get into the air before the blasted animals find our trail. They’ve done everything else we’ve needed. We just need this one more thing. Make it happen.”

“I’ll reach out to our contact,” another witch said.

Carey heard them run from the room. She’d been too distracted to realize how many witches had come in while she and the boys had been talking.

We’re running out of time, and the BSA is helping the witches? Dad… Mom… I really need you right now.