Page 41 of Cruel Revenge (Jacky Leon #12)

“You killed a man. You’re lucky we’re entertaining a conversation and not trying to ask the werewolves to capture you to put you down for what happened.”

“You wouldn’t be able to convince them,” I said, shrugging. “Because the man I killed was a witch, kidnapping not only Carey, a human girl and daughter of a werewolf Alpha, but also three young werewolves. They would be on my side, not in the mood for the posturing and pleasantries from you.”

“Are you certain of that? I can call Callahan.”

“Oh? Can you?” I leaned on the table. “Go ahead. It’s been a few months since Callahan and I saw or spoke to each other. It would be a fun reunion.”

“Let’s lower the temperature, please,” Beth said, looking between us from mid-table.

“There’s no reason for all the hostility right now.

We’re all just trying to find Carey and the young werewolves, Kody, Arlo, and Benjamin.

Good kids. I’m sorry Stacy was killed yesterday.

We’re all sorry Stacy was killed. We don’t need to be fighting. ”

“You’re right,” Rhodes said with a thin mouth, looking at Beth, then back at me. “You were asked why you believed they were witches and why they would go after you, bold enough to kidnap four young people in broad daylight. You told Special Agent Kirk that it would require a meeting to explain.”

“Well, there’s always something going on in the supernatural world,” I said, knowing I had to wait to hear from Davor before I could just leave. I didn’t want to give the BSA anything—not that there were problems with the witches, not that Heath was now in charge of the werewolves.

But my angry declaration and the reality were two different things.

“Obviously. Are you going to tell us? Carey, a human girl, is missing, as you so reminded us, but now you’re dancing around and playing a game,” Rhodes said, throwing my words back at me.

“And humans, regardless of who their parents are, remain under the authority of the United States as citizens of our nation.”

“Well… I need to correct something. Perhaps it will change some things in this meeting…” That was something I was going to have to correct before the end of this, anyway. “Carey isn’t a human anymore.”

There was normal silence, but this wasn’t it. Jaws dropped. Eyes narrowed. A couple of agents had heated glares.

“Did Heath Change a minor?” Rhodes asked softly. “His own daughter?”

“No. When she threw herself out of a moving vehicle yesterday, I did,” I answered, raising my chin defiantly.

“She was terribly injured, barely conscious. No one was coming to help us, and the witches were coming back to take her from me again. To save her life, and after she directly told me to, with what little strength she had… I bit her.”

Since no one was interrupting me, all of them looking more and more wide-eyed at my explanation, I continued.

“She wasn’t going to survive as a human. I made the call. Which means those witches don’t have three werewolves and a human. They have three werewolves and a werecat… My daughter , recognized by a far higher authority than your own.”

“You can’t be serious?—”

“I’ve never been more serious,” I growled at Rhodes, cutting him off.

“They nearly killed me, but I wasn’t letting Carey die because of them.

I’ll die a thousand times for that girl.

I’ll fight a thousand armies. I will never regret saving her life.

Judge me all you like. There’s a piece of information you didn’t have. Now give me what I want!”

Rhodes stood up slowly again.

“We tried for years to keep that girl alive and human, to give her the life she deserves,” the Director said softly. “And you made her one of you.”

“She’s now a member of the werecat ruling family,” I said, baring my teeth. “And you don’t want a fight with my family.”

“You cursed her!” Rhodes yelled. “A sixteen-year-old girl!”

“Don’t stand there and try to tell me that you think she would have been better off dead,” I warned, the threat of violence making my claws scratch the table.

“Do you know how bad this is?” Rhodes asked.

“I think I know far better than you do,” I said, knowing it probably fractured my relationship with the love of my life.

But standing in this room, I was willing to throw everything away for Carey and her survival.

All of it. I would be alone for eternity if it meant she would breathe freely for another day.

“Maybe it’s best we stop talking about Carey. We’ll come back to it,” Beth said, trying once again to get us directed at her. “Please. There’s nothing we can do about it right now… or ever. If she’s Changed, then she’s Changed. She’s a werecat now. Done. Director, there were other questions…”

Come on, Davor. There’s only so much I really want to tell them.

“There are…. Jacky, why did the witches take her or the young werewolves?” Rhodes demanded to know. “Why, Jacky? What is going on?”

“How far back do you want me to go?” I asked. “We can go back to the initial Dallas coup if we wanted to.”

Because that coup was everything. It was the first attempt at a plot that no one knew was building.

It led to Heath and me coming together, and I met and tried to protect Carey.

Everything went back to that moment in time, the first time the witches tried to take the moon cursed as their own.

It felt like just a power play by a couple of werewolves, one of whom happened to be a witch as well.

But everything was unraveling now. They were a piece of a bigger puzzle who had done their part and attempted to gain power before the others.

But it wasn’t unraveled enough to see the end.

Rhodes glared at me, waiting for me to continue, but I wanted him to play my game, regardless of how I couldn’t let him do the same.

There was a knock at the door, and when the door opened, an agent stepped in, looking at the Director.

“Sir, the Atlanta office called,” an agent said. “They’ll want a meeting with you soon, but wanted you apprised of something happening in the city.”

“Damn it! What now?” He turned to the agent. “Let’s hear it?—”

“Sir! New York just called!” Another agent ran up and came to a hard stop before running into the other agent.

“One at a time!” Rhodes snapped. “I’m in a fucking important meeting, so this better be an emergency.”

I relaxed, knowing what this was. Of course, the BSA would be watching the most public of witch-owned businesses.

“Werewolves from the Atlanta pack have been showing up in groups like they’re…

raiding witch businesses,” the first agent finally said.

“It’s being done quietly, but it’s happening.

The Atlanta Alpha won’t talk to them. None of the werewolves in the city will explain what they’re doing.

The witches, though, said they expected it.

It’s not violent yet, but Atlanta is worried. ”

“It’s the same in New York…” the second agent said.

“New York also said they were notifying other offices to see if it was similar. Seattle can’t reach the Alpha there.

No one can get a hold of Callahan in Los Angeles either.

Before I came here, I asked agents to call around to other offices like New York is doing. ”

I smiled.

“Has anyone spoken to D.C.?” Rhodes looked between them. “If not, have someone call them immediately. We need to make sure all information is being sent to the main headquarters so they can collect all the details. There are no raids here, but the only Alpha to worry about is…”

Everyone looked at me.

“Heath isn’t in power anymore,” Rhodes said, clearly relieved.

“He’s not?” I said softly, still smiling.

“Stop playing fucking games with me,” Rhodes snapped harshly, spit coming out of his mouth. “He’s not on the NAWC.”

“You tell me what I want to know and give me what I need to find my daughter, and I’ll tell you the important things you need to know about what’s happening to the werewolves.”

“Someone call Callahan!” Rhodes yelled.

“He won’t answer,” I said, chuckling darkly. I was grateful Heath gave me this line of attack.

No one replied to me. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I checked it.

I’ve got everything. We need to meet in Houston. I’ll send you more as you drive. We’re scrambling over here now to get down there and set up ASAP.

“Thanks, brother,” I whispered to myself, staring at the text.

Then I looked up, seeing that Beth was the only person paying attention to me now.

“Beth, I’m going to go. This meeting is over,” I said as I put my phone back in my pocket.

I started walking toward her, and she was the only one who didn’t move several steps back as I moved in the room.

“What do you mean? I know things are chaotic, but?—”

I stopped close to her and leaned in.

“I don’t need the BSA. It needs me. Think about that for a minute.”

Then I walked out, letting her try to follow me. As people were scrambling, I went back into the office where I put in the USB, and took it back, knowing my handler was on my heels. I looked up at Beth, standing on the other side of the desk, her eyes wide, and showed it to her.

“You were never going to exchange much with us, were you?” Beth asked, the smell of betrayal thick in her scent.

“I don’t know if I can trust the BSA right now,” I reminded her, knowing I could only say this to her because I knew we were alone.

“Keep them out of my territory. They won’t find anything or anyone.

Zuri will be live streaming our statement at seven for the whole world to pick up and broadcast. If you hear anything I need to know about saving Carey here in the BSA, tell me. ”

“Jacky, please talk to me.”

“No.” I walked around the desk and met her, staring her down, eye to eye.

“Because you all interfered with my ability to find my daughter. I’m done bargaining.

” I saw the pain in her eyes even before I could smell it.

It hurt to see. I had a good relationship with Beth.

And in an act of mercy, I decided to give her one thing she could pass along.

“There’s one thing you can tell them. Heath is in charge of the werewolves now.

He defeated Callahan. The NAWC answers to him.

No one wanted to help us, so he took matters into his own hands.

The witches haven’t wanted to police themselves, so he’s doing it for them.

If the BSA wants to try bargaining information with anyone now, they can try reaching him.

If they want tensions to go down, they can try with him. ”

Beth’s face was pale.

“And you?”

“I’m a member of the werecat ruling family, and I’m going to fucking act like it. We don’t negotiate when our children’s lives are part of the bargain. We go to war. The BSA can decide what side of the war it wants to be on.” I marched out of the room, down the emergency stairwell, and to my car.

Houston. Another long drive to a city to come and save you, huh, Carey?