Page 9 of Cruel Revenge (Jacky Leon #12)

CHAPTER SEVEN

I t was after sundown when Heath and I had dinner alone in the dining room, getting another night of takeout, almost missing the dinner window.

“Did anything else happen today?” I asked as we dished up. My voice was a little hoarse, nothing water wouldn’t fix.

“Hasan talked to Brion. I should be getting the pack’s full access to the Tribunal soon. He did so because Subira wanted to speak to me, and Hasan had to clear my schedule for that conversation.”

“Which we have already discussed,” I said, nodding as I followed the chain of events. “That’s good. That will mean Landon, Teagan, Dirk, and others will all be able to go into the Tribunal.”

“There’s going to be a designated door. There are a lot of protections as well. They can’t take anyone in without access. They can’t use other doors to leave in different locations without someone else giving them a way out. It’s a lot of the same rules used at the Market.”

“The idea that you have to leave where you entered,” I said, nodding.

I had very little experience with the Market, but the rules were well known by anyone who visited even once.

“Unless it's you, one of the other Tribunal members, or people they are sending places, like we go in from here and leave somewhere else for the raids.”

“And you know there are witches and fae who make all of that happen for everyone, who have to follow the rules themselves,” Heath said, barely touching his food.

“It’s so immense. I always knew it took a lot for the Tribunal to run smoothly, but seeing the cogs spinning behind what the public generally sees…

it’s a lot. It’s more than I think the Tribunal ever thought it would become. ”

“I feel like there’s a commentary here about the government continuing to expand as its duties and responsibilities grow or something,” I said, chuckling before I took a bite of the late-night Italian we got.

“Probably.” Heath finally took a bite and made a face.

“Yeah, the paste is either overcooked or undercooked, no in-between,” I said, spinning some around my fork. “It’s nearly eleven, and we ordered right before they closed for the night. It’s our own fault for not getting something fresher earlier.”

“Yeah…” Heath took another bite, this time not making a face.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“NAWC,” he answered. “The first official meeting since I took over…” Heath sighed. “The first time I’ll have seen all of them at the same time since the day I went rogue and kept Fenris within this pack.”

“You’ve put it off for this long?” I was actually surprised.

I’d heard how he had approved the schedule, but I figured he would have had a meeting by now and just didn’t want to tell me about it.

“Have you spoken to any of them? It’s been months since you defeated Callahan and became the Tribunal Alpha.

We’ve been doing raids. We’ve been in the territories of different packs for the raids. ”

“I’ve spoken to a few of them. They’ve all made sure to reaffirm their commitment to the Tribunal and council system and see me as the Alpha of the Tribunal. The formalities. The meetings offer themselves to less official talk, though. We used them to catch up, not just deal with business…”

“There’s going to be more access to you, and in reverse, you’ll be able to really speak to them without any distractions.” I sighed, giving him a sympathetic look. “Some of them used to be friends, though. It won’t be all that bad, right?”

“Depends on if they still see me as a friend after I challenged Callahan and won,” Heath said, shrugging, but I could smell the potential hurt there.

Heath was like any werewolf. They craved a sense of community.

Alphas had a different relationship with it compared to many other werewolves, but all of them generally needed the pack.

They were immensely social creatures in a way werecats couldn’t be.

He and I were both living in seemingly extreme ways for our kinds.

I had all the community I could ever tolerate, from the largest werecat family in the world to a small werewolf pack always in my territory. It was often too much for me, and I needed time to quietly get away from the activity and socializing.

He was one of the loneliest Alphas, with a pack too small for just how powerful he was, a small family, just him and two children, one of whom was an adult and the other was human.

I remembered the discussions about how he may have missed being the Alpha in Dallas and how those relationships had changed because he left the pack.

The same was true when he went rogue and could no longer reach out to other friendly Alphas.

“I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened up to this point, but it’s going to be a strange meeting for me.

” Heath continued to eat, leaving me to pick up the conversation again if I wanted to.

I considered it, asking for more, just to make sure he would be okay, but there was only so much I could do with other werewolves.

I couldn’t go to the meeting and demand they accept him and get over all of it.

I couldn’t even go to quietly support him.

“Are you taking Landon?” I asked, knowing if I couldn’t support Heath, his son and second could.

“Certainly,” Heath confirmed, smiling. “Worried for me?”

“Not worried… I was just thinking you need someone to support you, and we know I’m not allowed to be there to do that, so why not Landon?”

“Why can’t you?” he asked, leaning in. “You’re the woman I’m marrying, and you’re allowed to be in the Tribunal.”

“I’m a werecat and the daughter of a different member of the Tribunal… Of course, I can’t go. It would be seen as… meddling or political pressure from werecats or something.”

“I’m a member of the Tribunal. I can invite whoever I want to whatever meeting I want,” Heath said, tilting his head to the side. “Do you want to come? I’ll take you. I know you’ve met several of them and?—”

“Heath, they would be furious,” I said, huffing at his casual acceptance of just taking me to a meeting with the strongest Alphas under his command now. Alphas who have had front row seats to every twist and turn of our lives for the last five plus years.

“They would get over it. It’s not like they’re going to think I’m keeping things from you, which means I’m not keeping things from Hasan. Callahan has probably already told them that over email or something. I don’t monitor his communications like that.”

“Which you should… be monitoring his every communication and move,” I remarked flatly, staring at Heath. We’d had this talk before.

“He’s…” Heath sighed. “Maybe you need to come to the meeting to understand why I’m not going to do that.”

“I know what you’re going to say, and I understand that you’re right about it, but I’m not ready to see the man who accidentally had me poisoned.

I know I wasn’t the target, and he felt very bad that it ended up being me, and that’s why he accepted his lumps from you in my name.

But I am not ready to sit in the same room as Callahan.

He tried to kill you and nearly killed me.

” I smiled politely, refusing to let this become a real argument.

That was where I stood on the matter, and that was the end of the discussion.

“Okay, love,” Heath said gently, an admission of defeat in the face of my refusal to even consider it.

I should have dropped it there.

“I know you want to tell me that Callahan is different now that he’s not on the Tribunal,” I said, stabbing my food with my fork. “I understand werewolves and your hierarchy problems now. Those are fixed, so he’s probably better.”

“Yeah?” Heath’s bland tone almost upset me for little to no reason.

“Yeah.” I twisted the fork.

I knew what he was thinking. I knew, from experience with the werewolves I lived with, that they dealt with a lot of stress when it came to unsettled ranks.

Callahan had been planning to lose or planning to step down if no fight had been necessary.

He’d needed Heath to prove himself because he was protective of his mate, the powerful and cunning Corissa.

I understood because of all of that, now that Callahan was just an Alpha and happy with his pack, there wasn’t a threat there anymore unless Heath hurt Corissa.

Heath wasn’t planning on ever hurting Corissa, which meant Callahan was finally in a position he enjoyed and was happy with his place as the second strongest Alpha in the world and not the first. He no longer had to deal with Hasan or the other Tribunal members, something he always hated, from what I knew.

He was in a much happier place and probably would be a nicer guy to know now.

Good for him. I had to revisit every worst moment I had in my life. Fuck him.

Heath wasn’t even looking at me as I angrily ate.

“It’s okay to be angry, Jacky,” he finally said as I opened my mouth to say something else. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you aren’t ready for.”

That disarmed me, knocking me back from the anger.

“Thank you,” I said softly. “I am still a bit angry, I guess.”

“You went through something awful,” Heath murmured, reaching out to take my hand. “You’ve dealt with it really well. I’m not trying to rush you. I’m sorry if it came off that way. I can’t avoid him the way you can, which means I’ve seen these changes in him in a way you only know in theory.”

“I still have feelings about it,” I muttered. “I do really well with Livia and Corissa even, but…”

“Callahan has a way of rubbing people the wrong way. Had a way of doing that.” Heath shrugged.

“And I know you would prefer to pretend everything is better for you after what happened up here.” He gently brushed his fingers over my temple.

“Because some of those things just can’t be resolved at this point. ”