Page 12 of War Games (Jacky Leon #11)

11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I didn’t ask Dirk about what happened. I could probably make a good guess based on his scent and expression, but I didn’t ask.

“Good morning,” was all I said as he rolled off the couch in the clothing he’d worn when he arrived in the middle of the night.

“Good morning,” he said softly. I pushed the plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. I had gotten up and made it while he slept, knowing the smell would get him moving eventually. With only five hours of sleep, I wasn’t feeling great, but I would survive the day if I got enough caffeine. Dirk looked terrible, which meant I would be driving.

I guess I’ll need to start that second pot of coffee now.

I did that as Dirk ate, saying nothing. Carey said good morning to both of us, inhaled her food, and left for her first class of the day. When Heath finally arrived, nearly an hour later, he went straight to the young man and rubbed his head.

“He’s better today. He’ll be walloped today in training as a dummy for the others. He’s also very sorry, but you can talk to him about that when you’re ready to. He’s going to leave you alone until you get back, so if you don’t want to see him, you don’t have to?—”

“Of course, I want to see him,” Dirk growled, interrupting Heath without a single regard for Heath’s position over him.

I was honestly proud, even though I shouldn’t have been. Heath looked at me for only a second, certainly catching the pride in my scent as I sipped coffee from my place by the counter.

“He’s getting ready for training in the security building. The pack is showing up soon, so if you want it to be private, go now.”

Dirk was already leaving the house by the time Heath was finished. He chuckled and looked at me once again.

“He and I haven’t talked,” I said over my mug. “He fell on the couch, and I left him there. Made breakfast and let him decide if he wanted to talk.”

“Landon’s afraid he’s going to die if anything happens and… I misjudged just how much that was going to affect him.” Heath’s happiness over Dirk running off to see Landon faded. “He’s never dealt with this before, and it’s been brewing, but I didn’t realize how quickly.”

“There’s nothing to do now except let them figure it out, huh?”

“Yeah. Please make sure Dirk talks about it at some point. It doesn’t have to be today, but before you two are back. I know there’s a lot for you to focus on, but…”

“I know. I’ll approach him about it at some point.” I wasn’t worried about doing that. I’d do anything for these boys, even though something was making me a little anxious about it.

I’m not using them to distract myself. He needs to talk about what happened, and we’ll be on the road together.

“When do you two drive out?”

“In an hour,” I answered. “It’s a good thing you and Landon arrived. We would have waited, but we would have left quickly if you hadn’t gotten here.”

“You can text or call me for anything, even that.”

“I wasn’t going to interrupt what you and Landon needed to do,” I said, shaking my head. I put my coffee down and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “And it seems he really needed his father.”

“He needed someone to lean on and tell him it was going to be okay,” Heath said, wrapping his arms around me in return.

“And he’ll listen to you saying it before he’ll listen to any of us.” I kissed his cheek, smiling.

We stayed there for a minute, leaning into each other’s embrace, enjoying the quiet until Heath stepped away.

“It’s not over. Landon will stay here with me and Carey all week on the couch. I need to keep an eye on his mental state. He’s clearly not allowed to keep Dirk from leaving, and the separation will be good for them. I don’t want him alone in their home. That will only remind him Dirk is missing when I’m not there to check on him.”

“Is it that bad?” I knew it was bad but hadn’t thought it would be that bad.

“He ordered Dirk not to move, that he couldn’t leave, then collapsed in the hallway, breaking down. He was stuck between the fear of Dirk leaving and hating himself for doing that. I talked to him and got him into bed. He woke up with a clearer head, and we spoke more over breakfast and coffee. I just want to keep an eye on him.”

“Damn. Okay. Carey will give him someone to focus on, too.”

“Exactly,” Heath said, small lines forming by his eyes as he smiled. “And Carey is also independent like Dirk…”

“Oh, good, and she’s willing to fight more with her older brother. I like this.” I chuckled. “And more fragile, being a human.”

“Oh, yes. Plus, I reminded him this morning that neither of us has spent much time with her like we used to because we’ve all been busy, and she deserves time with her brother, too…”

“Wow, going full guilt trip, huh?” I pulled away from him, shaking my head in mock disgust.

“It works.” Heath’s smile turned to a more mischievous smirk.

“Think they’re done talking?” I asked him, looking at the door. They were both still in the security building. I narrowed my eyes, thinking about the two men in that building. “They had better only be talking in there.”

“I’ll check,” Heath said quickly, clearing his throat. I followed behind him, and right on cue, both of them left the security building. Dirk was looking a little rumpled, and Landon was adjusting the collar of his shirt.

I stood on the porch with narrowed eyes as Dirk turned a little red, seeing me there. Landon sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and put his head down when he and Heath made eye contact.

“Hope you two had a good chat. Dirk, load up your truck with our stuff for the trip. We’ll take it over mine.”

“Okay.” Dirk jumped into action as Landon chuckled. Heath pointed to the training area they had set up for Landon to get over there instead of standing there like a fool, and it was right on time. Werewolves were already on the way, and Landon needed to seem like he was in trouble for missing Friday’s and Saturday’s mandatory training. Plus, if they were okay enough to make out in my security building, then Dirk and I were good to leave.

Once the truck was loaded, I kissed Heath goodbye, but Landon rejected a hug.

“I was an ass to you the other day,” Landon said, shaking his head. “I don’t?—”

I gave him a hug anyway, holding him until he relented.

“I’ve got him,” I promised the wolf.

He said nothing, but his scent was enough to know he understood and trusted me with Dirk. There was a lot of fear in his scent, too, but he wasn’t angry. He wasn’t about to put up a fight, and that’s all I needed.

“Drive safe,” he said, pulling away once it lasted too long for him to be comfortable.

“We will. I’m well caffeinated.”

With that, I hauled myself into Dirk’s truck. He shook Heath’s hand and hugged Landon, whispering something that I ignored by turning on the truck, before climbing into the passenger side.

“Thanks for driving today,” Dirk said as he put his seat belt on.

“Not a problem,” I said with a smile. With a few more waves, now to the other werewolves who were parking and getting out of their own cars, we were free to go.

It was a boring drive since I didn’t broach the Dirk and Landon situation immediately. The closest witches to us were all around Dallas-Fort Worth, so the beginning of the trip wasn’t going to be difficult. We could even take the first night of it at the Dallas mansion.

“Ready to shake down some witches?” Dirk asked as we reached the first stop three hours later, on the north side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Let’s do this.”

I went in first to a small accountant’s office. Everyone inside seemed very human, and it was incredibly mundane. I went to the receptionist and smiled.

“Hello. I need to see a Mister James Shipley. My name is Jacky Leon. He’ll want to see me.”

The receptionist frowned and looked at her schedule, and I knew she wouldn’t find my name on her schedule.

“You normally need an appointment to see Mr. Shipley, but since we’re not in tax season, let me see if he recognizes your name, and maybe we can schedule something for this morning.”

She got up and left. There were only a few people in the office, and I didn’t mind them because Dirk was doing that for me. There was a system for things like this. I couldn’t exactly flash a badge I didn’t have, and even if I did, it wouldn’t mean anything to a random human woman. It would also bring bad news for this man’s business. I saw no reason for that type of behavior when so far, James Shipley was an innocent man who happened to do magic.

The receptionist came back quickly.

“He’ll see you now,” she said, still frowning. She must have been told to hurry and send me back.

I followed her lead with Dirk trailing behind me, watchful in case anyone made a strange move. We were led into an office where a nervous man greeted us.

“Hello, Miss Leon. It’s nice to see you again,” he said, smiling falsely as he shook my hand. “Jessica, if you would close the door, please.”

Jessica closed the door, and James relaxed only a fraction, looking at me with fear.

“Can I help you, Miss Leon?” he said, moving back to his desk and sitting down. “I thought the… the…”

I held up a hand, listening to the receptionist walk away. When she was certainly out of ear shot, I explained why I was there.

“Dirk and I are just confirming things that the Tribunal already talked to you about,” I said, sitting down across from him. “An accountant, huh? It said in the file, but this still isn’t what I expected.”

“I only have human clients,” he said, his nerves making me feel like a predator in front of a bunny rabbit. It would be so very easy for me to eat him.

“Really?” He hadn’t been lying, but that surprised me even more than the tiny operation he had.

“I was asked if I did any financial work for… them , and the answer is no, I don’t and never did work for that family. They didn’t come to me for anything, and I didn’t work in the same circles they moved in. I don’t work with any supernaturals. While I’m a trained witch, I’m very weak. I know some family recipes for incense and things in that vein, and I only use it to relax my clients because… well, money is stressful for most people. I live a quiet life and enjoy it that way. I do good business setting up retirement funds, helping pick the right investments, and things like that.”

“I see. So, you were a business that the Tribunal wanted to determine if they might have been able to follow the money. Well, if that’s all, we’ll get going.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s all,” I said as Dirk pointed at his own nose.

“We would have known if you were lying. Did you know others who worked with them?”

“No. I know people who had encountered them, but everyone knew they were… insular. They were one of those magic families who kept everything very close. The only time they interacted with anyone else was to look for the right wife or husband to keep their power up or for the right business contact to get them good money for what sort of things they could do. I didn’t know what they had been selling until the Tribunal appeared. Everything that happened in Dallas… I wasn’t looking to take on supernatural clients, and everyone around here knows that. I don’t even work with my friends. They never approached me, thankfully. I’m not… interested in that side of being a warlock.”

“Thank you for explaining more,” I said, getting up before I even had a chance to get properly comfortable. He’d been completely honest. “The witches who encountered them… did you give those names to the Tribunal?”

“I did.”

Dirk reached into his bag and pulled out the list. I asked for the names, and Dirk nodded when I looked at him, confirming they were already on our list.

“Thank you. Don’t tell them we’re coming. They get to be as surprised as you have been.” When I reached out to shake his hand, he was still quivering as he took it. He gave me a firm shake, fighting how nervous he was.

“I won’t,” he promised.

Dirk and I walked out on our own, but James wasn’t too far behind us. He told Jessica the rest of the day was going to be normal and that we weren’t going to be clients. Family friends, he called us as we left, giving a simple cover story for our presence.

“Not all of them will be that easy,” Dirk said, sighing. “He wasn’t bad, though. Just a guy who might have had some connection and had to be talked to.”

“Yeah, the report on him said the same, but you know we have to verify,” I said, sighing. “I don’t trust the Tribunal witches not to cover for someone when they get the chance.”

“With what happened in Alaska? I don’t blame you.” Dirk shook his head sadly as we got back on the road.

The entire day was more of the same, and we ended at the Dallas mansion.

“I’ll take Niko’s room,” Dirk said.

“Nope. You’ll take your shared room with Landon,” I said, knowing one had been set up now. “You can find it on your own, but first, let’s talk.”

“About?”

“About Landon.” I went to sit down in the large kitchen at the bar, knowing he was going to fight this.

“It’s fine.”

“I promised Heath that we would talk while on this trip. He’s your Alpha and wants to make sure everything is okay. I’m your aunt, and I want to make sure everything is okay.”

“Then we’ll talk tomorrow,” he said, heading upstairs to avoid the conversation. I didn’t chase or attempt to call him back. I had all week to get this part done.

Instead, I looked over the list and made a note of the next few witches we’d be talking to. One name stuck out to me—trained in healing and potion work and worked with animals, based on the records. It was an interesting combination, considering what that family had been doing to the Dallas pack. The Tribunal had noted nothing of interest about the witch, saying she was uninvolved.

Olivia Kesslar… I’ll see just how uninvolved she was.