Page 6 of War Games (Jacky Leon #11)

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CHAPTER FIVE

I was up with Heath at the same time we rolled out of bed every day now, which was too damn early for me. I missed the schedule where I used to stay up too late and got to sleep in. I had gotten used to waking up early for a little while, but some mornings, all I wanted was to stay in bed. The real problem was that Heath was too busy to stay in bed with me and make those mornings more fun right now. He was going to be out with the pack right after breakfast, and he couldn’t be late for a bit of fun. It was a bad example for his werewolves, who showed up on time because he set the time.

I was a werecat, so I wondered if that was what possessed me to look at him this morning and act ridiculously.

“We could make it quick,” I purred in his ear while we were both in the bathroom. While I knew he would regretfully turn me down, there was a thrill knowing he’d say yes if it weren’t for his stalwart need to be as good as he asked the pack to be. It was very clear to me he’d say yes, and it certainly wasn’t from the heavy-lidded stare he was giving me.

“You know they can tell when you do this to me in the morning, right?” he asked, leaning in, his lips brushing against mine.

“Oh, really?” I played innocent, but it was hard not to smile for very long, and I didn’t feel all that strong this morning, letting it betray my innocent expression.

“I wish there were a day I could just…” He trailed off. “If I say anymore, you will finally succeed in making me late.”

“A girl has to try, right? It’s not like I’m getting any other workouts with you. I need to take them where I can get them.”

“You are in a mood this morning.” Now, he was struggling to keep a straight face, the heat in his eyes telling me that he wanted me as much today as the day he first came over, and we gave up pretending we weren’t into each other. “And I do believe I made sure you broke a very good sweat last night. I remember your heart racing and the heavy breathing, actually.”

That was true.

“I think it was such a good workout for you that you were falling asleep right as it was finishing up, and I had to do all the cleanup,” he continued.

He wasn’t wrong.

It was all the pent-up energy of Carey not leaving us be, not just through one movie but three, with two of them after dinner. He had to send her to bed for the first time in a long time. Normally, Carey knew when to step out and go do her own thing. The moment she went to her own room, he remembered all of those things he was intending to do to me.

It was a good night for me, and it was the only reason I didn’t dream about Alaska and what happened there, not that I felt like I could tell Heath about that.

“Now, with that little rewriting of history you were trying to do corrected, I am going to make you breakfast. You need protein after last night. Or you need it for tonight. Take your pick.”

I snorted as he walked around me, hitting my butt as he went.

I finished getting ready for the day and met him downstairs, where Carey was already waiting for breakfast. Two faces were missing, though. In recent weeks, Landon and Dirk were here for breakfast so Landon and Heath could discuss how each member of the pack was doing, if they were improving, what their strengths were like, and more. Dirk joined in, offering ways to improve the digital security to complement the werewolves, which was ever-evolving. I always got a bit lost and preferred to eat my breakfast with Carey, pretending as if none of it mattered to us. If I paid too much attention, I got cranky, knowing it wasn’t helping me solve my problems after Alaska. It was protection, which was good, but it wasn’t solving anything for me.

Noticing that Landon wasn’t there made me think even more about what he had said to me the afternoon before. It made me think about why I didn’t mention the comment to Heath, who frowned when he saw the empty seats where Landon and Dirk normally were.

“Carey, what are you planning on doing today?” I asked, trying to ignore the absence of her brother.

“Well, Dirk and I were planning on going to the gun range when the werewolf training started,” she explained. “With no classes today, it’s time for me to get comfortable with something to protect myself. Once I turn eighteen, I can carry, and I probably should.”

“She’s used a gun before,” Heath said quickly.

“I know.” I chuckled. While I had never taken her to the gun range, I knew she had some experience. This was Carey Everson, the human daughter of a werewolf Alpha. “Started with BB guns, yeah?”

“Yup. Landon taught her to shoot one when she was eight,” Heath explained.

“Yeah, well, I need a lot more practice. It’s been a while. I know it’s because I can’t legally carry, but Dirk is really good, and I asked him to take me, so if something happens at home, I should be able to defend myself.”

For a minute, I was slammed by the maturity and realism of her words. She was sixteen. Only sixteen. It always took me off guard that she was a step ahead of what I was thinking about where she should be. Then the guilt would hit, knowing it was because of what we were that she was so mature.

“What time were you going to go?” Heath asked, glancing at me, a different question in his eyes than the one he had for his daughter.

I leaned back and made it clear I was focused on something else as I considered where Landon and Dirk were, something I could have done earlier. Dirk was on his way already, while Landon was still at home.

“We were planning on spending the whole morning there. He was going to give me experience with all the firearms you have in the safe. Well, one of each.”

“So you can get a good feel for all of them. Smart young man,” Heath seemed proud. “I wish he mentioned it yesterday when he was over.”

“Oh, well, we talked about it last night,” Carey admitted. “Since he doesn’t start training with Niko until tomorrow, he asked if there was anything I wanted to do today without classes. You’re both busy; so is Landon. He didn’t want me to be too bored. This is what we ended on.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. Dirk was notoriously uncomfortable with Carey, the younger sister of his partner. When she was younger, it was due to that. He didn’t have experience with children or young teens. He was always getting better, but offering to spend the day with her was a bold step.

“Well… he’s on his way,” I finally said as Carey looked between Heath and me.

“Good! I’ll get ready then. Dirk knows the people who own the gun range and said we could get in before anyone else, so if we felt uncomfortable with people around, we wouldn’t have wasted the entire trip.” She popped out of her seat like a firecracker and went to her room, leaving me with a better-masked but equally stunned Heath.

“That’s certainly a way to start the day. Dirk and Carey are going to hang out… with guns.” I clicked my tongue, thinking about it. With a clear vision of the event, I remembered how Carey punched an older girl and broke her nose once, and I had to get her from the high school that day. “I love her more than life, but you’re certain she won’t shoot someone if she gets temperamental, right? Like people know who she is. If anyone makes any sort of offensive comment, she…”

“I’m… nearly positive she won’t shoot anyone,” Heath said, not nearly as confident as I hoped. “I’ll trust that Dirk will be able to stop her. He’s a werewolf, and he knows her. She also knows all the gun safety rules. She’s not a true beginner, so she won’t be able to use that excuse to try shooting anyone and getting away with it.”

“It’s not that she’s violent, but…” I didn’t feel guilty for bringing it up. Carey could really snap sometimes when someone crossed a line with her.

“She’s protective,” Heath finished for me. He shook off his complicated emotions visibly, like shaking water out of his coat, before focusing his stormy blue eyes on me. “Dirk is on his way… but you didn’t mention Landon.”

“He’s still at his home,” I answered simply. “Dirk is nearly here, so perhaps we shelve the next part of this talk until he and Carey have gone.”

“Interesting that they didn’t leave at the same time,” Heath murmured, frowning. He was lost in his thoughts for a moment before nodding. “We’ll shelve it for the moment.”

We ate breakfast, giving our best smiles to Dirk as he walked in looking too tired for his own good. It wasn’t unsafely tired, but the darkness under his eyes with a distinct lack of morning pleasantness was a sign of something troubling I knew shouldn’t be my problem but would be. However, when Carey walked out of her room, ready to go, I was impressed by the effort Dirk put into presenting himself, hiding the darkness of his mood and smiling brightly at her.

“Ready to go already? You’re quick.”

“I grew up with brothers! And Jacky. She doesn’t need an hour to get ready for the day.”

I blinked a couple of times, knowing it didn’t take me much time because I didn’t wear much makeup, if any, nor did I try to dress myself in any way to impress. I was a notable mess, if I listened to either of my sisters. Carey looked neatly put together, though, like she was taking lessons from Zuri or Mischa. She always did. She was Heath’s daughter. He was all about presentation in that aspect. He was the best dressed on any given day, and while it could seem effortless, it wasn’t. Carey was raised to clean up every day she would leave the house because anything else would draw unwanted attention to their family. Her speed to do so wasn’t because of me or her brothers. It was practice.

“Let’s go then! Heath, I’ll check everything out of the gun safe properly, and don’t worry, she’s in good hands.” Dirk held the door for her, his smile not fading as he matched stares with Heath.

“I know she is,” Heath said with a warm smile.

Once the door closed and the truck was gone twenty minutes later, I watched the warm smile fall off Heath’s face. How he managed to hold it that long was beyond me, a truly impressive feat.

“Has Landon left his home yet?” Heath asked, a subtle growl in his words.

“No. Don’t do anything. Let him stew if he has to stew,” I said carefully, not wanting to see a rift begin to form between them. “He’ll come around, right?”

“Did you see that boy? It seems like he was up most of the night, and it wasn’t for a fun reason.” Heath’s growl at the end exposed the depth of his anger at Landon. I leaned back, studying Heath, recognizing that my fiancé’s reaction to this was harsher than I would have expected, which meant I needed to figure that out first.

“We don’t know what happened,” I said carefully, judging Heath’s every twitch. “He could have been up all night working on an idea. He could have had too much to think about.”

“Or he and Landon argued all night,” Heath grumbled, his stormy eyes narrowing as he kept looking away from me. Heath was staring at my front door like he was trying to manifest his son there.

“He didn’t look so tired that Carey was in any danger,” I stressed. “So, I know you’re not pissed because of that.”

“I’m not…” Heath finally breathed again. “I’m sorry. Something about Landon’s behavior is bothering me. And now he’s being intentionally late to training, if he shows up at all.”

“Go train your werewolves without him,” I said, reaching out to touch his arm. “I have my family meeting today. We’ll come back to this in the afternoon.”

“I can’t let it slide if he misses training,” Heath said, less furious and more frustrated now. “I’m going to have to discipline him in front of the pack. I hate needing to do that.” He growled again. “I can’t lie to them and say he’s too injured. I know he’s healthy. If his feet hurt, he did that to himself.” He stopped growling and sighed. His scent told me everything about his feelings, not locked away, thanks to his Talent. He was mostly concerned and frustrated, and there was little I could do for him. No one knew Landon better than he did. If he was feeling like he didn’t know what to do or say, there was nothing I could think of.

Landon also made his feelings very clear when it came to me meddling…

“Come here,” I murmured, getting closer to him. I brushed a hand over Heath’s cheek as I kissed him. When I pulled back from the moment, he was more relaxed, his shoulders lowering as he released some of the tension. “I don’t know how to help you or Landon or Dirk right now, but whatever this is, we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out, Heath.”

“I know,” he whispered back, leaning in to return my kiss. Once he was done, he leaned over, his head on my shoulder. His arms wrapped around my waist, and I wished I could stay there all day, regardless of the reason. It was a nice place to be. “I… This is the one thing I have no experience in. Landon with a partner, having issues with said partner, both in the family now, a mate bond between them. I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know what to say or do, either.”

“From my experience, most children don’t like when their parents try to help their relationships, no matter the age of anyone involved,” I said, trying not to chuckle darkly at the reasons I knew that.

“Yeah…” Heath grumbled.

Since I was constantly aware, I leaned back from Heath, tapping one of his arms still firmly wrapped around me.

“Your werewolves are coming. Some are only a couple of minutes away. You should get out there and think about what you want to do today without Landon.”

“He’s still not moving?”

I shook my head, and Heath groaned. I knew he had been hoping that Landon would get moving, but I knew otherwise. Landon was, at most, prowling around his house and backyard, not yet on the move toward my property.

Heath walked out, leaving me to wonder how this had brewed under our noses. I had known there was overprotectiveness running a bit rampant, but the bomb that was slowly going off caught me off guard.

It was, truthfully, a distraction I couldn’t afford, yet found myself indulging in. Anything to not think about the werecat or werewolves in Alaska was welcome at this point for me. I hated that thought, though, since Landon and Dirk weren’t distractions. They were a part of my family that I had fought for. The family I was still fighting for.

I watched as Heath met his werewolves in my yard, knowing that Landon and Dirk would be fine in the end. This was just a growing pain for them. It had to just be a growing pain. All relationships had them, no matter what the dynamic was.

I turned to walk to my office, knowing I had to face a growing pain of my own.