Page 9 of War Games (Jacky Leon #11)

8

CHAPTER EIGHT

DIRK

D irk silently supervised Carey as she showed her knowledge of how to maintain the small sidearm, taking it apart and cleaning it.

He was still awkward around her, and he wasn’t sure how to fix that. Carey was a kid. Well, she wasn’t as much of a kid anymore, but she was still absolutely a kid.

Except it’s not her age that always made me feel weird around her. It’s the fact that I don’t like seeing my own childhood play out in front of me. Always changing how I had to do things so other people wouldn’t think of me as my father’s weakness…

“How was that?” she asked, showing the cleaned parts.

He did his inspection, making sure she had fully cleaned everything properly. It was effective, which made him wonder about some things he was going to ask her about when they were leaving.

“Good. Put it back together,” he said, waving at it. People at the gun range were watching them and had been since it was officially open. They weren’t doing a good job keeping to themselves. He moved slightly, pretending to get a better angle of how she was doing, and she was reassembling it rather quickly. The movement blocked another person staring, too curious for their own good.

“People staring again?” she asked.

“They never stopped,” he answered, keeping his voice as low as hers. “Don’t worry. I got you.”

“I know. You’re like Landon but less overbearing and controlling.”

Dirk winced at the words, and Carey noticed that, looking up with a frown as she put the correctly reassembled sidearm back into its case.

“He’s been an asshole, yeah?” Carey patted his shoulder. “It’s because he loves you.”

“He loves his father but isn’t an asshole to him,” Dirk muttered. He’d been intentionally ignoring the mate bond all morning, not wanting to deal with the man on the other end of it. There were feelings from it, but Dirk knew how to neatly push the mate bond away far enough that they didn’t color his own mood and became easier to ignore. It wasn’t always negative. It was almost never negative; it was mostly an issue about focusing on work when he needed to.

Carey laughed, shaking her head.

“Sure he is! He just doesn’t do it that much in front of the other werewolves. The only person he loved but was never an asshole to was Richard,” she said, patting Dirk’s arm. She picked up the case and pointed at the two others sitting at his feet. “I can carry one of those if we want to head out now.”

“I got them,” he said, reaching out. As they walked out, he took note of everyone who stared at them, particularly those who turned and whispered to others. He didn’t grow up with much of this energy outside the house unless he was in a known supernatural area, like a business that catered to vampires, which he had avoided being human. It was the one way Carey was a lot tougher than most people gave her credit for. He knew she could see and hear them, but she held her chin up and walked out without so much as giving them a single glance.

“I hope y’all enjoyed today!” the owner called out, waving as Dirk put the cases in the back of his truck.

“Yeah, thanks for opening early for us,” Dirk said, smiling back at the human owner, Brock. He’d brought other werewolves here multiple times, and he was familiar with Brock. Brock probably would have hated Dirk if they had met after he’d been Changed, but Dirk had actually come here a few times before his Change, and the owner didn’t even notice. Dirk finally let him in on it, explaining how it happened without too many details. In the end, it was Brock who figured out werewolves weren’t so bad instead of losing the easy business he had thanks to the werewolves now around, including Dirk, the “weird German guy,” as he had once been called.

“Thank you, Brock!” Carey called out, waving as well before she jumped into his truck.

Once they were out of the gravel lot used for parking, Carey sighed heavily.

“I don’t know how my dad does it, keeping that energy for people all day, every day.”

“Really? It seems like it comes easy for you,” Dirk said, chuckling. “You are way less awkward than I ever was when someone knew who my father was.”

“More practice. Everyone knows who my dad is, human and supernatural alike. I grew up with Dad as a pack Alpha, his face on the news when he was asked to do PR statements for the werewolves and everything. Your dad is well known among the supernatural, but you get to hide around humans. I never had that. I could never hide.”

He sniffed and frowned.

She wasn’t sad about that. He could have sworn she would be sad. She wasn’t even angry. She was just tired.

“It doesn’t make you angry that you’ve never had a normal life?”

“Sometimes, it can bother me. Remember that party when…” She threw a hand toward him, waving it up and down. “That happened?”

“I… am not likely to forget,” he said, swallowing. He’d been chewed on by a werewolf and was fortunate to have survived the Change. He knew that. They all did.

“I was that night for a little while. I had finally brought friends over and was having a normal birthday party… as normal as I could ever have. A boy was asking me out. I got in trouble for trying to lie to my dad about it. They all stopped talking to me after that, and I thought about it for a long time.” Carey shrugged. “It hurt me, but… it didn’t take me long to realize that I would take you, Landon, my dad, and Jacky over other kids my age any day. I would rather talk to Makalo and learn things about places I’ve never been. Niko is really cool, too. Normal is… small. It feels smaller than my life, and I love how big my life is.”

Dirk didn’t know what to say. He only had one thought, and it wasn’t for Carey to hear.

I guess this is what growing up human in the supernatural world looks like if everyone in your life makes a full effort.

“You don’t mind how dangerous it is?” he asked softly, searching her face while stopped at a red light.

“Everyone’s lives are dangerous,” she replied, shrugging. “Is mine more dangerous? Yeah, but… it’s not the most dangerous, either. There are people out there who deal with worse and have fewer people looking out for them. Plus, my parents don’t really ask for all of this. My dad didn’t decide to be a werewolf. Landon didn’t choose to be one, either. Same for Jacky being a werecat. Sure, they’ve attracted a lot of attention, but they are always fighting for things they believe in, for each other, and for me. If other people have a problem with my family, that’s their problem, not my family’s.” She stopped with a strong nod, then looked at him. “Dirk, it turned green.”

With a chuckle, he hit the gas.

“It’s your family, too,” she added once they were through the empty intersection.

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed. “So, how do I deal with your brother?”

“Ask him to tell you how he really feels,” she said, crossing her arms. “Landon has this thing where he masks really big emotions with anger. He’s not good at them, especially when they make him feel… soft or something. He’d rather be angry. Angry is easy for him. I get why. I know how he had to grow up, even with Dad and Richard trying to protect him from everything. They’ve never shied away from the truth with me. Even when my brother looked like he was about to cry, he would get angry. He’d growl and stomp his feet and be angry. You need to know what he’s feeling underneath that, and you need to hear from him.”

“When did you get so damn smart?” he asked, wondering when she went from a twelve-year-old girl to the nearly adult woman sitting next to him. They were just celebrating her sixteenth birthday.

“I’ve always been smart. None of you appreciated my genius,” she countered. “Can we stop? I want something from the gas station. I’m feeling some candy. We can say it’s how you repaid me for such great advice about my brother.”

With a snort, Dirk shook his head and kept driving right past the first gas station. As she gasped at him, the second came into view, and he pulled in. He grabbed twenty dollars out of his wallet and handed it to her.

“Get me a drink,” he said as she took it slowly. “I’m not messing with you. I brought you out early. Get yourself a snack and get me a drink.”

“Thanks, Dirk!” She was out in a second, running inside without him. He kept an eye on the door, making sure no one followed her in, looking suspicious.

When she got back, she handed him his favorite flavored water. He knew he wasn’t getting any change back. She would stash it like she always did. Landon had started letting her do that when they took her somewhere without Heath, and Dirk was willing to let it happen to him, too. He was nearly positive that Heath and Jacky had no idea how much money Carey kept in her closet. Dirk knew where she hid it because he had to do the bug searches, but he never told her that.

“Thank you again, Dirk.” She grinned as she opened a bag of gummy bears and popped one in her mouth.

“I’m amazed they never notice you have a sugar rush whenever we bring you home.”

“I go right to my room and talk to Makalo or work on homework. So much homework. Or I listen to music. I know better than to get too noisy, though. Too noisy and the parents ask questions.” She put her feet on the dash, so he reached over and knocked them down.

“Don’t do that. If someone hits us, your legs will break.”

“See?” She ate another gummy bear. “Just like Landon.”

“He’s right about that!”

“I know. I was proving my point from earlier.”

“Why are we back on that point?”

“Because I had a thought while I was in the gas station. Maybe you guys will understand better when you realize you could very easily switch places in different circumstances. Like those movies where the mom and daughter switch bodies or something.” Carey shrugged again and ate another gummy bear.

Dirk narrowed his eyes on her and left it alone, deciding he was out of energy for Carey. He turned into the Kick Shot parking lot and went around the building and down the driveway. Heath was still training werewolves, but Landon wasn’t there.

“Wow, he really skipped the entire morning of training,” Carey said, as surprised as Dirk felt.

“He’s really never done that before, has he?”

“No…” Carey’s head shake flung blonde hair everywhere. “Oooh, Dad is going to be pissed when he sees Landon next. He hates when werewolves intentionally skip these sorts of things, and Landon is… Landon. It messes with the entire pack if Landon gets too much special treatment, so Dad is going to have to deal with him.”

“Has this ever happened before?” Dirk asked, frowning as he parked near the small security building where he did the most work.

“Not with Landon, but Richard tried a couple of things before… everything else that happened. Dad’s yelling could be heard from down the street. He sent me to hang out with Shamus and his kids, who were human at the time. He laid into Richard, and Richard wasn’t a high-ranking werewolf. Landon is Dad’s second.” Carey made a face. “Yikes. I’m going to go in and stay clear of that blast whenever it goes off.”

“Yeah? That scary?” He had seen Heath rightfully pissed before, but Carey must have seen those moments, too, growing up with the man as her father. Whatever Heath was going to do to Landon for skipping training was worse?

“Let’s just say there are some days I’m really glad I was born a human and not a werewolf. They aren’t often, but they do happen,” Carey said, shaking her head.

Dirk was left a bit scared and got out quickly, following her into Jacky’s house. Heath lived there, too, but even Heath made it clear it was Jacky’s home before anyone else’s.

“Hey, you two! Welcome home,” Jacky said as they entered the front door. “I was waiting on you two. Carey, I hate to ask this, but?—”

“We still need to put everything back in the gun safe,” Dirk said quickly, realizing that by following Carey, he had made his only real mistake of the day. He tapped Carey’s shoulder. “Come on. Don’t make me do this by myself. You need to learn this just like how we checked them out earlier.”

“All right.” She gave an exaggerated groan, but it held no real attitude.

Dirk dragged her back out as Jacky laughed. He had seen the pile of papers on the dining room table with her and knew it was going to be work for him. He just knew it. Since Oliver had stepped neatly out of the supernatural side of things, he had picked up everything else. He wasn’t just the head of security that Jacky really didn’t need any more, thanks to a pack of werewolves. He was her assistant.

He knew she had literally no idea just how much he managed for her—from keeping the grounds around her place cleaned up and clear to looking through her emails daily to make sure none of them were suspicious. He knew when all of her meetings were, one of the reasons he had decided to get Carey out of the house. He knew all her contacts for everyone in the BSA and had spoken to them himself to try to get them to stay away from her house.

It's a good job. She doesn’t bother me all that much. Neither does Heath.

He and Carey put the three firearms back in the safe, signing off that they were secured again. When they got back to the house, Carey hugged Jacky and looked at the stack of papers.

“Not for me to know about, right?”

“You can know, but you can’t be involved,” Jacky said, gesturing to a seat. “This is work for me and Dirk, though.”

“I knew it,” he mumbled with a chuckle.

Jacky pushed the stack to him as he and Carey sat down. She leaned over and pointed at the front page.

“Direct from the Tribunal,” she said with a grin, her wavy hair falling over her shoulder. “We can finally get to work and make sure the witches actually investigated these people well enough.”

She was his aunt, and he truly believed that even though there wasn’t a drop of blood shared between them, he wasn’t blind. Jacky didn’t look a day over the twenty-six years she had been the day she was Changed. She and Carey were beginning to look more like sisters than a young mom and her daughter or stepdaughter. Dirk agreed with Landon when he said it was a good thing that Jacky didn’t know that she was probably one of the most gorgeous women in the state of Texas. She looked great and the only reason someone would miss it was because she was so casual about everything.

Her wavy hair was always windblown and messy but not tangled, so it seemed like a choice and not her disregard for it. She didn’t wear makeup, and she certainly didn’t wear anything that was meant to make use of her natural curves. She existed in a pair of older jeans, always bootcut, and she was always wearing boots, with some obscure band t-shirt that was probably black and the same leather jacket she’d worn for years.

Dirk was amazed it didn’t have bullet holes in it or burned spots.

It was easy for her, and she had no idea.

“So… we’re going to fully redo their investigation,” he guessed. “I work with Davor to research them, and you’ll go talk to them?”

“Actually, Subira thinks we both need to go to visit these people. She said I should take a werewolf because Niko is going to be traveling for his assignment, looking outside of the local area where that family might have had friends. We’re looking at locals… or close to locals. We’ve got Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and such.” Jacky sighed. “Sorry… Niko volunteered you to join me, and since he’ll be out of town, we have to train each other instead of being trained by him.”

Dirk felt an itch in his head, the mate bond flaring back to full power as he considered what Jacky was saying. He was going to be leaving the territory, talking to witches with her. He was supposed to be her backup, ordered by Subira, her mother and his grandmother.

Landon’s frustration grew in his mind, not because he already knew but because Dirk knew he needed to face it.

“I will tell Landon,” Jacky said softly, touching his shoulder. “I will, or Heath can handle it, though he doesn’t know yet. They haven’t wrapped up for lunch yet, and without Landon, I certainly can’t interrupt today.”

“I should,” Dirk said, shaking his head at the idea of Jacky or Heath needing to deal with this for him. “I want to do this with you. Subira is right. Someone should go with you to these places. I might be the youngest werewolf in the pack in terms of how long I’ve been a werewolf, but I’m also your nephew. It’s my place to go with you. I’m a member of our family.” Those words sounded strange from his mouth, but since Jacky was important to his life that made reconnecting with his father, which made those words come easier. He wanted nothing to do with Hasan, but that was a small problem compared to what all the Moon Cursed were dealing with.

“And?”

“And I need to be able to tell my mate that he can’t keep holding me back,” Dirk said, standing up. “Let’s take all of this to your office and talk it over. We can make a route, who to start with and everything. We’ll group states and try to get them done all together on short trips out of state.”

“Just like your father sometimes,” Jacky said, chuckling. “Okay, let’s go.” She started collecting the stack and paused as she looked at Carey. Dirk felt terrible. Carey obviously wanted to be involved and knew that was about to end, and it was his fault this time. He just hated working at the dining table.

“Carey… I’m sorry, do you want to watch movies again tonight? I know we’ve all been busy…”

“Yeah, that works for me. Let me know when you want to start,” Carey said, smiling brightly. “Go get your work done. Find those witches and take them down.”

“Okay. We’ll get through dinner and do movies. With popcorn. I’ll leave the popcorn and movie choices up to you.”

Dirk was in Jacky’s office faster, holding the door open for her. She sat down, the smile disappearing.

“Are you sure?” Jacky asked, her eyes gold instead of her human hazel. He knew she had no idea they were like that. She almost never did.

“Yeah. You heard her. Let’s get to work. We’ll plan to leave on Monday… that gives me the weekend to talk with my mate and try not to make this a fight.”