“It’s not my business,” I said quickly. The last thing I wanted was to shove my foot in my mouth. “You don’t—”
“You never told her I was gay?” Landon huffed like an exasperated wolf, then turned to me again. “Well, now you know. That’s beside the point. Alpha Vasiliev is a piece of work, who needs to be put down like a rabid dog. He’s known among the submissive wolves for being cruel, even to those outside his pack. He tends to think of women as his playthings and his submissive wolves as whipping boys for his temper. Anyone who doesn’t fit into his narrowly defined view of what a good wolf is doesn’t survive in his pack for long, but he has a stranglehold on Russia. If a werewolf is Changed or born in that area of the world, he makes it a point to keep them. It’s ballooned the size of his pack, and that’s how he gets away with what he is.”
I had never heard Landon talk so much, especially not so passionately. I was pretty certain my eyes were the size of dinner plates by the time he was done. When he noticed, he gave me the exact same smirk as his father, and the relationship they shared was never clearer.
“Father, I broke your cat.” I had never heard someone joking and annoyed at the same time until that moment.
“I see,” Heath murmured, amused.
“I didn’t know you could talk so much,” I said, trying not to give a weak laugh.
“I don’t trust many,” Landon softly reminded me, leaning forward. “I can’t, being a gay, black werewolf. We’ve had people challenge me for my position, try to kill me on principle when I visited other packs. It’s gotten better over the years, but it’s taught me to take my time with people.” He looked me over. “But you’re good.” He nodded as he came to some sort of decision. “You would have made a good werewolf.”
“Ah, you missed the chance by a few years,” I said, smiling. “Just missed it.”
Twenty minutes later, after a round of chuckles and jokes between father and son, Carey came out of the barn, dirty and grinning. Heath followed her in, and I was left with Landon. I didn’t miss how Heath had gently patted his son’s shoulder before leaving him alone with me.
“I’m sorry I was so off-putting for so long,” the werewolf said as I stood to head inside as well. “It wasn’t polite, and I never made a good impression.”
“It’s fine. You never hurt my feelings.” I had joked about Landon’s distrust of me, but I had never let it hurt me.
“I wanted to hate you for killing Richard. He understood me and taught me it was okay to be who I needed to be. He protected me when I was young when people tried to hurt me before I could defend myself. He was everything a good older brother was supposed to be. And then you killed him.” He sighed, shaking his head. For a moment, I saw the weight he carried. I wanted to say it was okay if he did, but he continued talking before I had the chance. “But…Carey loves you, and my father…” A small smile formed. “It’s idiotic what you two are doing. One day, Carey will find out, and I don’t know how she’ll react.”
“Or the rest of the world,” I commented under my breath.
“Hm.” He nodded slowly. “But it’s okay. I know what it means to be with someone the world tells me I shouldn’t. What I want to say, though…I don’t hate you for killing Richard. I respect you, Jacky. You protected my family from a threat we weren’t prepared for. He betrayed us. Father and I were too blinded to see what was happening, and Carey was too young. I don’t hate you for killing him. I hope we continue to prove to be as good allies to you as you have been to us.”
“Landon?” I almost touched his arm as he stood up but pulled away at the last moment. He looked down at me, curious. “Um…thank you.”
He nodded, then left me on the back porch by myself, following his family inside. A moment later, Heath walked back out, smiling.
“He’s been preparing that speech for a few months,” he explained, leaning down to kiss me. “He finally realized it was time to let you in.”
“I wasn’t prepared to have a deep conversation today, much less with Landon.”
The Alpha only chuckled as he kissed me again.
“Let’s go in and eat dinner,” he murmured on my lips. “Let’s stop talking about Russia for the evening. There’s nothing we can do. Better minds are working on it.”
“Of course.”
We went inside together, and I helped Carey set the table, my little rebellion. Heath made his displeasure known with good humor, and Landon went back to his quiet self as he worked on a side dish for dinner.
It felt like a home.
By the time dinner was on the table, we were all ready, finding our seats and digging in without preamble.
“Landon, teach me this recipe,” I said, pointing at the serving on my plate. “I’ve never had lasagna this good.”
“I can do that,” he agreed, smiling when I caught him looking up from his plate. “If—”
A phone started going off, and for a moment, I sat confused as both the wolves checked theirs and frowned as the blaring, repeated noise continued. It took four rings for me to realize it was my phone. It was the ringtone I set for any werecats who weren’t my family.
“Shit. I’ll be outside,” I said, jumping up and pulling my phone out as I went. I answered before I made it out the door and was able to shut it before the person calling me could respond.
“Jacky speaking.”
“Jacqueline, this is Everett. We spoke before, after…”
“You’re the werecat in Minnesota. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to come up here. Bring your wolf. I’ll see you—”
“Wait. Why? Everett, what’s going on?”
“I was called to Duty, but it’s more complicated than that. The human is lying, but I don’t know what she’s lying about. She reeks of werewolf and blood. I figured your wolf should come up here to help…I don’t know, but this seems like it’s going to get me killed.”
“If she’s lying…”
“She has no right to my protection,” he finished for me. “Jacqueline, this human asked for you, and I think you should come. I can’t tell you more on the phone. It might not be safe.”
My heart skipped a beat. If that wasn’t a sign I needed to get on a plane, I didn’t know what was.
“Okay. I’ll head out now and catch the first flight available. I don’t have access to a private—”
“Figure it out because I’m not keeping this human beyond dawn tomorrow. I want her out of my territory, in your custody or not. I’m calling you instead of Hasan out of courtesy. If you’re not here when I throw her ass out of my territory, I’ll call him.” He hung up on me.
I was shell shocked for a second before heading back inside.
“I have to leave,” I announced. “There’s something going on, and another werecat wants me there and…”
“Carey, will you step out? Finish dinner in your room, please.” Heath’s request was in the tone of an order. Carey stood, cast a worried glance, then walked out of the room with her plate.
“Jacky?” Heath stood up slowly.
“I don’t know. I was asked, and it seems like I need to go up there, but I don’t know what’s going on. There’s a human lying to a werecat, trying to get protection. This human asked for me.”
Right on cue, Landon and Heath’s phones started going off. I watched as they answered them, and Heath’s eyes went dark while Landon got a vicious smile.
“What is it?” I asked, swallowing. Minnesota. Everett was in Minnesota. I tried to make a mental map. Was he the closest werecat to…
“Alpha Vasiliev died in surgery,” Heath answered in a whisper. “From what Alpha Harrison said, he’s been dead for an hour, but the Russians don’t want to announce. A werewolf loyal to us found out at the hospital and spread the word.”
“Everett, a werecat, is in Minnesota with a human asking for protection,” I repeated to myself, things beginning to click, puzzle pieces falling into place. “She smells like werewolf and blood. What if she was part of the surgery team?”
“Oh, hell,” Landon growled. “Father—”
“He asked me to go up and take her off his hands. He also wanted you to come.” I wrung my hands. “I wasn’t going to ask…”
“I’m going,” he growled softly. “If the Russians think she or anyone on the surgery team killed their Alpha, there’s not a pack close by strong enough to stop them from killing a lot of innocent people. If there’s a werecat involved, we could be—”
“Looking at war if they move on him,” I cut in, nodding. “This is our job, isn’t it? Stopping things like this before they get out of control?”
“We’ve never done it before, but…from my understanding, yes,” he said, nodding. “I agreed to be a go-between for werewolves and werecats because of my association with you. You work for Hasan and represent his interests and the interests of all werecats in this part of the world. If we’re going to use our connection for anything, why shouldn’t it be this?”
“Okay.” I nodded in return. “Let’s go to Minnesota and find my werecat and whoever this human is. The sooner we get answers, the better.”
“I’ll start calling around to see if the hospital is willing to release the identities of the surgery team,” Landon said sharply. “Once I know who they are, I’ll send them your way.”
“Try. They probably won’t, but please try,” Heath said. That made me curious, but I resolved myself to ask in the car. Heath grabbed a light jacket and walked out, talking over his shoulder as he went. “Let’s take my truck. I’m grabbing a go-bag. Do you have one at home you want to pick up?”