Page 14 of Cruel Revenge
He was pounding up the stairs before I finished and came bursting into the bedroom, looking shellshocked. I dropped the shirt I was holding, letting it knock over the neat pile I had going.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately. I sniffed the air, trying to understand what was going through his head, what he was feeling, but could smell nothing but his natural scent. “Why is your Talent up?”
He was breathing hard for a second, then closed his eyes. I had never seen him need so much effort to drop his Talent before, but once it dropped, I could smell everything. It was too much. Horror, surprise, weariness, caution, love, and more. It was so much that it almost dazed me from the intensity of all of it all at once.
“I’m sorry,” he said, waving a hand in the air even though it wasn’t going to help, and we both knew that. “Nothing is wrong… but I had a long meeting with your… parents today…”
That had me sitting down on the edge of the bed, further ruining the folded laundry.
“Okay?” I didn’t like where this was going, but I wasn’t sure what I had to do yet. Did I need to be angry? I had thought we were past problems with my family.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that Kushim was an Immortal?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. “Or that you know how the moon cursed came about? Or that Subira wasn’t just Changed by the original werecat, but is his biological daughter?”
I opened and closed my mouth several times as it settled in what my parents had talked to Heath about. Family. Our family.
“I… I just never thought to,” I admitted, and it was the truth for parts of what he was asking about. “Like Kushim… he’s an Immortal, yeah. Can’t die. Makalo watched his head get cut off and put back on the day they met. He’s with Zuri. They have a kid together, little Amir. I just never… thought to say anything. He’s just Kushim.”
“And the rest?”
“How much did they let you in on?” I asked with a pained expression, fearfully wondering how much they had actually inducted Heathwithout me.
“Subira’s biological relation. The origin of your family…” Heath ran his hand through his hair again, taking a deep breath as his gaze searched my face for anything. “Hasan’s Talent.”
That made me feel a little better, actually.
“Well, we’re not allowed to talk about Hasan’s Talent under penalty of… death, I believe,” I said, sighing heavily. “And for Hasan’s safety, obviously. He can smell someone’s chances of surviving the Change… that’s dangerous for him… and for others.”
“Yeah…” Heath deflated a bit before me. “I understand that. Subira asked me to let you know they told me all of this. I guess I never really considered how much you were keeping secret for your family.”
“Not all of it was intentional,” I admitted. “Some of it… I try to leave it at the door. I avoid it, understanding it’s not really mine to tell or that I’m just not ready to have long discussions about it.” I shrugged. “Kushim was just Kushim.”
“Well, he’s not really,” Heath said, frowning. “He’s the son of an ancient witch who died over four thousand years ago. In fact, he was killed by Hasan.”
I winced.
Oh yeah. That. I forgot that part…
“Yeah, the witch who tried to control Hasan and keep him as an immortal bodyguard and pet,” I said, nodding as the pieces fell into place. “Yeah, that was Kushim’s mother. That witch is also the reason why Hasan and Subira know so much about the control magics we’re seeing used by witches now. That’s why Subira asked people to leave her and me alone in the basement with the dead witches. So she could talk about it without the werewolves learning it was about Hasan and his life. And to keep Hasan from having to relive those memories any more than he had to.”
“Yes.” Heath nodded slowly. “And while you learned a little bit about that in Alaska, you also learned that your family knows what caused the moon cursed. Not just a curse, but who did it and why.”
I could only nod. I did in fact know that. Subira’s aunt cursed her brothers, and that turned them into the original werecat and werewolf.
“She didn’t frame that as family at first,” I admitted. “She was telling me about the impossibility or possibility of magic working and how human knowledge limits what magic can and can’t do based on our preconceived notions.”
“Excuse me?”
“She didn’t give you the speech about how the moon isn’t magic… but it is magic?” I asked, chuckling a little madly,knowing my grip on reality slipped every time I tried to deal with that particular thought. Hence why I avoided it. “Which was how she explained that the idea of robbing free will should be impossible, but since we know real cases where it can happen, it must be possible to replicate, and therefore, the witches think they can, so they devised ways to? It’s easier to do on werewolves because the curse already gives a way to control your kind.” I was talking quickly as I tried to explain it to him, his eyes narrowing, then going wide before he leaned away, my energy freaking him out.
“Uh, no… she didn’t tell me all of that,” he said softly. “We need to talk about communication. Between you and me… or better yet, your family and the rest of the world…”
“Yeah…” I sighed, putting my face in my hands. “Did you know that she actually made the mate bond between Jabari and Aisha?”
“No…”
I lifted my head and met his stare again.
“I’m going to tell you this just so you know how powerful she really is…” I remember being on the video call for this, those horrifying moments when we didn’t know if anyone was going to be okay or if we were going to watch that passionate woman die or not. “Jabari apparently had a mate three or so thousand years ago. I don’t know her name, Jabari won’t share that, but she was murdered while he tried to find Subira to Change her into a werecat. He lived with the remnants of that mate bond for all that time until Aisha was hurt. Subira literally went into his head, using her magic and his to grab his old mate bond and give it to Aisha, who subconsciously accepted it. Through it, Jabari’s magic helped her Change and heal from the injuries. But for all this to work, she cast a spell to freeze Aisha’s body in time so she wouldn’t die before Subira could try to help her.”
