Page 17 of Cruel Revenge
“I know you want to tell me that Callahan is different now that he’s not on the Tribunal,” I said, stabbing my food with my fork. “I understand werewolves and your hierarchy problems now. Those are fixed, so he’s probably better.”
“Yeah?” Heath’s bland tone almost upset me for little to no reason.
“Yeah.” I twisted the fork.
I knew what he was thinking. I knew, from experience with the werewolves I lived with, that they dealt with a lot of stress when it came to unsettled ranks. Callahan had beenplanningto lose or planning to step down if no fight had been necessary. He’d needed Heath to prove himself because he was protective of his mate, the powerful and cunning Corissa. I understood because of all of that, now that Callahan was just an Alpha and happy with his pack, there wasn’t a threat there anymore unless Heath hurt Corissa. Heath wasn’t planning on ever hurtingCorissa, which meant Callahan was finally in a position he enjoyed and was happy with his place as the second strongest Alpha in the world and not the first. He no longer had to deal with Hasan or the other Tribunal members, something he always hated, from what I knew. He was in a much happier place and probably would be a nicer guy to know now.
Good for him. I had to revisit every worst moment I had in my life. Fuck him.
Heath wasn’t even looking at me as I angrily ate.
“It’s okay to be angry, Jacky,” he finally said as I opened my mouth to say something else. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you aren’t ready for.”
That disarmed me, knocking me back from the anger.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “I am still a bit angry, I guess.”
“You went through something awful,” Heath murmured, reaching out to take my hand. “You’ve dealt with it really well. I’m not trying to rush you. I’m sorry if it came off that way. I can’t avoid him the way you can, which means I’ve seen these changes in him in a way you only know in theory.”
“I still have feelings about it,” I muttered. “I do really well with Livia and Corissa even, but…”
“Callahan has a way of rubbing people the wrong way. Had a way of doing that.” Heath shrugged. “And I know you would prefer to pretend everything is better for you after what happened up here.” He gently brushed his fingers over my temple. “Because some of those things just can’t be resolved at this point.”
“Even if I wanted to try… it’s better if I don’t try to speak to my family about what happened. Their memories have been altered since Russia, so going near them would only fracture their perceived realities. I won’t do that, especially if Gwen’s kids happen to be around. They don’t deserve to accidentally remember Russia at all.” I sighed. “Plus, if I go anywhere nearmy birth parents, others will want to come with me… you know who… my real parents, the ones who love me.” I chuckled, but it wasn’t from joy. “And I know Subira would kill them if I ever gave her even a single inclination that I would like that to happen.”
“We’re not even inviting Gwen to the wedding, are we?”
“I’m considering, but even if we invited her, I don’t know if she would show up. She knows full well who you and I are. She probably knows you’re the Tribunal Alpha now. She might not work with supernaturals often anymore, but she’s inducted into the supernatural world. She can’t entirely avoid it anymore. I know she still has contacts and friends from her old job. She must. So if I send her an invite, she’d have to decide if she not only wants to go to her twin’s wedding, but the wedding of a Tribunal member and a member of the werecat ruling family. Without a plus one.”
“She would RSVP a no,” Heath concluded, to which I nodded. He sighed with my confirmation that we were on the same page. “Disappointing.”
“You never liked her,” I reminded him.
“She was your sister, so I would have tolerated her,” Heath said, frowning. “But no, I never liked her. She seemed self-serving to me. She used you to get away with murder and rescue her family, which she put in danger. We won’t get into whether the murder was justified and just say it was. We will get into the fact that she did it, and instead of facing the consequences of her own actions, she left her family in danger, forgetting that she was a human without the resources to back up what she did. She only did it because she believed you would protect her…” Heath’s mouth thinned into a line.
“And now I understand better why she thought you would take the brunt of the pain of her choices for her. She hid behind you her entire life. You always took on the responsibility and thepain of doing what was right when she was too cowardly to face it. You were always the one hung out to dry for her.”
“It was a long time ago,” I pointed out, hoping to temper some of his anger.
“Maybe what happened while you were growing up, but we went to Russia in 2020, and that wasn’t a long time ago. It was after over ten years of neither of you seeing or speaking to one another. Even after ten years, she fell into the same habit she had before. Let Jacky do all the heavy lifting and be the one who gets hurt.”
I could smell his barely concealed anger, his pure and informed hatred for my sister. He’d met her, and she had been found wanting in his esteem. Heath was more willing to forgive Hasan for all his crimes against our family than Gwen. He was more willing to spend days on end with Callahan. Gwen was never going to get another chance with Heath Everson.
It was a very good thing I wasn’t going to try to force it. I didn’t have it in me to attempt rebuilding my relationship with my twin.
“She’s not coming to the wedding,” I reminded him gently, having never realized just how much he disliked her for what happened in Russia. I knew he’d had his problems, but certainly part of this was because of what I told him when I remembered my childhood.
“Neither are your biological parents, of course,” he said, his eyes ice blue now.
“Of course not. They weren’t even going to go to my human wedding,” I said, actually laughing at the mere thought that they would even be on the list. “Heath, I’ve desperately wanted love from a family for my entire life. I know I’m never getting that from the human one. For all the problems I’ve had with the werecat one, I know the problems are forgotten when I need them. They show up. It might take time, but once they knewwhat I needed from a family, they stepped up and gave it to me. They’re the only family I need at our wedding… except for the one you and I have made here.”
“Sorry.” He bowed his head. His eyes had changed back to his human stormy blue while I spoke. “Just the idea that they could show up upset me.”
“Would they even be safe in the same building as you?”
“No,” Heath admitted, fighting the growl that came after, rumbling his chest.
“Thought so.” I was marrying a man who would burn the world down for me. I was, however, ready to be done with the discussion. “Let’s drop it. Tomorrow, I’m going to see if Zuri wants to come back and keep helping with the wedding.”
