Page 19 of Cruel Revenge
“Hi Jacky! Sorry for the slow answer,” she said, smiling into the camera. I couldn’t tell where she was. “Heard the raid went well. Jabari got a full rundown from Father and was very impressed with the efficiency of it.”
“I’m glad I could impress the General,” I said, smiling. “Now, when am I getting you back to help with the wedding plans?”
“Carey was asking me the same thing yesterday,” she said, chuckling. “Are we still trying to get the venue sorted?”
“Carey didn’t tell you? I guess she was distracted with her new duties as maid of honor.” I couldn’t stop laughing softly at the idea of that. Carey immediately jumped in with both feet. “Heath called them and did that. We’ve got to move on to invitations or whatever we have to send first. Save the dates?”
“We don’t have time for save-the-date notices. We’ll go directly to invitations,” Zuri said, nodding. “And good on himfor doing that. What spurred him to get involved when you two made the deal that he wouldn’t?”
“We caught Dirk, Landon, and Carey trying to deal with the venue and caterers for us when we got home,” I said, grinning. “It was quite the scene. Heath realized we didn’t even have a proper date because of it.”
“Yikes. Okay, yes. Because Mischa and Hisao threw us out, Jabari and I have been trying to figure out what to do next. I’ll come back to you, and we’ll get all of this sorted. I can probably get back to Dallas in two days. I’ll bring Jabari along. He probably won’t stay long, but he hasn’t seen everyone over there in a while.”
“Carey would love to see him,” I said, knowing that Jabari was Carey’s favorite almost-uncle. The only person in the family who could compete was Zuri, her favorite almost-aunt. “Are you going to stay in the Dallas mansion again?”
“Yeah, the drive to your territory isn’t far,” Zuri said. “He can stay there, too. It’s actually kind of nice that your family house isn’t in your territory. Gives everyone some space from your werewolves and gives them space from us.”
“Exactly. With that settled, have a good day. I’ll see you in Dallas in two days.”
“You as well, little sister,” Zuri replied before we both hung up.
Okay, two days before I get back into the wedding in full force. Let’s see if I can get anything settled before she’s here.
I went to my binders, looking over the pictures for inspiration that Zuri and I had put together. When I got to the dresses, I sighed, running my fingers over one of my favorites. I still hadn’t tried on dresses yet because it was impossible to get everyone together for the trips.
I have to take Carey, Zuri, and Subira. I want to take Mischa. It would be a good olive branch. She and I have beenthrough a lot, and maybe she would like it. She likes those sorts of things. With Zuri and Subira there softening it, then maybe we can have a real conversation. When Zuri is here, I’ll ask if she thinks Mischa is up for it…
After a few minutes of pondering, Heath walked into my office, a knock announcing his arrival, which gave me just enough time to close the binder. There were pieces of the planning he wasn't allowed to see. Dress ideas and inspiration were off limits to all male eyes.
“Hi,” I said, smiling with a curious tilt of my head. “Shouldn’t you be leaving with the guys for the Tribunal?”
“I have an update already,” Heath said as he leaned on my desk. “I can start taking the pack in. We’re setting everything up today after the meeting with the NAWC. Everything is going to be really busy this week because of it.”
“Not that it wasn’t already busy,” I pointed out.
“What I mean is the only werewolves you’ll have here during the days will be Stacy, Kody, Arlo, and Benjamin. Everyone else will be at the Tribunal for at least this week. It’s going to be a lot of late nights for everyone.”
“Oh,” I said, blinking. “My territory is going to feel pretty empty, then.”
“It is,” he agreed. “It also means… I need to ask you a favor.”
“If Carey needs to leave the territory for class, I should be tailing her as well as the werewolves?”
“Yeah…” Heath rubbed the back of his neck. “If the rest of us had a moment, I’d have Piper, Rose, or someone follow them or stick with whoever is on the schedule… but I need everyone at the Tribunal. There’s a lot they need to learn for their own safety, because one misstep in the Tribunal offices and they could get hurt or cause a lot of problems. It’ll be chaos this first week. I can’t ask Carey to miss her classes either.”
“I can handle it with the younger werewolves,” I said, patting his chest. “You can focus on what needs to be focused on. Leave Texas and everything in it to me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek. When I leaned back, I met his gaze. “We’re a team. You pick up things when I need them, and I pick up things when you need them.”
“It’s basic guard duties.”
“And I swore to Carey I would protect her over five years ago. Simple guard duty is just part of the job.”
Heath chuckled, nodding as I reminded him of how this all started. I kissed him one more time as I slowly pushed him with the hand I left resting on his chest.
“Now, get to work. We can handle everything here. Zuri and Jabari will be landing in Dallas in two days. Then we’ll have even more backup.”
