Page 2 of Cruel Revenge
I dropped my hand, the point made.
“What are you two doing over here?” Hasan asked, coming toward us as Corissa directed her other werewolves to collect the witches captured.
Livia gave a fast, militaristic bow. Not a low one, but respectful of his position, even if she didn’t like him.
And she didn’t. There was no way she could hide that, and I wasn’t going to judge her for that. Livia had watched her parents spar politically with Hasan for years. She was part of the war as well. She was no young werewolf, older than not only me but also Davor and Niko.
“Just talking,” I answered. “Do you need something?”
He gestured for me to follow him, so I did. We walked away from everyone, heading back into the now cleared-out building. While the werewolves got the people, Hasan and I collected the records with Davor. We took all of it—every scrap of paper and every device.
My genius brother was already inside, his laptop open at one of the computers left inside.
“Anything interesting?” I asked, leaning over his shoulder.
“Don’t rush your brother,” Hasan said mildly, leaning on the wall in our view. “There are steps, Jacky.”
“She’s fine,” Davor said with a chuckle. “And not on this particular device so far.” With a shrug, he gestured to the others near him. “There’s plenty to keep checking.”
“You’re not supposed to be looking at data. You’re looking to make sure all their fail-safes are disabled before we try to get all the data,” Hasan reminded us, not that Davor or I needed that reminder. The first raid, I had messed up. It had been a stupid thing. I had grabbed a laptop that one of the witches had been working on the moment the raid started. When I tried to use it, it required biometrics, something most supernaturals refused to use at all. It bricked the laptop, corrupting everything on the device and melting a lot of the internal hardware. Davor and Dirk spent days trying to get the data. Nothing could be salvaged.
“And I’m doing that,” Davor promised before rolling his eyes with a smile between him and me.
Things had relaxed in the family in recent months. With Heath’s ascension to the Tribunal, a lot had changed, but the newfound peace between Hasan and me was one of the best. It wasn’t perfect for everyone in the family, but it was a vast improvement. That peace didn’t come from Heath joining the Tribunal, however. It had come from the events that led Heath to fight Callahan for the spot.
In the silence, I thought of what really brought peace between Hasan and me. There was a new, unspoken understanding between us. We hadn’t spoken about much, but some things were certain even if they went unspoken. He accepted Heath wholeheartedly now. I accepted that while he was flawed, he wasn’t evil, always acting out of love, even if misguided. We both knew that we were scarred people, trying our best to continue healing, to learn and grow from our mistakes.
For now, it was enough.
Hasan reached out to me as I drew near him and touched something at my neck. It would have bothered me if I hadn’t known what he was doing. I was wearing something he recognized.
“I’m glad you’re still wearing this,” he murmured as he revealed the charm Subira had made me before going to Alaska.
“There’s a chance I could get hurt on these raids, and it’s supposed to force me to Change to stop me from dying… Figured it was a good idea.” I shrugged.
He lingered, staring at the charm before he released it slowly, making sure it lay properly.
“Allow me to take it today. The magic needs to be refreshed. I can barely feel her from it now. I’ll have it back to you by tomorrow evening.”
I pulled off, knowing there was no more danger for me today that would require it over a hospital. He pocketed it quietly.
“Thanks,” I said before finding a spot on the closest wall to lean quietly while Davor worked.
“How are things going in here?” Heath asked as he joined us, wrapping an arm around my waist when he got close enough to get his hand on my hip. He kissed my cheek before anyone could reply.
“It’s going to take some time,” Davor answered, sighing. “They have a lot of technology. I need to make sure I don’t ruin anything, but there’s a cellphone for each of them, plus a few extras. Three laptops and two desktops. It’s just going to take time.”
“We can wait.” Heath never rushed once the raid was done. Everyone knew that, knowing he wanted everything done right, even if it took a bit longer.
“You should feel good about this. Fourth raid in four months,” Hasan said, not sounding as proud of Heath as I had, but not condescending or rude, either. There was respect in the words.
“I’ll feel good when we get to the location where they kept the werewolves and that werecat.” Heath released me, putting his hands in his pockets. “Four raids, all of them at supply locations. All of them working to mass-produce ingredients for the spells that have helped these witches do what they’ve been doing. We’re crippling them, but it’s not exactly progress. We know they’re going to rebuild their sources.”
“Yeah, but momentarily crippling them is a victory because it buys us more time to find another vulnerable location. We’ve set a pace, and we’re challenging them to match it. They’ll be more prone to mistakes than we are.” Hasan sounded like Jabari for a moment, more general than politician.
“I know and agree with the logic. It is still frustrating not to find any of our moon cursed,” Heath said.
“It is,” Hasan agreed, nodding his head.
