Page 28 of Cruel Revenge
Heath joins the Tribunal, and I become the manager of the young ones. Funnily enough, I feel like I have the easier job.
“Morning, guys,” Carey said, smiling from her seat. “I’m the reason we’re here today.”
“Obviously. Don’t worry, you’re a good reason to get out of bed early,” Arlo said with a grin, leaning down to Carey, who pushed his face away when it got too close to her. He only laughed. “I let you do that.”
“I know,” Carey said, rolling her eyes, looking back to me.
I ignored the uncomfortable smells around that interaction, knowing I had to keep them very secret. Arlo was openly flirting with Carey, and it wasn’t harmless. There were some real, if young, feelings there. That wasnew.
I’ll just file that away to talk to someone about later. Carey, or Arlo… or Heath…
“On to the point of this meeting. Carey and I are going out to dinner tonight. We’re going to review the security plan for it. Heath knows we’ll be out of territory.”
“He does?” Carey asked, looking up quickly.
I smiled in a hopefully reassuring way.
“He at least needed to know that we were making out of territory plans that weren’t already on the schedule.”
“Fair enough,” she said, settling down without questioning it further.
Lie by omission, but it’ll be cleared up later.
“Here’s the restaurant layout with its parking lot,” I said, hitting a button on my keyboard and pulling up an image. “And here are the positions I want you in for this. We’re going to be on earpieces with mics, keeping an open line of communication, except for Carey. Benjamin, you’ll be in the work truck Dirk got, handling that. Stacy, Kody, and Arlo, you’ll be posted up at different points. You’re all required to check in every five minutes. Everyone will remain openly armed. Don’t be afraid of having it visible. You’re also going to be dressed for the job. Be obvious. It makes you look less suspicious to local law enforcement and those who may just see you around. You’re on security and you’re going to look like it.”
“Benjamin, are our suits ready?” Arlo asked, looking at the smaller, younger werewolf.
“I’ll text Olivia and see if she can help with them,” Benjamin said, scrambling to get his phone out. I chuckled. She was already being given mom jobs, and she wasn’t even married to Teagan. I hoped she was okay with it, but after the last conversation I had with the boys about her, I wasn’t going to pry any further. I let Benjamin finish the text and put his phone away again before continuing.
“There will only be one person aside from staff inside the restaurant with us,” I continued. “Her name is Courtney Lane.” I hit another button on my keyboard, bringing up her picture.
“Oh,” Stacy gasped the moment the face came up.
Her relation to Carey was obvious. The femininity of Carey’s face came from her, as well as Carey’s blonde hair. She was an elegant woman who clearly did every skin regimen and anti-aging technique in the book to keep herself looking beautiful. She had baby blue eyes, which had more grey and didn’t look anything like Carey’s stormy blue. Those were Heath’s eyes.
“None of you will be messaging Heath to tell him about Courtney Lane,” I said, eyeing the werewolves. “You will leave my future husband to me. He doesn’t know, and he won’t know.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison without the strength they had the day before, but their eyes glittered with knowledge as their scents revealed their surprise at my lie. It was a lie purely for Carey’s benefit. All four of them were smart enough to figure that out.
“She’s my biological mom,” Carey said softly, not looking at them, but at the image. “She wants to meet with me and talk. I have questions I want to ask her. Jacky agreed to help me do this. I’m afraid Dad won’t let me.”
“She’s your mom…” Stacy said, nodding as if that was just enough of an explanation to go along with everything.
“Let’s finish this briefing and make sure everything is set up,” I said, moving past this revelation so Carey didn’t have to explain any more to the young, curious werewolves.
12
CHAPTER TWELVE
It was nearly seven when I got into my car with Carey. Behind us was an SUV full of werewolves, being driven by Stacy.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked Carey, who shook her head quickly.
“Not at all. I thought I was, but now that it’s time…” She took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. She held it for four counts, then exhaled. “I’m just nervous. That’s all. I mean, who wouldn’t be? It’s crazy that she could just fly out and do this. I guess it’s a good sign that she was willing to do that for me. It makes everything feel so fast, though. We’ve been texting for a few weeks, really slowly, just surface stuff, and now it’s… happening.”
“Why did you keep it from us?”
“Because she wasn’t saying anything concerning,” Carey said, looking at her hands. “Asking how far I was in school now, happy to know I was actually enrolled in college and not high school. She told me about her work. We never talked about werewolves or where I was at any point or what type of guards I normally had, you know, the red flags I have to watch for.”
