Page 66 of Cruel Revenge
“Genetics,” I said, closing my eyes. “There are genetic markers that researchers have been trying to find. They aren’t fully accurate, but they are there. Stacy was interested in it.”
“Yes, I’ve followed the studies,” Hasan said, stepping closer. “Was Carey ever tested?”
“I don’t know, but probably not. Heath would have been against it because he wanted her to try for a normal human life. He regretted Changing Richard, thought he ruined his son’s life. Landon never had a choice, born as a werewolf, and look at how that life treated him.” I sighed. “Not that being human was much easier for Carey.”
“He was trying his best,” Subira said, shrugging. “Correcting mistakes he saw with previous children by making new ones with the youngest. The curse of every parent. There’s actually no single right answer.”
That made a few people laugh. There were a lot of parents in the family. Niko, Dirk’s adoptive father. Zuri, who had a complicated, sad history with her late first son, and now a second little boy with Kushim. Hasan and Subira had many children, me included. And I had Carey.
Feeling slightly better, I tried to sit up, but Subira was immovable. I raised maybe a centimeter, only to return to the ground.
“We’re not done here. Someone has to forgive you.”
We waited as Zuri came closer. She was still bleeding, and I saw the damage I had done. When I had shoved her, my claws had left damage on her chest, near her shoulders, and her collarbone.
“I’m sorry,” I said truthfully. It wasn’t my intention to hurt her. Never. “Have you cleaned those? Want me to?”
“You’re stronger than I thought,” Zuri said, chuckling as she held out a hand. “But I’ve taken worse hits from scuffles with Jabari.”
There was a lie in there. A fear. I could smell it, but nothing on Zuri’s face gave away which part of it was the lie, or what she feared. Subira moved off me as I reached up to grab Zuri’s hand.
“Come here,” she whispered and pulled me into a hug, bone crushing and wonderful. There was something to be said forphysical contact right then. “We’re going to get all of them back, Jacky. No matter what. You have to believe that, please.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“All forgiven, little sister,” she said, the truth in her scent. “Now, let’s work on where to go from here.”
“I have an idea.” Hasan stepped forward, speaking as he held a hand out to Subira to help her up. She was just sitting on the grass like it was normal. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. He kissed her hand before releasing it and summoning all of us to look at him.
“Father, get on with it,” Zuri said as he took his time.
“I want you, Jacky, to take a break?—”
“But—”
“Listen to me. You’re not steady. You need to be. You’ve been through a lot, and we just made you rewatch it from the third person. That wasn’t easy for me to watch, so I can only imagine how you felt seeing it.”
I lowered my head. It had been terrible.
“Just take a break. A nap, a walk, go sit in her room, anything. Take a break, center yourself. We’ll handle things here.”
“Can I follow you around? Just listen so I know what’s happening?”
“If you can give yourself one full hour of not doing anything, then you can do whatever you want,” Hasan countered. “Do this for me. Trust us to be on top of things.”
I looked at Subira, who smiled.
“I have an idea,” she said. “Give me one hour with you.”
“Okay.”
“Perfect. Everyone else, let’s have a meeting and see where everything stands.” Hasan started walking toward my security building as Subira grabbed my hand and pulled me toward my house.
We entered, leaving everyone else to do the work that should have been mine. I should have been steady enough to help with finding my own daughter. Like Heath. He was keeping it together. It hurt that he had to withdraw as much as he had to do it, but he was holding himself together.
I was a wreck, and everyone knew it, and now I was forced to stay out of the way.
But as Subira forced me into my office, I couldn’t help but think.
