Page 70 of Cruel Revenge
“Tell Heath where I’ve gone when he comes back from the Tribunal,” I said, knowing I needed to leave pretty much immediately.
“I will… Jacky, I know he’s been standoffish with you all night. He’s been like that for all of us… I?—”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “It’s probably best I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. Hasan and I talked about it. He’s trying not to lose it, so the werewolves stay under control. We can’t have all of them mobilizing…”
“Well, they are. The BSA at dawn is going to have a very bad day on their hands,” Davor said, almost sheepishly. I froze.
“What do you mean?”
“Every pack on the continent is going to go into witch businesses in their territories at dawn, publicly, looking for answers. It’s rather controlled for Heath. No one is going to get hurt. It’s a lot of public pressure, though. Plus, anything interesting they find, they’re sending me to help continue breaking the code.”
“He’s escalating it way too much in the public eye, Davor,” I said, my chest tightening at the thought of that. “We’ve kept this so quiet formonths.”
“The witches didn’t, though,” Davor countered, looking unmoved by my argument. “I thought you knew that. No one must have told Dirk. It’s where Hasan is right now. He and Niko went back into the Tribunal to talk about how to managethis level of operation. You really need to pay attention to your territory magic.”
“Davor!” I hadn’t been paying attention. Hadn’t realized that Hasan and Niko had disappeared from my territory. “Now isn’t the time to give me a basic werecat lesson. We’re talking about public war!”
“We’re talking about a witch-based organization kidnapping the daughter of Heath Everson, the strongest werewolf Alpha in the world, in public, clearly using magic on camera, and nearly killing his fiancée in the process. It’salreadypublic. And it’s the best response anyone can think of without looking weak on one end or out of control on the other.”
“Does Zuri know?” I asked.
“Obviously. But you’re missing something I haven’t had the chance to say. Heath isn’t going to be having full-blown werewolves in the streets. He’s going to have the packs quickly start questioning witches the world already knows about. It’s more of a flex than anything else. This won’t be all over the news. This is for the supernatural world and the BSA. Sure, it’s more public than we’ve done, but it’s not nearly as public as what they’ve done.”
“I’m going. I’ll text when I get to the BSA office in Dallas,” I said, shaking my head as I started walking off. Before I left the bar, though, I realized I never got an explanation about something.
“Why are you in here?” I asked him as I hovered in the back door to head back to my house for my car.
“Oh, when I learned Kick Shot was going to be shut down while we worked on this, I decided to use the space. It kept me close in case you needed a family member to lean on and gave me the space I needed for all of this without getting in Dirk’s way in his space,” Davor explained. “Now, go on. I need to get Dirk so we can coordinate things on this end.”
I nodded, then started running for my car, hopping in without telling anyone else where I was going. As I headed for Dallas, I was left wondering how much this was going to blow up the status quo before it was over. I wondered what normal was going to look like once dawn reached us.
Most of all, I hoped Carey, Kody, Arlo, and Benjamin were okay.
26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CAREY
Carey refused to even try going back to her human form as witches wandered around her. Instead, she spent the lonely time trying to learn what the world seemed like with her new senses. She could smell different people, the hints of their cologne or perfume, their deodorant, the cleaners used on the floors and the cage she was in. She could smell someone used to be in it, but it was really soft. The only reason she could pick it up was that she could put her nose directly to it. She could also smell the difference between humans and others. There were a handful of scents that made the image of a big wolf come to mind.
If I trust my instincts, that means there’re werewolves in here. I just can’t see…
She sat up, glad the cage had just enough space for her to do that. She didn’t know if they would be werewolves she knew or not. Aside from the encounters she had earlier after her Change, no one was talking to her or even near her. They would come in, do something, then leave. She was in a large room with boxes piled around. It reminded her of a warehouse that wasn’t full, but it wasn’t fully empty either. She could see other cages aroundthe boxes or just over them, but not if there was anyone in them. She could hear soft groans and other things, but she didn’t know who was doing those things.
How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?
She waited, not able to see a clock on any of the walls. One witch came and frowned at her, but Carey hissed, and the witch went along their way, leaving her be. They knew she was awake and free to think whatever she wanted. It was probably clear she was looking around and trying to see if there was anything she could do.
Don’t have time to care about what they think about all of that, though. I just need information. Dad always told me that if I was taken somewhere, to stay in a safe position and take in every detail I could see. If I’m allowed a call later or anything, I need to be able to tell whoever I get everything I can. He always thought I would be taken for ransom or something.
Carey knew she hadn’t been taken for ransom, though. She was taken because they wanted to hurt her parents.
At least I’m durable. Not a fragile little human girl anymore! If I get out of this damn cage, I can do some damage. Maybe even escape. Just like I know Jacky… Mom could do it. Yeah, like I know Mom could if she was in my position.
A whimper broke Carey’s train of thought. It was certainly a whimper, but it was from a human mouth. Carey tried to discern where it came from, looking around as a second happened.
“Sir, one of the werewolves is waking up,” a witch said into a microphone on his shirt, coming forward, holding a gun.
