Page 1 of Cruel Revenge
1
CHAPTER ONE
“We found the last witch!” a masculine voice yelled from beyond my sight. “Trying to destroy the records!”
With a smile, I turned to the man standing next to me. His viciously satisfied grin told me we’d done everything he’d been hoping for today.
“Your fourth successful raid in as many months. You should be proud,” I said, knowing he was thinking less of his personal achievement and more of how useful this was for the world we lived in as a whole.
“I’ll be proud when this is over… but it’s a damn good start,” Heath said, glancing my way. The violent glint in his eye shifted to something softer for a moment as he looked at me. It only lasted a second before he refocused on the task in front of us. “Let’s group them up and begin questioning!”
I continued smiling as I stood confidently in the chaos around me. I was the most out-of-place person here. There were a dozen witches, twice as many werewolves, and then me, the lone werecat. I was the only werecat who could get away with being here at all. Even though I was alone, I was the mostimmovable force in the space, with the exception of my fiancé, the werewolf who had just been standing beside me.
“Jacky, could you call this in?” Heath yelled out from across the gravel parking lot.
I gave him a thumbs-up before getting my cell phone out and finally turning it back on. I smartly rang up the only person who could quickly move now that the raid was over and we needed to haul the witches into proper containment.
“Jacky! How was the raid?” Hasan asked immediately upon answering. “I have Corissa and the other werewolves on standby to bring the witches in if you have them. We have a team ready for corpse disposal as well.”
“No werewolf deaths this time and only two of the witches. We captured a perfect dozen,” I said, grateful to give Corissa good news this time. We’d lost five of her wolves over the last three raids as we adjusted to how this was going to work and what types of magic we were facing. I heard the female werewolf sigh as she relaxed at the news, somewhere near my father. “Heath is coordinating the werewolves to make sure we have them all in a good spot for you.”
“Thank you. We’ll be there in a moment. Davor is coming with me.”
I hung up first, satisfied with that. The moment I hung up, a female werewolf walked up to me. Tall, Amazonian in nature, she was a broad-shouldered warrior from Corissa’s pack, which all the werewolves were. Corissa’s pack was full of interesting werewolves, like the large female suddenly next to me. She was covered in sweat, still breathing a bit heavily from the raid. She had been one of the breachers, along with me and Heath. We led three groups into the building, clear to different predetermined areas. Livia’s team had seen the most action today, and she showed it.
“Good work today, Jacky,” the wolf said stiffly.
“Good work to you, Livia. Your mother is with Hasan right now. They’ll be coming soon.”
Livia snorted, shaking her head at my comment, particularly my choice of words. Livia and I were already becoming familiar with each other over the course of these raids. Whether that was a good or bad thing was yet to be seen, but I had intentionally prodded her.
If this blows up in my face, it’ll be no one’s fault but my own. And I’ll go down laughing, I think.
“No one else ever dared to mention that I’m their daughter, and then you show up,” Livia said, with a sardonic smile. “But you enjoy shaking the status quo.”
“No one lets me get away with being anyone but Hasan and Subira’s daughter. I’m surprised anyone ever let you get away with it. It just wasn’t fair, so I decided to correct it.”
“I never thought you were one to tease.” Livia continued to shake her head as I spoke. “But I can smell it on you, that mischievousness.”
“I can’t explain it. The moment I realized who you were, I couldn’t leave it.” Part of it was properly petty of me, but it was satisfying as well. A lot had changed about me in recent months. I couldn’t put a finger on what was different about me, but I knew I had changed. Being able to look at Livia and call her for what she was and be confident in getting onto her for trying to hide it was one of those small things that had changed.
“I hate that I like you,” she finally said, huffing hard enough to push her loose hair from her face, no matter how much sweat was trying to keep it stuck to her.
With a chuckle, I decided not to reply to that. It wasn’t the first time I had ever heard it nor the first person to say it to me.
It was another ten minutes before Hasan and Corissa appeared, using magic to open a door in the building we had just raided to arrive from the Tribunal.
“I still wish we could use that for the raids,” I said, making an annoyed face as I thought about how much easier things would be if we could.
“It was considered, but we still need someone here who our fae and witches know who can focus on opening a closed door. And then we need to get to the right door. Get the wrong one and?—”
“I know, Livia.” It had been talked about a lot. Instead, we used the closest werewolf packs, geared up, and drove the long way. We’d be leaving the same way after Hasan, Corissa, and the support team took all the witches into custody.
“Then stop wishing for things you can’t have. It never works out. It breeds resentment and foolishness.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, then lifted my left hand. She narrowed her eyes as the engagement ring sparkled, me now wearing it more frequently than I ever had before. When I was in front of the werewolves or anyone from the Tribunal who wasn’t family, I made sure to wear it on the appropriate finger. I put it on a chain when I needed to enter my werecat form and left it with my clothing. It was about image but also my personal pride.
“Except for that, I guess,” Livia corrected.
