Page 61 of Cruel Revenge
“Until Carey is back,” he answered, knowing it was the only option. It was the only way the world was surviving what had happened in the last several hours. If his daughter was dead or lost to him forever, he was going to mobilize every werewolf on the planet and destroy it. They would have to kill him to stop him. “She’s alive. She has to be,” Heath continued, breathing hard. “It will mean she’s… she’s not mortal anymore, but she has to be alive.”
“She’ll be a werecat,” Landon said, not dancing around things the way Heath was trying.
“Better that than dead,” Heath snapped. He never wanted the cursed immortality for her that the rest of them had. Carey once had a chance at a normal life. It felt like the more he fought forthat life for her, the further away it grew. The harder it became to even pretend her life was normal.
“Obviously,” Landon growled back. “Pa, I’m on your fucking side here, remember? I only have one sister. I remember her when she was this big.” Landon held up his hands, and Heath could envision the tiny baby that was Carey in those palms, Landon unsure how to hold the infant initially. “But it seems like between you, me, and Jacky, I’m the only one thinking clearly! You two lost your minds! You didn’t even tell me Courtney showed back up until it was happening!”
Heath flinched.
“So, when I say I’m going to draw my own conclusions, it’s because I clearly can’t trust you and Jacky right now in the decision-making process,” Landon said, huffing. “And my sister is fucking missing because of it.”
Heath didn’t lower his head to the blame tossed at his feet. He held his head up as he faced Landon’s anger. Landon was pissed about a lot of things on most days, but it was annoyances, little things that he disagreed with that poked at his nerves or just made him want to rant. Tonight, he was rightfully furious with Heath, and Heath would offer no argument. He met it as an Alpha should—ready to hear his failures and find a way to do his pack better.
Because this is my fault. I could have stopped this. I could have made sure other strong werewolves were here. I could have gone. I could have made sure Benjamin knew where to park so Jacky could see him and knew there was a problem before it was out of control.
Heath watched his son continue around the room, sniffing and investigating for himself. He looked over the way blood was splattered, the way the window was shattered, the way chairs had fallen, and certain tables were knocked around.
It was ten minutes, and Landon looked like he had gotten everything he wanted from the scene. All the while, Heath watched, just trying to focus on his son, trying not to think too hard about what happened in the room, the smells of it all.
“We’ll have the humans run fingerprints. If they don’t want violence on the streets, the BSA better be ready to bend over backward for us,” Landon said, wiping his hands together. “What do you think?”
“Good idea. Maybe there’s one out there who hasn’t been as careful with their identity as they should have been. Considering they’re now involved in major criminal activity, there’s also a chance they have been involved in it in other ways, something more human even. I’ll make the BSA know we need that information.” Heath could do that. Tasks. He needed to be focused on tasks.
I need to get out of this room…
It was driving him mad. Carey’s fear. Jacky’s pain. He couldn’t think any further than that unless Landon was talking to him. It was all a waking nightmare for him.
“Pa?”
“Yes?” Heath opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them.
“Let’s get outside,” Landon said softly, his concerned look breaking through, giving Heath the indication he needed that this was truly too much for him now.
They went out the back, where the few remaining reporters looking for access couldn’t scream at them from across the street.
A wave of guilt hit him as he saw Jacky, seemingly shell shocked as she looked at the spikes Hasan had leaned against the wall. Hasan was talking to Subira and Zuri, but Heath didn’t hear any of that. He only had eyes for Jacky. Taking in her face, he saw her sunken eyes with dark bags underneath them, stillred from tears. When she flicked her gaze at him, he could smell her guilt, her fear, her pain all over again.
It was a struggle for him to control his rage at what happened.
“Are you both done?” Hasan asked, looking over Jacky at him. His eyes were brilliant gold, the same color as Jacky’s, but colder than Jacky’s could ever be. Heath also noted that both Subira and Zuri were tense, looking his direction with their werecat eyes, not human.
Jacky’s response to him had set them on edge.
“We’re ready to leave,” he confirmed. “Landon, have you heard from?—”
“Dirk sent me a text twenty minutes ago about the footage. He’s finally got everything strung together to give a full picture of what happened in real time,” Landon said, his tone clipped and professional now.
“Then we should get back and finally see the full story,” Hasan said. He reached out and took the spikes, walking quickly back to Jacky’s car. However, he passed it and threw the spikes into the back of Heath’s truck.
Subira and Zuri moved silently, and Heath saw Subira take Jacky’s hand and pull her along. Jacky took an obvious deep breath, her eyes closed as she walked, trusting Subira completely to guide her. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes.
She has her family. They can help her more than I can right now. They have to.
He looked back at Landon.
“Let’s go, Pa.”
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