Page 37 of Bitter Discord

“Where are we going to play tennis?”

“In the backyard… at the tennis court,” I answered, chuckling when his eyes went wide. “I didn’t put it there. It came with the mansion.”

“Why did the werewolves have a mansion with a tennis court?”

“To throw big parties. Heath didn’t live here. When he was Alpha, he had an office here, but he didn’t want to raise Carey in this sort of place.” I headed to the door, quickly realizing Hannah was making a beeline for me. I ignored her as I went to open the door.

When she was close, I moved to let Everett head upstairs, turning to her at the same time.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said. “Sorry if that takes you away from yourtennis game.”

I kind of wanted to strangle her. She talked like Carey, but she was a grown woman who had no right to behave like a fifteen-year-old girl.

“We’ll have to postpone,” I told my only semi-friend in the room. He shrugged and went to hang out with Coyotl. I waited until he was propped against the wall beside the quiet guest, seeing them shake hands before I focused on Hannah again.

“Do you want to talk here or take a walk with me?”

“Let’s walk.” She was moving up the stairs before I could reply, so I followed her, shooting a look at Zuri. My sister was watching me through Marcia and Chao, giving me a small nod of approval. I had wanted her to know who I was leaving with in case something happened. If she had shaken her head, I would have told Hannah to come back down and talk in the basement with me.

Once I was upstairs, I found Hannah looking into the room at the end of the hall.

“Nice office,” she said, looking over her shoulder at me. “You use it?”

“No. It’s the only room I haven’t remodeled, actually,” I explained, going to her side. “I haven’t decided what to do with it.”

“I heard all the stories about what happened, you know… here in Dallas in April.” Hannah went in and looked around. I hadn’t done anything to this room, not even repair it. For some reason, I liked the scar it left on the house. There was a spot on the floor where a bullet had hit.

“It was a bad week,” I muttered.

“Why didn’t you let the witches take the werewolf pack?”

“Because it wasn’t fair to the werewolves in it,” I answered simply. “They didn’t do anything to deserve it. It was cruel and evil. It was dangerous to the world, as I learned later.”

“But it wasn’t your job,” she said, looking at me.

“It didn’t need to be.” I refused to allow anyone to guilt me for my decisions. “Look, if you disagree, so be it, but you won’t convince me I made the wrong decision.”

“I wasn’t trying to. Just curious.” Hannah shrugged. “I’m trying to get to know you like Zuri told everyone to do. You don’t seem very receptive, though.”

“I’m used to judgment like Lonan’s and having my back against the wall. You also came into the house hostile and taunting my sister. Forgive me if we’re not friends in less than a few minutes.”

“Seye has good reason to dislike her,” Hannah said “That doesn’t mean we have to dislike each other, you and me. I dislike her on principle because my father does. I mean, you came here, you freed a pack of werewolves, the enemy, because they didn’t deserve to be enslaved by witches and used as an army,”—Hannah raised an eyebrow—“but you stand byher?”

Hannah wasn’t subtle. That was the problem. Day one, hour zero, and I already knew her game. She wasn’t good at playing it. She had come in and revealed something troubling in the first two minutes. She was now pointing out how I had done the opposite when given the chance.

It was so blindingly obvious what her play was.

“Look, I’m not here to dig into the intricacies of my sister’s decisions to involve or not involve herself in the human world. You won’t convince me to go against her at any point this week. Next time you try to be slick, though, maybe… give it some time and don’t beat the point in so hard, you give away your ulterior motive.” I shook my head at Hannah’s stunned expression, slightly disappointed, then started walking away.

“Now, wait a minute,” Hannah said, coming after me.

“You can try again later,” I said as I opened the door to the basement. “But please don’t.”

14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

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