Page 66 of Bitter Discord

“Oh…” I reached for him. “I’m so sorry. You did everything you could, Heath.”

“I tried…” Heath shook his head, his eyes closing in clear pain. He finished the whiskey, then reached for the bottle to pour another. “But those cases are rare. I’ve certainly never asked the BSA to help me find a werewolf who might have broken the law. Supernatural or human. I don’t know if they’ll believe our theory that Arlo isn’t the killer. They might run under the assumption of both—he is, and he isn’t—which could be dangerous. The wrong agent could shoot him on sight, and that… I would never forgive them. A soft agent could get themselves killed if someone else is preying on their need to help a boy. The BSA would have to be more involved and assume all supernaturals are hostile until the murderer is caught. It’s volatile.”

“It’s all we have,” I reminded him. I waved my hands at the dark forest. “I don’t know what else to do. Teagan is watching for activity on his phone. Benjamin is reaching out through social media, but Arlo hasn’t been online. The pack has scoured every inch of the territory and ten miles beyond it but found nothing to help us track him. I could send you to the murder site, but…

“If our killer is hiding scents as well as they seem to be, there won’t be anything,” Heath said, nodding.

“Power in numbers is a werewolf thing, isn’t it? Why not get every human in the city involved? They’ll see a boy in danger, and they’ll call.” I saw a flaw in the plan now. “And to keep the BSA from cutting us out of the loop, we can put one of the pack with the BSA to get all the same tips they do so we can investigate. They won’t be able to stop one or more of the pack from telling you and me what they’ve learned.”

“Then it’s a race, or maybe it’s enough to deter the BSA from becoming more involved.” Heath kept nodding. “That’s good. It’s exactly what we’ll do.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You should try to get some sleep,” he finally repeated.

“You get some sleep. I’ll come lie down when I feel settled enough.” It wasn’t a lie. If I could settle, I wouldn’t be opposed to a few hours of shut-eye, but I couldn’t settle.

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” he said, his volume dropping.

“In my territory with a pack of werewolves in my living room?” I dared to laugh. “Heath Everson, now is not the time to get overprotective. You can’t lock me in a safe room and pretend I’m not perfectly capable of handling myself.”

“I can admit to a protective instinct without trying to lock you in a safe room,” he countered, a wry smile forming. “Because I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said. I meant every word, and I knew he did as well. He kissed me good night, then headed in. Listening to his steps as he went upstairs, I stayed perfectly still until I was certain he was in bed.

Thinking of my options, I stewed and tried to stumble on a way to find the killer, but nothing came to me. When I next checked the time, I realized we were just past the twenty-four-hour mark. Twenty-four hours since someone shot Mason.

Twenty-four hours and I felt as lost as I had when I saw the body.

I need help. I need another perspective. I need someone who can look at the situation but isn’t part of it. Objectivity.

But who? Hasan? I know what he’ll say. Either it won’t be productive, or he’ll assume Arlo’s guilty. He’s probably more in line with Lonan’s mindset than anyone else’s—because he’s mad at me. He’s not helpful. I could try any of my siblings, but which one? Hisao would offer to come out here, but that’s letting him loose on everyone here, and I don’t know him well enough to trust him not to kill Arlo at the first chance.

Jabari? He might be helpful. Maybe Zuri has reached out to him for advice, but she would tell me if he came up with anything good. She’s so busy at the mansion, she probably hasn’t had a chance to talk to anyone from the family and won’t in the middle of the night when she has to watch the others to make sure no one leaves without saying something.

Nodding, I headed inside, going to my office and locking the door. I turned on everything and pulled up the family’s private video conference program Davor had developed. I rolled my eyes at the update I had to do, wondering if Davor ever slept. The program worked fine, but there was always some update. I clicked Jabari’s name and asked if he was available. I knew it was late, but I sent him a notification that it was time-sensitive.

He called without replying to my message. I clicked answer, turning to my wall-mounted monitor with the webcam on top, and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw it wasn’t Jabari that answered.

“Good morning, daughter,” Subira said, a worried expression making her seem older than her immortally young face would have anyone believe. Subira, the matriarch of our family, was an enigma I couldn’t figure out, but what I did know, I normally liked. Normally. Seeing her tonight, I felt a small rush of anger that disturbed me. “It’s late in your part of the world. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I can’t sleep. I’m trying to figure out how to capture a murderer,” I explained. “I was hoping to talk to Jabari. He and I hunted those vampires a few years ago. I figured I could… draw on some of his expertise.”

“I’m alone with Amir right now. He won’t be back for some time. Maybe I can help. I would love to help, in fact. I rarely get the chance to be this involved in the family’s affairs.” She leaned back in her chair. “I’ve never had the chance to see one of your adventures play out in real-time. Well, I have, but I was dealing with Zuri’s pregnancy. So, let’s see if I can help this time, and maybe you’ll be able to get some sleep.”

“What do you know so far?” I asked.

“The rough details Zuri gave everyone in the family.” She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “You’ve called together a group of werecats to discuss recent changes and build bridges. It’s a public display that you are part of this family and capable of the responsibilities Hasan entrusted you with. It’s also a chance for you to further your own position against your father about this werewolf situation. To prove to him, and others, this is a situation that can be managed and done peacefully, that you and the werewolves around you are worthy of trust.” She drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. “Then, on the first night, a werecat part of this gathering was murdered. Correct?”

“You’re very… informed,” I mumbled.

“I’ve been living with Jabari and his family since we learned of Aisha and Makalo. Well, it started before that. When I discovered your sister sick in bed from her pregnancy, I realized I needed to be there for her, especially since our Kushim-boy was still an unknown factor, somewhere in the Sahara. She spent some time catching me up on the different events while hunting him down. Since then, I’ve been dipping my toes back into family life. It’s been a very long time.”

“So… what advice do you have?”

“Well, you haven’t given me all the facts yet,” she countered, leaning in. “Certainly, you and Zuri have learned more since the discovery of the murder. WhereisZuri?”

“She’s still at the mansion in Dallas with the other werecats. She asked me to come back to my territory for the evening, just in case. They now know she’s a witch, so they probably won’t fight her.”

“How did they take it?” Subira smiled, looking humored. “I bet it was poor. Some of the older ones would have had their suspicions, but it annoys many werecats to discover secrets hidden from them, and the longer that secret is kept, the more annoyed they can be.”

“Well… she revealed it by blowing another werecat across the room, so I think they're not so much annoyed as downright terrified of her.”

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