Page 69 of Bitter Discord

“You’re mad,” Dirk said as he sank further into his chair. “Insane.”

“Am I?”

“Yeah.” Dirk was nodding as he looked at Heath and Landon. “Yeah?”

“It’s… daring,” Landon said, sighing heavily. “I’m willing to do my part, though. We have to help him, no matter the cost, be it our pride or our lives.”

“Landon?” Heath seemed surprised, and I was certain my expression matched his.

“Arlo is at a pivotal moment in life that can irrevocably change the man he grows up to be and the werewolf he is. He needs the full support of the pack, from his foster father to his Alpha and everyone in between. If he suffers because we’ve denied ourselves the chance to use every resource possible, he could take it as a betrayal at the deepest level,” Landon explained softly. “We would have told him he’s not worth trying for. That’s he’s not worth everything this pack has to offer. It might not break him, but it would start the process.”

Heath’s scent was dark and pained, his grey-blue eyes dark storms that told me of troubled years and terrible moments he and Landon had faced.

“I will not be a member of a pack that makes a young werewolf into someone like me.” Landon matched his father’s stare. “And you know I would never let you make a decision that could turn someone into a werewolf like me or Fenris.”

“If I could kill them again, I would,” Heath growled, standing. He paced. I drank my coffee and nibbled on bacon, both acts difficult as my stomach turned uncomfortably.

A lot of history had just passed between them, talking about the darker days of Landon’s youth. While I didn’t have a full breakdown and accounting of his early years, I knew they had been dangerous and painful for everyone in the Everson family.

“We’ll do it,” Heath promised when he stopped pacing. “If you two could… keep Jacky comfortable while I reach out to the rest of the pack. If we’re going to work with the werecats and the BSA this closely, they need to hear it from me.”

“Have fun with that. We’ll stay,” Landon said, his father giving him a sharp nod before leaving the room.

“He’s in a mood,” I said when I knew he was out of earshot.

“He’s been stressed since he woke up,” Landon explained. “He doesn’t want to go to the BSA, the patrols had nothing to report, no sign of Arlo, and he doesn’t know how to point the pack in the right direction to fix this. This is my father when he’s lost a werewolf and doesn’t know how to fix it. You’ve given him a way, and personally, I like it. Dirk is right, it’s insane, but it could work, and we have to try.”

“He already agreed to it before you came in.”

“I was reminding him what sort of stakes he was playing with. As his second, it’s well within my rights to do that. As his son, it’s my responsibility.”

“Who…” Dirk trailed off, but Landon gently elbowed him, tilting his head with a questioning expression. Dirk groaned. “It’s a bad question. You don’t want to hear it. It’s morbid.”

“Oh, you want me to elaborate on what Pa said.” Landon leaned back, shrugging. “He’s killed a lot of people to protect me, most when I was younger and less experienced. Most werewolves my father killed from my birth to his ascension as an Alpha were to defend me. I don’t remember all their names or even their faces, but I can tell you what every single one of them did to deserve my father’s wrath.” Landon shrugged in the silence his explanation left behind. “He’s in a mood. He’ll get over it. Moving on… did you get enough sleep?”

“Don’t do that to me again,” I ordered, making Landon laugh.

“Again?” Dirk chuckled. “Landon, you’re ordering Jacky around?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?” Landon grinned as he turned to his lover.

I shook my head as Landon explained how he got me to take a nap on the trip back from Dallas.

“Be careful, or people might accuse you of loving her,” Dirk said, a broad smile forming. “Her, of all people, with her insane plans and hippie spirit of group love and acceptance. Or worse, world peace.” Dirk’s exaggerated shudder made me roll my eyes.

“Dreadful, right?” Landon laughed before turning his attention back to me. “So… did you get enough sleep last night?”

“I was up talking to my mother, looking to get some advice about the current situation. She’s the one who recommended a trap. I made the plan. We talked a bit. I was in bed by two-thirty. Not enough sleep, but I’ll be fine. I can take a midday nap again when we get this ball rolling.”

Both men were a couple shades paler. My office door slowly creaked open to reveal a surprised Heath.

“You called… your mother?” he asked, closing us in again.

“I actually wanted to talk to Jabari, but for whatever reason, she was alone… mostly. She saw my messages and decided to call me. I didn’t know it was her until I answered. We talked. It was fine. We’ll talk more about it later, but it’s not all that serious.”

“She’s… Subira,” Dirk said as if that was the explanation behind their shock and horror.

“She’s part of the family,” I reminded him, eyeing him up and down, making sure he remembered his place in the scheme of things. Truthfully, I understood their response. Once someone knew of her and could comprehend the implications around what she was, Subira could be terrifying. A witch and werecat, mated to Hasan, over five thousand years old, the biological mother of the infamous twins, Zuri and Jabari, and the matriarch of the ruling werecat family, who considered all those Hasan Changed as her own children.

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