Page 27 of Bitter Discord

“Coyotl, son of Tenoch,” he answered softly.

“Is there something you need right now?” she asked, taking over the conversation, leaving me standing there like a child she was watching.

“I wanted to know if I could stay here.” He nodded at the mansion behind us. “I don’t feel comfortable with how many humans are in this city or driving on its roads. I do not wish to cause trouble. If you believe it necessary, talk to your father to verify my honor. He has come to my territory, and I have visited his.”

I looked at Zuri, who was still studying Coyotl. She clearly didn’t know this werecat and was deciding if she wanted to trust him. Finally, she nodded.

“I still have a few guest bedrooms,” I told him. “Two on the ground floor. You can stay in either of them. The backdoor is unlocked. You can park on the drive, but pull up as far as you can, and don’t block the right side of the garage,” I said, pointing that way. “You can pull in when we’re out of the way.”

“Thank you. I did not wish to come onto your property without permission,” he said, backing away with a nod. Zuri and I got back into my car, sharing a look.

“You didn’t know about Coyotl, but Hasan does. How? You’re the great politician.”

“Father knows more werecats than Jabari and me combined. His position on the Tribunal lends itself to knowing who lives where in case there is trouble with a werecat in a particular region. He doesn’t know everyone, but clearly, he and this Coyotl have history. Who knows at this point?”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you don’t know.”

“There are large swathes of time when our family didn’t speak at all,” she said, looking out the window. “Decades… sometimes centuries. Always when he was roaming. He would come back in touch when he brought home a new younger sibling. It was harder back then, knowing a rogue like him. They could so easily fall off the map. No phones, no internet, not even a proper mail system. If you did hear from your rogue, you didn’t bother sending a messenger back. The rogue was probably long gone in the months that passed since the message was sent.”

“It’s really strange to hear you call Hasan a rogue,” I said as I headed toward the Dallas BSA building.

“He was. He raised me, Jabari, Mischa, and Hisao without a territory of his own. He roamed for longer after Hisao. He found a couple of sweet boys. They didn’t survive. He didn’t properly settle down with a territory until his island. I don’t know why he chose it. He was always perfectly comfortable in Mother’s territory. He has others, but he rarely goes to them. He rarely leaves that island. I think those territories are going to fade soon. He’s old, but he’s not all-powerful. He’s probably already losing his claim over the land as we speak.”

“I mean, I know he used to roam a lot, but he seems so put together. Rogues have issues, right? I don’t see Hasan as being one of those who needs to… roam, you know? Mischa does it, but she has a home. She goes back to the place that used to be her territory. She just won’t claim it.” My Russian sister and her cult of descendants was still, and always would be, weird, but I understood. She had a family, a son she’d raised, grandchildren, then great-grandchildren. She protected them as they grew up and grew old and left her.

It was so at odds with the violently angry woman I knew.

Rogues have issues.

“I’m certain our parents keep many things from us,” Zuri said softly. “I know we keep things from you. I know there are things Niko keeps from us, and Jabari keeps from me, and so on. Whatever drove him to roam so much was clearly painful enough to keep him walking for centuries. He probably met Coyotl on one of those trips. I’ll ask him about it. Maybe he’s more important than we realize. We should be focused on the next meeting.”

“Yeah, the BSA.” I wasn’t looking forward to it. “It’s still a bit of a drive, though. Maybe you can call him?”

“Not today,” she said, shaking her head. “Not this week.”

“Does he really want me to fail that badly?”

“He doesn’t… not with the werecats and get hurt, no. There’s a reason he hasn’t called you to tell you to stop or told everyone this is an unsanctioned event, falsely using the family’s influence. He wants you to be more active with our kind. He wants you to choose werecats for once. He also wants you and Heath to crash and burn, so he can come in and swoop you up. He wants Heath to break your heart or betray you.”

“And he’s hoping both happen this week. You can tell me exactly what he said. It’s fine with me. He can’t hurt me anymore.”

“Are you sure? Our father is very good at hurting people when he aims for their most vulnerable places. He will dismantle your defenses with a simple statement. He will make you feel like a child, small and insignificant, while he is a giant among men, the oldest of the old. Then he will strike. Are you sure it won’t hurt?”

“He couldn’t have said anything that bad to you.”

“No, you’re right. I’m just worried for you. I know who he is and how he can be. To me, he was just a bit frustrated with the entire situation. He’s still mad at Jabari and Aisha, too. He said nothing productive, though, nothing I feel you need to hear. No advice.” Zuri lifted a single finger for me to see. “There was only one real directive from him.”

“Oh?”

“‘Don’t let your sister get you killed.’”

I didn’t know how to reply. I had no intention of getting anyone killed and didn’t appreciate his lack of faith.

We stopped outside the BSA’s building, and I looked at her, finally finding something to say to Hasan’s single directive.

“You’re the forty-two-hundred-year-old half-witch, half-werecat. You can keep yourself alive.” Undoing my seatbelt, I actually rolled my eyes. “I mean, really. I’m forty and flying blind. If I’ve been able to keep myself and Heath alive this long, you would think he had a bit more faith in me keeping my most powerful sibling among the living. I mean, that annoyed you, right? The assumption I would somehow be able to get you killed is insulting. I remember the last time you got hurt was for mistakeshemade and we all paid for. I didn’t ask to be the target of Lani or the rest of them. They picked me as the weak link. I certainly didn’t fucking ask for it.”

“I reminded him of that, and the glare I got over the video call was impressive.”

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