Page 44 of Bitter Discord

“I’ll read it before you leave,” I promised. “I guess that leaves Niko.”

“It does.” She waited for me to say something.

“I want to talk to Niko,” I admitted. “I really do. I want to hear him say he… he’s okay with this.” I remembered what she said about the war, how angry he’d been, but that was eight hundred years ago. I also knew Niko wished for a day where peace wasn’t only the absence of violence. He wanted more.

“I do, too,” Zuri agreed.

“It’s cruel that he’s scared to say anything because the family will turn away from him. You support me. Jabari supports me. Can’t you cover for him?” I searched her expression, and it was haunted.

“I wish, but I can’t force him to speak when he’s not ready. I believe we need to wait longer for Niko. We need our father to bend a little to give Niko an opening. A moment where he feels comfortable stepping forward to speak his mind and knows he has others to fall back on when the potential rejection comes from others in the family.” She finally moved away, getting off my bed.

“Do you know how this might play out? You’re the only person I trust to know what might happen in the end.”

“I don’t. I used to be confident in my judgment of our family. Recently, I have been proven wrong at every turn. I thought we were as close to happy and secure as we could be after Liza’s murder. I thought I understood our father and what he wanted. I thought I knew mytwin. Instead, I discovered my twin had a bonded mate over three thousand years ago and lost her.” Zuri sighed, looking back at me. “I don’t know why Mischa is so…angry. Reservations and worry are one thing, but her rage is… uncalled for.”

“She threw me into a wall when she was worried about me,” I mumbled.

Zuri’s look didn’t inspire confidence.

“I’m sorry for keeping you up this late. I was hoping to bring you some sort of wisdom. I feel like I have nothing to offer you now that I’ve said everything I can say.”

“Thank you, though,” I said as she reached the door. “For trying. For being my sister. For standing by me and trying to talk to me about this position I’ve found myself in.”

“Thank you for being my sister,” Zuri said as she opened the door. “Good night. Don’t let this keep you up all night.”

It didn’t. I was able to get my eyes to close and slow my thoughts. They weren’t new thoughts. The predicament of my life was one that I thought about constantly. Learning to stop my mind from turning in endless circles was a skill I was developing out of necessity. I had to be up at eight in the morning for another day. The other werecats were coming back at nine.

So, I was really pissed off when my phone started going off at three in the morning, long before the sun would come up. I missed the call, growling when I saw it was a blocked number.

“What the fuck?” I said, glaring at the missed call notification on my phone. I only had my phone’s volume up in case of emergencies. The only people who were supposed to call me were in my territory, and they would never use a blocked number.Never.

Out of the need to make sure, I texted Heath. If he was asleep, he wouldn’t see it until he woke up. I sent follow-up texts to Landon, Dirk, and Carey, hoping none of them had been the cause of the call. My thoughts started spiraling when I didn’t get immediate responses from any of them. I got out of bed, my heart racing.

They’re asleep. I know they’re asleep. I could text the rest of the pack, Ranger or Shamus, but that would just make everyone worry more. This could be nothing. It could have been one of the werecats thinking to call me for something.

Thanks to how tired I was, I fumbled but found jeans and a fresh t-shirt.

It’s not the pack. I swear to every god humans have ever believed in… If someone from the pack is in trouble, I will kill every werecat in Dallas.

My phone started ringing again, and it was blocked again. Answering, I had no idea what I was in for.

“Jacky Leon speaking,” I said, trying to cover up my panicked state.

“This is Director Rhodes. I know it’s late, but something has happened. It’s… out of the ordinary, and I believe you are the best person to call.” He sounded tired, uncertain, and very concerned about something.

“What could you need at this time of night?” I demanded. “And why are you calling instead of Bethany?”

“Bethany is also being woken up and told to report as soon as possible,” he explained tersely, but I didn’t think it was my attitude. No one liked being woken up at this time. “Forty-five minutes ago, our anonymous tip line received a call to go to a location… a supernatural body.”

“Fuck.”

“We don’t know if it’s witch, werewolf, werecat, or anything else. It looks completely human. We don’t recognize the person, and there’s nothing to indicate if it really is supernatural. We haven’t disturbed it. It was reported to me because it was out of the ordinary. We don’t know whether to hand it over to the local police. This sort of thing doesn’t happen.” He didn’t give me a chance to say anything, taking a quick breath before continuing. “Considering what we know about your current activities, this could be someone you might be keen to see.”

“Um…”Shit.“Send me the location.” I wasn’t prepared for this. My plans didn’t account for dead bodies. Others, sure, but not unknown found by the BSA. “I’ll get there with my sister. She’ll… she’ll be useful, too.”

“We’ll be glad to have you. I’ll text the location. Get here quickly. We want to have the body moved into a more secure location before sunrise to keep civilians from catching wind of a story. If this hits the news, we’ll all have bigger problems.”

“Definitely.”

---