Page 43 of Bitter Discord

Nodding, I finally reached her at the bottom of the stairs. I knew my siblings were ancient people with complex histories that could make many turn away from them. One thing I knew for certain? Who Zuri was thousands of years ago wasn’t the person standing beside me today.

I was grateful I knew the Zuri of today.

“Ready to keep trying to make the world a better place?” I asked her, wrapping my arm around hers. She smiled, her eyes bright with tears.

“With you, little rebel? I’m more than ready.”

16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The rest of the evening wasn’t nearly so exciting. It was tense, but Zuri and I survived through dinner. There was talk of how to best combat a witch if they were attempting to spell a werecat. Zuri gave a lot of good advice about noticing when a spell was being done, even without the obvious scent of magic. I could talk about what I saw and felt with Tywin, since I had been exposed to the magic done. There was discussion about trying to keep an eye on friends and family, with some werecats commenting on how they needed to reach out to others to check in.

Dinner from a high-end steak house was delicious. People drank and talked around the property until after eleven. Zuri and I slowly convinced each of them to head to wherever they were staying so we could get some sleep. It was just after midnight when she and I took one last walk up the stairs, ready to sleep. Coyotl was already asleep in his room, having been the only werecat who thought an early night was a good idea.

“This was a long day.” I wanted to complain for hours, but I also wanted to sleep.

“It was,” Zuri agreed. “But this is what we signed up for. Werecats don’t gather often. When we do, we must be thorough. This isn’t a time for fun and games. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the BSA, good approaches with human governments, and fail-safes we should use in case one of our own is captured. Are you ready for that? You are the resident expert.”

“You used to meddle in human governments,” I reminded her.

“When they were fractured things that needed to send runners, it could take months instead of an email in seconds, and modern scientific equipment wasn’t invented yet. Runners were easy to kill on the road to stop information from spreading. Emails… well, as much as I love it, modern technology complicates everything.”

“Good point. I was found out by it.” I leaned on the wall next to her door, but she motioned for me to follow her to my room. I dragged my feet as she led me into my room. “Hidden cameras too small for me to see. Thank God for Dirk.”

“He’s different than I’ve imagined, you know.” Zuri chuckled. “A good boy, that one. A good man, actually. Smart, capable. Knowing how he stepped up for you and how he put himself in danger, I don’t think our family ever saw him. If we had properly seen who he was, maybe we would have him as a werecat, and he could be here with us.”

“He and Niko made the decision when he was young not to raise him surrounded by the family.”

“It wasn’t entirely their decision.” Zuri gave me a sad smile. “We never tried, either. You see it, Jacky. Niko stands on the outside. Certainly, he can be an integral member of the family, but there’s always a level of distance between many of our siblings and him. Jabari isn’t close to him. Mischa either teases him relentlessly or… or she can be immensely cruel, never letting him forget who he once was. Davor was once close to him.”

“Until Liza died.”

“Yes, until Liza died.” Zuri sat on the edge of my bed, patting it.

“You’re not going to tuck me in,” I said, chuckling wtiredly as I pulled off my clothes. “It won’t happen.”

“Since we’ve started talking about them, I wanted to ask you if you’ve heard from all of our siblings yet.” She smiled, if a bit weakly. It was late for both of us.

“Can’t it wait?” I left on a shirt and my underwear, deciding that was the limit to how much I wanted to undress while Zuri was still completely clothed. Nudity in the family was normalized in a way most would never understand, but this wasn’t a moment when we were going to Change.

“It’s very easy to come up with an excuse to tell you no. Hannah already tried to come between you and me. It would be nice to understand from your angle where you stand with the family, what you know and don’t know. It could help us stop others from exploiting our different members.” She smiled at me. “I didn’t think tonight would be this late, and I had wanted so much of this trip to be you and me talking about things. To touch base and understand where we go from here and to offer you more understanding of our siblings. So, I’m stealing a moment while you’re too exhausted to fight.”

“Hannah tried poorly, but sure, fine.” She was right. I was too exhausted to fight. “I heard from Mischa, and there have been more emails from her since, especially after the summer. She knew I went to see Jabari when Niko and Davor were there. She ranted about how my visiting was a risk, potentially exposing the family to my enemies. Makalo didn’t need any more people to know about him. She wants me to leave Heath, and she thinks I’m betraying the family.” I crawled into bed but didn’t get under the covers. Zuri moved to sit next to me, close enough, our elbows brushed against each other. “Jabari emailed me over the summer. It was really sweet. He wants me to be happy… and stay alive, but happy is really important to him.”

“I know. He told me it wasn’t entirely surprising that you fell in love with Heath.”

“Hisao hasn’t reached out. In over a year, I haven’t heard anything.”

“You probably won’t, but that’s Hisao’s way. He doesn’t… understand the tangles of the heart the way we do. He also already broke the species border of our family on numerous occasions. He’s never trained a human or a werecat as an assassin.” Zuri tilted her head to the side. “He’s never trained a werewolf, either, but that’s not the point. He probably doesn’t feel strongly about this unless it’s utter confusion. Romantic relationships don’t make sense to him. He knows they do to others, so he doesn’t involve himself in those discussions. He’ll do as the family decrees.”

“And our family doesn’t know what they’re doing. We’re not on the same page.”

“Yes, so he’s in a holding pattern, as sad as that sounds.” Zuri sighed. “Then there’s Davor and Niko. Let’s start with Davor.”

“I haven’t read Davor’s email. I know I should get to it, but I forget about it for weeks on end, then something reminds me, and I decide I don’t want to.” I shook my head. “I go back to avoiding it, forgetting about it. Rinse and repeat.” I fiddled with a string hanging off my shirt. “I’m trying to understand Davor. He’s broken. That much is really obvious. You were right that everything about him comes from grief, unhealed, soul-scarring grief. I mean, I already knew, but… he’s been different the last year since Heath and I went public.” I shook my head. “No… since I killed Price. He’s been different since I killed Alpha Price.”

“I wasn’t entirely right about the grief, or maybe I just can’t comprehend the scope of it. The only person in our family that understands what Davor is going through is Jabari.” Zuri sighed. “As much as that frustrates me. Talk to Jabari. Don’t just listen to the secondhand accounts. Or… read Davor’s email. Maybe it can shed some light on our broken brother.”

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