Page 61 of Bitter Discord

“I’ll need Teagan’s floor plan to figure out the best angles for the most coverage.” Dirk looked at Teagan. “Or I can run by your house and take a look.”

“I have a copy of the floor plan. I’ll email it to you,” Teagan promised. He turned his attention back on me. “How’s the food?”

“Great,” I answered after quickly swallowing a mouthful of fried rice. “Thank you for getting enough for everyone and so quickly. It’s been a very long day.”

“Yeah,” he agreed softly.

“I’m going to set up a new patrol,” Heath declared. “I think two werewolves running the border. We’ll do eight-hour time slots. Shamus and his kids can be a group of three.”

“Some will have to be left off the list,” Landon said.

“Of course. Fenris, Teagan, Ranger, you, me, and Dirk,” Heath agreed. “Benjamin, obviously.”

“That’s… half the pack,” I pointed out, sighing as I did the mental math. “Are there enough werewolves?”

“There’s still Shamus, Stacy, and Kody, who will be a group of three. Jenny and Carlos will be paired. Rose and Piper will be paired. Three eight-hour shifts,” Heath explained. “I had two hours to consider it.”

“Of course,” I mumbled.

“We could put Fenris on a team,” Landon suggested. “I bet he’s losing his mind knowing Arlo is missing but he’s stuck on his property.”

“He’s already out of his mind,” I mumbled.

“The objective of the patrol is to gather information and bring it back, not a fighting force,” Heath replied, shaking his head. “Fenris will attack the first werecat he sees. What I want is for the pair on watch to intercept Arlo if he comes back or tell us if they find evidence of anyone lurking at the border of Jacky’s territory. No fights. If they come upon someone, they’ll be told to run here to alert us.”

“I like it,” I said, nodding. “They can see beyond the territory, where my magic is only effective while I’m here, and if any potential intruder actually crosses into my space. I think my problem would be if our watch leaves the territory, they’ll be at risk. I know it’s a risk we need to take, but we don’t know if this killer might want to try for a werewolf next… blame it on a werecat…”

“If he’s not already beyond saving, that will cause Fenris to lose his shit entirely,” Landon muttered, shaking his head.

“Landon, why don’t you and Dirk get to work?” Heath asked his son, who nodded as he tapped Dirk’s shoulder. Dirk looked at me until I made a small agreeable movement that couldn’t rightfully be called a nod. Once they were out of the room and I heard Dirk’s truck fire up, I looked at Heath.

“Thank you for keeping him off the patrol.”

“I can’t have anyone putting two and two together and revealing Dirk’s personal information before he’s ready. I won’t allow it. Nor will I ever have Niko come here and accuse me of putting his son at risk against his will.” Heath chuckled darkly. “But neither of those worry me as much as what Landon would do if Dirk got hurt on my orders.”

“They’re good boys,” Teagan murmured as a pained expression crossed his face. He got up and paced, running a hand through his hair. There was something about the way he moved that made me imagine an animal in a cage. “Benjamin and Arlo are good boys… I can’t believe I lost one of them.”

“Teagan, Jacky was right. This is not your fault,” Heath promised.

“I should have done better!” Teagan snapped, a growl ending the words. I was surprised that tone could come from him. Heath and Teagan were also clearly shocked by the outburst, staring at each other, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know… I’m getting… frustrated, angry, and—”

“That’s fine,” Heath said, pushing past his surprise to react in a more relaxed way. I was the only one left slack-jawed at Teagan’s outburst. “Why don’t you focus on Carey and Benjamin? I should check on Fenris while I gather my werewolves to assign their patrols. Jacky, do you have a plan?”

“Being in my territory is better than being out of it right now. Waiting on word from Zuri about the other werecats. Hoping Arlo comes home before this gets worse.” I shook my head. “I have no leads, Heath. Maybe I can search my territory a bit and run the border, but…” I pulled out my phone, turning it over in my hands. “I can see what the BSA might have uncovered since I last spoke to them. Is there anything particular you want me to ask them?”

“See what caliber round killed the werecat,” Teagan said from his place by my windows. “We might be able to prove Arlo’s innocence if it’s not the right type. Or we’ll have more evidence that he…”

“If someone took him while he had a gun, they’d use his gun,” I pointed out. “But I can reach out and ask. We didn’t want them playing with the body. There’s been no autopsy or anything.”

“Really?” Heath sat up straighter. “Jacky—”

“He’s not my family to make decisions like that, and letting them do an autopsy could give them pieces of the werecat they shouldn’t have,” I reminded him. “I was hoping you would go see the body yourself, then we could burn it, but you’ve stayed away from it. I understand your reasons, but that’s where we’re at.”

“Maybe the agents found shell casings,” Heath said, clearly frustrated with the massive hole left in our information, a decision I’d made. “Can you ask that?”

“Definitely. If push comes to shove, I’ll tell them to send one person in to remove the rounds so we can know what they are. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s not the end of the world, but it would have been nice to know someone was working on it while we managed the people involved,” Heath said, his eyes shifting to ice blue.

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