Page 79 of Bitter Discord

“Hm. He might be sitting this out because he doesn’t want to be involved or risk his life in this. He’s been quiet to both of us since the beginning. There’s nothing wrong with that. The werecats only expected to come here for discussion, food, and hopefully, some fun. Ysabel seems as though she’s sitting out because she doesn’t like to get dirty, or maybe she doesn’t want to risk her life.”

“And Elissa?” I didn’t know the Phoenician well. I barely knew most of them.

“I don’t know.” Zuri leaned back in her chair, spinning it a little. “Well, it doesn’t matter. We have seven werecats willing to be bait. You did it. Now, we need to hope none of this breaks down and someone dies.”

“Yeah…” I sat on the edge of the desk. “It’ll be my fault if something happens to any of them.”

“Yes.” Zuri didn’t even attempt to disagree, her confirmation lacking any hesitation.

I appreciated the raw honesty.

“With that vote of confidence…”

“It will be your fault if something goes wrong, but that doesn’t mean I think you haven’t done your best or that someone else could have done better. We’re all reliant on our natures. They are our strengths and our weaknesses. Werecats are solitary and insular. We might gather and have some fun, but by the end of the week, we’ll want to go home and be as alone as we normally are, with a distance between us. This mindset changes how we do things.

“Normally, we hunt alone. Our family, a unit itself, finds it difficult to work with outsiders. Packs rely on their community bonds and unity, but they’re hindered when it comes to something they can’t sniff out. Maybe a larger pack could have done this alone, but Heath’s pack is small and lacks a vast network of allies and acquaintances many packs have.

“Humans, the ones who aren’t witches or warlocks? Well, they have all the vast resources and technology, manpower none of us could dream of having, but they are woefully out of their league when it comes to the moon cursed or any supernatural.” Zuri smiled at me.

“You looked at all those things and trusted each would play its own part if they were positioned correctly. You have no idea how it feels to know the plan is honestly very simple… if I had been willing to ask others for help.”

“Why weren’t you?”

“For over four thousand years, it’s been our family against the world. It seems so simple to… trust someone new, to ask for help, but it’s not when you’ve trusted no one for thousands of years. The very idea of asking others to help me do something I must do as a member of our family… Well, before you, it was an insane thought. None of us would have considered it.”

“Why?” I could have elaborated, but I didn’t think it was necessary. Zuri and I were doing well, following the same train of thought.

“It could be taken as a sign of weakness, it gives others an easy chance to betray us, or they could interfere… many reasons.”

“Hasan is going to hate this plan, isn’t he? He would tell me it’s foolish.”

“Possibly, but not because the plan is bad.”

29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

After dinner, most of the werecats left. Those who volunteered to play bait were off to meet their respective BSA agents to get the monitoring devices they needed. I was trusting the BSA to know what each would need to get the complete picture, so we missed nothing. I didn’t know enough, and the one person I could ask, Dirk, I couldn’t bring out of the shadows. He had things to do, but it was really to protect his identity.

He’d run into other supernaturals, and I didn’t know who would know of his existence and find it interesting he was now a werewolf. I didn’t want to call or text him because I didn’t know which werecat might listen or snoop later. Heath and Landon were in touch with him, which was good enough. Teagan and Kody were with the BSA; another thing I had to hope was good enough.

“Well, now that all the foolish people are gone, let’s have a real conversation,” Marcia said as she joined Zuri and me in the kitchen.

“Busy. Need to stay focused in case we get word that something is happening,” I said, staring at my phone, waiting for any word.

“Do you two really think this killer will strike again the first night he has the chance?” Marcia laughed. “Please. They will know things are a bit… dangerous for them right now, and if they want to kill again, they’ll need to be very careful and plan for anything. It could be days before they get comfortable enough to kill again.”

“Depends on the motivation,” Zuri countered. Andon, Ysabel, and Elissa walked in. “Which we won’t know until we catch said killer.”

“There are a million theories, but none of them are worth going overagain,” I said, not bothering to look up from my phone. “If this person doesn’t strike tonight, they will tomorrow. There’s no reason to keep Arlo alive if the job is done. If they’re here to disrupt this gathering, they’re on a strict timeline.”

“What if one of you is the next target?” Elissa asked, with none of the derision Marcia was throwing around. Her curiosity and concern seemed real, and I caught the scent of them, verifying their integrity.

“Stupid,” Zuri said simply as if that answered the entire question. I looked up to see everyone looking at Zuri as if they knew what she meant. Zuri smiled as she found a new bottle of water and sat beside me at the breakfast counter.

“We talked about Mikkel earlier this week, thanks to Mason. He didn’t get the chance to kill Jacky, and still… he and all his followers died for their attempt. Even if you killed me, Jacky, Jabari, Mischa, Niko, Davor—I’ll even give someone the hypothetical benefit of killing our father or even our mother—Hisao would burn this world to the ground. There isno onewho can kill him, and he would avenge every death tenfold. We were duped and silenced by Liza’s murder. We won’t make that mistake a second time.”

“I’m not sure we needed that spelled out,” Andon said, moving to sit at the dining table across the kitchen. “We know what kind of violence your family is capable of.”

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