Page 82 of Bitter Discord

Checking the time, it was already eleven. Mason had been murdered between midnight and one in the morning, just under forty-eight hours ago.

30

CHAPTER THIRTY

We settled into a sitting room, talking about things we had wanted to talk about all week. By midnight, we finally even had Andon talking more than he had to us the entire trip. We were all in the long wait for news together, and it finally felt like a real community, albeit a tense one.

“I want to meet the BSA and come out to humans, just not through something like this,” Andon explained. “I would love to be more involved in my local area. It’s been my home for centuries, and sometimes hiding is exhausting. I’ve had to pretend I wasn’t home, or I’m the employee of the owner. Things like that. I know the BSA will come the moment I reveal myself to anyone. I don’t keep human employees. Some out-of-territory account management and the lawyer, but no one close.”

“Yeah, it must be harder in a community that wasn’t raised with the lore, legends, and a respect for big cats,” Zuri said softly, nodding. “In Africa, it’s almost easy to establish yourself with humans willing to keep the secret from the governments. I know in some parts of Asia, Hisao can roam freely. Niko and Davor let the locals believe they’re werewolves if they start wondering if they’re supernatural.”

“I had people accuse me of being a werewolf,” I said, leaning back in an armchair. “Honestly, though, if it wasn’t for the trouble I’ve gotten into, the BSA isn’t much of a problem. They might have issues with werecats adopting human children, but that’s a problem we’ll have to face when we get to it. It’s too ingrained in our culture and how we do things. Besides, an immortal, nearly unkillable adopted father or mother might be a good thing.”

“Don’t they hate werewolves with human children?” Coyotl asked.

“They do, and they’re always looking for a way to pull human children from the werewolf parent’s home. I’ve seen it in action. On the flipside, werewolves live violently against each other. We don’t. We can be violent but on a scale…”

“We’re less violent than humans most days,” Marcia agreed. “Rogue werecats have their problems, but there’s… generally accepted rules about attacking someone while they’re in the middle of raising a human child. It’s frowned on.”

“It’s executable to kill another werecat’s human child,” Zuri added. “Regardless of anything, including the other werecat committing some obscene offense.”

“If we let the BSA in carefully, explaining these cultural rules to them, there’s a chance that they allow it without a problem or with yearly visits. The fact of the matter is, they are human children, and we aren’t human.” I groaned, looking away from them to stare out a window. “It bothers me, though. I’ve seen Carey get upset by how people treat her father and brother. We had to change her school because other kids teased her, and she fought back. Broke an older girl’s nose.” I leaned on a hand. “She’s tough, and I know a lot of werewolves benefit from being public, but it comes with tradeoffs.”

“It’s not like we could have stopped it from happening forever. Technology is developing rapidly, like facial recognition. On top of that, humans know enough about supernaturals, they’re willing to believe anything at this point. On the plus side, most humans still have the amazing ability to pretend as though it doesn’t exist as long as they don’t actually see it.” Zuri snorted. “Like poverty and starvation in other places. It’s not their neighborhood, so why should they care?”

“Wow,” I said, turning to her. “Tell me how you really feel, Zuri.”

“Born cursed, I’ve never been human. I don’t need to play nice because I share the experience of mortality with them.” She smirked. “I might have picked an inappropriate way to phrase it with my example. Humans are more like werewolves, though, if you want to compare them with a supernatural species. Community-focused, they see what makes an impact in their life and the lives of those in their community and act based on that.

“It’s hard to convince people to care about others on the opposite side of the globe. It always has been and always will be. So, most humans will ignore the supernatural until it’s right in their face, in their neighborhood, and shopping in their stores. They’ll see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and they’ll move on with their lives. If you present yourself as human, normally, they are willing to believe that. Well, the vast majority are.”

“That still doesn’t stop the interested ones from outing us to the rest of the world,” Ysabel said, a soft hissing escaping her at the end. “Yeah. We might all have been angry, but I don’t think a single werecat thought they could hide forever. I didn’t. My staff has a protocol in case strangers discover my existence. I’m sure everyone here has a backup plan.”

Everyone nodded except me. There was no point in having a backup plan. I was already out, even on the news. I was telling random mothers at birthday parties that I was a werecat. I embraced being out by being honest about it because there was no way for me to put that secret back in the box without losing the life and community I had in Jacksonville.

“I’m certain some will get away with hiding forever, but as an entire species, more and more of us will be found every year. We’re lucky they’ve stayed focused on Jacky this long. We’re lucky they found someone in the family because it meant the family had instant access to the issue without revealing anyone new.”

“The catalyst for my outing was a werewolf, who's dead now, but they would have come for me, eventually. Thanks to helping in Dallas back in 2018, I was on their supernatural radar. A few of my bar’s patrons thought I was a werewolf and kept asking me to admit it. They would have come and told me I broke some werewolf-related law, and I would have had to laugh them out of the room. They had been building a case on me for a while. All my choices, I know. I hope and try to keep everyone else covered, so you all have the choice to go public.”

“I chose to reveal myself to the BSA, which gave me the upper hand to control how I approached them and why,” Zuri said. “Only this past weekend, actually. I’m sure more of the family will slowly reveal themselves as well. We’ve been hiding in plain sight for centuries. We own businesses, live in their villages, or bribe their officials to live on secluded land. I guess what people need to decide is if their local governments are worth working with or maybe continuing hiding while they set up a new home in a more conducive place.”

“Smart countries lower restrictions on supernaturals for the economic benefit,” I said, remembering things Heath had talked about and what I knew to draw that conclusion. “Werewolf packs bring in massive businesses, which employ more than just the pack, and generations’ worth of wealth because of their immortality. I think if you can show how you improve the lives of those around and care for the community, the locals and the government may end up being friendlier. Or you can show that you cause no one any trouble and get them to realize you’re boring.”

Someone agreed with that, but I was zoning out of the conversation. My phone buzzed, bringing me back to reality as I checked it, seeing a text waiting for me.

I stood up and frowned as I walked out of the room, rereading the name several times.

It was from Fenris.

I closed everyone else in the sitting room and opened the text, seeing he had sent a picture with a single question. He wanted to know if I knew the other werecat in the picture, which made my heart race as I opened the photo. I zoomed in, seeing Lonan frowning at another man.

A man I didn’t recognize.

Quickly texting Fenris back, I asked if he was sure the man was another werecat.

His reply was instant. Yes, and based on my question, I clearly didn’t know who this new werecat in Dallas was.

Heart pounding, I walked back into the sitting room, my hand tight on the phone as I made a straight line for Zuri, who sat up, eyes narrowing as I approached her.

---