Page 88 of Secrets and Ruin

“Father wasn’t expecting her, either. He said to bring the entire family but, for some reason, thought Mother would choose to stay in Africa with our children and mates. Not a wildly off-base assumption, but this time, it was an incorrect one.”

Jabari started walking, maybe feeling Landon was calm enough now. He stopped with Dirk separating him and the feral Everson.

“Immortality looks good on you,” he said to Dirk, patting his shoulder. “Nephew.”

“Thank…thank you,” Dirk said, clearly taken off guard by the sudden attention and acceptance from Jabari. Niko and Jabari weren’t close, and Niko had kept a lot of secrets from the family. Dirk had never been exposed to many of them for years.

“Back to Mother and Father, one is dealing with her magical place in the world, and one is angry. They are like most long-term relationships and far from perfect,” Jabari said to me. “I don’t think I need to tell you which siblings to be careful of today, right?”

I shook my head but saw Landon and Dirk both needed to know more, Dirk even tilting his head to the side.

“Mischa and Hisao,” I said quietly. “Mischa is explosive. Hisao—”

“Hisao follows orders. He has one personal rule, which is not to fight his own family, but Landon, you’re not family. Not in his eyes nor the eyes of our father. Maybe one day, but not yet.”

“He’s my mate!” Dirk snapped, suddenly pushing himself in front of Landon. “Of course, he’s family! Even if not as my mate, he’s Heath’s son and—”

I looked up at Jabari, his expression unreadable.

“Jabari?”

“I can’t confirm anything I haven’t heard myself,” he said quickly. “Just watch yourselves with those two. Don’t sit near them. Don’t let them corner you. If you need, move toward Zuri or me. We’re more than capable of shielding you. Jacky, you should worry more about Mischa. She can fight dirty.”

He started walking, and I realized he went from my brother to my general in a few short moments, and I hadn’t caught the transition. It had been so fluid, so easy for him.

I looked at Landon and Dirk, who moved to flank me,as if Heath were there to inspect us and make sure they were positioned correctly. Without another word, we followed Jabari on the march toward the fight I had tried to avoid since this all started.

36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Jabari led us through the mansion, and this time, I only saw the modern half of it. I had been too out of it to pay attention the day before, but since I had returned, I hadn’t seen the old keep section. He waved off Niko’s staff and opened the double doors himself. I walked in behind him as he swung them both open, and they stayed open long enough for Landon and Dirk to come in before they started to swing shut again.

I found Hasan first before looking around the room and taking it in to find my best position. He was the most important person here. He stood on the other side of the large room, hands in his pockets, staring at framed pictures on the wall. I had no idea what the pictures were, unable to see them, thanks to the angle, but he found them interesting enough or a good distraction, so he didn’t have to look anywhere else.

Seeing that he was at least relatively calm and distracting himself, I looked around.

The grand dining hall didn’t have what I expected, which was a long table where everyone could sit together. There was evidence one had been there, but this morning, there were tables to the side, filled with enough food for the family, and other tables for seating scattered around the room in a semi-organized fashion. Niko and Davor were sitting together in the center, while Zuri, Aisha, Makalo, and Kushim were sitting at one near a wall, giving them line of sight of the entire room. Amir bounced in Zuri’s lap, but I watched her hand her son back to Aisha and stand. To my left were couches near a large fireplace. Mischa was lounging on one of them, staring at the ceiling. In a far corner, there was a grand piano tucked away, and Hisao was leaning on the wall behind it.

I was just about to pick where I needed to sit with my werewolves when the room noticed I was there.

“Jacky, it’s good to see you up and moving,” Niko said as he pushed himself up unsteadily from his seat at a table in the middle of the room. “It’s a bit chaotic in here. I had it set up as a sitting room for Dirk’s visit. A good place to keep food out and relax and chat without moving all over the house.”

“It’s lovely,” I said softly, unsure of my own voice. Mischa sat up like a rubber band that snapped, but I didn’t let her stop me from meeting Niko at a good middle ground, not taking myself farther than a third across the room. He looked me over, his eyes taking in every bump and bruise that might have been peeking out from under a sleeve or on my neck and face.

“Nothing broken?” he asked, leaning in to say it quietly.

“No, I’m fine. We’re fine. He’s dead.” I knew he needed to know. He probably already assumed, but that confirmation made him visibly relax. “You?”

“One of those hits reminded my back that it had been broken before,” he said, closing his eyes in pain. I had no doubt he was feeling the memory of that pain. “After scuffles for days, he came into the last fight feeling fresh, and I wasn’t.”

“Well, you’re alive and home. Though it won’t be your home for long, huh?”

“No, no, it won’t be,” he murmured, shaking his head.

I could smell his frustration, the fight in him to figure out how to stay even though he had a lot of people telling him he couldn’t. This was no longer his fight or his business, but he had made it his duty for centuries.

“We’ll talk about it another time. I think they’re hungry,” I said, shoving a thumb at my werewolves, who hadn’t followed me so far into the room. Niko looked around me and gave a wry smile.

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