Page 37 of Scarred Resolve

“I already told you. It’s just some werecat business that?—”

“Dad, Landon is pissed, and Dirk is jumpier than my horses when Landon is pissed. They hush when I walk into a room. I know when something is being kept from me. Please don’t lie to me,” she retorted quickly.

Heath studied his daughter. She had grown up with one foot in the human world and one foot in his. He had tried so hard to give her some years where she could fully embrace her human life, going to school and being out of the spotlight. He had tried so hard by leaving the pack and giving up so much of everything he had built.

He’d also fallen in love with Jacky Leon, and so did his daughter.

Trying to keep her firmly in the human world was a losing battle he didn’t understand why he kept fighting. She was too deep in their world. As his daughter, she was too publicly a child of a werewolf, and she knew too many supernaturals, counting more of them as friends than humans her own age. She was too bright, and now, he was seeing, too tough to be pushed into the human world if she didn’t want to be.

He wasn’t losing the battle. He had lost it before today, though he couldn’t pinpoint a proper day.

Jacky asked me to keep fighting this time.

He sighed. He could honor the wishes of the woman he was going to marry and spend eternity with if he had the chance, orhe could give up the battle he was never going to win. Dragging it out was only going to hurt his daughter at this point because she would learn, now or when Jacky got back or if something happened.

He had to consider, as well, the possibility of Jacky dying in Alaska and how his daughter would react if she didn’t even know Jacky could be in danger.

“Dad.” Carey stood like a soldier, her chin up, and Heath couldn’t see her biological mother in the look. He couldn’t see that woman in his daughter at all. She would have run, grateful for being on the outside. While she had her mother’s blonde hair and his eyes, the expression on her face came from the woman everyone silently considered her real mother.

“Something bad happened. A werecat has lost control. Jacky and her brothers need to stop it before it claims any more victims,” he explained, knowing that neither option he had was a good one. Keeping it from her would only lead her to do something to find out. She could find those pictures while he wasn’t looking, which were too graphic for him to consider showing her ever. She could finally catch Dirk and Landon talking about it in less forgiving terms.

“Oh…” Carey sat down across from him. Heath caught how Dirk and Landon relaxed a fraction. Dirk had been rubbing Landon’s back, helping his son keep his cool. It was a real blessing to have Dirk there, full of understanding and love for his son.

“Yes. Don’t worry. Niko and Davor have handled situations like this before with their family. Jacky is in good hands. The Tribunal has already started an evacuation for supernaturals and their people in the area for safety.”

“No wonder you’re pissed,” Carey said, looking over her shoulder at her brother. “She’ll be fine, though, right?”

“She better be,” Landon growled, staring out the window.

When Carey looked at him again, Heath wondered if his own eyes got so stormy like hers were now.

“Why aren’t you with her?” she demanded, and he could smell the tears. “You’re stronger than her. Landon is stronger than her now, too. You both could have gone with them. Dirk and I would have been fine. Ranger and Shamus could handle the pack for a week or something.”

“Because while I may be stronger than Jacky, I’m not a werecat,” he answered, hating the words himself, regardless of their truth. “I would be in the way. So would Landon. Last Change werecats aren’t the same type of fight as a Last Change werewolf. They are still territorial and would know our every move. They are still dangerous enough that we have to leave it to the werecat ruling family to deal with. Not even older and stronger Alphas than me try to take on that fight, not without a pack of a hundred behind them.”

“That’s not good enough, Dad!” The bridge of her nose scrunched, and all he wanted to do, like he had since she was very small, was put his thumb there and smooth it out for a second.

“It’s the reality of it. Not only that, but if it’s not good enough for you, there’s a point where we all need to remember and accept that Jacky is the leader of the werecats in the Americas. This is her responsibility, and she is allowed to do these things with her brothers and sisters. She is not allowed to deal with a werecat with me or Landon or even Dirk.”

“But—”

“That would be asking for trouble none of us would survive,” he said firmly. “Carey, we’re already in danger every minute of every day. I cannot add fuel to that fire by killing a werecat, especially not when it’s been established that only Jacky’s family ever goes after these werecats. I would never be seen as themerciful leader, releasing that werecat from its misery the way they will be seen. I would be a murderer.”

“It’s not right,” she mumbled. He opened his mouth to say more, but she lifted a hand and groaned. “I know, Dad. It’s not right, but it’s the way others decided the world would work, and we can only keep doing our best to change it every day until we finally reach a place where everyone can live peacefully side by side.”

He wanted to be mad that she cut him off, but he couldn’t bring himself to be. She wasn’t the first child he let get away with it in this type of conversation. He’d had it with all three of his children at some point or another.

“If you weren’t in classes all summer, I would offer you a trip. I’m going to visit some people related to this like I did for the pack, remember?”

“Yeah…” Carey slumped. “So, this werecat has already hurt people.”

“Killed them,” he said honestly but gently. Carey only nodded, her tears coming back. Anger and sadness. She was feeling a lot, and he understood it.

“Do you need help with that, Pa? And did you even get permission? Do you think Jacky’s family will be okay with us stepping in like that?”

“I ran it by Jacky, Niko, and Davor. Davor sent word to Subira. I haven’t heard back yet, but the moment I do, I’ll let you know if they approve or not. If they approve, wonderful. If not, I’ll pay for it myself.”

With that said, he saw something spark in his daughter. She caught his meaning, and Landon’s huff and chuckle said he knew, too. Dirk was harder to read, and his scent was so soft that Heath wasn’t sure, but he also knew Dirk was smart. He could get it. There were lines that Heath was more than willing to ignore entirely for the right thing. He couldn’t ignore all of them,but he could ignore some, especially when those lines didn’t really hurt anyone. Who was going to be angry at a man giving money to a family who lost people they loved? Who was going to be angry that he even knew this was happening when he was engaged to the werecat they expected to deal with it?

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