Page 11 of Scarred Resolve

“Only if I’m allowed to keep looking out for you.”

“Obviously. That’s what family does, right?” Landon smiled, and the tension finally left again. “How does it feel when you…?” He made a claw hand.

“Powerful,” I answered, looking at the darkening forest. It was getting very late now. There was only a dim glow in the sky now, and soon, we’d be in the dark. “It’s painful, too, but the Change always is.” I flexed my hands, looking at them and thinking about what I’d made them do. Landon’s hand suddenly covered one of mine.

“It was just us, and I wasn’t going to let him kill you. I didn’t want to die either, so I embraced it. I had first seen it from him, and when we fought the witches, there was a bit of a struggle between me and one of them that led me to do it accidentally. Since then… I just remember that feeling of doing it the first time and…” I closed my hands into fists, resisting a little to go down the path and show him now. He was worried, and showing it off was just throwing his worry back in his face.

All he did was put his free arm around my shoulders and hold my hand with his.

“And that’s what makes you great, Jacky. You’re willing to fight like hell for people you care about and what you believe in. Just don’t lose yourself in the process. We need you. Believe me.” Then he broke all that contact and moved to slide off the rock.

“Let’s head back. It’s getting dark. Dirk probably wants to head home. What he wants is more important to me than you are.” He flashed me a smile.

There’s the Landon I know.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I hopped off and walked beside him back toward the house.

“Why were you out here?” he asked as we found the little game trail I had used to get to the rock.

“Just taking a walk, enjoying nature, thinking about stuff. Then I decided to stop thinking and just enjoy the alone time. I don’t get as much alone time in nature anymore. Even now, I can smell werewolf on the trail. Not just you, but all the pack. It feels less private, but I take what I can get. I can at least tell when there are actually werewolves around, so that helps me try to claim that feeling of being truly alone yet safe because I’m in my territory.”

I was grateful for his nod of understanding. If there was anyone in the werewolves who appreciated being alone sometimes, it was Landon. We both had our issues. Mine were burned into my brain from my Change into a werecat, and his were from how the people he should have trusted treated him. It didn’t matter that they were wildly different circumstances; it only mattered that we each understood the need.

5

CHAPTER FIVE

When we got home, Dirk was waiting on the patio by the front door, drinking something. Heath was stepping outside with a tray as I lifted my hand to wave, not wanting to yell. Heath’s smile as he put the tray down on the small table next to Dirk made one spread across my face.

“Thank you for finding her, Landon,” Heath said, his eyes still on me.

“I didn’t find her for you,” Landon said with a snort before he smiled at his father and went to sit across the table from Dirk. I was surprised not to find any hint of a lie in that sentence, but not surprised enough to think about it too long.

“I just went for a walk. Niko and I had dinner, but we got done before the pack meeting.” I kissed Heath’s cheek as I tried to step around him to see what sort of snack he put out for Dirk. His arm wrapped around my waist, and I was forced to watch as Dirk took a massive bite out of half a sandwich. Landon grabbed the other half and started in on it as well, leaving nothing else on the plate except a glass of water.

“And you didn’t want to be cooped up waiting on us to get done,” Heath said, filling in the reason I went for my walk.

“Yeah, and walking is good for thinking. Nice of you to feed them while waiting on me. I keep telling you that you can use the bar’s kitchen if you want food?—”

“That was my sandwich,” Heath said, his smile tightening, but I knew he wasn’t angry. It kept Dirk and Landon from interrupting because they wanted the food. It was a noble, if annoying, sacrifice.

“Oh, my condolences,” I teased, poking his stomach. “How was the meeting?”

“We’re doing it,” he said decisively. “The pack house, which, in this case, will have werewolves on shift living there. We haven’t figured out that part, but the basic plans and ideas are settled, and I already know who to speak to about the land.” I could tell how excited he was. He loved building, loved development. It was one of the main components of his work. “Can I show you the plans?”

“Absolutely.” I gestured to the door, knowing he would have those plans inside. He looked at the werewolves on our patio.

“Hey, if either of you needs Jacky for anything, now is the time,” he said, snapping them out of their single-minded effort to make his sandwich disappear. Dirk stopped eating, chewing fast to get a chance to say something.

“You had dinner with Niko today?” he asked, as if he had been barely paying attention when I had said it only moments before.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Can…” His lips thinned as he pressed them together, concentration taking over his expression. “Can you tell him that I don’t need to see him every other day?”

“No,” I replied with a smile. “You’re an adult. He’s an adult. You’ve known each other for a long time. You tell him.”

“He’s just?—”

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