Page 3 of Scarred Resolve

CHAPTER TWO

“Jacky.”

“Niko.”

I sat next to him on my porch when he arrived, making it to my house in less than twenty minutes. It told me something important, but I knew to hold off on asking about it until he was ready.

“You wanted to talk?”

“I believe I asked if you wanted to hang out. Heath is at a pack meeting, as you probably know, and I decided I would hang out with you while we both had none of our werewolves.” I shrugged nonchalantly. I didn’t answer his question because I was telling the truth. I had initially just wanted to spend time with him. The idea of talking to him came moments later.

“No one in our family hangs out, Jacky,” he countered, chuckling.

“Lies. I’ve seen it happen. It’s rare, but we do.”

“We do when we all fly into an area and make it a vacation. Jabari and Zuri don’t meet up all the time just to watch TV and chat about old times.”

“Well, I’m going to change that,” I said, nodding as I made that decision without giving him any chance to offer more input on the matter. I could see the annoyance in his eyes, but his scent told me he was feeling grateful, not just annoyed. I had never been the little sister like this, and with it came a flood of power that felt new and exciting. I understood Carey for a moment, telling Landon what to do and watching him bend the knee to her demands because they came from her love for him. There was an understanding between Carey and Landon.

I wanted that with Niko. Suddenly and fiercely, I wanted to be Niko’s little sister, smiling as I watched him perform the mental backflips to try to change my mind even though he also felt grateful.

“Don’t argue,” I said suddenly, lifting a hand as he opened his mouth. “Don’t. This is a good thing. We both need it.”

“Do we?”

“Yes. When was the last time anyone else in our family has spoken to you?”

I watched his jaw clench, his eyes shifting to a feline nature, and his hands curled over the armrests.

“It’s been some time since I’ve gotten more than an occasional text,” he finally admitted.

“Exactly. Without each other, we don’t have much right now. Subira is getting help from Jabari and Zuri building in her territory and is rightfully too busy for more than a short phone call to check in. Hasan is in timeout and not going to speak to us, even if he wants to. Davor is busy getting a handle on Europe on his own. Mischa is MIA, and Hisao is…”

“Hisao,” he finished for me, nodding as he relaxed. “You’re right. They’re all busy, and we are at least here together. We might as well make the most of it.”

“And I promise you, Zuri and Jabari hang out. Maybe more recently than ever, but the point stands.” I knew this becauseCarey kept feeding me fun little stories she heard through Makalo. I had my first accidental spies, and I loved those teens for it. Hearing about how they were doing in Subira’s territory brought me joy and hope that things would work out one day, even if the family felt it was falling apart right now.

“I get it. You know what’s going on in our family, and you don’t want us to sit on our hands over here. I get it. Stop rubbing it in.” He finally lost the annoyed expression he had somehow maintained and chuckled. “So, what do you want to do, sister?”

“Why don’t you have a territory yet?” I asked, shifting the conversation fast enough to hopefully throw him off.

“I haven’t been looking,” he answered immediately, then I saw it dawn on him that I’d talked him into giving me information.

“Because you’ve been camping near my territory? Or staying in a hotel?” I asked sweetly as his face turned red.

“I want to live near Dirk,” he grumbled, looking away from me. His scent said a lot. He was mad he had fallen for what I had just done, embarrassed by the truth of his living situation, and confused. I waited until it became the most apparent thing in his expression, then waited longer for him to answer the important question. “How did you put that together?” he asked, finally turning back to me.

“I know this area pretty well. You got here in only twenty minutes, and you were in my territory only a couple minutes after we got off the phone. You weren’t speeding more than any of the werewolves would, so reasonably fast but only twenty over, I bet. If you were looking for a territory, I would have thought you would be at least an hour away and would ask for me to meet you somewhere. Instead, you agreed to come by. Am I wrong yet?”

“No,” he said, sighing.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to be involved,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “With Dirk’s life. I just… don’t know how to do that right now. If I move into my own territory, I’ll be, like you said, at least an hour away if we speed. So, I’ve been renting a small house just outside of your territory.”

“I see.” I wasn’t expecting that. I should have been, knowing how much Niko loved his son, the adopted part not mattering at all to him. “I feel stupid. Why didn’t I consider that for you? I thought just being closer at all would be fine. An hour or two isn’t so bad. It’s the same drive we take to the city.”

“Yeah, and I thought of that, too. You asked me about Dallas, and I thought about the mansion, but two hours didn’t feel right.”

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