Page 15 of War Games

“He didn’t look so tired that Carey was in any danger,” I stressed. “So, I know you’re not pissed because of that.”

“I’m not…” Heath finally breathed again. “I’m sorry. Something about Landon’s behavior is bothering me. And now he’s being intentionally late to training, if he shows up at all.”

“Go train your werewolves without him,” I said, reaching out to touch his arm. “I have my family meeting today. We’ll come back to this in the afternoon.”

“I can’t let it slide if he misses training,” Heath said, less furious and more frustrated now. “I’m going to have to disciplinehim in front of the pack. I hate needing to do that.” He growled again. “I can’t lie to them and say he’s too injured. I know he’s healthy. If his feet hurt, he did that to himself.” He stopped growling and sighed. His scent told me everything about his feelings, not locked away, thanks to his Talent. He was mostly concerned and frustrated, and there was little I could do for him. No one knew Landon better than he did. If he was feeling like he didn’t know what to do or say, there was nothing I could think of.

Landon also made his feelings very clear when it came to me meddling…

“Come here,” I murmured, getting closer to him. I brushed a hand over Heath’s cheek as I kissed him. When I pulled back from the moment, he was more relaxed, his shoulders lowering as he released some of the tension. “I don’t know how to help you or Landon or Dirk right now, but whatever this is, we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out, Heath.”

“I know,” he whispered back, leaning in to return my kiss. Once he was done, he leaned over, his head on my shoulder. His arms wrapped around my waist, and I wished I could stay there all day, regardless of the reason. It was a nice place to be. “I… This is the one thing I have no experience in. Landon with a partner, having issues with said partner, both in the family now, a mate bond between them. I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know what to say or do, either.”

“From my experience, most children don’t like when their parents try tohelptheir relationships, no matter the age of anyone involved,” I said, trying not to chuckle darkly at the reasons I knew that.

“Yeah…” Heath grumbled.

Since I was constantly aware, I leaned back from Heath, tapping one of his arms still firmly wrapped around me.

“Your werewolves are coming. Some are only a couple of minutes away. You should get out there and think about what you want to do today without Landon.”

“He’s still not moving?”

I shook my head, and Heath groaned. I knew he had been hoping that Landon would get moving, but I knew otherwise. Landon was, at most, prowling around his house and backyard, not yet on the move toward my property.

Heath walked out, leaving me to wonder how this had brewed under our noses. I had known there was overprotectiveness running a bit rampant, but the bomb that was slowly going off caught me off guard.

It was, truthfully, a distraction I couldn’t afford, yet found myself indulging in. Anything to not think about the werecat or werewolves in Alaska was welcome at this point for me. I hated that thought, though, since Landon and Dirk weren’t distractions. They were a part of my family that I had fought for. The family I was still fighting for.

I watched as Heath met his werewolves in my yard, knowing that Landon and Dirk would be fine in the end. This was just a growing pain for them. It had to just be a growing pain. All relationships had them, no matter what the dynamic was.

I turned to walk to my office, knowing I had to face a growing pain of my own.

6

CHAPTER SIX

Iwas early to the family meeting but was pleasantly surprised to see nearly all of my siblings were also early.

“Good morning,” I said, making sure my mic was picking up my voice and that the camera was pointed correctly at me. I didn’t have to fix them very often, but over time, the camera would move slightly, thanks to people running around the house or stomping or slamming doors, which I had done just yesterday. The mic would sometimes disconnect when I had to update my computer. It felt good to fiddle with things before the meeting, keeping my hands busy.

“Good morning, Jacky,” Zuri said first, but I couldn’t see her. “You knocked the display cable, it seems.”

“Actually, power. You’re on my desk monitor,” I said, shaking my head in frustration at what I had just done. Her voice was coming through speakers, and those were thankfully still working. “I slammed some doors yesterday and seemed to have shaken the house a bit more than I thought.”

“Oh?” Jabari’s interest was bad news.

“Not Heath’s fault,” I said quickly, striking that idea from my eldest brother’s mind. Zuri and Jabari loved Heath; I knewthey did. They respected my relationship with him and stood their ground with me when Hasan lost it. Their support meant everything to me.

But Jabari was an older brother, and while I never had one as a human growing up, I knew enough about this particular older brother to know that if Heath made me cry, he would be on the first plane to figure out why. Hisao wouldn’t since that would cause its own stir. Niko was around and wouldn’t just because he wouldn’t.

“That’s good,” Davor said softly, chuckling. “I would hate to have to hurt the man.”

That took me off guard, leaving me wide-eyed as the monitor turned on. Chuckles were filling my office as Davor smiled mildly.

“No, you would cuddle Jacky while I hurt him,” Jabari finally grumbled. “But look at her face; you really got her with that.”

That made me roll my eyes. Davor and I were doing… better. Much better, in fact. He’d done a lot of work on himself to let go of his grief about Liza, which I had inadvertently helped with by discovering the truth behind her murder. In Alaska, we finally connected, finding ourselves only with each other and Niko on a dangerous mission that led to so much more than we thought it would be. I didn’t think we’d ever be the closest of the siblings, but I was grateful there was no more animosity there. I was willing to let it all go, all the comments and meanness, thanks to the smile he had as I finally saw him on the screen.

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