Page 25 of War Games

“And now I’m going on a date with my daughter… which I will also be paying for, correct?” Heath’s indulgent smile was at odds with his tone.

“Correct,” I said, kissing his cheek before I switched places with Carey. She waved at us while Heath got in, shaking his head as he came to terms with how I was going to force him to take a real day off.

Once they were gone, Dirk started to laugh.

“He’s… an Alpha werewolf, and you two just have him perfectly trained. How?”

“He’s not trained at all. I gave him permission to take time with his daughter, something he hasn’t allowed himself to do since my trip to Alaska and what unfolded from that,” I answered. “He’s normally good at making sure they spend father and daughter time together, but she’s getting older and more independent, and we’ve all been busy. He was working when I found him inside earlier, so I dragged him out for a brunch date.”

“Some alone time with you outside of the house and some alone time with Carey out of the house.” Dirk smiled, and it came off as wistful to me. “That’s nice of you to do for him.”

“For them… and for me,” I corrected. “It’s important.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Niko comes over for dinner once a week, and I go to his place once a week without Landon.”

“How has the weekend been?”

“Saturday is normally our date night… and it didn’t happen this week,” he explained, rubbing his head. His hair was growingout. He still kept it shorter, but it was no longer buzzed short. He had enough to style now or mess up like he was at that moment.

“What did you argue about on Thursday?”

“I was just trying to ask him why I couldn’t train with my own father, and he was saying how nothing I do for the pack requires me to fight, so he didn’t see why I should take the risk…” Dirk shrugged. “He’s not… He means well, that much is clear. When we argued, I could smell his anger at the idea we’d have to fight about it. His frustration with why no one thinks he’s right… and his fear that I’ll get hurt.” Dirk sighed. “I guess I thought with the mate bond, we’d never really fight, so it’s thrown me off.”

“Subira and Hasan have a mate bond. They have for thousands of years.”

Dirk turned to me fully when I didn’t elaborate. I didn’t have to. I watched Dirk really take that in. We’d both witnessed one literally explosive argument between them. I could imagine there had been a few in their time together.

“And everyone thinks those two are perfect,” he finally said with a scoff.

“Hm… They’re the oldest mate-bonded couple of the moon cursed, as far as anyone knows… Callahan and Corissa are mate bonded, too, and they have disagreements.”

“I get what you’re saying, Jacky.” Dirk lifted a hand to stop me as he looked down my driveway as we waited for Niko to tell us goodbye. I smiled and bumped my shoulder against his. He bumped me back, and I knew he would be fine.

Niko’s stop by my house was fast, with hugs and well wishes before he had to rush to Dallas, already running late. Once he was gone, and before Heath and Carey could get back to save him, I turned on Dirk.

“You have to go home and talk to Landon about tomorrow. We’ll be driving around Texas for most of the week. He needs to know now.” We were starting with the closest witches since theyseemed the least suspicious. They would know why they were being questioned again by a werecat and werewolf, thanks to proximity, and wouldn’t make much of a big deal about it. They had been told during the first round of questioning that others may come. Over a year ago now, but we were finally getting to do that second round of questioning.

“I’ll head out now and hope it’s done by dinner. It’ll at least mean we won’t be up all night talking about it… I hope.”

“You are required to get sleep tonight. You’re driving tomorrow,” I said, pushing him toward his truck. “You tell Landon that, and if he gives you lip, text me, and I’ll go over there and give him more trouble than he wants to deal with.”

“He’s stronger than you.”

“I’ve dealt with people stronger than me before,” I reminded my nephew.

I watched him leave, having successfully pushed him into his truck to do the one thing he asked me to leave to him. Once he was gone, I took a deep breath and enjoyed the one thing I rarely had much of anymore.

Actual alone time on my own property.

Carey is smart. She’ll convince Heath to take her to dinner in Tyler or something after the movie and give me the evening off… which means I get to eat whatever I want for dinner, and no one will judge me.

10

CHAPTER TEN

HEATH

Heath sat at dinner with his daughter, letting her pick whatever she wanted off the menu for both of them. They had gone to the movies, just like Jacky had recommended, and saw a double feature, then they drove around for a little while, trying to find somewhere to eat. They ended up at one of the nicer restaurants in Tyler. It wasn’t the same caliber they could find in Dallas, but neither of them had wanted to drive all the way there.

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