Page 64 of War Games

“Do you have a death wish, Jacky?” he asked, sitting at the edge of the bed. His voice was gentler now, but I still was scared to look at him.

“No,” I answered, glad I still could answer it honestly. Sometimes, I wondered if I was trying to get myself killed. Everyone made me feel like that was what I must be doing.

“Then I’ll tell the staff you’re here to stay.” He sounded pleased, but I felt a well of terror fill me, knowing that wasn’t the right outcome of this conversation. “It’ll be good to have you home.”

“No. This isn’t my home, Hasan. My home is in Texas with?—”

“Don’t say?—”

“With Heath and Carey. With Landon. Dirk. Niko. My home is?—”

“That place is going to kill you!” he snarled. “When are you going to realize that? When are you going to figure out how dangerous that place is? Your fascination with the werewolves is going to get you killed. You know it.”

“I don’t believe that,” I said, wishing I had more strength in the argument. It was true, but it was weak.

“Heath is being targeted by his own kind for being a rogue. You are being targeted by other werecats. Both of you have pissed off witches around the world. You don’t have the skills, resources, or manpower to handle that level of threat, Jacqueline. You need to accept that.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, trying to get out of bed. My legs screamed in pain, and I started to fall, only for Hasan to catch me. He lifted me with ease and put me back in the blasted bed.

“You can’t be moving around yet,” he whispered gently, pushing hair from my face. “You have a broken leg, and the other calf muscle is torn to shreds. You were someone’s chew toy.”

“I don’t want to stay here forever, Hasan. This isn’t my home.”

“It can be while you heal,” he said, pulling the blankets over my legs again. “At least give me that. We can talk about the rest later.”

“I’ll heal faster in my own bed?—”

“This is your bed,” he said, smiling. “This is your room. I keep a room for all of you when you need a place to hide and recover. Stay, Jacky. Just until you’ve healed. We’ll talk about the rest later.”

Catch flies with honey…

Hasan was a master of it at that moment. I wanted to fight, but I couldn’t get up and leave. I could rest, heal, and continue the fight to go home later. It was nice, really, having someone who was willing to take me in like this. To just care for and love me as a daughter. His expression was gentle, his eyes brown, the natural color I saw so rarely. My biological father had never given me such a loving look, but Hasan had loved me as a daughter from the first day. Even his flaws and the fights we hadwere rooted in that promise he made as a father to a woman he saw as his daughter.

“Okay. We’ll talk about it later… once I can walk,” I said, patting his hand and trying to shoo him from tucking me in further. “I can handle this. You can go get to work. Please. Stop babying me. It’s getting embarrassing.”

“All of you are the same. You grow up and stop letting me dote.” He let me take the blankets, and I made sure my feet wouldn’t get cold without his help. He looked back once, a loving smile on his face, before he walked out and closed my bedroom door.

And locked it.

He didn’t…

I should have seen that coming.

Fuck you, Hasan.

With a growl, I knew that the door was reinforced. Hasan had his house built to handle as much as possible from his werecat family. It couldn’t stop him or Jabari, Zuri, the other of the eldest members in the family, but it was very good at stoppingme.

Oh, it’s childproof. That’s what it is. It’s good enough to stop young werecats from breaking the house while we learn to control our strength.

Because he still thinks of me as a child.

Knowing I couldn’t walk, all I could do was wait. It was better to let some healing happen before I tried to find my way out of here. It wasn’t going to make him unlock the door faster. I had a window I could use, but that didn’t matter if my legs didn’t work.

Days passed. I slept and ate food when he brought it, not allowing anyone else to bring me anything. He read me books, leaving some for me to read in my own time. I could hear my siblings laughing as they ran around his mansion, all of them on their own family vacations, but no one visited me. They went tothe beach together, drank, and did karaoke. It was lovely, but I couldn’t join in. As for Hasan, I kept my guard up with him, always reminding him of the same thing when he came to check on me.

“I’m really grateful for this, but I will go back home when I’m done healing, Hasan,” I said over and over.

“We’ll talk about it when you’ve healed,” he would reply, smile lines forming around his eyes as he patted my thigh, shoulder, or head before he left.

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