Page 40 of War Games

“You killed a werecat in its Last Change,” she snapped, her sympathy having already evaporated. “Even saving him from the control of the witches wasn’t going to fixthat. Whatever happened to him, wherever he came from? None of that could have been answered by him. He was never coming back. There was no saving him, Jacky. I need you to understand that.”

“I do?—”

“Do you? Because from where I’m standing, you are either willfully beating yourself up over someone you couldn’t save, or you are being willfully ignorant of the fact that you couldn’t. Not even the greatest witches among the moon cursed could have saved him. You certainly couldn’t. I won’t tell you not to grieve the boy. I am going to tell you to stop driving yourself into an early grave.”

I hung up on her.

She called me back immediately. A rush of fear from actually hanging up on her made me pick it back up.

“And you will not do that again. I am sacrificing precious time with my son to deal with all this, just like Jabari issacrificing it with Makalo, and you are with Carey. Don’t you ever hang up on me again. We’re on the same side, Jacky.”

I winced and tried to become very small as she jumped into that rant the moment our video call was reconnected.

“Sorry,” I mumbled when she was done chewing me out.

“Apology accepted,” she growled. “Now, with Landon and Dirk getting married, they deserve a honeymoon. You let them take one at home for next week instead of going over to Louisiana. Push it back a week. Instead, we can discuss other ways for you to help. Niko is talking to werecats he knows. I know you’ve been in some contact with other werecats in your region. Reach out to them about any potentially suspicious witch activity.”

“I already asked them to let me know if they see anything. And to reach out if they know of any werecats missing.”

“Good. Follow up. Make sure they are still reachable just to verify they are safe.”

“I can do that.” It was the right thing to do. They were all adults and far older than me for the most part, but it was my responsibility to make sure they were okay.

“Thank you…” Zuri sighed. “Jacky… you’ve been a little off.”

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered. “It’s late. I really should go. I haven’t even told Heath a proper hello yet.”

“Go. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” I let her end the call and closed my eyes, fighting against the dark feelings threatening to reclaim me today. A deep well of grief I couldn’t banish or move on from. It haunted me, and all I could do was slap on my best face and try to push forward.

Pushing away from the desk, my chair nearly rolled into the window. I tried to school my expression, keeping it neutral. Breathing in and out, pushing down the grief, I counted to ten. It was nights like this, with my mood already low, that I thoughtabout the people I couldn’t save. I couldn’t go to bed thinking like this, so I fought it, thinking of everything I could do the next day if I just got some sleep.

Once I felt like I had it in control enough, I left my office to see the dark rooms of my home. Carey had already gone to bed; the soft music in her room was just background noise for her. Heath would be upstairs, either sleeping or waiting on me.

I went up, gently opening the door to find him in bed but not asleep. He was reading a book with only the small side table light giving a warm glow. His stormy-blue eyes met mine, and slowly, he put a bookmark in place and closed it. I slid inside and closed the door quietly as he put it down.

“Sorry for the attitude when I got home,” I said softly, feeling guilty.

“You’ve been on the road all week, talking to strangers and thinking about whether they might try to kill you if you turned your back on them. You’ve wanted to find some sort of resolution for things I can’t help you with. I got Carey out, so she didn’t see it. You needed the alone time. I don’t like seeing you like that, but I understand it. Let’s leave it at that.” Heath sighed before reaching out to pat the bed. “Come on.”

I stripped down to my underwear and crawled into the bed, putting my leg over one of his, my arm around his waist. He didn’t lie down and get comfortable with me, but that didn’t bother me. I wasn’t really ready to sleep yet.

“There’s a wedding on Sunday,” I said softly. “Dirk didn’t tell me anything because I focused back on the trip, knowing you and Landon could handle everything, but I saw him texting a lot through the week. Tell me about it, please?”

“Green and black are the wedding colors,” he said simply. “The boys will be in black, so will all the men in the wedding. Women will be in a deep forest green. I tried to convince them to wear white suits, but Landon didn’t feel white worked for himand Dirk. I took Carey, and we called Aisha to get advice on what dresses you two should wear. Same color but different cuts. There are only four people in the wedding after the grooms, so it’s not too many people to dress quickly.”

“Yeah?” That was good. I liked the sound of the colors.

“The ceremony will be right outside here, with the trees as a backdrop. Teagan, a werewolf of many talents and mysteries, can marry them. I didn’t ask for details. He just said he could do it.”

“It’s always Teagan,” I said, chuckling. “With weird information, knowing people, what to do…”

“It is.” Heath's voice was dry, but I could smell how funny he really thought it was. “Back to the plans. Carey and I will stand on Landon’s side. You and Niko, who arrived back this morning, will be on Dirk’s side. We’re the only ones who get to see the full ceremony.”

“That’s lovely,” I said, smiling into his side.

“The pack and the staff of Kick Shot will be preparing for the reception. The pack will be attending the reception, so they agreed to assist the staff in preparing so the employees didn’t have to come in too early. Oliver let it slip to them that two werewolves were getting married, and volunteers are allowed to work on Sunday. A few decided not to. The ones who did will be getting substantial bonuses. And tips. They’ll be well compensated.”

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