Rogue Alpha (Jacky Leon Book 7), page 18
Ranger winced.
“That would take my count to around a hundred,” Ranger said softly. “Sorry, I haven’t…”
“It’s fine. You weren’t in your right mind last night, and you’re still processing. Sit, relax, and eat more. Landon, Jacky, I need to speak to both of you privately.” Heath walked out of the room, so I jumped up to follow him. We went outside, where I got to witness Heath reach the end of his rope.
The furious scream he launched at the trees shook my soul. It morphed into a howl. I tried to go to him, but Landon grabbed my elbow. He didn’t try to hold me, but I knew he wanted me to wait for a moment. Landon knew his father better than anyone, so I listened, letting him keep the light grasp. He held me until Heath stopped, his chest heaving.
“One hundred wolves,” he said softly, turning around to us. “How did no one see what was happening in Dallas? How… how did I not see it?”
“No one saw Richard, Emma, and Dean betray us, and they had built an entire faction under our nose,” Landon said, moving past me. I followed for a couple of steps, but the two men were only focused on each other. “Not us in the pack or anyone outside it. Smart werewolves know how to keep secrets in a pack. You didn’t see this because Tywin didn’t want you to see it. An Alpha knows how to guard his pack’s secrets, Pa. You did it yourself for years, and I helped. You can’t carry the guilt of this. You left them with everything they needed.”
“There are witches involved in both cases. You had one at the coup and now this,” I pointed out once again. “Don’t ignore that connection by pretending this is just a werewolf problem you could have solved.” Heath turned ice-blue eyes on me.
“She’s right.” Landon was soft, but his simple agreement was nice to hear.
“We’re leaving,” Heath snarled. “We’re loading up and will be in that city before dinner. I still have places I can go in Dallas where the pack won’t find me. I’m going to deal with this. By the full moon, the Dallas pack will be back under proper leadership or disbanded.” Heath’s fury was so powerful, I didn’t think his Talent was working properly to hide it. I knew he was furious, but it was a faint scent in the air.
“Good wolves, Landon. Some of the best we’ve ever had. An entire pack is being obliterated from within. A pack we built!”
“Go load up,” Landon said, shifting so his body was between Heath and me.
Heath snarled, wordless and furious, then went inside. The moment the door slammed, Landon turned to me, his eyes betraying a worry I never expected.
“Be careful with him. I don’t think he really remembers that Dallas isn’t his pack right now. He wasn’t defeated and thrown out. He walked away, giving up the connections to Tywin. I think we see why that isn’t done too much or at all. I don’t think he properly left the pack, not in his own mind. He’s always angry when he hears of werewolves being subject to cruelty or injustice, but this is Dallas.”
“He’s going in as an Alpha on the warpath for his werewolves, his pack.”
“Yes, that’s what it looks like.”
I let that sink in. Landon’s confirmation only told me what I already knew. I had seen the shift in Heath as Dallas got worse, just as Landon had. The frustration, the guilt.
“I’m going to go get ready with him.”
I went inside, passed Ranger, and headed for my room. Heath was looking through his small section of my closet. Landon came up a moment later with two bags.
“I prepared what you’ll need to wear in this one,” he told us, dropping one on the bed. “And this one is weapons, firearms, silver bullets, and silver blades. Let me wake up Dirk. He knows a lot of interesting things about witches and may have some recommendations.”
I opened the duffel and started pulling out the clothing Landon had packed. Most of it was for Heath, but Landon had preemptively put stickers on a few with my name on them, written in black marker. We changed into all-black outfits, then Heath helped me with the complicated holster and sheath setups he and Landon used the night before. By the time we finished, we looked as if we were going to war.
We were.
For the first time, indecision ran through me.
“I can smell that. Don’t start second-guessing. If you need to, kill any wolf that attacks you,” Heath said as he slid a large silver knife into the sheath he strapped to my thigh. “Show no mercy, Jacky.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Heath said with conviction, looking up at me. He stood slowly, his eyes hard. “Don’t forget Tywin sent a hunting party here, declaring war on you. Do not let that go, Jacky.”
“Heath, with a witch in the mix, do we even know if the werewolves in Dallas are in their right minds?”
Heath leaned, his nose touching mine.
“Tywin would have known immediately who that witch was,” he growled. “He would have seen his pack losing control and realized for money, sex, power, something, the witch could fix things.”
“Ranger and Sheila didn’t know she was a witch.”
“An Alpha would never expose a witch who he needs to control his own pack. How do you know he didn’t reach out to her initially, Jacky? Ranger didn’t know the entire timeline.” Heath pulled back. “Second, Tywin shouldn’t as much of an idiot to fall into such a stupid trap. A lot of problems happen, then a witch shows up out of nowhere, offering to fix them. Would you fall for it?”
“No.”
“Magical manipulation from witches who need great power, something the pack would have noticed, or for the person to be particularly vulnerable or willing, to begin with. Ranger, as a member of the inner circle, would have noticed if there had been powerful enough magic to catch the scent. He would have been close to Tywin at the time or Shamus, especially if they were the only two in the inner circle.” He rubbed his eyes. “You want to believe Tywin is a victim. I understand that, Jacky.”
“And the connection to Emma?” I asked, not trying to argue. I needed to know we were both seeing the full picture.
“There are two things I can think of that Tywin would have considered,” Heath said softly, lifting two fingers. “They’re a family he would know, an easy connection to find a witch with experience around werewolves who might help him. Not every witch has that. They’re humans by default and have a broad spectrum of how deep they are in the supernatural world. Some are deeply entrenched with other supernaturals, while others have desk jobs and may never work with a werewolf in their life. He’d go to someone he knew had been around werewolves. Second, Emma betrayed the pack and used magic to do it. It’s easy to call in a debt. Depending on the witch family, they would think it’s their obligation to help the pack now because some troubles came from their family.”
I didn’t have the chance to reply. Landon knocked on the door and opened it before either of us could even say okay.
“Dirk just wanted me to say you two need to watch your back,” he said, looking between us. “He doesn’t know anything that could be helpful except basic safety tips. He also wanted to know if you wanted to talk before you left.” Landon’s eyes stopped on me. “You two think there’s a lot of important stuff to go over with your family.”
“I’ll give Dirk a few days to think about it. He needs time to decide what he wants to do. We’ll talk once Heath and I are back. I’m certain Heath can tell me all his tricks against witches in the truck, and I am pretty sure I know a few,” I said, looking at the second, then my lover. Heath nodded.
“Yeah. Landon, anything else? Ranger probably has more intel, and you need to call the BSA. They offered two agents for Carey’s safety. They can stay here under your watchful eye.”
Landon pulled out a folded piece of paper, then reached down and picked up a second bag.
“You’re right. When you needed to step out, Ranger started working on the numbers for werewolves he can recall from memory, who are still in the pack. You might pull a few others out of the pack to send here or help you. The bag is extra supplies I’ve been able to scrounge up. I’ll handle the BSA.”
“Thank you,” he said, grabbing the bag of weapons, then the folded paper. He shoved it in the bag before leaving the room. I followed him, Landon giving me the bag he had.
I wasn’t as bloodthirsty as I had been during the attack or the hours after it, but it didn’t really matter. It didn’t matter if the Dallas pack was trying to kill people I loved because they wanted to or were forced to. It didn’t matter if it was the witch manipulating the pack or Tywin’s bad decisions.
All that mattered was Heath and I had to get to the bottom of this and fix it before more people were hurt or killed.
That was a fight I was always willing to have.
22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Heath drove at a blistering speed as I sat quietly. He didn’t take us straight into the city, going around to the north side. It was twenty minutes before either of us said anything.
“Don’t look a witch in the eye. Don’t tell them your full name. A witch can hide a spell in a few easy words they use to focus their intention to cast it on you. Eye contact and physical contact make it easier if you’re in the same room. Hair, fur, and other body parts will let them cast spells on you from a secure location. We’re moon cursed, so that’s… harder to stop. Aside from that, stop any chanting you might hear, break any circles you might see. Don’t accept or wear anything a witch might have made unless you can verify the magic on it. Some magical objects don’t smell of it until it’s activated.”
“Did Emma ever try to use magic on the pack or teach you how to defend yourselves from it?” I asked, wondering if she had once been more of a friend who offered helpful information.
“All the time,” he admitted. “Every new werewolf had lessons with her to learn how witchcraft could be useful or detrimental to a pack. Half the pack wore her good luck charms or good fortune charms, things like that. For a long time, I was certain she wasn’t a strong witch, just an intelligent one who worked with what she had.”
“Sounds like something changed your mind,” I said, leaning toward the window and turning to look at him. “I can guess what it was.”
“The fight,” he confirmed. “She was doing magic she had never displayed before. She’d hidden how powerful she was. She was in wolf form, so I’ll never know exactly what spells she was using.”
I thought back to that night. Things had been so damn different. Ranger had been there, and Sheila and a wolf named Keith had helped when Dean and Emma called in reinforcements. Carey and I had freed Landon and Tywin. Emma never left that building. Dean was executed later, and Keith died in the fight. Ranger was now crippled, Tywin was the Alpha, and Heath was with me. Carey and Landon were… still Carey and Landon. I snorted, thinking of what Landon had said that night.
“What?” Heath asked softly.
“When we were at the hospital, Carey asked Landon if I would still be your friend, meaning a family friend… you know, after,” I explained. “Landon said after everything, I was more than welcome with your family. Landon, who smiled when I wasn’t executed, but barely spoke to me for over a year.”
“Landon never chased you out of my home, right?” Heath asked, and I saw a smile forming, a small one. “Landon is a quiet griever, and he had to come to terms with you being the one who killed Richard, even if he liked you and you saved his sister. He struggled, and it added to his normal silence, but you were always welcome in the family.”
“No, I don’t think I have a memory of him chasing me out of your home.” My smile faded. “We were so different back then.”
“You weren’t,” he said, laughing. “You told me, repeatedly, you would not take orders from me. Nothing has changed. Another thing that hasn’t changed… all I ever had to do was ask, and you listened. You made me remember my manners.”
“Now it’s a fun game,” I pointed out. “I’ve had to have changed in some ways. I feel different.”
“You’re smarter now,” he said softly. “More political, wiser, patient—take your pick. Ranger is right. It’s like seeing someone who didn’t know the game finally learn the rules and get good at it. I don’t think there’s a better metaphor.” He kept his eyes on the road but reached out to me with one hand. I took it and felt his squeeze. “I feel different, too.” He didn’t let me say anything, turning us down a road quickly with only one hand on the steering wheel.
“I’m taking us to a safe house I never put in the pack records. I have a couple of places like this around the state. This will give us a way into Dallas that Tywin won’t be watching. We couldn’t drive straight into Dallas from your territory. He’d have lookouts posted to make sure he saw us coming. Plus, I wanted us away from Ranger for the real planning.”
“Did anyone know about this place? Any way for someone to find out about it?”
“No. Landon knows I have secret hideaways, but he’ll never find them.”
“Does Landon have any of these?”
“No,” Heath answered for a second time. “He has properties I don’t know about because he’s diversified his wealth and some I helped him hide from the Dallas pack, which we’ll be using later on, but nothing I believe he’s tried to hide from me specifically. I could order him, and he would give me a list, but he can’t do the same to me. A privilege of being Alpha. I can have secrets, and there’s no one who can order me to reveal them.”
“Would you tell Landon where it is if he asked?”
“Probably not.”
That surprised me.
“We all need our places to get away,” he said, looking at me. “I wasn’t required to take my children with me when I needed a day away from the pack. In fact, I often wanted to leave my children behind. Before Carey was born, Richard and Landon didn’t live with me, but they were always showing up at my house, and sometimes, I wanted to kill them. They could always call me, but they couldn’t force me to put up with their sudden appearances.”
He pulled down a dirt road, and I saw a lake cabin. It couldn’t have more than two-bedrooms and looked as though it was from the wrong era.
“How do you keep it a secret?” I asked as he parked.
“I built it with my own hands eighty years ago, and the land isn’t attached to my name. Any upgrades I’ve done on my own when I’ve come out here. I added the electricity and the solar panels. It used to use a generator, and I would bring gas out when I wanted to. Sometimes, I liked going without electricity.”
We got out of the truck, and he led the way into the cabin.
It wasn’t a two-bedroom cabin. It was a studio, or a one-bedroom if the bedroom could be considered another room. It had a double door frame but no double door, which made the little building seem spacious. Everything was wood and made me wonder how he wired it.
“As for furniture, I bought cheap stuff in cash from locals trying to get rid of stuff, garage sales and the like. I’ve never brought anyone here. You can have the small bed, and I’ll take the couch.” He turned on a light with a chain hanging in the middle of the room.
I kept looking around while he spoke. The decorations were knick-knacks he probably got from the same garage sales where he bought the old furniture. While the wood made it overall very brown, the eclectic furniture added a weird splash of color.
“Are we sleeping here?” I asked, looking up from a wooden duck he had on his kitchen counter.
“Probably not, but I figured I should say something.”
“Yeah, I figured we would only be here for a few hours,” I said, putting down a bag. “If we did sleep here, you would be squeezing into that bed with me. We’re a little beyond the polite sleeping on the couch phase of our relationship.”
“True,” he said, reaching into his bag. “I grabbed this before we left my home. It’s an old map I kept as Alpha, marking all the buildings the pack owned directly or indirectly, businesses, homes, and more. There’s a key…” He grabbed a notebook and brought both to me in the kitchen. I cleared away the duck, along with several other small items, so he could spread the map out. It was much larger than I expected, covering all of Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth. Technically, they had all been pack territory, but I didn’t think he’d keep everything on one map. Or that he would keep the map. It seemed like something he should have left with the pack when he left it.
“You can ignore everything on the map except this,” he said, pointing at a large red dot just north of the center of Dallas. “This is the pack house. I didn’t officially live in it, but Tywin does and has since before I left. Tywin ran the pack house for me, so I could keep Carey out of a mansion, and since Landon lived with me, Tywin was next in line for it. I met them there for meetings or pack functions instead of having dozens of wolves flood my smaller home.”
“Do you think he’s still there?”
“He has to be. It’s the only place with cages like Ranger described. Although the basement isn’t in the official listing, you can learn a lot about it. I wasn’t able to pull everything off the web when I bought it, so it’s still there. It’s just shy of ten thousand square feet, with five bedrooms, and nine baths. A pool and a tennis court.”
“Why did you guys need it?” I asked, frowning as he told me about the pack house.
“I needed a space where we could have official functions for three hundred werewolves. Mind you, we never had parties when more than two hundred showed up in the city, but it was nice to have the space for it. Now, back to it. It’s where he’d keep those who are the most loyal to him right now. Ranger made him sound as if he’s growing paranoid. With a hundred werewolves left, most probably unemployed, and a woman he’s sleeping with, I would say he’s keeping ten to twenty werewolves at the house on guard duty and rotating them on a schedule. We can get around the guards—”
