BK 2 - Chapter 59 - Making Plans
Janel looked at Kitty in surprise. For the first time, she realized that Kitty's life didn't get better after that day. She may have gotten them away from Janel's father, but that meant she was sent to another foster home while Janel was sent to live with her grandmother.
"I'm sorry that nothing got better for you after that day, Kitty." Janel hugged her again.
"No more of that. I'm fine now. Even better, I'm a lion. Who would have thought that we would grow up and one day I would be a lion and you a vampire?" Kitty tried to lighten the mood, and it worked. Janel giggled as she looked up at Thatcher. She stood up and helped Kitty up, who sat back down in Aiden's lap.
"Can I look at your wound again to ensure it's healing properly?" Maggie asked as she walked over to her. She pulled the top of her t-shirt down so Maggie could look at her shoulder.
"Can someone explain how Zola was shot and the wound is in my shoulder when I shift into a human? I don't understand how that works. I know we are like one being, but I can't wrap my mind around this." Kitty looked at the others in the room to see if anyone had an explanation. To her surprise, it was Thatcher who answered.
"If I may, young people, I would like to take a crack at this answer. I have been alive for several centuries and have spent a lot of time studying other species. From what I've learned, when a shifter is injured, it transfers to the human in the same area of their body that correlates to the animal. Zola was shot in the shoulder, so the injury would also be in your shoulder. Did I get that right?" Thatcher looked toward Trey and Aiden for confirmation.
"That's how we understand it as well," Trey answered. Thatcher was starting to grow on him. He thought he might even like him, but he would never forget that he had wanted to kill his mate at one point.
Maggie finished looking at Kitty's wound, which was almost completely healed. All that was there was a scar and some redness, so she left it open to air with no bandage.
"It looks good. You shouldn't have a mark or anything within the next couple of hours. How are you feeling?" Kitty thought about Maggie's question and decided to be honest.
"Physically, I feel fine, but I'm seething with anger. Why can't these men leave me alone? I'm tired of always being on the lookout because we're being followed. I know it's not going to stop here. They're going to keep coming." Kitty put her head on Aiden's shoulder, holding back her tears while Harley and Zola purred softly to comfort her.
"Trey and I may have a solution, but we need to discuss it later." Aiden didn't think it was a good thing to talk about in front of the humans in the room. Maggie and Chuck took their cue and decided that it was time to leave now that their patient was almost healed.
"Please call me if you have any problems with your wound, but I think it will be fine. We're going to take off now. You all take care." Cat hugged Maggie thanking her, while Chuck picked up a sleeping Kayla off Trey's lap. She knew Atlas had probably purred her to sleep. Valerie and Roger also left, not wanting to interfere in the young people's plans. After they were gone, Aiden looked at Thatcher and Janel before mindlinking his brother.
*"What about the vampire and his mate? Are we letting them know our plan?"*
*"They may be willing to help. After all, Thatcher warned us about our wonderful mother's plan. I didn't want to like him because he came after Cat. Honestly, I think he was just lonely."* Trey glanced at Thatcher and saw him talking with Janel. He seemed like an okay guy.
"Thatcher and Janel, you don't have to be part of this if you don't want. These fights don't have anything to do with you, so it's your choice." Aiden wouldn't mind the extra help, but he would leave it up to them. The couple looked at each other, and both smiled without speaking a word.
"We will help you. I wouldn't have found my mate if it wasn't for me coming here. I owe Cat for coming after her, and I would like to befriend all of you. I don't have any friends, and being alone all the time gets rather boring." Thatcher smiled at the four lions in the room just as Cat disappeared in a flash upstairs to get Theo, who had started fussing. When she returned a few minutes later, she sat on Trey's lap with the cub in her arms.
"I want to help, but what can I do? I'm not a vampire yet and don't want to be in the way." Janel had never felt so useless in her life.
"It would be nice if you could help with Theo if we have to be in our lion form. We won't leave him behind, so he's coming too." Janel looked at the little dark-haired cub in his mother's arms and smiled.
"I don't care if that's my only job; I will protect him with my life." Cat stood up and handed the bright-eyed little one to Janel, who took him happily. Theo was used to different people holding him, so he didn't make a fuss.
"Alright, everyone, we have two fights on our hands. The first one is with the Italian mob who is after Kitty for stealing a money clip full of money from Ricky Giordano over a year ago. The clip had important information that Ricky didn't want to get to the FBI. Ricky is now dead, and some of his men are as well. However, now it seems someone is still after Kitty. From what Roger looked up for me, the head of the San Francisco syndicate is Luca Giordano, Ricky's uncle. Most likely, he sent the men here to find Ricky; instead, they found Kitty. We will have a talk with Luca and give him one chance to back off. If he doesn't, we'll end them all." Everyone was nodding along as Trey spoke.
"Thatcher, this is where you can help. We need to separate Luca from his men. You're pretty sneaky and can get in and out of places quickly. If we talk to him alone, we have a better chance of him agreeing to our terms. In front of his men, he won't want to appear weak, so he may decide to fight. We want to do this with the least amount of blood loss." Trey looked at the vampire, who smiled excitedly.
"It would be my pleasure." Thatcher had a light in his eyes. They didn't know how good it felt for him to feel accepted by others.
"As long as we can get him to agree, then that will be the easiest part of our plan. The next part is a little trickier." Aiden looked toward his brother so he could continue.
"As Aiden said, the next one will be more difficult because we will be confronting our family, who is also all werelions. Our mother wants to kill Cat because she's a human; at least, that's what she believes. Most likely, if she finds out about Kitty, she will also want to kill her. I'm sure the rest of the family feels the same way. They're not like Aiden and me. They feel anyone not born a werelion is not worthy of being part of their pride or family. We are going to give them a chance to back off and accept our mates. If they don't accept them, then we will provide them with an ultimatum. Either they leave us alone as though we no longer exist, or if they come for our mates, they die." Trey held Cat tighter as he looked at Theo lying in Janel's lap. No one was going to hurt his mate and cub, especially not his own family.
