“How are you feeling?” Scarlett asked as she sat down in a free seat across from me.
“I’m fine.” I gave her a weak smile.
Cade was the frosty one out of the group. He gave me a brief nod. Everyone else seemed to have moved past my deception but Cade seemed to still be wary of me. I didn’t blame him. I’d deceived the two people closest to him so I understood he wasn’t in a hurry to trust me again.
We started to discuss the threat of the rogues.
“So how serious is it?” Kyle asked while he interlinked his fingers on the table. He looked to Cade and then to Blake.
“It’s bad,” revealed Blake. “Their numbers have grown dramatically and it’s only a matter of time before they attack.”
Everyone was silent while they took in the information.
“They could be planning an attack already, for all we know,” Cade added.
I rubbed my forehead as I tried to think of a plan that would help us defeat the rogues and keep everyone safe. But no matter what scenario I thought up, there were risks—higher risks than I was willing to take with the people I loved and cared for.
I looked from Scarlett to Cade. My eyes went to Kyle, Curtis and then they finally settled on Blake. I loved them and I wanted to keep them safe, but I felt a growing fear that it was just not possible.
“Any ideas, anyone?” Cade asked. Everyone looked to one another.
“Joining packs won’t help this time,” Blake stated out loud. “The area we’d have to protect would be too great to be able to protect effectively without knowing where they were going to attack.”
“Where have they been spotted?” Kyle asked.
“All over,” Cade answered.
Silence descended while everyone contemplated a way out of this.
“Why not attack them first?” Scarlett suggested.
“That would be a great idea if they didn’t keep moving around. By the time we get the information, they’ve already moved,” Blake said.
It was confusing that a newly formed pack of rogues could be so good at hiding themselves.
“What about falling back to one territory and combining our packs?” Curtis suggested.
“That wouldn’t help the perception of other packs. It would be seen as a sign of surrender if we leave any of our territories,” Cade explained forcefully. He was a true alpha. It wasn’t in his blood to fall back. All he understood was fighting to win.
But he was right. If any of us showed weakness it would lead to endless fighting and protecting ourselves from other packs trying to take us over. It wasn’t an option and that meant we had no options.
“So the only way we can defeat the rogues is if we know where they are going to attack first and concentrate our fighters there?” I asked.
“Yes,” Cade said.
“It would still be risky because if we are wrong and they attack somewhere else they will be able to defeat us,” Blake explained as he looked at the others.
We could barely pinpoint the rogues’ location, so how on earth were we supposed to figure out where they were going to attack? I tried to stop the feeling of fear that was building up inside of me. There had to be a way to defeat the rogues and keep our losses to a minimum. A solemn silence descended while everyone tried to think of a plan, but the silences stretched with no one coming up with any way to try and get us out of the mess we were in.
“We’re in trouble,” Kyle said, speaking out loud what we were all thinking.
“Let’s all take a break and meet back in a couple of hours. Maybe by then someone might have come up with a workable plan,” Blake suggested as he gave my hand a squeeze.
Everyone nodded and started to stand. Something had been bothering me for a while and I decided that it was time to deal with it. Blake stood up beside me and was about to help me up when I put my hand out to stop him.
“Wait,” I said.
Blake stopped and I looked at Cade.
