"What if they are attacking?" she argued.
"Let me find out what's going on first. But promise me you won't move out of this room without my permission."
She reluctantly nodded her head.
"I'm scared," she whispered, taking my hand into hers.
"It'll be all right," I told her, even though I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.
We had no idea why the Keepers were here. Maybe they were going to negotiate the release of Flynn. I pressed a brief kiss to her lips and savored the momentary peace it gave me.
"I'll be back soon," I told her before I left the room.
Do we know how far out they are?I asked James as I hurried through the house.
Five minutes,he answered.
Send someone to notify Cade and Blake,I instructed, making my way to the main gates at the back of the property.
Some of my fighters had started to surround the gate in a semi-circle as a precaution.
"How long?" Cade asked, appearing beside me.
"Minutes," I answered as I fixed my eyes on the gate.
"You think they're here for an attack?" Blake asked when he arrived a few moments later.
I shook my head.
"No, I think they are here to negotiate."
No matter what they demanded or offered, I couldn't allow Flynn to leave the compound alive.
"Negotiate might not be the right term to use. Demand would probably be a more fitting description," Cade said, sounding more laid back than I felt.
He was right. The Keepers weren't weak and they knew they had the upper hand. And until we could test the theory of the wolfsbane spray, we had no way to know if we could change that and even the playing field.
I hated the wait. Minutes felt much longer as we anticipated the arrival of our enemy.
It wasn't long before my guards announced the Keepers had arrived. Cade and Blake stood tall to the one side of me, and James and my Uncle Nate stood on the other side. Behind us, ready to fight, were thirty fighters just in case.
"I should have brought in some of my fighters," Cade said under his breath as the gates swung open on my command.
I shrugged. It wouldn't have made much of a difference. We needed to find a way to weaken them for there to be any chance of their defeat.
There would be no way to escape a fight with them. I couldn't let Flynn leave the compound knowing what he did about Crystal. He would have to die and that would ensure a retaliation from the Keepers. No matter which way we looked at it, there was only one outcome.
Two Keepers stepped forward from the darkness of the forest into the glow that illuminated from the lights on either side of the gates. Three followed behind them.
Five Keepers stood tall and confident, surrounded by werewolves. The sight of us usually was enough to intimidate any enemy, but they weren't.
I stepped forward as they walked into the compound.
The two in front seemed to be older than the others. The one Keeper was tall with dark brown hair with some gray. It was his eyes that revealed the most.
I didn't need to know him to see the evil evident in his look. This one I knew was the one that Crystal had told me about. The one who had scared her. I could see why.
The other was older. Even though he was as intimidating as the other, there was no evil in his eyes. Instead, there was curiosity. I had trained for years not to allow the enemy to see anything I didn't want them to. Seeing any weakness in me wouldn't do us any good at this stage. They needed to see me as a strong alpha ready to lead my pack to war.
