An hour later, we left with full stomachs and a smile on Olivia’s face. A smile that quickly faded as I started the engine.
She stared out the window as I drove, and I let her have her silence.
We’re on our way, I sent Winifred.
Good. We’ll see you at the park just before noon.
“Blake’s moving,” Olivia said.
“Close? Do we need to stop?”
“No. I think he’s moving toward the park like I said he should. Don’t think for a moment he’s given up, though. Michelle’s visions will come true. He will fight for the Judgement to fall in his favor, likely by trying to kill all the werewolves.”
A heavy weight settled just behind my sternum. We’d called them all to help.
“The Urbat have been looking for each of you in every one of Bethi’s relived lifetimes. They’ve known you girls existed far longer than we have. If they know so much, Blake has to know what killing all the werewolves would mean. That it would bring imbalance and the Others.”
She shook her head.
“The Urbat only care that we are the key to power. Blake and his predecessors have always believed the need for balance between the races was just a story told by desperate people. They’re blind to the truth. And, men with blind ambition will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals.”
The news wasn’t overly surprising. Blake had been trying to reduce our numbers for years. However, I hadn’t forgotten the way the group of Urbat had found and hunted down Mary and Gregory. Of all the werewolves hidden around the states, how had the Urbat found them first?
What if they hadn’t? I opened my mind to feel the links of my people, searching for any that might be missing in the thousands of connections. All the connections were too new to tell, though.
WINIFRED…
Emmitt drove so I could focus on communicating with all the wolves I’d called to our aid. They were coming from far and wide. Several of those who’d fled Europe just before I’d exposed our existence to the world while in New York had already arrived and had reported the park was quiet.
I was just about to communicate that to Sam when Jim interrupted my thoughts.
Winifred, Olivia thinks that Blake will try to kill us all to force the Judgement in his favor.
He’s been trying to kill us all for years and has failed. He will fail again today,I sent.
I know. But humor me for a minute. You know our people. Have any gone missing?
I opened my mind, touching the familiar links. Some new. Some old. I frowned when I reached for one and found it missing. The first of many. Too many. How had this happened? I’d known Blake had quietly hunted Mated pairs in the past and killed families for the female cubs. Why had I assumed that genocidal brutality had ended since revealing ourselves to the world? How had I failed my people yet again? A fist of pain struck me in the chest. I gasped and leaned forward.
Winifred, what is it?Sam sent, more attuned to me than he should be. Yet, at the moment, I grasped his connection like a lifeline. He needed to know. They all did.
Over one hundred werewolves are gone,I sent them.How did we not notice?
If they don’t reach out to us, we wouldn’t know,Grey sent. It’s not your fault or theirs. We underestimated Blake. Warn the rest.
He was right. My failing was in not being vigilant enough. It wouldn’t happen again.
Blake’s men are out there, human and Urbat, silencing our people in hopes of winning. If you see anything suspicious, reach out to us. Go nowhere alone. His attempt to decimate our race ends now.
GREY…
I reached out and touched Gregory’s faint link. He was as much of a brother to me as Thomas. I mourned for him and for all the others I, now too, felt missing. So many links lost but not his. Not yet. Likely soon, though. Just like many more before the sun would set.
“Grey, if you don’t tone it down, I’m going to have to hit someone in the face pretty soon,” Isabelle said from her place in back.
Carlos glanced at me.
“What is it?” he asked.
