“No wonderyou have those doe eyes,” Virgil purred.
Atticus shook his head at Archer. “Your packmate isn’t listening.”
Krys shucked off his leather coat and crossed the bar. After hoisting Virgil off the saddle, he put his arm around him and ushered him across the room.
“I love it when you’re rough, lover boy,” Virgil quipped.
From the tables in the middle of the room, Krys glowered. “Team meeting. Pull your shit together. Tak looks serious, and so does that fucking Vampire, who’s probably listening. And if you are, fuck you.”
Atticus nodded to let him know that he was indeed listening. While he could mute out specific frequencies and sounds, he preferred staying alert and aware of his surroundings. He scooted closer to Tak in the horseshoe-shaped booth to make room. Lakota and Lucian sat on the right side. Archer scooted next to Atticus, and Virgil slid in next.
Krys set a chair at the end of the table and straddled it. He wasn’t much of a talker, but men like him always had something on their mind. Usually sex, food, or killing, and by the dark look on his face, it wasn’t the first two.
They waited for Montana, who branched away from the bar. He had a confident air about him—easygoing with a good head on his shoulders.
After putting his wallet back in his pocket, he sat next to Virgil. “Sorry. I was closing out the tab.”
Tak violently coughed into his hand before gulping down the rest of his tea. Then he pushed his glass away and folded his arms on the table. “My father would be ashamed if his only son died from choking on an ice cube.”
Lakota clapped him on the shoulder. “I know your father. When he finds out you’re letting a Vampire into the pack, he’ll roll himself right into the grave.”
Tak shook his head. “All this time, I thought it would be my jokes that killed him.”
The two men laughed.
“Pump the brakes.” Virgil widened his eyes at Tak. “Does that mean the fang is in?”
Krys turned one of his silver rings while scrutinizing Tak’s indifferent reaction to the question. “They’re just fuckin’ around.”
“Is this meeting about Joy?” Lucian took a shot glass and slowly sipped it.
With a grim expression, Tak cleared his throat. “Somewhat.”
Lucian set down his empty glass. “She asked me to find out everyone’s opinion about the baby and her being a double wolf. So far, you all pass the sniff test.”
Krys put his jacket back on. “Is this about the Vampires we caught?”
“This is about the lab.” Tak scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. “If they sent those men down here to take out Salem, they’ll try it again. But not before relocating. They don’t know what happened to their people yet, and that presents an opportunity. Lucian has control of the phones and only received one message.”
“They don’t suspect anything,” Lucian confirmed. “I scrolled through previous messages to mimic the way he communicates. He didn’t use emojis or acronyms, and he also didn’t use punctuation at all.”
“Good job, grammar police.” Bear patted him on the shoulder from the adjacent booth. “What now?”
“We destroy the lab and everyone in it,” Atticus replied coolly without a whisper of doubt.
Lakota narrowed his eyes. “Including prisoners?”
Atticus wondered if they truly thought him a heartless man. “No. But let’s cut to the chase, shall we? If we seek approval from the higher authority, we risk an insider alerting the lab. Someone obviously gave them Salem’s location. Even if they didn’t, they would send Regulators to check it out. If that evidence falls into the wrong hands, it could accelerate genetic testing among these secret factions.”
“We have to do what’s right,” Tak said. “Even if it means doing this in secret. We have a duty to protect more lives than just our own.”
Riding on that remark, Atticus tacked on, “We destroy all documents—all evidence. Burn it to the ground. Free any captives and eliminate everyone affiliated with that location. Some workers won’t be on duty.”
Montana touched the brim of his cowboy hat and stared at the table. “What about the medical team? Salem was one of them. He said some of those guys didn’t know about the prisoners. Maybe they’re not all bad.”
“Do you want to take that chance?” Atticus snapped.
“Then scrub their memories.”
