ChapterThirteen
“There is nothing romantic about war. It is ugly. It is deadly. It is literally the antithesis of beauty. And yet we run headlong into it because on the other side of war there is the possibility of something worth fighting for.” ~Fane
Maxim paced the small quarters he’d been given, too wired to even attempt to sleep, even after the workout with Decebel. In a matter of hours the pack would launch their assault on Cain’s compound to rescue Alice. The thought of finally uniting with his mate should fill him with anticipation, but dread gnawed a hole in his gut.
So much could still go wrong. What if they failed to reach her in time? Had Cain managed to create more hybrids? If so, would they prove too deadly to handle? And even if they succeeded, Maxim still had to face Alice’s feelings for the vampire. Would she still want him once the danger passed? Wouldhewanther?
A brisk knock interrupted his brooding. He pulled the door open and found Decebel and his mate, Jen, standing just on the other side. “Sorry to bother you at such a late?—”
“Or early,” Jen interrupted. “Depends on how you look at it.”
“Hour,” her mate continued. “But the warlock queen is here.”
“And when Queen Lilly shows up and says ‘we’ve got a problem,’ we listen,” Jen explained. “So follow us, Maximus.”
“It’s Maxim,” he corrected.
“I like Maximus better,” she tossed over her shoulder. “It’s like your parents didn’t finish your name when they wrote it on the birth certificate. Like they were interrupted. Maxim—oops ink ran out.”
Maxim frowned at the blonde’s back. “There weren’t birth certificates around when I was born.”
“My bad.” She tossed a hand in the air. “I didn’t realize you were one of the older-than-dirt wolves. I’ll try not to hold it against you. But I’ll fail, so just accept that I’ll be judging you.”
“Jennifer,” Decebel rumbled.
She bumped his shoulder playfully. “Just keeping it real, B. You know I can’t leave well enough alone.”
“What did the warlock queen say is wrong?” he asked, trying to move the subject to something other than himself.
“She hasn’t yet,” Decebel answered. “She just told us who to bring to Fane’s office. You were on the list.”
Pulse kicking up, Maxim followed them through the maze of sprite tunnels to the alpha. His apprehension grew when he saw the grim faces around the room.
“What is it?” he asked Fane without preamble.
The alpha met his gaze solemnly. “Lilly”—he motioned to the warlock queen—“saw something disturbing and has informed me that we need to move now.”
“Saw?” Maxim frowned. “She’s a seer?”
“I’m a sprite,” Lilly answered. “And at one time I was mated to the warlock king. He died in battle.”
Maxim’s chest tightened. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Lilly’s face softened as she inclined her head. “Thank you.” Blowing out a breath, she folded her arms in front of her. “I can’t give you specifics of what I saw. There are rules.”
“Rules suck ass.” Jen flopped down onto a large couch.
“But those rules have been put in place by the Great Luna and therefore will not be broken.” Lilly looked sternly at Jen. Then her eyes came back to Maxim. “I can tell you that something bad has happened at the Area 51 compound and you all need to get there now.”
“What about the plan?” Maxim asked. “It’s bare bones at best. We haven’t fleshed out anything. If we go in their blind?—”
“We may already be too late if we delay,” Thalion broke in. The elf king’s expression was grave. “A window is closing. If a seer sprite tells us to go, then we must act now.”
“Cain has begun transforming dormants en masse into hybrids,” Lilly explained. Her yellow warlock eyes were troubled. “Things are deteriorating quickly.”
Maxim’s gut churned as he listened to Fane rapidly outline the new attack strategy. Before them were building schematics that Wadim, the pack historian, had obtained on the dark web—whatever that was. The alpha’s eyes glowed intently as he traced the lines of the page.
“With no time to disable security, we hit fast and hard from multiple points.” Fane tapped the planned breaches on the exterior fence. “The fae will take out as many wards and alarms as possible when we breach. We want chaos.”
