Listening to the steady breathing of his now-slumbering mate, Brady carefully lowered Lucius down to the bed, before getting up to give him a new supply of blood. Even though his mate could now move his upper body, it was obvious from the drops of blood on his face during the past attempt that he still had a way to go. He wasn’t sure how much more blood his mate would need before the after effects of the death spell disappeared, but he intended to be with him through the rest of the journey.
After gently brushing a few hair strands off his mate’s forehead, Brady bent down, pressing a soft kiss to Lucius’ lips. “Sleep tight and sweet dreams,leelan,I’ll be right here waiting for you to wake.”
~/~/~/~/~
Jackson listened as Mystia related what she knew about the threat facing his brother and Remy. After she finished, he turned to Dylon. “How fast can you come up with a plan to neutralize the situation?”
Thinking about it for a moment, Dylon replied, “The way I see it, there are three separate problems for us to handle. First, it’s obvious Zohar is in the process of moving the low-level magic users under the Council’s control to another location—one most likely protected by a spell so Remy will never be able to find them. Stopping him from doing that will be our first priority. Second problem is to stop Zohar from rounding up and killing anyone he suspects will help Remy. He knows if he can remove all of Remy’s supporters first, it will make it easier to manipulate him.”
“You think he wants to keep Remy alive?” asked Steel.
“I think he doesn’t care one way or the other. If he can get Remy under his control, then that’s his easiest path forward, but if not, well…then, getting rid of him will be the only option that will guarantee Zohar his grip on power as head of the Witches’ Governing Council.”
“Besides Mystia, who else is in danger?” asked Steel.
“Jimmy, of course…and anyone related to Carson, which means everyone in the Blackwood Pack…and Remy’s brothers are in real danger because Remy would give his life to protect them.”
“As would Carson,” Jackson said.
“Exactly…which makes them a prime target. If Zohar got his hands on one of Remy’s brothers, he could use him to control not only the Ruler of the Mystic Realm, but the Mystic Guardian, also.”
“Hmm…” mused Jackson. “Evil loves the dark and, in this case, ignorance makes it easy for Zohar to work unopposed…which is why he’s suppressed the news that there’s a new Ruler and Keeper. If it became widely known about Remy’s ascension, do you think it would lessen Zohar’s power and weaken his plan?”
“Brady and I talked about it after Zane couldn’t find any announcements about Remy,” Dylon replied, “and I suggested having Zane leak the information on the web, but Brady thought it would only drive Zohar and his buddies underground. And he had a good point. Right now, our greatest advantage is Zohar’s confidence he has thought of everything. My third concern is we don’t know who we can trust to do the right thing by giving their allegiance to Remy. The last thing I want is a magic war to break out because then, instead of only few against Remy, we might end up with half or more magic-users throwing their support to Zohar.”
“I agree,” Jackson said. “Let’s go back to who may be in the greatest danger. The ones I’m most worried about are Remy’s brothers. As long as they’re in danger, Remy and Carson will be focused on protecting them…and then they’ll be at greater risk of missing any would-be attacks on themselves.”
“My thinking exactly,” Dylon said. “Which is why they should come here until the threat against them has been eliminated.”
“I think you’re gonna have a hard time selling that idea to Remy,” Steel said. “According to Carson, his mate placed a protective dome over the vineyard that prevents any magic user from getting close to them. He’ll have to be persuaded why it’s better here than there.”
“I considered that,” Dylon said, “and decided it would be best for Cody to convince Carson about it first because Remy trusts Carson to do what’s best for the boys.”
“Fine,” Jackson agreed. “Keep me informed. If Cody needs any help persuading Carson, let me know.”
“Will do,” said Dylon.
“Now,” Jackson continued, “regarding everyone else…Jimmy has agreed to stay here…”
“No hardship there,” Jimmy drawled, grinning. “It’ll give me time with my grandpups.”
“You mean spoil them, don’t cha?” Steel smirked.
Chuckling, Jimmy said, “Same thing.”
“It is with you, darling,” Mystia said, smiling.
“Don’t be comin’ at me when you’re just as guilty,” Jimmy murmured, leaning over and kissing his wife before continuing. “Please be careful and come back to me, sweetheart.”
“That only leaves the members of this pack,” Jackson said. “Just to bring you up-to-date, Fionn has agreed to meet Alex, so he, Sawyer and Glenn will be leaving for France early tomorrow morning. If Carson and Remy agree, the boys can come back here on the plane the next day. Kieran, Logan and Quin intend to stay for at least a week. I’m not sure what Oracle’s plans are, but I can find out. And of course, Remy and Carson will remain in France.”
Steel, who’d been deep in thought, turned to Dylon. “I told Groose to move the threat level to the highest, so you can coordinate with him regarding your plan for keeping the pack safe.”
“Good, that was my next step,” Dylon concurred.
“Okay…now that leaves the problem about the low-level magic users.” Looking at Mystia, he asked, “Zohar wants them moved within the next three days, right?”
“That’s correct, however, I can’t narrow it down any more than that,” replied Mystia.
