7
Hector
Tomorrow didn’t bringthe answers I needed. Neither did the day after that, or after that. Virgil remained in the dark about the baby. I was one month into my pregnancy now, and I would definitely start showing it in the next few weeks. On top of that, Colin had been missing for two weeks. Nobody had seen any sign of him since the night hedisappeared.
The camp knew about what happened between Colin and I. I tried to make it as clear as possible that although what he did was skeezy and unacceptable, I didn’t think he was a bad person. More than that, I knew we needed as many people - especially alphas - as possible for our mission against Gunner. Losing him was atacticalloss.
But with his disappearance brought bigger problems. Virgil was nervous aboutwhyhe didn’t come back. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but I knew exactly why. He was afraid Colin betrayed us. Two weeks was plenty of time to let Gunner know where we were and what we were doing. If Colin defected, any hope we had of winning against Gunner was essentially crushed. Without an ambush, we had nochance.
Despite the Colin situation, things were starting to ramp up at camp. Not a wasted day went by. Hunting was done, medical supplies were gathered, and most importantly, there were multiple missions to go back into town and recruit more shifters. Since the camp was small and a large group would draw attention, many of them stayed within the town, waiting for a signal. They were informed of our plans down to the detail, and they spread the news to any trusted shifter who was willing tolisten.
By the end of the two weeks, Woodrow estimated we had at least one hundred shifters onourside.
Shane whistled after Woodrow spoke at the head of the campfire, where we had all gathered for the night. “That’salot.”
“But is it going to be enough?” Darrelasked.
“It’s going to have to be,” Virgil said, his mouth tight. “We cannot put off an attack for much longer. Our group is getting too big. It’s going to attract attention we can’t afford toreceive.”
Murmurs of agreement. I glanced up at Virgil, sitting next to me. I’d taken the seat next to him at every meeting since the night we reconciled. Nobody said anything but I was pretty sure it was clear now we weremates.
Good, I thought.I don’t want any of the other omegas getting ideas aboutmyman.
The only person who already knew was George. His presence at meetings was a constant reminder of my lie. Every time I caught his sharp gaze, I winced. He knew I hadn't told Virgil yet. He was probably judging me for it. But he promised not to say anything, because he knew this wasourproblem.
A problem that was getting harder and harder todealwith.
I looked away from George and tried to pretend he wasn’tthere.
“The alphas we sent on a mission a few days ago should have been back by now,” said Chris. “I’m getting worried. What’s taking themsolong?”
Just as he finished speaking, bushes on the far side of camp rustled and a small stream of wolves came slipping into view. They shifted back to human form and settled around the rest of the group around the fire. There were five in total, all alphas that I helped bring back on the very first missiontotown.
“Sorry we’re late,” an alpha named Michael growled. “The route back took us longer thanexpected.”
“That’s okay,” Virgil said, standing tall. “Tell us what youlearned.”
Michael nodded, then continued. “We checked out the last known location of Gunner’s whereabouts. We assumed he was still in his previous building, the one we all know of, and he is. We saw him coming in and out of the building, so we can confirm ourroute.”
“How did you get close enough without him seeing you?” Chrisasked.
“We were with a bunch of our in-town spies. We stayed pretty far back, just in case, but their scent should have masked ours.” Michael frowned. “To be honest, I’m not even sure if Gunner knows that shifters are missing from his pack. If they’re not omegas, he doesn’t seem to giveashit.”
“That’s an advantage for us,”Woodrowsaid.
“Yes, but we still have to be careful,” Virgil added. “He knows his elite alphas are still loose out theresomewhere.”
“Maybe he thinks we’re all dead,” Shanemuttered.
“Heshouldthink Virgil is dead, at least,” Michael growled. “Our spies told us that the lie has been spread throughout the pack. Some of the shifters not pleased with Gunner’s rule seemed disappointed to hear about your ‘passing,’boss.”
Virgil seemed both saddened and relieved by this news. “That will give us an edge to work with. If more people believe it, hopefully Gunner will be inclined to believe it as well. Although Iamsorry to lie to those that believedinme.”
“I’m sure they’ll forgive you when you magically come back from the dead to whoop Gunner’s ass,” Imumbled.
“True.”
There was a pause, then Darrel decided to speak up about the question on everyone’s mind. “Was there any sign ofColin?”
