“Rogues again?” he growled, voice heavy with sarcasm.
“No.” I didn’t need to smell them yet. I sensed the difference—deliberate, trained, packless but not wild. “Council soldiers,” I answered. “Possibly a scouting party. Testing us.”
Killian met us at the rise, chest heaving, eyes bright. Hejabbed a thumb toward the tree line below. “They didn’t try to hide. They want us to see them.”
Perfect. I wasn’t in the mood for subtlety. “Let’s go out and meet them, then,” I growled.
Diesel caught my arm. “You sure?”
“I’m not hiding from these bastards, are you?”
Killian and Diesel grinned in response, and all three of us took off our clothes and then shed our human forms.
The first wolf burst out of the darkness—larger than a typical shifter, muscles tight from relentless training and harsh living.
Trained. Disciplined. Elite hunters.
Diesel snarled through the mindlink. “They sent their good ones first. How flattering.”
The second wolf followed, then a third, forming a line of bodies slipping into view like shadows peeling off the forest.
“Hold fast,”I ordered over the link. “Hold your positions.”
Diesel and Killian did as ordered while we waited for the Pack Council’s scout party to reveal themselves. Arrogance made men cocky.
My pack was ready behind me; I could feel them approaching. Cody led the way with wolves at my back. The ridges leading into the Hollow were fortified, and traps had been set—just as we had planned.
There would be no panic and no hesitation. They trusted me to make it through the first strike.
The Pack Council wolves reached the base of the ridge and slowed.
Killian sounded smug. “They’re waiting for us to jump.”
I stepped forward slightly. “Then we don’t.”
I waited, listening to my pack through the mindlink, waiting for the signal. Behind me, twenty wolves lowered into crouches. To the right, Emberfell watched, their fighters mixed in with mine. We’d dispersed them among our fighters, but they were spread out through the pack, never enough to suddenly feel the surprise of their attack should they betray us.
However, the more time I spent with their pack and Jaxson himself, I realized there was no ill will between us. Their only focus was on one thing: revenge. Their hatred and attention were directed at the Pack Council, and while I initially thought that would make them reckless, Jaxson’s pack listened carefully and considered everything we said.
I was more concerned about some of my pack acting on impulse than about the Emberfell one. Even Dex, and it didn’t surprise me that he hadn’t surprised me.
If we made it through this, then I would be proud to call Emberfell allies. Hell, I was proud now.
“To our left,” Diesel grumbled. “Say the word, Alpha.”
The Council wolves looked up, eyes shining with challenge, aware they’d been seen and not trying to hide.
I gave them silence in return.
The first of them moved.
“Wait,”I commanded my pack.They could see us, but I knew we looked hesitant, not patient.
More wolves surged up the slope in response.
“Wolfe?”Rowen sounded sharp in my head. “No mercy, Alpha. No fucking mercy.”
I loved my fierce wife.
