“Well?”
“Suppose they grab some backup of their own? What’ll you do in that case?”
It was a smart question from a smart wolf who knew more about battle tactics than Malachi ever would. He stared up at the cabin and did some thinking of his own. “I’m concerned for the rest of the pack. This alpha knows how to manipulate. He might use them if he can get at them, might put them in danger.”
Rhett sighed as though Malachi had just missed his point. “Or putyouin danger, if he’s got a whole network of bad guys on his payroll.”
“I doubt there’s a wolf Mafia in Missouri, Rhett.”
“Forget the payroll then. A network of bad guys who like to rile up other bad guys for kicks. You can’t argue the psychology of that. If we can tolerate each other, we run together. If we can’t, we spread out, but we still keep track of each other.”
Malachi nodded. He couldn’t see himself trusting unknown wolves far enough to involve them in a mission alongside his pack. But maybe another alpha would. Maybe he ought to expect more than six to show up.
“I’d like to preserve April’s privacy,” he said. “But given the violence of these rogue wolves, the pack needs to know we might have trespassers. We need a plan for each household if these rogues go on a general rampage. An alert system—walkie-talkies will be faster than landlines or cell phones, so I picked up enough for each adult in the pack to carry one.”
Rhett whistled. “That wasn’t cheap. You should’ve asked me to get them.”
Malachi shrugged. “It’s fine. We also need one or two homes as meeting points—strength in numbers, especially to protect the pups.”
Rhett walked away from him. Malachi let him. Despite the wolf’s general lack of mood variance, something had just spiked in Rhett’s scent—resistance, frustration, and some other deep emotion he didn’t want Malachi to see.
At last he came back. “I have a safe room.”
He…what? Malachi stared at him. Processed. Realized he wasn’t surprised after all. “Go on.”
“There’s an invisible trapdoor in my second bedroom. A steel ladder down to an open lower level that spans the width and length of my house. The ladder is reinforced, strong enough to barricade the trapdoor against wolf strength. The ceiling is soundproof, scent-proof, and insulated too thick for heat signatures to be detected from above. Nobody would ever know someone was down there—no wolf, no vampire, no human with military tech.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Need-to-know, Malachi.” He smirked. “And now you need to know.”
Malachi shook his head, but…no, he still wasn’t surprised. As clearly as Rhett trusted him, the wolf still operated instinctively as though any person in his life might try to kill him someday.
“If you built that room to protect the pack,” Malachi said, “they need to know now as well. They can’t be told mid-emergency, mid-attack.”
Another low growl, but then Rhett nodded.
“If you’d prefer I talk to them—”
“No,” Rhett said quickly, then dropped his eyes a moment before meeting Malachi’s gaze again. “I’d like it to come from me, please.”
The politeness of the request betrayed an acute discomfort that even Rhett’s scent did not. Malachi nodded. “Let’s gather whoever is available to meet here. I want to disperse the walkie-talkies anyway.”
About fifteen minutes later, the gathering in his front yard included Arlo and Rebecca, Ezra and Willow, Patrick, Corbin, Jeremy, Ann, and Aaron. That was at least one member of nearly every household. Malachi explained April’s situation as succinctly as possible.
“When they show up here, the pack will go to Rhett’s—all of you, as quickly as possible.”
“You’re not worried, though, are you?” Corbin said. “Any lousy wolves that show up here, we can take them.”
“I’m not worried about taking them on,” Malachi said. “But I want a strategy for everyone’s safety during the conflict.”
“But we go toRhett’sof all places?” Jeremy cocked his head. “No offense, man, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“There’s a safe room under my house,” Rhett said.
Jeremy laughed while a few others gave surprised gasps. Aaron crossed his arms and studied not Rhett but Malachi.
Meanwhile Rhett stared hard at Jeremy until the smirk fell from his face.
