Tamsin’s gaze flicked to him. “Exactly.”
I watched her as she spoke.
God help me, I was proud.
And not just proud in that protective way I’d always been. Proud in a deeper, hotter way that made my heart beat a bit faster in my chest. She was fierce, intelligent, stubborn as hell, and still somehow soft enough to care about strangers dying in world gone wrong.
I was lucky. That was the simple truth.
Zara broke the quiet with a practical question. “What about the Watch? The ones who stayed with us. Are they going?”
Elias answered. “No. We keep the groups small. Just us three packs should be more than enough for what we’re planning.”
“And what about Commander Dane?” Sera asked, her mouth twisting with hatred. The room stilled just a fraction. Sera leaned forward slightly, forearms on her knees, eyes fixed onTamsin. “And the ones who left with him,” she added. “The defectors. We can’t pretend like they just vanished.”
Nox pushed off the wall and moved closer to the table, rolling his shoulders once like he was shaking off the memory. “I followed their tracks last night.”
All heads turned toward him.
“Dane’s were easy to follow at first,” he went on. “They headed north, then cut hard west. Doubled back twice. Split once, then regrouped.”
Magnus frowned. “You lose them?”
Nox nodded, clearly not pleased. “I’m sorry. I lost them in the wilds. Past the last service road. After that, they stopped leaving a trail that I could follow.”
“Then they’re still out there,” Logan said.
“Yes,” Nox replied.
“We assume Dane is still active,” Tamsin said. “We keep our eyes and ears to the ground for signs of him and his crew, but we don’t let his disappearance hinder our plans.”
Sera nodded once. “Agreed.”
“So. What do you all say?” Tamsin asked.
Magnus glanced at his pack, then back at Tamsin. “If you’re going, then we’re going.”
Zara nodded. “Definitely.”
Logan followed with a slow, firm nod. “We’ll go too.”
Jamie exhaled. “Brilliant. A hike through England with a target on our backs.”
Edward’s gaze stayed steady. “It’s better than waiting here for them to send another shipment of ferals to our shores.”
Aidan added quietly, “We’ve spent too long surviving day to day. This is a chance to show that wolves aren’t the hated thing London’s made them out to be.”
His brother Declan grunted agreement.
“We’ll need boats,” Tamsin said. “Not all of us can fit in one. We take what the base has and whatever the Watch can get us quietly. We leave at night. We don’t make fires unless it’s necessary. No loud noises if we can help it.”
Eamon scribbled notes. “We’ll need food for a week at least. Water storage. Medical supplies.”
Bishop nodded. “And a plan for if we’re separated.”
Tamsin looked at each pack in turn. “We set rendezvous points. If you miss one, you go to the next. No heroics. No doubling back.”
Killian grinned. “That rule’s aimed at me, isn’t it.”
