Sawyer grinned. “Oh, please, I’d like to see you try.”
Luka chuckled, pulling Sawyer into a quick bro shoulder hug, and smacked him on the back with two flat palms.
“Call me when Demi finds out she has a long-lost sister who looks just like her,” Luka stated as he stepped away.
“Fuck you.” Sawyer ran toward him playfully, fist raised.
Luka beamed, jumping back with vampire speed, just out of Sawyer’s reach, and everyone smiled, then the smiles slipped from their lips one by one.
“Bye, Sawyer,” Luka said.
Sawyer cleared his throat. “Yeah, see you later.”
“Thanks for getting us out, Demi.” Luka bowed his head in respect to me.
I could only nod, seeing their brotherly love had really touched me. I had been wrong to judge Luka as a bad person just because of his family association. It was clear by this display that he was a good man and a good friend to my mate.
As the three guys turned to walk away, I felt Sawyer’s sadness rip through my chest. They were his brothers and he wasn’t sure when he would see them again. I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his back.
“We’ll get Wolf City back, kill the queen, and have the biggest, most amazing, delayed wedding reception anyone has ever seen, and we’ll invite your friends.”
Sawyer spun, taking my face into his big hands, and nodded. “That sounds nice.”
I released a huge sigh, the weight of the task ahead stacking on my back like bricks. “But first we need a really good plan.”
“Let’s get everyone together and figure this out,” Sawyer agreed.
Star,Raven, Eugene, Rab, Arrow, Sage, Sawyer, Walsh, Marmal, and I, all stood inside of Astra’s church. I’d gone to check on Astra before coming to the meeting and was beyond relieved to find she was healing well from her wounds—my wounds, really. The doctor said it would take a few weeks, but she’d make a full recovery.
Now it was time to take the queen down, before she could harvest my wolf’s essence or something crazy. I had tried to see things from my wolf’s point of view, but we were cut off. They’d done some magic to keep her mind closed to me, which was bullshit considering shewasme! It had to be the cuffs; they locked down our bond like I’d been locked down from communicating with Sawyer. I sensed her fear, but that was all I could get. I just hoped they weren’t draining her blood or torturing her or anything crazy.
‘I’m going to get you out,’I sent to her, unsure if she could receive it. I had a vague sense of her location, like you would sense where you were upon waking up from sleep, but then it faded like a dream. She was still in Light Fey Territory and I was taking that as a good sign. If the fey allowed the queen to take her to Vampire City, then we would have problems.
“Okay, you all know what we are up against and what needs to happen. The vampires need to be evicted from Wolf City so, who wants to start? We welcome all ideas.” Sawyer opened his hands in a gesture of welcome.
Marmal cleared her throat. “I could get at least a hundred trolls to help. We can…” Her cheeks flushed red. “I’m forbidden from speaking of our magic, but we can be of a big help where metal is involved.”
Sawyer nodded, and then raised one eyebrow. “Metal like swords and guns? Could you render them obsolete?”
Marmal looked physically uncomfortable and I wondered if she actually couldn’t talk about her troll magic, like she was spelled not to.
“She can,” I stated, remembering how she’d burst all of the locks from the cages to free Trip’s captured animals.
Marmal looked relieved that I had been the one to answer.
“That would be amazing. Yes!” Sawyer said, scribbling something on a piece of paper.
Star raised her hand. “We can protect the trolls while they disarm the vampires of any metal weapons. Create a shield around them.”
Sawyer grinned, and I felt his happiness bubble over into me. “Perfect.” He wrote it down.
Rab tapped the table. “The queen won’t fall for that trap. The second she sees us fighting back collectively, she’ll run or hurt Demi’s wolf to draw her out.”
Silence descended over the table.
He was right. I’d told him just before the meeting that we’d had to leave my wolf behind, and the heartbreaking look he’d given me had almost made me burst into tears.
I nodded. “I have a plan for that.”
