A crazy fucking plan that every single person at this table was going to say no to.
Sawyer must have sensed it was a wild idea, because he turned to me, one eyebrow raised. “Well?” His body was tense, like he was preparing for a fight. The only person who I could make eye contact with while I verbalized this insanity was Sage. She was the only one who would get it.
“I want to use myself as bait to draw the queen into the Dark Woods where I’ll have the upper hand and I can kill her.” I said it in one big rush and then braced myself for the barrage of comments.
I was not disappointed.
“The place you got lost for A YEAR!” Sawyer yelled.
“Are you crazy?” Raven shot.
“Alpha,no,” Rab added.
“You have a son to think about,” Eugene reminded me. “What if you get lost for another year?”
“Or the queen kills you out there?” Sawyer said, and chills rushed up my arms. “And we can’t get to you, so we never know. I’mnotokay with that. No way in hell.”
Sage hadn’t said anything. She just looked at me with compassion, but now held up her hand, cutting Sawyer off when he was about to speak again. “Do you trust that the woods won’t deceive you this time?” she asked me.
I nodded. “You saw how they opened and we made it home. They trust me.”
Sage smiled. “They’ll help you kill her.”
I grinned, mirroring her smile and imagining a giant fucking tree landing on the queen’s face. “Exactly.”
Sawyer frowned. “What are you guys talking about?”
Sage stood, pulling up her shirt to show a network of scars that ran along her abdomen. Everyone at the table gasped and Walsh let loose a pained whimper.
I’d done my best to protect her during our time there, but most of the wounds Sage had sustained before I found her were permanent, even with werewolf healing.
“I went after Demi, ignoring the advice of the others, and the woods tried to kill me.” She pulled her shirt down and placed both palms on the table, leaning toward Sawyer for effect. “They’realive. The trees move, the animals don’t think for themselves. Everything in that place serves her.” She pointed to me. “And attacks everyone else.”
Sawyer leaned back in his chair. “Holy shit,” he breathed.
Walsh was watching Sage with glowing yellow eyes. I knew they had a lot of unsaid shit between them and I could see his adoration for her all over his face. But Sage had changed, she wasn’t the type to wait around for a guy to man up and declare his feelings for her anymore. Walsh’s chance might already be lost, and that made me sad because I knew he loved her and that she loved him back.
Reaching under the table, Sawyer gave my thigh a squeeze, and that one squeeze said so much. It said:I’m sorry for what you went through. It said:I trust you.
“Okay.” His voice was small, as if he’d failed. “You lead the queen into the Dark Woods, but I want to be there too. I won’t allow you to go alone.”
I shook my head. “Weren’t you listening. The trees—”
“I’ll bring a fucking chainsaw!” Sawyer bellowed to the room. “Demi, I’m not ever going to be separated from you again.Ever.”
Damn stubborn idiot. “Fine,” I growled.
“I’m going too. He will probably get killed without my help.” Sage pointed to Sawyer. “And we should bring Creek, because I’m not dealing with some kidnapping situation once the vampires know about my nephew.”
She was right.Shit. She wassoright. What if they found out about him…?
“The cabin,” I breathed. “Sawyer, Sage, and Creek can wait in the cabin and I’ll lure the queen there and kill her.”
The thought of seeing the place where I’d birthed my son again filled me with warmth.
“Would the woods hurt Creek?” Sawyer was suddenly rethinking his idea now that it involved our son.
“No,” Rab and I said at the same time.
