“He’s the next Paladin alpha. They will not touch him,” Rab added.
The realization of that seemed to dawn on Sawyer and his eyes widened a little. I felt the shock of it through our bond.
‘How will our son lead two packs?’Sawyer suddenly asked.
I had no fucking clue.‘Problems for future Sawyer and Demi.’
‘Agreed,’Sawyer said, and then looked at the leaders around the table.
“How do we protect the women and children during the fight?” Eugene asked. “We have over a hundred pregnant women.”
“What if we got the women, children, and elderly back into the bunker with a week’s worth of food while this plays out?” I offered.
Sawyer nodded. “That could work, although I don’t expect to be fighting for a week. We need to hit them hard and fast. I want this over in twenty-four hours after we start it.”
I blew air through my teeth. “When do we start it?”
Silence descended on the table. No one spoke, no one moved. How did you decide when to start a war that might possibly kill people you cared about?
“Probably sooner rather than later since they’re looking for all of you,” a familiar voice called from the open doorway.
Luka.
Sawyer stood, grinning. “You missed me, didn’t you?”
Luka rolled his eyes. “You know, my aunt can be a real hag, and I thought you might want some help.”
Okay, their little bromance was adorable.
Sawyer welcomed Luka to the table.
“Bennett and Talon?”
“In Spokane. I’ll meet up with them after I help you.”
I had to admit, his loyalty was kinda hot. My eyes flicked to Sage to see if she was drooling over the sexy vampire, but her gaze was pinned on Walsh.
Of course. I then looked at Raven to see her practically undressing Luka with her eyes and I grinned. She must have felt my gaze, because she looked at me and her cheeks pinked.Hmm, they would make a cute couple.
“Have you fed?” I asked Luka. He looked better.
Luka tipped his head to me. “Yes, ma’am. I met a nice fey-Ithaki in the woods. After she tried to kill me, I had lunch.”
Okay … I was no longer attracted to him and was now slightly terrified.
Sawyer was quick to defend his friend.‘He doesn’t feed from women without permission. Unless they try to kill him of course.’
‘Of course.’
“Can you compulse?” I asked him point-blank. If he was vampire royalty, the queen’s nephew, he had to have some major power.
He stilled, suddenly unmoving more than he was already unmoving. I’d touched a nerve and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was rude to ask, like the trolls couldn’t talk about their magic.
“Because if you can,” I tried to explain, “maybe you could help us lure the queen into the Dark Woods.”
My compulsion power was still at its baby stage, and I had zero hope that it would work on the queen of the freaking vampires.
He raised one eyebrow. “The Dark Woods?”
