Luka and I froze. We hadn’t told him yet that the werewolves were basically slaves there, and Demi obviously hadn’t said anything to him either.
“The werewolves aren’t exactly friends of the vampires there,” Luka hedged.
“Just tell him,” Demi said, her jaw tightening.
Sawyer frowned. “Tell me what?”
We were surrounded by Ruby, Vasquez, Sage, Walsh, Liv, Rab, and Marmal, and it felt like a very personal and serious thing to tell someone their entire race was enslaved.
Luka stayed silent, unable to do it, so I was the one. “The werewolves and trolls in Night City are slaves. They all wear shock collars.”
Sawyer’s entire body flinched. He squeezed his sandwich so hard it fell in half. Demi, Walsh, Sage, they all wore similar expressions. Marmal too.
“But…” I tried to lighten the mood. “I told them that fey blades remove the collars.”
Demi nodded. “Maybe some of them can spread the word and they can break free. They could come here.”
Sawyer looked at his wife, bobbing his head in agreement. “When you go back, spread the word to the wolves that if any want to break free and join our pack, they are welcome. Tell them how to get here.”
Relief spread through me. I would love to tell them that. “I’ll do that.”
“Tell us about your visit,” Luka asked Sawyer.
“NOLA Magic City is exactly like here. Once we told the local alpha about the breeding program, he agreed to take it down and send us proof it was done. He’ll do it on whatever night we want so that we can coordinate.”
Sawyer’s words brought such relief, I nearly collapsed into the chair.
I looked at Ruby. “And what about Austin?”
She and Liv traded a look, then Ruby spoke: “There are barely any purebloods in Austin’s magic city. They’re really predominantly Ithaki. Everyone else is mixed with varying powers. The king and queen are both Ithaki, and they despise pure bloods. They offered to hunt down the fey encampment and free the women before wiping out the Munai or whoever is in charge.”
Okay, checkmark on that city! This was amazing news.
“Walsh?” Luka looked to one of his best friends.
“Chicago was similar to Idaho. Local alpha says he will take care of it, and he sends his thanks on letting him know about the issue.”
“Same with ours,” Vasquez added. “We went to the vampire king and he agreed that if you tell him the day, they will take it all down. They are already at war with the fey. He seemed excited to have a reason to invade their territory.”
Ruby yipped in excitement, and I couldn’t help but feel the same as well.
“So Los Angeles is really our only problem,” I mused.
“And our home turf,” Sawyer commented. “In order to really stop this, we need to stop people from buying the babies in the first place.”
“We need to take out Maz. She’s the mastermind,” I told them.
Everything led back to Maz and the leaders of the societies that she had brainwashed. I hadn’t yet told everyone that I was now cursed and wouldn’t be able to harm her. But it needed to be done or they would just regroup.
“If we kill Maz first, the other cities might spook and shut down or go into hiding,” Ruby mused.
I nodded. “She’ll have to be last. As well as the other society leaders. And we’ll need to get proof out to all the hunters what she was doing. Then they can rebuild the society from the ground up.”
Ruby nodded. “Aspen, once you guys take out Los Angeles, and the other cities free their breeders, you could bait Maz and finish her off.”
Liv nodded. “Ruby and I could lead small hunter teams to the society houses in each city and take out their corrupt leader. In one night we end this whole thing.”
Luka looked at me and I squirmed under his gaze. “I won’t be taking out Maz.”
