Michael held his hand out for them to shake, which they did without hesitation. “Good to finally meet you.”
“Likewise.” Val smiled. “I’ve known about you from the beginning, but over the years I had my doubts whether this day would actually come.”
Michael sighed. “As did I.” He let her hand go. “I’m sorry it’s taken this long.”
She was the only human to know his identity, and he’d only spoken to her very rarely by phone. It was almost overwhelming to be meeting her in person.
“Let’s not waste any more time.” She led them over to the rest of the humans and made introductions. Though the feelings of wariness remained on both sides, getting down to business happened easily enough.
“Firstly,” Val said, gesturing to the gun strapped to one thigh and the wicked-looking hunting knife on the other. “You can see we have access to weapons.”
Michael looked around the group. “Is that just you here, or do you have more?”
She laughed, and a murmur went around the group. “Over the last five years, we’ve managed to amass an impressive arsenal. We’ve been sitting on it, waiting for this day to come.”
Michael blew out a breath. “Good.” That was one thing they could check off their list. Sending humans into pack territory unarmed was never going to be an option, but if they were able to defend themselves, then that increased their chances of succeeding significantly.
He motioned for Sam to come close. “Can you go back out and get that message back to Logan? I know it’s something Isaac will be asking.”
Sam nodded and disappeared at a jog the way they’d come.
“If Marie and Andrew have been taken by Simon like you suspect, then I imagine we don’t have as much time as we’d like to plan for this?”
Michael shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”
“In that case, what do you need from us, and what can you tell us about the packs involved?”
They spent the better part of the next two hours going through which packs they could rely on for help, what shifter contacts the humans had, and roughly how many numbers they could rely on to attack the capital.
Michael didn’t bother hiding his surprise at the sheer number of humans involved in their resistance. At one point, he wondered if they even needed him at all.
Val caught his expression and laughed. “We may have a lot of members, but if we attacked without your backing, then we’d lose too many lives. I’m not willing to throw away people like that.”
“I understand.”
“That’s not to say I expect to do this without casualties. I’m not naive or stupid. But with you and the other alphas, we have a chance to end this quickly and with minimum loss of life if we can take them by surprise.”
Michael agreed. “Which is why we need to plan quickly and attack them before they realise what’s going on.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “How soon are you talking?”
“Two, three days, at most.” It was what he and Isaac had agreed upon. “You know they have Logan’s parents, and it’s only a matter of time before Simon extracts all their secrets.” He grimaced, hating to think of his friends at the mercy of that wanker. “I don’t know to what lengths he’ll go to get them to talk, but at this point, I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
“Neither would I.” She nodded as if coming to a decision. “I think this is the best chance we’re ever going to get to overthrow the Shifter Alliance. We’ve organised a meeting tonight. I’ll tell them everything we’ve discussed and get back to you with our plan. I know some of the alphas involved. We’ll coordinate with them also.”
Michael nodded. “I’ll wait to hear from you. Be safe,” he added as she went to walk away.
“You too,” she replied, then gripped his arm. “I’m trusting you and your people to keep your word about forming a joint council after all this is over. Don’t make me regret that.”
“I won’t. You have my word.”
She tipped her chin and then turned away to gather the rest of her team.
Michael and the others watched them leave.
“I think that went well, don’t you?” Sam asked, nudging Michael with his elbow.
“Better than I was expecting.”
