Chapter 35: A Plan: Part 2

I try not to stare, but seeing a wolf with any kind of scars is so rare.

We self-heal, miraculously and instantly, most of the time, and only one type of wound will ever leave a mark like that on a healthy wolf. Silver dipped in wolfsbane.

I heard they used it against our kind in the wars with some success, although it killed most.

If it doesn’t kill the victim, it leaves them forever marked as this wolf is by creating an infection inside the body and poisoning the site around it.

It eats into the body and flesh, making the victim so sick that healing won’t cure the mess. They have to heal like a human.

I don’t recall ever seeing this wolf, but I guess he wouldn’t want to be seen outside much with damage like that.

Wolves have very large egos, and any kind of failure in battle makes them act weird and live in shame. We’re all about that. I mean, it’s affected my entire existence.

“Where else would she train? She’s safer with me, and I’m safer being the one to teach her to fight.

“This thing is real, and no one has more experience than the combat teams, of which we are one.” There’s an edge to Colton’s tone.

His gaze flickers my way, and I catch Carmen out of the corner of my eye, throwing him a full-on pathetic and woeful look.

She’s aiming to manipulate him with what I assume used to be a tried and tested method when he was with her. Tears come out to play, and I try to ignore her.

Colton’s jaw muscle twitches, and he glances away from her, back at his pack, somewhat unimpressed. A frown creases his forehead, and his eyes cloud over a little in glowing amber.

“Radar, I think it’s the best plan, and we as a unit can bring her up to speed and teach her how to sync with us to become one fluid machine with an extra set of teeth.

“Our pack lost numbers with Karly and Ebony both being with pup and out of action.”

Meadow throws me an encouraging, warm smile as she backs up Colton’s statement, bringing my attention to the fact there’s usually more to this sub-pack, bringing in femme numbers to match the males.

She starts subtly growling at her mate when he opens his mouth to say something, and he shuts it just as quickly.

I blink back at the scarred wolf, and it clicks; his name must be Radar. It’s weird for a name, but I assume it’s a nickname, something to do with whatever gift he has.

I know some wolves possess the ability to feel things coming from afar and have insight into certain things in the way a real radar pulse would.

I wonder if it’s what he can do, although maybe not if the vampire attack was unforeseen.

“And if she’s useless and slows us down… what then?” Carmen butts in nastily, abandoning her pitiful act bitchily because he didn’t bite.

Instead, she pushes between us to get in the middle of the conversation, putting herself between Colton and me and nudging closer to him to mark her territory.

Colton steps sideways away from her, turns, walks to the bar, pulls out a bottle of water from a concealed fridge, and takes a slow drink without reacting to her.

“Why would she be? We’re good teachers. We’ve taught many of our kind and started them in their training.

“Besides, didn’t you see the chaos in the house, or were you too busy being blinded by your seething hatred?”

Meadow doesn’t hold back, her words dripping with venom, coming at Carmen from across the room where Meadow’s been standing back to admire her handiwork.

Colton sighs loudly. He turns, perches his butt against the bar’s edge, and it’s only now I notice the dark circles under his eyes and the ashen pallor of exhaustion.

“Can you two stop for just an hour? I swear this shit gives me a headache.” He’s lackluster too, and I wonder what exactly went down with his meeting with his father. His usual shine is missing.

“She started it!” Carmen blurts out, like a juvenile, and it makes me frown at her with a subtle shake of my head. Mature she is not.

She’s following Colton once more across the room as he pushes off and heads for a couch, but he sees her coming and crosses away to perch on the arm of the opposite one, where the twins are sprawled with cans of beer.

She looks instantly annoyed at the fact she can’t sit anywhere near him, and it irritates me endlessly that she’s chasing him around. It’s evident to all of us that he wants her to leave him alone.

“~She~ has a name, and no… I think your skanky puta always starts shit. When are you going to stop trailing his ass and sit down? You’re being pathetic.”

Meadow lets out a frustrated “arghh” noise under her breath when Carmen doesn’t stop edging closer to him, mirroring my sentiments exactly.

She walks over and yanks Carmen by the arm, pushing her into a nearby chair aggressively, so Carmen stumbles backward ungracefully and butt-thuds.

Then she throws a commanding pointer finger in her face, one of her talons a fraction of an inch away from piercing the end of Carmen’s nose.

“Now sit! Like a good little puppy, or I might have to spank you.” Meadow is throwing attitude, and with a tone and glare like hers, I wouldn’t argue.

Carmen’s face turns puce with outrage, her eyes darting wildly to Colton to overrule his second-in-command and chastise her for talking to her that way, manhandling her.

But Colton inhales again, sighs heavily, and returns to his previous position of sipping on his bottle of water. Carmen looks like she may self-implode and make Meadow’s and my day, after all.

Meadow slinks over to Cesar on one of the armchairs and crawls onto his lap, curling herself around him and nestling her butt against his crotch.

I can’t help but watch how he opens up and accepts her invasion, wrapping her in his arms willingly.

He whispers something in her ear before she smiles at him sexily and quickly flutters a kiss on his lips. It’s so fluid. There’s no refusal and no insecurity in her that he might not want her to sit on him.

They’re entirely bonded in all ways, and although I haven’t seen her mark, I can tell it’s done.

They have that connection oozing from them that says their union is finalized, and they can communicate on a deeper level than what we have so far.

A mark can be wherever your mate decides to put it. Although most males like to have it on show and put it on a femme’s throat, not all do.

They’re known for territorial possessiveness, so it’s more common than not. Cesar is obviously very secure about his fiery hot femme, who can battle off males by herself.

I ache for that, wondering where Colton would choose to place his hands and have to tear my eyes away from him before Carmen kicks off again.

My heart is beating a little too fast, and my soul yearns stronger than before. I miss his touch already.

I realize I’ve zoned out and blink back to reality. They’re talking about zones and patrols and something to do with the new containment areas.

I try to listen in as Colton explains that they’re setting up homes in the valley to accommodate the families from other parts of the mountain tomorrow.

Tents and temporary buildings will need to be erected, and they will convert the local bar and school on this side, along with the gym and the community hall.

They have camper vans and motorhomes coming out of storage for some, but many of the people they want to move closer refuse to leave their homes and unite on this side.

“You can’t force people to shift everything and up and leave to move a few miles. I get why, but these people don’t want to leave their homes for a tent in the fields, Cole,” Jesús says.

I watch as they all lean forward, seriousness kicking in as they talk this out and freely throw in opinions—everyone except me and, of course, Carmen.

She is focused on the conversation at hand and silently listening on the outskirts of the huddle, gazing longingly at Colton.

“We don’t know when another attack will come, and it’s easier to keep them safe if we have them here.” Colton shrugs, repeating what he’s been told.

However, a look flashing across his face tells me he disagrees. I almost will him to stop mimicking his father’s words and be honest with what he thinks we should be doing.

“Easier to control, you mean? We all know your father has been angling for supreme reign for years, and this sounds a lot like he’s trying to force the packs into one place so they’re easier to police,” Mateo says.

I guess I was thinking and feeling the same, and I’m surprised I’m not the only one.

Colton throws a dangerous look at Mateo, a growl in the undercurrent as he jumps on the defensive over an insult aimed his father’s way.

Mateo doesn’t back down. “You know it, Cole. You know how he is. Tell me it’s better to corral people together when they have a device that can disable us all within one space, and I’ll drop it.”

Mateo talks sense, and I agree. Bringing the people together means we’re a sitting target if they use the same device.

But at least spread out, we can escape the effects and fight back. They can’t attack us all in one go with one of those things, surely.

I catch Colton glancing my way, something flickering across his eyes as he thinks, and then he turns back to Mateo. I miss the quick message in his look, not sure what it meant.

“Okay, maybe. I mean, we always knew he would try to maneuver some sort of union around the mountain. I just didn’t think he would physically expect them to move here.

“The device, we don’t know enough to second-guess what it would do to us all in the valley. What we brought back has a limited range.”

Colton is uneasy, and I can tell he doesn’t like his pack questioning orders from above. He truly is hooked by the nose when it comes to his father, and I need to figure out how to get in there and remove the darn thing.

Maybe I wasn’t paired with Colton so he could save me from my life; perhaps I was paired with him so that I could save him from his.

The Fates work in mysterious ways, and things aren’t always obvious.

“You can’t keep tabs and instill fear into people if they’re not close enough to feel your wrath,” Radar butts in again, and it’s easy to see that Radar isn’t completely loyal to his alpha when it comes to Juan Santo.

There’s a hint of malice in that tone, definite sarcasm in what he said, and I glance at Colton to see if he reacts in any kind of way.

This entire conversation isn’t all that friendly where Juan is concerned, and Colton isn’t biting back in the way I expect.

Outside, if anyone dared to offend his father, he would rip them a new one and leave their remains smeared across the mountain, so I’m a little surprised to find he lets them speak freely.

I guess he respects them enough to let them be honest with their opinion, and nothing said is repeated outside of their circle of trust.

I’m envious for a moment, a longing for belonging I used to know well eating at me.

It pushes me to sit in the corner on a stool by the bar, listening, but not part of this as it’s not my place, and they are not my pack. My opinions on this mean nothing.

“Whatever the reason, he wants us out tomorrow afternoon, driving to the other villages and changing minds.” Colton gazes at the floor this time.

That same twinge of jaw muscle and the color of his eyes glow a little amber for a second—a hint he isn’t happy, his emotions in turmoil.

I suddenly feel them strongly, and it only takes a second to find out why.

“Is he suggesting we apply force to families and children if they refuse to be re-homed?” Cesar bursts out, outrage in his tone.

He almost accidentally evicts Meadow from his lap with his aggressive thrust. She looks equally startled, adjusting her position with a frown at him.

Colton remains silent, and the room also falls into silence as they take it in.

I can feel and taste the confusion and disgust, but no one wants to be the first to say it. I gawk at him, not sure I heard right.

But as I look from ashen face to ashen face of a group of people who all know what he means, I realize that’s exactly what Juan wants.

He expects his sub-packs to go and forcefully remove people from their homes and into the valley floor on the south side.

In the name of protecting them from attacks, the motive is bringing them in and taking control. He will not tolerate refusal, and I wonder what kind of punishment he plans to exact.

Juan is a cold bastard of a man, and this isn’t even as low as I expect he’ll go. Juan always intended to push his agenda, and now he’s using the attack as his excuse.

He hungers for power and reign across the packs and has been biding his time for so long.

They won’t be any safer camping in the valley than they will be in their villages under the guard of patrols and watchers.

Setting up alarm systems and training all who can fight now is a better use of their time. They can all work together to safeguard and improve security from their own homes.

How will they care for and cater to the hundreds living around the mountain skirt if they dump them all in the center of the valley on this side?