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“Which is why we should get the process started,” Garren replies, sounding like a leader with a plan. “It would be our plan B.”
“What’s plan A?” King Grey asks, a subtle challenge in his tone as he stares at his eldest son.
“We deploy four packs to the location where the witches mentioned meeting up with Hekate to hand us over. Two of ours and two of Lafayettes,” Garren replies, not letting his father intimidate him. “Dark Hunters and Lightbringers should do the trick on our end.”
“Why not the Pack of Shadows?” King Grey asks, cocking a brow in question.
“Because if Tiana comes anywhere near Alyssa, I will finish the job I started,” Garren hisses, letting his possessive and protective Alpha impulses get the best of him. They’re hard to control in a normal relationship but being the fated one really brings it up several notches.
The corners of King Grey’s mouth lift, his amusement on display for everyone to see. I clench my hands into fists, bracing myself for a comment that will surely set Garren off.
“I’ll allow the Lightbringers to join the Dark Hunters,” King Grey says at last. “But only because Tiana finds herself temporarily indisposed.”
I exhale in relief, knowing that I’ll have my sister there to cover my back. While we’ve never been on a mission together, we did make sure that our packs practiced together whenever we were stationed in the same camp. Our wolves are familiar with each other, and while one side wields Darkness, the other possesses the ability of Lightness. The two powers fall on the opposite side of the spectrum, but Malia and I have managed to figure out a way to make it work.
“I’ll talk to Leia to make sure the Lafayette pack’s good to go, but since the other packs are spread thin and too far away to call in, there’s only one left. Unfortunately, I don’t think that our young survivors are in any condition to join a fight. It might take a couple of years for them to be ready,” King Gavin says. He hesitates before continuing, “With your permission, Father, and of course, with Garren’s agreement, for the length of the mission, I’d take the position of the Alpha of my old Pack of Shadows.”
“You’re not a Grey anymore,” King Grey snarls, hiding the hurt of Gavin’s departure behind anger and hatred.
“That might be true, but he is the only one who knows the Pack of Shadows inside and out, and they are the strongest pack we have,” Garren counters, putting the good of the mission above his personal feelings. With Tiana leading the Pack of Shadows, they couldn’t be trusted, but with Gavin as their head...that definitely changes things.
“I’ll have to talk to Leia first,” King Gavin says, referring to his wife who’s also his superior because she’s the one who inherited the Lafayette crown. “I don’t think she’ll be too happy about it, but I might be able to convince her.”
“Unless you got her pregnant, there’s no way she’ll let you go,” King Grey tells him and waves his hand as if dismissing the whole idea. “We either find another Alpha for the Pack of Shadows or we pick a different pack altogether.”
“Actually...” King Gavin starts and trails off, letting the silence and his smile speak for itself.
“You didn’t!” Graham exclaims in excitement, proving for the first time that he’s actually following the conversation.
“We’re trying to keep it on the down low until she’s in her second trimester, but it looks good,” King Gavin says, confirming that he and Queen Leia Lafayette are expecting their first heir.
Surprisingly, except Graham, Garren, and I, no one else congratulates Gavin or offers him well wishes. The family drama runs much deeper than I thought.
“Clear it with your wife,” Garren tells his youngest brother, both of them still smiling. “The preparations will be put in motion today, and in the morning, Alyssa and I will travel to meet up with the Dark Hunters and Lightbringers at the camp. We’ll depart from there and meet up a couple of miles away from the target.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” King Grey says to Garren, catching us all by surprise.
“What?” Garren asks, his brows flying up into his forehead as he gives his father a look full of confusion. “What do you mean? Of course, I’m going. I’m a part of the Dark Hunters now, and we’re already down two members. Every wolf counts.”
“You’re forgetting that you’re not just any wolf,” King Grey tells his son. “You’re Prince Garren Grey. You’re heir apparent and the future Grey King. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I know exactly who I am, which is why I’m going,” Garren replies, and though his voice is firm, he’s also well-mannered and polite. “Throughout the years, Gavin has set a good example that I should’ve followed much earlier. Fighting side by side with our own subjects, showing them that their lives matter just as much as ours, that’s the secret to keeping our monarchy intact. If I’m going to be a good king, I need to know who I’m governing over. They need to know me and be willing to lay their lives down for me if asked to.”
“Your life is more important than theirs,” King Grey insists. “You are the future.”
“I understand, Father,” Garren replies, his voice softening when he sees through King Grey’s rude mask at the same time that I manage to decipher it. The old king is afraid of losing it all, losing them all. “You have enough heirs to keep the line going. Worst case scenario, Grayden will take the throne.”
“Nothing bad will happen to any of us,” King Gavin says with so much conviction in his voice that even I’m inclined to believe him. “We’re good at what we do, and we all know what our job will be.”
“Hekate is a threat, Father,” Garren tells him. “With or without your permission, I’m going.”
With those as his last words, Garren stands and offers me his hand. Our fingers intertwine, and together, we walk out of the conference room to work on the plans of quite possibly the biggest and the most important attack we’ll ever make.
CHAPTER 12
Garren
We were so damn busy with planning and running through all the possible scenarios, that the day flew by without either one of us noticing.
