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“Glad you mentioned him. Here’s what we’ve got.” He spoke quickly and outlined everything Mary had told him.
He felt a terrible shock settle over his wolves.
“If Harley could be turned,” Ryan said, his voice little more than a growl, “then any of us could fall victim to Sydon and his witch.”
“How they subverted Harley is unknown, but Mary saw him and he appeared to be drugged or possibly be-spelled.
“More importantly, I believe Sydon and Sandrine have corrupted a specific wolf in each of the fifteen acknowledged Savage packs. They’ve siphoned off top men, probably without their knowledge, in order to learn critical details about the different pack compounds. Their plan appears to be as comprehensive as it is vile.”
Ryan scowled. “But what do they want? What are they after?”
“Sandrine has found a mate in Sydon. They’re bonded and her craving for power feeds off that. But she also craves chaos and murder. The dark witches are some of the most violent in all of Five Bridges. If they could get the packs stirred up, Sydon no doubt counted on our wolf volatility to dredge up old wounds and start battling each other. How many times has this happened in the past? Dozens.” The team around him nodded, each expression serious.
“And Sydon?” Ryan asked. “What does he hope to gain? He can never be a recognized alpha, not after the stunt he pulled in the dominance battle.”
“I have every conviction Sydon plans on gaining control of Savage through instigating a brutal war. We already know the cartels will back him so he’s well motivated and extremely well positioned to attempt a takeover of the entire territory.”
“Then we need to bring him down.” Ryan’s voice had deepened and carried a lethal edge.
Fergus nodded, a grimness filling his chest. “And we’re going to do just that.”
He then laid out the first part of his strategy, to contact each of the pack alphas. They would let them know what was going on and have them figure out which of their beta-leaders was missing. These would be the wolves Sydon corrupted.
Fergus said, “This will be the best way for me to confirm with the alphas that an attack is imminent. As soon as each has been alerted, we’ll prepare for the nine o’clock assault. I’ll want a team here to coordinate our attack on Sydon’s HQ. We’ll bring him to heel before he can do any more harm to our territory and with luck, we’ll avoid war in in Savage.”
The wolves as one howled their approval.
Immediately after, Ryan used his tablet and pulled up the central pack information, a series of files that came directly from the Savage Pack Council. “I’ve got the alphas and their phone numbers.”
There were fifteen official packs that the council recognized and a number of rogue tribes. Fergus made the decision to limit the initial inquiry to only these fifteen. He ordered his men to divide up the list and contact each pack leader, adding he would talk to Warren himself.
Not all the wolves were as adept at telepathy as Fergus was and distance could definitely prove a difficult obstacle to overcome. So most would use their phones. He thought it possible some of the devices might be bugged, but that was a risk worth taking with less than an hour to avert disaster.
For the next few minutes, the wolves chose which pack to contact. Afterward, each man went to a different part of the room to make his call. It didn’t take long for the space to hum with the sound of so many rough wolf voices on their cell-phones. For that reason, many of the wolves moved into the adjoining hallway.
Fergus focused his attention on Warren and tapped on his telepathy.
It took some time to wake him up and Warren responded exactly as Fergus expected him to. Fergus, what the hell are you doing disturbing my beauty sleep?
In any other circumstance, Fergus would have laughed because Warren was poking fun at his scars. But not this evening. We’ve got a situation. Sydon’s primed for a takeover. The bastard brought in a witch.
~ ~ ~
Mary sat on the couch sweating. Short of sitting on her hands to keep from moving, she’d done everything she could to delay her return in the dreamglide to Sydon’s HQ.
When the need to get going became an overwhelming pressure within her chest, she stretched back down on the couch and created her dreamglide.
Her heart pounded as she focused on Sydon and Sandrine. Even then, she could feel that she’d put on the brakes. The fae part of her knew she was placing herself in jeopardy and didn’t want to move forward. Once more, she had a prescience that her activities were going to bring her smack up against death itself.
Still, it was a job that had to be done. She needed to find out exactly what she’d missed the first time around that would place Fergus or any of his men in danger.
Putting the dreamglide in motion, she sped in a southwesterly direction. As she drew close to Sydon’s HQ once more, she stalled out. For a moment her courage flagged and her dreamglide sat just outside the suite of offices. She took several deep breaths, gave herself a strong talking-to, then pushed within.
She kept the dreamglide close to the tall ceiling as she piloted it toward the map room. She moved swiftly, hoping to avoid Sandrine’s detection.
She sped all the way to the large war room, the one at the end with the digital relief map. Her instincts took her to the far wall and a door. Several bolts sealed the door shut. She glided through and found a stairwell blocked by what even she could see was a large bomb.
At the top of the stairwell, was another door.
