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SHANE
I paced inside my bedroom,my mind at full speed.
After killing the demon outside the barrier, I decided it was best to hide at the inn for a while. If I stayed away from the pack long enough, things would blow over and Conri would lower his guard again.
I hoped.
The first day was torture. The second was even worse.
At least I wasn’t taskless. Killian and I reported to Drake. He said he would let us handle this problem, and when (not if) we needed reinforcements, all we had to do was ask.
Lavinia contacted several witch covens and asked if they knew about my pack’s magic. She didn’t say anything about the crystals. If Conri was after them, other people could learn about them and come for them too. I already had too much on my plate. Unfortunately, no one knew anything. Some witch covens hadn’t even heard of my pack before.
However, Lavinia had talked to Thea and her aunt Almae—they thought that with enough of their witches, they could make at least a hole in the barrier to let us pass.
So now we potentially had a way in and numbers to attack.
But I didn’t want to go charging in head-on and risk having Conri kill my wolves out of spite before we even got near the town. I sat down, closed my eyes, and thought through several possible plans.
All my ideas were crappy and way too risky.
Besides, my mind kept coming back to the crystals.
What did Conri want with them? Had he come to my pack for them? Why? There was something about these crystals, and I had to find out what it was, even if it was after capturing Conri and torturing it out of him.
A knock came from the door and I turned to it—and the side of my stomach pulled at me. I hissed as pain spread through my midsection. That damn demon had swept his knife across my ribs. It hadn’t been deep enough to make too much damage, but it had been nasty and it hurt like a bitch. Lavinia had applied a healing salve to it, and it finally looked better. But sometimes, depending on my movement, I still felt it.
With a groan, I opened the door and let Killian and Lavinia enter my room with our lunch.
“Seen anyone?” I asked. They knew what I was talking about. Because of the demon’s death, Conri could be sending more out and farther from the pack lands, looking for the killer.
I had fucked things up badly.
Killian handed me my lunch and shook his head. “No one unusual.” Both of them were also being careful and only leaving their room to grab meals, but each time they did, they kept their eyes and ears open.
I sat down on one corner of my bed, while Killian sat on another. Lavinia took the chair by the desk again. Deep in thoughts, we unwrapped our food and dug in.
“Shane, I hate bothering you about this again, but the full moon is approaching,” Lavinia reminded me. As if I could forget that. “We should attack before that.”
“Or after,” Killian suggested. Lavinia nodded.
I didn’t want to wait until the full moon was over, but I didn’t think I had any choice in the matter. The full moon would be at its peak in less than four days. Would we be able to assemble everyone, break the barrier, and clean up the pack lands before that?
It was cutting too close.
I bit down on my burger, chewed, swallowed. “I think we have to wait until after.”
Killian nodded. “If we’re staying here, we need to find a place to lock you up.”
Shit, there was that too. “Right. We’ll figure that out. Meanwhile, let’s put the plan into action. In six days, after the full moon is gone. Lavinia, call Thea and the others. Ask them to come and help you with the barrier. Killian, call Drake and ask him to send as many vampires as he can spare. I’ll contact the Ironfang pack and let him know we’re ready.”
“And what’s the plan?” Killian asked.
There wasn’t one, really. “We break the barrier and push in. We spread out and try to surround the town. Then we close in together, pushing everyone to the main square.” I frowned. “Lavinia, do you have anything to break the cuffs?” Lavinia and Killian had worn those cuffs when they had been captured by the Nightmist witches.
“I can try to make a potion to melt the metal,” she said. “I can add something to neutralize the magic in them, and both should do the trick. I have most of the supplies in my bedroom.” She never went anywhere without a bag full of her potion-making supplies. “The rest should be easy to find.”
“How long do you need?”
