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“I agree with your brother princess.” I shake my head and hop off Creed’s lap and move to the end of the table, so I have them all in my line of sight.
“They are coming tonight, so either get on board or piss off, because this is happening! I am not putting any shifter at risk because my mate was scared some big bad alpha wanted to fight me.” Creed scoffs but I push on and shoot him a glare. “They will arrive tonight at 8pm so be ready and do not… I repeat, do not instigate any disagreements with any of these alphas, as I said before, I have a plan and you will ruin it if you start something!”
Chapter
Forty Six
Credence
I stand here in the middle of the field next to Jess and Cole, grinding my teeth, my idiot brother needs to be taught a lesson and my mate… she needs to be punished. I plan to punish her over and over again tonight when these assholes leave. The bon fire was canceled tonight so I asked mom if she can keep Harlem with her. Cairo, Zeke, Sky, and myself, shit even Callie for once is on my side, agree that this idea of Jess’s if fucking crazy.
They have invited thirteen fucking alphas to our pack lands when we are at our lowest, we don’t have half the numbers each of their packs have. If they wanted to, they could annihilate us all tonight, on my own fucking land! Corbin has been pacing inside me, restless and edgy just waiting for one of them to attack. I have fought about half of these alphas and let them live, they are all strong and deadly, but of the ones I have fought Eric was the toughest. He isn’t like the others and fights with brute strength he analyzes and studies his opponents for a weak spot before attacking, I hate the way he cocks his head to the side trying to get a read on Jess. I grit my teeth and take a few deep breaths to reign my temper in, if I attack him now in the open, I will start an all-out war that we can’t afford right now.
“Colton, why are we here?” I turn toward Andrew, the alpha of the mid-west pack. He is a big fucker; he stands at around six-foot-six and is built like a brick shit house. I have never fought against Andy and honestly, he and I have never had a reason to cross paths except at the yearly summits. I snap out of my thoughts when Jess steps forward, she draws the attention of the alphas, and it angers me to see all their eyes on my mate!
“Cole asked you here on behalf of me.” Even though I’m angry at her for going behind my back I’m also proud as fuck at how strong she sounds, and the fact that she isn’t cowering under the intensity of their gazes is also a testament to how brave she really is.
“Why did you need us here urgently?” Comes from Kyle, alpha to the Desert pack.
“Because we need your help.” They all begin to murmur but stop when Jess growls, they each pin her with a curious look but say nothing. “Jacob Michelson and the council have declared war against us, they have taken over our land––“
“Why would we risk the wrath of the council to help you miss…?” Jess turns her head and focuses on William; he has only been alpha for a short time since his father passed. His dad was a respectable man and a great guy, but he did something that pissed the council off and a few days later wound-up dead. William being the alphas son means he was automatically named alpha of the Woodland pack the next day by the council.
“Because from what my brother tells me Will, you hate the council as much as us.” Jess runs her gaze over each of the alphas as she speaks. “We will not force you or make demands, but what I willask, isfor your help. I specifically asked each of you here because I know you all have personally had an encounter with the council or Jacob. I won’t lie, my brother and Creed wanted to visit each of your packs and ask for help and if you refused, they would have taken turns battling for the right to be named alpha of your packs.” Each of them snaps their angry gazes to me, I stand tall and don’t flinch under the weight of their accusing glares. “Don’t blame him, he was backed into a corner and was only trying to protect me and our son.” Tomlin steps forward and I growl out a warning, if any of these fuckers even so much as think to take on my mate, fuck the consequences, I will start a war right here and now! Tomlin eyes me for a second before focusing on Jess, she doesn’t cower or step back, she stands tall and meets his gaze head on.
“Why would the council scum and Jacob be targeting you and your son?” I see Jess stiffen, bad move princess. With all eyes on her, it is impossible for them not to notice her tension, Tomlin cocks a brow at her as he says. “You want our help, then we deserve the truth, if we are to risk our packs safety to help a virtual stranger. We may know Credence, but we do not know you.”
“Fine… My name is Jessica Has––Cruz, I am the daughter of two alphas and rightful alpha to both the Reeves and Michelson packs. Jacob has been after me ever since I came back to Rosewood, he killed my mother and then claimed I was his mate so I… killed his… son.” That manages to shock all the alphas, I know that was hard for her to say out loud, but I cannot comfort her right now and undermine her in front of these guys or they will view her as weak, and my mate is so fucking far from weak. “I fled for five years and gave birth to mine and Creeds twins, the council and Jacob have hunted me since then.”
“Twins?” Andy asks, Jess takes a shuddering breath and clenches her fists. I refuse to let her do this on her own, so I step up beside her and wrap my arm around her shoulders and draw her into my side as I answer.
“Jess and Ihadtwins, our daughter, Katy, didn’t make it. The council has taken my father and two others hostage to draw us out, they know about Harlem and are coming for our son––“
“They want him because he is pure alpha blood.” The horror in Tomlins’s voice is so thick I can taste it on my tongue.
“Yes, Jess has asked you all here to help us save our son and our packs.” Eric eyes me warily as he asks.
“Packs?” Before I can answer Cairo comes out of nowhere with Zeke and Sky on either side of him, all thirteen alphas may have never seen Ro before, but they sure as shit can sense the power radiating off him.
“My name is Cairo Cruz, and I’m Jess’s brother, my pack is here to fight alongside of Creed and my sisters.” Eric stumbles back as he stares at Ro.
“You are Austin and Shelley’s son; you’re supposed to be dead.” Jess gasps beside me.
“You know our mother?”
“You said Jacob killed your mother!” Tomlin grits out, fuck this is going to take a long time. Cairo fills the alphas in on how Jess was raised by their aunt and how he fled, we tell them about Shelley and Dela being the other captives of the council.
“Right, now that you are all up to speed, decide whether it’s a yay or nay, because if it’s a nay, Creed and I will battle you for your packs?” Growls sound out and each of the alphas shift to fighting stances, I let go of Jess and push her behind me, then crouch ready to strike like Ro and the others. Jess rushes out from behind me and stands in the middle of us dividing the alphas.
“Please, these were not my intentions to fight amongst ourselves. There is a greater threat out there and this is the last thing we want. If you don’t want to help us take them down and get revenge for the things they have done to you and your pack personally then leave now!” I stare at her in shock, if they all leave, we’re fucked. “But, if you choose to stay, then please stop this, too many lives have been lost already and the last thing I want is for anyone else to get hurt because I asked you all here. You don’t owe us a thing, but I am asking for your help anyway?”
Twelve out of the thirteen alphas agreed to help us, Zion refused because a lot of his pack members are too old to fight. He did offer to aide us with planning but that is it, I respect his decision to protect his pack, he is a great alpha. We offered to bring their packs here and told them they could all stay on Jacob’s land, they each agreed and said they will return with their packs. They were all shocked to learn about the vampires, we made sure to keep Davina and her lot hidden during the meeting, so we didn’t spook them. We told the alphas we’d hold a meeting the next day to go over a plan and work out the logistics of it all. Plus, that will give them time to get their packs here and set up.
“We should get up.” I roll over and bury my face in the crook of her neck near her mate mark and tighten my hold around her waist. She chuckles but doesn’t push me away, it’s not like we have to rush and get Harlem from mom. Plus, the meeting with the alphas isn’t till this afternoon.
“Let’s just stay here.” She sighs and leans back into me. We lay here silently for a long time, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“We’ll make it out of this right?” I furrow my brow and pull back so I can stare down at her.
