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“It’s a solid plan in my opinion,” Esteban nodded.
“Thank you. There’s a chance Victor will just ignore the offer, being worried about the chance of an ambush but then we can figure out another idea. If he does go for this one though, it’ll involve the least bloodshed.” The people of Santuario wouldn’t need to fight again in large scale combat. “Of course, you should take some of the sleuth’s forces with you in case things go south. I want to be there.”
“Definitely not!” Gabriel protested. “You will stay in the village, safe and protected!”
I made a face. “But you’ve seen I can handle myself in battle. I can shoot, and I’m a bear shifter just as you are. I can fight in my animal form as well as anyone.” That last part wasn’t exactly true; I wasn’t used to my bear, and the inexperience made me clumsy but I didn’t want to be left out. “I was the one who came up with this plan. Now you want to leave me out of it?”
Gabriel clenched his jaw. “It’s because you’re precious to me that I want to protect you.”
“But I don’t want to be treated like a jeweled necklace that needs to be locked up in a dresser drawer. I want to be part of the dynamic you and Esteban have. My wish is to be with you through good and bad.” When I said those words out loud, I realized how true they were.
Gabriel and Esteban could be my mates. I knew a bond between the three of us was possible even though they were Alphas while I was a lowly half-breed but if I were to be with them, I needed to be on equal standing with them, a partner in all that matters. Even if taking on that role meant I would have to risk my life in battle alongside them, I wanted that chance to help vanquish their foes. Their enemies were my enemies. I wanted to be of help to them, as they were for me.
“Daphne has a point. We can’t just listen to her plans and not include her in our fight. She’s now as much a part of Santuario as we are, so we should respect her wishes. If she wants to fight for our sleuth, we just need to make sure she doesn’t die in the process,” Esteban finally voiced his thoughts.
I looked at him gratefully. At least one of the two of them was on my side.
“But what if she does die, Esteban? What then?” Gabriel still protested, but his conviction about the matter was getting weaker.
“Are you not strong enough to take care of her?” There was a warning in Esteban’s voice.
That reply shut Gabriel up. He sighed, scratching his head. “Okay, okay, got it. Daphne will come with us. We have to organize a meeting on neutral ground. The docks could qualify.”
“That seems like the most obvious place, and it's one that we’re familiar with but fighting there, amongst all those abandoned buildings, has always been difficult. I think we should choose more open ground that has a place to hide nearby,” Esteban thought out loud.
“How about the crossroads where the road to Santuario meets the road to Fort Torres? That’s at the border of both our territories,” Gabriel suggested.
“Sounds good,” Esteban agreed.
“We should take twenty of our men with us and have them stay behind between the trees.”
“Twenty is too many. You can’t quite hide twenty men. Make it ten.”
“Fourteen then.”
“Agreed.”
The Alphas continued planning. “When do you want to hold this meeting?” I asked.
“As quickly as possible,” Gabriel answered. “We don’t know whether or not Victor is planning to kill Hanny off. We should also say we want Victor to trade Hanny back to us during the event, so we can snatch her and bring her to the safety of Santuario easily.”
“Yes, that would be a good idea,” Esteban confirmed.
I remembered the girl that Victor had brought to me when he had come to my cell. I too wanted her to be rescued as soon as possible. She was miserable in Victor’s clutches. Though later, after Gabriel and Esteban had rescued me, she had shown a lot of strength by saying that she would wait for them to come for her no matter how long it took them. She had been reduced to a pet, a toy for the villain, but she still wanted to live. She still held on to hope.
I wanted to get to know her. I admired her resilience. She had been held by Victor for three years, and the captivity hadn’t broken her. If Victor brought her to the meeting, she would be much easier to rescue but I remembered what she had said about the collar she wore on her neck; that she was magically-bound not to leave Fort Torres. I doubted Victor would remove the magic item from her for this event.
Still, if Gabriel and Esteban didn’t ask for Hanny, it might seem even stranger to Victor. She was their precious sister, and Victor knew they wanted to get her back. That’s why he had revealed her to them during my rescue. He had wanted to taunt them into attacking him then and there. He had shown them that the person they had believed dead was still alive but tortured by him. That knowledge would push anybody who loved her to make rash decisions.
Indeed, not thinking things through could end up being our biggest mistake right now. Rushing to defeat Victor could well cost us our lives. He was a cunning villain, and we would have to be equally smart to bring him down.
“Let’s hold the summit in four days where the road to Santuario meets with the road to Fort Torres,” Esteban’s voice brought me out of my thoughts. “I will send a messenger to Victor tomorrow. Let him believe we thought things over after a night’s rest.”
“Agreed. Daphne, does that sound good to you?” Gabriel asked me.
I was grateful to him for including me in the decision-making. He was an Alpha, and I was just someone with whom he wanted to be in a relationship. I wasn’t his mate yet, so he didn’t really have to ask me but he had done so anyway and that fact made me happy.
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” I smiled at the two men.
