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Kodiak passed a hand over his head.
What he needed to do was get his thoughts in order. Because right now, Ash’s reveal, her airy-fairy theory, was anything but. And Tamaska flitted against his senses: the pull of her, the danger that surrounded her.
Running off without a plan was a fool’s errand, just like he’d told Channing.
But it was fucking hard not to do that.
“Like I said. Our weaknesses are we don’t know what exactly it will do to the vamps, or how it might enhance their strengths and reach. How it might affect us in picking them out. But somehow I don’t think that the smell of the bloodsuckers, even diluted, will make too much of a difference.”
“But Kodiak,” said Onai, “what if it blankets it out?”
“We’re shifters. Wolves. Our sense of smell is insanely good. And I can’t see it blanketing it out. Not completely.”
Ash looked up. “What if it’s like our spray?”
“That works up to a point, and only for so long.” But he’d been in the club, surrounded by the vamps… He swallowed. “The vampires don’t want to hide who they are. They want to make more of them. They want to rule.”
Skoll glare eased with the realization. “Bastards. That’s why we should kill them now.”
“But they don’t know we’re onto them.” Kodiak frowned. “We still have a slight advantage.” It wasn’t much, and they could lose it any moment, but Kodiak wouldn’t send any of his friends into a fight unless he was sure they would win.
Or had a better than good chance.
“They’re arrogant. They think they’re superior. And that’s a downfall, something we can use.”
Anything and everything to win the war.
“So, we destroy them—”
“Skoll, that’s what we all want.” Kodiak raised a hand. “But we need to fight strategic battles to win a war. When we let our wolves have full reign, we’re powerful, but weak because it’s purely instinct. We need to work on both instinct and strategy to be the deadliest we can be. And part of that is patience. We take them out now, we win a battle but we lose the war. Because you can’t think this lot of vamps are the only ones who know of the opal. They might want to be the most powerful faction, but they can and will work together with others to ensure they get what they want.”
“Think like a vamp to beat a vamp? That it?” Skoll asked.
Kodiak dropped his hand to his side and nodded. “If that’s what it takes.”
Skoll shook his head but didn’t say anything else.
“We need to step up. All of us.” Kodiak took a deep breath.
No one had to ask. He could hear thehowreverberate in the room.
“We need to observe first, find out everything.” He looked at each of them. “I know that’s what you’ve been doing, but now we have more information, we have a purpose. I want you all to go out again tonight. Find a vampire and follow them. Don’t let them out of your sight. You must find out where they are.”
“We know where they are.” Skoll folded his arms.
“Every lair? All their movements?”
Skoll’s eyes narrowed. “No, Kodiak. Not every single one. Not every movement. That’s impossible.”
“Impossible,” he asked, “or too difficult?”
“I don’t shy from hard work.” Skoll’s voice was a warning.
He offered Skoll a stone-faced look. “So don’t start now. I want to find out if there’s a change in patterns, if they’ve got new lairs. I want to know what they’re up to, even if it’s them changing the brand of their favorite fang paste.”
Ash laughed at that, then bit her lip. “Sorry, boss, but that was funny.” She took a breath. “I can put their movements into a program, too, see if there’s a pattern.”
He nodded. “Good idea.”
