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“How about this?” I said. “We play this as plan A and plan B. Plan A is that we launch an assault on Simon, destroy his research and experiments for good, and then hijack the shipment to escape. Plan B is that we aren’t able to plan the assault in enough time, and we drop back to only worrying about the hijacking. I want your people to be safe, too. Either plan works for me as long as Kira gets out of here alive.”
Crew nodded, relief emanating off him. “The same goes for me with Chelsey. The last thing I want is to see her hurt again. I’ll keep talking to people, see where everyone’s thoughts are.”
“All right. I’ll see you later.”
I patted Crew’s hand and left to find Kira. Following the tunnel she and J.D. had gone down, I didn’t make it more than a hundred feet before a hand fell on my shoulder. I stopped mid-step and turned to find Gavin behind me. My mood had been improving, but the sight of his face sent it crashing back to the ground.
“Oh. Gavin. What can I do for you?” I said, trying to make it obvious that I had places to be.
“I need a minute with you,” he said.
“Look, if this is more shit about Kira belonging to you, and you wanting me back off, I’m really in no mood for that. You’d do better to shut your mouth and walk away.”
Gavin rolled his eyes and huffed out an annoyed sigh. “Well, since Kira went ahead and professed her love to you on live television, and the fact that the two of you can’t keep your fucking hands off each other, I don’t really have a leg to stand on. I’m not going to encroach. But”—he held up a finger—“if we do figure out and fix the broken fated mate connections, and Kira really is meant to be with me, you need to be ready to back off.”
“Gavin, for real, can we not—”
“I know, I know, we can save that for a later date,” he said. “What I really wanted to talk about is the plan for when we get back to the mainland.”
This was getting us nowhere, and I really wanted to find Kira. “What part, Gavin? A lot of shit will be happeningifwe get back home.”
“If the war is really getting as bad as they say, then I doubt your little unofficialpackwill be faring too well. It’ll be hard enough for the real packs to deal with the fighting and stuff.” Gavin put a hand on his chest and then extended it to me. “I wanted to offer you a deal. I’ll let you and your unofficial pack join me and what allies I have remaining in the Ninth Pack. In return, I’ll want your help to overthrow Jayson and then merge the remnants of my pack with Kira’s Eleventh Pack. That will make things easier to protect the Eastern Wilds as one unified force.”
I stared at him, blinking rapidly. This fucker was still concerned about power grabs and grudges? We were fighting for our lives and the future of the godsdamned world, and he was hung up on fucking over his big brother?
“Okay,” I said. “You’llletus join? Who the hell said we wanted this blessing or whatever?”
Gavin smiled, though it was more of a sneer. “Wyatt, you and I both know your little band of misfit wolves need protection more than anyone.”
“You see,” I said, getting more irritated by the moment, “mymisfitlone wolves are independent. We don’t bow to anyone. In fact, we’re fierce warriors who’ve been through more shit and can handle themselves far better than the spoiled wolves in the official packs. Trust me when I say we are doing fine without you. We stay in the Eleventh Pack lands because they offered us their hospitality. We didn’t beg for a favor, and we aren’t mutts begging for scraps from the table. Understand that.” I jabbed afinger into Gavin’s chest, making him stumble and take a step back.
“Hey—”
“I’m not trying to use this war as a way to play politics and overthrow a pack. All I care about is making sure my and Kira’s loved ones are safe. You can go fuck around and slap-fight with your pansy brother by yourself. Whichever one starts crying first can kick rocks, for all I care. Now excuse me.” I pushed past him to look for Kira.
“Wow. Thanks for that,” Gavin called after me, the sarcasm in his voice grating on my nerves even further.
Rather than retorting, I picked up my pace, trying to get away from him as fast as possible. By the time I arrived at the room where Abel was being held, Kira had already left. The other alpha looked dead to the world. Eyes closed, breathing deep slow breaths. The healer stood above him, monitoring his condition.
“Hello,” she said to me. “Did you want to spend a few moments with your friend?”
“Uh, no, it’s fine,” I said. “He’s still sleeping. I was actually looking for Kira. Do you know who I mean?”
The witch nodded. “Yes, she came to speak with Zoe. They left not long ago. I believe your friend said she was still hungry. Perhaps try the dining hall?”
I nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”
Before turning to leave, I gave Abel one last glance. What had happened to him was awful, but a dark and embarrassing part of me was glad it was him and not Kira on that bed. The thought alone filled me with shame. Hurrying away, I did my best to scrub the thought from my mind.
Kira was exactly where the witch said she’d be. She was seated at a table, eating what looked like soup or stew. When she saw me step into the room, she put the spoon down and smiled.
“Hey. How’d it go with Crew?”
Falling into the chair beside her, I shrugged. “I think we’ve got things figured out. I volunteered both of us to help train the people of Haven to fight. That way, they’ll have some skill when the attack happens.”
Kira nodded and picked up her spoon again. “Good idea. I hadn’t even though of that. I’m still starving,” she said, gesturing to her food. She took a few bites while I sat in silence, then wiped her mouth with a napkin and eyed me suspiciously. “Why do you look like someone pissed in your cereal?”
I chuckled, despite myself. No reason to keep anything hidden. “Gavin caught me in the corridor. He’s trying to recruit me and my unofficial pack. Wants us as, like, mercenaries or something when we get back to the mainland. Extra hands to help fuck his brother over, I guess.”
