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“What’s with everyone?” I asked Keith.
“What the hell do you mean, man? Everyone wants to know the same thing that we want to know!”
“What’s that?” I asked, taking a free beer from the entry tray.
Ginger leaned forward, looking past Keith. “Is it true that you are going to pretend to be Alpha Rigel’s daughter’s mate to get us back in the pack? Is that even possible?”
I looked at Cheri, her head dropping from looking at me. I gave Ginger a nod.
“News sure travels fast here,” I commented.
“My dad says you told your old man you already marked her. That true too?” Keith asked.
Again, I nodded. “I did it last night.”
“You mean when you were supposed to be killing her?” Ginger’s sister, Rory, gasped.
“The plan’s timeline hasn’t changed,” I said. “Killing her or tricking her, the time it takes me to bring you all home is still the same.”
“You’re sure about that?” Rory asked.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m sure. I’ve done my math. I wouldn’t put off getting you all the chance to return to your families like that.”
Rory smiled. “I wonder if my gran will be happy to see me again. Mom said she was so happy to be a grandma when I was born. It really broke Mom’s heart to take me away from her.”
“I’m sure she will be happy to have you back in her pack,” I assured her. “Both of you,” I said and pointed to Ginger.
Ginger was born rogue. Her mother had been early in her pregnancy when she left. Hadn’t even known it until a monthlater. She never knew the pack life, of course. Rory had no memory of it herself, being less than a year when it all happened.
“So, how is this all going to work?” Keith asked, bringing the conversation back to the plan.
I debated telling my friends the truth. I felt they deserved to know my actual plan, but I wasn’t confident in their loyalty to me over my father. Dad ensured they had a roof over their heads. As long as they obeyed his commands, Dad guaranteed their protection. He pretty well had everyone under his thumb, even me until today.
“The plan is pretty simple.” I decided to continue the lie. “Minerva is making me a large supply of the potion. I need to fool the young alpha female into seeing me as her mate. I already used some from another witch. It was enough for me to mark her, but she didn’t mark me. The goal is to have her mark me so her family and the pack can accept me as her mate. It will solidify my claim to being the next alpha at her side and leave little to no fight back when I take over.”
“Will you keep going with the ruse? What happens if you run out of potion?” Ginger asked.
“He kills her,” Cheri answered. “That’s the plan he discussed with his dad. I overheard it all. He gets all the way to the coronation, and then he kills her and is free to find his real fated mate or chosen mate to be his luna.”
I groaned internally at the way she added a chosen mate. I wished more than anything that I could tell them the truth now. I hated the look of hope in Cheri’s eyes as she finally looked over at me.
“That’s actually kind of heartbreaking,” Ginger said and sighed. She looked up at Keith, resting her head on his shoulder. “I couldn’t imagine thinking I found my one, only to find out it was a lie.”
She was one of the few who had their fated mate among the rogues. Keith and she had discovered their bond on her last birthday and had been inseparable since.
“That’s war,” Cheri commented.
“Yeah,” I said, standing as the smell of magic hit me. I looked back at Minerva’s room, finding the witch standing there with the same suspicious glare pointed my way.
“Come,” she called, returning to her room.
“She sure likes to treat you like a naughty puppy,” Keith muttered and laughed.
“She said she would take hours,” I grumbled, setting the beer in my hand back down and returning to the stairs.
As soon as I walked into the open door of the witch’s room, she yanked several strands of my hair out of my head. I growled and jumped back, my claws instinctively coming out at the attack.
“What the fuck!”
