Wade chewed his lip. “That’s a lot to process. Baby girl… you may not find the tribe very open-minded on that front.”
“Don’t worry—that’s between us.” I took the manor turnoff.
“Does that change things between you and Sascha?”
“Wouldn’t the thought of me being with him disgust you? Seriously, you’re so unjudgmental, it’s almost off-putting.”
“Thank you. Flattery will get you somewhere with me, but don’t think you’re getting out of King Wade Day.”
I grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Well then, I’ll tell you what I saw a few days ago. I saw a woman wrapped in a sheet come out of Sascha Greyson’s bungalow. And her nipples were hard.”
Ugh.
“Something that’s never happened around me, I might add,” he said. “I saw that same woman stop crying when Sascha Greyson held her. Then, I saw her blush like a schoolgirl meeting One Direction after a certain Luther kissed her on the cheek. Her cheek, no less.”
I groaned. “Stop.”
Wade turned dancing grey eyes on me. “You like Sascha Greyson.”
I frowned. “I don’t know if like is the right word.”
“What’s the right word then?”
“I understand him. His position. His burdens. I understand that things might have been different if we weren’t who we are, and certain things hadn’t happened. But they did. So I just… understand him.”
Wade’s nose scrunched. “That’s the biggest load of horseshit I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Pfft. You think you are, Miss I Only Make Connections. You’re lying to yourself big time.”
I waved to Troy at the gates. “So what? Maybe I’m doing that because nothing can come of us. Why would I ever pursue Sascha Greyson?”
He hummed. “Wild sex isn’t a good enough reason?”
It always was before. “He won’t have sex with me.”
A screech filled the car. I checked my foot wasn’t slammed on the brake.
Wade screeched again. “Sascha isn’t putting out?”
“He says I use sex as a weapon.”
Wade’s mouth rounded. “Holy shit. I really haven’t given him enough credit. Ingenious.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means I saw the way you went for Billy that one time. He’s absolutely right. By denying you, he’s forced you to take one of two other paths. You either turn him down entirely, or you accept that to be with him, a deeper and real emotional connection is required. Ingenious.”
Wade just joined Team Sascha.
Cars blocked me from my usual car park in front of the manor. The normal Tuesday night briefing wouldn’t start for another hour. “What’s going on?”
I spotted a small group of stewards by the stage set up for the gathering tonight. The sight of auburn hair made my stomach plummet.
“That don’t look good none,” Wade muttered.
I parked, rolling down my window.
The microphone shot Rhona’s voice across the clearing—and probably the entire manor property.
“Grids has continued without end for over two hundred years,” she said. “We have two centuries of data that tells us our approach isn’t working. What we’re doing is insanity.”
I gritted my teeth, swinging the door open.
Wade fell into step beside me. “This is the stuff she’s saying at training.”
Rhona had supporters. Around fifty. Those were just the ones brave enough to show up.
Shit.
She spotted me and smirked.
I stood beside the crowd and folded my arms as she continued. She’d timed her rally to catch stewards arriving early for the gathering. I could pull out the microphone power supply, but every steward here was welcome to have their say if they believed me to be lacking.
This was within Rhona’s rights as a steward and Thana, no matter that it was very much a personal attack.
As she wrapped up, I joined her at the mic.
“Rhona,” I greeted her.
She walked off without a word—something no one missed.
I studied the crowd that had doubled in size. Those at the front peered back with stony expressions while those at the back seemed highly uncomfortable.
“Look around you,” I said quietly.
The request surprised those in the front row at least.
“Look into the eyes of the stewards around you. That person is who we risk by adopting a more violent approach. There’s a reason our ancestors played the game this way. There’s a reason we’ve maintained a place on the gameboard for two centuries. That’s because past leaders cared about your lives. To purposefully injure Luthers is to risk losing points and our place in this valley. We’d risk their potential retaliation. I will never accept such an extreme stance because I care about your lives. Anyone in this tribe is welcome to express their views to me at any time. I want your feedback. Your opinion will not be buried or disregarded, I promise you. I simply ask that you consider how important it is that stewards stick together at all times when you express any opinions. United, we can win.”
“They weren’t your ancestors,” a woman called.
I didn’t even know her. “What’s your name, steward?”
She cocked a hip. “Dakota.”
“Dakota has just shouted that the ancestors of this tribe weren’t mine.” Talk about a punch in the gut.
The woman lost some of her cocky edge.
Yeah, try standing in front of a mic instead of melting into the crowd, you coward.
“I can only say that the woman I thought was my mother stole me from Hercules and Savannah Thana as an infant. I was raised away from this wondrous place in less than ideal circumstances. When arriving in Deception Valley, I thought I’d entered a dream. I don’t trust easily, but I never questioned the bond I felt to this land even before meeting Herc for the first time. That was the strength of what I experienced. While I’ve only known about our ancestors for a short time, Dakota, I’d thank you not to take them from me—as others tried to do. Those who came before me are more precious to me than most people will ever realise.”
She was a healthy shade of purple.
No fucks given.
“This evening’s gathering will commence shortly.” I dipped my head to the gathered stewards.
I descended the three stairs and Wade flanked me as we walked to the manor.
“What a cow,” he spat. “She doesn’t care about our tribe. What she’s doing can only split us apart.”
“Hold on. I don’t want anyone to overhear.” We reached the office, and I pushed—
Locked. I never locked it. “Have you got my keys?”
He passed over the car keys, and I found the right one, shoving it in the lock. It didn’t turn.
I stared at the mahogany door, sliding the key free.
“She did not change the lock.” Wade took the key and tried, swearing when nothing happened.
Not only was Rhona organising rallies against me, she’d shut me out of Herc’s office. I remembered one brief time where I didn’t feel like an imposter for entering this room as head steward—the night of my first grid win, just before shit hit the fan. This fucking stung.
Wade kicked the door.
I yanked him back, checking the hall. “We can’t make a scene. We’ll go to my room.”
“This is bullying,” Wade said when we made it there.
“Tell me about it.”
“Do something then.” He rounded on me.
I rubbed my forehead. “Like what?”
“Be the fearless Andie Thana everyone knows and loves,” he shouted.
Whoa.
I lowered my hand. “Wade… what’s going on?”
“You know what I hate most in this world? I hate people who treat others like shit. Do you know what it was like being a young bisexual in this valley?”
My breath caught at the tear
s in his eyes.
Wade sniffed hard, dragging an arm across his face. “I’ll tell you what, Andie. It was shit. I see the faces of my bullies every night in my nightmares, and I tell them exactly how weak they were to judge someone who never hurt them. But you know what that means?”
Mute, I shook my head.
“Fuck all.”
Wade sat heavily on the bed. “I’ve never once known you to be mean-spirited, but you never take shit. If you can’t stand up to Rhona, then who will?”
I’d missed how much Rhona’s behaviour affected him. He wasn’t just cheering me on as a friend. He was really upset.
I wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I didn’t know this fight was hurting you so much.”
He sniffed again. “Yeah.”
“Who bullied you?”
“Not many from the tribe. Once we knew werewolves existed, it banded us together.”
“The public then, huh? That makes it easier to exterminate them,” I said conversationally.
He choked on a pitiful laugh.
“My position,” I said carefully, “is that Rhona is my last relation and emotionally, I’m not sure if I can hurt her more than she’s already been hurt. I will hold my ground, Wade, and I’m asking you to really look at the reaction to what she’s doing. Who just came out on top just before?”
“My girl,” he whispered.
“That’s right. When she demanded to come to pack lands, who came out on top?” I continued without his answer. “As much as it pains me to witness, Rhona is only tearing herself down.”
“Division in the tribe is a problem,” he croaked. “And what about your office?”
“You know Tiptoe Eleanor?”
“Quietest walker in the tribe and maybe all history. Sure.”
“She can pick locks. She’ll get me in, no problem. I’ll tell her I lost my key. Sorted.”
Discontent in the tribe was another problem. Messing with that was a solid no for me, and Rhona was drawing precariously close to crossing the line.
She was off the head team already. Maybe I should consider relieving her of the training leader position until these antics stopped. There was a responsible and mature way to give an opinion, and it wasn’t like that—which she was more than aware of.
“Sorry,” Wade straightened. “You have way bigger problems. I didn’t mean to add another.”
I hugged him tight. “It’s nice to know you need help sometimes. I will always have time for you. You’re the best person I know.”
He hugged me back.
“For what it’s worth,” I whispered, “kids can be fucking assholes when they’re finding themselves. Anyone out of the norm presents an easy way for the most insecure teens to feel accepted. Their words will haunt them a lot more than they haunt you.”
We were still for a time.
“Thank you, baby girl,” he whispered.
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Anytime.”
20
I tried to shrug off the itch crawling over my skin. The waning crescent moon—so Google had informed me—was a sliver in the sky. My long-sleeve top and jeans were irritating to the extreme as the slow strangulation of light created a dark hunger that wanted to consume me.
We’ll need to shift after the game, my wolf said.
Agreed.
“The cabin seems to be working for you,” Pascal said.
I glanced at the marshal. “I feel much better.”
With our daily runs, we’d never felt stronger. We could snap through fallen tree limbs with a chomp of our razor-sharp teeth. Everything was more in wolf form, but even with two legs, I was unimaginably powerful. And so aware of my surroundings. Our raised position over Clay allowed us to see the detailed markings of a chickadee five hundred metres away. It was nothing short of incredible.
I’d looked to our morning runs as something I had to do. How wrong I’d been.
Each time, I learned something more about my wolf and marvelled at some new connection to the land that my senses provided.
“If any of the head team remained unconvinced of your choice, I believe they’ve changed their mind.”
Not Valerie. She put on an excellent show, but she couldn’t fool my new nose.
“I’m glad to hear it,” I said as the first cannon boomed. “It was an irregular request.”
Pascal smiled at her tablet. “Perhaps irregular is what this tribe has needed for a long time.”
I could not figure this woman out. “You think?”
“I do.”
“Not as irregular as Murphy though?” I pretended to adjust my binoculars, relying on my nose for her reaction.
It didn’t disappoint.
Shock.
Fear.
So much fear it rankled my predatory instincts.
“I wonder if Murphy told Herc he’d shifted to a Luther.” I lowered the binoculars.
Pascal was as flustered as I’d ever seen. This could be a stupid course of action considering my allies grew thinner each day.
Perhaps I was sick of lies.
“I don’t know what happened that day, Pascal,” I said. “I don’t need to know unless you’d like to tell me. What I would like to know is why you lied to your head steward. Herc is gone. Your loyalty is to me.”
She closed her eyes. “What we did that day doesn’t go away because Herc died.”
And there it was.
“How did he do it?”
“Cut the rope. Made me swear to secrecy.”
I couldn’t imagine anyone forcing this woman to do something. She was marshal for a reason. Pascal upheld the rules above all. So what did Herc have over her?
“If you lie to me again, we’ll have a problem,” I told her. “And if you need something from my office in the future, you need only ask.”
Pink tinged her cheeks. “Understood, Head Steward.”
“Let’s focus on Clay.”
I returned my attention to the grid, scanning the area sans binoculars. They were a joke with my better sight.
The east and west team were busy digging. They’d dig as far into the clay rises as possible and then pack the entrances. Hopefully that would prevent Luthers from filling in our tunnels between times. We’d only know if the plan was successful the next time we played here.
Tunnels were a long-term plan. Years, really.
We’d had pitifully few ideas for Clay this week. Water was the real whammy for us, but Clay allowed so little room for new tactics. The terrain was gluggy and played against our physical strengths. The Luthers didn’t allow us to make trap advancements from battle to battle.
My only thought was to use their own past strategy against them. The sky could be utilised. And then, like us, the Luthers could spend the next week picking up tranquiliser darts.
I checked my phone and clicked my walkie. “This is Big Red. Wrap it up. We’ve got fifteen left. Over.”
Three confirmations came through. Nothing from Rhona—no surprises there. With next week off Grids because of the new moon, I’d give her two weeks to sort her shit. If I didn’t see visible change, I’d relieve her of the dawn training position and her team leader position on the field.
A series of “Clears” reached me five minutes before the cannon.
Everyone was in position.
Boom.
My gums ached at the surge in adrenaline in the air, tangible on my tongue.
“You think they’ll sweep the area like last time?” I murmured.
“After Timber, I’d be surprised.”
The counter-strategy team thought so too. The terrain here could lend itself to the same strategy we used in Timber—and Sascha wouldn’t miss that.
We were prepared either way.
The words Operation Baking lingered on my lips, but I swallowed the words back. I had to time it right.
“Looks like we were right,” she said.
I squinted. “What are those things on their backs?”
The Luth
ers below unravelled hoses, climbing the uneven tiers formed by the extraction of Clay over time.
My mouth bobbed as they sprayed the top of the clay mounds. Crap.
“They’re making it too dangerous to occupy high ground,” Pascal said. “Smart.”
Any steward up there had vacated on sight of the Luthers. Even with the wolves retreating to lower ground, my team couldn’t return to occupy the highest positions in the grid.
And I couldn’t use the drones too soon or the Luthers would recover from the tranquiliser dose.
We had another option.
I clicked my walkie. “Big Red here. High ground is too dangerous to occupy. Prepare for Operation Banh Mi. Over.”
Hopefully, most of the stewards had done as instructed and kept an eye out for crevices and cracks during the first hour. Not everyone would find a place, but we needed a rapid change of plan now we’d lost high ground advantage.
I waited a full two minutes. “Big Red. Initiate Operation Bahn Mi. Continue for duration. Over.”
“Will you go in today?” Pascal asked.
“No,” I murmured. “It’s not the day to test theories.”
The head team wanted to see if Sascha would be drawn to my presence on the grid. With Pascal’s vantage point, humouring their test was a big fucking no. I’d cater to their whims in Timber.
I ground my teeth as three more flags were raised.
Fuck.
“What’s the tally?”
“Forty to twenty.”
“Dammit.” I chewed my lip. Should I risk sending the drones up early? I could follow up by ordering the stewards on a group sweep, but that was a huge risk. If the Luthers took cover and not enough went down, we’d just come head-to-head with a werewolf army stronger than us in every way.
A crack rent the air, echoing through the clay quarry.
“What was that?” I strained to hear.
Crack.
Crack.
It wasn’t the pop of a tranquiliser gun or the sound of a shifting Luther. It was almost like a car backfiring.
Like—
Moon Claimed: Supernatural Battle (Werewolf Dens Book 2) Page 21
