Page 121 of Stargazer

Zan lifted his arm, rising halfway up to glare at my sister across the room. “Like you can talk, Little Stone.”

Celeste looked like she was going to argue but thought better of it and shut her mouth. Though her face was anything but happy as she crossed her arms.

“Thought so,” Zander added with a satisfied grin before he lay back down.

Sage walked up to him then with a steaming cup of some sort of herbal tea, the array of beads and necklaces she wore jingling with the movement.

“Zan, you need to drink this so the remaining traces of the Deviator can leave your system.”

When he didn’t get up to take it, she nudged the arm that he refused to move. Despite how tonight turned out and the larger number of people she’d had to help, the grounded blonde wolf stayed consistently calm.

“I’m asleep,” he groaned.

“Drink.” River’s command made the Beta huff out an unhappy grunt, but he got up and snatched the tea from Sage’s hand. She gave him a pleased smile while he chugged down the contents.

“Tastes like absolute shit,” he grumbled, wiping it off his mouth and then forcefully placing the mug on the coffee table.

“Serves you right for not calling for backup,” Riv chided with an unhappy look.

“Everyone was busy,” Zander shrugged and then reclaimed his lazing position.

River shook his head in annoyance, but Axel tried to soothe his Alpha’s frustration. “It’s alright, Riv. Everyone is safe, the humans that did get hurt are healing, thanks to Sage, and the Knight’s Omitters saved our asses. We’re all okay. This is just a scratch for Zan. And a minor inconvenience.”

I cringed at the mention of the ‘inconvenience’ of losing touch with his wolf. It was awful that any of our pack had to experience that. It was never meant to be used on them and I couldn’t imagine how horrible and foreign it must have felt for him. It was better than death though. And I was just glad that he’d recently mentioned his wolf was starting to stir again.

The Beta nodded enthusiastically with his eyes still closed. “Mm-hmm. What he said. We’re all good, Alpha.”

River blew out air, attempting to let go of the tension he was holding. His eyes scanned Celeste, making sure she was in fact uninjured. She returned his look of concern with a placating smile. Then he looked at me.

I mouthed a “thank you” and he gave me a reassuring nod.

“A lot of their shifters that are doing the spy work seem to be female,” Zander acknowledged sleepily. For someone who claimed to be so exhausted, he had plenty of energy to talk.

Bleu was the one to respond to his observation. “Perfectly chosen if they want to target human males to fill their army ranks. The horny bastards will follow their supernatural lure anywhere and get themselves killed in the process.”

Carter chimed in with an appreciative, “Genius”. When we all looked at him like he was crazy, he expanded. “You have to admit, it’s a smart plan. It’s clearly working well for them.”

Billie cleared her throat from where she sat next to Santi, changing the subject once again. “So, we have a month. How do we do this?”

Griff sat up, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked at everyone dispersed across the lounge room. There were so many of us in here with everyone in one place after what felt like so long, that it was hard for us to fit, even given the size of the space. It somehow made the pack house look small, but it felt full in the best way.

“Mama Stone and I will sort out the details with Thea,” he tipped his chin towards my mother who nodded her agreement. “But I’d say we aim to get to Aconite Hall around a week beforehand. Should give us enough time to get what we need done there, while preparing to defend against the ambush. Whoever we decide will come with us will head to the city a few days prior to the flight, so I can make sure everything is organised and ready back at the compound. We’ll fly out from there. In the meantime, we’ll tie up any loose ends here and work on some hand-to-hand combat for the wolves so they’re better equipped to handle whatever is thrown their way.”

Zander gave a lazy thumbs up and I didn’t miss the displeased glare Griffin levelled his way—not that the Beta could see it with his eyes closed.

Completely unrelated, the commanding tone Griffin used when making these sorts of plans always made my body giddy for him and now I couldn’t wait to get back home. I was done with this day.

Relieved, but so done.

Tiredly, River voiced his thanks and then added, “We should put together a detailed strategy of what those of us remaining will do—patrols, scouting, pack networking. We need a working schedule that ensures we’re covered across all fronts, here and where you lot will be.”

“I’m already planning it out in my head,” Griffin bragged with a cocky smirk that he knew would irritate the Alpha.

Surprisingly, River just shook his head with a half-hearted, exhausted chuckle and said, “Of course you are.”

Griff winked at him.

Ignoring him but standing up to head to bed, River stretched, rolling his neck. “Alright, I think we’re all pooped and could use a decent day of rest, considering that it is well and truly day now.” He gestured to the bright light that was spilling through the open floor-to-ceiling windows. “Let’s get some sleep and reconvene in the evening so we can start on these combat lessons.”

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