Page 36 of Omega's Bears
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m not much use tothe clan for the rest of the day. Jack and Luka huddle together by the fire, planning their attack, debating angles of approach and methods of dividing the wolves. Ryan sits with them, weighing in from time to time. I can tell he’s frustrated nearly to the point of defiance by the fact that he’s going to be left behind. Every time Luka and Jack seem to have a plan in place, Ryan carefully picks it apart, pointing out all the flaws. It’s useful, I know—they shouldn’t go out with a plan that isn’t foolproof—but I think Ryan’s also getting some satisfaction demonstrating that this just can’t be done without him.
“Why don’t we wait?” I suggest, after this has gone on for a few hours without any great success. “Ryan will recover in a few days. He’ll probably be healthy enough to go out and fight.” I don’t want Ryan to go, of course. I don’t want any of them to. But if they all fight together, the odds are probably better of all of them returning. I don’t think there’s any way Luka and Jack can hope to fight this battle by themselves.
But Jack shakes his head. “We can’t afford to wait,” he says. “The wolves have probably figured out where our den is. They followed us back after they attacked us. I don’t think they know where the entrance is, or they’d be in here already, but I’m sure they’re looking. And we don’t want the fight to happen in here, on their terms.”
“How do you know they’re not just waiting outside, guarding the exit?” I ask. “They could be standing there, prepared to slaughter anyone who comes out.”
A shadow of worry crosses Jack’s face, but when he answers, his voice is relaxed. “They’re not out there. We’d be able to pick up the scent from the tunnel.”
“Cami has a point,” Ryan says. “This fight will be much easier with three than with two. Look...,” and he pulls a few loose pebbles and begins arranging them, illustrating his idea. “One of us could go sprinting out to the bikes,” he says, and indicates by flicking a pebble away. “When the wolves give chase, the other two could follow behind and pick them off.”
“It’s a good plan,” Jack says. “But it will work just as well with two people. I don’t want to give them time to find us, Ryan. And someone should stay behind with Cami anyway. There’s always a chance that when the rest of us run off, they won’t chase after us at all. They’ll just stay where they are, waiting for her to be unprotected.”
“Do they even know there are three of us?” Ryan asks. “That could be a huge advantage. It doesn’t make sense not to use it. They’re only planning to fight two, I’d bet anything.”
“We don’t have any way of knowing what they know,” Jack says. “For now, I like Ryan’s idea best. I’ll run to the bikes and try to pull the wolves away. If they take the bait, Luka, you go after them. Then I’ll double back to you and we’ll wipe them out together.”
A chill runs down my spine. I don’t like this plan at all. Luka is fast—he’ll be able to catch up to the wolves without any problem—but of the three men in my clan, he’s probably the weakest fighter. Not that he’s weak. I wouldn’t doubt his ability to take on a single wolf, or maybe even two. But five? He won’t stand a chance. If he’s on his own with them for any significant amount of time....
But Luka’s jaw is set, and I can see he’s going to go along with Jack’s plan. He’s not even going to make Jack order him to do it. Luka would never force Jack to make this an order, I realize, my heart sinking. He’s too compassionate. He’d volunteer to go to his death before he’d put Jack in that position.
Ryan, at least, seems to share my concern. “This isn’t going to work,” he says, struggling to get to his feet. “You have to let me fight with you. It’s the only way we stand a chance. Just let me be the bait. Then you two can do the bulk of the fighting.”
Jack holds him down easily. “You’re in no condition,” he says firmly. “You can barely sit up, Ryan. They’d catch up with you easily. They’d tear you apart.”
“At least that would distract them,” Ryan grumbles. “You two wouldn’t have any trouble if they were focused on me. And you know they’d keep their attention on me if I was out there. They’d want to go for the easy kill.”
A squeak of horror escapes me. “Ryan, no, you can’t.”
Ryan throws a pebble toward the fire, where it glances off a larger rock and bounces away. “This is not a fight that two people can win.”
“If it goes badly,” Jack says, “Luka and I will get to our bikes and lead the wolves a few miles south. If you hear the engines, take Cami and ride north, and we’ll try to lose them. Then we’ll double back and meet up with you as soon as we can.”
“You want us to separate?” Ryan asks, eyes blazing. “This is the plan?”
“This is the best we can do,” Jack says. “I’m trying to give all of us the best possible odds of surviving.”
I get the feeling Ryan would have been willing to keep going around in circles about this all day, but Jack seems to have decided the conversation is over. He gets up and walks away, over to the cave’s exit. For a heart stopping moment, I think he’s putting his plan into motion right now, but he lingers by the entrance to the tunnel and sniffs the air. A satisfied look comes over his face—it must be free of the scent of wolves. For now, at least.
Luka falls into his usual routine of preparing lunch, cutting meat into cubes and arranging it on skewers for us to cook over the flames. Ryan leans back and closes his eyes, and I know he’s trying to come to terms with the plan Jack has made for the fight and the fact that he’s going to be sidelined. I’m trying to come to terms with it too. Is Jack’s plan really the best one available? I have to admit, I haven’t heard any better ideas from anyone else. But that doesn’t mean the plan we’re going with is actually a good idea. It seems far too likely that someone might be killed.
I retreat into my alcove, needing privacy. Once I’m alone, I curl up with my back to the wall and my head in my hands. This is all my fault. The most likely outcome here is that the wolves will kill the Bears, just like they killed my last clan. If they do, they’ll surely take me away with them. It will be as if I had never come here, never discovered this new family—except for the fact that my actions will have gotten Jack, Ryan, and Luka killed.
It’s already hard not to blame myself for the deaths of my old clan. Every time I think of them my stomach twists with guilt. They died because of me, because the wolves were trying to get to me. But at least, in that case, it wasn’t any action of mine that provoked the attack. All I did in that case was exist. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t have done anything differently. In this case, I chose to inflict my presence on the Hell’s Bears, even though I knew a clan of dangerous wolves was pursuing me. If any of my men die, it’ll be my fault. I’m responsible.
I have to think of something. I have to figure out a way to protect them. But what can I do? The only thing I can think of is to walk outside and hand myself over to the wolves without a fight. As terrified as I am, I know I would do it if it meant saving the others. They mean too much to me. But I also know there’s no way I could pull it off. They’re bigger than me, faster and stronger, and they’re determined to protect me.
I can’t believe I was afraid they would turn me over to the wolves. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, that seems like a best case scenario.
If only they hadn’t all imprinted. The fact that they have means there’s not a single weak spot in the group, not a single person whose guard will be more lax than the others. They’ll all be watching me extremely closely. I won’t have a prayer of slipping past any of them.
“Cami,” a quiet voice comes from outside my alcove.
I want to ignore it. I want to be alone. But there’s something gentle, almost pleading, in the tone, and I’m still so surprised that no one’s angry at me that I feel as if I owe it to whoever’s out there to let him in. I pull back my curtain just enough to show me Ryan’s face.
He ducks inside, one arm wrapped around his torso, wincing as he finds a comfortable position. “Are you all right?” he asks.
