Page 59 of Wolf Crowned

Oatmeal was for breakfast. There was a hint of cinnamon and brown sugar in the air. I bypassed the kitchen and headed outside.

The ground was wet and puddles pooled in the drive. A light chilly rain drizzled on me as I made my way to the greenhouse.

The door was partially open, and I nudged it the rest of the way. Brandon was in the corner by the computer with two of the other wolves. They had their heads together and were talking quietly.

I opened the door a little further, despite the chill. We had good ventilation in here, but it didn’t get rid of the horseradish smell completely. Once this war was over, I never wanted to see let alone smell this toxic plant again.

I did my best to breathe through my mouth. “How’s the wolfsbane?”

All three perked up, but it was Brandon who spoke up. “We are getting ready to start the harvest now. We are going to have a bit more than we originally thought.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. My nose twitched, itching.

I should have put on a mask or something. “That’s great news. I have a few ideas on how we can use this besides our smoke bane grenades we discussed.”

Brandon motioned to the other two wolves. “Alex and Damon have been amazing at working with the wolfsbane. Hopefully, they can help make it work for us.”

Alex picked up a bit of wolfsbane with his gloved hand and held it up like he was inspecting it. “The directions the dealer left us have been more than helpful. I think we can work up just about anything you want.” He leveled his gaze at me. “What did you have in mind?”

My gaze darted to the table of the heinous plant. My skin crawled.

A lump formed in my throat as my mouth went dry. “I want to dump it down the well.” I gulped and suppressed a shudder. “A large enough batch to keep them from shifting.”

Damon picked up a stack of papers, flipping through them. “There are directions for that.”

Of course there were. My dad had probably done it before. He wasn’t expecting our attack, so our tactics used against him should be a surprise.

I took a step back, relishing in the icy breeze as it blew through the open door. I breathed in the dewy air. “Good.” I pointed at the papers. “What other ways of weaponizing it are there?”

My dad probably had all sorts of awful things planned for it.

Damon shifted the papers again. “Well, there’s stuff to put it in food.” He sorted the papers again. “Then there are ways to make it airborne through the ventilation systems. I think that’s it.”

I huffed and scrubbed a hand over my face. “We won’t get close enough to put it in the food to matter. Probably the same for the ventilation.”

Luna help me with what I was about to do. “Get as much as you need ready for the water supply, though. We’ll put it in the well a few hours before the attack.”

Alex cleared his throat. “How strong do you want it? They already take some of it, right?”

The enforcers took it in small doses, so they had a tolerance. “Is there anyway to find out how long it takes to travel through the well system?”

Alex shrugged. “We could make some educated guesses, but would need to know more about the property and layout.”

That made sense. “If I can get you the property info, can you do it?”

Alex and Damon looked at each other. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and put a hand under my chin as I narrowed my eyes, staring at the offensive plant. “The sprinklers run every day at 9am year round unless it’s below freezing.” Dad was weird like that. “If we get it in the water supply so it can be run through and we attack right as the sprinklers go off, they’ll have to run through the water to get to us.”

Another thought occurred to me. “And there are no sprinklers by the prisoner compound, so when our people escape, they’ll remain unaffected.”

Brandon shifted his feet and leaned against the table, grunting and jerking his hand back when it got too close to the wolfsbane. “How long do the sprinklers run for?”

“Five minutes, but I’m sure I can make it longer or shorter if needed.” I rubbed my jaw. “By the time we draw them all out to the wrong area and work our way up, the water should be back off.”

Brandon smiled. “I was planning on bringing my laptop with me, just in case, anyway. We could hack in, let it run as long as needed and shut it down just before I go into the house.”

I liked the way he thought. “Just make sure you wear something over your shoes and pants so it can’t seep through. We don’t want you compromised. Everyone else should be able to stay on the drive and out of the wet zone.”

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