Page 58 of Wolf Crowned

Her mouth opened in an ‘o’ shape. “That’s...a good idea.”

She shivered and hugged herself. Yeah. I didn’t like it either.

I cupped her face. “I know it’s crude, but it will be effective, and we need everything we can right now.”

She nodded slowly as she sighed. “I know.”

“I also had another thought.”

Her gaze flitted to mine. Her brows knitted together, and she opened her mouth, hesitating a long moment. “What is it?”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Dad will target you or me first. I know him.” It was an advantage as much as a curse.

“Okay.”

I blew out a breath. Heat crept over my cheeks. “He thinks we are weak.” My voice was a low growl. “That he can easily beat us. For the safety of those who stay behind, we should have a third wave waiting. If we find his numbers are low like we think, we call them in with some sort of signal.”

Sloane twisted a piece of hair around her finger. “You don’t think we should pull the whole pack into the fight unless we think we have a good shot at winning?” Her face fell. “It’s a good idea to keep some back. And it’s no secret that we are outnumbered even with the new wolves.”

I ran my palms up and down her arm. “We don’t have to do that.”

Sloane closed her eyes. “No. It’s a good idea. And it would leave some to come back here and help the women, elderly, and kids run.” She opened her eyes and dropped the hair from around her finger. “You know, if the pack isn’t all there, the fighting won’t really be over until we stop all his men.”

I looked at the bedspread. The light green swirls drawing me in. “I know. But stopping my dad will leave the pack in shambles. It should be easy to put a stop to them without him as alpha.” I reached out and took her hand. “But we can cross that bridge when we come to it. My dad is the biggest threat right now.”

She chewed on her bottom lip again. “Do you think Sawyer is safe in that cave for now? And no one has really found him?”

I sat back on the bed and considered her questions. It was odd that no one had discovered him. It must be driving Dad mad that he’d evaded capture for so long.

But... “The cave has always been our secret spot. No one else has ever been in there to my knowledge.”

Her brows drew together as she frowned. “How is that possible?”

I shook my head and then shrugged. “I don’t know. But this is a good thing.”

The longer Sawyer stayed undetected the better. It would be easier to get him out.

The alarm on the end table blared. Our phones went off in a perfect synchrony. We both darted our attention to the alarm clock.

It was six in the morning. Time to get up. Not like we’d done much sleeping to begin with. My eyes were heavy like I hadn’t slept a wink.

Sloane’s eyes slid shut for a moment before she reached over and smashed her hand down on the alarm clock and picked up both our phones, silencing hers and then mine.

She handed me my phone. “Looks like it is time to get our day started.”

She slithered across the bed and groaned as she got to her feet. Her hands shot up over her head as she stretched.

I yawned and crawled out of bed, dressing quickly. “I told Brandon I would check up on him first thing. Are you good?”

She stripped off her hoodie and went to the dresser, yanking out a few items before balling them in her hands. “I think so. He’s probably still working on the wolfsbane. I have to make my rounds too. I’ll check in on you when I can.”

I grabbed her hand as she passed by and tugged her to me, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “We are almost there, sweetheart. We just got to hang on a little longer.”

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against mine. “I know.”

I gave her one last lingering peck and then pulled away, watching as she padded into the bathroom. I ran my hand through my hair, giving it a shake before dressing and slipping out into the hallway.

The pack was waking up for the day. Water shut on and off and alarm clocks dinged from behind closed doors. A few people were creeping out into the hallway with me. I nodded at them as I passed.

---