Page 42 of Dawn of the Pack

“Wait, help them? I thought the plan was to rescue Derrek?”

“It is, but the majority of that pack are innocent victims too, Milo. We can’t just take Derrek and run.”

“Woah, we need to slow down here.” Landon’s eyes widen as he holds his hands up for emphasis. “I know Derrek is your friend, but we’re not trying to burn the world down to get him back, Lily. We need to be smart about this.”

My eyes dart to Lily sharply, and she gives me a very subtle head shake.

So she hasn’t told Jared and Landon that Derrek is her fourth mate yet. Goddess, help me.

“Regardless, that’s not what we’re doing today, so we can shelve this for now,” Lily states firmly. “Today we are going to visit Derrek’s grandma to see if she can help us come up with a solution for the collar. Given that a spell fixed it onto him, it’ll probably take a spell to remove it.”

“Yeah, and something tells me Azalea won’t help us out,” Jared snorts.

“Agreed.”

“Yup.”

“So what exactly is this plan? It looks like we’re going on a three-week vacation here.” My timing couldn’t have been better; one of the house staff looks at us apologetically, silently requesting us to step aside so she can push a large trunk on wheels out the front door.

“Well… we have a couple of things going on. We assume Montrose has spies watching our territory, so we’re going to send some mixed messages in the form of decoys.”

“Decoys?”

“Yeah. Maxwell is going to drive the car I normally ride in south toward Knoxville, and we’re faking a meeting there with the alpha from another pack. He’s gonna pull over at a gas station at some point and have a ‘private’ phone conversation outside the car to leak some false intel.”

“Okay, that seems solid.”

“And while he’s doing that, a couple of other cars will go in different directions just to muddy the waters. The other Montrose guys will be slipping back over to North Carolina, and we’ll be on our way to visit Shuya.”

“And what, exactly, will we be driving for this top secret trip?”

Lily’s eyes turn to Jared, who grins. “You know how I have four sisters, right?”

Chapter Nineteen

Lilliana

Just to be extra safe, we walk through the extensively long house to reach the garage instead of cutting across the courtyard. I’ve never actually seen this wing, but it appears to be mostly guest rooms and otherwise unused spaces. A narrow covered walkway connects the main house to the carriage house, and once we’re inside the room opens up considerably.

The first thought that hits me is that I didn’t know how many cars I apparently own. There are actually three of the SUVs Maxwell drives me around in, all sparkling under the overhead lights. A few utility vehicles wait behind those, and then a collection of classic cars that someone clearly lovingly maintains.

My eyes must be as wide as saucers as we walk past the candy colored sports cars with gleaming chrome.

“Are these all… I mean, do these all belong to the alpha?”

The guys exchange a look.

Jared asks incredulously, “You didn’t know that?”

“That explains why she’s never driven one,” Landon answers.

“We were wondering,” Milo agrees. “We figured you just enjoyed being a passenger princess,” he adds, kissing my forehead.

“I mean, I’d probably be terrified to take that out and drive it, for fear I’ll get a scratch on it or something.” I point to a shiny red car. The only thing I can answer confidently is that it’s a Porsche, based entirely on the cursive writing displayed on the trunk.

“Nah, if that happened the staff would buff it out for you. Once we get past all this mess, you really ought to go for a spin.” Milo reassures me with a wink. “You can drive stick, right?”

I lower my brows and roll my eyes. “No, I can’t drive stick. So much for that idea.”

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