Page 57 of Dawn of the Pack

“Yep!” Lily answers a little too brightly. “Azalea said to keep the team small so it’s easier for her to cover us. Her magic can get us through the barrier and up to the house, but we have to do it quietly. The plan is to get into the house and sneak Derrek out, not do a full-on assault Braveheart style.”

“And we’re sure this is the best crew for this?” Besides myself and Lily, it’s Jared, Milo, and two of the security team. We all agreed Derrek might trust no one but Lily, and if she goes, the three of us go. The other two are the real muscle; we’re only going for her sake. Dom and Roxanne are here, but only because Lily wants to keep them informed.

She slips her hand into mine and tugs, tilting her chin up toward me.

I duck instinctively, accepting the quick kiss, but it doesn’t do much to reassure me.

“As long as I have you guys, I’ll be fine. Azalea swears it’s a skeleton crew at night, because that’s when they leave the people in the ‘program’,” she shudders, “alone to heal. Nielsen always attends the high school sporting events to keep up the façade of being a good mayor, and they’re having an away game, so he’s gone for the night. It’ll go smoothly, I promise. I feel great about this plan.”

I have to ask. “And you feel great about trusting Azalea?”

Her smile falters. “I’m still not sure about her. I want to believe she feels bad and is trying to make amends. I’m relying on the fact that she promised her grannie more than anything. Shuya I feel good about, and it’s obvious Azalea keeps her word to her grandma. If nothing else, I believe she wants revenge on Nielsen for disrespecting her, and I hope that’s enough.”

“Fair enough,” I reply. I wish I was as confident, but I still have a bad feeling about the witch.

“It’ll be fine,” she squeezes my hand.

“You’re right, it’ll be fine,” I reply with a smile, just to reassure her. I don’t want her worried about me on top of everything else.

One of the security team steps forward. “Alright, we should get started, if that’s okay with you, alpha?”

“Sure thing, Richardson.” She beams at him and he grins widely in return. It’s so easy to see what a great alpha she already is.

“Okay. The plan is for us to drive around to the eastern side and meet the Montrose witch here.” He pokes a finger at a map where a red ‘X’ has been inked. “It’s longer of a drive, but it’s closer to the alpha house and less time we have to be in their actual territory. There’s a state park that abuts the pack line, and we’ll leave the cars there. Hopefully, they won’t be patrolling that side as much, and it’ll be easy to slip through.

“Once we’re in, we’ll follow this hiking trail that leads right up to the house.”

A surge of pride rises in my chest and I catch Jared’s eye, who’s grinning as well. Our little trip was useful, after all.

“The witch claims that there’s only two guards at the back door at night, so it should be easy to take him out. They do security checks every twenty minutes; we’ll wait until they check in and then our timer starts. She’ll use a spell to keep our movements silent. We’ll unlock the door and then take out two more guards just down the hallway at a central station of some sort. The witch’ll lead us to Derrek’s room, which will have two more guards in front. Once we have him, we’ll return the way we came, and hopefully we’ll have time to get back to our cars before they even know we were there.”

“Doesn’t Derrek have some sort of collar on?” Jared asks. “What if that keeps him from leaving the property somehow? Or sets off an alarm?”

Lily steps forward. “Azalea assured me that all the collar does is keep him from speaking, so he can’t cast spells. He’s completely free to move aside from that. Since time is tight, she’s going to remove it when we get back safely to Smoky Falls.”

“Somehow, I don’t feel very assured,” Milo grumbles quietly.

“Me either,” I agree.

“Questions?” Richardson looks around expectantly. “Hearing none, let’s get started. If we leave now, we’ll get there before midnight, and hopefully be in and out of Montrose by one.”

We divide into two cars, and distribute two-way radios. In the event we can’t get a cell signal, we’ll have a way to communicate.

I wish I was driving my Jeep, but I know it’s smarter to take the unremarkable Harridan House SUVs. It’s already dark when we leave, and even though we’ve brought a stock of caffeinated beverages—energy drinks for most of us, but Milo insisted on his stupid coffee—no one cracks them open for our long drive. I guess everyone, like me, is too wired with nervous energy to need a boost.

Lily hooks her phone to console and puts some benign playlist on as soon as we climb in, filling the vehicle with music. It’s a smart move—none of us feel much like talking, judging by what I see in the rearview. Milo and Jared are staring out the dark windows as we depart Smoky Falls, the same as Lily in the passenger seat.

Which leaves me with my own thoughts.

If I’m honest with myself, I don’t like this at all. I’m still not a fan of having our Lit professor as a brother, let alone sharing Lily with the much older man. Jared and Milo aren’t excited about it either, but we all know we don’t have a choice. If he’s really her fated mate, she doesn’t have a choice, either.

So there’s no point in acting butthurt about it, since there’s nothing we can do. And all it does is hurt Lily.

But it would be amazing if he broke the curse. We grew up resigned to the idea that once the next Harridan heir officially mated with us, we would all be tethered to Smoky Falls forever.. Not that we aren’t already, but at least we can leave for things like overnight games and family vacations. After the eclipse, we’ll have the 24-hour clock just like Lily.

So if we can escape that fate, end the curse for ourselves and all the alphas from now on, it’s definitely worth it.

And if the curse ends, that wouldn’t just affect us. With a start, I realize we hadn’t discussed an important factor of the curse: that the entire pack can only shift between midnight and one am. If Lily and Derrek break the curse, that goes away too, and everyone will shift whenever they want.

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