Page 13 of Ascension of the Pack

‘A dwarf,’ Greg said approvingly. He looked a little smug.

‘What’s got you looking like the cat that’s got the cream?’ I asked.

Bloody cats,Esme grumped.

Oh hush!I laughed.

‘I’ve been toying with a couple of ways that we could enter the hoard. The one I favour is getting a dwarven team. Ben’s input confirms that’s the right thing to do.’

Ben held up his hands. ‘I want to be clear that I really know nothing about this whole thing. I’m scrambling around making it up as I go along. I’m worried that telling you all this may hinder you more than help you, but Rohan disagrees. Honestly, for all I know I’m just having crazy-arse dreams after eating too much cheese before bed.’

‘I think we can safely say that your dreams are more than that,’ Greg said dryly. ‘Camembert doesn’t induce the same dream thirty or forty times.’

Ben sighed. ‘I know that you’re right, but I’d almost convinced myself that my dreams were nonsense. Rohan pushed me to speak to you against my better judgement.’

‘Well, from now on listen to Rohan,’ I advised.

‘Yeah,’ my brother muttered, pushing himself up from the chair. ‘I better go. You guys have dwarves to find.’ He paused in the doorway. ‘One more thing.’ He looked across the room at me. ‘I have to come on the heist, too.’ He slipped out of the door before I could argue with him.

‘I don’t like this,’ I complained to Greg. ‘Having a prophecy is one thing – and that’s bad enough – but I really don’t like the idea of being dictated to by a seer, even if the seer in question is my brother.’

‘I understand – but we are contacting Debbie, Tarkers and Wakado, aren’t we?’

‘Yeah,’ I sighed. ‘It looks like we are,’ I agreed grimly.

‘And Xander?’

I shook my head. ‘We are not taking any kids with us.’

‘Lucy, I hate to raise the delicate issue of a lady’s age, but you’re only in your mid-twenties. You’re not that much older than Xander.’

‘Bite your tongue!’ I shot him a glare. ‘I have a shit tonne of life experience under my belt.’

Greg’s tone was gentle. ‘Xander was raised in the Devon pack under Beckett Frost’s rule. I’d wagerthat he has a shit tonne of life experience under his belt too, and very little of it is good.’

‘Exactly! He deserves to have some good times. I’m not taking him with me to tunnel under some dragon’s hoard, and that is the end of it.’

It was hard to put my finger on the reason why I wanted Xander to be far, far away from this extraction. It wasn’t just his youth; there was something burgeoning within him, happiness that he hadn’t had the chance to cultivate under Beckett’s rule. I wanted to preserve that bubbling joy for as long as I could.

There were plenty of ways to skin a cat. Whatever Xander was supposed to bring to this venture, we’d find someone else to do it, someone older, someone grittier.

Someone who didn’t look at me like the sun rose and set in my eyes.

Chapter 8

Greg excused himself to go and speak to our resident dark seraph, Jacob, and to make some calls to Debbie, Tarkers and Wakado. I busied myself with my favourite activity, reviewing the pack’s bank accounts. Oof – the food bills had really increased since we took on scores of extra wolves. Interestingly, our electricity billhadn’tincreased because Nina somehow ran off grid. I wasn’t complaining or asking too many questions.

Elena burst into my office, anger vibrating off her. ‘Last night, a Black Tourney was held!’

Bastards!Esme snarled.

‘Motherfuckers.’ I closed my laptop so Elena knew she had my full attention. ‘Okay. How do you know about it?’

‘The Connection found out and raided it, but they were too late. According to my sources, they found bodies rather than live participants.’ She met my eyes. ‘Werewolf bodies,’ she spat.

This cannot be borne!Esme was almost shrieking inside my head.

My jaw clenched. ‘And I wasn’t notified of it because…?’

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