Page 186 of Wolf Roulette

Tablet in hand, the marshal sent out the polls.

Fuck.

It was done.

The fate of Deception Valley was in my steward’s hands.

I swallowed back my own fear. “Stewards, we have one grid to turn over. What I’ve told you is unsettling to the extreme, I know, but as ever, we must focus on the task at hand. In light of that, the results of this poll won’t be announced until after the game tomorrow night.”

Pascal leaned closer. “Sent.”

“Please return home and vote without delay,” I said to them gravely. “Get what sleep you can. Tomorrow, we end Victratum for good.”

32

The stewards are voting on entering land negotiations with the pack,I thought to Sascha.And the alliance with vampires.

No response.

He’d barely looked at me on his exit from the meeting with Kyros and Basilia. Sure, he’d come to the table and agreed to at leastpursuethe alliance, but…

Sascha had always supported me.

To think we’d come so far to fall down at the last hurdle threatened to undo my determination to see things through.

Without him, life was an empty thing.

I love you,I thought at him.

As he’d done since Sunday, Sascha closed the bond as soon as I opened it. With anyone else, I would have moved on.

With him, so much was now impossible. I couldn’t pretend the anguish away.

I’ve felt what you’re feeling now, Sascha. Our pack is going to be okay. I promise you.

Nothing. A lump rose in my throat.

My phone rang, and the leaping of my heart was entirely pathetic.

“Mandy?”What the hell?

I answered. “Hello?”

“Andie. I need permission to enter the manor without penalty in Grids.”

Hmm. Mandy wasn’t my biggest fan in recent times. She was also a pack female.

I leaned back in my office seat. “Permission granted. Any illegal action taken while on manor lands will be enforced, however.”

She hung up.

I caught the purr of a car motor. The vehicle stopped outside the manor, and soft footsteps crunched on the gravel before sounding in the hall.

Mandy entered the office, a stack of boxes in her arms.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

She set the stack down on the coffee table. “I’ve changed my mind.”

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