Page 33 of Luna: Posy 2

Of course she is.He nodded, then frowned.You know what, boss? I don't like that A word. I will say good or lucky. You can still say it, though.

Thanks for your permission, Paz.I rolled my eyes, but he wagged his tail, taking it as praise.

Welcome, boss!

Yep. It was going to be one long-ass drive.

9: Treasure in the Dungeon

Cole

About ten miles from Tall Pines' border, we found a dumpy motel that would work perfectly for what we wanted.

Since it was 9 p.m. and the place was dead, we were easily able to rent all of the vacant rooms.

Thank the Goddess for the red-eyed human running the desk. He took one look at our dangerous expressions and Mase's heavy tattoos and snapped his mouth shut. He swiped my card, handed over a bunch of keys, and turned the desk sign to closed.

Taking the biggest and cleanest room, we dropped our gear, and King Julian gave Gisela and Ranger the amulets that Ariel had prepared. After they put them on, they would have eight hours of nose-silence to snoop around.

"Unless you're a dragon, there is no such thing as true invisibility," Ariel had told us before we left.

That was more than I'd known about either dragons or invisibility, and I could tell that having a witch in our pack was going to be handy.

"The best I can do is hide your scent, which should work well enough for wolves if you go in after dark," she'd said. "You're on your own when it comes to keeping quiet, though."

The plan was for Gisela to take a stroll around the alpha house and offices while Ranger monitored the patrols to see if they had been switched up since Luke left. The rest of us planned to add details to Luke's map as they sent information to the king through the royal link.

Our spies left as the last of the daylight slipped below the horizon, and it didn't take them long to infiltrate Tall Pines territory. We had no need to alter the map, we quickly discovered. Luke's memory had been plenty accurate.

Seeing as the dining hall was only a mile away from the alpha house, the king told Gisela to check on the shifters that Halder had locked in there. In the meantime, Ranger found Halder hadn't changed a thing about his patrols.

"Is he dumb or arrogant?" I snorted.

"Maybe both," Ash said with a big grin.

King Julian's eyes flicked from Ash to me to Mase, and I knew he was debating which of us he'd use.

This was a part of the plan we'd been careful to keep from Posy. She would have worried herself sick if she knew one of us planned to sneak in, too.

In other circumstances, it would have been Jay. The king found it invaluable to have Quartz on the inside as his own personal agent of chaos. With Tall Pines, though, no one wanted to risk a killing spree with so many innocent lives at stake.

Besides, Jay was not in the right mindset. Same with Wyatt.

That left Ash, Mase, or me.

"Figure it out between yourselves," the king said, pointing at the three of us.

We immediately assumed the position, and Ash counted, "1, 2, 3!"

We all tied, so we prepared to go again.

"1, 2, 3!" Ash called.

"You guys never change." King Julian shook his head with a small smile.

"What?" I asked him. "It's the easiest and fastest way for us to reach an unarguable decision."

"Yes, it is," Mase agreed.

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