Page 33 of Broken Kingdom

“And you two will be dead,” Layla says bluntly. “He’s not going to let you live to threaten his throne, especially not when he could sacrifice Juliet to make even more super soldiers somewhere down the line.”

I sigh, the last of my innocent morning contentment fading away as the weight of what comes next settles heavy on my shoulders. “You’re both right. I guess we’re headed in on our own then, in direct violation of Hermione’s orders. That probably won’t pan out well if we do make it back alive, but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“We won’t be in violation of her orders if she doesn’t know we heard them,” Ford says in a pointed tone I don’t understand until Layla shakes her head vehemently back and forth.

“No,” she says. “No way. I’m not staying behind. You need every pair of hands you can get. A team of four is a sad showing, but a team of three is just plain pitiful.”

“But we’ll need someone here to advocate for us in the event things go wrong,” I say, before adding gently, “And Ford’s right. If you’re the only one who’s spoken to Hermione, as long as you assure them you haven’t seen us this morning, we can’t be held in contempt of a direct order from the Wolf King’s second-in-command.”

Layla curses, but she knows we’re making sense, I can see it in her furrowed brow. “But what about muscle power? I know I can’t shoot as well as Catherine, but my bear can do some serious damage. What if you get in there, Hammer’s just hiding out, ambush style, and you need an extra pair of big, slap-happy paws?”

“If it comes to that, one pair of paws won’t make a difference,” I say as I move past Layla to grab my backpack. “We’ll be outrageously outnumbered, and then we’ll be dead. At least this way, maybe one of us lives to keep up the fight.”

Layla’s eyes begin to shine. “I don’t want to keep up the fight without you guys. You’re like my family now. Right? I’m not the only one who’s getting that vibe?”

Swinging my pack onto my shoulders, I reach out, pulling her in for a hug. “You’re my sister,” I whisper into her curls. “And if I become Zion’s Alpha, there’s a place in my pack for you. Forever and always.”

Her arms tighten around me and her breath hitches. “Good. So, you’d better come back. I’ve always wanted to be the only bear in a room full of snobby wolves who hate me for being there.”

“My people won’t hate you,” I assure her. “I won’t let them.” I pull back, smiling as I wipe the tears from her cheeks with my sleeve. “By the time you graduate from Lost Moon and are ready to think about options for your forever home, I’ll have kicked all the mean wolves out and only the cool ones will be left.”

“You’re going to use your stubborn, badass bossy powers for good,” she says with a sniff.

Ford snorts out a soft laugh that draws my attention.

“What else would I use them for?” I ask, arching a brow his way. “Aside from browbeating my husband into submission, of course.”

Ford smirks. “I prefer to be pussy whipped, thank you. No badass bossiness required.”

I smile. “Good. That’s my preferred method for managing you.”

“Manage away, woman,” he says, coming to stand beside me. He presses a kiss to my forehead before resting a gentle hand on Layla’s back. “We both love you, Slap Happy. As long as we’re still kicking, our home is your home.”

Layla nods, clearly fighting tears again. “Same. Always. I’ll go get Catherine and tell her the plan. Where should she meet you?”

“At the top of the waterfall,” I say. “We can follow the stream north before we head east toward the resort. It’ll cover our tracks in case anyone tries to follow us.”

“All right.” Layla steps back, her gaze moving between the two of us, like she’s painting a portrait in her mind, saving a mental image of us to her memory banks…just in case.

In case this is a trap.

In case we lose the fight.

In case we don’t come back.

Nineteen

Ford

An hour later, Catherine, Juliet, and I are crouched in the woods across the street from the gated entrance to the Zion Mountain Private Ski Resort. The gatehouse, usually manned by at least three or four armed guards when the pack is in residence, is empty and the compound beyond is eerily quiet.

“They’re not here,” Juliet says, her gaze tracking slowly up and down, from the gatehouse to the shop-lined road and the massive main lodge beyond. “Surely, even if they were hiding in the basement, we’d be able to feel them. The pack has an energy, especially when they’re all together.”

“The smell is off, too,” I agree. “Zion wolves were here recently, but not anytime in the past few hours.”

Catherine lifts her bound hands. We had to make do with tearing my extra t-shirt into strips and using it for rope, but it will do to keep up appearances. And the thin cotton has the added bonus of being easy to rip through should Juliet and Catherine need to get their hands free quickly.

Our plan is to pretend I’ve come to deliver Juliet and Catherine to Hammer and take my place at his side, then double-cross him as soon as possible.

---