Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Milo

It's a long, silent ride, but we eventually make it home.

We're all too exhausted for a debrief, so once Jared's given a clean bill of health by Mrs. Dowling, we trudge upstairs and pass out in a pile on the bed.

When I wake up late in the morning, I realize that I'm the only one left. Which is shocking in its own right, since we can usually count on Jared to be that guy.

Ignoring my rumbling stomach, I opt for a shower first.

Albeit, a quick one.

I make my way downstairs only to find everyone else deep in conversation at the breakfast table. Richardson and Levi are even there, along with Dom and Roxanne, Landon, Jared, and Lily.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in," I mutter, swinging by to drop a kiss on Lily's damp hair on my way to the coffee station.

"Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. We've just been filling Dom and Roxanne in on what happened," Landon explains. Jared's too busy shoving food into his mouth to say a word.

"You were out cold." Lily pats the empty seat next to her. "We actually tried to wake you. You must have needed the sleep." She doesn't look like she got much sleep herself.

"Oh," I reply, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"No worries." She takes a long sip of coffee, ignoring her full plate of breakfast.

I prepare my coffee and take that first glorious sip before I ask her, "So what's the plan now?"

"Dom heard from Billy this morning. He's going to call when he's sure it's safe; I guess he keeps a burner phone at a fishing cabin his dad left him, so he's going there to get it."

"If that's the case, how did he call Dom to tell him this?"

"Smoke signals," Jared jokes around a mouthful of bacon.

"Ha ha." I don't feel that joke merits more of a response.

Landon clarifies. "I guess they have some chat room that they both log into where you open a new room and then when you both leave it closes, like it was never there."

Sarcasm is my favorite form of communication. "I don't care what Azalea says, that sounds just like Mission: Impossible."

Lily cracks a small smile. "I'm dying to find out what happened, but I'm also terrified to find out what happened, too. Does that make any sense at all?"

"It makes sense to me," I reassure her, pulling her hand up to my lips. "You really should eat, Lily. I know you're stressed, but you need energy to keep going, and coffee doesn't count."

"Says the coffee addict." She smiles again.

"Exactly. So you know if I'm saying it, it's serious."

"Fine, I'll eat if you do."

"You have a deal, my darling."

I happily fill a plate and tuck in, and Lily follows suit. The rest of the group alternate between eating and talking in low voices, and overall there's a general feeling of waiting. My eyes dart repeatedly to Dom's phone, laid out in the center of the table, screen black.

We're halfway through breakfast when it finally starts buzzing, some annoying ring tone practically echoing in the abruptly silent room.

Dom checks the number, then accepts the call and hits the speaker button. "Go ahead, you're on speaker."

Billy's voice is as cheerful as ever, despite the apparently paranoid measures he took to avoid getting caught. "Whoohee, you guys sure kicked up a hornet's nest! I must say, I'm a little hurt you didn't let me know you was comin'. I coulda helped ya'll out!"

"We didn't want to get you in trouble, Billy. I'm sure you understand. We figured it was better to not involve you in case something went wrong. Turns out we were right."

"Yeah, sure were."

There's a long pause before Dom prompts him.

"So what happened?"

"Well, once they knew something was up, everyone came rushing and followed you out into the woods. Alpha was mighty pissed you got away with that many people out there."

"I bet."

"Yeah, the only person he had anything good to say about was Erica, since she got closer than anyone else. Even laid into us pretty bad, and our job was just to stand outside Leaf's door."

"Who's Erica?"

"Oh, she's the one alpha's got working with Leaf right now. He figures it's a better way to bring out his wolf than the next step of the program, which… well, it gets a lot worse."

Lily speaks up, her voice shaking slightly. "Billy, is this Erica the one who caught up to me and Jared last night?"

"Yeah, that was her. That's why he wasn't as pissed with her as everyone else. Still pissed at her, though. She hasn't done what he told her yet."

Lily holds my gaze for just a moment before she asks, "And what's that?"

"Well, she's got to get Leaf to mate her. She spent all day alone in the room with him yesterday and the job's not done."

"How long does she have to ‘get the job done?'"

"Can't say. He's probably going to give it a few days at any rate. He likes Erica, would have claimed her for himself if she wasn't so much younger. She's really pretty. I can see why he had the inclination. I'm sure they don't expect to have much trouble with it. At this rate, he might just stick them both in the same room until something happens."

Lily's jaw flexes, and I can read her opinion on that information all over her face. "I see. What about Azalea?"

"The witch? What about her?"

"She was with us last night. They caught her."

"Oh yeah, I remember that now. I dunno."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Aside from them reporting they put her in a room, no one brought her up again. So I don't know what happened after that." Everyone's gaze darts around the room with significance.

"Okay, thank you Billy. Is there anything else we should know?"

"Yeah, don't expect to pull another sneak attack like that again. Alpha means business; he's doubling the guards on duty and adding regular patrols in town and on the territory border. There's no way you're setting so much as a foot in Montrose territory without him knowing about it, guaranteed."