Chapter Six

Charles was nervous, even though it didn’t make sense. Why should he be nervous at the thought of meeting Sullivan? If anything, it should be the other way around. Charles was sure that Sullivan was as nervous as him, and Sullivan wouldn’t even have the possibility of leaning against someone else the way Charles was.

He and Red were sitting on one of the couches in Chance’s office. The others were scattered around the room, with Chance and Theo behind Chance’s desk and Mark and Lester sitting on the other side of it. Houston was leaning against the wall by the window, looking relaxed, as though this was something he did every day. James wasn’t here because he’d gone to pick up Sullivan, but he’d be present at the meeting. Charles and Red sat slightly to one side because they didn’t really have a reason to be there. Charles wanted Sullivan to see the face of one of the people who’d lost everything in the attack, but he could’ve done so easily through Mark. It was too late for Charles to take a step back. He wanted to be involved.

“You’re nervous,” Red whispered.

Charles turned his attention to him. They were holding hands, and he used that hold to pull Red closer. He wrapped an arm around Red’s shoulders and kissed his cheek, then the corner of his lips. “A bit. I know it’s ridiculous.”

“You can’t help your feelings, and I don’t think it’s ridiculous.” He hesitated and looked around the room, but everyone was focused on something else. “I’m often nervous around you,” he admitted.

Charles frowned. “Why would you be nervous around me? You can’t believe I’ll hurt you, can you?”

“I know you’d never hurt me. I guess I’m not quite sure where we stand.”

That wasn’t what Charles had expected. “I thought it was clear.”

“Maybe it is and I’m not seeing it. I’m not asking you to declare your undying love for me right now, but I feel a little unsteady.”

Charles hated that. He felt unsteady, too, but not because of Red. The rest of his life was a mess, but what he had with Red was perfect, and Charles didn’t want to do anything to ruin that. It was obvious that he hadn’t done a good job as Red’s boyfriend, though.

“What if I do want to declare my undying love for you?” he asked in a whisper.

“I won’t try to stop you, but I only want to hear those words if they’re true.”

“They are.” Charles looked around the room. This was the worst place to do this, but at the same time, it was also perfect. As long as the two of them continued talking when they felt there was a problem, Charles knew they could do this. They should have talked sooner, but things hadn’t gone so far that there was resentment growing between them.

“They are true,” he murmured in Red’s ear. “I’m falling in love with you in a way I never expected was possible. You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last face I think of when I go to sleep. I wish it could be real and that you were in bed next to me every night, but I understand you need space, and to be honest, I think I do, too.”

Red’s eyes were wide. “I expected you to tell me you liked me.”

Charles chuckled. “Well, I did. I just added a few more things.”

“Telling me you’re in love with me and that you want to wake up next to me isn’t quite telling me you like me.”

“I don’t want to push if you’re not comfortable with the direction this is going in. Just say the word, and I’ll take a step back.”

Red was already shaking his head. “I don’t need you to take a step back. I need you to continue doing what you’re doing, because I’m falling in love with you, too.”

Charles opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a brisk knock on the office door made him jump. He swallowed and turned to look at it.

James was always grumpy, but he was especially so when Chance did something James thought he shouldn’t do, like inviting enemy mages into his office to have a chat. Charles had been in the house when Chance had told James about the phone call and what he’d decided, and he’d heard the yelling. For some reason, Chance didn’t seem to care that James was yelling at him, even though he was the alpha.

It reminded Charles of his relationship with Rex and Mark. It was similar to the one Chance, James, and Houston shared. He supposed that if he had to find parallels, he’d be like James, while Rex had been more like Houston. He’d been focused on feelings and making people happy. He’d always had a smile on his lips.

But Charles wasn’t as grumpy as James, especially not right now. James looked like he might hit something as he gestured at a tall man to walk into the office. He stepped in right after Sullivan, and he didn’t close the door. He didn’t need to, because there was no one else in the house.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” he grumbled.

“Noted,” Chance said as he got to his feet and offered Sullivan his hand. “I’m Chance.”

The man nodded. “Sullivan, but you already know that. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I hope it will be.”

Sullivan sat in a chair next to Lester. Mark was on Lester’s other side, and he looked ready to grab Sullivan if he so much as looked at Lester weirdly. For a moment, Charles was afraid that was what would happen, but Lester knew Mark. He put a hand on Mark’s knee and squeezed, then turned to Sullivan.

“Thank you for coming,” he said.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened to you. You shouldn’t have been treated the way you were by the coven, and you shouldn’t have felt like the only way you could be free of it was to run away.”

Lester shrugged. “I’m not hurt. I always knew something was wrong, but I’m young. No one would’ve listened to me, even if I tried standing up to the leaders. Losing the coven wasn’t a great loss. My friends came with me, which means I have everything I could ever want here with the pack.”

Sullivan nodded and turned his attention to Mark, who looked ready to strangle him. That didn’t stop Sullivan. “I want to apologize to you. I didn’t know what the leaders were planning when they left that evening. I only found out the day after when I realized that they’d captured dragon shifters.”

“They killed one of my best friends,” Mark said with a growl. “I will never recover from that.”

“I don’t know what to do beyond apologizing again.”

Mark grunted. “If you say you didn’t know about it and Lester trusts you, then I trust you, too.”

Sullivan glanced around the room. His gaze stopped on Houston, who waved at him, then continued to the couch where Charles and Red were sitting. Charles tensed, but thankfully, Red was there to keep his mind on the moment.

Red squeezed Charles’s hand and leaned against his side. “I’m Red,” he said gently. “I have nothing to do with the coven.”

Sullivan blinked. “Oh?”

“He’s here with me,” Charles said gruffly. “I’m a dragon shifter. Your coven killed my entire family and my best friend.”

Sullivan’s expression was grim. “I don’t know if you want an apology, too, but if you do, I’m sorry. Claiming I didn’t know what they were planning isn’t excuse enough. I’ve known for years that what they were doing wasn’t right, but I was always too scared to do something about it. I still am, but they crossed a line. They killed children and elders and destroyed entire families. They pushed you out of your home, and from what little I know, they’re still threatening you and your loved ones.”

“They are,” Chance agreed. “Which is why you’re here. What do you think we can do about it? More importantly, are you willing to help us? Because if the coven continues pushing and threatening, they’ll find themselves with a war on their hands, and I won’t hesitate to destroy the coven the way they destroyed Mark and Charles’s clan. If that’s not something you’re okay with, you shouldn’t be here with us today.”

Sullivan swallowed. Maybe he hadn’t fully thought this through. Now he had to make a decision, and he was hesitant.

Charles held his breath. They needed Sullivan on their side. They needed him to spy on the coven for them and, possibly, to kill Linette.

But that would only work if he said yes.

* * * *

“I despise what the coven has done,” Sullivan said. “It will never happen again, not as long as I have something to say about it.”

Red understood why Sullivan was saying this, but he had his doubts. No matter how powerful Sullivan was, he was still only one man against an entire group of leaders, and that was without counting the people who supported them. Sullivan probably had his own supporters, but something told Red it still wouldn’t be easy.

At least it appeared that Sullivan was on their side. It was more than Red had hoped for, and while part of him was still wary, they had to trust someone. It was the only way to get rid of the coven, or rather, of the people leading it.

Sullivan meant well. That much was obvious in the eager way he was speaking to Chance. He didn’t want the people in the room to believe he supported the leaders who’d destroyed an entire dragon clan and were still now torturing the dragons they’d taken.

Red shuddered. He didn’t know what the coven was doing with the dragons, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. There was nothing he could do for them at the moment, anyway.

Chance nodded. “The problem is that I don’t know if you do have something to say about it,” he said.

Sullivan leaned back in his chair. “I have more influence than the leaders realize. Until now, people have stayed out of their way because even though they disagreed with what they were doing, they were mostly harmless.”

Lester snorted. “I wouldn’t call them harmless. They’re abusive to the people who don’t support them. Ask me how I know.”

“That wasn’t the best way to say that,” Sullivan agreed. “I’m not saying they’re not abusive. I know they use their power against the people who don’t support them, including you. I closed my eyes to that for too long, but what they did to the clan was too much. They didn’t just abuse people. They killed entire families, and that’s not something I and many of the coven members can agree with. I’ve already had many people contacting me and asking me what was going on and what they were supposed to do. The leaders only took along the people they trusted, and that’s not the majority of the coven.”

“How many people are we talking about?” Houston asked. “I mean, it’s good to know that the entire coven isn’t made up of assholes, but can the people who disagree with the leaders stand up to them?”

“I don’t want to lie to you. I suspect they won’t want to get in trouble. They disagree with what the leaders are doing, and they don’t want to continue living like this, but at the same time, they have families and people they want to protect. That includes me.”

“So you’re not going to help?” James asked as he took a step forward, almost as if he wanted to beat Sullivan’s head into the desk if he said no.

James might do it. He always looked like he was willing to beat up people, and Red wondered if he’d been born that way. To be fair, James seemed to smile more when he was around Wade, but the two of them were always bickering and sniping at each other. They had to enjoy it, since it hadn’t stopped them from becoming a couple, but Red couldn’t see it.

Luckily, he wasn’t the one who had to live with James. Wade had made his choice, and Red would support him, no matter what happened or how little he understood him.

“I will,” Sullivan said as he straightened his back. “I’m frightened for my children, and I know the leaders will use them against me if they can, but I have to think of their future. Do I want them to have to obey the leaders’ orders when they grow up? Do I want them to grow up in this kind of place? When I think of the children who were killed during the attack, I can’t help but imagine my children in their place. I should have done something before, but I was a coward, and I told myself that whatever I might do wouldn’t change anything and that I wasn’t strong enough. I’m still not sure I am, but I’m done.” He looked at Chance. “As long as you can promise you’ll protect my family.”

James growled a bit, but Chance raised a hand, cutting off the sound. He didn’t look surprised by Sullivan’s request. He probably wasn’t. It made sense that Sullivan wanted someone to protect his family, and who better than Chance and the pack? They were the only people standing up to the coven and its leaders. If there was one person who had the possibility of defeating them, it was Chance.

“You have my word that the pack will protect your family to the best of our ability,” Chance said. “I don’t want innocents to be hurt or to pay for what’s happening. I’m aware that the entire coven didn’t agree with what the others did, and I have seen this before.”

“What do you mean?” Sullivan asked, glancing at James as if he still expected him to do something to him.

Thankfully, Wade was in the house, watching a TV series in one of the guest bedrooms. His presence was usually enough to calm James down when something happened. If James got angry, they just had to throw Wade at him and hope for the best.

“I’ve been working with my father since he was the alpha of this pack,” Chance began. “I’ve traveled and met other alphas, and I’ve seen situations similar to yours. It’s what happens when many people live in a group and have to be led by one person or even a group of people like in the coven’s case. Not every alpha is a good person and wants the best for the people they’re supposed to protect. They make the decisions on their own, sometimes with their beta or the people they’re close to. Some alphas use their position for power or to abuse. They view their people as pawns and things to use rather than human beings to protect. This is what’s happening here. The coven leaders are only thinking about their own gain, and they don’t care what will happen to the rest of the coven as long as it doesn’t touch them. It doesn’t make most of the coven members bad people.”

“Even though we didn’t stop the leaders from attacking the clan?” Sullivan’s voice shook. He looked a bit afraid, but there was also some guilt present.

Red had no doubt he wished he’d done more, but at the same time, what could he have done? They were organizing now, so they might have a chance to do something about the coven leaders, but before? Sullivan had been alone, and he had his children to think of. What would happen to them if Sullivan wasn’t there to protect them? What would the coven leaders do to them?

At least now Sullivan had the promise that if anything happened to him, his kids would be safe. That was probably what he’d been waiting for. He wanted to give them a better life, and he had the opportunity to do so.

Red had no idea how this would end, but he was hopeful. It still wouldn’t be easy, but at least now the pack wouldn’t be fighting alone. They’d have allies who knew what the coven leaders might do and who they were. They could help them, give them information, and support them when the time to fight came.

“Even if you’d known about the attack and had tried doing something about it, you would have failed,” Chance said gently. “You weren’t organized. That’s going to change.”

Sullivan nodded. “It will. What do you need from me?”

“How do you think we should do this? I already asked Lester and his friends, so I have a good idea of what we’re facing, but they never had access to the leaders or important information. You’re different.”

“Not really. The leaders are careful who they talk to. As I explained before, they have a group of people they trust, and they took those people on that attack. They left everyone else behind and didn’t tell us what they were doing. They probably knew some people would have argued and tried to stop them.”

“What would have happened then?” Red asked. His cheeks flamed when he realized he’d spoken aloud, but thankfully, no one seemed offended by his question.

“The leaders would have taken them out. They might have used them as an example so that the rest of the coven would stay in line.”

“What do you think we should do?” Chance asked.

Sullivan thought about it for a moment. Red wanted to tell him to just say it, but instead, he bit his lower lip and leaned more heavily against Charles. They all knew what would happen if they didn’t do anything. They had no way of knowing if they would win this fight, but at the very least, they wouldn’t just stand back and allow the coven leaders to hurt more people.

* * * *

“I’ll talk to the people I know want things to change,” Sullivan said. “At the very least, I can warn them to be careful and stay in their rooms when we decide to take down the leaders. I also know one leader will be on our side.”

Charles blinked. He hadn’t expected that. When Lester and his friends talked about the coven leaders, they almost made them sound like monsters. In a way, they were. They seemed larger-than-life, which made sense—Lester and his friends were afraid of them and had been abused by them. Sullivan was much older than Lester, and he had a different perspective and position in the coven.

“Who?” Lester asked. “I never noticed anything.”

Sullivan gave him a crooked smile. “Most people don’t remember we grew up together,” he said. “But Braden and I go back a long way. He’s older than me and put a lot of distance between us when he was chosen as a leader.”

“Why would the others choose him if he’s on our side?” James asked.

“His father was a leader before him. When he died, it seemed obvious that his son take his place. Braden couldn’t say no. None of us can.”

“He’ll support us?” Chance asked.

“He will. Just tell us the plan, and we’ll make it work. I don’t know how many allies we’ll be able to find, though. If we want the coven to be safe once this is over, we’ll have to kill the leaders and most of their supporters. A lot of coven members won’t want to be involved in that.”

Chance nodded. “I understand. I can’t say I’m happy about this, but it’s either them or us, and I won’t let them hurt my people. I’ll leave the actual decision-making to you, though. You know the coven better than I do. You know who to talk to, when to do it, and what will be more easily done. We’re going to have to trust each other.”

For a moment, they stared at each other. Charles wasn’t sure he trusted Sullivan. He wanted to, because it was the only way the coven would pay for what they’d done, but at the same time, Sullivan was a coven member. What if this was a trap? What if he was just gathering information for the leaders so it would be easier for them to hurt the pack?

Unfortunately, Charles didn’t think Chance had a choice. He had to trust that Sullivan was on their side and that Lester was right when he said he was a good person.

“We just want peace,” Sullivan said. “And we’ll only have it once this is over.

“And once it is? Who will become the new coven leader?”

Sullivan blinked as if he hadn’t thought about that.

Charles found that strange, but at the same time, it was understandable. Sullivan had probably been told his entire life that the leaders were all-powerful and shouldn’t be questioned. Who would lead the coven if they weren’t there anymore?

“I think this is a question we’ll have to answer later,” Sullivan said. “I don’t know if Braden will want that, but he’s the only person I can think of. He’s been a leader for a few years now, so he knows what kind of decisions the leaders are expected to make and how it works. At the same time, I don’t know if the coven will still trust him once this is over.”

Chance nodded. “We’ll wait to talk about that, then. I’m glad to have you on our side.”

Sullivan grimaced. “I wish we hadn’t met in these circumstances. Too many people have been hurt for the greediness of only a few.”

“Feeling guilty and beating yourself up for not doing something before won’t help anyone. Focus on the future and what you can do now.”

Charles’s head spun a bit at the thought of what would soon happen. Until now, he’d thought their fight against the coven would be useless. The coven had loomed in the distance, strong and powerful, and he hadn’t truly believed they could do anything about them or stop them. But now? Now he thought that maybe they had a chance. At the very least, it looked like most of the coven members were good people who were merely along for the ride. They’d never stopped their leaders, and that thought made Charles angry, but at the same time, he understood better than a lot of people.

He’d lived under the leadership of Mark’s father for most of his life, and the old alpha wasn’t someone anyone could speak against. It was his way or the highway, very much like the coven leaders’. He’d made questionable decisions that Charles had disagreed with, but he’d never said anything about it except to Mark and Rex. He’d certainly never stood up to Mark’s father.

He wouldn’t be here if he had.

Mark’s father didn’t kill the people who stood up to him, but he kicked them out of the clan. After that happened a few times, people had stopped talking against him. It wasn’t worth putting themselves and their families in danger of not having a home anymore. With no one willing to stand up to him, he’d done whatever he wanted with the clan. He’d used the dragons for his own benefit.

Just like the coven leaders were using their people.

So no, Charles didn’t hold this against Sullivan and his allies. They weren’t his favorite people, but he could live with the knowledge that by the end of this, they would still be a coven.

The old leaders would be gone. They were the ones who’d made the decision to attack the clan. They were the ones who’d killed so many people. They were still harming the dragons they’d captured, and Charles ached with the need to save them. It wasn’t fair that he was here, free and able to fall in love, while they were still trapped and being used for whatever the leaders had in mind.

Charles trusted Chance. He was sure the alpha would find a way to rescue them. If he and Sullivan could truly work together, they could put an end to this. It sounded too good to be true, but Charles wanted to have a little hope. He had to think that by the time this was over, he could live a peaceful life with the man he was falling in love with.

He looked down at Red, who was snuggled against his chest, listening in to the conversation between Chance and Sullivan. He was frowning, so Charles reached out and smoothed his thumb up and down his forehead until he stopped. Red looked up, clearly amused, and Charles leaned down to kiss his forehead.

“What do you think?” he asked in a whisper.

“I want to trust him.”

Red nodded. “Same. I hope he’s not going to betray us.”

“I’m pretty sure that if he does, Lester will turn him into a frog or something.”

Red snickered. “A frog or a frog shifter?”

“Being able to return to human form would be too good for him if he’s a traitor.”

Red’s expression turned serious. “I don’t think he is. It feels like he really cares about his people and his home. He wants to do the right thing, even though it’s terrifying and could hurt him and his family. I just hope his help will tilt the odds in our favor.”

They didn’t have a plan B right now. Charles had no doubt that Chance would come up with one, because he was the alpha and knew what he was doing, but Charles couldn’t think of anything. If Sullivan betrayed them, it would be the end of the pack. Charles would lose his second home, and he didn’t know how to deal with that.

He wasn’t sure he could deal with it. He’d already lost too much, and the ache in his heart was a permanent addition. He knew that time would soothe it, but he might not have time.

This might be it. These might be the last days Charles had to be alive and somewhat happy. They might be the last days in which he could hope for a happy future.

But it also might not be. Charles had to have faith.

* * * *

Everything Sullivan was saying sounded good. He was willing to help, but he wasn’t promising that they would win. He’d said he’d do everything he could, and Red thought he would, if anything, to save his children.

He really hoped they weren’t making a mistake by trusting Sullivan. They wouldn’t find out until they got deeper into this, though, and frankly, they didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t just barge into the coven house and kill the leaders. They’d be killed before they even reached them unless they had someone inside who could help.

He frowned. That would be the best way to avoid an outright war, wouldn’t it? Instead of fighting the coven like the pack normally would, wouldn’t it be better to do it differently?

Chance was surely already thinking about this. Red didn’t want to tell him how to do his job, but he was curious.

He cleared his throat. Once again, everyone turned to look at him, and he told himself to ignore them. He only had to focus on Charles, maybe act as if he was talking to him. “I’ve never lived with a pack or any kind of shifter group until now, but unless I’m wrong, when you guys fight people, you usually do it in your animal form, right?”

Chance nodded. “That’s right. It’s the way shifters usually fight. We shift and beat the shit out of each other.”

Chance was trying to keep the conversation light, even when they were talking about killing people. It made Red like him even more. He didn’t have to be shielded from this, though. He knew loss. He’d never killed anyone, and he wasn’t planning to start anytime soon, but he’d lived on the streets too long not to have been hurt.

“You can’t do that with the coven. Not only do they not shift into animals, but they’ll use their magic against you. Even if Lester manages to counteract the spell that won’t let you shift, the coven has to know he’s helping us. That means they’ll try something else. I don’t think we can afford to allow them to come to us.”

“You can’t attack the coven house,” Sullivan interjected. “It’s protected by dozens of spells, including one that shields it from the view of anyone who doesn’t know it’s there. I’m still wondering how you managed to reach the house to save Lester.”

“It’s more that we met them outside,” Lester said.

“What do you have in mind?” Chance asked, still focused on Red.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Red told him. “How many leaders are there? How many people do we need to get rid of?”

“If we don’t count my friend Braden, it would be four leaders plus Linette, who’s kind of the leader of them all. She’s the one who has the final say on all decisions made,” Sullivan explained.

“How many supporters? Or do you think most of the coven would stay back and watch as we kill their leaders?”

“I don’t know about that. I can think of several people who will try to step in, but most of the coven won’t stand in your way. I think that all in all, you’ll have to deal with about twenty people.”

Red frowned. Twenty people were enough to destroy an entire dragon clan? To kill so many people and ruin so many lives? It didn’t feel like enough, but he supposed that if they were evil, it would be.

“Red is right. We need to take them on from the inside,” Chance declared. “We can’t afford to let them reach us here. They didn’t have any problems destroying the dragon clan. I don’t want to put my pack in that kind of danger. Sullivan, you’ll need to talk to as many people as you can. We have to know for sure that we’ll only have to deal with twenty people. We can prepare for more, but it would be best if most of the coven stayed out of the way.”

“I’m sure I can convince people to stay out of the way or even to help. I’m not the only one fed up with what the leaders are doing. I’m not the only one who wants the coven to become peaceful again. For years, we respected the leaders and did what they said because they’re supposed to know better. Now that we found out about the clan, though, a lot of us want this to end. We’ll fight with you, and hopefully, when this is over, we can be allies.”

Red’s mind was still going, but he forced himself to stop. He’d explained his idea and what he believed should be done. Chance and Sullivan would go over the details, for which Red was glad. He wasn’t a leader. He had no idea what he was doing beyond throwing out ideas and seeing what stuck. It was probably ridiculous, but at least now he wouldn’t obsess over what might have happened if he’d not spoken up.

The next step would be to destroy the coven leaders. Red had no idea what that would look like yet, and he wouldn’t be there to see it happen, but that was all right. He didn’t need to be. As long as the coven leaders were taken care of, they could rot as far as he was concerned. He didn’t care who died or didn’t. They’d hurt his boyfriend and so many other people, and they would continue doing so if no one stopped them.

Red was relieved when the meeting finally broke up. Sullivan had to return home to reassure his children and so that the leaders wouldn’t realize something was happening. They couldn’t afford that, so Sullivan agreed he would continue to behave as if everything was perfectly normal. He’d keep in contact with Chance, and together, they’d come up with a plan once they knew how many people were on their side.

Red didn’t run out of the office, but it was a close thing. He left Charles behind and headed straight to the kitchen, needing some air and possibly something to drink.

Theo joined him there soon after, thankfully alone. Red loved Chance and Charles and all the others, but he needed a moment.

“That was a lot,” Theo commented as he opened the fridge to take out a bottle of water.

“It was intense,” Red agreed. “And I hate that we don’t know how it’s going to end yet. With all the work we’re putting into it, it feels like we should know we’ll win.”

Theo chuckled. “I think there’s a good chance we will.”

Red took the glass of water Theo offered him and took a sip. “You think?”

“I really do. Finding Sullivan was the best thing that could have happened. We have an ally on the inside. Not only will he be able to give us information, but he might also be able to help us from there. As long as the leaders don’t find out what he’s doing, I think that in the end, we’ll win.”

Red wished he could have as much faith in the end result as Theo, but maybe it made sense that he didn’t. After all, Theo knew everything that happened. Red only knew what Charles had told him about previous meetings and what he’d seen in the recent ones.

“I hope you’re right,” Red murmured.

Theo squeezed his shoulder. “I know I am. After everything we’ve been through, we deserve to have long and happy lives with the men we love. Chance won’t let anyone take this from us, especially not the coven. He’ll find a way to get to the leaders and make sure they pay for what they did.”

Twenty people. That was all that stood between Red and his happiness. It felt like a massive number, but at the same time, it really wasn’t.

They needed more information, which was what Sullivan would be working on. Once they knew who would stand with the leaders and who would take a step back and see what happened, they could start planning.

It wouldn’t be easy because Chance wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt his pack, which meant taking the fight to the coven rather than waiting for them here. Red truly thought it was the best thing they could do, though. That way, the pack would have a possibility of surviving, whatever happened.

Even if they failed.