29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Dante

S ilence hangs in the air as the council considers the information I've given them. Where we usually have seven members, only five are present today. With Cain being off the grid and Jake on special assignment watching over Bri's roommate, Liv, I feel like we're operating as a skeleton crew, and it makes me nervous about the impending war.

"Any ideas?" I ask, opening the floor up and scanning from Pres to Erik before sliding my gaze across the table to Elijah and James. Erik speaks first.

"Do we need a full perimeter for the city, or can we focus our protection on our assets? Feels like we are wasting personnel with teams patrolling open desert that is meaningless in the grand scheme of things," he says, his eyes scouring the personnel document in front of him.

"We could back off and focus our intentions on more of our properties, but then we have gaps, and we have pack members all over the city. I can't ask them all to leave their homes for an unforeseen amount of time. Patrolling the perimeter, keeping tabs on all highways into the city, and using Pres's extensive drone collection to monitor areas farther outside the perimeter seem like the best ways to identify if they are moving in. Additionally, we can't attack them in the city. The fight will have to happen away from human eyes. Too many cameras exist, and the last thing we need is a wolf shifter battle being live-streamed to the world." I finish, realizing the last war didn't have these additional complications.

"If this goes that far, I'll be jamming most electronics as a precaution. That being said, shouldn't we be looking for ways to negotiate a new peace treaty rather than preparing for a war we have a very, and I mean very, slim chance of winning?" Presley asks, concern evident in her tone and tension firmly placed in her posture.

"I can't see Marlo being willing to negotiate anymore. He lost his Second; then we took Brielle even after he won her from the LLC. If the feud between him and our father was tense, ours has made it even more tenuous. He has no reason to want to trust us, and while his entire case for Brielle was bullshit, it was our anonymous tip that got his original Second thrown in jail, and then we got the replacement shot. It's not exactly a platform of peace," I say, feeling even more frustrated and wishing Cain was here with ideas.

"Everyone has a price. We just have to find what he's willing to trade for besides all of our territory," Pres says, typing something into her computer.

"Any word on resources? Packs who will help?" Erik asks, looking from me at Elijah and James.

"None of our allied packs believe that the Reno Pack should have been awarded the Unawakened girl, and yet, they won't support us because the LLC is involved," Elijah says, and James nods in agreement.

That's what I found when I reached out as well.

"The only pack willing to assist is my aunt's pack in New Mexico. She is currently working on numbers to see how many shifters she can send. So we have our numbers, which Quinn ran most of last night and this morning, and we have 1,926 able-bodied, plus whatever they can contribute," I say, supplying Erik with our totals.

"Do we know how many Reno has?" Erik asks as a follow-up.

I shake my head, preparing to answer him, but James pipes in with a response.

"I spoke with a friend of mine from one of the northern California packs, and apparently, his son was sent to work with the Reno Pack last spring. According to him, they have close to a thousand active wolves, and that's not considering any they could pull in for this now that the LLC has basically blacklisted us," he says.

"Deacon Marlo also has his fingers in several different less-than-legal ventures and has familial ties to the Amatos, who we know have resources they could send," Elijah adds.

Shit. I'd forgotten about their ties with the Miami pack.

That's part of what got us into this in the first place.

Dante: Quinn, I need to meet with David Healy asap

Quinn: I will reach out. Any reason I should tell him?

Dante: No, just that it's urgent; try to get him in here before two today.

Quinn: You got it, boss, but remember you have an in-person meeting with a client from Resort World at 1:00 p.m. and a video call scheduled with Doug Martin at 1:30 p.m.

Dante: I'll have to be fast, or he will have to wait, but it needs to be today.

Looking down at my watch, I see I only have about fifteen minutes before I need to head to the client meeting, so I turn to Presley.

"It won't matter how many resources he has; ours must be better. Pres, where are we with the motion sensor grids?" I ask, hoping she's made some headway.

"We are sourcing what we can, but based on our current inventory, we should be able to cover about 70% of the areas you highlighted in your request. If we have another week, we probably could get that number closer to 95%, but then the placement teams would be working around the clock to get them set up, and we still need a way to monitor and power every grid. I'm playing with a few other options, but it will be more about getting power to the grids than the technology itself. We know it works, but for how long is the question. I only have four on my team, and that's a lot of responsibility to place on us working twelve-hour shifts with no days off," she says, grimacing at the admission.

Only four? How is that possible?

She must read the question on my face, so she elaborates.

"Green team has twelve members, but eight of them are human contractors we can't pull for this due to… well, the obvious reasons that they can't know," she says, clarifying.

Shit, she's right. We will need to expand the shifter side of our green team fast.

"Erik, do you have anyone who can be moved to the green team?" I ask, watching as Presley's expression changes.

She hand-picked her team members, and I've allowed it since she returned from college because I wanted her to have something that was truly hers. But we don't have time to be picky—not anymore.

Dante: You need people to watch screens temporarily. Anyone could fill this role.

I send the mind-link while Erik rattles off a few names he thinks would be a good fit.

Pres: Most of the black or red team members couldn't plug in a computer if it had picture instructions.

My laughter at her snark pulls everyone's attention, and I have to clear my throat before allowing him to finish.

"Pick four more so each green team member can shadow them until they know what's going on. Additionally, can you pull two of Jake's teams together for installation? Pres will need to brief them and be at each grid to ensure functionality, but we must start tonight. Pres, brief your team about their responsibilities with this and hand off any client-side stuff to your other eight members. We can't share resources right now, so whoever is most competent needs to lead them. I need you 100% on this." She nods, but I see her wheels turning and her hesitation.

"James and Elijah, please work with Quinn to prep temporary housing for our returning members and find us another location that we can use as a secondary safe location should the need arise. Erik, reach out to Jake when he becomes available. You will need to work through your recruits and put them into teams for patrolling. We are increasing all of our security starting right now." I stand before finishing.

"I have complete faith that we have every ability to beat them should this come to that, but my priority will always be protecting the lives of our people, so I am looking for ways around this. There is a full-pack meeting in the large auditorium tomorrow night. Let's have our plan locked in before then. Let me know if you need anything," I say, grabbing the folder of documents from the meeting and striding out of the room.

Before I return to my office, footsteps behind me tell me exactly who is following me, and I leave the door open, knowing she will follow me in.

"What is it, P?" I ask as I turn and sit down in my chair.

"Keith is the best brain I have on the human side—honestly, on either side—but I also know he's new and has been tangled up with Marlo before, so I'm wondering if I should trust him with leading the client side," she says slowly, sitting in the chair opposite me.

Something about her feels off, and I pull on the bond to read more into her emotions. Fear is there, but so is guilt, and something I can't quite put my finger on. We're all scared of what's to come, and I know she is still holding onto the guilt for her role in starting this ball rolling, but it's something else.

As she sits there, concern etched on her face, it hits me.

She's in all black. She has no headphones on. Nothing about her is loud or obnoxious. It may be the most understated I have seen her since our dad's funeral, and for a moment, my heart aches that she's lost herself.

"Tell me what this really is about?" I ask, hoping she will give me something. "Because you have excellent intuition, and you never like my advice when I give my two cents," I say, keeping my tone neutral.

"Well, because usually, your advice sucks," she says, forcing snark that doesn't entirely land. "But also because I keep messing up, and I'm worried my intuition is off, I don't want to do something else that could hurt the pack the way I did with Brielle," she says, looking down at her fingernails as I hear the emotion reach her throat.

"That wasn't your fault. Cain's told you, and so have I. Hudson would have found another time, at school or work, to grab her if it hadn't been then. We got lucky getting her back because of Marlo's absence at the initial trade. You can't keep blaming yourself for this."

"Easier said than done, but, either way, I need your thoughts on Keith. Do you think he can be trusted?" she asks, and her eyes look up again.

"I do. I wouldn't have offered him the position or forced you to put him on the team. He shows strong loyalty, has never wavered on his intention with us, and you said it yourself: he's the best brain you've got. Trust him with this. If I'm wrong, it's on me, but I need you to focus on keeping the rest of us safe. Can I count on you?" I ask, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that Presley would never allow anyone in our pack to be harmed if she could help it.

"You know you can. I'll have the coverage maps to you by the end of the day and will send the first teams at nightfall," she says, standing and turning to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and D. You will keep them safe. I know you will," she says before exiting the room, leaving me with the confidence I need to get through this.

From her lips to the Fates ears…