13. Twelve

Twelve

Sloane

This was really happening. We were going to attack. It was a matter of when now.

I stared at the map we'd cobbled together with pieces of paper that covered the entire kitchen table. It was a detailed layout of Alpha Dane's compound.

Lincoln tapped a square that wasn't quite shaped correctly. "This is the start of the compounds of where the women and men are being held." He moved his palm in a circle of several squares. "We will need to check all these buildings."

I chewed on the inside of my lip. Of course it would be in the middle of the entire complex. Way to make it easy on us. Not.

I drummed my fingers on the edge of the table as I stared at the drawing. "It is what it is we can't control where they're being held."

All we could do was make the best of what information we had.

Brandon traced his finger over the spot that signified the main house. "Do you think you could get me a layout of the inside of the house, Lincoln?"

Mom gasped from her spot by the counters and grabbed Willa's shoulder as she covered her mouth with her hand.

What? I shook my head. "No. Why would you need to go in there?"

That wasn't part of the plan. We were getting the people out and going after Alpha Dane. That was it. What more did we need?

Brandon sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his lap. "I had an idea. We've put these files in the cloud to incriminate him." He chanced a quick glance up at me before adverting it again. "We could have them directly loaded onto his personal laptop and a real paper trail to boot. We could get the FBI off our trail for good."

Mark scrubbed a hand over his face. "No, Brandon, absolutely not. That's too dangerous. You would have to go off by yourself. We don't know who might be in the house and you'd have no backup."

Lincoln's brow furrowed as he stared at the table. "Maybe. Maybe not. Not many people are in the main house anymore. It's big but my dad's mistrust is larger."

I chewed on my thumbnail. Brandon wasn't wrong, and what he was saying made sense. But Mark was right. Brandon would have no backup if something went wrong. He'd be on his own.

Still.

I massaged my temples. "It's a win-win. If we fail, the evidence is still there, assuming we can direct the FBI there before it's discovered, and make his life hell." I gave my mom and Willa a pointed look. It would be on them to make the call. "If we win, though, we still point the FBI there and get them off our backs for good."

Mom made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, but mashed her lips together and said nothing.

Brandon swallowed as he glanced at Mom. His face paled and he clasped his hands together in his lap. "I can make it look like he planted everything for us all along and he is the guilty party. I'm worried if we don't do something we will have to worry about the FBI for a lot longer."

My brother was a genius.

Lincoln knocked on the table. "It's a good idea, I don't like it, but I think he's right. My father is hell-bent on taking us down anyway he can. It does no good to defeat him if we have the law breathing down our neck."

We were fighting for our land. For our lives and freedom. I was going to make damn sure Alpha Dane didn't get the last laugh.

I gave my brother my full attention. "What is that you need?"

Mom made another noise and Willa shushed her, wrapping an arm around her waist and laying her head on my mom's shoulder.

Brandon shifted, leaning so his elbows were on the table. "I'll need to get into his office. I can have all the documentation ready. I'll just need to know where to put it."

Lincoln banged his palm on the table as he cracked a smile. "My dad has a safe. That's where you'd want to put it." He laughed out loud as he shook his head. "I bet the passcode is still the same. He's never changed it."

Mom cleared her throat loudly. She hadn't spoken up until now. She'd been leaning against the kitchen counters, listening. She stepped forward and put her hands on the back of mine and Mark's chairs. "I don't like any of this."

I opened my mouth to protest. We had to do this, but she held up a hand. "This is going to be dangerous and all my children will be running off to take part in this plan." She swallowed hard as tears misted her eyes.

I reached behind me and gave her hand a squeeze. I wanted to promise that we all would be fine, that we'd all come back, but I couldn't promise that because I didn't know. This was dangerous, by far the most crazy thing we'd done yet.

I held her clammy hand tight and twisted so I could see her. "Mom, we are going to fight like hell."

She gave me a tight-lipped smile as a tear trickled down her cheek. "I know you all will. It doesn't make it any easier. You will always be my babies even if you are grown." She gripped my hand tightly for a moment before letting it go and retreating back to the counter to lean against it.

I cleared my throat and pointed to the very edge of the paper on the opposite side of the table. "We will create our diversion here. We have to think of who we want to fire off the gunshots."

It was yet another decision I still had to make.

Add it to the ever growing to do list.

Sherriff Adam had offered to help. Him and possibly a few deputies were the logical choices, but it would be asking a lot of them, and could get them in trouble with the law if they were discovered.

I needed to think on it more.

I circled my hand back around to the blue squiggles on the paper that identified where the water was on the property. "The rest of us will come up this way. We will give about two to five minutes before we start to make our move after we hear the gunfire. That way most of the pack is in the wrong area."

Mark traced his finger along the distance between the water to the compound. "It's a longer track to where we need to go this way."

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the map. He wasn't wrong, but we'd chosen this way for a reason. "It will allow us to get closer to the property without being detected. The water will mask our scents, with the distraction, we should be able to get to the compound before anyone is aware of our presence."

I motioned to Brandon. "We will also make sure that he's not alone. A small team will go with you inside the house and then we'll join back up when we leave."

Mom covered her mouth with her trembling hand, but it didn't stifle the sob. When we all looked at her, she sniffled and stood up tall. "I think that this is going to work."

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Her confidence renewed mine, and I sat up straighter, meeting her eyes. "It is going to work."

We didn't have a choice if we failed we would likely never get another chance.

Mom brushed some loose hair out of her face. "Are you having men stay back here at the pack just in case?"

I nibbled on my chapped, cracked lips, wincing when I chewed on a particularly sore spot. It was a delicate balance of who to take and who to leave behind. We needed to make sure that we had enough men to protect the pack, but also to pull off our strike.

I swiped my tongue over my lips. "I've been going over the numbers, Mom, but haven't come up with anything yet."

Lincoln rocked back in his chair so it was just on the back legs. "It's risky, but if we take everyone with us, I think we have a much better shot at winning."

I agreed but... "But that leaves everyone here vulnerable."

My gaze drifted to my mom. She looked older somehow like the past few weeks had aged her at least a decade. The worry lines on her face were more pronounced and the dark bags under her eyes made her face hollow. Her usually well kept hair had flyaways and her apron was crooked.

She had lost my brother and my dad in such a short time. While she'd thrown herself into doing stuff for the pack, she was grieving.

Mom picked up a dish towel from the counter and dabbed at her eyes. "Scouts and the security cameras should be able to give us enough time before anyone can strike. We would have enough warning to leave."

She pushed back off the counter and put her arm around my shoulder. "You were right to keep us here. I shouldn't have questioned you about it. This is our home."

Home. It was such a funny word. It's the place I'd carved inside my heart where my family, mates, and pack lived.

I glanced around the kitchen. It was nothing like that one we had at the main house before the fire. This was quaint, small, barely any workspace, and the pots and pans probably should've been thrown out a few years ago, but it was our land. Our property. The only home I'd ever known. And I was proud that she finally agreed with me about staying.

Mark shifted in his chair and looked from me to Mom. "The only thing we haven't decided yet is when we go." He pursed his lips and sighed. "And if the people with the guns continue to fire once the enforcers come."

All eyes landed on me. Heat tinged my cheeks as I stared at the map like it could help me with the answers. The weight of the world pressed down on my shoulders. Whatever I said, they would agree to. Everyone's fate was in my hands.

How the hell did Dad do this? What would you do Daddy?

Indecision rolled through me, making my belly knot. The FBI was keeping tabs on us, something else to take into consideration. We would look guilty with that many people going somewhere all at once.

Definitely not something to be done in the middle of the night. But during the day? And if we went during the day would we strike then too? We didn't know the land like Alpha Dane's men. We'd have the benefit of being able to see. But so would they.

I chewed on my nail and ripped the top part off with my teeth. "I think we need to start doing runs with people to see if we can get small groups out at a time. They can meet someplace. We need to make sure we're not being followed or it does us no good to plant evidence. They'll just assume it was us, and we sure as hell don't want the FBI there during the attack."

Sheriff Adam might have come to terms with us being wolf shifters, a bunch of men in suits, would probably kill us and send us off as test subjects.

We needed to stay incognito. "I'll pick the first team and give them a destination to go to. I'll have them sneak out at night. We'll do this a couple of times a night for the next few days just to make sure that we're not being followed. Everyone will meet up at the same time far away from here. Then we go together to Pack Wolf Blood."

I'd have to be careful about when and where I chose to send people. If I sent them too far away and Alpha Dane decided to attack us, they'd never get back in time. But I also needed to make sure that they weren't being followed and couldn't be spotted.

It was a dangerous game. One I had no choice but to play.

Lincoln cleared his throat as he ran a hand through his hair. "We should also check in with Sawyer and see what we can find out as far as if he's heard anything else about my dad's plans." He rubbed at his jaw. "He could give us an idea of how many men are there, and how many men might be away."

He was right and it'd be nice to see Sawyer again. I missed him so much. I couldn't wait for him to be here with us. When this was over, we were all going to lay in bed for a solid day and just hold each other.

We had work to do first.

I stood up and tossed my hair over my shoulder. I reached my hands up over my head and rocked up onto the tips of my toes. There was still one question I hadn't answered yet.

A cold chill zipped down my spine like an icy finger. "As for the guns..." I squeezed my eyes shut for a minute. "We can't use them past the distraction and letting the others know we are there. The risk of hitting friendlies is too high and not one I am willing to take. Any opposition will be handled in combat. And we will have wolfsbane ready to go." I turned my attention to Brandon. He'd been heading that project off.

His nose twitched. "It's almost ready to harvest. Another day, maybe two then a day to prepare it."

Well then. This was it. We were almost ready. Dear Luna, what had we gotten into?

Mom wrenched the dish towel in her hands. "And what about the guns, Sloane? Who is going to fire them?"

My gaze went to the table, the map blurring in my vision as I squinted. "I think I might ask Sheriff Adam. He's been looking for a way to help. It would keep him out of the line of fire and he wouldn't be hurting anyone."

Mom tugged on the towel harder before setting it on the counter. "Do you want me to talk to him, my love?"

I glanced up at her. She had a grim smile on her face, and she was fiddling with her necklace again.

I nodded. "If you don't mind."

She inclined her head and reached over to pat my shoulder. "I'll take care of it, and I'm sure he'll agree."

I picked up a piece of my long hair and looked at it before twirling it around my fingers. The plans were laid out. I had one last decision. When?

I closed my eyes for a moment. "Three days. We attack in three days."

The finality of my decision made the muscles in my neck tense, so I had to rock my head from side to side. Not that it did any good. I used my thumb to point over my shoulder. "I'll be in the office. Let me know if anyone needs me."

I didn't give anyone much room to respond before padding away. My insides trembled as nausea rolled through my belly. I didn't think that was going to go away anytime soon, at least not until this was all over.

Three days. I just had to hold it together for that long and then this would be all over.

I opened the door to the office and closed it, leaning against the door. I covered my face with my hands and slid down, fighting the urge to cry as emotion clogged my throat.

How had my dad done this? Everyone was putting their lives into my hands, trusting me to do the right thing, but what if I was wrong? What if this last effort to stop Alpha Dane cost everyone their lives?