7. Six

Six

Sloane

The website couldn't be restored. This was bad. Just another obstacle that we would have to figure out how to work through.

Like we needed another problem. We took one step forward and five back every day.

It seemed like that's all I did anymore was detour one road block only to meet another. I wouldn't let this stop me. I couldn't. Too much was depending on me.

Lincoln and Brandon were sitting at the table with their heads together both scanning over the small laptop screen.

I put one hand on Lincoln's shoulder and the other on Brandon's. "How's it going?"

Lincoln reached up and patted my fingers, but didn't turn his gaze away from the computer. "I think between the two of us we can have the new site up in another day or two."

A day or two seemed like forever when we were going to have to be going to meet Sawyer in the next week. It wasn't enough time. But I couldn't complain to them. They were doing everything they could already, and they were already reinventing the wheel as it was.

I gave them both a squeeze. "I appreciate it. I'll have to switch up some tactics. Maybe go about this the old-fashioned way."

Lincoln nudged Brandon. "We are a lot further along than we would be because of him."

I didn't know my brother could blush until now.

His cheeks took on a very rosie red. "I don't know about all that." He ran his hand under his nose and stared at the wall opposite us.

I gave my brother a little shake. "Don't sell yourself short, Brandon."

He gave me a half smile and then ducked his head down again as he buried his face in the monitor. I could see now why him and Lincoln got along. They were both kind of loaners and preferred the company of a laptop more than they did most people.

Lincoln pushed the laptop towards Brandon. "You should show her what you were showing me earlier."

I leaned forward, poking my head between them so I could squint at the screen. "What is it? I want to see."

Brandon cleared his throat. He slid the keyboard in front of him and his fingers danced across the keys. The window he pulled up might as well have been written in a foreign language.

I let out a nervous laugh. "What exactly am I looking at, Brandon?"

He glanced at Lincoln and then looked over his shoulder at me.

I inclined my head, hoping it would encourage him to talk.

He scratched the top of his head. "I've been working on something."

I grinned. "I want to hear about it."

He shifted in his seat. "So I'm taking some online courses on white hat hacking and computer programming." He sucked in a breath and blew it out before ducking his head down. "I've built a piece of malware that if we send to Alpha Dean, we might be able to pick up everything on his network. If he clicks the link that is."

That sounded impressive. "Wow. I've heard about things like that before, but I didn't know you could do that."

He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. "Lincoln and I were talking about sending him an email. We could embedded the malware in a file and then hopefully he would click on it. It would download something in the background to run on his computer as long as it goes unnoticed, we have access to everything."

I laughed out loud and hugged him from behind. "Brandon, that's amazing. This could be a game changer for us."

If it were possible, his cheeks got redder.

He gulped. "I think it's pretty much ready to send. Lincoln and I were looking it over a little bit ago. We wanted to run it by you before we did anything."

I rocked him back and forth as I hugged him harder. "Of course I'm okay with it. It's brilliant, Brandon. You're a genius."

Brandon nodded, and his shoulders relaxed. "The only thing we need to do is compose an email. I'm not the best at doing that and Lincoln thought it would be best if we made it authentic so he'd be more likely to click."

I gave him one last squeeze before standing up. "You mean like it come from me?"

Lincoln ran a hand over his mouth as he leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, maybe you could offer to meet up. Discuss a peaceful resolution. We could imbed the code in the pdf for the restaurant. We can redirect it so that it goes to the actual site once the download is complete."

I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and crossed my arms over my chest. "I can type it up and then you and Lincoln just do your thing." I narrowed my eyes and let out a heavy breath. "Do you really think that he'll believe we want peace?"

Lincoln tilted his head to the side. "Maybe. It's worth a shot. He underestimates you. I think we use that to our advantage."

I moved around him and took a spot so I was sitting across from both him and Lincoln. "You know that gives me another idea."

Brandon and Lincoln looked at me expectantly their eyebrows raised.

I slid my hands up and down the table as I thought. "Could we also access his contacts this way? Maybe we could reach out to some of the alphas and maybe sway them to our side."

Brandon sat back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Sloane, we will have access to everything."

Lincoln rubbed at his jaw. "Yeah, it's just a matter of whether any of his contacts would be willing to work with us or not. Some are terrified of my father and follow out of blind fear."

I scratched at the wood grain on the table. "If we can get the list of contacts, maybe you can help me vet them to see who might be worth reaching out to."

Lincoln let his hands fall back into his lap. His eyes wandered up to the ceiling like he was thinking. "Yeah, I think I know enough to help steer you at least in the right direction for most of them."

Yet another roadblock we were derailing. "Perfect." I wiggled my fingers and reached for the keyboard.

Brandon slid it over to me.

Another thought occurred to me as I stared at the screen. "Lincoln, you told me your dad fudges his numbers for the brewery. Couldn't we expose that to the authorities?"

Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. "That was always the intention. We just never worked out how to do it without involving humans in pack business."

I worried my bottom lip as I considered the options. "Get the information. It doesn't mean we have to do anything with it yet. I want it in case we need it."

It would be the last card we played and only if we had to. Sherriff Adam was cool with us, but he'd known us forever. We wouldn't get that luxury from random law enforcement.

I turned the monitor, so it was facing me and pulled up my email, logging in. My fingers flew over the keys as I typed up a quick email, making sure to keep it short and sweet. I mashed my hand down over the enter key. "Tell me how this sounds."

I pursed my lips as I glanced up for a moment. "Dear Alpha Dane, this war is coming at a high price. Too many wolves have lost their lives, my father and Mikey included." My voice caught. I blinked back tears and took a moment to pull myself together. "My pack is still reeling from the last attack, and I want this to be over. Lincoln and I would like to meet with you in a public setting. Perhaps this restaurant to discuss a peaceful resolution. Sincerely Sloane."

I wanted to vomit reading it out loud. I shoved the laptop away and put a hand over my churning stomach. "Do you think it sounds believable? Is it too short?" I held my breath.

Lincoln pulled the laptop back so he and Brandon could see it. His eyes skimmed over the screen. "Like I said, he underestimates your strength. I think he'll think you are playing right into his hand. At least that's what I hope." His fingers hovered over the keys. "It's short and sweet, but to the point. And you bring up your father and Mikey, which is good."

I gritted my teeth. It would be his mistake to think I was weak. One that I fully intended to capitalize on.

I waved my hand at the computer. "It's worth a shot. Do whatever you have to do. I trust you two to pick out a restaurant a few hours between our two homesteads."

The chair scraped against the floor as I stood up. I pushed it back under the table and then put my hands on the back of it. "I'm meeting with Leo Denning in a few minutes to talk about some other contacts as well. Send the email as soon as it's ready. This is great work."

Lincoln beamed up at me and Brandon smiled too, but ducked his head down like he wasn't used to getting such praise. My parents were never mean to any of us. They'd always been loving, but Brandon was the one that was most misunderstood out of all of us. He didn't fit into your typical pack mold. But that was okay because neither did Lincoln and I was glad they found a friend in each other

I pushed off the chair. "I'll leave you two to it then. I'll see you in a little bit."

I made my way through the house and to my borrowed office. Leo was already waiting at the door for me. I opened it and motioned him in first. I shut the door behind me and walked to the desk, sitting down in the chair, crossing one leg over the other.

The chair was way too lumpy for my taste and I shifted, trying to get comfortable, but it was a lost cause. It didn't work and at the rate I was moving, Leo was going to start to think I had problems if I didn't sit still.

I put my arms on the desk and laced my fingers together. "I spoke with Alpha Isaac earlier. I hear I have you to thank for that contact."

He gave me a tight lipped smile. "My Uncle Isaac and Aunt Bernadette have always been close with us. My aunt was pretty broken up about what happened to my dad. They were close growing up and talked once a week on the phone. It didn't take much convincing."

My chest grew heavy as I looked at him. "I know how hard all of this must be for you."

And I did. I lost my dad and my brother in the span of a few weeks. He pulled his hands in his lap and looked down. "Alpha Dane has caused too many people to lose people they care about, you included, Alpha."

I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. Moments like this made me miss my dad more than I already did. He'd always been so strong even at times like this, and he always knew just what to say. Part of me felt like an imposter.

I licked my lips. "I'm not sure if you've heard or not yet, but Alpha Dane had the DarkSide website taken down. I was hoping maybe you might be able to put me in contact with a few other people as well until we can get it back up and running."

Leo ran both hands up and down his face. "All of the phone numbers would've been back at the house. I can give you as many names as I can think of though."

I gave him a sympathetic smile. "That's fine whatever you can do. I'm sure it'll help."

Leo met my gaze, his face a hard stone mask of anger. "I just need this to be over and to get revenge. To make sure that monster can't hurt any more packs."

I understood what he was saying, every last word of it. I didn't think it was possible to truly hate someone until I met Alpha Dane. It was very much possible though, and even though he was Lincoln and Sawyer‘s father, he had no redeeming qualities, at least not anymore.

I met his eyes. "I give you my word we are going to stop him, and I'm not going to stop fighting until he's either dead or I take my last breath."

The vein by his eyes throbbed. "Good, because I plan to do the same." His jaw worked. "I want to be there when you attack his pack."

"You will be. We're going to need everyone there to help."

It would be risky to take the majority of the pack, but we were going to make a stand. I hoped it wouldn't be our last one.

Leo motioned to the pad of paper in the right corner of my desk. "Can I have that?"

I slid it toward him. He didn't need further prompting. He scribbled away down the bottom of the paper, filling it in just a matter of a few minutes. Leo pushed it back towards me when he was done. "I'm sure I can think of more and I'll tell them to you as soon as I do."

I pulled the pad closer. It had a long list of names on it. "Thank you for giving me all of this. I really appreciate it."

He fisted his hands in his lap. "Really, it's me who should be thanking you. I don't know if my dad betrayed you or not, but he didn't help you. You could've left us to die out there and you didn't. You chose mercy instead."

He said that like I had a choice and maybe I had I suppose, but evil wasn't in my blood.

I shook my head. "We are all in this together. All of us, turning you away or ignoring your call for help would make me just as bad as Alpha Dane. We all have to learn to work together."

That was the truth. If anybody ever thought that I was being like Alpha Dane I hoped they hit me over the head and told me right away. I never wanted anyone here out of blind fear.

Leo inclined his head. "I just wanted to let you know that we appreciate you Alpha Sloane. Pack Denning is with you one hundred percent of the way."

I believed him. I leaned back in my chair. The tense muscles easing up a little. "Thank you, Leo."

I opened my mouth to say more, but the shrill of my cell phone silenced me.

Leo stood up. "I should be going and let you get back to work. I'll send you more names as I remember them."

I dug my cell phone out of my pocket as I waved bye to Leo. The number on the caller ID wasn't one I recognized, but we had so many things happening right now I didn't think anything of it as I slid my finger over the screen to answer it.

"Hello," I said as Leo closed the door behind him leaving me alone in the office.

"Sloane," Alpha Dane's gruff voice greeted. "I'm calling to negotiate the terms of your surrender."