8. Seven

Seven

Sloane

My surrender? Ha. He was mistaken.

I sat up straighter in my chair. He thinks I'm a fool. I'll show him.

Our little plan had worked at least a little. I wondered if he clicked on the link, but that wasn't exactly something I could just ask him. I could only hope.

I cleared my throat and gripped the desk with my free hand. "I'm not sure you understand. We aren't surrendering. We are just hoping that we could come to some sort of peaceful resolution before more people die. We've already lost too many. There is no need for more bloodshed."

He cackled like I'd told the funniest joke in the world. "You know, Sloane, I've miscalculated you a bit. Not only are you exceedingly stubborn, but you're dumb too."

I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into the edge of the desk. I opened my mouth to say something, but then clamped it shut. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of a retort because it would only egg him on.

Let him think I was dumb. It would make outsmarting him so much more satisfying in the end.

The phone crackled like he was moving it around. "But you're right. It doesn't have to be this way. I'm more than happy to accept your pack. Everyone there can be welcomed into mine. No one else has to die."

I shook my head. The audacity of him. After every thing we'd lost, he expected me to just roll over. I wasn't like these other alphas.

I bared my teeth. "No. What you're doing is wrong. You're hurting people, forcing them to follow you. Maybe you have good little puppets for now, but it's only a matter of time before you have a revolt."

He chuckled darkly. "There will be no revolts. My pack knows who their alpha is and wouldn't think twice about challenging me." He hummed. "Have you been having troubles, Sloane? You are just a young girl, after all. Not an alpha. Anyone can see you aren't cut out for the role."

The edge of the desk creaked from my grip, and part of the molding began to pull away. "I've earned the respect of everyone here. I think you're mistaking fear for respect and there's a very strong difference, Alpha."

Like how I addressed him as alpha still and he only referred to me by my first name.

Jerk!

He huffed like he was trying to suppress a laugh. "There was a time when I used to be like that, Sloane, easy-going, everyone had a say. And then Luna turned her back on us. That's when I realized it was time we make our own rules."

I released my death grip on the desk and put my balled hand in my lap. "I'm sorry for what happened to your wife and daughter. I can't imagine how horrible that must've been for you and your family." I closed my eyes. "But Luna had nothing to do with what happened to them."

He snarled into the phone. "And I suppose Luna had nothing to do with your father being slaughtered, either?"

I blinked back tears. An image of my father‘s lifeless body laying in the dirt filled my mind and I shook it away. "That was your son who did that."

He hissed into the phone. "The son that your lover took from me."

I stood up and paced. "Only because he had no choice. Don't you see, Alpha? There are no winners in a war. Meet with me in public. Let's discuss a peaceful existence. No one else has to die."

I could practically feel his anger radiating through the phone. "You can either join me by submitting or die, Sloane. There are no other choices."

My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach as I leaned against the edge of the desk. I had never really thought that there would be any chance at peace, so that wasn't surprising, but I didn't want to have to take good men and women into a battle that I knew not everyone would walk away from.

I put my hand over my chest. "I'm sorry to hear you say that. You should know we're never going to surrender to you."

He growled. "And you should know that I'm going to enjoy ripping your pack apart, limb by limb. I'll kill every last one of them before I take your life." He snarled so fiercely into the phone it vibrated. "That way you know you utterly and completely failed. Lincoln, now he...he will suffer a far worse fate than death. By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you would've submitted."

The line went dead, but I held the phone against my ear for a few seconds longer as my mind tried to process everything that had just happened. My hands shook and my knees wobbled as I stood upright.

I sucked in a few deep breaths and then walked numbly through the office. What if we just made things worse? Had we just poked the bear and brought more attention to ourselves? I hoped not. We were already fighting with everything we had and we just needed more time.

Alpha Dane had been content to let us be for the moment. What if we'd renewed his interest?

The air buzzed as I walked absently through the house back towards the kitchen.

Lincoln and Brandon were still at the table. Mom and Willa had joined them and were prepping dinner at the counter. They gave me a concerned look as I hobbled by. Brandon and Lincoln hadn't noticed me yet. Both of them leaned forward, practically on top of the computer screen.

My legs were like Jell-O as I walked across the room and slid out the same chair from earlier, flopping down. "Alpha Dane called me."

Mom gasped. Willa dropped the spoon she was using into the mixing bowl, her eyes widening.

Lincoln and Brandon both looked up, but it was Lincoln who spoke. "Already? We only sent the email a bit ago."

I set my phone on the table and stared down at it. "It shouldn't come as a surprise that he's not willing to negotiate a peaceful resolution. He threatened to kill us all."

Mom mumbled something under her breath and drew Willa into a hug when she let out a sob.

It shouldn't be shocking. He'd used intimidation tactics the whole time I was in his pack. They'd been real then, but now, after everything with Dad and the attacks, the weight of it was suffocating.

I blinked rapidly and met their eyes. "Please tell me he clicked on the virus in the email."

Brandon typed so hard on the keyboard the entire table shook. He stared at the screen for a few seconds longer and all I could do was hold my breath.

He glanced up at me and a small smile slid across his face. "He clicked the link, and the installer ran. We are in."

My hand went to my forehead, and I fell back in the chair. "This is good. When do we start getting information? The sooner we can flip the script the better."

Lincoln and Brandon shared a look. Lincoln grinned. "Sweetheart, we are in. We can get whatever we want now."

I fiddled with the collar of my shirt. "Let's do it. I want everything. Even if it seems like it might not be important, we should still look at it." I shifted forward again, leaning on the table. "Do you need someone else to help you look over the information?"

Willa pulled away from my mom and cleared her throat. She let out a shuddering breath. "I want to help. I might not be a computer whiz like those two, but I'm not much help with the building, and..." her eyes misted, and she swiped at her right eye with her thumb. "I don't think we're going to get to take Alpha Dane down together like we said, but this is just as good."

She put her hand on her belly and smiled.

Brandon put his arm over the back of the chair. "The more people, the better." He ducked his head and looked at me. "We kind of need more laptops, though."

Lincoln pointed at the one on the table. "Mine is the only one we have. We could do a lot more damage if Brandon had one, too. And Willa and anyone else who wants to comb over data will need one."

All the computers in the pack house had been destroyed in the fire. It didn't surprise me that the enforcers didn't have any. They had a big screen TV and were almost always watching something on it when they weren't on duty or out running. And almost everyone had a phone.

I bit my lip. I'd gone over the finances and they were a little rough right now with the rebuilding and wolfsbane purchase. But I could find a way. I had to.

I waved at the laptop. "Pick out what we need and add them to a shopping cart of whichever store can get them here the fastest and I'll get them ordered."

Brandon swallowed and then cleared his throat. "I'll need a nicer one than your standard run-of-the-mill laptop."

I sighed. Why did everything have to be so expensive? Oh well. We were fighting for our lives. I wasn't going to skimp out on the one thing that could save the pack.

"Get what you need."

Brandon drummed his fingers on the table. "Thanks, Sloane."

I gave him a warm smile. "Hey, thank you. What you did was impressive."

His face reddened. "It was nothing really." He fidgeted with his shirt collar.

Mom opened a kitchen cupboard. "I had no idea you could do all that, Brandon. Good job."

The reddish tinge deepened. "Thanks, guys."

I clapped my hands against my thighs before standing up. I didn't want my brother to feel anymore awkward than he already was. "Keep up the great work. I need to go make the rounds and see how the rebuilding is coming along and check on the wolfsbane."

Brandon put his hands back on the table and leaned forward. "The last of the wolfsbane was planted last night. It should just be harvesting the rest up now for whatever we intend to use it for."

Mom made a noise in the back of her throat and shuddered. "I hate that stuff is here. It makes me nervous with all the youngsters running around." She fiddled with the necklace around her neck.

I hated it too. "It's a necessary evil, Mom. I'll make sure to tell everyone to talk to their kids again about the danger." I mashed my lips together. "We are outnumbered and Alpha Dane uses it too. We have to stay in the fight."

Willa stopped stirring her mixture and glanced up. "Alpha Dane will use everything he has to hurt us. We need to protect ourselves any way we can."

Mom heaved out a long sigh. "I know that, but I don't want to see us lose ourselves and values during this fight. It does no one any good if we compromise the very thing we are fighting for in our quest for victory."

Mom had a point, but I was going to do everything I could to protect this pack and those I loved. I prayed Luna made sure I didn't lose my sanity in the process.