"Let's hear it then. Start with his kingdom's main territory."
"His kingdom is not far from here. While he does have armies there, their numbers could be better, and they're his lowest-ranking soldiers, all of his best he took with him. Since he's been tracking Amara over the last couple of months, his favorite Duke has been in charge over there. Outside the wall of the castle and its main village, you'll find crowded poverty. He allowed his people to starve, telling them it would start wars if we hunted humans, wolves, or fae after they stopped donating blood to us. In reality, he cut off all contact and trade with them, allowing his people to believe they were trying to starve us out. That's how he got most of his willing soldiers initially. From there, he made life for anyone who was his soldier comfortable. If you fought for him, you and your family could move over the wall, where you were given the bare minimum food and housing."
The room falls into a disgusted silence. Goddess above, this man was pure evil. All that suffering for nothing other than more power for himself?
"Can we expect him to return there?" Dad asks
"Now? Yes. He bought those warehouses scattered throughout the area to keep her in different places so you wouldn't find her; taking her back to the kingdom would be the obvious choice," Damon says to Dad, who nods thoughtfully. "But you may not need to. His plan was a full takeover if his demon friend couldn't portal in and out with Amara. He wanted to avoid battle in the interest of needing numbers after he carelessly threw them away. Now, that's what he would resort to."
"What information do you have on the demon?" Roman says, and I stiffen.
Shit, I hadn't told him about Felix tricking us. We talked very minimally over the last day about the specific details, saying we would go over it when we had this meeting. This would not go over well. Samirah and Damon both look at me, and I take a sharp inhale
"Remember that time we killed Felix? Yeah, it turns out his brother shapeshifted into him to trick us. He's very much alive and is the one who abducted me from the packgrounds," I mutter quickly, just wanting to spit it out.
Okay, I probably could have delivered that better. Roman's hands clench, and the room around us starts to shake as his eyes turn black, fur sprouts along his arm, and black mist leaks from his fingertips. I freeze; I've never seen him so angry; in fact, his temper has always been well under control around me.
'Touch him, you idiot, before he brings the packhouse down!' Tamisra says to me
Without thinking, I grab both sides of his face and kiss him. Instantly, the floor stops shaking. When I pull away, his eyes are still wholly black.
"It's okay, we're back, and we're safe now; the only ones you'll be hurting if you destroy the entire packhouse is us and your pack. Save that energy for when we kill him for real this time," I whisper to him
His eyes return to normal, but he pulls me onto his lap and pushes his head into my neck, inhaling deeply. I have to bite my cheeks as he holds me close, I definitely do not need the whole room smelling my arousal. Nope, definitely not.
'Unless you want me to leave the room, I suggest you tune into my emotions in the bond and stop what you're doing right now' I say through the link
'We could always take a quick ten-minute break,' he says huskily, squeezing my hips
'ROMAN!' I yell back
He loosens his grip on me; I don't need to look back to know he has that stupid smug smile on his face. I glance around, hoping no one noticed that, but my dad is glaring at him; Aylin looks bored, while Seth and Az have their noses scrunched. Oh, I will so get him back later for this.
"Anyways, care to share how he knew the exact second I would be alone?" I ask Samirah and Damon, who look amused now. Assholes.
"During that first attack, he shifted into a squirrel and watched you from a tree outside the packhouse," Damon says
I pause. He...shifted...into...a squirrel. I can't help the laugh that bursts out of me as that sinks in. Goddess, it's not funny at all. I can't even trust the small animals around me or in my own house. Something so insignificant as a squirrel or a rabbit, and I'm not going to be able to look at one of them without feeling uneasy until he's dead. Me, a wolf, a demon, and an angel; the three species at the top of the food chain. Uneasy over a housecat's prey.
"Care to share why that's so funny?" Azrael asks, both eyebrows raised, looking as if he's questioning my sanity; I get the same feeling from Tamisra as I try to collect myself
"Nothing, nothing. It's just so fucking stupid. A goddess-damned squirrel. That's what got me captured for nine days." I wheeze out. "I'm sorry, please, please continue," I say, collecting myself.
"The beasts he bred, what of those?" Max, who also gives me a questioning look, interjects
"Ah." Samirah says, "That's a rather disturbing matter. But nonetheless, he managed to save two male kuddes. He attempted to breed them with several wild animal species, none of which took. He, however, was able to breed them with rogue wolves."
Any laughter left in me immediately died out, nausea replacing it
"Excuse me?" Seth says, equally as horrified
Samirah nods
"It wasn't a pretty process; once he trapped them and inseminated them, the wolves were easily twice as rabid and lethal during the pregnancy, and then eventually the...the products of conception tore their way through the wolves wombs, and killing them," she says
Everyone's horrified faces match my own. While rogues wouldn't exactly be at the top of my priority list if I could save everyone, they're still wolves with a human counterpart somewhere in there. They're still creatures with feeling.
"That's..." Dad starts but then trails off. We all simply nod once in response.
"Horrendous? We know. Anyways, those things are fucked, to say the least. If you thought the kudde were rabid...they have nothing on these things. They're the size of a small bear, but where the kudde were clumsy and had no train of thought, these are agile and intelligent. You'll need at least five wolves to take one down." Damon says
"I'll handle them in battle. I don't need to touch them to kill them." Aylin says
"Absolutely not," Damon snaps, slamming his handcuffed hands on the table before we can all protest.
Everyone turns to look at him, myself included. I can see exactly what's happening here, and oh, my poor sister. No wonder she needed to get away from here last night.
"I don't answer to any of you, and you," Aylin pauses, turning to glare at Damon as her knuckles turn white on the chair's armrests. "I most certainly do not take orders from you," she snarls venomously. Goddess, I would hate to be on the receiving end of the murderous look she's giving him. Damon visibly gulps, but to his credit, he doesn't run and hide in a closet like I would have.
"Allie, it's too risky. And I have no desire to be king," Azrael says to her, placing a hand over hers with a pleading look in his eyes.
"What is your solution then, brother? They will demolish Amara and Roman's numbers, along with our hellhounds. The five other demons in this room are the only ones with the ability to incinerate them where they stand. In the worst case, I would need a small number of our Djinn warriors with me to immobilize them, and then I will turn them to ashes with a split second of thought. Best case scenario, I can take them all out from the sky," she says
Everyone is silent, but I think for a moment.
"So the four of us do it from the sky. While you can't teach me how to fly yet for obvious reasons, one of you can carry me. I can't be on the battlefield anyways, but if that's what we're looking at on top of their grenades and poisoned bites, then you need me out there," I offer
"No. No way. Absolutely not. You will not see the battlefield or anything near it." Roman growls. My dad and Azrael nod in agreeance while Aylin looks reluctantly thoughtful.
"She has a point. It will be safer for her if one of us carries her rather than her being on the ground. She can make herself invisible; who's to say she can't make whoever she's touching invisible too?" Aylin muses
"She's pregnant!" Seth yells
"Yeah, I second that, little sis. I know you weren't exactly eased into this whole pregnancy thing, but most women don't participate in a war when they're visibly pregnant," Az adds
"I'm pregnant, not incapable! I won't touch the fight; if I'm invisible in the air, that's free reign for me to use my powers without being tracked. You all saw how well Aylin and I worked together in that first battle; it took us less than twenty minutes to take care of them!" I say, and then I turn to Roman, "And you, you know good and well I will not leave my people to fight a war alone, a war that is on our doorstep because of me! It's either that, or we figure out another way for me to help. Aylin, Dad, and Az can teach me the basics of flying in case we get knocked out of the sky, but I will not sit this out." I finish
Roman and Seth look utterly defeated, while my dad and Azrael have their lips pursed.
"You took down the vampires easily; that's not exactly a hard task-no offense," Roman says to the two scowling vampires at the other end of the table, "But these things will be a different story," he finishes.
"Can they fly?" I say, looking at Samirah and Damon again, who both shake their head
"Then I'll still be safe in the sky. I'm not going to overexert myself. There are four of us who will do it, and you could too if it gets too bad," I say, turning back to Roman. He sighs and scrubs a hand down his face before cupping his eyes.
"How many should of them should we expect? Do you have an exact number?" Max asks
"Between fifteen and twenty," Damon says
"So the four of us deal with them first, as quickly as possible, and then Aylin can drop me somewhere and join you guys on the field while I continue to help from the sidelines," I say
"I already learned from that mistake, invisible or not; I do not want you anywhere alone," Roman says
"She can stay with me; we'll keep to the sky," Aylin says
Roman sighs again, shaking his head
"Fine. But you protect her, and if there's any higher risk, you portal her away," he says after a long pause.
"I didn't need you to tell me that, but yes," Aylin says, waving her hand at him
"I'll have my shadows track him; as soon as he returns to his kingdom with his armies, we move in. Or if he comes to us, we let him, and then we finish this," Roman says
"Your shadows?" Samirah asks
"Highly trained tracker wolves, that's how we knew to prepare for the first attack and part of how we found Amara," Roman says, tapping my leg so I get up. "This meeting is over," he says, storming out.
I follow him out of the room, but he leaves through the front door
"Roman!" I call out but receive no answer. Tears prick my eyes before I feel him open up the mindlink
'I just need a run and some fresh air; I'll be back soon. I love you,' he says; I nod my head despite him not being able to see it
'I'll be waiting...I love you,' I say, my voice quavering even through the link.
Goddess, is this what people mean when they say pregnancy hormones? I shake my head, willing the tears away. He wasn't even mean, and I can't fault him for being upset and trying to keep me out of this. I decide now is probably a good time to call Sophie; Roman did say he let her know last night that I was home safe. Yeah, I need a little of my best friend after finding out I was pregnant and then spending an entire week in captivity.