“The Council is finally out of their war meeting,” Vlad says. “They’re prepared for their fight.”
I shove the last slice of orange into my mouth before I stand to my feet. I stand by Toshi, our bodies hovering as Vlad approaches the table. The three of us gather around and look down at the plans, going over our tactics once again. It’s getting close. Our time of war is drawing nearer. I can sense the urgency in Vlad’s movements. I can smell the excitement on his skin. Toshi’s eyes are drawn to mine, and the two of us exchange a glance.
“What?” Vlad growls.
“Something has you angry,” I say.
“And I don’t think it’s the war coming,” Toshi says.
“What else do you know?” I ask.
Vlad huffs before he shrugs his coat off.
“My contact was coming to tell me the Council had just reconvened from their war room meeting. But it seems my father is in a bit of a debacle.”
“What kind of debacle?” I ask.
“According to my source, my father has been approached by both General Tera and Chief to side with them. To fight this war out the way they want. General Tera with his eradication and Chief with his experimentation or whatever the hell they’re calling it.”
“What does any of this have to do with your father?” I ask.
“Apparently, my father doesn’t agree with either of them. He wants to take a more diplomatic solution. Sit down with people. Hammer out some sort of an agreement.”
“Not at all what a Wolf would do,” Toshi says.
“Exactly. But they’re taking his suggestion as a form of mutiny so they’ve locked him away,” Vlad says. “In the dungeon.”
“Wait, so he’s in the same place Kyle is now?” I ask.
“According to what I’ve been told. And I’m so angry I can’t stand it. Primals wonder why Wolves never evolve. Why we never moved beyond our basic instinct to feed, fuck, and kill. Well, my father just tried to change that. He tried to suggest something other than the ‘kill’ instinct that’s so natural within all of us.”
“And he’s been locked away for it,” Toshi says.
“That’s what happens to Wolves,” Vlad growls. “The moment we try to step up and be better than how other Primals view us, those same Primals cast us out for it. We have to get him out of there.”
“We can try when we go after Kyle, but Kyle has to be our main priority,” I say.
“Why? Because that’s the husband of the woman you love? Who, by the way, just fucked the hell out of Sebastian by the smell of it.”
“No,” I bellow.
I stand on my feet and roll my shoulders back as I hover over the growling dog Vlad is turning into. I can feel the jealousy spewing from him. I can see the anger in his eyes. I can sense the fear for his own father, and I get it. He wants to rescue his family. I would, too, if it was my father. Or even Chief.
“Kyle is our main priority because I made a promise,” I say. “We all did. And if we have time to get your father out of there, we will. You have my word on that.”
“And I’m supposed to trust you?” Vlad asks.
“Yes,” Toshi says. “Like we’ve trusted you.”
Vlad snickers and shakes his head before he rakes his hand through his hair. It’s getting to all of us. The contingencies and the plans the Council is making. All of it is getting so convoluted and impossible to process. People we need to free and Councilmen that need to be taken out. Humans to protect to keep them from turning into whatever they’ve made Clarissa and Kyle. It isn’t that Kyle and Clarissa are bad. Or even unwanted. It’s the fact that they didn’t have a choice. Neither of them got to choose for themselves whether or not they wanted to undergo this transformation. It was forced upon them, and I know that’s where Chief is coming from. He doesn't simply want humane experimentation, he wants humans to have the ability to choose.
An ability Igo and the Cats didn’t give any of their human subjects.
“How long do we have before they mobilize?” I ask.
“Yeah. How much time do we have to get ourselves set up?” Toshi asks.
“I’ve thrown some bait to a few of my friends who I know have been aching to fight against the Council for a long time. You know, Alpha wolves trying to prove themselves and all. I’ve thrown them some ideas for stalling tactics. Ways to stumble the Council and buy us a couple, maybe three days. But that’s all we’ve got, so we need to make the best of them,” Vlad says.