“I’m not saying she is. But if we take her out and lay her scent everywhere then have her camouflaged until the war is over, they’ll follow her laid scent. We can draw them away from the village, confuse them in the forest, and use guerilla war tactics to take them down,” Theo says.
“I’m impressed,” I say. “I didn’t know you knew about war.”
“Bears know about it. We just don’t engage in it. Peaceful tactics are what we strive for. But if those fail, we know how to fight. And win.”
“I like Theo’s idea,” Toshi says. “But there is another option.”
“What?” I ask.
“You could take the fight to them,” Joel says.
We all turn our heads towards the human and I resist the urge to rip his fucking face off.
“That’s what you were going to say, right?”
“Yes,” Toshi says. “It was. We do still have the option of taking the fight to them. With Vlad with us and his knowledge of the corridors, we can surprise them with one group while another group heads off to find Kyle and Vlad’s father. Or did we forget about the two people we were freeing in the process?”
I grumble at the sound of his name. I don’t like the fact that he’s still alive. I can respect his strength for it in whatever tactic he chose to survive. Or his willingness to put up with the pain he probably went through to be transformed into whatever he was. But Clarissa’s mine. She smells like mine, she’s marked as if she’s mine, and she gravitates to me. Even if she fights it. Even if she screams out “no” for it. Her Primal instincts are growing by the day, and her body wants to yield to my command. It wants to settle into a natural rhythm of being mine.
And I’m not sure how Kyle will take that once we’re all reunited.
“That’s something to consider,” Theo says. “If we lure them away from the village with Clarissa’s scent, we do still have to get to the Council building and keep our promise.”
“Is there any way we can do that without having to go back there?” I ask. “Because it didn’t go well the last time we were there. And I’m not sure if any of you have experienced, but when Clarissa and I—”
“Really?” Joel asks. “You’re going to bring this up now?”
“Shut up, or I’ll toss you out into the cold,” I say.
“Then I’ll kick you out and keep Clarissa with us.”
“Trust me, if Sebastian can’t control her, you can’t either,” Toshi says.
“Watch your mouth, Cat.”
“Tone it down,” Theo says. “What were you saying, Sebastian?”
“Clarissa’s stronger. Her strength grows by the day. At first, I thought it was pure desire. Wolves get very strong during their mating rituals.”
“Fuck me,” Joel says.
“Not on your life, she won’t,” I say. “But she overpowered me in bed. Had me pinned. And it isn’t the first show of strength she’s had.”
“I know,” Toshi says. “But I thought it was just me.”
“What do you mean?” Theo asks.
“I saw her thrashing around on the couch with a nightmare, and I raced over to try and wake her up. I placed my hand on her arm, and she clamped down onto it so hard I lost blood flow.”
Theo’s eyes widened as I snorted through my nostrils.
“It isn’t just you, Sebastian. Clarissa’s much stronger than before,” Toshi says.
“But why?” Joel asks. “Why would she change like that? Is she still morphing or something?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, so shut up and let the adults talk,” I say. “And I don’t know. But it does make me curious with the changing of her scent.”
“Has anyone asked her about it?” Theo asks.