Chapter 20: Negotiation and Strategy
Sebastian released his arms and Brooke dropped gently to the mossy ground beneath the ancient willow tree. He turned and held her forearms so she could lower herself to a seating position to Avery’s right, then wrapped a soft fleece blanket around her shoulders. She smiled up at him gratefully as he took a seat behind Avery, between Brooke and Alex, so he could continue to act as their translator. Boris, sitting across from them, looked at her with disgust in his sea blue eyes. His snout wrinkled as if he’d smelled something foul. Brooke wondered if she needed a shower and felt embarrassed. Avery would have told her, wouldn’t she? Or Seb? She gave herself a surreptitious sniff, but she seemed fresh enough.
Avery’s mind was painted with withheld irritation and distaste herself; Brooke could feel. She tried to send calming energy, both for Avery and to try to keep her head from aching. From what she had seen so far, the two packs varied wildly in terms of customs and traditions. Shehad been warned that Rachel’s former pack was more traditionalist than theirs, but she’d still been shocked to witness it firsthand. This was a tentative alliance at best.
None of the Hunters had said a word to anyone but Avery, not even to Rachel. She wondered if they ever took human form at all. They didn’t seem to have brought any clothes or supplies with them, so maybe not. Brooke glanced over at Rachel, who was staring daggers at Boris while Alex stroked her chestnut hair slowly, soothing. After a minute of awkward silence, Benjamin cleared his throat.
“I would like to start by thanking you, again, Boris,” the Gamma said. “Your pledge of twelve warriors is very generous and greatly appreciated.” Boris narrowed his eyes and there were a couple seconds of silence before Sebastian started translating.
“‘Not so fast. I may have brought a dozen of the finest warriors you’ll find this side of the great mountains’– he means the Rockies –‘but if you expect them all to fight, we’ll need to agree on terms.’” Sebastian had to speak very quickly to keep up. Boris huffed.
“What do you want, Boris?” Avery asked aloud.
“So quick to get to the point,” Sebastian translated. “Very well, I want what you have. I want to be Alpha of the largest pack in North America.” Sebastian sucked in a breath in a hiss and bit his nails.
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do about that.” Avery’s tone was calm and measured but her irritation was only growing. Brooke put a hand on her arm, gently tracing the outline of one of the wolves in her tattoos. Avery’s mood steadied.
“Well, you could stop stealing my warriors, for one.” For the first time, Boris turned his full attention to Rachel, and Alex by her side. Rachel growled low in her throat. Brooke’s pulse sped up; her mind gripped by a horrible certainty that this meeting would not end well.
“Nobody stole me,” Rachel snapped at her father. “I chose to leave. Of my own free will, unlike Cara. But you’re not very familiar with the concept of free will, are you, Boris?”
“Clearly these human-lovers have infected you with their softness.” Sebastian sounded scared now as he translated. “Shit, he smells angry,” he whispered so only Brooke could hear. She glanced between the father and daughter, anxious.
“Perhaps if you were more open-minded to new ideas, more would choose to join your pack,” Avery said, terse but polite.
“By which she means stop being an uptight, stubborn tyrant,” Rachel spat. Boris jumped to his feet, the ruff on the back of his neck standing on end.
“This coming from the disgrace who mated herself to a sniveling human,” Sebastian relayed. “Oh Goddess-” Brooke knew that was all Seb.
Rachel shifted, ripping her clothes to shreds. Alex fell back and Benjamin caught him. The Gamma grasped Brooke’s best friend by his shoulders and, using his superhuman werewolf speed, pushed him back 30 feet away from the snarling brown wolves. Sebastian tugged at Brooke’s arm, pulling her back as well. Avery stood between Rachel and Boris; one tattooed arm held out towards each of them.
Avery felt panicked and desperate, and Brooke’s own anxiety mixed and amplified it, until her head started to ache from the stress. Rachel and Boris exchanged growls and twitched their ears and tails at each other; punctuation to a conversation Brooke could not hear. Sebastian had fallen silent, watching the exchange with wide violet eyes and backing them ever further away. Whatever they said, it must have been heated. A minute later, Rachel attacked.
She leapt clear over Avery’s head, her claws slashing towards Boris’s side. He caught her large paw on his shoulder, tilting it so she glanced off and fell heavily to the ground at his side. Boris opened his jaws, revealing rows of large yellow teeth. He lunged downwards, aiming for Rachel’s belly. She rolled away just in time and sprang back to her feet, growling so loudly Brooke could see the leaves shaking on the trees nearby. The sound was like sandpaper scraping against her brain.
Avery shifted, throwing her body between the two wolves and baring her teeth.
“We’re here to treat peacefully,” Benjamin pleaded, running to support Avery. His graying hair was wild. His eyes were wilder. He had been working for weeks to form this alliance and now it was in imminent danger of falling apart.
Rachel stalked around in a circle, trying to get past Avery to get at Boris. But Avery moved, keeping her hulking black wolf form as a buffer between the two ferocious brown wolves. Rachel lunged. Avery rebuffed her with a swipe of her paw. Boris tried to sneak up from behind, but Avery was able to dodge out of the way and shove him back with her shoulder.
Brooke looked on, helpless. She wished there was something she could do. The quarrel only gained momentum, Avery trying her best to keep the two from injuring each other but struggling.
“Why don’t they help her?” Brooke asked Sebastian, gesturing at Jade and Benjamin.
“If they help her, she’ll seem weak. This is her territory, Rachel is her Beta, and Boris is an alpha. This is her problem to solve. She can handle it.”
“That’s bullshit!” Brooke swore, fed up. “OW!” Her head stabbed with a sudden pain. Avery cringed and fell to the ground. Her migraine had picked the worst possible time to rematerialize.
Boris howled with delight and jumped at Rachel. Avery tried to get to her feet, but she was unsteady, swaying and wincing with every step. Brooke stared, horrified.
“Get away from them!” she called out, terrified that Avery would be caught in the crossfire and unable to defend herself. All because of Brooke.
Avery didn’t listen. She pulled herself to her full height and ran at the pair of combatants. Rachel used Avery’s momentum to fling her past them and her body hit a tree with a hard thud. The second’s distraction gave boris an opening, and he snapped at one of Rachel’s forelegs, drawing blood. Brooke wanted to run to Avery, to help her, to check that she wasn’t hurt. But she could hardly focus past the pain in her head that was only increasing. She felt completely useless. Worse than useless. Her presence was actually paining and disabling the woman she loved.
“Sebastian,” she said, her heart wrenching. “I need you to take me away. Now.”
“What? Where?” Sebastian didn’t look at her, still watching the fight. Jade and Benjamin had joined now, doing their best to separate Rachel and Boris. Her with fists and blades, him with teeth and claws.
“Anywhere, just take me more than a mile away.” Sebastian looked at her, his deep violet eyes understanding. He took a few steps back and shifted, his snow-white wolf form taking the place of the thin, pale teenager she was used to. He crouched down to the ground and Brooke climbed onto his back, her every motion sending shocks of pain through the nerves of her head and neck. She wrapped her blanket around her back and grasped hold of the longer fur along his shoulders.
Sebastian straightened his legs, the motion making Brooke feel unsteady. He swung his head around and stared at her with those stunning violet eyes with a look that clearly said, ‘are you sure?’. Brooke nodded and he took off into the woods.
Brooke felt Avery’s shock and surprise through their bond, and also hurt at her leaving. And it broke her heart, but she didn’t have any choice. The further they got from the clearing, the less she could feel. Her head ached worse and worse as she took all of her pain back into herself. She collapsed down. Hugging Sebastian’s back weakly she let her weary head rest on the soft fur of his ruff as he carried them away.
Tears streamed down Brooke’s cheeks as the trees flashed past.
**********
ENOUGH! Avery roared, putting all the alpha power she could into the command. Rachel fell back at once, but Boris kept coming. Her strength restored with Brooke far away, Avery took up a defensive stance in front of her best friend and squared her shoulders. Boris came at her hard, clamping his jaws around her left foreleg. His teeth pierced her skin in several places, drawing blood and pain. She twisted around so she could get some leverage, and, using all the strength she had, she slammed her right paw into the side of Boris’ face, where the hinge of his jaw lay hidden beneath thick tawny fur. His teeth were forced to release her left leg and she snatched it back.
Boris shook his head, working his jaw, the set of it slightly crooked. Avery gave no ground, seizing the opportunity to end the fight once and for all. She slammed her back legs onto his back and pressed her front paws into his face, one on his neck, the other on his injured jaw, pinning him. Boris struggled for several seconds but he couldn’t break her grip.
Enough. Avery repeated. This is my territory. You will respect all the members of my pack, regardless of your feelings towards them. Avery manipulated her mindlink so that she was speaking only to Rachel. Leave. Now. We’ll be having words later. Rachel slunk away, pausing to let Alex climb onto her back, then turning back towards the pack house. She shot one last black look in Boris and Avery’s direction and Avery genuinely wasn’t sure which one of them it was meant for. Possibly both. And then Rachel was gone.
Avery let Boris climb to his feet. There was bloody drool hanging from his open mouth and his breath was hot and fast, forming clouds of condensation in the cold November air.
You won’t see her again for the duration of your stay on my territory, Avery told Boris. He said nothing, but nodded once. Now, shall we get back to our strategy?
We haven’t yet settled on terms, Boris responded, a shrewd glint in his eye. I think I want more. Clearly your pack is in weak paws. You need my help more than I thought. You might have the largest pack, but you clearly aren’t the strongest alpha.
I beat you, didn’t I?
Did you? Avery fought the urge to roll her eyes. You looked pretty pathetic back there. Avery’s heart gave a pang. She hated that Brooke had felt the need to leave, even if it had helped. She wanted to be with her mate all the time. Even when she was in pain. Especially when she was in pain.
You don’t need to worry about my strength. Trust me.
I don’t want your strength. The last word was sarcastic. I want half your territory.
Absolutely not!
Why not? You don’t even use the beautiful forest Goddess has gifted you. Instead, you live in a house, wearing clothes. Like your human mates. Weak.
Don’t you talk about her!
All right, all right. A third.
You’re not getting any of my territory. It’s mine.
Then you’re not getting any of my warriors. They’re mine. Boris turned and made as if to leave the clearing.
Wait! Avery called, desperate. She needed this alliance or Atticus would kill her and her entire pack. Brooke, Joseph, Rachel, Jade, all of them would die. And not just them, but all the human inhabitants of Moss ass well. Boris paused, looking back at her, his expression full of smug satisfaction. I’ll give you hunting access to the south woods.
That is insufficient. Give me control of the south woods and we can talk. Avery sighed deeply. None of the Black alphas had ever relinquished territory. Not for hundreds of years. But none of them had been in her situation either. She had to do whatever was necessary for the safety of her people.
I know your pack migrates around the Rockies throughtout the year. Even the southernmost Rockies have harsh winters, and they’re only getting harsher. Here the winters are milder. I’ll give you some of our territory, but only for the winters, from the solstice to the equinox. Boris eyed her shrewdly. Was that a hint of respect she was detecting? Or was it just wishful thinking. I’ll give you everything south of the fork in the stream. It’s at least 2 square miles. Boris growled lowly. And hunting access to the entirety of the south woods.
Year round hunting access.
Year round, she agreed.
Deal. Avery stood and walked around him to grasp his tail in her teeth and felt him do the same, sealing their agreement. Now, let’s get to work.
They spent the rest of the afternoon crafting a strategy for the assault on the lycans’. They sketched battle plans in the dirt with their claws and discussed back and forth. She might hate him as a person, but Avery had to admit that Boris was a skilled leader in battle. His plan was for Avery and Jade to draw out Atticus and his senior lycans into the open, while the rest of their warriors attacked from 3 sides. They worked out battalion divisions and assigned them leaders; Elaine, Benjamin, and Rachel among them. They sketched out attack formations and reviewed the most efficient ways to kill lycans.
We only kill their leaders and warriors. The rest are innocent, Avery said.
Innocent?! They would happily see our race go extinct! Boris argued.
I am in command here and I have decided that we will only kill as many as we need to.
You can hardly blame my wolves if they get swept up in the heat of battle.
Watch me.
They argued back and forth until they finally got to the matter of the lycan prisoner. Boris was in favor of killing him and sending his head to Atticus.
I thought you were skilled at strategy, Avery scoffed. If she had been in human form, she would have rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. If we do that, he’ll know we’re coming. I think we should use him to deliver a message.
What message?
I’m not sure, Avery answered honestly. Something to our advantage. If we play this right, we can use him to misdirect Atticus. Give us the element of surprise.
We already have it.
Oh yeah? You really think Atticus isn’t expecting an attack? He knows we have one of his scouts. The only thing he doesn’t know for sure is that you’re with us. Boris grumbled, but he didn’t disagree.
That night when Avery walked back towards the pack house, her mind felt completely exhausted. All she wanted was to lay down with Brooke. She was relieved to feel that her migraine had died down. That was the last thing they needed right then.