“That your official veterinary advice?” Regan grinned.
“Just common sense.”
Cassady giggled. “You’ll find we don’t have much of that around here.”
“You!” Oliver barked, pointing a finger at Eva.
Eva’s heart lurched. “M-Me?”
“Yes, don’t just stand there. Grab me supplies and get over here.”
“Looks like you’re hired,” Regan said, patting her on the back. “Thanks for the leg.”
Eva watched her limp out of the room before Oliver’s frustrated growl drew her back to reality.
She’d wanted to be useful; today she got her wish. She just hoped she didn’t let anyone down.
Chapter 21
John
“I happen to agree with Bass. This can’t go on. We need to make a counter strike,” John said over the hum of arguments. “Only I don’t think it’s a good idea to go alone, Bass.”
“I went alone last time,” Bass answered, stance firm.
“And they will have made sure you can’t do that again, Bass,” Katalina snapped as she paced backward and forward below the pavilion steps.
“Castor is a coward, but he’s not stupid,” Jackson added. “It’s too risky. We go together.”
Katalina halted, her arms flying into the air as she gazed angrily at her father and mate. “Awesome, two packs with zero alphas.”
“She has a point,” John added. He’d much rather his alpha stayed safe behind pack lines. Bass didn’t need to be the one to attack. “I’ll lead a team made up from both packs then if the worst should happen….”
His words trailed off as Bass snarled. “I’m not staying behind while my people risk their lives.”
“This arguing is getting us nowhere,” Katalina muttered.
John had to agree, but tensions were high, adrenaline and rage freshly lit from today’s attack.
“I like John’s idea,” Cage added, speaking up for the first time. Anna stood, embraced in his arms, her gaze far away.
“Of course, you do.” Katalina glared. “I’m sure you’ll be enlisting to go.”
“He will not,” Anna snapped, her eyes coming into sharp focus.
Cage attempted to mollify her with a smile. “I’m the best tracker out of both packs, Anna. It would be stupid for me not too.”
“Whatever we decide, we all agree this can’t go on,” Jackson added. The two alphas stood on opposite sides of the pavilion, tense with anger. “Castor has us right where he wants us. No room to roam, our freedom cut off.”
“He wants us to shatter from within,” Katalina whispered as she tipped her head to the sky. There was a heavy sorrow to his alpha’s mate, which he’d seen growing day by day. “And when we do, he’ll come for me.” John couldn’t make out the voices over the growls and disagreements, his own entering the mix, but Katalina reacted to none of it as she simply waited, her decision made. “I started this. I’ll end it.”
“Your sacrifice would be pointless.” Anna’s voice carried over them all, seeming to echo and vibrate through the trees. “You cannot kill what is not there.”
“What do you mean?” Katalina jumped up the steps, took Anna’s shoulders. “What do you see?”
“They take flight, whispers on the breeze,” Anna continued.
Cage’s snarl rumbled through John’s chest as he pulled his mate into his arms. “Leave her, Kat.”
Blinking as if waking from a sleep, Anna gazed at them all as they waited for an answer. “You’ll not find Castor until he wants you to. This is his game, and it will only end one way.” Katalina and Anna shared a knowing glance.
“And what way is that?” Bass asked, stepping forward.
“Back off,” Cage growled.
“We need to know,” Jackson added.
John’s wolf brushed against his skin, agitated by the sudden change in atmosphere.
“Me,” Katalina yelled. “It ends with me.” She turned on her heel and marched away as Bass raced after her.
John glanced between his alpha and River Run’s. “Regroup in the morning?”
“Talk to Bass. I think we should send a team out to Indiana. See if what Anna sees is true.”
“It is,” Anna answered. “He’s gone.”
“Either way, I think it would be better to confirm,” Jackson added, a little more gently. “I’m not doubting what you say, Anna. I just think it will help calm tensions.”
“I’ll go with you, John,” Cage volunteered. “Maybe Mia, Tyler, William?”
“We need equal numbers,” Jackson noted. “Talk it through with Bass after he’s spoken to Katalina.”
“Will do.” Nodding his respect, John then went in the direction his alpha pair had taken, but it wasn’t them he sought, but Eva.
Throughout the entire day, he’d been fighting. His need to track her down and make sure she was okay rode him hard. Logically, he knew no one had made it through the first line of defense, yet his heart wouldn’t settle until he saw her with his own eyes. It wasn’t just her physical health he was concerned about but her mental health as well. His world was a lot to take in. Attacks, lines of defense, teenagers ready to draw blood. It was all so far from what she’d known, and John feared it wouldn’t matter how gently he stepped, or sweetly he kissed her, Eva would never want to be with him when patrols and battle training were a part of everyday life. He could promise to keep her safe, but the truth was, until the feud between Castor and the packs was over, his words wouldn’t ring true.
Chapter 22
Katalina
“Katalina, wait!”
Picking up her pace, Katalina pushed her body to the limit in the hope of outrunning Bass, maybe even fate itself.
“Katalina, stop!”
But she couldn’t stop. To stop would be to feel, and Katalina wasn’t ready to feel. Not yet. Not now. She needed time, but time wasn’t something she had. It was slipping away. Death hovered above her, waiting for its moment to strike.
Bass was on her heels, the vibrations from his
