“It’s a heartbreaking tale.” Rooster glanced between Zoe and Aric. “What does that have to do with this situation?”
“It was the fact that it was all female shifters going missing that tipped me off,” Zoe replied. “When we were at Aric’s pack retreat, a few of the females mentioned that they were sick of the men getting all the accolades. Sure, it was tradition, but it was also getting tiresome.
“Even though I wasn’t the favorite daughter of the pack and some of the females hated me for ‘stealing’ one of their prime prospects, they also respected me for telling the pack council where to stick it,” she continued. “After that, the females started exerting themselves, and that was blamed on me.”
Realization dawned on me. “You think Emma is enticing the females with promises of anarchy.”
“I think many of the female shifters, and not just from one pack, are fed up with their lot in life,” Zoe corrected. “They want to exert some control over their circumstances, and they believe Emma when she says she can give them that.”
“But ... how?” Rooster looked genuinely bewildered. “What cookie is Emma offering these females?”
“The Archimage,” I answered automatically, things finally clicking into place. “She’s fed them a pack of lies about what the book can do.”
“She might not even realize she’s lying,” Zoe said. “The book has always been mysterious. We still don’t know everything it could’ve done if I hadn’t made a decision to drain it fifteen years ago.”
Rooster nodded in understanding. “Emma isn’t going to fall for your ruse for very long. She’s going to realize relatively quickly that the book isn’t the real deal.”
“That’s why Scout and I are going to put a spell on it.” Zoe flashed a smile that didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. Clearly the day was starting to take a toll on her. “We’re going to put a protection spell on the book, one that’s going to be difficult to break. Emma is going to be so focused on getting through the barriers she won’t pay attention to anything else.”
“Then what?” Marissa asked, speaking for the first time. She didn’t look happy with the turn of events. “What happens between the time we arrive and when Emma figures out the book is a fake?”
“We take out every vampire and shifter between us and her.” Zoe’s response was calm, succinct, and ultimately chilling. “She doesn’t care about the creatures she’s recruited. All she cares about is herself. Now, she’s marked Scout as her equal. That’s who she’s going to be focused on, so we’re going to give her what she wants. Scout is going to take her on.”
Gunner opened his mouth, but Aric cut him off with a head shake.
“Scout will never be truly alone,” Aric promised. “We have to take out as many shifters and vampires as we can in that first wave, though. Emma is going to regroup by the second wave, and then things are going to get more difficult.”
“I don’t know how I feel about this.” Gunner rubbed his chin. “My cousin’s girl is in that group somewhere. We haven’t heard a single thing about her. A lot of those women are from my pack. Yes, they’ve been lied to and are likely confused, but they’re still human beings.”
“And we’re going to save as many of them as we can,” Zoe promised. “Some of them will die, though. I can’t tell you which ones will wise up and save themselves and which ones will die for an ideal that was never going to come to fruition. I’ll do my best to spare as many as I can but ...” She trailed off and I knew what she wasn’t saying.
“Emma will have told the shifters and vampires a pack of lies.” I looked at Gunner. “They’ll think they’re fighting for freedom, in the case of the shifters, and revenge, in the case of the vampires.”
Zoe bobbed her head. “That makes the vampires more dangerous. We have to take them out first. They’re going to feel emboldened because of the eclipse. That feeling won’t last long when they realize Emma has no intention of protecting them.”
“Your plan makes sense,” Rooster acknowledged. “We can fight vampires and shifters with swords and offer support, though you’re going to be doing the bulk of the work.”
“Actually, as I said, Scout is going to be the central player this time,” Zoe said, causing me to frown. “She needs to engage with Emma. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to take her out once I’m finished with the others, but she’s smart. She’s also strong. She’ll have protected herself under layers of magic while she allows the others to die in her place.”
“You’re saying that we might not be able to defeat her,” Gunner noted.
“Pretty much. Although once all her comrades are dead or incapacitated, she’ll run, but only after she realizes we’re bringing her a fake Archimage. That’s why we’re going to allow her to slowly peel back the layers of the protective magic we put around the book. We need her to give up and flee at some point if we can’t defeat her.”
“Like I said, it’s a sound plan.” Rooster folded his arms over his chest. “What about your daughter?”
A pained expression momentarily appeared on Zoe’s face, but she brutally shoved it aside and forced a tight-lipped smile. “Sami will make an appearance. She’s probably already out there trying to figure out how to free Rafael.”
“She’ll get in the way.” Marissa grimaced. “She’ll make things difficult for us.”
“She will get in the way,” Zoe agreed. “As soon as we know where she is Aric will go for her. She might not willingly let him take her. All I can do is apologize for whatever
