What was he doing here? He should have packed up and gone home. Fuck the plan. Fuck New York.
“Everything okay?” Lucas asked. “Cross went to get you when you didn’t come back.”
“Yeah, just got a little lost.” He sat back down on the seat across from the Alpha, and Cross took the chair beside him. “Now, why don’t we get back to business?”
Lucas’s expression turned serious. “All right, I’m all for not wasting time. Let’s start with the mages.”
Ransom found himself unable to concentrate since they sat down to eat. All he could think about was Isabelle, which was why he excused himself so he could go back to the dining room. It was just his luck that he saw her going to the break room and couldn’t stop himself from following her. Why he did it, he didn’t know. There was this urge to be alone with her, and he knew this might be his only chance.
She had looked even more incredible, more beautiful than he remembered. Even in her simple uniform, she was more gorgeous than any woman he’d known. There was something else about her too … something different that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. And the fact that she was working here stoked his curiosity all the more. What the hell happened to the vivacious fashionista who loved to get all dressed up and take selfies?
“Ransom?”
Cross’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts. “Yes. The mages. You were saying?”
Lucas cleared his throat. “As you know, the mages want the three artifacts of Magus Aurelius. They have the necklace and the ring but we have the dagger, thanks to you. Cross thinks he knows what they plan to do with it.”
“As we found out, the ring has the power of death and life. Literally.” He further explained how the ring had killed Sabrina when she was an infant and brought her back to life. “I think they mean to bring Magus Aurelius back to life. But without a body, they can only do it with powerful blood. Double Alpha blood.”
“Double what?” Ransom asked.
“Lucas and his sister are Alphas and also the children of two Alphas, who are also True Mates,” Cross began.
Ransom frowned. “True Mates … that’s a real thing?”
Cross’s expression became inscrutable, and Lucas continued. “Yes. My parents were True Mates, and both Alphas. It’s unprecedented, for sure, but we’ve seen the effect of my blood in particular when it was used with the dagger, as it allowed Cross to travel through time.”
“You’re shitting me,” Ransom exclaimed.
“I’ll explain later,” Cross said. “But for now, we need to make sure they don’t get the dagger and don’t get Lucas’s or Adrianna’s blood.”
“But we want to end this once and for all.” There was a determined expression on Lucas’s face. “It’s been difficult tracking them down. We crush one stronghold, and another two pop up. They also have some powerful people on their side, witches and warlocks they’ve turned to their cause and a couple of billionaires who fund them. Mostly we’ve been waiting for them to attack us, and react, but this time we want to be ready.”
“We’re finalizing a plan,” Cross said. “And we need all the help we can get.”
Ransom crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. “I’m no Alpha. I may be president of the Savage Wolves, but that means I protect my guys, not send them out on suicide missions. I don’t want part of a fight that could get my guys killed.” Every single member of the Savage Wolves had been through hell and clawed their way back to some semblance of a normal life. He was not going to throw that all away.
“This fight isn’t limited to New York or just those with clans,” Lucas said. “The mages want every single one of us dead. While you think you’re safe now, you won’t be in the future. Cross told me the mages attacked you a couple days ago when they were trying to get to Sabrina.”
He ground his teeth together. That had been too close, and he was still wondering how the mages even managed to find them. If Logan hadn’t mauled them all, who knows what would have happened? “All right, so what do you want?”
“Fight with us,” Lucas said. “But even if you don’t, you could still help keep our most vulnerable safe.”
“I told them about your property in Kentucky,” Cross said.
“My sister’s property,” he corrected. “It ain’t mine to give. And she runs a business on part of it.” The Seven Peaks Mountain Lodge and Cabins were Silke’s pride and joy, which she had inherited from her mother.
“We’re not asking for you to give it to us, but we want to know if you’d consider making it into a shelter for our pups, the elderly, the humans that are part of the clan,” Lucas said.
Only two Lycans could produce a Lycan offspring, and thus anyone of their kind who mated with a human produced fully human children, much like Silke, his sister, or to be more technical, his stepsister. Silke’s mother was human, and she had died when Silke was a baby. Not long after that, Pops had met Joanie and they got married.
“We’ll offer protection, of course,” Cross said. “We have witch and warlock allies who can come and put magical barriers around the entire property. Plus, we will alert the clans nearby, and they’ll come to help as well if things go bad.”
Ransom huffed. “It’s Silke’s decision, you ask her.” The truth was, Silke was a bleeding heart, and all Cross would have to say is “protect the
