“We can’t have that,” I replied dryly. She smacked me, but it was a sweet gesture. It was also enough to wake my brain up from the stupor it had been stuck in. Immediately, I turned and headed for the tent where our weapons were stored, where the extras were. Each night it was someone’s duty to inspect them, so I knew we would have enough to use, but none of us had planned for this sort of event.
“It’s V’Rane’s squad and V’Opoin,” O’Rrin said when he caught sight of me, standing in front of the weapons tent with Hetta at his side. His pregnant mate. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he gave me a weary smile. “You try getting them to stay out of this kind of stuff.”
Hetta patted the space weapon that was tucked in her pocket, her smile cocky. “I’ll stay in the back,” she agreed. Then her expression shifted, becoming more serious. “But I want to defend my new home.”
O’Rrin basically melted for his mate, which was sweet. I wondered if I looked that way when I looked at Dana. Probably. Speaking of… I turned to look at the mate in question.
“No way in hell,” Dana said, emphasizing each word one by one. “You’re not leaving me behind.”
“But—” I stopped when she arched an eyebrow, daring me to continue speaking. I growled in frustration, tasting the air. To my surprise, I could taste the faintest edge of Caterri. They were still some distance away, but Squire’s intel had apparently been accurate. I was impressed. Provided everything went the way it said, maybe the Caterri could be an asset to our tribe. Maybe Dana had been right.
Not that I would ever tell her that.
“We’re having a strategy meeting in the longhouse,” O’Rrin said loudly, catching my attention. I nodded and followed, aware that both of our humans were behind us. As much as I wanted to sigh, I wasn’t surprised to see Erica and Jackie at the table, alongside V’Annor and an emaciated-looking R’Asha. There was no way he would fight, but it didn’t seem like he would be content leaving us to it without help.
Squire was standing at the head of the table next to my father, talking quickly and moving his finger from point to point on the rough map in front of him. “With that number, it’s likely a search squad, which means they’re looking for the human or me. Best odds would be keeping them from finding us in the first place, but I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”
“Couldn’t we just hide you?” One of the elders piped up.
The Caterri tapped his nose. “Scent is powerful, we couldn’t erase it. Instead, with a show of force, we can intimidate them and get them to return without anything they came for.”
My father was looking at him with a somewhat impressed expression, although the doubt was clear. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” His voice was skeptical, but it was merely echoing pretty much everyone else in the half-circle.
“You don’t,” Squire said simply. Its creepy black eyes were focused on my father. “But if you trust me, I will show that it is not unfounded.”
It was clear N’Ket was struggling, and I could not blame him. Trusting Squire went against everything we had been taught since we were little. It was a massive reverse of trust.
Then there was a soft hiss, one of the scouts returning. It was an unblooded male, a youngling named Ehtok, and he was panting heavily, his forked tongue tasting the air in case things had changed. “There are about forty of them,” he said. “They seem to be carrying weapons but they aren’t actively armed. They seem to be looking for something, not ready to engage in warfare.”
“A search party,” Squire said with a simple nod.
To my surprise, I caught my father looking at me. There was a request for advice in his eyes, because while I had been on several trips to Kohta and interacted with many Caterri, he had not gone in a long time because it wasn’t necessary.
“We should trust him,” I said, which earned me a sideways hug from Dana. When I looked down at her, she was beaming at me, a rush of warmth that tempered the night cold. “They’re as vulnerable to the weather as we are out here, but they don’t know the plains as we do. So I want you to take two squads out and surround them, ten men each. The rest of us can stay at the front for when they arrive.”
“I’ve already stocked up on healing herbs,” Hetta said softly. “I’m working on some poisons that we could use in the future.” O’Rrin translated.
“I adjusted the blasters so they’re more consistent,” Erica added, fingering the one on her hip. “None of the weird shorting out they were doing.” V’Annor translated.
Everyone turned to Jackie, who just shrugged. “I’m badass, what can I say?” When R’Asha translated, there was universal confusion among the N’Akron, myself included. What, exactly, was a ‘badass’?
Dana snorted, but no one asked her the same question. She had already proven herself. “For the two squads, start in a V formation and stay low to the ground.” Dana was speaking now, taking what she had taught me out near Kohta further and into more complicated maneuvers. “You want to circle around them and get behind them without them knowing so when they try to flee, because they will, they can’t escape.”
“What if they don’t try and escape?” One of the younger N’Akron sounded skeptical.
Squire was the one who chuckled and answered. “Caterri are, at the core, cowards and bullies,” it said, its voice smooth. “They do not deal well with shows of force. The moment they realize you have an advantage that they do not, they will run and not look
