Chapter 80
Chapter Eighty
Todd
New World Order
I really like Freya, and I’m glad this part of the plan worked flawlessly. She quickly settles in and Mal’s buoyant joy, thanks to their reunion, makes me happy. Even better, Mom loves Freya, too, and they’ve quickly become friends.
Four days after her arrival, I’m helping unload a truckload of supplies at the rec center when Jax approaches.
His expression tells me this isn’t…good.
“What?” I ask.
He motions for me to follow, and we walk over to the far side of the compound. He hands me a burner phone. “I’ll let you know.”
I stare at it. “Let me know what?”
“When it’s time.” He meets my gaze. “Sterling’s people are tracking Mal and Freya’s phones. Three of his guys showed up in Maine the next afternoon, looking for them. Sterling hasn’t filed a missing person report yet, and her car was driven back from the nature preserve.”
“So what’s this for?”
“I’ll call you when it’s time.” He explains that part of the plan.
Then, “I’m leaving early tomorrow morning, twenty total, some of ours and some of theirs.
While I’m gone, Father’s in charge in case shit goes sideways.
We won’t need you on sentry duty immediately, but be ready if he calls you in.
In that case, expect to remain here for the duration, and bring Mal, Freya, and Shawn with you and have them stay in the rec center. ”
“Okay. What can I tell Freya and Mal?”
“At this point, everything.”
Jax had stopped by the evening after she arrived and sat on the front porch with her, talking in private for over an hour. I don’t want or need to know anything beyond what I’m told about that conversation.
I’m certain Mal doesn’t want to contemplate his mom going through initiation.
If that’s the case, I’ll be sitting that one out, too, thank you very much.
“It’ll get ugly, won’t it?” I ask.
My friend looks grim, “Hopefully not for us. We’ve set up two ambushes to draw more of his people.
The main ambush will take place outside Birmingham.
That’s where he’ll think the call’s coming from and where Mal and Freya are.
But Morning and Dahlia set up a second decoy outside of Dallas to wipe out more of his team. ”
“Why?”
“We’re offering him targets too tempting to ignore.
A group of survivors from the other nests he attacked, mostly women and kids, while the surviving vampires are off tracking a false trail he thinks fooled us.
Morning somehow placed bugs in Sterling’s office, campaign office, and car.
They’ll send a couple of vampires in that direction to make it look like the distraction’s working.
Meanwhile, all our people will be ready and waiting.
Sterling will send his main team to Birmingham, thinking it’ll be the strongest target.
They’ll send the weaker fighters to Dallas because they’ll think it’s just women and children. ”
“Then what?” I ask. “Does this finally end?”
“It ends when we take Sterling’s head. Sterling is being tailed. There are several plans to kill him as soon as possible after the attacks. We don’t want him running when he realizes we wiped out all his fighters.”
“Then?”
He shrugs. “That’s up to Morning and Freya. She said she wants to disband the pack. I damned sure don’t want it. And I refuse to be pulled in two directions, especially with pups on the way. Someone else can have Atlanta as long as they aren’t a homicidal asshole.”
“I sure as fuck don’t want it,” I reflexively say, making Jax laugh.
“That’s because you’re a lot smarter than me, my friend.”
“How’s Shawn taking this?” I ask.
His weighty sigh summarizes it. “He’s not happy he can’t go, and he’s not happy I’m going. He understands why, though. Hopefully, we’ll be sipping champagne in 72 hours or less.”
“That would be nice.”
The next twenty-four hours are torture. I stay close to home as the day lengthens and the time nears for Freya and Mal to do their part.
They, of anyone, will know the fastest way to dig deep gouges under Sterling’s skin and trigger him.
I jump when my cell phone rings around 6:30 that evening. “How are Mal and Freya holding up?” Jax asks.
I’m in the kitchen, so I turn and look to the living room, where they’re sitting on the couch watching movies, Mal lying with his head in Freya’s lap. “Better than I am, I think.”
“You’ll get a call on that burner in about ten minutes. Turn off all other noise and put it in speaker mode and don’t say anything while they talk.”
My stomach knots. “Is this necessary?”
“Yes. For multiple reasons. We need to drive Sterling insane, for starters. Secondly, I think it’s best if the two of them have a chance to say ‘fuck you’ to him one last time.”
“Does Mal need to tell him he’s pregnant?”
“That’s up to him—and you—but what better way to enrage Sterling and force him into making a mistake? Enraged people make stupid mistakes,” he adds. “And we want to force him to come after them immediately.
I grumble. “Okay.”
He ends the call, and I put my phone on silent. Then I walk out to the living room and sit in the chair next to the sofa.
Freya mutes the TV. She wears a mix of fear and rage. “Is it time?”
“Almost.” I look at Mal. “Do you know what you want to say?”
He looks as enraged as his mother and sits up. “Yeah. I’m going to tell him to go fuck himself and that he’ll never meet his first grandchild.”
Freya’s grim smile almost chills me. “If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll stroke out.”
“I’m never that lucky,” Mal mutters.
“Oh, I don’t know, sweetie.” This smile is full of love as she plays with his hair. “I think you hit a grand-slam of luck.” She points at me. “The Goddess balances the scales in unexpected ways.”
Mal meets my gaze, smiling. “That’s true.” He pats his stomach. “In a monkey-paw kind of way, though.”
“Eh, nothing’s perfect.” She drops me a playful wink.
Despite expecting it, we all jump when the burner phone rings. I answer it and put it in speaker mode.
Mal answers. “Hello?”
Morning speaks. “We’re connecting you now.
The call will appear to come from Freya’s phone at the decoy nest in Birmingham.
Say whatever you want to piss him off and make him think you’re at the nest. Take as long as you need.
The more you enrage him, the better. Let him think you’ll be leaving here by tomorrow evening and heading out of the country.
We want to force his hand. Pretend you have no idea he can track the phone call.
Freya, if it comes up, you met Mal in Maine, and the two of you drove to Alabama together.
Don’t get into the weeds on details; act cagey.
We don’t want him suspecting it’s a setup. ”
“Okay,” Freya says.
We tensely wait when we hear the call connect. By the fourth ring, I wonder if it’ll go to voicemail when it’s answered.
“There you are, mate,” Sterling growls. His cruel tone makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “You’ve been absent. I’ve had to make uncomfortable excuses.”
“Fuck you, Randolph.” The wide-eyed shock on Mal’s face makes me clap a hand over my mouth so I don’t laugh out loud.
“What did you say to me?” Sterling roars.
“Is your hearing going, asshole? I clearly said ‘fuck you.’ Mal and I wanted to let you know you don’t have to worry about us anymore.”
His growl turns even more threatening. “You’ve got that right. Just wait until I get my hands on both of you.”
Rage radiates off my mate. “Hey, Dad? Fuck you. Oh, and by the way? You’ll never see my daughter.”
There’s a long moment of silence. We all lean in to look at the phone to make sure the call didn’t drop when a literal roar slithers out.
“You’re fucking PREGNANT?”
Mal grins. “Yep! Got laid, caught, and you should see my baby bump. Despite everything, your firstborn grandchild will still be a girl, asshole. And born to your gay omega son. Bet that would make my Insta account go viral, huh?”
Another nearly incoherent roar erupts from the phone, but Freya leans forward. “Enjoy your whores, Randolph. Enjoy your sycophants. Enjoy your money. You and I are done.”
“I will hunt you both and strip the flesh from your bodies while you’re alive!”
“Oh, well,” Freya says. “Then I guess I can send the US Attorney in Atlanta a copy of a certain thumb drive. That’ll keep you busy, won’t it?”
A strangled, gasping question. “What?”
“You heard me, fucker. I made a copy a few months back. You left me at the campaign office while you went to fuck your secretary, and I got to talking to people. They were very helpful, and they let me use your computer there. So come after us. I dare you. I’ll happily ruin you and every other shifter in this pack. ”
His tone changes, menacing. “Oh, my sneaky little mate. Why didn’t you display this side years ago? Life would’ve gone so much easier for you.”
“Fuck you. I didn’t want to marry you, and you knew it. You raped me. And fuck you for making me get rid of my daughters, you homicidal asshole.”
“Dad, just admit it, your mate and your pregnant gay omega son outsmarted you. If you even think about coming after us, I’ll start posting pics of my baby bump all over Insta. Hell, I’ll livestream the birth. Just forget about us. We’re leaving the country tomorrow night, anyway. Good riddance.”
“Oh, you think you are, do you?”
Mal scoffs. “You’re something else, you know that? I don’t know what broke inside you. You’re evil. You made Mom get abortions, you poisoned Brynnella and killed her baby—you are the definition of evil.”
“There isn’t a rock far or dark enough for you two to hide under,” he growls.
Freya laughs. “Look at that, the big bad wolf pretending he’s still got teeth. I hope your whore enjoys your tiny cock because the only time I ever came was with a vibrator when you weren’t home.”
Mal’s gaze widens as he stares at his mom. I again have to stifle my laughter. Mal opens his mouth to speak, but Freya’s comment has apparently knocked him speechless.
“Randolph, enjoy your ‘empire’ while you have it,” Freya continues, smiling at Mal. “You come after us? You’ll lose everything.”
“Dad, just go fuck yourself or fuck your secretary or fuck anyone. Maybe you’re doing it wrong to be such a miserable bastard all the time. Being nice is free, but you are just absolutely a shithead.”
“I will cut that baby out of you and kill it in front of you before I kill you, Malcolm,” he growls.
I force myself to stay silent despite the rage engulfing me.
But Mal laughs. “My mate’s ten times the man you are.
He could kick your ass with one hand tied behind his back.
But you do you. We’ll live our happily ever after.
You can go fuck right off. You did your best to destroy me and, once again, I outsmarted you and my idiot brothers.
Too bad you picked the three stupid ones to nurture, instead of the empirically smarter one.
Or maybe you just didn’t want them to be smarter than you, so you could control them. ” Mal sits back, nodding to me.
“Part of me hopes you try coming after us,” Freya taunts.
“I would love to see you cut down so I can kick you in your tiny balls. But you aren’t my concern any longer.
Mal and I plan on enjoying our lives. As for you?
” Her voice drops to a growl. “I hope you get everything you deserve, and more. Including a long, slow, painful death after being exposed to the world as a murderous, lying coward.” She reaches over and ends the call.
Mal trembles. I hurry around the coffee table, sit next to him, and pull him into my arms. Freya hugs him from behind.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” she says. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
“Do you really have a thumb drive?” I ask.
She grins. “No. Why not kick that anthill and distract him even more? Between ordering people to come after us and now probably interrogating everyone at the office, that’ll keep him busy. Morning said he wanted us to enrage him. That’s the best way I could think to do it.”
Mal holds up a hand for a high-five, and she returns it.
Watching them together makes me smile because I clearly see where Mal inherited his spirit, even if Sterling did his best to grind it out of both of them.
“What happens next?” Mal asks, his face buried against my chest.
I rub my chin along the top of his head. “Now we wait.”