Vivianna
“So cachorro, is it safe to return? I don’t hear any heavy panting or grunting coming from your end,” Maria asked when she picked up the phone.
I bit back laughter, seeing the guys’ expression at her words since I had her on speakerphone. “It only lasted a day and a half this time around, but we felt it was safer to call on the third day to invite you all back.”
“Good, we have lots to update you on, since some of us managed to stay on task,” Maria chided. “Give us a half hour and we’ll be there with supplies as well.” Before I could say anything more, she hung up on me.
The nerve of that hag. Was she saying that it’s our fault we were trapped in whirlwind sex for almost two days?. A wolf can’t help when she falls into heat.
You know she loves to rile people up, don’t give her the satisfaction. My wolf huffed, flicking her tail in irritation before settling down.
“It’s actually pretty impressive what they managed to do with your direction, Viv,” Darius shared as he looked over something on his computer.
“Chad got them everything they requested and then some. Neveah has amazing leads for us, but I’m sure she will go into detail once she gets here.
Christian has wolves all over America ready to come to our aid the moment we tell them when and where. ”
Tav pulled me from where I was standing and onto his lap as they finished up breakfast, perching his chin on my shoulder. “Tell me, love, where’s your head at? We are getting closer to ending all this with Jason and Vadik. What should we do after?”
It took me a moment to even know where to start answering that question.
Darius and Koit had brought this up as well, making me think about so many possibilities, but I knew that as long as our family could be together, it didn’t matter where we landed.
The only other concern we really had was—the Collective.
“What were things like when you left Kursar?” I inquired.
They all looked at each other and shifted uncomfortably with the question, telling me that I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Once you were taken, the Collective came down on us pretty hard, stating that if you were gone, then any agreement they had was void. There was unrest on the island as well as within the pack as a whole. It took us a while to figure out that a group had been left behind from Vadik’s attack,” Rik shared.
“My personal opinion is, that Vadik bought the Collective off by giving them Kursar, so they wouldn’t bother him and Jason in what they wanted to do. ”
“Now that we know how much control Vadik and Jason have in the world, it wouldn’t take much for them to crush the Collective, so they must be helping in some way,” Darius suggested.
“Do you think it’s worth going back and removing the Collective from power?
The only dealings I’ve had with them are so limited that I didn’t get a feel for what good they’ve done for our people.
The four of you spent years helping them and having a seat at the table so to speak...
what would you do?” I felt out of my depth.
Rik, Koit, and Tav all looked at Darius to give the answer. I didn’t know if it was because he was related to Abel or knew something the others didn’t.
“They will never see you as an equal, my queen,” Darius warned before he continued.
“These men don’t want to give up their power to someone who is progressive, let alone female.
They’ve liked the fact that there are no Damas, giving them control over most of Europe for so long.
The moment you take back your power over Kursar, the dynamics change, especially since you will also be the leader of the rebellion who took over the whole of America.
The Collective will see anything you do from that point on as a threat and take action against you. ”
Musing over what he said, I knew in my gut I would have to make a change there as well. “Would it be worth reaching out to them?”
“Yeah, D-man, how do you think good old Uncle Abel will feel chatting with you again?” Koit teased. “Last I recall, he said you were considered an enemy to the Collective.”
Darius balled up his napkin and chucked it at Koit’s face, who easily dodged it.
“They wanted me to give up our pack just to receive help they’ve previously provided.
How could I have looked Viv in the eye and told her that I sold them out because I wasn’t sure she was ever going to come back?
Over my dead body was that going to happen. ”
“You can check that off your list of things, since they did take it once we all faked our deaths,” Koit shot back.
My brows rose, watching the verbal battle happening before my eyes. My eyes drifted to Rik whose gaze was on me. “Was this how you acted while I was gone?”
Koit dropped his eyes, embarrassed, while Darius opened his mouth to deny it, but closed it, dropping his shoulders.
Tav kissed my cheek as he shifted me to the side so I could see his face.
“Love, you are the center of our familial pack. Without you to give us purpose and direction, we floundered—some more than others. I will say they did the best they could for your people. It came time though that we had to pick between the pack and you—there was no contest. It will always be you, no matter what.”
Reaching up, I cupped his cheek and nuzzled my nose against his lovingly before I pulled back to face the others again. “Then that will be the plan. Deal with things here in America, then head to the Collective, where I will gladly explain how things are going to work from now on.”
“How exactly will that be, cachorro?” Maria asked as she entered the house from the garage.
Knowing that answering this question to someone like her would change things in my life forever, I stood to face her. “We will bring back the old way. It is time that the packs were united under one ruler—a Dama.”
“Who will be that, Dama?” she pressed, as Neveah and Kate moved to stand next to her.
Taking a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. “Me, Dama Vivianna, leader of the Imperial Dawn Pack and the Crimson Rebellion. Soon to be Queen of the Werewolves across the globe.”
Maria’s face bloomed into a smile of pure delight as she nodded her head. “Well said, Dama, well said.”
Kate let out a squeal of happiness, and rushed forward to hug me tightly, which I happily returned. Neveah walked up to me, offering me her neck in a show of submission, but it was different from how I was taught back in Kursar.
“Kiss her neck. The Americans are far more prudish about things,” Maria explained to me silently.
Trusting Maria’s instruction, I placed a light kiss on her neck, accepting her submission to me as her Dama.
Soon, I had Kate, Christian, and Nick doing the same thing, offering up their life to my service.
I happily accepted them, not only as my subjects but my family.
Maria, true to her nature, gave the traditional greeting by licking my neck, allowing me to tuck my chin over her shoulder in an oddly intimate hug of sorts.
“May this old woman be of service to you and your offspring, those living and yet to come, for as long as you will have me,” Maria whispered in my ear, pressing a hand to my stomach.
My eyes widened at her words, searching her face to see if I understood what she was hinting at.
There is no way that she could know something like that one day after being in heat.
Sure, I’d gotten pregnant the first time, but that didn’t mean it would be so easy the second.
Maria just winked at me, leaving me with more questions than answers, but I felt it was better to err on the side of caution and believe her.
If she’s right, then we can’t shift for this battle.
Good thing you have more tricks up your sleeve than that. We have untapped power inside of us that we’ve never even messed with.
Sounds like we’ll need to pick Maria’s brain on this subject, since she’s the only one who would know where to start.
Part of me debated whether to tell the guys about Maria’s suspicion, but chose not to, since there was literally no way to find out until it’d been a few weeks.
Christian settled down at the table, opening a computer and waving for us to gather around.
“Okay, so I reached out to everyone that I could securely and made sure the rest got the message from someone I trusted. Darius, thank you for letting us borrow Chad while you were unavailable. He’s like the Alfred to your Batman.
It’s wicked amazing and makes everything so much easier. ”
Darius grinned at Christian. “I’ll make sure to tell him that. He’ll be very flattered.”
“You have to tell me how you found a dude like that to help you out,” Christian gushed.
Kate cleared her throat and gave him a warning look.
“Right, so to the important things… We have the perfect location in Montana for us to gather so we can be close, but as discreet as possible. One of my people has a ranch out there with hundreds of acres of land and no one within thirty minutes of him. This will give us the chance to gather all the supplies Chad ordered, as well as get our numbers in one place.”
This was very exciting news indeed, and something I hadn’t thought of.
Would this be a good time to point out this is why you build a group of advisers you trust, so they help cover what you don’t know?
Might I also add, in my opinion, that just because the Damas of old only had women on their council, that you don’t have to follow that rule.
Christian is proving to be quite the detailed man for all his appearance makes you think he’s a beach bum.
I had to fight back a smile at how accurate she was on that description. She did make a valid point though, about not keeping my inner circle limited to women. Times were changing and this new era for the wolves needed to be improved upon in every way.
“How do we suggest getting everyone to this location without people noticing the influx in cars or movement on the property?” Tristan asked.
Christian and Neveah both grinned at each other.
“Well, it might just happen that this ranch is a working cattle ranch, but it is also one of those places you can go on vacation. You pay for the week or whatever, and they turn you into a cattle hand for your time with them. All that to say, it’s not uncommon for busloads of people, for company retreats or whatnot, to use the place.
We gather everyone and take two or three busloads in a day, while others could drive if they wanted to.
There is a campground in the area to use for cover as well,” Neveah explained.
“Goodness, it’s almost as if you planned it when you recruited this person to the cause,” I teased, knowing from the self-satisfied smirk on Neveah’s face that’s exactly what she did.
“Okay, so we have a location to gather, and the supplies, which is amazing. I’m impressed.
Have we made any headway on getting into the facility? ”
“Yes, about that. It would seem the man in charge of that was preoccupied for the past few days with a family issue,” Nick offered, pointing at Darius. “I suggest you have a word with him on setting his priorities.”
The whole room burst out laughing and it did my heart good to see them all blending together, even under such a stressful situation. “Thank you, Nick, I’ll take your suggestion under advisement.”
“Even though half the pack was slacking, I did manage to gather a list of people on our side that work with Grayson Industries that would be easy to get in. We would just need to know the requirements for their staff there to see why they haven’t been picked and alter that information enough to slide it past security.
I might have also taken it upon myself to see what other diversions we could stir up outside this attack that might keep their interest in other places,” Neveah said, sliding over a notebook to me.
“These are all the other labs that have sections with live subjects in them. I know you said you wanted to wait to work on this once Jason and Vadik are dealt with, but what if it helps us? We could stage attacks at these locations, pulling their focus from ground zero. If they believe we can’t get to them there, it will put them in a false sense of security, so when we do shut down the river, they don’t think it’s us right away. ”
The room fell silent as we all gaped at her and this brilliant plan that she’d just come up with.
“I would just like to point out that she got the brains from me and not her father,” Maria piped up, pride glowing in her eyes.
Neveah smiled at her grandmother, reaching out to grip her hand.
“I’m sure you noticed that Tim did not come back with us, but I got everything we could ever need out of his head.
With Kate’s artistic skills, we managed to make a blueprint of what he could remember.
Sadly, it’s been years, and no matter how able the body is, the mind still starts to slip when the information isn’t needed anymore. ”
Kate picked up a cardboard tube and shook out three large sheets of paper, spreading them over the table.
The blueprints were so detailed it even told us what types of locks they had at each door and if any cameras were in the area.
Now, this was based on information that was twenty years old, but it was better than going in blind.
Each sheet helped us understand just how massive this place was, and it made me a little sick to my stomach.
“Don’t even go there, Viv,” Neveah stated, calling me out.
“This is a group effort from start to finish. You won’t be going in there alone.
As a matter of fact, there are three hundred wolves already on their way to the ranch and another two hundred we are waiting to hear back from.
That is just from the first wave we’ve managed to reach out to and that can leave now.
This rebellion has so many layers to it, not everyone might be able to fight in person, but they will help in other ways if they can with supplies or connection to things we might need.
We’ve put many people in contact with Chad so he can organize what all we have at our fingertips to use. ”
My eyes started to well up with tears, but I pushed them away with the back of my hand, smiling at everyone around the table. “Thank you all. I wasn’t sure how we would ever make this happen in time. You’ve all been absolutely amazing to cover all of this in just two days.”
“This isn’t just your fight,” Kate interjected. “However this fight ends will affect werewolves all over the world, for better or worse. It’s time we got a say in those results.”