Chapter 12
MAX’S PLAN
“You sure he’s gonna be happy to see me?” Omar asks, hands shoved firmly in his jeans pockets as we zip up in the elevator to the meeting rooms on the seventy-first floor of the packhouse.
“He’ll be thrilled,” I say, only half sure. “I’m more worried about what he’s going to say when I explain my plan.”
Omar pulls a hand from his pocket and places it warmly on my arm. “What you’re trying to do is amazing, Cuz. Don’t forget that.”
I smile, but somehow, I’m not sure Jasper will see it the same way.
“This way,” I say as the doors ping open. I’ve never actually been to this floor of the packhouse, there are so freaking many I’m sure the people who work here have barely been to all of them. But I can sense Jasper.
The walls are lined with glass, doors leading off to multiple meeting rooms filled with computers, each with a different pack wolf behind them working on surveillance, or playing Space Invaders, or secretly checking their socials—I don’t know what goes on here.
Lush ferns decorate the corners of the room, modern art hangs between doors.
It’s sleek and modern and looks like it must cost a fortune to keep up.
I’m excited to see where Jasper has been spending the bulk of his time since the incident. I like having this insight into his life, though I find this space a little too corporate and a little too lifeless for my tastes. Give me the woods any day.
“Come in,” Jasper says when we arrive. “Thank you, everyone,” he continues, speaking to the three officers with him. “Let’s reconvene after lunch.”
The officers leave, nodding respectfully to me as they do, and the second they’re gone, Jasper presses both palms flat onto the table, as if steadying himself, and takes a couple of deep breaths. I move around the long marble-topped conference table and rub his back.
“You doing okay?”
“Another long day. There have been skirmishes along the western border. Walter is ramping up his attacks, they’re trying to condense our forces into a smaller area, fence us in. Our troops are resisting but Walter’s wolves are vicious, they fight dirty.”
“I can attest to that,” Omar says from where he’s lingering, just inside the doorway.
Jasper lifts his head to match Omar’s gaze.
“Yes, hello. Max told me what happened to you,” he says. “I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t have come. We barely have the resources to protect our own at the moment, and—”
“You think I came for your protection?” Omar says, stepping forward proudly. “I couldn’t care less about your protection. I want you to do something to help the rogues being hurt by this war that your people started.”
Jasper grits his teeth. “You think this is our fault?”
Omar shrugs. “Walter is a byproduct of the pack system. You uphold that system. Don’t you think you should take some responsibility for the mess you’ve made?”
“If this is a pack matter then why are you here?”
“Because innocent people are getting hurt.”
Jasper, whose attention had returned to the marble tabletop, shoots a dangerous look at Omar, who pulls his shoulders back, hands clenching. Both their cheeks are red and tempers are obviously flared. Thank the moon gods there’s a sturdy conference table between these two. Still, I have to jump in.
“Calm down,” I say, squeezing Jasp’s shoulder, looking between him and Omar. “The two of you fighting isn’t helping anything.”
Omar backs down first, casting his gaze at his shoes and looking all sheepish. “You’re right, Cuz.”
Jasper huffs but relents. “Fine.” He stands up straight, turning to me probably so he can pretend like Omar isn’t here. “What did you need to tell me?”
“I—I went looking for guidance in the Lunar Plane,” I say. “And I saw . . .” Jasper tilts his head, squinting quizzically. “Jasp, I saw all of the rogues in the country. Independent wolves in their thousands, hundreds of thousands.”
“And?”
“There are so many more wolves out there who aren’t aligned to Walter’s Axis Pack, wolves that might stand with us.”
Jasper squints even more, until his eyes are just two skeptical slits. “What are you suggesting?”
“Walter isn’t just after the Elite Pack,” I say. “We know he’s hurting rogues, trying to recruit them and if they refuse, they vanish. The rogues are in just as much danger as us. But if we can unite the rogues and team up with them, then maybe we stand a chance.”
“You’re suggesting I align our pack with rogues?” Jasper’s jaw is working double time, the tendons pumping in his smooth cheeks.
“I know it’s crazy. Packs and rogues don’t usually work together. But I thought under the circumstances—”
“Who’s to say they’d even want to help?” Jasper asks. “Rogues are rogue for a reason. They don’t follow orders, they’re individually minded, they can’t stand . . .”
“What?”
“Alphas,” he says, flatly. “No rogue is going to listen to me or anyone from our pack.”
My mouth hangs open, my head shaking ever so slightly. Is Jasper really going to dismiss my idea straight off the bat like this? All because he still doesn’t have enough faith that rogues are decent people?
“They might,” Omar says, jumping in as words abandon me.
“Since your soldiers invaded the Sanc our people have been more scattered than ever. And you’re right, we are rogues because we will not bow down and submit to an alpha.
But we are not the individualists you make us out to be.
More so than the packs, we believe in community, working together to build something that works for everyone.
” He scoffs and clicks his tongue. “You pack wolves think because you all follow the same rules, submit to the same leader, that you’re more pack-minded.
But you’ve seen the paradise we can build when we come together.
And you can’t imagine the damage we can bring if backed against a wall. ”
Omar seems so determined. He lifts his chin a little, proving his defiance. Jasper looks almost as impressed as I am.
“Jasper,” I say, taking his hand. “Just think of it. If we could work with the Rogue Nation, we could win.”
I can see him turning it over in his mind, his eyes darting all over the place, but something is still blocking him. Realizing that whatever it is, he maybe doesn’t want to say it in front of Omar, I give his hand a little squeeze. “Omar, would you give us a second?”
He nods and excuses himself. Now it’s just Jasper and me. I turn him to face me, cupping the back of his head. “What is it?”
“I’m not the alpha,” he says. “My father is still . . . I can’t ally the pack with the rogues while he’s lying there unconscious. It’s too big of a decision for me to make. What happens when he wakes up and learns what I’ve done?”
I pull him a little closer. “Jasper, what happens if you don’t? There won’t be a pack to wake up to.”
Tears spring to his eyes, ones I know he’s been holding in while putting up a strong front for the officers and pack officials.
But not ones he needs to hide from me. I wrap him up completely, letting him rest his head on my shoulder and sob.
We wait like this, me squeezing him as tightly as damn possible, until his tears subside.
He pulls back, wiping at his nose and sniffing.
“Even if we did this,” he says, a sign that he’s at least contemplating it, “Walter’s Axis Pack is growing by the day, and there’s no guarantee that the rogues will come to our aid. Even if we can recruit a fraction of them, it might not be enough. We still need the Rocky Pack.”
I think this over for a second. “Let me go,” I say.
“Max, no—”
“You haven’t asked but I know you want me to use my powers to find Mia and Olivia. I’ll speak to them, see if they’ll come back, if Mia will convince her father to work with us. And while I’m out there I can talk to the rogues.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, besides I need you here. Salazar is already out looking for them. If you go too, I don’t know if I’ll be able to manage. I don’t . . .”
He’s shaking now and I think I’m only just beginning to get a sense of what the pressure is truly doing to him.
“Someone needs to speak to the rogue elders,” I say.
“Can’t he go?” Jasper nods to the door, where Omar’s scent still lingers.
“You think the rogues will fight with us if no one from the pack is willing to go speak to them? It has to be an Elite Pack wolf, and, I think—I think it has to be me.
“Why?”
“Mal told me at the Sanc that the rogues and the blood wolf have a long history of working together. I doubt they’d agree to work with anyone but me.
And I think—I’ve been wondering what these powers are for, how I’m supposed to use them to help people.
And I’m starting to think this is maybe what all this has been for.
If I can unite pack wolves and rogues, maybe that would be a good use of my powers. ”
Jasper holds my face gently between his hands, one thumb rubbing my chin. He presses his forehead to mine.
“It’s dangerous out there,” he says. “If you go and don’t . . . I can’t lose you too, not now, not ever.”
My gut feels like a brick. The guilt from not telling Jasper about my maybe-plan to go to a college all the way across the country flares up hot and heavy.
The strange thrill I get from the idea of going out into the world and using my powers to unite disparate people thrums in the back of my mind.
Am I betraying Jasper by leaving him here to deal with running the pack on his own?
Have I betrayed him already by planning a future for myself without factoring in what’s best for him, or prioritizing our relationship?
Then of course there’s the lingering question of a marking ceremony.
If that’s even something I want. But despite all these questions, and this strange feeling like I’ve already let him down, there is one thing I’m certain of.
“You’re never going to lose me, Jasper. No matter what, I’ll be here.” I point at his chest and the big, troubled heart I know is beating in there.
Jasper looks like he wants to smile and cry at the same time. It’s obvious that he’s trying to work his expression into one of comfort and confidence, but he’s struggling. Some seed of doubt is stopping him from getting on board.
“What is it?” I ask. His lips are dry, the skin puckering as he bites down on the bottom one. His body is quivering ever so slightly. “Jasper? Tell me.”
“What if . . .” he starts, voice cracking. “What if I’m not cut out for this? What if I’m not strong enough to be the alpha?”
“You’re the strongest person I know,” I say, pulling him into me again. “Hey, you managed to resist me for way longer than any mere mortal could have.”
At least this elicits a laugh from him, dispelling some of the tension.
“But seriously, you need to believe in yourself,” I continue, leaning back to look him in the face. “I do. The pack does.”
He runs a hand down his face, the exhaustion never more apparent.
“I just wish I could talk to him, ask him for his advice. Ask him—how he stayed so strong.”
I rest a hand against his chest and feel his heart beating swiftly. Then I have an idea.
“What if you could?”
He rolls his eyes playfully. “I’m not really in the mood for role-playing—”
“I don’t mean in some hypothetical way. I mean, what if you could really speak to him?”
Jasper eyes me sideways as a grin spreads across my face.