Chapter 13
The next day…
Griff
The planning hall was filling up with people.
It was a wide room within the Watch base with a scarred table, battered benches, and a wall that still held the papery ghosts of old maps.
Someone had hung some kerosene lanterns at the corners, which brightened the room since there were only a few windows letting in some natural light.
Zara’s pack had come back over first thing in the morning, looking worn but still somehow mildly energetic, with Magnus carrying himself like an alpha wolf, Tobias flanking him like a shadow, Callum with his ever-present half-smile, Thorne watching everything with a cold focus, and Killian looking too cheerful for a man who’d been killing ferals just a few days ago.
Sera and her pack arrived a little later.
Logan looked like he hadn’t taken his eyes off the tree line once.
Edward had that calm, hard soldier stillness even though he wasn’t in uniform.
Jamie looked like he’d already made peace with the fact that nothing was going to be easy ever again.
Aidan and Declan just positioned themselves where they could see doors and windows and exchanged looks with each other that spoke of their brotherly bond.
Tamsin sat on a bench near the table, not in the center of the room like someone trying to dominate the room, but everyone’s attention kept drifting back to her anyway.
She wore simple clothes now that had been borrowed and patched by someone.
Her hair was tied back, her knife sheathed on her thigh, but everything about her screamed leader.
Eamon sat beside her with a notebook and a pencil, already writing.
Bishop leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, posture composed and still, eyes scanning the room.
Nox prowled the perimeter of the room like a dog guarding his territory.
Elias stood near the table, quiet and watchful, letting everyone settle.
I stayed close to Tamsin without hovering. Close enough that if she moved even just a little bit, I’d sense it, but far enough that she didn’t feel caged.
It wasn’t lost on me that this was the first real strategy meeting with all three packs in one place and it was bound to be a doozy.
“We can’t stay here,” Tamsin finally announced.
The room quieted down several seconds later. Even Killian stopped fidgeting to look straight at her.
Tamsin’s gaze swept the circle once. “That feral attack wasn’t a random surge of wolves.
It was a message from London. They can reach us here.
That means the Isle of Man isn’t a safe place to regroup anymore.
It means that every batch of wolves they ship out of London set for Ireland can arrive at our shores and attack us, over and over again until they destroy us. ”
Magnus nodded once, slow. “Aye. I don’t fancy waiting around for a second wave. Or a third.”
Tamsin leaned forward slightly, elbows on her knees.
“We can rebuild fences. We can set traps. We can rotate patrols. But none of that matters if London can manufacture an attack whenever they please. They can create as many feral wolves as they want. As things are, we don’t stand a chance against that. ”
Sera’s eyes narrowed. “What? How are they making feral wolves?”
Tamsin glanced to Bishop and gave a curt nod. He pushed off the wall and stepped up front without making a fuss.
“I used to live in London. When I was there, I followed a woman named Helena Voss,” he said. “She’s one of Lord Marcus Ashcroft’s people. She’s a scientist. Works on containment policy.”
Several faces tightened at the name Ashcroft. He was a well-known politician in London, even in a place like this.
Bishop continued. “I overheard some things and I followed her underground into a restricted facility. There, I saw a number of wolves restrained on tables with masks and tubing. They were pumping an infectious inhalant through the masks. It made them agitated in under a minute. They became violent, showcasing the kind of behavior London points to and says, ‘See? They all go feral.’”
Zara went very still. Sera’s jaw clenched so hard I heard her teeth scrape together.
“They are inducing ferality,” Bishop finished.
Jamie exhaled slowly. “So, the feral thing doesn’t just happen naturally in some of us then.”
“No,” Bishop replied.
Sera’s voice cut through the room. “London tells everyone that it’s inevitable.”
Bishop nodded once. “That they do.”
Sera swallowed. “If they can make wolves go feral on command… they can keep humans scared forever.”
Magnus rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Then we agree that the problem isn’t the ferals. The problem is the ones that are responsible for creating the ferals.”
Eamon finally spoke, voice calm, thoughtful. “Yes. They can create proof on demand.”
Tamsin sat back, eyes flicking around the room again. “So here’s where we are. We can’t stay here. We can’t fight London head-on either.”
Killian cracked his knuckles. “I hate when you say sensible things.”
Zara gave him a look.
“London’s advantage is distance and numbers.” This came from Elias.
“What if we go to them?” Declan mused.
Elias shook his head once. “Not with an army. We don’t have the manpower. And if we try to storm London, we’ll die before we even step foot in the city.”
Tobias grunted. “Agreed.”
Tamsin nodded. “We just need to do it smart.”
She reached for the map someone had dragged in, a rough, hand-drawn thing with the coastline and old road names scribbled in. She pressed it onto the table and flattened it with her palm.
“We take boats,” she said. “Not one. Several. Spread out. Land far away from London so that they’re unaware that we’ve arrived.”
“Where?” Logan asked.
Tamsin tapped a spot east of the city. “Here. Not close enough to be obvious, but not so far away that we waste weeks traveling on foot. We land quietly. We move inland quickly.”
Magnus leaned over the table, studying. “That’s still a long walk.”
“Yes,” Tamsin said. “And that’s the point. We don’t march down main roads. We don’t announce ourselves. We move through people.”
Sera’s eyes narrowed. “People will report us.”
“Some might,” Tamsin agreed. “My network won’t.”
Eamon lifted his chin slightly. “There are wolf sympathizers out there. Not many, but enough of them. There are plenty of people who’ve lost someone to London’s feral wolf policies. Doctors. Dockworkers. Clerks. Smugglers.”
Thorne tapped the map with one finger. “And the end goal is what? Destroy the feral drug?”
“First, we stop its production,” Tamsin began. “Then we decimate their stocks. Expose it if we can.”
Sera’s voice was tight. “If the public learns London has been inducing ferality…”
Eamon’s expression was thoughtful. “We could manufacture targeted leaks, be it in newspaper form, with witness accounts, true stories, whatever we can think of. That could fracture the people’s trust in the city.”
Logan nodded slowly. “We don’t need everyone. We just need enough.”
Tamsin’s gaze flicked to him. “Exactly.”
I watched her as she spoke.
God help me, I was proud.
And not just proud in that protective way I’d always been. Proud in a deeper, hotter way that made my heart beat a bit faster in my chest. She was fierce, intelligent, stubborn as hell, and still somehow soft enough to care about strangers dying in world gone wrong.
I was lucky. That was the simple truth.
Zara broke the quiet with a practical question. “What about the Watch? The ones who stayed with us. Are they going?”
Elias answered. “No. We keep the groups small. Just us three packs should be more than enough for what we’re planning.”
“And what about Commander Dane?” Sera asked, her mouth twisting with hatred. The room stilled just a fraction. Sera leaned forward slightly, forearms on her knees, eyes fixed on Tamsin. “And the ones who left with him,” she added. “The defectors. We can’t pretend like they just vanished.”
Nox pushed off the wall and moved closer to the table, rolling his shoulders once like he was shaking off the memory. “I followed their tracks last night.”
All heads turned toward him.
“Dane’s were easy to follow at first,” he went on. “They headed north, then cut hard west. Doubled back twice. Split once, then regrouped.”
Magnus frowned. “You lose them?”
Nox nodded, clearly not pleased. “I’m sorry. I lost them in the wilds. Past the last service road. After that, they stopped leaving a trail that I could follow.”
“Then they’re still out there,” Logan said.
“Yes,” Nox replied.
“We assume Dane is still active,” Tamsin said. “We keep our eyes and ears to the ground for signs of him and his crew, but we don’t let his disappearance hinder our plans.”
Sera nodded once. “Agreed.”
“So. What do you all say?” Tamsin asked.
Magnus glanced at his pack, then back at Tamsin. “If you’re going, then we’re going.”
Zara nodded. “Definitely.”
Logan followed with a slow, firm nod. “We’ll go too.”
Jamie exhaled. “Brilliant. A hike through England with a target on our backs.”
Edward’s gaze stayed steady. “It’s better than waiting here for them to send another shipment of ferals to our shores.”
Aidan added quietly, “We’ve spent too long surviving day to day. This is a chance to show that wolves aren’t the hated thing London’s made them out to be.”
His brother Declan grunted agreement.
“We’ll need boats,” Tamsin said. “Not all of us can fit in one. We take what the base has and whatever the Watch can get us quietly. We leave at night. We don’t make fires unless it’s necessary. No loud noises if we can help it.”
Eamon scribbled notes. “We’ll need food for a week at least. Water storage. Medical supplies.”
Bishop nodded. “And a plan for if we’re separated.”
Tamsin looked at each pack in turn. “We set rendezvous points. If you miss one, you go to the next. No heroics. No doubling back.”
Killian grinned. “That rule’s aimed at me, isn’t it.”
“It’s aimed at all of you, but yes, you especially,” Tamsin said without missing a beat, just a hint of a smirk turning her lips.
Even Tobias looked amused at that.
I finally spoke, because it needed saying. “And what about the Watch base here on the Isle of Man?”
Tamsin’s gaze softened just slightly. “We can’t hold it. Not long-term. But they can’t come with us. Not yet,” Her mouth tightened. “We leave enough supplies for them and enough people to guard them until they can move.”
Clara, who’d been sitting off to the side with her arm bandaged, lifted her chin. “I can stay behind and look after this place.”
Elias nodded. “I appreciate that. We’ll coordinate with you before we leave.”
Tamsin’s eyes met Clara’s with quiet respect. “Thank you.”
Then she returned to the map.
“We land here,” she repeated, tapping the coast again. “We move inland to our first contact. We keep groups small enough to hide and large enough to fight if the need arises.”
Magnus glanced at Logan. “One pack per group?”
Tamsin nodded.
She leaned back, looking around the room again.
“Elias, I want you to coordinate everything. Eamon, I’d like you on inventory.
Bishop, list and map what you remember from the facility: routes, entrances and exits, smells, sight lines, distances, anything.
Nox, arrange and see to the boats. Griff—” her gaze met mine, and something warm flickered there beneath the steel, “—you’re with me. ”
“Always,” I answered.
She nodded once, satisfied, then looked to Zara and Sera. “Get prepared. We move as soon as we’re ready.”
Zara stood. “We’ll be ready.”
Sera’s eyes held Tamsin’s. “So will we.”