Page 216 of Broken Bonds

“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.