Page 11 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)
Chapter 10
Sketching Out the Plan
FLOR
G len and I went back from the Pack House to Del’s cabin that night, my head buzzing with plans, but also pain, and more fear than I liked to acknowledge. Fear for Luke, Grigor, Finnick, Glen, and Brand. For my mama. For myself, even.
I wasn’t sure if the plan that had started forming in my mind was just crazy enough to work, or crappy enough to get us all killed.
Glen used his hands and lips to convince me to set aside the worry for an hour. It was exactly what I needed. We made love tenderly, both of us ignoring the feeling of doom that stemmed from the odd pangs and cold patches within our bonds.
Afterward, we fell asleep, and the fear returned when I couldn’t fight it. I had vivid nightmares starring all my mates tied up in silver wire in wolf form, whimpering in pain, near death. In every dream, I was handed a puzzle with a clicking timer, while Elina McDonnell wrapped more silver around the men who’d somehow worked their way into my heart. I couldn’t solve the puzzle in time, and I had to watch them die, again and again.
“You can’t really love them, little witchling,” Elina hissed as she used the wire as a garrote on Brand’s thick neck. “If you did, you’d already be here. They don’t have to die.”
Sometime around three a.m., I woke, her voice seeming to echo in the bedroom, the word die bouncing through the dark. “I don’t fucking think so, ya skanky ol’ bitch,” I muttered through gritted teeth while Glen turned restlessly in his sleep.
I needed to plan better. Faster. I stared at the ceiling, silently asking Del to help me see how to do it all, how to keep the ones I loved safe. Maybe he heard me, maybe it was just being half-asleep and able to see things I couldn’t in my waking hours. But the knowledge of what I had to do, and how, began to fall into place like puzzle pieces.
An hour before dawn, Glen’s voice drew me from my plans. “You’re awake? Did you sleep at all?”
“Nightmares,” I explained absently, my mind still whirring. “Brand’ll be there this morning. I’m…” I was terrified. “Concerned,” I said instead.
“They’ll be all right,” Glen murmured. He kissed me drowsily, then curled up behind me, tucking my hair behind my ear and toying with the metal tag that hung from the top. “And after Brand’s pack gets here, we’ll come up with a plan, one that doesn’t risk you?—”
“We can’t wait.”
“What do you mean?” He sat up, staring down at me in alarm.
He wasn’t going to like this at all. “We don’t have time to wait for them to arrive. We gotta go now, and try to sneak in.”
Glen took my hands, and our bond started tingling as the nervous energy inside me moved to him. I told him about the nightmares, then swallowed hard. “It wasn’t that part that got to me. It was what came after.” He waited, and finally I said, “I sorta prayed for help. Del answered. It was like he was right there with me. He was pissed all to hell at Brand for puttin’ himself in the enemy’s hands. Said he’d handed the most powerful pack on the continent to an evil Eastern witch. And if she’s a smart one, she’d waste no time making sure he was leashed.” I thought for a moment. “I don’t know if it was Del in my dream, or just my memories of him, but it felt like him, Glen.”
I closed my eyes and repeated what Del had said. “If you can’t run, then try to talk your way out. If you can’t do that, then fight. But if you know you’ll lose—if you aren’t as strong or as fast or as smart as your opponent—never forget, you can always be ten times as crazy. Unpredictable shifters are the most dangerous.” I opened my eyes. “It worked in the forest with that fucker Ivan. I keep feeling like being away from the others will be why we might lose everything. We need to be together, Glenda. All of us.”
Glen half-smiled as our bond zinged again. He agreed with me, I could tell. Or at least he was gonna go along. “How do we get into the Mansion?”
I swallowed hard. “With magic.”
He frowned. “Sergeant told you he doesn’t have magic to hide us.”
“But my mama does. I spoke to her last night. She talked to me for a good while, and she had an idea.” I explained what Mama had said about the silver, and her magic. “Then she said she’s going to Eastern, to confront Callaway, whether I go or not. That she’s dying anyway. She wasn’t lying.” My lower lip trembled, but I jutted out my chin to make the tears stop.
“She can do what Grigor did for this house?” Glen whispered. “The look-away spell?”
“She used one on the hallway outside the Alpha’s bedroom last night. She used it on herself all these years in the woods. She says she can wrap one around another person, if she needs to. Or two people.” I turned in his arms, facing him now. “What I need to make this work is more information. You’ve stayed at Eastern, right? You know the layout. I heard you tellin’ Sergeant about the cameras and security systems and whatnot.”
Brow furrowed, he nodded. I jumped out of bed, throwing on one of Del’s t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants, plus some clean underwear that one of the girls had snuck under my arm as we left the Pack House the night before. I threw some more clothes at Glen, then jogged into the kitchen and gathered up paper and a stubby pencil from Del’s junk drawer, calling for Glen to join me.
“Can you draw it?”
Glen did a quick sketch, then added a few more details. “The Mansion is set on about two hundred acres of land, in New York, northwest of the city. There’s a fence that surrounds the Mansion and a few dozen acres, with gates at the front and back. There are three entrances to the Mansion itself—here, here, and here, plus the servant’s entrance here.” He pointed to the front, both sides, and the rear of the main building, which was a sprawling estate that made the Southern Pack House look like a broom closet. The servant’s entrance was through a massive, connected building that he explained was a garage. “They have Enforcers at the gates, but they don’t use many guards to monitor the fences, or at least they didn’t. They rely on their tech, the cameras, with Enforcers inside watching. If they see anything, they send out guards.”
“How many Enforcers do they have?”
“Not entirely sure. Eastern has a thousand or so shifters total, but most of them don’t live near the Mansion. They have pack meetings here.” He drew a semi-circle on the east side of the main building, a good distance away, with trees between it and the house. “The fights and pack runs start here. Council meetings are held there as well, under the moon.” He sketched out the doors to the main house, adding in some guarded outposts.
I squinted at the doorways. “Those are the only ways into the main house?”
“No, there’s one more.” He drew it in, an entrance surrounded by trees on a winding drive that came up to the western rear quarter of the house. “No one outside the family and senior Enforcers are supposed to know about this entrance, but Finn showed me and Brand some secrets when we fostered there. That was the biggest one.” He let out a long breath. “I remember when he took us past the rear entrance to the lower levels, on a morning run around the property. We didn’t go in, but Brand went poking around and asked about it. Finn was shocked that he could even mention it to us. He said there was an Alpha command on everyone who knew, even him and his sister, not to tell anyone other than family or their pack’s inner circle about it.”
“Good thing you’re family. He calls you brothers, and he means it,” I said, staring at the map. “Do they use keys, or…?”
He shook his head. “That entry’s a gate covered with ivy that blends into the back wall. After you drive in, a door inside requires a thumbprint. One of the family.”
Finnick. I knew, if I could get close, I could send some thoughts to Brand, and he would get Finnick to let us in. But the cameras there would be hard to take out. “What about the servant’s entrance?”
He blinked. “I… don’t know. They have a lot of house staff, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t give them keys.” He closed his eyes, thinking. “I passed by that entrance once, and saw a woman bringing in crates of meat for the kitchens. She pushed a button and called out her name, Susan. That was it. And then someone buzzed her in.”
I almost grinned. Del had taught me that if I couldn’t hide, a disguise was a good second option. “Perception is every bit as important as reality. People see what they expect. What did Susan wear?”
“The same thing all the staff wore. Black shoes and skirts. White shirts.”
“Skirts. They’re all women?”
He shrugged. “All the staff I’ve seen in those uniforms. The males are guards or Enforcers.”
I sneered. Of course the women did all the real work. “Do they wear something like an ear tag? Or a leather choker?”
“No,” he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “They’re quiet, though. Just like the Southern Pack House staff was under Callaway, only the clothing is nicer at Eastern.”
“That’s it. That’s how I’ll get in. With a little magic, a little disguise, and some luck.” I tried to think of what I’d missed. “Where exactly are the cameras in the back of the property?”
He added them to the map. “Two years ago, they were here. They could have added more since.”
“Why would they? That’s a shit ton of technology already.” I stared at the dozen cameras he’d indicated. “Nice of them to hide those on the trees for me,” I muttered. “Hope they left some good low branches to get up to ‘em. Hmm. Drones, too. Maybe… Maybe we’ll need one of those guns after all.”
“Guns?” Glen echoed me, his voice faint.
Our bond flared with alarm, and I grabbed his hands. To my shock, they were trembling slightly. “Not for the guards. For the cameras we need to take down, and the drones. We could even use a slingshot.”
He pulled his hands away, folding his arms to hide the shaking. “No, you’re right. A gun will be faster, and more effective on the tech. All right. I’m not any good with a slingshot, but I do know how to shoot.”
I knew he was remembering the feeling of the bullets tearing through him; I could sense it in our bond. “We can find another way. It’s not our only option.” He took a breath to say something, when a knock interrupted him.
“Flor?” Dean called from outside. Glen jumped up and opened the door.It was raining slightly, but Dean didn’t step inside. He had the sat phone in his hand and gave it to me. “Brand’s just pulled up at the Mansion. He says something big has happened at Eastern.” When I gestured him in, he shook his head. “Also, vans are arriving at the main gate here. Ten of them so far.”
Shit.
“Council troops?” Glen demanded.
“Mountain, I think,” Dean replied. “They made good time.”
“Flor?” I heard Brand’s voice on the phone in my hand, and I pressed it to my ear, my heart in my throat.
“Bearman. Are you all right?”
His deep voice rumbled in my ear. “I’m fine. From the feeling in the bond, Luke is fine, too. But Finn, I can’t feel him. Is he…”
I knew what he was asking. I closed my eyes, reaching for Finnick.“Huh. He’s happy, almost. Nervous, but whatever you’re noticing, it’s something good. Or at least he thinks it is.” I couldn’t imagine what good could be found in this mess, but my connection to Finnick was lighter. I tried not to think about him and our bond, and how much it had hurt the last few times I’d felt it more strongly. He and I were gonna have us a talk soon. If we lived long enough.
“Good for us, then. That’s what I needed to hear. All right. I’m driving through the gates at the Mansion now. Dean says the first of the Mountain troops are arriving there?”
“They’re coming down the road now.”
“Good. The rest should be there before the full moon. When they arrive, make your plans. Let Sergeant guide you.”
It would be too late then. I had to act immediately.
“Once I’m inside the Mansion, I’m sure they won’t allow me to call you,” Brand said, but I cut him off.
“You won’t need to. I’ve already got a plan, though. Glen and I are?—”
“Flor, stop. Don’t tell me.”
“What? Why not?”
His reply was blunt, and more than a little terrifying. “I’m about to walk into the home of a witch who wants to kill you and everyone else who can stand against her, and take over the North American packs. I’m not sure if she can read minds, or force me to tell her secrets. I’m far enough from you that I can’t follow your thoughts precisely. If I don’t know exactly what you’re doing, if you don’t tell me, then she can’t find out either.”
I felt a surge of love in our bond, and I sent one back, hoping he didn’t notice my fear.
“I’ll do what I can, Flor. I’ll find Luke and Finnick, and speak to them first. Then I’ll see if I can get into the lower levels, to talk to the Hilliers and discover where your little psycho is.”
“Thank you, Bearman.” I thought for a moment. “Just don’t get locked up with anyone. I may need you to cause a distraction.”
“What?” I heard someone on the other end of the line, shouting. But Brand was growling, “Flor, don’t tell me you’re going to be anywhere near this—” The shouting got louder.
“Okay, I won’t,” I said. I didn’t share that I was promising not to tell him. I was absolutely going. “Love you.”I hung up before he could ask me anything else.
Dean had jogged off, but Glen was staring at me as I pressed the button on the phone, his eyebrows raised so high that they vanished under his blond curls. “You hung up on him? He’s going to spank you for that, if I don’t beat him to it. This isn’t a plan, Dream Girl, or if it is, it’s the worst plan in?—”
“The history of plans?” I almost laughed. “Nah, this is only the second worst. Get dressed. We’ve got to go meet the Mountain shifters, then find a car to take to the big shitty, as Grandma Ida would say.” As we quickly straightened up Del’s house, I sketched out the final details of the plan, if it could be called one.
Glen was paler than the paint on the walls when I finished. “This really is crazy. There’s no hope that it’ll work.”
“Southern shifters are all about the crazy, Glenda.” I passed him, slapping him on the butt before I stepped into the drizzly morning. “And up to now, I would have agreed with you on the no hope thing. But look at this place.” I gestured to the pack, to the shifters who I never once thought would work together, doing just that. Unranked females, ranked males, and even rogues, working to clean up my shithole of a home pack before Mountain arrived, and doing it cheerfully. “I never would’ve dreamed this could happen. I kinda hate to admit it, but there’s hope here.”
He still looked skeptical. “Is hope enough to save us all from the Council?”
I pondered that as he followed me out the door. “Maybe not,” I admitted. “We’ll probably need some duct tape, too.”
Use every weapon, girlie. Every last one. Del’s voice echoed in my mind as Glen’s rang out, attracting the attention of the cobbled-together pack that was hard at work, rebuilding.
Or building something new.