Page 61

“First of all, Kyle’s a shifter, too. He’ll scent us and know Avery isn’t alone.

Even if we somehow got lucky and he was upwind of us, he’d still assume she’d have backup or help.

He’s not dumb. Also, you assume he’ll only have a couple guys, but there’s nothing to say he won’t have more.

For all we know, he’ll have some extra people arrive at the meeting location early.

As soon as you or I jump from the car, a sniper might blow both of our brains out.

“Then there’s Farrah’s part of the plan.

What if Kyle has Ashton restrained in some way?

She can’t carry a kid of Ashton’s size. He’s new to shifting, too.

There’s no way to know if he’ll be able to focus and change under that kind of fear and stress, so shifting to get out of his bindings is a no-go.

Boom, Farrah is stuck trying to untie Ashton and takes a bullet to the head, followed by your son. ”

Trent sighed. “I like the idea of Avery getting out fast, but what happens if Kyle has a guy ready for that? What if he has the exit road blocked? Now he’s got her and your son.

That leaves you and me with no backup and no reserves if we run into trouble— if we even survive getting out of the car.

If our brains aren’t splattered by some hidden gunman, it’ll be you and me against however many guys Kyle might have.

No matter how I look at it, this is a bloodbath waiting to happen, and not for Kyle and his men. For us.”

Trent finished and sighed again before shaking his head sadly. “Sorry, Cole, but that’s how I see it playing out.”

“He’s right,” Farrah said. “There’s too much left to chance. It’s like flipping a coin. If we lose, we’re all dead, and Kyle has what he wanted to begin with.”

I wasn’t officially the alpha. Not yet, anyway, but that didn’t make this any easier.

I thought it was a good plan—the best plan I could come up with in the time we had—yet everyone was poking holes in it, and none of them looked like they thought it would work.

Was it risky? Sure, but my son was in danger.

We couldn’t sit back and do nothing. Even if it meant I was hurt or killed, it would be a price worth paying to get Ashton back alive.

Avery had been mostly quiet, though from the look on her face, I could see she was as skeptical of the plan as the others. She pinned me with those dark, baggy, sleepless eyes.

“Let me guess,” I sighed, a bitter note to my voice that I couldn’t help. “You think the plan is shit, too?”

Avery jerked her gaze away from me as if she was embarrassed. “I hate to say it, but I agree with them, Cole.”

She spoke cautiously, like she was afraid of angering me. Farrah and Trent shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“We all want to save Ashton,” she said, and I could hear the heartache in her voice, “but that doesn’t mean you need to throw your life away to do that. We need to come up with a plan that doesn’t treat you like some sacrificial lamb.”

Holding up a hand for her to wait, I said, “Hang on a minute, that’s not what I was saying.

I don’t think that’s what this plan is. It’s a good plan.

It will work. I don’t see any other way to do this and keep Ashton safe.

In my eyes, this is the best possible way to do that.

” I glanced at the other two. “Right? The only thing you guys have done is tell me how my plan won’t work, but I haven’t heard any of you coming up with any other ideas. ”

“Well, if you’d asked before launching into your plan, you’d know that wasn’t true,” Avery said almost apologetically.

I looked at her, my eyes widening in surprise. “Great. I’d love to hear your ideas. Seriously. I’m not being a dick here. I want options, anything to save Ashton.” The more heads working on this, the better.

Avery twisted her hands in her lap, a movement that screamed I’m uncomfortable .

She was clearly trying to work up the courage for whatever she wanted to say.

A trickle of worry ran down my spine. Was she going to offer up a plan even more dangerous than mine?

Was she going to offer herself up in exchange for Ashton?

If so, regardless of how she felt, I’d veto it immediately.

“You don’t want to involve the rest of the pack, which I understand,” Avery said, still keeping her eyes down. “But we need help. There’s only the four of us. I… uh, well, I know someone who might be able to assist.”

Narrowing my eyes, I glanced at Trent, who looked just as confused and surprised as I felt.

“Someone? Who?” I asked. “Did you approach someone from town? A pack member?”

The idea that she’d gone behind my back and contacted a member of my own pack didn’t sit well with me, but maybe it would be for the best. At least we could trust someone from my pack.

“I didn’t contact anyone from the pack,” Avery said, then rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Not this pack, anyway.”

Trent frowned. “What?”

“I called an old friend from back in Iowa. He’s part of the pack that helped shelter and mentor Ashton when he was young.”

“He had a pack before you guys came back to Harbor Mills?” Trent asked.

“You never said anything about him having joined another pack,” Farrah said.

“He didn’t fully join,” Avery said. “They saw that he was having trouble fitting in without structure and took him in as a sort of temporary member.” She sighed. “It helped a bit, but he never really fit in, you know? I think his heart was always longing to come back here.”

“Who is this guy?” I asked. I already knew it was a guy. A weird, dark part of me was overcome with jealousy, but I pushed it aside. It would do no good to judge before I knew what was going on.

Avery’s eyes flicked toward me, but then she quickly returned her gaze to Trent and Farrah, almost like she couldn’t look at me.

“He’s a member of the biggest pack in Des Moines.

We met when Ashton was really young. He introduced me to the Des Moines pack and talked to the alpha about the special circumstances.

” Avery finally met my eyes. “There are people in that pack who love Ashton. He was never an official member, but he made friends there. Connections. They would want to help.”

For a few seconds, I simply sat there, taking it in. Finally, I nodded. “You want this guy to come down and save the day or something?”

As the words came out of my mouth, I heard the petulant tone and winced inwardly. Even my wolf whined in embarrassment. Why was I acting like a goddamn child when there were bigger things at stake?

Avery chewed her lower lip. “Uh, well, he’s already on the way.”

“Really?” I said, blinking in surprise.

“When I told him what was going on, he said he’d be here as soon as he could.”

“Do you trust him?” I asked.

She nodded vigorously. “I do. He’d do anything to help Ashton, or me, for that matter. Like I said earlier, we need help, and he was the one I thought of first.”

It was like she’d punched me in the gut.

The thought that Avery didn’t think I could handle this, that someone from outside would be better able to save my own son, was like a knife twisting in my heart.

Yes, we needed help, but that wasn’t the issue.

It wasn’t even that it was someone from a different pack.

It was the insinuation that I wasn’t up to the challenge.

The rational part of my mind told me I was being childish, but I couldn’t get that thought out of my mind.

Having strangers come to town and getting involved in this didn’t make me happy, but I’d do anything for my son.

I’d push every ounce of my pride aside if it meant getting him back alive.

I’d welcome any plan this dude might have, and accept any help he or his pack could give.

“All right, then,” I said. “We’ll see what this guy has to say when he gets here.”

“Really?” Avery said, looking surprised that I’d agreed so quickly.

“Yeah,” I said, doing my best to stuff all the dumb shit I was thinking down deep.

“Wow, uh, okay,” Avery said, her shoulders visibly relaxing.

A pang of sadness welled up within me. She’d been worried I’d blow up at her or argue against it. Fuck, the last thing I wanted was for her to be walking on eggshells around me. I needed to keep myself in check. If I wanted to win Avery back, I’d need to be open to her suggestions and thoughts.

“When does this guy get here?” Trent asked.

“Yeah,” Farrah said. “When does the cavalry arrive?”

Avery ignored the sarcastic tone in Farrah’s voice. “He said the earliest flight he could get out was tomorrow morning. He’s bringing a couple of other guys with him. They’re both good guys.”

My throat was dry, like someone had stuffed cotton down in it, and I swallowed hard.

“We’ll be ready for them then,” I said.

But would I really be ready to meet this guy Avery had so much faith in?