Page 41 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Amanda~

To keep from going crazy while I waited for the others to return from the border, I had to find a way to keep myself occupied. As it happened, I had an idea of how to do that, even if it wasn’t the most pleasant thing I could think of.

First, I carefully inspected the room to make sure no changes had been made in my absence.

No hidden listening devices, no cameras, nothing out of the ordinary.

I hated being paranoid in my own home, not being able to trust even the most basic security, but after the things the former Beta had said, I had to take precautions.

The things I was going to be discussing weren’t for anyone else’s ears.

Once I satisfied myself that nothing had been altered, I had the security team bring me the satellite phone Savannah had been using, and I placed a call of my own to her former pack.

“Alpha Vaughan, please,” I requested when the pack office picked up. “It’s Alpha Amanda from the Ravenstone pack.”

The woman did her best to hide her surprise, but a little of it still bled through in her reply.

“I’ll see if I can get him for you, Alpha. Please hold.”

I hadn’t called the Crimsontooth pack directly since my ignominious departure. All contact with Vaughan and the others had gone through Savannah, allowing me to avoid any awkward interactions with the pack that I would have helped to govern if things had worked out just a little differently.

Even though I understood why Vaughan made the choices he did, the memory of being cast aside still burned.

I’d spent years trying to prove my worth to my father and to the entire pack, and I’d returned in disgrace, like I had some kind of defect.

Maybe someday, his rejection wouldn’t sting anymore, but that day hadn’t arrived yet.

“Amanda?” Vaughan’s gruff voice echoed through the phone a few moments later. “What’s going on? Did something happen to Sav?”

I should have anticipated he would jump to that conclusion. Why else would I be calling instead of his sister?

“She’s fine, don’t worry. I’m calling about something else.”

He exhaled a heavy breath, the line crackling beneath its weight. “Fuck, you scared me. What can I do for you, then?”

Curiosity underpinned the question, along with a touch of guilt.

Vaughan knew as well as I did that I’d been treated poorly in our brief relationship, and he’d done his best to be a good ally to us since then.

His guilty conscience might persuade him to be more indulgent of my request than he otherwise might have been, and I wasn’t above using that to my advantage.

Not when it came to the reason I called.

“I was thinking about the meeting we had with your leadership team, back when the sasquatches were attacking your pack. How everyone in the room worked together to come up with a solution, putting the needs of the pack first.”

“What about it?” he asked, clearly not on my wavelength just yet.

“I’m working on building a similar council here, starting with Savannah and Jasper, but it’s still a work in progress.

I don’t know yet who I can fully trust, but I have a problem that I could really use some help brainstorming about.

So, I wondered if I could borrow some of your pack’s best minds for it. Including your mate.”

The word stuck in my throat a little, but I forced it out anyway. As an expert on most supernatural things, Calista’s input in particular would be invaluable.

“You’re actually in luck,” Vaughan answered, sounding relieved that some advice was all I wanted. “I have Callie, Felix and Evalina with me right now to talk about something else. Will that work?”

“Evalina?” I knew Calista and the pack’s Beta Felix, but the last name was unfamiliar to me.

“Felix’s new mate,” he explained. “She’s a fairy, so she might not understand everything we’re talking about, but she also might bring a completely unique perspective to things.”

Genies and fairies? What next?

“That would be great. Thank you.”

I could make out some muffled conversation but no actual words as he spoke to the people in the room with him. Soon, his voice returned, further away than before but still clear. “You’re on speaker now. Go ahead.”

As clinically as I could, I explained what happened that morning when Troy got shot, the wish I made to save him, and my conversation with Kalo about undoing all the wishes.

“Fascinating,” Calista stated when I’d finished my account. “Previously, I wouldn’t have thought genies could feel regret. Honestly, I was taught that they enjoyed causing harm through the subversion of wishes.”

“You were also taught werewolves are evil,” Vaughan reminded her, his voice filled with a teasing affection that made my heart ache.

Not for him, since we’d never had that kind of relationship, but for the ease he had with his mate, an ease that I had only just started to experience for myself and might lose soon if we couldn’t figure out a way to save Troy.

“I would love to know this guy’s life story,” Felix agreed enthusiastically. “Maybe if he survives the whole experience, we can invite him here and he can tell it to me himself.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Vaughan interjected before I could. “So, Leo and the others will be able to join you to prepare for the attack. Do you need more backup than that? We have enough time to send another group up to you.”

“I’m not going to say no to any additional manpower, but at this point, I’m less concerned about the external threat than the internal one.

The former Beta was working against me and at least one of his accomplices, the one who shot Troy, is still at large.

When the battle begins, I’m worried we’ll be attacked from within our own side. ”

“Using the full force of your Alpha authority, you could root out dissenters,” Vaughan suggested. “Under direct questioning from you, they wouldn’t be able to lie if you really unleashed your power.”

“That’s only on a one-to-one basis, though,” Felix protested. “She doesn’t have the time or the energy necessary to interrogate the whole pack.”

“Could that power be amplified somehow?” Calista wondered. “If the whole pack was gathered, would there be a way to have it affect everyone at once?”

“Like a megaphone, but for Alpha authority,” Felix agreed enthusiastically. “That would be awesome.”

“But does something like that exist?” I asked. I’d certainly never heard of it.

“Not that I know of,” Calista admitted. “But we can do some research and get back to you.”

Their willingness to help was appreciated, but it didn’t move me any closer to solving the problem, and we hadn’t even touched on the bigger issue yet. “What about the silver bullet? How could we get it out of Troy before it kills him?”

The silence on the other end of the line almost deafened me.

No one seemed to have any ideas until, after several long, quiet beats, a new voice spoke up.

“Maybe I could help? I don’t really know what a bullet is, but if it’s made of silver, that’s a metal, right?”

“Of course!” Felix’s exclamation was followed by a loud bang, as if he’d pounded his fist on the table to emphasize his point.

“Amanda, Evalina has the ability to manipulate metal. She can open any lock, and she made me the most incredible piece of jewellery. She’s still learning the limits of her power, but there’s a good chance she could remove the bullet without the need to cut your soldier open at all. ”

That sounded positive, but I needed more than a ‘good chance’ at this point. “How can we know for sure?”

“We’ll have to do a test run,” Felix said as if it were obvious. “Vaughan, shoot me in the foot with a silver bullet.”

“Goddess help me,” Vaughan muttered. “I am not shooting you.”

“I’ll do it,” Calista offered. “I know how to cause a minimal amount of harm.”

“Perfect,” Felix replied. “He keeps a gun in the top left drawer of his desk.”

Vaughan’s growl filled the air. “You are both insane. No one is shooting anyone!”

Their conversation descended into argument, everyone talking over each other so much that I couldn’t make out any of the individual sentences. Furniture rustled in the background, as if it were being pushed around, or perhaps someone was being pushed into it.

Finally, a bang rang out, much louder than the earlier one, and conversation ceased entirely.

“What the hell just happened?” I breathed.

“Calista shot him.” Vaughan’s voice was thick with disbelief. “I’m officially running an insane asylum here.”

“Calm down and let her work,” Felix said, his voice tight with pain but still strong. “Go ahead, Evalina.”

Silence swallowed even the breaths on the other end of the call, and I held mine too, hoping for a miracle.

Ten seconds passed. Twenty. With each tick, I imagined the bullet poisoning Troy’s heart, his life draining from him. How long could he survive once it lodged itself back in place?

I clutched the phone so tightly my fingers ached. Then came a sharp intake of breath and a muffled sound; Felix’s voice, perhaps, but strained.

My heart stuttered. Did it work? Or was the silver wreaking havoc on him too?

The joyous sound of laughter ringing down the line answered my questions.

“Just like that,” Felix exclaimed proudly. “It’s out, Amanda, and she didn’t even have to touch me. The wound’s already healing.”

Hope immediately leapt back to life inside me. “Really?”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Vaughan admitted grudgingly. “Looks like we might have solved one of your problems, at least.”

Even if that was the only thing I got out of the call, it had been more than worth it. “Evalina, can you be here when the wish is undone?”

“I’ll bring her up myself,” Felix promised. “We’ll leave in the morning, once my foot is fully healed.”

“Unbelievable,” Vaughan muttered, but he didn’t contradict his Beta. In fact, he went even further. “I’ll send another fifty men along with them, and in the meantime, Calista and I will look into a way to test your pack’s loyalty.”

My chest tightened with a gratitude so profound, I struggled to put it into words. “Thank you. This is above and beyond the requirements of our alliance, and I truly appreciate it.”

“We’re not just allies,” Vaughan said, his voice turning gruff again. “With Sav as your Beta, we’re family.”

“And family looks after each other,” Evalina added in her soft, lyrical tone.

Family. Not in the way Vaughan and I might have been, in another timeline, but the circle of people I could depend on was rapidly expanding.

More than that, I might have just found a way to save my mate’s life.

Things were definitely looking up. All we needed now was for nothing else to go wrong in the meantime.