Page 100 of Fated to the Rogue

“I’ll help you,” Nisha volunteered. “I can get my brother’s men, while you get Alpha Ruben’s.” Amaya nodded at her in silent appreciation.

The next second, I heard Valentina whisper close to my ear, “Would you like me to accompany you during the meeting?”

“Of course, my sunrise.” I dropped my fork to squeeze her hand under the table, looking into her eyes. “You’re welcome to join us, as long as you wanna be there. I always love having your insights.” The corner of her lips turned up in response.

By the time we left the cafeteria, my Delta informed me that our guests had just crossed the borders. Amaya and Nisha were ready to go fetch the warriors, but knowing how excited they were to be reunited with their former Alphas, I told them to come with us. They could take care of their duties afterwards.

A few minutes after the Betas, Gammas, my Luna, and I made it to the front of the pack house, we watched the limousine drive up to the town square. As soon as the car came to a stop, our driver hopped out to open the door for our guests, politely welcoming them to our pack. I took a step forward to greet them first.

“Thank you for coming, Alpha Ruben. Alpha Sanders.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Alpha Zephyr…” Ruben shook my hand before turning to my Luna. “And it’s an honor to finally meet you, Luna Valentina.”

“Likewise, Alpha Ruben.” My mate nodded at him, a warm smile on her face.

Soon enough, Ruben’s eyes landed on Amaya. “Now, how’s my favorite girl been?”

Malin exchanged encouraging glances with his Beta Female, letting go of her hand to allow her to greet her former leader and old friend. Meanwhile, Alpha Sanders approached us before walking up to his little sister and her mate.

“Hasrunner boybeen treating you well, sis?” I had to contain my laughter as I heard him ask. A teasing grin played on the man’s lips. Judging by my Gamma’s frown, he wasn’t as amused.

My Beta had told me the full story about Zach’s reaction upon meeting his mate. Hearing it was funny enough, but damn, I wish I could have been there to witness the scene myself.

“Why do I have a feeling none of you will ever let me live this down?” Zach muttered, a little more annoyed than usual.

“He’s been wonderful, bro. Leave him be.” Nisha stepped in front of her mate to defend him. Once she touched his hand, he became peaceful as a dove. Sanders raised his hands in defeat, but even after getting scolded, he didn’t hesitate to give his sister a hug.

“Shall we head inside?” I suggested once we were done with the formalities. The other two leaders promptly agreed.

While Amaya and Nisha excused themselves to gather the warriors that had been lent to us, I led the visiting leaders all the way up to my office, along with my Luna and my men. Although it was tradition for Alphas to bring their second-in-command along for business trips, Ruben and Sanders had come bythemselves since our meeting wasn’t formal; it would be more like a meeting of the minds - exchanging advice and offering opinions from different perspectives.

Once we made it to the office, I took my place behind the desk, with Tina on my right. My Beta and Gamma got comfortable in their seats on my left, while our guests took the two empty chairs in front of us. I asked Zach to spread the map of our territory over the desk, and Malin took out the training reports to give the Alphas an overview of the strategy we had developed thus far.

With the help of my men, I proceeded to explain the traps that were part of our current defense system and their strategic placement. Then, I briefly mentioned our plan to use Wind Howlers’ signature scent-masking technique to ambush the Fallen once they set off the alarm traps. My Gamma also added that he had heard back from the Elder Council, which was news to me too. They estimated there to be around 250 rogues in the Fallen army after counting the deaths in the most recent attack.

For once, it really looked like we were at an advantage - on paper, at least.

“You have a solid plan; there’s no arguing about that,” Sanders was the first to speak. “But it seems to me that your safety bunkers might be a little underprotected.”

“I agree,” Alpha Ruben joined him, pointing to the main square on the map. “I wouldn’t normally worry about that when confronting another pack, but the Fallen have no morals. They don’t abide by Werewolf Law,” he wisely observed. “If you succeed at ambushing them at the beginning of the attack, their leader might notice that they’re at a disadvantage. And there’s an easy way he could turn the fight to his favor again…”

“By attacking those who can’t fight to destabilize the warriors. Essentially, their mates and children, who would behidden in the safety bunkers,” my Gamma concluded. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“In that case…” I was surprised when my Luna chimed in, leaning over the large piece of paper. “How about we secure the bunkers with magical barriers? Cass should be able to help us with that, right?” While the men pondered about her suggestion, she went on, “Aside from wasting our enemy’s time, that would force them to fight us, all while ensuring the safety of the other pack members.”

“Good idea, Luna Valentina,” Ruben complimented her.

“Indeed, but I doubt Cassiopeia will be strong enough to have the wildfire circles and the barriers around the bunkers active at the same time,” Zach analyzed. “In order to protect the bunkers, we would have to give up on securing the main entrances.”

“How about the usual trapping pits?” Sanders proposed. “Since they’re commonly used to protect pack borders, I suspect the Fallen would be careful to avoid them. But they definitely wouldn’t expect them around the bunkers.”

“They’re not too complicated to escape from, but if you cover the bottom with some kind of poisonous substance, it should weaken them enough to prevent them from climbing back up,” Ruben continued. “Fallen aren’t weak to silver, but does wolfsbane still work against them?”

“It does,” I revealed before turning to my Gamma. “Let’s do that.”

“Right away, Alpha.” Zach nodded at me as he started taking notes.

The next half-hour was spent reorganizing our plan and polishing our strategy. When we were done, I was confident that we would be able to defend ourselves perfectly. Now, we’d only have to make sure our warriors were ready for battle; keepingthe extra training sessions for the next couple of weeks should do the trick.

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