“What do we do?” I asked.
Axel appeared and wedged himself between Austin and Reno. “Stay a few days longer. Relax, enjoy your vacation, spend some good tourist money in our shops, and know that you couldn’t be in a safer place at the moment.” He patted Austin on the shoulder. “Come with me; we need to talk.”
When they left, I folded my arms, my voice lyrical and full of sarcasm. “Isn’t this charming? I get to spend my romantic getaway in the middle of a pack war.”
“Nothing we can do,” Reno said quietly. “We’re safer in our cabins.” He glanced over his shoulder as people continued vacating the room. “If this is the real deal, then I’m betting the rogues have statistical data for each pack, including their locations. They’re not going to wander around and risk getting caught, and they sure as hell ain’t gonna hike through the woods and bust in the door to one of our puny little tourist cabins.”
“Hey, they’re not puny,” April protested. “I happen to think they’re the perfect size.”
“I’m not buying it,” he grumbled, his voice lowering an octave. “We talked about this.”
“Then timeshare it!”
“I’ll build you a cabin behind the house. How ’bout that?”
She rolled her eyes and headed toward the refreshments with a sassy strut. Reno adored her, and if April wanted that cabin, odds were she was going to get it.
I rocked on my heels, hugging my midsection and chewing on my lip. I’d never been involved in anything like this before, and all I could think about was the safety of my pack.
“You’re in capable hands… I presume,” Lorenzo said. “I plan to make some calls to our local Council and find out if they’ve had any trouble. If it eases your mind, I can lend you four of my men to watch your house until we return.”
Ivy patted his leg with her cane, her voice sincere. “That’s generous of you, Lorenzo.” I saw the love for him shining in her eyes.
“So we’re supposed to drink cocoa and act like nothing out of the ordinary is going on?” I asked in disbelief. “I can’t build a snowman and bake a pie if rogues might be attacking my family!”
Lorenzo tucked his hair behind his ear. “It’s too treacherous to cross the border without knowing if we’ll be walking into a trap. They might be kidnapping Shifters to use as bait. We should gather more information before we put our own lives at risk.”
Reno leaned in. “Are you baking another pie?”
“I’m not baking a pie!”
He cursed under his breath, and that’s when I realized that he and April had done something naughty with that pie. Maybe it was the disappointment on his face, or perhaps it was April spinning around with a mortified expression, holding a glass of punch that slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.
Ivy hurried to her side to help her clean up the mess.
“What happens if they attack our territory? Are we prepared?” My stomach tightened in dread.
Lorenzo pinched his chin, his eyebrows drawing together. “Austin, Texas, is a major city. They’ll have to occupy Dallas and Houston before they infiltrate the mid-cities.”
“But they might just attack them all at once like some kind of coordinated swarm of bees. Look at how organized the packs are here,” I said, waving my arm at the room. “Why the hell are we still living in the Stone Age? Why doesn’t our Council have town hall meetings? Instead, all the Packmasters sit around sucking on each other’s cigars to keep alliances.”
Austin rejoined our huddle. “April, Ivy,” he called out, waving them over.
When they returned, he put his hands in his pockets, keeping his voice low since there were still people in the room. “I don’t want anyone calling home and warning the pack. We play it cool.”
“Why the hell not?” I asked, probably louder than I should have.
“First of all, their Packmaster and second-in-command aren’t there to keep the peace. I trust William, but you know how easily Maddox gets riled up. Secondly, we should respect our Council and deliver the news to them first so they can make an informed decision. Rumors get spread easily, and I’m not about to be the source of those rumors. If you tell Jericho, he’ll mention it to the flakes at the bar, then the story gets twisted around in the retelling, and the next thing you know, paranoia sets in and the packs wind up turning on one another. We’ve already got one or two unstable Packmasters in the territory who would love nothing more than to take out a pack for their land and blame it on Northerners.”