“He can’t get them over to Lorenzo and Reno’s cabins, and they’re waiting for the owner to come out.” In truth, the owner had supplied each cabin with all the equipment needed to handle the bad weather. “Anything new going on?”
She huffed. “If you keep calling me with a weather report, I’m going to think something’s wrong. There’s nothing exciting to tell. Denver spilled red soda on his pool table, Lynn made a blue flower arrangement for her bedroom, Izzy’s had the hiccups for two hours, and Jericho keeps trying to scare her, only what he’s doing is scaring everyone else with all his dramatic screaming and leaping out of closets.”
“Sounds about right. Gotta go, I hear Austin coming.”
“I certainly hope so.”
I set the phone on the side table. The wood all around me was aglow, dripping with flecks of gold from the lamp beside the bed. The logs on the fire downstairs were popping, and every so often, the wind’s scornful whistle skated across the roof of the cabin.
Earlier, Austin had made cheeseburgers with deep-fried onion rings. Afterward, we made love twice more. Not because I was in heat, but just because.
While dressing up in a bustier was fun, I’d rather swim with sharks than have to wear one of those again. I finally knew what a taquito felt like. After our interlude on the dining table, I had changed into a long vintage T-shirt with quarter-length sleeves.
When he reached the top of the steps with a tray in hand, I didn’t know what looked more scrumptious—him or the snacks. Austin’s black boxer briefs fit him like a second skin. He’d also been taking shaving less seriously, and I had to admit that I liked the sexy casualness of his five-o’clock shadow.
“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I brought it all.”
“I see.”
Austin had filled the tray with cheese cubes, a bag of potato chips, stalks of celery, a can of bean dip, cookies, and trail mix. I’m not sure why I thought he would have arranged them nicely in bowls and on napkins—men foraged, they didn’t arrange.
“You can leave the bean dip over there,” I suggested, pointing at the wastebasket.
He set it on the ledge of the stairs beside his medallion and placed the tray in the middle of the bed. I sat up and opened the package of cookies with my teeth.
“So what’s the plan when we get back home?” I asked.
Austin sat across from me—one leg bent at the knee—and opened the trail mix. “Axel said it’s not his job to call the out-of-state Councils. He’ll get a nasty backlash for favoritism if he just contacts a few, and there’s no way he could know everyone’s number. He’s protecting his own. This isn’t the kind of thing I can tell our Council over the phone,” he said, eating a handful of the mix. “As soon as we get back, I’m calling an emergency meeting with the Council.”
“What if they want you to keep it a secret?”
“Then they can go to hell. Sorry, Lexi, but this isn’t something I’m going to tiptoe around. I can’t put the law over lives, especially when they’re my friends. They can reprimand me if they want, but I doubt it’ll come to that.”
“Should we leave Texas?”
He chewed his mouthful of nuts and then swallowed. “There’s no point. If you’re on the run, you have nothing. We’re safer where we have allies.” Austin pointed his finger. “But I’m going to tell you something right now. If it gets bad and for some reason we’re separated, I want you to come back here.”
“Here?” I exclaimed, tossing my half-eaten cookie on the tray. “Why would I drive all the way back to Colorado?”
“I’m not saying it’ll come to that, but worst-case scenario. You’ll be safer here. There are more Shifters statewide in Colorado, and they’re organized. It’s only a day’s drive. Reno’s my second-in-command, but you’re my partner. I’ll tell him the plan too, but I need you to enforce it. If we’re in over our heads, and you don’t see victory, then you come here. We’re not one of the bigger packs in the territory, and we might be one of the first targeted.”
I leaned forward. “First of all, I’m not leaving your side. Secondly, you need to talk to the Packmasters in our territory. Some of them have a tendency to be shortsighted and not see the bigger picture that if they make a few small sacrifices to help the other packs, then they’ll strengthen alliances and increase our chances of winning a war. If the Northerners pick off the smaller packs, then it just gets easier for them. Especially if some of those Shifters make bargains and wind up becoming spies or siding with them. If larger packs give up at least one man to the midsize packs, then maybe the smaller ones can band together, and we can have a better line of defense.”
Austin poured a handful of mix into his palm. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I think I’m the luckiest bastard that ever lived. That’s what. You have a head for strategy, and I’ll present the idea to the Council. There’s no guarantee—it’s all contingent on how immediate the threat is. I don’t know about the last suggestion; two packs living in the same house with two alphas running the show will never work.”