Chapter 132 132

Chapter 132 132
Damien's POV

She walked into my office and closed the door behind her and I knew immediately from her face that something had happened.

"What happened to you Amelia? You looked very annoyed."

"Brian cornered me," she said.

I stood up.

"He what—"

"Don't worry about it." She held up a hand. "We have a timeline. Four days. That's when Richard makes him moves even though they might change it because Brian accidentally revealed things to me. Sit down and listen because I need to tell you everything he said and we don't have time for you to be angry about it right now."

I sat down. I was angry. I want to be clear about that. I was absolutely furious that Brian had gotten close enough to her to have that conversation and that it happened while I was in this office reading documents instead of paying attention to where she was. That was my failure and I knew it and I was going to deal with it.

But she was right. Four days was not a lot of time and she had information I needed.

So I sat down and I listened. She told me everything. The offer Brian made, the way she kept her face neutral and asked him questions without him realizing what she was doing, the specific details he gave her about Richard's plan. The secondary incident to pull my warriors in the wrong direction. The window they were planning to exploit. The people already positioned around the pack.

By the time she finished I had a much clearer picture than I'd had an hour ago. But I mean this could either be the truth or a trap set for us. Brian might not be a stupid as we think.

I also loved how she had handled it. Even though I hated that Brian was close to her. I just didn't want to show how my anger before she thinks I'm being unreasonable again.

"You should have come to get me," I said.

"I had thirty seconds before he started talking and walking away would have closed the window." She looked at me evenly. "I made the right call. You know I made the right decision listening to what he has to say. Don't tell me you're going to let jealousy ruin everything."

I did know that. I still didn't like it.

I called Lucas to get her father, who argued with the doctor for ten minutes before being allowed to join us at the table with strict instructions not to move around too much. We spread everything out and started working.

The picture that formed over the next two hours was this, Richard's plan was not hard to know. He had clearly been studying my schedule, patterns and he knew how I responded to threats. He was right that I would move toward an attack instinctively.

Which meant the counter had to use that against him.

"We should let him think it's working," Lucas said. "We would respond to the secondary incident exactly the way he expects. Pull warriors out visibly. Make the main building look under-protected."

"And when his team moves in, we'll be already waiting for them," Sanders added.

"We need Richard himself to come in," I said. "Not just his people. If he sends a team and stays back we take the team, he would definitely disappear and start over somewhere else. We need him visible and on location."

"He'll only come personally if he believes the prize is actually there," Lucas said.

Everyone looked at the same point in the plan at the same time.

Amelia needed to be visible. She needed to look accessible. She needed to appear like exactly what Richard thought she was... a target that was momentarily unguarded.

She needed to be the bait.

"No," I said.

Amelia looked at me. "Damien—"

"No. We find another way."

"There isn't another way that gets him here personally and you know that." She kept her voice level. "Richard is careful. He's been careful for over twelve years. He's not going to walk into our territory unless he believes he has a real shot at getting what he came for. I'm what he came for. So I have to be visible."

"You're pregnant."

"I'm aware."

"You're weeks from your due date."

"Also aware."

"Amelia." I leaned forward. "I'm not using you as bait. That's not something I'm willing to do. We should find another angle. I'm not some kind of coward who can't do things himself and have to sacrifice my loved ones for it. I won't do that kind of thing."

"There is no other angle that works in four days." She leaned forward too. "We don't have time to build a different plan from scratch. This is the plan that works. You know it works. You're refusing it because of me specifically and I need you to separate those two things right now."

"I can't separate those two things."

"You have to."

"I don't." I held her gaze. "You want me to think strategically about putting you directly in Richard's path. I can't do that. That's not stubbornness. That's just what's true. We can just use me instead. I'm a pure blooded lycan too, he won't pass on the opportunity to get me."

She stared at me. I stared back. Lucas made a quiet sound that meant he was deciding this was a good moment to look at something else. Her father had a similar reaction.

The argument went in circles for another ten minutes. I knew she was right about the plan. The plan worked and it worked specifically because of her and I could not make myself say yes to it no matter how clearly I understood the logic.

Eventually Lucas suggested they take a break and come back to it and he and Ronald found reasons to be in other parts of the building. Her father would usually try to break us up from an argument but this time, he wasn't even trying to. He's letting us sort this out on our own.

Amelia and I were alone. She looked at me from across the table. She looked frustrated and she felt like she was right. That was the problem.

"I understand you," I said. "I understand your argument. I just—" I stopped.

"You just what?" she said.

"I can't." I said it plainly. "I look at this plan and all I see is you standing in the open and Richard moving toward you and every single thing that could go wrong with that. I can't look at it any other way. You know no plan is fool proof unless you know where the enemy is which is in our situation, we don't."

She was quiet for a second. Then she got up and walked around the table and stopped in front of me.

"That's not strategy," she said. "That's fear."

"Yes," I said. "It is. Am I even not allowed to feel that when I'm sending my own family into danger? You're all I have left in this world, why would I risk that just to get that bastard? At worst, I would attack Brian's family and they will bring him out."

She looked at me for a long moment. Without thinking, she kissed me. I couldn't resist it either as I kissed her. What was supposed to be an argument turned to a moment of passion between us. I just couldn't have enough of her, I was pounding her slowly, trying to be careful because of the pregnancy.

I felt like I should stop but she wasn't going on me an easy time. She held on to me, our hearts beating against each other. Maybe we're crazy to do this at this moment but who knows when we'll have the chance again.

Afterward she was lying against my chest and I had one hand on her hair and the room was quiet and I was staring at the ceiling thinking about leaving everything behind and taking her far away. Where no one would bother us and we wouldn't have to worry about other people.

I said it quietly. Mostly to myself.

"I can't lose you."

She tilted her head up.

"Say that again," she said.

I looked down at her.

"I can't lose you, Amelia." I said it clearly this time. Directly at her. "That's not just something I'm saying in silence. That's just the truth."

She looked at me for a moment. Then she put her head back down against my chest and she didn't say anything else.

I held her there and I thought about the plan. I couldn't stop thinking about how we had only four days to save everyone from the trouble and I thought about how I was going to find a version of this that didn't require what it required.

I didn't find one. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to find one. It's either me or her.

"Get some sleep," I told her. "We'll finish the plan in the morning."

She nodded against my chest. She's not arguing anymore and knowing the kind of person she is, she's probably planning to do this without telling me. Maybe I should just let her do what she wants and play along, that way she won't put herself in danger. That's the only way I can protect her and our child.