Chapter 216 We go now
Chapter 116: we go now
Damon pov
For a moment, I thought Selene might challenge her. The air between them crackled between the two Alpha females, with unspoken threat.
Then Selene smiled.. a real smile, not the cold mask she had worn during battle. "Good. We need people with spines. Sit down."
Rosalie grumbled, before seating.
"Now that we are all here," Selene continued, her fingers tracing the map, "Let me be clear about our situation. The Queen's army will arrive in approximately 15 hours, at most a day. They outnumber us four to one. They have superior weapons, enhanced warriors, and tactical support we cannot match in open combat." She paused, letting that sink in. "A direct confrontation would be suicide."
"So what do you propose?" Chen asked nervously. "Surrender?"
"Surrender?" Selene's laugh was sharp. "No. I propose we hit them where they are not expecting it… from the inside."
She tapped the fortress on the map. "While the Queen's forces are busy attacking this position, a small team infiltrates her fortress through a maintenance tunnel on the western perimeter. We rescue Milo, gather intelligence on her operations, and if we are very lucky, plant explosives that will cripple her command center."
"A small team," I repeated. "How small?"
"Five people. Myself to navigate. You because you will not stay behind regardless of what I say." Her eyes swept across the room. "Daphne for medical support… we will need a healer if things go wrong. And two Silent Dancers for combat support."
"That leaves the rest of us to face the Queen's army alone," James said flatly.
"Yes. You will hold the line while we complete the mission." Selene's expression was grim. "I will not lie to you, James. It will be brutal. You may not survive. But if we succeed, we cut off the head of the snake. The Queen's forces will fracture without leadership."
"And if you fail?"
"Then we all die." Selene's voice was matter-of-fact. "But at least we will die fighting instead of running."
James stood slowly. The movement was deliberate, controlled, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously quiet.
"Tell me something, Selene. Tell me why we should trust you."
The room went deathly silent. But I could see the relief in the other's eyes. James was speaking their mind also.
Selene met James's eyes without flinching. "You should not."
"Helpful." James's hands clenched into fists. "You betrayed this pack. Then run off to serve the Queen. You killed for her, destroyed packs for her, did gods know what else in her name. And now you expect us to believe you have suddenly grown a conscience?"
"I do not expect you to believe anything." Selene's voice remained level, but I caught a flash of something in her eyes. Pain? Regret? "I expect you to be pragmatic. You need someone who knows the fortress. You need someone who can get past the Queen's defenses. You need me, regardless of whether you trust me."
"Pragmatic." James took a step forward. The Silent Dancers along the wall tensed, but Selene waved them off. "You want to talk about pragmatism? Let me tell you what is pragmatic, Commander. Pragmatic is assuming that five years of loyalty do not disappear overnight. Pragmatic is wondering if this entire betrayal is just another one of the Queen's games. Pragmatic is asking why your first instinct was to kill Kael instead of taking him prisoner for interrogation."
"James." My voice cut through the tension. "Enough."
"No." James did not take his eyes off Selene. "She needs to answer the question. Why should we trust you?"
Selene was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was different… softer, more human than the mask she usually wore.
"You should not trust me," she repeated. "But you should trust that I want the Queen dead more than I want anything else in this world. You should trust that I spent three years burying the bodies of children she experimented on. You should trust that I have seen what she does to omegas, to pregnant wolves, to anyone she deems useful for her grand vision." Her eyes found mine. "And you should trust that if we do not move now, Milo and that baby will become her next experiments."
The silence that followed was absolute.
I thought about Milo, alone in that fortress. Pregnant. Terrified. At the mercy of a woman who saw wolves as raw materials for her twisted vision of perfection.
"We move tonight," I said.
"Damon…" James started.
"We move tonight," I repeated, avoiding looking at Selene's smiling face. "Selene is right. Every hour we wait is another hour Milo is in danger. I will not risk my mate and my child because we are too cautious to act."
James looked like he wanted to argue further. But after a moment, he nodded. "Fine. But I am going on record saying this is a terrible idea."
"Noted." I turned to Selene. "What do we need to prepare?"
Selene rolled up the map, her commander's mask sliding back into place. "Equipment. Intelligence on guard rotations. A distraction large enough to draw most of the Queen's forces away from the fortress." Her smile was cold. "Leave that to me."
As the meeting broke up and people dispersed to prepare, I caught Selene's arm before she could leave the room. "Is he in danger right now? Milo?"
She hesitated. It was just for a moment. But it was enough to answer my questions.
"Yes," she said quietly. "If the Queen realizes I have betrayed her, which she will, she will accelerate her plans. She will use Milo to draw you out, or worse..." She trailed off.
"Worse what?"
Selene's eyes were dark with something that looked like fear. "Worse, she will see him as too valuable to waste. An omega carrying an Alpha's child? That is exactly the kind of subject her experiments require."
My blood ran cold.
"Then we do not wait for tonight," I said. "We leave now."