After a bountiful and delicious lunch, the alpha held a meeting in his office. Andrew sat behind his desk, Lily and Doctor Thompson sat in the two chairs in front of him while Tony and James stood each on opposite sides of the desk. "So James I heard you were investigating the scent of the imposter," he asked once the meeting had started. James nodded and explained what he had found. The alpha seemed surprised and the doctor cursed.
"This is intolerable, Andrew. An extremely dangerous rogue was able to trample all over the forest and get so close to your home and that of your daughter! What exactly are the enforcers doing because they obviously weren't doing their job?" The doctor snapped with irritation and the alpha held his hand up for Doctor Thompson to calm down.
"It was a full moon, they can't be expected to uphold to the best of their abilities, Xavier. However with that being said, it doesn't mean that this isn't a cause for concern. Lily has already informed me that these criminals have planned to make her like James," he replied. James took a sharp intake of breath in surprise. Why in the hell would that lunatic want to do something like that?
"That's not going to happen," Tony snapped and the doctor nodded.
"I agree Tony, already this "maker" has caused two mutations, no offense James, and we can't allow more, it's... unnatural," the doctor agreed.
"I don't see how you are going to stop him," Lily suddenly spoke and everyone looked at her with surprise. "He has been a step ahead of us all the time; no matter what we have done he has been more than prepared to counter it. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses, yet we know nothing about him. We haven't a single shred of evidence that could even allow us to guess who he is," she explained looking at them very seriously.
An uncomfortable silence fell in the room as everyone seemed to suddenly get lost in thought. James hated to admit it but she was right and he didn't like that at all. "Then we do something he doesn't expect," Doctor Thompson spoke suddenly breaking the silence. "This man seems to think of himself as a grand man and we are all inferior idiots. Hopefully to the point we could use it to our advantage."
"What do you have in mind?" the alpha asked, leaning forward and resting his arms on the desk in front of him.
"We may not know who they are or why they are doing this, but we do know what they want. They want Lily and I suggest we play on that. He already thinks we are idiots, so he wouldn't be surprised if Lily slipped off into the woods alone to explore the new facets of her being. She'd be ripe for the taking being a new wolf and all but we would be waiting for him," Xavier explained.
"Are you crazy, use Lily as bait? No way, it's too dangerous and anything could go wrong," Tony exclaimed, shaking his head and James nodded with his jaw clenched tightly. He didn't like the sound of this plan at all.
"Yeah it's dangerous but I think it's a great idea count me in," she told the doctor.
"No, you can't do this! You said it yourself that he has always been one step ahead and that caused Greg to go missing. If you do this you'll be handing yourself to him on a platter and I'm not going to let that happen," James demanded, surprised by the force of determination behind his words. Why did he seem to suddenly care so much? It bothered him more than he was willing to admit, even to himself.
Lily narrowed her eyes at him; if looks could kill she would've had him dead on the floor within a second. "You aren't going to let that happen?" Lily repeated, her voice laced with venom. "Who exactly are you, James Lacrosse, to let me do anything?" She asked, pronouncing his name as if it were a nasty insult. Once more he was curious as to why she seemed to dislike him so much. He didn't do anything to her!
James shifted his weight uncomfortably as he was unsure what to say. He wasn't sure why he felt like he had a say in what she did or not, but the feeling was there. She looked away from him and gave her scathing look to the others, much to his relief. "This is the best plan of action I've heard yet but if any of you have a better plan I'd love to hear it," she demanded.
"Just because we have a fool's plan doesn't mean we should follow it just because it's the only one we have," Tony shot heatedly.
"Use your head for once Tony, don't you see a fool's plan is the only plan that will work. We have to use what we know against him, and the only thing we know about him is how stupid he thinks we are. So we should appear to make a stupid mistake, he will never suspect a thing and with all of us there, we will be able to overpower him!" Doctor Thompson shot back at Tony.
All of the sudden Tony, Doctor Thompson, and Lily all began to shout at each other at once. James kept silent instead focusing on controlling his anger which was close to raging out of control. The beast raged inside him demanding to be set free. James didn't understand the way his beast was acting today. "Enough! Bickering and shouting at each other will not solve anything!" Andrew told them all sternly.
"I do not like the idea of putting Lily in harm's way, I really don't," he continued and Tony gave the doctor a smug smirk. "But Xavier is right, a teen was nearly kidnapped, two others are dead, Greg has gone missing, and Lily has been drugged into becoming one of us. This mad man is beating us at every turn and we have to act now before it gets any worse!"
"Alpha I agree with you on that point, but I also agree with Tony. I don't think we should use Lily like this. This is a bad idea," James told him. Lily shot him a nasty look and Andrew shook his head.
"I am sorry James but she is the only advantage we have over him, and I agree with Xavier that we must use it if Lily is willing to play the part," the alpha told him. James frowned but kept silent.
"I'm willing," she started then looked to Tony with a serious, but pleading look on her face. "He's proved that he can get to me when he wants. He'll get me, but we don't know when. Our best shot is forcing the when," she explained. The Alpha and Xavier Thompson nodded in agreement. James just shook his head silently. She made all the sense in the world, but it just seemed too easy. This "maker" would see through it and James knew he would have the perfect counter for it.
"This won't work and you'll end up being his plaything for his insane experiments. But obviously no one is going to listen to reason so I will do my part," Tony stated.
"We'll proceed and the sooner the better. I suggest tomorrow you host a pack meeting in an announcement that Lily has joined our pack and she is one of us now. During which Lily at some point will make a scene, something that gets the pack's attention so they see her go alone into the woods. This will cause our traitor to alert this "maker" and he won't be able to pass up the opportunity. What he won't know is James, myself, and the wolves of your choosing Alpha, will be waiting for him. James can take the other imposter and the rest of us will take the maker," the doctor explained and everyone even Tony seemed to agree.
James, however, did not because it seemed too easy and the feeling in his gut didn't go away. "I believe this will work," Andrew announced and they began to plan out the fine details of the plan. James kept silent and only half listened, but most of his attention was on the beast. He could feel the beast's anger and outrage, which wasn't something that happened often. What was up with him, James wondered.
The next afternoon everything was set up. Doctor Thompson, Chris, and two wolves were already waiting in their designated positions. James waited at the tree line hidden in shadows, along with Tony to follow Lily as she made her way towards the spot where she was to await the "maker". Andrew had organized a large picnic in his backyard.
Nearly an hour into the event James heard the Alpha call Lily up to the porch. Once she stood next to him he announced that she was now a werewolf and she would be joining the pack. He was surprised when almost everyone began shouting insults at her or demanding to know how she had become a werewolf. Biting a human was cause for severe punishment with the only exception being human mates.
Andrew held up his hands to reply, but Lily taking it as a perfect cue to make her exit, ran off the porch and into the wood near where James was waiting. She slowed to an easy walk as soon as she was out of seeing distance and kept her face in a sadly distressed expression. James wondered if that was all part of the act or that the reaction of the pack had really gotten to her.