Chapter Eighty-Eight

***Scorpius***

It takes closer to an hour for everyone to take quick showers and get dressed before meeting in Hadrian’s office. When I arrive, Hadrian is sitting there with an alpha I don’t recognize, and that immediately puts me on edge. He looks nervous, shifting around in the chair before Hadrian’s desk. Kautious comes sauntering in and notices the alpha. He smiles and walks up to him, pulling him into a tight hug. I have to stop a growl from leaving my throat once I see Hadrian is calm about the whole situation. Kautious pulls away from the hug and speaks softly, “Thank you for defending me. Carl would have been a rough opponent to take on, considering I know he was rigorously trained by my father, but you still put yourself in harm’s way to make sure I was safe, and for that, I am grateful.” The male blushes, and before he can say anything, Hadrian speaks up, “I would like to thank you as well, Jack. I might not have been fast enough to stop him had you not put yourself between them. So thank you for keeping our mate safe.” The male, who I now know as Jack, blushes even more, twiddling his thumbs in his lap.

I feel Faye walk up beside me and grab my hand before she clears her throat, “What’s going on here? Who’s the guy?” They look up at us, and Kautious smiles at us, gesturing to the male in the chair, “This is Jack. He’s an alpha from my old pack. He’s one of the better ones, one of the ones I want to get out. When we attacked the camp we found, an alpha had me cornered as I tried to get Imani and Jack out. When he threw me to the ground, Jack stood over me to get in between us so he wouldn’t have a chance to harm me.” I feel the tension leave my body as Faye makes her way over to him, bringing him into a hug and thanking him. I make my way to Hadrian’s desk, sitting on the corner, watching the three chit-chat in front of me. I feel Hadrian tap my thigh, and when I look down at him, he smiles up at me and speaks softly, “He can help us learn their weaknesses. 2 of the alphas I was trying to kill got away because I got distracted by Kautious being throw, so we can be attacked literally any day now. We need all the help we can get.”

I nod and bite the inside of my cheek in thought, “So that means we need to prepare the warriors for anything. We need to start lining up defenses in the direction we think they may be coming in because we don’t want anyone making it to the center of the pack grounds.” Hadrian nods before a timid voice speaks up. I turn to look at Jack as he starts speaking, “Sorry to eavesdrop, but they are going to try to make it to the center to destroy everything, even if that means sending a specific group to go around and out of the way. They will cause a distraction to get your attention on one area while they attack with the stronger forces from the other.” I nod at this, “Yes, that would be the smartest way to do it if they wanted to make sure they got to the core and took us down. Do you have any suggestions for handling this situation? Is there a certain weak point we need to exploit, or is there a certain strategy to use?” He looks thoughtful for a second, sparing a quick glance at Kautious before looking at us again, “Honestly, sending a stealth team to the pack would be a good strategy. For the amount of shit they talk about being strong and being one of the best packs, the alpha and Luna NEVER go to any battles unless it’s important to them. I don’t see this one as any different if I’m honest. Have a stealth team go to the pack to kill them because they will be unguarded, letting all the alphas go to the battle assuming they’ll win. And have some of the strongest on the front lines incase they do insist on going.”

While I am taking in this information and processing it, Kautious speaks up, “The alpha might not come, but the luna may. If she was stupid enough to sneak onto pack land to poison Brad, then she’s stupid enough to come to war thinking she’ll be able to kill me off once and for all.” Hadrian lets out a huff, “Yeah, that won’t be happening. I will have my warriors split into 2 large groups. One from the direction they are most likely to come in, the other to stay around the main pack lands. We can also split off a stealth group and a few other smaller groups to patrol the borders incase they do try to sneak around. Does that sound like it would work?” Jack and Kautious both nod at the plan. Faye clears her throat and speaks up, “I know I have to stay here, but who is staying with me? I really don’t want to feel like a burden. I can handle myself if I need to be alone.” I scoff and roll my eyes playfully before pulling her into a hug, “You are not a burden and never will be. Hadrian can stay with you this time because I’d like to go with Kautious to be on the front lines in case his mother is there. I know he’s stubborn and won’t sit this one out, so I want to be there for him if that’s okay with both of you.” I look back at Hadrian as I finish speaking to see him smiling at me, “That’s fine love. I will be here to protect Faye and the rest of the pack that is staying here if it comes to it.”

I can’t help but smile. Kautious comes and sits beside me on the desk, patting my thigh gently, “It’ll be okay! Let’s start getting things together so that we can take them down, and this will all be over with. Then, we can focus on Faye’s pregnancy and enjoying life for a bit. Everything will turn out okay.” I nod, “I know it’ll be okay. That doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about it. I don’t want any of you hurt, ever.” Hadrian rubs my back, “We will all be okay. We are in this together, and nothing will tear us apart.” I smile at him, but I can’t help but feel a knot in my stomach at the unknown events to come.