Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)(38)

Sawyer spun, taking my face into his big hands, and nodded. “That sounds nice.”
I released a huge sigh, the weight of the task ahead stacking on my back like bricks. “But first we need a really good plan.”
“Let’s get everyone together and figure this out,” Sawyer agreed.

 
Star, Raven, Eugene, Rab, Arrow, Sage, Sawyer, Walsh, Marmal, and I, all stood inside of Astra’s church. I’d gone to check on Astra before coming to the meeting and was beyond relieved to find she was healing well from her wounds—my wounds, really. The doctor said it would take a few weeks, but she’d make a full recovery.
Now it was time to take the queen down, before she could harvest my wolf’s essence or something crazy. I had tried to see things from my wolf’s point of view, but we were cut off. They’d done some magic to keep her mind closed to me, which was bullshit considering she was me! It had to be the cuffs; they locked down our bond like I’d been locked down from communicating with Sawyer. I sensed her fear, but that was all I could get. I just hoped they weren’t draining her blood or torturing her or anything crazy.
‘I’m going to get you out,’ I sent to her, unsure if she could receive it. I had a vague sense of her location, like you would sense where you were upon waking up from sleep, but then it faded like a dream. She was still in Light Fey Territory and I was taking that as a good sign. If the fey allowed the queen to take her to Vampire City, then we would have problems.
“Okay, you all know what we are up against and what needs to happen. The vampires need to be evicted from Wolf City so, who wants to start? We welcome all ideas.” Sawyer opened his hands in a gesture of welcome.
Marmal cleared her throat. “I could get at least a hundred trolls to help. We can…” Her cheeks flushed red. “I’m forbidden from speaking of our magic, but we can be of a big help where metal is involved.”
Sawyer nodded, and then raised one eyebrow. “Metal like swords and guns? Could you render them obsolete?”
Marmal looked physically uncomfortable and I wondered if she actually couldn’t talk about her troll magic, like she was spelled not to.
“She can,” I stated, remembering how she’d burst all of the locks from the cages to free Trip’s captured animals.
Marmal looked relieved that I had been the one to answer.
“That would be amazing. Yes!” Sawyer said, scribbling something on a piece of paper.
Star raised her hand. “We can protect the trolls while they disarm the vampires of any metal weapons. Create a shield around them.”
Sawyer grinned, and I felt his happiness bubble over into me. “Perfect.” He wrote it down.
Rab tapped the table. “The queen won’t fall for that trap. The second she sees us fighting back collectively, she’ll run or hurt Demi’s wolf to draw her out.”
Silence descended over the table.
He was right. I’d told him just before the meeting that we’d had to leave my wolf behind, and the heartbreaking look he’d given me had almost made me burst into tears.
I nodded. “I have a plan for that.”
A crazy fucking plan that every single person at this table was going to say no to.
Sawyer must have sensed it was a wild idea, because he turned to me, one eyebrow raised. “Well?” His body was tense, like he was preparing for a fight. The only person who I could make eye contact with while I verbalized this insanity was Sage. She was the only one who would get it.
“I want to use myself as bait to draw the queen into the Dark Woods where I’ll have the upper hand and I can kill her.” I said it in one big rush and then braced myself for the barrage of comments.
I was not disappointed.
“The place you got lost for A YEAR!” Sawyer yelled.
“Are you crazy?” Raven shot.
“Alpha, no,” Rab added.
“You have a son to think about,” Eugene reminded me. “What if you get lost for another year?”
“Or the queen kills you out there?” Sawyer said, and chills rushed up my arms. “And we can’t get to you, so we never know. I’m not okay with that. No way in hell.”
Sage hadn’t said anything. She just looked at me with compassion, but now held up her hand, cutting Sawyer off when he was about to speak again. “Do you trust that the woods won’t deceive you this time?” she asked me.
I nodded. “You saw how they opened and we made it home. They trust me.”
Sage smiled. “They’ll help you kill her.”
I grinned, mirroring her smile and imagining a giant fucking tree landing on the queen’s face. “Exactly.”
Sawyer frowned. “What are you guys talking about?”
Sage stood, pulling up her shirt to show a network of scars that ran along her abdomen. Everyone at the table gasped and Walsh let loose a pained whimper.
I’d done my best to protect her during our time there, but most of the wounds Sage had sustained before I found her were permanent, even with werewolf healing.
“I went after Demi, ignoring the advice of the others, and the woods tried to kill me.” She pulled her shirt down and placed both palms on the table, leaning toward Sawyer for effect. “They’re alive. The trees move, the animals don’t think for themselves. Everything in that place serves her.” She pointed to me. “And attacks everyone else.”
Sawyer leaned back in his chair. “Holy shit,” he breathed.
Walsh was watching Sage with glowing yellow eyes. I knew they had a lot of unsaid shit between them and I could see his adoration for her all over his face. But Sage had changed, she wasn’t the type to wait around for a guy to man up and declare his feelings for her anymore. Walsh’s chance might already be lost, and that made me sad because I knew he loved her and that she loved him back.