Vali
“Look, when I say that this is a horrible idea, I really fucking mean it,” Marcy said. Her forest green eyes locked on mine. All I could do was watch as Jackson decided now was the best time to actually weigh in on the conversation, which was slightly annoying considering this horrible idea was actually his and not mine like he had made everyone believe.
“We’re running out of options,” he said. It forced Marcy to look away from me and to my third. To say I was glad her eyes were no longer on me would be a gross understatement.
“Then we make new ones.” I kept my arms crossed as she spoke, studying the smallest changes in her body language. Although she was hoping that we would be able to come up with new ways to potentially solve our issue, the three of us knew this was the best we had. The way her arms were crossed over her chest, her fingers digging into her own skin showed she knew there weren’t other options. And that she was stressed about this one.
“We can try to come up with new ideas…” I said, unfolding my arms to let my hands sit on the table that I was sitting atop of, a palm on each side of me as I leaned back slightly. “However, we’re not just running out of options; we’re running out of time. The blue moon is a couple of months away, and so far this is the best option we have.”
“I would rather us go through another Hunt than send you into a room filled with people we don’t know and can’t trust,” Marcy said. Her green eyes flashed with a predatory glow as she spoke. There was a reason I had made her my second, and that was because she thought about my safety aggressively which I didn’t do at all.
“I’m not sacrificing more of our people and not doing anything about it. I need to end this now. I can’t have my people think I’m not doing everything I can to protect them,” I said. She shook her head, too exhausted from dealing with me to bother trying to speak again. I tended to have that effect on people. Being both stubborn and headstrong kind of led to that.
“You’ve been the White Wolf for six years, Vali. The Hunt has been happening for millennia. No one expects you to have this solved, no one expects you to even try and solve it. It’s bigger than you,” Jackson said. I shook my head.
“This was your idea, Jackson. Are you telling me you don’t think it’ll work?” I asked, he tilted his head to the side.
“I never said that.” He said, his brown eyes flicking towards the door before they flicked back to me. I could hear what he heard, our other pack members walking past the door, stopping for just a split second too long each time as they tried to hear more of our conversation.
“What are you saying, then?” I asked, he took a slow, deep breath as another wolf walked past the closed door.
“What I’m saying is that no one thinks you aren’t doing anything about this, and that if you don’t go through with this plan that no one is going to think it then, either. You’ve already done so much in your few years, more than any previous White Wolf has ever bothered to do. Your safety is paramount because we know you’re actually trying to change things. To continue the change we need you, because there’s no guarantee that whoever follows you will have the same drive,” he said. For once I kept my mouth shut to actually process what had been said instead of immediately arguing. He was right, but I was still stubborn.
“I can’t sit here and do nothing, not when I know what’s going to happen if I do,” I said, and the tone in my voice made the decision final. They both knew there would be no arguing the point anymore. “I know you both care about my safety, so you’re going to have to help me figure out how to do this and get out of it alive.”
“You can’t go alone,” Marcy said, looking at me through the corner of her eye.
“I didn’t plan on going alone,” I said. She nodded but hearing her heart racing meant she didn’t believe me. Which would be fair, because it was a lie. I hadn’t wanted to put anyone else in danger, and walking into the Summit, surrounded by the leaders of the other races, would definitely be a dangerous situation.
“You’ll need a small unit of wolves with you, if for nothing else than to protect you from the vampires,” Jackson said.
“I’ll lead them,” Marcy said, finally turning to face me properly again.
“I expected nothing less,” I said.
“That’s not going to be the hardest part,” Jackson pointed out. I turned my head towards him and waited for him to continue. “Protecting you is easy, especially since the summit is during a new moon. The vampires won’t have any power. The hard part is going to be getting them to take you seriously.”
“Ah, that old chestnut.” I whispered, lacing my fingers together on my lap.
“Yes. The White Wolf hasn’t been to a Summit in nearly two thousand years, there hasn’t been any point since they don’t care about us. If you are going to go, we need them to actually listen to you.” He said, I rolled my neck to try and relieve some tension. Especially since I knew where he was about to take the conversation.
“How do you propose we do that?” Marcy asked the question that I probably should have voiced, but I already knew the answer and simply didn’t want to hear it.
“What do the vampires, faeries, even the demons, idolise more than anything else?” He asked.
“Power.” I answered, even though I knew it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. His sigh was all the response that I needed, but I got a verbal one anyway.
“Fine, what are the two things that they idolise more than anything else?” He rephrased his question to prevent me from answering incorrectly again.
“Power and beauty,” Marcy answered. Jackson nodded.
“So, what’s your plan then? Disguise me in a cute dress?”
“No disguises. They idolise the combination of power and beauty because it’s equal to seduction and manipulation. Holding both power and beauty makes it easy for people to listen to you, and if they don’t then you still have the avenue of forcing them to do your bidding.” He explained. “We don’t need to disguise you, because you have both factors.”
“Are you calling me pretty, Jackson?” I asked, hoping to throw him off the entirety of this plan.
“Look, to me you’re not attractive but that’s just because you’er not a man. I can however tell that you are pretty, and that if we use that and amplify it we could get them to listen to you without you forcing them to. If we can avoid using your extra powers to manipulate them, it will give us the added bonus of trust. We desperately need that,” he said. Damn it. My plan failed.
“You have an outfit picked out for me, don’t you?” I asked, because that was surely the only reason he was pushing this aspect of the plan so hard.
“Obviously,” he responded. While Marcy helped command the logistics of battle, fighting and the physical part of war, Jackson was well-versed in politics and psychology. Marcy had been born a werewolf and grew into an alpha before folding her power and pack to me to become my second and give me a security detail. Jackson had grown up in a political family, and when he was bitten decided to use his knowledge to help his alpha rise to power before thinking his skills would be of better use to the White Wolf. So far he had been invaluable.
“I’ll think about it.” I said, he nodded. “We’ll meet again tomorrow, see if anyone comes up with any new ideas.”
“Do we ask the others?” Marcy asked, I shook my head.
“I’m sure that between them all sneaking past the door that they heard most of the conversation already. If they have any questions they will no doubt come and ask them.” I said, she nodded.
“How do we prevent anymore wolves being taken in the mean time?” She asked next, I shook my head before dropping my face into my palms. How was I going to keep them all alive through this next Hunt?
“Keep going with the curfew, and travelling in minimum groups of three. Make sure that everyone knows they can come to me with new ideas. But I don’t want to wage a war if I don’t have to, so tell them that if anyone gives me that as their ‘new idea’ I will not hesitate to throw them out to fend for themselves.”
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