“Do you think Redman could be behind the whole fracture?” I said. “It’s something he’d be capable of doing, from what I’ve heard about him over the years.”
“I can’t rule that out, but the only reason he’s agreed to let me come down is to prove to me he’s not behind any of this,” my father answered. “He knows he has a war on his hands and once we start fighting, the north would wipe them out. His Pack has dwindled to almost nothing. He’s eager to prove he’s not harboring the traitors. But they have to be somewhere, and he has to answer for his missing wolves. The fracture group has to have a home base in the U.S. and it has to be close enough for them to act when they need to.”
“They can’t possibly be stationed in the north,” I said.
“Damn right, they’re not in the north. They wouldn’t dare settle in my territory. If there’s a brain cell between any of them, which is doubtful, they would be in the farthest reaches of the Southern Territories’ borders. My best guess would be somewhere in the swamplands of Florida or the high mountains of Mexico. If they attack, they’ll attack the south first, and try to amass wolves and move forward from there. They will need more than their ragtag group to go up against my wolves and they know it. Redman either sides with us, or he sides with them. He’s selfish to the core, but I’m guessing he will take the easy way out. Fighting me will be a fatal decision on his part.”
“He’s had a taste of power for too long,” I agreed. “He won’t fight you and risk his status and power. If Redman is not responsible for the fracture in the Packs, who is?” I’d been running it over in my mind since I’d left New Orleans and nothing made much sense. “Stuart Lauder acted like he was in charge that night in the clearing, but there was no way he could be behind the entire operation. He couldn’t have amassed such a large following on his own. He wasn’t smart enough.” My irises sparked remembering the fight. “But his father was.” Hank Lauder, one of my biggest opponents growing up, was still at large. I’d killed his only son and he would be after me to exact his retribution; it was just a matter of time.
“I have two of my best trackers on Hank. He’s still somewhere in the Ozarks, likely holed up mourning his loss. They haven’t found him yet, but he will answer for his son’s misdeeds; make no mistake. When they bring him in we will find out everything he knew, but I doubt it was much. Hank was loud and ornery, but he was loyal to this Pack. His biggest mistake was overindulgence. He gave that boy everything he ever asked for.” And it had made him nasty as hell. “Wolves get restless, which I understand,” my father continued, shaking his head, “but the fracture feels too organized. My guess is it’s coming from the outside.”
“Another Sect?”
“Yes.”
I bit my lip. It was highly unusual for any supernatural to pair with another. Each Sect was untrusting of the other, bordering on pathological mistrust. “From what the Vamp Queen indicated, the fracture wolves had already struck a deal with the vampires.” There was no way to know how binding it had been. Eudoxia, the powerful Vampire Queen—and current bane of my existence—certainly had something up her sleeve. Had she been orchestrating some kind of coup since my birth? It was a possibility. “If Eudoxia had prior knowledge of the Prophecy, she could’ve sown doubt over time, made the younger wolves wary with a few carefully placed spies. She said the wolves were willing and eager to swear fealty to her.”
“Wolves don’t swear oaths to vamps,” my father growled as he arched his eyebrow at me to punctuate the statement. “Before you, it’s never been done.”
I had indeed broken the golden rule about swearing oaths to vampires, but I’d done it to save my mate. And I’d do it again. But that little tidbit didn’t need to be announced out loud. “So where does all of this leave us?”
My father leaned forward. “I really don’t know, Jessica. I’m not going to pretend to know.”
Thinking about all the various implications of the Prophecy made my head spin. “I don’t feel Alpha inclined,” I said honestly. “I realize I’m strong, but my wolf has made it clear it’s not our job to run Pack. I have to believe that won’t change.”
“I don’t feel a threat from you. If anything, it’s the opposite, which is a blessed relief.”
My wolf yipped at me. We needed to get moving. I slid my chair back to stand. “Are you heading south now?”
“Yes, I’m leaving shortly and I’m taking a dozen wolves with me. We’ll be gone as long as it takes.” He placed both hands on the table in front of him. “Jessica, I want you to know if you encounter a severe emergency while you’re gone, I will find you.” I had no doubt he would. “I will also be in touch with you as often as I can.”
There was one more loose end I had to deal with before I left town.