Taming a Wolf

28. The gap

When Seth was just a little boy, his father instilled the importance of peace into him. Even one single life, human or werewolf, would be too precious to lose. In addition to morals, a war between werewolf packs would be a hard thing to hide from humans. Probably impossible in today's world. Seth knew he would never attack - but he would always defend his pack and allies. If Finnigan would attack, Seth would be ruthless. He had not been given the nickname King of the East in vain. His father had left him a strong pack. And Seth himself had made it even stronger. His males were skilled killers, and if it came to it, the females would hold their ground as well. They spent countless hours perfecting their skills, both in human and wolf forms. Seth had never had to use the full force of his pack against anyone before. There had been a few incidents that were dealt with by just a small group of pack members. 

Now the sense of imminent danger made him go through the list of his pack members. He marked the strongest ones by underlining their names. Children's, senior members' and pregnant females' names he crossed out. They would need to be taken to safety if there would be a battle. "When," Seth corrected himself grimly. The more intel they got from the West and Finnigan's correspondence, the more inevitable it was. 

His brother had laid down an old map of pack lands, their father had created decades ago. Seth had updated it over his time as an Alpha. Shawn placed small black stones on places he thought were somehow important to keep in mind. He lifted his head from the map and turned to Seth. 

"There's a gap," he pointed at a small area between Springfield and Decatur in Illinois. Seth followed his finger, as Shawn moved it down all the way to the Kentucky border. "The nearest pack is what... 100 miles away. If I were Finnigan, I would take my fighters to Tennessee using this route."

"To Tennessee? Why?"

"Tennessee is the furthers to east, he'll get before facing our allies. From there he can avoid North Carolina packs by crossing Virginia."

"He'd be crazy to go to Virginia.  I have dozens of packs there who'll support me," Seth frowned. 

"Packs yes, but no tribe will stand behind a Cage."

Shawn was right. His father had never been able to make amends with the Virginian tribes. There had been bad blood for generations all the way to the 18th century when the first alpha of the Cage pack had set foot on the new continent. Wolf tribes were proud of their ancient roots and entitled to their anger towards the packs from the old continent. They had, after all, helped humans in robbing and stealing their lands. 

"The tribes might let them cross their lands. They would be really close then."

Seth eyed the map. 

"There would still be at least 10 packs between them and us. Ten allied packs."

"There would be 4 packs between them and Harriet Trinh. Six between her and us."

Shawn didn't have to explain to him why that was dangerous. If Harriet really was on Finnigan's side, she might be able to kill their wolf-sides. Then there would be no packs between them. Just used-to-be werewolves. 

"We need to do something to that gap. If we get Missouri to stand with us, they won't be able to even enter Illinois. But if Missouri pack decide to stay out of this, we need to make sure our friends in Illinois are not letting anything move through their lands," Seth said already dialing the number of an Alpha, who was a key figure among the Illinois alphas. 

"I'll call the tech guys. Maybe they have something new on Harriet Trinh."

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Elise Cage took out another paper sheet.  She had already written three letters. They were inside envelopes with names written on them. Seth. Serafina. Shawn. 

One more to write. She thought carefully about the words she'd use. They needed to be clear. They needed to explain everything and leave nothing unsaid. She felt the toll of the three earlier letters on her, but there was no time to rest now. She had already waited too long. Elise placed the pen on the paper and let her determination pour down on the paper.

"Dear Fay," she wrote with her impeccable handwriting.