Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

32 - Dead

The front door of the McCall House opened as the pack sauntered out to the front lawn, in mid-goodbyes and plans for what time to arrive the hospital. Stiles stressed the importance of not being seen for the plan to properly work, in case the Benefactor happened to realize something suspicious was occurring under their nose.

My right foot barely crossed through the threshold to follow behind Aiden until a hand latched around my shoulder and spun me around. Scott stood behind me with a weak smile and bobbed his head to the side while his eyes trained on the pack outside. I worriedly followed him to the kitchen, concerned with his odd behavior as he flicked the faucet on. We only turned the faucets on in a conversation when we didn't want other werewolves to overhear our words— like the three werewolves out in the front lawn currently.

The simple action encouraged my heart to race, paranoid he purposely held back information from the rest of the pack in light of the plan. We both knew the only reason I hadn't called off this plan yet was because Kira reassured us that, with her mother's help, Scott would be perfectly fine. If anything proved that there would be a fatal ending for Scott, I'd immediately pull the plug.

"Scott?" I peered up at his taller figure, intrigued to know the reasoning for his current actions, yet plagued with fear he left out some key information of this plan from the pack.

He heaved a sigh. "Sorry," he apologized and released my arm. His warm brown eyes shifted toward the opened door as our friends' voice filled our ears with our advanced hearing. "I just needed to talk to you alone."

My head automatically cocked to the side at his words, confused. "Okay, what's going on?"

Scott moved his gaze away from the door to fully focus on me in front of him. "I need a favor," he breathed. "Alpha to Alpha."

I remained silent.

"I know you think this plan is an awful idea—"

"Because it is," I interrupted, followed by an eye-roll.

"— but I need you to put your true feelings to the side tonight. I need you to act like everything is under control and will be okay," Scott finished, ignoring my comment.

I narrowed my eyes at his face. "Why?"

"The pack is already freaked out, Chloe," he explained with a head nod toward the door. "Liam, Aiden, and Isaac can feel the anxiety from everyone, including you. They look up to you and, while I'm doing my part of the plan, they are going to be relying on you to be levelheaded and give them the confidence they need to go through the plan."

My own eyes shifted to the door with my ears perfectly tuned to the pack whispering about their uncertainty over the plan. They were terrified the plan would fail and how Scott could potentially be killed if we messed up.

"If they know you're uneasy, they're going to feed off of your emotions and..." Scott trailed off.

There was no need for him to finish that sentence. We knew the consequences of what would happen if the plan went wrong.

"They need you to be strong, Chloe," he concluded. "I know we can do this. I just need your help."

Everything he said made sense. The pack would look to me tonight, especially with Scott out of commission. Things fell into my hand. If I had any fear or anxiety held within my body tonight, the werewolves of the pack would sense it, and our worst fear for this plan would come true.

A minute or two passed before I reluctantly locked eyes with Scott, sharply exhaled through my nose. We shared eye contact for a brief seconds before I nodded once in agreement.