Blake’s POV ~

Jolene stayed on my back the entire way to the bivouac camp. She’s light as a feather and hearing her giggle with her piggy back ride calmed a bit of my anger! Not a lot..but enough I wasn’t going to kill Thomas before I got answers!

I yelled “Thomas! You have some answering to do! Get your ass out here!” And, I sent Dalton and Marshal into his cabin..knowing full well he would try to call Jacob! And sure enough.. Dalton snatched his phone!! Then dragged him out front!

As soon as he was in front of me, I punched him in the face “ You told that piece of shit when Matthew’s birthday is! You fucking sent him warriors! You allowed rogues into the restaurant to attack Jolene! You fucking worthless waste of flesh! Start fucking talking!” Thomas stood there..blood dripping from his nose..struggling to look indignant..he scoffed “What if I did!? He’s paid me handsomely for the information I provided! Jolene stole his child! His HEIR! And we are putting things to right! So.. do your worst! Your end is near!”

I laughed! Loud and hard! “I, Alpha Blake Landon of Bear Creek Pack challenge You, Thomas Bronson of Smokey Moon Pack for your title and your pack!” Thomas stood there stunned! Dalton laughed “Oh snap! Dude! He just showed you his worst and you just fucking lost everything! Lucky for us Smokey Moon butts right up against oir borders! Ain’t nothing but a thing to incorporate the entire territory! We just became the largest pack in the east!”

Thomas spits out “Challenge denied!” And Damien laughed “That’s not going to save you! You deny…your pack is automatically forfeited.. your only chance is to accept!” He glares at Damien and snarls “Look at the size of him! He will kill me!” And again Damien laughs “Yeah.. I think that’s the idea! You should have thought about that before you betrayed your strongest ally. That was a really stupid move! Now decide! Forfeit or Fight!”

He agreed to challenge and everyone formed a circle around them. Thomas lunged at me .. he was kicked in the face. He pulled a knife.. glinting silver in the sunlight and rushed me again. I sidestepped… grabbed the wrist that held the knife.. twisting it.. and taking the knife from Thomas.. I sliced his throat! “Coward!” was the last word Thomas ever heard!

I turned to Smokey Moon.. “you will pledge allegiance at Bear Creek pack house in an hour. Or you will be rogue and killed on sight!” We walked back to the pack house. Jolene’s tiny hand in mine, she was nearly skipping. I smile “What’s got you so happy, my love?” She grins “The restaurant is technically in our territory now. And Janie and Mike are part of our pack. And we eliminated one enemy!” Lynette laughs and snarks “And my wards have to encompass an even larger area.. which means twice as many stones.. and you and I are grabbing a wagon so we can head to the river and find enough flat stones I can spell!” And I cracked up! “Good luck with that, baby!” And Damien and I laughed together!

The girls took off to collect rocks and Damien says “ If Lynette hears you call them rocks.. she is liable to turn you into a rock!” And he laughs. What? Wait.. what? “Are you serious?” And he laughed harder! “You dick!”

Tyler comes out and says “Might be fun if we have Ghost start fucking Jacob’s pack house! I know the note in my toilet paper scared the fuck out of me!” Damien and I laughed. “That might be fun! You’re right! I think I might talk to Marshal about that.. not necessarily the pack house.. but I think the territory! Like fucking with border patrol and shit! They already have the sorceress.. why not an enchanted woods?”

Damien says “ No.. let’s set traps for their little arrival.. as it stands.. they don’t know that Smokey Moon is actually Bear Creek, now.. and their plan is to use that as an easy in.. What happens if we dig trenches.. run cables on remotes to a motion trigger.. flash bangs that will momentarily blind them…minor explosions. Then.. because the ladies have gotten so good with bows and rifles.. set them up in the trees! They won’t be expecting any of it.. it will throw them off their plan.. make some of the lesser ones run away.”

And I realize he’s right. They won’t expect it.. and it will take several moments to process what’s happening and those few moments will be all we need to turn the battle in our favor! I call our team together and tell them our plan…they all have ideas of their own and they all run out to get started. It’s a waiting game.. and our trail cams will keep us informed on movement from River Run!

The girls returned and Jolene decided to fix a festive dinner to celebrate the new additions we have pledging. Lynette asked Colette to join her and help spell the stones. Damien and I are working with Liam and Marty on going through Smokey Moon’s finances. If what we are seeing, is any indication of how much money Jacob has been shelling out.. he can’t be financially solvent right now. He made a deposit of nearly a quarter million dollars for Thomas’s warriors alone. He paid almost sixty thousand for the rogues to have access to his packlands. And that was seven times! Seven times, rogues were close to Jolene and Matthew! I want to kill him again!

Jolene comes running in laughing, with Angie chasing her..except Angie is covered in some kind of red liquid.. and yelling “You give me the lid! That was mean!” And I notice a white square lid in Jolene’s hand. I ask “Babe? What did you do?” She laughed and said “Angie did it! She was supposed to blend strawberries for the cake frosting. SHE forgot to put the lid on the blender! She took a bath in it.. then got mad at ME for not telling her she needed the lid. I may or may not have hidden the lid…and I may or may not have told her she had everything she needed.”

I’m trying not to laugh as I reply “Well, baby.. she may or may not have a reason to be mad at you! And you may or may not owe her an apology.. but remember.. the next time.. it may or may not be you covered in some kind of fruit concoction!”

She laughs.. “You’re right! I’m sorry, Ang! Come on.. I’ll help you clean up before Marty tries to decide if he may or may not lick you clean!” And Angie smacks her as they both walk out laughing.