“So, we don’t call a truce,” I said calmly, keeping my tone even as my heartbeat thundered. “We make it a challenge.”
Skye lifted her head slowly. “A challenge?”
I stared back at her. “Winner gets control of all the packs.”
48
Skye
All the air in my chest left in a rush that made me lightheaded. I was glad I was still sitting next to Katy because my legs might have given out.
“You want to challenge Damien?” Rhodes said slowly, speaking the words churning over and over in my mind.
Remy nodded, but his gaze was still on me. “Yeah.”
“You think he’ll go for it?” Dante asked, looking uncertain.
Remy sighed and started to nod slowly. “Yes, I think he’ll take the challenge, but I also think we need a backup plan to make sure he doesn’t take Windale.”
“So, what exactly are you proposing?” Nikolai stared at Remy, his gaze thoughtful and inquisitive.
“We stall,” Remy said. “Damien isn’t an honorable guy, but he’ll like the idea of having Blackwater too much to overlook. He thinks he can beat me in a challenge.”
“Which he very well may be able to,” Nikolai replied coolly. “I’ve done my research on Damien Valois. It isn’t by luck that he’s managed to take so many packs and convince men to his way of thinking. His command over his people is every bit as strong as yours, and he has decades of age and wisdom on his side.”
“I know,” Remy agreed reluctantly.
True fear, the kind I hadn’t felt in ages, clawed up my throat. “Are you saying you could lose?”
He gave me a steady look. “I’m saying I’m not invincible, babe. It’s stupid to think beating Damien will be easy.”
Katy’s hand covered my knee in support, but it was obvious she was as shaken by what he had said as I was.
“Even if you win, they’ll still have more people than we do,” Dante pointed out. “He might take the challenge and then have his people attack when it looks like you’re winning. And he’ll have the numbers, Remy.”
“Not if we set the challenge for two days from now,” Remy said firmly. “Damien’s had a hard on for this pack for decades over the shit that went down when my parents were our age. If he thinks there’s a shot of making me look like an idiot, his ego will make him take it.”
“Two days,” I mumbled. “That’s not much time.”
“But it’s enough time for Nikolai’s people to arrive,” Remy replied. “Your people, Skye.”
“You’re buying us time to get more people here,” I said slowly, catching on.
He nodded grimly back at me. “We call Damien and throw down the challenge. We can say Griffin is hosting it in Windale since their pack is in the middle of the country. That even gives Damien access to the pack to be inside and not have to fight his way in. We set it up for two days from now, which gives us time to get everyone in place. We can even pull in some of the shifters from the west coast packs.”
Michael, who had been mostly silent, cleared his throat. “That also gives Damien time to set up more people on the perimeter of Windale. It gives him just as much time to get people together.”
“But having Nikolai’s numbers with what we can spare will be the show of force we need,” Remy insisted.
I started to shake my head. “We can’t, Remy. We can’t ask my father’s pack to leave their people unprotected to come help us.”
Dimitri started to laugh, and Nikolai smiled, bemused at what I was saying.
“Sweetheart, I can assure you that your pack will be fine either way,” Nikolai told me.
“Narodnaya isn’t going anywhere. And we’re so high in the mountains, attacking us would be suicide,” Dimitri supplied.
“And my people are there,” Lulu finished. “I can have them set up wards in case anyone breeches the perimeter or gets close.”
“Okay,” I agreed softly. “Thank you.”
“Do you think Damien won’t notice an extra five hundred shifters heading his way once they land?” Dimitri snorted. “He’ll know you’re going for war. He might decide to forget the challenge and just make it an all-out fight.”
“People would die,” Katy said, exhaling slowly. “Women, children … We would turn Windale into a battle ground.”
“Not if he doesn’t see them,” Lulu whispered, catching my attention.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my head turning in her direction.
Lulu sat up a bit, her eyes brighter. “It could be tricky, but I could