second, and Baer flashed his man an encouraging smile. Baer had a feeling he was going to hate whatever was about to come out of Wiley’s mouth, but he supported him. If he had a good idea for this fight, then Baer was going to cheer him on. Wiley smiled and took a deep breath as he looked over at Clay again.
“Well, I was thinking that we know her MO at this point, right?”
“You mean how she prefers to call in a horde of animals to tear us apart,” Lucien chimed.
“She’s definitely lighter on the use of pestilents,” Clay agreed. “We don’t know if it’s because we slaughtered so many when we fought Cor that they’re running low, or if she’s just saving their people while burning through animals.”
“Yes, she uses a lot of animals,” Wiley said, seizing control of the conversation again. “Rats weren’t a big deal in Savannah—”
“Speak for yourself,” Grey grumbled. He shivered once, gripping his mug with both hands as if he needed it to warm himself after the memory. “Disgusting.”
“Of course, but the snakes at the plantation were much more dangerous. Then she made a bold appearance here again, bringing lots of coyotes. Each time she’s upped the ante, proving that she can attack us with bigger and more dangerous animals.”
“What the hell does Georgia have that’s bigger than coyotes?” Lucien said in a huff.
“Black bears,” Clay said.
“Alligators,” Dane added.
“Fuck me.” Lucien covered his face with both of his hands and groaned. “You know, gang, I’m thinking I wanna talk to Flo again. Give her these damn powers back.”
Baer snorted. “Sorry, but no returns or refunds.”
Lucien dropped his hands to his sides and glared at Baer. “I’ll take a store credit.”
“Enough,” Clay bit out, stopping their banter. He turned to Wiley and nodded.
The young man shoved a hand through his hair, pushing it from his eyes, which skittered over to Baer again. The Animal Weaver could feel his lover’s anxiety spike, and Baer wanted to pull him into his arms.
“What are you thinking, Wiley? You want to try to lure her somewhere she can’t call an animal army?” Baer prodded.
Wiley shook his head. “Short of fighting her on an active volcano or in the middle of a hurricane, I don’t think there’s a place where she couldn’t call in other animals. Actually, I was thinking the opposite. Let her summon her army…and then we steal it from her.”
Baer was pretty damn sure they could have heard a pin drop in that room, but then his heart was pounding so loudly in his ears, he couldn’t hear shit for several seconds. That plan was ballsy as fuck. It was absolutely insane. Definitely suicidal.
And brilliant, if they could get it to work.
“You want to turn her animal army on her and the pestilents, wiping them out?” Clay slowly said, when he finally found his voice.
“Yes. Baer told me how you were able to find where the pestilents had set up a base. If you could do that again, we could ‘sneak’ onto their compound,” Wiley proposed, making the air quotes with his fingers. “We know she’ll call up an animal army of some sort to take us out. I will unravel the spell holding them under her control; then Baer will take over commanding them. You will have your powers, along with the additional army, to take out the pestilents and the witch.”
Baer could feel Clay’s eyes on him, but he couldn’t look away from Wiley. “I-I don’t know if we could do that.”
“We managed Ruby.”
He was already shaking his head. “Yes, but that was one dog. The last time she was here, she had several dozen coyotes. There were hundreds of snakes here at the plantation. We don’t know what she’d summon to fight us or how many. We might not be able to handle all those animals.”
“I think we can. Ruby was complicated because I didn’t know what I was looking for or how to free her. I was just fumbling around in her head until I figured out how to unlock her. I know now, so unlocking all those animals will be much easier.”
Baer turned away from Wiley, shoving both hands through his hair as he paced a short distance. This plan was pure batshit crazy. It meant that Wiley would be there for the fight rather than safe at the plantation.
And as much as he hated to admit it, Baer had no clue as to how much he could handle when it came