Sacrifice

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

 

                Before arranging the meeting with Victor, Sophia and the rest of the pack had to iron out a few more details. But what was really taking up their time was dealing with the revelation of what had really happened with the pack’s former alpha. Sophia knew that they would lose some pack members over that, but she had hoped it would only be a few. But instead, over thirty had left, and she knew that more were leaning that direction.

                In a pack of several hundred, she knew that she was getting away easy, but it was such a bad time to have any strife in the pack. In addition to those who had left, there were more wolves who were a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, like Jason. Sophia had hardly seen her beta since he found out, and she was worried that she would lose him.

                Normally, Jason would have gone with her to meet the lions. But when deciding who would accompany her and Gabriel, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him he had to go. Under normal circumstances, she was sure he would insist on going, but he said nothing when he looked over the list.

                Oddly enough, it was Blake who insisted on going with her. Sophia didn’t really want to bring the human, but it was the closest she would get to having her beta present. The rest of the group consisted of Patrick, Bryan – a young but intimidating wolf, and one of the pack’s best fighters, Amber, and her mate, Michael. Sophia hadn’t wanted to take Michael, but he wanted to stay with his mate, and Sophia finally understood how he felt.

                They had agreed on a remote location in the mountains. Sophia’s first thought was that the remote location was so that the lions could attack the wolves with no one knowing, but as she thought about it, she realized that her people would have an advantage in the forest – she couldn’t imagine the lions would be able to move through the trees like the wolves. It wasn’t much of an advantage, but if it came down to a fight, Sophia knew they’d need every bit of help.

                When they arrived at the designated spot, nothing seemed amiss. Sophia sniffed the air and knew they were not alone, but she had almost expected the lions to be waiting to make sure that she followed their terms. As much as she didn’t want to, Sophia had agreed to one of Victor’s demands, as he would have otherwise refused.

                He demanded that Gabriel be restrained. That hadn’t made much sense to either her or Gabriel – they both knew that Victor didn’t see his son as a threat, but regardless, she had complied with the demand. Or at least, she made it appear she had. Very loosely, she tied his hands behind his back, using a length of rope that had been partially cut through. Not only would he be able to slip his hands out if he wanted to, but he could break the rope if he needed to get free in a hurry.

                After a short wait, Sophia finally heard the sounds of someone approaching. She turned her attention in that direction while Gabriel moved closer to her. She wanted to put her arms around him and assure him that everything would be fine, but she knew that would ruin the illusion that they were going to hand him over.

                “Any last minute changes in the plan?” Blake asked, glancing over.

                “No,” Sophia said, knowing that he was essentially asking if the others should mutiny. As much as she didn’t want to discuss it, the others could not leave the possibility alone of giving in to the demands of the lions, even going so far as offering to take her out of the picture. She had never outright rejected the idea. Not until that moment. She couldn’t let anything happen to Gabriel.