Cecilia's Wolf {Rewritten}

29 | Cecilia's Wolf

Jerome

Xavier had showed up at the club last night to stay until the battle. We questioned him for an hour, making sure that Cecilia was okay and could handle this. We all knew that it would be hard for her to stay at the pack house while the rest of us fought, but we knew she could do it. She was a strong girl.

In the morning, we all met in the club early, setting up tables so that we could all sit and plan. Ashton and Frieda both had extensive military careers before they'd been turned, so they did most of the strategic planning, with the rest of us there to offer ideas.

"Xavier, where are you going to keep your phone?" Ashton asked. "It can't stay on you or it risks being damaged. We need that link to Ceci to stay established."

"I wasn't planning on keeping it with me," Xavier assured Ashton. "I planned to drop it outside the fighting range, but close enough that we'd be able to hear it if it rang."

"Does Ceci have a special ringtone?" Frieda asked, leaning forward. "We don't need to leave the battle because your mom decided to call and chat."

"I've programmed her ringtone to an old phone ringtone. Anyone else that calls will play a musical tone."

I nodded in approval. "Anyone hears that ringtone, you drop whatever you're doing and get to the pack house," I ordered. "Ceci won't call Xavier unless she's in immediate danger, so there won't be any time to waste."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Jerome is right. Ceci has been trained extensively in self-defense since she was young, but she's only ever had human opponents," Xavier stressed. "She will be able to keep someone off her, but only for a few seconds. If that phone goes off, it's going to be a race to the pack house."

"Everyone understand the importance of Xavier's phone ringing?" I asked, making sure that everyone knew what was top priority if the phone rang. When they all nodded again, I smiled. "Then let's get down to business."

"The pack does not know the exact time that Drabek will attack," Frieda announced. "All they know is that he's planned to attack sometime tonight. We're going to hit the pack's border at sunset and wait."

Ashton picked up where she left off. "The battle will be easy to detect when it starts and we'll move in immediately. The wolves are going to be more than a little surprised by our entrance, so it's important that you immediately find a target from Drabek's pack. Maybe smile at someone from Eli and Jackson's pack or something. We can only be helpful if they realize that we're helping them and not Drabek."

"It's going to be pretty obvious that we're there to help them. The pack has all seen us at Ceci's graduation party. They'd be stupid not to realize that we're there to help them," Allison, a newer member of the coven responded.

"They're going to be in a high stress situation, Allison," Ashton responded, pinning her with a serious stare. "Most of their wolves will be in control so they can fight better. If this is going to work the way that we want it to, make it obvious who's side you're on when you get there or you'll risk screwing everything up."

I watched as Allison dropped her gaze and nodded. She was still young, but she'd learn, especially living with us. We took care of our own.

"Jackson has called dibs on Drabek," I announced, repeating what both Ceci and Xavier had told me. "We don't interfere with that fight unless Jackson's life is on the line. Ceci wants him protected. However, he is her mate and he has more of a right to kill Drabek than anyone else there."

"I figured that was obvious enough to not be said, but Jerome is correct," Ashton replied. "It's Jackson's right to take down the direct threat to his mate, but Ceci will be destroyed if anything happens to him. It's a fine line, but keep an eye on him if you're close."