Hunter hadn’t taken his phone into Damien’s garage with him. Sasha called him again and again, but he was unaware. Instead, he sat in the cold garage around a small card table with three other men. Damien was there of course, and so were Blake and John. Blake was near enough in age to Hunter that they had grown up together, though they had never run in the same circles. Blake was a newer member of the pack, having been sired by his uncle, but Hunter knew he could trust him.

John was a large black man with massive shoulders, and in wolf form, he was larger than any other member of the pack. He was fifty, his hair kept short and graying, and his eyes were a deep brown which shone with intelligence. Hunter was glad to have him on his side and glad he could trust him, as strong as he was he was even smarter, and they would need a strategist if they were going to bring Kurt down.

“That little shit started a war,” John was saying, and the others nodded.

“A civil war,” Damien said. “I don’t know of another pact which has had this happened, not on this scale, not with an attack on a human.”

“There’s been infighting, but yes, this is unprecedented,” John agreed.

“So, it sucks, and he sucks, and what the hell are we going to do about it?” Blake asked. He wore a baseball cap that he kept nervously touching the bill of, pulling it lower, then pushing it higher, and then starting all over again.

“We have to kill him, I think we’re clear on that,” Hunter said, and everyone around the table nodded.

“So we just kill him,” Blake said. “It’s messy, but we just do it.”

“I think Hunter is worried about the split,” John said, looking for confirmation from the younger man, and getting it in the form of a nod.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not secret that Kurt has friends, and they think like he does. They want us to take a more proactive role when it comes to dominance within the shifter community, and beyond. We merely coexist as it is now. Connor is no warlord, and we should be thankful for it. Kurt and his ilk think otherwise,” Damien said.

“You think he has people on his side?” Blake asked nervously.

“I know he does,” Hunter said. “He wouldn’t do this if he didn’t.”

“Hunter is right,” John agreed.

“And so, this gets a hell of a lot more complicated than just find him and kill him,” Blake sighed.

“Yes, it does,” Hunter agreed.

“Okay, so what do we do?” Blake asked.

“That’s why we’re sitting here. We have others who are loyal, but the four of us, we’re the brain trust. We’re going to figure this out, and we’re going to do it right,” Hunter told the others.

“And when it’s done, you’ll be the leader,” John said. “I’m glad.”

“Right, this is it. There’s no going back. It’s going to be a fight, but it’s one that was brought to us. What we do next is what I gathered you to figure out.”

“We need a list of people we know are loyal to us. People that are in this with us, and who want Hunter to be the pack leader.”

“Okay,” Damien said. He had a notebook in front of him, and he flipped it open and grabbed a pen. “Shoot,” he said.

For the next half hour, they made a list of sixteen names. There were forty-two men (and women) in the Tall Tree pack. Those sixteen were people Hunter, and his cohorts knew they could count on. There were seven more that they were almost as confident about. That left more people than Hunter would have liked as unknowns. Some of them would be with Kurt. Some of them may even prefer to remain neutral so they could throw in with whoever won. That put a bad taste in Hunter’s mouth, but he found he wasn’t sure he could blame anyone for going that route.

“So, what’s next?” Hunter asked, looking around the table.

“We make some calls,” John said.

Hunter stood and reached into his pocket, forgetting that he didn’t have his phone with him. He went inside then, and as soon as he saw that he had no less than ten missed calls, all from Sasha, he dialed her and held the phone to his ear.

“Where have you been?” she asked, answering before the first ring had even stopped.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“Grandpa is in the hospital.”

“What happened?”

“One of the guards, he killed the other, and he attacked grandpa. I don’t think they can save him.”

Hunter closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between two strong fingers. “I’m coming there.”

“Hunter, bring Damien, please,” Sasha said, and then she disconnected.

Hunter rushed into the garage and told Damien what had happened. They asked John and Blake to make the calls and then rushed out of the garage.

“Who the hell is Sasha?” Blake asked, and John shrugged.

 

At first, the doctors were hesitant to let Damien into the room, but Hunter took one aside and spoke quietly with him, and then Damien was ushered in to see Connor.

“What did you say to him?” Sasha asked as Hunter joined her in the small waiting room.

“Us being shifter’s is sort of the worst kept secret in Tall Tree. Some people pretend not to know, but most people do. I just told him who your grandfather was and that Damien might help save him.”

“I can’t believe we have to go through this again,” Sasha said, and with that, she cried once more as Hunter slipped his arms around her.

Hunter didn’t leave Sasha’s side for hours. Calls came in for him, and he took them, sitting in with her in the waiting room. The doctor’s and Damien were in a tense battle for Connor’s life, but finally, once the sun had fallen, and had indeed been gone from the sky for the past few hours, Damien came out, his face pale, his eyes tired.

“He’s stable,” he said, and Sasha jumped up from her seat and wrapped her arms around the man she hardly knew. He smiled and hugged her back and then passed her off to Hunter.

“Can I see him?” she asked a doctor who had followed Damien into the waiting room.

“Tomorrow,” the doctor said. “Let him rest.”

“You could use some too,” Hunter said.

“I won’t leave him,” Sasha said, shaking her head.

“I’ll have people here,” Hunter said, and when he saw a dark look cross Sasha’s features her pulled her closer to him. “Better people. I promise. Come with me, you can sleep at my place,” he said.

“I don’t want to leave him,” Sasha argued.

“Come,” Hunter said, and finally the girl nodded, and they left the hospital.