“There are more than forty Harvenk soldiers patrolling the border in a stretch of about twenty miles across. We have about twice that many on our side but considering the nature of our mission, we can’t include them in this or have them helping in any way. The Harvenks are grouped together in pairs roughly a mile apart. There’s not much room to squeeze by and if we take out any of them, we’ll be found out very quickly.” Kurt was explaining all this to Russel, Lola, Roland, Raylan, the other werewolves, Hank, and Sir Thomas as they huddled around a fire they got going to ward off some of the night’s chill.

Lola looked at the knight as the rest talked over strategy and how best to proceed. He was an enigma to her. When they had first met in Wrexon, he’d seemed a lot different. He’d been insatiably curious about Russel, that had been evident right from the start. The man’s habit of continually popping up had grown tiresome but it was his sharpness of mind that had convinced her he was a danger to them. That was still present but it had been tamed a bit. He rarely spoke to her, Russel, or anyone else for that matter. Except for three other knights that had come with them. He talked to those three incessantly and always in hushed whispers.

And of course, he talked to Hank.

There was definitely something there. It was in the way he interacted with her now. He was more wary and cautious with her than he had been back in Wrexon. The other three as well. She would often find them shooting glances at her, or Russel, or the other werewolves throughout the day.

“If we go in with swords drawn, it will cause immense trouble for us down the road,” Sir Thomas said. “The best course of action is to do as we have done in Oclan. Cross the border on a mission of peace.”

“That won’t work with us tagging along buddy,” Maks said, rolling his eyes and giving Russel an is-this-guy-a-bloody-moron look. “A Harvenk gets our scent, it won’t matter. They’ll attack. It’s how it’s always been.”

“Maybe in the past but we have something very important they are seeking.” Hank said and his words instantly made everyone else quiet down.

One by one, they all looked at Lola.

“He tried to have me killed. Or his son did, which is probably the same thing,” Lola said.

“She’s right,” Russel growled angrily. “We aren’t marching her straight into enemy hands. That is a flat-out no from me. Think of something else.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” Hank muttered. “Besides, Drake instigated all that nonsense. We have no idea if King Finley had anything to do with that at all. Come on, let’s give it a whirl and see what happens?”

Russel grabbed the man by his shoulder, his fingers digging into the soft flesh there. To his credit, Hank didn’t flinch or let out any groan of pain. He just took it.

“You would do well to remove your hand now or Sir Thomas will cut it from your arm,” Hank said, his tone low, menacing, and an indisputable threat.

Aysir, Kurt, Tris, Maks, and Lilith all made a move toward Hank, their claws out and low growls rumbling from their throats.

“Stop,” Roland snarled. He directed his gaze at the werewolves. “Now. We start fighting among ourselves, even if it is against you pathetic humans, it will only weaken us. We’ll be an easy target for any Harvenk wolf that happens to come across us.”

“Roland is right,” Russel said, releasing his grip but not the anger in his tone. “But if it comes down to it, I won’t hesitate to throw you to the wolves myself, Oclan or Harvenk, if you suggest sending Lola into harm’s way again.”

“She won’t be in harm’s way. Again, you are being entirely too dramatic about the whole thing,” Hank said, his body easing somewhat and his voice returning to its normal amount of irritating smugness.

“And again, I’m not willing to risk her life on the word of an erratic human. I can’t trust you as far as I can throw you,” Russel remarked.

“Maybe he’s right, Rus,” Raylan said. When Russel’s gaze whirled to his brother, Ray didn’t back down. “We need to get across the border and into Harvenk so we can find that mongrel, Drake, and take his head, right? Maybe Lola is the easiest way of doin’ that.”

“You can’t be serious,” Lola asked.

“Think about it,” Roland added. “If King Finley wanted you dead, why did he stop with only one attack?”

“Because I was with her the whole time,” Russel said. “He wouldn’t risk war.”

“Please,” Roland went on. “You and I both know father wouldn’t have twitched if something happened to you. He barely remembered you were there most days. Well, until you killed him that is.”

“Keep talking and you’ll find out what that was like firsthand,” Russel snapped.

Things devolved from there and in moments, everyone was shouting at each other. Hank sat back and watched it all, a contemplative look on his face and a tiny half-smile on his lips. Sir Thomas had his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it out the second it was needed.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Hank finally said, apparently growing bored with the fighting between the wolves. “Keep up that noise and we won’t have to worry about the border anymore. They’ll close it up even tighter and we’ll miss our opportunity. Now, just to play devil’s advocate, as it were, let’s say that Prince Roland and Raylan are correct. King Finley is a resourceful man. Although his spies and mercenaries are not quite as extensive as the Oclan kingdom and his intelligence network is nowhere near the level of my kingdom, he would have been more than capable of sending in new assassins to kill Lola once he learned of his son’s failure. But you remained unmolested, even when you were in Alcroft. He had plenty of opportunities to try his luck again.”

“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t the one that sent Drake to kill me,” Lola tried. “Carter Polver sent Russel to kill me and when that didn’t work out, he didn’t send anyone else.”

“Well that isn’t entirely true,” Russel said, his voice faltering a bit.

Lola’s head turned slowly toward him.

“What do you mean by that?” Lola asked.

“Our father sent at least three others to kill you and some ghouls,” Raylan said, matter-of-fact. He looked at Russel after his brother shot him a warning look. “What? You’re the one that didn’t say anything about it.”

“Yes. I didn’t. And with good reason,” Russel shot back. “Also the ghouls weren’t necessarily from father. That was just bad luck.”

“Whatever you gotta tell yourself,” Ray muttered. “Thought you were smarter than that.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lola said, drawing all eyes to her. “What’s he talking about, there were three other attempts on my life? No there wasn’t. I mean we did fight some ghouls, twice, but they go after anything they might think could be a meal. Right?”

“And a bunch of random ghouls just happened upon your scent?” Roland interjected.

“All right. That’s enough.” Russel looked at Lola. “They’re right. Not about the ghouls. I’m not convinced that was my father, but about the three others. I…dispatched them…before you noticed. I didn’t want to scare you or worry you.”

“How? We were together almost the entire time.” She looked visibly paler at the thought of unseen attackers coming for her.

“Not all my ‘bathroom breaks’ were…uh…genuine,” he muttered back.

“I am getting so pissed at all this secrecy and ‘Let’s all go out of our way to keep Lola in the dark” routine. When is this going to stop?” she asked. She looked directly at Russel. “I’m not a fragile, defenseless girl anymore. You should know, you’re the one that trained me. You think you’d have better faith in me than that.”

“I know. I did what I thought was best,” Russel told her.

“And we’re off track again,” Hank said, cutting in. “As much as I love a good tit for tat between people, I am growing bored…yet again.”

“And?” Aysir said, shooting the human envoy a glare that could melt metal.

“And, the fact remains we are now getting down to the wire here. Time, she keeps on ticking and ticking away people…and wolves,” Hank said. “You really want me to tell King Harrison we have to invade your country because you two couldn’t get over yourselves long enough to do what needs to be done?”

Russel and Lola stopped their arguing, even though both still had plenty of words to say on the matter of keeping her out of the loop so much. As annoying as Hank was, he spoke the truth. The longer they kept going around and around in circles, the less time they had to bring Drake to justice.

“So what do you suggest then?” Russel asked and before Hank could open his mouth, he added, “And it better not include using Lola as bait.”

Hank got up from the log he’d been using as a seat, his face lit by the fire.

“That’s the fun part,” he said with a cheery smile. “Although I have enjoyed all the squabbles and infighting immensely, I’ve already taken the liberty of making certain arrangements.”

Sir Thomas suddenly stiffened and got to his feet, hand on sword. At the exact same time, Lola felt that chill sweep down her spine again. With so many werewolves around, she’d almost become desensitized to the sensation but now it was going off again, almost as powerfully as it had when she got face-to-face with Carter Polver.

A figure suddenly came out of the darkness, the fire lighting them up the closer they got to it. Lola could see it was a man. An older, stately-looking man wearing a well-tailored and fashionable, light blue suit with accents of silver and white. He had salt-and-pepper hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Piercing, blue eyes looked at everyone present.

“Everyone, and for those that do not recognize him, I present King Finley Wittam, monarch of the Harvenk Kingdom.” Hank looked very pleased with himself.

A second later, everything erupted into utter chaos.