Chapter 651

KAEL

The evenness was the specific kind that existed when everything above the even was being held by something that was working very hard and was not going to stop working.

“Reka,” Solander said.

Finished

“The clinic they’re using is on the estate’s western perimeter,” Reka said, already at the maps. “It’s the facility Cassium uses for-” she paused. “For various purposes. It has equipment. It has healers.”

“Are they Ivory’s kind of healers,” I said.

“No,” Reka said.

“Then they’re not useful,” I said.

“Kael-” Jordan started.

“We have Margo’s compounds in the vehicle,” I said. “The bag Nina had. Does it have what’s needed for-”

“I need to know what’s needed,” Nina said, already at the bag.

“Wolfsbane exposure at the level of a direct hit,” I said. “To a wolf who’s been restored for three days and whose body wasn’t calibrated for wolfsbane at the wolf concentration.”

Nina was going through the bag.

“The thorough version,” she said, to herself. “Unknown exposure. Thorough.” She found something. “Yes. Ivory packed this specifically. It’s the-it’s the one she uses for significant wolfsbane exposure.”

“The three-day version,” Jordan said.

“Four hours,” Nina said. “The full removal.”

“She needs to be breathing for the four-hour version to work,” Jordan said,

The room was quiet.

“Ian,” I said.

lan looked at me.

“How fast can we move,” I said.

“On Cassium’s estate,” Ian said.

“Yes,” I said.

12:06 pm

Chapter 657

Finished

With Derek’s search perimeter potentially repositioning after they’ve recovered Ivory,” Ian said. “With the estate’s full security active rather than meeting-reduced-”

“How fast,” I said.

“Kael,” Solander said.

I looked at him.

“The estate is fortified,” he said. “Going in hot, without the plan-”

“Going in without the plan was always possible,” I said. “The plan was for the document. The document matters. The document is what neutralizes the Convention challenge and gets Ivory the legal protection she needs for afterward.” I held his gaze. “But if there’s no afterward, the document is a piece of paper in a compartment behind a panel on a wall.”

Solander was quiet.

“Sol,” I said. “How fast.”

He looked at me for a long time.

Then he looked at Ian.

Ian looked at the communicator.

At the maps.

At the window where the outside was still dark and the morning had not arrived yet.

“Thirty minutes,” Ian said. “If we move now. If we use everything Solander has here and we move in two waves – one for the document, one for Ivory. Simultaneous. Not sequential.”

“Is that doable,” I said.

“It’s doable,” Ian said. “It is not the plan we had. It is a different plan.”

“It’s not a plan,” Reka said. “It’s a direction.”

“Direction with resources is enough,” I said.

Reka looked at the maps.

“The clinic on the western perimeter,” she said. “If their healers have gotten to her and are doing anything -any basic stabilization–the compound in Nina’s bag can work with that. Four hours from administration, full wolfsbane removal, the wolf’s system restores-”

“Is the wolf the problem,” Jordan said. “Or is it the wolfsbane. If the wolfsbane took her wolf offline-

“The wolfsbane took the wolf offline,” Reka said. “Which means her body is running on human metabolism against a compound designed for wolf metabolism. The human body can’t-

“How long,” I said.

12:06 pm

Chapter 657

Fished

“Without intervention,” Reka said. “I don’t know. It depends on the concentration. The size of the dose. Whether the shot was direct or-

“How long,” I said.

She looked at me.

“Not long,” she said.

Khris said: *Kael.*

His voice was the quiet one.

Not the fury version. Not the commentary. The specific quiet version that only arrived when something was very important and very real and the noise around it wasn’t helping.

*She has been fighting for us for twelve years,* he said.

*I know,* I said.

*She fought through sixty-nine incidents and the curse and the kidnapping and the Ghost Hunt and the border battle and all of it,* he said. *She has been fighting for us for twelve years and she is not going to stop now unless the wolfsbane stops her first.*

*Yes,* I said.

*She needs us to get there,* he said,

*Yes,* I said.

*So get there.*

I looked at Solander.

“Two waves,” I said. “Simultaneous. The document and Ivory

Solander held my gaze.

Then he looked at his people.

“Two waves,” he said. “Simultaneous. Document team goes for the east wall. Ivory team goes for the western clinic.” He looked at Reka. “Activate everything. Both directions.”

“Done,” she said.

I looked at the communicator.

At the static where Ivory’s voice had been.

*Hold on,* I said, to her, through whatever channel existed between people who’d known each other for twelve years and had built something in the knowing that didn’t require proximity to be present.

12:06 pm

Chapter 657

We re coming.

*

Khris said nothing.

He was saving it.

For later.

For after.

Finished

For when Ivory was in front of us and the wolfsbane was handled and the four-hour compound was doing what it was designed to do and she was alive to receive it.

He was saving everything for then.

So was I.

“Move,” Solander said.

We moved.

A/n: I have never seen a more delusional alpha in my life. Is she dead? I don’t know, apparently she is not loved as I wished she was, so I do not know what happens.

Anyways it is 11, I had class from 8-12. I have spent 8-11 writing this for y’all then I am heading to college, I hope to see a lot of comments when I get back, I also have emailed my editor about updating the summary, aria is still the main character, and I also got a very cool book cover I made that I want them to use, but I haven’t heard from them, so keep in mind for a book cover change and a summary change.

Also note, nobody had thanked me for the lengthy chapters, I only write this long if I am adding a lengthy a/n, but it’s alright.