Page 116 of Vicious Luna
“You leave that to us,” she replies cryptically, tossing Matty a wink before swiveling my way and throwing a thumb toward the door. “We’d better head to that meeting if we don’t wanna catch shit for being late.”
“Probably,” I agree, pushing off from the dresser. “I’ll come by again tomorrow,” I tell Matty as I start edging toward the door. “Now that we’ve got full access to The Guild’s funds, I have some ideas about how we can start disbursing them.”
“Sounds good, I’ll see ya tomorrow, then,” he quips, blue eyes alight with excitement at the prospect of being put to work. With any luck, I’ll have more news for him on that front after this meeting we’re about to head into.
Avery and I make our way from the dorms over to the adjacent wing of the squad complex, entering the conference room to find that the others are just starting to arrive. Within minutes, all the squad leaders are taking their seats at the table, Avery pointing to the one beside her for me while Madd takes up his post at her opposite side.
“Everyone ready to get down to it?” Madd asks, glancing around at the others. Nobody raises an objection, so he cracks his knuckles and forges on. “Alright, I called this meeting because I wanted to discuss adding a special division to the squad,” he begins, sweeping his gaze around the table before landing on his sister beside him. “It was Avery’s idea, so I’m gonna turn it over to her to explain.”
She sits up a little taller, folding her hands on the table in front of her. “So, just like the special forces that were in place after the shadow pack, I think we should add a squad division to deal with the fallout from the hunters, to ensure nothing like The Guild ever happens again,” she states confidently, raising a hand to gesture to me. “Cam has all their contacts and knows everything about their inner workings, so our proposal is that the two of us lead up the new division together, with a few dedicated IT staff and a small team to run missions when needed.”
I nod along with her, glancing at the others to gauge their reactions. Madd is already on board- the three of us discussed it yesterday, and he was surprisingly receptive to the idea of me and Avery putting together a team and running with it- but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive about presenting this to the other squad leaders. I’m used to being the one in charge, not relying upon others for approval. Well, except for Jonathan, but most of the time we were in sync. Up until the end, that is.
“How big of a team?” Archer questions.
“Twelve,” Avery answers. “Ten squad fighters and two IT staff, one of which would be Matty. Plus me and Cam, and he’ll also help out with IT.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Lo murmurs, nodding. “Who would you want from the IT unit as your other member?”
“We figured we could ask for volunteers and you could make recommendations based on who’s interested,” Avery replies. “Same goes for the squad fighters, we’ll see who’s interested and choose a team out of the volunteers.”
“Are there enough hunters left out there to warrant an entire division?” Ares asks skeptically, arching a brow in my direction.
“That wouldn’t be its sole purpose,” I clarify, meeting his stare unblinkingly. “Our first priority will be ensuring that former Guild members don’t have a way to regroup, but we’ll also be actively searching out the survivors of prior attacks. I just got full access to The Guild’s funds, and I think the best way to disburse them is by making restitution to the packs that were hit. It won’t bring back what they lost, but at least it’ll be something to help them rebuild.”
Avery slides her hand over mine, threading our fingers together. “Cam also offered up the remaining funds to the six-pack,” she tacks on, beaming a proud smile at me. “We can use them to get the old ski resort up and running again, build out the new territory for Javi’s pack, and finally start constructionon that new wing of the squad complex we’ve been talking about adding.”
“Shit, how much money are we talking?” Ares scoffs dubiously.
“Enough to do all that and more,” I deadpan. “Jonathan was never comfortable if our accounts slipped below seven figures, he found a lot of financial backers.”
Iver whistles, flopping back in his chair. “Damn, feel free to throw a little of that my way, I’ve been promising Cheyenne a lush beach vacation this winter.”
Avery snorts a laugh. “Sure, becausethat’sthe best use of the funds,” she teases.
“Happy mate, happy fate, right?” Iver smirks, shrugging a shoulder.
“Well, I think adding a hunter division is a great idea,” Tristan pipes up, steering the meeting back on track and sliding me an encouraging grin. Since he found out we’re cousins, he seems determined to become buddies. Not that I’m opposed. He seems like a decent guy, and I could use more friends around here.
“I agree,” Archer drawls. “Having a dedicated taskforce in place will allow the rest of the squad to shift their focus to the day-to-day security matters, lighten their load a bit.”
“Let us know what we can do to help you get it up and running,” Tristan adds.
“So we’re all in agreement?” Madd asks, glancing around the conference table for any sign of dissent. Everyone nods and mumbles in affirmation while I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. “Guess it’s settled, then,” Madd states, his gaze landing on me. “Congrats. You’ve officially got yourself a new squad division to run.”
Avery once toldme that the full moon makes our wolves stronger, and there’s definitely something to that claim. My inner beast feels more alert; closer to the surface than usual and itching to get out. I’ve been making major strides lately with accepting my animal side, and Avery said it’s only a matter of time before we’re fully integrated. I’m just glad shifting doesn’t hurt like a bitch anymore.
She made sure I had plenty of practice leading up to the full moon run with her pack, teasingly saying she didn’t want me embarrassing her when it came time to shift. But honestly, I don’t want to embarrassmyself,so I’m thankful for all the practice sessions. They’ve left me feeling pretty damn confident going into the run tonight, and now all that’s left to do is shift like a boss and make my girl proud.
After I give her my gift, of course. Our first full moon run together seems like a monumentous occasion, so I wanted to start things off on a high note- which is why once I gained access to The Guild’s funds, I walked into the town of Goldenleaf to pick her up a little something. It isn’t much, but if I know my mate, she’ll get hearts in her eyes the moment I give it to her.
“Ready to head downstairs?” Avery asks as she finally spins away from the mirror, the hem of her lilac sundress floating around her thighs. She’s been primping for the last half hour. I hardly see the point when she’ll be spending most of the evening in wolf form, but far be it for me to take the wind out of her sails by calling attention to that fact.
“Yeah. But before we do, I got you something,” I say casually, pulling open the top drawer of her dresser to retrieve the bag I stashed in there earlier. She eyes me suspiciously as she approaches and I hand it over to her with a smug grin, watching as she peeks inside.
“What the hell?” Avery laughs, stuffing a hand into the bag and pulling out a fistful of colorful hair ties.
“I still think it’s kinda lame for your third wish, but that should be a solid start on a lifetime supply of brushes and hair ties,” I say, nodding to the bag.