I saw Bridget wince as Jasmine helped set her down on Tristan's bed.
"You really shouldn't be up." Jasmine spoke looking half concerned and half angry.
Bridget waved her off as she lifted her legs onto the bed as well.
It was so obvious that she was in pain. Not just from her facial expressions but from her looks in general. She had taken on an ashy grey colour.
I was no doctor but that was clearly not good at all.
"I found one." Peter announced as he walked into the room with one of those automated wheel chairs. Lady Melrose was behind him.
Bridget stared at the contraption.
"I'm not using that." She spoke in disgust.
"Like hell you aren't." Peter spoke and I don't think I had ever seen him so authoritative.
Bridget turned her blue eyes on him.
"You can barely walk." Jasmine pointed out.
"I will not be seen as an invalid." Bridget argued. "The alpha is a symbol of power."
"Oh give me a break." Lady Melrose spoke as she walked towards the bed. "And you think you'll be seen as weak for wanting help? Do yourself a favour, dear and stop acting like a man."
Peter and Raphael shared a look as if trying to decide whether or not they were offended.
Bridget clenched her jaw. "I don't know who else could be a mole. If there still is one or two, the first thing they'll report to Ornyx is that I am in a wheelchair, he'll attack in seconds."
"Let him." Jasmine scoffed. "My dad and his army will back you up and so will the other packs."
"I can't ask the other packs to send in their men so soon." Bridget spoke as she tried to adjust her position.
May rushed forward to place a pillow behind her.
"This is Tristan." Jasmine argued as she balled up her fists.
"You don't think I know that?" Bridget snapped.
For the first time I saw the emotion in her eyes and I can't believe that I had forgotten for even a second how much Tristan meant to Bridget.
If anything there wasn't a soul alive better equipped to get him back. Or another soul better equipped to take care of what he had left behind; his pack, his brothers.... Me.
That's the only reason I believed I was still here. Bridget was honouring Tristan in every way possible. It's the only reason I had survived that witch hunt back at HQ. Because let's face it, Bridget hadn't suddenly started caring about me.
Bridget sucked in a deep breath. "We can't think with our emotions here. We have to be smart like Tristan would have been. Ornyx knows what he was doing when he took Tristan, otherwise why not just have Roman kill him then and there?"
I gulped as I remembered Roman's part in all of this.
What had I been thinking? That he would comply like a good little boy and everything would be okay again?
That he had something redeemable still in him?
"He's playing mind games." Raphael growled. "That's Ornyx. He's a sadistic bastard."
"So how do we get around that? How do we beat him at his own game and get Tristan back?"
I heard the panic in Jasmine's eyes before I saw her face.
Again, I was underestimating how much Tristan meant to everyone in this room. How far they were willing to go for him.
"We don't." Bridget spoke looking at the wall opposite her with a straight face. "We don't because we're not playing Ornyx's game."
Raphael folded his hands across his chest and looked at her attentively. In fact, everyone was and once again Bridget was proving that she was a born leader.
"He wants our first instinct to be to go for Tristan - to negotiate for him... if Captain Park was his informant she would know how much any of the likely next Alpha's loved Tristan. How much we would all want him back."
Bridget was right, me, her, Joshua, Mike and Lady Melrose. If any of us had taken up the title of alpha, the first thing we would do was try to get him back.
"So what are you saying, we don't get Tristan back?" May asked in worry.
"No." Bridget spoke immediately.
"She's saying we have to beat Ornyx at his own game." Raphael spoke quietly. He looked thoughtful. "I worked special ops during the war, I know how to get in, infiltrate enemy camps without getting caught."
Bridget nodded at him. "That will come in handy but not for Tristan. Because our main goal isn't his retrieval right now."
"What?" My voice was the loudest and everyone seemed to just realise I was present.
Bridget gave me a sharp look. "Going for Tristan is what he expects. He's ready for that."
"So we're just going to leave him there?" I argued.
All I had heard were terrible things about the Shadow pack. And now that Tristan was in their hands I couldn't imagine what they were doing to him.
"They could have already killed him." Bridget spoke trying to make her voice monotonous but I could see right through the emotion she was trying to disguise.
I saw Jasmine look at the ground and shut her eyes tightly.
"We could send our best in but believe me, Ornyx will be waiting. He knows our moves too well."
I was at a loss of words. All the energy I had depleting. She of all people couldn't be giving up on Tristan.
"Then we devise another plan." I spoke desperately. "Something that will catch him off guard and get Tristan back."
"Ornyx has thrown the first punch." Bridget spoke forcefully. "He has initiated this war and he wants us to fight fire with fire. That's the very thing Tristan was dreading. I'm not sending our soldiers blindly into a war that Ornyx has obviously been preparing years for."
Raphael sighed. "He has Captain Park on his side. I don't know how long he has her but either way he knows our manpower, our weaponry, our strategy - you're right, we can't win this one if we play directly into his arms."
"Then find a way to win." Lady Melrose spoke up.
She got to her feet and straightened her scarf. "My grandson is out there. And that bastard Ornyx is probably torturing him as we speak. Find a way to win and when you're done, I want his head."
"I can do my best but at this point we also have to consider seniority." Bridget spoke. She looked at Jasmine. "Your dad is leader of the Union right now. This isn't just a Silvercrest pack issue. All the Werewolf Union packs have a say in how to handle Ornyx."
Lady Melrose placed a hand on her hip.
"Then tell him I demand my grandson back. I don't care who freaking sits at the head of that table. I want Tristan back."
She sounded surprisingly calm which made things even more scary as she turned to leave the room but not before giving me a small nod that was very easy to translate, 'make it happen'.
We heard the door close behind her.
"I'll gladly do the decapitation myself." Raphael spoke.
Bridget sighed. "No suicide missions, guys. I mean it."
"Suicide and willing to die for our alpha are two different things." Peter spoke.
Bridget looked exhausted and I wasn't just saying that because of her appearance. She looked drained.
"Listen everyone." She spoke as she looked around, "you are the only people I can still trust. That's why you're in this room."
Bridget's eyes met mine but only for a second before she looked away.
I blinked.
Did she really mean that? Did she count me in as one of her trusted people?
"That's why I'm gonna be honest with you about everything - Tristan has been taken. I don't know what Ornyx plans on doing to him... whether he wants to keep him alive and torture him or torture us by having us not know what will happen... I refuse to be a pawn in his game or let anyone else be. We're going to take down Ornyx and we'll make sure he doesn't see it coming. But for now, Jazz, Raph, I need you to secure this pack, nothing but thorough filtration through the walls. Form a barricade if you need to. The town is going into lockdown. Make sure all the residents have what they need. The only people I want still patrolling should be my soldiers and if any suspicious activity is detected, I want it reported to me immediately."
Raphael and Jasmine nodded. They then shared a look of mutual understanding.
"Whatever you say, alpha." Raphael spoke. "I'll get Nia and the rest -"
"Nia stays with the twins. I want them guarded at all times. We're not losing any more Melroses." Bridget spoke.
Raphael nodded slowly and sombrely.
It was a heavy and sad thought that so many of Tristan's family had been lost to Ornyx and it was now possible that more could be lost as well.
"Pete." Bridget spoke in a more level voice. "From now on you have to be my correspondent. You have a way with words, I need you to communicate with the pack what's going on in a way that won't raise panic."
Peter scoffed. "No disrespect Bridge but I'm a trained fighter, not a mouthpiece. I want to help."
Bridget gave May a quick look. She had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten she was here.
"I get that but your job is important too. You won't just be a messenger. You'll be the link between me and the rest of the alphas and the council."
Peter pursed his lips. He studied Bridget as if not completely believing her.
I looked at May and couldn't help but wonder if Bridget didn't want Peter in the action because she was protecting both her friends. May from worrying and Peter from getting hurt or worse... killed.
"I can't just be a glorified secretary while everyone puts their lives on the line, Bridge."
"I'm your alpha, Peter. You will do what I tell you to."
Bridget was in no state to be putting up such a fight but she definitely tried.
Peter clenched his jaw.
"Okay alpha." He spoke before turning to leave.
May sighed as she looked after him.
Bridget nodded at her. "Go. Talk to him."
May complied as she turned in that very direction but she then paused and looked at Bridget with folded arms.
"Bridge, as much as I don't want him on the front lines, you know he isn't going to stop. Pete can be almost as stubborn as you."
"Yeah well I'm alpha so he has to listen to me." She spoke.
May let out a light sigh. She shook her head slightly before turning to leave. Giving me a small nod in the process.
I pushed myself forward. "This is ridiculous." I spoke.
"What exactly is ridiculous?" Bridget asked slowly and calmly.
I let out a huff. "Tristan is out there and we're not." I spoke.
I was aware that I wasn't sounding eloquent or powerful. It wasn't exactly giving 'Luna'. And honestly. If I had been the one to take over I'm pretty sure the whole pack would have been doomed.
"I already told you -"
"You're trying to be smart because you think that's what Tristan would want." I spoke moving closer to her. "But I don't really care about what Tristan would want right now. I just want him safe and sound and with the people he loves."
"Crystal. I already made it clear that outsmarting Ornyx is next to impossible-"
"Then let's not outsmart him." I spoke. "Use me. Some of the council members had a point. You can use me as a bargaining chip."
Bridget was silent for a second and I was scared that she would just shut me down again.
"You think I haven't considered that?" She spoke in a lower voice.
I was shocked. I know it had been my idea but I guess I hadn't really been expecting it to have been crossing Bridget's mind as well.
She got to her feet. Something I didn't think was a good idea. She just looked paler. Her blonde hair sticking to her face.
"It's immoral and horrible and I know Tristan would hate me for it but yes Crystal, I did consider using you as a bargaining chip for Tristan."
I swallowed. Her voice was low and weak but I was still afraid.
"Do you know why I haven't? Because I love Tristan and he loves me... and you and this entire pack. Even if we used you to get him back, do you think he would ever be happy again?"
I thought of me begging Tristan not to challenge Ornyx and how he had been so determined.
For Tristan it had never been about himself. It had been about Joshua and Mikey and his grandmother. About his parents legacy and his friends and his pack. And me.
He was the most selfless man I knew and of all people he didn't deserve this.
"I'm not gonna stop trying."
"Yeah, well, I don't expect you to princess." Bridget muttered.
She clutched her side as she limped to Tristan's dresser. She stared at a framed picture of his parents.
"Bridget..." I started slowly. "Are you - are you dying?"
Bridget turned to me, flinching slightly in pain and the small action. She was using the dresser for support.
"What do you think?" She asked.
I stared at her hands that didn't look strong enough to do anything.
"Poison usually requires an antidote." She muttered.
I frowned. My mother had been poisoning me slowly with the very poison that had been meant to hurt Tristan. Bridget had taken the bullets for him.
And the effects were showing.
"You were in a coma." I told her. "How did you wake up?"
The corners of Bridget's lips turned down. She looked away from me.
"I felt him sever our link." Bridget spoke quietly.
I had almost forgotten that Bridget and Tristan's minds had been linked.
"It gave me the shock I needed to get back up." She explained.
I frowned.
The rejection had been one of the most painful things I had ever experienced. I could somehow relate to what Bridget was going through.
"Wait." I spoke realisation hitting me.
"If Tristan is alive I think I know how to get in touch with him."
Bridget looked at me in confusion.
"How?"
"I'm his mate." I spoke never being so happy to say that. "We can link minds."