Chapter 58
Stronger
Goddess be
I could no longer stand the scent of pork. I had feigned working late every night it was served and if a
whiff of it came my way I immediately threw up.
Thankfully the hunting season was well underway. My craving for venison was never ending. It was so
bad Grayson was having to send out extra hunters. All he stated was that he wanted extra food for the
winter but in reality I had eaten the doe heâd had roasted in one sitting.
I had to focus though this was the trade week. We were sending out all four packs at the same time it
had taken a lot of preparation, and a lot of manpower.
The trade trucks had been armored, there had been new weapons ordered, multiple new trade routes
had been chosen, and there were several decoys at play. The best way to weaken us was to destroy
our imports for the year, and our
sources of income.
We wouldnât last the winter and we would be forced to leave the safety of our pack to hunt and
scavenge for food and
resources.
âTheyâll leave at dawn,â Grayson told me.
Our tucks full of pelts, fabric, and food will ship out to our allies. The Crescent Mountain pack will send
metal and armor in return; they have been working tirelessly since theyâd been attacked to mine for
more metal to build
weapons.
The Waxing Pride pack will send us large amounts of beef and pork and hides, broths, cheese, milk,
eggs. The River Phase pack will send fish and lumber, Steven owes Grayson some men still and theyâd
be arriving as well.
âWhat do they know about our trade?â Grayson leaned back in his chair.
âThey know your routes, they know who trades what, and they know you all rely heavily on this trade,â
The prisoner freely gave the information, itching at the silver cuffs keeping him bound to the cell floor.
âWhat else,â Grayson pushed him.
This prisoner once blindly faithful now knew theordela Grayson asked for information and if he got it the
prisoner ate, if he didnt the captured wolf would starve, or go thirsty, or be kept awake, or freeze.
âTheyâll go for your trucks first, they know you have most of the food,â The wolf continued.
âHow do they know all this?â Grayson stood and headed towards the wolf towering over his captive.
âI donât know,â he looked down.
Grayson hadnât laid a hand on the man and broken his will beyond repair.
My mate walked out of the cell and grabbed my hand as we left. A small portion of me felt sorry for our
prisoner and
every time that happened I felt Grayson tense. They would do far worse to me if they had managed to
capture me.
âI want you to start taking over archery defense, this way it appears like youâre still training,â He told me
as we walked up from the Keeps dungeon.
âSounds like a good idea,â I agreed with him.
âPeople have started whispering to your absence in the ring,â he whispered in my ear.
âI figured they would,â I responded.
We walked up to his office and watched the GPS of the trucks as they moved. They had left one hour
ago, our tucks would enter and open area in a couple of minutes one of the risk areas.
âTime to wait and see,â
The one good thing about our trade is we had our harvest that went to humans picked up by humans. If
this enemy attacked them then the human government would intervene, and theyâd no doubt face
serious charges.
We cleared open area one. Then two, but the second they entered a valley towards the mountain
crescent packâ¦
âLandslide, repeat landslide, stop all trucks after checkpoint 17!,â We heard over the radio.
I clasped my hands together and began praying for the men and women in the trucks. We had fortified
them enough so they should be alright.
âEvade and drive! Move fast!â Grayson ordered them, jumping to his feet.
I watched the tracking signals on the screen. They glitched and closed my eyes, unable to think of what
I would say to their families.
âTruck 4 is down!,â
âSend out search and rescue!â I called and Matt got on the radio phone, the humans could get there
before we could.
âRoute 2, update,â Grayson called.
âRoute 2 easy going,â
âRoutes sound off,â He called again.
âRoute 3..Route 4â¦Route 5â¦Route 6â¦â They all came back cleared.
âI want to see the top of that peak,â Grayson turned to Leon.
âTruck 4 can you hear us,â I got onto the radio phone calling out to them.
Na response.
âTruck 4,â I went again.
Static.
We wouldnât know until search and rescue found them if they were alive or not.
âRoute 6 road is blocked,â The copied of us.
âChange route take a right, go down 10 miles and then head west,â Grayson called back to them.
Route 6 was headed to the Waxing Pride pack heading west would throw off any trap theyâd have set.
Routes 2,3,4 copy?â Grayson called again.
âCopyâ
*Copy.â
âCopy,â
âDecoys 1,2,3 how are you doing?â Grayson called out.
âNo trace of any wolves,â They replied.
âSeems like theyâve taken the bait,â I sighed in relief.
âFor now I suppose,â He sat back down.
The rest of the trade did well up until we entered the outskirts of the Waxing Pride territory.
âShots fired! Shots fired!â They called out to us.
âHow far away are you from the gate?â
âTwenty miles,â He responded.
Grayson smiled like the cat that caught the mouse. His eyes had that upper hand gleam in them.
âTrucks 2-8 on route 5 stop,â He ordered.
*Truck one drop the package, and book it,â
They had fallen for it completely. Grayson had rigged up the trucks to explode, their people had
swarmed the truck happy to take our food and insteadâ¦.
âPackage delivered,â
I could hear the flames over the radio. We had them. They had taken the bait and were blown to
pieces.
*Decory route 2 did you make it to the back entrance of the Waxing Pride pack alright?â Grayson
grinned like the devil.
âTrade delivered Alpha making our way back tomorrow morning,â I could hear the happiness of our
men on the other
end.
âTruck 4 on route 1 copy,â The radio phone signaled out to me.
âHow is everyone?â I grabbed the phone like it was running away from me.
âAll accounted for minor scrapes and bruises, they couldnât get the truck out without a crane so weâll
have to detonate it tomorrow,â He told me.
âWeâll detonate tonight I donât want them getting their hands on those explosives,â I looked to Grayson
who nodded at
1. me.
âDecoy 1 weâve delivered to the River phase pack weâll be heading back in the morning,â
Decoy 37 Grayson called out.
Static noise.
âDecoy 3,â
*Decoy 3 in distress requesting aide of route 3,â
âRoute three incoming,â We overheard. âI see you,â
They seem to have realized the trick. We sent out 2 decoy groups one taking the same path as the first
group of trucks, the second taking different routes.
âHold on to something,â the driver told them.
All I heard was a crashing sound I had no clue was going on then the line went dead.
âDecoy 3! Grayson called out growling.
âCome on. Come on.
âGoddess be he ran them over!â Laughing sounded from the other end âHe used his truck and then oh
in the name of moon thatâs the craziest shit Iâve ever seen,â
âTen miles out Alpha, the Crescent Mountain pack is meeting us as we speak,â They replied to us.
âAlpha our trade has arrived,â Aarron entered the room. âAll three shipemtns from the allied packs are
being unloaded.
as we speak,â
The phone rang. âGray all trade has made it, those bastards missed,â
He looked triumphant as hung up the phone. He grabbed me by my hand and we walked out to the
pavilion where a fire was blazing in the pit. We spent the night dancing and singing at the success of
our mission. Our people rejoiced that we had pulled it all off.
I rejoiced because we had hit them. They now had wounded and dead just like us, I wanted them to
feel the pain they