Michael, who had been mostly silent, cleared his throat. “That also gives Damien time to set up more people on the perimeter of Windale. It gives him just as much time to get people together.”
“But having Nikolai’s numbers with what we can spare will be the show of force we need,” Remy insisted.
I started to shake my head. “We can’t, Remy. We can’t ask my father’s pack to leave their people unprotected to come help us.”
Dimitri started to laugh, and Nikolai smiled, bemused at what I was saying.
“Sweetheart, I can assure you that your pack will be fine either way,” Nikolai told me.
“Narodnaya isn’t going anywhere. And we’re so high in the mountains, attacking us would be suicide,” Dimitri supplied.
“And my people are there,” Lulu finished. “I can have them set up wards in case anyone breeches the perimeter or gets close.”
“Okay,” I agreed softly. “Thank you.”
“Do you think Damien won’t notice an extra five hundred shifters heading his way once they land?” Dimitri snorted. “He’ll know you’re going for war. He might decide to forget the challenge and just make it an all-out fight.”
“People would die,” Katy said, exhaling slowly. “Women, children … We would turn Windale into a battle ground.”
“Not if he doesn’t see them,” Lulu whispered, catching my attention.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my head turning in her direction.
Lulu sat up a bit, her eyes brighter. “It could be tricky, but I could mask them.”
“How is that harder than what you did with the vehicles in Long Mesa?” Rhodes asked, folding his arms over his chest.
“We were dealing with a lot less people, and a lot of misdirection. Damien will be looking for a trap,” Dimitri answered, his gaze locked on Lulu.
“A charm,” Lulu answered, her brow furrowing. “Maybe a bracelet or a ring I could charm for each person? He wouldn’t know they were there until it was too late. We have their planes land at the closest public airport, not with ours, and they come in at a different angle.”
“If we tell Damien I’m only bringing our plane with a few dozen people, he’ll really think he’s won,” Remy mused. “We can keep the flight manifest public so he knows exactly what we’re bringing.”
Dante smirked and nodded. “He wouldn’t be able to resist. He’d see it as an easy victory. Even if you were beating him, he can call on his people to take the, what? Forty of us who show up?”
“Meanwhile we have an army hiding nearby,” I whispered, hope starting to blossom like a fragile snowflake about to turn into a blizzard.
Dimitri stepped forward, glaring at Lulu. “That whole plan hinges on you being able to make five hundred charmed objects to cloak all these people.”
“I can do it,” she insisted stubbornly.
“The hell you can,” he snapped, waving a hand at her. “Look at you, Lu. Your power is drained from what happened in Long Mesa yesterday. Your body can’t produce that kind of magic again that soon.”
Her gray eyes flashed. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Dimitri.”
His teeth ground together. “It’s suicide, Lulu. You’ll die.”
I gasped. “Is that true?”
“He’s being a drama queen,” she told me, ignoring Dimitri.
“Is he?” Nikolai pressed, going over and kneeling in front of the elemental. “You’re exhausted, Lucia. We can all see it. I don’t see how that will change in the next twenty-four hours.”
Lulu leaned forward. “If we don’t do this, then what happens?”
No one had an answer.
“Exactly. We lose. And more importantly? All those women that Elias helped Damien squirrel away become fucking commodities to be traded like baseball cards.” Lulu leaned back with a glare directed at all of us. “They lose.”
Katy flinched beside me.
“So, they die or you die?” Dimitri practically spat.
“I might not have to die,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Seriously. Calm down on the theatrics.”
“Could this kill you?” Remy asked, point-blank.
Lulu looked away. “I don’t know. I’ve never pushed myself that far to the edge before. If I had another elemental around, I could use them to help.”
“You said there’s elementals everywhere,” I pointed out quickly. “We can find another one.”
Lulu shook her head. “I wish it was that simple. We would need to find one around here, and then I would need to be able to trust that they would let me use them as a conduit. They could be just as likely to steal my power as I am to use theirs. Then we’d really be fucked.”
“And you’d really be dead,” Dimitri retorted.
“Either way,” Nikolai said sharply, cutting them both off, “it isn’t an option.”
“Another elemental isn’t an option,” Lulu agreed. Her gaze darted to me curiously. “But I might not need one.”
Awareness prickled the nape of my neck until a shudder rolled through me.
“Do you remember our conversation about female Alphas? Specifically the Dashkov ones? And why Elias wanted you?”
I bit my lip, thinking back. “Uh, yeah. Because of my bloodline.”
She gave me an imploring look. “You’re a female Dashkov, Skye.”
“Meaning what?” Remy demanded, his tone going hostile.
“Meaning I might be able to siphon the magic I need from Skye,” Lulu said plainly.
My mouth fell open a little.
“No.” Remy folded his arms over his chest, his expression almost feral.
“No fucking way,” Rhodes agreed.
Lulu held up her hands. “It’s just an idea.”
“Would it work?” I asked, ignoring the pointed glares from my friends. “You said I might have magic in me.”
Remy growled in my direction. “It doesn’t matter because it isn’t happening.”
I shot him a look. “If it could help us—”
“Skye,” Katy cut me off gently, “no. We’re not risking you.”
I resisted the urge to snap at them as my frustration built. Instead I looked at Lulu. “Would it kill me? Would it kill you?”
She frowned. “No. I don’t think—”
“So, you aren’t sure?’ Remy cut her off. “Then no.”
“Let’s hear Lulu out,” Nikolai said evenly, standing up.
Dimitri’s jaw gaped open. “You’re actually entertaining this idea? You’re willing to risk Lulu and Skye?”
Nikolai’s eyes narrowed. “I’m willing to listen to all potential solutions and not think with my emotions.”
I wasn’t sure if that comment was aimed at Remy or Dimitri, but it seemed to shut them both up, even if now they were only fuming in silence.
“I don’t know exactly what would happen,” Lulu told me.
Remy scoffed under his breath and started shaking his head. I pointedly ignored him.
“But I would be able to sense if it was too much,” she finished. “I’d break the connection before that happened.”