Kaden reached into the box again and I held my breath, fearing what else might be removed, but it was only a small card. “'Return Jordan or more Ophiuchus pack members will be sent back to you in pieces,'” he read aloud.
I swallowed hard, thinking of the others who had gone with Tanner, including his mate, Lindsey. I wondered if she was still alive, or if she'd been killed as part of this point the Sun Witches and Leos were making. The thought of my mate being killed while I suffered alone and in enemy territory made something clench tight in my stomach. She didn't deserve this. No one in this pack did. “Is it signed?”
Kaden shook his head and tossed the note down as if it burned his hand. “I don't know if it's from the Leos or the Sun Witches, but it doesn't really matter at this point. Either way, it proves they know we're here with the Libras."
Shit. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep our location a secret, but we had just gotten here a few days ago. I'd hoped we would have a few weeks of peace at least.
“What are we going to do?” Clayton asked, breaking into the silence. All pairs of eyes turned to Kaden, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was frowning down at Tanner's head.
"We should send Jordan's head back to them," Kaden said in a low, menacing voice.
"We can't," I said, the thought making me feel sick in a different way. "We need him."
"He is the best bargaining chip we have right now," Ethan pointed out. "We can't send him back—alive or dead."
“I'll try to get something useful out of Jordan,” I said. "He must know something that can help us against the Sun Witches."
Kaden's eyes flashed with dark anger. "Then we should attack the Leo village in Arizona now and get this over with. They must be holding the rest of the Ophiuchus there."
Ethan raised a hand to halt Kaden. "Let's not be hasty. It might be best if we call a meeting first, with all of the other alphas. Immediately.”
“How do you propose we do that?” I asked. “There isn't enough time to get everyone gathered into one place, and our last attempt didn't go so well.”
“Trust me,” Ethan said. “I'll make sure we have a meeting set up by tomorrow.”
Kaden snarled, "Fine. We'll keep trying diplomacy. But when it fails, we're doing it my way."
He left the room, and I trailed after him, my thoughts heavy and bleak. This was going to be a restless night for all of us.
The next afternoon Kaden and I were summoned to a different conference room, and to my surprise, it was only Ethan sitting in the room with a laptop open.
“What's going on?” Kaden asked. “What are we doing?”
Ethan looked up from the laptop and motioned for us to sit beside him. “I'm calling an emergency conference with the rest of the alphas. We're going to do it on Zoom.”
"Zoom?" Kaden asked with a scowl.
"Yes, it's a video conference program," Ethan explained.
"I know what it is," Kaden grumbled. "But I prefer face-to-face meetings for things like this."
"This does seem a lot easier—and safer—than getting everyone to meet in a secret location," I admitted.
"Exactly." Ethan typed a few things into his laptop. “A lot of the packs are hesitant to use technology like this, but I'm hoping I can bring the Zodiac Wolves into the modern era. It would solve so many issues if we could talk quickly without having to wait for representatives to travel between the pack lands."
Kaden didn't look convinced, but he didn't say anything. He just sat back and crossed his arms, his black shirt straining across his muscles, making him look every bit the brooding alpha.
A noise pinged from Ethan's laptop. "Here we go," he said.
One by one, his screen split, and faces appeared. Before I could ask Ethan if there was a way we could see it better, he hit a button and his laptop screen projected onto the wall.
I was shocked by how quickly the alphas started piling onto the call, one after another. Ethan was right, this was a lot easier and faster than trying to call our own meeting—and I was impressed that the other alphas had responded to Ethan so quickly when it had been a challenge to get them to meet with us at all originally.
"I can't believe they all agreed to meet so soon," I said quietly, though we were all on mute.
"Being known as the mediators of the Zodiac Wolves has its perks," Ethan said with a grin. "Most of the other alphas will listen to me if I say it's an emergency."
I was beginning to realize how lucky we were that Ethan had agreed to help us—and how it might open up more opportunities with the other packs in the future. If the alphas saw that the Libras and Ophiuchus were working together, they might come to see our pack as equals too.
There were a few hang-ups as all the alphas tried to get their videos and microphones working, and Ethan took everyone off mute to try to help them through it. Voices chimed in with things like, "Why are doing this?" and "I can't figure out how to turn on the microphone," followed by another person saying, "It is on."
It was clear that not all of the alphas had taken the time to familiarize themselves with this technology, but after a few more moments, Ethan got everyone settled in and we could see all the other alphas on the projected screen. I recognized most of them but was surprised and pleased to see Ethan had managed to get the Gemini and Virgo alphas to show up—something we hadn't been able to accomplish before.
I gave Wesley a warm smile and also nodded to Amos, the Pisces alpha, who looked confused by everything going on, despite having an assistant next to him who kept showing him how to unmute himself. I was pleased to see Thom and Mae, the Sagittarius pack leaders, on the screen too, but no sign of Eileen.
I focused my attention next on the alphas I'd never met before. In the top left-hand corner were the Gemini twin alphas, one male and one female, both of them in their early thirties and gorgeous with blue eyes and golden hair. Unlike the other packs, they always had two alphas, and always twins.
At the bottom of the screen was the Virgo alpha, who was an older woman with darker skin and her long, gray hair pulled into two braids. She had no alpha male sitting with her because the Virgo pack was always led by a woman and had a matriarchal hierarchy.
The final alpha in attendance was the Capricorn leader, Wilson. I'd never met him before, but he was the oldest person in the group and had a surly scowl on his face.
“Let's get this over with,” Wilson said, looking like he was sucking on a lemon peel.
The Scorpios, Taurus, Aries, and Aquarius were absent. No one mentioned it or asked where they were. We all knew that they had allied themselves with the Leos and the Sun Witches, and I presumed Ethan hadn't even bothered to invite them to this meeting.
“Thank you for joining us,” Ethan said. "Especially on such short notice. We have an urgent matter we need to discuss with everyone, and I thought this was the best way. Many of you have met Kaden, alpha of the Ophiuchus pack, and his alpha female, Ayla, originally of the Cancer pack. They are currently under the protection of the Libras and their pack is staying with us for the time being after the attack at the solar eclipse meeting."