Chapter 48 : To Victory!

*Kael*

"I don't see anyone," Gemma said, leaning forward and squinting past the sun's glare and swirling sand.

She was right. The cars weren't running and there was no sign of life. Izar stopped and parked, waving out the window in what had to be a signal to the rest of the caravan.

We sat in uncertain silence.

"It was not part of the plan," Izar said bitterly, and I now noticed the family resemblance: my mother liked things orderly and according to plan or expectation. "But sometimes you have to just wing it. Alpha Kael, do you have a suggestion for our next move?"

Everyone turned to me, and I forgot that Alphas needed to make those kinds of calls. I was the one shifters would be waiting orders from, asking tough questions, hoping—and expecting—encouraging speeches to lift morale and give reason to follow me into battle.

I'd barely gotten the chance to practice. Now, I was thrown straight into the thick of it.

I looked at my mate, her eyes burning with determinatio