Chapter 25

After a day of rest, the elders were ready to push on with their planning. There were far too many wolves to be able to maintain for long.

It was apparent that the wolves had never needed to strategize in such large quantities. The packs had all agreed to come together for this project, but they all had their own ways of doing things. Mila had to be patient as they argued circles.

Jed, it seemed, was now overstaying his welcome. He hadn’t been officially invited to partake in their planning sessions as Mila had. His continued presence, made many wolves anxious and edgy. His eating habits repulsed though they were hardly concerning and even sometimes helpful as he drained the blood, but left the meat of his catches.

It worried the parents that the children were becoming more and more brave about approaching Jed. They were eager to risk the proximity to the vampire so that they could ask Mila more questions.

Jed politely ignored them as they continued to flock toward Mila to ask whatever inane questions might have occurred to them. Even when the children would run up to Mila as she waited for her time to speak with the alphas, she responded positively. She found herself illustrating with her hands more and more.

The disruptive nature didn’t bother the alphas. Children were prized above all. Kody’s eyes followed Mila with great interest as she spoke to the young members of the packs. His attention did not escape notice.



“These negotiations are taking too long, spar with me Alpha Kody?” Kiera attempted to appeal with a slight whine in her tone.

Kody waved her off with little interest, claiming that he needed to be present for when the others finally calmed down. But when Mila became similarly bored and asked Jed to spar with her, he followed them out toward the field to watch.

Mila could imagine that their fights looked ridiculous to the outsider. She closed her eyes to better hear the movements, rather than attempt to track him with her eyes. They leaned back, dancing around each other until it was time to strike.

Perhaps they looked like video game characters? The stilted movements probably appeared as though they were cartoon ninjas, darting around to land swift blows and bounce back to starting positions again.

The longer they continued, the easier it was for Mila to get the hang of it. He was by far, the strongest opponent she had ever encountered. By the time the wolves were ready to get to it, taking down the human remnants would be laughably easily.

The only problem would be the numbers. In theory, the thought was to branch out to various regions, burning through like fire to wipe out the remnants. No one was particularly comfortable being so far from their own territories. Many would have preferred to branch out from their own pack homes, slowly expanding their own borders.

Mila knew that this would be inefficient though. It would make greater sense to make use of the unusually large wolf groupings now to clear out the more populated areas.

Together, they would be able to clear out entire cities. Then all that would be left of the humans would be the stragglers that even a wolf child could take out without trouble.



Mila said as much to Jed who agreed. In his own time as a human, he had fought in a war. Though he was a Southerner by birth, he had done his part for the North during the Civil War.

He had been ferrying escaped slaves toward safer regions when he had caught the eye of a witch. When he’d rejected her aggressive advances, far more eager to join the fighting than settle as a consort, she’d cursed him with vampirism.

He’d taken well to being a vampire, using it to further the cause, but he would never be remembered by the collective human mind for his heroics. Now, after decades, he had adapted to modern life, but he still had the mind for battle.

It took a great deal of gentle coaxing, but the wolves respected strength. Repulsive though his nature was to them, the alphas begrudgingly allowed Jed to stay and within two weeks, they were continuing forward with the plans he and Mila had made.

First, starting with small towns, teams of wolves approached from all angles. Mila and her unicorn were more agile than wolves. The unicorn could slip through vents like liquid and Mila dropped down through manholes to clear out the sewer systems – a disgusting, but very necessary job.

The numbers tended to be small down there so even omegas like Winnie could take part in the fighting. Mila had a small army of children who streaked eagerly through the network of tunnels as though it were all a fun adventure.

Adult wolves took to the streets, clearing out the vaster numbers of shuffling remnants while Jed and the alphas entered buildings. Jed was able to leap from rooves, running through every new building to chase out remnants or subdue them in ways that would leave little cleanup.

The work was so efficient, they were able to continue on to larger cities where the populations were denser. The numbers were impressive, but Mila had been right about the strength of her fighting. Rather than becoming exhausted or overwhelmed, she was only getting stronger the more she fought, feeling more and more energized.

And the more she fought, the more the children came to admire her. She could fill entire classrooms with children eager to listen to her teachings. Tails wagged and eyes sparkled when she entered rooms or called out instructions.

Mila could sense the divide being drawn between the packs though. She could feel the ongoing hostilities from Kiera and her pack. For every wolf that was brought under Mila’s unintentional thrall, there were others that bristled at her approach. Parents pulled away their eager pups, trying to put distance. Some even butted heads with Kody who was responsible for bringing her to them.

Kody did not bend easily to any accusations though and Mila had a building respect for him. A friendship was slowly forming.