79: Plan of action

**Tristan**

“No!” As I suspected, my sister did not agree with the idea of her staying behind with Oliver, Loren and a few of the pack guards looking after her.

“Jasmine, I hate to point out the obvious here, but you’re pregnant,” Damon said as calmly as he possibly could. “You’re an irrational woman by nature, and I love you for that, but this is the one time you can’t be irrational. You need to keep yourself and our baby safe.”

Jasmine fell silent for a moment. Damon was not the first to try to change her mind. London, Landon and Loren had done the same too, but it seemed as though their pleas were all rendered futile by her outright stubbornness. And so, in the midst of the silence, I decided to speak up too, to try to convince her to stay, because I was just as desperate as they were to keep her as safe as possible. Jasmine had spent our childhood protecting me and keeping me safe and now I wanted to do the same for her. After years of abandoning the idea of love and family, I’d finally given in and welcomed both into my life. Now, I was no longer willing to give either up.

“Jasmine…” I called out softly, “you and I have lost so much. We’ve lost mom, dad… even each other. Now I know neither of us are strangers to loss, but this is one loss I’m not willing to go through. The wolves in the pack we’re going to ambush are so much stronger than any of you are used to. I don’t think you understand the freedom of cruelty Ambrose had in the pack. Although a lot of the rogues were allowed to live normal peaceful lives, the many of us that were strong enough to serve in his crazy army were trained to the brink of death, and even then, we’d still need to push on. These wolves are lethal, and they won’t have any sympathy just because you’re pregnant. The risk is too great Jasmine and you and your baby are way too important.” I then took a deep breath and paused a moment, feeling a sore lump forming in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes. “After that fire I remember feeling empty, emptier than I’d ever felt before. I didn’t cry much back then; I couldn’t bring myself to. The loss was too great for tears to even begin to grant me some form of comfort. Years and years had passed by with me thinking that nothing from my past had remained, that I’d lost everything and gained little worth being happy about. But then I found you again and for once I had hope again. Lucien had a big contribution to why I decided to change and choose this family instead of Ambrose, but so did you. The moment we reunited I knew I had to keep you safe Jasmine and although I was reluctant to do whatever it took to protect you back then, I’ve changed now. So, I am begging you to stay Jasmine, not just for me, but for Damon too.” By now I was stuttering over my words and tears ran down my face. It was still difficult for me to completely control my emotions and so I struggled hard to pull myself together until I felt Lucien’s arms snake around my body, lulling me into a sense of calm. Jasmine, however, let her tears fall freely down her face and she even grabbed me away from Lucien and pulled me into a tight embrace. I could feel the dampness of her tears wetting against the fabric of my clothing and how her body shook as she cried. It was the first time we’d cried together like this, the first time I’d had the emotional capacity to understand and experience the hurt we’d both gone through all these years. It was both draining and comforting all at the same time.

“I understand what you’re saying Tristan, I really do…” She mumbled softly. Despite her words, I could still sense her remaining reluctance. This was further confirmed when she pulled away from me and then turned towards Damon. Her words, however, were directed at both Damon and me.

“…but I can’t sit here and stay still while I know that my fiancé, mate and father of my child is out there in danger. I want to be there with him, because we’d promised each other to stay together no matter what. I’m sure you of all people can understand this.” When she said this, she turned back towards me. “If you were in my position and you had to stay here while Lucien was out there doing something life-threatening, you’d be as upset as I am.”

I turned towards Lucien and his eyes softened. Jasmine wasn’t wrong. I would be upset, yes, heartbroken even. But if I was in her *exact* position, I’d want to care for my unborn baby first and foremost. Lucien would be too worried about me to concentrate about anything else and I was sure the same was going to be true for Damon. Of course, I could have suggested that he stayed behind with her, but his family was already being difficult. Although they seemed reluctantly okay with listening to my instructions, the only person they’d be able to follow was Damon. He was the only one that could get us there in one piece.

When I told Jasmine all of this, her eyes softened, and she seemed more open to the idea of giving in. However, still, there was reluctance visible on her face. And so, in a last and final attempt to reason with my sister, I told her this, “I can’t promise that Damon won’t get caught in the crossfire, this is after all a brutal battle. What I can promise is that I will protect Damon with my life so that he can get back to you and your baby. That’s a promise.”

“Me too,” Lucien said firmly, grabbing onto my hand and holding it tightly before looking at me. “Tristan and I make an unstoppable team when we’re together.” Then, he looked back at Jasmine, with sincerity filling his eyes. “We won’t let anything bad happen to him, so you just worry about yourself and your baby. We’ll bring him home safe to you. That’s a promise.”

I sometimes forgot that I wasn’t in all of this alone, but I was grateful that Lucien was always there to remind me. All the promises that I made, were now his promises too.

Jasmine glanced at our intertwined hands and then sighed deeply before nodding slowly. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I *was* thinking irrationally. So, I’ll stay here, but I’m holding you both to your promises… and I want you both to return unscathed too.”

Lucien and I glanced at each other momentarily. We both knew this was a promise we couldn’t keep. Nonetheless, and much to my surprise, Lucien nodded. I assumed he did it to put her at ease and so I couldn’t find it in me to disagree with him.

I then turned to Oliver and Loren, the other two victims of my decision and then asked whether they were willing to stay behind to ensure Jasmine’s safety as a mere precautionary measure.

Oliver turned to Loren with a questioning look on his face. They both stared at each other for a moment, engrossed in an internal conversation. Once they were done, Loren turned back towards me and nodded. “We’ll stay here to protect her. Besides, having some company might bring her some comfort.”

I thanked the both of them. But they were not the only ones who wanted to stay behind and look after Jasmine. London and Amber volunteered to stay behind as well. Their reasoning behind this was that Loren, Oliver and Jasmine were all quite vulnerable at this point and if something were to happen, they’d at least have a few extra hands to help and protect Jasmine. I was inclined to agree with them as well. Once all of the details regarding Jasmine’s protection unit was sorted, we all fell into our own conversations while waiting for the other Alphas and their pack members who had volunteered to join our fight.

Lucien took this opportunity to introduce me to his large family, starting off with my favourite person in the world: Aunt Charlotte, she was one of Ambrose’s many cousins who had come to join in on our fight and apparently Jasmine and I were not the only victims of her harshness. Like the other cousins- Hailey, Joseph, Cornelius, Benedict and Miriam- that had attended, she was very unliked because of her bold, forward, rude nature. Then there were Ambrose’s siblings- the select many who hated the understandably disliked man- Kayla, Bernard, Geoff and Ethan. Each were entitled, rude and only seemed to give me irritated side glances. Their children were none the better. Needless to say, everyone was uncomfortable, and I was not the only person falling victim to the scrutinising gaze of the Michaels family. Even Lucien shifted uncomfortably beside me, a clear indication that the only connection these people shared was the blood that ran through their veins.

Finally, when the other packs began to arrive a silent and subtle sigh of relief left all of us. I was pleasantly surprised that even some of Jasmine’s old friends had shown up, more than willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of Jasmine and Damon. The other packs were much more polite and much more fascinated with the fact that I was a Blue-Eyed Alpha than Lucien would have liked and by the time everyone had arrived, Lucien was just about done explaining to everyone (very aggressively, I might add) that I was his mate and that wandering eyes were definitely not appreciated. But his harshness and the inescapable scent of our mate bond did nothing to prevent some of the fascinated stares which I still received.

Once the final pack had arrived, I began to brief everyone on the rough plan I’d come up with. We were going to leave to make our journey to the rogue pack at sundown. It was to be done on foot and through the wooded areas to ensure that Ambrose did not have the same ambush idea as I did and if he did, then we’d be able to stop him before he even reached the Blood Moon packgrounds. We then divided the group up according to the four entrances to the pack. Stealth was of the utmost importance. If Ambrose caught wind of the ambush, he was sure to launch an all-out attack. I further divided the group into various tasks. Some wolves were allocated to solely taking out the pack guards which patrolled the perimeter while others were allocated to move further into the centre of the pack attacking the soldiers further in. Then, another group was tasked with freeing the innocent residents within the pack to avoid getting them caught up in the crossfire. Their fates would be their own to decide thereafter. Lastly, I allocated Damon, Lucien, Landon, his mate and the rest of Jasmine’s friends to accompany me in tackling the root of the problem, Ambrose. I was sure that by now the only loyal siblings he had remaining- Ruth and Oliver’s father, Ryder- had returned from their tiresome journey of recruitment. The two hadn’t been home for years, dedicating their time to finding poor lost wolves in need of a rogue pack. However now, I assumed Ambrose would have called them back for the battle ahead. The Michaels siblings were always stronger when they were together. Ambrose, Ruth and Ryder were, apart from me, the strongest wolves in the rogue pack and I was sure defeating all three of them would take all the strength we had, especially since I was now slightly weakened already.

The last group consisted of those who were on standby, near the rogue pack. They were allocated to the woods surrounding the packgrounds. Their purpose was to assist in bringing the innocent pack residents to safety as well as serving as back up in case we needed more wolves in battle. The plan was rushed and not as detailed as I’d hoped, but it would have taken days to plan the way we needed to for a fight this big. The only thing we seemed to have on our side was the element of surprise, not only by ambushing Ambrose, but by me showing up too. Ambrose had hoped I’d sit this one out, but unfortunately, he was mistaken. I’d give this battle my all. I had to if I hoped to spend more tomorrows with my family.