Page 74 of Rising Reign

“I’ve got a question,” Clyde said, taking a sip of coffee.

“Is it about the mermaids?” Juan asked. “Because I still want to know about that.”

Clyde sent him a withering stare. “No, it’s not about mermaids.”

“Damn.”

“Jesus,” King muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Clyde turned to our alpha. “Do you think there’s a good chance the dark mages and Red River will attack here? Or will they try for something more public?”

Kingston mulled that over for a moment. “The last time the mages attacked, it was public, but…not. They waited until everyone but us had cleared out of the gym. And Red River, they hit in disguises. But now, they know we’ll be on guard for that.”

Clyde nodded slowly. “If you don’t all gather in one spot outside of this property, you might be able to force them to attack here.”

I frowned at the man who’d become like a father to me. “And what would that get us?”

A grin spread across his face. “You guys have all the supernatural and high-tech stuff handled, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more defense. I think we should add a low-tech line.”

Kingston nodded. “It’s not a bad idea. That’s not something either party would expect.”

“I could position myself with a good vantage point of the traps,” Ender suggested. “Take them out as they hit each one.”

My stomach dropped as I thought about Ender alone in some sniper’s nest. I moved to him on instinct. “It won’t take them long to figure out where you are, and they will try to take you down.”

End wrapped his arms around me and breathed deeply. “I have ways of escape.”

“And I can be backup,” Franco offered. “I’m a damn good shot. My dad’s into target shooting.”

Ender arched a brow but nodded. “All right.”

Locke took a sip of his drink and then adjusted his glasses. “I can put sensors on the traps to let us know when one is tripped. It’ll be another early warning system.”

Kingston clapped his hands together. “I think we’ve got a plan. Let’s pair off and get started.”

“Wren,” Hera said, rising gracefully from her seat. “I think we should check the wards. See if we can reinforce them.”

Ender’s grip on me tightened. “If you’re going that close to the territory boundary, I’m coming with you.”

One corner of Hera’s mouth tugged up. “Come along, Cat Daddy.”

Ender jerked back, sending me an accusing look. “You told her?”

I grinned. “I don’t know. It’s pretty obvious that you’re king of the pussy palace.”

Franco choked on a sip of tea, and Puck thumped him on the back. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

Ender cursed as his shovel hit another rock, and Hera let out a soft snicker.

“I heard that,” Ender called from the pit he and Franco were currently digging.

“I don’t care,” Hera singsonged.

That had my lips twitching. Ender and Franco had been working on a trap for almost two hours already. The hope was that we could force any intruders that made it past the wards toward one of those by our camera placement. If an intruder was smart enough to make it past the energy field and the metaphysical wards, they’d likely be on the lookout to avoid any cameras, as well. And we’d have traps in each of those spots.

“You know,” Franco yelled. “You could help.”

“We’re quite fine up here,” Hera assured him.