Nathan drew her against his chest and hugged her. “We’re going to find her.”
Vicky relaxed against him, but her palpable grief beat against Declan.
“We have to decide what to do with the women and children,” Nathan said. “If they have Lucien and Leonard, we have some time before they turn them into Savages. We have plenty of fighters and defenses here, but it might not be enough if a horde of Savages arrives, especially since Lucien knows all those defenses.”
“We’ll add more,” Ronan said. “I’ve already ordered more guards on watch. We’ll dig more traps and add more guns and bombs to the perimeter. If someone tries to get in here, they’re going to regret it.”
“So, you plan to keep the children here?” Elyse asked as she held Madison closer.
“For now,” Ronan said. “Until we can find a place that Lucien and Leonard don’t know anything about. If they were captured, then we still have some time. It will take at least a couple of weeks for them to turn, if not longer. Baldric is already looking for another property to purchase.”
“Okay.” Declan stepped closer to the table and grasped the map lying near one of the pictures. He recognized the map as the same one they used when they hunted down the location of the Savages in Maine. Elyse’s mark was still on the map. “Let’s go find out what happened to them.”
“How many are you going to take?” Roland asked.
“Not many,” Declan murmured.
He didn’t have to look at Vicky to know she didn’t like his response.
“What do you mean, not many?” Vicky demanded.
Declan lifted his head to meet her narrowed eyes. He would also prefer to take an army up there and tear the woods apart, but they couldn’t risk more lives, and they couldn’t leave the compound weakened.
“We can’t afford to leave the women and children here unprotected,” Ronan said. “And if we have to evacuate, we’ll require as much help here as possible.”
“We can’t leave them up there!” Vicky protested.
“We’re not,” Declan assured her. “I’m going.”
“So am I,” Logan said.
“Me too,” Asher said.
“I’ll join you,” Saxon said.
The color drained from Elyse’s face as Madison stuck her thumb in her mouth. Saxon smiled at her, but Declan sensed his reluctance to leave his family behind. However, Lucien would be the first one out the door in search of him, and Saxon would go to find him.
“You should stay with your mate and child,” Declan said. “If we’re forced to abandon the compound, it will be better if you’re here with them.”
Saxon gazed from him to his family before bowing his head. “You’re right.”
Elyse’s shoulders hunched forward, and she sighed. Before she became pregnant, she was a fierce fighter, but her family was her priority now, and she didn’t want it separated.
Declan didn’t blame her; if he had a family, he would do everything in his power to protect it. However, he never planned to have a family. He was too fucked up for that, and after what happened with his father, and then him, he couldn’t risk having a child.
Chapter Six
Declan buried the memories battering against the wall he’d sealed them behind as he shifted his attention back to the map. Now was not the time for the past. He knew he had to learn from the past, but he couldn’t dwell on it. Dwelling on it would only drive him mad.
The only thing he had any control over was the present, so dwelling on the past and worrying about the future were pointless endeavors—although there were many times when he found himself walking the paths of his past before recalling he couldn’t alter them.
“I’m going too,” Killean said.
“It’s better if you stay here,” Declan said. “We’re already taking some of our best fighters. We can’t take anymore.”
“I am going,” Vicky stated.
“Not without me,” Nathan said.
“Yes, without you. You’re staying with Wyatt, and I am going.”
Nathan looked as if she’d socked him in the gut, and then red began to suffuse his face. The couple stared at each other, neither of them willing to back down.
Gazing between them, Declan couldn’t decide if he should say something that might diffuse the situation or back out of the room. The others shuffled around him, and he felt their unease as they tried to decide how to react.
“I’m not letting you go out there alone,” Nathan said.
“Then it’s a good thing I won’t be alone, and you don’t get to let me do anything. I’m going to look for my sister.”
“And what about our son?” Nathan demanded.
“Don’t do that,” Vicky hissed. “Don’t use him against me.”
“I’m going to unpack some of my things from Mexico and get ready for this trip,” Declan said.
“I’ll help you unload that tequila,” Saxon said, and draping his arm around Elyse’s shoulders, he hurried her toward the door.
Declan didn’t listen to the murmured excuses of the others as they followed him out of the room. Ronan closed the doors on Vicky and Nathan’s heated discussion.
“I don’t envy him,” Ronan said.
“He never should have said he wasn’t going to let her go,” Kadence said.
“I’m not even that stupid,” Killean said.
Simone nudged him in the side with her elbow. “You better not be.”
“Happy wife, happy life,” he said as he kissed her temple.
The rising voices from behind the doors propelled them into the foyer.
Declan reclaimed his bag and turned to Asher and Logan. “Be ready in half an hour.”
It was going to take at least six hours to get there, even if they were driving like the hounds of hell were on their asses, and he was eager to get there.
“I’m good to go,” Logan said and jostled the bag on his back.
“I’m going to send Saber too,” Ronan said. “I don’t like the idea of possibly losing another purebred, but you’ll need more than the three of you.”
“I think it will be five,” Kadence said. “Vicky will be with them.”
“Nathan’s not going to lose that battle.”
“Yes, he is.”
“I agree,” Simone said.
“No way,” Killean said.
“Care to bet on it?” Kadence asked.
Declan turned away when Ronan said. “I do.”
“I’d like to get in on this,” Saxon said. “My money’s on Vicky.”
“I think Nathan’s going to win,” Elyse said.
“I’ll put fifty on Vicky too,” Roland said. “She was pissed.”
As he climbed the sweeping stairs, Declan shut out the conversation behind him. At the top, he turned and walked down the hallway to his room. With every step he took, his teeth ground together more and more. They were leaving soon, but it wasn’t soon enough. Lucien and Willow had been in those woods too long already.
He never should have volunteered to go to Mexico. It was important to strengthen the relationship with the hunters and vamps there when the number of Savages started increasing again.