Page 138 of Wolf Roulette

I shook out my hands.

Pascal murmured, “Confidence, Andie. It’s up to the grid gods now.”

“If I knew there were grid gods, I would’ve left sacrifices.”

Her lips curved.

Rhona was silent. Her scent was all over the place—determination, shame, and guilt.

What do you think?I asked Booker.

She’s torturing herself or testing an idea.

That was my guess. Either that or she really did care how this went for the tribe.

Boom.

In Sandstone, the pack had always opted to enter slowly. That was before they had three weeks to dismantle our ground traps.

The Luthersran.

They usually chose to start climbing once the first of them reached the middle of the quarry.

I readied my walkie to give the order.

… They weren’t climbing.

I sniffed the air.What’s that?

I’m not sure,Booker replied.Don’t move yet.

A wolf was calculative to the extreme and this could make them hesitant. Sometimes, I had to override that natural inclination and make quick decisions, but this time, I agreed with Booker.

Releasing the walkie, I watched as the Luthers entered all the way across the surface level.

“Two points to traps,” Pascal stated.

A blip on our usual figure.

I leaned forward. “They’re doing something.”

“That’s what they did before shooting the climbing ropes to the top of the cliffs,” Rhona said quietly.

Ah, yes.That made sense.

I nodded and clicked on the walkie. “Big Red. Prepare for Operation Paw Patrol. Over.”

Out of sight of the Luthers’ entry point, one hundred and fifty stewards hid on the lowest tier on the left side of the quarry, and the same number on the right.

Now, they sprinted along the first level to cover the entire length of the lowest step.

Only around fifteen metres of sheer sandstone cliff sat between them and the wolves—not enough for my liking.

A series of explosions echoed from the surface. Eight ropes embedded in the top cliffs.

Dammit.

I couldn’t allow Luthers up to take out our bottom tier stewards yet.“Big Red. Prepare for Operation Superwoman. Over.”