Dmitri tilted his head. "Which makes her our problem."
"No." Jace's voice was stern. "She's not a problem. She's a mate we don't want. And if our wolves can't handle that, then we learn how to leash them."
Arlo exhaled loudly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, good luck leashing mine. He's been pacing like a caged animal ever since she got here."
"You're all pathetic," Radek muttered.
"Yet you're the most feral of all," Dmitri said.
"Don't confuse aggression with attraction."
"Oh, honey," Arlo said, a cocky grin rising to life on his face, "we're wolves. They're the same thing. We are in trouble with a capital T."
Dmitri shrugged, and spoke with a voice that was as cold as a blizzard wind. "My father won't blame me. He'll have her killed. Honestly, I wouldn't even mind—except we have already tried that and failed. That girl's like a cockroach in a nuclear war. She just won't die."
"Because she's not meant to," Jace muttered under his breath, but no one heard him.
Radek leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I don't care about your love lives or failures. What matters is reputation. I'm the Alpha's only son. I can't have a stain like this attached to me."
"Oh please," Arlo huffed, flopping down beside Dmitri. "Don't act like your slate's so clean. Let's not forget you have a girlfriend too."
"She's not my girlfriend," Radek snapped, rising half out of his chair. "She's my father's choice for me. An arrangement. I don't give a damn about her."
Jace would always find Radek just too grating even though they'd been best friends for life before this silent rivalry ever began.
But this? This was low. That girl had been in Radek's life for two years. Shared his bed. Trusted him. How dare he dismiss her like that?
Silence descended on the room until Jace leaned against the door and murmured, "It's my sister we're talking about here. Let's not forget about that. You can't just declare how much of a damn you don't give about her."
Radek's eyes blazed. He turned, and stared at Jace with a sneer. "And I said—I don't care."
Jace could feel the tension coil in his stomach, like a spring about to snap. Every nerve in him screamed to jump across the room and put Radek on his back.
He could already see it—Radek's body on the floor, blood on his own knuckles, the violent release he was aching for. Every nerve in him screamed to act. To end this once and for all.
But instead, he just clenched his jaw.
Why is it always me he wants to fight? Jace wondered. Because I'm not afraid of him? Because I don't grovel like the rest? Because I'm the one person he can't control?
Radek was like a lion with a thorn in his paw. Always so furious, in pain, and determined to make everyone else feel it.
"This won't work," Dmitri said suddenly. "Not like this. We're all thinking too small. Too personally. I have a plan."
Uh-uh.
Whenever Dmitri had a plan, it usually involved blood and property damage… and occasionally jail time. Jace wanted no plan that was sure to only drop them in messes since they already were swimming in one.
The room held its breath at that declaration and even Radek stopped brooding.
"A plan?" Arlo asked, skeptical. "You? I don't even want to hear it. We all know that the only thing you know how to plan is disasters."
Dmitri rolled his eyes. "You wound me, Arlo. But yes. I have a plan."
He stood, walked to the table, and spread out an old map of Lupin territory. There were markings, ink smudges, notes scribbled in shorthand.
"If we want to keep her alive and under the radar, we need to make her useful. Make her indispensable. That way, when the higher-ups come sniffing, they'll see a tool, not a threat."
"You want to use her?" Jace's voice was low, dangerous.
"I want to protect her," Dmitri corrected. "You think she'll be totally safe if we just lock her away? No. We make her useful. Train her. Arm her. Hell, give her a fake name if we have to. But if she's going to survive, she has to matter."
Radek sneered. "You make her sound like a war asset."
"She is. She survived what should've killed her. That's not luck. That's power."
Arlo scratched his chin. "Alright. So we teach her to blend in. She already passed the physical. No one knows she's not one of us… yet."
"She smells different," Radek muttered.
"She smells like flowers," Jace snapped. "Maybe you should stop sniffing people and try trusting them instead."
Radek stood, chest puffed again. "You really want to do this right now?"
"Oh for the love of…" Arlo stood too, throwing his arms up. "Will you two just screw each other and get it over with already?!"
The room fell silent. Jace and Radek simultaneously blinked.
Dmitri choked on his water.
"I…" Jace started.
"No!" Radek barked.
Arlo shrugged, grinning. "Tension's thick enough to butter toast with it. I'm just saying."
Dmitri chuckles. "He's not wrong."
"I hate you all," Radek muttered and dropped back into the chair.
"Join the club," Jace muttered back, but a small smile twitched on his lips.
There was something comforting about this chaos. The way they argued, clashed, insulted, and yet… were here. Together. Facing the storm, teeth bared.
Dmitri clapped his hands together. "So. We turn her, train her. Keep her close. Protect her reputation. And we do not let the council find out."
The plan seemed fine, but how on earth were they supposed to train her under the prying eyes of Lupin House? Jace wondered.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Sure, we can train her, but we can't save her from the council's radar. We don't even need to say anything. If she slips once, misses protocol, or breaks form, they'll sniff her out. Then, soon, they'll find out it was us who turned her… illegally."
The silence that followed was deafening.
"We need something solid," Jace added. "Something that puts her under official protection without drawing questions."
For a second there, none of them moved. Then Arlo scratched his stubbled chin thoughtfully.
"We have connections. What if we use them? Improvise. Solidify her stay here, above the board."
Radek gave him a malicious side glance. "What the heck are you suggesting? Don't tell me…"
"Yes, Radek. We go to the Alpha." Arlo dropped the bomb.
Radek's reaction was as expected. He pointed an index finger at the floor as he stomped on his feet. "Like hell, we aren't! Why not go to your own Fathers? Why mine?!"
Internally, Jace rolled his eyes. This was it – Radek being the Alpha's son. Even now, in a deep mess, it was Radek's Father who was the go to. Why? Because he was the man at the top. The most important.
It wasn't his own Father or that of the rest of them. Yet, Radek acts as if what he had was a curse more than a blessing. A position some of them would give anything to be.
"Maybe because your father is the Alpha," Jace said flatly. "I'm with Arlo. We don't have to tell him the full truth. Just enough to put her under his umbrella."
Radek threw his hands in the air like this was unbelievable. "Lie to the Alpha? Are you all insane? If he catches even a whiff of what we're hiding…"
"He'll kill her," Dmitri finished coldly. "And then he'll kill us. Probably in alphabetical order."