"So what will happen with Jensen when this is all over?" Gill asked.
"I'm not really sure," Serenity sighed as she held Trevor and Paul stood beside her, "Brian's pride will hopefully have enough numbers to subdue them and we can undo their brainwashing, but I don't really know how well that will work."
"Come again?" Gill asked.
"Wolves are social animals," Serenity sighed, "While ending the brainwashing that Jensen forced on his pack and what the curse forced on him, it may end the worst of the problem... but I'm not entirely sure it will end the Pack completely."
"Meaning...?" Gill wondered.
"You may get Frank and Darla back as she-wolf officers and they may return to the Smith manor to Jensen at the end of their shifts... if we can't hit him with legal crime," Serenity told him, "What he's done, he's done well."
"You don't sound very confident?" Gill commented.
"He's beaten me, Gill," Serenity sighed weakly, "I started this case trying to save Frank for Julie... but now... now Frank is likely Fran forevermore. About all I can do is make sure things do not get worse."
"I'm sure freeing the curses victims of their brainwashing will do that..."
"Maybe, but I have this nagging feeling that they'll still stay together," Serenity sighed, "my only real hope is that the brainwashing breaks the sort of "slave mentality" it's held on all of them... Jensen included."
"I'm sure you can," Gill sighed, "I'm sure you can."
++++++
Jensen meanwhile sat in what had been his father's office. Kaylee, Julie, Fran, and Darla nervously stood around him. He did not look well. He had sent too small a portion of his pack in the original venture, which then got spread thin and then overwhelmed. He tried to correct that mistake to find that his quarry had left, and had gone to the police. The police had Ashley, and Serenity or the lions with her were likely recruiting more lion people.
It was not a scenario that looked like the Pack could win. A couple of lions were no trouble. Two could be overwhelmed, but with Lawrence recovering with a dislocated shoulder, Roger possibly loosing an eye, as Julie wasn't quite sure yet if the damage was permanent, but she also said that was likely. Nick still unconscious and Zack moving with a slight limp, which was either from the earlier attack or from Amy and Zelipe's transformation, it wasn't like had much in the way of options.
He could send Amy and Zelipe out to transform the surrounding estates as well, massively increasing the Pack's numbers, but that would be too rapid, and could possibly attract more attention, and would risk the newest pup's lives, which he couldn't... wouldn't do. His only real option, was to flee. Use the island as a fall back, as only Kaylee, Alice, Abbey, and Samantha knew its exact location. They could come back periodically to get food or recruit new members, and using the glass pups to spy on whatever it was Serenity was doing, and in time, perhaps return in force to claim their home and negotiate with the police and city government from a more favorable position. But for now, they had to leave. It was the only Jensen saw that he could keep his family together.
"I don't like this, dear," Kaylee said nervously breaking the silence, "they'll learn everything. Shouldn't we do something?"
"And do what?" Jensen asked, "appear inside a police station that's been alerted to our presence and that we aren't exactly nice? Appear in a police station with at least two lion people who will likely be hostile to us? I want Ashley back as much as anyone... but staying here and fighting them will only lead to Armageddon. Even if we win... what would be left? I'd die if I lost one of you four... I'd die..."
"We might still be able to reason with Serenity," Julie said hopefully and then gulped nervously in front of her sisters, "Let me go alone... Serenity won't attack me when she knows who I am. I can tell her I'm happy... that we're happy... that we mean no one any harm."
"After this morning Gill would be inclined to disagree, sister," Darla warned, "He might hold you to try and free your mind. We can not lose you."
"What other choice would we have?" Julie asked nervously.
"Surrender," Jensen grumbled bitterly, "and that I will not do."
"What will they do to us if they catch us?" Kaylee asked, nervously eying her mate and the two former policemen.
"Gill won't be able to do much," Fran spoke, "He can't legally prove the pack's formation was a crime, and since most of us worked HERE anyway, there's little reason for many of us NOT to be here... the real question is what will Serenity do... I fear she may want us dead after this morning."
"That doesn't sound like her," Julie spoke, "she's smart and intelligent, but not vindictive. I do think she'd try to separate us though."
Kaylee nervously shuddered. She was trying to find a way that they could stay at the manor, as she didn't want to leave what she had behind. But things were getting tough, and while she didn't like it, she could recognize it. Fighting the police and the lions was a lose-lose scenario, and increasingly, she found herself worrying about her pups more then Jensen. She loved him, but she didn't want to put her children at risk.
"Isn't there anything we can do to beat these lions?" Kaylee asked.
"I'd doubt they'd be able to beat the gargoyles, even if they know about them," Jensen sighed, "but if they know about them... who's to say they don't use the game to create a stone lion to counter them. The only way we can beat them is with numbers... which we do not have, and the Game is too unreliable... and I don't want to put Amy and Zelipe in danger."
"Amy and Zelipe!" Kaylee's eyes lit up, "They're it, dear!"
"What?" Jensen asked, "Didn't you just hear me darling? I don't want them in danger. They're pups. They shouldn't be in danger."
"Oh they wouldn't be," Kaylee spoke, "We send a good part of the pack with Zelipe or Amy through the mirrors with one of the glass wolves to varying homes and estates around here. The pack with them can hold them down while Zelipe or Amy transform them... and the new wolves can then help with the assimilation of the larger estates as necessary, since I doubt they'll know about this or will be armed and we can rapidly inflate our numbers."
"And Serenity wouldn't sense the transformations," Jensen nodded, "but it would lead us into the trouble we're in now. Suppose at least one of these estates or homes is prepared for us. Serenity was..."
"But Serenity already knows about us, these others won't," Kaylee countered, "Once we have enough, we can overwhelm these lions, get Ashley back and if need be leave before they send the army after us."
"Can it be done?" Jensen asked, mostly toward his Betas.
"If done well, and carefully," Fran commented, "it's quite possible that we failed this morning because we rushed things... although, legally if we we fail again, we're looking at more potential kidnapping charges."
"But if successful, Alpha Female is right, we could dramatically increase our numbers without Serenity knowing," Darla spoke, "and with enough we can overpower the lions when they surely attack the manor... and if we take over the surrounding estates, we then other places to retreat to besides the island."
Jensen thought for a moment.
"We'll need to confirm this with Zack, Pearl, and June," Jensen spoke, "Zelipe and Amy are their pups after all. And the retreat order is not countermanded, no matter how successful this other group is, if it goes. Which means Samantha will need to stay here to take the deer to the island and our present wounded."
"Of course, Master," Fran nodded.
"If Zack, Pearl, and June agree to it, two teams of seven will go," Jensen spoke, "Nicole will lead one team. Julie, Fran, Darla, the three of you are to lead the other team."
"What about us, dear?" Kaylee asked.
"We will be busy making sure that everyone is working to head to the island," Jensen told his mate as he got up, and the triplets left to carry out their orders, "any direct escalation with the police or the lions will be dangerous."
++++++
"How can she be so cheerful at a time like this?" Goldie asked as she came up to Opal and Cobalt as they watched over the clearing of an area where their shelter would be built.
Both Opal and Cobalt looked up to see Amethyst singing and twirling about as she worked. They didn't entirely know what she was now singing. They weren't that concerned her cheer, but they were surprised that she was actually managing to get some work done while doing this.
"I guess she's just cheery, that's all," Opal sighed, "Be glad she hasn't accidentally hit someone."
"But the problems at home?" Goldie asked.
Opal glanced at Cobalt, and then to Lawrence who was resting under a tree nearby, his arm in a sling. They knew the assault mission failed, and heard from Lawrence that the Pack intended to evacuate the manor. It made the two of them nervous, and to a certain extent it made the other gem colored wolves nervous, but it appeared that almost nothing could dampen Amethyst's mood.
"Be glad she hasn't accidentally hit someone," Cobalt spoke after a moment.
"Yet," Goldie finished.
++++++
"Let's leave the worrying about what will happen once the game's victim's are freed for when we get to it," Gill sighed as he got up.
Serenity only looked up as she stroked Trevor's fur and Paul stood by.
"For the meantime, let's focus on what you intend to do in subduing Jensen's pack first," Gill told her, "we can worry about whether or not they stay with him after their minds are free when we get there. Let's go see how your friend's idea is coming along."
"They're trying to help, Gill," Serenity reminded him.
"Which is why I'm letting him do this, but if his only plan is to attack the manor, I'm afraid the police academy will be long and hard on them both," Gill told Serenity.
The two made their way the room where the Pride was being formed. He heard something coming from within, but he couldn't make it out. As he reached to open the door, it opened and he ended up colliding with something large, soft but yet somehow firm. It knocked him back, and nearly knocked him down.
"Oh, sir, I was just coming to get you," spoke the lioness who opened the door.
"You need to watch where you're going," Gill grumbled.
"I'm sorry, sir," the lioness spoke, "I had thought they would have gotten smaller when I changed... again."
"Bobbi?" Gill asked.
The nine foot lioness smiled.
"Wouldn't you have tried to be male again?" Serenity asked.
"My old form wasn't locked... but with only two males... I didn't want to start a fight," Bobbi spoke, "besides, I've gotten used to being a human woman. For now, being a lioness wouldn't be all bad."
"For now?" Gill asked.
"Some of us wish to stay this way," Bobbi spoke, "and I think at least one wants Brian in more ways then just as a friend if you know what I mean."
"Other then yourself," Serenity spoke, "Pride males mate with every female in their respective Prides... and sometimes to any other female that might wander in."
Bobbi only shrugged, "Well, I was coming to get you to introduce you to new... everybody... and we can figure out what to do."
Gill and Serenity nodded and followed Bobbi in. The room was practically crowded. Brian stood near one wall, his reddish mane made him stick out, although all the females looked the same with only minor differing details. He hoped the one hugging Brian was Felicity. A second male was casually leaning against the other wall, his mane a dark brown to black color and the rest of his fur more of a gold color.
"Alright, officers," Gill sighed, "state your name, rank, and mission. We'll go on how to free the curse's victims from there."