Yet, revealing the existence of the arrays to everyone wasn’t an option either. If there truly were moles hidden among their ranks, such knowledge could be leaked, putting the entire settlent at risk.
Her mind flashed back to the rogues that had ambushed them on their journey to the west, reckless, unyielding, and unafraid of death. If those sa rogues decided to attack the settlent, they would stop at nothing to slaughter everyone inside.
Perhaps they were overthinking... but what if they weren’t?
"Then how about we expand the settlent and keep everyone inside the borders? That way, even if we set up traps and offensive arrays all around, they wouldn’t endanger our people, they’d only target intruders."
"After all, right now, we’re only speculating they might attack. But what if they don’t? What if they back off? If we gather the neighboring packs together, we’d have hundreds, maybe even a few thousand people. Would that sa group that attacked us days ago really dare to cause trouble against such numbers?"
"The arrays and traps would serve as security asures, not sothing we’d necessarily have to use. Even if those rogues were death warriors sent to fight to the bitter end, it’s unrealistic to think they could amass thousands just to overwhelm a few united packs. I don’t believe they’d be that reckless. So long as our people stay inside, we don’t have much else to worry about."
Maxwell spoke calmly, trying to ease the tension. Addison and Zion were already close to being overwheld by the planning. Everyone here had valid points, and no one was trying to outshine the other, they all just wanted to protect their people.
Hearing Maxwell’s reasoning, Addison finally cald down a little. Earlier, she had been overly stressed, worried that her plan might end up hurting the very people she was ant to protect.
That fear made her second-guess herself. But now, with Zion pointing out the loophole, and Maxwell offering a sound perspective, she realized it wasn’t as dire as she had imagined.
"You’re both correct. If we manage to relocate all the neighboring packs into the settlent before dealing with the locust swarm, that would bring together at least four to five packs."
"Each pack has no fewer than three hundred to five hundred mbers, and the largest among them, this one we’re in now, holds nearly seven hundred. Even though they have many elderly and children, their able-bodied mbers and warriors still number over five hundred. That already includes the farrs, livestock keepers, and the border guards."
"With this many people gathered, it would be suicide for the enemy to attack the settlent head-on. But if their mission is to burn or sabotage our supplies, poison our animals, and strike from the shadows while avoiding the eyes of so many combined, then we must remain vigilant."
"After all, even as death warriors, it’s not impossible for them to resort to dirty tricks to make all our efforts aningless. If their true goal is to plunge the Kingdom into chaos, targeting our supplies would be a much smarter move than a direct assault."
As Addison reasoned this out, she felt a little lighter. Brainstorming with her mates was proving far more fruitful than she expected. Two of them were Alphas who had long governed their own fiefs and territories, carrying wisdom she might lacked or overlooked, while Levi had worked with her closely in the past and could see matters as sharply as the others.
"To prevent them from targeting our livestock and the grain we’ll be storing in the temporary warehouses, I don’t think we should keep everything in one place—it would make us an easy target."
"Instead, we should spread the supplies across different locations. We can also set up a few fake storage sites, each protected with arrays that will trap anyone who tries to break in without authorization."
"That way, even if they attempt sabotage, they’ll be caught. The real storages, anwhile, should be scattered deeper within the settlent." Zion explained, pointing to several marked spots on the map where the plan could be carried out.
Zion had faced these kinds of problems before during his ti on the frontlines against the vampires. Those vile creatures thrived on dirty tricks, never hesitating to use any tactic that would kill as many werewolves as possible, or worse, tornt them just to prolong their suffering.
One of their favorite thods was to burn or sabotage the food supplies, and another was to poison the water sources. Because of this, Zion had grown especially vigilant, able to recognize and point out such dangers quickly.
It was also the reason why every pack fighting on the frontlines was made responsible for guarding its own provisions, ensuring supplies were scattered instead of concentrated in one vulnerable place, making it harder for their flying enemies to strike a decisive blow.
"Not a bad idea. This way, even if they target our grain and we can’t guard against every sche, we’ll still have plenty left. And even if a mole is involved, they won’t necessarily be able to burn or sabotage the real supplies, since we’ll have several decoys and only we will know which ones are genuine."
"Still, we’ll assign guards to every storage site with equal vigilance, so no one suspects we’re hiding the true locations of the genuine storages." Maxwell continued seamlessly from where Zion left off.
The two seed perfectly in sync, or perhaps it was simply that, after pointing out what needed to be done and what was lacking, everyone had begun to narrow down the possibilities and arrive at the sa conclusion together.
"Very well, this is a solid plan. We should send soone capable to inspect the site, soone who can move unnoticed, blend in, and even outsmart anyone trying to follow them," Addison said, taking a careful sip of her tea. With so much on her mind, she felt her throat growing dry as she spoke.
"I’ll go." Zion looked at Addison, waiting for her approval, almost as if he were presenting himself for her choice. "I’ve been on the frontlines for three years and picked up plenty of skills. I’m confident I can shake anyone trying to tail ."
"I’m especially skilled in stealth, particularly in the dark. I can scout the area right now to confirm that the map is accurate, after all, this map was from years ago, and there might be changes we don’t know about. Sending is the best decision. On top of that, I can act as a decoy to draw out anyone lurking in the shadows and help reduce their numbers."
Zion said this with a confident, smug grin. Though he appeared arrogant in front of Maxwell and Levi, he wasn’t exaggerating, his wolf, Shura, was stronger than both of theirs, especially when he was in feral mode, where no one could easily stop him from wreaking havoc or going on a killing spree.
"Alright, we’ll leave this task in your care." Addison agreed after seeing both Maxwell and Levi nod. Their simple gestures confird that they, too, believed Zion was the best man for the job.
Although she had never seen him fight in person, she had heard countless stories about him from his ti on the frontlines.
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