[Rock]Harmony locked her front door and followed me out to the truck. I was glad I didn’t have to fight her. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who was pissed that everything had gotten to the point it was at.“Are we going to stop and get Gemma?” Harmony asked as we headed through the pack lands.“No. We’re taking as few softies as we can. We fight better if we don’t have to worry about ‘friendly fire’ incidents. Can you use your magic to stop other people’s magic?” I asked.“I’ve never tried it. If I think of it as a solid thing… maybe…. Why?”“They have at least one earth witch. They have a spell that could stop the trolls. We can kill the witches to get the other trolls out of the spell if we need to. It’s not something they can cast on the whole group at once, but being able to keep them from casting it on any of us would be best,” I replied.She nodded. “Let me think about how I might manage that. Do you have any plan other than storm the place and hope to get Carmen and Austin out?”“That’s our next step. Right now, we’re gathering our forces. We’re not going without a plan, but we’re not going to spend half a year putting together our attack. That’s bullshit and what led to my mate being kidnapped.”Harmony nodded quietly and watched out the window as we left the pack lands and headed toward the fort. She was deep in thought. I hoped it was making a plan for countering the magic of the earth witches we might encounter.The fort was a place my friends and I had found when we were kids. It was hidden from the rest of the world in the forest. When we were teens, we worked to make a hidden access we could use our cars to get to. It meant we could carry booze to the fort and drink in private.It was just for us. We never brought other friends there, and we never brought women there. Not even after we had mates. This was the first time we’d shared it with anyone else. The guys didn't mind, since the staging area kept us away from the fae lands, but near enough for reinforcements.I turned down the road that would take us to the fort. It looked like a few other vehicles had been down it recently. I was choosing to believe that was a good thing.Once I reached the place right outside the fort, I saw a lot of familiar trucks parked on the grass. Some of them had my company name on the side.Harmony and I got out of the truck, and I led her to the fort. When we breached the heavily covered area into the hidden meadow, I saw it was full of people. Not just trolls.Tripp and Viola were off to one side. He had two sledge hammers strapped to his back, and she had a couple of short swords. She must have gone home before finding out where we were going.“Harmony!”In the distance, Cam stood on a large stone with his arms crossed as he looked at his mate. She smiled and waved like she was a beauty queen as the attention of everyone else in the area turned to her. Harmony wasn’t concerned that her mate would be mad.Next to the stone, I saw Gray and Rhett arguing with Echo while Forrest held onto Rhett’s ponytail. Forrest was talking to Pyla, who was wearing lizard man armor. I saw Mica, Tana, and Jett with Elbio and Kaya standing some distance off.It was a good thing the fort was pretty huge. It looked like we had almost every troll in the human fae lands and a few from the troll village in the forest. We headed over to where Harmony’s mate and sister were.There was a flutter of color that I caught from the corner of my eye. Sean and Rosario were talking to a few of the smaller fae from my crew. I left Harmony on her path while I went to talk to them.“Why are you here?” I asked the princes when I arrived.“Carmen is our friend and the trolls are our people. If we’d known everything, we would have made sure you knew. Echo called us in and told us what she learned when she got here,” Rosario told me.“We’re here to fight on your side,” Sean added. “This is where we belong.”They didn’t seem to be lying. Both looked prepared for a fight, whether it was with me or with the cult, remained to be seen. A mixed fighting group meant it would be harder for the trolls to let loose in battle, but royals fighting by our side wasn’t something we ever saw.For the future of the fae community in the area, I wasn’t going to push them out. When I had Carmen back, I wanted her to have a good community to live in. I nodded to them and went to join Forrest and Pyla.Elbio and the rest of my friends followed me as I walked past them. Pyla took a few steps toward me and held her hand out. I accepted it. She clasped my hand with both hands and pulled it to her chest.“We will find your mate and avenge her. I vow my heart to this action,” she said while looking up into my eyes.“I appreciate your dedication,” I told her as she released my hand.We approached where Forrest was waiting and I started to hear more of the argument Gray and Rhett were having with Echo. She was saying she should bring Dolly here to look over the map and show us where the entrances were.Gray was arguing because this was the first he heard that Dolly was a child and he didn’t think it was safe for her. Rhett argued Dolly had never seen a map before and didn’t know how to convey that information. He had been trying. Echo was insisting she knew how to get her to understand.Spencer was standing off to the side, not really paying attention to the argument. He was more focused on the people who were gathered. All the fae had removed their glamour when they came in. I’d done the same thing.“Echo, what’s your idea for getting the information from Dolly? As far as I know, she would only know the cave system from the inside,” I said.“Right. So we have her draw it from the inside and use the knowledge we have of the layout to position it on the map. It’s not that hard,” Echo scoffed.I raised an eyebrow at Rhett, who didn’t seem to have anything to say to that. It looked like he wanted to, but he didn’t have an argument. Echo’s idea was reasonable.“This area is full of trolls. None of the fae here are wearing glamour. From what Rhett says, she’s just a little kid. This isn’t a safe place for her,” Gray insisted.“Are you saying that she won’t be safe because she’s small, or are you implying that all the big, scary trolls are going to eat her?” Forrest asked.Gray’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “What? I would never say that. She’s small and had to deal with some really scary stuff. What if it makes her run and she gets hurt?”“I know you’re pissed right now, Forrest, but Gray’s a good kid. He wouldn’t say something like that. Echo, can you go to Rhett’s house and have Dolly draw that map for you? If she can stay there, it might be better. She’s safer there. Rhett’s magic makes sure no one else can find the place. I’d like it if you could take care of her while we’re doing this. I know Victor and Gray wouldn’t want you fighting right now,” I said.“She might not want to do it if Rhett isn’t there. I wanted to bring her here so she could see him.”“Let me go with Echo. I’ll come back. I want to make sure this thing is dead. The creatures that follow it are a threat to my daughter,” Rhett insisted.“He’s not lying. He doesn’t smell like it, at least,” Echo replied.“Fine. You don’t talk to any of the other leaders about what’s going on, though. They had their chance to get this done, and I don’t trust them anymore.”“They’re not perfect, Rock. They kept information that they thought might make people panic or worry too much. It was a misjudgment to keep back the stuff about your mate. You’re basically doing the same thing by not at least giving Gemma the option to come along,” Harmony said from behind me.“If I take Gemma and she dies while I’m trying to save Austin, then I’ve failed them.”“And if Trent, Maeve, and Victor told you the cult was asking after Carmen by name, you’re saying you wouldn’t have done something that would endanger you?” Echo asked. “By your logic, you shouldn’t be going either. If you die, then we’ve failed Carmen.”I snarled but realized she wasn’t wrong. Maybe my anger had subsided enough that I could see where I was wrong. As the son of a noble fae, I knew there were decisions that were made for the good of the community and that leaders saw things differently than individuals did.With a sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose. By not taking Gemma, I was deciding what I thought was best for her without consulting her. That didn’t mean I was going to go out and get her. It was better if she was safe. Carmen and Austin wouldn’t be happy if I endangered her.“Just…. Don’t talk to them. Okay?” I said.“I won’t say a word to them. Now, will your mountain release me?” Rhett asked.I nodded to Forrest, and he let go of Rhett. Within moments, Rhett and Echo disappeared. She just blinked out of existence while shadows swallowed him.“Do you trust them?” Elbio asked in the language of the earth.“At this point, I don’t trust anyone who’s not a troll,” I answered in the same language.“How are we doing this?” Wylder asked in English as he approached.I hadn’t seen him earlier, but I guess he was lurking around invisibly until he was needed. It made sense. He didn’t know any of these people.“Once they get back with the map of the inside of the cave, we’ll assess our approach. My mate told me what she saw in visions. We can decide who will enter where and what they’re going to do.”“Can seers help with making a plan? I know the fae have some and from what Carmen told me three of them see her as a daughter,” Gray suggested.“Seers don’t get involved in battle. Their visions aren’t as clear because the smallest things constantly influence battles, like disasters. Someone stumbles and the person who was supposed to be the hero of the battle ends up run through,” Wylder explained to him.“Can’t they at least give us an idea of what to expect? How many of what sort of people there are? What defenses do they have? Just because they can’t tell us the future doesn’t mean they can’t tell us other things.”“They can’t,” Prince Rosario said from behind the group. “We’ve talked to the seers. They can’t see anything inside that place. It’s the reason we went with spies instead of using the seers earlier.”We turned to him. I knew the seers would have been used instead of spies if they could have seen anything. His announcement didn’t surprise me. No one made a big deal about it. Non-fae didn’t understand how fae worked and that our royals would have gone to the seers first.As we started talking about what types of supernaturals were reported, there was a crashing sound outside the circle of the fort. The nearby brush disappeared suddenly.In its place was Queen Ivy, looking pissed and holding two swords. Her eyes seemed to glow with the power of her anger. If she thought she could stop us, she was sorely mistaken.