Chapter 62 Battle Plans

• The war room's heavy wooden doors groaned shut behind them, sealing away the courtyard's lingering echoes of unified howls. Bobby moved to the head of the scarred oak table, her fingers tracing the gouges left by previous councils of war. Maps spread across the surface showed territory markers in various stages of erasure—red ink marking lost ground, blue indicating strongholds that might not hold another day.
• Aurelius took his position at her right, the weight of leadership evident in every line of his weathered face. Gideon settled to her left, his presence steady and reassuring despite the gravity of their situation. Nathan remained standing, his Beta training keeping him alert and ready to act on whatever orders emerged from this meeting.
• "Give me everything," Bobby commanded, her voice cutting through the room's oppressive atmosphere. "No sugar-coating, no false hope. I need the truth if we're going to survive this."