Page 2 of Claiming Xan (Shifters of Greymercy #7)

XAN

One minute, I was playing video games with Shay over voice-chat and the next, the front door slammed open. People came rushing in. I paused our game and jumped to my feet in time to see two of my siblings hurry down the hall.

I smelled blood.

“What’s going on?” Shay asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out. Text you later.” I ended the call and turned off the game console, then followed them.

“Shit, what happened?” I blurted when I saw the damage. My older brother Kace held his arm beneath the faucet of gently-running water, washing crimson away to wick down the drain. His lower arm was gnawed up, punctured by fangs. Had he been attacked?

“It’s a long story,” he said.

“It’s gonna take a hot minute for Quinn to patch you up, so spill,” I retorted, planting my hand on my cocked hip.

Kace and Quinn exchanged a look, then they both sighed. They knew it would do no good to argue with me. Quinn maneuvered Kace so that he was sitting down on the closed toilet lid. While she began doctoring his wound, Kace told me what had happened.

“A couple of wounded wolf shifters found their way onto Rubydawn territory. The Omega was unresponsive and needed immediate help, but the Alpha was agitated. Wild, almost. I tried to approach him, to talk some sense into him, and he attacked me.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Mom took them both back to the clinic to work her magic,” Kace said, flexing his hand slowly as Quinn finished wrapping a length of clean white bandage around his arm. “Thanks, sis.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said with a short nod. Closing the First-Aid kit, she glanced between us. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have the feeling that Mom’s gonna need my help. Xan, do us all a favor, would you, and make a big pot of coffee?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off. “Go glove up, Nurse Killjoy.”

She snorted a laugh and hurried away. Kace and I took the party into the kitchen, where I made a steaming hot pot of java. I fixed my brother a cup, just the way I knew he liked it, then poured myself one. I sweetened it up with plenty of sugar and creamer.

“I need to call Nevin,” Kace murmured. “He’s going to worry.”

“Well, don’t let me stop you.”

As Kace stepped into the other room to make his call, I pulled out my phone and texted Shay: I think Rubydawn just inherited two new members. They’re hurt, but you know how Mom is.

Oh, dang. Hope they’ll be ok, he replied.

Hopefully.

As it turned out, I made that pot of coffee way too prematurely. Mom and the others didn’t return for nearly two hours. When they did, the tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Mom carried an unconscious wolf in her arms, his head lolling off to one side. Right behind her strode a young man with short, spiky blond hair, his bandaged hands clenched into fists that I knew for a fact were hiding claws as he practically stalked Mom down.

She turned, baring her teeth as she growled, “I said , give me space,” loud enough that everyone in the room could hear her.

The Alpha—because he was definitely an Alpha, and a sexy one at that—jerked back as if he’d been slapped, but not without a snarl. He wheeled away and began to pace, his bare feet stomping over waxed floorboards.

I couldn’t help but stare at him, at the wildness in his soul, the way his anger seemed to spark and arc around him like electricity. His growls a constant rumble of sound. Forget thunder—he was the whole damn storm.

Hot as fuck… Bet he was great between the sheets.

The Alpha stopped when he noticed me watching him.

He turned, his eyes locking onto mine. They were strange, heterochromatic things, one a sharp, icy blue where the other was a dark, endless brown.

He stared daggers into my soul, his lip curling into something reminiscent of a sneer, but god if it didn’t make my heart skip a beat.

This guy was damn near feral.

“River!” Mom snapped, her voice sharp. The Alpha tore his gaze from mine and followed her into one of the guest rooms, where she laid the wounded wolf down on the bed. She said something in quiet tones to the Alpha—River—and then closed the door behind her, leaving them in the room together.

From where I sat with Kace at the kitchen table, I could see how haggard Mom looked, standing there, wrung out, her scrubs smeared with blood.

Her shoulders slumped forwards for a moment as she drew in a deep breath, then straightened to compose herself on the exhalation. She crossed the room towards us, but not before pouring herself a cup of now-cool Columbian from the pot that I’d brewed.

After sticking it in the microwave to warm it up, she joined us at the table, sliding into her usual spot. Her hands cupped around the mug as steam rose up from the black depths to fog her reading glasses.

She shoved them up onto the top of her head and sighed heavily. “This is quite the turn of events,” she said finally, bringing the mug to her lips and taking a sip before setting it back down again.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

It was obvious Mom was concerned about the two rogues that showed up needing our help.

Why? This wasn’t unusual for Rubydawn. We were a sanctuary of sorts. We took shifters in from all walks of life. So what if these guys were a little…wild?

She didn’t answer; instead, she began scrolling through her phone, her brow furrowed in concentration. She seemed really upset. I bit my lip and looked at my brother, who bounced his eyebrows in a sort of “I don’t know” expression.

It was Kace who cleared his throat and broke the silence. His wounded arm rested on the table in front of him. “Mom? Talk to us. What’s going on?”

She looked up, a frown tugging down the corners of her lips. “They’re twins , Kace.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that,” he murmured. “What about it?”

Mom blew out a heavy breath that puffed out her cheeks. Chewing on her bottom lip, she set her phone down and looked between the two of us.

“Alpha and Omega twins are a rarity, and there’s a reason for that.

Their energies are unbalanced, skewed and off-kilter.

A surviving pair of Alpha-Omega twins rarely make it into late adulthood, usually due to violence either ending their lives, or landing them a lifetime behind bars in a high-security shifter prison,” she said quietly.

“The ones who do survive…are the sole survivors of a pair.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Mom rubbed her temple. “Being together charges their broken energies, but if one of those energies is severed… The other can usually stabilize and go on to live a somewhat normal life.”

I frowned. “So, what you’re saying is we should’ve let the one guy die?” That seemed really shitty, but when Mom didn’t deny it, my stomach churned. “Mom?” I prompted, my voice rising in pitch. Surely she didn’t mean that.

“I didn’t say that,” she said. “It’s just… I’m not sure Rubydawn is equipped for this. We’re a sanctuary, not a reform.”

The room fell silent for a moment, before Kace spoke. “You’re going to turn them away.” It wasn’t a question.

Our mother didn’t respond.

Kace stood, suddenly angry. “You just said it—we’re a sanctuary. We help shifters in need, and these two young men are haunted by something. They need us, maybe more than we think. You can’t just turn them out because they’re hard to deal with.”

Mom stood as well. Her chest puffed out as she pointed at him. “One of them already attacked you, completely unprovoked! What if they snap and kill someone in Rubydawn? What if it’s your brother?”

“I’m right here,” I muttered.

“I’m trying to do what’s best for the whole of my pack,” Mom said. “As their Alpha. I need to research further, before I make any harsh decisions, but yes, I am prepared to turn them away.”

Kace shook his head in dismay. My chest ached at the thought of someone needing help, and no one being willing to lend a hand because they were a little off.

“That’s not fair,” I said. “What if they were your sons?”

Mom turned sharp eyes on me. “I’m done talking about it for the night, Xander.”

My full name felt like a slap to the face. She only ever used it when she was mad, or wanted to get her point across.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared right back. “Fine. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, then,” I snapped back. “I’m going to bed.”

Then, without another word, I stalked down the hall to my room. I made sure to slam the door loudly enough that Mom would hear it, to get my point across, and changed into pajamas for the night.

By the time I flopped into bed, my mind was racing with a million thoughts, but I couldn’t get the wild eyes of River out of my mind, his handsome face twisted in pain and anger as he screamed silently into the void. My dreams were filled with ragged howls of desperation.

I didn’t sleep very well.