Page 8 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

Merrikh swallows thickly and looks away before he nods.

“Your parents are going to be beside themselves,” Dare says, sensing the need to change the subject.

Merrikh winces and looks at Neith, “Can you explain it? You can probably do it better than I can.”

Neith smiles, “Of course. After being confined for a long time, it's going to take Merrikh some time to adjust and get used to not being in pain constantly.”

Understanding crosses their features.

Smart wolves.

“You need us to run interference and stop things before you hit panic attack, flashback, or lash out mode?” Dare summarizes, looking at Merrikh.

I raise my eyebrows in surprise, and Dare catches the expression, shadows dance across his expression, along with an unexpected edge of violence, “Been there, done that.”

I nod. “Understood, everyone in this room has to some degree.”

Dare nods, “I know.”

Merrikh clears his throat, “Yes, please. I don’t know if I can cope with the whole pack thing.”

“If you need to go solo, we’ll follow,” Logan immediately says, and Dare nods along.

“You’re the beta of the pack,” Merrikh points out with a grin, “congrats by the way.”

Logan shrugs, “You’re my best friend and brother, just like Dare. I’ll give up being a beta easily if you need to leave. We thought you were dead once, we’re not having you disappear on us again.”

“He’s right, we made the pact, there’s no take-backs,” Dare grins.

I clear my throat, and everyone looks at me. “Logan won’t stop being a beta when you split from the pack, he will just become yours.”

Merrikh’s eyes widen in shock, “Mine?”

I nod, “Yeah, you’re an alpha, and a pretty fucking strong one. You’re not going to be able to stay a part of this pack for longer than a year or so before it starts to become a problem.” I frown slightly as my alpha magic stirs, “If that, actually, you might have to leave sooner.”

“I fucking told you,” Dare says triumphantly, and Merrikh rolls his eyes like it’s a conversation that they’ve had millions of times before.

“It’s settled then,” Logan shrugs like it’s a no-brainer.

“I can see why you wanted to see them first,” Coen grins. “True brothers and packmates.”

Merrikh nods, “Ever since we were kids.”

I sigh, “I know I sure as hell want to get out of here. Do you want to see your parents here or out there?”

“In here,” Merrikh says.

Logan and Dare move to either side of him.

“We’ve got you,” Dare says.

“Ready?” I ask. “It’s late, so there aren’t many wolves still out there, just your parents, Morana, who is waiting to burn Derek’s body, and a couple of stragglers. Most wolves have either gone home or gone into the medical building.”

Merrikh takes a deep breath, his eyes are still his wolfs. This whole time, they haven’t switched back to their human ones, and I have a feeling that it’s going to take a long time until they do.

Unlike Rana, instead of severing his connection with his wolf, he brought his closer to the surface, and they both became wild.

He’s holding it together now, but I don’t think it’s going to take much to make him snap.

I am so fucking glad that he’s got Dare and Logan, and that they are a True Pack, they should help to keep him grounded and bring him back from that feral edge.

“Before they come in, Logan, give me your phone,” I say.

Logan hands it over with no questions asked, and I quickly type away. “I’ve put all of our numbers in there. You can call any of us whenever you want to. If we don’t answer straight away, then we will get back to you when we can. You can share them with Dare and Merrikh, but no one else, please.”

Logan nods, “Of course.”

“Merrikh, I’ve been there. If you need to talk about anything, message me,” Neith offers.

Merrikh grins, “Hey, you owe me a beer and a story.”

“Anytime,” she laughs.

Merrikh looks around at us seriously, “If any of you need a hand with anything, let me know. I’ve got a pretty unique skillset, and I’m happy to help.”

“Same goes for us,” Logan says, and Dare nods with a grin.

I smile, “We might take you up on that.”

Reed chuckles, “You may regret offering, our problems all seem to be deadly.”

All of their eyes light up, and we burst out laughing.

“Or maybe not, it would appear that none of you shy away from violence,” Raiden grins.

“Nope,” Dare replies, shifting about on his feet.

There is definitely a lot more to him than just the guy who likes maps.

“Oh, one more thing, you know in the woods, you realized something that I didn’t?” I ask Logan, trying not to give too much away, and Dare and Merrikh’s eyebrows rise curiously.

I actually wouldn’t mind if they knew, but I have no idea if anyone is listening right now, and I don’t want to risk it.

Logan catches on immediately, and proving that he really does know more than he should, he says, “I won’t say anything. I know the problems that it could cause.”

I nod in relief. Honestly, I would have been surprised if he did say anything, but I feel better knowing that I’ve asked him not to, just in case he had no idea that it was a big deal.

“Thanks, man,” I grin.

Logan nods, but his eyebrows draw down slightly, “Use the alpha voice on me, and make sure that I don’t.”