“Leave him here,” Evershaw said. “Deirdre will look at him, and Ophelia might be able to help with the sorcerer’s tricks. It’s better to have him close. And the last thing we want is him freaking the rest of the pack out.”
Henry grunted and tried to steel himself for the possibility that Silas might not ever be fully human again. “And what happens if they can’t fix him?”
The silence stretched between them as all eyes turned to the monster in the corner, and he froze, staring back at them with the light reflecting from his eyes. Mercy sniffled and cleared her throat, on the verge of tears as she whispered, “He’ll be fine.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” Evershaw said.
But they all knew there was only one outcome—a shifter who’d gone wild in their head and couldn’t tell the difference between man and animal was too dangerous to remain in the city. Too dangerous to remain alive, truly, because if he escaped and the humans caught sight of him... Silas could endanger not just their pack, but every shifter in the city. Every supernatural, every witch. Everything they’d built...
Henry raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “I’ll see if Ophelia is awake. Maybe she can find a spell or something to calm him down. If he knows he’s safe and falls asleep, maybe it’ll just sort itself out.”
The alpha remained unmoving as he watched his pack-mate start pacing once more. His voice remained carefully aloof and distant, already trying to armor himself against having to maybe put Silas down. “He doesn’t know he’s safe, though. We’ve just put him in another cage, another prison. He’ll bite whoever gets close enough. Figure out how to restrain him—as humanely as possible—and then feed him. Give him a place to shit, too, if he remembers how to do it in a bucket.”
Then Evershaw stalked up the stairs, posture rigid. The four of them watched him depart as Dodge joined them. Todd shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “This is a fucking mess. He tried using the alpha’s influence on Silas and it just wouldn’t get through to him. Whatever the sorcerer did...”
They all growled, and Henry wasn’t the only one who wished he’d gotten his teeth sunk into that bastard’s throat. But he had faith that Ophelia and Deirdre would figure it out.
Mercy leaned against Henry but still watched Silas. “How’s your sister? She got rattled around a bit.”
“She’s mostly okay,” Henry said. “A little wild-eyed after what happened, but she’s with Fran and feeling better.”
“Are you still going to Montana? Even after…everything?” Mercy glanced at Silas and then back at Henry, and his chest tightened.
In all the chaos around Silas’s disappearance and the confrontation with the sorcerer, he’d completely forgotten about Montana. Henry watched Silas pace, the monster tensing as Dodge reappeared with steak and raw hamburger. Silas scented the air and growled, drool starting to spill from the wolf muzzle that grew from his half-human face, and edged closer to where Dodge offered the food.
They all held their breath, waiting. Hoping that Silas would magically remember to be human. His deformed hands—more paws with elongated toes that were almost like fingers—reached for the plates. Henry waited, praying the wolfman remembered to use a plate. Remembered to hold it and use his hands to pick up one of the grilled steaks, and...
Silas snatched the plate away and fumbled it until it fell, then dropped down to the ground to shovel the food into his mouth with both hands. Henry exhaled, disappointed, and hugged Mercy once more time. “I don’t know about Montana. It’ll depend on Silas and Nola and Ophelia. I don’t think anyone would blame me if I stayed to sort all this out,” and he gestured to take in Silas, the rest of the house, and practically everything in the city.
Mercy leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’ll miss you, so I want you to stay, but... they might need you more in Montana, from what Fran was telling me.”
“Oh?” Henry held still, trying not to grimace as Silas fumbled with the plate. “Why’s that?”
“Just some of the stuff she mentioned about pack dynamics.” Mercy straightened and adjusted her ponytail before taking a deep breath, then pasted a bright smile on her face. “Do I look convincing? Everything’s great and we’re all going to be fine? I can’t walk into the house without at least looking like my positive, sunshiny self.”
He tried not to smile, instead nodding gravely. “Totally convincing.”
“Great,” she said, then bounced up the stairs. She trilled something about making dinner as she went, giving orders and calling directions when the rest of the pack tried to scatter to avoid work.
Dodge shook his head and eased into one of the battered chairs in the storm cellar, never taking his eyes off Silas as the wolfman searched for a comfortable place to settle down after gorging himself with meat. “I’ll stay down here with him, man. You go on up to your mate. Make sure she’s fine and can figure out how to help him.”
Henry checked his watch; Ophelia had been sleeping for a couple of hours, so hopefully she was ready for some dinner and maybe a little reassure-the-wolf sex. “Right. Call if you need anything.”
“I ain’t gonna need anything,” Dodge muttered, waving him away. “Not from someone with a new mate. I’ll make Todd come down here if anything changes. Go take care of business.”
The wolf didn’t particularly like another male talking about his mate, but Henry wasn’t about to argue with Dodge telling him to skedaddle. He headed upstairs and only paused in the kitchen long enough to find food for Ophelia. The sky had darkened into night while he was in the storm cellar, and though the house was lit up in practically every room, it didn’t feel like enough. That damn sorcerer had brought true darkness into their pack, and it lurked in the basement.
Henry tried to put the grief at Silas’s fate aside as he climbed the stairs and peeked into his room. He found Ophelia sitting on the edge of the bed, still yawning and looking rather rumpled, and she brightened considerably when she saw him.
Well, when she saw the plates he carried. He didn’t take it personally.
“I’m starving,” the witch muttered, and reached for a cheeseburger without hesitation. She chewed a massive bite as she fought to look more awake, rubbing her eyes with a free hand. “How’s everything going? What happened? I kind of remember you bringing me here, and then everything turned all gray and—weird.”
He sat across the room, since getting in bed with her, even during dinner, was a shortcut to his brain ceasing to function. Henry gave her an update on the status across the pack, talking slowly so she could finish inhaling her food before regrouping with more questions. He tried not to smile as he watched her, loving the slight flush of her cheeks and the way her wide eyes flashed as she talked through what happened.
Henry leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Want more to eat?”
“I feel like I could eat for the next year,” she muttered, flopping back on the bed while clutching her stomach. “And maybe sleep for a year, too. Alternate between the two.”
He yawned and rubbed his jaw, reaching to turn off the light. “Then you sleep. I’ll keep watch and wake you up if anything—”
“But first,” Ophelia said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She fixed him with an intense look, her eyes flinging sparks that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with... His heart beat a little faster. She eased to her feet and arched an eyebrow. “First, I desperately need a shower.”
“Do you,” he said carefully, not daring to hope. “That would certainly be a good idea.”
The corner of her mouth tipped up. “But, you know, I’m still a little wobbly on my feet. I might need... some help.”
He was halfway in the bathroom and most of the way naked by the time she said “help,” and Ophelia laughed hard enough he almost dropped her and fell himself. Henry pinned her to the wall with a hard kiss as he fumbled with the shower knobs, barely breaking his lips from hers to say, “I thought I lost you. I thought you were… I need you, but I know you’re… This was a rough day so if you don’t want to—”
Ophelia snorted and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back just as hard, and he took that as the green light he’d been waiting for.
