He stares, “You gave the pack back to my dad?”
Everyone freezes.
“Asher and Amari are your parents?” Raiden asks.
Merrikh nods, “Yes.” And then sensing our silent question adds. “My parents are really tactile people, like most wolves are, and I’m going to need Dare and Logan there to step in. They’ve been my best friends since we were pups.”
I nod, “Understood.”
“Well, the basement is all closed up,” River says. “I’ll go and get them and bring them in. Probably best to not be in this room.”
Merrikh looks around and sneers, “Absolutely not.”
We head into the hallway near the front door, and River steps outside.
River
As I step outside the door, I’m happy to see that there are only a few wolves still milling around. I imagine that quite a few of them are in the medical building, and the rest of them will have gone back to their cabins.
Unsurprisingly, Asher and Amari are still talking to the few wolves that are around. They’re going to lead this pack well, it’s late, really late actually, and nearing midnight, and they have both been through the same ordeal as everyone else, and need to rest, but they’re still out here checking on their wolves, on their pack.
I grin as I spot Rana moving through those still left and helping as well, although her help isn’t being as well-received as Asher and Amari’s.
I jog up to Asher and Amari, “Hey, do you know where Logan and Dare are?”
Asher frowns slightly, “Yeah, they went to check on the wolves in the medical building.”
“Could you call them back, please?” I ask.
Asher nods and sends a text, and it only takes a couple of moments before they’re jogging from a big building to the left of us.
“What’s up?” Logan asks immediately.
“Can you guys come with me?” I ask.
“Of course,” Dare replies with absolutely no hesitation, while Logan simply nods.
Asher and Amari are watching me curiously, but I have nothing to say. I can’t tell them that everything is okay because it's not, but I also can’ttell them that we’ve found their son that they most likely thought was dead, because this situation needs to be handled really fucking carefully. Merrikh asked for Logan and Dare, so that’s who he’s going to get.
When we get up the porch steps, I pause and turn back to face them, “I need you to control your reaction, okay?”
They both look confused, but seem to trust me enough because they both nod.
Pushing open the door, I usher them inside and quickly close the door behind me. The scent of cleaning products in here is strong enough that no one outside should be able to smell Merrikh and rush in here before he’s ready, but if the wind changes while the door is open, then all bets are off.
I stay in front of the door, just in case someone decides to try and come through it, and the others step back as Logan and Dare freeze.
Merrikh grins, his eyes hiding his unease, “Miss me?”
“What the flying fuck?” Logan whispers.
“Merrikh?” Dare says, a tinge of hope in his voice.
Merrikh grins, “In the flesh.”
Logan surprises me when he launches himself at Merrikh. I tense, preparing to intervene, but Merrikh must have been expecting it because he simply wraps his arms around him tightly, hugging him back, and burying his head in Logan’s shoulder.
After a couple of minutes, he glances up and meets my eyes, and I know that he’s okay with this. He’s handling it. I also understand why he wanted to see these two first. They’re his True Pack. I can see the bonds between them with my magic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the three of them split off from this pack to create their own. They are all stronger than they should be. Their magic is different from normal wolves, but I’m not entirely sure why. There was so much going on earlier that I hadn’t noticed, but now that my attention is solely on them, it’s easy to see.
