Page 110 of Found Objects

“I need everyone in the main house. You as well,” I told him.

“No,” he said, and I heard the low rumble of his wolf. “I am the alpha, and you are my mate. I go everywhere you go.”

I couldn’t argue.

He turned to his new pack then.

“First, we need to move these men, as well as the three in the cabin, up the hill to Merritt’s land. Once that’s done, we will all have our Thanksgiving feast together in the house, and I will explain to you all what I intend for our pack going forward, the close family group that I want to create with all of your help.”

As several men came forward to follow Cole’s order, Narah leaned close to Abel, tried to smile, and kissed him softly on the cheek. Then she stood up and moved around him to stand next to her still-seated son.

Justin did the same—leaned close, kissed his father’s cheek, said that he would always love him, then rose with Narah’s help.

For his part, Abel looked from one to the other, then stared down at the grass between his knees.

Reggie walked over to them and untied Justin’s hands, and Narah took her son’s arm and led him toward the house. They had to pack enough for the evening. When Reggie followed them, Helene joined him, taking his good arm. Even though he was healing quickly, she was still careful. I liked seeing that she wasn’t letting Reggie out of her sight, not trusting Narah and Justin alone with him. She would be a wonderful mate for him.

Cole walked over to Abel, dragged him to his feet, and started walking him up the hill toward my property.

“It was good of you not to beg your mate and son to help you,” Cole told him as we walked.

“I don’t want them killed as well.”

“I wouldn’t kill them. Justin’s power has been taken, so he can’t influence anyone anymore, and he’ll have the funds to take Narah far from here. Perhaps the two of them can go to Santa Monica and live near Oonagh. That would be nice for them.”

“Yes,” Abel agreed and then caught his breath. “How can you kill me when I protected you from a fiend?”

“You didn’t protect me,” Cole told him. “You forgot about me completely in your bloodlust to kill my father.”

“You can’t believe everything Matthias said.”

“Matthias spoke the truth,” I told Abel. “And even if I didn’t know that, couldn’t taste the veracity of his words, I would believe him, because at that point, he had no reason to lie. He thought, when he was talking to Cole, that he held all the cards. He thought his men had gutted Ondine, that Evan had watched, and that if Cole didn’t leave with them, he’d kill his brother.”

“I––”

“Unlike you, Cole loves his brother and would have done anything to save him. Matthias knew that and preyed on it.”

“All of this,” Abel hissed at Cole, “is your fault.”

“I really hope so.”

“Merritt and his power, his land, his friends, magic that moves bones, none of it would have come near us if you hadn’t wanted him.”

Cole was quiet, and after a moment I glanced at him.

“He’s my mate,” Cole told his uncle. “I was always going to find him, it was inevitable. But really, you’re the one who moved the pack. Maybe that was the true alpha’s guiding hand.”

I liked the idea that his father, not as a ghost, but as a power still in his sons’ lives, had worked some magic to have Abel relocate the pack.

Once we reached my land, I knelt in the grass, and Cole did as well, yanking Abel down to his knees between us.

There was yelling in the distance suddenly, and four bodies appeared in front of us, one of them the enormous headless man I had dispatched. His head came last. Cole was stunned, even more so when Teague stepped out from behind an oak and looked at him.

I moved quickly, bolting back down the hill a short way to the pack property.

“Everything’s fine, a friend moved the bodies,” I announced to everyone. “Return to the house and prepare the feast. Also, we all need to watch Narah and Justin. We want them off the property as quickly as possible. Your alpha will rejoin you shortly.”

My reputation with the pack was good. I had saved their children, saved their new alpha, and helped keep them all safe. Everyone moved quickly to follow my orders.