Page 57 of Found Objects

“You’d be surprised.”

“Your eyes were glowing green, Merritt,” Narah said softly from the other side of the bed. I noticed that Evan had his back to her, his alpha, and Justin. That was probably a breach of some protocol. Wolves did love their rules and customs.

I nodded. “They do that, on occasion.”

Evan squeezed my hand to get my attention again.

“Yes?”

“At one point, on the way here, I felt like I was drowning in mud.”

“I’m sure you did, and I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

His eyelids were drooping; he was fighting sleep so hard.

“Listen, I promise that the second Reggie and Fletcher get back, I’ll wake you up, all right? But in the meantime, why don’t you close your eyes?”

“Yeah, but Merritt, you won’t leave, right?”

“No, I won’t. Reggie brought me, so I’m gonna have to catch a ride home with⁠—”

“Ev, we’ll take Mere home, okay? And maybe he’ll let us sleep over in that beautiful house of his.”

Evan turned big, hopeful eyes on me. “I’ve never seen your house, Merritt, but I’d really like to. And I know it’s stupid to be scared, but if me and Cole could stay with you, just for tonight, I would really like that.”

I glanced up at Cole.

“Please, Mere,” he husked, and after our words on Saturday, he had no right to sound so sincere and stare at me so earnestly.

“Evan,” Narah began gently, “we were thinking that you and your brother should come back to the house with us and spend the night.”

He looked over at his aunt. “I would like to stay at Merritt’s house instead if that’s okay. I didn’t…” He took a breath, but it hitched like he was scared. “I just want to be safe and⁠—”

“Young man, I’m your alpha,” Abel reminded him. “And more importantly, your uncle. No one can keep you safer than me.”

“No, yeah, I know.” Evan bit his bottom lip, and I saw his eyes suddenly well with tears. “But I just want⁠—”

“We’ll stay with Merritt,” Cole stated, his voice firm and eyes glowing gold for a moment, power rippling off of him. “And it’s not that we doubt you, Alpha, but Evan has had a scare, and Merritt stopped the nightmare, no one else. He needs to rest and would do that best at Merritt’s home. I think all of us should let him be where he wants to be.”

Abel stared at Cole, who held his gaze steadily, without blinking. The contest might have gone on, but thankfully Narah put her hand on her mate’s arm and squeezed gently.

“Of course you should stay where you want tonight, Evan, we have no issue with that, do we, my alpha?”

After a moment, Abel exhaled quickly. “Of course not.”

I nearly rolled my eyes, but turned away instead. So very nice that he deferred to the boy who’d been having seizures and was in the hospital, and not his pride.

Evan nodded off holding my hand, and I would have let go, but his grip, even in sleep, was tight. Cole picked up a chair and brought it over next to me as his uncle, aunt, and cousin left the room. When he sat down, his knee was wedged next to mine.

“Could you move over a bit,” I said curtly. “You’re crowding me.”

“Good. I wanna crowd you.”

My gaze met his. “You’re giving me whiplash.”

“Fuck, I know,” he muttered, sounding miserable. “And I’m sorry, all right?”

I just stared at him.