Page 14 of Cimmerian

Alpha Dean cleared his throat. “Duke, you will go home and await news from me. I don’t want to hear anything to the contrary. Jasper and Ava, you will find Lucy and you will bring her home so we can expel the darkness currently inhabiting her body.” While I was all for some nice language, the way these wolves avoided saying “demon” seemed to run the line of excessive. “We will deal with the debt once Lucy has been found. You are all dismissed.” With that, the Alpha ushered us out the door, closing it with a sense of finality.

“Duke, I…” I began, but he shook his head and turned away.

“Don’t bother, Ava. It’ll just be another excuse I don’t need to hear.”

I sighed heavily, my shoulders sinking with the weight of Duke’s accusations. Jasper pulled me into his body. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“No. Why the hell would I be okay? Duke is right. I’m full of excuses. I’m the reason Monica got away again, and if it weren’t for my family, Lucy wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.” I wanted to wallow and have a bit of a pity party for myself. Having time to do such a thing was rare, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Jasper squeezed my shoulders, and I relaxed into his touch, and the comfort of his thoughts reassuring my own racing ones. “Ava. None of this is your fault. You cannot take the blame for Monica’s actions, especially when you’ve had no control over them. Every decision you’ve made, and every action you’ve taken you have done with the best interests of the pack in mind. Don’t let Duke get in your head. He’s just out of his mind with worry.”

“I can’t say I blame him,” I muttered. I couldn’t imagine knowing something was wrong with Jasper and being helpless to fix it or make it better. I needed to find Lucy, and at the same time figure out a way to pay Orcus’s debt without compromising the safety of the pack. No big deal, right?

* * *

Jasper and I trailed our way back to the small room they had put Merrick in, and I knocked lightly on the partially open door. “How’s the patient?”

Merrick was sitting up in bed, looking a thousand times better than he had when we left him. A tensor bandage was wrapped around his arm, keeping it straight, and Mary was checking a small bag of fluids draining into an IV in his hand. Merrick smiled at me. “Never been better.”

Beau laughed from his chair next to the bed where he sat scrolling on his phone. “He says now. You should’ve heard the big bad wolf cry when Mary set his arm.”

“Beau!” I scolded. “Don’t forget I saw you in the hospital too, and you weren’t exactly the toughest guy in the room then either.”

He gave Merrick his trademark grin. “He knows I’m kidding, baby girl. Just showing him how easy you are to wind up.” Merrick smiled back, and suddenly I didn’t want them to be friends anymore. That was a dangerous idea. One I could probably do without.

“How’d it go with the Alpha?” Beau asked. “How much trouble are you in?”

“Surprisingly not a lot.” I sank into the chair next to Beau, tipping my head back to look at the ceiling.

“You’re shitting me,” was Beau’s eloquent response.

I laughed. “I’m not. But we do have to find Lucy. Duke stormed in and made a whole scene. So now we have to figure out how to get Lucy here for an exorcism, which sounds like buckets of fun, as well as somehow convincing a centuries old demon they don’t want me to pay my mother’s life debt.”

Beau hummed. “So just your average Tuesday?”

Jasper groaned, sinking to the floor in front of me and resting his head against my knees. “Basically.”

I looked over at Beau. “You should go home and get some sleep. I’ll watch over the patient.”

He gave me a look of disbelief. “You have to be just as exhausted as I am.”

“Beau,” I warned. “Just go home. I’ve got this. Go shower -- you smell.”

Jasper chuckled. “I’d do as she says. She’s not in a mood to fuck with.”

Beau shook his head and walked toward the door. “I’ll let Adrian know we’re home and grab a nap at his place. Then I’m coming back to swap off with you, andthenwe can worry about Lucy and all of your mom’s pleasant friends.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off. “Now go!”

Beau left, and I turned my attention to Merrick. “How bad was it?”

He shrugged. “Shattered, as we expected. Mary set it so it’ll heal straight though, and I should be good to go by tonight. My leg had already healed itself by the time we got here.”

I nodded. “That’s good. You should close your eyes and get some sleep too.”

Merrick closed his eyes, letting the medicine carry him off toward sleep. Jasper and I sat silently in the room, waiting for his breathing to level out. When I was certain my brother was asleep, I tapped Jasper’s shoulder, gesturing toward the hallway.

I had so many emotions, I wasn’t sure where to begin. All I knew was that this wasn’t the kind of conversation one had in their mind. I closed the door behind me quietly, making sure Merrick was still softly snoring on the bed. Once I was confident he was still asleep, I slumped to the ground, cupping my head in my hands. “Oh God, Jasper. What the hell are we going to do?”

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