Page 59 of Crave

“We should approach the Moonburst Coven. Maybe they’ll help? Wilbur seems open to trying some weird-ass things, obviously.” How he’d gone from a man to a seventy-year-old woman was still a mystery to me.

Jericho was still staring between us, his face neutral but his eyes shiny with hope. “You’d do that for us?”

I leaned forward and squeezed his arm, holding back my growl at the tingling attraction that raced between us. “I’m not sure if we made this clear when we dragged you out here, but we like you. One day, if everything goes well, we’d like you to be Pack.” My eyes flicked to the empty space. “Both of you. We mightn’t know much about Bowie, but we want to. That means we have to find a solution so he can at least speak to us, if nothing else.”

The hope in Jericho’s eyes, behind the bruises of past hurts, made me even more resolute. The urge to soothe his pain was an Omega response, but I didn’t care. If this was what I was made for, then I’d step up to my calling and finally appreciate my designation as more than a curse that I had to hide.

The silence was heavy out here in the wide open space, but finally, Susannah clapped her hands. “As far as I’m concerned, that's settled. We’ll track down Electra when we get back to town and see if she can help.” She smiled, and just like every time, I fell a little more in love with her. I slid my eyes to Jericho, and he was looking at her with a similar awestruck expression.

Yeah, man. That first fall was always the hardest.

35

MERRICK

Everything should have been going well, but it wasn’t.

No, that was a lie. Everything with our burgeoning little Pack was going fine. After Susannah basically told me to cut the crap or lose the chance she’d given us, I’d made a concerted effort to rein in the Alpha instincts that screamed Jericho was wrong, and get to know him. And I kinda liked the angry little fucker.

It wasn’t even the fact that the number of dead-but-not-really members of our budding Pack had increased by one. I hadn’t seen that one coming.

No, it was the town that was the problem. Someone had started a smear campaign against us, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who that was. But whatever they were saying was working, because people who’d once been friends were looking at me with distaste. Worse, they were actively jeering at Susannah and Quinn, and I hated it.

I wanted to tear the tongues from every person who said anything remotely bad to them. I wanted to pound the face of everyone who so much as frowned in their direction. It was riling up my Beast, and soon it would explode into violence, and I’d deserve the reputation people were saddling me with.

I ground my molars when two Manix who’d been friends with my parents for decades spat the word, “Disgrace,” as they walked past me.

“Easy,” Murphy said under his breath, and I tried to shake out my clenched fists. “We just gotta get home. Our Omegas are waiting for us, and they’re worth all this.”

He was right, but fuck me, I wanted to wreck some people. We hurried along the streets, and I was glad when we turned into the quieter streets. The town was small and flat, so you could get wherever you needed without an ATV. It was actually nice.

The street we were on held most of the community gardens, and there were small clusters of witches tending to them. More than that, there were a few of the younger Manix there learning from them. Probably a class from the makeshift school they were running out of the community hall down near the railway tracks. Seeing the two groups together eased some of the anger still smoldering in my chest.

The older Manix might struggle with the change, and I honestly hoped that the closed-minded old bastards went back to Maxton. It could be the place they all retired to be among their closed-minded buddies. Moonburst was an opportunity, and I wasn’t going to let anyone run me or my Pack out of here, no matter how unconventional we were.

A young witch—Ruffles? Rufus? Rufio? Something like that, anyway—raced up to us. “Merrick!”

I wanted his name. Murphy came through for me, like always. “Hey, Rafferty. How’s things?” Damn, I’d been close.

“Raspberries. We just harvested some, and I thought you may want to hand deliver them?” He produced a soft mesh bag. Inside were the fattest raspberries I’d ever seen.

“Holy crap, Raff. Those things are basically small apples!”

Rafferty laughed and flushed. “It's all the extra energy from the Manix. We’re having record crops.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You trying to woo my Omega with your big berries, Rafferty?” I was joking, of course, but the young witch’s eyes got real wide and a little scared.

“No, Alpha. I mean, sir. I mean, Merrick. I’m gay! And I have a boyfriend!”

“I have two Omegas.” I couldn’t help myself.

Rafferty blanched more, and Murphy slapped the back of my head. “He’s just teasing you, Raff. Don’t even worry about him. Zanny will appreciate these so much, thank you.” Murphy gave me a pointed look.

“Thank you, Rafferty. I promise we aren’t that territorial. You should bring your boyfriend over to our Packhouse soon and have a beer with us, as a thank you for the berries.”

Rafferty nodded vigorously, but I had a feeling he’d never be coming around. I kinda felt bad now.

We said our quick goodbyes, and then hurried back to our brand new Packhouse. I couldn’t wait until I opened the front door, and Quinn greeted me. Or Susannah. Or hell, maybe I’d be a stay-at-home Alpha and take care of our cubs one day. I wanted Susannah and Quinn to do whatever the hell they wanted to do with their lives. Did I even know what their dreams and hopes were? What kind of Alpha was I?

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