“How many times, how many ways, do I have to tell you; you don’t get to be mad at him. He did what he had to, no more and no less.”

Dean stood, arms folded, leaning against the door jam of Ashley’s room and trying to contain himself.

“But you didn’t do anything wrong! He had no right-”

Ash froze at the sight of her mate leaping at her, fangs bared. She shrank back on the bed, her eyes widening, and Dean stopped himself with a snarl.

“He had every right, as you full know. He has the right to take anything from the Pack, including our lives. And I’m not blameless in this. I shouldn’t have gone…if I’d have just sent him a warning through the Pack bonds, he would’ve been prepared and I wouldn’t have disobeyed his orders.” Dean insistently omitted the fact that Percy had shut down the Pack bonds when he’d left, it made no difference in his disobedience. “Instead, I let curiosity get the best of me, and it almost got both of us killed. Besides,” he added, as Ashley started to rise from the bed to dispute the matter further, “Percy’s back. He’s brought the boy, so we’ll talk about his later, if we really want to bring it up to Percy. Which I don’t,” he finished, shooting a glare in Ashley’s direction. She looked pointedly away as she stood to her feet.

“Fine. Let’s go make this kid feel at home, then, and just forget about everything that’s hard to face.” Shoving herself from the bed, Ashley stomped to the door and flung it open, storming into the hall and down the stairs, leaving Dean standing next to bed with bed with a smart remark on his tongue. Sighing, he reminded himself, not for the first time, that she was only a hundred and forty-something. He walked to the top of the stairs and glanced down; not catching sight of Ashley, Percy, or the boy, he shrugged and began to descend, taking the steps three at a time.

***

I’d gotten the boy settled and was introducing him to a slightly disgruntled-looking Ashley when Dean’s shoes appeared on the stairs, and I stepped to intercept him before he reached the landing. Dean stopped abruptly as he stepped off the bottom step, his eyes flashing and darting to the boy. Ash saw it too, and stepped discretely between us and the boy, blocking him from our view with her body as I snagged Dean’s sleeve and steered him toward their game room. He tried to glance over his shoulder as the boy, but a silent command from me locked his gaze in front of him until we’d reached the pool table set near the back wall of the room.

I took two sticks from the rack on the wall and tossed him one. He caught it without looking, and absently began racking the balls, still trying to glance toward the front door, where I could just see Ash leading the boy into the living room, to one of the couches, where she’d make small talk until I filled her in and summoned the rest of the Pack.

“Dean.” When he didn’t immediately look at me, I cleared my throat and let myself swell just a bit.

“Dean.” The added touch of power made him jerk his gaze around and he focused his eyes on mine, a little begrudgingly. “Yeah?” He blinked at me a few times, trying to regain his concentration, it seemed. “Sir,” he added, a little too harshly for my liking.

“Leave the boy to Ash for a bit, and let’s shoot a game and talk. There’s some things we need to clear up before the rest of the Pack gets here,” I said, my anger too close to the surface for my words to take on the nonchalance I was trying to portray. He recognized it, and tossed me the chalk, allowing me the break. I dusted my hand with powder to have something to do to avert my eyes and stepped up to the table, taking my time.

“I don’t like what’s going on lately,” I started, sending the cue cracking into the rest of the balls, spreading them all across the table. “And I don’t like the way it’s been affecting the Pack.” Dean stepped up to take his shot, and sunk the fourteen. Lining up his next shot, he spoke so softly I almost missed it.

“You mean how I made the mistake that almost killed you?”

He missed the eleven on purpose stepped back to look at me. “I don’t like it either. I don’t like that there’s all this secrecy from the Elders, and I don’t like this kid.” He jerked his head toward the wall between us and the living room, and we both grew silent to listen to Ashley’s constant string of chatter, interrupted only every so often by the boy’s quiet, short responses. I stepped up to take my shot and sunk the seven as he continued.

“I know it’s not my place, Percy, but damnit, what are the Elders playing at? Who is this kid, and what the hell’s going on? I don’t like the way he smells…” Dean trailed off and glared at the wall as if he could see through it. I put the five in a corner and thought about what he meant. The boy stank of fear and mistrust, but we’d smelled that far too many times for it to upset Dean this much. It couldn’t be the boy’s scent; there was nothing disturbing about it, on the contrary, it was even slightly soothing…

I shook the thought from my head as I missed the three. “It doesn’t matter what he smells like. What matters is he’s my responsibility, and the Elders want him. I’m breaking confidence by doing this; bringing him here and telling you all what’s going on, but I don’t think I can do this on my own.” I watched him put the sixteen into a side pocket, and continued, “I’m supposed to bring him to the Elders, but they didn’t tell me why. Half the damn world’s out to kill him, and I don’t know why. And then there’s that little bitch in the-” I broke off and a tremor ran through me; I hadn’t meant to bring up the vision I’d had.

Dean watched me from the corner of his eye as he sunk the thirteen, and when I didn’t continue, he said, “I just don’t like him. The fact that so many people want him dead seems like a big tip off. Maybe the Elders want to kill him themselves, they just don’t want everyone to know about it, so they asked you to bring him to them. Maybe,” he continued, as he sunk to nine, “Maybe we’d be doing them a favor by slitting his throat.”

I shook my head. “They were very specific: Bring the boy to them unharmed. And damnit, man, when did you get so good at this game?” I demanded as Dean sunk the ten. He smirked at me as he lined up his next shot and I grinned back; it felt for a moment like everything was back to normal. “Besides, why do you hate him so much already? You haven’t even met him yet.”

Dean sent the cue ball flying from the table and straightened with a jerk, glaring at me. “What the hell are you talking about, Percy? There’s a strange, newly Changed wolf in my house, alone with my mate, and he stinks of barely-contained chaos. I’m not gonna buddy up to someone like that…why are you defending him? He almost got you killed, in case you forgot.”

“You don’t understand,” I said, my voice raising a notch. “The boy is being hunted and attacked from all sides, he’s terrified and alone, and he might be being sent to the slaughter by the only people he’s come to trust! And just what exactly does ‘barely-contained chaos’ smell like, Dean?”

“It smells like him,” Dean shouted, tossing the stick in his hand across the room, where it hit the wall between us and the living room. “And I don’t give a shit what’s happened to him, I don’t want him in my home, around my mate!”

The cue ball lay forgotten under an end-table as Dean and I stared each other down, his chest heaving and his face clouded by anger. I laid my stick on the table and stepped to put my face directly in front of his, putting my full power behind my next words.

“You are forbidden to in any way harm that boy. I am your Alpha, and you’ll do as I say.” I took a step back, and Dean’s face cleared a tiny bit. I softened my tone and dropped the use of my power, “I need your help, Dean. I need the Pack’s help…I don’t know what to do here. The boy hasn’t done anything wrong, and the Elders are lying to me. I don’t know how I know,” I said, holding up a hand when Dean opened his mouth, “But I know. Something really strange is going on, and I need you to help me.”

Dead unclenched his hands and, after a minute or two, his breathing evened out. He went to retrieve the cue, and, holding it out to me, said, “It’s your shot. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go keep an eye on my mate.” Dropping the ball in my hand, he stalked out of the room and I heard him throw himself onto a couch, presumably placing himself between Ash and the boy. I turned and hurled the cue ball into a wall and walked after him, cursing under my breath.

I found them all sitting silently, Ash staring quizzically at Dean, Dean’s angry gaze focused on the boy, and the boy staring fixedly at the floor with his hands in his lap. Ashley stood to her feet as I rounded the corner, shooting me a questioning look and nodding her head at Dean. I shook my head slightly and moved to sit beside the boy, glaring at Dean, who refused to acknowledge me. I pulled my lips back and let a small snarl escape my throat, and Dean removed his gaze from the boy, glaring at the window instead. I shrugged inwardly, it was the best I was going to get.