“I’ll come find you in a bit.”
He forced a smile before he walked out, leaving a million and one questions in his wake.
“Jase,” Merc called to his brother, “please show Foust and Brunton to the meeting room.” Jase and Dean led the wolves in question down the hall. “Piper, if you’d be so kind.” Merc gestured for me to follow, then waited for me to move. The vampire king followed me until we reached the room with the massive table that was empty except for us.
Then he shut the door.
“What’s this about?” I asked, my frayed nerves unraveling even further.
“I have concerns,” he replied enigmatically. I stared at him, a silent request to continue, but his gaze shifted to the two werewolves already there. They stared back with wary expressions, as though they knew what was coming.
I wished I could have said the same.
“Concerns about what?” Foust asked, his diplomatic side showing through. I was pretty certain that Brunton was in no mood to ask politely what in the hell Merc wanted to meet about.
“I need to know more about Knox’s history as the alpha of New York and the circumstances of his departure.”
Foust cast Brunton a sidelong glance. “I think Knox would be more helpful in this matter,” he replied.
“He would if he were willing to fully disclose sensitive subject matter to me, but I think you and I both know that isn’t the case,” Merc argued, “even after everything we have been through with Piper. But despite his reluctance and your obvious loyalty to him, these are facts that need to be brought to light if we are to stand against the fey royals. I cannot and will not allow his past to be somehow manipulated into a weapon against Piper, and I know you can appreciate why.” The wolves’ eyes fell to me, the pain of uncertainty plain in their stares. “You care for her too, do you not?”
“We do,” Foust replied.
“Then tell me what I need to know, and we will be done here. There is a reason I have kept this matter as private as possible. I do not wish to shame your alpha. I merely need to know if killing Mack has created a weakness in him that could be exploited, as I suspect it may have.” Merc’s expression grew grim. “I am not without my own.” Those dark eyes turned to me, and I saw the sorrow of what he’d done to me haunting him still. I moved closer and took his hand.
“That wasn’t your fault,” I whispered.
“And it wouldn’t be Knox’s, either, but that would not change the outcome, would it?”
No. No, it wouldn’t, and my silence spoke volumes.
As it settled upon the group, Brunton spoke. “You have to understand something about Knox,” he said, frustration filling his tone. “He will suffer in silence because he thinks that’s his job—that it’s part of his duty as alpha. And that’s exactly what he did for centuries—”
“Until it drove him to paranoia,” Foust added softly, his eyes unfocused and distant, as though reliving those times. Then he snapped back to the present. “His power and his lie-detecting gift evolved over his time in New York. It got to the point that his energy was overrun by the intentions of others—their lies and deceit—and as the pack grew larger and stronger, it was a non-stop draw on him mentally.”
“He’d lock himself away from the others just to try to escape it, but even that stopped working at some point,” Brunton explained. “He turned to those of us closest to him because we were the only ones he could trust, but even that backfired eventually.”
Foust looked to Brunton, then to Merc. “Knox erupted at Brunton one day and nearly killed him.”
“That’s when I left.”
“Years later, Knox came to the breaking point. He knew he had to leave it all behind or take his own life,” Foust continued. “There was no other way, in his mind. One day I went over to check on him, and he was gone. Thankfully, I was able to track him to Alaska. By the time I found him, he was already a different person, with no trace of the madness that had taken him over at all. Together, we built the lodge…and then wayward wolves just started showing up.” Foust ribbed Brunton. “Including this asshole...eventually.”
Brunton shrugged. “Motherfucker tried to kill me. I wasn’t in a hurry to make up.”
“And just like that, he was fine? After all that time and torment?” Merc asked, and I couldn’t miss the note of shock in his tone.
Foust shrugged apologetically.
“But you said it worsened with the size and strength of his pack,” I said, working through it all in my head. “How come that didn’t happen in Alaska?”
Another shrug. “I don’t know, Piper. Maybe it was the New York pack in particular that was a problem, or the city in general. All I know is that he was the old Knox I remembered, and I wanted to do all I could to keep him that way.”
“And I brought him back here…” I swallowed back my guilt.
“But he’s been fine since we arrived,” Foust pointed out, “so maybe everything will be fine. Maybe whatever the issue was before is gone.”
“Except now he is the alpha of the New York pack again,” Merc observed.
“And I wouldn’t say he’s been ‘fine’ since he returned. He’s been way more stressed than he was in Alaska,” I said, wishing that weren’t true.
“But it’s been a shitshow since we arrived,” Brunton countered. “I’m not sure there’s a correlation between the two.”
“I guess we will soon see.” Merc’s sobering observation sent a chill through my body. “He’s regained control of the pack that once drove him mad,” he continued, stepping closer to the wolves, “and the fey royals are hunting us.”
Foust nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on him and let you know if anything smacks of the time before he bailed.”
“Dude, you can’t—”
“We have no choice,” Foust said, cutting Brunton off. “I don’t want to be a narc, but this isn’t the time to let our loyalty to him bring us all down. Even Knox wouldn’t want that.”
“He wouldn’t,” I said softly, hating the truth in those words. Then a thought occurred to me—one the others had so far overlooked. One that could very well be the game-changer for the alpha of two packs. “But last time, he didn’t have me.” Everyone in the room stared at me. “We’re connected—we have been since the second we met—and you all know it. Maybe that connection can help keep him grounded. Can help share the toll that being alpha of this city seems to take on him.”
Foust and Brunton looked hopeful. Merc looked worried.
“I don’t know about this, Piper—”
“It’s not a choice, Merc. It just is. And if it keeps Knox steady and sane through this and everything after, then I will use that connection however I need to to make it happen.”
“He’s not been the same since he met you,” Foust said as he took a step closer. There was a glint of awe in his eyes—and a note of appreciation. “I’ve never seen him happier.”
“Yeah,” Brunton agreed. “I think she might be right.”