Page 12 of Ascension of the Pack

He winked. ‘Sure you don’t, Peaches. You’re a delicate little flower at all times.’

‘That’s right.’ I nodded emphatically. ‘Talk to me about the favours.’

His jovial nature faded as he got down to business, but before we could get far, there was a knock at the door. We exchanged exasperated looks; it seemed like the universe was conspiring to keep us from our heist. Nevertheless I called, ‘Come in!’

Ben came in. It struck me as odd that my brother didn’t just barge in but knocked respectfully and waited; he really was getting used to pack protocol. I would have to call a pack tourney soon and see where he fitted into the powerstructure. Roan – Rohan – was an experienced wolf and I was willing to bet that Ben would make it into the battle core thirteen.

‘Hey,’ I greeted him. ‘You okay?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘and no.’ He sat in one of my guest chairs.

‘Talk to us,’ Greg said.

Ben sighed. ‘Rohan and I have been having a vision – several, actually. I was convinced it was just a weird recurring dream, but Rohan is sure it is more than that.’ He paused. ‘This is the most ridiculous question I’ve ever asked, but are you planning on stealing a magical orb from a dragon?’ He gave a little laugh like he was amused by his own absurdity, but he still looked nervous.

Greg and I exchanged glances.

‘Oh shit,’ Ben breathed. ‘It’s not a ridiculous question, is it?’

‘Not as ridiculous as you might think,’ I said slowly. ‘Tell me about this dream.’

My brother buried his head in his hands. ‘I can see the future,’ he said from between his fingers. ‘Fucking hell.’ After a long minute, he finally looked up at me. ‘If I really am some sort of seer, this power comes with immense responsibility. I haven’t been trained in this shit. I don’t know how much I should tell you, if anythingat all.’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know either but letting us muddle around when you’ve got some sort of insight into the best way forward doesn’t seem particularly brotherly. Tell us, please.’

Ben licked his lips. ‘Honestly, I don’tknowwhat to tell you. I’ve been having this dream – or variations of it – every night for weeks. At first I thought I’d watched too muchLord of the Ringsand Smaug had invaded my brain, or maybe it was just a side effect of discovering dragons really existed.’

I suppressed a grimace: a reference to Smaug didn’t seem positive for our heist plans. It seemed inevitable that if a dragon shifter was going to be around, our sneaking-in plans would get fucked up. And the dragon shifter in question would almost certainly be Geneve.

I met Greg’s eyes over my brother’s head. His expression mirrored my own. ‘Tell us,’ he ordered Ben gruffly. He wasn’t talking to him as a potential brother-in-law but as my beta.

‘As I said, I dreamed variation after variation. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen because I’ve dreamed it happening twenty, thirty, forty different ways.’ Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair.

‘Whatcanyou tell us?’ Greg asked impatiently. ‘What features were consistent that will help us achieve a positive outcome?’

Ben rubbed his face as he tried to clear his thoughts. ‘Positive outcome. Okay, well I guess I need to focus on the dreams where you actually managed to get the orb.’ He closed his eyes and chewed on his lip. ‘You need Tarkers there, and Wakado.’

‘Debbie?’ Greg asked.

‘Yeah.’ Ben nodded vigorously. ‘You definitely want Debbie there, too. The man is a machine.’

‘Okay – Tarkers, Wakado, Debbie, me and Greg. Perfect,’ I said.

Ben licked his lips and swallowed hard. He shook his head slowly. ‘Not just them. You need Xander, too.’

‘I’m not taking Xander with us,’ I objected immediately. ‘He’s a kid.’

‘He’s an adult,’ Greg disagreed. ‘Barely – but even so. He is eighteen.’

I grimaced. ‘I’m not taking Xander,’ I said firmly. I couldn’t be responsible for the young, enthusiastic lad’s death if anything went wrong. He was just a child.

Ben looked pale as he shook his head. ‘You need him,’ he insisted.

I folded my arms. ‘Agree to disagree. Tell me something else, something that Icanagree to.’

Greg shook his head slightly at Ben, telling him to leave the topic of Xander for now.

‘There’s some sort of short, squat dude that comes along. He has a red beard nearly to his knees.’

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