Page 28 of Dawn Unearthed

“I don’t want to notice my brother’s dick at all, but I sure don’t want to talk to it since I’m sitting here on the ground, and you’re standing there all growly. Put on some clothes. Let’s talk.”

“What if I don’t want to?” My bear was in amood. It wanted Sage. So did I. And since we couldn’t have her, I wanted to slap at someone with my claws. Trace was here. He wouldn’t bruise…much.

“Don’t you sound like a petulant alpha?” Trace smirked. Jaxton let out another call from above, and I swore I heard a laugh in the sound before he tilted one wing in a sign of goodbye and flew away.

We had work to do, cleanup to deal with after the necromancer’s attack. And, honestly, we needed to find out who was coming at us. There was a reason Jaxton and I were the cleaners and fixers of Ravenwood. We had to clean up the magic and any unexplained things the wards couldn’t protect. Rowen was only one person, and I was afraid that even with Sage’s newly burgeoning powers, she wouldn’t be enough to help with the coven wards. Not without Laurel breaking her curse, and I didn’t know when that would happen. If ever.

It might have been easier if Ash were back, but then again, given everything that had happened when he left? Maybe not. Jaxton and I were needed more and more, and so were others around town, trying to help. I was afraid it wasn’t going to be enough one of these days.

“You’re growling again. What’s wrong?”

“I’m thinking about everything we need to do, and all that we don’t know. And, honestly, I was thinking about Ash,” I said, shaking my head.

Trace’s jaw tightened. “He’s gone. He’s not coming back.”

“You say that, but maybe he needs to.”

“To do what? Throw Rowen off her game again? Break his sister’s heart? Ash is gone, Rome. There’s no fixing it. He’s not going to save Ravenwood. He never was.”

“You’re not going to tell me what happened with him?”

“There’s nothing to tell. Seriously. Ash is gone. And good riddance.”

I looked at my triplet and shook my head. I wasn’t sure I quite believed that, but I couldn’t break through his walls, not when it came to Ash Christopher and the broken shards he had left behind when he burned his way through Ravenwood.

“Why were you thinking of him?” Trace asked after a moment, his voice soft.

I sighed. “I was thinking about everything that Jax and I have had to clean up recently. And the necromancer. And the fact that we don’t know who it was or why they came at us. There are all these unknowns, and it all happened right when Sage came to town.”

“I bet Sage is another reason why you’re so growly,” Trace whispered.

I shook my head. “I can’t. She doesn’t even know who she is. How am I supposed to explain to her what the hell’s going on inside me?”

“She’s hurting, Rome. You know she lost her husband, right?”

I swallowed hard, giving him a tight nod. “I do. It’s been, what? A couple of years now?”

“Yes, from what I heard from Rowen and Laurel.”

“Do you know what happened?” I asked.

“No. And even if I did, I don’t know if I’d tell you. If you want her to be your mate, you’ll have to be the one who finds out more about her. From her. Though it’s not like you’ve had a full conversation with her. This fated mate business is for the birds,” Trace said, and another shriek came from above us.

I looked up at Jaxton as he flew down and landed. He shifted into his human form and dug another pair of sweats out of Trace’s bag.

“A bird joke?”

Trace blushed. “I didn’t know you were there. And it’s a saying.”

“Should I ask you if you shit in the woods? Would that be helpful?” Jaxton asked, his eyes filled with laughter.

I shook my head. “You waved goodbye.”

“I saw another bear lumbering over here, so I thought I’d visit and see how things were going.”

I turned as Alden walked through the trees. He lumbered, all right, though in human form. His bear was in his eyes, and he chuffed, the hump on the back of his neck rising.

I cursed under my breath.

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