Page 49 of Wolf Found

He jumped to his feet and sprung at his father, landing a knee in his soft belly and then an uppercut that snapped the man’s head back, slamming into what was left of the ruined wall behind him. He was already unconscious when he hit the wall, because he didn’t even try to stop himself or pull away. He just slid down the wall, rolling aside until he was facedown on the floor.

Ash looked around and almost laughed. He was in his childhood bedroom. The very place he’d last been treated like the heir to a throne.

It didn’t matter at all. Ash was a king now of his own choosing and making. He didn’t need Amos or Ezekiel Martingale to make him someone. He already was someone.

He rolled his neck to one side and then the other and went to help Graham up off the floor. “You okay, baby?”

Graham winced as he tried to push up, accepting Ash’s boost but struggling to make use of it. He frowned at the hand he had put in Ash’s, pulled it away, and offered the other. “I think maybe I broke my wrist,” he said, followed by an aborted whimper when he tried to turn it. “Strike that. I’m sure I broke it.”

Ash snarled in Amos’s direction. “No,hebroke it. That asshole attacked you.”

“To be fair, I’d just given him a lungful of pepper,” Graham pointed out, only slightly breathless but trembling like a leaf. “That was a clever thing to bring, by the way. I don’t know where you got that, but it rolled out of your pocket when he knocked you through the wall.”

Ash leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips. “More clever that you picked it up and knew how to use it. You saved my life.”

Graham beamed under the praise and bit his lip. “I did, didn’t I?” He let Ash pull him in, clinging to his side as best he could with a broken wrist. “I knew you’d save me. It’s who you are. I didn’t think I’d get a chance to return the favor.” As they passed Amos on the floor, Graham reached down and pulled something out of his pocket: his phone.

Ash wrapped an arm around him and led him down the hall, away from his unconscious father. “You save me every day, Graham, just by being there.” He coughed, his throat protesting so much use after the fight, but he went on. “I appreciate this save a lot, but the rest is important too.”

It occurred to Ash when they reached the end of the hall that he hadn’t checked if his father had still been breathing.

He didn’t go back.

27

Fighter

Graham was still in shock. He’d known Ash would come for him. Of course he’d known.

But still, somehow it felt like the most surprising, momentous thing that had ever happened to Graham.

He’d spent most of his life counting on the Martingale alpha to take care of him and be there when he was needed, and that had never worked out quite like it was supposed to. The alpha was disinterested at best, and at worst, well, he lied to keep people frightened.

This time, Graham had needed to count on Ash, whom he’d only truly known for a month. The caricature he’d built in his head as a child hadn’t been knowledge; it had been a dream of what Graham wanted. The real Ash was so much more flawed and sweet and... well, Ash. He was a person, not a fantasy.

But Ash had come through without a second’s hesitation. He’d come.

Just before they got to the stairs, Graham stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Ash turned to him expectantly. He wanted to get moving, of course, but not enough to dismiss Graham speaking to him. Ash cared what Graham thought.

“I know it’s not the time,” he whispered. “But I just—I wanted to say I love you. Again. Without getting interrupted by Amos.”

Ash beamed at him and leaned in for a quick hug and peck on the lips. “I love you too. But let’s get out of here, and then we can spend the rest of our lives saying it.”

They made it down the stairs without any trouble, though Graham’s chest hurt where his back had hit the armoire. He worried maybe he had a broken rib, but that could wait, couldn’t it?

At least he wasn’t Amos, who had taken such a nasty hit to the head it might take him days to truly recover. Graham felt a little guilty that he didn’t care at all about Amos’s recovery, but the guilt didn’t change his mind.

Amos Martingale was the worst kind of person, and frankly, a little pain might do him good. Maybe remind him he wasn’t the biggest baddest thing out there, and he ought to be a little nicer to the people under him.

More likely, he’d take out his frustration on the people under him even more.

Graham sighed and rubbed his face. There was nothing he could do about that. Nothing he could do to help his fellow Martingale omegas escape the drudgery of being pack servants.

Right?

He had a momentary fantasy of sneaking over to the omega building and offering to take them all away, but that was ridiculous. It wasn’t his place to make the offer; the Kismet pack’s money wasn’t his money. Also, while some would go, some would not, and they might raise the alarm.

And what about the children? Gavin had been very firm on the fact that Graham was an adult and capable of making his own choices. Maybe if he’d been a child, there would have been more trouble over it.

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