Page 53 of Wolf Found

Gavin stared off into space for a moment, an expression Ash knew all too well. He hadn’t been bitten, but he imagined it hadn’t been a pleasant experience.

“I bit the alpha, actually,” Gavin told Amos.

Ash cocked his head, trying to figure out how exactly... oh, gross. Gods, poor Gavin. No wonder he didn’t eat much meat anymore.

In his worry for his friend’s mental health, he almost missed how Zeke went very still, followed by every single enforcer behind him.

Even Graham, behind Ash, took in a sharp breath. He turned and raised an eyebrow. Graham frowned at him. “You read the scriptures, Ash. You can’t convince me you didn’t.”

Ash shrugged dismissively. “Yeah, I guess. Boring. What does that have to do with anything?”

Instead of lecturing him, which was clearly what he wanted to do, Graham turned to Gavin, who was thankfully just as confused as Ash. “The wolf who makes himself. The promised wolf. It’s a legend.” He looked around at all the enforcers on their knees. “It would explain why you can so easily command another alpha’s pack. That’s unusual, no matter how weak he is.”

Zeke whipped his head around to glare at Graham, and Graham completely ignored him.

Gavin suddenly looked exhausted. “I suppose there’s something I’m required to do?”

“It’s a little vague,” Graham admitted. “Unite wolfkind?”

Ash was impressed that Gavin held back the groan that was no doubt trying to break free.

“If he’s some kind of wolf-of-prophesy, it’ll happen when it happens, whether he does anything about it or not, right?” Ash asked Graham.

“I guess so,” Graham agreed, though he seemed more confused than certain.

And why wouldn’t he be?

Ash shook his head. Prophecies. Just what they needed.

He was about to suggest they go and leave Zeke and his thugs to the mercy of their pack, when something occurred to him. He looked at Graham. “Anyone in the pack who would actually make a decent leader?”

Graham took half a step back in shock, then considered. “Jean takes care of the children.” He pointed at the elderly omega. Then he pointed at a sturdy middle-aged man. “And Bradley. He’s in charge of the farm, and he runs it well.”

Ash looked at Gavin, who looked at the named people, considering. It was a turning point and they all knew it. Gavin had the power, the faith in these people’s hearts, to affect a change. He might not believe he was anything important, but they did.

If they just left, the Martingale pack would go back to what it had been, rotting from the inside and hurting its own people without anyone to question it. If they tried to change things and walked away, the result could be even worse. It was on Gavin’s shoulders, and Ash didn’t envy him.

Gavin pointed at the elderly omega, the beta, and then turned to Zeke. No, not Zeke, the enforcers. He pointed at Joey.

“You three. An omega representative. A beta representative. And you, Joseph, will stand in, since there’s no decent alpha to take the place. You have a lot to make up for, so you’d better be the best damned alpha representative you can be.” Joey nodded, having the good sense to look ashamed. Everyone was waiting, and Ash could feel them holding their breaths. “That’s the way a pack should be run. Every group gets a say, but no one gets to play dictator. Three dynamics. Three votes.”

“He’s no alpha,” Zeke whispered, but there was no strength in it. He actually believed Gavin was some kind of werewolf messiah, and his word was something to be respected. Ash was stunned.

“No,” Gavin agreed. “He’s no alpha. But neither are you. He’ll do until the Martingale pack finds someone else to represent that dynamic. He turned to the omega woman. “Joseph knows how to contact us. I’m not going to come out here and run this pack. You don’t want that, and I don’t want that. But if you needa little bitof help, and we’re able, we’ll give it.”

He looked over at Ash, as exhausted as Ash had ever seen him. Ash nodded and looked around. “And on that note, the Kismet pack is going home. Good luck to you all.”

Graham rushed over to the old omega and handed her his phone, speaking to her quietly for a moment before coming back. He shrugged when Ash raised a brow at him. “We can get me a new phone. I wanted the omegas to have every advantage they could. They’re a minority, and they’re going to have a hard time standing up for themselves. I thought—I thought maybe I could help.”

Ash put a careful hand around his waist as he yawned and smiled at his mate. “That sounds great. We can come check on them once in a while. Just, we’re not moving here.”

Graham shook his head forcefully. “No, we’re not. We’re the Kismet pack.”

And they were.

29

Who Knew

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