Page 64 of Found Objects

His father smiled at him. “I was going to ask the same question myself.”

“No,” I said quickly. “You have to remember that it was left over from what was intended by a being far more powerful than you—if you even believe that. But either way, it would be almost impossible to control a remnant like that.”

He didn’t look convinced, which was a concern. What was it about power that so many people wanted? He should have been far more concerned about the bones and the ghost; basically his family, who he was supposed to love. What was power when weighed against that?

I got more questions, like how did the residual magic know to call those specific bones to the land, and because apparently Evan was the only one who listened to me, I let him answer.

“It’s like Merritt said—because the magic responded to us, to our family,” he told the others. “Uncle Abel is the alpha, and Justin is the son of the alpha, and Aunt Narah is the alpha mate, but me and Cole, we’re sons of an alpha too, so that’s what happened. The pull from all of us made the magic work.”

“That’s exactly it,” I said approvingly. “That pocket was drawn to the power of your family.”

“How come it didn’t bring your family to you?” Evan asked me. “Your family must be stronger than ours.”

Abel cleared his throat. “Young man⁠—”

“It’s not my land. It’s yours. I don’t have any scraps of magic sitting around on mine.”

“You’ve checked?”

“Teague checked a long time ago.”

“That’s good, then.”

“I would love to hear more about this Teague,” Abel told me.

I just smiled politely before Cole took hold of my shoulder.

“If you’ll all excuse us for just a minute.” He tipped his head toward the door.

When I got up, Justin quickly stepped around in front of Cole, blocking him in.

“I think anything you have to say to Merritt you should say in front⁠—”

“I don’t want to talk to Merritt about leftover scraps of magic or bones or ghosts,” Cole told him. “I need to apologize again.”

“What?”

“You see how you don’t understand what I’m talking about? That’s how you know it’s none of your fuckin’ business,” Cole stated, his voice icy.

“Yeah, but⁠—”

“Just move.” Cole shouldered past his cousin, tugging me after him. Once we were outside the room, he walked me halfway down the hall and then rounded on me. “Listen, I’m sorry again for how I acted on⁠—”

“You need to be more careful or you’re going to get in trouble. You can’t blow off the alpha’s son like that. Abel will lose his shit.”

“I don’t care. What’s he gonna do to me? And fuck Justin. He thinks he’s too good for you, the precious son of the alpha, but he doesn’t want me near you either? That’s some bullshit.”

“You sound jealous.”

“I’m the son of an alpha too,” he rumbled, slipping a hand around the side of my neck at the same time as he stepped in close to me. “I’ve never been jealous of him.”

“I was the one who pointed out that, being the son of a true alpha, you⁠—”

“I know, I know. And again, I was a dick about it and I’m sorry. The problem is that I’ve been thinking about all this a long time, and other members of the pack are asking me questions, and I don’t wanna be disloyal, which makes everything hard, but…putting something off doesn’t mean it goes away. This decision is always hanging over me.”

“It must be hard.”

“I have to figure out my life, and there’s a lot of pressure to make the right choice.” He dragged his thumb back and forth over my jawline. “But as I said earlier, I’m sorry I got upset with you about it. You were just trying to help.”