his eerie gold gaze sweeping over everyone as he searched for threats. Todd shook his head and turned away, glancing up the stairs to the lawn outside. “Do we keep Silas down here or take him to the pack house?”
“Leave him here,” Evershaw said. “Deirdre will look at him, and Ophelia might be able to help with the sorcerer’s tricks. It’s better to have him close. And the last thing we want is him freaking the rest of the pack out.”
Henry grunted and tried to steel himself for the possibility that Silas might not ever be fully human again. “And what happens if they can’t fix him?”
The silence stretched between them as all eyes turned to the monster in the corner, and he froze, staring back at them with the light reflecting from his eyes. Mercy sniffled and cleared her throat, on the verge of tears as she whispered, “He’ll be fine.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” Evershaw said.
But they all knew there was only one outcome—a shifter who’d gone wild in their head and couldn’t tell the difference between man and animal was too dangerous to remain in the city. Too dangerous to remain alive, truly, because if he escaped and the humans caught sight of him... Silas could endanger not just their pack, but every shifter in the city. Every supernatural, every witch. Everything they’d built...
Henry raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “I’ll see if Ophelia is awake. Maybe she can find a spell or something to calm him down. If he knows he’s safe and falls asleep, maybe it’ll just sort itself out.”
The alpha remained unmoving as he watched his pack-mate start pacing once more. His voice remained carefully aloof and distant, already trying to armor himself against having to maybe put Silas down. “He doesn’t know he’s safe, though. We’ve just put him in another cage, another prison. He’ll bite whoever gets close enough. Figure out how to restrain him—as humanely as possible—and then feed him. Give him a place to shit, too, if he remembers how to do it in a bucket.”
Then Evershaw stalked up the stairs, posture rigid. The four of them watched him depart as Dodge joined them. Todd shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “This is a fucking mess. He tried using the alpha’s influence on Silas and it just wouldn’t get through to him. Whatever the sorcerer did...”
They all growled, and Henry wasn’t the only one who wished he’d gotten his teeth sunk into that bastard’s throat. But he had faith that Ophelia and Deirdre would figure it out.
Mercy leaned against Henry but still watched Silas. “How’s your sister? She got rattled around a bit.”
“She’s mostly okay,” Henry said. “A little wild-eyed after what happened, but she’s with Fran and feeling better.”
“Are you still going to Montana? Even after…everything?” Mercy glanced at Silas and then back at Henry, and his chest tightened.
In all the chaos around Silas’s disappearance and the confrontation with the sorcerer, he’d completely forgotten about Montana. Henry watched Silas pace, the monster tensing as Dodge reappeared with steak and raw hamburger. Silas scented the air and growled, drool starting to spill from the wolf muzzle that grew from his half-human face, and edged closer to where Dodge offered the food.
They all held their breath, waiting. Hoping that Silas would magically remember to be human. His deformed hands—more paws with elongated toes that were almost like fingers—reached for the plates. Henry waited, praying the wolfman remembered to use a plate. Remembered to hold it and use his hands to pick up one of the grilled steaks, and...
Silas snatched the plate away and fumbled it until it fell, then dropped down to the ground to shovel the food into his mouth with both hands. Henry exhaled, disappointed, and hugged Mercy once more time. “I don’t know about Montana. It’ll depend on Silas and Nola and Ophelia. I don’t think anyone would blame me if I stayed to sort all this out,” and he gestured to take in Silas, the rest of the house, and practically everything in the city.
Mercy leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’ll miss you, so I want you to stay, but... they might need you more in Montana, from what Fran was telling me.”
“Oh?” Henry held still, trying not to grimace as Silas fumbled with the plate. “Why’s that?”
“Just some of the stuff she mentioned about pack dynamics.” Mercy straightened and adjusted her ponytail before taking a