Fallen (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 39 - Merging

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"Where are you going?" Lyall frowned, his eyes narrowed as he studied me.

"To take care of some work," I replied while tugging on my jacket. It was a particularly windy day outside, and though running through the wind felt terrific in my wolf form, I did not like feeling too cold when I did not have fur. Moving at the speed we did meant a run in cold weather felt like our skin was literally turning to ice.

"And leave Talian here?"

"With you." He had very specific instructions. Lyall shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. It reminded me of a disapproving spouse and that would have been amusing to me if I had not been worried about everything around us at the moment.

"You're up to something. You haven't let him out of your sight for a minute since his father arrived here and suddenly you're okay with just leaving?"

"Why are you surprised? You thought he was serious about someone?"

"Just stay with him," I told Lyall, completely ignoring Zev while reaching for my car keys.

"Seriously, Kendrick. I know you're not going to any of the offices. You're going to look for Lawrence, aren't you?" Lyall asked.

"Have to see if I can find something." He had disappeared, and though we had people looking for him, he had not done anything that pointed out where he was except for an incident a few cities away where a pack found their Alpha dead. His pack had no idea how he died, no one did, but Zev and I knew because there were no signs of struggling. All Lawrence would have to do to drain him of every ounce of strength he had was touch him, and that's what we suspected happened. The Alpha stood no chance, how could he have defended himself against a touch – possibly just a handshake – when he did not know at all how deadly it would be.

I did not want to leave Talian alone, but letting other people try to find Lawrence clearly was not heading anywhere and the longer he was gone, the more powerful he would become.

"Lyall, please go check on Talian." It was Zev's way of politely asking for him to leave us alone. Lyall just nodded and headed out of my office shutting the door behind him.

Talian had not returned to work since his father showed up a few days ago, he seemed to be in somewhat of a daze. He did not want to talk about exactly what happened in the office but had not been the same since then. There was a sadness that radiated from him.

He wanted the man to stay and said he did not believe the man would cause any harm even after I explained that his father had connections to a witch that was not to be trusted. I guess I understood, he was not ready to let his father bring back his memories, but he wanted the option within reach and he seemed to find some kind of comfort in having the man nearby, even though they did not speak much. Though, maybe that was because I was always in the room with them when they were together.

I had not felt overwhelmed in a long time, no matter what happened at work or who I was hooking up with, but somehow Talian's concerning closed-off behaviour recently on top of the problems we were having with Legacy and Lawrence had made it hard to keep a clear, calm head. It seemed like no one around me was safe, and it was my responsibility to make sure they were. I particularly did not like feeling helpless when it came to making Talian feel better.

I had thought about how I could have tried to stop Lawrence when he arrived at my office, how I should have even though he had already gained a vast amount of strength because that was probably the weakest he was ever going to be. I realised that my hesitation may have been what would lead to not just my own death, but the demise of everyone in my pack.