Merricks Book - The 12 Sectors - Redeeming Her Alpha (authors rough cut)

Chapter 28

Zinn

Everything Is different now. 

Something moved through the air. A scent. A feeling. A tremor. Zinn couldn't say what, but it brought her into an instant awareness. Confused about where she was—new smells, new voices—she tried to spring to her feet, but Mer, on his side behind her, stopped her with a hand.

Him. It was him. He hurt. She didn't think, instead just curled into Mer, pushing him to his back, wrapping her arms around him and speaking before she knew what she was saying. "It's going to be okay."

"Fuck," a weird sounding male voice exclaimed behind her. Who was that, and why was he talking into a bucket?

"She's chosen." Another voice. Reasonable. It didn't have the odd echo of the other.

"He doesn't deserve that. And she hasn't. There's no bond," the first replied.

"There are others." The comment sounded very sage and reassuring, even if Zinn had no idea what the speaker meant.

"You don't have a clue about my brother, Damage. This isn't about her. This is about a worthless male who shouldn't be allowed to breathe the same air as her."

They continued their irritating talk, while a ripple of something went through Mer that shook his whole being.

"Da, Da, Da." Gemma felt it, too, toddling over to fall on his head.

"Damn it," the complainer said. "I need a walk."

Two other men laughed.

Mer pulled Gemma and Zinn in, hugging them both.

"What is it?" Zinn asked.

"My mother is dying," he told her. He took a deep breath, scenting Zinn with his nose in her hair, then turning his face into Gemma's belly, nuzzling until she giggled.

His mother. He was losing his mother. She knew what that felt like. The rush of her own empathetic emotion swelled up from her chest and into her eyes, the tears spilling down her cheeks. She hugged him tighter, not knowing what to say. He must be close to his mother, so close that he couldn't mask the blow he'd received with the news.

"Da. Up," Gemma said, grabbing at his hair.

"Do you want me to take her?" Zinn glanced over to see two large males dressed in green and brown, seated among the shadows on the floor. One wore a triangle-shaped device that covered his mouth and nose—the reason for his strange voice.

Unlike Mer's shelter, there was no fire pit here. The area was small, filled with males and their belongings and darkness. Where were they? Who are these people? The alphas weren't attacking. They were talking. The world had truly flipped upside down, and Zinn had arrived in some new, unknown part of it.

"No. She's okay. Since the sanctimonious shithead has left the room, can you tell me what you know, Damage? Is that why you're here in the Un?"

"One reason," the older, wiser voice answered. The one Mer called Damage. His beard was white with a few black threads and his hair an iron gray. "This is family business, don't you think, Merdion? Blaze and you need to talk."

Merdion? Who was Merdion?

"Zinn," Petar whispered.

"Oh." It was her boy, right there next to them, propped up and shirtless. Very pale, newly bruised, but alive. Bastete had drugged him, then, giving a child enough alpha sleep to down a fully grown bear-man. "You need water, food." She started to pull away from Mer, but his arm trapped her, tightening across her back.