Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(21)

“Yeah, but I still say it would be fun to track down Lucah so you could make him pay for being a dick,” said Makenna.

“It would,” Madisyn allowed.

“Fun?” asked Dawn. “Why? What exactly would you do to him?”

Madisyn averted her gaze. “I don’t want to tell you.”

Dawn frowned. “Why not?”

“You’ll start using words like ‘forgiveness,’ ‘empathy,’ and ‘conscience.’” Madisyn shuddered. “I hate those talks.”

Makenna chuckled. “You gotta be honest, Madisyn—if it wasn’t for Dawn, you and I would be in prison by now. Her ‘talks’ eventually got through to us.”

Dawn patted her arm. “Thank you, Makenna. At least someone appreciates me.”

“I appreciate you, Dawn,” said Madisyn. “I just also want to set the bastard’s ass on fire and watch him burn. Is that so wrong?”

“Yes, actually,” clipped Dawn. “It’s called ‘first-degree murder,’ and there are—”

“See what I mean?” Madisyn made an exasperated sound. “You take the fun out of everything.”

“It should not be fun to watch someone burn.”

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

“I know you have a conscience, Mad—”

“See, there you go using those odd words! Next, you’ll have me writing lines like ‘Setting fires is wrong’ over and over. God, that brings back memories.”

Dawn planted her hands on her hips. “Well, it is wrong.”

“Depending on what or who you’re burning, sure.”

“That’s not why—Stop laughing, Makenna! Snorting coffee out of your nose is not attractive.”

That just made the she-wolf laugh harder.





CHAPTER FIVE



Bracken sat on the wooden steps of his porch, beer in hand. Light was draining from the sky, and shadows were slowly creeping his way, coating the shrubs and trees surrounding his lodge. The cool breeze danced over his skin, bringing with it the scents of pine, wet grass, and wildflowers.

Once upon a time, he’d preferred the noise and bustle of the main lodge, where the Alphas resided. Now, he liked his alone time. Preferred solitude. He had it right then. Apart from the sounds of leaves rustling, wings fluttering, and the creek burbling up ahead, it was otherwise quiet. Tranquil. Would have felt peaceful if such an emotion didn’t elude him.

Madisyn would like it here, he thought. She wouldn’t spoil the solitude; she’d share it with him.

His home had been a guest lodge up until four months ago. Before that, he’d lived in a smaller one that was situated in the middle of pack territory. As he’d sat inside those walls, drowning in rage and grief, he’d grown to hate the place. Sitting on his old porch overlooking the empty field hadn’t helped because it had mirrored exactly what he’d felt back then: empty.

It had been Shaya’s idea for Bracken to move to a different lodge, where he wouldn’t be surrounded by walls that were stained with grief. The change of scenery had helped a lot more than he’d expected. He hadn’t realized how much he’d dreaded going home until that place was no longer his home.

This lodge felt . . . clean. Fresh. Serene. Untainted.

It was also one of the most isolated of all the lodges, so he had all the privacy and space he needed. His pack still turned up whenever they felt like it, but not so often because it was such a trek for them.

Despite what Jesse believed, it wasn’t so bad for Bracken to have space from the pack. Not when they insisted on watching him so closely . . . as if he were a ticking time bomb. He understood it, since rationality wasn’t exactly his strong point these days. But he would never be better, and they just didn’t get it. He could still have a life, sure, and he might even find peace one day, but his soul would never get rid of that black stain. He hated that, because it meant going to Madisyn with that stain.

He wouldn’t have to worry about her trying to fix him, though. Not Madisyn. His pack mates, however, seemed to think they could bring back the old Bracken. That person had died with his family. He wasn’t coming back. Until they accepted it as Bracken had, he couldn’t feel the same ease in the pack that he once had. But he was no longer interested in roaming. His only interest was Madisyn.

Feeling restless, he thought about going for a run in his wolf form. The beast sniffed at the idea, too busy brooding. All his wolf wanted was to hunt down their mate. He was angry at Bracken for leaving her last night. It hadn’t been easy. The farther he’d driven from her house, the tenser and surlier Bracken had become. And the longer he’d stayed away, the more his stomach had twisted in knots.

He hadn’t been exaggerating when he warned her how much he’d hate being away from her. The only reason he wasn’t pacing restlessly was that the time that he planned to go see her was fast approaching. There was only so much space he could give her.

As he’d told her, he’d been heading on a downward spiral for a while. He hadn’t felt real most of the time. He’d felt more like an echo of a person. A person without hope or purpose. That had changed overnight, and it was drugging to once again feel those things. It had been so long since he’d craved something other than revenge. So long since he’d felt anything as intense as the possessiveness he’d experienced while gripping Madisyn’s skin between his teeth—and that was before he’d even realized she was his mate.