Silas couldn’t stop his shudder. Over the years, he had built great self-defense mechanisms, a brilliant ability to never think of that night. He knew it had happened. He could refer to it casually in conversations. But he never ever thought about it. He wasn’t going to start now. But Isaiah’s words aligned with what he had been pondering over since meeting Luca. His little brother had magic too, nothing special, but he had been able to work with a demon and kill his powerful father. It was an odd coincidence.
Silas got the impression that Luca had experienced a shitty childhood, but nothing as spectacularly traumatic as what had happened with the Greenwood pack. So Luca could have necromancy powers and other dark magics. They could just still be mostly dormant.
That would mean they were powers inherited from their mother, which meant Ash could have them too, or at least the ability. Thom and Silvanus had clearly thought there was something in his bloodline that meant Ash might have been able to absorb his powers. Silas shuddered.
“Well, we will never know because I will never let anything happen to Ash to awaken anything,” vowed Silas.
Ignoring the blatantly obvious. He was twelve or thirteen years too late. Terrible things could have already happened. Terrible things could be happening right now. Terrible things could happen at any time in the future because Silas hadn’t found him yet. He might not ever find him.
Isaiah bounced into his arms to give him a quick hug before jumping off the bed and throwing the window open.
“It reeks of sex in here,” teased Isaiah.
“Thanks,” said Silas dryly. He was still naked. Isaiah had woken him up. Just when he was supposed to have showered and changed the sheets, he didn’t know.
Isaiah giggled, “Don’t worry, you should smell my room!”
“Ew!” muttered Silas, wrinkling his nose. “I did not need to know that.”
Isaiah just laughed and Silas didn’t fail to notice that the little omega had ended up distracting him rather than the other way round. He really was a very good friend, and Silas was quite sure he didn’t deserve him.
Chapter twenty
Thescreamsreverberatedthroughoutthe house. Dean winced as he made his way to the basement. He was just about to knock on the door when another blood-curdling cry rang out, making Dean jump.
It had been going on all day. Most people had fled the main pack house to stay out of earshot. Dean didn’t blame them. He almost wished he could join them.
He took a deep, calming breath. Silas was Silas. An infamous necromancer, dark mage and supervillain. That was who he had fallen in love with, who he had mated. He couldn’t change him, didn’t want to change him. So sometimes he’d just have to suck it up and deal. Like now.
Villain meant more than just, ‘hot person dressed in black that I want to have sex with.’ Dean knew that, accepted that. Though Silas was still a very hot person who dressed in black and that Dean very much liked having sex with.
He knocked on the door. The screaming stopped. Then Dean heard soft footsteps approaching. Silas opened the door just a crack, standing in the doorway and hiding what was inside. Dean got the impression it was only for his benefit and that Silas wasn’t ashamed of anything.
“What?” demanded Silas, his dark eyes glinting.
“I think he has told us everything he knows,” said Dean.
Silas raised an eyebrow and looked thoroughly unimpressed. Dean wasn’t surprised. There was no way Silas was going to go easy on the person who had sold them out to hunters and ultimately gotten Dean killed. Luca had delivered him this morning and Silas had been down here ever since.
“Angel, please stop.”
Dean put his hand on the door to stop Silas from slamming it in his face. Silas glared at him threateningly.
“I’ve made dinner. Come eat, have a drink and rest. You’ve been in here all day,” clarified Dean.
Slowly, the look on Silas’s face softened. Dean breathed a tentative sigh of relief. He really did just want to take care of his mate. While he didn’t have the stomach for what was going on in there, he understood. This was completely different from the time Silas had kidnapped the local teacher because he had been mean to the pups. This time Dean had only voiced his slight objection because otherwise he would feel bad. Now he had eased his conscience, he could concentrate on looking after his mate.
“Please?” begged Dean.
Suddenly, Silas nodded decisively and stepped out of the room, pulling the heavy door shut behind him. Dean grinned and led him upstairs to one of the small side rooms. Dean had set a table up and pilfered a table cloth along with some flowers and candles. Complete with wine glasses and everything.
He walked up to the table and lifted the cover off one plate with a dramatic flourish. Fresh sea bass, new potatoes and green beans. Served with a white wine that Isaiah had helped him pick because Dean was clueless about such things.
Silas shook his head at him like he thought Dean was an idiot, but the way his dark eyes were sparkling told Dean that the necromancer secretly loved it. Dean grinned in pride. He pulled out a chair for Silas as if they were in a fancy restaurant.
Silas laughed. “It’s probably polite to wash your hands after torturing someone all day, before sitting down to dinner.”
Dean nodded his agreement and tried not to feel sad when Silas left. It was a ridiculous reaction to his mate going to wash his hands, but his wolf whined. His wolf only understood that he had offered the omega food and Silas had left.
