146| FUSING

“Hey, guys,” I smile at my Beta and jog over to greet the remaining ten of my Pack. My older Beta smiles warmly at me, the much stiffer Khadija from before has melted away now that Lee is gone. It’s like she’s utterly at ease here, the stress of responsibility absent from her shoulders. The other nine, including one Enforcer who’s remained behind, are in varied relaxed positions around the clearing.

A bonfire’s going in the center of the large area twice as big as that of the clearing within the woods. Wolven are milling around, but now there are also some of the non-Wolven members of the Azure Pack hanging out. Their scents intermingle with that of the Wolven, pine nearly overwhelming my senses. I shiver at the sharpness of the scents and the way it seems to intermingle with that of my own Pack’s. Even if most of my own Wolven have gone back to the Berner territory, I can easily scent that of the ten around me… The combination of the scents does something to me.

Shivers roll down my spine and the world seems to become a little quieter, my heart beat drumming loudly in my head and pulsing in my chest…thrumming at the side of my neck where Blue’s mark is. I feel like the marks grows warm and starts to tingle more with each breath I take.

Someone says my name, but their voice is a distant hum in the back of my mind, the thumping of my heart drowning just about everything out. Everything but-

A warm hand presses into my lower back, easily warding off the shivers crackling under and over my skin. I suck in a breath, this time the air in my lungs isn’t so sharp. I look up into the monochromatic brilliance of the silvery-grey eyes softly glowing in the dimness of the morning. Blue’s wild hair hangs in it’s usual disarray around his face and in his eyes as he watches me. There’s the usual caution in his eyes, but the light in them seems a lot like the inkling of hope, too.

“There you are,” Blue murmurs, but his voice cuts through the sounds of the others talking around the clearing and the crackling of the fire.

“Hey,” I breathe, everything in me softening and melting. I lean back into his solid body and smile up at him. When I breathe next, the mix of our scents is fainter, but also more unified.

“Hungry?” He asks me, even if he already knows that I am. There really aren’t any secrets between us now. After the run, I know the bond’s become thicker somehow. I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I can sense it. My nose wasn’t just picking up our separate scents, but the slow mixing of them…as if we’re already bound to each other in every possible way. It’s intoxicating and overwhelming, shifting the very gravity within me. But with Blue here, everything feels solid again. “I’ll get us a some food.” Blue murmurs, hesitating a second before moving away from me, taking the warmth of his body with him.

It’s easier to stand now, but I force myself to settle beside Khadija on the stoop of the porch where a few of my Pack have settled. The crisp morning air isn’t so suffocating now. I let out a sigh and cast my gaze away from the brightness of the fire, my eyes inevitably going to the star-strewn sky stretching high above. My fingers find and trace the bullet-shaped charm at the end of my necklace, the one Blue gave me- the one that is both promise and wish to me. Something that fills me with hope and fear.

Craven’s words of warning float back into my mind as I try not to think. Overthinking has always been my downfall. That and mindlessly jumping to conclusions. I chew on my cousin’s words, replaying his horrible memory in my own mind and shuddering when I do. Anyone in his shoes would have gone mad long before now, hell, most probably would have died from the sheer force of heartbreak alone. How my cousin has remained as sane as he is now is beyond my comprehension.

“Something about this Pack,” Khadija murmurs, her wise eyes slowly tracing over the mingling Azures. “Feels off.” Her words bring up the point I’ve been considering and I mentally share it with her. Sharing the weakness of my mate’s Pack would be stupid if this woman hadn’t proven herself to me over and over as my Beta, but I feel like I can trust Khadija. Even if we haven’t known each other that long. “I see,” She mutters, tipping her head to cast a more shrewd eye over the clearing. “Yes, that makes sense.” A glimmer of mischief lights in her eyes as she turns back to look at me.

“What?” I ask her slowly, hesitation and caution lacing my tone.

“You know that, even if you’re an Alpha of one Pack, you cannot technically be apart of another?” Her question doesn’t surprise me. I’ve shown her my critical lack of knowledge about what I know about even my own kind.

“Your point?” My voice goes flat, the tiniest hint of annoyance creeping into my words. Khadija’s lips twitch, her normally stony expression softening a few degrees.

“Have you considered fusing our Packs?”

I blink at her, wondering if she’s lost her mind. *Fuse the Packs? Turn two unstable Packs, unstable in different ways, into one much larger Pack? We’d be huge! Nearly two states large*. I literally cannot process that in any way right now.

“Don’t look at me like that, Alpha,” Khadija chuckles, adding my title to soften the scolding sharpness of her words. “I am simply offering a solution.”

“Our Pack just got back on it’s feet.” I remind her with a frown. “I haven’t even had enough time to properly spend time with you guys - let alone decide to merge you with a Pack you pretty much went to war with.” Sure, the Berner Pack had been under the rule of an Alpha-Cat that forced them to attack the Azures, but I’m sure things would be awkward. *Right?* My brain practically shorts-out as I attempt to process that idea. “If we were *ever* to do that, it wouldn’t be for a long time.” I reply, my head aching a bit more as I explain. “Like at least a year. Maybe eight months.” I purse my lips in thought as some of her ideas carefully slip into place. *Huh…she kind of has a point*…

“It’s just a suggestion, Alpha. Something to consider.” Khadija smirks and shrugs, her eyes locking on my slowly approaching mate. “Just know that if I can sense it, as an outsider, that can become very dangerous. If I can sense their disruption, it won’t be long until other Packs will too, and come investigate.” The word *investigate* sounds more like a euphuism for something awful than just a term for a possible check-in visit.

I consider her words as I look up at watch Blue wading through the crowd of his Pack members, a few stopping him for a few words I can’t hear them exchange. He seems at ease on the outside, but I am literally mentally in-tune with him and can sense how close to instability everything within him is. I hadn’t noticed how precarious things have been in the Azure system until now. It’s like the addition of a new member has added stress to their internal system. The cracks that had been temporarily patched up over the last few months are showing again.

And I know it’s just a matter of time before everything comes crashing down…or another Pack takes notice and decides to take advantage of the precarious situation.

- - - - - - - -

***Hey, everyone!***

***I know I've been really scattered with the updates lately, I've been struggling to balance things between school and writing. I've decided to post a lump-sum kind of update at the end of each week rather than trying to keep to my original schedule of every-other-day. This will probably be the pace for the next six weeks while I'm taking this particular portion of my classes. At this time, I can't promise a certain amount of chapters per update, but for this book (Surge of Green), there are eight-ten chapters left.***

***Thanks for reading and all your support!***