Stone Circle Is it really that much of a surprise?

His mother seemed nervous, yet Merrit's expression remained unchanged, and his mind, no more objective to the explanation she offered. Though Ira had managed to temper his suspicion that Greyback was the reason Stark had left to begin with, there was one thing in the way his mother spoke that unraveled the seams he'd begun to mend -

"If Stark hadn't left, this probably wouldn't even have happened."

'Probably' was no reassurance at all - no comfort that nothing had been going on between his mother and Greyback while Stark had been ill and confined to the den. Somewhere in the conversation, his cold attention shifted to Greyback.

Who did this man think he was? Was there ever a time he hadn't been an enigma, a shadow over his shoulder, showing up in places Merrit didn't need him to be? Greyback was right to look wearily upon him, and Merrit tipped his chin and fixed the man with an unrelenting stare, even as the patriarch offered the thin curve of a smile.

He was right on one thing. Greyback would never be his father.

Merrit felt his sister shift closer to him, but he edged away - and unlike the others, he offered no words of congratulations, no tip of the head to show he in any way approved of their union. Of this he was convinced: if it wasn't for Greyback, Stark would still be around. As Ira took her leave, the boy turned to follow.

He was done here.