Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Gillian
Gillian was still awake, angry-cleaning the kitchen for something to do because she couldn’t sleep, when Badger walked in and closed the back door behind him. Her blood chilled because she couldn’t read his expression, and she struggled between wanting to throw up and scream.
“What?” she asked.
He approached and held up a staying hand but didn’t touch her. “Lass, it’s Pack Alpha business,” he quietly said.
“What happened?”
He held out his left hand to her, his meaning clear.
She stared at it, for the first time in her life terrified to let him touch her. “Is he dead?” she whispered. “Did they find him?”
He pointed with his hand down the hall, obviously wanting to talk to her in the bedroom.
She clenched her fists and spun on her heel, forcing herself not to run and well aware Badger followed.
Once they were inside, he locked the door behind him and she realized he was holding his phone. “Stand by,” he said to whoever the caller was, then held his left hand out to her again.
“Just tell me,” she whispered.
“Please,” he said. “It’s necessary.”
“Who’s on the phone, Badger?”
He didn’t reply, waiting.
As she reached for his hand her tears flowed, her guilt blooming, her rage and grief threatening to steal her sanity. When she wrapped her fingers around his hand, she felt the Prime command take effect to stay silent as he watched her, the phone to his ear.
She stared him in the eyes, hating him for the first time in her life, wishing he’d just get on with it—
“Here she is, sir,” he said to the caller. “She’s Primed to stay silent.”
Then he held the phone to her ear.
“I love you so much, baby, you have no idea. I’m alive and okay. I’m sorry I made him Prime you, and I’m so damned sorry I scared you.”
Her vision blurred as the sudden, joyful scream that would have probably awakened half the pack compound had Badger not Primed her silently rolled out of her at the sound of Peyton’s voice.
The hint of a smile finally curled Badger’s lips. “I apologize for scarin’ ye, lass, but now ye see why. Oh, an’ blame him. It was his order.”
Badger held the phone for her, catching her with his other arm and guiding her back and onto the edge of the bed when her knees gave out, finally letting her take the phone from him but still holding her hand.
“I know you can’t speak right now, baby,” Peyton said.
“No, I’m not upset with you. I’m sorry I left, and I’m doubly sorry I was a dumbass and scared the life out of you.
I have a lot to tell you, but I can’t come home yet.
You cannot tell anyone other than who Badger tells you can know.
And I really want to hear your voice, but I need to know you won’t wake everyone up.
” He finally laughed. “So if you can do that, nod to Badger so he can ease up on the order.”
She nodded so hard she thought she might shake her brains loose.
Badger’s smile widened. “Quietly now, if ye please,” Badger said. “Ye can talk to him, lass, but keep your voice down.”
She softly gasped when she felt the Prime order lift. “I love you so much! I’m so sorry I got mad at you!”
Another of those throaty chuckles that could dampen her panties rolled through the phone.
“I owe you another vacation. And I promise that, when I come home, I’ll treat you like the beautiful queen you are and be at your beck and call.
I also promise that I’ll be careful while I’m here.
I’m at Trevor’s, with him and his men, and Ken.
I’m also sorry I didn’t talk to you before talking to Badger, but I have my reasons.
No one else can know. I had Ken call Dewi when he first got here so I could talk to her and she could stop worrying about him.
And I needed her to take care of some things for me.
She’s probably still crying out in the cabin right now.
I called Badger next for obvious reasons. ”
“Do you know when you’re coming home?” She didn’t care she was practically snot-sobbing now. Badger finally released her hand and passed her a box of tissues from the dresser. Then he sat next to her, draped an arm around her shoulders, and she let him tuck her snugly against his side.
“Not yet. I need you to do what Ken, Badger, Trent, Duncan, and Dewi tell you to do, okay? You cannot leave the pack compound, and I don’t want you leaving the house without at least one well-armed Enforcer with you.
Preferably a Prime. Not even to walk over to Trent and Asia’s house, or out to one of the cabins. I’m that serious about this.”
Her relief flashed over to fear again. “Do you think there’s a traitor here?”
“No, but I think there is at least one shifter traitor somewhere. Until we know who they are and eliminate them, I won’t risk your safety.”
“What about work?”
“Dewi will assign an Enforcer to run back and forth for you to get whatever you need from your office in town if Trent can’t bring it for you.
You’ll also have one of them in the house at all times.
But I’m serious—please don’t make me have Badger Prime you to stay in the house, baby. I don’t want to do that.”
“I promise.” She closed her eyes, now comforted by Badger’s solid presence.
“And answer my calls. And return my texts.” But she heard the smile in his voice. “They’ll be from a burner phone, for now.”
She tearfully laughed. “I will.”
“Badger is still the acting Pack Alpha. Maintain that status quo. You need to act like you haven’t heard any news about me.
Pretend you’re still upset. We’re not even telling Beck or Asia yet.
Once I finish talking to you, Badger will summon Trent and Duncan to Dewi’s cabin and call me back from there.
Can I count on you to keep up the act, baby? It’s important.”
“Yeah, I will. I promise. But what about Tamsin? She’ll sense something’s up.”
“I’ll have Badger and Duncan give her a Prime nudge to not notice anything different. And I won’t order you to let Badger Prime you to help you. But if you want his help with your acting, feel free to ask him.” He sighed. “So, how pissed off at me are you?”
But again she heard his smile. If she closed her eyes, she could see it, the way his eyes crinkled when he did.
“Just get your ass home as soon and safely as possible. And if you ever scare me like this again, I’ll seriously think about locking a tracking and shock collar on you. So if you go too far away, I can zap you to come back.”
Another throaty chuckle. “Oooh, kinky.”
That made her laugh. If he could crack jokes, he had to be telling her the truth about his safety.
“Life will probably get even crazier for a while,” he added. “And I’m sorry about that. It can’t be helped. But we’re going full-throttle trying to drag these fuckers out of the shadows and end this once and for all.”
“Is Faegan behind it?”
“We still don’t know, honey. I think it’d be worse if he’s not because it means someone’s tapped deeply enough into our networks to know we’re after Faegan.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope they have him at that lab and are already vivisecting him, isn’t it?” she growled. “Maybe they tortured information out of him?”
“Well, that would be fun to imagine, but the secrets he could reveal, even though he doesn’t know many of our pack’s secrets, could still be pretty damaging. And I suspect a man like him would squeal at the first hint of them hurting him.”
“True.”
“There’s something else I’ll need you to do. Once he’s awake, Ken will send you some info in a text over the secure app. Write it down and delete it immediately. You need to do an emergency build-out on a new identity for someone.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Again, this is a secret from everyone but our inner circle. His real name’s Jake Peterson, but come up with something different. Make him fifty-ish. As young as mid-forties or as old as sixty, if you have to, but it has to be done fast.”
“Peterson? Why does that—” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Carl’s father?” she whispered.
Another throaty chuckle. “Surprise! It’s a long story. I might not be coming home with Faegan’s head yet, but I am not coming home empty-handed. And I mean it—don’t tell Carl anything about this.”
“Okay, got it. How soon do you need it?”
“The faster you get it to me, the faster we can come home after we’re done.
I want to fly back with him in case any glitches crop up, so I can Prime the customs agents to ignore it.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, it only has to be good enough to get him on an aircraft and us back into the country without me having to scramble officials’ brains from London to Seattle.
We can build out a detailed identity that will stand up to deep scrutiny later.
I’ve got my spare passports from the safe deposit box, so I can return without triggering flags under my real name. ”
“Gotcha.” She drew in the first deep breath she’d taken since this ordeal started that didn’t hurt her soul. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, baby. Kiss Adair for me. And please hand the phone back to Badger, because I need to talk to him again.”
She handed Badger the phone and flopped back on the bed, her hands covering her face, crying again.
This time in joy and relief.
He’s alive!