Chapter 59
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Ken
The oh shit look on Peyton’s face made Ken burst out laughing. “Yes, I’m alive and well,” Peyton said as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dewi, would you please—”
“Aw, shit,” she said. “On it. Stand by. Tamsin!” she yelled—fortunately not directly into her phone.
They heard Dewi get up and move fast, one phone being disconnected and the other muffled as Dewi gave Tamsin a quick rundown of yes, Peyton was alive, no, she couldn’t tell anyone, and gave her a simple Prime command to keep the secret for now.
Ken grinned at Peyton while all this was going on. “Guess we’re even in the ‘can’t keep secrets’ fuck-up club, huh?”
Peyton snorted and gave him a fist bump. “Yeah, we are.”
“Eh, what’d we miss?” Badger asked while Duncan laughed.
“Not much,” Peyton said. “We’re all exhausted and on edge and not at our best.”
“Sorry,” Dewi said after a moment. “Tam’s sort of up to speed and not freaking out. Anymore. She’s here in the office with me on speaker. What’d we miss?”
“Nothing,” Peyton said as he opened his eyes and sat back in the chair. “Just me being reminded how fucking human I am.”
Tamsin sniffled. “I’m so glad you’re safe!” she said. “Dewi said she’ll help me keep the secret.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Peyton said. “I’m sorry about the scare, but Dewi will tell you why. And yes, Gillian knows, and so do Duncan, Badger, and Trent, but no one else can. Not even Beck, or Asia.”
“And I know,” Ken said, grinning at Peyton. “Obviously. And Hamish. And Jake.”
“Who’s Jake?” Tamsin asked.
Peyton laughed, long and hard. “Dewi will fill you in on that, too.”
“I’ll tell you the longer version once we’re done here,” Dewi told Tamsin. “You might as well know everything now that you know the rat fink’s okay.”
“Um, I’m sorry,” Tamsin said, “but what exactly is going on? Why these questions about my brothers?”
They quickly filled her in on that part and she went quiet.
“Tam?” Trevor asked. “Are you all right, dear?”
“Uh, yes, I’m just…” They heard her take a shaky breath. “Stunned.”
“We all are,” Trevor gently said. “I’m sorry we’re breaking the news to you in this manner, but it’s urgent we quickly sort this.”
“So where the hell’s the real Hyacinth?” Dewi asked. “Did Faegan kill her? And did he kill Donnel because he knew the truth?”
Duncan spoke up. “Hold on a minute. Badger, do you happen to remember—”
“Aye, I think I know where yer goin’ wi’ this. Trevor, do ye happen to remember when the Blitz was?”
Trevor snorted. “Do I? Not something I’m bloody likely to forget. 1940. Lasted into ’41.”
“Badger, do you have access to our membership ledgers from that time?” Duncan asked.
“Gimme a tick,” Badger said. He apparently left the room because they heard a door open and close.
“What’s going on?” Dewi asked.
“I think he’s heading your way,” Trent said. “Stand by. … Yep, he is. He’s walking over to Peyton’s.”
A moment later, they heard a door open. “Badger, what are you doing?” they heard Dewi ask, not speaking into the phone.
“Gimme a minnit,” Badger replied in the background.
“He grabbed his tablet and he’s looking for something,” Dewi explained to the others. “Stand by.”
Ken mentally noted how Dewi and Trent sounded nearly identical when saying those two words, and he knew Peyton did, too, from hearing him say it in the past.
The three siblings were simultaneously so different but also very much alike in some ways. To a spooky extent.
A moment later, Ken heard Badger’s triumphant crow. Badger moved closer to the phone. “Peyton, do I have carte blanche to send Enforcers out on a mission and devote resources to it?”
“Uh, yeah, you know you do, Mr. Acting Pack Alpha. Why?”
Badger cackled. “Because hopefully I can quickly dig up at least a couple of answers to questions we didn’t even know we needed to be askin’!”
“Did you find it then, Badger?” Duncan asked.
“I believe I did.”
“Find what?” Peyton asked.
“Ye wanna tell ’em, Duncan?” Badger asked.
“Sure. I think Badger’s right that we’re possibly about to answer a bunch of questions, because I think we might be able to locate Donnel and Hyacinth. The real Hyacinth.”
Badger apparently took the phone Tamsin had been using and started making calls. Tamsin needed to return to Asia’s to take care of Maisie, leaving Dewi and the others free to talk.
“So how did Faegan pass off Tamsin’s mom as Hyacinth for all these years without anyone catching on?” Dewi asked.
“She resembled Hyacinth,” Hamish said. “Remember, we didn’t have smartphones and social media back then.
Photography wasn’t easily accessible, even to people of our income bracket.
And Faegan was such an isolationist to start with, no one from outside the pack who didn’t know Hyacinth would ever realize it wasn’t her.
All she had to do was nod her head when he spoke and keep her mouth shut. ”
“Not hard to do when Faegan had her mind wiped,” Peyton said.
“He’s right,” Trevor said. “I’d never met her in person before this.
It was easy for Faegan to scrub all traces of the real Hyacinth.
Some of us thought it odd that he didn’t bring her with him to multi-pack Musters when her family members were also present.
Looking back, it all makes perfect sense. ”
“We can’t put Tamsin and her mother together yet, either,” Duncan said. “We don’t know what kind of poison pill commands might be hidden in ‘Hyacinth’s’ head. Or Frannie’s. Or whatever her real name is. Anyone powerful enough to reset her mind certainly is powerful enough to do that.”
“If Tamsin even wants contact with her mom,” Ken reminded them.
“From the way Tamsin’s talking,” Dewi noted, “She doesn’t want anything to do with her. I’m more worried about Aisling being in the same room with Hyacinth, or Frannie, or whoever the hell she is. She’d likely rip the woman’s throat out on general principles.”
“Can’t blame her,” Ken muttered.
“Nor can I,” Trevor said, his brow furrowed with a dark scowl.
Dewi barked a soft laugh. “Anything for our mates, amirite?”
Ken and Peyton immediately looked at each other, eyes wide as Trevor stopped pacing, confusion on his face. “What?”
“Fuck,” Peyton and Ken said in unison.
“What’s wrong?” Dewi asked.
“That’s a hat trick,” Ken snarked to Peyton. “At least we’re not alone.”
Peyton groaned, took a deep breath, and said, “Thanks, Dewi. I didn’t have enough on my plate.”
“What? What do you—oh. Shit.”
Duncan snickered. “At this moment in time, I am grateful my ass is in Idaho.”
“Ditto,” Trent said.
Duncan started laughing, long and hard, until he started coughing.
Trevor looked from Peyton to Ken and back. “What did she mean by mate?”
Peyton rubbed his eyes and Ken envied him even less in that moment than he normally did.
“There’s been an interesting…development,” Peyton finally said.
“Not a bad one,” he quickly added. “But we were asked to keep this a secret. Before I can tell you, please swear to keep this a secret, even from your wife, and not to discuss it with the person in question.”
Trevor approached the desk, deep furrows creasing his brow. “Of course, but please tell me what’s going on.”
Peyton took a deep breath while Ken tensed. “Aisling pinged on Tamsin as her mate.”
Trevor’s jaw gaped, and Ken realized this was the second time today the man’s world had been rocked. “What?”
“Yes. However, Aisling hasn’t told Tamsin and has begged all of us not to tell her.” He sighed. “Or you.”
“Sorry,” Dewi muttered. “This foot of mine needs some fucking ketchup and mustard.”
“Maybe some wasabi to kill the stink-foot,” Trent joked.
“Shut up, asshole. One brother is already on my shit-list for scaring the crap out of me. You? I can walk outside and come strangle you.”
Trent snorted but wisely didn’t reply.
Trevor still stared at Peyton. “But…how has she kept it from Tamsin?”
“She only met Tamsin once, briefly, and they didn’t have physical contact. She said she also never had direct contact with Tamsin while over here.”
Ken stood and gave Trevor his chair because the older man definitely seemed to need it.
“No… No, she didn’t,” Trevor said. “But… but Aisling responded to the safe house during the attack. She would’ve scented her then, wouldn’t she?”
Peyton shrugged, holding up his hands. “I don’t know why she didn’t ping on her then.
But when Aisling went to the house—in Florida—to meet Tamsin for the first time, she literally walked in, said hello, and then turned around and walked out pretending she had to take a phone call, because she realized Tamsin was her mate.
She bolted back to Dewi’s in tears. She didn’t even shake hands with Tamsin. ”
“But…why?” Trevor asked.
“Why what?”
He looked from Ken to Peyton and back again. “Why would she run? Why wouldn’t she have claimed her right then?”
Now Peyton gave Ken what—thankfully—looked like a confused expression mirroring Ken’s feelings. “Let’s put a pin in that,” Peyton said. “First of all, are you upset about this?”
“Bloody hell, absolutely not!” Trevor nearly yelled. “This is brilliant! Aisling is a wonderful woman, and it’d be a blessing for them to find each other!”
“Whew,” Dewi muttered as Ken exhaled in relief.
“Okay, good,” Peyton said. “Dewi, you want to handle this part?”
“Yeah, probably should, since it was my big mouth. Look, Aisling was literally in tears when she told me. For starters, she worried you and your wife would be upset if she told you.”
“Why would we be upset! We love Tam! We only want her happiness!”
“She, ah, worried because of the timing,” Dewi said.
Trevor froze, then his eyes closed, his head dropping. “Of course,” he softly said. “Perhaps if she’d claimed her that same night of the attack, yes. But I know what a mate bond feels like.”