Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ken
Ken had been back in the US for a little over a week now and was looking forward to returning home to Florida soon. Peyton hadn’t given him a date yet, but Ken suspected it’d be within the next week.
He hoped.
Hamish had flown back to Idaho from the UK two days prior. He’d return to St. Louis in a couple of days to handle things at work before returning to Florida.
Today, while Dewi was out in the cabin taking a nap, Ken worked in Peyton’s office in the main house. He’d been at it for over an hour when someone lightly rapped on the closed door, just loudly enough that he heard them over the music playing through his earbuds.
He killed the music and popped out one earbud. “Yeah?”
The office door swung open and Badger stepped inside. “Ye busy?”
Ken laughed. “I’m always busy lately. What’s up?”
Badger turned and motioned to someone before stepping into the office. Behind him followed an older man and woman.
Ken removed his other earbud and stood but Badger held out a staying hand.
“Ye might want to stay seated fer this.”
“What?”
From somewhere else in the house, Ken heard a door open and close, along with Duncan’s voice. A moment later, Duncan and Hamish joined them in the office.
Then Hamish’s gaze fell on the couple and his eyes widened as he gasped. “Holy hell!”
While Duncan closed the office door, Ken did the mental math.
Between Hamish’s shock and the mental tickle in Ken’s brain, their names popped into his head. “You’re Donnel and Hyacinth,” Ken said, dropping back into the chair. “The real Hyacinth.”
“Told ye,” Badger said with a smirk. “Yes. We found ’em an’ brought ’em in.”
Hamish, still obviously stunned, stared at them.
“Hello, Ham,” Donnel said. “Long time. You’re looking good for a man who’s been dead since early last century.”
The woman looked borderline terrified. Donnel protectively draped his arm around her and tucked her close against his side.
The resemblance between the brothers was striking. Neither strongly resembled Faegan, fortunately.
“Holy shit,” Ken whispered.
“Where’s Bob and Carbry?” Badger asked Duncan.
Duncan hooked a finger over his shoulder toward the front door. “They’re checking in with Trent at the office and then coming back. Gillian’s getting Dewi.”
“A’right,” Badger said, crossing his meaty arms over his chest as he stared at the couple. “Ye might as well have a seat, then,” he told them. “Ye’ll be here fer a while. We got a lot of talkin’ to do wi’ ye.”
Ken watched Hamish, his stunned shock as he stared at them. “All these years and you were alive and over here?”
“Well, not like we faked our own deaths,” Donnel snarked back. “We weren’t that lucky.”
“How did Frannie become Hyacinth?” Hamish asked.
Donnel glanced down at the real Hyacinth, the blatant love and protectiveness in his gaze unmistakable. “I struck a deal with Faegan to rescue her.”
“Rescue her?” Hamish asked. “She was his mate!”
“Not willingly.” Donnel glared at his brother. “Consider yourself lucky I gave you a heads-up to leave. I didn’t have to do that, you know.” He helped Hyacinth into a chair before pulling one up for himself close to her, positioning himself at an angle between her and the other shifters.
Ken stared at them. “What the hell happened? How did the two of them get switched around?” He finally found his legs again and stood, rounding the desk. “And do you know where Bryn or Callum are?”
Donnel flinched but said, “No. I don’t know where they are. I haven’t seen Bryn in decades.” He glared at them. “I planned to ask why the hell we’ve been brought here without any explanation, but I think I’m starting to see.”
“I won’t go back to him,” Hyacinth softly said, clutching Donnel’s arm. “I will kill myself before going back to that fucking bastard.”
“Now, don’t fash yerself,” Badger gently said. “Yer not goin’ anywhere right now, but especially not back to Faegan. In fact, we’re all huntin’ him.”
“Why?” Donnel asked.
“Because he upped his fuckery,” Hamish said. “He’s hurt a lot of innocent people.”
Donnel snorted. “Same shit, different day, is what you’re saying? The only thing that bastard’s good at is hurting innocent people. He excels, in fact.”
Ken couldn’t help staring at the man. This was his grand-uncle.
Another grand-uncle.
Not even two years ago, he thought he had no blood relatives. Now, here stood two of his mother’s three uncles.
He didn’t want to meet the last one, although he hoped Bryn was still alive.
His grandmother.
Ken heard the kitchen door open. A moment later Dewi appeared, coming to a stop in the office doorway. “Whoa. How long exactly was I asleep?”
Badger chuckled. “Carbry and Bob just returned wi’ ’em. Found ’em in Montana.”
“That’s why you wanted two of my Primes and wouldn’t tell me jack squat.” She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Then she spotted Hamish, how he stared at Donnel, and she realized Ken was present, too. “Waaaait a minute—”
“They’re Donnel and the real Hyacinth,” Ken numbly said.
“Holy crap! Hey, by the way,” she added, “I say swears don’t count for the swear jar when the baby’s not around.” She circled her finger at the couple. “Especially in cases of extreme shock and awe regarding revelations of long-missing relations.”
Badger rounded the desk and took the chair behind it, where Ken had previously sat. Ken closed his laptop and slid it to the side before stepping back. His mind…
Reeled.
This has been an eventful month.
Ken stared at Donnel again. “You didn’t answer my question,” Ken said.
“I told you I don’t know where they are,” Donnel said.
“How did Frannie end up thinking she was Hyacinth?”
Donnel’s jaw tensed. Duncan walked past Ken and put his hand on Donnel’s shoulder. The man’s posture immediately relaxed, but Ken knew what Duncan was doing.
He used his Prime on him.
“Time for the truth,” Duncan said. “Start from the beginning.”
And boy, did Ken wish he hadn’t.
Twenty minutes later, they knew how Hyacinth came to be Faegan’s mate despite her unclaimed mate bond with Donnel, as well as why Frannie now thought she was Hyacinth.
Callum had wiped Frannie’s mind and implanted the info Faegan wanted her to have, in exchange for leaving Bryn and Callum alone, and for Bryn signing over her share of the estate to Faegan.
Ken stood next to Hamish, his arms crossed and his simmering rage approaching the boiling point. “What. Happened. To. Bryn?”
Rage was an unfamiliar emotion to him. The last time he’d felt this ragey was during the showdown with Endquist, when the man was taunting both Dewi and Ken and ready to kill both of them, and Ken managed to shoot and kill him.
Donnel struggled not to answer, staring at Hyacinth, and it clicked with Ken a breath before Badger interrupted.
The old shifter held up a hand. “Dewi,” he softly said. “Why don’t ye take Hyacinth out to the kitchen and get her some food and coffee or tea?”
“What? I want to hear this, too!”
Badger looked at her. “Please? I want her to stay calm and to know that everyone’s safe here,” he said. “I suspect Donnel would rather not retell this next chapter in front of her.”
Hyacinth looked at him. “Don?”
He tenderly kissed her forehead. “It’s all right, love,” he said. “I trust them. If they wanted to harm us, they would’ve done it already.”
Scowling, Dewi stepped forward and offered a hand to Hyacinth. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get some food in you, all right? You won’t hear any of this, and you don’t need to.”
Hyacinth reluctantly took Dewi’s hand, stood, and followed her out. Once the door closed behind them, Ken turned on Donnel again. “Well?”
Duncan had remained where he was, and they watched him give Donnel’s shoulder a little shake.
The man nearly exploded. “He would’ve killed Hyacinth if I hadn’t taken her!” he screamed. “I wasn’t going to lose her to that bloody bastard twice!”
“What happened to Bryn?” Ken screamed back, stepping forward.
It spilled out of Donnel. Red-faced, nearly hysterical, mixed with tears and anguish, he told the story of drugging her after her baby was born and making the phone call to betray her before he ran and abandoned the baby at the parsonage.
Ken’s hands balled into tight fists. “Bryn’s baby was my mother!” he yelled at him. “That was my mother you abandoned like garbage! And you fucking gave up my grandmother to those assholes?”
“The baby wouldn’t have had much of a life in Faegan’s hands,” Donnel spat back. “So you’re welcome for that!”
“She died! Beaten to death by my stepfather when I was a teenager! If she’d known who and what she was, she might have been in a pack and still be alive! If you weren’t a fucking coward and hadn’t betrayed Bryn!”
Before Ken realized what he was doing, he dove forward and knocked Donnel backward out of his chair, punching the man as Ken fell on top of him. “She might still be alive if it wasn’t for you!” Ken screamed as he hit him.
Duncan and Badger dragged him off Donnel even as Ken still tried to fight. “You fucking asshole! Because of you, I never knew who my family was growing up!”
Ken didn’t know if it was Badger or Duncan whose Prime command finally held him in place, but Duncan hauled Donnel up, righted the chair, and parked him back in it.
“Calm down, lad,” Badger said to Ken. “We need all the answers.”
Ken’s chest heaved. “The only answer I need is why this chickenshit fucker ruined my life!”