Chapter 6 #3
He sensed Dewi’s approach before she even stepped onto the cabin’s porch and opened the front door.
“Hey,” she softly said, sitting next to him and draping an arm around his shoulders.
He tipped his head against hers. “Hey.”
She kissed his temple. “I know asking if you’re okay is a really stupid—”
“I’m… processing.”
Her breath gently blew across his forehead. “What do you need from me right now?” she quietly asked.
Ken was about to say he didn’t know, but then he took a deep, shuddering breath. “I want to go home,” he said, tears catching him by surprise and prickling his nose as his vision blurred. “I want to go home to Florida and just…”
He didn’t know how to finish that statement.
Her fingers played with his hair. “Our flight is tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
His breath caught. “Oh. I know Peyton said soon, but that was fast.”
Dewi nuzzled his temple. “Once they finished filling me in, I told Peyton we needed to go home,” she said. “That we needed to return to a modicum of normalcy.”
He finally looked at her. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She tipped her head, arching an eyebrow at him, but not responding, and then he got it.
“Oh. You could hear me in the office.”
“Yeah.” One side of her mouth quirked in an adorable smirk.
“I’d be surprised if half the compound couldn’t hear you.
I told Hyacinth not to listen, but I heard every word.
” She gently poked his arm. “And I missed seeing you give that dude a beatdown! That’ll teach me to let Badger order me out of a room. I missed the fun.”
He sniffled. “What about the Ray Dorland stuff?”
“I can make calls from Florida just as easily as I can from Idaho. So can Badger. When Dorland lands in Idaho, only Primes and Trent will be there to meet him.”
“We’re all going to Florida?”
“Yep. You, me, Gillian, Tam, Asia, and the kids, obviously. Plus, Da and Badger. Everyone. Trent’s staying here to run the business end on-site. It’s summer. We’re telling Asia’s kids it’s a vacation.”
“What about Peyton being alive?”
She followed his question perfectly. “We’ll tell Asia and the kids once they’re all in Florida. Less chances of it accidentally slipping out somehow.”
“How are we all flying at the last minute?” he asked.
“Charter flight. Pack-owned company. We’ll have to refuel along the way, but they’ll land us at a small private airstrip in Wesley Chapel, not far from the house, so we don’t even need to deal with TSA bullshit.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She leaned back enough that she could look him in the eyes. “Hope you don’t mind us having a houseful of hellions for several weeks.”
He finally felt like smiling a little. “It’ll be fun having them around.”
“Chances are, we won’t get them out of the pool when they are at the house and not out at amusement parks and stuff. And we can take them to the beach.”
“I know the planning, for the lab ra—”
She kissed him, gently, lingering. “Let’s not talk about that,” she said. “Not right now.”
He nodded. “Okay.” Sniffling, he returned his focus to Lyssa. “What about Hyacinth and Donnel?”
“They’re being taken home. Primed not to disappear again and to be available for contact from us via phone 24/7.”
“I don’t want her knowing them.” He knew he didn’t need to clarify. “Don’t want any of them knowing them.”
“Okay,” she simply said.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” She caught Lyssa’s foot and played with it, baby-talking to her. “I won’t let you or your siblings have a relationship with that guy. I agree with Daddy—he’s a shi-poopyhead.”
Ken smiled.
“Anyway,” Dewi continued. “I get why Donnel made his choices, even though I absolutely do not agree with them. Not excusing what he did, but it must have been excruciating to witness what happened to his mate. Although I think he was the coward for not killing Faegan. He tried to shift the blame to Hamish and Bryn when it wasn’t their fault. ”
“What’d Hamish think about Donnel’s assertions that it was Bryn and Hamish’s fault?”
She snorted. “Hamish decked him, too, before Da pulled him off. I think Da and Badger could’ve stopped him, but they let him get a shot in since you got one.”
“I don’t understand how Donnel didn’t kill Faegan. They had guns back then. Make it look like an accident, or stage it as a crime.”
“I don’t, either. But I wasn’t in his shoes. And if Hyacinth was terrified her family would be killed if they moved against Faegan, I can see where that played a role. It was a different time, different pack dynamics. Again, not excusing what he did, just offering a little context.”
“I’m a human, and I fought to save your life,” he said, choking up. “Against Endquist. A fucking Prime.”
She nuzzled his head again. “I know,” she whispered. “But now that we know who your grandparents were, it makes sense. Just because you’re not a shifter doesn’t mean you’re not strong in ways you never knew.”
“I can’t forgive him for abandoning Mom.”
“No one’s asking you to.”
“We leave tomorrow? For sure?”
“For sure. Gillian’s probably still locked in her bedroom and yelling at Peyton over the phone about it.”
“Now what happens?” he asked. “Big picture, not the actual travel.”
“Well, Peyton said the drones they sent confirmed the site data. They already have two Enforcers, one of them a Prime, heading to the closest town to start working on gathering intel. In a week or so, they’ll fly Jake over to help out.”
“You are not going.”
She snorted. “No. I might have been able to argue a case to Peyton if I wasn’t pregnant, but my ass is staying home with you and the baby.”
“Thank you.”
She laid a hand on his arm. “While I can’t promise you normal, I do promise to spend more time focusing on us and our personal lives.”
He blew out a long breath. “I know it will get better. I know this isn’t the default. I just want to raise our kids and not worry about drug cartels or megalomaniacal corgi assholes. Which is a three-word phrase I never thought I’d say in my life.”
She snorted. “I know. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” The baby had almost finished feeding and was already slowing, her eyes nearly closed, her body relaxing. “Please remember that, while yes, family and pack are important,” he said, “we are your family, too.”
“I will. I promise.”
Ken closed his eyes, breathing in the various scents. From the baby, from Dewi, from the ever-present scent of pine cushioning the air no matter where he went.
He knew Dewi meant that promise.
He also wondered what might happen in the future that would force her to break it.