Chapter 30 #2
“There are three girls and two boys. They’ll live at the manor with Callum and Bryn, for now.
Their situation is a lot more complex than the younger kids.
They don’t want to simply wipe the older kids’ memories.
They can more easily alter the memories of the younger kids.
Trevor has a shifter psychologist working with them, someone trained in helping with child trauma, and she’ll work in conjunction with Callum. ”
Dewi blew out a breath. “Guess I know where Tamsin will end up then,” she sadly said. “I’m going to miss her.”
“What?” Peyton asked.
“She’s a natural teacher,” Dewi said. “I’m sure Trevor will ask her to step in.”
“Oh, no,” Peyton said. “The goal is to bring the older kids over here, with Callum and Bryn. Sorry. I did warn you I’m exhausted.
That’s why they didn’t want to take on raising Moose here.
Because they’re going to care for the oldest kids and move here for good once we have housing ready.
We want to integrate them with our pack, see if there’s any place we might have to tweak their memories, and then they can go to school here, or work, or even move to Idaho, if they want.
The psychologist said she’d prefer they have at least three full years of supervised living.
The younger kids that Trevor and Elizabeth are adopting will be homeschooled for now, then sent to school at the beginning of the next school year, if they’re able to deal with it, once they know they’re acclimated and caught up to grade level. ”
“Ah,” Dewi said. “So we get dibs on Tam?” she joked.
“Maybe,” he said. “It’s her decision.”
“I’m surprised Trevor and Elizabeth are taking on all the smaller kids.”
“Well, Trevor didn’t have a choice when Elizabeth visited and saw them and fell in love with them. She sort of played the ‘happy mate’ card and told him they’d be living with them.” He laughed. “If I hadn’t already called dibs on Moose, she likely would’ve taken him, too.”
“Is that… healthy?” Gillian asked. “Them taking the other kids, I mean.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I mean, replacing Rupert and Maisie?”
“They’re grown adults,” Peyton said. “I’ll admit that thought crossed my mind, too.
But it’s not like they don’t have the resources to care for them.
If it heals their hearts and helps them with their grief, I won’t fault them.
And think of it this way, it might help Tamsin not feel as guilty if she does want to stay here with you guys. ”
“True,” Dewi said.
They all turned when they heard a door close at the front of the house.
“Hello?” Ken called out.
Dewi left the pool house and walked over to the sliders, which she’d left open. “Out here. She’s back.”
He joined them, his hands full of large shopping bags. “Where do you want all of it?”
“Anywhere,” Peyton said. “Need help?”
“Yes, please.”
Peyton stood and followed Ken outside.
Dewi settled on the sofa next to Gillan. “Are you okay?”
“I’m overwhelmed,” she said. “And feeling a little murdery.”
“Over Peyton bringing him home?”
“No! Absolutely not. Murdery in that I wish I could’ve helped kill those fuc—udgers.”
Dewi grinned. “Hey, he said swears don’t count. Let’s enjoy it while we can.”
“True.”
The baby opened his eyes, and they were hazel-green, not that much different than her own. “Hey there, little guy. Nice to meet you.”
He stretched and gave her a half-gummy grin before jamming his fist in his mouth and sucking on it.
Gillian and Dewi both laughed.
“That’s mommy’s little Moose,” Gillian said, prompting the baby to smile even wider, with a little bit of a laugh, too.
“I see what Peyton means,” Dewi said. “He’s reacting to you as if he’s known you all his life.”
“Yeah.” Gillian wiped her eyes on her shoulders. “I promise you, little guy, you’re going to have a great life from here on out.”
“Seconded,” Dewi said. “Oh, want to meet your sister?” She shifted position so he could see the sleeping baby.
He grinned again, letting out a happy coo.
The men brought in another load of bags.
“Holy cow!” Gillian said, laughing. “How much did you buy?”
Ken laughed. “Well, I know Asia’s kids are my niblings, but this little guy’s my first brand-new nephew,” he said. “So… I might have gone a little nuts.”
“He did,” Peyton said, walking in behind him. “We haven’t even unloaded the bigger items yet.”
“Bigger items?” Gillian asked.
“Yeah,” Ken said. “Travel crib, you need another stroller and a two-baby stroller—you know, the basics.”
Gillian arched an eyebrow at Dewi, questioning.
As the men departed again, Dewi smiled. “Hey, he’s happy,” Dewi said.
“I’m not about to piss on his parade. I know he honestly doesn’t care what our babies are, just wants them to be healthy and safe, but this is his first baby boy.
We all kind of filled the pool with a ton of estrogen this last round.
I still can’t believe none of us had boys. ”
Gillian giggled. “That’s true.”
Then Badger walked in. “What’s all—” His eyebrows went up, his one eye widening. “Holy heckin’ Goddess, who’s that?”
“Meet Moose Bleacke,” Dewi teased.
“Officially Marcus Godwin Bleacke,” Gillian added.
“Moose, eh?” Badger scratched his chin as he walked closer. “Where’s he from?”
“Peyton came home with him and surprised me,” Gillian said.
“He what? Where’d he—oh.” His smile faded. He reached out, stroking the baby’s hand. “He’s the youngest, aye?”
“Yep,” Gillian said. “And possibly a Prime.”
“Oh, boy. Good luck wi’ that, then.”
“Gee, thanks,” Gillian said. “I think.”
“Well, now ye get firsthand experience raisin’ one from the jump. Almost.” He stuck his tongue out at Dewi. “I did my time, little lady. Now ye get to see why there’s not as much of my hair as there used to be.”
“Oh, come on,” Dewi protested. “I wasn’t that bad. Besides, Mom raised Peyton all right.”
Badger scratched at his chin. “Well, she had Charley there the whole time, didn’t she? An’ me. At least Moose here will have Peyton.”
“You realize his name might as well be Moose now, right?” Dewi asked. “If Badger’s calling him that, it’s stuck.”
Gillian grinned. “Kind of fits him, though.” She made a funny face at the baby and leaned in to blow a raspberry on his cheek, making him laugh.
“Can I hold him?” Badger asked.
“Hey, I didn’t get to hold him yet,” Dewi protested.
“Ye got to see him first, didn’t ye?”
Gillian handed him over, and Badger made funny faces at him, then went still.
“What’s wrong?” Gillian asked. “You’re scaring me.”
He finally shook his head and returned the baby after kissing his forehead. “He’s definitely a Prime.” He nodded toward Dewi. “Reminds me of her at this age. How old is he?”
“Almost six months.”
He gravely nodded. “Aye. That was about the age…”
No one needed clarification.
That was the age it showed up in Dewi, following the attack.
“Does that mean he’s a Prime?” Gillian asked him.
“If he’s not a Prime I’d be shocked,” he said, crossing his meaty arms over his chest. “Mebbe not as strong as Peyton, Duncan, or me. Definitely not as strong as Callum.” He tipped his head toward Dewi again. “Probably about as strong as she is.”
“Oof,” Gillian said.
“Hey!” Dewi protested.
“I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” Gillian said. “I just remember you sending your aunt out into the snow.”
“I didn’t mean to!” she said. “I didn’t even do it on purpose!”
“We know, fuzzball,” Badger said to her.
“But that’s the thing, innit? Knowin’ ye got a Prime on yer hands is somethin’ else.
And the other thing, Peyton didn’t really start showing much in the way of powers until he was older.
He was around four or five. Most Primes don’t really start coming into it until then. ”
Ken and Peyton returned with the last load of stuff, and while Gillian had initially hoped for some private time with Peyton, this development eclipsed that completely.
“Oh, Trevor texted me that the paperwork is already on its way to us,” Peyton said. “He was only waiting for a name.”
“His birth certificate?” Gillian asked.
“Everything.” He leaned in and kissed the top of her head. “He’s ours. They have attorneys or barristers or whatever they’re called, as well as magistrates and judges, on the pack payroll. Those who aren’t actual packmates, that is. It’s all been filed.”
“Nice to have friends in high places,” Dewi snarked.
The three men started assembling furniture. Five minutes in, the baby monitor Dewi wore clipped to her waistband sounded off as Lyssa awakened from her nap in the living room.
“I’ll go get the princess,” Ken said.
“Thanks, sweetie.” Dewi yawned. “Actually, she’s not the only one who needs a nap.”
Badger motioned to her. “Gimme that little one and you go catch some winks.”
“Thanks, Badger.” She handed Adair off to Badger and then kissed Moose on his head before leaving the pool house.
Badger took Dewi’s place on the couch. “Mebbe ye should think about movin’ here,” Badger said without any of his usual mirth. “I’d get to see everyone growin’ up in person that way. Help ye with babysitting.”
“I promise to take long family vacations here,” Peyton said. “Especially once the houses are ready. Maybe we can be snowbirds.”
“I would love that,” Gillian said. “Trent and Asia won’t move until the kids are all grown and out of school, though.”
“That reminds me,” Peyton said, turning where he sat on the floor to look at Gillian. “How, exactly, did we end up with two more properties and a herd of cattle you ordered that we absolutely cannot eat?”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “That’ll teach you to leave me alone with the pack checkbook.”
He rolled his eyes but smiled as he resumed assembling things.
Later that night, the babies’ portable cribs sat next to each other with the two of them sound asleep. Peyton and Gillian stood there, staring down at their children.
“At least we’ll have everything we need for the new baby when she arrives,” Peyton said.
Gillian wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she muttered against his back. “I will fucking kill you.”
His hands settled over hers. “I learned my lesson.” He turned, holding her. “I will spend the rest of my life making that up to you.”
“So what do we tell him?”
“Tell who?” he asked.
“Moose. When he’s older and asks questions, what do we tell him? At some point he’ll look at his birth certificate, do the math about his age and Adair’s, and that math will not math.”
“We don’t hide that he’s adopted,” Peyton said.
“The story is the truth—that his parents were murdered by the lab, he has no biological family that we’re aware of, and we adopted him because we knew he’d need to be with a family able to raise him with his kind.
None of that is a lie, as far as we know. ”
“Will the truth ever come out to all those kids? What if someone says something?”
“Well, everyone who participated in the raid and who’s treating the rescued hostages is sworn to secrecy and Primed to reinforce that.
Meaning the shifter world at large doesn’t even know.
We’ll mix in just enough truth to make the lies go down easily.
We’re not hiding their parentage, only the depths of the horrors they witnessed and experienced firsthand.
They don’t need to carry that trauma. I think Callum’s actions with Frannie prove he can successfully manipulate memories. ”
“I’m surprised Elizabeth and Trevor didn’t take this little guy, too.”
“I think she wanted to talk me into letting her have him, until I told her he’s probably a Prime. The rest aren’t. Many of the kids are shifters, some aren’t. Mostly younger ones aren’t.”
“Why—oh.” She swallowed back bile.
He gravely nodded. “Once kids were older and they figured out they weren’t shifters, they killed them.”
“Can I take a whack at that fucker before he’s killed?” Gillian growled.
Peyton grimly smiled. “Callum and Bryn rightfully get that honor. Right now, he’s a prisoner in the cellar at the manor house.
He’ll never leave there alive, but we can’t kill him until we’re confident we have all the intel out of him that we can glean.
And we still need him to interpret the records.
There were decades of this bullshit. We are nowhere close to finishing with the records. ”
“We? Does that mean you have to go back over there?”
“Hopefully not. For now, I should be able to deal with things over the phone. Especially since they have Callum there for now and don’t need me as a Prime.”
“This is a lot to process,” she said.
He nodded, nuzzling her nose. “I know. But the good thing is our suite at the beach resort has two bedrooms.” He smiled. “One for the babies, and one for us. Small kitchenette. Literally a few yards to walk down to the beach.”
“I’m already pregnant, Bleacke,” she teased. “Can’t get me more pregnant.”
He laughed. “I promise that every year from now on, we’ll come here for at least a month, and try to stay at the beach resort, just the two of us, for a weekend or longer.”
“We’ll need a pool for our house.”
“Our house?”
She smiled. “The one we’re building here. We won’t be living here all year round, but there might be times I want to bring the kids down for long weekends or something.”
“Ah.” He kissed her. “Is this a hint that you want to eventually live down here full-time?”
She sighed. “Not right now. Not yet. But I miss Dewi and Badger and everyone. I want Duncan to see his great-grandbabies grow up.”
“What about your mom?”
She snorted. “Why do you think I want a house in Florida?” she joked. “I’ll need a break from her. At least my sister’s giving her in-person grandbabies.”
His smile faded as he stared into her eyes. “Are we okay, baby?”
“We’re absolutely okay as long as you never scare the crap out of me like that again. If you do, you’re getting a satellite radio tracking collar like the bears in Yellowstone.”
He laughed. “I’d probably deserve that, too.”