A Bleacke Christmas (Bleacke Shifters 5)

by Lesli Richardson

  “Damn,” Da’von whispered. “I didn’t even think about that.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and his hands clasped, head hanging down. “Shit, man. That’s just wrong.”

  “I know.” Ken stared at the sky again. “Like, I know if my step-brother knew what was going on with me, he wouldn’t hesitate to sell Dewi out. He’d be trying to find the highest damn bidder.” He sighed. “You know Jarome would.”

  Da’von slowly shook his head. “How am I supposed to protect any kids we have from that?”

  “I’m not saying that’s going to happen. But it’s why we need secrecy. There are lots of non-shifting wolves out there. And humans mated to wolves and to non-shifters. So it’s doable, trust me. Take me for example.” He opted to leave out that there were other kinds of shifters.

  The guy had enough on his mind as it was.

  “Man, you just said you don’t know how you’re going to be a father, so don’t give me that bullshit.”

  “Look, I’m doing the best I can. I’m letting Dewi and Beck and Joaquin work with me, okay? I know I’ll figure it out. Trent assures me this is what all new fathers go through. My point is that you’re not alone in this. You have family you can reach out to. You have a pack. You said you wanted a ‘normal’ family? Congratulations, you have a huge extended family now. And they’re waiting for you to reach out and ask for advice, or ask for help, or whatever you need from them.”

  Da’von sighed. “She’s a year older than Malyah. What does she even see in me?”

  “Well, you know, if you want to go there, what the hell does Dewi see in me?” Ken asked. “She was involved with Beck before we met, and when she met me, it was like Beck never existed. Explain that.”

  Da’von looked over at him, wearing a wry smile. “You really want me to?”

  “No. Not really. But I know Dewi loves me. Just like I know Beck loves Nami, and Joaquin loves Malyah. And Brianna loves you.”

  Da’von sat back in his chair. “How am I supposed to support us? I mean, it’s great that Peyton wants me to work for them, but Nami raised us right. I don’t want a handout. I want to earn it.”

  “You will be earning it, once you get your degree. Finish school first. Both of you.”

  Da’von nodded. “I’m still thinking I’m going to wake up in the hospital or something.”

  Ken chuckled. “That feeling doesn’t go away, let me tell you what. It’s hard to let it sink in.”

  Peyton emerged from the main lodge and walked over. “Hey. How you doing?”

  Da’von looked up at him. “Does it matter? Can’t you Prime me, or whatever? Make me feel how you want me to feel?”

  Peyton sighed and sat next to him. “Look, we don’t like having to hide what we are. But it can get us killed. Hundreds of years ago, shifters were hunted. People thought we were evil. If someone knew someone was a shifter and decided they wanted something the shifter had, all they had to do was turn them in, and the shifter was burned. Sometimes, that happened even if someone wasn’t a shifter. Like the Burning Times with witches. Shifters learned really fast to keep it a secret. Closed ranks.”

  “Is Bebe in danger?”

  “Hopefully not. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on with her. If she is a shifter, we need to know that so we can break this news to your sister and Reggie. Badger isn’t done tracing Reggie’s lineage back yet. There are…complications.”

  Da’von angrily snorted. “The African diaspora?” He glared at Peyton. “Or would it offend any delicate ears for me to outright say you can’t fully trace his ancestry because of slavery?”

  Peyton slowly nodded, but Ken noticed he wasn’t trying to touch Da’von to ease him through this. “It looks like at least three of his grandparents were slaves,” Peyton quietly said. “Records are incomplete, at best. But we’re trying.”

  Tears rolled down Da’von’s cheeks. “Maybe I should just ask you to make me forget all of this and her. Just ship me back to Florida.”

  “I can’t do that, Da’von. I won’t do it.”

  “Why not? Not the first time one of y’all messed with my memories.”

  “Because you love her, and she loves you. You two have a mate bond. That’s something deep and at a soul level. And when you meet again in Florida, you’d fall for her all over again, even if I made her forget you. Which, again, won’t work.”

  Brianna emerged from the lodge. Perfect timing, Ken thought.

  She walked over and sat on Da’von’s other side, and Ken noticed how Da’von immediately leaned toward her, draped his arm around her, how she settled against his side and tucked her head against his neck.

  “Are you all right?” she asked him.

  Da’von nuzzled her forehead. “No, but I guess I will be once I get used to all of this.”

  “See?” Peyton said. “This will get easier to process over the next couple of days, I promise.”

  “Then we have to lie to Lu’ana and Reggie,” Da’von said. “Or do you adjust their memories, too?”

  Peyton let out another heavy sigh. “We adjust them. But it’s only a little tweaking that makes their lives so much easier and takes a burden off them. Isn’t that worth it?”

  Da’von looked into Brianna’s eyes. As Ken watched, the tension eased from Da’von’s face, his jaw relaxing. The way he deeply breathed, as if inhaling her scent.

  “Yeah,” Da’von finally said. “It’s worth it.” He kissed her, ending with his forehead pressed against hers. “I guess we’re getting married out here.”

  Ken chuckled. “You’re not just getting married. Nami gets to throw you a wedding. And the pack will pay for it. Hey, think of it this way—at least you don’t have to worry about Nami and Mateo and Carl being upset about all of this. They all get it.”

  “That’s true.” If anything, Nami had shocked Da’von with her reaction, Ken would guess.

  Once they all left the resort and everyone had settled into their accommodations at the compound, Ken flopped back on the bed in the cabin he shared with Dewi, the same one they’d occupied the last time. “Damn, what a long-ass day.”

  Dewi sank onto the mattress and rolled onto her side to snuggle with him. “You can say that again. How’s Da’von holding up?”

  The new couple had been assigned the cabin at the far end of the row. Lu’ana, Reggie, and Bebe had been given a guest room over at Trent and Asia’s, because Peyton wanted Trent and Asia to evaluate Bebe close-up.

  It’d be a test of wills for Asia’s usually rambunctious pack, trying to remember to act human, but Peyton wanted to take every opportunity that arose to evaluate the wolfish toddler.

  Especially in light of this latest development.

  “He’s…struggling a little. I think more because he’s feeling like we manipulated him with Prime in the past. He feels lied to.”

  “Well, he’s right,” Dewi said. “We did lie to him and manipulate him. I don’t blame him. He can be mad at us all he wants for that, but he needs to understand lives are at stake.”

  “He does. Go easy on him, sweetheart. It’ll take him a little time to adjust to it. He’ll be okay.”

  As they snuggled together, Ken felt his exhaustion catching up with him. “I hope you don’t mind I’m not exactly in the mood to do more than snuggle.”

  “Neither am I.” She kissed him. “I just want a calm, peaceful night. Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, and it’s going to be crazy, I’m sure, with everyone preparing.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  As he drifted to sleep, Ken couldn’t help but think about his mom.

  Missing her.

  Damn, I miss you, Mom.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Early Christmas Eve morning, Ken and Dewi were just waking up when someone knocked on their cabin door.

  Dewi shrugged. “Don’t ask me.”

  Ken wrapped a robe around himself and went to answer it.

  Duncan stood there. “Hey,” Ken said. “Come in.”

  “Thank
you.” The old wolf was dressed in jeans and a dark grey, long-sleeved Henley, and hiking boots. Ken still had trouble reconciling that this man, who barely looked like he was in his late fifties or maybe early sixties, was over four hundred years old.

  Dewi appeared in the hallway. “What’s wrong, Da?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, child.” He offered her a wan smile. “I came to ask a favor. Of Ken.”

  Ken frowned. “Me?”

  “Yes. I’d like you to come hiking with me and Tamsin. I haven’t asked her yet, but I know I can get her to agree.”

  Ken exchanged a confused glance with Dewi. “What’s going on?” Ken asked.

  “I think we need to let her roam for a little while,” Duncan said. “I know I could use it.”

  “I’ll go, Da,” Dewi offered.

  “No, child. I’d rather it be Ken.”

  Ken immediately felt a wave of indignation from her. “I’m pregnant, not fragile! And Tamsin’s pregnant, too, you know.”

  Duncan gave a world-weary sigh that Ken understood was the universal sign of an elder seeking patience from a higher power.

  “Dewi, sweetheart, it has nothing to do with you being pregnant. I want to go visit the spot where Louisa died, and it’s a spot Ken’s intimately familiar with, too. I want to see if I can perhaps allow Tamsin’s mind to…wander for a few hours. You are needed here for meetings today with your brothers, Beck, and Badger. They can spare me and Ken both. After what Carl said Tamsin made him promise, I’m very worried about her state of mind.”

  Ken felt her indignation flee. “Oh.” She looked a little abashed. “Sorry.”

  “No apologies, sweetheart.” Duncan smirked. “Perhaps don’t assume the worst from the start, though.”

  “Sure, I’ll go.” Ken did want a chance to explore the landscape a little without the worry of death hanging over his head this time.

  “Tamsin and I will most likely shift,” Duncan said. “If you could bring a backpack or something to carry our clothes in?”

  “Of course.”

  “And water and snacks for yourself.”

  “When did you want to leave?” he asked.

  “After breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be difficult enough on her as it is. Rather than her staying closed off in her room today, I thought maybe we could spend it more productively.”

  “I’ll be ready to go then.”

  “Thank you.”

  Once Duncan departed, and Ken had closed the door after him, Dewi walked over to hug him. “Thanks,” she said.

  He nuzzled the top of her head. “For what?”

  “For helping out.”

  “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m worried about her. I mean, I’m worried if she’ll be okay once her baby arrives.”

  “Me, too,” Dewi quietly admitted. “Prime can only help so much. We can’t force someone to live who doesn’t want to.”

  * * * *

  Apparently, Duncan had already told Peyton and Trent about their plans, because at breakfast, Tamsin appeared dressed for a walk in the woods, even though she was her usual quiet self while everyone else chatted and talked. Ken watched her, the way she picked at her food, obviously forcing herself to eat and not enthusiastically tucking into it like the other shifters and even the humans.

  This has to be miserable for her. What a shitty time of year for her to be going through this.

  It wasn’t fair. She should be celebrating with Maisie and Rupert, preparing for the birth of their first child, surrounded by their family and friends and enjoying the holidays.

  She shouldn’t be spending it thousands of miles from home, among strangers and in mourning.

  Tamsin was only twenty-one, but she seemed decades older to Ken. She’d rarely smiled in the time he’d spent around her, and even then it never reached her golden-brown eyes.

  After breakfast and with keys in hand, Ken led the way to one of the rented SUVs, the one they were using this trip.

  All-wheel drive.

  He’d brought a couple of bottles of water, a small bag of trail mix for himself, and beef jerky for the wolves, in case they needed it. And a large, wooden walking stick Peyton gave him to use, which had once belonged to Charles Bleacke. Gillian loaned Ken a large backpack that would hold everything.

  And Ken brought a nine-millimeter tucked in a holster in his front waistband, because like hell would he ever again be out in the fricking woods while unarmed. Once was too damned much.

  Duncan helped Tamsin into the back seat before taking shotgun. With only the radio playing, they rode in companionable silence out of the compound and through town, heading for the turn-out Ken remembered all too well from their last trip here.

  Once he’d parked and shut off the engine, Duncan turned slightly in his seat to look at Tamsin.

  “It’ll never stop hurting, child. Believe me, I know. In over fifty years, it’s never stopped hurting. Not once. But I have learned that you can learn live with it, like an unwanted guest you can’t evict. Eventually, you will find a way to manage it and be able to smile over good memories. Letting your pack be there for you, adopted or not, is a comfort. I learned the hard way that pulling away from them can hurt them far more than it can falsely help you. I wish I hadn’t lost all that time with my family. I missed so much.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared out the passenger-side window and to the west, where the mountain dropped off in a steep, treed slope.

  “Because of me,” she quietly said, “both Maisie and Rupert are gone. Trevor and Elizabeth welcomed me into their family and pack. They fought for our mating. They tried to negotiate with my father. They were willing to pay any amount of dowry possible to settle this and earn my freedom from my father. And because of me, they’ve lost two children. Because of my father. They died protecting me. It would’ve been better had I died and they survived.”

  Duncan reached over and touched her shoulder. “Tamsin,” he gently said, although Ken felt his Prime power flowing to the young woman, “it wasn’t your fault. What your father did was horrible, but not within your control. You hold no responsibility over this.

  “Maisie and Rupert both loved you very much. That’s why they fought so hard for you. They would want you to keep living for your baby. They wouldn’t want you to give up, especially after they fought to protect you and the baby. Plus, Trevor and Elizabeth love you very much. To them, you are their daughter.

  “This is still fresh and raw, I know. There will come a day, however, when you’ll feel like smiling again and be able to think of them without crying. You’ll be able to tell your child about them and remember the happy times. I am proof of that.”

  “We barely had any time together,” she whispered, her tears rolling down her cheeks. “We only had four years together. We should have had a lifetime.”

  “I know, sweetheart. Today, we’re going to roam a little, and you can howl and grieve and commune with their spirits. The spirits of our loved ones are all around us, embracing us with their love. They’re never farther from you than your own heartbeat.”

  She nodded.

  There was no traffic visible for miles in either direction. They climbed out and Ken locked the SUV while Tamsin and Duncan stripped and folded their clothes and laid them on the hood of the SUV. She shifted almost immediately. It was still difficult for Ken to reconcile that the large fawn and white corgi was actually a person, especially when compared to the huge wolves he was used to dealing with.

  Duncan placed a hand on Ken’s shoulder. “It’s all right if you can’t keep up with us,” Duncan silently told him. “I don’t expect you to be able to keep up with us. Stay on our tracks in the snow. If you need me, yell, and I’ll hear you. If I sense any danger, such as predators, I will double-back for you. You have your gun?”

  Ken nodded.

  Then Duncan shifted into wolf form, which was at least three times as large as Tamsin’s corgi form. The two shifters waited while Ken stowed their clothes and sh
oes in the pack, shouldered it, and adjusted the straps.

  Today, at least, Ken was dressed for a cold hike in the woods, with the proper shoes, clothes, a warm jacket, a thick, knit hat, and gloves for his hands.

  With Duncan in the lead, they headed for the break in the trees, the old scar that marked the spot where Louisa had died when the logging truck jack-knifed and went over the edge and took her car with it.

  Ken wasn’t sure he believed in spirits or an afterlife, but it was oddly fitting that this was the exact spot where he drove them over the side that day, as if some unseen hand were helping guide him and keeping them safe.

  The shifters started picking their way down the slope. Ken watched for a moment, gauging the best path before he followed. Now he was glad he had the walking stick. It helped him keep from falling down the damned slope. He still couldn’t believe he and Nami survived their plunge in the little Honda. It happened only a couple of months ago but felt like a lifetime away.

  As he followed them, the shifters making their way down the incline and over the snow easier than he could, he suspected Duncan was talking to Tamsin using his Prime powers. Around them, he heard the sound of birds, the distant burble of water in the river, and the occasional sound of the breeze stirring through the pines.

  With it being winter, a blanket of white mostly covered the ground around them. The lack of leaves on plants in the underbrush meant he could more easily keep sight of the shifters ahead of him.

  Had their confrontation with the Seguras happened this time of year, he and Nami likely wouldn’t have survived. Both from exposure to the cold, and from being less able to conceal their tracks and their location.

  They wound their way down the slope past the spot where the car had ended up and headed toward the river. When Ken finally emerged from the trees, he found the shifters had already started working their way to the south, following a less challenging path between the slope and the river’s edge. There was something soothing about the gentle quiet of the day, especially against the backdrop of the river.