Badger shook his head as he turned to Dewi. “This’ll start a bloody war.” His voice sounded grave.
Trevor shoved past Badger and strode over to Dewi, where she stood next to Ken’s chair. She sensed Ken was prepared to throw himself between her and the wolf shifter, but he didn’t have to.
Trevor dropped to one knee in front of her and tipped his head back, completely exposing his throat and making Badger, Joaquin, and Dewi all gasp.
“As Alpha of the Staffordshire Pack,” Trevor said, “I present myself and submit completely to the Targhee Pack. I hereby pledge, on my life and honor, our pack’s complete allegiance and fealty from this day forward.”
Tears rolled from his eyes. “Please, I’ve lost enough loved ones. My wife…this has nearly killed her. We can’t lose Tamsin and her baby, too.”
Stunned, Dewi stared down at the Alpha for a long, silent moment. Then, she forced herself to reach down and gently grip his vulnerable throat. Under her fingers, she felt grief and crushing, sick fear tinged with hope pounding through his veins with every throb of his pulse.
He was beyond desperation, nearly broken, and out of options.
He wasn’t holding things together nearly as well as he appeared to be. Inside…
Inside, he was an emotional wasteland, utterly destroyed and gutted by grief and rage and deep, sick fear for Tamsin and the baby’s safety. That he was even vertical and able to speak with them right now was testament to the sheer strength of his will. He wasn’t a Prime, but he was a damn strong Alpha.
Dewi knew she had no other choice but to accept his submission. Not and still be able to look at herself in the mirror tomorrow.
Although she suspected Peyton would rightfully chew her a new one for agreeing to something this serious without consulting with him first.
Except Peyton wouldn’t cross her on this, either. He’d likely have made the same decision.
She took a breath. “As head of the expanded Targhee Pack Council, and as a representative for the Targhee Pack, and speaking for the pack Alpha…your pledge and submission is accepted upon our honor. Your pack is now considered Targhee.”
He sobbed with relief. “Thank you.”
She released him and had to wipe her hand against her jeans, trying to rid herself of the sensation touching him had filled her with. He sagged, choking back a another sob before slowly climbing to his feet. Tamsin shifted back and pulled on her sundress. Then Trevor walked over and hugged her, long and hard.
Like a relieved father.
Dewi watched them, now reminded of one of the bad things about being a Prime. It wasn’t just a bag of fun party tricks she could pull out when needed. It meant she could feel things other people and wolves couldn’t. She was a living lie detector whether she wanted to be or not.
And right now, she wished she wasn’t.
There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that Trevor loved Tamsin and her baby as if she were his own pup. If he lost them, it would likely mean losing the last tether to his sanity, the only thing preventing him from blindly raging and burning down everything in his path to seek revenge for the loss of his two children.
Badger stood with his arms crossed over his chest and slowly shook his head. “This is bad, Dewi,” he said. “Ye don’t know what that bloody bastard is capable of.”
She stared at the two, at the way Tamsin now silently wept and Trevor tried to console her. He’d just lost two children and was trying to console a girl who not only wasn’t his by blood, but who had indirectly been the reason for his children’s murders.
That was the sign of a true pack Alpha—and a good father. “He doesn’t know what I am capable of,” she quietly said.
“If it dinna fash ‘im to murder two Alpha wolves over a mate bond, pups of a pack Alpha no less, do ye honestly think he won’t try to bring it here, to our door? With what we got goin’ on now wi’ the Seguras, to boot?”
“My Enforcers are on his tail,” Trevor said. “I have four after him now, and more help on the way. I issued a pack edict for blood. I literally want his head, and I’ve put out a cash bounty, in addition to the edict. He will find no safe haven among our kind. I’ve given orders to kill anyone found to be giving him assistance.”
Badger turned on him. “How many more then, aye?” he roared. “Ye kill off some o’ his, and more come back after yers. He’s got kin all the way into Norway, I’ve heard.”
“They’re less than forty strong now,” Tamsin said, her voice barely audible from where she stood with Trevor’s arm protectively draped around her slim shoulders. “Lots of thin-blood cousins, but the core pack is nearly extinct. I’m the first shifter that’s been born into the pack decades. Father wanted to mate me to my first cousin, my mother’s brother’s youngest son.”
“How old is your cousin?” Dewi asked.
“One hundred and ten.”
Rage threatened to wash through her again. “Waaaait a minute. You’re twenty-one. And they were going to…” She couldn’t even finish the statement as more anger surged through her.
Tamsin nodded. “Exactly. My father and uncle wanted him to take me at sixteen, but Mother apparently told them both when I was born that if they didn’t agree to eighteen, she would kill my cousin herself before he could get anywhere near me. He’s a gamma and Mother’s a beta. But he was my closest full-blood relative who wasn’t mated. It’s one of the few times Mother’s stood up to Father.”
“Did you even like the guy?”
Tamsin shook her head. “I despised him. He’s cruel, treats people like shite. He killed his first mate after she gave birth to two non-shifting pups.”
“Isn’t that a charming family history?” Dewi darkly snarked.
“Thin-blood?” Ken asked. “What’s that mean?”
“It’s shifter slang,” Joaquin quietly said, sounding pensive. Dewi suspected this whole situation had Joaquin shook, considering he was now also an expectant uncle. “Means mixed blood,” he continued. “Usually meaning mixed with humans, but can also mean other shifter races mixed in.”
“They’re starting to interbreed,” Dewi commented. “That’s just…gross.”
“Yeah, stupid question,” Ken said. “Why?”
“Faegan’s older than I am,” Badger said. “Barmy sod’s always had an inferiority complex, o’ sorts. Some o’ his kin fought with the British against the Scots and were granted land in Wales once everything settled. Always thought they were better than other shifters.”
“Then most of them were wiped out around 1898,” Trevor added. “Before Faegan was the pack Alpha. One of the pack Alpha’s brothers returned after several decades in India. He carried a few unexpected visitors in his personal effects—fleas, which carried plague. Reports say several hundred died in their village, which was already insular to begin with. The full shifters survived, but most of the survivors were closely related already, and so they closed ranks. The disease killed all but about seventy of them, total. From then on, especially after the Great Wars, their pureblooded numbers rapidly declined.”
Trevor nodded toward Tamsin. “Tamsin is one of very few shifters they have in the current generation, and the only female shifter they have who isn’t mated. If she hadn’t been able to shift, they would have cancelled the marriage. They had three other girls lined up in case, but they turned out not to be shifters after all.”
Dewi slowly shook her head. “Sounds like I should go there and clean house myself.” She cracked her knuckles. “I think a gene-pool bleaching is overdue. How could anyone allow him to do that? To mate off his own daughter? Especially to someone that old, and a first cousin? Who killed his own mate!”
“Dewi,” Badger said, “it’s not an uncommon practice. Well, I mean arranged marriages aren’t. Not the other specifics. Even humans still do it, in some cultures.”
“That’s just wrong. No wonder their pack is dying out. They need diverse genetics.”
“They’re the last shifter pack of their kind,
” Trevor said. “Faegan actually killed one of his son’s mates. Ben. Ben brought home a human woman he had a mate bond with, and Faegan killed her right there, then had to kill Ben when he fought to protect her.”
“That was in 1961,” Tamsin softly said. “I never knew him.”
“How old is your mother?” Dewi asked her.
“Three hundred and seventeen.”
Whoa. “Kind of old for her to still be having pups, isn’t she?”
“She’d been trying to have another child since Father killed Ben. He was their youngest when he died.”
Dewi turned to Badger. “And you’ve known all this shit about them and never bothered to tell me before now?”
“I dinna know all of it. I’ve heard rumors. An’ we don’t go stickin’ our snouts into other packs’ business without a legitimate reason or invite. Especially other shifter races, and technically the corgis are another race. Even other wolves are off-limits, without a valid enough reason. Not to mention they’re across the pond, right? If they were in Georgia, or Alabama, or feckin’ Orlando, sure, I’da told ye. But not our business.” He heavily sighed. “Until now, of course.”
“Lucky us,” Dewi muttered.
Chapter Thirteen
Tamsin was only two months along, and the attack had happened early yesterday morning in the UK, two hours before dawn local time. It was only sheer luck Tamsin had escaped. Maisie ordered her to shift and run. She escaped by crossing a lake in the pre-dawn hours to hide her scent before she ran several miles to Trevor’s house. Tamsin, Maisie, and Rupert had been hiding out, staying in a guest cottage on the estate of a friend of Trevor’s. Rupert was unmated, but had been staying with Maisie and Tamsin to help protect Tamsin.
“Do you guys want to take a nap before dinner?” Dewi asked.
“I’m not hungry, but thank you,” Tamsin quietly said. “I’d prefer to go to sleep.”
Trevor hugged her, and Dewi watched how he held her, reluctant to release her as he blinked back tears. Finally, he tenderly kissed the top of her head. “I’ll check on you in a while, dear.”
Once she’d left them, Trevor slumped into the other chair and looked up at Badger. “I’m sorry,” Trevor said. “I’m still…processing. I can’t even grieve and bury my children in peace. My wife…”
Joaquin handed him the box of tissues, and Trevor took several. Once he’d blown his nose, he sniffled and tried again. “My wife is obviously distraught. I have to keep functioning until that monster is dead. Then…” He sighed. “Only then can I start to grieve.”
“Who’s runnin’ things while yer here?” Badger asked.
“My second. He’s a good man. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Does he know where you are now?” Dewi asked, not wanting to sound like a bitch but needing to make sure she had all available intel so she could assess potential threats before they arrived.
“No. Not even my wife knows where I’ve taken her. We knew I had to get Tamsin to safety, and while I do have trusted packmates I could have entrusted her to for this journey, I needed every available person I had involved in the hunt for Faegan Lewis. It was my duty both as pack Alpha, as well as her father-in-law, to bring her here and protect her with my life. I’ll fly back tomorrow afternoon. I purchased my return ticket at the airport before we picked up our car. If you need any money—”
“No,” Dewi quietly said. “No money. We’re not doing this for money. We’re doing this for pack.” It also explained why he didn’t want to stay in a hotel. Less of a paper trail to track his movements.
Easier to protect her.
Surrounded by other trusted Alpha wolves to help keep her safe.
“Maybe Badger should go over to help,” Ken suggested to Dewi. “He’s a Prime. You said there weren’t many over there.”
“No,” Trevor said. “Everyone there knows Badger and who and what he is. If he shows up, even for the funeral, it’ll make people think to look for Tamsin here in the States, with your pack. I have connections with packs all over Europe and Asia. I appreciate the gesture, but I would prefer Badger remain here to help protect her. We already have outside help coming in from other packs for the hunt.”
“And you don’t want too many Primes showing up and perhaps challenging you for yours?” Joaquin suggested.
Dewi shot him a glare, but Joaquin shrugged. “It has to be said, Dewi. I would be negligent if I didn’t put that on the table. We are in strange times. No disrespect meant, but I experienced a different way of life in Mexico. Something like that would be the first strategy someone like Manuel Segura would attempt. I wouldn’t put it past an unethical Prime to take advantage of the situation, if they were looking for a pack to take over. That Endquist murdered your parents, and nearly killed you and your mate, I’d think it would be foremost in your mind, too.”
“Normally, I would agree with you,” Trevor said. “But I’ve already had pledges from fifteen Primes in and around Europe, wolves coming in to help, who said they would not do that. And I have no reason not to believe them. They’re all honorable men. We’ve all moved well past that phase in our neck of the woods, as it were.”
“But it doesn’t hurt that your pack is now Targhee,” Joaquin noted.
“Dude,” Ken said. “A little more low-key, huh?”
“No, he’s absslutely right, son,” Badger said. “No time to be coy. Every option must be noted an’ thought out.” He smiled at Joaquin. “But what time are ye supposed to meet Malyah, Nami, an’ them?”
Joaquin glanced at his watch. “Ah! Coño. I—”
“Go,” Dewi said, waving him out. “Good luck finding a house. Even better luck talking Nami into letting you get it.”
“Thanks. See you later.”
* * * *
I wonder if I’ll ever get the hang of wolf dynamics.
Ken had thought his step-father and brother were assholes, but they were garden-variety jerks compared to the threats from Endquist, the Seguras, and now...this.
Killer corgis.
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snorting in laughter. It wasn’t funny, not a damn bit.
Not under these circumstances.
Under any other circumstances, or, at least ones in which two people hadn’t been murdered, with a terrified and grieving expectant mother now on the run and in hiding, sure, it’d be fucking hysterical.
Badger patted Trevor’s shoulder. “Come on wi’ ye, then. Let’s take this to the kitchen, so we can talk while I cook dinner.”
Ken grabbed his crutches from where he’d set them on the floor. “I’ll help.”
“No, you won’t,” Dewi said. “You’ll sit there and watch.”
He grumbled, but at least Dewi let him make his way to the kitchen under his own steam. With him and Trevor seated at the table, Badger put a mug of hot tea in front of the other man while Dewi started to help prep their meal.
“Congratulations, by the way,” Trevor said to her. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t make the nuptials, but I didn’t want to leave the UK with our…situation. For all the good it did me.” He sadly stared into his mug.
“I’m thinkin’ it’s probably best if we take her to Idaho immediately,” Badger said. “Before anyone gets wind she’s left the country and can track us. Drive it, not fly.”
Ken realized how much this weighed on Dewi when she tiredly sighed. “Yeah. I’ll call Peyton after dinner and talk to him. I’ve already made enough big decisions tonight outside the loop.”
They’d just sat down to eat when Martin called Dewi’s phone. She handed it off to Ken to take care of, because she was talking to Trevor about other pack Alphas, acquainting herself with dynamics in the region, and filling him in about their run-in with the Seguras.
“Hey, it’s Ken,” he answered.
“Tell the boss it’s handled. No problems.” Martin chuckled. “And Duncan didn’t kneecap anyone.”
Finally, something Ken could laugh over after the afternoon’s heavy s
ituation. “I’ll pass the word. We’re eating dinner right now, so if you want to stop and grab something on the way, go ahead.”
“Did our guests arrive?”
“Yeah.”
“Do I want to know?” Martin asked.
“It’s…” He sighed. “We’ll fill you in when you get here.”
“Okay. Talk to you soon.”
Dewi glanced his way when he ended the call, and he gave her a thumbs-up.
As Ken listened and learned, it reaffirmed his thinking that waiting to have a baby was probably the right call. With this latest threat now on their plate, they’d need every available Prime to take care of business, and definitely didn’t need extra babies to protect.
Then there was the unspoken—that any baby of Dewi’s would be a more attractive target, striking at the heart of the pack’s core emotionally and structurally.
While it was unlikely Faegan Lewis or any of his men would make it as far as their front gate, it only emphasized how many threats truly shadowed their lives, including the ones they didn’t even know about yet. Ones Ken likely had no clue about, but the wolves probably did.
What next?
There’d always be something, sure, but two directly targeted threats like this was something else and definitely nothing to be taken lightly.
Another thing—he didn’t understand why him. Why Dewi had pinged on him as her mate. He wasn’t complaining, because yeah, he’d do it again in a heartbeat, even after what he’d been through so far. He was just…
Curious.
If the Goddess—which he didn’t believe in and wasn’t sure if Dewi and the others actually did, either, or if it was just a comfortable habit to talk about—was so perfect, why him? A geek who couldn’t even protect himself. Another valuable target which could be leveraged against Dewi and the others.
Then again, I guess it makes about as much sense as anything else I’ve learned lately.
Bleacke Spirit (Bleacke Shifters Book 4) Page 10
