Bleacke Spirit

by Lesli Richardson

  “However, Manuel Segura does have an uncle, Abundio, who is still alive, and who lives only a couple hours away from Tehuacán, to the east, in Tlilapan. He’s supposedly legit, made a fortune in mining and logging, when the rest of the man’s siblings, including Manuel and Raul Segura’s father, Berto, followed in their father’s footsteps with the cartel. Abundio’s father originally started the cartel. Back then it was bootlegging and drugs.”

  She sat back in her chair. “How old is the guy?”

  “Eighties. Manuel’s father’s brother. Last remaining sibling of that generation.”

  “We have anyone who can check it out?”

  Joaquin nodded. “Alvarez already did. Guy lives in a fortified compound. We’d need a team of us to storm it, and even then we might take heavy losses. Looks like former military for security.”

  “Kind of funny thing for a guy in a legal business to have, isn’t it?”

  “Not down there in that region. Kidnappings and ransom are a way of life.”

  “Ah. Okay. Do we have anyone we can use to keep an eye on the place to watch for Segura?”

  “We have Alvarez, and he’s going to need someone to help Ramirez cover the rest of the territory while he’s doing it.”

  “Do we have any pack in that particular area?”

  He shook his head. “I evacuated the last family out of that region two years ago. Got them placed with cousins in Tennessee.”

  “Poor bastards,” Dewi muttered.

  Joaquin smiled. “It’s not so bad where they’re at. They’re near Nashville. Their family runs a chain of barbecue restaurants.”

  She smacked herself in the forehead. “Duh. Perez. No, wait. Lopez. Carmen and…Leo?”

  Joaquin cocked finger guns at her and playfully smiled. “There you go. No one expects you to remember everyone’s names, boss.”

  “I do,” she said. “And I take back my comment. The Lopez family’s barbecue is freaking legendary. I think I gained ten pounds last time I was there. If we could ever talk them into opening one here, I’d ask Peyton to pay the costs up-front for them.”

  “An’ put it right by our highway exit?” Badger teased.

  “Fuckin’ A, I would. That would freaking rock.”

  “We’re getting side-tracked,” Ken said. That was one of his many jobs—keeping them on-task in meetings. “Who do we have to send to Mexico? Alvarez was in Rio, and that’s a lot of real estate for only one Enforcer.”

  Yes, it was breakfast, but it was still a meeting. And, much to Dewi’s relief, Ken’s ankle had improved a lot overnight. It was still bruised and a little swollen, but after Dewi had called their doctor, he’d said Ken could try putting a little weight on it to test it, as he felt able.

  He made it down the stairs by himself, but he was still using crutches to walk.

  At least her soul had settled, now that he was on the mend.

  She’d also ordered Badger to take the damn tree out, but he’d laughed and shook his head at her when Ken overruled her.

  “There’s Aaron in Charleston,” Dewi said. “He doesn’t have a wife or kids, so he could be temporarily reassigned, but I don’t know if he speaks Spanish.”

  “Kind of a job requirement for an assignment in Mexico,” Joaquin teased.

  She flipped him off while Duncan looked on, amused, if the smile on his face was any indication.

  “What about Franco?” Badger said. “We don’t need six Enforcers in Canada. They’re too feckin’ polite to start trouble wi’ each other.”

  “Yeah,” Ken said, “but we have several hundred packmates all over the country up there.”

  “Let me see.” She grabbed her phone and texted Franco. He responded within a few minutes that, no, he didn’t speak Spanish.

  She was waiting a text reply from Aaron when her phone rang.

  “Dewi Bleacke.” Even though she’d hyphenated Ken’s last name to hers, she still answered like that for work, because it was easier and everyone knew who the hell she was.

  “Um, hey, Miss Bleacke,” the terrified-sounding man said. “Um, it’s James Palver.”

  “Hold on.” She tapped the button to put the call into speaker mode and set the phone on the table.

  It was that, or risk throwing it, because she suspected this call would irritate the snot out of her.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” she asked.

  “Um, you said I need to notify you of address changes.” He didn’t continue.

  James was an idiot, a non-shifter but of the pack. He was also a baby daddy, who’d had a bunch of babies with a bunch of different women. And he now had a vasectomy, courtesy of an order Dewi had given him when they’d hunted him down and delivered him to Linda—also of the pack—so he could start paying child support. He’d fathered not one, but two babies with her. Dewi had ordered him to live with Linda, which hadn’t pleased either of them, but Dewi ahd hoped at the very least they’d take care of their children that way.

  Dewi had threatened to do something a lot worse to them if they fucked up and didn’t obey her by putting their children first.

  “Yeah, James? And?”

  “Um… Oh. I’m moving to Idaho.”

  She rubbed at her forehead. “What part of ‘you are living with Linda’ did I not make clear, James?”

  “She-she’s coming, too. And the kids. My dad got me a job out there. And she can probably find a job. We’re going to live with my parents for a while.”

  Dewi’s irritation turned to curiosity. “You are?”

  “Yeah. We kind of… Well, you kind of scared us shitless, Miss Bleacke.”

  Joaquin, Martin, and Badger all snorted. Ken smiled. Duncan arched an eyebrow at Dewi, a silent question she knew he’d ask once the call ended.

  “Yes, that was kind of the point, James. Scaring the shit out of you so it’d push your heads out of your asses. Continue.”

  “Well, Linda and I started talking and trying to work things out. Our moms can help us watch the kids while we work.”

  Dewi held up a hand over the center of the table, and both Badger and Ken high-fived her. “That’s great, James. I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks.” He paused. “Um, so, can we?”

  “Can you what?”

  “Move. You said we needed to get permission.”

  “Oh. Yes, absolutely. E-mail me your new address once you’re out there. And keep your phone number and e-mail current with me. That still applies. I’ll be making sure Peyton has people following up locally. Don’t fuck it up.”

  “No, ma’am. I mean, yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She ended the call and sat back. “Well, fuck me, I did not see that one coming.”

  Badger chuckled. “Dewi, I gotta hand it to ye, that was brilliant. I’ll admit, I had me doubts about that whole situation.”

  Dewi briefed Joaquin and Duncan on what had originally happened. “Actually, that’s the day Beck met Nami,” Dewi said. “It was her bus James was riding.”

  Duncan nodded. “I’m proud of you, Dewi. That was a creative solution. I wouldn’t have thought of doing that in a similar situation. In fact, I had to deal with situations like that before.”

  “What’d you do?”

  He shrugged. “Depended on the man’s behavior up until I was called in, and whether he was a human or could shift. Usually, I could Prime them. For really bad cases, I’d shoot the worthless bastard in the kneecap so he couldn’t run faster than the woman, and then I ordered him to take care of his children. Along with a warning that if he failed to, the next one would be in his balls.”

  Dewi laughed at the way Ken’s eyes bugged out while Duncan playfully smiled.

  Once again, Badger chuckled. “Dammit, I’ve missed ye, Duncan. So bloody much. It’s good to have ye back.”

  * * * *

  That afternoon, their visitors’ plane had landed and they were en route from Tampa International when Dewi’s phone rang again. She gathered everyone in the o
ffice to listen in on the call.

  This time, it was a more serious matter, a non-shifting pack family in Sarasota, whose teenaged daughter was running around with an older guy who’d just been arrested for selling drugs.

  And the daughter didn’t know anything about their family’s shifter heritage.

  It was just the sort of thing her Prime powers were perfect for. Except…

  She asked the frantic father to hold for a minute, then she muted the call. “Martin, how about you and Da take a quick drive down to Sarasota?”

  “Sure,” Martin said.

  “What do you want me to do?” Duncan asked her.

  “Not kneecap ‘im,” Badger joked.

  Dewi rolled her eyes. “Just ‘talk’ to the daughter. Martin will help you out with the backstory. Friends of the family or something. Prime her away from him.”

  “Do you want us to take care of the boy?”

  Okay, I think I need another private talk with him. They couldn’t get away with things today that likely would have been SOP back in Duncan’s day. “No, we’ll let the sheriff’s office take care of him. He’s in jail.”

  “Ah.” Duncan nodded. “Sure. That sounds easy enough.”

  “It should be, if nothing happens.” She unmuted the call. “I’ve got Martin and Duncan on their way. Duncan’s a Prime. Give us your address…”

  Ten minutes later, they’d headed out in Martin’s car.

  Badger nudged her. “Ye do realize we need to talk with Duncan, eh?”

  “Yeah. Kneecapping—except in serious cases—baaaad. I mean, we’ve all kneecapped people before, for a variety of things. But it’s judicious use of that for only when killing’s too severe, but we need to send a message.”

  Ken smirked. “At least you get it honestly, honey.”

  Joaquin laughed, but Dewi was in too good of a mood to let it so much as even ruffle her fur. “Hey, considering that when I was twelve and took over as Head Enforcer I might have actually let him kneecap the guy, or did it myself, I take that as a sign of personal growth and maturity.”

  “Sure it is, babe.” Ken coaxed her in for a kiss where he was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Sure it is.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Ken kept an eye on the time. Less than an hour after Duncan and Martin departed, the others heard the intercom buzz, indicating that there was someone at the gate. After Badger checked the camera and confirmed it was his friend, they buzzed them in.

  Their visitors would be using the pool house on the lanai, which would double as a guest house for the duration of their stay. With Joaquin and Malyah taking the last spare room upstairs, they were at full occupancy. The two of them would have to share the large pull-out couch in the pool house, but Trevor had indicated that it would be more than adequate for their purposes, and that they appreciated it.

  Whatever the reason for their visit, apparently Trevor didn’t want to stay in a hotel, due to privacy and security concerns.

  From the way the older man and much younger woman acted, to Badger’s unusually tense and agitated movements after he returned from showing them to their room, Ken didn’t need to be a wolf shifter to sense the newcomers meant a whole pack of trouble strolling into their lives.

  This was serious.

  Once they were all gathered in the living room, Dewi turned her focus to the older male wolf. “What’s this about, Trevor? Badger wouldn’t tell me.”

  “I don’t even know everythin’,” Badger grumbled.

  Trevor Clarke stood around six-one and very slender, with piercing green eyes that looked haunted and bloodshot, dark circles painting the hollows beneath them. The man wore grief like a heavy cloak weighing him down.

  He also looked…uncomfortable. When he finally spoke, his refined British accent sounded tense. “The situation is very…complicated. And, again, my apologies, but we’re both exhausted, and it’s been a very…bad week.”

  Tamsin Clarke looked to be in her late teens, if that. As tall as Trevor was, she was petite, maybe five-one, and that was generous. Slender, willowy, with amber hair loose to her shoulders, and golden brown eyes.

  Joaquin fetched a box of tissues for her when she started crying.

  Trevor looked close to breaking down, too, where they sat on the couch. Trevor sat with his arm draped around the girl’s shoulders.

  “Tamsin was my youngest daughter’s mate and wife. Maisie.”

  “Is,” the girl mumbled, sniffling.

  It was the first word they’d heard her speak in the entire time the two had been there.

  Trevor looked at her with a strange mix of grief and something else Ken couldn’t identify. “Is,” he amended. “She is Maisie’s mate and wife,” he gently said, patting her shoulder.

  “Your daughter’s mate?” Dewi asked from where she stood flanked by Badger and Joaquin. Ken had opted for a chair, giving their guests the couch.

  Steel entered Trevor’s gaze. “Is that a problem?”

  “No, I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly.”

  His expression softened again. “And she bears my grandchild.”

  “Wait…what?”

  “She’s pregnant.”

  Ken heard Dewi’s confused mental mumbles through their mate bond. “I could swear you just said she’s your daughter’s mate.”

  “She is.”

  Dewi blinked. “Um…hold on a minute. I’m not a biology expert, buuuuut I’m pretty sure that two female wolf shifters cannot reproduce without a little assistance.”

  So was Ken, but considering he was relatively new to shifter stuff, he chose to remain silent.

  Just in case.

  “She is pregnant with my son Rupert’s biological child.”

  Dewi scrubbed at her face with her hands and then held them up in front of her. “Back up a step, huh? Maybe you do things differently over in the UK than we do here in the States, but I feel like I’m missing something.”

  “It was a doctor in France,” Tamsin softly said. Ken picked out the traces of a Welsh burr in her voice.

  So watching countless hours of BBC America is worth something after all.

  “Someone not beholden to my father,” Tamsin continued. “A shifter doctor. He…helped us. We had to go out of the country because we didn’t know if my father might hear about it beforehand.”

  “My apologies,” Trevor said to Dewi. “Neither of us are at our best at this moment. Yes, Maisie asked Rupert if he would…donate for them. The child is of our line—my line. You see, my Maisie and Rupert were fraternal twins, and they were both Alphas. The doctor performed in vitro fertilization for Tamsin.”

  As Dewi sadly sighed, the true horror of the situation started sinking in to Ken’s brain.

  “Yikes,” Dewi said. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t trying to sound insensitive—”

  Trevor waved her apology away. “It’s quite all right, my dear. I understand how…unique and unconventional this entire situation is for our kind.”

  “She really has no family on her side to protect her?”

  Trevor shook his head. “None who wouldn’t force her into an abortion, or murder her pup as soon as it is born. Because she is an omega, she would be forced into a mating not of her choosing. Tamsin was supposed to be mated to a pre-selected male when she turned eighteen, but she and Maisie met while on holiday in London and…”

  He shrugged. “It was a mate bond from Maisie. They’ve been in hiding ever since. Unfortunately, one of Tamsin’s older brothers somehow tracked them down, and…”

  His lips pressed into a thin line. “Maisie and Rupert died holding them off to give Tamsin time to escape.” His voice broke on the last three words. “Maisie and Rupert killed three of them before they were taken down, including one of Tamsin’s brothers. Her child will not be allowed to live by her family, and at this point, she probably won’t, either. I have to protect her and her baby.”

  Somehow, Dewi managed to hold back the rage Ken felt
pulsing through their mate bond.

  Well, most of it, anyway.

  “What? What kind of wolves would do that? This isn’t the fucking Dark Ages! If they had a mate bond, they should’ve been allowed to be together. What fucking wolf pack is she from? I’ll fly over and go have a little chat with their Alpha personally. I can guarandamntee you he will not like it.”

  Her voice devolved into a threatening growl over the last several words, a growl that would have made Ken piss himself if it had been directed at him, his mate or not.

  “Her people aren’t wolves,” Trevor said. “They’re canines. Her mating had been planned from the moment she was born. She’s the only daughter of her father’s line, and her father is the last Alpha of his generation.”

  “Wait a minute. They’re not wolves?”

  “No. But I have given my word to protect her. I love Tamsin like a daughter. They were both seventeen when they met, and have been together for four years, in hiding with us ever since.” His expression darkened. “It was Tamsin’s kin behind the murder of my son and daughter. Rupert and Maisie.” His voice cracked as he said their names.

  “Blood calls for blood,” Dewi snarled. “Point me at them.”

  “I cannot and will not ask you to do that. It is being handled. Enforcers from our pack are tracking them as we speak. But, as you can imagine, I want Tamsin out of the UK and kept safe until blood has been taken. Perhaps longer, depending on the situation. Badger assured me there is no place safer for her than here, with you and the Targhee Pack. I’m formally requesting sanctuary for her. Please, I will be forever in the Targhee Pack’s debt.”

  Tears welled in his eyes. “I’ve lost two children. I do not wish to lose my daughter’s mate or my first grandchild—my son’s child.”

  Dewi nodded. She walked over and extend her hand to him to shake. “You have my word, and the promise of the Targhee Pack, that she has sanctuary with us. We will do everything we possibly can to keep her and her baby safe. If we need to move her to the Idaho compound, we will.” She returned to her previous place.