“Badger just said the doctor said to stay off it.”
“Eh, well,” Badger said, “he did say Ken could use crutches, if he felt like it. Just keep weight off his ankle. Not restrict him to bed or anythin’.”
Dewi grumbled.
* * * *
If it wasn’t for the fact Ken could feel how frantic Dewi had felt just moments ago, he would have outright laughed at her now.
“Sweetheart, I’m fine,” he insisted. “It was just a stupid accident. Considering how Badger and Joaquin put me through the wringer, it’s kind of ironic that a damn pine tree nearly took me out without even trying.”
Joaquin returned with the ice pack. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” Dewi said, obviously forcing herself not to snatch it from him, if the sounds of her mental mutterings were any indication. “Hey,” she said. Joaquin turned back to her. “Thank you,” she said again, but gentler. “I mean it. Sorry I got scary.”
Ken let out a sigh of relief.
Joaquin finally smiled. “It’s all right. Hey, he did really good at practice. He almost took me down.”
Ken chuckled. “I think you’re being too kind, dude.”
“Nah. You’re improving with every lesson. I’ll go look for the crutches. Garage, you said?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Ken liked Joaquin. The wolf had grown on him, especially once Ken saw how the fierce Alpha Enforcer turned into a puppy around Malyah.
Right now, Ken felt more stupid than anything, that he’d turned to say something to Joaquin and then face-planted right in the dirt.
Dumb tree.
Worse, he’d actually felt fairly good after the training session. Mentally, not physically. Physically, he’d felt like he’d been run through a damn blender.
But mentally, he’d thought maybe he really was starting to get the hang of stuff and not just being humored by the other men.
That was another reason he preferred Badger and the others work with him instead of Dewi. She would not only go easy on him, but fib to him and tell him how great he was doing, even if he did something like…
Well, like trip over his own two feet, or even a tree stump.
Right now, a low, worried, nervous mutter was rumbling through her mind. Because of their mate bond, he could hear her.
He reached out to touch her hand. “Dewi, I’m okay.”
“I should have been there.”
“To save me from the tree? Honey, let me have my pride. I’m okay.”
He got it. After what he and Nami survived in Idaho, he’d probably be pretty damn nervous, too, if their roles were reversed.
Badger patted Dewi on the shoulder. “He’ll be fine in a few days, Dewi. Lass, ye canna fash yerself about ev’ry lil bump or bruise he gets.”
She shot Badger a dark glare, which only made gnarled old shifter chuckle. Behind him, Duncan stood with his arms crossed over his chest and wearing an amused smirk.
The others finally filed out of the living room. Once it was just the two of them, Ken made Dewi focus on him. “You can’t do this.”
“Do what?” She was busy rearranging the ice pack on his ankle.
For the twentieth time.
“Worry about me like this. It’s not healthy for you.”
She went still and quiet. Even the mental muttering silenced. “I can’t lose you,” she finally whispered. “I grew up thinking Da killed himself, even though no one said so around me. And I was so lonely without Mom and Dad. Sometimes, I’d get really angry and wonder how he could be so selfish to kill himself when the rest of us needed him. And then when we were looking for you and Nami… Well, I realized how I didn’t want to live if something happened to you.”
She finally looked at him, tears welling in her gorgeous mocha-colored eyes. “And I realized once we found you, and him, how I never understood how much pain he was is before. And I felt so damned…guilty for thinking that.”
He sat up and cupped her face in his hands. “Dewi, believe it or not, I’ve had worse than this in my life, before I met you. Dave used to beat me up a lot. I’ll go through this, and more, if it means I’m going to be able to take better care of myself and be around longer for you.”
He pulled her in for a sweet kiss. “Now, how about you help me hobble upstairs for a shower?”
She rested her forehead against his. “I love you so much.”
Ken didn’t take for granted that he was pretty much the only person allowed to see her vulnerable side. Maybe not even Badger or Beck had ever seen her like this, raw and exposed.
“I love you, too, baby.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now, let’s get me upstairs, because the only person who scares me more than you is Nami, and I don’t want to be late for dinner.”
Chapter Two
“Babe, are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?” Beck had never before in his life been huge on wanting to help out in the kitchen. Sure, he’d always pitched in and did his fair share, but he’d never felt eager to help out before.
Not until Nami entered his life.
Nami let out an exasperated sigh and turned, her hands planted on her luscious hips. “Dawson Beckett, I told you, I got this.”
“But I want to help.”
“I know you do, sweetie. If I needed your help, I’d ask.”
When she turned back to the counter, Beck snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. It put him in the perfect position to nibble along the nape of her neck.
He couldn’t help it. He felt madly in love with her. If he didn’t have to work for a living, he’d spend every minute of the day in bed with her.
Except…work.
He had to make room in his life for being a responsible adult.
Still, he got it now. Having Nami as his mate, he realized how much Dewi must love Ken. Sure, Beck thought he’d been in love with Dewi—before. Even though he knew they didn’t have a mate bond and she hadn’t felt the same way about him.
Completely different now, how he felt about Nami.
She was his oxygen, his blood.
His life.
He’d never regret the times he and Dewi had together before she met Ken, but that vastly paled in comparison to the universe of love he felt for Nami now.
Nami tipped her head back. “Sugar, you nailed me this morning before we got up.”
“Uh huh.” He continued nibbling.
“And after lunch.”
“Yeah?” He tightened his grip on her a little.
“You can’t keep those paws off me until after Sunday dinner?”
“I can. I don’t want to.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to wait.” She wiggled her luscious booty against him, making him groan as his cock finished stiffening. “And that’s also why I don’t want you helping me in the kitchen right now. Because that’s how you ended up bending me over the kitchen table last Sunday, and Lu’ana and Reggie almost walked in on us.”
He lightly grazed his teeth across her flesh. “But they didn’t walk in on us.”
“Only because I had the good sense to lock the front door.” She playfully reached behind her and swatted his ass. “Go on, now. You got something else to do, I’m sure.”
“I’d prefer to be doing you.”
“The others are gonna be here soon.”
“I locked the front door. They can’t walk in on us.” He nuzzled her earlobe. “We’re all alone.”
“You’re gonna have to wait, baby. I’m puttin’ my foot down.
The wolf whimpered. “Aw, they won’t be here for a while yet. We’ve got about an hour.”
“We don’t have an hour, we have about twenty minutes, if that. I called Malyah and Da’von and them to make sure they weren’t gonna be late.”
Beck was going to argue with her when he heard a car pull in their driveway. “Goddammit,” he muttered.
She laughed. “And I told Da’von to come over a little early to help me out. I hardly ever get to see him now, except on Sunday
s.”
“You’re trying to kill me, mate,” Beck playfully growled. He grabbed her hips and ground against her. “Blue balls can be fatal for wolves, you know.”
She turned in his arms, the sweet smile on her face making his cock twitch even more. “Ain’t killed you yet, babe.” She brushed a kiss over his lips. “Go let Da’von in, please.”
He snorted and stole one more kiss from her. “Someone’s getting fucked tonight after dinner.”
She laughed. “And that’s different from any other night how, exactly?”
* * * *
Nami had never realized how much fun life could be before Beck entered hers. His sexy self forced her to take care of herself, put herself first, for a change.
He wouldn’t have it any other way. He damn sure put her first.
After one last nip to her right earlobe, Beck finally released her to go let Da’von in. Yes, she relished her time with Beck. Of course she did.
Still, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss living with Malyah and Da’von, being a daily part of their lives.
She’d raised them after their mom died.
It’d meant she’d had to quit college and start working full-time to support them all, but she’d kept her three siblings with her, kept all of them together. Made sure all three of them got into college. She wanted them to have options their mom never had.
In the end, she’d make the sacrifice again, without hesitation.
Now, Beck was pressuring her to go back to college to get her degree and study architecture. They definitely could afford it, and the Targhee Pack would even pitch in to help pay for some of it, considering who she was.
Like she was now living her own real-life fairy tale or something.
Complete with a hunky, handsome prince of her own.
That he also happened to be a wolf was just a bonus.
Da’von walked into the kitchen a moment later, tailed by Beck. She washed her hands and gave her little brother a long, strong hug. “There’s my baby boy.”
“Hey, sis.” She could tell he didn’t mind the attention. For the first time in his life, he was living alone. This was good for him, obviously. He was in college, going to turn twenty soon, and needed to be able to fly free of the nest and make it on his own.
“How’s school going?” she asked.
“Found out on Friday that I got an A on a test I took Monday.”
She finally released him so she could look into his eyes. “That’s great! I’m so proud of you.” He was a man, but she’d always see her baby brother when she looked at him.
“Thanks.” He stepped over to the sink to wash his hands. “Want me to start the biscuits?”
“Yes, please.”
Beck cleared his throat. “How come when I asked to help you, you ran me out of the kitchen?”
She smiled. “Because I see you every day, boo. If you really want to help, how about you go set the table for me, hmm?”
He fake-grumbled, but brushed a kiss against the side of her neck, just the hint of teeth in it to make her shiver in all the good ways. “I guess I’ll go set the table.”
She flashed him a smile. “Thank you.”
Sunday dinners. It was a tradition their mom had with them, and one she insisted on maintaining once their mom died. It’d gone a long way to keeping them together as a family, to keeping them connected.
And now, with their new and growing family, it was even more important than ever.
Even though Da’von, Lu’ana, and Reggie could never know the full truth about Dewi, Beck, Joaquin, and the others. It was strange enough that both she and Malyah had fallen head over tail for wolf shifters.
While she still sort of wanted to strangle Joaquin, just a little bit, she’d mostly grown used to having the man as her brother-in-law. She didn’t doubt Joaquin loved Malyah.
Except they still hadn’t tracked down the last guy from the drug cartel who’d invaded the pack’s Idaho compound.
That really bothered Nami.
She hoped it wouldn’t put a bull’s-eye on Malyah’s back, the guy seeking revenge on Joaquin.
And, again, all of these were worries she couldn’t discuss with her other siblings.
It was also why she kept putting her foot down when Malyah wanted to decide on a house to buy. Maybe the longer she could keep Malyah and Joaquin living with Dewi and them, they’d stay safer.
They’ll have to catch the guy eventually. Right?
“So, sis,” Da’von started. “Malyah said you keep coming up with lame excuses about the houses she’s been looking at.”
Nami choked back her flustered irritation that he’d hit so close to her own thoughts. “If she’d just pick a good house, I wouldn’t have to put my foot down.”
“You realize she’s a grown adult, right? I know you don’t like Joaquin—”
“That’s not true.”
He snorted.
Nami took a deep breath. “I do like him. I just…worry.”
“Whatchoo got to worry about?” He turned to her. “Sis, I get it. You worry. It’s all you could do for years. You did it good. But Malyah’s not gonna let Joaquin buy them a house unless you sign off on one first.”
“Did she put you up to sayin’ something to me?”
“No. She didn’t need to, either. Sis, you need to go back to school and focus on you now. Tryin’ to keep her cooped up at Dewi’s isn’t fair to anyone, especially Malyah.”
“Amen!” Beck called from the living room, making Da’von laugh.
“See?” Da’von said. “You married a smart man. Let him take care of you. And let Joaquin and Malyah get a place together.”
He started mixing the ingredients for the biscuits. It was another tradition in their family, the recipe passed down to her from her mom, and she passed it down to their siblings. From when one of them was old enough to do it, they were taught how to cook, the first lesson being how to make biscuits.
She’d made sure her baby brother could do it, too. She refused to hand Da’von off to some woman without him being able to take care of himself. That wasn’t fair to anyone. He could cook, clean, wash his own clothes. Which meant he was doing a damn good job taking care of himself, now that he was living alone.
“I ain’t stoppin’ them from buyin’ a house,” she said.
“Oh, please, Nami. Seriously?” He shook his head. “You know dang well Malyah wants you to sign off on things. We all do. We love you. You raised us. Even Beck said Joaquin’s a good guy. I trust him.”
She couldn’t help the way her heart thumped a little harder over that. “You do?”
“Yeah. We all do. We trust him, and Dewi, and Badger—all of them. We finally have a big family, and we love them.”
“Love you, too, little brother,” Beck called from the dining room, making Da’von chuckle.
“Dang,” he softly said. “He’s got good hearing.”
“Yeah, he does.” She let out a breath and turned. “I’ll…think about it.”
“Well, think hard, sis. I know letting go is hard, but you did good by us. By all of us. Give us a chance to make you proud.”
“You do make me proud. Baby boy, I’m so proud of you, you have no idea.”
“Then let Malyah and Joaquin get a house.” He arched an eyebrow at her even as he continued mixing the biscuit dough with his bare hands. “Stop coming up with nonsense reasons a particular house she shows you won’t work. Let her be happy. She’s gonna give her notice at work in a couple of weeks and go back to college at the start of the next semester. It’d be nice if they had their own place by then, so she didn’t have to worry about that on top of school.”
Nami didn’t respond for a moment. “I wasn’t tryin’ to be unreasonable,” she muttered. She still felt guilty that Malyah had really wanted a creative writing degree when she went to college the first time, but had earned an accounting degree instead because it would make her more money. Malyah had never told Nami that before. At the time,
Malyah had felt guilty about how hard Nami worked to support them all and wanted to be able to pitch in.
Now, being married and mated to Joaquin, Malyah had the financial freedom to go back and get her creative writing degree. Except Malyah was almost twenty-five.
Going back to school for her, at almost thirty-nine, wouldn’t be as easy.
Not the money part of it—the rest of it.
She’d be forty in less than two years.
“We know you aren’t tryin’ to be unreasonable, but you gotta let go. I mean, if she was irresponsible, I’d get it. But she’s not irresponsible. Badger likes Joaquin. That’s good enough for me. I trust Badger.” The next words he said really hit home. “I wish Dad had been a fraction of the man Badger is. And Reggie, Beck, Ken, Duncan, Peyton and Trent—all of them. We have a family now, sis. Trust them. Beck’s begging you to go back to school yourself. I don’t understand why you’re waitin’. Do it.”
“I’ll…think about it,” Nami finally said. “Maybe I have been a little…stubborn.”
“That’s all we’re askin’.”
“Dewi’s here,” Beck called out. Then, “Oh, shit.”
“What?” she and Da’von both asked.
“Ken’s on crutches.”
“What?” Before Nami could wash her hands, she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing, Beck going outside.
She had noticed her own hearing was better than it used to be. Likely an effect of being mated to Beck. She washed and dried her hands and hurried outside.
Dewi, Ken, Badger, and Duncan had driven tonight in Ken’s SUV, but he was in the front passenger seat and Dewi was growly and fussing as Ken tried to get out and she tried to help him, despite Beck offering to help.
“What happened?” Nami asked.
“I tripped over a tree root,” Ken said. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Dewi insisted. “The doctor said keep your weight off it. Let me carry—”
“Dewi, no, you are not carrying me.”
Nami wondered if that was the whole truth or not. As they stood there, watching Dewi helping Ken with his crutches and fussing over him, Joaquin and Malyah arrived in a separate car, with Martin literally seconds behind them.
Bleacke Spirit (Bleacke Shifters Book 4) Page 2