He nodded. “I thought so. She always looked sad. I just wish she’d left the asshole sooner. I feel guilty she waited until I graduated to try to get away.” He didn’t want to talk about her death, but Dewi looked up at him and he sensed she wanted to hear it all. “The coroner said in the autopsy that she had a lot of old injuries that had healed. Like cracked ribs, fractured arm. Even several broken fingers.”
He felt her protective fury grow on his behalf. “I’m sorry. You said he’s in jail?”
“Doing life. He also killed a guy while inside, and that time got added onto his sentence. He won’t be eligible for parole for at least another thirty years, which is, in essence for him, life.”
“Good.” She stood and went over to one of the bookcases and removed a photo album. Carrying it back to the sofa, she settled next to Ken again. She paged to the middle of the album first, which turned out to be the end of the pictures. One of the last pictures was a shot of a woman and a man holding a tiny infant girl decked out in a ruffled pink dress. The little girl wore a chubby grin, while the parents positively beamed with pride.
She reached out and touched the picture. When she spoke she sounded quiet, sad. “Badger said there was never a doubt for strangers if I was a girl or not. Mom always dressed me in the girliest things she could. This was the last picture taken of them. They were killed a week later.”
He put his arm around her shoulder and snugged her securely against his side. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he said, “You were a beautiful baby. I should have known.”
He felt a brief flash of pleasure ripple through her at his words. “Badger said I never would hold still for dresses for him when I was little. Said I fought him when he tried to dress me in anything but pants or boy clothes.”
“But you were a baby.”
She shrugged as she paged back through the album toward the front. “It wasn’t until I was older and he could order me into skirts and dresses that I would unwillingly wear them.” She stopped at a picture of her mom and dad with Trent and Peyton. Her mom looked very pregnant, and she was opening a present wrapped in pink baby shower paper. The boys were watching her open the present. “That was taken a week before I was born.”
She turned to the beginning of the album. There were pictures of both her parents in their younger years. Then she stopped at what looked like a picture of a family picnic. In the background, standing and seated at tables, were dozens of people. In the foreground were her mom and dad looking like they were in their early twenties, flanked by two couples she identified as her grandparents on both sides.
“This was taken at the Muster where my mom’s parents announced Mom and Dad had mated and were getting married.” Most everyone looked like they were smiling or happy except for a guy caught mid-scowl in the background. “It was a really big deal.”
“What, exactly, is a Muster, anyway?”
“It’s what we call our gatherings. It’s like a family reunion, business meeting, and way for wolves to meet each other. Sometimes it’s only from one pack, and sometimes people from other packs are invited if they’re friends or family by marriage.”
“Did your parents grow up together in the same pack?”
“No. My dad was born in Scotland. He and Badger knew each other for years and are distant cousins. They came over to America together, to Idaho. One of Badger’s sisters married my mom’s sister’s brother-in-law. That doubly made him family and welcomed. Everyone told me he was the only one who could help Mom and Dad control Peyton and Trent when they were younger.”
Ken was still trying to work out what that would technically make Badger in relation to Dewi.
She looked up at him with a playful smile when she sensed his confusion. “I know, right?”
“So that’s why you just call Badger an uncle?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure what he is, except that he’s family and I love him.”
“How’d he lose the eye?”
“He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“I gathered.”
“It happened while he was still in Scotland. Before he and my dad moved to the States.” She closed the album and walked it back over to the bookcase. “I don’t know all the details, and he doesn’t like to talk about it. But it had to do with him trying to protect his mate from a couple of vicious rogue wolves from a rival pack.”
“Oh.”
She returned to the sofa. “Rogues are something we don’t really need to worry about now. It’s not like in the old days.”
“Did he?” he asked.
He didn’t have to clarify what he meant. She sadly shook her head. “He’s never taken another mate.”
Chapter Eighteen
Tuesday morning, it took a lot of talking for Ken to convince Dewi he didn’t need her to babysit him at work. “Look, if the guy’s stupid enough to show up again, he deserves whatever I give him.”
Her expression looked dark. “I don’t like it. Please don’t go to your apartment again. Not alone. What if he brings some scumbag friend of his back with him? Wait until one of us can go with you.”
She had a point. It might have been sheer luck that he’d been able to take down Dave. Taking down some of Dave’s asshole buddies might be harder. “All right, I’ll concede to that. Happy?”
She frowned. “No, but I don’t want to be a bitch and order you to let me go with you to work today.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” He pulled her close and kissed her, enjoying the way she relaxed into his embrace, her curves fitting him perfectly.
She looked like she wanted to pout. “You’d better get going before I drag you back to bed.”
“What time is your first Enforcer candidate arriving?”
“He’s coming by late this afternoon at five. Guy named Palmer.” She gave him a final kiss goodbye and walked him out to his CRV. “So, do you really like it?”
He grinned, pulled her to him, and kissed her deeply. He didn’t let her go until he felt her swaying a little on her feet. “I love it almost as much as I love you.”
Her broad grin made his heart twist in a pleasant way. He loved that he could make her feel that good.
“Drive safely.”
“I will. I have you to come home to.”
Ken struggled to maintain his concentration throughout the day. He started locking his office door whenever he was in there, and three more female students made less than subtle advances at him.
By four o’clock, he was ready to give his notice right then, but decided to hold off. Less than three weeks. I can make it that long.
As he drove home, he couldn’t think about anything but getting Dewi alone for a little while and decompressing.
“Crap.” He remembered the Enforcer candidate arriving that afternoon.
Well, maybe he could watch, at least spend a little time with Dewi that way.
She greeted Ken in the kitchen with a kiss when he arrived home at a quarter till five. “How was work?”
He smiled down at her, not missing the nervous tone in her voice. “Nobody tried to kiss or kill me today.”
“Oh, good.”
“Where’s Badger and Beck?”
“They’ll be back soon. They’re getting the truck loaded for Alexis Peckingham and driving it here.”
“Ah. And your, eh, victim?”
She smiled. “Smartass. I told him to stop at the gate and ring when he gets here so I can let him in.”
“Mind if I watch?”
Dewi cocked her head as she looked at him. “No, I don’t mind. But why?”
He shrugged. “I’d like to see what you do. You know, besides scaring the crap out of people.” He winked, making her laugh.
“Sure.” She waved him over to the back sliders where she pointed at the backyard. “See that car track there?”
Ken spotted the break in the trees. “Yeah?”
“I need to put the guy through his paces first. We’ll end up in the clearing we went to that
night. With the pond?”
He nodded.
“Just follow that track. It’ll take you straight there.”
“Why the car track?”
“We take the mower back there and mow the clearing. I’d rather haul it in the truck than ride it all the way back there.”
“Can I drive?” He had to admit he wanted a chance to take the CRV off-road, even though it was a fairly tame track.
And maybe he could talk Dewi into another steamy make-out session in it when she was finished with the candidate.
She grinned. “Of course you can.”
* * * *
The guy, Drake Palmer, called Dewi exactly at five o’clock. “Well, he’s on time, at least,” she said when she hung up. “That’s a point in his favor.” She let him through the gate. Ken walked outside with her to wait on the front porch.
“Have you ever met this guy before?”
“Nope. Peyton said he’s from a pack over in Oregon.”
The guy drove a rental car and parked in front of the house. A little beefier than Beck, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Ken couldn’t shake the feeling that he looked familiar, although he couldn’t place him. He also didn’t like the hard gleam in the man’s eye when he shook hands with Dewi. Then she introduced him. “And this is my mate, Ken.”
Ken didn’t like shaking hands with the guy. He felt a tickle at the back of his neck.
“You joining us today, Ken?” Palmer asked.
“Later,” he said. “I have some work to do first.”
Dewi gave Ken a quick peck on the lips. “Give us about an hour before you meet us. We’ll be done by then. If we’re not there, just wait.”
“Okay.” He grabbed her and placed another kiss on her, this one deep and strong. He glanced at Palmer out of the corner of his eye to make sure the guy got the message.
She’s mine.
He was sure Palmer’s gaze narrowed a little as Ken released Dewi. Before she could notice his irritation, Ken turned and quickly headed into the house.
He closed the front door behind him and leaned against it while he tried to slow his pulse.
What the fuck?
* * * *
“Territorial for a human, isn’t he?”
Dewi wrinkled her nose and fought the urge to send the guy packing right then and there. She’d promised Peyton that she would run a full evaluation on every candidate regardless of her first impression of them. Her first impression had been good. But that had been before she’d actually set eyes on him. Her second impression was that he was a jerk.
However, she was a wolf of her word. “Yes. Extremely. Just the way I like him.” She strode across the yard toward one of the paths without looking back. “Come on. This way.”
She also didn’t like the way the guy smelled. He had an odd funk about him that, for once, she thought could use a goodly dose of aftershave even though most wolves rarely wore any perfume due to their sensitive noses.
The guy reeked. Not b.o. but…something.
She pushed it out of her mind and focused on the job at hand.
* * * *
Ken tried to focus on his work and couldn’t. Something about Palmer had set him on edge in an uncomfortable way. It reminded him too much of the feeling he’d got at the apartment before Dave surprised him.
Knowing he was thirty minutes early, and that he wouldn’t get a damn thing done anyway, he headed for his car to go find the clearing and wait. He drove around the house and headed for the track. Easily finding it, he followed it into the shade provided by the thick stands of pine trees growing on either side.
The sensation at the nape of his neck had now spread down his back to the base of his spine. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he’d feel a whole lot better when Palmer was gone. He also didn’t know if he got to have a say in who Dewi picked to be an Enforcer, but he wouldn’t hesitate to toss his two cents into the pot.
He didn’t want Palmer anywhere around Dewi.
* * * *
Dewi put Palmer through his paces. Despite his technical skills being top-notch, she still didn’t like him.
Worse, she didn’t trust him. The fact that he seemed older than he’d told her he was didn’t help matters any. She also suspected he was a Prime, although she hadn’t come right out and asked him yet. If he wasn’t, and she turned him down after asking that, he might go to Peyton and claim she was discriminating against him for that.
Peyton had never overruled her on an Enforcer decision, but there was always a first time. As pack Alpha, he did have the right to do it.
“One last test,” she said as they finished up at the gun range. “Tracking. On two feet, not on four,” she added for clarification. “Five minute head start.” She pulled five blue poker chips from the pocket of her jeans. “And I’ll leave these along the path. You have to come in within ten minutes of my arrival, and with all five of these. Otherwise, you fail the test.”
He smirked. “How do you know I won’t cheat?”
“I don’t. But an honest wolf wouldn’t even ask me that. Plus I have that.” She turned and pointed to a surveillance camera mounted high on a pine tree. “I can play the tape back and look to see how long you waited.” She offered up a smirk of her own. “Wouldn’t want you claiming I falsely accused you of cheating.” She took off to the south, sticking to the grass and deep pine needles to the side of the paths to help conceal her tracks. After one minute, she took one of the chips, rubbed it between her hands for scent marking, and lobbed it off the trail.
It landed twenty feet away on the grass between two pine trees. It would be visible from the trail to a wolf on the lookout, but if he wasn’t paying attention, he’d have to walk back to find it.
With a grin of her own, she took off again, sure she’d just secured an easy way to flunk the smarmy wolf out of the running.
* * * *
Ken shut off the CRV and stepped out, closing the door behind him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the clean and sweet, albeit muggy air.
Quiet.
It was hard to believe he’d known Dewi a little over a week, and yet it felt like she’d been in his life since the beginning of time.
I never realized just how lonely I was before.
It saddened him a little to think that.
Then again, he’d never be lonely again. He’d even come to like Badger and Beck and looked forward to meeting Trent and Peyton, although Badger snickered every time he mentioned the next pack Muster.
He walked over to the edge of the pond. He understood why Dewi loved this place so much. A smile curled his lips as he thought about the night he made love to her there in the grass.
As his cock stiffened at the pleasant thought, he had another. We’ll definitely be doing that a lot here.
His head popped up at a sound, and he turned around. “Dewi?”
Nothing. Even the occasional bird song had ceased.
With the creepy feeling suddenly overwhelming, he headed back toward the CRV. Another noise from right behind him made him turn and he let out a soft scream as he saw Palmer standing right behind him, grinning down at him with an evil gleam in his eye.
“Fucking human. You never mark your territory to a Prime. Didn’t she tell you that?” Before Ken could react, he felt Palmer pick him up and launch him through the air.
He assumed the hard, metal thing he hit was his car. As he slid to the ground with a hard thud, accompanied by the sound of several bones cracking, he felt the breath driven out of his lungs.
* * * *
Dewi froze in her tracks. She wasn’t more than fifty yards from the clearing, and she heard no sign of Palmer closing in behind her. But she’d just heard…something.
She still had one poker chip. Fuck it. She flung it off the path and broke into a run toward the clearing.
With a little relief, she entered the clearing and saw Ken’s CRV parked on the other end. That relief shattered as her senses went into s
creaming overdrive. And that’s when she picked up the labored sound of his breathing. As she closed in she spotted him lying on the ground on the far side, the driver’s side.
“Ken!” She ran over to him and when she tried to help him sit up, he let out a groan of pain. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?” Red hot rage, quickly growing white with fury, began to cloud her vision. “Who did this to you?”
His eyes fluttered open before focusing behind her and growing wide. “Palmer…behind you.”
She had the gun drawn from her back holster as she stood and turned. Then the full weight of the man slammed into her, driving her hard against the side of the SUV and making her lose her gun.
The last conscious thought she had before her Prime flared and took over was that there was no doubt in her mind the guy was a Prime.
And that he was going to die right there if it was the last thing she did.
* * * *
Ken finally caught his breath as the red haze over his vision dissipated. Pain ravaged his body. He’d never hurt so badly for so long in his life. Every breath was a jaw-grinding struggle not to pass out from the agony.
Ribs, probably broken. Leg most likely broken.
Dewi and Palmer battled their way across the clearing for what felt like hours but was probably no more than several minutes. Fortunately Ken lay on his side facing them, because he wasn’t sure he could make his body move to turn over to watch.
Palmer had a foot on Dewi in height, not to mention over one hundred pounds. Unlike Beck he was a Prime, and every bit as strong as Dewi.
They were, unfortunately, nearly evenly matched.
Rage painted her features with an unnatural fury that would have scared Ken into shitting his pants had it been directed at him.
Palmer wore a wolfish grin and tossed taunts and punches at her. “I’m doing you a favor, Bleacke. You don’t want his runt pups mucking up the Targhee pack’s gene pool, do you? Not that you’re going to live long enough to have any. I should have finished you off that night in front of that bitch. I screwed up killing her before I killed you. I always regretted that. I wanted her to die suffering as much as possible after what she did to me.”
Dewi responded with vicious snarls and growls, her fury pushing her into Prime Alpha and well past the point of rational thought. Ken knew from the sweat beaded on her face and darkening her shirt how tired she was, the strain of battle, on top of her worry about him, spreading her stamina thin.
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