A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3)

by Lesli Richardson

  * * * *

  Ken helped Gillian get lunch ready. Mostly cold cuts and sandwiches, heavy on the meat, but she put together a quick vegetarian pizza for Ken and toasted it in the oven for him, once again making him feel both pleased and a little guilty.

  “You don’t need to go through that extra trouble. I could have fixed a cheese and tomato salad.”

  “It’s not trouble, believe me. I’m having fun with this.” She bumped him with her hip. “And, you’re family. Not just family, but part of the pack. Get that through your head, buddy.”

  When the others emerged from the office, Ken didn’t miss how Dewi sought him out almost immediately for a hug.

  “Good talk?” he asked her.

  “Yeah. I can’t fault what Joaquin did,” she said. “I would have done the same thing.” She pointed a finger at Joaquin, who stood on the other side of the island counter. “You’re lucky you’re good at your job, buster.”

  “No,” Joaquin said, looking sad. “If I was good at my job, I would have been able to protect that girl and she’d still be alive.”

  “You can’t protect everyone all of the time,” Trent told him. “It’s not possible. All you can do is your best, which we’re convinced you did. It was one of those things. You took blood. Not that it brings her back, but at least it evens the score.”

  Peyton clapped the younger wolf on the back. “No worries. And no Alaska for you.”

  “Oh, thank the Goddess,” Joaquin said. “That’s a miserable fricking place in the winter.”

  “Just don’t piss Beck off,” Dewi teased. “Keep your head down around him for now. Stay off his radar.” Her tone gentled. “You’re a good wolf, and a good Enforcer. We’ll figure out where to send you. Honestly? If I didn’t think your life was in danger, I would send you back to Mexico since you already know the territory and the people. But I can’t risk you like that.”

  “I appreciate that. I’m sorry I let you all down.”

  “You didn’t let us down,” Peyton said. “You did your job.”

  “Can we discuss this around the table?” Gillian asked. “I hear stomachs rumbling and would rather get you all fed before someone gets growly.” She arched an eyebrow at Peyton.

  “What?” he asked.

  She poked him in the stomach. “Don’t what me, mister. Lunch is served.”

  Chapter Seven

  After lunch, Joaquin volunteered to run to town for Gillian to grab things from her shopping list for dinner.

  Ken suspected it was a combination of the wolf wanting some alone time since he still felt guilty about not being able to save that girl, and wanting to make himself scarce since Beck and the others were due back soon.

  Ken enjoyed the opportunity to sit in Peyton’s living room with Dewi, Trent, Peyton, and Gillian and discuss Dewi’s childhood.

  Dewi…not so much, but Ken could tell she was enduring it for his sake.

  “So Dewi was a handful as a kid, huh?”

  Dewi snuggled a little more closely against Ken’s side, where he had his arm draped around her shoulders. “You just had to go there, didn’t you?” she muttered.

  “Well, let’s see. This is the first time I’ve actually been able to sit down with both of your brothers and Gillian all at once to talk like this. Sooo…yes.”

  Dewi gently poked him in the ribs.

  Totally worth it.

  Peyton laughed. “Once we realized she was a Prime, we needed Badger to take care of her. I didn’t have time because of the pack. There was this one time Aunt Collette was watching her and trying to get her dressed in this adorable little pink dress she’d bought for her. The next thing Aunt Collette knew, she was standing outside the front door in a snowstorm.”

  “What?”

  Trent nodded. “Dewi was two.”

  “I didn’t mean to do it,” Dewi mumbled.

  “I thought Badger raised her?” Ken asked.

  “He did,” Peyton said. “He had to come help me and Trent with some pack business that afternoon. Aunt Collette was watching her for us.”

  “But how and why did she end up outside?”

  Trent shrugged and pointed at Dewi. “Ask her.”

  “I was two,” Dewi said.

  “It’s because Dewster is a Prime,” Peyton said. “The trauma, everything. Usually, Prime powers don’t fully develop in someone that young, even though Primes are fairly easy to identify almost at birth. A Prime’s true powers usually gain strength and are triggered when a wolf comes of age, when hormones and everything else kick in. There really is no other wolf like Dewi. We’ve talked to packs all over the world. She’s unique.”

  There wasn’t just a hint of brotherly pride in Peyton’s tone. It was a full-on crystal-clear certainty.

  “Apparently,” Trent said, “she really didn’t want to wear the dress Aunt Collette bought for her. Best she figured going by the clock, she was only outside a minute or two. In fact, Dewi had started to cry because she was alone. When Aunt Collette went back inside and tried to put Dewi into her warm, snuggly jumper that she liked, Dewi let her do it. Then she clung to Aunt Collette for the rest of the afternoon in a way she usually didn’t. I think Dewi felt guilty about doing it to her.”

  Peyton continued the narrative. “Badger, being a Prime, and being far older and stronger than Dewi at the time, was able to counteract her toddler Prime tantrums. That’s when I realized I didn’t dare risk anyone else raising her. Especially with her being so strong. I needed someone who had the time and ability to control her. I would have done it if I wasn’t the pack Alpha, but the pack had to come first.”

  “Aunt Collette loves her, too,” Trent added. “Don’t get me wrong, we all do. I think it broke her heart a little when she realized she couldn’t raise Dewi full-time. Aunt Collette’s a beta, and you heard what Dewi did to her. Dewi would have chewed her up and spit her out as she got older.”

  “Metaphorically,” Dewi muttered. “You make me sound like I was some sort of hellion.”

  There was a moment’s pause before Peyton, Gillian, and Trent burst out laughing. “You were,” they all said in unison.

  “Not a bad one,” Peyton added. “Don’t get us wrong, we love you. You are who you are. But I had to do what had to be done to make sure you were taken care of. Also, I was worried about you. We didn’t know who had…” He didn’t finish.

  He didn’t have to. He meant they didn’t know at that time who had murdered their parents and attacked Dewi. “We suspected a Prime,” he said. “Only another Prime would have had a chance against Dad and Mom both. So I knew I needed a Prime to protect you. If it hadn’t been for Badger, I would have sent you out of the country to a distant cousin in Scotland I knew I could trust.”

  “How did she not overpower Beck when she was a kid?” Ken asked. “He’s not a Prime.”

  “Badger,” the other three wolves said in unison.

  Peyton continued. “Badger worked with her, kept ordering her to obey Beck when she was a kid, to respect Beck’s authority and not to use her powers against him like that. And it helped that Beck was an Alpha.”

  When Ken had first met Dewi and found out that she’d been sent away as a kid to live in Florida, he’d felt outraged on her behalf. He’d felt like her family had basically abandoned her.

  The more he learned about Dewi as a baby, and the circumstances surrounding her childhood, the more he realized how much her family truly loved her.

  They’d taken a horrible situation and done the best they could. He couldn’t fault them for it now that he understood.

  “I guess I owe you all an apology,” Ken said.

  Peyton frowned. “For what?”

  “I really didn’t understand the full ramifications of all of this when Dewi first told me about being sent away to Florida as a kid. I get it now. I can’t fault you for what you did or why.”

  “We appreciate that,” Trent said. “It wasn’t what we wanted, but at the time we knew it was the only course of ac
tion to keep her safe.”

  “And,” Peyton said, “I didn’t want her challenging me for the pack.” He arched an eyebrow at Dewi. Ken noticed how she reddened in the face. “The last thing I wanted to do was kill my little sister because she was too stubborn to take a knee to me as pack Alpha. It would have absolutely broken my heart and destroyed me.”

  “Especially if I’d stepped in to help defend her,” Trent said. “Which I likely would have without thinking about it.”

  “Maybe I wouldn’t have challenged you,” Dewi mumbled.

  Another round of laughter from Gillian, Trent, and Peyton.

  “Sweetie,” Gillian said, “it was a battle to get you to eat your veggies when you were a kid. Trying to coax a hormonal you into taking a knee had you got started down that path with Peyton? I had a better chance of suddenly turning into a rat shifter than that ever happening.”

  “There are rat shifters?” Ken asked, prompting another round of laughter from the wolves.

  Dewi smiled up at him. “There’s lots of kinds of shifters.”

  “Never mind,” he quickly said. “Information overload.”

  * * * *

  After Joaquin returned from town and Gillian helped him put the groceries away, he joined them in the living room.

  “I guess I should go back to Jack and Moraine’s,” he said, staring at the car keys in his hand before he returned them to Dewi. “You know, I haven’t even called my parents yet.” His head shot up, his expression horrified. “You don’t think they’re in danger, do you?”

  “I doubt it,” Peyton said. “When we helped them relocate, we created new identities for them that couldn’t be traced back to their old ones. But we’ll notify Franco. That’s his territory. We’ll make sure he knows he needs to keep a close eye on them for now.”

  “Should I go up there?” Joaquin asked.

  “I wouldn’t,” Dewi said. “If the asshole’s tracking you, let’s keep you off the grid for a while. It’s bad enough Customs and Homeland Security will have you listed on their fly rosters.”

  “We need to get you a new identity before we send you anywhere,” Trent added. “Gillian’s already started the process, but it’ll take her some time to get the paperwork pushed through. We have to be extra careful now with all the Homeland Security bullshit.”

  Outside, Ken heard two vehicles pull up. Peyton glanced out the front windows. “Dammit,” he muttered. “They’re back already. Okay.” He pointed at Joaquin. “You stay in here while we get them settled. I’ll have Badger drive you back to Jack’s once the coast is clear. I hate isolating you from the rest of the pack like this. I’ll have a talk with Beck. He needs to learn to suck it up and deal with it.”

  “Might be better for Joaquin to eat with us tonight,” Dewi said. “Beck has no choice but to behave himself with everyone here.”

  “True,” Peyton said.

  Ken found himself feeling sorry for the wolf. Despite the aggravating way Joaquin had burst into his life, now that he knew the full story of what had happened, and that the wolf was completely displaced as a result, Ken wished he could help the man out, or at least befriend him.

  “I can drive him over,” Ken offered.

  “No,” Dewi said. “I’d rather you stay here while we get everyone settled in.” She stood, walked over to Joaquin, and laid a hand on his shoulder. “If I thought your parents were in danger, I’d be heading up there myself right now, wedding or no.”

  Peyton and Trent both cleared their throats.

  She wheeled on them, fire in her eyes. Ken knew he didn’t imagine that both men took a step back from the force of her glare.

  “I’m Head Enforcer,” she said, a growly undertone to her voice as she advanced on them. “If I felt someone in the pack was in danger, wedding be damned, I’d be there to help them. In good conscience, the pack Alpha cannot prevent me from protecting a member of the pack, even if it means I’d miss my own wedding.”

  Peyton’s expression darkened to a scowl, but he finally nodded. “You’re right.” He pointed at her. “But they’re not in danger, and we have no proof that they’re in danger.”

  “I know.” She stood toe-to-toe with her brother, staring up into his face. “But you made me Head Enforcer for a reason,” she said. “And head of the extended pack council. So you either you let me do my job or you shun me, and I won’t let the door hit me in the ass on the way out. But I won’t let an innocent packmate die if I can protect them.”

  Gillian gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth as the others fell still and silent.

  “What?” Ken asked.

  Peyton’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I would never shun you, Dewi,” he softly said. “You know that. You’re my baby sister. I couldn’t.”

  Dewi gentled her tone. “Then remember what and who I am, please. I’m only going along with all this wedding bullshit because I love you both and I know how important it is to you. But my job comes first. The pack comes first.”

  “What do you mean by shunning?” Ken asked.

  Dewi turned to him. “Exactly what it sounds like. Basically severing a wolf’s ties with the pack and kicking them out. Usually reserved for fairly heinous infractions that don’t call for taking blood.”

  Peyton scrubbed at his face. “No one’s getting shunned. Period. Enough about that. Let’s get outside and welcome them.”

  * * * *

  Joaquin watched as they headed outside to greet the newcomers. Frankly, he needed a few minutes alone.

  Dewi’s words had pulled Joaquin up short. Wolves did not mention shunning lightly. Not even in jest.

  They damn sure didn’t volunteer for it, or challenge their pack Alpha to do it.

  That Dewi was willing to put the risk of shunning out there just so she could do her job—and protect his parents if she thought they were in danger—meant the world to him.

  I really need to try to mend fences with Beck.

  He recognized this would be a long, busy week for Beck, between pack business and the wedding, but Joaquin knew he would have to find time to speak with the man, alone.

  Give Beck the kind of apology he’d already offered to Dewi.

  Yes, back then, his feelings had been hurt when he’d realized Sadie was serious about not being exclusive with him. But she’d known he wasn’t her mate, just like he’d known she wasn’t his. They’d never planned to settle down together because of that.

  Still…it’d stung his pride more than a little. Yes, young wolf hubris on his part, sure. He’d wanted to be exclusive with her for a while, and she’d held her ground.

  And then she’d lied to his face about sleeping with another wolf.

  But I could have handled it a lot better than I did. No, he hadn’t called Sadie a slutbag.

  Not to her face, at least. And not in front of Beck, although he had to admit what he had said to Beck about the man’s little sister pretty much left the same impression.

  Okay, yes, this week he would make amends to Beck. He owed the man that much.

  Joaquin wandered back into the kitchen to grab a snack while the others got the newcomers introduced and settled in the guest houses.

  He knew some wolves might get their snouts out of joint over that, but he didn’t. About being an Enforcer and getting pawned off on another packmate instead of being put up in one of the pack Alpha’s guest houses. He knew he had to stay clear of Beck for now.

  It would have been nice to have been asked and given the chance to gracefully refuse, though.

  Maybe I should just walk back to Jack and Moraine’s.

  It would do him good, to get some fresh air, allow him a chance to think, to clear his mind, burn off some nervous energy. Even on the plane ride to Miami he hadn’t really been able to just think. When he wasn’t napping, he’d been busy plotting the logistics of getting to Dewi’s.

  And he’d been worried about the people left behind in Mexico.

  Maybe I am just a little envious about Dewi and
Beck finding mates.

  Except if he had a mate she would be in mortal danger right now. He would have had to worry about her, about whether or not she was safe.

  His appetite fled. They’d be having dinner in just a couple of hours anyway. He’d started for the back door when he heard the front door open and close.

  “Lad? Where are ye?” Badger called out.

  Joaquin turned. “In here.”

  The man walked in, jingling a set of keys. “Yer ride is waitin’. I’ll drive ye back.”

  “You know, I’m thinking I’d rather walk.” When Badger’s expression darkened, Joaquin quickly added, “I’m sorry, that came out completely wrong. I appreciate the offer to drive me, but I’m really feeling…” He stopped. “I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I think I need to walk some of it off.”

  Badger’s glower faded, concern replacing it as he stepped closer. “Ye all right?”

  It wouldn’t do any good to lie to the man. He was a Prime. “Not really, no.”

  Then Joaquin got a whiff of…something really good-smelling on Badger. He didn’t know what it was, but it perked all his senses immediately. It took every ounce of will he had not to lean in and start sniffing the man.

  “Lad,” Badger gently said. “Ye did yer job. No one blames ye.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “That thing with Beck and his sister still botherin’ ye after all these years, then?”

  “Not even that,” Joaquin said, both wanting to take Badger up on his offer for the ride just to keep sniffing…whatever that scent was, and wanting away from the man and the delectable aroma.

  “Eh, Beck’ll get over it. Heck, it was years ago. Ye two will tussle a bit, but now he’s got Nami, and—what is wrong with ye, lad?”

  Joaquin caught himself leaning in close to Badger and pulled back quickly. “Um, I’m just really…I’m going to walk, but thanks.”

  Badger stared at him. “Peyton said to tell ye yes to dinner, by the by. Ye need a ride back for that as well? We’re eatin’ at eight.”