Somehow, putting those two words together—killer corgi—stillwasn’t computing in Ken’s brain.
Through a long and crazy series of events, Carl and his mate, Mateo, had recently joined the Targhee Pack, along with Mateo’s younger sister, Brianna. Carl was a wolf shifter, an Alpha. Mateo and Brianna were non-shifters whose parents had died decades earlier. Their father had been a shifter, their mother a human. But Mateo and Brianna had no idea who their father’s pack was, or how to contact any other relatives from their wolf side.
Fortuitously, it turned out Mateo and Brianna were distant cousins to Joaquin. Joaquin had mated to Malyah, a human, and Nami’s younger sister.
When everyone arrived at the pack compound in Idaho to celebrate Christmas, Nami and Malyah’s younger brother, Da’von—a clueless human—met Brianna.
And Brianna and Da’von had fallen hard for each other. Mate-me-nowkind of hard. A mate bond kind of attraction, which everyone agreed was unusual, considering Brianna wasn’t a shifter and Da’von was a human.
Yeeeeah. It’d been…crazy. Even by Targhee pack standards.
Meaning more work for Prime Alphas Dewi, Peyton, Badger, and Duncan. They had to use their Prime powers to smooth over the memories of clueless humans Lu’ana and Reggie. Lu’ana was Nami, Da’von, and Malyah’s other sister, and Reggie was her husband.
Oh, and the Primes also had to break the news about the wolves’ existence to Da’von.
Even on her “family vacation,” Dewi had to work. She was always working, it felt like.
Ken didn’t resent it. Not really. Dewi was good at what she did. She saved lives and kept order. Being Head Enforcer wasn’t merely her job description, or something she did for a living—it was who shewas. On top of that, she was also now the head of the expanded pack council. She had a weighty job, emotionally. But she loved her pack fiercely and protected them even more fiercely.
Here he was, a computer geek.
In the grand scheme of things, he supposed trying to keep a baby shower secret from his wife wasn’tthatbig of a deal.
He wasn’t sure how thehellhe was supposed todoit, when she could read his mind, but he’d try.
Dewi still hadn’t returned from her meetings. Sometimes, Ken felt like a useless third wheel when it came to pack stuff. He wasn’t sure they hadn’t put him to work more as a pity job than they legitimately needed his help. He could absolutely imagine Peyton and Trent making up a job for him and spending the money to pay him just to make him feel like he was contributing. The pack could afford it.
Then again, maybe it was better he didn’t know if they had done that. It’d hit his ego even harder if they had.
Maybe one of these days Dewi’s self-confidence will wear off on me.
He stretched out in bed to try to catch a nap, because sleep had been a rare luxury since their arrival seven days ago.
How did I even end up here?
Less than a year ago, he was teaching computer sciences at the USF Tampa campus. He’d also been blissfully unaware that wolf shifters—or any other kinds of shifters—were real. He’d lived alone in his bleak little life, a vegetarian who abhorred violence in all forms, even professional hockey, and had never even handled a gun in his life.
Until the night Dewi Bleacke showed up at the sports bar where he’d been having dinner and grading papers. She’d been there to kill a packmate who’d sold his daughters to a drug dealer.
That’s when her path crossed Ken’s, she claimed him as her mate, and his future changed forever.
Now he was the token vegetarian “grazer” in a family of carnivorous wolf shifters, had shot and killed the murderous Prime Alpha wolf who’d murdered Dewi, Peyton, and Trent’s parents, and had executed a drug cartel leader and some of his men.
Oh, and survived driving off a mountain.
Among other activities.
All in the space of less than a year.
He wasn’t complaining, either.
He was…processing. Because despite having lived through all of it, it still sounded weird in his brain when he thought about it all.
Throw in impending fatherhood, and his emotions ranged all over the chart. Wanting to protect Dewi and their baby, trying to walk a line between reeling Dewi in and not worrying about her—wanting to do nothing but ignore the rest of the world and nest while not shirking their duties to the pack.
He was almost asleep when he heard the cabin’s front door open and close. He didn’t even bother opening his eyes, because he knew it was Dewi.
She immediately sought him out, undressing and sliding under the sheets with him, her bare arms and cheeks still cool from the crisp Idaho mountain air.
