While snow was nice and all, he wouldn’t deny getting back to warm days would be a relief.
And, also much to Ken’s relief, the rest of their stay in Idaho passed uneventfully.
Relatively speaking.
No one died, no one attacked them, and no more unexpected matings.
They all left the pack compound the morning of January 2nd. Before his departure, Gillian confirmed with Ken that they wanted to hold Dewi’s baby shower the weekend after Valentine’s Day. That gave Ken the perfect excuse to plan their mini vacation. Everyone else would coordinate with Badger and Beck so they could have everything ready upon Ken and Dewi’s return that Sunday afternoon.
Once they were all safely home in Florida, Dewi did what she did best—went back to work protecting their pack, all while stewing about Faegan Lewis’ Houdini act. Meanwhile, Ken worked at his day job, helping Gillian and Trent, and beefing up the pack’s internal server system, what they used for communicating with other pack members, for record-keeping, all of that.
Anything Ken needed, Peyton green-lit it, regardless of the expense.
Frustratingly enough for everyone, Faegan Lewis’ trail had gone stone cold. It was suspected he’d remained shifted and was hiding somewhere in Northern Ireland. There were still Enforcers scouring the area, but hope of finding him was decreasing by the day. Ken helped Trevor Clarke sift through all the information they’d obtained from Faegan’s wife about their finances, contacts—everything.
There was no sign of Faegan accessing any their hidden assets, and everyone loyal to him, whom he might turn to for assistance, was dead. Several options Ken told Trevor to leave available as a honey pot to try to draw Faegan out remained untouched.
Meaning another dead end in their hunt. They didn’t discount the possibility Faegan might be dead, either.
Yet they didn’t count on it. With the price on Faegan’s head, there weren’t just wolves hunting the bastard now, but other shifter races had thrown their tracking hats into the ring as well, hoping to score a massive payday and massive brownie points with Peyton, Trevor, and others.
Tamsin, bless her heart, was living at her new home, for now, with Mateo, Carl, Brianna, and Da’von. They’d all adopted her as a sister, and Ken was glad to see she seemed to be settling in. While she still grieved the loss of her mate and brother-in-law, she had regained the will to live, for her baby’s sake.
And to make good on her deeply burning desire for vengeance against her father. But she would stay with them until Faegan was captured.
She was also enjoying being Bebe’s babysitter.
That had turned out to be a double blessing. Tamsin and Bebe had really taken to each other, and having the toddler to watch every day had given Tamsin a needed purpose in life and helped her heal a little. Bebe certainly had fun playing with Auntie Tam every day.
While Peyton wasn’t allowing the Enforcers to let their collective guards down, he also ordered Dewi not to live in siege mode unless they received definitive word there was an imminent threat.
In addition to that, the resettlement efforts had begun. So far, five families had been moved, two of them to Florida, the other three near family members already living in the US in various states. It was expected it’d take six months to complete the process, and then the two Enforcers from down there would relocate to Florida, until Dewi decided where to deploy them.
Meanwhile, as the weeks passed, Dewi’s baby bump became more noticeable, and Ken had a hard time keeping his hands off her. Even if just to wrap his arms around Dewi from behind and cup his hands over where their daughter was growing inside her.
With everything going on, it shocked Ken when the Friday afternoon of their scheduled departure arrived for their weekend getaway, and he’d still managed to keep the baby shower a secret from Dewi. Everyone from out of state would start arriving in Florida tomorrow, and the preparations would be ready by the time Ken and Dewi returned home Sunday afternoon.
Ken was anxious to get on the road. Not just because he wanted to keep the secret, but because he was genuinely looking forward to finally spending alone-alone time with Dewi.
Walking the beach with her at sunset.
Being able to pretend they were…normal.
Dewi stared at the bags on the bed. “I keep thinking I’m forgetting something.”
“Did you pack extra ammo?” Ken snarked.
He was kidding, but Dewi snapped her fingers. “Thank you!” She hurried out of the bedroom, waddling a little and leaving Ken standing there watching her.
He fell more in love with her every day.
His mate.
His.
He’d be carrying a gun, too, despite not liking to do so. But he had his own concealed carry permit now, and like hell would he be unprotected, even with Dewi.
Not now. Not when she was pregnant.
