In retrospect, she totally understoodwhythat had upset him.
Ken only asked for Dewi to take him—and now their baby—into consideration before deciding on a course of action, not change who she was at her core. Just some slight…behavior modification. Defaulting to caution
Like not riding a motorcycle while she was pregnant—although, to be fair, she wouldn’t have reallydonethat.
Maybe.
He had a quiet way of changing her mind. Quite an accomplishment for a human.
Because of everything he’d accomplished so far, her vegetarian computer geek had effectively silenced all critics within their pack, even if he didn’t fully appreciate how respected and admired he was amongst them.
One does not simply drive off the side of a mountain, walk away unscathed, and locate the former pack Alpha—who’d been presumed dead for nearly fifty years—andnotend up with a pretty solid reputation on the other end of things.
Dewi totally meant to seduce Ken but she missed her chance by waiting too long. Her hand was already creeping south along his torso when she realized he’d drifted to sleep.
Nertz.
Then again, she could use a nap, too. She’d been up late last night on a run with others in the pack. She didn’t often get the chance to do that, and Ken had sweetly given her a kiss and his blessings to go have fun.
Yes, totally safe fun, because they never left the enormous pack compound. And she’d run with Peyton, Trent, Beck, Badger, Duncan, Joaquin, and Martin. Hell, the men had slowed their pace, despite her telling them not to, and kept a tight group around her for duration of their run.
Not even a flea could’ve jumped on her without being intercepted by one of them first.
It was annoying. She wasn’t used to this much attention being paid to her.
Even Carl, one of their newest Enforcers, had tagged along with them, staying close behind and learning the terrain of the compound. It was the first time he’d been able to run with wolves since he was a kid, before his mom died.
Dewi settled in to nap, carefully rolling onto her side with her back and legs pressed against Ken’s body. While sleeping with him usually involved snuggling, ever since her pregnancy, she realized she awakened nearly every time they weren’t physically touching somehow in bed. Even if it was just having their feet touching, or a hand. Something.
In sleep, he rolled to spoon with her the way he always did, his hand coming to rest over her tummy, where she had the slight swell of a baby bump.
Their daughter.
Dewi smiled as she laid her hand over his. She didn’t know—and didn’t care—if their baby would be able to shift. She imagined how much different their daughter’s life would be than Dewi’s own childhood. Their daughter would grow up with two loving parents, surrounded and protected by a loving, extended pack, with cousins approximately her same age to grow up with.
Considering how her parents had met their fate, there’d be little chance of anyone getting the drop on her and Ken. Not with everyone surrounding them. No, their daughter would have a fantastic childhood.
They hadn’t even started trying to pick names yet. Dewi wanted to give her at least one name from someone in their family. Either Ken’s mother or her own, or her grandmother, or Badger’s wife.
But she’d have to narrow it down and pick one of them, unless she wanted the poor kid to have a dozen names.
Yeah, no.
Also running through her mind, the news Badger had dropped on her just before they’d left Florida for Idaho: in the process of tracing Ken’s lineage, Badger discovered that it appeared Ken’s mother had actually been adopted. Which was something she likely wasn’t even aware of, based on what Ken said she’d told him.
Meaning it was possible Ken had a shifter or two in his background. That possibility would explain a lot of things. Like how he’d managed to overcome a direct Prime order from her and get the drop on another Prime wolf. How he’d managed to mark Dewi without getting his throat ripped out. How he’d managed to tap into his instincts to keep him and Nami alive.
Why, despite Ken being a vegetarian, Dewi had immediately pinged on him as her mate.
Trying to untangle all of that was something Badger was working on. Dewi had opted not to tell Ken right now. He had enough on his plate as it was, and she had no answers for him yet, anyway.
But if he did have a shifter in his family tree, it would explain a lot.
It would, in fact, explain everything.
It would also ease her mind quite a bit. Because it’d mean there was likely not a damn thing wrong with her own Prime powers.
She eventually drifted to sleep, awaking when she heard voices speaking at the front of the cabin. Then she realized she was alone in bed.
