Damn, I must have been really tired.It wasn’t like her not to awaken when Ken got out of bed.
Hell, it wasn’t like her not to wake up when someone knocked on the door.
She climbed out of bed, wrapped a robe around her, and padded out to the living room barefoot to find Ken speaking in low tones with Peyton, Badger, and Duncan.
All four men fell silent when they spotted her.
Didn’t take wolf senses to know something was up. She walked up to them with her arms crossed over her chest. That was something else annoying her, because her boobs were starting to get a little bigger and she felt awkward as hell doing even that simple gesture. “Okay. Spill it.”
Peyton didn’t look happy, which matched the anger she felt practically radiating from his body. “They’ve lost Faegan Lewis’ trail in Scotland.”
“What do you mean they’ve lost his trail?” Dewi asked. “Something like half the wolves in Europe are hunting him! What thehellis wrong with those assholes that they can’t track one fucking idiot?”
Faegan Lewis was a batshit crazy corgi shifter who hadn’t taken the news well that his daughter, Tamsin, had a mate bond with and married a female Alpha wolf. He’d also refused Tamsin’s new in-laws’ multiple attempts to broker a dowry agreement. Mostly because Tamsin, while an omega, was one of the few shifters they had left in the current generation of their corgi shifter pack. Almost from Tamsin’s birth, Faegan had planned an arranged marriage for her to one of her much older cousins.
A marriage Tamsin definitely had not wanted, to a guy Dewi knew was a real shitstain. A guy who’d already murdered one mate, and the two pups she’d given birth two, when it turned out they weren’t shifters.
Not exactly class-act kind of shifters.
It wasn’t a discrimination thing, either. Dewi didn’t give a shit what kind of shifters they were. It was the fact that they were murderously shitty people she had a problem with.
Tamsin, Maisie, and Maisie’s fraternal twin brother, Rupert—also an Alpha—had gone to France to see a fertility doctor. They used IVF, and Tamsin was pregnant with Rupert’s biological child. The three of them were hiding out when one of Tamsin’s older brothers tracked them down. Maisie and Rupert were killed in the attack while holding them off so Tamsin could escape. In the process, Maisie and Rupert killed three of the attackers, including one of Tamsin’s brothers.
Trevor Clarke, the father of Maisie and Rupert, was also the Staffordshire Pack’s Alpha. He called for blood in the wake of Maisie’s and Rupert’s murders. He’d brought Tamsin over to Florida, begging for sanctuary for her with the Targhees and pledging his pack’s allegiance. Dewi and Badger transported Tamsin to Idaho, to the pack compound, for her protection.
“They think maybe he hit the water and literally swam to Northern Ireland,” Peyton said. “There were news reports about an exceptionally large corgi being rescued by a fishing vessel. By the time Trevor’s people could get there to investigate the story, Faegan had vanished and the trail went cold.”
“They sure it was him and not a coincidence?”
“It was described as ‘a corgi of inordinate size.’ So I’m gonna go with yeah, it was probably Faegan.”
“Shit.” She turned and headed down the hall.So much for my holidays.
“Where are you going?” Peyton called after her.
“To pack. I guess my ass is going to Northern Ireland to track the fucker.”
“No,” Peyton, Badger, Duncan, and Ken all said.
She stopped and slowly turned, her focus falling on Peyton. “Whatdid you say?”
“No,” Peyton repeated, stepping forward, his hands braced on his hips in that annoying way he’d had when he ordered her around, ever since she was a kid. “As pack Alpha, I’mforbiddingyou from going and taking part in the hunt.”
* * * *
Uh-oh.
Ken wasn’t sure that Dewi might not be able to make Peyton’s head explode from the force of the anger radiating from her. The much larger wolf even took a step back when he spotted the fury on his baby sister’s face.
She jabbed a finger at him, taking a step forward while Peyton retreated another step. “Don’t youdarefucking Prime me for this, Peyton. Tamsin is pack, and we swore to protect her and her baby.”
“Which is why you need to stayhere, in the States, and do yourfuckingjob, Dewi.”
Oh, shit.
Dewi’s gaze widened even more than Ken’s at Peyton’s sharp tone.
Peyton immediately gentled his voice. “Dew, youareone of the best trackers in the world, yes. But you’renotthe only Prime in the world, or the only one who can track. They’ve got Primes over there every bit as experienced and skilled as you working on this. And you don’t even know the terrain.”
