CHAPTERONE
KEN
Ken stoodin the kitchen next to the fridge, silent and frozen in place, watching, praying he wasn’t noticed.
When cornered in a room with one of the most terrifying predators on the face of the planet, freezing and praying not to be noticed was usually the wisest choice.
Especially when she was one’s wife.
And a very,verypregnant wolf shifter, a Prime Alpha wolf, as well as Head Enforcer for their pack.
Dewi currently wore one of Ken’s T-shirts stretched tight over her swelling belly, and a pair of oversized PJ pants slung low on her hips, under her baby bulge. She was barefoot and stray strands of long, brown hair freely floated around her face, escapees from the haphazard and unintentionally messy bun twisted low on the back of her head and held in place with a slightly chewed ball-point pen.
Dewi waddled over to the coffee maker—the larger one with a carafe, not their single-serving pod machine—that’d they’d started keeping full for her. There, she picked up the full glass carafe from where it sat on the warming plate. Then, while still holding the carafe of hot coffee, she rummaged around in the pantry and retrieved a box from its depths.
Leaving the pantry door standing wide open, she shuffled over to the center island and set the box there, grabbing a large mixing bowl from the sink drainer, where Ken had literally just left it minutes ago after hand-washing it.
Still holding the full carafe of hot coffee, Dewi one-handedly dug her fingers into the top of the box, tore it open, and shook out the bag holding its contents.
Yellow cake mix.
Which normally Badger would have balked at buying, preferring to cook from scratch, but one never denies a pregnant Prime Alpha wolf shifter Enforcer with several dozen kills under her belt any damn thing she wants.
Especially when she scribbles it in ALL CAPS on the shopping list andunderlinesit several times.
In red marker.
With her teeth she ripped the corner of the cake mix bag open, spilling a little on the counter and down the front of her shirt but dumping most of it into the bowl.
Into which she then poured the entire carafe’s contents, finally setting it in the sink.
She pinched a freshly washed wooden spoon out of the sink drainer and that’s when Badger walked into the kitchen and pulled up short just as Dewi shoveled a heaping spoonful of the mixture into her mouth without even stirring it first.
“What the feckin’ hell are ye eatin, Dew?”
She stared at him for a moment, not chewing or swallowing, her cheeks filled with the mix. “Food,” she mumbled, a puff of dry cake mix billowing from her mouth.
Badger rolled his eyes and turned to Ken. “And ye just let her do it?”
“Thefuck, Badger!” Ken pointed at Dewi. “Lether? Youhonestlythink I’m saying a damned thing to her about what she eats then you haven’t been paying attention the past two weeks.”
Ken believedravenous Tasmanian Devilwould possibly come close to describing Dewi’s current mood. She glared at Ken but didn’t say anything as she finally chewed and then swallowed her mouthful of coffee-soaked cake mix. She scooped up the mixing bowl into the crook of her left arm, propped on her rounded belly, and started mixing it, glowering at both of them before stalking out of the kitchen with the wooden spoon on its way back to her mouth.
Slowly shaking his head, Badger walked over to the counter. “I’d wondered why the cake mix was disappearin’ so fast without any cakes bein’ baked.” Deeper in the house, they heard the office door slam shut.
Ken finally dared to walk over to the sink and grabbed the sponge to wipe down the counter. “Yeah, well, that’s her second bowlful of the morning. I’d just finished washing the bowl and spoon from earlier.”
“Ye need to talk her into healthier eating choices.”
“And when will you be ordering me my stainless-steel cup, huh?” Ken shot back. He tossed the bag and cake mix box into the garbage. “You want to criticize her? Be my guest. Me? I’d like to be able to sleep next to her without fearing for my life.”
Badger’s scowl softened. “She loves ye, lad. Yer her mate, the love of her life. She’d never hurt ye. It’s just her hormones makin’ her tetchy.” He turned. “Where the hell’s the coffee? I just set a fresh pot to brew ten minutes ago.”
Ken now spotted the empty mug in Badger’s hand and he pointed to the carafe in the sink. “She dumped it all into the bowl. That’s her latest craving.”
They both froze when they heard her office door open. Seconds later, Dewi stalked back into the kitchen, the mixing bowl still cradled in her arm. Silently glaring at them, she wrenched the fridge open and grabbed a can of whipped cream out of it. Kicking the door closed with a foot, she used her thumb to pop the top off the whipped cream and sent it flying, shook the can, and tipped back her head, squirting a large dollop of it into her mouth.
Shooting them a defiant glare, she swallowed and then departed, the can of whipped cream still in her hand, slamming her office door shut behind her.
