“We Prime them not to take Bebe anywhere except home and to bring her to us, for now. We also Prime Bebe to try to keep her from shiftin’ until we get a handle on this. I’m not fond of that option, though, because I don’t want to impede her shiftin’ abilities by dampening them this soon. Look what happened with Imani. And that was just from being scared by a spankin’.”
“But she didn’t even know she shifted. Did she? It sounds like she shifted in her sleep.”
He shrugged. “Unknown. But the other reason I want to wait until I get test results is so I have the data right there in front of me to show them. Because this is gonna get tetchy. Emotionally.”
“Yeah, Nami’s fucked up about it, and she already knows about shifters.”
Badger shook his head. “No, not in that way. Imani is gonna learn her mother slept with someone else. That she’s not the biological sister of her siblings. That her entire existence, everything she’s known, has been a lie. That’s a very bleak moment in any person’s life.”
“Oh.”
“Aye.” He gravely nodded. “Because I want to make sure we handle this as delicately as possible. It can do unpredictable things to a person’s psyche when their life is upended like that. She don’t really know us. This is one of those situations where Priming her to accept it all isn’t as simple as it looks.”
“Just like we can’t Prime Tamsin not to grieve.”
“Exactly.”
“Have you told Peyton yet?”
He nodded. “I called him when I left there.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
He smiled. “Because sometimes I like seein’ ye all flustered and whatnot.” He laughed. “And it could hold until I showed ye the video in person. I wanted to watch yer face when ye did.”
He reached across the counter and touched a spot in the middle of her forehead. “Ye get a little furrow, right there, just like yer mum did.”
He slid off the stool and gathered his plate and cutlery to wash them. “So forgive a raggedy ole’ wolf who wants to conjure up a friendly ghost every once in a while, eh?”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
Beck
Beck worriedthat this whole situation with Bebe was taking a heavy toll on Nami. And there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it, either. Except to be there for her.
Late Sunday morning, after dropping Nami off so she could spend the day with everyone, he headed over to Dewi’s, Joaquin riding with him since he’d driven Malyah over to the house and left his car there with her in case she needed it.
“What do you think they have to tell us?” Joaquin asked. “Because I get the feeling this is big. They couldn’t tell us in text or over the phone? That’s never good.”
“Good, it’s not just me then.”
“Not just you.” Joaquin drummed his fingers against his thighs. “Think they’re firing us?” he joked.
Beck snorted. “We’re not that lucky. We’re too good at our jobs.”
Joaquin fake-gasped. “Was that a compliment you just paid me?”
“Fuck you.”
Joaquin laughed. “Andtherehe is. Mr. Sunshine, everyone.”
“I doubt it’s news that Faegan Lewis’ head was delivered to Trevor Clarke. Peyton would be mass-texting everyone that.”
When they arrived, they found Ken, Dewi, and Badger already gathered in the living room. Beck relaxed, hoping this meant whatever it was, the news wasn’t dire.
“Informal is not bad, correct?” Joaquin asked as he took a seat in one of the chairs.
“It’s… complicated,” Badger said. “Let’s just handle it this way.” He held a remote control and hit a button, bringing the 53” flatscreen TV on the wall to life. On it, a video was queued and ready to play. “This is Imani’s mother, Corrine. Filmed it yesterday mornin’.”
