“Yes. Let’s get him in here and get it over with.”
“Oh, thank god! I love you, Badger.”
“Just remember that next time yer swearin’ at me.”
“I hate keeping personal secrets from him, you know that.” She texted Ken to see if he could take a break and come into the office. A couple of minutes later, he joined them. “What’s up?” he asked.
She pointed to the chair next to Badger. “He has something to tell you.”
Badger shook his head. “Certainly not bashful about it, are ye?”
“Hey, you offered!”
“I know I did. Hold yer knickers.”
Badger spent the next ten minutes going over everything with Ken. Dewi kept her focus on him, studying his face—watching a mask drop over his features.
It was tempting to reach out with her mate bond but she knew this was too important to interrupt. If Ken needed her to, he knew how to reach out to her.
When Badger finished, he waited for a moment while Ken digested the info.
* * *
Ken
“This isn’t a joke, right?” Ken finally asked, looking first at Badger, then Dewi.
They both shook their heads.
“I had a suspicion about your grandparents for a while,” Badger said. “But I didn’t have proof until now, only rumors that might have fit.”
“So that makes you, what, my cousin?” Ken asked Badger.
“First cousin once removed. Yer mum and I are first cousins.” He grinned. “See? Yer really blood kin, not just adopted by marriage!”
Ken’s mind…whirled.
Holy. Shit.
“What about my dad’s family?” he finally asked.
“I will be unraveling that, too,” Badger said. “My priority right now is Hamish.”
“Because we don’t know if he’s alive and helping Faegan Lewis?” Ken asked.
“Correct.”
Now I know how Nami feels.
“This is…” Ken blew out a long breath. “This is going to take some adjusting to.”
Badger cleared his throat and stood. “I’ll give ye two some privacy.” He quickly let himself out of the office and closed the door behind him.
Dewi stood and rounded the desk to take the chair Badger had just vacated. Then she tentative reached out and took his hand. “Are you okay?”
“I…don’t know. I mean, how do we know for sure Mom’s parents weren’t really her birth parents?”
“Well, mostly because they’re both dead from old age when shifters likely wouldn’t be. That, and Badger was able to trace their lineage. There’s not a hint of shifters in either family.”
