She spoke through their Prime connection.“What’s the real reason, Peyton? For her specifically, not the causes you can’t tell me?”
He hesitated before answering.“She lost her father and two of her older brothers in the Troubles. She spent twenty years in the military over there. She’s a crack marksman and skilled in hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla warfare techniques. She was an instructor, and we’re going to need our pack members trained to defend themselves and the kids.”
He hesitated and she waited him out.“And she’s an expert in making, deploying, and disarming improvised explosive devices.”
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
Ken
Ken clearedhis throat when Peyton, Dewi, and Aisling disappeared into the office. “So. Coffee, anyone?”
Badger let out a weighty sigh, picked up the 9mm, and handed it to him. “Better go put this away, lad. And put some clothes on. We’ll clean up the coffee and get Dewi set up with her morning brew.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, Ken?” Badger said, and he turned to the old shifter. Badger nodded. “Damned good reflexes, lad. Ye come a long way from a year ago, aye?”
Ken hated the weight of the gun in his hand, but it no longer made him want to throw up when he handled one, either. “Yeah, I guess I have.”
By the time he returned to the kitchen, this time in sweatpants and a T-shirt, Badger and Duncan had more coffee brewing and had poured Ken a mug, fixed just like he liked.
And they’d washed Dewi’s mug—which was fortunately undamaged—and prepared her a cup of coffee. He’d noticed Aisling standing by the office door on his way back down but he hadn’t looked her way or even acknowledged her.
That was definitely a…weird sensation, having another woman making comments like that about him.
Not a good weird, either.
I’ll make sure to give her a wide berth.
He didn’t want Dewi to kill the woman, and from the wave of rage he’d sensed from Dewi, that’s exactly what she might have done had she got hold of Aisling.
Although, to be fair, she’d surprised Dewi,beforecoffee,anddrinking out of Dewi’s coffee mug. That was three strikes against her right out of the gate.
Peyton had already warned Ken before he left the UK that he was bringing someone back to add to the Enforcer team specifically for Tamsin and the kids—and Imani—but he’d been short on details.
Hamish sat at the counter, also working on a mug of coffee.
Ken stood there, staring at him for a moment. “Ken,” he said, offering his hand.
The man wearily smiled and shook with him. “Hamish. Everyone else thinks I’m Earl, though, so if you hear me called that, that’s why.” He’d gone back to using an American accent.
“You’re my mother’s uncle.”
He nodded. “So Badger told me.” He leaned back in his seat. “I guess I have lots of relatives I didn’t know about. Including grandkids and great-grandkids. And before you ask, no, I didn’t know Corrine was pregnant. And I feel terrible about it. But I would also like to get to know you, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“No, I don’t mind. I have a feeling things will be even more hectic than usual around here for a few weeks while the new normal shakes out.” He rounded the counter and walked over to Badger, holding his hand out.
Always fast on the uptake, Badger held hands with him.“Are we absolutely sure about that Aisling woman?”Ken asked.
Badger smiled.“She’s a little rough around the edges, but she’s fifty-five, a combat veteran, and I think Dewi will warm up to her. Eventually. This was not the ideal meeting.”
“Gee, yathink?”
“Well, to be fair, ye couldanotcome down stark nekkid.”
“I wasn’t thinking about being naked when I heard Dewi screaming.”
Badger chuckled.“Again, kind of a whole reversal of how ye got together, eh? She had to rescue ye from Beck, and now ye came to her rescue. Good on ya, lad.”
