There was a whole shadow world of commerce related to helping shifters stay hidden.
If their existence was revealed to the world at large, they would be hunted, dissected, incarcerated.
The only reason Ken could comfortably rescind his request to Peyton about going to Idaho indefinitely was that Peyton had assured Ken he believed they were safe in Florida.
For now.
But he’d also promised that if he had even the remotest hint that situation changed, he would immediately order them all—including Beck, Nami’s family, and everyone else—to Idaho.
It was a reasonable accommodation Ken was willing to live with.
Still, he would continue his firearms and fight training with Badger, Duncan, Beck, and the others. He’d never be a warrior like those men, but he at least wanted to feel reasonably competent.
Because as life had proven to him several times already, he never knew when he would need those skills.
CHAPTERSEVEN
DUNCAN
Duncan had madethis trip to Gatlinburg nearly a dozen times so far over the past few weeks. So often, in fact, he’d come to know some of the cabin crew on a first-name basis. Fly from Tampa to Knoxville, rent a car, drive to Gatlinburg to visit with Tully for a day or two, reverse the process and return home to Tampa.
Repeat.
Although it looked like this time would be the last. Tully was a human dying of cancer, and while he couldn’t do anything for her to cure her, he could provide her temporary mental respite from the pain with his Prime powers.
As he settled into his seat to ignore the pre-flight safety demo, he closed his eyes and let his mind drift. He’d spent nearly fifty years wandering the Idaho wilderness and sometimes he had to remind himself he was back in civilization and not on an entirely different planet.
The world had flown on without him and drastically changed in a short amount of time, even more so than during the nearly 400 years between his birth in Scotland until that fateful day he sat behind the wheel of his car on a mountain road in Idaho and stared down at the river in the valley several hundred feet below him.
What was it all for?
At the time, the constant pain knifing through his soul over Louisa’s death six years prior had been the only thing he could feel or think about.
That, and the warning from that dying woman from so long ago. About the stranger and making sure Chelsea married Charlie.
He’d already turned the pack over to Charlie. And then he and Chelsea had Trent, just an Alpha, but then she gave birth to Peyton. And they said she’d never have another baby due to the difficulties she’d had with him.
But he was a Prime Alpha.
An heir for Charlie.
An heir to their legacy. And since Chelsea couldn’t have more pups, there wouldn’t be any need for Duncan to hang around, torturing himself.
It had, at the time, seemed the answer to his unholy prayers when he shifted the car into drive, jammed his foot to the floor, and took his hands off the wheel, the road rumbling under his tires and then free-falling, much like the feel of the plane lifting into the air…
Love abides where cowardice fails
Blood is thicker than treachery
Greater love than even father for child
Giving up, selfless sacrifice, will ensure future victory
Duncan’s eyes opened at the softthumpof the landing gear folding up into the plane’s belly. The flight should take under two hours, because he always purchased direct flights.
At least during the decades Duncan was gone his trust in Charlie and Badger hadn’t been misplaced. And Charlie had taught his two sons well. They’d carried on his legacy even after Charlie’s murder.
The Targhee Pack was stronger—and wealthier—than even Duncan had ever imagined possible.
