Prosperous years.
He couldn’t have accomplished it without Badger and Charlie.
All because he’d heeded Chelsea’s advice, even if he hadn’t credited her with it.
* * *
Then
Badger stopped in the office doorway. “Ye asked to see me, Sir?”
Duncan waved him in to come sit. “No formalities,” he said. “Drink?” He held up a bottle of bourbon.
Badger settled his bulk into a chair in front of Duncan’s desk. “If yer pourin’, thank ye.”
Duncan poured them both a couple of fingers and handed Badger one of the glasses before returning to sit behind his desk. “I wanted to talk to you about something and would like to ask your discretion about it.”
“Sir?”
“Just Duncan and Badger today.”
“All right.” Badger sipped his bourbon.
“These past thirty years have seen us blessed and our pack prosper, haven’t they?”
“Aye,” Badger agreed.
“Charlie Bleacke. You’ve known him a long time. Longer than I have.”
“Aye. Decades longer. Since long before we came over. Ye know that. We’re blood brothers.” He swallowed back the lump in his throat. “He’s the only reason I’m still breathin’. He kept me goin’ after Tahlia…”
He fought the urge to reach up and touch the scar splitting his face.
Duncan nodded. “I know. And you feel we can completely trust him?”
“Aye. I’d stake me own honor on him.”
“I’ve been wanting to further expand the pack’s holdings. But Louisa doesn’t want me leaving her, especially now with her due in a couple of months. If I asked Charlie to travel and make acquisitions for us, maybe even sponsor some of the pack who wish to go with him, do you think he’d be amenable to it?”
“Forming an expanded pack?”
“Not officially. But this country is growing fast. There’s a lot of land out there to acquire. Especially in the southeast. Florida, Georgia, Texas. Lots of cattle ranching to be done there. Agriculture. And oil, in Texas. I’m looking long-term. We don’t know how profitable the mining in this region will remain in future decades. I’d like to keep the pack based here, and I’m in the process of buying even more land. I want our main permanent compound located where we can hold Musters for centuries to come without fear of our people being discovered. Keep expanding it so people can move here, retire here, if they want. But there’s money to be made elsewhere in the country right now, in other industries. And plenty of cheap land. I sent one of my cousins to Texas to look into oil operations and drilling rights.”
Badger took another sip, no doubt wishing Duncan would get to the point. “What’s really goin’ on? Ye worried Charlie might challenge ye as pack Alpha?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Duncan said. “I’d like to talk to you about arranging for you to one day take over from me.”
Badger nearly choked on his bourbon. “Me?” he spluttered. “Pack Alpha?Notme.” He set the glass on the desk as he coughed. “I don’t want it. Never have, never do. Told ye that plenty o’ times.”
“You’re a Prime.”
“An’ so’s Charlie. I’d rather it be him than me. Besides, he’s younger than me.” He coughed again. “Why? Are ye thinkin’ about steppin’ down already, then?”
“I’m not. I’m looking ahead. Thinking about why we all left Scotland to start over here.” In retrospect, it’d been a damned smart decision, because they’d avoided famine, war.
Fighting between shifter factions that had devastated their kind nearly as much as the larger wars.
Badger finally picked up his glass again to take another sip. “I know he’s young, but Charlie would make a good Pack Alpha one day. Smart. Thoughtful. Eager, but not stupidly so. He’s not mated yet, though. He’s not the only one who’d make a good choice.”
