“Together, the three of us, we can build something that will stand strong. As strong as these damned mountains. For future generations. We can be a refuge for our kind and their kin as the world closes in on them. We’ll do things right. We’ve already got a damned good start. That’s why so many people have moved to join our pack, because they’re sick of the bullshit elsewhere and they just want to live in peace.” He held out his hand. “Please?”
Badger studied his hand for a long time before finally reaching out and shaking with him. “Deal. But I don’t ever wanna be pack Alpha. I’m tellin’ ye that right now. Don’t want that responsibility.” He choked up. “I promised Charlie I’d keep livin’ but I can’t guarantee you that something might happen one day makes me renege on that.”
“Or maybe one day you’ll meet a woman who helps heal your heart. Did you ever think about that?”
Badger heavily sighed. “Hard for me to think about any other woman when the only one I’ve ever wanted is long since rotted away in a cairn on a moor in Scotland.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Badger tipped the glass up, draining it and setting it on Duncan’s desk before tapping the rim with his finger. “Another, if ye please.”
Duncan poured it and added more to his own glass. “Do you remember the old woman we ran into at that pub that night? Not long before Louisa and I left for America?”
Badger snorted. “Barmy ole twat, is what she was. Mind pickled by booze.” He pointed at Duncan. “And ye were daft enough to hand her coins!”
He shrugged. “I felt sorry for her.”
“She was off her nut. Claimin’ to be a soothsayer like she was one o’ the Weird Sisters fromMacbeth.” He snorted. “God, what was it that she ‘predicted,’ now?”
Duncan leaned back in his chair, studying his glass. “I don’t remember, exactly.”
Badger laughed. “Wonder whatever happened to her. I saw her go straight to the bar and buy herself a bottle with what ye gave her.” He shook his head. “And yeknewshe would do that. Why’d ye even pay her? Charlie and I were about to shoo her away.”
Duncan shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t miss the coins. Thought it was a gesture that might make someone’s life a little better before I departed for good.”
“Ye always were a softy.” He cackled. “But then again, nothin’ ye’ve done so far’s been wrong, so I guess it’s not fer me to say ye were wrong about any of it. Every move ye’ve made’s been right.”
“Can you bring Charlie here later today for the three of us to talk?”
“Aye. I will.”
Once Badger departed Duncan thought again about that old woman, staring out his office window as he remembered the events of that night.
Dewi.
The child his mate was pregnant with now would be their second, a little girl. If Chelsea’s predictions continued to bring him such good results…
Well, perhaps two more after this.IfLouisa wanted them. The benefit of Louisa being a shifter was her ability to tell rather accurately when it was safe and when she was fertile. He had no desire to keep her pregnant all the time. But she loved being a mother and had already mentioned trying again at least one more time.
Only time would tell, he supposed.
Later that afternoon, when Badger and Charlie arrived, Duncan indicated for them to take a seat. “I’ve already talked to Badger about this, and now I’d like to talk to you.” He told Charlie his idea and watched the younger man school his expression, the Prime intently listening, processing.
When he finished, Duncan sat back. “What do you think?”
Charlie glanced at Badger first, who nodded. “You’re saying you’d like to make me your heir to inherit the pack? What if you have a Prime Alpha son?”
“If I did, he would still be, what, at least over a hundred years younger than you. He wouldn’t be anywhere close to being prepared to take over a pack of our size at that age. A pack even larger still by then. If I did, well, he could become your second with the understanding he’d eventually take over one day, should he want to. That would give him time to learn from all of us. And if you find a mate and have a Prime Alpha son, he can become his second, and so on. There’s no reason we can’t have bloodless transitions.”
“Think about it,” Badger said to Charlie. “No more fightin’. No more scrappin’ for every bit o’ land and respect the way they do still back in the old country. No more senseless bloodshed. A new way forward. Duncan ain’t steered us wrong yet. Weren’t we just talkin’ the other day about how much easier life is now than before we came over? Neverdreamedwe’d have it so easy, or pockets and bellies so full, right?”
Charles Bleacke stood and walked over to Duncan’s office window, staring out it. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“And I’m fine with you taking your time to give me an answer,” Duncan assured him. “Or if you say yes now and later decide you don’t want to do it, I won’t hold it against you as long as you help me select someone to take your place and train them, teach them what you know. But you and Badger and I all know what it used to be like. We’re old enough to remember those bad times. Not just fighting among our own kind, but having to keep our heads against the feckin’ Brits.”
One of the few times Duncan let his old accent seep through. He preferred people think he was an American and had worked hard in the immediate months after arriving to drop his native brogue.
“We’re richer now than anything we could have ever dreamed of when we were pups, and we’restillnot even close to the upper echelons of what’s possible,” Duncan continued. “But I want us to be there. I want us to be able to buy politicians to help keep us safe in the future. Even put our own people into office. Can you imagine what we could do right out in the open without ever exposing ourselves if we have that kind of protection in place? How the pack’s children could thrive without fear?”
