“Yeah. Badger Primed Leila and Earl before we left. Leila’s going to awaken with a massive anxiety attack tomorrow morning and call me in a panic that she had a nightmare about the pre-school the kids are attending right now, and the school where Dania’s supposed to start first grade this fall. She’ll beg us to take care of Dani and the twins and homeschool them like we’re going to homeschool Bebe. Earl will see how upset Leila is and eagerly agree to it, especially because he knows Reggie, Lu’ana, Nami, and everyone else trusts us.”
Beck’s eyes dropped closed again and he hoped Dewi couldn’t hear his groan. “And Nami probably won’t like that set-up.”
“Not at all. Because, obviously, we’ve already Primed Reggie and Lu’ana that they expect Bebe to be homeschooled by us. We did that after you left. We also Primed Imani and Davis, Reggie’s brothers and sisters-in-law—everyone—so they don’t question any of what will happen. I’m sorry we didn’t read Nami in on it first but it was an executive decision quickly made, and it came from Peyton himself. It’s a Pack Alpha edict.”
Beck snorted. “I thought you loved me, Dewi,” he snarked.
“Heavy is the head, and all that BS,” she said. “Remind Nami that if, or when, we determine the girls aren’t shifters, they can and will go back to public school if their parents want them to. But until weknowfor sure one way or the other, this is the safest option for them and everyone else involved. Malyah has volunteered to be a full-time teacher, too, once she’s finished her degree. And she said she’ll be happy to teach part-time for them around her class schedule. Ken’s already researching appropriate homeschooling curriculums and will call tomorrow to talk with some of the teachers at the pack school out in Idaho to pick their brains on age-appropriate lessons. Did you realize how much of the commercially available homeschool material is absolutelysteepedin evangelical religious garbage?”
“Stay on topic, Dewi,” he wearily said. “Nami’s not going to be happy Malyah’s doing that. She wants her to pursue her writing.”
“And she still can. Ken will take point on coordinating the homeschooling. Brianna will help out, too, and in the fall Stig’s wife can also teach. And Mateo and Carl, when they aren’t doing Enforcer work for us. Plus, of course, Tamsin, for as long as she’s here. But realistically we won’t know how long she’ll be here. I’ll reach out to a few packmates who are local and retired who might also be willing to teach. Within a month we’ll have everything set up so that, come fall, we’ll be ready.”
“I don’t know if that’s going to make this better or worse for her,” he said. “Nami, I mean.”
“I get it. I do. Again, emphasize to her that if we determine the kids can’t shift, they go back to regular clueless-human school. But that, for now, they’re safe with us. Keep hammering the safety issue.”
“I will. She’s still not going to like it.”
“We can come over right now and Prime her, if you want. Ease her mind about it. I don’t like that option—”
“No,” he wearily said. “Let me talk to her first. Let’s keep that in our pocket as a last resort.”
“You have the baby to consider. If she’s going to get really upset—”
“I’ll handle it, Dewi. Let me try to talk her through it, please? Consider me out of the office until I say otherwise, though. Keep your phone handy in case I need you.”
“Of course. No problem.” He heard her sigh through the line. “I’m sorry, Beck. I didn’t deliberately leave you two out of the loop, but after seeing what happened today we regrouped on the fly and needed to move fast while we still had everyone present to take care of it, instead of hunting people down later and risking complications.”
He rubbed his forehead, a headache threatening. “No, I get it. It’s fine. I mean, it’snotfine, but it’s not your fault. I know you’re right about this.”
“Feel free to blame it on me, if you need to. If that’ll help her. Just keep me posted.”
“I will. Thanks.” He ended the call and dropped the phone onto the couch.
So much for trying to calm her down tonight.
Dragging himself up off the couch, he made his way to their bedroom, trudging through it to the closed door of their en suite, where he heard the shower going.
He carefully tried the bathroom door knob first to see if she’d locked him out, and she hadn’t.
Beck risked lightly tapping on the door. “Babe, may I come in?”
She didn’t respond at first, and he was about to knock again, a little louder, when he heard her choked voice. “Yeah.”
When he entered, even with the condensation on the inside of the shower glass he knew from her posture, where she leaned against the wall, that she was crying.
Quickly stripping, Beck hurried to join her, saying nothing but enveloping her in his arms as she started sobbing against him.
Pain knifed through his soul that there was nothing he could do tofixthis for her. No one’s head he could rip off, nothing he could throw enough money at—it was, like her emotions when Malyah and Joaquin revealed their mate bond to them, something she had to work through in her way and in her time.
Just…accelerated.
“It’s notfair!” she finally gasped in a pained whisper a few minutes later. “They’re little girls!Babies! They’re beautiful little Black girls who will have a difficult enough life ahead of them dealing with normal trouble, and now there’sthisbullshit?”
He slowly rocked her in his arms, nuzzling his head against hers. “They’re pack, baby,” he whispered. “They’reourpack, and we’ll take care of them. We’ll protect them.”
“How, Beck?”
