They’d all been hyper-focused on first losing Louisa and then Duncan, with Badger working as Charlie’s second.
But then for Charlie and Chelsea to be brutally murdered…
Badger sometimes wondered if Trent and Peyton asked him to raise Dewi more because they worried they might lose him to his grief rather than because he was a Prime strong enough to raise her.
Except he’d long ago made peace with the fact that he’d spend the rest of his existence in pain. With a daily reminder, every time he looked in a mirror, of his failures as a husband and mate.
Perhaps survivin’ after failin’ her is my penance from the Goddess.
So while the circumstances of Louisa’s death were different from Tahlia’s murder, Badger understood, to a degree far more than most, what Duncan felt every day.
The pain in his soul that would never go away.
The piercing ache that marred every single beat of his heart.
There were days it was only because of the oath Badger had sworn to Charlie during that dark and miserable time in his life that Badger was still alive. An oath he’d meant every word of, sealed in blood.
The stormy night that had masked the intruders’ presence in their small village until it was too late to summon help.
Tahlia herself picking up a sword, but the attackers had both been young Primes, rogues, brothers intent on wiping out any and all competition from other Primes in an attempt to eke out a new slice of territory for themselves by eliminating others who’d lived on the land for generations.
Well, they’d also been in search of shifter women, Alphas, to claim as mates, regardless of whether the women wanted that or not.
Tahlia, they’d found, had other ideas about that.
Badger had managed to severely wound both of them, but not before they’d mortally wounded Tahlia. Charlie, sensing trouble, had appeared from out of the tempest and that’s when the rogues realized their error. Badger killed one but Charlie had to run down the other one, and then they—
A car tried to merge into Badger’s lane, too close to make it, and he slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn.
“Bloody feckin’ cunt of an idjit!” he screamed.
But at least it’d dragged him out of the darkness of his thoughts.
For now.
Because nothing drove those away for very long.
Especially when lying alone in his bed at night.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
DEWI
The rest of the week,fortunately, passed without a hitch. Although as they settled into a routine with Leila and Earl taking turns dropping the girls off with Tamsin and Brianna, Dewi knew they’d once again be house shopping in the near future.
Tamsin lived with Carl and Mateo, and Brianna and Da’von. There was one extra bedroom for a nursery for Tamsin’s baby. Dewi knew newlyweds Brianna and Da’von should have a place of their own, but right now Brianna was helping them care for Tamsin as much as she was helping care for Bebe, and now Dania, Laura, and Lucia.
It was uncertain how long Tamsin would remain in the States once she had her baby. Ideally, they’d catch that fucker Faegan Lewis so she and her baby could return to England to live with Trevor and Elaine Clarke.
But having a bigger house, even if Tamsin moved back to England, wasn’t a bad thing. It would no doubt get filled with wolfish relatives in short order.
Maybe we can get one of the neighbors on either side, or directly behind them, to sell.
Logistically, it would make things much easier.
Friday night, all Dewi wanted to do was go to sleep. Except her bladder didn’t want to co-operate, and their growing daughter was apparently happy to use her bladder as a soccer ball. A little after 1:00 a.m., Dewi had nearly fallen asleep following her latest bathroom trip when Ken’s cellphone rang on his nightstand.
“Arrrrrghh!” she groaned into her pillow. “I thought that was on silent!”
