Joaquin held up his hand. “I can ride with you and bring his truck back.”
“And you can pack a change of clothes and sundries for me and Duncan,” Badger said. “And Joaquin can bring ’em back for us.”
“You don’t want me to take a turn with her overnight?”
“Tomorrow, sweetheart,” he said. “You know grief, yes, but hers is of a different flavor than yours.” He touched her arm and silently spoke to her.“And yer not a horrible person for needing out of here to clear yer head, Dew. It’s intense, and we know it, and it’s all right. Besides, we don’t know what it might do to yer baby to be exposed to it too long.”
Guilt-tinged relief filled Dewi and she took the keys, hugging Badger. “Thanks,” she whispered before heading out with Ken following.
Dewi drove, more because she needed the distraction. Ken rode shotgun while Joaquin took the backseat without comment.
They were almost to the house when Joaquin broke the silence. “That was by far the most painful thing I think I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” he said. “And I brought Felicia Escobar’s body home to her family and helped them bury her,” he said. “Never in my life did I ever think I’d witness that kind of pain again, and I’d prayed I never would.” She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw him shake his head. “Do you think Duncan and Badger will be able to keep her alive?”
“If anyone can, it’s them,” she wearily said.
An hour later, Joaquin was on his way back with Duncan and Badger’s overnight bags, and Dewi and Ken had showered and were snuggled in bed with their phones on and set to loud so they could hear if anyone called or texted them.
Dewi practically wrapped herself around Ken. “You’re not allowed to die on me,” she said.
He nuzzled the top of her head. “I’m doing my best not to, baby. But that goes for you, too.”
She closed her eyes and deeply inhaled. “I’ll do my best, too.”
CHAPTERTWENTY
DEWI
Sunday night,Badger and Duncan were still staying with Tamsin. Fortunately, her mental state was slowly improving, but the two Primes planned to remain there indefinitely, until they were suitably convinced she was out of danger. Each man had already taken a turn returning to the house to pack more clothes in anticipation of a prolonged stay over there. Malyah, and Nami had promised to return early Monday morning to help Brianna, Carl, and Mateo take care of Tamsin and the baby, as well as to care for Bebe, Dania, and the twins.
Unfortunately, there was still pack business to conduct.
Dewi groaned when her work cell phone rudely awakened her at 4:32 a.m. Monday morning. Without opening her eyes, she flailed her hand around on the nightstand until her fingers finally latched on to it, and she dragged it to her ear. “What,” she growled.
“I-is this Ms. Bleacke?”
The young woman’s terrified tone drove all sleep out of Dewi’s system and she sat up. “This is Dewi Bleacke-Ethelbert. Who’s this?”
“Emily Hansley, ma’am. I’m Ralph and Susan Hansley’s daughter. In Miami.” She burst into tears. “Please, you have to help me! Daddy will kill him and I don’t want him to go to prison! I just want my baby back!”
Five minutes later, Dewi was downstairs in her office taking notes as she talked to the distraught young mom on the phone, while Ken called Beck and Joaquin and summoned them to the house.
Emily Hansley was twenty-two, a non-shifting daughter of packmates Ralph and Susan Hansley, and the new mom to a three-month-old baby, Hannah.
The problem was, Henry Roche, Emily’s baby daddy, was a 37-year-old deadbeat asshole clueless human. He literally had zero interest in the baby until Emily made the mistake of sending him a text late yesterday that she was moving back to Idaho to live with Ralph and Susan, that her parents were en route to help her pack and move, and that she was filing paperwork once she arrived in Idaho to terminate his parental rights. That she would be gone by the next evening, and if he wanted to see the baby this was his last chance.
He not only hadn’t attended the birth he’d never evenseenthe baby. Never asked to see her, either. In fact, he’d tried to talk Emily into an abortion, and when she wouldn’t get one he broke up with her and informed her he wasn’t paying child support for a baby he didn’t want, and to lose his number.
There’d been no further contact from him and he hadn’t responded to Emily’s texts when she went into labor, or after the baby was born.
Unfortunately, Emily was too nice—and trusting—and had listed Ralph on the birth certificate without considering the full possible future ramifications.
Ralph apparently cruised Emily’s social media, somehow found her parents’ accounts, and saw pictures of their house, which was located in the pack compound in Idaho.
A very nice house, because even though Ralph and Susan weren’t millionaires or anything, they were both over 100 and had worked for the pack for most of their lives.
He also must have seen public pictures of previous family outings, such as ski trips and vacations.
Upon seeing those pics, Ralph apparently got an idea.
