It bothered Ken that right now he couldn’t read Dewi the way he normally could. Her deeper mental mumblings had gone silent, or perhaps blocked from his ability to sense them in the same way he learned he could block her from parts of his mind.
Something Peyton had made sure Ken could do before entrusting him with all the information he now held.
“He’s not dead yet,” Badger said from behind her. “Not that we know, leastways. So we assume he’s not. But we have a pack to run an’ we’re disobeying the Pack Alpha if we don’t follow his instructions.”
“Yeah,” she said, still using that same soft tone. “I know.”
Ken didn’t dare reach out and touch her. That this was going so… Well, easier than they’d anticipated, that kinda scared him.
No, wait, not kinda.
It terrified the fuck out of him.
“Did he leave anything for me?” she asked.
Trent tipped his head toward the office and led the way, Dewi falling in behind him. Ken followed her, and Duncan and Badger brought up the rear.
Okay, if they were all in the office they had a better chance of containing her if this…paralysis broke and she decided fuck this, she was going after Peyton no matter what.
Duncan was the last one through the office door. He locked it behind him and leaned his back against it, his arms crossed over his chest nearly identically to how Dewy had just stood.
Trent handed her an envelope and she sank into one of the chairs in front of Peyton’s desk. With a heavy sigh Ken had never heard her make before, she slipped her finger under the flap and opened it.
Dewi
This cannot be happening.
It was tempting to zone out standing there while Trent detailed what little they knew, but whether it was her mate bond with Ken and his voice she heard, or maybe imagining Peyton standing there telling her to pay attention, she didn’t know.
But it was a man’s voice, a comforting one. Like it whispered in her ear.
Telling her she could do this.
Even though…yeah, she wasn’t sure she could.
For the second half of her life she’d felt torn between feeling like she could cunt-punt the world and wondering where the adultier adult was to take care of things for her, even though she knew everyone saw her as the “adultier adult.” Even when she was still legitimately a kid.
Now she was a mom, the Head Enforcer, and with Ken by her side she’d just started feeling like maybe she had the hang of this “adulting” bullshit, and now…
This.
As she slipped her thumb under the flap to open the envelope, she thought about all the days she’d sat in here doing homework while Badger, Beck, Peyton, and Trent discussed pack business.
And now…
Now she’d rather be nearly anywhere else but here.
Sighing, she pulled the sheet of paper out, unfolded it, and read it. It was dated the day he left for Europe.
Dewster,
I love you. I don’t know what’s happened, or if this is temporary or permanent. But know that I love you and I believe in you, and I’m sorry so much got heaped on your shoulders at a young age. Lean on everyone—especially Ken. Follow their guidance. Let them in and don’t ice them out because you think you should act a certain way or become some pillar of strength at the expense of your own soul.
I’m not giving you specific instructions because whatever needs to happen has been told to everyone else.
But please, whatever you do, think about that beautiful little niece of mine before you do it. She’s a miracle because YOU are a miracle, and I’m so very proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished throughout your life. Mom and Dad would be, too.
You are NOT alone.
