“Come in, Beck,” Trent said. “Please, close the door behind you.”
“Well, this can’t be good,” Beck muttered. “Am I fired?”
“No, son,” Badger wearily said, “but ye’ll soon wish ye were.”
Five minutes later, after Trent outlined what little they knew, Beck looked as gutted and shell-shocked as Ken felt. “Okay,” Beck said. “So we’re doing this tonight? Picking the acting Pack Alpha?”
“Yeah,” Trent said. “At the start of the night. No way we can keep this a secret from them for several hours once we’re all together. They will start asking questions.”
“What about Joaquin?” Dewi quietly asked in a tone that chipped painful holes in Ken’s soul. “We need him here, too, since he’s inner circle now. Plus, Malyah’s helping with the arrangements for tonight. We have to read him in, and the Enforcers need to see him included in the inner circle. The more, the miserabler, amirite?”
But there was no hint of humor or snark in her tone or gaze, just dark, dreadful determination.
“Yeah,” Trent said. “Good point. Beck, can you find out where they are and ask Joaquin to come here? Now? Make sure Malyah stays next door. Tell him it’s work-related.”
“Sure.” He pulled out his phone and started texting.
Ken watched as Dewi stood and paced the length of the office, pausing to stare out the windows. “I refuse to believe that stubborn sonofabitch won’t return.”
Badger heavily sighed. “Love, the worst part is the not knowin’,” he gently said. “But we have responsibilities. We cannae waste our energies on wishful thinkin’. An’ no matter how this turns out, he wouldn’t want us doin’ that, either.”
That’s what Ken wanted to believe, that Peyton would walk through the front door as if nothing had happened, but Ken also knew that was unlikely for a whole host of reasons.
Unfortunately, what Ken worried might happen would be them receiving some sort of ransom request that would require Dewi delivering it, and Ken wouldn’t be able to stop her despite it having a near 100% chance of being a trap.
Beck looked up. “They were already on their way here. ETA fifteen minutes.”
“Okay,” Trent said. “We’re all agreed Joaquin is inner circle, correct?”
“Yeah,” Beck said. “He is.” He looked at the others. “I know that’s one of the last things you probably ever expected to hear from my snout, but he belongs in the inner circle. He’s a good man, and he’s a damned good Enforcer.”
“Mark the calendar,” Dewi said, with only a hint of snark. “Beck finally admitted he likes Joaquin.”
Ken wished he could smile over that.
“Even if I didn’t like him,” Beck said, “this isn’t the time for petty squabbles. We need all paws on deck, and there’s only so much we can do on our own.”
He held up a finger and circled it, meaning all of them in that room. “This is way bigger than just us. The problem is, we don’t know how much bigger. Once we do this tonight, we have to call any Enforcers who are Primes who aren’t in attendance and tell them the news before it breaks. Let them handle passing the word to other Enforcers in their respective regions. I know Peyton checked all the Primes we now have personally, so I’m not worried about their loyalties. Not worried about our Enforcers who aren’t Primes, either. What I am worried about is assholes either from outside our pack, or maybe ones within it who’ve kept their heads down and escaped notice before now, who might decide they want to try to stir up trouble.”
“That’ll be an automatic death sentence,” Dewi flatly said from where she stared out the window. “Because as Head Enforcer, it’s within my jurisdiction to say that. Anyone who dares to threaten this pack, from outside or within, will find themselves on the wrong side of a dirt nap. I’m not playing around or giving second chances, either.”
She turned to face them, and if Ken wasn’t mated to Dewi he’d probably be close to wetting himself over the dark, glowering frown she wore. “I want that passed around, too. This is not the time to test me. There will be no leniency. They’re either with this pack, or they will be considered traitors and a threat to it and treated as such.”
Badger cleared his throat. “Dewi, I?—”
“Nope,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not fucking around. Until we either have Peyton back or we avenge him, anyone who isn’t giving one hundred percent support to this pack will be considered a traitor. Period. You told me yourselves after Mom and Dad were murdered that Peyton put out an edict stating that and left it in place for two years.”
“That was twenty-five years ago, Dew,” Trent said. “You can’t just go killing people you suspect of being traitors. Even then we didn’t do that. The threat was enough.”
“Watch me,” she growled. “My job is to protect this pack. That’s literally my job. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone stand in my way. And I wouldn’t have to suspect it—I can confirm it.” She pointed at herself. “Prime, duh.”
Ken wanted to walk over to her, envelop her in his arms, and tell her things would be okay.
Except he knew that he couldn’t promise her that. And the last thing she needed right now was him hovering. It would only ramp up her anxiety beyond what he already sensed were stratospheric levels.
Fortunately, Joaquin soon arrived. He took the news much as Beck had, slumping back in his chair and staring into the distance for a moment as he processed it. “If we’re sending people, I volunteer,” he said. “We don’t have a baby.” A murderous glare darkened his features. “And I’d give anything to rip out a few fucking throats right now.”
“No one’s going anywhere,” Trent wearily said. “Especially not over there. Not without knowledge and backup. If we launch an operation, it’ll be only after planning and enlisting plenty of properly trained people to help, and arming them to the teeth.”
