Ken
Once they emerged from the meeting, Trent took point giving the other attendees the rundown and announcing Badger as the acting Pack Alpha. As predicted, every face mirrored the shock Ken felt over first hearing the news. Eerie silence descended over the group as they processed what it meant before everyone dropped to their knee and offered their throats.
Ken didn’t know why the sight of that sent a shiver through him—not a pleasant one, either—but he hoped he’d never again see it in his lifetime.
“An’ we’re not tellin’ anyone else yet,” Badger said, eying the crowd once they all stood. “If yer not sure ye can keep it a secret, speak up now so one of us Primes can help ye wi’ that.” Badger indicated for Trent to continue.
“Official word will go out through the usual pack notification system,” Trent said. “Obviously, if Peyton shows up in the next day or so, we don’t want this news getting out until he’s ready to announce what happened.”
“And I want to notify all the Enforcers first before the pack at large learns about it,” Dewi grimly added.
Once they finished, Asia walked over, looking a mix of shocked and angry. She crooked a finger at Trent and motioned for him to follow her into the office, where they closed the door behind them.
Dewi leaned in close to Ken, her arm touching his. “Well, she’s about to give him an ass-reaming.”
Ken tried to disguise his laughter as a cough. “Should we go in and help him?” Ken silently asked.
Dewi snorted. “You couldn’t pay me enough money to walk into that room right now,” she whispered. “I’d rather go ten rounds with a rabid grizzly bear with both hands tied behind my back while wearing a suit made out of raw flank steaks than walk into that room.”
When they emerged a few minutes later, Asia immediately sought out Gillian, and they retreated to the master bedroom, closing the door behind them.
“Well, he’s still got his balls,” Dewi snarked. “That’s a plus.”
“How mad is she that we didn’t tell her sooner?” Ken wondered.
“It was Peyton’s instructions,” Dewi said. “Not our call to make. Trent is her mate and Peyton’s second. Although with the kids, it would have been harder for her to hide from them that something was wrong before the announcement was made.”
Ken forced himself to eat and noticed he wasn’t the only one with a reduced appetite. Normally, at a gathering like this, there would be boisterous laughter and talking.
Not tonight.
He didn’t like to think about the word “wake,” but that was exactly what it felt like.
About an hour later, Badger walked up to Ken. Earlier, Badger had made the rounds of the attendees to personally reinforce the command not to reveal the information, then walked over to Trent and Asia’s with them to break the news to Tamsin and the kids—and put a little Prime spin on the command to the kids to not spill the beans.
Now, what attendees were left were in the process of helping clean up.
“Well?” Badger asked, looking like he felt as sick inside as Ken did. “Shall we get this over wit’?”
Ken nodded.
“Where ye wanna do it?”
“Office, please,” Ken said.
“And yer sure we don’t need Dewi or Trent or Duncan?”
Duncan had walked over. “No,” he said before Ken could respond, once again meeting Ken’s gaze. “Because I know the talk I had with Charlie when I handed over control to him. And while Charlie died before Peyton was named Pack Alpha, I’m willing to bet he pre-loaded certain info to him the way Peyton did with you, Ken. Right?”
Nodding, Ken wished they could just get this over with.
Duncan reached out and laid a hand on Ken’s shoulder. While he felt the Prime’s power, he knew Duncan wasn’t using it on Ken, per se. “You let me know what you need from me, son. Okay?”
It wasn’t a silent statement about his deeper meaning so much as a feeling Ken got. “You mean if Badger somehow can’t completely erase it?” Ken confirmed.
“Because Dewi isn’t supposed to know any of it,” Duncan silently mouthed. “Not yet, at least.”
Ken nodded.
