Peyton grimly smiled. “If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a firm believer in the ‘if I have it I won’t need it’ philosophy of over-preparedness.”
“But just in case…” Ken couldn’t finish.
“Just in case,” Peyton agreed.
“So now what?”
Peyton sighed. “Now I go get chewed out by my wife. I have to be at the Spokane airport early in the morning to check in for my flight.”
Ken winced. “I don’t envy you.” He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized they’d been standing there talking longer than Ken estimated. A lot longer, like nearly an hour.
Peyton clapped a hand on Ken’s shoulder. “Sometimes, it sucks to be the Pack Alpha.”
“Yeah.”
Still, Ken couldn’t help thinking, Please, never let Dewi have to take over this role.
Chapter Sixteen
Dewi
Dewi considered it exquisite restraint signaling massive personal growth on her part that she didn’t drag Peyton aside during dinner to ask why the hell he was acting so fricking weird.
Or that she didn’t use her Prime on Ken to ask why he also appeared overly stressed. Because by the time they retired to the cabin that evening after dinner, she realized Ken seemed close to his limit.
In fact, how stressed he was radiated off him in waves.
To be fair, she knew that could be due to any number of mundane issues, from new fatherhood to being overwhelmed by the huge pack presence today at the recognition ceremony for the babies, to feeling frazzled over taking on more responsibilities with work while Gillian took maternity leave.
After the baby was fed, bathed, changed, and tucked into her crib, Dewi decided it was time to focus on them for a little while.
“Come take a shower with me,” she invited, taking Ken by the hand and leading him toward the bathroom.
He didn’t resist. “That’s not your ‘take a shower’ tone.” He smirked. “That’s your ‘I want nookie’ tone.”
She cast a smile at him over her shoulder. “Are you complaining?”
“Didn’t say that.” Dewi laughed as Ken swept her into his arms and carried her the rest of the way into the bathroom. “Not complaining at all.”
When he set her on her feet, she kept her arms draped around his neck and pulled him in for a long, sweet kiss that soon heated up quite nicely, thank you very much.
Heated to the point that it drove all other thoughts out of her brain besides getting both of them naked without shredding their clothes in the process.
He leaned in enough he could reach the shower knob to turn on the water, and she still didn’t break their kiss.
She couldn’t get enough of him, or this.
Of them.
Finally, he tipped his head back far enough that he could speak. “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this? Don’t you need time to heal?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Perk of being a shifter, remember?”
“But is it…safe?”
“Huh? We’re in the pack compound. Of course it’s safe.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “That’s not what I meant, Dew.”
