Louisa rounded the back of the car, an eyebrow arched as she leaned in to kiss him, touching his arm.
“Sure is funny how you send us all away every year when you have a group of Enforcers and others arriving for meetings,” she said through their mate bond. “Badger assures me there’s no funny business, though.”
He pulled her in for a hug. “I have my reasons, my love.”
“Is there danger?”
He couldn’t outright lie to her, but he didn’t want to mislead her, either. “Pack Alpha business.”
She looked up into his gaze. “When do I finally get to know the reason?”
He sighed. “I need a couple more years.”
Her gaze sharply narrowed. “Who do I need to neuter?”
Heat filled Duncan’s face because he knew she’d long suspected the truth, just not the details. “No one, love. As long as you work with me. Please?”
Louisa’s gaze finally softened, and she hugged him one more time, this time speaking aloud, albeit whispering. “Is he a good man? Is he worthy?”
He nuzzled his chin against the top of her head. “He’d long ago be ashes and dust if he weren’t.”
She snorted, smiling and tipping her head back to kiss him. “Don’t make me regret this, mate.”
Ah, he loved her spirit, her fire. She kept him on his toes and made him always want to become a better man, make her proud of him. She was a strong Alpha wolf in her own right and had more than a few times proven herself to be every bit as strong as any male Alpha wolf.
“Drive safely and please call me when you arrive,” he said. “If you can’t reach me, try Badger or one of the others on the phone tree so they’ll pass word to me.”
“Always.” She nuzzled the tip of her nose against his. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
After hugs and kisses with the girls, he stood in the yard and watched as they drove off. He knew Louisa wouldn’t push him more than she had today. She was satisfied with his answer and that he was on top of the situation.
Charlie and some of the others would arrive late that evening, driving in from Salt Lake City, where they’d spent last night. Charlie was driving from Florida and had stopped along the way to pick up three other Enforcers to ride in together, the last from Salt Lake City.
The last thirteen years had been tricky in terms of juggling logistics, but Charlie had buckled down and rightfully made a name—and a small fortune—for himself. He was already seen as an equal to Badger by their packmates, which is exactly what Duncan wanted. Badger would likely be Charlie’s second once Duncan eventually handed over control of the pack.
Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen for several decades yet. He wanted Charlie and Chelsea—if she felt a reciprocal bond with Charlie—to have plenty of time to build their own family and enjoy their pups’ childhoods, if they decided to have any.
Their pack was wealthy far beyond what people already knew, including their own packmates. He’d been careful to conceal the extent of their wealth with dozens of shell companies. Only he, Badger, and Louisa knew the full extent of their holdings at this time. He wanted their pack to know they were doing okay and could—and did—take care of their own.
But he didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of wolves.
It’d been years since Duncan had to eliminate someone sniffing around with aspirations of killing him off and taking over the Targhee Pack by force. His willingness to extend material and financial aid to other, smaller packs when they needed it, without expectations of them automatically joining the Targhees in return, had gone a long way to building trust and goodwill around the world. It didn’t make him weaker as Pack Alpha. On the contrary, it spoke to his confidence and strength that he didn’t view other packs as threats. Ironically, several smaller packs had approached him in recent years, asking to merge with the Targhee Pack. Duncan had welcomed them in.
The only potential troublemaker on his radar was the elder son of the Pack Alpha in Australia. Samuel Dorland had confided in Duncan that he was setting things up so his younger son, Harvey, who was a Prime Alpha, could take over in a couple of decades. But he worried his older son, Ray, only an Alpha but not a Prime, wouldn’t react well to that news. Samuel had asked for Duncan’s assistance in advance, if he felt he needed it, and of course Duncan had agreed.
Maybe it is better I only had daughters. At least that was one worry Duncan didn’t have, them trying to slit each other’s throats for control of the pack.
It was bad enough listening to them fight every morning over the bathrooms while getting ready for school.
For the four days Charlie and the others would be here, none of them would set foot on Duncan’s property, much less inside Duncan’s house, or even any of his vehicles. They’d hold their meetings at the pack compound’s new meeting hall. With over twenty of them in attendance, it was the logical choice.
Charlie would stay with a friend of his at the compound, meaning no chance of him stumbling across a strong scent of Chelsea that he could easily track back to Duncan’s house.
Somehow, throughout the years, Duncan and Badger had managed to keep Charlie focused on the bigger picture and only that she was in their pack, not that she was Duncan’s youngest daughter.
Late that night, and after taking a shower and donning fresh clothes so he wouldn’t accidentally carry Chelsea’s scent with him, Duncan headed over to the hall for their first meeting. He knew from Badger that Charlie and the others, the last scheduled to arrive, had safely made it.
