“Oh, I’m certain you’ll recognize the parameters.”She shut the door and slapped the roof before turning to head inside.
Oh, you’ll know, all right.Sorry.
ChapterThirty-Four
Dewi
Dewi pulledup short when she emerged from Customs at Tampa International and heard her name called.
By Peyton.
Who was standingrightthere, apparently waiting for her.
Ooooh, shit.
She took a deep breath, adjusted her backpack, grabbed her carry-on, and headed toward him.She’d planned to take a ride share home, but it looked like that wouldn’t be necessary.
He reached for her carry-on without a word—although his look of brotherly and Pack Alpha-ly disappointment spoke volumes—and she handed it over.
“Thought you were supposed to be on vacation,” she snarked.
He tipped his head, his meaning obvious.She followed him to the elevator, to the parking garage, and then to his SUV.And still, neither of them spoke, aloud or with their Prime.
He started the SUV and they sat there in silence for a moment with the AC running before he finally spoke.
“What happened?”
“First, I’m curious about what gave me away.”
“The coffee you bought this morning on your credit card.”
She winced.“Shit.”
“Yeah.You forgot Ken has access to those records since Gillian’s not supposed to be working.The system sent a text because of the purchase outside of the country.You were already on the plane when he called me.”
“Fuck.That was sloppy of me.I should’ve had Alvarez buy it for m?—”
“Dewi!”She flinched, and he continued.“Ken isnothappy with you.I’m not exactly thrilled with you, either.I’d say it’s currently a toss-up between his level of anger and Gillian’s at me for leaving for Europe before I got abducted.”
She slowly nodded.“I figured he’d be upset if he found out.Which was why I was trying not to let him find out.”
“And frankly, I do not blame him.”He looked at her.“Give me a reason not to agree to order you onto permanent desk duty?”
Dewi bristled but managed to temper it to merely tensing her shoulders.“He asked you to do that, huh?”
“Not yet.I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.In fact, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t.How did you lie to him about where you were going?He said you flew out to San Antonio?”
“I never lied to him,” she countered.“I told him I wanted to touch base with Enforcers, but I never said who or where.Last time I checked, Alvarez is one of my Enforcers.How did you come to meet my flight?”
“I called Alvarez and asked him where the fuck you were immediately after Ken called me asking me where the fuck you were.I looked up the purchase info for the coffee shop, cross-referenced the address, and connected those two dots.Wasn’t difficult.Alvarez gave me your flight info.Although apparentlysomeonePrimed him to defer to you on the details of what happened until after you returned to the States.
Peyton waited, and when he realized she wouldn’t volunteer anything, he finally continued.“What did you do?”
“That’s not specific enough, you?—”
“Whydid you go to Mexico, Dewi?What did you do or accomplish, and what, if any, repercussions can we expect from those actions?”
“I proactively took care of a problem in a permanent and relatively low-risk way.”She stared out through the windshield at the dim parking garage.“I left Alvarez to observe the outcome.”
