That’s when it hit him.Dammit, she decided to go to Mexico then.
That realization pulled him up short.How the fuck did she lie to me?
He’d never outright tried to lie to her, but he’d sometimes felt an uncomfortable mental itchiness over the past year while working with Peyton when he had to verbally wiggle his way out of telling Dewi things without outright falling back on the “Pack Alpha business” bullshit excuse.
Did she lie to me about not being able to lie to me?
More importantly, was this what his future looked like?Having to verbally joust with her every fucking time she set foot outside the house to make sure she wasn’t trying to wiggle around telling him the full truth about what was going on?
What will it take for her to fucking stop playing these kinds of games with me and understand how I feel?
Ironically, it also hit him that despite him detesting Donnel and what he did—and wishing he could slug him again—Ken almost understood where he was coming from.
What would he himself do to ensure Dewi didn’t take unnecessary risks?Would he ask Peyton to stick a damned radio tracking collar on her?
No, but that thought grew more tempting with every incident.
Ken understood exactly why she didn’t tell him the full truth, because she knew he would have instantly gone to Peyton and ratted her out and put a stop to whatever it was she planned to do.
Fuck me.
Dewi
That felt like the longest drive of her life.As they headed north, Peyton didn’t speak, at first.
“You can’t do this, Dewster,” he softly said.
“Do what?”she asked without moving her face from where it was pressed against the cool glass.“My job?Protecting the pack?Are you removing me from my position?”
“No.I mean you cannot lone-wolf this shit anymore.That worked when you were single and not a mom.You cannot work like this anymore.”
“Like someone who didn’t bother to call his mate first thing and instead dragged my mate without asking me first across the goddamned ocean and terrifying me?”
“Dammit, Dewi, that’s not the same!”
“Yes, it is, Peyton,” she wearily said, closing her eyes.“It’s the same damned thing only worse, because Gillian and all of us were terrified for you.I get not telling us, but not telling Gillian?That was a dick move, asshole.”
“I know, and it’s between me and her.Not your call to make.”
“Oh, you mean not like your call to make between me and my mate?”
“I’m your fucking Pack Alpha, Dewi.And your big brother!”
She finally opened her eyes and looked at him.“I’m your Head Enforcer and your little sister, and I’m calling you out for fucking up, asshole.How is that any different?If nothing else,Ishould’ve been yourfirstcall, notKen.The safety of our pack is literally my job.If you’ve stopped trusting me to do my job then strip me of it or fuck off.”
His jaw tightened as he stared out the windshield and went silent.
“It’s not the same,” he finally said.Again.
“It’s the same,” she softly said.“We both made decisions for the good of the pack without putting our personal situation first, regardless of how it impacted those we love.How is it not the same?”
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“I know you went through hell during the lab raid,” she quietly said a few minutes later.“And I get why I couldn’t go on the lab raid.I accept that.I don’t like it, but I understand and, grudgingly, agree with that stance.But this?This was something literally I, as the only female Prime Alpha, and visibly pregnant, could do, with minimal risk, to eliminate a direct threat to us.It was simple, it involved minimal personnel, it left a minimal electronic footprint, and it was handled quickly.Just like you want me to keep you in the loop?Okay, if Ken had called you and told you, and you stopped me—honestly, what were your plans to handle this?Let it go on for weeks and months and she potentially contacted the Russians and dragged them back into play to give us yet another threat to worry about?”
“I don’t know!”he roared, but she didn’t flinch.“It didn’t have to beyou!”
She pointed finger guns at him and kept her tone quiet.“It did have to be me, and we both know it.Just because you feel a lifetime of guilt for events beyond your control and how they impacted me doesn’t mean you can shirk your duty as Pack Alpha just because you’re upset your little sister has to sometimes be the one to do the dirty work.”
