“But this is myjob!To protect the pack!”
“So’s mine,” he quietly said.“I might not be out there shooting people or taking down labs, but my job is just as important to protect us.I compile the intel to keep us a step ahead of the people who want to destroy us.I set up systems to allow us to communicate more easily with each other, more securely, and to compile accurate information to make better decisions, and to be able to make those decisions faster.”
He was right.Without his skills—which were superior to anything they’d had before he started working for the pack—they’d be flying blind compared to what they now had.“I hate this,” she quietly said.“I hate that you have to do this.”
“I don’thaveto do it,” he countered.“No more than you ‘have’ to do what you do.You aren’t a hormonal teenager anymore.”
“Just a hormonal pregnant lady,” she snarked.
But he didn’t smile, didn’t laugh.He continued.“A large part of why Peyton appointed you as Head Enforcer was to keep you safe, ironically.So, you wouldn’t get caught up in your emotions and accidentally do something that would end in tragedy for both of you.I didn’t get it when we first met, but now I do.However, you could easily tell him you’re done being Head Enforcer and pull back to just being the head of the expanded Pack Council, if you wanted.Or hell, not even doing that.You could be an ordinary person, if you wanted.Just another pack member.”
She blinked.“I have to be Head Enforcer,” she said.“It’s myjob.I can’t just quit.”
“Why not?”
“Because the packneedsme!”
He shook his head.“No, they need a Head Enforcer.Nowhere does it say it has to beyou.There were Head Enforcers before you, and far in the future there will be Head Enforcers after you.”
She tried to process that.“Are you saying you want me to quit?”
“No.What I’m saying is that you aren’t a single, childless woman anymore.You and I both need to figure out how to strike a healthy balance.Would I love to be a stay-at-home house hubby?Yeah, I would.When we found out you were pregnant, that would’ve been mydream.But now?”
He slowly shook his head.“My grandparents.My mother.All the people they couldn’t bring home, the ones they couldn’t save.My not working for the pack is no longer an option.Morally, ethically, I have to do what I do because I have the skills and knowledge and training to do them.”
“Well, so do I!”
He held out his hand, indicating she’d just made his point for him.
“And,” he added, “we don’t currently have anyone who can duplicate what I do.Da’von will, hopefully, get up to speed in a few years as his skills improve.But for now?I’mit.But how many Enforcers have the skills you have?”he asked.“Hell, Trent could handle the administrative part and send out Enforcers and Primes as needed to handle situations that he can’t deal with personally.Isn’t that basically what you do?Because you can’t be everywhere in the country all at the same time.”
Dammit.
He was right about that, too.
“Where do we go from here?”she asked.
He fully turned and sat cross-legged in front of her and patted the bed for her to do the same, so she did.
He held up both hands and waggled his fingers for her to take them.They laced fingers and he brought hers to his lips, kissing them, before tucking her hands against his chest.
“I love you,” he said.“You are my life and heart and soul.And I love our life.And I love that you’re good at your job.But you can’t treat me like a clueless human anymore.We didn’t know my lineage back then.We do now.I have to step up and do more things.Things that might make you uncomfortable sometimes.You cannot ice me out of information or decisions any longer.Conversely, you need to take a step back, mentally, and… reconfigure your BIOS.”
“I know what that is,” she said, smirking.“Reprogram my meat computer.”
He nodded.“Exactly.You can’t shelter me, Dewi.Igetit, I love you for it, but ithasto stop.And yes, I will argue with you.And you’ll argue with me, too.I’m sure there are times we’ll go to Badger or Duncan or Peyton and ask for a ruling because one of us thinks we’re absolutely right.And there will be times we get overruled and absolutely haaaate it.”
“What about Pack Alpha business?”she asked.
“We go to Peyton—after they’re back from vacation—and tell him we’re a package deal from now on.And you assure him you won’t go off half-cocked.That we understand why he wants to silo information sometimes but, going forward, he needs to adjust how he handles both of us.We’re a team, not adversaries.We both need the same intel.And we need his level of intel because of what we do, and because it’s very likely that, at some future time, you will end up as Pack Alpha.”
“In his eyes I’ll always be his baby sister,” she said.
“Well, I’ll always be the clueless grazer brother-in-law,” he said.And while technically both of those things are true, they’re also not true.Not any longer.You’re his younger sister, but you aren’t a baby.You aren’t the toddler asleep on his chest on the couch.And while I still don’t know what I don’t know, I’m no longer clueless.And, apparently, I’m not fully human, either.”
She squeezed his hands.“No more secrets.Unless it’s a good secret, like a present or surprise party or something.”
“No matter how ‘bad’ you think it is.”
