And boy, did Ken wish he hadn’t.
Twenty minutes later,they knew how Hyacinth came to be Faegan’s mate despite her unclaimed mate bond with Donnel, as well as why Frannie now thought she was Hyacinth.
Callum had wiped Frannie’s mind and implanted the info Faegan wanted her to have, in exchange for leaving Bryn and Callum alone, and for Bryn signing over her share of the estate to Faegan.
Ken stood next to Hamish, his arms crossed and his simmering rage approaching the boiling point.“What.Happened.To.Bryn?”
Rage was an unfamiliar emotion to him.The last time he’d felt this ragey was during the showdown with Endquist, when the man was taunting both Dewi and Ken and ready to kill both of them, and Ken managed to shoot and kill him.
Donnel struggled not to answer, staring at Hyacinth, and it clicked with Ken a breath before Badger interrupted.
The old shifter held up a hand.“Dewi,” he softly said.“Why don’t ye take Hyacinth out to the kitchen and get her some food and coffee or tea?”
“What?I want to hear this, too!”
Badger looked at her.“Please?I want her to staycalmand to know that everyone’s safe here,” he said.“I suspect Donnel would rather not retell this next chapter in front of her.”
Hyacinth looked at him.“Don?”
He tenderly kissed her forehead.“It’s all right, love,” he said.“I trust them.If they wanted to harm us, they would’ve done it already.”
Scowling, Dewi stepped forward and offered a hand to Hyacinth.“Come on,” she said.“Let’s get some food in you, all right?Youwon’thear any of this, and you don’t need to.”
Hyacinth reluctantly took Dewi’s hand, stood, and followed her out.Once the door closed behind them, Ken turned on Donnel again.“Well?”
Duncan had remained where he was, and they watched him give Donnel’s shoulder a little shake.
The man nearly exploded.“He would’ve killed Hyacinth if I hadn’t taken her!”he screamed.“I wasn’t going to lose her to that bloody bastard twice!”
“What happened to Bryn?”Ken screamed back, stepping forward.
It spilled out of Donnel.Red-faced, nearly hysterical, mixed with tears and anguish, he told the story of drugging her after her baby was born and making the phone call to betray her before he ran and abandoned the baby at the parsonage.
Ken’s hands balled into tight fists.“Bryn’s baby was mymother!”he yelled at him.“That was mymotheryou abandoned like garbage!And you fucking gave up my grandmother to those assholes?”
“The baby wouldn’t have had much of a life in Faegan’s hands,” Donnel spat back.“So you’re welcome for that!”
“Shedied!Beaten to death by my stepfather when I was a teenager!If she’d known who and what she was, she might have been in a pack and still be alive!If you weren’t a fucking coward and hadn’t betrayed Bryn!”
Before Ken realized what he was doing, he dove forward and knocked Donnel backward out of his chair, punching the man as Ken fell on top of him.“She might still be alive if it wasn’t for you!”Ken screamed as he hit him.
Duncan and Badger dragged him off Donnel even as Ken still tried to fight.“You fucking asshole!Because of you, I never knew who my family was growing up!”
Ken didn’t know if it was Badger or Duncan whose Prime command finally held him in place, but Duncan hauled Donnel up, righted the chair, and parked him back in it.
“Calm down, lad,” Badger said to Ken.“We need all the answers.”
Ken’s chest heaved.“The only answer I need is why this chickenshit fucker ruined my life!”
Donnel sneered at him as he wiped blood off his lip.“Not like you had to watch him destroy the women you loved, your mate, rubbing your face in it every day, fordecades.Icouldn’tleave because I was worried if I did, he’d kill her and replace her.I couldn’t move on, because she was my mate and I couldn’t leave her even though every morningkilledme.He didn’t love her.He only wanted her to breed pups and because he knew it’d devastate me, because I’m not a shifter.Want to talk about a ruined life?How aboutdecadesof it, times two.I thought Callum would rescue Bryn.I left him a note and I tried calling him.Later, when I called Faegan and he answered, I hung up.I figured if he was still alive, it meant Callum probably wasn’t.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”Ken yelled.
“How was I supposed to know Callum wouldn’t kill Faegan?”Donnel yelled back.
“Shut yer gobs!Both of ye!”Badger yelled, then turned to Donnel.“No one’s heard from or seen Callum.Since from about that time.”
“And what if Callum had killed him?”Ken asked, struggling against the Prime order and wanting to deck Donnel again.“How were you going to get Mom back to them?”
