“Once I confirmed Faegan was dead, I would’ve sent word where I left the baby and then prayed to the Goddess Callum never found me,” he said.“Back then, it wasn’t possible to trace calls the way it is now.I was on a payphone at a port of call for our cruise.”
“You never thought about checking back after that?”
Donnel glared at him.“Listen to me,pup.There comes a time in a man’s life when he reaches his breaking point.”He jabbed a finger at Hamish.“Bryn and Hamish weren’t around to help me when Faegan took Frannie.If they had been, we could’ve killed him together.But they were off, and Faegan, once again, got his way.I wasn’t a shifter; I couldn’t fight him on my own.And without them to back me up, the pack would’ve rebelled without Hamish there to claim Pack Alpha.”
“I never wanted it,” Hamish told him.“You knew that.”
“Yes, I knew that!”Donnel spat.“Because, once again, you were a selfish twat and didn’t give a thought to anyone else’s life besides your own.Goddess forbid Hamish actually takes responsibility for something and puts in some effort to make a change for the good!
“Well, let me tell you what, there was no way I was puttinganyoneelse first ever again.I finally had a chance to forever be free from that man, for both of us, and I took it.Does it make me a horrible person?Sure.But my sins pale over the lifetime of evil that man perpetrated.I’m not proud of what I did, but I’d do it again in a second to save Hyacinth’s life.And before you toss pebbles at my glass house, think about how all this could’ve been avoided had you two helped me depose him from his goddamned charnel throne in the first place when I asked beforeanyof this happened!You and I damned well know he had a hand in Father’s death.Had you both listened to me from the start, we could have ended him then and been shut of him!And none of this misery would’ve come to be, so fuck all of you.”
Duncan turned,reallytook a look at Ken, and released Donnel to step across the room.“Ken, please go be with Dewi for right now while we talk.”
Ken shook his head.“No.Don’t youdarekick me out of here!Ofanyonein this room, this impactsmethe most,” he said.“This ismymother—mygrandparents—we’re talking about.I want fucking answers.”
“Well, if you’re looking for that bloody bastard,” Donnel said, “I have no clue where he is.Faegan really did leave us alone after that, as far as I can tell.We’ve lived in our latest home for over forty years now with nary a hint of being discovered.”He looked at Badger.“Until now.”
Badger caught Ken’s elbow.“At least come sit down,” he said, guiding Ken to a chair.“None of us can change the past, lad.What we need to find out is any information that can help us figure out what happened to them and if they’re still alive.”
Hamish slowly paced down to the end of the room and back.“The most logical scenario I can think of,” he said, “is that Callum called the number once he realized she was missing, found the note, and didn’t find her at the hotel, and Faegan told him to show up or Bryn was dead.”
“But how wouldn’t Callum get the truth out of him?”Duncan asked.
“Easy,” Hamish said.“He could’ve set it up so that he used one of his men as a middleman to move her, so that Faegan could honestly say he didn’t know where she was and if Callum didn’t do what they said, she and the baby would be killed.”
Donnel nodded.“Very likely.He wouldn’t have admitted to Callum over the phone that he didn’t have the baby.And Faegan wouldn’t have let himself be within distance of Callum’s powers.Over twenty feet away, Callum wouldn’t be able to do anything.And if nothing else, hold him at gunpoint.Prime doesn’t mean bulletproof.”
“I don’t understand how Bryn trusted you enough to meet with you when she was pregnant,” Duncan said to Donnel.
“Because I helped her and Callum escape in the first place,” Donnel said.“I arranged it for them.She felt obligated to me later when I told her what Faegan had done to Hyacinth and asked for their help to save her.”
“And that was probably something you kept in reserve,” Ken said.“So you could use it against her later.”
“Damned right,” Donnel said.“Why was everyone else allowed to have happiness except Hyacinth and me?At least it gave me a little emotional leverage.”
Hamish groaned.“Why didn’t you say something to me about all of this when it happened?”
“Because she begged me not to!”he said.“She worried about her family, not that they were worth worrying about.So while everyone else fucked off and had a life, I stayed behind to make sure she didn’t lose hers!I couldn’t abandon her!”
“And that’s why you never married Frannie,” Hamish said.“Even though I knew she wanted you to.”
“Her family was even worse than Hyacinth’s,” Donnel said.“Hyacinth was the only one worth something in her family, the only good heart among them.And leave it to Faegan to take theonegood thing and crush it under his heel for his pleasure.”
Ken wasreeeallyglad he wasn’t carrying right then, because it would absolutely be too damned tempting to shoot this fucker right between his eyes.
Badger touched Ken’s shoulder again.“Sorry, lad, but yer not allowed to kill him.”
“Goddammit,” Ken muttered.“Now I know how Dewi feels.”
Badger used the desk phone to punch in a call and put it on speaker.Peyton answered.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” Badger said.“And I’m here with Hamish, Duncan, Ken, and Donnel.”
“Wait,Donnel?You found them?”
“Yes.I had Dewi take Hyacinth out of the room while we… eh, chatted with Donnel.”
