A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) (2 page)

Badger let out a disgusted sigh. “Didn’t think it’d be a short one, ye showing up this time of night. Eh, mornin’.”

“Can I have some of that coffee I heard them talking about?” Joaquin asked. “I really need it. Then can we stick the bike in the garage?” He tried for a bashful look. “And I’d kill for a shower before we head to the airport. I’m kind of ripe.”

“How about I toss him in the fucking pool?” Beck groused.

Dewi held up a palm at Beck. “Dude,
please
don’t make me Prime you. I’m not any happier about this than you are. Peyton said our orders are to get him to the compound safely. Then he’s Peyton and Trent’s problem.”

Although, technically, as Head Enforcer, Joaquin
was
Dewi’s problem.

“Good,” Beck said, flexing his fists. “Because if he’s our problem, I’ll make sure he’s no one’s problem for long.”

“The short version,” Joaquin said as he turned and headed for the kitchen and ignored Beck’s jibe, “is that I sort of pissed off the head of a drug cartel in Mexico City.”

“
Sort
of?” the other three wolves echoed in unified disbelief as they followed him to the kitchen.

“Yeah. Kind of.” He set his backpack on the floor by the counter island and slid onto one of the stools.

“How’d ye manage
that
feat?” Badger asked.

“Well, seems Manuel Segura didn’t take too kindly to me killing his little brother.”

Dewi blinked. “You did
what
to
who
?”

“To be fair, the scumwad kidnapped, raped, and killed the daughter of a wolf. Felicia Escobar. I didn’t know who the asshole was before I took blood. Had I known who he was, heh, I would have made sure I took him out without witnesses or announcing to a room full of people what was going on first.”

Beck leaned against the counter. “How many witnesses, exactly, are we talking?”

“Um, I killed the guy at his daughter’s wedding. Ten minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin. “About sixty people, give or take.”

Dewi groaned, grabbing the counter for support at that news. “Oh, you stupid fuck.”

Joaquin’s voice turned growly. “Hey, the girl he murdered was only
fifteen
years old, okay? She wasn’t a shifter. Her mother is human. He fucking abducted her off the street and raped her, then strangled her and bragged about it to his scumbag friends.
I’m
the one who found her body and then had to break the news to her family. So I wasn’t exactly in a generous mood when I caught up with the fucker.”

Dewi didn’t dare look up from where she was still holding on to the counter, head down and staring at her feet. “
Please
tell me it was a clean, confirmed kill.”

“I smelled the fucker on her body,” Joaquin said. “I have no doubts it was him. Combined with him bragging about it, I’m satisfied proof was given.”

“Why was I not called about this?” She finally straightened and turned to him. “I
am
Head Enforcer. When blood’s taken, I’m supposed to be notified.”

“Because you and Peyton gave me a standing order, based on the logistics, to take blood if necessary if I had no doubts. That I didn’t have to wait to get a pack edict to extract blood revenge for one of ours when I was certain. Well, I
was
certain. Did I mention she was
fifteen
?”

“You weren’t certain enough to know who the hell he was, apparently.”

Joaquin let out a sigh. “What I didn’t know until after the fact was that the guy was mobbed up. Or carteled up. Or whatever it’s called. It was less than twelve hours from when the father called me in a panic after one of the girl’s friends told him she was grabbed, until I found her body, and then I tracked the bastard down. It happened after some bachelor party celebration the night before the wedding.”

“Fuck.” Dewi leaned against the counter. “Why didn’t you just go right to Idaho from Mexico?”

“I couldn’t. My car died and I had to get out of there overland. Too many people are in the Seguras’ pocket locally, including some of the police and military. I ended up going south to Colombia and catching a ride to the States on a cargo flight out of Bogotá. I have a family friend who works for FedEx out of there. And I still have a valid passport there. Flew into Miami a few hours ago. First flight I could get out of the country. I was maybe an hour ahead of the Seguras when we went wheels-up. It all went down four days ago. Eh, five now, I guess. I’ve been on the run ever since. First bit of sleep I got since taking blood was on the flight from Colombia.”

“And you’re sure they could ID you?”

“Um, yeah. I was pretty pissed off when I took him out. I know at least a few people there heard me say my name when I took blood.” He cocked his fingers like a gun and pointed. “One in the balls, two in the brain.”

Dewi rubbed at her forehead. “Is the family in Mexico safe? The girl’s parents?”

“Doubtful, but Ramirez was going to guard and relocate them as soon as he could after the funeral. They were obviously distraught. She was their oldest of three daughters.”

Ramirez was another Enforcer in the area. He covered the northern half of Mexico and Baja California. Most of the wolves in that region had moved out in the late 70s and early 80s when the economy tanked and drug crime soared. The Targhee pack had relocated most of them to the US or Canada, depending on their circumstances and family connections.

But there were still a few wolves in Central and South America, enough that they needed to keep an Enforcer presence in the region. They were actually descendants from the Targhee pack, originally from the US territories when the pack’s forefathers came over from Europe and what was now the UK.

Dewi pinched the bridge of her nose, a tension headache threatening. “So who is covering your region now that you’re not?”

“Peyton said he’s going to pull Alvarez from Rio for right now. Things have been quiet there since the World Cup ended.”

“Shit.”

Nami had been listening quietly, but now she interrupted. “Wait. Rio de Janeiro?
Brazil
?”

“Yeah,” Dewi wearily said. “We’re worldwide. Well, not our pack. There are wolves worldwide. We’re the largest pack in the western hemisphere, third largest in the world. My grandfather allowed expansion territories. None of them have grown large enough, except here in Tampa, to require an expanded pack council. But we’ve got Enforcers scattered all over.”

Dewi worried if Beck’s voice grew any lower or growlier that he might pop a blood vessel in his forehead. “Why not just send
you
to Rio?” he said to Joaquin.

“The Segura Cartel has a lot of pull all over Central and South America,” Joaquin said. “Again, I didn’t realize who the asshat was at the time. I called Ramirez after I did it, when I went on the run so he knew what was going on, and that’s when he told me who the guy was. I was so focused on tracking the fucker right after I found her body, not letting the guy’s scent get away from me or losing him, that I didn’t look into his background before I took blood.”

“You’re thirty-nine, Joaquin,” Dewi said. “I shouldn’t have to tell you how to do your damn job, but you screwed up your damn job.”

“I know I did,” he said. “I’ll take whatever sanctions you and Peyton dish out.”

He let out a bone-weary sigh. “I haven’t had to deal with any shit like this in a while. I forgot how horrible it is. I’ve basically been little more than a glorified social director, keeping wolves in touch with one another, for the past few years. Or helping families out after natural disasters. The most serious enforcement issue I’ve had to deal with was settling a family quarrel between two brothers over a farking herd of cows, if you can believe it.”

Ken spoke up, his comment directed to Dewi. “Stupid question, but do you want me to fire up the laptop and see if I can get him a ticket on our flight?”

“Yeah,” Dewi said. “Thanks. His personal info is in the Enforcer personnel database.”

Ken took his mug of coffee and headed to the office.

Dewi stared at the wolf in front of her. Now that she was more awake and actually processing what was going on, she realized Joaquin did appear exhausted, weary. Mentally and physically. Probably emotionally, too. She’d had to deal with more than her fair share of horrible humans and wolves since being named Head Enforcer when she was only twelve.

It sucked to say she was used to it, because that was the cold, hard truth. It didn’t mean atrocities no longer shocked or impacted her, because they did.

She was apparently far better at compartmentalizing those horrors than this wolf was.

All this, on top of her wedding the following Saturday on the autumnal equinox, meant an even crazier week ahead of her when they reached Idaho.

As if reading Dewi’s mind, Nami spoke up. “If you think this is getting you out of your wedding, think again, kiddo.”

“Dammit,” Dewi muttered.

Chapter Two

No one went back to bed. Not when they had to be up soon anyway.

Joaquin started over and walked Dewi through the longer, detailed version of the events as daylight finally drifted across their property.

Badger and Ken cooked breakfast while Nami went upstairs with Beck, finishing the last-minute packing of her and Dewi’s formal dresses. She didn’t want them squished any longer than necessary, and they’d be heading out for Tampa International in less than two hours. Nami’s sisters, who’d stand as bridesmaids for both women, would bring their dresses with them.

Ken had managed to get Joaquin a ticket on their flight to Spokane without any special Prime powers needed, so that was one less worry. Nami’s brother, sisters, brother-in-law, and toddler niece were flying out to Spokane the next morning. Nami’s brother, Da’von, had college classes today. Sisters Lu’ana and Malyah had to work today, as did Lu’ana’s husband, Reggie.

The extra lead time would also give Ken and Nami a chance to settle in at the pack compound and get their feet under them there before Nami’s totally clueless human family arrived.

Nami’s family was unaware of the existence of wolf shifters.

Everyone knew it would be best to keep it that way. With a couple extra months of experience with wolves, Ken felt Nami’s anxiety over this. At least he didn’t have any family he had to worry about hiding this secret from.

Dewi’s family now
was
his family.

“The good news,” Ken told Dewi as he flipped pancakes in the electric skillet, “is that you probably won’t have to use your Prime juju on me to make the flight easier. I’m so exhausted I’ll likely fall asleep.”

As the sole “grazer” vegetarian in the bunch, Ken usually took on cooking the non-meat dishes during meals.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wrapping her arms around him from behind and laying her head against his back. “This caught me by surprise, too.”

“I know, sweetheart. Just trying to find the silver lining and all that.”

Joaquin sat at the counter. He’d grabbed a shower and changed clothes. His dirty clothes were currently finishing a cycle in the drier so he could repack.

Dewi glanced over at him. “What about your apartment in Mexico?”

“Peyton said they’ll deal with it. Once it’s safe, Ramirez will go grab my stuff for me and ship it to Idaho. I don’t really have a lot that I need. All my family pictures are scanned onto my laptop, with backups in the cloud and on a spare drive in my backpack. I have a few books I’d like to get back, but I’ve made a habit of living light and traveling lighter. I had my backpack with me. Always do. Grabbed it when I had to leave my car behind in Mexico.”

Badger, who was in charge of cooking the proteins for the wolf-heavy breakfast crowd, was frying thick ham steaks on the stove. “Well, at least that’s somethin’ ye did right, lad.”

“It’s going to look weird if you fly without any checked bags after getting a ticket at the last minute,” Dewi said. “Especially since you just returned from overseas. From Colombia, no less. We can stop at that Walmart down by the interstate on our way to the airport and get you a suitcase and new clothes and stuff.”

The wolf frowned, but nodded. “Okay, fine. I’m too exhausted to argue.”

“Hey, I’ll put it on the pack’s corporate card, if that’s any consolation.”

“Oh, heh, guess I can’t take weapons with me, can I?” He dug into his backpack and removed a 9mm handgun, two extra magazines for them, a couple of knives, and what looked like a collapsible baton.

“Uh, nooo,” Dewi said. “You can’t. How’d you get those on the plane?”

“Cargo flight. Like I said, I knew a guy. Friend of my dad’s from when they lived down there. Told him the basics of the story and he snuck me on board as crew.”

“The basics?” Dewi asked.

“He’s a non-shifter from non-shifter parents. Told him I was an Enforcer running from a drug cartel, which was the truth. And US Customs inbound on regular cargo flights, what a joke. They’re usually only checking crews for drugs, not weapons. And I was in a FedEx uniform. The drug dog passed me right over.”

He smiled, but it looked exhausted and didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s irony, I do believe.”

“So where’d the bike come from?” Dewi asked.

“In front of a bar not far from Miami International,” he said. “I knew if I looked long enough, I’d find one I could boost. I didn’t want to rent a car in case the Seguras somehow tracked me to Miami.”

Dewi let out an annoyed huff. “Great. A stolen motorcycle to deal with. You do remember the part of your Enforcer training where staying under the radar as much as possible is crucial, right?”

Badger spoke up. “It’s safe for now, Dewi. We’ll take care of it when we get home. No use worryin’ about it.”

“You know, we could—”

Badger spun around, brandishing the large fork he’d been poking the ham steaks with. “We’re not doin’ anythin’ about it now! I spoke my piece, and I meant it. Yer not gettin’ out of this froufrou weddin’ if I have to bundle ye up in a suitcase and ship ye cargo meself!”

“Okay,
fine
,” she grumbled, her grip around Ken’s waist tightening a little.

Ken tried—and failed—to hide his smile. Badger had raised Dewi after the murder of her parents when she was six months old. The Prime Alpha wolf looked like he was in his early sixties but was actually three hundred and ten.