A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) (4 page)

“Thank you. I mean it. I know this was tough for you.”

He took a long, slow, deep breath and let it out again. “It’s tough, but it’s a lot easier than…what happened. If I lived through that, this should be a cakewalk.”

“What happened” was their euphemism for how, after Ken had been wounded, he managed to override Dewi’s standing Prime order, grabbed a gun, and killed a Prime Alpha wolf.

And yes, after surviving that, Ken figured he could handle pretty much anything life threw at him.

* * * *

Manuel Segura didn’t just want blood. He wanted the guts, nuts, and head of the fucking animal who’d had the nerve to kill his little brother, Raul, at Raul’s daughter’s wedding, and in front of their friends and family.

Including their mother, who was now bedridden with grief. Doctors thought the shock had induced a stroke.

The worst part of this was he didn’t know
why
the fucker had killed Raul. The people standing close by who’d heard Carlomarles swore he’d mentioned “taking blood,” but Manuel didn’t understand why. Never before in their dealings with any other cartel had they run across Carlomarles, or could find anyone who knew of him before that moment.

Ah, but he would learn all of that, when he tortured the information out of the beast.

His men had lost track of Joaquin Carlomarles in Bogotá, but it looked like he’d hopped a cargo flight to Miami. The man had shown up on US Customs lists there. Manuel’s contacts in the States were working on that angle now. Somehow, the guy had made it to the Tampa area, where he’d boarded a flight to Spokane, Washington.

Considering another contact of his had tracked ownership of the apartment the animal had been living in to a shell Mexican corporation controlled by an American corporation based in Idaho, he suspected he had an idea where the man was heading.

It wasn’t anything but a coincidence and a start, and a good one, but he wanted more.

Manuel wanted to listen to the man’s screams for mercy as he slowly killed him.

He would have his retribution, if it was the last thing he did.

He would take blood for blood.

And he would make sure the man knew terror before he died.

Chapter Three

They rented three vehicles upon their arrival at the airport in Spokane. Originally, they’d been slated to only have two large, all-wheel-drive SUVs. When Ken booked Joaquin’s last-minute plane ticket, he had the foresight to add another car.

Unfortunately, all that had been available when he made the additional reservation was a little two-door Honda. Still, Ken took it, knowing it was best to keep Joaquin as far from Beck as they could for now.

Ken liked Beck and didn’t want his friend to get in trouble for beating the crap out of Joaquin. Even though from the vibes he felt from Beck—and more than a few from Dewi, too—it seemed Joaquin had a habit of engendering those kinds of feelings in some people on a regular basis.

Beck, Nami, and Badger would return to Spokane tomorrow with the SUVs to pick up Nami’s family from the airport, leaving the other car at the compound in case Dewi or Ken needed it. So in the end, it worked out better than the original plan.

Badger and Joaquin took the little car and sped off ahead of the rest of them, with Badger behind the wheel. Dewi and Beck hung back in Spokane to enjoy a late lunch with Ken and Nami.

And to let Badger put a few miles between Joaquin and Beck. It would give the other wolf a chance to get settled out of sight in the compound before the rest of them arrived.

“Where does your family live?” Ken asked Beck. He realized that during the past couple of months, while he had grown close to the shifter, there was still a lot he didn’t know about the man. Ken had been so busy with pack business, and working on the new private secure computer network for the pack—and settling in as mates with Dewi—that they hadn’t had much time for small talk.

And then Beck had met Nami.

As a result, Beck had been rather busy and scarce in his own free time lately. Understandably so.

“They’re all over the place,” Beck said. “My parents live in Maine. One of my sisters lives over in Seattle.”

“That the one Joaquin slept with?” Nami gently teased.

Beck scowled. “No. Jacie lives in Seattle. Joaquin messed around with Sadie. She lives in Little Rock. Lucie lives in Maine, not far from my parents. They’ll all be flying in next Friday for the weekend festivities. Well, except for Jacie. I’m sure she’ll drive. It’s just a few hours from Seattle to the compound. They all have hotel rooms reserved in town, just outside the compound.”

“How long of a drive do we have?” Ken asked.

“Just over two hours,” Dewi said. “It can get a little hairy if the weather’s bad, but it’s warm and clear, no snow on the ground this time of year. It’ll be an easy drive.”

“Two hours?” Nami asked. “I thought it was closer than that.”

“If this was Florida,” Beck explained, “we’d probably be there in less than an hour. But the roads in there aren’t exactly highways, and there are mountains to get through. Many of the roads aren’t even paved. The compound is located inside the boundary of the Coeur D’Alene National Forest. We own a chunk of the land there.”

“How did that happen?” Nami asked.

“It’s not unusual,” Beck said. “As the government buys up land around parks, some people don’t sell, especially if it’s a large enough parcel. It’s not just a wolf thing. Then the private property is encompassed within the park boundaries.”

“So how many people live there?” Nami asked.

“Between there and in town just outside the compound, quite a few,” Dewi said. “Especially older pack members. Ones who are so old they can’t work anymore. The pack always takes care of its own. But there are families who live there, too. Some of them even work for the pack. Probably a couple hundred people who live there year-round. There’s also camping facilities inside the compound, for pack members who want to come in and run and hunt.”

“Shifted?” Ken asked.

Dewi smiled. “Yeah. Exactly. And for people who don’t want to stay in a hotel for a Muster or other get-togethers. Some people, they don’t get a chance to run and hunt shifted where they live, and they like to take every opportunity to do it while they’re here. Not everyone in the pack who’s local actually lives inside the compound. A lot of people do, but most of them live close by outside the compound. Some even live here in Spokane. Especially important in the winter when the roads are crap. It would make a daily commute from the compound nearly impossible on some days.”

“I’ve never driven in snow,” Ken said. “If we come here in the winter, I’m going to need a few lessons.”

“Peyton keeps the roads into town and the compound plowed and groomed so everything’s usually accessible,” Dewi said. “But if there’s a bad winter ice storm or something, it can get hairy.”

“I bet you were glad to move to Florida,” Ken said.

Beck snorted. “You ain’t kidding.” He hooked a thumb at Dewi. “This one, she was griping and moaning about how it didn’t
feel
like winter our first winter there.”

Dewi scowled. “I was
twelve
.”

Beck continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Badger and I told her she obviously hadn’t spent enough time up to her armpits in the cold, white stuff, trying to shovel the driveway out to the road. Then, the first time we come back here in the winter, she’s bitching how
cold
it is.”

“Again, I was a
kid
.” Ken couldn’t help but laugh as Dewi’s face pinked up a little. “Well, it
was
cold,” she mumbled. “An ice storm, if you’ll recall. One of the worst in like, oh,
fifty
years
, according to the weather guy on TV. So it wasn’t just me bitching.”

“I was watching the weather before we left,” Nami said. “I hope we don’t get a storm this week. I saw where they thought there might be rain or even a snow shower or two coming through. Weather fronts from Canada dipping down into the area.”

Dewi perked up and started to say something.

Ken cut her off. “No, we are
not
postponing or canceling the weddings. Peyton said the great hall is large enough to fit nearly everyone if we have to move things indoors at the last minute.”

She scowled at him.

He leaned in and kissed her. “You are going to be a gorgeous bride. Think of it this way—you only have to do it once.”

That finally drew a smile from her. “True. Then Peyton and Trent will finally get off my case.”

“Well, about
that
, anyway,” Ken teased.

* * * *

Ken was more than happy to let Dewi drive. Now that they’d safely arrived in Spokane, he was thoroughly enjoying the scenery. He’d never been to this part of the country before. To the Florida native, it was like visiting a foreign land.

A few miles after crossing from Washington into Idaho, they got off I-90 and headed north, with Beck and Nami following them, winding through deep, thickly wooded valleys and past tall mountains that were nothing like he’d ever seen. With the sun dipping low in the western sky, it cast long, golden shadows through the rugged landscape.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Dewi asked.

“It is. Looks even prettier than it did on Google Earth.” He offered her a playful smile.

“I have to admit, I’m partial to Florida now,” she said.

“Why?”

“I’ve lived there a little longer than I did here. I sort of grew up in Florida. The years that really mattered the most. Yes, I love being able to come out here and literally let loose, to shift and run and hunt in a way I can’t at home, but I love the ocean and the beaches and the way the air smells in Florida. Florida’s my home now, and always will be.”

He sensed something else from her. “Will we go visit their graves?” he gently asked.

She blinked as she nodded. He hadn’t even needed the mental bond they shared as mates to know what she’d been thinking. “I wish Grandfather Duncan’s body had been found. I always felt bad that we only have his name on a headstone.”

Ken didn’t interrupt, his attention now focused fully on her and not the scenery.

“Sometimes after school,” she said, “when I was real little, I’d go there to the graveyard. I’d sit in the shade near my parents’ and my grandmother’s graves and talk to them. I’d do my homework there, read to them from my assignments, stuff like that.”

He could easily picture it, too. A younger Dewi, a girl who never smiled, who never laughed.

The serious girl who became an even more serious woman.

“Do you think that’s stupid?” she asked.

“No,” he softly said. “I don’t think it’s stupid at all. I think it’s very sweet in a sad kind of way.”

“Do you remember your father?” she asked.

This was a tricky question for him. “Sort of. I was only four when he died. I remember what my mom said about him more, I think, than actual memories of him. She’d sit with me and go through photo albums and tell me stories about stuff that happened. I remember his heart attack. I remember the ambulance coming and taking him. I remember a bunch of people, and I remember standing in the cemetery. I had Mom buried next to him after that fucker killed her. Dad was the love of her life, anyway. The only reason she married my step-father was because she thought she needed to so she could take care of me.”

“I’m sorry,” she quietly said.

“It’s not your fault. I feel awful that she stayed with the dick for as long as she did. If I’d known what he was doing to her, I would have begged for her to leave him sooner. She thought she was doing what was best for me. I had no idea he’d been abusing her like that. I spent a lot of time holed up in my room, studying and trying to hide from Dave.”

Ken hated his step-brother, who was five years older than him. Not only had Dewi put Dave in his place during an encounter at Ken’s office, but Ken had found the intestinal fortitude to beat the guy when Dave tried to ambush Ken a few days later.

“I wish I’d met you sooner,” she softly said. “Maybe I could have helped you out there.”

He reached across the seat to hold hands with her. “That’s all in the past,” he said. “I know your parents and mine would want us to be happy. We have the future together. That’s what I want to focus on, not the pain of our pasts.”

She glanced at him, her smile warming his heart and stirring interest below his belt. “We’re going to my special spot while we’re here,” she said.

“I know. You told me.”

“I’m
really
looking forward to that.”

“Believe me, so am I.” He stared at the passing landscape again. “I hope I don’t get lost while we’re out here.”

She snorted, amused. “I will
always
be able to find you. Wolf sniffer, remember? You ever get lost, just keep yourself alive and safe until I find you. That’s all you have to do.”

“Guess playing hide and seek would be useless against you, huh?”

She laughed. “Wolf pups don’t play that game. Tracking games and races, yes. But hide and seek is kind of stupid. Unless you’re playing with human kids, and then it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s pointless and no fun.”

* * * *

It was just after dark when they rolled into Peyton’s front yard. Which was a misnomer, because as far as Ken could tell, there wasn’t anything to mark the boundary between their yard and the wilderness beyond.

When Dewi pulled in, Beck parking next to them, Peyton and a man Ken guessed was their eldest brother, Trent, stepped out onto the front porch, followed by several others.

Dewi climbed out and raced over to the unknown man, who caught her and swung her around in a playful hug as if she were a child and not twenty-five.

“There’s our Dewster. Welcome home, sis.”

Peyton smiled and extended his hand to Ken as he walked over to join them.

“Good to see you again,” Peyton said.

Ken shook with him. “Good to see you, too.”

Peyton quickly made the introductions. Yes, the man was Trent, the eldest of the three Bleacke siblings. Peyton also introduced their wives, and Trent’s kids, as well as a few assorted cousins.

Nami and Beck also received a warm reception. Once the introductions were completed, Nami spoke up.