A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) (16 page)

“Okay.” Still, Malyah’s explanation didn’t feel totally right to Nami. Her eyes looked brighter, her expression lighter, hell, she almost looked like a new woman in some ways.

The women gathered in Gillian’s house. They would all fit in Asia’s minivan, so they took that.

Nami felt slightly vindicated when Dewi cocked her head just before Malyah climbed into the van and headed straight for a seat in the very back.

“Are you all right, Malyah?” Dewi asked, a curious expression on her face.

“Why?” Malyah replied, her voice almost sounding a little too tight and high to Nami’s well-trained ears. “Just enjoying this week of vacation.”

Dewi frowned. Then she turned and caught Nami’s gaze. Dewi arched an eyebrow at her and Nami arched one in return, nodding. Then she shrugged, and so did Dewi, before they both climbed in.

“We have a reservation,” Gillian said. “Just wait until you taste their food.”

“I’m sure it’ll be wonderful,” Nami said, shoving Malyah’s slight weirdness out of her mind. It was an odd week, and then there was the stress of meeting all of Beck and Dewi’s family. Maybe they were all just a little high-strung.

I’m sure everything’s fine. She’d a told me if it wasn’t.

* * * *

Joaquin had slipped back into Jack and Moraine’s house just after dawn, relieved to not hear either of them up and around yet. He immediately took a shower before heading to bed.

Not that he’d get much sleep. Especially not with Badger coming to get him in a few hours.

So far, so good. If they could make it through dinner last night, they should be able to make it through the rest of the week. Being able to spend all last night with Malyah had been a massive salve to his soul, even though the last thing he’d wanted to do this morning was leave her side.

And every night he would return to her and spend the night with her. It’d be far too risky bringing her back to Jack and Moraine’s. He wouldn’t be able to swear them to secrecy when they knew about his history with Beck. They would feel obligated to tell Peyton, at the very least. He also didn’t want to put them in the position of having to cover for him. If anyone asked him where he was going, he’d just say he was taking the opportunity to get nightly running out of his system, both to work through what happened in Mexico and because he didn’t know what his next assignment would be, or how often he’d be able to do shifted running while there.

Those would be perfectly plausible explanations that were close enough to the truth that he didn’t feel totally shitty about telling them.

Beck would be in meetings with Dewi, Peyton, Trent, and Badger for most of the week, handling pack business. It’d be easy for Joaquin to avoid them.

Although getting alone time during the day with Malyah might be trickier. According to Malyah, Nami still had some last-minute things to take care of for the weddings and would need her help. The Tuesday horseback riding trip would be one he might be able to get himself invited to.

Then again, it’d be another distraction to help prevent their secret from being discovered. He wasn’t sure what would happen at the wedding with that strapless bridesmaid dress, though. Nami might not immediately realize what the mark on Malyah’s shoulder meant, but Dewi, Gillian, and Asia would immediately pick up on it, as would Beck and any other wolf in attendance.

Cue mayhem.

Malyah had assured him she would handle it. While he appreciated his mate’s certainty on the matter, he doubted it would escape anyone’s notice.

He managed to catch a nap before he had to be ready when Badger arrived. The older wolf drove one of the rental SUVs and had Bebe in a carseat in the backseat. She grinned and waved at Joaquin when he climbed in.

“Hi!”

He smiled. “Hi.” He glanced at Badger. “Are we now Grandpa Badger?”

“Shut yer gob,” he lightly said. “I’m enjoyin’ meself, I won’t deny it.” He let out a wistful sigh. “Tahlia always wanted a houseful of pups and grandpups. She woulda loved this wee little one.”

Then he scowled and turned fully to face Joaquin.

Joaquin’s heart nearly stopped.

Before Joaquin could dive out the passenger door, Badger’s right hand shot out and caught his left wrist.

Immediately, Badger’s eyes widened. “Son of a bit—biddy,” he said, glancing toward the toddler in the backseat. “Ye
didn’t
?”

Joaquin swallowed but didn’t respond.

The older wolf’s voice dropped to a whisper. “And when, pray tell, were ye plannin’ on
sayin
’ somethin’?” He released Joaquin’s wrist.

“Please, don’t say anything about this yet. We don’t want to upstage Nami and Dewi’s weddings.”

“Ye mean ye don’t want Beck huntin’ ye down and skinnin’ ye alive, if Nami don’t do it first!” He threw his head back against the seat, rolling it from side to side. “Joaquin, ye feckin’ idiot.” But his tone sounded resigned, not scolding.

Finally, he looked at Joaquin again. “We
have
to tell Peyton. He’s yer pack Alpha. Ye canna keep a matin’ from him. It’s against protocols. Ye know that. Especially when we’re all here for a Muster, for chrissake,
and
ye bein’ an Enforcer and all. How’d ye think it’d look if word got out ye were keepin’ secrets like this from yer pack Alpha, regardless of the reason?”

“I don’t want anyone knowing yet. I was planning on telling him after the weddings.”

“I knew something was off with ye last night. I just
knew
it, but I blamed it on yer nerves.” He shook his head again. “Lad, ye have. To tell. Peyton. Ye
have
to present yer mate to him.”

“Well, moot point anyway. She’s out at brunch with the other women right now.”

Badger stared out his window for a moment and slowly scratched at his head. Finally, “Okay. Beck and Trent ran out to the north campground a little bit ago. Someone called in a fracas between a couple of teenage boys. Some cousins who’ve scrapped before. Nothing serious, but Peyton wanted Beck to go wade in and settle it once and for all, put the fear of the Enforcers in them while they’re still young enough to feel fear. We need to get back to Peyton’s before they do, and ye
have
to tell him, lad. Maybe he’ll let ye do the formal presentation in private after everyone goes to bed or something. But ye canna hide it from him. Especially since she’s stayin’ under his roof!”

Joaquin slumped back in his seat. “I really wanted to stay out of everyone’s way. I just… She’s my
mate
, Badger.”

“I know, lad. I know. That explains the rosemary, aye? Trying to cover the scent?”

“I thought it couldn’t hurt.”

He laughed as he shifted the SUV into reverse and backed out of the driveway. “It’ll hurt ye if Asia realizes ye been snipping the holy hell out of her bushes. Goddess help ye then, because none of us will get between her and ye if she does. Trent’s liable to let her take a strip outta yer hide just for shits and grins.”

That felt like the longest drive of Joaquin’s life, even though it was only a couple of miles and a few minutes long. When they reached Peyton’s, Joaquin grabbed Bebe’s diaper bag while Badger got the toddler released from her car seat and out of the vehicle.

She let out a giggling laugh as she grabbed at his hair.

“Eh, don’t go rippin’ it out, lassie,” Badger gently teased. “I need what I still got.”

“Does she take to you because you’re a Prime and you used it on her?”

“No, I thought that at first. But she loved Gillian and Asia on sight, and they’re not Primes. Dewi, Beck, and Martin, too. She must just naturally take to wolves.”

“Odd.”

“Eh, not necessarily. Some humans are very attuned.” He turned to arch an eyebrow at Joaquin. “And since two women in this family have mated to wolves, maybe it’s not so odd after all.”

Joaquin’s face heated but he didn’t reply as he followed Badger inside.

“We’re back,” Badger called out as they entered without knocking.

“I’m in the office,” Peyton called in reply.

Joaquin followed Badger there. Peyton’s office was actually a conference room, much like a judge’s chambers. Peyton’s desk sat at one end of a long conference table that would seat up to twelve, or more, if they shoved a few extra chairs around it. It was where they’d talked to Joaquin yesterday morning as he went over the detailed timeline of the events in Mexico.

“Before we do anything else,” Badger started, “and before Beck returns, there’s something Joaquin needs to tell ye, Sir.”

Peyton had been reading over some papers. At Badger’s use of the formality, his head snapped up, his full attention focused on Joaquin. “What?”

Joaquin nervously swallowed and stepped forward, his fingers wrapping around the strap of the diaper bag.

“Sir, I…that is, we…
I
…” Hell, he hadn’t felt this scrambled yesterday when facing down all of them to talk about the events in Mexico.

Peyton leaned back in his chair. “Just say it and drop the formalities.”

“I’ve…taken a mate.”

Peyton sat forward again. “Say
what
? When? And
who
?”

Another deep breath. “Malyah Drexler, Sir. And late yesterday afternoon, before dinner.”

Peyton’s brow furrowed. “But they just arrived yesterday afternoon. And…” Now his eyes widened. “Oh, shi-oot,” he corrected himself as he glanced at the toddler in Badger’s arms. “You didn’t meet her before you left Florida, did you?”

“No, Sir. I arrived at Dewi’s and literally a few hours later, I was on a plane here with them. Malyah and the others flew in yesterday.”

Peyton sat back. Again. “Son of a bi-iscuit.” He let out a laugh. “Holy shoot. Okay, that explains the rosemary.”

Joaquin felt his face heat even more.

“Gillian commented on it last night after we were alone,” Peyton continued. “You’ve already marked Malyah, I take it?”

Joaquin nodded.

“Sorry, that was a stupid question. Of course you did, she’s your mate.” Peyton rubbed at his chin for a moment. “Okay. So who else knows?”

“Just Badger, and now you, Sir.”

Peyton waved a hand at him. “Drop the ‘Sir’ for now. It’s fine.” He slowly shook his head in disbelief. “Beck is going to have a shi-hissy fit.” He stared at Bebe, his head cocked. “I hope to the Goddess you don’t leave here with a potty mouth, little girl.”

She grinned, pointing at him. “Peyton poddy mowf!”

Peyton laughed before he returned his attention to Joaquin. “You realize this is a pretty big deal, and not exactly an uncomplicated one, right?”

“I know. That’s why I wanted to try to keep this from everyone until after the weddings. I was going to bring her to you for the formal presentation after that so we didn’t upstage Dewi and Nami.”

“Well, that was very magnanimous of you, but not exactly an easy plan to pull off, as you discovered.”

“Sorry.”

Peyton stared at him for a moment. “Okay. I’m guessing you weren’t really out on an all-night run last night?”

“No.”

“Spent it with her in the cottage?”

Joaquin nodded.

“Spending tonight with her, too, I take it?”

“That was the plan, yes.”

Peyton thought some more. “Tonight, late, once everyone’s settled for the night, I’ll come out to the cottage around midnight and you can formally present her to me. Please try to be dressed by the time I get there. It’s better I walk out to you. I’d rather not risk Beck or Dewi or someone seeing you and her together walking across the yard that late at night. If anyone spots me, I’ll say she was having trouble with the washing machine, or the WiFi, or something, and I was going out to help.”

Joaquin felt an ocean of relief flow through him. “Thank you. I really appreciate that.”

“We are, however, going to have to break this to them before the weddings.”

The relief flooded out again. “Before?”

“Yeah. You’ve claimed her. Might as well go for a triple wedding while you’re here instead of trying to plan another pack wedding. The less often we have to expose her other siblings to the pack, the better. I’ll call your parents and fly them in for Saturday, but I won’t tell them why so they don’t spill the beans yet.”

“Thank you, Sir. I mean, Peyton.”

He smirked. “Oh, you thank me
now
. When we break the news, prepare to run. I’ll take care of actually breaking the news, but I will not automatically Prime Beck and Nami into not coming after you.”

Badger chuckled. “Ah, poor Marcy Stafford. I’d already heard she’d had plans to try to hook up with the lad this week, now that she knew he was in the area. Joaquin,” he clarified, tipping his head toward him. “Not Beck.”

Joaquin shuddered. “No, thank you. Sorry, Marcy is
not
my type.”

Bebe let out a giggle.

“Good thing yer too young to understand any of this, my little lass,” Badger told her before blowing a raspberry against her palm.

“She’s a gorgeous little girl, isn’t she?” Peyton noted.

Joaquin picked up the wistful hint in the wolf’s tone.

“Yes,” Badger said. “I saw Gillian is quite taken with her.”

Peyton suddenly found his hands very interesting. “We’re going away for a week together after the Muster is over and everyone goes home. I’m hoping…”

He let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know what I’m hoping. That’s the one thing Dad always drilled into me and Trent. That just because we were Alphas, and especially since I was a Prime, not to force our mates to do anything like that. I’m not going to lie and say I wish we didn’t have pups of our own.” He pointed at Joaquin. “And I hear you repeated that to
anyone
, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

Joaquin held his hands up. “I didn’t hear a dam-arn thing.”

“Smart man.”

Badger snorted. “Not smart enough to hide the fact he’s mated.”

Bebe laughed and blew a raspberry at Joaquin.

* * * *

“This is very nice,” Lu’ana told Gillian and Asia. “Thank you both so much for bringing us here.”

The large inn had a spacious dining room. One wall was a huge stone fireplace, the opposite wall made up of floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto the panoramic drop into the picturesque valley below. Exposed timbers and wood gave the place an old, rustic feeling even though the tables were set with fine china.