A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) (18 page)

Then again, he wouldn’t be here now, and he wouldn’t have met Malyah.

Badger stared at him. “I don’t need to be a Prime to know the way your mind’s turnin’. All you can do is move forward. There’s no room in this life for could’ves. You did what you did, and what happened, happened. It’s horrible what happened to that girl. She didn’t deserve to die like that, no. But the Goddess has a funny feckin’ way of payin’ us back for the bad times, sometimes. And don’t lie to me and tell me that didn’t flit through yer mind already.”

“It did,” Joaquin quietly admitted. “It doesn’t seem right, either. Because a girl died, I fucked up, I ran, I ended up here, and I met Malyah.”

“Exactly. So maybe give thanks instead of beatin’ yerself up. Likely, that girl would have died anyway, sad to say. There are horrible two-legged monsters out there who don’t care about the carnage they leave in their wake. Our job is to do the best we can and take ’em out when we can. Ye did that.”

Badger patted the steering wheel. “Now, I know I can tell ye ’til I turn blue in the face to let it go, but I know that’s silly. Ye can’t. Ye have a kind and carin’ heart, which is another reason you’re a good Enforcer. Ye can’t be a cold and ruthless bastard without a balance to it. We want good people doin’ what we do. And yer good people, lad. Real good. Now go on and try to take a nap, because I know ye won’t get much sleep later. I’ll come by and pick ye up around five, so ye don’t have to walk.”

Joaquin’s heart ached at that. “I want to see her.”

“I know ye do. But ye need to play it calm.” He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to him. “I have Malyah’s number programmed in there. We’ll get ye a phone by dinner time. Feel free to text her. Just do me a favor.”

“Yeah?”

“Erase yer texts. No offense, I don’t want to be seein’ yer private thoughts there.”

“I appreciate this.”

“Well, makes sense. If anyone else texts or calls me, don’t answer it. Call or text Peyton and tell him for me.”

“Thanks again.” Joaquin got out, found the spare key Jack had hidden for him, and let himself inside.

Yes, the house was blessedly empty, calm, quiet.

He headed for the shower and stood under the spray, his head pressed against the wall. He wanted Malyah there, with him, in his arms.

He wanted his mate.

He ached for her.

This is going to be a looong afternoon.

Chapter Fifteen

Malyah stared out the window as they drove back to what she now knew was the pack compound. She couldn’t wait to talk to Joaquin again. To see him.

Who am I kidding? I want to hop into bed with him right now and screw his brains out.

The memory of the feel of his hands on her had been branded into her soul.

She could barely remember what it felt like to not have him in her life. Waiting until they could reveal the truth would be borderline painful.

Just a few days. I can get through that.

But how to extend her stay in Idaho? No way in hell did she want to go back to Tampa. Not without him.

Then again, once Nami and Lu’ana found out about him, they might want to kill him. Staying in Idaho might be the safest option for both her and Joaquin. At least until it was safe to go back to Florida.

No telling how long
that
will take.

Also now floating through her mind, her recovered memories of what had happened that day at the Ybor City crackhouse. How she’d gotten there in the first place.

How her father and his scumbag friends had abducted her from the apartment.

How Jarome had planned on letting the bastards rape her.

The memories almost made her physically ill. The only comfort was the fact that Dewi had cared enough about her to make her forget what had happened. To make the trauma go away as best she could.

All Malyah wanted to do was crawl into the safety of Joaquin’s arms and let him love every other thought but him out of her mind.

When Asia pulled into Gillian and Peyton’s driveway and parked, Malyah fought the urge to claw her way out of the minivan and run in search of Joaquin. The plan was for him to join her after dinner tonight.

She needed a nap.

Well, no, what she needed was time in bed in Joaquin’s arms, but a nap would have to suffice. Especially since they would probably be spending most of the night awake in bed together.

In her back pocket, her cell phone vibrated. She almost wanted to ignore it, but then she pulled it out to glance at the screen.

There was a text from Badger’s phone.

This isn’t Badger. ;)

Her heart raced and she had to fight the urge to let out a loud
squee
of delight. She knew exactly who that would be.

You have his phone?

Her head snapped up when Nami cleared her throat. “You gonna sit in there all day?”

Malyah realized everyone else had climbed out. She scrambled out, too.

“Sorry. Do you mind if I go back to my cabin until dinner? I want to lie down for a while. I ate way too much, and I’m already sleepy again.”

Gillian and Asia were going to take Nami and Lu’ana to scope out the wedding site, as well as to look at the great hall as a backup in case weather interfered with the outdoor plans.

They really didn’t need her there.

Nami slowly shook her head. “I guess that’s okay. We’re just going to finalize the layout and decorations. You can see that later this week.”

“We’ll be eating dinner at six,” Gillian said.

Malyah started past Nami, but her sister was too fast and grabbed her wrist.

“There is
something
going on with you. What
is
it?” Everyone else had headed toward Gillian’s house.

“I’m really tired,” Malyah said, “and I think I had too many mimosas.” Not exactly the whole truth, because she’d only had one during their two hours at the restaurant, but she hoped Nami had been too busy talking with Gillian, Asia, and Lu’ana to notice that. “I’d like to be feeling okay before dinner.” Nami knew she wasn’t a big drinker.

It must have worked. Nami released her, her expression relaxing. “Go on, then.” She patted Malyah’s shoulder. “We’ve got a long week ahead of us.”

“Badger is supposed to take me and Da’von out horseback riding on Tuesday.”

Nami nodded. “I know that. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin your vacation. But this is my wedding, and Dewi’s. I’m only doing this once—well, one last time—and so is she. I know you don’t want to spend all day, every day, stuck inside doing wedding stuff. We’ll be going to Spokane on Wednesday for some more shopping, a whole girls’ day of it, with Gillian and Asia. Some sightseeing while we’re there. Okay?”

Malyah nodded. “Okay.”

Her heart racing, she headed around the house and toward her cottage. Her phone had vibrated again with another incoming text, and she wanted locked doors between her and Nami before she read it.

He loaned his phone to me until they get me another one.

Can I call you?
she texted back.

Seconds later, the phone rang, startling her and nearly making her drop it. “Hello?”

“It’s me, sweetheart.” The sound of Joaquin’s voice immediately soothed her and made her long for him even more.

“Can you come over?”

“Not right now. There’s been a change in plans. First, how did brunch go?”

“What change?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. Did you make it through brunch all right?”

“Dewi was so miserable about it that she didn’t even notice. Nami was the only one I had to worry about. So what happened?”

“Peyton and Badger know about us. Which is why I have Badger’s phone.” He quickly explained, and relief—as well as a renewed wave of anxiety—rushed through her.

“Is he sure this is the right thing? To tell them all now?”

“He is, and I have to agree with him. Keeping this a secret for too long won’t help anything when it finally comes out. It would be worse to have it come out right before the weddings.”

Her stomach rolled. “Nami’s going to want us to get married.”

“That is the plan.” His tone changed. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. I didn’t mean it like that. I absolutely want to marry you.”

Relief filled his voice. “Good, because I want to marry you, too.”

“So…tonight?”

“Peyton said he’ll handle breaking the news to everyone. We have to let him do that. He’s the pack Alpha. What he says, goes. Frankly, it’ll be better coming from him anyway.”

“Give us a chance to get a running head-start?” She was only partly kidding.

“Maybe.”

“When will he tell them?”

“I’m guessing he’ll tell us that tonight. Probably tomorrow.”

“There goes horseback riding,” she said.

“Well, we get back to Florida and get settled, I’ll buy you a horse and you can go riding whenever you want.”

Not a hint of cockiness in his tone, either. For the first time in her life, not only did she have a man who could sweep her off her feet, he could actually take care of her, too. Make her promises he could keep.

“What about those people after you? What do we do about them?”

“Once Gillian gets me a new identity, it won’t matter. Joaquin Carlomarles won’t exist anywhere on paper any longer. Believe me, they’re good at what they do. When you live as long as we do, you learn how to create new identities. One of the reasons Gillian went into law was to make this kind of thing easier for the pack.”

“We can still live in Tampa?”

“I’ve officially been assigned to Tampa, but we can live wherever you want to live.”

“I really want to stay close to my family.”

“Then that’s where we’ll live. We’ll probably have to hang behind here for a while, though. At least a week, until Gillian gets everything ready for me.”

“What about my job?”

“Will they let you take extra time off?”

“I have vacation time still, but I don’t know if I can take it on such short notice.”

“Then you can quit.”

“I need to work.”

“No, you need to do what will make you happy. I’m no Donald Trump, but I can provide for us. If you want to work, and you can’t work there any longer, then get a job somewhere else. Or doing something you love, even if it pays for shit. Or volunteer somewhere. Or go back to school. The pack will pay for that.”

“For me to go back to college?”

“Yeah.”

She thought about it. “I wish I’d gone for a creative writing degree,” she quietly admitted.

At the time, she’d gone for something logical, that she could use, her accounting degree helpful in a wide variety of fields.

It’d been a practical degree, a worthwhile use of Nami’s hard work and her own academic efforts.

Something she could make money with and make a living for herself.

At the time, she hadn’t felt right about pursuing a “frivolous” degree in light of Nami’s immense sacrifice to put them all through college. Although Malyah knew had she said she was going to go for a creative writing degree, Nami would have supported her doing it.

They talked for the better part of an hour, Malyah’s heart aching that her man was so close and yet so unreachable right now.

“Whoops,” he said, “I didn’t get the charger for this from Badger, and it’s almost dead.”

“Oh.” She knew she should nap, but now all she wanted to do was cry that she couldn’t keep talking to him.

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours, at dinner. Try to take a nap, baby. I love you.”

Her heart raced, thrilled. “I love you, too.”

When he ended the call she stared at her phone for several long minutes.

She
did
love him.

Now, with time alone to think, to process, it was sinking in that she was absolutely eyeballs-deep in love with Joaquin. He was the only man she wanted. And he obviously loved her, too.

She could sit and try to deny all of this and think that it was crazy, that she was now in love with a guy who could change into a wolf, but she was realistic. She’d seen Nami fall in love with Beck—and she’d stake her life on Beck loving her sister with all his heart, too.

She could see the way Dewi and Ken were in love.

Why
not
her?

Why, for once, couldn’t the Drexler family as a whole get a happy, storybook ending? Lu’ana had Reggie and Bebe. Da’von had a chance for a successful future, if he didn’t screw it up with any stupid mistakes.

And now knowing what she did, Malyah knew Dewi and Badger would steer Da’von away from any rapids, keeping his college and career canoe floating along in placid waters until he was fully able to take care of himself.

Was it
really
this easy? That after years of struggle and sacrifice they all got a chance to be…
happy
?

It would appear so.

After setting an alarm on her phone, she stripped and climbed into bed, closing her eyes and unsure if sleep actually would come or not. She felt too nervous about tonight to settle her nerves, about officially proclaiming their relationship to Dewi’s older brother.

Of course, talking to Peyton would be the easy part. He seemed very nice.

The trouble would be breaking the news to Nami and Beck.

Especially
Nami.

Chapter Sixteen

Malyah felt like she’d just dozed off when her alarm jolted her awake. Momentarily disoriented, she found her phone and shut it off. She’d started to lie back down when her eyes popped open again.

Joaquin.

Practically levitating out of bed, she freshened up and got dressed, disappointed to realize she still had about thirty minutes before she needed to be over there for dinner.

I could walk over there.

Gillian had insisted they were welcomed to come in any time, that they had free run of the kitchen in their house, or anything else they needed.

Maybe Gillian needs help in the kitchen.

She did enjoy cooking. If Joaquin arrived sooner, all the better.

After pacing the length of the cottage several times, she made her decision. Tucking her phone into her back pocket, she headed for the front door.

She found Gillian and Nami in the kitchen. Malyah only paused for a moment before shutting the door behind her. “Need any help?”