“Just one of the many services we offer,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. “You’re family now. We take care of our family, and extended family. They might not be able to know about the shifter stuff, but they’re under our protection now.”
Nami nodded, smiling, a little sniffle escaping her.
“So, when’s your wedding?” Dewi asked.
Ken let out a snort from where he was pouring himself a mug of coffee.
Nami turned. “What was
that
for?”
“Because she’s the Procrastination Queen in terms of wedding plans, and—”
Malyah emerged from around the corner, looking sleepy, her bruised cheek standing out in stark relief against her mocha skin.
“Hey, sugar,” Nami said, rinsing her hands off and going over to her. “How you feeling this morning?” She engulfed her in a hug.
“Tired. Sore. Guess I did a number on myself yesterday, huh? My head still hurts a little.”
Dewi breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently the suggestions had firmly taken hold. “Did you sleep all right?”
“Between the medicine the doctor gave me, and that nice bed, I slept like a rock.” She smiled. “Hope I didn’t crimp anyone’s style last night.”
“No, you were fine. We’re happy to have you. Today, your job is to relax, lounge by the pool, watch TV, or whatever. We’ll cook out again tonight.”
“Sounds good to me.”
When Nami turned, Dewi spotted that the older woman looked near tears. Gratitude, if Dewi had to guess.
“Anything I can do to help?” Dewi asked Nami more to distract her than anything.
“Nope. I have it.”
“Don’t bother,” Malyah said as she went to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Sis is a control freak in her kitchen. She tries to do everything herself.”
* * * *
Dewi kept close tabs on Malyah throughout the day, finally relaxing later when the doctor returned to check on her and declared her “better.”
And the girl still wanted to beat herself up for her clumsiness.
At one point when Malyah was napping on a lounge out by the pool, Nami sought Dewi out in the office where she was checking her e-mail.
Dewi looked up from her laptop. “Everything all right?”
Nami closed the office door and walked over to the desk. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What you did, with Malyah? That’s what you did with Da’von, right?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“So it’s gonna hold with him, too, right?”
“Yeah. That whole spiel of having you bring him back if it didn’t was bullshit. Once I gave him the order to tell Jarome he was through with him, that was it.”
“Okay.” Nami wrung her hands together. “I want to say this and get it out there. I was real jealous of you and Beck at first when I found out about you being exes. But I get it now. I mean, I’m human. I might still feel a little jealous about it from time to time, but that’s on me, not you.”
Dewi sat back and cocked her head at Nami. “You understand how the mating connection feels. How you feel about Beck is how I feel about Ken.”
“I know. I get it. That’s what I mean. I trust you. I know you and Beck won’t ever have anything again. But forgive me in advance if I get mouthy about the past and toss it back at me, okay?”
Dewi smiled as she held out her hand. “Okay. Deal.” They shook.
Nami started to turn, then hesitated. “Did I hear you say Martin is single?”
Dewi laughed. “Yeah, but like I said, wolves feel a mating connection. He would have said something to me or Beck or Badger if he’d felt it for Malyah.”
“How’d you know where I was going with that?”
“Because you love your sister. And what better man for her than a guy who you know could protect her with a whole pack to back him up?”
* * * *
Nami and Malyah stayed at Dewi’s on Saturday night, too. After helping to clean up the Sunday brunch dishes, they stood around talking in the kitchen after Malyah had gone back upstairs to take a shower. Ken really liked Nami and hoped that she and Dewi could become friends even after Nami’s initial gratitude wore off over the recent events. He knew the older woman’s influence would be good for his otherwise tomboyish mate.
“Okay,” Nami said. “You’ve put me off long enough on this topic. Ken mentioned something about wedding plans. Do you have a dress picked out yet?”
Dewi’s face impossibly reddened. “No,” she mumbled.
“No?” She drew her head back, hands on her hips in disbelief. “How can you
not
have a dress picked out yet?”
“I’ve been busy,” she said.
“Do you even know what
kind
of dress you want?”
“Froufrou,” Ken, Badger, and Beck all said in unison.
“Traitors,” Dewi muttered.
“What about your maid of honor and bridesmaids? You don’t even have their dresses picked out, do you?” Nami asked.
Dewi’s face reddened even more, which Ken knew was a rare phenomenon indeed. “I don’t have any,” she muttered.
“What?” Nami’s eyes widened in disbelief. “No one?”
“She doesn’t have many friends,” Beck drawled.
Nami backhanded his shoulder. “Hush, you.” Her voice gentled as she stepped in close to Dewi and grabbed her hands. “You don’t have
any
girlfriends?”
Dewi shook her head. “Our line of work and way of life haven’t been conducive to a social life. The people in this area know me first as the pack’s Head Enforcer, and now as a council member. They’ve never exactly been ‘friends’ with me.”
“Then will you let me be your maid of honor?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I thought you didn’t like me?”
Nami engulfed her in a hug. “I know I wasn’t exactly fond of you at first when I found out you were Beck’s ex. Like I said before, you’re family, and I love you.”
“You barely know me,” Dewi said, sounding squished against Nami’s ample bosom.
“I know enough about you. And if it wasn’t for you, I’d never have met Beck. And you saved Da’von and Malyah. Honey, I couldn’t love you more than if you were my own child, or sister.”
Ken turned to Beck. “Which reminds me. Would you mind being my best man?”
Beck smiled and stuck his hand out to shake with him. “I’d consider it an honor.”
Ken shook with him. “Looks like happy endings all the way around. When are we having your wedding?”
Dewi finally managed to extricate herself from Nami’s embrace. “Yeah, when are we doing this for you two?”
“I did fancy once already,” Nami said. “Let’s just hit the county courthouse before we go to Idaho. Us, and Badger, and my family. That’s all I want.”
Dewi grinned. “Yeaaahhh, no.
That’s
not going to happen. You get a pack wedding, too.”
“What about worrying about my brother and sisters finding out about the wolf stuff?”
“Oh, that’s not a worry. Everyone will be warned ahead of time, and I’ll make sure we use a little Prime mojo on them in case anything slips out.”
“I’m not sure they can afford the—”
“Stop,” Dewi said. “It’s on
our
dime. No excuses. If you all are going to force me to wear a fancy-schmancy dress, then I get to do this for you.” She smiled. “Besides, I want to see the disappointed look on a certain bitch’s face when she realizes Beck’s off the market for good.”
“What?” Ken and Nami asked.
Dewi turned to Beck with a wolfish grin. “Would you like to tell the story, or may I?”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, sounds like you want to.”
Dewi launched into the tale without preamble. “There’s this beta female, Marcy Stafford, who’s had her eye on Beck for a while. Since I was a kid. She never wanted to take no for an answer from him.”
“Wait a minute,” Ken interrupted. “What about the mate bond?”
“Some wolves never feel that,” Dewi said. “Doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love with someone. The wolves who’ve never felt it, they know about it, but they tend to discount it, or believe it’s not like what people say it is. That it’s not strong like we claim. I’ll admit I thought it was a bunch of bullshit, too, and I’d seen my brothers get hit by it. Alphas tend to feel it harder than the average wolf.”
“Ah,” Ken said, understanding. “So this Marcy Stafford won’t be happy that Beck’s got a mate?”
“Nope. Not happy at all.”
“I only slept with her once,” Beck muttered. “When I realized she was five gallons of crazy in a three-gallon bucket, I backed away.”
Nami slowly turned to give him the evil eye.
“I told you about her,” Beck said, edging away from her and toward Ken.
“Mm-hmm. You never said she was crazy.”
Ken couldn’t hold back the snort that escaped him. “You actually slept with her?”
“It was just
one
time. She wouldn’t leave me alone, and I didn’t have anything else going on with anyone when it happened. It was years ago. I thought when she realized that there wasn’t a mate bond between us that she’d just drop it.”
“She’s obsessed with him,” Dewi said. “If it wasn’t for the fact that she’s a beta, and I’m a Prime Alpha, and the Head Enforcer,
and
the pack Alpha’s sister, she would have tried to snatch me bald by now, I’m sure. She was not happy the first time Beck and I went back to Idaho for pack business after we got together.”
“Can’t you just mojo her to leave him alone?” Ken asked.
“I
could
,” Dewi said with a playfully evil grin, “but I shouldn’t.”
“She doesn’t
want
to,” Beck said. “She knows Marcy’s no threat to her, and she gets her jollies watching me dodge the woman. Our Dewi is a sadist, if you haven’t noticed.”
Dewi’s grin widened.
“Well, she comes near me,” Nami said, “and I’ll set her straight right quick.”
“Wait a minute,” Ken said. “If she’s a wolf, can’t she hurt Nami?”
Dewi laughed. “Nope. Remember that morning in the kitchen with Beck after we first got together?”
Ken couldn’t forget it. He was surprised Beck’s fingerprints weren’t indelibly embedded in his neck from where Beck had surprised him and grabbed him, pinning him against the fridge.
Dewi had run downstairs and saved him.
“Well, shouldn’t hurt her and won’t hurt her are two different things,” Ken said, not convinced. “Beck didn’t hurt me because Dewi interceded and explained who I was. Plus, Beck’s a wolf of his word. What if she isn’t?”
“She won’t,” Dewi insisted. “She relishes her social position within the pack too much to violate the mate laws. She’ll just have to sit there and silently seethe.”
“Or not so silently,” Beck said. “Knowing Marcy. Silent isn’t exactly a descriptor I’d use for her.”
“Martin’s single,” Badger said.
Everyone slowly turned to look at the wolf.
Martin held up his hands, warding them off. “Ooohhh, no, you don’t. I’ve met Marcy. She’s whacked. I want nothing to do with her. Not to mention, no bond. Ha!”
Dewi snapped her fingers in disappointment. “And here I thought we might have solved two problems at once.”
“Hey,” Martin protested. “Me being single is not a problem. I’m perfectly happy lone-wolfing it.”
Dewi, Beck, and Badger all burst out laughing.
“What?”
“Yeah, that’s what I used to say,” Dewi said. “Trust me, looking back on it, I’m a lot happier now than I was.”
“Considering I’m already happy,” Martin said, “I don’t think I need a mate to make me happier.”
Another round of snorts and laughter met that comment.
Badger good-naturedly whacked him on the back. “It’s all right, lad. We won’t rub yer snoot in it too much or too long when ye find the right one for ye.”
Dewi let out a snort. “Speak for yourself”
* * * *
Nami wouldn’t be deterred. After dropping Malyah off at the apartment and checking on Da’von to make sure he was okay and not getting into trouble—he wasn’t—Nami, Beck, Ken, and Dewi drove to the dress shop.
Nami let them in and turned off the alarm. “I texted Lara and told her we’d be here today, so it’s okay.” She headed over to a counter where several thick catalogs were stacked and grabbed two of them before walking back to Dewi. “Here.” She forced Dewi to take them.
“What’s this?”
Nami smiled. “Sugar, it’s your assignment.” She grabbed Dewi by the shoulders and propelled her toward a large sofa in the front area. “Start looking. I’m thinking white will contrast better against your skin tone. Unless you want to go bold and do something like turquoise, or a jewel-tone shade of pink, or magenta.”