Read Online Bleacke's Geek (Bleacke Shifters) by Lesli Richardson - Free Book Online

time. The loser normally has enough sense of self-preservation to back down and submit. Usually a male Prime won’t make a play for control until his twenties, at the earliest. Or instead of fighting, he’ll leave and start his own pack. Especially if he’s found a mate already.”
    He looked at Dewi. “But try pitting a thirty-five year-old man, a Prime Alpha in top physical condition, against an extremely hormonal twelve-year-old girl who is convinced she can kick that man’s ass. A girl who refuses to back down unless she’s taken down. It’s a recipe for disaster. If the loser doesn’t submit, they’re killed.”
    He looked at her, shocked. “He would have killed you? Your own brother?” The thought horrified Ken.
    “Not willingly,” she softly added. “I was pretty cocky. Peyton didn’t want to hurt me. Everyone knew if I did manage to kill him that I’d feel horrible about it after I calmed down. That’s why they sent me away. So I couldn’t challenge him.”
    Protective anger welled inside Ken. “Your own family sent you away when you were twelve ?” That explained why she’d been here in Florida for thirteen years.
    She nodded. “Peyton named me Head Enforcer first. Made me stay away for two years before I could return to Idaho. Badger and Beck had to go back with me and swear I would stay in control. Peyton made me swear on their lives I would stay in control and wouldn’t challenge him.”
    “What?”
    Beck grinned. “Let me tell you something about scrotum-shriveling terror, buddy. Me and Badger went through it, standing there, praying she wouldn’t go batshit and try to rip Peyton’s throat out during her official appointment ceremony. They would have killed us where we stood.”
    What the hell have I gotten myself into?
    She held on to him. “No one will hurt you,” she softly assured him. “You’re my mate. Mates are protected. Especially human mates, because they’re not as strong as shifters. Intentionally hurting someone’s mate is an automatic death sentence.”
    “It’s just that most of the time, the Alphas’ mates are women,” Beck said. Ken caught his teasing tone, meant playfully, not insulting.
    Ken held her closer, more for his own comfort than hers. “How old are you?” he asked Beck.
    “Forty-nine.”
    She rose up on her toes to give Ken a kiss. “I’ll be right back. Little girls’ room.” She glared at Beck, but he held up his hands.
    “Don’t worry,” Beck snarked. “He’s safe.”
    Her expression softened. “Thank you.” She headed out of the room.
    Beck watched her leave. A moment later, Ken heard a door close somewhere past the dining room.
    When Beck looked at Ken, he smiled again, this time knowing. “Dude,” he softly said, “if your unasked question is if I banged a minor, no, I didn’t. I held her at arm’s length until she turned eighteen while I took my fair share of cold showers.” He took a sip of coffee. “And she approached me, not the other way around. Before you still think I’m an asshole for doing that, keep in mind a twelve-year-old Prime Alpha wolf is the human equivalent of a twenty year-old human in many ways. An eighteen-year-old is usually ready to start a family. We have a life span of several hundred years or longer, if we don’t get ourselves killed.”
    Ken decided to take the high road. “I’m sorry.”
    Beck waved him off. “No, it’s okay. She’s right, I should have called first. I flew in early from a job and headed straight here.” He shrugged. “You want the truth? I envy you. But it’s how things are done in our kind. If I’d found my mate before she found you, our positions would have been reversed.” Ken didn’t miss the brief sadness in his eyes. “I guess I always knew it wouldn’t happen if we didn’t feel it that first time. Doesn’t keep a man from wanting it, though.” He studied his coffee mug.
    To take the pressure off Beck for a moment more than anything, Ken walked around the