AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We can pull in men from the pack now,” Duncan said. “I’ll start making some calls. We’ve got the men —but most of them had the good sense to hide and wait to see how things worked out.”
“Smart,” Benny agreed. “And you? You get any sleep?”
Duncan shrugged. “Some,” he said. “I stayed up there late. Marta needed the support. She’s been his wife for nearly 200 years. Even if he was a bastard, that’s a long time to be with someone and then to be alone.”
Might be the same for Duncan —only longer, Benny thought. What, 400 years, 500? Hard to fathom that. “So, I want Titus to head to the Okanogan with me. Settle people down. Do some clean up,” Benny said. “Give us the weekend. Then, Ryder and Jessie can come down and be welcomed to the pack.”
“And how are you planning to make Ryder the pack Alpha down there?” Duncan asked.
Benny looked at Titus. “Something Dad cooked up, of course,” he said, trying for levity even though he didn’t really feel it. His father had a lot to answer for. “Anything you need me for before we leave?”
They really didn’t need him at all, Benny thought with amusement. Oh they had some questions, but his answers tended to be, ‘ask Ryder when he shows up.’
“Fine,” Jason said with disgust. “Get out of here. We’ll ask Ryder when he shows up.”
Benny laughed. “We’re gone.”
“I’m taking Bjorn Hansen’s pickup,” Titus said over his shoulder, following him out of the kitchen. “Someone want to do the paperwork for me?”
Benny was still chuckling about that when they got outside. “You going to ride that bike down? Or do you want to load it in the back and ride?” Titus asked, looking around at the hills. “Looks like it snowed.”
Benny decided to load it in the back of the pickup. He was going to have to ride it back to Seattle as it was. He had nothing to prove — not even to Ken and Mucho who came out to jeer at him for being a warm-weather biker.
By the time they were ready to go, Ryder and Jessie came around the house to say goodbye. “We’ll be down Monday morning,” Ryder promised.
“Good,” Benny said. “I want to get back to Seattle before I get snowed in and have to spend the winter in Okanogan.”
“It’s not that bad,” Titus protested. Benny just raised an eyebrow. “OK, maybe it is.”
The banter felt good, but once Titus was out of town, exhaustion hit him. “Wake me up when we get there,” he muttered. Not that it was a long drive — two hours max. But damn, when the adrenaline left, it was gone.
The pickup slowed, and Benny woke up, alert. “Easy,” Titus said. “We’re in Oroville. And I thought we’d get coffee and decide what you think we need to accomplish between the two of us before the boy gets down here.”
Benny smiled appreciatively. “Spotted that, did you?”
“Might need to stock up on some groceries too,” Titus said. “Doubtful anything I left behind is good, and ditto for your father’s place. Is that where you’re going to stay?”
Benny nodded. He didn’t really plan to eat there, however. He’d drive into town for meals. “Coffee and cream would be good.”
“Bacon and eggs never hurt a man,” Titus pointed out.
So they stopped at a grocery store, and then pulled through a drive through and got coffee. “OK, lay it on me,” Titus said.
“We need to clean up the mess about Oscar,” Benny said. “You and I both know that if Oscar harmed Naomi, someone directed it. Someone broke that man’s hold on reality and sent him after her. And it pisses me off. Oscar didn’t deserve that.”
“No, he didn’t,” Titus agreed. “I suspect they were trying to get your Dad’s attention, and they couldn’t do it themselves. Or figured they would avoid paying the price and lay the blame at Oscar’s doorstep. And that’s almost worse than the attack.”
“He had to go down for the attack,” Benny said. “But so do they. You got an idea who?”
Titus nodded. “Might as well get that over with,” he said. “It’s also come to my attention that none of them bothered to backtrack me to Penticton when I didn’t come home. And you can’t tell me, they couldn’t have done it.”
“Fine friends you have,” Benny muttered, looking out the window as Titus put the pickup in gear and headed back out onto the highway.
“You know as well as I do, they aren’t friends,” Titus said, although he sounded matter-of-fact about it. “They’re outlaws, really. And Tom kept them in line —more for the sake of the townspeople than anything else. But they were crazy motherfuckers before Tom called the pack, and they haven’t improved with age.”
“How many are left in the pack?” Benny asked, considering that.
“Probably 100 or so,” he said. “I could give you an exact count, if you need it. And after we clean out a few of the vipers, I’ll call them in for a meet with Ryder. But we get new people, Benny. The Iraq war left its walking wounded on our doorstep. And Afghanistan. And the next war will too. There’s something about these hills that offer peace to men like me.”
