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“That many?” Benny asked startled. One more fact he would have known. He shook his head. “Sorry, you don’t even know, do you? My memory has holes in it. Huge gaping holes. I know I must have met the Penticton Alpha when I was an intelligencer. But I can’t remember it. Can’t remember what he looks like. And that could trip us up.”
“What happened down here?” Ryder asked. “I was only in Alaska for six months!”
Benny laughed, first with bitterness, and then with real amusement. Ryder’s exasperated tones set him off again. “Ah hell, Ryder,” he said, sobering as he took in Ryder’s somewhat affronted expression. “I went to Russia.”
“Russia,” Ryder said neutrally. “And that put holes in your memory?”
Benny chuckled again. Then he told him about what had happened there, about his mad dash across the Russian steppe to bring the word out about what had been done to the girls, and what would continue if someone didn’t stop the Vuks from continuing their father’s reign. “The modern-day Paul Revere,” he said, self-depreciating.
“I think you need to tell stories this evening,” Ryder said after a moment of silence. “Looks like we all missed some key events. You used to be pretty good with a story.”
Benny snorted at that. “Yeah,” he said dryly. “I’m pretty good with a story.”
But actually, he found he enjoyed it.
Dark came early, and so they sat around the campfire to eat. Titus was still in wolf form; he had his head in Jessie’s lap. No one commented. Two men had been sent to watch the back road, and Ryder had two others switch out with them. Two was always better than one. They could keep each other awake, and if someone came, one would come to give the alarm and the other would continue to watch.
Trouble often came in batches after all.
So Benny sat on his bedroll —a storyteller’s mound, even if he didn’t explain to Ryder’s wolves, and told them stories. He started with the ones about Abby. About how she howled at the moon and called the pack. About how she saved Akihiro Tanaka’s life by becoming his mate. He caught Ryder’s quick glance at that, but Ryder saved his questions. He told them about the serum, and the race to save the girls. “Enough,” he said at that. “I’ll tell you more tomorrow night.”
“Thank you, Storyteller,” one of the older wolves said formally.
Benny nodded. “Do you think we can go for a run?” he asked his brother eagerly. And suddenly there were a bunch of men undressing and shifting. Ryder shielded Jessie, in case she was shy, and there was a smallish gray and brown wolf, dancing in place, as ready for a run as the rest of them. Benny laughed and shifted. He followed Ryder out of the camp, running at his left as he always did.
Gradually as they spread out, Benny realized that Jessie ran at Ryder’s right, and to her right was Titus. Interesting, he thought. Wolf? he asked. But his wolf just huffed. Run! And so Benny gave himself over to the pleasures of a run across the hills.
Chapter 4
Day 157 of the re-emerged Hat Island pack, Monday, Nov. 11, Osoyoos
After the run, Rydergrabbed both his and Jessie’s sleeping bags, set up a place for the two of them a bit separated from the others. He unzipped them both, spread out his on the ground, and hers on top. It was chilly out, but not so cold he thought he needed to zip the two together. Benny, he noted, had staked out a place to the outside of him. Guarding him as he always did.
He was worried about Benny. Things weren’t right. Telling stories tonight had seemed to help, and he was always good at it. He’d gotten better, Ryder acknowledged. Well, he’d have some time to pry the rest of the story out of him later.
Jessie was getting Titus settled in among two others who were sleeping in wolf form tonight to keep the old man warm. A puppy huddle, Titus would have called it, but he didn’t protest now. A puppy huddle felt damned good some times. Jessie came over to see what Ryder was doing, just standing there, watching him.
