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The women snickered. Abby grinned. “Yeah,” she said. “Like a wolf. And like you’ll never be able to go home again.”
“So Ricci said my grant funder would take care of the women personally,” Stefan said with difficulty. “And he did. Jedediah Jones would show up at the end of each cohort and take you women away for his reintegration program.”
“You had to know he wasn’t doing this for the good of humanity,” Olivia said. “You only had to meet the man to know he was bad news.”
Stefan nodded. “But we were in too deep,” he said. “If we didn’t turn over the women, he’d pull the funds and shut us down. We were so close. So I turned a blind eye to it. God help me, I figured he was placing you all in packs where he wanted the good will of the Alpha. It never occurred to me that he was selling you. I’m not even sure I knew human trafficking existed.”
“But Cujo knew,” Olivia said, with a glance at her mate.
“Cujo knew,” Stefan said. “He tried to tell me. But I wouldn’t listen. I’d known Cujo since we were boys. And I treated him like he was still a hillbilly from north Idaho, instead of the knowledgeable worldly man he’d become. I can be a bit narrowly focused,” he confessed.
The entire house broke out into laughter to Stefan’s bewilderment.
Abby laughed too. “Let’s pause there, and everyone can get more coffee,” she suggested. “King? Do you have food?”
Of course he did. What enterprising young hotelier couldn’t serve breakfast for a hundred at 2 a.m.?
Even Benny ate some at Karen’s quiet urging.
Abby went to confer with Olivia and the other women in the panel box. “Where next?” she asked.
“I have some questions for Yui,” one of the women said. Abby nodded.
“Anyone else?”
Olivia said finally, “I think they need to hear what we went through. But I’m not sure I can talk about it.” She glanced at the other women. “Anyone?”
The women were silent. Slowly they shook their heads. “No,” one said frankly. “I’m barely holding it together on good days. So I agree, they need to know. But I’m not sure....” She laughed a bit. “You know who could speak for us? Ironically, it’s Benny. He knows more than anyone else what we’ve been through. He’s been here day in and day out listening to us, comforting us. He’s done more than anyone to help.”
Abby considered that. “Are you willing to say that?” she asked slowly. “To ask Benny to talk for you?”
The women looked at each other, and slowly nodded. “Yes,” the woman said finally. “Let the Keeper of Stories speak for us.”
Abby reconvened the group. “Benny? Can you tell everyone what caused you to think you should die?”
Benny shook his head. Karen whispered something, but he didn’t speak. Finally Maggie looked at him. “Suck it up, Benny,” she said. “You owe us an answer to that.”
Benny glanced at her, and then he nodded. “When we rescued the women from the Vancouver pack house, a lot of us thought well, what we did was bad, but at least we didn’t do that,” he began. “But as I worked with the women, I realized what we had done was worse. The once-human women of Vancouver knew that the Vancouver pack was full of evil bastards who had done this evil thing to them. But the women down here? They thought we were their friends, and they felt betrayed. They had every right to feel like that too.”
Benny swallowed hard. He stared at the floor in front of him, not meeting anyone’s eyes. It made Abby hurt for him. Could she really do what she intended?
Yes,Olivia said in her mind.For his sake.
Abby agreed.
“So I was struggling with that, and then we went to Penticton, and things got worse. And then even worser,” he said a wry grin. There was sympathetic laughter, because didn’t that sum up life lately? “I went to Okanogan, where I grew up.” And Benny told them about Naomi George, and what Ryder and Jessie had said.
“And I realized that’s what we did you to you,” Benny said directly to the women. “We said your lives didn’t matter. That your accomplishments, your community, your friends — none of that mattered. We took you for our own purposes — laudable as they were —and then when we were done, we threw you away, and didn’t even bother to check and make sure you were OK. And quite frankly, we all deserve a death penalty for that, and for what you went through because of our callousness.”
There was silence at that. Stefan was looking pale. Even Jake was looking appalled, and he usually didn’t show much emotion. Well, there was a reason Benny Garrison was a Keeper of Stories.
“Yui?” one of the women said timidly. “You are one of the most ethical women I know. And you went along with this?”
Yui nodded. “I did want to check on you,” she said softly. “I thought that perhaps when the serum was in production, I would propose site visits. Of course, we thought you were with packs that could be visited. But even those of you who were placed in packs faced some awful experiences.” She looked at Rose with sorrow. “But God help me, I couldn’t say no to this. If the serum worked?” Yui choked up.
It was Okami who finished for her. “I knew,” he said quietly. “Oh, I didn’t know Jones —he was based primarily in Europe. But I knew as soon as I saw Ricci that this wasn’t on the up and up. I know a predator when I see one. I tried to back Cujo when he protested. But truthfully? I’m a very old shifter —over 400 years old.” There was a murmur through the crowd. Okami looked 35. “I’ve done much worse than this in my life for a lot less gain.”
He looked at his daughter. “And this late in life, I have been blessed with a family — with a mate, a daughter and a son. Joy was 10 when we started this project. And because of it, she will live. That was worth any sacrifice. My only regret is that the sacrifices were made by you, not by me. Because I would have counted nothing too high to pay for the life of my daughter, and the lives of all of these girls.”
