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Ryder swallowed hard and refocused inwardly. Benny watched him for a moment to make sure Ryder-the-man was in charge, and that Ryder-the-man wasn’t going to do anything stupid, and then he turned back to the fight.
Jessie-wolf was wary now, watching the knife. Bjorn was laughing. “Not so brave now, are you little girl?” he taunted. Jessie didn’t seem to pay him any attention. She was circling, making Bjorn move around the circle, as he kept turning to face her. He lunged at her with the knife, and she went under it and got a hold of one calf and clamped down and tore it.
Bjorn screamed, and slashed down at her, but she wasn’t there. He turned to find her, facing her again, but now on one leg. She’d done a good job — ripped the muscle so that it would take longer to heal, and she might have even gotten the tendon. Enough damage that Bjorn couldn’t move as fast. And he was angry — the kind of anger that led a man to make rash mistakes.
Benny thought Jessie had a plan, but he couldn’t see it. She needed to get that femoral artery, or to take him down to the ground so she could get the jugular or his guts. Rip open the belly, then slash the jugular. Or his nuts. Men generally wouldn’t go there, but Abby did — quite effectively. He wondered if Jessie knew about that.
It was very hard to tell what Jessie knew — she had been listening in on everything.
She kept lunging at Bjorn, harrying him, and Bjorn was tiring — that leg wound was significant. A bit higher and she could have gotten the femoral. Too bad she missed, Benny thought.
Bjorn took a step back and landed on a rock. His leg buckled, and he lost his balance. Jessie-wolf was on top of him in a flash, shoving him down. Benny caught a smile on Titus’ face, who was now feet from the fight. Benny frowned, suspicious of that fortuitous rock. Had that rock been there when they formed the circle?
Bjorn still had the knife. He got in a good slash, but Jessie-wolf ignored it. She ripped at his belly, shredding his sweatshirt and his jeans. And then she reached his bare skin. She snarled and ripped open his belly.
Bjorn screamed. “Pull her off,” he ordered his men.
Benny glared at them. They didn’t move. Really, Benny didn’t think they would have even without his glare. He doubted Bjorn Hansen had done much to ingratiate himself with the men he controlled.
She straddled him and slashed his jugular. And then his femoral artery by his groin. And finally, she bit down on his cock and pulled. Bjorn screamed. Benny winced; probably most of the men did. But no one tried to stop her.
She dropped his severed cock on his mouth. Benny grimaced at that. Do not piss this woman off, he thought, glancing at his brother. This wasn’t a mate he was envious of at all. And then she howled her triumph, howled again and again, drowning out the dying screams of the man she’d once loved.
Everyone just waited. This was Jessie Nickerson’s show. Benny considered the political implications of what had just happened. The winner of a challenge to the pack Second became the pack Second. Was Jessie pack Second for the Penticton pack? Wouldn’t that be a clusterfuck?
Or an opportunity. Benny frowned. But he too waited.
When Bjorn was truly dead, he saw Jessie stagger. The pack bond? She hopped off of the body and retreated to her clothes. She changed back to human. “It was justice,” she insisted defensively.
Benny nodded. “As a representative of the Northwest Council of Alphas, I agree. Justice has been served.” He looked at the Penticton crew. “Go. Leave the pickup. But take the body of your Second and get the hell out of here.”
They didn’t move.
“You heard him,” Jessie said. She hadn’t reached for her clothes and was standing there naked. No one leered. No one even blinked. “Take his body and get it out of here. Leave me the pickup.”
The men moved then, and Benny closed his eyes in pain. Damn it. They hadn’t taken his order, but took hers? She was their pack Second. Their wolves knew it, and the men were listening to their wolves. Hell, they were probably all but seconds away from shifting themselves.
But they quietly got Bjorn Hansen’s body, and hauled it away. They hesitated at the dismembered cock, but with one glance at Jessie, they grabbed that too. She stood there glaring and defiant until they were in the SUV and headed down the hill. Then she sagged.
She held her hands to her head as if she hurt. “Make them stop! All these voices in my head! Make them stop!”
“Easy girl,” Benny said. He walked up closer to her. “I can help you with that. Can you focus on me? Not on the voices. Not on anything else. Just look at me.”
Jessie looked at him with glazed eyes, as if she was starting a migraine. Benny winced. Not a good sign. “So think of your favorite cop show,” he said, discarding his usual water weir metaphor. What would a city kid like Jessie know about water weirs? “You know how the police stations always have those one-way glass barricades? Sound proof, vision proof....”
She laughed and nodded.
“Good,” Benny said, exaggerating his approval for her, and she relaxed a bit more. “I want you to visualize building one of those in front of all those nasty little voices who want things! Erect it as tall as you can, and make sure you get it stretched out wide enough that you don’t leave anyone out. Can you do that?”
He saw when she managed it. Her shoulders lost their hunch, and her breathing started to slow back down. Even her eyes started to clear. “Yes,” she said, gratefully. But then she looked over his shoulder at someone and started crying. “What the hell have I done?” she asked. And then she shifted and ran.
The men all stared at each other. “Well?” Benny said to Ryder. “Go after her, dumbass.”
Ryder stripped and shifted. Then he raced out after his mate.
Benny turned to the others. “Let’s get this place cleaned up. And someone use that pickup to take Titus into Osoyoos for some clothes. And for God’s sake get him some real shoes! And groceries. We may be here for a while. I like venison, but it could use some sides.”
“On it, boss,” one of the men said, a phrase usually reserved for Ryder. Titus followed him to the pickup.
