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“Is he getting your soaker hose?”
“No, he’s over in his own corner, sulking because I blocked him,” she said, still laughing.
“Leave him there,” Benny advised. “Later we’ll talk about what you might want to do about the Alpha. And you’ll eventually want to make the plexiglass a bit porous so that the pack can feed you information and energy. But we’ve got things to do before that.”
“Are you going to challenge the Alpha?” Jessie asked in a small voice. “Because I don’t want to be his Second. He....” She shook her head.
“Not me,” Benny said. He grinned at her. “Ryder is.”
She stared at him. “Does Ryder know that?”
Benny laughed. “Yes,” he said. “He’s still arguing with me about it —or arguing with himself really. But when the time comes, your Alpha and your mate will be the same man. Won’t that be fun?” He leered at her playfully.
She smiled but looked troubled. “Does hewantto be Alpha? Or is he doing it because I screwed things up and got myself stuck in this position?”
“My intent all along was for him to become the Alpha,” Benny said. “But I thought I would have to beat the snot out of him first to get him to do it. You saved me the trouble. But he’s a natural at it, Jessie. Alpha isn’t just about dominance. You have to like taking care of groups of people, too. Ryder does it without thinking about it. I hate it. I’m actually much more of a loner than he is. So think of it as he will have two MCs to manage.”
Jessie looked at him skeptically, and he shrugged. Actually, if he had his way, there would be three MCs, but one step at a time.
Dinner was more venison and roasted vegetables —potatoes, carrots, onions — done in foil packets in the coals. Someone had been busy this afternoon. Benny focused on eating and making sure that Ryder and Jessie ate all they could. Ryder knew. As he said, this wasn’t his first rodeo. Fighting burned calories, and if you had to shift, and then shift back, it could burn a lot of calories. Jessie, on the other hand, was new to this. Benny was practically shoving the food down her throat over her protests.
Titus was supervising the closing down of the camp. “We might not be back out here tonight,” Ryder explained. “Probably check back into the motel by the Last Chance.”
If they got any sleep at all. Benny just nodded. Let planners plan. He’d wing it as needed around them. The big issue was really how did Jessie get back to town, and what played best to the shifters who would be watching? She couldn’t ride her own bike, which was too bad. But she didn’t have time to learn, and probably didn’t have the upper body strength to pull it off. He considered that for a moment, and then shook his head. So, she could ride behind Ryder, and that had some advantages. But it made her look like she was his puppet in this, and that wouldn’t do. That she had his back? Yes, but riding pillion didn’t convey that....
Or she could ride in the pickup with Titus. Maybe? He brought up the options to the other three leaders of this coup — Ryder, Jessie and Titus. “I want her behind me,” Ryder said gruffly. Of course he did, Benny thought, rolling his eyes. New mates? Probably hard to not be touching 24/7. They were holding hands right now, and he bet they weren’t even aware that they were doing it. He went over his reasoning. “And she can grill Titus about being a pack Second,” Benny added as persuasively as he knew how. “We’ve got one of the longest-serving Seconds in the region right here. What better mentor?”
Now it was Titus who rolled his eyes. “The notion that their kidnap victim is returning with the new pack Second has some value,” he agreed. “Doesn’t make no matter to me.”
Ryder reluctantly let go of Jessie’s hand. “Go with Titus,” he said. “I’ll see you there.”
Jessie walked away with Titus, and Benny turned to his brother. “Now, find the mate bond in your mind,” he said quietly. “Send her warmth and love through it. Emotions are the easiest. But words are possible too.”
Ryder frowned at him. “Seriously?” he demanded. But he got that inward look to his face that told Benny he was following instructions.
Jessie stopped, turned back and grinned. She waved and then went on to the pickup.
“You never need to feel like you’re apart,” Benny said. “She’s right there.” Then he grinned too. “Just don’t run the bike off into the ditch doing that, or I will never let you live it down.”
Ryder snorted. “Please. I’ve never ditched a bike.” He started toward his. “You riding at my back?”
Benny sauntered along behind him. “Always,” he promised.
“Good.”
Benny followed Ryder down the dirt trail carefully. He was out of practice on a bike, he acknowledged, and he wouldn’t live down ditching a bike either. Once on the road, however, he considered how to stage their upcoming confrontation. Maybe he should have studied theater, along with psychology. He frowned. Had he ever gone to see a live play? Not since high school. And somehow, he didn’t think a high school performance ofOklahomawas all that useful. He grimaced. Maybe he should make cultural events a higher priority — someday.
But he had done more than his fair share of mediation among pack factions. Or inciting fights among pack factions — depending on the goals of the Council when he was sent in. He sighed. He should have figured out the Council wasn’t prioritizing the well-being of shifters long before he had.
It shouldn’t have taken the brutal death of one of his informants.
And damn, he wished that had been one of the memories overwritten by his wolf in their race across the steppes of Russia. It would haunt him forever. And not a damn thing he could do to make it right.
Sin-stained soul. He wondered where he’d picked up that phrase? But it resonated. He had a lot of sins that stained his soul.
Enough, he told himself. Stage this next thing. Forget about the last thing. He pictured the building he’d seen the other night. Nice building, actually. But it had just a small landing in front of the single-width door. Jessie had to go in first. Then? He went next, as the Council’s intelligencer? Was he that again?
He guessed he was. Albeit unpaid, and informally deputized. Behind him, Titus, as the person wronged, and Ryder, the would-be challenger, there to get revenge on his pack’s Second who had been kidnapped and beaten.
