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He considered whether he should offer himself as her refuge. He’d come to like and respect the young woman during the week of counseling those broken women. It was a testament to her resiliency and strength that she wasn’t broken too.
But this might break her, he feared. What was to come was going to be bad, no matter how it went down. Benny knew that Abby expected him to pass on the intelligence they’d gathered from their attackers, but he hadn’t figured out how to start the conversation. He, Benny Garrison, at a loss for words?
But how do you tell a young woman that the fiancé she loved, and had been fiercely determined to find, was probably the man who had sent those teams of wolves after them —and not to find her either. No, he’d made no effort to find her. She’d searched the whole Vancouver area for him all week since her escape. She’d go off for a morning or an afternoon, coming back grimmer each time.
The bastard. He’d abandoned her. And if he was strong enough to become pack Second in Penticton, then he had been strong enough to sneak Jessie out and take her with him. But he hadn’t. He’d left her there.
Had he known what he’d left her to? Benny considered that. Maybe not, when he left Vancouver after being banished, Benny conceded. But Penticton had been a part of the pipeline that had supplied Chen with his soldiers. By the time he challenged for pack Second, he had to have known his fiancé was going through hell.
Benny was cold-eyed and grim as he thought about why a man would do that. He hoped he’d be the one to take the bastard down and beat answers out of him. It would be a pleasure.
“OK, listen up,” Ryder said. “We all know the bar here. Last Chance. It’s not a bar the Penticton pack frequents. It’s a biker bar. A bar for men like us.” He smiled lazily at Jessie. “And our women.” Jessie blushed and laughed.
“So we’re going to go over there, park our bikes out front, and we’re going to have a good time,” Ryder continued. “But mostly we want to know what’s going on in town? You know the drill. We just went through this in Omak and Okanogan a week ago. Collect the dirt. We’ll figure out what it means in the morning — when we’re sober.”
There was more laughter at that. “So, don’t get into a fight I can’t get you out of,” Ryder said cheerfully. “Don’t flirt with a woman you can’t leave behind. And we’re leaving town early. We’re in Penticton pack territory, and I’m not ready to take them on directly, not yet. So we get up, eat breakfast across the street, and head out. We’ll set up camp down by Osoyoos. That’s outside of Penticton territory, and if they come for us, it’s not far to Dad’s territory where we have backup.”
The men nodded at that.
Ryder continued, “In particular, we’re looking for a newcomer to town. A man named Titus Black, although he may not be known under that name. He looks to be 40, but hard years, weathered, rawhide thin. Given to wearing cowboy boots and hat. He’s Dad’s Second, for those of you who don’t know, and we think he may have been kidnapped and held here.”
Ryder let out a long breath, and the next piece was said to the men, but he was looking at Jessie as he said it, “And keep your ears open for another newcomer, a college boy, Norwegian, 25, named Bjorn Hansen. We need to know all we can about him. We think he might be the new Second of the Penticton pack.”
Jessie met his eyes and nodded. Benny was relieved; at least she knew that much.
“I don’t have to remind you, we’re going into a human bar and we act as humans. That means pull your punches!”
The men laughed.
“All right, you’ve got an hour,” Ryder said. “Get some showers. You need them.”
The men laughed again, good-natured about the insult, and headed off to their rooms. Benny followed them slowly to his own. He felt protective of Jessie, he acknowledged. Benny glanced back at the two of them, who were heading to their own room —the one closest to the motel’s front office. He watched them carefully, worried Jessie didn’t know what she was getting herself into.
But then he caught the expression on Ryder’s face and blinked. Oh, he thought, enlightened. My baby brother is falling in love.
Did he even know?
Benny shook his head. Well, that will add a twist to the drama ahead, he thought sourly. Shit.
