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Benny followed hisbrother and Jessie out of the bar and took a deep breath of fresh air. That had gone better than they could have hoped for, although he dreaded what they were going to find out in the days to come. The whole pack felt like domestic abuse victims. Not quite the same as the Hayden Lake pack — more like the Lebenev pack in Odessa. Maybe there ought to be term limits for Alphas, Benny thought wearily.
He took another deep breath, enjoying the night air, even if it was cold enough to see his breath. In doing so, he scented a shifter approaching from the bushes by the wall. “Incoming,” he warned softly.
Titus was standing next to him, and the biker team were behind them —a lot of bodies crowding out of the bar and forcing Ryder and Jessie onto the sidewalk. Benny moved in front of them.
“I’m sorry,” a young man said nervously. “I mean no harm. But there’s a problem, and I was told I could find the new Alpha here.”
“That’s me,” Ryder said easily. “What’s up?”
“I’m Miles McKenzie,” the young man said. “Duncan McKenzie is my great-grandfather? Anyway, I’ve been living in the dorm with the new recruits? It’s kind of nice to live with people my own age....” He trailed off, and then started over. “But tonight? When the Alpha fell, I felt it. And I felt my pack bonds shift. But the others? Their bonds are broken, but they say they don’t feel the new Alpha —that they’re free agents — lone wolves. But....” He swallowed hard. Benny revised his guess of his age downward. “But it’s not going well. They’re fighting, and breaking up things, and I’m afraid neighbors are going to call the cops. And they’re a mess really,” he said in a rush. “Can you come?”
Ryder nodded. “Of course,” he assured the young man, who looked relieved, like he hadn’t been expecting it to be this easy. Telling, Benny thought. Ryder looked around. “Benny? Titus? You’re with me and Jessie. Miles? You ride in the pickup with Titus and show us where we’re going. The rest of you, get that sad-sack of a clerk to give you keys, and get some sleep. We’ve got some long days ahead.”
“How many of them are there?” Ken asked in a low voice. “Maybe a couple of us should go with you?”
Ryder grimaced, and shrugged. “I’m not sure a bunch of bikes parked out front of a loud party in the dorm is going to reassure the neighbors,” he said just as quietly. “We’re good, I think.” He grinned at the man. “Don’t turn off your phone, though.”
Ken snorted, and the six men got their bikes and rode them down the block, made a U-turn at the light, and came back to the motel. Stupid way to do things, but there you go, Benny thought with a chuckle.
“Jessie, you’re behind me,” Ryder said. “Let’s go.”
“I want my own bike,” Jessie complained, following Ryder to his bike. “I want to learn to ride.”
“Need some upper-body strength for that,” Benny said. “And we need to teach you to fight. So we’ll put that into the mix — fighting, upper-body strength, and as a reward, your own bike.”
She stuck her tongue out at him which made him laugh. Titus started the pickup and Benny hurried to not be left behind.
The bonds broke, but didn’t reattach? That sounded like an explanation for the other recruits they’d been dealing with in Vancouver, he thought, disturbed. What would cause that? And the recruits had been hungry enough for connection, they’d latched onto Mei when she exerted her authority. Cousins, she’d termed it. It felt like she’d inherited a bunch of new cousins — family links, not pack bonds. Abby had said it looked like a dandelion burst on her map of links.
He blew out a long breath. He wished he had had time to talk to Abby and Cujo about the complexity of links and bonds they were experiencing. In particular, he wanted to grill Cujo. That man knew more than he was telling! Benny didn’t think he was withholding out of some malicious motive, but simply because they never seemed to have time!
He reconsidered that. Cujo was keeping secrets because he was working for Haru Ito, and that man considered everything classified. He was suspicious of someone asking him for the time. Still, even Cujo thought it was time to tell Abby more. And damn it, he was up here, not down there.
He did need to be here, he conceded. They couldn’t afford to have these two pack’s territories go up in flames. And he meant that literally. And maybe, he could learn more about these young men — the recruits — up here.
Just don’t start the party without me, he thought wistfully. He shook his head. He’d gone from being a lone wolf to being a needy bastard who didn’t like to be away from his pack.
Titus parked at the dorm building that Benny had spotted on his night walkabout. It wasn’t far from Bjorn Hansen’s house. That needed to be dealt with too. Well, it looked like the McKenzies were going to be helpful, which was a boon. It wasn’t like the Vancouver pack, where the new Alpha had a battle on his hands. Even Hiro Tanaka was having problems in Bellingham. He wondered idly about the other new Alphas in the region. There were a bunch. Maybe Abby should host them at Hat Island — a symposium for new Alphas. He snickered. Featured guest speakers? Akihiro Tanaka? Okami Yoshida? Sessions on pack management.... Well, that was a joke he was keeping to himself. Abby was likely to think it was a fine idea and run with it.
And he might be getting punch drunk — gods, he was tired.
Benny set all those thoughts aside as he parked his bike — Maggie’s bike, he reminded himself — next Ryder and the pickup. “You still thinking of sending these lads down to me in the Okanogan?” Titus asked Ryder.
“Thinking about it,” Ryder said. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
“Well, a bunch of shell-shocked shifters — and I don’t want to have to say that more than once as drunk as I am — should fit right in. Guess we’re about due for another generation,” Titus said.
The building was long and narrow. The street-side of it had offices on the ground floor —Benny had gotten the impression they might be offices for various pack businesses during his meandering walk about town Sunday night. The dorm rooms were upstairs apparently. He could hear shouts, but he didn’t think they were loud enough to alarm human neighbors.
Benny just kept his eyes on the McKenzie boy —Miles? Benny thought that was his name. Miles was nervously leading them around to the back of the building and to a door there. He unlocked it and led them inside. Benny glanced around and realized the building must have been converted from an old motel —a long hallway divided the front businesses from a back set of rooms. He wasn’t sure how they were configured inside, but his nose told him both food prep and laundry was done there.
They were quiet going up the narrow stairs to the second floor. Benny didn’t think Miles was setting them up. There was always that chance, of course, but Benny couldn’t see it. Miles was anxious, worried, and young. But who knew what they would find upstairs? It was probably at least an hour ago that Miles had left them to go find help.
Benny stopped him while they were still in the stairwell. “Quickly,” he said softly. “Do they have weapons?”
Miles frowned. “Like guns?” he asked puzzled. “No, I’ve never seen anyone with a gun. Might have some knives?”
“How many are there?” Titus asked.
