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“Was he?”
Dennis half-shrugged his agreement. “Probably. Why would she accuse him of it, if he wasn’t? Or at least if it wasn’t a possibility?”
Duncan sighed. “Doris wanted John to acknowledge the baby as his for inheritance purposes,” he said. “And he lost it. But yeah, I think the baby was his.”
Ryder looked at Dennis silently. “And what am I going to learn tomorrow at dinner that you want me to see for myself?”
Dennis chewed on his lip. He looked at the closed door to the outside, and then back to Ryder. “Do you know how badly a wolf needs to be beaten to have scars?”
“Yes,” Ryder said steadily. “You saw my back, right? A firefight in Iraq did that. But my wolf would have healed them eventually. I wanted to keep them —to remember not to trust the people who are supposed to have your back.”
Dennis flinched at that. “You’re going to see some women with scars,” he said. “I’ve done everything I could to protect them, keep them alive. But as my father pointed out frequently, I was not dominant enough to challenge him. He was a bull-headed monster, but he was as dominant as hell.”
Duncan nodded. “And I’m sitting here, wondering how you did it,” he said suddenly. “I get that you keep it tamped down. So does your brother. But you’re not more dominant, close maybe, but John was more dominant than you are.”
Ryder shrugged a bit. He wasn’t going to mention the mate bond, and how it had felt like they’d merged there for a bit. “Skill partially,” he answered. “I run a motorcycle club —full of pack and lone wolves, many of them veterans, and most with PTSD. And I rule it with my fists. I’ve probably had more fights this year, than he’s had in the last 10. And from what I’m hearing, it’s been a long time since anyone has challenged him to fight at all.”
“True enough,” Duncan said, but his eyes were watchful. He didn’t completely buy it, Ryder thought. Ryder didn’t give a rat’s ass if he did or not.
“I’m surprised no one reported it to human authorities,” Ryder said, his eyes narrowing.
Dennis nodded. “And that’s my doing,” he said. “I lied. Covered for him, I guess. Although I thought of it as covering for the family, and to prevent first-rule violations for shifters. What was I going to do? Have a centuries-old shifter thrown into the town jail? They wouldn’t have been able to keep him locked up —and he’d have blasted through town in a rampage. Maybe even in wolf form.”
“And you didn’t reach out for help?” Ryder asked, somewhat incredulously.
“To whom?” Dennis said, bitterly. “Chen in Vancouver? They were partners in some venture — I didn’t know much about what, still don’t, but I knew they were partners in something. And I don’t think Chen was more dominant anyway. Johannsen? He was the chair of the Northwest Council, but he was Dad’s partner in the lodge thing, right? I probably should have gone to your father, or maybe to Tanaka. But I’ve got family here, Garrison, and they’re out at that house.”
Ryder didn’t call him out about using his name rather than his title. “And do they have scars?” he asked quietly.
“No,” Dennis said, after the silence grew long. “They don’t. Because Dad shrewdly knew that would be a step too far. And he made sure that most of his brutality happened when I was at the office, so that all I could do was patch the pieces back together when I got home. I thought about buying a shotgun. But you know that would have gotten back to him.”
Ryder looked at Duncan, who was watching his nephew steadily. Probably knew Dennis needed to get it all out. God, what a poisonous mess to live with.
“Sometimes I think living long lives is a curse, not a blessing,” Dennis said heavily. “Men like Dad go rabid as they age. And I will have to live with my cowardice for the rest of my life.”
Ryder caught Duncan’s flinch, and considered the younger man before him. “I need you,” he said abruptly. “So don’t compound past errors by taking the easy way out. And yes, I’ve been there. Been through nights dark enough that I couldn’t see why I shouldn’t end it. You’re lucky.”
Dennis jerked his head up at that and stared at him.
“You are,” Ryder said. “You’re a healer, a doctor, in these times when we need them desperately. There’s trouble coming, and you’re going to be needed. But just being able to offer the serum to the girls of this pack and this region? What a miraculous thing! My skills? I know how to kill, and I know how to knock sense into stubborn bull-headed shifters. So I envy you, because you can work toward a better future. To making things better —even for the people you think you failed.”
Dennis stared at him, and Ryder met his eyes steadily. Dennis was more dominant than he realized if he could even do that, Ryder thought. But what a difference a father made! His father had always built him up. Obviously Dennis had the opposite experience. Dennis bowed his head, baring his neck. “Alpha,” he said hoarsely.
Ryder reached out and tapped his neck gently.
“It occurs to me if bad times are ahead, your skills might be needed too,” Duncan observed.
Ryder snorted. “Truth,” he admitted. “So who do I send out after the crowd out front next?”
Duncan smiled briefly. “Mates, right?”
Oh, right, Ryder thought. He cautiously opened the bond and tugged gently. Nothing happened. He was up and out the door before he consciously thought about moving. His men were right behind him.
“What the hell, boss?” one of them muttered.
Ryder ignored him. He stopped on the porch. Where was she? For that matter, where was Benny and Titus?
“Call them,” he ordered one of his men. Dennis and Duncan came out onto the porch as well. Ryder stepped down onto the sidewalk and looked around. Titus’s pickup was still parked out front. Benny’s bike. All the bikes were there. He counted them again just to make sure.
