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He really hadn’t thought John McKenzie was that smart. Benny chewed that over as they walked into the house. Not a smart man, but a con man, he decided. John McKenzie probably never missed a bet when it came to scamming money out of someone. He’d met other men like him; it was an instinct for making a buck. And channeled properly, that would explain this prosperous pack. But left unchecked, John McKenzie could build up an army for his revenge on Tanaka and Benny’s father, and to elevate himself and his allies on the world stage.
And that did fit his gut analysis of the man.
He put all of that aside and set about being charming. Marta McKenzie was nervously twisting her hands again. There were other women and children peering out from the inside balcony above the two-story entrance. Although the two houses had a very different feel, the pack house was laid out much the same as Duncan’s house in town.
But this house felt more like a villa with its vineyard and a winery, Benny thought with some amusement. It had terracotta tile floors, and the walls were stucco not the lath and plaster of the town house. Both were beautiful.
Have we been here before, he asked his wolf. The wolf whined but had no answer. It didn’t matter, he told his wolf — told himself. And it didn’t. He was beginning to get comfortable with that. Sometimes approaching something with fresh eyes was useful.
The women and children might be trying for looks at the new Alpha, but the entryway was filled with men. Jessie’s questions had opened his eyes, Benny thought ruefully. He was going to enjoy hearing her observations on the way home.
“Alpha,” Marta said. “Welcome. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve invited a number of pack leaders to join us.”
“Of course, I don’t,” Ryder said, smiling at her. “I’m used to the potlatches of my mother’s tribe. I appreciate the work you’ve gone to.”
Benny watched the men in the room. They weren’t comfortable with that comment. Benny wasn’t sure what part of it had made them uncomfortable, but he’d guess it was both discomfort with a new Alpha and racism. Well, they’d get comfortable, or Benny would help Ryder take out the garbage. This pack was overdue for an upgrade.
“Perhaps your woman would like to join the other women upstairs?” one of the men suggested.
“Duncan?” Ryder said, his smile disappearing. “Perhaps you can do the honors and introduce everyone?”
“Alpha,” Duncan murmured, tipping his head politely. He was assuming a more formal attitude than he had all day. Well this would be interesting. Benny drifted back to watch, and to memorize faces and names.
Six families, Duncan had said earlier. Benny listened for the names, picking out which ones must be the other five.
“Alpha Tom George Garrison, and pack Second Jessie Nickerson, I present to you the leaders of the families of the Penticton pack,” Duncan finished smoothly.
“What!” the same man exclaimed. Fergus Campbell. “No woman can be a pack Second! What are you trying to pull here, Garrison?” He turned to Duncan. “Are you in on this? Did you welcome your brother’s death so that you could rule the pack, Duncan? Too cowardly to challenge yourself, but you’d let a member of an enemy pack do it for you?”
Ryder started to say something, and then staggered a bit. Benny started forward in alarm. But then he noticed the other men pale, and they stepped away from Jessie and Ryder, not toward him. It hit him what Jessie had done. She’d dropped the wall.
Duncan and Dennis both looked a bit grim, but at least they had no doubt who she was. The others? Well, they knew now.
“Well then!” Jessie said cheerfully. “Now that that’s settled, let’s go into dinner, shall we?”
Ryder put his hand on the small of her back and smiled at Marta. “Lead the way, Mrs. McKenzie,” he said gently. “I think we’re ready to eat.”
Benny savored the moment, committing it to memory. He didn’t know who would enjoy that scene as much as he did, but someone would. He fell into line by Dennis McKenzie.
“She dropped the wall, didn’t she?” Benny murmured to him.
Dennis nodded. “Didn’t know she was tamping things down, to be honest,” he said quietly, with a chuckle. “Something you taught her?”
“Taught her to block the pack until she was ready to deal with all those voices in her head,” Benny agreed. “Some things Abby Stafford and I worked out. I guess she was ready.”
“Guess so,” Dennis said, still amused.
Benny found his name tag on a table by the back. He looked at it thoughtfully, and then judged how far he was from Ryder and Jessie. Did he trust any of these people enough to sit this far away?
Nope. He picked up his name and sauntered forward to where Ryder was standing by his own name tag. There didn’t seem to be one for Jessie either. Well, this was certainly entertaining. And Marta was wringing her hands again. Benny bent close to her ear. “Not your fault,” he murmured. “I should have briefed you better. That’s my job, you know. I’m an intelligencer for the Chairman of the Northwest Council of Alphas. So my apology. Why don’t you check on the food, and get the first course headed our way? I’ll take care of this.”
She looked at him gratefully, and she disappeared before anyone could change their minds. Benny smiled at everyone, pushing out charm, but not letting anyone catch his eye. “Obviously a lot has happened in the last few days,” he said. “So before anyone sits down, let me instruct you all on protocol.”
“And who the hell are you?” Fergus Campbell demanded angrily. Someone near him whispered something —Benny’s name probably —and Campbell paled. Well, he might have forgotten a lot, but apparentlyhehadn’t been forgotten.
“Yes, we can start there,” Benny said agreeably. “For those who were at the challenge Tuesday night, some of this is old news. Although obviously it bears repeating since you all didn’t seem to get the message. I am Benny Garrison, son of Alpha Tom Garrison of the Okanogan pack, former intelligencer for Chairman Johannsen of the Northwest Council of Alphas, and intelligencer for Alpha Abby Stafford, current Chairman of the Northwest Council. I am a Teacher in the Hat Island pack, and a Keeper of Stories, and I’m here as the representative of the Council Chairman to see what needs to be done to settle the unrest in this region.”
He smiled at them all. No one smiled back, but then he hadn’t meant for them to. “Alpha Garrison — your Alpha Garrison — has already informed me that I will be telling stories tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday night. He finds you woefully uninformed, I’m afraid. But the basics are these. The Penticton pack kidnapped and tortured the Second of the Okanogan pack.” He glanced around the room and didn’t see much surprise. So they all had known. Good to know. “We freed him Monday, only to be attacked Tuesday by the pack Second Bjorn Hansen, formerly of the Vancouver pack. Jessie Nickerson, granddaughter of the former Vancouver pack Second and great-granddaughter of a former pack Alpha there, challenged Hansen and killed him. Her cause was just, and the pack bonds recognized it as such and honored her dominance by settling on her, and she became pack Second. As you have just experienced. I so witness.”
