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Benny had a half-smile on his face. “How can you be so smart, so young?” he asked.
Ryder snatched up the last of the bacon just before Benny reached for it. “Come on,” Ryder said. “We need to bring in the other men and my Wolves. They were sitting out there babysitting more recruits while this group terrorized the house. What’s with that?”
“What about the guy Amanda shot?” Jessie asked.
“Scared him something fierce, but she didn’t hit him,” Benny said, grinning. “That would be a fair shot even for someone who knew what they were doing. Titus says he let you all fire a rifle three times each? I’m impressed she remembered how.”
“I wouldn’t add that last part when you praise her for defending the house,” Jessie advised, laughing a bit.
“No, I won’t,” Benny said seriously. “I have nothing but respect for her. She stepped up and did what needed to be done. And it kept anyone else from going over the wall. She did good.”
“That’s better,” Jessie said, teasing him. “That might even get you a kiss.”
“Really?” Benny said with interest. “Be still my heart.”
Ryder ignored both of them. He didn’t have Benny’s gift of light-heartedness. And it appeared Jessie could match Benny joke for joke —and he was grateful for it. Someone needed to keep his brother in check, and it wasn’t going to be him. By the time he’d thought of a good response, the subject would have changed twice.
Sometimes the seasons would have changed.
“So do we have an agenda for the day?” Ryder asked, as they went in the back door of the main house.
“Call in your men, have them bring in the other recruits,” Benny said. “We divide them up into squads, and you continue to run this like boot camp. That’s what you’ve started here, right?”
Ryder guessed he had. “Squads need sergeants,” he observed. He thought there were at least 60 recruits if he got them all collected. Not counting those up at the lodge. And he really needed to know what was going on up there. It was itching at him.
“We should have security teams up from Hat Island by noon,” Benny answered. “Split up one team to act as sergeants — that would be 10 recruits per team member. And you could assign one of those squads to work with the medic and Dennis over the serum distribution. That frees up two security teams for us to use.”
“And then there’s the lodge,” Ryder said. Great. He was going to play capture the flag with a dozen security guards?
Well, a dozen security guards, his own six Wolves, Titus, Benny and Jessie. He felt better. That was a team he’d take anywhere.
“Before we get to that, I have a question,” Benny interrupted. He was looking at something —someone. “Miles. And there he goes again. Twice while I was on guard, he came out of the house, wandered through the camp, talked to someone for a bit, then went back inside. I thought maybe he was sleepwalking, although I’ve never heard of a wolf doing that.”
Ryder frowned. He liked the kid. And Amanda had thought he was safe —wasn’t that what she had said? No, she had said he made herfeelsafe. Pretty impressive, given her situation. But it was odd. He watched him do exactly what Benny had described.
“Not out here,” Jessie murmured. “Let’s do a walk-through ourselves and go back to our cabin. We do need to talk about that.”
Ryder nodded, unsurprised that Jessie knew what was going on. He’d known her for less than a week, and he could already see she was one of those people who always knew things. Another way she was like Benny. Dear God, was he mated to a female version of his brother?
Not only was that creepy, he would never know a moment’s peace, if true. He felt Jessie’s amusement through their bond. Leaked, he thought, but it didn’t bother him. He smiled down at her and gave her a one-armed hug.
The walk-through showed that some of the young men were already stepping up to lead their friends. That was good. He needed to figure out showers though. They’d opened up one cabin for a bathroom, but just that one shower for the 30 men who were here? He grimaced. Maybe he’d leave the others in the houses?
No, that wouldn’t work. Boot camp worked because of the solidarity it created. They all needed to be here. Ryder praised those who seemed to have things together and helped one guy who hadn’t figured out the tent thing. But mostly he just walked through and nodded approvingly.
Jessie led the way back to Wolf’s Head and into the kitchens. There were three men under Cass’s supervision cooking breakfast in large quantities. He snagged a piece of bacon, thanked Cass for stepping up, and the cooks for doing their part. And then they went out the backdoor and across the yard to the cabin.
“Miles?” Ryder prompted.
“Miles is a submissive wolf,” Jessie said softly. “He doesn’t know it. He just thinks he’s not very dominant. Duncan and Dennis have always known, I guess. They kept it from him, and from everyone else. Duncan said he was afraid his brother would have turned him into a pet. But he thought that was why Amanda knew he would be safe. Her wolf recognized a submissive wolf. Duncan called submissive wolves ‘the heart of a pack.’”
Benny was grinning. “Well, now,” he said. “You might just be able to pull this pack together after all.”
Ryder glanced at him, wondering at that response. He knew what a submissive wolf was more or less —a wolf that didn’t feel the need to fight or exert their dominance. “I’m not sure that explains why he keeps going out to the recruits, though.”
“I think someone’s misery reaches him somehow,” Jessie said slowly. “And he’s moved to go comfort him.”
“Possible,” Benny said.
