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Chapter 20
Day 160 of the re-emerged Hat Island pack, Thursday, Nov. 14, near Kamloops, B.C.
Titus reported whatJessie had said over the phone as they parked about a mile away from the lodge. Ryder listened, but there really was nothing new. They’d known this was likely to be a trap. He was more worried about Angus Campbell leading an attack on Wolf’s Head where Jessie was.
OK, where Jessie was, with a dozen security guards, eight battered women, three McKenzies, and 80 unreliable and erratic recruits. He didn’t know if that added up to a plus or a minus.
“She said she told them to bring Sharon back with them,” Titus finished. “And not to punish her.”
“She answered her grandfather’s questions,” Ryder said quietly. “I suppose she could have refused, but it would be a death warrant. Ditto with not even answering his call — she’d never be able to go home again, if she’d tried that. No, she did what she knew instinctively she had to do to survive. No fault there.”
He looked at the men who were gathered around him. “One thing this last week has done is driven home how high the stakes are in this,” he said. “Not for me, or for you all, particularly. We’ll fight and win or die. But for the women and the children of a pack like this, they’re the ones that have paid the price for what has happened here. Paid in ways that we can’t even fathom. So remember that. Because if the traditionalists like Campbell win, they’ll take all the packs back to the Dark Ages —and we’re barely into the modern era as it is.”
The men nodded. They’d seen the women they’d rescued. They’d heard the stories about the women and children at the pack house. Probably even heard about Jessie’s analysis that the women’s inheritance had been stolen from them. A lot of them were like him and Benny — members of packs that were predominantly men. Or they’d been lone wolves for most of their lives, living among humans. The abuse in this pack had come as a shock —and he suspected the abuse in the Vancouver pack had been just as bad. He’d only gotten snatches of that story, but if Jessie was an example, it had been even worse.
“Shifters are changing,” Benny said abruptly. “It’s as if we took a detour under Anton Vuk — and he’s the only World Chairman most of the New World has known. But we veered off the path set on the Russian steppe, three centuries ago, and it’s only gotten worse. But new female Alphas? A female pack Second? We’re part of a sea change, and I’m proud to ride in a pack with a female Alpha and serve with a female pack Second.” He grinned evilly, and added, “And there’s nothing wrong with sex with a female Alpha either. I should know.”
The men laughed at that. Ryder did too, although he wasn’t planning to repeat it to Jessie. She’d tan his hide. Tan Benny’s too.
“All right,” Ryder said. “So we’re about a mile away. I want to take a look, see what’s going on, get a head count. I’m not really looking to engage. We need to get back. The house at Wolf’s Head might need us.” It had been a three-hour ride, and it was already dusk. So a quick survey of what was going on up here and then a three-hour ride home. It would put them back in Namrata for the funeral pyre.
Or back at Wolf’s Head to defend the place if they needed to.
The ride itself had helped to clear his head. Maybe he shouldn’t have come, but something said he had to. Something said he was needed here. And it had been a beautiful ride through the alpine forests. “OK,” Ryder said. “I want three men on bikes to ride on up this road past the lodge. Just take a look around and keep riding. This road ends in Kamloops, about 30 minutes from here. Take the highway back to Penticton.”
“That leaves you under-guarded,” Ken protested. “We could come back here.”
Ryder shook his head. “No,” he said. “They’ll notice. There hasn’t been any traffic on this road, and probably no bikers ever. Just go by and call back. It may be that we just turn around here too.”
Ken didn’t say anything else, but he was looking stubborn. Ryder grinned. “You can stay with me, if it will make you feel better.”
Ken subsided, and Ryder sent the other three on. Mucho was staying back too. Under-guarded? With Benny, Titus, and a half-dozen of Hat Island security guards? He shook his head.
It didn’t take long for his phone to ring. “Go,” he said.
“It’s empty, boss,” Trip said. “Can that be right? But there was no one about. No vehicles. No smoke in the chimney. I think it’s completely empty.”
“OK,” Ryder said, while thinking what the hell? “Follow instructions and get back to Penticton with all haste.”
“Got it,” Trip answered.
Ryder just stared at his phone. Had it been a ruse to lure them up here, away from the house? Could be, he conceded, but they were here now. They might as well take a look around.
“All right,” Ryder said. “We’re going in. Look alive. An abandoned lodge is not what we expected. And it could be damned dangerous.” There were a number of grim nods — vets like him who had to clear abandoned buildings and found out the hard way how dangerous they could be.
They rode in slowly, Titus leading the way with the Ford Expedition. Thing was built like a tank — might as well use it. He and Benny rode side by side behind it with Ken, Kev, and Mucho behind them. One of the Hat Island SUVs followed them. It felt good to have men he knew beyond doubt that he could trust.
The lodge did look derelict. Ryder stared at it, straddling his bike in the parking area in front of it. It had once been a two-story log lodge, not unlike the one at Hat Island. There were a lot of lodges like this one scattered throughout the Northwest and across Canada, built by hand from the logs harvested right here. It had an A-frame front entrance, and peaked roofs to keep the snow from accumulating on top.
This one was missing a third of its roof though and had for a long time. Probably since the retribution —it looked like someone had set it on fire at some point. Charred timbers formed one whole end of it.
“All it needs is some bats,” Benny murmured, and he wasn’t wrong.
This was the place they’d been using to train these recruits? Were they at the right place? “What the hell? Titus, are you sure this is the lodge?”
