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“Wrap it up, boys,” Benny said. “And I’m buying.” He pulled out his wallet, multiplied nine times big appetites and threw down enough money to cover it, and give the woman a large enough tip to reward her for coming to talk to Ryder about a bum.
Titus Black, he thought. It had to be. Somehow, he got himself here. Pack bond? Maybe. He might have felt there was Okanogan pack in town. Ryder was pack, after all, and Benny thought maybe two of the others were as well.
He smiled at Jessie. “Let’s go,” he said. He considered the logistics. They needed to get checked out, settle up over at the motel, and load up the bikes. Once in the parking lot, he looked at everyone. “I want you all on your bikes and ready to go in 10. Grab everyone’s bags,” he said tersely. The men didn’t argue, they just headed across the highway, back to the motel.
“Jessie, you need to pack up Ryder’s stuff and your own, and haul it out,” Benny said. He handed her his room key. “Grab my bag for me, if you would. I’m going inside to pay.”
She nodded and moved faster. Benny looked around — no Ryder. He didn’t see the two men he’d sent after Ryder, but he didn’t see any disturbances either. He took a deep breath and let it out, sending his senses outward. The only shifters he scented were their own —and the one Ryder was helping. So the bum was a shifter, he thought, convinced it had to be the man they were looking for.
Ryder and the others were still behind the restaurant. Well, if they hadn’t crossed the street by the time he’d paid, he’d go after them.
If it was Titus Black, and he’d somehow escaped from wherever the Alpha had him stashed, the Penticton pack would be coming after him soon. Benny considered that as he waited to sign the credit slip. Titus hadn’t been at the Alpha’s, nor at Hansen’s. Someplace else. Didn’t matter really. Titus might have sensed him doing a search pattern for all he knew. They no longer shared a pack bond, but Titus had known Benny since he was a teenager. He might sense him. Or just sense a strange shifter. Who knew what that crafty old man could do?
Benny thanked the office manager and pocketed his wallet. Time to get this show on the road. He saw Ryder across the street at the corner of the restaurant where they were better hidden than the motel parking lot. Good job. He looked at the men crowded around their bikes. “You two, mount up, head out slowly,” Benny said, with a quick gesture of his head. No one questioned his right to give orders. He let a bit more of his dominance show, just in case someone might. The two men got on their bikes and road out, slowly, without looking around. Good.
“Be prepared,” Benny said softly to Jessie. “Ryder’s going to come over with our new guest, and you need to hop on behind him, and get out of here.”
She nodded, her face pale but determined.
“All right,” he said to the other two men. “Off you go. We want a long string of bikes to make it hard for anyone to get an accurate count of how many bikes, and how many riders.” The next two men headed south after the first two.
And Ryder brought Titus Black across the road. He had his arm under the man’s shoulder. The other two men were guarding his back.
“Good,” Benny said. “He rides pillion behind me.” He straddled his own bike, and the men got Titus settled on behind. One of them put a helmet on him. Benny didn’t know where it came from — stole it for all he knew — and he didn’t care. He was just grateful for the man’s ingenuity. A helmetless man was noticeable.
And that was the one thing they couldn’t afford.
Benny wasn’t sure Titus was completely conscious. “Ryder get out of here,” he ordered. Ryder didn’t comment, just mounted his bike. Jessie jumped on behind, and they were gone.
“Titus? It’s Benny,” he hissed over his shoulder. “You need to hold on tight. Remember me? We’ve got you, man, so just hang on.”
“Never fell off a horse, not going to start now,” the man slurred.
Close enough. “I’m out,” Benny said. “You two are bringing up the rear.” He didn’t wait for an answer. He just headed down the road toward Osoyoos.
Benny rode slowly. He wasn’t sure he could hold Titus on, if he started to fall. He hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but Titus had been in bad shape. What was the point in that? He pondered that question as he rode. He realized Titus was shivering — cold. Benny pulled over, took off his jacket, and made Titus put it on. Titus protested. “You’ll keep my back warm,” Benny pointed out. “This will keepyourback warm.”
He got back on the bike and waited until the two men behind him caught up. Relieved that there’d been no trouble for the last of them, he rode on. It was 40 miles, and usually took an hour, if he remembered correctly. As always, it was frustrating to remember something that trivial, but then not being able to picture the Penticton Alpha which would actually be useful.
Well, he’d forgotten more important things than a no-account Alpha. He could deal.
Even as slow as they were going, Ryder was going slower, because they caught up to him about 10 miles out of town. At the 20-mile marker, they caught up with the others. As a bunch again, Benny felt safer. All his chicks were in sight, he thought with amusement.
Of course, Ryder thought they werehischicks. Benny chuckled.
It was a hard ride this morning, and it took closer to two hours. They couldn’t go very fast — if Titus slid off, they needed to be at a speed he’d survive the fall. And the quick look he’d gotten of the man said he couldn’t survive much more.
Which brought him back to the question: Why would the Penticton Alpha brutalize the man? For the pleasure of it? Because McKenzie was frustrated? Because he thought Titus Black knew something that he wanted to know? Like where the Okanogan Alpha was?
Benny considered that. The Penticton Alpha couldn’t challenge for the Okanogan pack, because the Okanogan Alpha wasn’t around to be challenged. But surely John McKenzie didn’t think he could win a challenge fight against his father? McKenzie couldn’t bethatstupid.
Brutalizing the pack Second had to be part of what was agitating the other wolves in the Okanogan pack; Benny worried about that. No wonder they were even more unstable than usual. They’d all feel it through the pack bonds, even if they didn’t know for sure what it was they were feeling. Benny shuddered. This man had been in captivity for months. Months of abuse, filtering through the pack bonds? Dear God.
He’d gotten some of that with Cujo last summer. Cujo — and Abby — had managed to keep most of the abuse he’d received from flowing out to the pack. But the inner circle had felt it. Just this sense that something wasn’t right, someone was hurting. Someone had likened it to feeling a toothache for a missing tooth that hadn’t grown back yet. But that had been a week.
Multiply that by a missing Alpha, and an unstable pack to start with? He was surprised more of them hadn’t lost their minds.
Or maybe they had. How many men had lost their battle with their wolves, or their nightmares? Benny grimaced. They’d have that to sort out as well. Or the new Alpha would. Not something he needed to think about now, he reminded himself. One step at a time.
