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“Close to 100,” Growler said finally answering Benny’s question. “Well, fewer than that now. But they said we were a century, like in Roman times. And we would be the vanguard to build a new Rome.”
Why anyone thought building a new Rome was a good idea was beyond him. But it wasn’t the first time he’d heard that stuff. There was a movement among humans called Red Caesar right now that said democracy wasn’t working and they needed a Caesar to rescue them.
Stupid shits.
Of course, with shifters, there might even be someone around who remembered the Romans. He did the math. No, that might be a stretch even for shifters. More than 1,700 years? Even Ayta was only 800 years old. And she was the oldest wolf he knew of.
He yearned for her briefly. Maybe when this was over, he’d go down there for a visit —what ‘over’ meant, he wasn’t sure. But Maggie could wait a bit longer for her bike back. He set that aside. So no. Shifters were just being as stupid as humans were about Rome.
“So there were 100 of you,” Benny prompted. “And earlier today, he took most of them back to town with him. Did he have vans?”
They nodded at that.
“How did he choose who he was leaving behind?” Benny asked, trying to keep it casual. He needed to get them talking, but he was impatient. He wanted to check on Ryder. And he really wanted to go after that sniper. Just thinking that he was still out there made the back of his neck crawl.
“We always have dominance trials,” Growler said. “Not to the death, usually,” he added hastily. “Just to establish who was the most dominant. Well, not until yesterday, anyway.”
Wait, what? They’d started doing dominance trials to thedeathyesterday? Well, he guessed that explained the dead bodies they’d smelled in the basement.
“When I first got here, it was just to see who could command,” Growler said. “And the most dominant were given their own unit to command. He called us decanus.”
Holding to the Roman motif. He wondered who among the Penticton pack had had a classical education. One of the Campbells? Maybe all of them.
“So why are you here and not with them?” Benny asked, because Growler was dominant. He had a hard time thinking he wasn’t near the top of the recruits.
Growler sighed. “I screwed up,” he said. “And my punishment was to stay here with my unit.”
Benny nodded. “And you?” he turned to the other speaker. “Did you screw up too?”
The man gave him a half smile. “In a manner of speaking,” he agreed. “My name is Mark Campbell. And I argued with my grandfather. He wasn’t happy about it.”
Benny stared at him. “I met your daughter,” he said at last, and then felt a bit stupid for that non sequitur.
“Is my family OK?” Mark Campbell asked urgently. “I’ve been afraid....” He trailed off, then took a deep breath. “I wanted to move my family out of the family house in the vineyards and into town,” he said. “We argued. And I was sent up here —until I came to my senses. That was 10 days ago?”
He looked uncertain, but continued on, “He promised they would be safe, if I stayed up here and assumed command of these wolves in preparation for their attack —the original plan of attack, not this one. If I did, then he would leave my family alone.”
“And the basement?”
Mark Campbell looked at him wryly. “That got hatched up between Logan and my grandfather on the phone yesterday. I was promised if I stayed behind, my family would be fine. And if the Alpha came, I could attack him.”
“You didn’t do it,” Benny observed. All Mark would have had to do was stay silent, and attack when Ryder opened the door. Instead he’d tried to warn him off.
Mark shook his head. “No,” he said. “It turns out there is a line I won’t cross, even to protect my family. Besides, I had time to think. And attacking the new Alpha didn’t offer good odds for survival. Not for me, or for my family. I’m sure my grandfather didn’t expect me to survive it either. But if he kept his promise to leave my family alone? It didn’t matter.”
“Sharon’s with the new pack Second at Wolf’s Head,” Benny told him. “She ran from your grandfather when he beat her in rage last night. But she talked to her mother this afternoon. So at least at that point, your family was fine.”
Mark looked like he was going to pass out from relief.
“Go on with your story,” Benny said.
Mark sighed. He seemed more willing to talk now that he knew his family was safe —or had been. He looked at the piece of raw meat in his hand and grimaced, but he ate another bite.
The picture he painted was disturbing. There had been a trickle of wolves heading toward Vancouver for years — since the retribution, and maybe before. Mark Campbell wasn’t sure. The Campbells weren’t involved with it back then —they ran the vineyards and the winery. But about four months ago, the trickle turned into a flood —more than the McKenzies could handle in town. So this place had become a training center for the wolves Vancouver Alpha Chen wanted. And Angus Campbell had volunteered his grandsons to run it.
Things got uglier when Chen sent out Bjorn Hansen. He’d ramped up the training protocols, and then challenged the pack Second when he decided he didn’t want to play war games in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Hansen’s own words, Benny guessed from the distaste in Mark Campbell’s voice when he said them. Bjorn Hansen wanted back in town —and as pack Second he was. So Logan Campbell took charge out here.
Mark had been his second in command — and really he’d done most of the hands-on work with the young recruits. Logan was too impatient to deal with them.
