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Someone was callingher name with increasing urgency, but Jessie didn’t want to answer. She felt like she was floating in a warm lake somewhere on a nice summer day. One of those days as a kid when you didn’t have any worries, except to float on your back and bask in the sunshine. She didn’t want to give it up.
And somewhere nearby, Ryder was doing the same thing. She kept her eyes closed, because it was easier to feel him that way. But he was peaceful too. And she didn’t think she’d ever experienced him like this. Ryder was not normally a peaceful man. He was all this focused energy, like bottled rage. She’d never seen him lose control, but the potential was always there that he could. And this feltgood.
She was pretty sure that whoever was insisting she open her eyes was going to dump a whole lot of stress in her lap. She felt stubborn. They could handle their own damn problems. She wanted to float and just bask in her love’s presence.
And she did love him, she acknowledged. It wasn’t just a mate bond, or good sex. She loved him. Loved that fierce protective instinct that had led him to take on all those young recruits last night, that made him fight for this pack when she knew that he didn’t want to.
She sighed. Suck it up, she told herself. While he’s up north, you have to take care of all these people in his stead. She sent one more message of love coupled with energy and power and opened her eyes.
Jason Wahlberg was standing by the couch she was lying on. Miles McKenzie was hovering beside him, looking concerned, and Dennis McKenzie was holding her wrist, monitoring her pulse. He’d been the one to call her name, she thought.
“You back with us, girl?” Dennis said. His eyes showed his concern. “Jessie? You with us?”
Jessie sighed. “Yes,” she said, and her voice was hoarse. She tried to sit up, and she needed Dennis’s help to do it. Whoa, she thought with concern. How long had she been drifting on that lake? Miles handed her a bottle of water, and she drank it gratefully. Then he handed her a skewer of meat. Well that was new — better than just handing out hunks of meat like they had been. She ate it greedily.
“What’s going on?” she asked at last. She wanted to lay back down and take a nap.
“You worried me,” Dennis said, trying for a reassuring smile. She’d give him an A for effort, but the execution lacked. That thought made her want to giggle. She clamped down on the urge. This wasn’t the time or place. Besides she was afraid it would turn into hysterics, and that wouldn’t do anyone good.
“Your heart rate got erratic,” Jason said bluntly. She looked up at him. “Benny said that was a warning that we needed to pull you out of it. He didn’t warn me how damned hard that would be.”
“Floating on a lake on a nice summer day,” Jessie said dreamily. “It was nice.”
“Stay with us, girl,” Dennis said. He was still monitoring her pulse.
“Benny called me again,” Jason said, his eyes were watchful. “Gave me a message for you.”
“Are they OK?” she asked. She knew better than they did howRyderwas doing.Heal,she wished him automatically. “What did Benny say?”
Jason hesitated, and looked uncomfortable. Miles just handed her another skewer of meat. She ate it, not taking her eyes from Jason. “Well?” she demanded. “What did Benny say?”
“He said to tell you that he thought Campbell had 80 nearly feral recruits headed this way,” Jason said.
“Nearly feral?” she asked. “What does that mean?”
“It means Campbell has been starving them out at that lodge,” Jason said bluntly. “They’re starved, and they’ve been fighting dominance fights, apparently even to death, and they’re hyped up to fight.”
“OK,” she said. “Did he have a suggestion what we should do about that? I can’t believe Benny didn’t have something outrageous to say.”
Jason relaxed a bit, and she realized he’d been in military posture —never a good sign. He grinned at her. “Guess you do know Benny,” he observed. “Then maybe this won’t sound as silly to you to hear as it does to me to say. Benny said, put on a barbeque in the backyard. Feed the wolves we’ve got until they’re nearly comatose, and then offer the incoming wolves food.”
“We’ve got nearly 80 recruits now,” Jessie said slowly. More kept showing up. “And he wants us to put on a barbeque for them and 80 more?” She looked at Duncan McKenzie. “You got that much beef?”
He shrugged. “Probably. One of the pack families run a cattle ranch up toward Cache Creek. We’ve got a locker full of beef in the kitchen. Have to thaw more out.”
“Benny tells you to throw a barbeque for an invading horde of nearly feral wolves, and you ask if there’s enough meat?” Jason said incredulously. “That’s your only question?”
“Titus says Benny Garrison is the best intelligencer in the world,” Jessie said, well he’d said best known — same thing, right? “If he says feed the enemy will work, then either feeding the enemy will work or we’re in such desperate straits anything is worth trying. Either way? We’re going to ramp up a big barbeque. Any idea how long we’ve got?”
For a moment she lost track of the conversation as the pull of the lake overwhelmed her. She blinked and forced herself back into the present. Jason was saying he thought the attack would come at dusk. “And from what direction?” she asked. “The front? That’s going to get noticed.”
“I’ve already fielded a call from the police asking about all the men camped in my yard,” Duncan said. “I told them I was honoring my father’s commitment to the Eagle Scouts and that this year was my year to host the winter camp. The chief thanked me for my support of scouting.”
Jessie snorted a bit at that. “Well, call him back and warn him that we’re going to have a capture the flag exercise tonight and to not be alarmed,” she said dryly. Duncan rolled his eyes and nodded.
Jason had been considering the logistics and ignoring their banter. “I think they’ll come in through the back,” he said finally. “That’s a wooded area behind the cabins. Easier to come through that than over the wall out front. How deep are those woods?”
“We back up onto a greenbelt along the Penticton River,” Duncan answered. “So there’s nothing but woods until you reach the river, and more on the other side. Most of the parking is on the other side of the river, however. They’d have to bring them across. Or park closer into downtown and come up on my side of the river.”
