“What?” he asked, looking truly puzzled, just as Doc swung around and grabbed the front of his ship’s suit, dragging him over to the wall opposite the pod.
“You want to stay, you stand there, and don’t say anything, not anywhere.”
“It’s okay, boss,” Rohan said. “It’s just a term the wolves used for both of us.”
“But I’ve alwa—”
“Not one word!” Doc snapped, and crossed back to the box.
“You okay, girl?”
“I’m just fine,” I managed, feeling the tension ebb as Tens stayed over by the wall. “Can I get out of the box, now? Please?”
Doc checked the readouts on the side, took another look at me, and then nodded.
“We all call him ‘pup’, you know.”
I nodded. I did know, had even used the term myself, although it didn’t really fit the boy anymore. He’d grown.
“You okay?” Rohan asked, in the implant, where he thought Doc wouldn’t hear.
I responded in kind.
“Fine,” but I let both of them steady me, when the sides went down and I could slide out to stand on my own.
Pack, right?
“Man, they hit you good, girl.”
Doc sounded worried.
“Hit me with what?”
“Pack conditioning.”
“They were trying to keep me alive. Something about my attitude making that a hard thing to do.”
Doc looked briefly amused, and Rohan almost smiled.
“I can see that,” Doc said. “How many did you have in your head?”
“Twel… no, thirteen, including the pack leader.”
“And how close were they?”
I remembered contact from the time Rovan had made it clear I needed to yield, and that was when Doc showed just how far into my head he was.
“He got you to yield?”
“He bloody well what?”
Although why Tens sounded like he was going to explode, I didn’t know.
Rohan shook his head.
“I’m glad I wasn’t the only one,” he said, and I realized how quietly spoken he’d been since I’d woken up.
Tens was just looking from one to the other of us, like he didn’t know whose ass to kick first—and Rohan and I stood shoulder to shoulder and stared at him. Doc backed up a couple of steps, and watched us, and then he spoke.
“Cutter, do you remember what Rovan called Mack?”
“Hunt Master,” I said, not taking my eyes off Tens, but Doc wouldn’t let me focus.
“And what did he call Tens?”
And I straightened up, feeling like I’d just been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
“Oh.”
Tens face was a mix of curiosity and apprehension as he looked back. I exchanged another look with Rohan, remembering what Rovan had said about him—pack, cub, and team mate. Tens’s jaw dropped.
“Well?” Doc pressed.
“The Hunt Master’s Second.”
And Doc nodded.
“I don’t suppose he told you what an Outrider was?”
I shook my head.
“They are the wolves that run on the edge of their packs, or scout ahead, the ones that work best alone. If Mack is a Hunt Master, then, in pack terms you are an Outrider. The pup, here, is still finding his place.”
I stared at Doc, and some of the weirdness faded away. I looked back at Tens, and didn’t feel the same regret at defying him—or the urge to beg his forgiveness.
“Damn, Doc. You sure know how to spoil the makings of a party,” Tens said, doing his best to keep his tone light, even though his eyes were dark with concern.
“And I told you to be quiet,” Doc said, but his voice had lost its anger. He looked at me. “Rovan is their top recruiter of non-lupar specialists. If she hadn’t been one of the subjects of their contract you’d have had one hell of a liability on board.”
I felt like my face was on fire, and looked down at the floor. Doc ducked his head down so he could see my face.
“The fact you’re only feeling echoes just goes to show how strong a mind you’ve got, girl.”
I still felt like I’d been used. Doc caught the thought, and shook his head.
“Nope. The offer of pack is real; it doesn’t work if it’s not. They mean what they say.”
And I didn’t know whether that made things better, or worse.
“It’s a double-edged blade,” Doc said, and clapped me on the shoulder, “but your vitals read strong, and the values I’m getting off the implant, even with Tens’s interference are all good. You’re free to go.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
“And you tell Mack, no mats for at least two days.”
“I’ll try.”
“He gives you any trouble, girl, you tell me, and I’ll make him understand, okay?”
Like anyone could make Mack understand anything once he’d made up his mind.
“You’d be surprised.”
I figured I would, and headed for the door.
“Thanks, Doc.”
Tens and Rohan fell in step beside me. It wasn’t comforting to realize they’d taken up station on either side, pretty much the same way Lomis and Keromil had done, once Rovan had put them in charge. I shook my head, trying to free it from the echo.
“It’s always there,” Tens said, and kept walking despite the hitch in my stride. “You get used to it, and it becomes a point of reference, but it won’t never go away.”
I walked a few more steps, chewing that thought over, and then it occurred to me that he, and Mack and Doc were awfully familiar with wolfish niceties for folk who were human on the skin.
“How...” but Tens held up his hand.
“Not now, okay? Not until we get this lot offloaded and a long way behind some hastily burned coordinates.”
“I didn’t know Abs knew how to do that kind of flying.”
“Nah. We got Case out of stasis. She’s calibrating something extra special to get us out of wolf space. Nice job on the navigating, by the way. We’d have been in a lot worse shape, if you hadn’t put us on a different course.”
“Thanks.”
We took a turn that took us back to my quarters, and Tens and Rohan stopped outside the door. Rohan…and I remembered.
“Where’s Cascade?”
The boy shot a glance at Tens, and then looked back at me.
“We’ll get him back when we dump the wolves.”
Dump the wolves? And
