Chapter 45 — No Pity

The newcomer glanced at the board.

“I can do ground work,” he said. “Carry, sort, repair simple things. I can keep count if someone shows me how you want it kept.”

Hallie left the question open.

His mouth tightened. “I can’t run a boundary in wolf form. I can’t cover the kind of distance a shifted patrol can. If that’s what you need, I’m not your answer.”

“What don’t you want?”

The question surprised him more than the first one had.

“I don’t want somebody inventing work so I can feel useful.”

The resident who had complained earlier let out a short breath that might have been agreement. Hallie nodded.

“Good.”

The newcomer frowned. “Good?”

“That saves us from doing exactly that.”

Grant’s mouth shifted at the edge of her vision. He stayed where he was.

Grant offered neither a suggestion nor a promise, and he made no attempt to turn the moment into proof of Cedar Draw’s generosity.

Hallie looked toward Caleb.

“Now?”

Caleb stepped closer.

“Now.”

He had heard enough to understand what she needed from him.

“What work is actually uncovered?” Hallie asked.

Caleb named what Cedar Draw genuinely needed: help in stores, ground work, common-room setup, and the small repairs that kept losing to larger jobs.

“None of it is invented,” he said. “And trying one thing doesn’t make it permanent.”

Hallie watched the wolf’s face.

“What fits what you can do?”

He looked at the options for a long moment.

“Stores.”

The skeptical resident spoke immediately.

“Because it’s indoors?”

The newcomer’s expression closed. Hallie turned to the resident.

“Let him answer.”

The man lifted both hands. “I’m asking.”

“No. You decided what his answer meant before he gave it.”

Silence held for a beat. Then Hallie looked back at the newcomer.

“Why stores?”

He glanced at Caleb.

“You said crews pull materials at the same time.”

“They do.”

“And somebody has to know what went out.”

“Yes.”

“I can do that. I can carry what doesn’t need a cart. I can sort what comes back. If something needs a wolf to move it fast across the territory, that isn’t me.”

The answer held no grand claim or conveniently hidden skill, only an honest limit beside work he believed he could do.

Hallie liked the answer for that reason.

Caleb asked, “You comfortable saying you don’t know instead of guessing?”

The wolf blinked. “If I don’t know, yes.”

“Good. Guessing in stores costs more time than asking.”

The resident folded his arms.

“You’re seriously putting someone new in the middle of supplies?”

“Testing him there,” Caleb said.

“That’s not a small thing.”

“No,” Hallie said. “It isn’t.”

The resident looked at her. “Then why start there?”

“Because you just heard Caleb say it’s work Cedar Draw actually needs.”

“That doesn’t mean he can do it.”

“It doesn’t.”

The answer stopped him. Hallie nodded toward the newcomer.

“That’s what the test is for.”

The resident’s objection did not disappear.

The resident shook his head. “At a quiet hour, anybody can manage stores.”

Caleb nodded. “Then we test him when it isn’t quiet.”

The newcomer studied the storage building, then Caleb. “I still want it.”

“Why?” Hallie asked. “Because it’s real work.”

“You still want stores?”

He did not answer immediately. That mattered too. He studied the storage building across the yard, then the board, then Caleb.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s real work.”

The words landed harder than Hallie expected. She did not praise him for them. He had already made it clear he did not want praise for choosing to contribute.

Caleb rubbed a hand over his jaw.

Caleb pointed toward the storage building. “Spend the rest of today learning it. Tomorrow you work the station with someone nearby.”

The newcomer looked at Hallie. “And if it doesn’t fit?”

“Then we stop pretending it does and try something else.”

The skeptical resident gave a short laugh.

“That sounds convenient.”

Hallie met his gaze.

“What would be convenient is giving him a task no one depends on and calling ourselves generous.”

The man’s expression changed. Not agreement. Recognition, maybe.

Caleb pointed toward the storage building.

“If you’re choosing stores, come see it before you decide you still like the idea.”

The newcomer took one step, then stopped. He looked at Grant. For the first time since the conversation began, Hallie did too.

Grant had not moved closer. He had heard every option and chosen none of them.

The newcomer asked, “You’re fine with this?”

Grant’s gaze stayed on him.

“Are you?”

The wolf hesitated. Then nodded.

“Yes.”

“That matters more.”

Grant looked at Caleb.

“Test the work the same way you would for anyone else.”

Caleb nodded. Nothing about Grant’s tone turned the choice into charity. Nothing made failure forbidden.

Hallie felt something warm and quiet settle beneath her ribs. Not because Grant approved of what she had done. Because he had understood what she was trying not to do.

She had not rescued the newcomer. She had made room for him to answer for himself. Caleb started toward the storage building.

The wolf followed. The skeptical resident watched them go.

“If he slows the crews down, people are going to notice.”

“They should,” Hallie said.

The man looked at her.

“And if he keeps up?”

Hallie glanced toward the open storage door, where Caleb was already pointing out shelves and the newcomer was listening.

“Then they should notice that too.”

Today, the work could be explained. Tomorrow, it would have to hold when explanations were no longer enough.