"But?"
"But, it's not up to some or most of them. It has to be unanimous and that depends on you."
Kenn met Adrian's pointed look with one of his own. "I'm working on it."
The leader looked up from lighting his cigar, "Not fast enough, but I can't wait any longer. We have to get these people ready to defend their freedom."
Kenn was quiet, considering, asking himself if he could start out as a lowly drill instructor. When he looked up to tell Adrian that wouldn't hold him long, the blond added what was missing, with careful wording that Kenn overlooked - hearing only what he wanted.
"I have important work for you. You'll be higher than any other here now. Together, we'll save some of what matters." Adrian raised a brow, eyes questioning, "If you have the time?"
"You make the schedules. I have the time, if you say I do."
Adrian frowned coldly. "This is no game. Be sure."
"I'd never treat it that way." Kenn looked horrified.
Adrian knew that, but the warning came with the offer. "Things will start slow, but it won't stay that way. Effective immediately, you have that place at my right that your eyes were asking for when we found you. You'll always be second in command and more aware than anyone else - in my head deeper. I'm offering you what the Corps couldn't…your purpose. The reason you were born, why you survived."
"What's the catch?"
Adrian returned his look with hard eyes that said no going back would be allowed. "You're mine. Be the anything and everything I need to keep these people alive. I make every choice based on what's best for the entire camp and nothing else takes priority, not even me. I'll do anything to keep us together, know that now. I will expect your complete and immediate support, no matter what the chore or situation."
Kenn didn't even consider refusing, holding out a hand. "You have a deal."
Adrian shook with his new right-hand man, thinking the first one had come into his web, but there would be many more.