Etched in Bone

CHAPTER 5

Windsday, Messis 8

Simon kept glancing at Meg as he drove the BOW toward the Market Square. Her hands were closed into tight fists and she stared straight ahead, not talking, not even paying attention to the land. If he hadn’t been convinced already that she shouldn’t spend the day around a crowd of strangers, he was certain of it now.

She had endured the first day of the job fair when it had been the Simple Life folk, and she had seemed to fully recover by the next morning. But she’d lasted only until noon on the second day of the job fair. Nathan had warned him about the itchy restlessness that had plagued Meg throughout the morning and kept the watch Wolf alert for the slightest hint of blood. That had made Simon, Vlad, and Tess look more closely at the humans crowded into A Little Bite and realize that humans from Lakeside were mixed in with the Intuits and Simple Life folk. Some came in because they saw other people inside the coffee shop and were curious—or simply wanted to buy a cup of coffee. Some came looking for work but backed out fast when they learned where they would be sent—and who would watch their every breath once they left Lakeside.

Those additional humans seemed to be the tipping point for Meg, overloading her ability to endure the futures of so many people prickling and buzzing under her skin. That was why Simon had already decided she wouldn’t go to the Liaison’s Office today—and already knew that she couldn’t be left alone with the silver razor.

He slowed down as they reached the fork in the Courtyard’s main road. Going straight would take them to the Market Square. Going to the right would take them to the Pony Barn. He saw a handful of ponies standing near the fork. Jester must have told them Meg was going to spend the morning with them and they were waiting for her.

“Stop.” Meg’s voice was barely audible, even to his Wolf-sharp hearing.

“We’re almost—”

“Stop the BOW!” Her voice rose in a wail. “Stop!”

She opened the door and tried to leap from the BOW.

Simon grabbed her arm to keep her inside and stomped on the brakes. “Meg, wait.”

She flailed at him, screaming and trying to scratch. The attack surprised him so much, he let go of her arm. Then she was out of the BOW and running back toward the Green Complex.

He threw the BOW into PARK, flung himself out the door, and ran after her.

Jenni Crowgard flew over him, then turned and flew back to him.

Running in a blind panic, she could trip and fall.

She had a head start, but he was fast enough to catch her—and the ponies were even faster. Thunder got ahead of her and turned, blocking her path. She ran into him and bounced off his side, right into Simon’s arms.

“I can’t,” she gasped.

“I know,” he replied, holding her against him, the only comfort he knew how to give right now. “I know.”

He heard Jenni still cawing a warning, heard Crows responding—and heard a couple of Wolves respond as well.

he told Jenni. Then he looked around and tried not to tense, tried not to show that he knew he was in the middle of a dangerous potential explosion. The ponies surrounded them, some of them so close Simon could feel their breath—and worry about those clompy pony hooves being so close to Meg’s feet.

“Meg.” He said her name as both warning and plea when the smoke that had been rushing toward them shifted into Nyx and Grandfather Erebus, who was the leader of the Sanguinati and doted on Meg. Having the Sanguinati wanting an explanation was bad enough. But most of the Elementals who lived in the Courtyard were also there.

“Did the humans upset our Meg?” Fire asked.

Not a question he wanted to answer.

As if unaware of everyone around them, Meg started finger combing Thunder’s forelock. That seemed to calm her.

“Did they?” Erebus asked, his dry-leaves voice producing a skitter of fear down Simon’s spine.

“What’s all the howling about?” Jester asked. He had patches of fur on his torso and arms, indicating his haste in shifting to his human form after running up from the Pony Barn. Fortunately, enough of the Coyote was hidden by Mist’s body that Meg wouldn’t notice he was naked. “Doesn’t Meg want to spend the morning with us at the Pony Barn?”

Damn Coyote, Simon thought when all the ponies tried to crowd in a bit more as if to encourage the correct answer.

“What?” Meg said.

Thunder lipped her chin.

“You. Me. The ponies. All of us being sensible and staying away from the chaos in the Market Square,” Jester said. “Simon already made arrangements for the mail to be brought there so you can sort it and the ponies can make the deliveries.” He looked at Simon. “Didn’t you tell her?”

Meg twisted in Simon’s arms in order to look at him. “What?”

“Stupid human books,” he growled. “It was supposed to be a nice surprise. Human females are supposed to like nice surprises.” On the other hand, he’d been concerned about Meg’s reaction to the job fair and only skimmed a couple of the kissy books they still had in stock, so he might have missed the part that would have told him that this was what usually happened when a male tried to give a female a nice surprise.

“Oh.” Meg petted Lightning’s nose. “We were going to the Pony Barn?”

“Yes. I was going to drop you off before going to Howling Good Reads to deal with the last group of humans.” He really wanted someone unsuitable to show up today and give him an excuse to take a bite or two.

“Caw?”

he said. Hopefully Jenni would pass along that message.

“I would like to go to the Pony Barn,” Meg said.

“Good,” Simon replied.

Erebus said, his voice sounding too courteous.

“Can you walk back to the BOW and pick up your carry sack?” Simon asked Meg.

She blinked. Her eyes widened as she finally took in who had reacted to her panicked flight. She nodded.

Jester shifted to his Coyote form and quickly got out of the way of all the hooves as the ponies sorted themselves into two lines.

“Sorry,” she said under her breath.

He gave her waist a light squeeze to tell her he’d heard her. Then he let her go and watched as the Elementals, led by Fire and Summer, and the ponies escorted Meg to the BOW and then on to the Pony Barn.

Jester looked at Simon. He ran, passing Meg and her escorts in order to reach the Pony Barn first.

Simon turned to Erebus and noticed Blair standing by the side of the road, watching Meg. Then the dominant enforcer shifted to human and joined Simon and the Sanguinati.

“Why is the sweet blood so upset today?” Erebus asked.

Before Simon could decide the best way to respond, Blair said, “I was wondering the same thing. Why is Meg more upset today?”

“Overload,” Simon replied. But was that all of it? “There were humans other than Intuit and Simple Life who came in yesterday. Vlad and I didn’t recommend any of them to go on to Bennett. We wouldn’t have hired them, so we weren’t going to send them to Tolya to cause problems for him. But word about the job fair has spread beyond the preferred employees, so there are bound to be humans today looking for work.”

Having human employees wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Barbara Ellen Debany was human, and Tolya was pleased with her as an employee and new resident of Bennett.

“Vladimir said he found unknown humans in the stock room yesterday,” Erebus said.

Vlad hadn’t told him that. But that explained why HGR’s comanager wanted the back door of the store locked during the day. Humans could be as curious as Crows, so an unlocked door could be the next best thing to an invitation to come in and look around.

“Nathan ran off a human who had been sneaking toward the Market Square, but the man escaped through the door between the customer parking lot and the employee parking lot,” Blair said.

He hadn’t been told about that either. As the Courtyard’s leader, he should have been told. Then again, he was handling the interviews of the humans Vlad felt had potential—or weren’t obviously unsuitable—so Vlad and Blair probably felt he didn’t need to know about things they’d already dealt with.

“I’m going to put up sawhorses to make it harder for someone to sneak down the access way, and Nathan and Jake Crowgard will handle the Liaison’s Office,” Blair continued. “Marie Hawkgard is going to watch the door between the parking lots. Any human trying to get in that way will get whatever she feels like giving.”

Marie’s talons would certainly make an impression.

“And I’m going to keep watch around the consulate,” Nyx said. “Like a tourist guide, directing humans to where they’re supposed to be—and away from where they shouldn’t go.”

And feeding on every one of them.

For a moment, Simon envied the Sanguinati’s ability to feed so subtly that the prey didn’t know anything had happened. If a Wolf tore off a chunk of meat, it was pretty obvious.

Damn. He needed something to eat before he started talking to all those humans.

“The question was not answered, Wolfgard,” Erebus said. “Why is the sweet blood so upset today?”

Simon thought about Meg and the prophecy cards that indicated trouble was coming. But what if the trouble was already here and had no connection to Lieutenant Montgomery’s pack, despite Montgomery’s concerns about his brother?

Theral MacDonald took care of the medical office in the Market Square and was part of Meg’s female pack. She had run away from her abusive mate, but a couple of disturbing packages had been sent to her here at the Courtyard—proof that the bad male knew where to find her. Unfortunately, the terra indigene hadn’t found him.

It would be so easy for a potential enemy to mingle with the rest of the humans who had a legitimate reason to be in the Courtyard today.

he called, scanning the trees until he spotted the Crow.

She stared at him, then flew off.

Now Simon looked at Blair and Erebus. “I’d like a few Sanguinati in smoke form in the Market Square and a couple in human form in A Little Bite and Howling Good Reads. Unless Jane is needed in the Wolfgard Complex, have her spend the day with Theral in the medical office.”

“You think that Jack Fillmore might try for Theral?” Blair asked, flickers of red appearing in his amber eyes.

“It’s possible he was the human Nathan ran off yesterday,” Simon replied. “With so many unknown humans milling around, it would be a good time for it.”

“You think that is what the sweet blood is feeling?” Erebus asked.

Simon shrugged. “Trouble might try to hide among the humans at the job fair today. That could be the future that is buzzing under Meg’s skin.”

They parted. Erebus and Nyx shifted back to smoke. She headed for the Market Square while Erebus returned to the Chambers to select the Sanguinati he wanted guarding the stores—and the Courtyard’s residents. Blair headed back to the Utilities Complex to pick up the sawhorses. And Simon hurried back to the BOW to get to Howling Good Reads and select the professionals who were suited to life in a Midwest town ruled by the terra indigene and surrounded by Namid’s teeth and claws.

Meg watched Jester as he made a pad of blankets to cover a hay bale. Once he was satisfied, he invited her to sit.

Feeling embarrassed about causing a scene, and wondering how much trouble she’d made for the humans who were coming to the Courtyard today, she gave Jester a wobbly smile when he squatted in front of her.

“This is what I’m wondering,” he said.

Did he know his ears were still Coyote-shaped and furry?

“You’ve lived in the Courtyard for several months now, and you’ve been learning all kinds of things during that time. So why are you dumber now than you used to be?”

Meg stiffened. “Jester! That’s not a nice thing to say, even as a joke.”

“I’m not joking.”

She studied his face, his eyes, and realized he really wasn’t joking, wasn’t saying something to create a bit of mischief. Jester being completely serious made her uneasy.

“Humans talk about having a role model, someone they can learn from,” Jester continued. “You know who I think you’ve been using as a role model lately?”

“Ruth or Merri Lee?”

He shook his head. “Skippy.”

Meg stared at the Coyote. “But Skippy . . .”

“Has a skippy brain and has trouble holding on to parts of what he’s learned, which is why youngsters like him don’t usually survive in the wild country. If Skippy chases a deer and gets knocked down and bruised, he should learn that deer could hurt him if he isn’t careful. But what his brain understands is that particular deer could hurt him, so he goes out the next morning and chases a different deer—and gets knocked down again. And maybe this time the injury is serious because he’s still healing from the previous day’s bumps and bruises.

“When the Elementals and Elders struck Lakeside a few weeks ago, you knew you couldn’t stay near the humans who were offered shelter around the Market Square. You came to the Pony Barn—a place where you wouldn’t have to deal with humans and also wouldn’t be alone. You showed sense, Meg. Then Simon and Vlad do this job fair to help Tolya find the workers he needs in Bennett, and what do you do? You spend the whole first day working in the Liaison’s Office—a place you already knew wasn’t safe for you when there are so many strangers around—and get knocked over by the pressure of being close to so many potential futures. And those were Simple Life folk, who should have been the easiest humans to deal with. So what do you do on the second day of the fair? You go into the office and get knocked over harder and faster. But you were still going to open the office today. Why?”

Put that way, it did sound pretty dumb.

“All my friends could do their jobs, even with the job fair going on,” Meg mumbled, not meeting his eyes. “I didn’t want to be different.”

Jester looked bewildered. “But you are different.”

“I don’t want to be the one who can’t cope with something that is easy for everyone else to do.”

“How do you know it’s easy?”

She leaned toward him until they were almost nose to nose. “They’re in the Market Square, doing their jobs.”

“They’re not going to cut themselves to release some of the hornet’s nest of prophecies that are buzzing under the skin. They may wonder what the future holds for those humans, but they’re not going to hurt themselves to find out.” Jester leaned back a little. “You don’t want to be different? I understand that. I’m the only Coyote here in a Courtyard controlled by Wolves. It’s not dangerous for me to be here like it would be for a regular coyote to tangle with a pack of wolves, but I am alone here.”

“Do you wish it was different, that there was someone else like you? Or that you could be like another group of terra indigene, fit in with them better?”

“Being the only one can have advantages. Looking after the ponies and dealing with the girls at the lake isn’t without risk, and I might not have taken that risk if there had been other Coyotegard here to work with as part of a pack. I probably wouldn’t have lived in the Green Complex with Wolves and Sanguinati and a Grizzly, not to mention Tess. But I am the only Coyote in this Courtyard, and I get to poke my nose in all kinds of things my kind usually wouldn’t see.”

“You’re even more curious than the Crowgard,” Meg said.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She laughed.

Jester thought for a moment. “What would have happened in Lakeside these past few months if you hadn’t been different from the other humans who work here?”

Meg shifted on the hay bale as she considered the question. Regular humans had worked in the compound where she’d lived. But she wouldn’t have been one of them, wouldn’t have taken a job where other people, where children, were treated like property. Would she? “I probably wouldn’t have traveled to Lakeside if I hadn’t run away from the Controller and followed the visions that showed me how to escape. I—” wouldn’t have met Sam . . . or Simon.

“Simon opened a few of the stores to humans and had human employees for several years before you arrived. They were considered nonedible, but we still saw them as prey. If you, the human who was not prey, hadn’t come along looking for a job, Simon, Vlad, Henry, and Tess wouldn’t have changed the way they thought of the human employees—and some of those humans might have died in the blizzard last Febros. If the females working here hadn’t become your friends, hadn’t become a human pack the Wolfgard and Sanguinati decided to protect, those humans wouldn’t have been sheltered here when the Elders came through the city. If you weren’t here, Simon and Lieutenant Montgomery wouldn’t have had a particular reason to work together, and Montgomery wouldn’t have had a way to prove he was a trustworthy human. If you weren’t here, Nathan would have stayed with the Addirondak Wolfgard for the full time he was supposed to be away from the Courtyard, and Lizzy might not have reached Lakeside because Nathan wouldn’t have been on the train to protect her.” Jester stood up. “All those things happened because you’re different, Meg. Don’t be so quick to want to be like everyone else. Crows and Hawks and Owls can fly. I can’t. I don’t need to jump off a cliff to prove it to myself. Why do you?”

Jester headed for the doors. Then he stopped. “What would you have told another cassandra sangue if she’d pushed herself like you have these past couple of days? Being the Trailblazer means being a role model for the other girls. You should think about that.”

He walked outside. Meg sat on the hay bale, listening to Jester talking to the ponies.

What would she have told another blood prophet, especially a young girl who hadn’t been cut yet and had a chance of escaping the addiction to cutting? She would have told the girl not to go to the office, not to push when she was already feeling uncomfortable. She would have told her to respect her limitations as well as her abilities.

She hadn’t done any of those things for herself.

In the beginning, she hadn’t cared that she was different. She was alive and free, and, thinking she had only a few weeks to live, she’d thrown herself into experiencing as much as she could. But she’d misinterpreted the prophecy and hadn’t died—or her future had changed because Simon and several other terra indigene had saved her. In the beginning, she’d had only a small window into the lives of the humans who became her friends. Now, with some of them living across the street from the Courtyard, she saw more of what it meant to have a human life with friends and family. Some of it was bad, but most of it was good. She saw people doing things that overwhelmed her, and she envied their ability—and she didn’t think any of them felt envious of her abilities.

Had she been trying to prove she could be different from and yet the same as other humans?

Being different didn’t mean she couldn’t fit in. She’d been learning to fit in with the Others since the night she stumbled into Howling Good Reads looking for a job. And now she’d stumbled again by reaching for something she wasn’t even sure she wanted instead of looking at what she already had with Simon and Sam and the rest of her friends in the Courtyard.

All right, so she couldn’t fly. But she was the one who could tell her friends when to stay on the ground because there was a storm coming.

Simon read through Jana Paniccia’s résumé a second time and decided not to ask how she’d heard about the job fair.

He set the résumé aside and studied the Jana. Taller than most of the female pack, but not as tall as the males in the police pack. Brown hair, brown eyes. Looked vigorous and healthy. Smelled clean.

She’d been nothing but polite since she’d sat across the desk from him for the last part of the job interview, but she reminded him of a small predator who believed it was larger and fiercer than anything around it—and managed to make larger predators believe it too.

“You want to work for the police?” he asked.

“No.” One of her hands smoothed her skirt, the first sign of nerves she’d shown. But her eyes showed a hint of anger, not nerves. “I don’t want to be a dispatcher or a secretary. I don’t want to work for the police; I want to be a police officer. They let me attend the academy, let me pay for all the classes and training, let me believe I could be hired for the job. I put up with all the crude comments about wanting to grow a pair of balls. I spent hours at the shooting range to learn to be proficient with firearms. I took more self-defense classes than any of my male classmates. I bought extra books about the law and law enforcement and studied them on my own. I passed all my courses and graduated in the top five percent of my class, but I still can’t be a serving police officer because I have breasts instead of balls.”

Simon waited for her to regain control of her emotions. Obviously he’d stomped on her tail by asking what he’d thought was a simple opening question. And he wondered just how much teasing she had received—and why human males would train a female to shoot a gun and then tease her into being angry enough to shoot them.

“I’m sorry for speaking so crudely,” the Jana finally said.

But not for being angry, Simon thought. “You want to be a police officer.”

“Yes.” She pointed at the paperwork. “You can see that I’m qualified.”

“You realize the job is in a town in the Midwest, which is under the terra indigene’s control?”

The Jana nodded.

“The new sheriff is a Wolf. You would be working as one of his deputies.” Maybe Virgil’s only deputy. “You understand that?”

She nodded again.

“Before we send you to Bennett to talk with Tolya Sanguinati and Virgil Wolfgard, I want the police here to confirm your skills.” She didn’t look happy about that, so he added, “Can you ride a horse?”

The anger vanished from her face and her eyes brightened. “I could be a mounted deputy?”

What was it with human females and horses? “That would be something to discuss with Tolya and Virgil.” He noticed that she hadn’t said she knew how to ride a horse, but that would be Tolya’s problem if he wanted her to stay.

He and Vlad had agreed it was best to send all the job candidates on two trains so that no one would be traveling alone. He’d have to nip a few people to get the Jana on the second train.

“Your skills will be reviewed tomorrow,” Simon said. “If everyone agrees, you can catch the train the day after. Will that be a problem?” Humans always seemed to need considerable time to leave a den.

“Not a problem. I can fit my clothes and personal items into two suitcases. That and three boxes of books are everything I own.”

He wondered if that had always been true. He looked at her résumé again. Nothing about her family pack. But she was here in the Courtyard looking to work in a place far from the Northeast. Maybe her family pack had supported the Humans First and Last movement and she’d been driven out because she hadn’t. No way to know, and it really didn’t matter. But there was one other thing on the résumé that caught his eye because so few of the humans had mentioned other skills beyond the professional ones.

“Writing is your hobby?” he asked. “What kind of writing?”

“Fiction, mostly. I’ve sold a few short stories to magazines, but lately I’ve been writing . . . observations.”

Simon tried to keep his ears from shifting to Wolf to show interest. Officer Debany grumbled about the lack of news from his sister. With so many humans migrating to Bennett, other families would be grumbling as well. Maybe having someone like the Jana writing observations, whatever those were, that could be published in the Courtyard’s newsletter or Great Island’s newspaper would make the humans who were left behind feel easier about the ones who were leaving. Something to discuss with Vlad before passing on the information to Tolya.

Saying nothing more about the writing, they agreed upon a time the next morning when she would come to the Courtyard.

The moment Vlad confirmed that the Jana had left Howling Good Reads, Simon placed a call to Captain Burke, asking him to come to the Courtyard.

Douglas Burke read the résumé and transcript a second time before handing it back to Simon Wolfgard. He owed the leader of this Courtyard, but there were some things he couldn’t do.

“We need to know if the Jana is really qualified to be a police officer,” Simon said.

“On paper, she’s certainly qualified.” Burke sighed. “Whether it’s fair or not, women aren’t hired for positions as serving officers. They are not on the street.”

“That’s your rule, not ours,” Simon replied. “In a pack, males are the enforcers because they’re bigger and stronger. But females are important in a hunt because they’re lighter and faster. They can run the prey until it tires, and then the males bring it down.”

“That may be, but I still can’t hire her.” Although if the Others were so set on having a female police officer working with them, maybe the new mayor and police commissioner would be willing to bend the rules, which would set a precedent for other women who wanted to go into active police work. Hiring Ms. Paniccia also would solve the problem of finding a partner for Officer Debany.

Simon growled softly, as if warning off a rival. “We want to hire the Jana to go to Bennett and be a deputy. We want you to confirm she’s properly trained to do the fighting and hunting.” He paused, then added, “But you don’t have to test if she can ride a horse. Someone in Bennett will do that.”

Well, damn. “Let me see that transcript again.” If she were a man, he’d definitely want her as one of his patrol officers. “What about the sheriff? Will he have a problem with a female deputy?”

“Virgil will have more of a problem with her being human, but Tolya thinks they need a human to help keep the peace.”

“Does Virgil have any training in law enforcement?”

“He was a dominant enforcer. He knows how to kill.”

Struck by a tone in Simon’s voice, Burke studied the Wolf. Had Virgil lost family members when the Humans First and Last movement killed so many of the Wolfgard? Wasn’t a question he could ask, but he had the feeling Virgil Wolfgard had never had the tolerance for humans that Simon did.

Suddenly he could see the value of having a human female police officer to balance a male Wolf’s aggressive reaction when it came to humans disturbing the peace.

“When do you need to know?” Burke asked.

“Can you test her tomorrow? If she qualifies, she can go with the others who are leaving on the train the day after.”

“I’ll meet her here and take her to the firing range. We’ll go on from there.”

“Barbara Ellen will need a roommate besides Buddy. The Jana could live with her.”

“About Buddy.” Michael Debany had been rattled after receiving the news about his sister’s living arrangements, and Burke kept a close eye on officers who were rattled for any reason.

Simon opened a desk drawer, removed a piece of paper, and handed it to him. “Vlad asked. Tolya replied. We told Debany.”

Burke read the message and laughed. Well, that explained why Debany had looked a bit sheepish these past few days whenever anyone asked about his sister.

“Once the Jana arrives in Bennett, Barbara Ellen will have a roommate with a gun. She will be safe from unwanted males, so Officer Debany doesn’t need to worry anymore.”

It sounded like an attempt to reassure, and it made him curious. “Would you want Meg to have a roommate with a gun?”

Simon looked puzzled. “Why would Meg need one? She has me when she’s home and Nathan is the watch Wolf when she’s in the Liaison’s Office. And if someone defeated the Wolves, they would have to deal with Vlad and Henry and Tess and the girls at the lake.”

The slightest change in Wolfgard’s eyes, in his stance, made Burke realize Simon had been wearing the persona of the bookstore owner for these interviews—and had, for the most part, maintained that persona while talking to him about Jana Paniccia. Until now.

“We’ll keep Meg safe,” Simon said. “And Theral.”

Burke stiffened. “Has Jack Fillmore tried to see her?”

“Some humans were sniffing around where they shouldn’t have been. They were driven off before they caused trouble. We don’t have the scent of that Jack Fillmore, so I can’t say if he was one of them. But Theral doesn’t need a roommate with a gun. Not in the Courtyard.”

Message received. “I heard that Katherine Debany will be working for Elliot Wolfgard.”

“Yes. She starts tomorrow. Miss Twyla will also work there in the mornings, helping with the files.” Simon smiled, showing a canine that was a little too long to be human. “They both looked at the files this morning. Elliot said he’s never heard a human say so much by just saying tsk.”

“A skill some women perfect.” Burke pushed out of the chair. “We’ll see you and Ms. Paniccia tomorrow morning.”

He went downstairs and spent a few minutes looking at the books on the display table, finally selecting a thriller by a terra indigene author and a story by a human author that was set in a frontier town from a hundred years ago. He had a feeling that living in Bennett was going to be somewhere between the two.

He paid for the books, then returned to the Chestnut Street station to inform Lieutenant Montgomery that he and his team would be helping to review the qualifications of a young woman who was going to wear a badge, carry a gun . . . and ride a horse.

Late that night, an odd silence followed the Elders’ path as they moved through the Courtyard unseen.

They prowled around the denning place where the Wolf and Grizzly and other terra indigene lived. Where the howling not-Wolf lived. They spent time learning the scents of the humans who did not leave proper markers around the patch of turned earth but were present often enough that their scent rubbed off on the ground and on the plants. Then they moved on to the buildings across from the Courtyard, identifying the dens of the humans the Elementals had told them belonged to the not-Wolf’s pack. Standing on their hind legs, they had looked in the upstairs windows of one den with mingled male and female scents. Was the female in season? That was interesting, but the male suddenly sat up as if he could sense their presence. A hunter in the human pack?

They returned to the Courtyard before the human became too uneasy and sounded an alarm. Even so, they heard a door open, saw the male come out to the open part of the den and look around. He would not see them. Could not see them since they were in their true form. But he’d known something was out there in the dark, watching him—watching his mate. Not many humans sensed their presence. That made this human different from others of his kind. Different, a hunter, but not seen as a threat by the smaller shifters. That was interesting too.

They circled the building that was the not-Wolf’s other den—the place where they had found the tasties hidden inside a tough shell. The female pushed at the door, curious about what they might find in the den this time. Then they heard a human stirring upstairs, caught the scent of metal and oil when the door above them opened—a scent they associated with a human weapon.

Another hunter in the human pack?

So easy to grab the male from his high perch and crush him in their jaws, tear open the soft belly with their claws.

Then a Wolf howled. Had the first human hunter sounded an alarm after all?

It was a single voice, but it would be enough to wake the pack. Both packs.

Disappointed that they hadn’t found the tasties, they still felt pleased by the reaction of both kinds of hunters to a potential threat. Retreating to the spot in the Courtyard that they had chosen for their resting place, they considered what they had learned—and decided it was time to let the Wolf and Grizzly know they were here.