Etched in Bone

CHAPTER 9

Firesday, Messis 10

“Meg?”

Following the sound of Merri Lee’s voice, Meg went to the back room of the Liaison’s Office and opened the door for her friend. Then she noticed Sierra standing nearby.

Merri Lee stepped inside. She spoke so quietly Meg could barely hear her. “Could you use the cards to answer a couple of questions?”

Meg glanced at Sierra. “What’s going on?”

“Simon says Sierra has to choose between her children and her brother Cyrus. She’s asked all of us, except Ruth, who’s still in the schoolroom with the children, and we’ve all told her the same thing: Simon will take her girls, will drive her out of the Courtyard if she chooses to be part of Cyrus’s pack. But it’s like she’s lost her brains and won’t believe this can happen. I finally said we’d ask you to look at the cards as the final input before she makes her decision.”

Meg nodded. Merri Lee gestured to Sierra, and the three of them went into the sorting room.

Nathan was at the front counter, taking notice of who was in the sorting room with Meg.

“Private consultation,” she said, and closed the Private door almost all the way. The Wolf, with his keen hearing, would still know everything that was said, but the illusion of privacy was for Sierra’s sake.

She took the wooden box out of the drawer, set it on the table, and removed all the cards, spreading them out. Pins and needles filled her breasts, made her nipples burn. Made her grateful she didn’t have to use the razor on that part of her body.

“No!” she snapped as Sierra reached for one of the cards.

“Having someone else handling the cards interferes with Meg’s ability to find the answers to people’s questions,” Merri Lee explained, moving Sierra’s hand away from the cards.

“This is absurd,” Sierra said angrily. “He has no right to say that I’m unfit to take care of my girls.”

Meg’s hands buzzed. “What is your question?”

Before Sierra responded, Merri Lee said, “Two questions. The first is, what will happen to Bonnie and Carrie if they are separated from their mother?”

Meg closed her eyes and silently repeated the question. Her fingers brushed the cards until one card produced a painful buzz in her left hand. She opened her eyes and turned the card so they could all see the answer.

“Future undecided,” she said, feeling troubled.

“What does that mean?” Sierra demanded.

“It means they could be fine and have a good life, or things could go badly for them,” Merri Lee replied. “But right now, there is no clear answer.”

Meg put the card facedown and set it to one side. “Second question.”

“What will happen to Sierra if she continues to allow her brother to pressure her into doing things she knows are wrong?”

Meg sucked in a breath. She could have sworn she’d just felt the silver razor’s kiss against her skin. She followed the buzz, partially distracted by the icy pins-and-needles feeling in her left wrist—the exact spot where she thought she’d felt the razor.

She found the card that buzzed with the answer to the question, turned it over, and stepped back from the table before opening her eyes.

Merri Lee looked pale. And Sierra? Fascinated? Horrified? Meg didn’t want to spend her energy trying to recall a training image that matched Sierra’s expression, especially after she looked at the card she’d drawn for the young woman’s future.

Hooded figure holding a scythe.

“Death,” Merri Lee whispered. “Cyrus will push and push until something happens that kills you. You keep saying you owe him. You said it to me, to Theral, to Eve, even to Mrs. Debany, trying to get anyone to agree with you that you owe him. We all told you the same thing: just because you believed what he told you when you were a little girl doesn’t make it true. But we’re not talking about him getting more than his share of a treat because you gave up part of yours. Not anymore. You’re an adult and you’re going to lose a lot more than a cookie. It’s time to stop wrecking your life while you still have one.”

Sierra ran out the back door, sobbing.

“Go after her,” Meg said.

“Are you all right?” Merri Lee asked.

She nodded. “I need to think about some things.”

She waited until she was sure Merri Lee was gone. Then she brushed her fingers against the cards and asked a question of her own.

Why is Simon allowing Cyrus Montgomery to stay around the Courtyard?

Cyrus being Lieutenant Montgomery’s brother wasn’t enough. There had to be another reason.

Strictly speaking, her question didn’t lend itself to prophecy, and she wasn’t certain she’d be guided to an answer. Then her fingers burned. She picked up the card, opened her eyes, and turned it over. She dropped the card faceup on top of the rest.

Meg stared at the card. Stared and stared as she thought about children and mothers and safe places to build a life.

She picked up the phone and called Steve Ferryman. And then she called Simon.

“You’re buying the Stag and Hare?” Simon cocked his head and studied Captain Burke. “Why are you telling me? The terra indigene don’t drink alcohol.” At least, not from a glass. The Sanguinati had been known to get a little tipsy when they fed on someone who had been consuming alcohol. And Wolves and other shifters could be affected by drugs or other substances in a human’s blood. But going to a tavern wasn’t something the Others did by choice, because humans pumped up on liquid courage could be dangerous.

“The Stag and Hare also serves food. Pub grub.” Burke smiled. “It will provide a place in the neighborhood where everyone could mingle. The place has a large-screen television. Customers come in to watch sporting events. Another kind of experience for your people, and a safe place for mine.”

“For the Wolf lovers.” Simon suddenly understood. It had never been safe for someone like him to go into that kind of place. But it wasn’t safe for a human like Kowalski or Debany to go into a drinking den either. Not anymore.

“Why are you telling me?” Simon asked again.

“Customers of the Stag and Hare have caused you some trouble in the past.”

True, but the last humans who crossed the street intending to cause trouble had been killed by the Elders, and their intestines had ended up festooning the nearby trees.

Maybe that was the reason the tavern was for sale?

“The other reason I’m telling you is because I wanted to float an idea,” Burke said. “I’m wondering if an Intuit from Great Island would be interested in managing the tavern. I’m wondering if one of the Sanguinati would be interested in learning to tend bar. Some of the waitstaff will stay because they want the jobs. I think the cook will stay for the same reason. There’s an apartment as well as a small office on the second floor. The apartment would be part of the manager’s salary if he wanted to live there.”

“A business that is a mixed community.”

Burke nodded. “Having a manager who has a feeling about trouble before it starts would benefit all of us.”

“You want me to talk to Vlad and to Steve Ferryman.”

“I do.”

Simon studied the police captain. “You know what happened here?”

“Lieutenant Montgomery told me. I’d like to stay and hear the decision, if that’s all right with you.”

Before Simon could answer, the phone rang. “Howling Good Reads.” He shot to his feet. “Meg? What . . . ? Are you . . . ? I’ll be right there.”

Burke also rose. “Problem?”

“Not yet.” Simon rushed for the door, then stopped when he realized he’d almost left Burke, a human, alone in HGR’s office—something he wouldn’t have considered doing a few months ago.

Burke met him at the door, then went out ahead of him, hurrying down the stairs to get out of the way. Simon brushed past the man and rushed to the Liaison’s Office to find out why Meg needed to see him so urgently before the Sierra made a choice.

“I already called Steve Ferryman,” Meg said when Simon ran into the sorting room.

Nathan planted his forelegs on the front counter and stared at the Wolfgard leader through the Private doorway.

Simon asked.

The wooden box with the carved lid that Henry had made to hold the prophecy cards was on the table. Three cards were on the table, facedown.

Meg waited until Simon stood next to her. “Merri Lee asked two questions on Sierra’s behalf. What will happen to Bonnie and Carrie if they are separated from their mother?” She turned the big question mark card. “What will happen to Sierra if she continues to allow her brother to pressure her into doing things she knows are wrong?” She turned over the second card.

He bared his teeth. “Death.”

“My question: why are you allowing Cyrus to stay around the Courtyard?” She turned over the card that represented something terrible and dangerous—something most humans thought was a fantastical, make-believe creature and most terra indigene, while knowing such forms existed, had never seen. “Your decision has something to do with them, doesn’t it? The Elders are coming back to the Courtyard.”

Simon stared at her as his ears became Wolf-shaped and fur suddenly covered his shoulders and chest. “They’re already here.”

“What do they want?”

“To observe. To learn.”

“They don’t want you to send Cyrus away?”

“Not yet.” He hesitated, trying to think of how to explain. “The human pack connected to the Courtyard is as big now as some of the human settlements in the wild country. The humans here were working well together and working well with us. Then that Cyrus walks in and humans are suddenly fighting among themselves. The Elders want to know why one human can sour an entire pack. If they can’t learn the reason by observing the humans connected to the Courtyard, they won’t allow humans to migrate to any of the reclaimed places. They won’t allow humans to migrate at all.”

Simon touched Meg’s shoulder, wanting contact for a moment. “And I want to understand too, Meg. Humans who cause this kind of trouble usually stay away from us. They certainly wouldn’t be trying to work with us. Not that that Cyrus is offering to do any kind of work.” He paused. “It feels like it should be a fight for dominance, but Montgomery doesn’t seem to understand that.”

“A fight for dominance would decide who is the leader of the human pack?” Meg asked.

He nodded.

“Then it wouldn’t be Lieutenant Montgomery who would fight Cyrus; it would be Captain Burke.”

Simon blinked. He’d been thinking of a dispute within a family pack, but Meg was right. Now that the conflict had spilled over to the rest of the human pack, that Cyrus would have to defeat Burke in order to claim dominance over the rest of them.

Suddenly he was looking forward to watching their next meeting.

Meg lifted her chin. At first he thought she was inviting him to give her a lick. Then he remembered that, in the kissy books, females did the chin lifting as a challenge or to indicate defiance. Since he didn’t know what Meg was challenging or defying, he just waited.

“If we have to let Cyrus stay, then I want you and Steve Ferryman to figure out a way to relocate Sierra and her daughters to Great Island.”

“She’s human, Meg. Ferryman’s Landing is an Intuit village.”

“But Roger Czerneda isn’t an Intuit, and Steve hired him as the village’s full-time police officer.”

“That was different.”

“Yes. Officer Czerneda doesn’t need to be in a place that is beyond someone’s reach.” Meg looked into his eyes. “Being in the Courtyard put me beyond the Controller’s reach, beyond the reach of the human laws he would have used to get me back under his ownership. The Courtyard is a safe place for Theral because it puts her beyond the reach of Jack Fillmore. But it’s not a safe enough place for Sierra because Cyrus is here, because he exerts a kind of ownership over her, and as long as she is within reach, she’ll remain weak where he is concerned.” She rested her hand on his. “Simon, Sierra’s daughters need her.”

Simon turned his hand in order to hold hers. “I don’t think the Sierra’s pups will survive if she’s allowed to keep them.”

Whether the Sierra’s pups survived would matter to Meg—especially after the discovery that the humans who “owned” blood prophets had been killing the girls’ unwanted puppies.

“I’ve been thinking about my friend Jean, who was brought to the compound when she was a small child,” Meg said. “She had a mother, a father, and a brother. She never forgot she’d had a family once or that she’d been taken from them. If we start breaking up families because we decide something bad might happen to the children, are we any better than the Controller or the other men like him? In the beginning, they had claimed they were taking children away from their families for the children’s own good.” She paused, then added, “Give Sierra a second chance.”

“Coming to Lakeside was a second chance,” he argued, “and what did the Sierra do? Called that Cyrus and told him where to find her.”

“Then call this a last chance. One last chance to break free from Cyrus’s hold and build a life for herself and her daughters.”

“What if she doesn’t want to break free?”

Meg looked so sad, he wondered if she was thinking about the cassandra sangue who had chosen to stay in the compounds. They chose to remain a commodity that would be used up in exchange for someone taking care of them so they wouldn’t have to take care of themselves.

“Then that’s her choice.” She sighed.

“It’s also Steve Ferryman’s choice, as well as the terra indigene on Great Island. No one settles on the island without their consent.” Simon ran a hand over Meg’s head. “Your hair is growing. It doesn’t look like puppy fuzz anymore.”

Might not look like puppy fuzz anymore, but he couldn’t resist petting it whenever he thought she wouldn’t growl at him.

Nathan reported.

Meg and Simon stepped into the front room just as the passenger door opened and a dark-haired man got out.

“What did you tell Steve Ferryman?” Simon asked.

“That we needed to talk to him and that it was urgent,” Meg replied. “But it’s time for that meeting, and it’s better if I stay here.”

Trying not to look too happy when they had serious things to discuss, Simon vaulted over the counter and went out to greet the mayor of Ferryman’s Landing.

“You got here in a hurry.” He smiled as he walked up to where the Intuit waited by the patrol car. The sharp look he received from Steve Ferryman told him that his ears hadn’t shifted all the way back to human yet.

“Meg said it was urgent,” Steve replied. “What happened? You don’t usually look this pleased to see me.”

Meg said “we.” We were talking and we were deciding. Partners in running the Courtyard. And that means you’re not a serious rival anymore.

Not that Steve Ferryman had ever presented himself to Meg as a potential mate. But Ferryman was human and didn’t have to adapt to things that weren’t a natural part of himself.

“Do you mind if Officer Czerneda pulls into the employee parking lot?” Steve asked.

“No, but if he wants food, he’ll need to go to Meat-n-Greens. There is a discussion going on in the coffee shop. That’s part of the reason you’re here.”

Steve gave Simon a long look. “I’m here as the mayor of Ferryman’s Landing?”

“Yes.”

They waited until Roger Czerneda drove the car down the access way before they headed for A Little Bite. Simon told Steve about the Sierra and the choice she had to make. He told Steve about the two cards Meg had drawn in answer to the questions about the Sierra and her pups, and about Meg’s concern for the girls if the Sierra died.

He hadn’t equated the girls with his nephew Sam. What would have happened to Sam if Daphne had died anywhere else but the Lakeside Courtyard? Simon had reached his sister moments after she died, had been there to take the traumatized pup back to the Wolfgard Complex, where he and Elliot had done everything they could to take care of Sam.

Just as Lieutenant Montgomery and Miss Twyla would take care of the Sierra’s pups if they were orphaned. But would that be true of a human pack if the Sierra lived somewhere else?

“I’ll listen,” Steve said. “I can’t promise to do more than that.”

“Captain Burke also wants to talk to you.”

“If Burke wants Roger to transfer to his police station, forget it,” Steve growled.

Simon grinned, appreciating the human’s possessiveness of his own pack. “He bought the Stag and Hare and thinks having an Intuit as a manager would be a good idea.”

Steve stopped at the back door of A Little Bite. “How would you feel about that?”

“Emily Faire claimed one of the apartments for her den, so the Intuits are already overlapping our territory.”

“One young woman is hardly an invasion.”

“The female pack was the invasion,” Simon grumbled. “Exploding fluffballs. Bunnies with teeth.”

Steve burst out laughing. “I enjoy talking to you, Wolfgard. You face challenges that make my mayoral duties look easy.”

Vlad called.

Simon opened the door to the coffee shop and went in first as a courtesy to his guest. If Tess and Nadine were still in a dangerous mood, he could warn Steve, who would have a chance to run away.

The coffee shop was so full of witnesses, Simon almost felt sorry for the Sierra. Tess’s hair was red and green coils, but he didn’t spot any threads of black. Nadine’s hair didn’t give any warning of mood, but Simon noticed that Henry stood behind the woman, ready to grab her if she tried to spring on the Sierra. Vlad was in the archway, keeping an eye on Merri Lee and the rest of the female pack. The police pack was there. So were Elliot and Miss Twyla, as well as Agent O’Sullivan. In fact, about the only humans who weren’t there to witness the Sierra’s decision were Ruthie, who was watching the human pups, Meg, and . . .

Simon asked Vlad.

Since dumping two extra pups on Ruthie in the middle of schooltime was Vlad’s doing, Simon hoped she didn’t snarl at him about it.

The Sierra stood in the center of the room, looking small and weak. She should have been an auntie helping to raise the dominant pair’s puppies. In fact, that was how that Cyrus seemed to treat her—as someone who was expected to help him raise his pups. That would have been fine if she hadn’t had pups of her own. But even by pack standards, it wasn’t right to expect her to hunt and provide food for all of them while the other two adults did nothing understandably useful.

Simon stood in front of the Sierra. “Have you made a choice?”

The Sierra wrapped her arms around herself. “I want to keep my girls. And I don’t want to die.” The words were a pleading cry for help.

Wondering if he could mention moving her and her pups to Great Island, Simon glanced at Steve Ferryman and was surprised by the hard, grim look on the man’s face. Clearly, the Sierra wouldn’t be going to Ferryman’s Landing.

“Last chance, Sierra Montgomery,” Simon said. “If you want to keep your pups, you will stay away from that Cyrus.”

Fear. And relief. Someone besides that Cyrus had determined the Sierra’s place within a pack. Right now, she didn’t care that the decision had been made by a Wolf.

The Sierra began to cry. Miss Twyla put her arms around the other female and led her pup out of A Little Bite.

The rest of the humans slunk out of the coffee shop, except Burke and Steve Ferryman. Montgomery would have held his ground, but a look from Burke sent the lieutenant away—proof that Burke was the dominant male of the human pack.

“You wanted me to consider having Sierra Montgomery relocate to Great Island?” Steve asked.

“Yes.”

“Was that your idea?”

Simon shook his head, baffled by the scent of anger surrounding the man. “It was Meg’s.”

“Then we’ll talk to Meg.” Steve headed for the back door, then looked over his shoulder at Burke. “I understand you want to talk before I go?”

“If it’s convenient,” Burke replied, making no move to leave.

Steve looked at Simon. “I’ll meet you at the Liaison’s Office.”

Wondering where Tess and Nadine were, Simon focused on the police captain.

Burke gave him a fierce-friendly smile. “I read an article a few years ago about how hunters in some parts of the world use a tethered goat to bring predators into the open. I’m just wondering what kind of predators you’re looking to snare with bait like Cyrus Montgomery.”

Sometimes Burke was too smart. But drawing out other predators like that Jack Fillmore would be a side benefit. The Elders weren’t watching to see what other kinds of predators were drawn to that Cyrus so much as how the other humans responded to a predator who was also a bottom feeder.

“Having Cyrus here puts a strain on Monty, not to mention the strain on Twyla and Sierra,” Burke continued. “Is there a reason to do that?”

Simon considered what he could—should—say to Captain Douglas Burke, dominant male of the human pack.

“This isn’t my choice.” Before Burke could respond, Simon said, “Did you fix the door on the police station? Replace the glass that had been scored by Namid’s teeth and claws?”

Burke paled. “No. I convinced the station chief that it was a valuable reminder of why the police and local government need to work with the Lakeside Courtyard.”

“The tethered goat? Not my choice.”

“They’re here?” Burke asked.

Simon nodded.

“Does Monty know about your . . . guests?”

“None of the humans know.” Except Meg, but she’d figured it out for herself. “Captain . . . what the Elders learn from observing that Cyrus and the rest of the human pack here will affect the decisions they make about every human in Thaisia.”

“Well,” Burke said eventually. “I’ll do what I can to help Lieutenant Montgomery and his men keep things smooth.” He gestured toward the archway. “Mind if I browse while you have your meeting with Mr. Ferryman?”

“Go ahead. We have some new thrillers by terra indigene authors.” There was also a new book about the Wolf Team, but Simon didn’t think that would interest Burke. Besides, the handful of copies he’d ordered for the store were already bought, and there was a long waiting list for the copy in the Market Square library—and some of the names on the waiting list belonged to humans.

Leaving Burke to deal with Merri Lee, their teakettle-wielding exploding fluffball of an assistant manager, Simon bolted out the back door of A Little Bite and wondered what Steve Ferryman wanted to say to Meg.

“No,” Steve said.

Frightened by the ferocity in that one word, Meg moved closer to Simon, who bared his teeth and snarled at the Intuit.

“Why?” she asked. “Sierra needs a safe place to live.”

“Not in Ferryman’s Landing. And not on the island. I watched her, Meg. I listened to her. And I had a feeling—a very bad feeling—that she would cause serious trouble for my people if I permitted her to relocate to Great Island.”

She hadn’t been prepared for an argument, hadn’t considered that Steve would put one of his feelings ahead of one of her prophecies, even if her prediction of the future had come from using the prophecy cards.

“She needs a safe place,” Meg insisted.

“Then you and Simon and her cop brother should help her relocate somewhere far away.”

Simon had narrowed his eyes at Steve and growled softly, but he wasn’t adding anything to her argument—which made her wonder if he actually agreed with Steve. Which made her angry.

“Give me one good reason for not allowing Sierra to live on Great Island,” Meg snapped.

“I can give you five,” Steve snapped back. “Six if you count Jean.”

She swayed as if he’d given her a hard slap.

Steve rammed his fingers through his hair. “I’m not saying Sierra would go after the girls and try to do them deliberate harm. I didn’t get that feeling. But everyone who lives in Ferryman’s Landing knows about the girls. Almost every business in the village is involved in building the new campus, and Lois Greene has begun printing a progress report in the Great Island Reporter. That we’re taking care of young blood prophets isn’t a secret—gods, I’m the one who sends out The Blood Prophets Guide e-mails—but there aren’t many people beyond Intuits and terra indigene who know about the girls in our care.” He hesitated, then looked directly at Simon. “Stavros Sanguinati knows. He dropped by to introduce himself, being the new leader in Talulah Falls. He said I could call him if I needed his kind of help.”

Meg looked at Steve, then at Simon. “What kind of help?” She’d met Stavros. He reminded her of Vlad, only more intense.

“Stavros was the Toland Courtyard’s problem solver,” Simon replied, focused on Steve. “He doesn’t offer his kind of help lightly.”

Steve nodded. “That was my impression.”

The skin around Meg’s spine buzzed. The pins-and-needles feeling prickled the skin above her collarbone. She wanted to cut, wanted to feel the relief and release. Wanted the euphoria that came from speaking prophecy. She’d been good for weeks and weeks, using the cards instead of the razor. Cards that might provide answers but not the pleasure.

“Meg?”

Simon’s hand, warm on the back of her neck.

“Sierra and Cyrus,” she said softly. “It’s like me and the razor, isn’t it?”

She didn’t hear the snarl; she felt the rumble of it through his hand.

“There’s no need for that,” Steve said, sounding upset.

No need except wanting something that harmed her and would eventually kill her.

She took the wooden box out of the drawer and spread the prophecy cards over the sorting room table. “Ask the question.”

Steve looked confused—or perhaps just unwilling.

“What would happen if the Sierra moved to Great Island?” Simon said. “Speak, prophet, and we will listen.”

Meg closed her eyes and let her fingers brush over the cards until she found the one that made her fingers burn, made her spine buzz and the skin around her collarbone prickle. She turned the card over before opening her eyes.

Hooded figure holding a scythe.

“Death,” Simon said grimly.

“We don’t know who will die,” Meg said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Steve replied. “It might be Sierra or one of the young blood prophets. It might be an Intuit or one of the terra indigene. If she lives among us, she’ll bring death.”

“Because she won’t be able to resist her own kind of razor,” Meg said. Hadn’t she been receiving that message in one form or another from Ruth and Merri Lee and Theral? “Sooner or later, Sierra would call Cyrus or leave some kind of clue of where to find her.”

“I’m no counselor, but that sounds about right,” Steve said. “Until she chooses not to make that call, there is no safe place for her to live, and I can’t agree to something that will put our most vulnerable citizens at risk.”

Meg nodded. You couldn’t help someone who didn’t want help. That was a hard, and bitter, life lesson.

“Well,” Steve said after an awkward silence. “I’d better go hear what Captain Burke has in mind.” He reached across the table and touched Meg’s hand. “Sorry I couldn’t help.” Giving Simon a nod, he left the Liaison’s Office.

Meg gathered up the cards and returned them to the box. “Whatever the Elders expect to learn from all this, I hope it’s worth it.”

A moment’s hesitation. Then she felt the heat from Simon’s body as he moved close to her, felt his lips press lightly against her temple, giving her the oddest sensation of pleasure.

“I hope so too,” he said.

Simon found Lieutenant Montgomery in Meat-n-Greens, drinking ice water and pretending to eat a small bowl of cottage cheese.

“Why?” Taking a seat opposite Montgomery, Simon pointed at the bowl. “Do you like that cheese?”

Montgomery gave him a weary smile. “Not really, but I felt like I should purchase something if I was going to sit here, and the cottage cheese is something cold to eat on a hot day.” He fiddled with the spoon. “I brought this trouble to your door. I’m sorry.”

“You wanted to protect your mother and sister, get them to a safer place,” Simon countered. “I encouraged you.”

“I didn’t expect Jimmy. His being here changes things.”

Simon waited. He couldn’t force that Cyrus away from the Courtyard, but the Elders hadn’t said anything about Montgomery sending the other human away.

“Eve Denby called me from Lakeside Hospital. Seems Jimmy had some sort of attack—shortness of breath, heart feeling wonky.” Monty stared at the bowl of cottage cheese. “Someone here expressing . . . displeasure?”

“Yes.” No point denying it, even if he wouldn’t confirm it was Tess the Harvester, the Plague Rider, who had taken some of that Cyrus’s life energy.

“Anyone else hurt?” Monty asked.

“No.” He knew what he would want as a Wolf, but he wasn’t sure what a human would want. “We could move the Sierra and her pups to the other apartment building. I won’t move that Cyrus over there, not with three females living there alone.” All right, Officer Debany was almost living with Merri Lee in her den, but he wasn’t there all the time to discourage anything that Cyrus might decide to do.

“I’d prefer having my sister in the same building as me,” Monty said. He pushed the bowl of cottage cheese to one side, then drank some water. “Why did you put Jimmy and his family on the second floor?”

“He can’t fly. We didn’t think he would be inclined to use the porch to sneak out or in if he had to climb to the second floor. And even if he tried, we would see him before he reached the ground.”

Monty’s smile was fleeting but genuine. “You got that right. But he would have even less contact with Sissy—with Sierra—if he had no reason to be on the second floor.”

As Simon considered that, he pulled the bowl of cottage cheese to his side of the table and ate a spoonful. He liked cheese and happily purchased his share when a delivery came from an earth native dairy farm. But no matter what they called it, this just wasn’t his idea of cheese. He’d thought he didn’t like it because he was a Wolf. Maybe it was because he was male, since Meg and the female pack chose to eat it.

“That Cyrus and his mate are still at the hospital, and his pups are in the schoolroom with Ruthie,” Simon said. “We could move all of their possessions to the other downstairs apartment in your building and have Chris Fallacaro swap the locks so the key we gave that Cyrus would work on the other apartment.” When Montgomery hesitated, he added, “If you don’t want to look at their things, I could ask Jenni and Starr to pack up their belongings.”

“No offense to the Crowgard, but I think it would be better if I did the packing,” Monty said.

“Well, you’re not likely to lose any shinies while taking the belongings down the stairs.” Simon smiled. “I’ll help you.” The Wolves had looked in the suitcases when that Cyrus arrived, but it wouldn’t hurt to see if the human had brought in anything that wasn’t allowed.

“Thank you. I’ll check with Captain Burke about taking some personal time for this.”

Steve Ferryman and Roger Czerneda had left the Courtyard, but Burke was still in Howling Good Reads. He looked amused as he held up the two books he’d selected—a thriller by Alan Wolfgard and a book Merri Lee referred to as a Crowgard cozy, with an amateur sleuth who had a habit of picking up more than clues while investigating a murder.

“This is the other one,” Merri Lee said as she returned to the front of the bookstore. She handed Burke a book that, from the look of it, had been read a few times already. “Jesse Walker from Prairie Gold sent it to us. You can take it as a loaner. It’s a mystery-thriller series with a human investigator who receives assistance from a couple of terra indigene acquaintances. I gather the author is pretty popular among the Intuit communities but is unknown anywhere else.”

“Was that in the box of books Jesse Walker sent to HGR?” Simon’s chest and shoulders furred a little in annoyance. Until he and Vlad decided whether to order copies for the store, those books were supposed to be a distraction for Meg, not be handed out to other humans.

“Jesse sent two copies of that one,” Merri Lee replied, showing her teeth.

Simon pretended the teeth were displayed in a smile. The female pack was upset because of the Sierra, and he really didn’t want to tangle with any of them. At least, not over a book.

“I have all the information you or Vlad would need to order new copies of the series,” Merri Lee said.

“Good. Fine. Lieutenant Montgomery and I will be across the street. Vlad should be around if you need help with anything.”

“Problem across the street?” Burke asked.

Simon went over to the display table to give Montgomery the illusion of privacy while talking with the captain, and to give himself a moment to digest the changes that had occurred since the Elementals and Elders had retaliated against the Humans First and Last movement, altering so many things in Thaisia—not to mention the savage destruction of so much of the Cel-Romano Alliance of Nations on the other side of the Atlantik.

On the one paw, he felt relieved that the Courtyard wasn’t faltering while his attention was pulled in so many directions. On the other paw, it felt weird not to know what was going on in his own store. Were the rest of the Business Association members feeling the same way? Maybe not Henry, who spent his time in human form carving totems and sculptures from wood. But Tess was more volatile lately.

He looked at the books on the display table. He wanted to arrange a few things as a substitute for lifting a leg and marking territory. He and Vlad had made Merri Lee their assistant manager in order to free up their time to deal with larger concerns and to take over John Wolfgard’s duties now that John had left to run the bookstore in Bennett, but he hadn’t expected her to mark the store as her territory so quickly.

We’re sharing, he reminded himself as he went upstairs to fetch the spare key to that Cyrus’s apartment and call Chris Fallacaro to meet them at the apartment and swap the locks.

Montgomery waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. “We should get this done. Eve Denby called me again. She’s at the Bird Park Plaza right now, doing a bit of scouting for Meg, but she’ll be back at the hospital in an hour to pick up Jimmy and Sandee since the doctors wanted to keep an eye on him a bit longer. They’ve decided this is a variation of that mysterious malady that has cropped up a few times in recent months. That being the case, once he’s released, the only cure is rest.”

They went into the apartment that Cyrus and his family were using and found the suitcases.

Simon looked around the adults’ bedroom and covered his nose with his hand. What had that Sandee rolled in to smell this stinky?

“Gods above and below,” Montgomery muttered. “Jimmy was raised better than this.”

“You smell it too?”

“Yes, I smell it. I’m surprised the station hasn’t received complaints from nearby houses about a bad odor.” Montgomery looked at Simon. “This must be a lot worse for you.”

“We roll on dead fish.” Simon lowered his hand and took a quick sniff. “This is a lot more pungent. More like skunk spray.”

Montgomery laughed, a quick sound muzzled to a chuckle. “Let’s toss it all in the suitcases and leave the suitcases on the porch. I’ll talk to Eve and my mother about how to fumigate this apartment.”

“I’ll pack up the puppies’ things,” Simon said, heading for the other bedroom. The pups’ clothes didn’t smell as bad, but they didn’t smell clean either.

Why would parents turn their offspring into scent markers for predators? Or was being stinky off-putting enough to discourage the human kind of predator?

He didn’t want Montgomery to think he was suggesting the man stink up Lizzy, so he would ask Kowalski or Debany. It seemed a silly way to protect the young, which was exactly why humans might do it.

The locks were swapped, the suitcases were packed and on the porch of the downstairs apartment across from Montgomery’s, and the Sanguinati who was keeping watch had been told who could, and couldn’t, go upstairs to the Sierra’s den.

It wasn’t said, but it was understood, that if that Cyrus or his mate tried to see the Sierra, they would need another trip to the hospital for a sudden loss of blood.

Meg moved the kneepad, then resumed weeding the next section of the kitchen garden. She wanted to do something simple—a task that had an instant, visible reward, that had no gray areas, no emotional turmoil. At least, not for her. If weeds had feelings, they might take a different view of her plunging her gardening tool into the ground around them and ripping them out, roots and all. But they weren’t voicing opinions or arguing with her, so she dug and ripped with homicidal cheer.

No one believed the solicitous excuses that Simon and Monty had made for moving Cyrus and his family to the apartment across from Monty’s, especially after Cyrus was barred from going upstairs to talk to Sierra. When Simon told Sandee that she couldn’t go into the Courtyard until she washed her clothes and stopped smelling like skunk spray, she shrieked loudly enough to be heard by people at the end of the next block. Combined with Sierra’s drama and Steve Ferryman’s opposition to Sierra’s living on Great Island, Sandee’s reaction became the one thing too many, depleting Meg’s ability to cope with the feelings and futures of the people around her.

She would do a bit more weeding, then take a cool shower. Simon and Sam would be home by then, and they would make a salad and warm up the already-cooked meatloaf she’d picked up at Meat-n-Greens for sandwiches. Then she intended to do nothing but sit in the summer room and read. Maybe even sleep there tonight.

“Arroo!”

Meg waved as Sam raced toward her, looking hot and dusty but happy. Of course he was happy. He hadn’t been touched by all the trouble caused by pesky humans—and she had a copy of the new Wolf Team book for him.

“Hello, Sam!” She dropped her weeding tool and hugged him. “Did you have a good day?”

He arrooed and licked and made her laugh. She smiled at Simon when he trotted over to join them.

“Give me a few more minutes to finish this section; then we’ll go home and have dinner,” she said.

She picked up her tool and dug around one of the zucchini plants and pulled out a gray wad. But when she turned the wad over, she realized she had snagged a white puff of a tail.

Simon heard Meg yelp and saw Sam snatch something from the end of her weeding tool. The pup bounced forward, then darted back, clearly inviting her to play. Meg didn’t look like she wanted to play, but Sam wasn’t taking the hint.

he said.

Sam protested, the bit of white fur dangling from his mouth.

Simon pounced on the pup, rolling him over and pretending to grab for the toy. Sam scrambled to get away, and the two of them ran around while Meg cautiously lifted the zucchini leaves to make sure there weren’t any other surprises. Somewhere along the way, Sam dropped the bunny tail and Simon didn’t pick it up, figuring he could find it and bury it later. They ran and played a few minutes more before Simon trotted over to the water pump, shifted his front paws into furry hands, and pumped some water for both of them.

More interested in playing in the water than drinking it, Sam was thoroughly wet when he ran to Meg and jumped on her back, his belly fur soaking her cotton shirt. She squeaked and shrieked, and Sam slid off her back as she scrambled to her feet.

“I’m going home now.” She stomped toward their apartments.

Sam asked.

Simon replied.

He lapped a little more water, which seemed a lot colder than the hot, humid air. Making sure his front paws were back to proper Wolf form, in case he needed to run, he caught up to Meg, timed his move, and swiped his tongue along the back of her knee.

Another satisfying squeak accompanied the prancy steps of the Squeaky Dance before Meg returned to a stride that would put some distance between her and wet Wolves.

Simon said as he and Sam watched Meg hurry toward her den.