Wild Country

CHAPTER 18

Firesday, Messis 17

Abigail pushed the edge of the curtain to one side and peered out the window at the people getting off the small bus. She wasn’t being nosy. There were reasons why she needed to know who lived around her, needed to know if any of her neighbors posed a threat to her maintaining the sweet Abigail persona. Not everyone was as gullible as Barb Debany, including Barb’s housemate, Deputy Jana Paniccia. Abigail had a feeling that the deputy didn’t buy into anyone’s persona—maybe even her own.

That niggling doubt about her own abilities might be enough to work with to keep Jana from looking too closely at the neighbors.

Abigail recognized Tolya Sanguinati and Virgil Wolfgard, and she’d seen the young guy and the golden-haired man walking around the town square when she’d ventured beyond this street for her cleaning job or to put in her required hours of sorting work. But the other two men and the four children were strangers. The men didn’t look dangerous, but the most dangerous men often didn’t.

When Jana pulled her official police vehicle into the driveway of the house next door, Abigail went outside to find out what was going on. It would be natural to be curious.

Barb came out of the house she was sharing with Jana, said, “Hi, Abby,” then looked at Jana. “What’s up?”

“Several things,” Jana replied, stopping to watch the group of people stand in front of each house on the street. “Since the guys making deliveries of household goods are up to their eyeballs in requests, the sheriff told me to load up my official vehicle with goods we’d earmarked for the house in exchange for letting said vehicle live with us.”

“It’s a car, not a puppy.” Barb studied the vehicle. “We can haul things in it?”

“Yes. You being the next thing on my hauling list as soon as we unload.” Jana opened the back, pulled out a box, and handed it to Barb, who stood there with her mouth open.

“I’ll take one,” Abigail said, wondering what was wrong with Barb.

“Did he send you to put me in the Me Time cell?” Barb demanded. “What did I do now?”

“Shh,” Jana said when Virgil turned to stare at them, proving just how sharp Wolf ears were when it came to picking up sounds. “No, this is about getting some of the pets adopted. So help me get these boxes in the house and we can be on our way.”

Abigail waited until the three of them carted the last load of boxes into the house and Barb went to fetch her daypack and house keys. Then she asked, “Why are the town leader and the sheriff looking at houses with those men?”

“One of the children is . . . special . . . and Joshua Painter says she needs a house that doesn’t have a stain of darkness—which is something specific that Joshua can sense but can’t explain,” Jana replied. “That’s why they’re all out there looking at houses. They looked at houses that had already been cleared out on another street, but none of those places were right.”

Special like Becky Gott? Or special like drawing pictures that showed something that could happen in the future? If she hadn’t seen a picture like that when she’d lived in Prairie Gold, she wouldn’t have sensed that Jana’s hesitation revealed more than the deputy realized. Special could be like finding the mother lode. Or being able to identify that kind of special could be information she could trade if the wrong kind of people came wandering down the street and found her.

“I’m ready,” Barb said, joining them.

They locked the house on their way out, then paused to watch the group conferring on the front yard of one house before moving on to the next.

“Think we’ll have new neighbors?” Abigail asked, trying to sound casual.

“If they choose a house on this street, they won’t be the only new neighbors,” Barb replied. “Some of the terra indigene would move into houses around here to keep watch. They’re kind of intense about protecting—”

“Barb!” Jana said sharply.

For a moment, Barb looked hurt. But Jana looked alarmed at what her housemate was about to reveal, confirming that one of the children was the lucrative kind of special.

“Sorry,” Barb said.

“It’s all right,” Jana said. “I’m just skittish from yesterday.”

What had happened yesterday? Nothing that had made the rounds of gossip.

Jana jingled her keys and looked at Barb. “Let’s get going so I can spend some time with my four-legged ride. See you later, Abby.”

“See you.” Abigail watched Jana and Barb drive off before retreating to her own house.

Kelley wasn’t happy living with her anymore. He had a separate bedroom now and was clearing it out and cleaning it up. But he made no effort to help her with the rest of the house. Which meant he didn’t know what was in the house and what wasn’t—including the things they were supposed to turn in.

And since Kelley wasn’t sharing a bedroom with her, he also didn’t know about the pack she’d hidden in the closet—the emergency pack of essentials she would need if she had to run again.

“What I told you about Maddie was said in confidence,” Jana said as she drove the few blocks to the town square. “We can’t talk about her to anyone.”

“But you said there were lots of people in the store when those men arrived with the children,” Barb protested.

“And Mr. Sanguinati stopped the men from saying Maddie was a blood prophet. There’s no reason for anyone to know by what he said unless they’d already met one of the girls.”

Barb stared at her. “Then how did you know what Tolya was talking about?”

“Your brother told me key words the Others use when talking about the girls. Since he was the one who told me, I thought it would be okay to tell you.”

She’d been shaken last night when she’d arrived home, had needed to talk to someone. She didn’t tell Barb about Virgil’s threat. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know because she had to work past it. Gods, did she have to work past it or she’d be a wreck before she’d been on the job a week.

“Look,” she said. “If Virgil or Tolya thinks Maddie is in any kind of danger from neighbors, even if it’s just people acting too curious or asking too many questions, they’ll take the girl away.”

“You mean relocate the family?”

Jana shook her head. “The other children would be relocated, separately or together. The dads wouldn’t survive.”

Barb stared straight ahead. “Someone will figure it out.”

Jana nodded. “But I don’t want the blame for that landing on our doorstep. Okay?”

“Okay. But . . . Abby is really nice.”

“Burch is her married name, right?”

“Yes.”

“Who was she before she married Kelley?”

“I don’t know.”

“And that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Jana glanced at Barb. “This is a fresh start, a new beginning, call it whatever you want. But that means we don’t know who people were before they arrived in Bennett.”

Barb slumped in the seat. “I don’t want to think like that. I don’t want to talk to people and wonder what they’re hiding.”

“I know. I’m sorry. And you don’t have to wonder. Just don’t tell anyone about Maddie.”

“Did you think being a police officer would be like this? I used to tease Michael about running background checks on my dates, but now I wonder if he did.”

Probably, Jana thought.

“So did you think it would be like this?”

I will tear out the throats of those two humans—and then I’ll tear out yours.

“No,” Jana said. “I really didn’t think it would be like this.”

Standing at the gate of the fenced-in yard that held the dogs to be adopted, Tobias scratched and petted the dogs who came up to greet him while he waited for the almost-vet who was taking care of the animals.

“I appreciate you giving me a job. I learn fast,” Edna “Ed” Tilman said.

Everything he’d sensed about this new hand indicated that she wanted to be one of the boys, but Tobias still gave her a smile that said clear enough that he was the boss and she was one of his men—and he hoped he wasn’t wrong about her and would end up actually having to say he wasn’t going to allow them to be anything more. His mother hadn’t voiced any concerns about the girl when he’d introduced them. Ed wanted to work on a ranch as one of the hands and not as household help. She’d been real clear about that. She’d demonstrated her ability to ride a horse and lasso animals in a corral. Whether she’d really thought about what it was like to spend a day in the saddle was anyone’s guess.

Then again, working with someone who wasn’t an Intuit was like learning a different language, so maybe he had been hearing flirting where there was only nerves and enthusiasm. They’d all find out soon enough, and Ellen Garcia, who took care of the Prairie Gold ranch house and the accounts, would take the girl in hand—one way or another.

Funny how he understood the Wolves who were in charge of the terra indigene settlement near Prairie Gold better than he understood other kinds of humans. He understood Virgil Wolfgard too, and Morgan Wolfgard had told him enough about Virgil and Kane for him to appreciate why they were an asset to Tolya Sanguinati and a danger to the humans settling in Bennett.

As a sheriff’s department vehicle pulled up, Tobias and Ed turned away from the enclosed yard full of barking, excited dogs. The passenger hopped out and rushed toward them.

“Tobias Walker? I’m Barb Debany. Tolya said you wanted to adopt some dogs and cats?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked at the other woman getting out of the vehicle. Glossy brown hair pulled back in a tail. Brown eyes that held friendliness and wariness in equal measure. Trim figure. And the gun attached to her belt and the badge pinned to her shirt made her that much more interesting. Since she wasn’t the sheriff . . . “Deputy . . . ?”

“Jana Paniccia.”

“Mr. Walker is going to adopt some of the dogs and cats and take them to the ranches,” Barb said, pulling a set of keys out of her purse. “Hush up all of you and look adorable.”

Since she’d raised her voice, he assumed she was talking to the dogs and not the people. Even so, he was looking for working dogs, not adorable puffballs. Having been one of the humans who had freed the trapped dogs and set up the feeding stations, he knew most of the dogs wouldn’t suit his needs or the needs of the people on the other ranches. And his mother, who had agreed to take a dog on a trial basis—the trial being that the dog could get along with Rachel Wolfgard and vice versa—wasn’t interested in a puffball either. Jesse Walker was not a puffball kind of woman.

“Well, I’m going to take a look, anyway,” he said. “Looking for barn cats mostly, and dogs that can earn their keep on a ranch, one way or another.”

“Then let’s look at the cats first.” Barb led them to the single-story house next door.

As Tobias held the door open to let the women go in first, he noticed the deputy eyeing his revolver. “Sheriff Wolfgard and Tolya Sanguinati gave me special permission to wear a weapon in town.”

She nodded as she entered the house ahead of him, but he wasn’t sure if that was acknowledgment of information she already had or that she’d be checking with the sheriff to confirm his statement. In her place, he sure would.

The cats had the run of the living room, and despite living around animals, he wasn’t sure he’d want to take over this house after the animals were relocated.

“I’m doing most of the sorting in the rooms that weren’t cleared out before we turned the place into a pet hotel,” Barb said. “Turns out some people are allergic enough to cats that handling something like books from a house that had cats is enough to cause a reaction. So everything that’s left in this house that can’t be washed has to be boxed and labeled and stored in a separate location from the rest of the goods. The birds are in a house across the street.” She looked at Ed. “Would you like a bird?”

“Ed is a ranch hand. She won’t be at the ranch house every day to look after a bird,” Tobias said. But he turned the thought over in his mind and wondered if Ellen Garcia would enjoy the chirp and chatter. He’d mention it to her and take a look next time he was in town if she didn’t want to come up to Bennett herself.

He had a good feeling about four of the cats, that they would be happy being barn cats and partially fending for themselves by hunting mice. Barb Debany found carriers for each of them. The cats weren’t pleased about the confinement, but they didn’t cause too much fuss after Barb gave each of them a catnip toy as a distraction.

The cats he could take or leave. At the Prairie Gold ranch, Ellen Garcia was the one who had a soft spot for the barn cats. But the dogs crowding around him when they returned to the house next door made him sad. They were good dogs that just wanted to be loved.

Or wanted a job.

Spotting two border collies, Tobias raised a hand and watched the dogs snap to attention, ready to follow his command. When he lowered his hand and started to turn toward Barb, he could feel them accusing him of dashing their hopes.

“You have any leashes handy?” he asked.

Barb nodded. “I’ll get them.” She returned a minute later with a handful of leashes.

Talk about hopeful.

He let out a sharp whistle, then said, “Sit!” and watched half the dogs obey the command. Taking four of the leashes, he said, “Stay!” before walking over to the border collies and clipping leashes to their collars. These two would go with Truman Skye, who had experience working with the cattle dogs on the Prairie Gold ranch.

He eyed the rest of the dogs and decided, with regret, that he couldn’t see them with the Simple Life women who would be keeping house on the other three ranches. Jesse’s vehemence about which Simple Life woman would be working for Truman meant he couldn’t assume the other women would provide a good home for a dog. Didn’t mean they weren’t good people; they just weren’t the right people for these dogs.

He almost gave the release command when he noticed one young female—white with rust-colored ears and saddle—who had obeyed his command to sit but wasn’t focused on him. She was focused on Jana Paniccia and was struggling to obey the stay command when she clearly wanted to rush over and make friends.

Giving the release command, Tobias waded through the dogs until he reached the deputy. “You looking for a dog to ride shotgun?”

“I’ve been thinking about adopting one of the dogs, but I’ll mostly be on horseback when I’m on duty,” Jana replied, petting the dog, who had reached her first.

Tobias crouched and studied the young bitch. Not more than a few months old. Lots of energy. She would be a good fit for the deputy, and she’d be a good fit with the right horse. Question was, was Deputy Paniccia riding the right horse?

He handed Jana one of the leashes. “She’ll suit you.”

“You can tell that, can you?” Jana asked dryly.

“Yes, ma’am, I can. I have a feel for animals.”

“Feel? You’re an Intuit?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gave him an assessing look. “What about Wolves? Do you have a feel for the snarlies?”

If she hadn’t looked ashamed for saying that, he wouldn’t have answered. “That’s a conversation for another time and place,” he said quietly. “But I can tell you that if you use a disrespectful word for someone when you think about them, sooner or later you’re going to slip up and say it out loud, maybe even within the individual’s hearing, and whatever trust you had built will be gone and you will never get it back.”

“I know that—and I know better. Heard enough disrespectful words thrown in my direction when I was at the police academy, and I swore I wouldn’t do that to someone else. But he’s so frustrating.”

He’d known her for only a few minutes, but the way she moved and the look in her eyes told him Jana Paniccia had pluck, so he didn’t need to ask whom she found frustrating. And he didn’t doubt for a moment that Virgil found his new deputy equally frustrating. Only thing was, if pushed, Virgil would do more than bruise feelings. “Well, you’re thinking like a human, and he’s thinking like a Wolf. And not just a Wolf—he’s the dominant Wolf and you’re part of his pack.”

“So I should learn my place?”

Tobias nodded. “Sooner you do that, the better you’ll get along with him.” He looked over at a couple of playpens set up in a spot that had been shady but was rapidly changing to full sun. “I have to get people and critters settled today, but I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll have that talk.”

“All right. Thanks.”

“Hold them for a minute.” He gave Jana the border collies’ leashes before he walked over to the playpens, which held the puppies. A few were youngsters barely weaned. But there was one . . . Still had her puppy fuzz, but old enough to have been housebroken—he hoped. He picked her up and cuddled her against his chest while she desperately tried to give him kisses.

He wasn’t sure if she was a particular breed or a mongrel. Didn’t matter. There was something about this one that gave him a strong feeling that she was the right one.

“Want to come with me and meet my mother?” he whispered.

Wag wag. Kiss kiss.

“Ms. Debany? I’ll need a collar for this one.”

Barb Debany studied the pup. “I’ll get a collar and a harness. That might work better. The storage place has dog beds and crates and whatever else you’ll need.” She dashed inside and returned a minute later with a choice of collars and harnesses.

He got the puppy fitted out, collected the border collies, loaded up the cats, and left Barb Debany to do her routine feeding and cleanup, while Deputy Paniccia drove off with her new friend. As he and Ed drove to the building that was serving as a warehouse for household goods and was supposed to have everything the dogs would need, he wondered if his mother was going to take one look at the puppy and then pick up her rifle and shoot him.

Pulling up in front of the household goods warehouse, Jana looked at the dog curled up on the seat beside her. She needed to pick up what Rusty would need but couldn’t leave the dog in the vehicle. She could go to the office and put Rusty in the Me Time cell, but she didn’t want Virgil or Kane to find the dog before she got back—and she didn’t want to imagine what she might find when she got back if she did leave Rusty alone in the office before she told the Wolves she had adopted the dog.

“Deputy?”

She looked at the man who had helped her load up her household goods that morning. “Could you help me?”

“Sure. What do you need?” Then he laughed as Rusty climbed into Jana’s lap to sniff the stranger. “Ooooh. Barb roped you into adopting one?”

Jana put an arm around Rusty. “This one did the roping.” With some help from a good-looking Intuit rancher. “I wasn’t thinking about the logistics of getting her things after getting her.”

“You need everything?” he asked.

“Doubled. One for home and one for work.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re bringing her to work? Will . . . they . . . agree to that?”

“They will.” She hoped.

He studied Rusty a moment longer. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

And he was, with two crates for a medium-size dog, bowls for food and water, and a sack that held who knew what else.

“We don’t keep food here,” he said when he finished loading up the back of the vehicle. “I called the feed store since the people working there are collecting animal food from the houses. They’ll bring some over to the sheriff’s office. Not sure if you’ll be expected to pay for it since it’s not food for you, but you’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks for your help.” Jana drove to the sheriff’s office and parked. Then she looked at Rusty, all bright, hopeful eyes and wagging tail. “I sure hope Virgil doesn’t look at you and think I brought him lunch. Stay.”

Getting out and closing the door before Rusty could follow, she hurried to open the back and get the crate out.

“What’s that?”

Jana jerked in surprise, then looked over her shoulder at Yuri Sanguinati. “It’s a crate.”

“And that?” He pointed at Rusty, who was climbing into the back.

“That’s a dog.”

Yuri looked at Rusty, looked at the crate, and finally looked at the sheriff’s office. Grinning wide enough to show his fangs, he lifted the crate out of the vehicle and said, “You get the rest.”

“I could have done that,” Jana said. She could not afford to appear weak.

“I’m sure you could, but it would have been hard to open the office door if you were holding this instead of the smaller items.”

Practical, not condescending. She hadn’t realized she had such a big chip on her shoulder, had to stop hearing the echoes of instructors and fellow cadets telling her she wasn’t strong enough to be a cop. She had been hired for this job because Simon Wolfgard had seen something in her that he thought would suit this town and the sheriff. She’d better start showing everyone she was worthy of being hired.

“Thanks. I hadn’t intended to pick up a dog today. It’s thrown me off stride.” She hurried to open the door and point to the spot near her desk where the crate could go. By the time she dumped the bowls and sack on the floor and rushed out to fetch the dog, who was barking like crazy, she discovered the Others, in the form of a big-ass Hawk, had already found her new friend. Or found something of interest. It seemed to be ignoring the dog—which was good—as it worked out how to open the other crate.

That was not good. Some of the dogs Barb looked after were Hawk-size meals, and if Hawks or Eagles learned how to open the crates . . .

Jana opened the passenger door, picked up Rusty, who squirmed and barked to warn everyone that there was danger, danger, danger, and took her inside the office. Sliding the leash’s loop up a leg of one of the visitors’ chairs, she hurried out to her vehicle—where the Hawk was now comfortably perched on the tailgate, surveying the part of the town square that was visible from the sheriff’s office.

“I have to close up the vehicle now,” Jana said.

The Hawk eyed her, and she wondered if this one could shift to a human form that she would recognize as a new resident of Bennett or if this was one of the terra indigene who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—take a form so many of them considered an enemy rather than just a rival predator.

The Hawk flew over to a recently installed hitching post at the edge of the square. Several hitching posts had been added to accommodate the horses and horse-drawn conveyances. Around the square, the grassy side was now parking for horses, mules, and donkeys. The building side of the street was parking for cars. So far there weren’t many horses or cars coming into the business district, but having both using the streets was a concern that should be brought to the town council.

Jana returned to the office and to Rusty, who seemed frantically glad to see her. Crouching to give pats and reassurance, Jana said, “It’s all right. It’s all right. Now, you need to be good, okay? And you’ll need to stay in your crate when I’m working. But once you get used to being with me, you’ll be able to come out more. Now, I’m just going in the back to fill your water bowl.” She needed to put in her hour working with her horse, which was considered part of her workday since she had to become a sufficiently capable rider to handle her duties as a mounted deputy. And she’d better check e-mail before she slipped up on something important.

She grabbed the water bowl and dashed into the back part of the office to fill it.

Rusty barked. Bark, bark . . .

Silence.

Leaving the bowl on the counter near the kitchen sink, Jana returned to the front of the office and froze. Kane, in Wolf form, and Virgil, in human form, stared at Rusty, who was doing her best to hide under the chair.

Smart dog.

“Sheriff.” Jana’s heart pounded as Virgil walked past her and went into his office. Since Virgil wasn’t going to talk to her, she took a step toward Kane, whose attention remained focused on the dog. “Her name is Rusty. I adopted her. I was going to talk to the sheriff about . . .”

That was as far as she got before Virgil, now a massive Wolf, came out of his office and brushed past her.

“Sheriff . . . Virgil . . .”

Virgil knocked the chair halfway across the room and was on the dog before Jana could draw another breath. Poor Rusty yelped and tried to run, but Virgil’s jaws closed over the dog’s neck, forcing her down before he released her neck and used a paw to push her over on her back. As soon as she exposed her belly, he stood over her, her body between his big front paws.

“Stop it,” Jana said fiercely. Oh gods, please don’t kill her just because you don’t like me.

Virgil ignored her. When he finally stepped back, Rusty scrambled to roll and run, but Kane was on her before she got her feet under her. Same forced submission.

Furious but afraid to do anything that would provoke something more lethal than this bullying, Jana held back and watched—and resisted the urge to draw her weapon.

When Kane released Rusty, Virgil moved into position, keeping the dog between them. And then . . .

Rusty timidly wagged her tail. And Virgil and Kane wagged their tails. An understated wag, to be sure, but it seemed to encourage Rusty to quietly submit to being sniffed while she licked them. And then . . .

Done. Virgil returned to his office. Kane went outside. Jana lunged, grabbing Rusty’s leash before the dog could dash outside and flee.

“Come here, girl. Good girl. You stay with me. Come over here.” Coaxing, Jana half led, half carried Rusty to the crate and put her inside before unclipping the leash and securing the door. Dropping the leash, she stormed into Virgil’s office, too mad and scared to think until she saw him adjusting himself before he zipped up the jeans.

“What?” Virgil said.

“Why did you do that? She’s young and—”

“She’s yours now?” he interrupted.

“Yes!”

Virgil reached for the checked shirt. Blue today. “Then it’s important for her to know her place in the pack. It will keep her safe.”

Jana stared at him. He sounded so unconcerned, so matter-of-fact.

Virgil returned her stare. Jana lowered her eyes and stepped to one side when he approached. He walked out of the office, buttoning his shirt, then stopped when he reached her desk and the crate nearby.

“That is like a den for her when we aren’t around?” he asked.

“Yes.” Scrambling to adjust her thinking, she added, “I just picked her up, so it’s better for her to stay crated or on a leash until she gets to know me—to know us.”

He considered that. “You should let her out to sniff around so that she recognizes the scent of her new territory.”

“I will. I’ll let her settle down first.” And give myself a chance to stop shaking inside.

“When Kane comes back, you should ride the horse. Then she will still have pack nearby and know she’s not alone.” Virgil gave Jana one sharp look before leaving the sheriff’s office.

Jana collapsed into her chair and remembered Tobias Walker’s words: You’re thinking like a human, and he’s thinking like a Wolf.

Could it be that simple? This was her third day on the job, and she’d been angry about having all the desk work dumped on her, had been angry about Virgil walking her around the square like some inadequate pet while he made the rounds. Even when he’d scared her yesterday, she’d been thinking of him as a human male sending the message that she couldn’t be a cop on her own, but what if she considered his actions from the point of view of her being part of the pack? Virgil was dominant. Even in human form, Virgil was darn scary. In Wolf form . . . She wouldn’t want to see him coming after her. Kane was next, being the senior deputy, not to mention being a Wolf. That made her third in the pack. That didn’t make her less; it was simply her place. And the typing and filing and handling the e-mails? Her ability to do those things were human skills she was providing for the benefit of the pack, like Virgil’s and Kane’s superior sense of smell and ability to track because they were Wolves. Like their ability to communicate with other terra indigene even when those beings weren’t in human form.

Virgil hadn’t thrown her down and rolled her on her back, forcing submission the way he’d done with Rusty, but had he been sending clear, to him, signals that she needed to acknowledge his dominance and her place in the pack?

Jana went into the kitchen and returned with the bowl of water. She opened the crate door enough to let Rusty have a drink and managed to close it before the dog could escape. Then she turned on the computer and checked the e-mails.

More there than she expected. There were probably a ton of e-mails sent to the previous occupants of the sheriff’s office, but she didn’t know the username or password. Maybe there was someone in town now who had the computer skills to get access to those e-mail accounts or just eliminate them.

Rummaging in her desk, she found a notebook. Dating the top of the page, she wrote a summary of each e-mail, putting a big star in front of the time-sensitive ones—like the meeting of the town council that Tolya Sanguinati had called for tomorrow afternoon. She printed that one out and put it on Virgil’s desk. She could show him the others if he wanted to read the full text.

The only message that gave her a moment’s pause was from someone named Jackson Wolfgard, who was located in a place called Sweetwater. He asked for confirmation that this was the correct e-mail address to reach Virgil and Kane Wolfgard and also asked for confirmation of the phone number.

Jana hesitated. The name Wolfgard meant he was a terra indigene Wolf, but being a Wolf didn’t mean he was a friend. Still, this was a public e-mail address and phone for the sheriff’s office, and other communities should know how to contact them.

She replied to the request for information, signing the e-mail as Deputy Jana Paniccia, Bennett Sheriff’s Department. Before pushing the SEND button, she copied the e-mail to Tolya Sanguinati. Having finished that administrative task, she sat back and considered what her role as the human deputy could be.

Jesse eyed her son, who was holding a fuzzy gray puppy against his chest, the fingers lightly scratching the pup’s neck and shoulders. Damn him, but he’d always known which critter would tug at her heart if he brought it home. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t put up some resistance.

“When I said I’d consider adopting a dog, I didn’t mean I wanted to raise a baby.” She gave Tobias a stern look.

“But she needs a mom.” Tobias looked at the pup, then looked at Jesse. “I already took her to the vet and had him look her over. She’s weaned, and the vet gave her the shots she needs right now.”

“Weaned doesn’t mean housebroken.”

“No, but she’ll learn fast. She’s got a real good brain inside that small head. And given her age . . .”

Jesse drew in a breath. “Weaned” meant older than eight weeks, but the puppy still had the baby fuzz. The pup would have been born shortly before the Elders and Elementals had torn through the continent of Thaisia, wiping out the entire human population in some towns—like Bennett. So there hadn’t been anyone to teach the pup.

“Where is her mother, her littermates?” she asked, trying to resist reaching for the furball just a little bit longer.

“Don’t know,” Tobias replied. “Didn’t see a bitch hanging around the puppy pens Barb Debany had set up. Didn’t see any other pups around her age.”

Giving in, Jesse held out her hands. “Let’s see her.”

To give him credit, Tobias didn’t smile, didn’t indicate in any way that he’d known this would happen. Of course he’d known. He had a feel for animals, just like she had a feel for people.

“Rachel can be an honorary big sister,” Tobias said.

“Don’t push it.” Wolves cared about the pups in their pack, but Jesse wasn’t sure how a juvenile Wolf would react to a young dog.

“Did you think to pick up what this one will need?”

“Yep.” Now Tobias grinned. “Want me to put it in your car? I have to be heading out to help Truman move to the Skye Ranch and make a list of the folks who will be working for him. Then I’m heading to the Prairie Gold ranch to get my own new workers settled and introduced to Ellen and Tom Garcia.”

“Have you decided on what to do with the girl? She can’t bunk with the men.”

“Tom and Ellen have their own cabin behind the main house, so the housekeeper’s suite is available. Figured I would talk to Ellen about putting Ed there.”

Jesse hesitated. She didn’t have any concerns about the girl, but the distance between living in a Northeast community, no matter how small, and living within sight of the Elder Hills—and knowing what lived there—was a distance of more than miles. And the reality could easily change expectations.

“Having her work for you instead of other Simple Life folks who might resent her breaking away from traditional roles is good of you, but you should be careful that she doesn’t start thinking that being given use of the housekeeper’s suite is a step toward sharing the master bedroom.” Being the only single woman on the ranch would garner the girl plenty of attention.

“I get the feeling that Ed is looking for the freedom to be one of the boys rather than someone’s missus.” Tobias raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you?”

Put that way . . . Smiling, Jesse studied her son—and felt an interesting tingle. Even if Ed hadn’t wanted to be one of the boys, Tobias wouldn’t be looking in her direction. “Something else before you haul this one’s supplies to my car?”

“What do you know about the new deputy?”

The boy was about as subtle as getting whacked with a two-by-four when he was trying to act as if his interest in the answer was casual to the point of indifferent. Tobias was never indifferent when it came to people or critters.

“She arrived on Sunsday, started work on Windsday, and despite some grumbles and growling, she and Virgil haven’t had a full-blown fight. Yet.” Although she had the feeling that something had happened between them when they escorted that mixed family to the hotel.

Tobias looked concerned. “You think that’s likely?”

Jesse thought for a moment. Morgan and Chase Wolfgard, the new leader and dominant enforcer of the Prairie Gold pack, had come from a pack that had been too far from human settlements to be found by the Humans First and Last movement when those men had slaughtered other Wolf packs. They left their home pack because they were needed in the terra indigene settlement at the southern end of the Elder Hills. But Virgil . . .

“Were you told about Virgil?” Jesse asked. She wasn’t sure who had decided to make Virgil the sheriff. It hadn’t been Tolya. He’d been given orders and had to deal with the result as best he could. She did know Virgil was the reason Tolya had wanted a human deputy to be hired to work in Bennett.

“I know about him. Don’t think Deputy Paniccia was told.” He didn’t meet her eyes. “I’m coming back tomorrow to look over the horse she chose. I have a feeling it’s not the right one for her.”

“Why don’t you help her choose a dog?” Jesse suggested dryly as the puppy tried to squirm out of her arms and sniff whatever was in reach.

Tobias grinned. “I already did.”

In Wolf form, Virgil and Kane roamed some of the residential streets of their territory. Old human scents. They found the carcasses of a couple of the roaming dogs—and they found the fresh scent of some Elders on a blue post office box at an intersection that was part of the new boundary for human settlers. They both marked the box on the opposite side, acknowledging the boundary.

Easy enough for them to scent the line between where humans would be watched but not harmed as long as they themselves did nothing harmful, and that one step that would put them in the wild country, regardless of the houses on the street. But humans wouldn’t be able to tell where the boundaries were.

They turned a corner and Virgil stopped when he spotted Tolya Sanguinati standing in front of a house in the middle of the block, talking with Saul Panthergard and Joshua Painter.

Kane asked.

Instead of answering, Virgil headed for the Sanguinati.

A shift in the wind direction had Saul turning toward them before the other two males noticed his approach.

Virgil asked.

Tolya gestured toward a house a few doors down on the opposite side of the street.

Had the terra indigene known that sweet bloods could be tormented by a place? Did Simon Wolfgard know that? Or had Broomstick Girl simply found a comfortable den and settled in at the Lakeside Courtyard? What about the pup living with Jackson Wolfgard?

In both those cases, the sweet blood had been given a den among the terra indigene instead of claiming a den that previously had belonged to humans. Maybe that was the reason this search was different.

Or maybe the choice of den was more important because this pup couldn’t howl and would suffer in silence.

Kane said.

Virgil ignored the comment. He’d seen the small bus pull up. When the door opened and the Jacob pup leaped out ahead of the rest of the Gott pack, he knew why Kane was heading that way. If one of them kept watch over the Becky girl, the adult females would have time to make food for the pack while the boy pup could run and play and the Becky girl could explore a bit around the family den.

The adult males, Kenneth and Evan, came out of the house.

“As far as we can tell, the house looks solid,” Kenneth said. “All the appliances are in good condition. There are bunk beds in one room that will work for the boys.” He stopped and swallowed hard.

“There is a room that would work well for the girls, but we would need to find two single beds,” Evan said. “And it would be less . . . emotional . . . if we could remove all the personal belongings quickly.”

“That might be possible,” Tolya said. “I will let you know tomorrow. Are you saying you will take this house?”

The men looked at each other, then nodded.

“Very well. I’ll draw up the papers.” Tolya looked at the small bus. “The driver is waiting for you. You should gather your young and go back to the hotel now.”

Virgil watched the men walk down the street.

Tolya made a sputtery sound.

terra indigene are different species. We can’t mate and produce offspring.>

Virgil huffed. had and we could, that would explain so much about her.> He could tear out Jana Paniccia’s throat before she could blink, but she still filled a room with attitude: I might be smaller, but I can take you. If that wasn’t a wolverine, what was?

And wasn’t she going to howl about what he’d decided?

he said.

Tolya studied him.

Virgil studied the Sanguinati in turn.

Tolya smiled.

The stink of humans in his den?