<If that is the case, perhaps you shouldn’t depend on Bennett for the supplies needed in Prairie Gold.>
There was a warning in those words.
But Tolya had a point, Joe thought with a sigh. He’d learned enough about his new territory to know that the humans living in Bennett hated the Others for setting the boundaries of what humans could and couldn’t have, and they resented the Intuits because Prairie Gold had something the human-owned ranches didn’t have: water that flowed down from the hills and followed natural channels to watering holes that made it easier for the Intuits to run their dairy farm and produce farm and the ranch that raised cattle and horses. And a few men, over the years, had gone into the hills and come out again with gold. But what one man might be able to do, a dozen could not. Believing there was untold, and unclaimed, wealth in the streambeds that could make a man rich beyond his wildest dreams but couldn’t be reached was becoming a different kind of sickness in some humans. They wanted what they couldn’t have because something already claimed that land and that water, not for wealth but for life.
Joe didn’t know exactly where Tolya and Nyx stood with their pack, but he wouldn’t be surprised if their jobs were the equivalent of enforcers or guards. Why send them here to deliver some books? Or did their arrival have more to do with the drawings made by Jackson’s prophet pup?
When Prairie Gold came into sight, Joe shifted back to human form and got dressed. Their first stop was the motel, so that Tolya and Nyx could check in and drop off their personal luggage. That’s where they heard the news that a fuel truck had exploded on the highway the day before. The two men who drove the truck were killed. There was some argument about whether the explosion was an accident caused by driver error, or if the drivers were already injured or dead when the truck exploded.
“Supply and fucking demand,” Tobias said when he heard the news. Then he looked at Nyx. “Pardon my language, ma’am.”
Whether it was deliberate or not, Prairie Gold wasn’t going to receive its expected—and needed—fuel until the Others arranged for a different supplier.
The worry over a gasoline shortage dimmed Jesse Walker’s pleasure when they brought in the boxes of books for her store, but she was gracious in her thanks and polite to Tolya and Nyx. Shelley Bookman, on the other hand, took one look at the Sanguinati when they entered the library and seemed to have trouble catching her breath.
After receiving Tobias’s promise to drop off the boxes of books at the place where the terra indigene received human goods, Joe watched the human drive away before giving the two Sanguinati a tour of the town. Humans watched them from doorways and windows.
“How long are you staying?” Joe asked. “Should I ask some of the terra indigene to stay close to town?”
“This is an Intuit settlement on terra indigene land,” Tolya countered. “Is there a reason to fear these humans?”
“No. They remind me of the humans who make up Meg Corbyn’s pack. They want to be members of a larger pack.”
“That is wise,” Nyx said. “I will be staying a few days before returning to Lakeside. Tolya will stay longer.”
“If that’s acceptable to you,” Tolya said, looking at Joe. “Grandfather Erebus wants the Sanguinati to be more present in the Midwest. He wants us available to help the shifters. And my staying at the motel means I can keep an eye on the Intuits while you keep watch over everything else.” He paused. “I think the terra indigene should visit Bennett as little as possible.”
Joe agreed with that, but he hadn’t liked being there to begin with. “We don’t need to go anywhere in Bennett except the train station.” As the implication of his own words struck him, fur sprang up on his chest and shoulders, and his canines lengthened to Wolf size. He stopped walking and took a moment to shift back to fully human.
“Our scent here becomes a sign of acceptance,” he said. “It sends a message, an indication that these are humans who work with us.” Would the Elders respect such a marker?
Tolya nodded. “That lack of scent also sends a message, does it not?”
Another warning under the words—especially after Tolya’s suggestion that the Others avoid visiting Bennett and his earlier remark about reclaiming the land.
They walked back to the motel. Nyx wanted to explore beyond the town. Tolya wanted to make a couple of phone calls. And Joe wanted to shake off thoughts of troublesome humans, go home, and find out what books Simon had sent to the Wolves.
At Tolya’s invitation, he stripped out of his clothes, folded them, and put them in the bottom drawer of the dresser.
“You may want to become a long-term renter of one of these rooms,” Tolya said. “It would be a convenient place to store clothes and have water to wash in when you had to be in human form.”
It was a good suggestion, and he would consider it. Instead of a Courtyard, the Others often had a house in a small human town, but there weren’t any empty houses in Prairie Gold. They had built only what they needed. A room would be sufficient, and having it might encourage more shifters to experience limited contact with humans.
Tired but satisfied, Joe left the motel and headed home, slipping behind buildings instead of trotting down the road. But thinking about markers and who could be a more devastating enemy to the people here than the yappy humans living in Bennett, he stopped long enough to lift a leg and mark Jesse Walker’s store.
CHAPTER 14
Earthday, Juin 10
Jackson Wolfgard knocked on Hope’s bedroom door and waited to hear the words permitting him to enter. Not that he should need permission. He was the dominant Wolf, and she was living with his pack. But human females Hope’s age were . . . peculiar. It wasn’t his fault that, when he heard alarming sounds coming from her room the other day, he’d burst in, thinking she was hurt or under some kind of attack. And the jumping around and . . . caterwauling . . . turned into screams because he saw her without clothes. As if that made any difference to him. He had a mate. Besides, Hope was not only human; she was too fragile to be considering a mate, so he couldn’t see why particular body parts made any difference.
Of course, her screams brought more Wolves running, so plenty of Wolves saw those body parts—and wanted to know more about the thatch of fur between her legs and under her arms. Were those things that should be present on the females when they shifted to human form?
They were still waiting for Meg Corbyn and her pack to answer that question.
But it wasn’t fair to growl at him for responding the way he had. How was he supposed to know that sound had been singing? It hadn’t sounded like any human singing that he’d heard. In fact, it sounded more like a young Lynx whose paw had gotten trapped in some rocks. Which was why he’d thought Hope was in trouble.
Jackson knocked again and heard a timid, “Come in.” He stepped into the room, leaving the door open.
“Enough, pup,” he said. “Grace and I don’t mind if you draw every day, but not all day. The pack’s nanny is taking the pups for a walk, and you’re going with them. Get your shoes and your hat.”
“I lost my hat,” Hope mumbled.
Meaning the pups “accidentally” got hold of the hat and tore it to pieces. “Grace bought you another one.” Several, in fact.
He studied her. She usually obeyed, but she’d been a bit odd since the vision drawing she’d done of the dead bison. Since she continued drawing instead of putting her things away, he came over and crouched beside her.
“I’m making sketches of cards Meg will need,” Hope said.
Not finished drawings. Rough compared to her usual work. “Why does Meg need these?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you going to make the final drawings?”