“Well, I’m not going to make the mistake of showing them the ponies!”
Henry’s booming laugh rang out. “As if Jester would let you near the Pony Barn with small humans after the last time.”
She’d made mistakes when she’d taken Lizzy to see the ponies. She had no reason to believe the other little girls would react the same way and want to ride the Elementals’ steeds, but she wasn’t going to take that chance.
They heard Jake cawing.
“Sounds like I have a delivery.” Meg stood. “Thanks, Henry. I like the box.”
She hurried out of the studio, ran the length of the yard, dashed out the gate, and rushed into the back room of the Liaison’s Office. She reached the front counter in time to see the deliveryman getting back into his truck. The packages and her clipboard, with the information filled in, were on the counter.
She took the packages into the sorting room, then turned on the radio. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been listening to the weather report when she realized that Tess had come in.
Meg tipped her head to indicate Tess’s coiling green and red hair. “You’re feeling tense.”
“So are you.” Tess looked pointedly at Meg’s arm, where her fingers were digging into skin. “Are you feeling prickles?”
More than that. Worse than that. “I haven’t made a cut in a few days.”
“It won’t tell us anything.”
“It could tell us if we’ll survive.”
Tess gave her a long look. “No, I don’t think it will this time.”
? ? ?
Simon led Captain Burke and Agent O’Sullivan upstairs to HGR’s second floor. “Vlad is checking e-mails, so we’ll talk in the office where he can hear us. Unless we should wait for Lieutenant Montgomery?” He felt restless and didn’t want to wait. You could dig a den in the earth to escape a bad storm or hide from fire if you couldn’t outrun it. But you could drown in that same den if the storm brought a flood or if the packed earth collapsed and trapped you inside. Shifters like him weren’t the target of the storms, but they were going to get hit just the same.
“No, the lieutenant needs some time with his family,” Burke replied. “I’ll relay the information to him once he gets everyone settled in the duplex.”
How could he tell these humans that he would try to save some but he couldn’t risk trying to save others who belonged to the same pack?
<The Sanguinati and Wolfgard arrived in Bennett,> Vlad said.
<Any word from Stavros?> Simon asked.
<No.> Vlad closed down the e-mail program.
Simon studied Burke. “The Courtyard will be a safe place during the storms. If Lieutenant Montgomery’s pack is denning too far away, he might not be able to bring them here in time.”
“My duplex isn’t that far away. Besides, you’ve already taken in more people than you can comfortably fit,” Burke said.
“There aren’t enough individual dens for the newcomers to have their own place here,” Simon agreed. “But there are beds above the social center that could be used for sleeping and temporary shelter. And humans sleep on the floor sometimes. Kowalski has a puffy blanket for sleeping on the ground.”
“You’re pussyfooting around.”
Simon stepped back, insulted. “I’m a Wolf. I do not have pussy feet!”
O’Sullivan laughed.
Burke smiled, but the smile quickly faded. “You’re offering shelter to humans? Why?”
“Not just any humans,” Simon said at the same time Vlad said, “Because there’s a storm coming.”
“Yes, there is,” Burke agreed. “The only question is which direction it’s coming from, because, right now, there are multiple possibilities.”
“Captain, the storm you can see isn’t the one that is going to kill your people,” Vlad said.
“If Jean’s prophecy about Thaisia is correct, Lakeside is one of the human-controlled cities that will survive.” Simon didn’t mention that Meg had seen Lakeside’s future as being undecided. He looked at O’Sullivan. “Hubb NE is another.”
“Toland?” O’Sullivan asked.
“Yes, but the light was dim.” He didn’t want to be responsible for humans he didn’t know, but he believed this gesture of friendship would help decide Lakeside’s future, one way or the other. “The police we know and their kin can hide here. We don’t think Namid’s teeth and claws will harm any humans who are with us in the Courtyard.”
“That’s a generous offer,” Burke said.
“If there are enemies of the terra indigene among those humans, we may not be able to protect any of you.” Simon looked at Burke, willing him to understand. “Choose carefully.”
“I’ve been making provisions for families of officers to take refuge at the Chestnut Street station. Being able to send some of them here . . . I appreciate it.” Burke appeared to be thinking hard for a moment. “You think this will happen soon?”
“As soon as one of the storms hits Lakeside.”
“I take it I shouldn’t plan to get back to Hubb NE before things happen,” O’Sullivan said.
Simon shook his head. “I’ll talk to Elliot about letting you work out of the consulate for now. Then you can call Governor Hannigan.”
O’Sullivan looked at Simon. “He’s already mustering all the manpower he can in the Northeast to respond to the storms. Is there anything in particular he should prepare for?”
Hatred was now a taste in the water, rage a scent in the air. “He should prepare for a lot of humans dying.”
? ? ?
Sitting in A Little Bite, Monty drank coffee and listened to his mother’s quiet, no-nonsense recitation of the trouble they’d had getting seats on a train. Noting the strain on Sierra’s face, he figured it had been a lot more trouble than Twyla would acknowledge.
He smiled at his nieces and wished he could seat them at another table—or better yet, scoot them into Howling Good Reads and out of earshot so that he could really talk to his mother and sister. “You all had quite an adventure.”
Catching some movement, he turned his head and watched Captain Burke and Agent O’Sullivan approach their table.
“Ladies.” Burke tipped his head slightly. “I am very pleased you’re here.”
“Would you be needing a word with Crispin?” Twyla asked.
“Actually, I need a word with most of you.”
Nicely worded, Monty thought. Burke didn’t say he wanted the girls to leave—which would have made them want to stay—but he was quite clear.
“John Wolfgard is working in the bookstore,” Burke said. “I asked him to show the girls around the store. He’s right over there.” A gesture toward the archway that connected the two stores.
Since John was the friendliest Wolf in the Courtyard, Monty didn’t think the girls would provoke him into biting if left in his care for just a few minutes.
He smiled at Carrie and Bonnie. “You could each choose a book to read. A present from me.”
Carrie slid off her chair. “Can we have—”
“A book?” Sierra smiled at her daughters. “Yes, you can each have a book since that was the treat that Uncle CJ offered.”
Sierra’s firmness was a veneer that was wearing thin, and the girls could have broken it with whines and pouts. But Twyla’s firmness ran to the core, and one look at their grandmother had the girls heading for the archway and the Wolf waiting there.
“You’re Mr. John?” Twyla asked.
“Yes,” John replied warily.
“They’re allowed a book apiece, not anything else you might sell in your store.”
John scratched behind one ear. Monty felt relieved that the ears weren’t pointed or furry.
“Only sell books,” John said. “And a few magazines. And some maps.”
“That’s fine, then.”
John hesitated, then led the girls into the bookstore.
Nadine approached their table and looked at Burke. “Can I get you anything?”
“A few minutes of your time. Have a seat, Ms. Fallacaro,” Burke replied.
“I have cookies baking.”
“This will just take a few minutes, and it’s important.”