“Michael and I could go over and take a look around.”

“No. None of us should go poking around the Courtyard at this time of night.” Monty’s heart still pounded. It was tempting to go across the hall and bang on the door until Jimmy answered, surly at being woken so abruptly.

If Jimmy answered.

“No,” he said again. “We weren’t called to assist. Just keep your eyes open tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir. Good night.”

Kowalski didn’t go inside his own home. He went over to the apartment building on the other side of the double to talk to Debany. A couple of minutes later, he went home.

Doors closed. Everything was so quiet.

Monty went inside and tucked his backup piece in the drawer, where it would remain, close at hand, until he got up and locked it in the gun safe with his service weapon. He stretched out on his bed, but he didn’t sleep. Didn’t mean to anyway. But at some point he slipped into an uneasy doze, dreading what he’d have to face in the morning.

CHAPTER 19

Windsday, Messis 22

Meg walked down the stairs from her apartment and turned toward the side of the Green Complex that held the mail, laundry, and social rooms, as well as the archway that led to the garages. Then she turned in the opposite direction and took the few steps to the front door of Simon’s apartment.

He hadn’t come back last night. Well, he had. He’d left a note on her kitchen table, saying he had to go in to work early, so she should drive herself to the Liaison’s Office. But she woke up alone this morning. If he’d returned last night to get some sleep, he hadn’t returned to her.

Had she done something to upset him? Could she ask? Would he tell her? Was this what it felt like to break up with someone you . . . what? Cared for? Loved? How could she tell what she felt for Simon? She’d never had these feelings before. Right now, she felt lost and lonely and scared.

The way things were between her and Simon wasn’t the same as the way things were between Merri and Michael, for example. Their relationship wasn’t anything like the ones she’d read about in what Simon and Vlad called the kissy books. It wasn’t uncomplicated, but it wasn’t fraught with misunderstandings—which, according to Merri and Ruth, were a lot more fun to read about than to experience. Not all relationships worked. And sometimes people were confused and unsure of what they felt and what they wanted to have from, and give to, someone else.

Maybe this was normal. Maybe Simon just needed a night to go out and do Wolfy things with other Wolves. Which wasn’t something she could do.

“You’re looking at something, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t me.”

Meg let out a breathy sound that might have been a yip, could have been a scream, but wasn’t much of anything since there was barely any sound.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” she scolded Jester.

The Coyote stared at her. “There wasn’t any sneaking. I walked up to you. I thought you saw me. It’s not my fault you were looking at something that wasn’t here.” He studied Simon’s closed front door, then considered her. “What were you looking at?”

She felt her face heat with embarrassment. “Nothing.”

“Huh. Must be a human thing. When we’re that focused, we’re looking at something.”

“I have to get to work, but I’m going to A Little Bite to get breakfast first.” Maybe Tess would know why Simon had to go in to work so early.

“I’ve already had breakfast, but I’d like a mug of long-grass tea.”

Something about the look in Jester’s eyes, something about the way he licked his lips when he said he’d already had breakfast, made Meg uneasy. “Did you eat a bunny?” Or a rat? She knew that, for most of the Courtyard’s residents, bunnies and rats were interchangeable meat, and what was consumed depended on what you could catch. But she was human, and while she’d eaten the meat of one critter, she had no desire to taste the meat of the other.

“No, not a bunny.”

That look in the Coyote’s eyes—a sharp reminder that he was as much a predator as the rest of the terra indigene who lived in the Courtyard.

“Are you driving to work?” he asked, sounding—and looking—more like the Jester she knew.

Since he had a hand under her elbow and was herding her toward the archway and the garages, he didn’t seem to need an answer from her. In fact, neither of them said anything until they drove past the Market Square and she saw Closed signs tacked to sawhorses that blocked all the archways that provided access to the businesses.

“Did something happen last night?” She spotted Nathan, Blair, and Vlad—and Simon—walking out of the butcher shop.

“Oh, somebody made a bit of a mess,” Jester replied. “I guess the Business Association decided to close the whole market for a couple of hours to do a thorough cleaning.”

“What kind of mess?”

“I can’t say—and since I don’t want to get into trouble over this, please don’t ask me again.”

Jester didn’t want to get into trouble? Who could intimidate the Coyote who looked after the Elementals’ steeds?

She could think of a few individuals besides the Elementals themselves. Simon, for one. But there were also Henry, Vlad, and Tess. Even Mr. Erebus. Because Jester was a friend, she didn’t ask again.

When they reached the garages behind the Liaison’s Office, Jester hopped out of the BOW and opened the garage door for her. Then he hurried into A Little Bite, not waiting for her.