<Wolf!>

• • •

Mostly hidden behind Henry’s large human form, Simon studied the human herd that had gathered in A Little Bite. Strange how the addition of one human could change his way of looking at them, change them from a pack back to a herd. Back to prey.

Maybe that wasn’t so strange. Meg’s arrival in the Courtyard had changed all kinds of things, including changing female employees from nonedible prey to a female pack that was approached with some degree of caution. And with the female pack came the connection to the police pack. So a single person could create a lot of changes.

Nicholas Scratch, the spokesman for the Humans First and Last movement, was another example of a human who had set many things in motion. But the ripples Scratch created had ended with many Wolves and humans dying and Thaisia being broken into pieces to keep the humans more isolated.

Now he was looking at another human he instinctively knew had the potential to cause trouble for the terra indigene. But how? This male was related to Miss Twyla and Lieutenant Montgomery, who were good humans, but both had been concerned about what might happen if this member of their family pack arrived in Lakeside. And Meg had seen trouble when she’d drawn cards to reveal prophecy. Not just trouble; an explosion, which was not a small thing.

And yet, he couldn’t see the threat, couldn’t explain why he wanted to drive this male away from Meg and Sam and everyone else in the Courtyard. So he watched as Miss Twyla and the Sierra entered the coffee shop, followed by Kowalski and Debany, who were in uniform. Miss Twyla looked stern, ready to snap at a misbehaving pup. The Sierra, on the other hand, looked ready to roll over and offer her belly in submission.

Was this a fight for dominance of the Montgomery pack between Lieutenant Montgomery and this newcomer, Cyrus Jimmy? Leaving the pups out of it for the moment, Simon considered the two sides. He was sure Miss Twyla sided with the lieutenant, but the newcomer had a mate. That left the Sierra. Lieutenant Montgomery would be the better leader, but Simon had a feeling the Sierra wanted the petting and approval of that Cyrus.

Would other humans here want his approval?

Simon looked at Nadine Fallacaro. She wouldn’t. She was indicating clearly that she wanted to drive that Cyrus out of her territory. Good. And Kowalski and Debany weren’t pretending they had come in for food or coffee. They were watching, waiting for orders. Pack enforcers. That, too, was good.

<What do you want to do with the intruder?> Henry asked.

Vlad, in smoke form, drifted to the other side of the Grizzly. <We can’t kill him in the coffee shop. He is family to the lieutenant. It might cause trouble with the police pack.>

<Maybe. I don’t think Captain Burke would object too much if I swatted the intruder and snapped his neck.>

Vlad shifted to human form. <Simon? What do you say?>

<Wolf!>

He’d been expecting this summons ever since Blair told him that they had returned, but Simon still flinched at the sound of that voice.

<Simon?> Vlad said, studying him intently.

<I’ll be back,> he told Vlad. <Don’t let that Cyrus leave.>

Going to HGR’s stock room, he stripped off his clothes and hung them on the row of pegs installed near the back door. Then he stepped outside, shifted to Wolf, and ran toward the odd silence near the Market Square.

It didn’t take him long to find the two Elders. Their presence made him uneasy, but it didn’t surprise him that they had returned. After all, their curiosity about his relationship with Meg was the biggest reason they had not already exterminated all the humans living in Thaisia. Was it that curiosity that had drawn them back to the Courtyard so soon? Or something else?

<Wolf.>

They shifted from their true form and took on the shapes of other predators. The male stood upright, his furred body vaguely human. But he was huge, with powerful limbs and big claws that could score glass and tear through flesh, and he had a head that belonged to some ancient predator. Perhaps being upright wasn’t an attempt to look human. Perhaps it was simply one of the ancient forms no one remembered. The female was some kind of feline, but she was much bigger than Henry in his Grizzly form.

Were these the Elders who had been here during the storm that ripped through Lakeside? Were they the ones who had consumed the Wolf cookies Meg kept at the office for Nathan and Skippy?

<We watched the migrating job-fair humans,> the male said.

<How did you know about the job fair?> Simon asked. Elders preferred to have little or no contact with anything connected with the human species. And when they did have contact, their intentions usually were not benevolent.

A light wind ruffled his fur.

<The Crows told us about the job fair, and we told the Elders when they wondered about the human swarm,> Air replied.

Simon couldn’t see her—she hadn’t chosen to take a visible form—but he could hear her just fine. And he wondered what it meant that the girls at the lake had been aware of the job fair. Under the best circumstances, humans drawing the attention of the Elders or the Elementals was a bad idea. Or a good idea, since the humans rarely survived.

<Another male has arrived,> the male said.

Simon bared his teeth. <That male will not stay long in the Courtyard—or in Lakeside.>

<He will,> the female said.

Simon tensed. <He is a bad kind of human. We don’t want him here.>

<Why is he bad?>

There was something wrong with Lieutenant Montgomery’s sibling. He knew it. Vlad knew it. Henry and Tess knew it. But could any of them explain it?