“We understand about supply and demand, Mr. Walker,” Tolya said. “When there is a glut of prey, predators come in from other territories to hunt and feed. There is enough for all of us, and our young survive and grow strong and, in their turn, learn to hunt. When the prey becomes thin, predators travel back to their own territories, or else they end up fighting among themselves for a share of the kill. Not all of their young survive, nor do the weakest among them. Eventually Namid’s balance is restored, and there is enough food for both predators and prey.”

Tobias swallowed hard. “So you’re saying there’s a glut of prey in Bennett?”

“I’m saying Bennett isn’t the concern of the terra indigene located in Prairie Gold,” Tolya replied. “Shall we continue?”

Tobias slipped into the driver’s seat and started the truck. Nyx slipped out and flowed over the side of the truck, settling in back next to Joe, while Tolya sat up front with Tobias.

<The humans in Bennett are the concern of the Prairie Gold pack,> Joe told Tolya. <We’re supposed to keep watch and collect the payment for the land the humans leased around here. That includes the ranches as well as that town.>

<If they break the agreements, the Others can reclaim the land and force them to leave—isn’t that so?> Tolya countered.

<Yes.> Joe didn’t like the trail the Sanguinati was following.

<Perhaps you should allow them this kind of petty meanness, let the humans’ own actions prove they should not be allowed to remain here.>

<But the Intuits have been promised protection from other kinds of humans in exchange for skills we do not wish to learn but know are needed,> Joe argued. <Letting those humans raise the price of gasoline until Intuits can’t afford it isn’t protecting them.>

Tolya said nothing for a minute. <I have always lived around larger human cities, so this part of Thaisia is very new to me. I felt something in Bennett that I recognized as terra indigene but had never encountered before.>

<Elders. The terra indigene who live in and watch over the wild country. They don’t usually come that close to a human town.>

<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.”