Rusty huddled in her crate. Now that Jana thought about it, the pup had seemed overly eager to get inside the office this morning.

Crouching, Jana held out her hand. “Rusty? Come on, girl. It’s okay. Come on out. Quick walk.”

Rusty came to her but balked at the office door. Should she let the dog stay or insist on being obeyed?

“Come on, girl.” She really needed a dog-training book. Or a book on human-dog relationships. Virgil could interpret dog, but she didn’t want to ask him about Rusty’s behavior since it would prove she knew less than he did and that would give him more reason to ignore what she thought about Rusty’s education.

The dog came with her but didn’t do her usual pulling on the leash to explore as much as possible. Instead, the only pulling was attempted dashes back to the sheriff’s office. And when the pup wasn’t trying to go back to the office, she was pressed so close to Jana’s leg that Jana had to watch each step to avoid stepping on Rusty’s feet.

As they came out on the other side of the square, Jana spotted Isobel Sanguinati outside the post office.

“Morning!” Jana called.

Isobel turned—and Jana jerked back a step. The Sanguinati who were in charge of Bennett had originally lived in Toland, an East Coast city that had been one of the largest human-controlled cities on the whole continent. They always sounded so educated and looked so sleek in their black clothes, it was easy to forget they weren’t some high-society family who had made their fortune in banking and investments; they were predators. They were a form of terra indigene.

Looking at Isobel now, Jana knew she wouldn’t forget it again.

Isobel smiled, carefully not showing even a hint of fang. “Your dog is nervous.”

“Yes. We usually take a walk in the morning, but I think I should put her in her crate for a while.”

“It would be harder for an enemy to reach her if she was in a larger cell.” Isobel held out a hand. “You have mail? I will take it.”

“Thanks.” Jana hesitated a moment before stepping forward and giving Isobel the letter. “Why do you think Rusty needs a larger cell? What’s going on?”

“Perhaps nothing. Perhaps a fight.” Isobel walked into the post office.

Oh gods. Who’s fighting? Forcing herself to steady her breathing, Jana looked around. An Eagle perched on one of the new hitching posts, watching her. Hawks soared overhead. Ravens or Crows flew from one tree in the square to the next, but they were silent. Whatever communication was being shared, it wasn’t vocalized.

A little ways down the street, Jana noticed Becky Gott taking her morning constitutional. Hannah and Sarah Gott had taken over two of the alleyway stores for their used-clothing business, and Becky had the job of sorting buttons taken from clothes her aunts deemed fit to be rags or quilting squares, filling glass containers with different colors. But every morning Becky took a walk around the square, waving at people as they opened their stores. Eventually her brother, Jacob, would fetch her and guide her back to the Gotts’ store.

Today, with Rusty whining and Isobel Sanguinati’s comment about a fight still circling in her head, seeing Becky on her own gave Jana a chill.

“Deputy? Morning, Jana!”

Jana worked up a smile as Craig and Dawn Werner, the new land agents, hurried toward her. In their mid-twenties and married just before the war that swept over the continent earlier that summer, they had had the misfortune of losing their jobs a couple of days before the wedding. With some cash from friends and family, they had packed their belongings into two large backpacks and headed out to see some of Thaisia. Then the Elders closed the borders between the regions, making travel difficult if a person didn’t have a work permit. Caught on the wrong side of the border and unable to return to the West Coast town where they had grown up, they had scrambled for food and shelter and safety until they managed to convince someone that they were heading for jobs in Bennett and bought tickets on a bus that covered travel between towns not serviced by the trains.

“Morning. Who is this?” Jana asked, looking at the black-and-white puppy.

“We just got him yesterday and haven’t settled on a name,” Dawn said. “We’re not even sure what breed he is, but we’re hoping he doesn’t get too big.”

Studying the puppy, Jana thought Dawn should hope a lot harder.

When both puppies started whimpering, Jana figured she’d delayed long enough. “I have to—”

“We have a business proposal for reopening the movie theater,” Dawn said hurriedly, holding out a sheaf of papers. “Small scale to start since we’re running the land agent office. Just weekends. I would take care of tickets and the books.”

“I worked part-time in the projection booth of theaters in our home town and could take care of showing the movies,” Craig said.

“Could you … ?” Dawn glanced toward the government building, then quickly looked away when Tolya Sanguinati stepped up to the open window and looked down at them.

“Yeah, okay.” Aware that she should be heading up to the mayor’s office to talk to Tolya, Jana looked at Becky, who seemed to be studying something in the grass. She hoped it wasn’t poop. “Drop the proposal off at the sheriff’s office this afternoon and I’ll take a look at it. Right now, I need a favor. That’s Becky Gott.”

“Okay,” Craig said.

“I’d like you …”

Horses. Screaming.

The Eagle launched itself skyward. The Ravens were suddenly in motion.

A fight, Isobel had said. Looked like it had arrived. But who were they fighting?

Jana gave Craig a shove. “Grab Becky and get inside.”

“Where … ?” Dawn began, scooping up her own puppy.

“Anywhere! Just get inside. Now!” Certain that Rusty would run away from strangers if she gave her to Dawn, Jana unclipped the leash from the pup’s collar and dropped it. Better to let the dog run and hide than have the leash tangle in something and leave Rusty vulnerable to whatever had frightened the horses.

Drawing her weapon out of the holster, she strode across the square, trusting Craig and Dawn to look after Becky. If she could reach the office, she’d take a moment to shut Rusty inside.

She was almost across the square when she heard gunshots coming from the direction of the livery stable.

As she looked in that direction, a woman on the other side of the square screamed—Dawn or Becky. Rusty stopped suddenly and barked, a frightened, frantic sound.

Pivoting, Jana cocked the hammer and raised her gun.

Two dogs racing toward her from the direction of the stables. The one in the lead was a big brute. Nowhere near as big as the Wolves, but the biggest dog she’d ever seen.

In the second before she pulled the trigger, she wished she’d asked about a firing range where officers must have practiced, wished she’d tested the revolver. Wished …

Sound exploded around her. Even as the gunshot filled her ears and head, she heard the sound of fighting off to her right and saw both dogs still coming toward her—not running from the livery stable, running at her.

No time. No time.

She shot the first dog in the chest and put two bullets into the second dog just before it launched itself at her. A savage cry had her spinning around in time to shoot the dog that had been charging her from behind. She had one round left, and the fourth dog …

She jerked the revolver skyward to avoid shooting Joshua Painter as the dog grabbed the boy’s left arm, exposing its own belly. Joshua’s right hand lashed out, and the claws on the specially made leather glove ripped the dog’s belly open.

Jana took a step toward the fight still taking place on the other side of the square. One dog ran toward her, trying to flee from the Wolves’ attack. Before she could take aim, smoke raced above the ground and overtook the dog. Hands formed, grabbed the dog, and snapped its neck. When the dog dropped, the smoke shifted into Tolya Sanguinati.

Silence, followed by a savage, furious snarl.

And then a lone Wolf howled.

Jana looked back. The dogs she’d shot were dead or dying. Either way, they were no longer a threat. Neither was the dog Joshua had gutted. But the boy …

“Joshua?” She kept her gun lowered but ready as she studied the savage expression in those gray-ringed green eyes. “You okay?”

He rose from his crouched position over the dog. His eyes took in her badge, her gun, and …

She knew Rusty had returned before she felt the pup press against her leg. She crouched, her eyes never leaving Joshua’s face, and rested one hand on the pup. She didn’t know where Rusty had gone, if the pup had stayed near her or had run and now returned. She’d been focused on keeping them alive.

“It’s okay, girl. It’s okay. You okay?” She risked a quick glance at the pup. No blood. A quick feel revealed no injuries that she could detect.

“She belongs to you?”

She stopped the instinctive move of raising the gun. In that moment of distraction, Joshua had closed the distance between them without making a sound.

He might be human, but he’d been raised by the Panthergard and was, in his own way, just as much a predator as the terra indigene. That was something she couldn’t afford to forget.

“Yes, she’s mine,” Jana replied.

He nodded. “She stayed close. Would have died if you hadn’t been a good predator, but she stayed close.” He met Jana’s eyes. “Loves you.”

She swallowed hard. Did his being an Intuit make his certainty more powerful? “Your arm?”

He held up the left arm and gave her a feral smile that made her shiver. From wrist to elbow he wore a quilted sleeve over his shirt. Thick, puffy thing—slimmer than the suits officers wore when training dogs for police work, but it had done the trick.

“Might have bruises,” Joshua said as he considered the arm. Then he shrugged.

A Wolf howled again.

Jana sprang to her feet. Only one Wolf howling—and many terra indigene flying toward the spot where the Wolfgard had fought the dogs.

“Jana!” Barb ran toward her from the direction of the diner, then skidded to a stop when she saw the dogs. “Oh.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh.”

“They were enemies,” Joshua said, his voice hard.

“I know, I know.” Barb wiped the tears off her face, then paled as she stared at the bloody, clawed glove on Joshua’s hand and understood what it meant.

Looking at Barb’s face, Jana understood the dogs weren’t the only thing that had died on the square that morning. She wouldn’t be surprised if the stack of romances about the wild man tamed by love were quietly returned to the book-sorting room.

“Barb,” Jana said softly.

Barb sniffed. “Is Rusty okay?”

“Yeah. Can you take her to the office for me? I need to check on Virgil and Kane.”

“Sure.” Hooking a couple of fingers under Rusty’s collar, Barb led the pup to the sheriff’s office. Joshua watched her go but didn’t follow.