“A lot of small towns in the Northeast had a larger population than Bennett, but there’s maybe a few hundred citizens here now—and that’s figuring in humans and the terra indigene. No one’s thinking of adding a pet to their household when most people are still trying to figure out where they’re going to live, and even when they do select a house, they have to clear out the personal effects and get themselves settled while working at whatever business is their livelihood.”

She watched Joshua with the puppies as they returned the pups to their crate. The older dogs reacted to Joshua the same way they reacted to Saul Panthergard, regardless of his form; they smelled a predator. But the puppies seemed to think Joshua smelled interesting.

“The terra indigene will not want pets,” Joshua said thoughtfully as he petted the puppies. “And the humans are too busy to think about pets.”

“That’s true right now. I’m just afraid that by the time they start thinking it would be nice to have a dog or cat or bird …” She was supposed to meet with the vet today to review her training and skills. If she was going to continue her education on an apprenticeship basis, she had to reduce the number of animals in her care by finding homes for them before the Others made a different choice.

She studied Joshua. She was about to ask him if he’d like a puppy, but she remembered that bloody glove and couldn’t do it. Not today.

Joshua stood. “I’ll help you for an hour. Then I have to go to work.”

“Shouldn’t you already be at work?” she asked.

“Yes, but John will understand.”

She almost told him a human boss would be less understanding, but she wanted the help, especially today. “Thanks.” When she next saw Tobias Walker she’d ask for any suggestions about finding homes beyond Bennett for the orphaned pets.

* * *

* * *

Virgil lifted Kane off the tailgate and lowered him to the ground, letting his brother limp into the sheriff’s office on his own.

“He’s hurting,” Tobias Walker said quietly. “How about you?”

“Nothing that won’t heal.” Virgil watched the wolverine follow Kane into the office. “What about her?”

“She helped Kane get through the vet stitching him up.”

“She killed. That was not natural for her.”

“She did, and you’re right; it wasn’t natural. Her emotions might be … big … for a few days while she comes to terms with what happened this morning.”

Virgil studied the human male. What did that mean, her emotions might be big? Weren’t they always big?

“I’m going to stay in town today,” Tobias said. “I’ll see about getting a room at the hotel and taking care of some of the chores for Prairie Gold, but I’ll be around if you need help of any kind.”

Virgil nodded and walked into the office. John had done some scrounging in the warehouse that held possessions from the cleared-out houses. He hadn’t found something he called a Wolf bed, but he had found a folding cot. After moving Kane’s desk to one side, there had been enough room to put the mattress on the floor. John had added a couple of blankets as a mattress cover and thought it would do as a comfortable place for Kane to sleep when he was in the office.

Kane obviously thought it would do since he gave the mattress and blankets a quick sniff before lowering himself onto them with a groan.

The wolverine wasn’t paying attention to Kane. She was staring at Rusty—or the remains of something in Rusty’s crate. Then she narrowed her eyes at Virgil. “Who gave Rusty one of the treats?”

“Cowboy Bob,” he replied blandly.

She looked at the toy leaning against the side of her desk, then turned back to Virgil, baring her teeth. “Cowboy Bob? Really? Is that what we’re doing now? Blaming the stuffie?”

She looked bigger than she had a minute ago, but he met her eyes and said, “Yeah.”

The sound she made reminded him of a whistling teakettle on the boil.

She brushed past him, giving him an elbow in the ribs before she grabbed one of the bowls near Kane, who flinched and then whined when he realized his injured leg wouldn’t allow him to get out of the way. When the wolverine headed for the back rooms and started banging around in the kitchen doing who knew what, Virgil blew out a breath.

He was starting to understand what Tobias Walker meant by her emotions being big. Fortunately for the Wolves, there was a reason to shove her out the door and let someone else deal with her for a while.

She returned to the front room and put the bowl of water where Kane could reach it easily.

“Tolya Sanguinati needs you to talk to the females from the Dixon ranch,” Virgil said. “He’s waiting for you at the saloon.”

“Why there?” She didn’t sound quite on the boil anymore but still close enough.

“Scythe is protecting them while Stewart Dixon is protecting the wounded male, who is at the human bodywalker’s office.”

The wolverine nodded. Virgil stepped aside to let her pass. But she stopped when she was abreast of him and stared at the door.

“You tell Cowboy Bob that if he gives Rusty another unauthorized treat today, I will pull all the stuffing out of his arms.” She walked out of the office.

<Virgil?> Kane whined.

He didn’t answer, but he heard Kane sigh—and felt the same relief—when he turned the lock on the door.

* * *

* * *

Tolya?> Virgil called. <The wolverine is on her way over to see you. She has big emotions.>

Tolya frowned. <What does that mean?>

<Be careful.>

That sounded ominous. But no matter what Virgil would like to believe, Deputy Jana was just a human female.

With a gun.

Seeing her walk into the saloon, Tolya realized he’d been too busy to have much contact with all the new arrivals, including their female deputy, and had been assuming she was some combination of Barbara Ellen bounce and Jesse Walker grit—they being the two human females he’d had sufficient contact with to gain some understanding of that gender in the human species. Now he had a better appreciation of why Virgil referred to Jana as a wolverine.

“Mr. Sanguinati,” Jana said. “You wanted to see me?”

“There was an attack on a ranch early this morning.”

“I saw your e-mails. Ranches north of the town are part of our jurisdiction?”

“There is a Wolfgard pack who keeps watch in that area, but I don’t think there are any human police, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jana nodded before looking at the four women sitting at the table farthest from the door. “If the daughter was attacked, I’ll need to ask some personal questions. They may want to do that somewhere more private.”

“They have use of the female dressing rooms upstairs, or we can use Scythe’s office,” Tolya said.

“You’re sitting in?”

“Yes. I, too, have some questions.”

“Does Scythe have a pad of paper and a pen? I left the office without them.”

Tolya silently made the request. Scythe walked out of her office a moment later and held out the items.

“Thanks.” Jana walked over to the table. A moment later, Candice Caravelli and Lila Gold said their good-byes and walked up to the bar.

“There’s been no trouble here,” Scythe said. <Yuri is here.>

“Good.” The word acknowledged both messages. Tolya looked at Candice and Lila. “Anything I should know?”

“Melanie is really scared,” Lila said.

Tolya wasn’t sure if Candice Caravelli’s silence meant she had nothing to say or nothing she wanted to say to him and Scythe. He would consider that later.

He joined Jana and introduced her to Melanie and Judith Dixon.

“What happened this morning?” Jana asked.

“Ranch work starts early, as soon as we can,” Melanie began. “Mom was out collecting eggs from our chickens, and Dad was in the stable taking care of the stallion while my brothers and the hands were tending the other horses and putting them out in the paddocks. The house’s front and back doors were open to let in the cooler air. We lock up at night, but it’s always been safe to leave the doors open during the day when someone’s around.”

“That makes sense,” Jana said.

Tolya listened and struggled to comprehend the undercurrents. He’d had more interaction with humans in the past few weeks than he’d had in the whole of his life, and he wasn’t always sure if he was reading humans correctly. It sounded like Jana was confirming that the females had done nothing wrong by leaving the doors open. Why would that have been wrong?

“I was setting out food to make for breakfast when I heard a couple of cars drive up.” Melanie frowned. “Didn’t see any headlights, but I didn’t think about that. Could have been the hands coming in from the cabins.”

“Cabins?” Tolya asked.

“We have two cabins on the land we …” Judith stopped. “On the land we lease for grazing. Men will stay there for a couple of days at a time to check on the cattle, as well as ride out and make note of the available grass and water. Sometimes, if we get a fast-moving storm or a heavy snowfall, it’s a place to shelter. My husband told the Wolfgard that the terra indigene are welcome to use the cabins too. We keep them supplied with cans of food and jugs of fresh water, as well as seasoned wood for the stove.”

Tolya nodded. He knew the Wolfgard had no quarrel with Stewart Dixon and his family. He also knew the Wolves and Dixon had hunted together to bring down meat for both their families.

“I heard the back door open,” Melanie continued. “I started to turn away from the counter, figuring it was one of my brothers coming in for coffee. But it was a stranger. He shoved me up against the counter, shoved me hard, and put a knife against my face. He said he could tell I needed a good humping, and if I stayed quiet no one would get hurt. He …” Her hand shook as she picked up a glass of water that was on the table and took a sip. “He grabbed my breast, then started pulling at my jeans. But he wasn’t getting them open fast enough, because the next thing, he pushed me down on my knees and started to pull down his zipper. That’s when another man came into the kitchen, just for a moment. He said, ‘By all the dark gods, we don’t have time for that. Someone sounded an alarm.’ He ran off, and I heard the screen door in the front of the house squeak and thought Dad was going to be mad because he asked my brothers to oil the hinges last week.”

“Who sounded the alarm?” Jana asked.

“The Owlgard,” Judith said. “A pair of them moved into the hay barn after the troubles. Stewart installed an Owl door for them and built a kind of platform under it so that, once the chicks hatched, the adults could be outside if they wanted and still be close to the nest.” Taking the glass from her daughter, she sipped some water before handing back the glass. “Anyway, all of a sudden one of the adults was swooping around the chicken coop, which they’ve never done before, and I guess one of them went to the stables and shifted to tell the men there were strangers in the house. Stewart and the boys came running, but Manuel had been heading for the house anyway because he heard a car driving away fast and felt uneasy enough that he wanted to check on Melanie.”