“He’s dangerous?”

“He stole from a ranch, but a human with him tried to forcibly mate with the rancher’s daughter.”

Feeling her body tighten in response to what Tolya was saying, Jesse looked at the rifle she kept near her desk when she was working in her office area.

Yap yap yap. I am brave. I am brave. Mom!

“Tolya, I have to go. I’ll check my e-mail in a few minutes.” She almost hung up, then thought of one last thing. “Did you tell Tobias?”

“Virgil will tell him.”

“I’ll call after I look at the picture.” Jesse hung up. She almost grabbed the rifle on her way to the back door but instead snatched the broom that was leaning near the door because she had a feeling that the broom would be enough to drive off whatever was upsetting Cory-Cutie. She pulled up short two steps out the door and shook her head—and wondered again if the pup was too brave or not too bright.

The biggest of the two male Wolves watched the pup, wearing what Jesse would call a grin on his face as his tail gently wagged. The other Wolf was trying to undo the fasteners that held a mesh covering over the pen she’d put the puppy in a few minutes ago.

“You boys want something?” Theydidn’t come to town often, but she recognized Morgan and Chase Wolfgard.

Chase ignored her and continued working on the fasteners. Morgan shifted to human form and turned to face her.

“Why is the puppy in a cage?” he demanded, baring his teeth in a snarl.

“I wanted her to have a little time outside on her own, and I didn’t want her to get snatched by a hawk or eagle,” Jesse replied. Anticipating the next snarled objection, she pointed skyward. “The Hawkgard and Eaglegard are not the only ones riding the thermals looking for a meal. They won’t harm the puppy, but a regular bird of prey might go after Cory.”

“Cutie,” Morgan corrected. “Rachel said the pup’s name is Cutie.”

“Cutie will work for a puppy, but would you want to be called Cutie once you reached adulthood?”

He considered her question and finally said, “Cory is better.”

Fortunately, the words were similar in sound, and she hoped the pup wouldn’t become confused by having two names.

Jesse walked over to the pen, flipped a couple of fasteners, and folded back the mesh cover. Handing the broom to Morgan, who finally seemed to notice it, she lifted Cory out of the pen, gave her a quick cuddle, and set her on the ground.

“Why did you bring a broom outside?” Morgan asked. “Brooms are for sweeping. There is nothing to sweep outside.”

“Brooms are also good for smacking anyone who upsets the puppy.” Jesse wrapped a hand around the broom handle. Morgan didn’t let go. That either meant she had to win it back or he didn’t trust her not to smack him for making the puppy yap. She released the broom, hoping she conveyed that she was bestowing a favor by letting him keep it. “I have to go to the library and retrieve an urgent e-mail from Tolya Sanguinati. If you could watch Cory for a few minutes? Her piddle spot is over there.” She pointed to the area she’d decided would be the canine toilet.

“We know.”

Of course they did. They’d probably recognized the puppy’s scent there and marked that spot themselves.

Morgan gave Jesse the broom and shifted back to Wolf form, and the three furries began to explore.

Jesse returned the broom to its spot near the back door before she hurried to the town library, where she could access her e-mail. She gave Shelley Bookman the hand signal that meant “talk to you later” and went to the bank of computers.

Not much information in the e-mail itself. The man’s name was Dalton Blackstone and he should be considered an enemy. Coming from Tolya, the message was abrupt and lacking in the courtesy she was used to receiving from him.

She browsed the nearest shelf of books while she waited for the computer to download the picture. Finally …

A handsome young man. She could see the familial similarities between his face and Abigail Burch’s. But by the time she had printed several copies of the picture, she could feel the threat this young man represented.

She stopped at the checkout desk on her way out of the library, ignoring Shelley’s greeting. “Town meeting, seven o’clock this evening. Spread the word.”

“What … ?”

She rushed out the door, giving Shelley no time for questions. She wasn’t worried about the puppy—much—but the need to talk to Morgan and Chase outweighed the need to inform her own people.

It had taken time to download a picture, but she hadn’t thought she’d been gone that long. Even so, she found Cory and the two Wolves sprawled inside the store’s back room, where the floor was cooler than the ground and the room provided shade. The Wolves looked up when she entered. The puppy was down for the count, having played hard enough that she needed a nap.

Jesse crouched in front of them and held up the picture. “This man is called Dalton Blackstone. He travels with at least one other human who hurts people.”

Morgan shifted to human form and lay on his belly, propped up on his forearms. “You want us to protect your pack?”

He sounded reluctant, and she understood why. Except for the nanny, Rachel, and the litter of pups, the rest of the Prairie Gold pack had been slaughtered by the Humans First and Last movement. Morgan and Chase were the only ones strong enough to protect the surviving Wolfgard.

“No, I want you to protect your pack and your settlement,” Jesse said. “These humans may be smart enough to stay away from terra indigene settlements, but they may gamble that you won’t know them and will give them supplies or let them stay among you, knowing no other humans would hunt them in your territory.”

“They are dangerous?”

“Yes.” She said the word, knowing it was a death sentence. As far as the Others were concerned, a dangerous human was a dead human waiting for the fangs and claws that would kill him.

“Rachel,” Morgan said. “The pack’s nanny is too old to mate and bear young. Rachel is the pack’s dominant female now.”

Rachel was the only female currently approaching adulthood, and she would accept Morgan or Chase as her mate when she was ready to have pups of her own. “She should be safe here, but if you want her to stay with the pack until these men are found, I will understand.”

“We will consider your words.”

“I’ll put one of these pictures in a tube that will be easy to carry. You should take it back to your settlement so that all the terra indigene can see the human’s face.”

“We will wait for the tube. Then it is time to go.”

She found a mailing tube, rolled the picture, and stuffed brown paper into both ends to seal up the tube. Morgan and Chase trotted out the door and headed for the settlement in the hills. Jesse tucked Cory in her crate near the desk and tried to focus on paperwork, but more often than not, every time she needed to write something down, she had to force her right hand to release her left wrist.

* * *

* * *

Tobias was a few miles out of Bennett when he spotted the horse and rider in the middle of the road.

No reaction from the rider, who had to see the pickup. No attempt to move aside.

Slowing down, Tobias scanned the land to his left and right but didn’t see anyone trying to approach the pickup. Deciding it wasn’t an attempted holdup, he flashed his lights, not wanting to startle the horse by blowing the horn.

Still no reaction. Then a fire tornado swirled in the middle of the road. As soon as Tobias hit the brakes and stopped the truck, the tornado changed back to a horse and rider.

“What the … ?” The Elementals had no reason to be coming after him. At least, no reason he knew about.

That was when he looked in the rearview mirror and saw the Wolf running toward him. Coming fast.

Had to be Virgil.

Tobias waited until Virgil was a few yards away before rolling down the window. Reaching the truck, the Wolf stood on his hind legs, thrust his head into the opening, and dropped a mailing tube into Tobias’s lap before shifting to human.

“Tolya says you need that picture,” Virgil said. “All the humans at your ranch need to see that picture. There is also a copy for the Skye Ranch, and Tolya says you should talk to the other ranches so that they will look at the e-mail he is sending to them and see the picture.”

Tobias opened the mailing tube and pulled out the copies of a drawing that had been cropped from a larger picture. “I don’t recognize him.”

“He and other humans attacked Stewart Dixon’s ranch yesterday.”

“I’d heard about that.” Jana had told him about it over breakfast.

“I’ll make sure my people know to be on the lookout.” And he’d stress to Ellen Garcia that she shouldn’t open the door to strangers. It wasn’t their way not to be neighborly; there were terra indigene who showed up at the ranch house these days, looking for a drink of water or just wanting to rest in the shade of the ranch house’s big porch. Ellen always took a minute to talk to them, even if they weren’t in a form that could reply.

He’d talk to Ellen and “Ed” Tilman and emphasize the need for caution. And he’d talk to the folks living at the Prairie Gold farms as well. And he’d talk to Jana tonight and see if she knew anything more.

“Do you have one of those guns that shoots colored bullets?” Virgil asked.

For a moment, Tobias couldn’t think of what the Wolf meant. “You mean a flare gun? Yes. I keep one in the truck.”

Virgil looked at the horse and rider, then focused on Tobias. “Fire says if you shoot a colored bullet into the air, the terra indigene will know there is danger and will come to help.”

Gods above and below. “Appreciate that.” And he hoped he would never be in a position to send up a flare because he didn’t want to consider which terra indigene would come to help.

When Virgil continued to lean in and stare at him, Tobias said, “Something else?”

“Rusty can’t have meat?”

“Sure she can, but she’s been fed puppy kibble up to now and you don’t want to change her diet too fast.”

“Kibble instead of meat? Have you tasted kibble?” Virgil bared his teeth, and Tobias had the unpleasant experience of seeing human canines change into Wolf fangs when those fangs were inches away from his face.

“Can’t say I have.” Obviously Virgil had—and hadn’t liked it.

He had to be careful not to agree with Virgil too much, or the Wolf, already dominant, would run roughshod over Jana. Or try, anyway.

“The pup is adjusting to a new home and a new pack. Better for her to have familiar food for a while. Better for Jana to be able to give Rusty something she can provide.”

Virgil’s ears shifted to Wolf, as if to better hear the words. Since he hadn’t backed away at all, Tobias found it … unsettling.