Wild Country

by Anne Bishop

  “Hawkgard,” Jesse corrected. “Her correct last name would be Hawkgard.

  “Charlee Hawkgard,” Evan said. “Our growling boy is Mason Wolf . . . Wolfgard.”

  “Mace,” the boy muttered, turning his head to give Virgil a quick look before hiding his face again.

  “Our mischief-maker is Zane Coyotegard.”

  The Coyote grinned at Jesse, revealing a missing tooth.

  “And this is Maddie,” Kenneth Stone said, his hand on the blood prophet’s shoulder.

  “That one was a stray too?” Virgil’s amber eyes held flickers of red.

  The men hesitated. Jesse sucked in a breath.

  “What we did was wrong in the eyes of the law but right in terms of the heart,” Kenneth said.

  “I helped her hide,” Mace said.

  “We all helped,” Charlee said, reaching for Maddie’s hand.

  “The young man wasn’t wrong about the belt,” Evan said. “The child was reported missing. The whole neighborhood was searching for her. When we found her hiding with our children . . . The welts and bruises told a different story from the tearful parents pleading for help in finding her.”

  Kenneth took up their story. “We began to wonder when they didn’t have a single photograph of her to put on TV. The people claiming to be her parents weren’t Intuits, and she’s . . .”

  “We know what she is.” Tolya gave the men a smile that bordered on terrifying. “We can tell by her scent. Unlike the rest of you humans, her kind doesn’t smell like prey.”

  Kenneth swallowed hard. “We’d already been planning to leave. It was a human town, and the children couldn’t always hide their true natures. When we left, we smuggled Maddie out and took her with us.”

  “I did not believe the parents’ tears,” Evan said. “I did believe the child’s desperation not to be found. I felt, and still believe, Maddie would not have survived much longer in that house.”

  Silence. No one spoke. No one moved.

  Finally, Tolya said, “What work can you do?”

  “I am a priest,” Evan said. “I have worked in several Universal Temples. Kenneth is a teacher.”

  A sound of disgust came from one of the Simple Life women.

  Virgil bared his teeth at the woman, effectively discouraging her from making another sound. Then he studied Mace. “You know how to shift, pup?”

  Mace nodded.

  “You remember living with a pack?”

  Mace gave Virgil a defiant look. “This is my pack.”

  Throughout the whole exchange, Joshua’s focus never left Maddie. “A place with no memories, no stain of darkness. In a clean place, birds return to sing.”

  Strange boy, Jesse thought. She wasn’t sure Joshua could speak prophecy the way the girls who were blood prophets could, but she had a feeling he was more than an Intuit if he was seeing images rather than having feelings about his surroundings.

  “Can you recognize this stain of darkness?” Tolya asked.

  Joshua stood, then blinked as if coming out of a light nap. “Yes.”

  Tolya looked at Virgil, then turned to the two men. “We don’t have a priest yet or a teacher.”

  Jesse saw Kenneth hesitate and knew the reason. “You don’t have to open the whole school building for the handful of children currently living in Bennett. There is a community center next door to the Universal Temple. One of the rooms in that building could be turned into a classroom for now. In fact, it would be good to open the center so that everyone could use it for a number of activities like a quilting circle and . . . and . . .” She fumbled. What did she know about such activities? She preferred target practice and reading to handcrafts.

  “Candice taught Quiet Mind classes,” Lila said. “She’s interested in doing that here too. And she can teach frontier dancing.”

  “I . . . uh . . .” Candice glanced around, then nodded. “I could do that.”

  Lila beamed. Virgil grunted.

  “Did you bring luggage?” Tolya asked the men.

  “We left everything at the train station,” Evan said.

  Tolya nodded. “Nicolai will look after it. Sheriff Wolfgard and Deputy Paniccia will escort you to the hotel. Afterward, you’ll come to my office and review what is required to be a resident of Bennett. If you want to stay after knowing our rules, we’ll take a look at houses tomorrow and see what can be done about moving you into one quickly.”

  The men looked hopeful and stunned at the acceptance. Jesse felt stunned too because she had a very bad feeling that Tolya had just lied. Whatever the terra indigene were feeling about these men, acceptance had no part of it.

  * * *

  * * *

  Jana would have been all right with Virgil putting the men in one hotel room and the children in another if there had been a connecting door between the rooms. But there wasn’t, and she didn’t have to be an Intuit or a blood prophet or anything else to know what that meant.

  She kept a chokehold on her temper and her heart until Virgil closed the door to the children’s room.

  “You can’t separate those children from their parents. They’re a family.” She kept her voice low to avoid being overheard, but her anger came through loud and clear.

  “They’re not family,” Virgil growled. “They’re human males who have taken—”

  “They didn’t take those children in the way you mean. They gave those children a home, gave them love, protection. Taught them. That’s what parents do.” She looked at the anger on his face, in his eyes. “What? A Panther can raise a human boy and that’s all right, but a human can’t love a child who is terra indigene?”

  “There were reasons Joshua ended up with the Panthergard.”

  “And there are reasons those children ended up with Evan and Kenneth. Who are you to judge?”

  Virgil leaned toward her. She leaned toward him, balancing her weight and balling her hands into fists.

  “You know nothing about it,” Virgil snarled.

  “I know you don’t have to give birth to a child to love it,” Jana snarled back. “I was raised by foster parents. I loved them and they loved me, and we were family. Those men love those children, and the children love them. I can see it, even if you don’t. Or won’t.”

  Virgil stepped back and studied her.

  She hoped by all the gods that she could find the right words to get through to him. “Kenneth and Evan brought those children here because they knew there would be terra indigene here. Wolves and Coyotes and Hawks and so many more. They brought those children here to learn to be who they are, where they could be who they are. This is Bennett. Who will care if a boy can shift into a Wolf? Here they don’t need to be a secret in order to be protected.”

  We learned from you.

  A chill went through her as she remembered the sign and gave a fleeting thought to how those children had ended up with two human men in the first place. Orphans, Evan had called the children. But not because of the recent killings. Lost or abandoned by their original family—or stolen from their families—they had been taken in by Evan and Kenneth a few years ago. Except Maddie.

  “Maybe you should talk to the children before you make any decisions about their futures,” Jana said.

  Virgil released a gusty exhale that sufficiently expressed his annoyance. “Fine. We’ll talk to them.” He went to the hotel door, wrapped his hand around the knob, and then looked at her. “Come on. It’s your idea.”

  The moment they walked into the room, Mace and Zane leaped toward them, growling.

  “What did you do with our dads?” Mace demanded.

  “Give ’em back,” Zane said.

  “They’re in the next room,” Virgil said, giving no indication if he was annoyed or pleased by the youngsters’ challenge. “They have to talk to the mayor about work and finding a house for all o
f you.”

  Mace cocked his head. Since he hadn’t seen Virgil do that, Jana figured it was something Wolves did.

  “All of us?” Mace sounded like he didn’t quite trust the sheriff.

  Virgil gave the boy a curt nod. “All of you.” He looked at the girls, who were on the floor near one of the beds.

  The girl Tolya Sanguinati had said didn’t smell like prey stared at nothing. Vacant eyes that Jana found unnerving.

  If the Others refer to a girl as a sweet blood or say she doesn’t smell like prey, they’re talking about a blood prophet. That was one of the things Michael Debany had hurriedly told her about blood prophets before she got on the train.

  Gods. What were they supposed to do with a blood prophet in their midst?

  The other girl, the Hawk . . . Well the other girl was a young Hawk who had her wings caught in the armholes of a sleeveless shirt and the rest of her clothes bunched under her taloned feet.

  Zane looked back at the girls and sighed. “Charlee does that when she’s scared. That’s how Dad Evan found her. The humans thought a girl had gone missing at the orphan place, and Dad Evan was there that day and was helping them search. When he saw the Hawk beating at a window, trying to escape, he knew she was the missing girl and couldn’t stay in that place, so he opened the window, thinking she would fly away. Then he realized she was too young to be alone, so he went outside and found her and took her home.”

  Jana wondered if Zane’s and Mace’s stories would be similar. They’d already been told that the blood prophet had been taken from the people claiming to be her parents. Had run away, with Mace’s help, and was hidden by Evan and Kenneth.

  “Deputy Jana will ask Anya Sanguinati to bring up food for you,” Virgil said.

  “Meat?” Mace asked hopefully.

  “Meat.”

  Mace looked at the girls. “Charlee likes meat too, but maybe you have fruit for Maddie?”

  “She doesn’t eat meat?”

  “She does, but she likes fruit better.”

  Virgil walked out of the room, leaving Jana to follow. He rapped on the next door, which was immediately opened by Evan Hua, who looked frightened—and resigned.

  “I’ll take you to the mayor’s office now to talk to Tolya.”

  “The children?” Evan asked as Kenneth joined him at the door.

  “Deputy Jana will arrange to have food brought to their room. They will be safe there.”

  “We’ll just be a moment.” Evan closed the door.

  Jana felt relieved. She’d prevailed. Virgil had listened. She . . .

  Looking at her, Virgil bared his teeth and said quietly, “Those youngsters better be safe with those humans.”

  “They will be.”

  “If they’re not, I will tear out the throats of those two humans—and then I’ll tear out yours.”

  Moments later, Evan and Kenneth left their room and followed Virgil for their meeting with the mayor.

  Jana stood in the corridor, waiting for her heart to stop pounding, for her body to stop shaking. When she finally regained control, she went downstairs to find Anya Sanguinati and arrange for some meat and fruit to be sent up to the children.

  * * *

  * * *

  Jesse looked at the Simple Life women and wondered how two of them had been able to hide their lack of tolerance from the leaders of the Lakeside Courtyard. They might be excellent housekeepers and cooks, but they would be hard neighbors. Something she needed to point out to Tolya, but that could wait. The women were already committed to going to the ranches tomorrow, and she had another concern right now. “Mr. Sanguinati? If I could have a minute?”

  Tolya had sent Joshua Painter on his way but had remained in the general store. Jesse wasn’t sure why he had stayed, but her left wrist had quieted to a dull ache, which should be a good sign that the crisis was over, but she needed to be sure.

  “We’ll just get these boxes filled.” Candice grabbed a box, her list . . . and Lila.

  Jesse led Tolya to the stock area of the store, where they were out of sight and hearing of the other people.

  “Are you okay with them living here? The men, I mean?”

  He looked puzzled. “Should I object?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “I . . . wasn’t sure if you’d encountered same-gender mates before.”

  “Among the terra indigene, mating is about having offspring and requires male and female. That doesn’t mean we don’t form bonds with those of our own gender, but it is not the same as mating.” He looked polite but uninterested. “Is there anything else?”

  “Those men are Intuits. They wouldn’t have brought those children here if they’d done anything wrong.”

  “Deputy Jana seems to be of the same opinion.”

  Jesse wondered what Deputy Jana had said, but apparently it had been enough to sway the decision to let the family stay in Bennett. “I’d better get back out there. Those women are heading to the ranches in the morning. I want to make sure they have everything they need. Being from the Northeast, they might overlook something that would be real useful.”

  “If you need anything, I will be at my office. Virgil is bringing the men over to discuss work and houses.”

  She should have been relieved. Instead, she felt there was still reason to worry.

  Tolya was barely out the door when Jesse’s mobile phone rang. “Jesse Walker.”

  “It’s Rachel. I smelled mouse in the back room of the store. Can I chase it?”

  Damn it, mice were the last thing she needed in her store when she had packed it with all the foodstuffs she could buy before things had gone so wrong. She didn’t need Rachel, in human or Wolf form, knocking into shelves and smashing glass jars.

  “Just take a look around and make sure the mice haven’t gotten into any of the food,” Jesse said. “I’ll be home tomorrow.”

  She spent a couple more minutes talking with Rachel, then made sure the women heading out in the morning truly had everything they needed.

  * * *

  * * *

  Tolya looked out the window of his office. People walked or rode bicycles on the main street. A few got on the bus to go home or go to wherever they were doing sorting that day.

  Apparently Deputy Jana had been vehement in her belief that the youngsters should live with the men they saw as their parents. And Jesse Walker had recognized the men as Intuits. Would that kind of human come to a town full of terra indigene if the youngsters had not been orphaned as they had claimed? He didn’t think so. Adults would gather; questions would be asked—especially about the Wolf pup since so many Wolves had been killed by the humans who had belonged to the Humans First and Last movement.

  Bennett was not the place for humans to bring stolen terra indigene young. But if the men wanted those youngsters to learn about their own kind and still have that family made up of many different forms, a town like this was the place to bring them, the place to try for acceptance.

  As for the blood prophet . . .

  The euphoria that filled the girls when they began to speak prophecy after their skin was cut provided a veil against the visions, protecting them from the things they had seen. But when a girl was prevented from speaking—or chose not to speak in order to see the visions—there was no protection, no euphoria. There was only agony and the possibility of seeing something so terrible the girl’s mind would break.

  The Maddie girl was young and so small—and mute. But Meg Corbyn and Hope Wolfsong were showing the rest of the blood prophets that there were other ways to “speak” without cutting or words. Meg was exploring the use of fortune cards being converted into prophecy cards, and Hope slipped into a trance and drew her visions. Perhaps there were other ways to speak that hadn’t been explored yet.

  He wished he still had direct contact with the Lakeside Courtyard and Meg Corbyn.
Even if he had contact, it wouldn’t be fair to ask for more help after all the work they had done to run the job fair and find suitable humans to resettle the town. But he did have direct access to Jackson Wolfgard and Hope Wolfsong. Hope had already drawn one warning that concerned Bennett. Maybe, if he provided some information, she might show him some possibilities of what to do with the sweet blood girl.

  Turning away from the window, Tolya placed a call to Sweetwater and left a message at the communications cabin, asking that Jackson call him as soon as possible.

  CHAPTER 18

  Firesday, Messis 17

  Abigail pushed the edge of the curtain to one side and peered out the window at the people getting off the small bus. She wasn’t being nosy. There were reasons why she needed to know who lived around her, needed to know if any of her neighbors posed a threat to her maintaining the sweet Abigail persona. Not everyone was as gullible as Barb Debany, including Barb’s housemate, Deputy Jana Paniccia. Abigail had a feeling that the deputy didn’t buy into anyone’s persona—maybe even her own.

  That niggling doubt about her own abilities might be enough to work with to keep Jana from looking too closely at the neighbors.

  Abigail recognized Tolya Sanguinati and Virgil Wolfgard, and she’d seen the young guy and the golden-haired man walking around the town square when she’d ventured beyond this street for her cleaning job or to put in her required hours of sorting work. But the other two men and the four children were strangers. The men didn’t look dangerous, but the most dangerous men often didn’t.

  When Jana pulled her official police vehicle into the driveway of the house next door, Abigail went outside to find out what was going on. It would be natural to be curious.

  Barb came out of the house she was sharing with Jana, said, “Hi, Abby,” then looked at Jana. “What’s up?”

  “Several things,” Jana replied, stopping to watch the group of people stand in front of each house on the street. “Since the guys making deliveries of household goods are up to their eyeballs in requests, the sheriff told me to load up my official vehicle with goods we’d earmarked for the house in exchange for letting said vehicle live with us.”