Wild Country

by Anne Bishop

  Had the terra indigene known that sweet bloods could be tormented by a place? Did Simon Wolfgard know that? Or had Broomstick Girl simply found a comfortable den and settled in at the Lakeside Courtyard? What about the pup living with Jackson Wolfgard?

  In both those cases, the sweet blood had been given a den among the terra indigene instead of claiming a den that previously had belonged to humans. Maybe that was the reason this search was different.

  Or maybe the choice of den was more important because this pup couldn’t howl and would suffer in silence.

  Kane said.

  Virgil ignored the comment. He’d seen the small bus pull up. When the door opened and the Jacob pup leaped out ahead of the rest of the Gott pack, he knew why Kane was heading that way. If one of them kept watch over the Becky girl, the adult females would have time to make food for the pack while the boy pup could run and play and the Becky girl could explore a bit around the family den.

  The adult males, Kenneth and Evan, came out of the house.

  “As far as we can tell, the house looks solid,” Kenneth said. “All the appliances are in good condition. There are bunk beds in one room that will work for the boys.” He stopped and swallowed hard.

  “There is a room that would work well for the girls, but we would need to find two single beds,” Evan said. “And it would be less . . . emotional . . . if we could remove all the personal belongings quickly.”

  “That might be possible,” Tolya said. “I will let you know tomorrow. Are you saying you will take this house?”

  The men looked at each other, then nodded.

  “Very well. I’ll draw up the papers.” Tolya looked at the small bus. “The driver is waiting for you. You should gather your young and go back to the hotel now.”

  Virgil watched the men walk down the street.

  Tolya made a sputtery sound.

 

 

  Virgil huffed. He could tear out Jana Paniccia’s throat before she could blink, but she still filled a room with attitude: I might be smaller, but I can take you. If that wasn’t a wolverine, what was?

  And wasn’t she going to howl about what he’d decided?

  he said.

 

 

  Tolya studied him.

  Virgil studied the Sanguinati in turn.

  Tolya smiled.

  The stink of humans in his den?

 

 

 

  CHAPTER 19

  Watersday, Messis 18

  Tobias set the nozzle into its slot on the pump and winced at the total cost. At this rate, he was pouring his pay into the pickup’s gas tank. Sure, the gas station was running a tab so that anyone from the Prairie Gold ranch could fill up here in Bennett, but more new people coming into the town meant more vehicles would be put back on the roads—and if he wasn’t careful, those people could come to resent the Prairie Gold folks for being given special treatment when it came to some rationed goods like gasoline.

  “Good morning, Mr. Walker.” Tolya Sanguinati approached him, having come from . . . somewhere. “I thought all the new employees had gone to their assigned ranches yesterday.”

  “They did. I’m not concerned about the old Black ranch, which is now the Skye Ranch. Truman’s a good man, and he knows the importance of being a good neighbor.” Truman had been with him the day Joe Wolfgard had told them about the Elders, the day they had seen a half-grown bison being carried away from the animals that had been slaughtered by the Humans First and Last movement. Had seen the bison, anyway. The human eye couldn’t see the terra indigene in their true form, couldn’t detect anything more than what could be mistaken as a shimmer of heat. “I came back this morning to help Deputy Paniccia choose a horse.”

  “I thought she had a horse. She is at the stable now, riding it.”

  “She needs the right horse.” Unsettled, Tobias removed his hat, ran his fingers through his hair, then put the hat back on. “I’ll make it a point from now on to fill the truck before I leave Prairie Gold when I’m coming up for personal business.”

  “Choosing the right horse would be important for Deputy Paniccia to fulfill her duties?” Tolya asked.

  “I think so.” How much did the terra indigene understand about human romance? Especially when a man wasn’t sure if his interest would be reciprocated?

  “Then I think this tank of gas should go under the column for town business.” Tolya smiled and walked away, leaving Tobias to wonder if the Sanguinati, at least, understood more about humans than humans realized.

  * * *

  * * *

  Jana rode round and round the corral and felt keenly disappointed. She was riding a horse, which was what she wanted. She would be a mounted deputy, which was what she wanted. But she felt like a little girl riding a pony in a ring while the grown-ups stood on the other side of the rails smiling and nodding indulgently.

  And now there was Tobias Walker standing with the men who were in charge of the livery stable, and wasn’t that just perfect? She knew she was a beginner, but she hated looking foolish. And she hated feeling disappointed when she and the bay circled round again and she realized Tobias wasn’t standing there anymore.

  Then Tobias walked out of the stable with a caramel-colored horse and headed for the corral at the same moment the bay bolted to the far end of the corral. Jana grabbed the saddle horn and managed to hang on instead of landing in the dirt, but it was a near thing.

  “Dismount and bring him over,” Tobias said as he opened the gate and led his horse into the corral.

  Embarrassed and shaky, Jana dismounted and tried to lead the bay, but the horse wasn’t having it.

  Dropping his horse’s reins, Tobias walked over to them, grabbed the reins under the bay’s chin, and said firmly, “That’s enough of that. If he was going to hurt you, he’d have done it by now.” Tobias led the bay to the rail and tied him before returning to the other horse. Then he wagged a finger at Jana.

  Jana moved slowly, trying to figure out who the he was that might be doing the hurting. Not seeing anyone except the Simple Life and Intuit men who had been watching her ride, she approached Tobias.

  “This is Mel,” Tobias said.

  “Is that short for Caramel?” she asked.

  Tobias grinned. He was amused, but she didn’t feel like he was laughing at her.

  “I can see how you might think that, with him being a buckskin. But, no, Mel isn’t short for anything. Mount up and I’ll adjust the stirrups for you.”

  Mel snuffled her, then gave her a shove that knocked her back a step.

  “Mind your manners, boy,” Tobias said sternly. Then to her, “He’s a gelding with a stallion’s ego. He expects to be petted and praised.” A beat of silence before he added, “Much like the rest of us.”

  Was he flirting with her? Did she want to flirt back? Time to sort that out later. Right now, she had another male demanding her attention.

  “Hello, Mel.” Jana
stroked the horse’s nose before running a hand along his neck beneath the black mane. “You are handsome, aren’t you?”

  Mel tossed his head as if agreeing with her.

  “Mount up, Deputy.”

  She hesitated, looking over her shoulder at the bay. “I have a horse.”

  “And he’s a good horse,” Tobias agreed. “But not the right horse. You’re going to be answering calls and providing assistance in a town that’s just a kiss away from the Elder Hills. You need more than a horse. You need a partner. And . . .”

  The bay snorted and fought the reins tying him to the rail.

  “I’ll bring him in,” one of the men said, ducking between the rails.

  “No, just stay with him until I get Deputy Paniccia settled.” Tobias looked at Jana. “That right there is a big reason why the bay isn’t the right horse for you.” He nodded at Mel, whose ears were pricked and whose attention was on something outside the corral.

  Jana looked in that direction.

  Virgil in Wolf form stared back at her.

  “Mel and your coworkers have made friends,” Tobias said. “He’s not going to spook if one of them is running with you or approaches you when you’re on horseback. And he was bred from Prairie Gold stock and has been running on land like this his whole life. He’ll listen to you, but you have to listen to him too when he’s telling you there’s something around that could be trouble.”

  Jana mounted, then waited while Tobias adjusted the stirrups and handed her the reins. As soon as she gathered the reins and held them as she’d been taught, Mel walked over to the rails where Virgil waited. Horse and Wolf did their greeting snuffle-sniffs.

  “Time to work,” Tobias said.

  Mel’s head came up. Ears wagged forward and back.

  “Take him in a circle at a walk,” Tobias said. “And stay away from the bay for now.”

  She’d been told the bay was a good horse for a beginner, but riding Mel was a totally different experience. They moved together, so smooth and easy.

  “Jog,” Tobias called.

  Before she could give Mel any signals, the horse began to jog in response to Tobias’s command. This wasn’t the pounding that made her wonder if she’d lose her ability to control her bladder by the time she was thirty; this was an easy cruising speed that gave her time to observe what was around her.

  “Lope.”

  Again, Mel obeyed before she did, and she felt the reality that matched what she’d always imagined it would be like to ride a horse. She could see herself riding across the open spaces and . . .

  “Walk.”

  Mel immediately dropped to a walk, jolting Jana out of her happy fantasy. She beamed at Tobias—and noticed Virgil standing on his hind legs, one paw on the rails for balance, watching her from the other side of the corral.

  Tobias stepped away from the rails. “You two get acquainted while I deal with the bay.”

  She discovered that ‘deal with the bay’ meant adjusting the stirrups and mounting. The bay seemed fine, calm, the easygoing horse she’d ridden for the past couple of days—until Tobias aimed the horse toward the front of the corral . . . and Virgil.

  “He’s afraid,” she said, worried that Tobias would hurt the horse.

  Tobias reined in. “Yep, he is. That’s no reflection on him. He’s obeying instincts that would keep him safe in most situations. But it also means he’s not trusting his rider to tell him it’s okay to ignore those instincts, and you can’t be out there on a horse that can’t trust you. Which is why you’re going to ride Mel.” He dismounted and handed the bay to one of the livery men. Then he walked past her, opened the gate, and smiled. “You aren’t going to learn enough riding in circles in a corral. Time to go out there and learn how to ride.”

  “But . . .”

  “The town square runs the length of the business district. You can circle around that a few times and get the feel of moving through trees and on grass. Get the feel of riding past people and the terra indigene. I’ll see what else they have in the stable and join you, if I may.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  “Go on, then. I’ll catch up.”

  The moment Mel’s feet touched the grass in the square, Jana felt the change in him, as if he’d been bored before and now he wasn’t. She understood the feeling.

  “We’re still walking,” she told him when she felt him gather himself for something a little more speedy. One ear swiveled back at the sound of her voice, but his attention was still on something ahead of them.

  A moment later, Barb Debany and her blue-roan gelding, Rowan, cut across the square and jumped the little creek.

  “They let you out of the corral,” Barb said, turning Rowan to walk beside Mel.

  “Tobias Walker has a different opinion about how a person should learn,” Jana replied.

  Barb admired Mel. “What happened to the bay?”

  “Tobias had opinions about that too, and now I have a new riding partner. And it looks like Mel and Rowan are barn buddies.”

  Barb laughed. “Didn’t think of it that way, but it sure looks like it.”

  Now that they were riding together, the horses seemed content to keep to an active walk.

  “You’re not wearing your six-gun,” Barb said when they turned at the end of the square. She waved at three children playing in the little garden next to the Universal Temple. They waved back.

  “I left it at the office. Figured that was better than accidentally shooting me or the horse.”

  “You’ll have to ride and carry when you’re officially on duty, right?”

  “Right.” She’d worry about that later. Better yet, she’d ask Tobias about riding while wearing a gun.

  “You girls out for an Earthday stroll, or are you out to ride?” Tobias asked as he rode up to join them.

  “Rowan and I are cooling down from our ride,” Barb replied. “I was just keeping Jana company until you got here.” She grinned at Jana. “See you later.” Then she mouthed, Or not.

  Feeling her face heat, Jana shortened the reins before Mel decided to follow his buddy.

  “Warmed up now?” Tobias asked.

  She nodded. She knew he meant the horse, but, yeah, she was feeling plenty warm right now. As the town’s only female—and human—deputy, she couldn’t afford to gain a reputation for being an easy ride, and she wasn’t sure if Tobias had caught Barb’s silent, teasing remark.

  “Then let’s ride.”

  For the next half hour, they jogged and loped and circled and changed directions. They stopped and backed up. Jana was pretty sure she wasn’t more than a passenger and Mel was following Tobias’s commands, but she learned how it felt to be on a horse that was moving over ground that wasn’t a corral. Finally they were circling the town square at a walk, giving the horses a long rein to stretch their necks.

  Tobias smiled. “Pretty good for your first time out.”

  “Mel did all the work.”

  “You have all your gear? I noticed you weren’t riding with it in the corral.”

  Jana frowned at him in puzzlement. “Gear?”

  Tobias shook his head and sighed. “Well, it’s all farm folk and city folk who have come to town, so I guess it’s not surprising that no one told you what you should have out here.”

  Jana’s eyes widened as he listed the things she should be carrying with her. “I’m riding a horse, not driving a car with an empty backseat.”

  “You’d be surprised what you can fit into saddlebags.”

  “And the rope?”

  Tobias eyed her. “Do you know how to use a lasso?”

  “As in, rope that cow?”

  “Or that bank robber—unless he’s got a gun, which is likely. But you never know when you might need to throw a rope over something or someone.”

  “Another s
kill I didn’t learn.”

  “Hard to learn a skill without a teacher.”

  “Are you offering to teach me?”

  “I surely am. How about this afternoon? I’m in town today but need to get back to the ranch and put in some time there, especially since I’ve got some new hands to break in.”

  “I have to be at this town council meeting early this afternoon, but I’m free after that.”

  “Don’t get in trouble with your boss on account of me.”

  Jana looked around. “Speaking of my boss, you had something to tell me?” After dealing with Virgil for the past couple of days, she needed all the information she could get.

  Tobias looked away and said nothing until they rode past the sheriff’s office and were out of earshot—of anything she could see, anyway.

  “Regular wolves have an alpha pair,” he said quietly. “They’re the ones who mate, and the pack works together to raise those pups. Can’t really afford to have more than one litter of pups to feed. But the terra indigene don’t follow the traits and behavior of the predators whose forms they absorb, not right down the line. With the Wolfgard, the dominant pair will mate and the pack will raise those pups. But the following year, if the dominant enforcer in the pack has a mate, they’ll be the ones who breed and the pack will help raise their pups.

  “Virgil was the dominant enforcer in his pack and Kane was another enforcer. They had been out tracking something—prey or adversary, I don’t know which. But they weren’t with the rest of their pack when men in the Humans First and Last movement targeted the pack and killed all of them. Even the pups.” Tobias said nothing for a moment. “I have the feeling that Virgil isn’t proud of being able to shift to human form well enough to almost pass for human. But he was offered the job of being the dominant enforcer for this large mixed pack, and he accepted. That doesn’t mean he feels any tolerance for humans.”

  “Do you think he had a mate?” Jana asked.

  “I do. And I’m guessing some of the young who were killed were his.”

  Sobered by what she’d just learned, Jana rode back to the livery stable. When she realized she had just enough time to run back to the sheriff’s office and take Rusty out for a piddle break before going to the council meeting, she accepted Tobias’s offer to unsaddle Mel. She’d need to learn how to do that for herself, as well as take care of her horse, but she had enough to deal with right now.