by Anne Bishop
“No,” he growled. “What am I?”
“You’re nothing but a bully with fangs! A human would have to be desperate to work for someone like you!”
“You were willing to work for me—and do more.”
Her face heated, but she lifted her chin. “That was before I realized you Others mimic humans to get what you want, but you don’t know anything about what’s inside a human.”
Simon bared his teeth. “We know what’s inside a human. Tasty bits. Especially the heart and liver.”
Her knees weakened and her heart pounded. Her voice quavered, but she shifted to quiet and dignified when she said, “I have nothing more to say to you.”
She walked out of the store. When she reached the parking lot, she bolted to her car, braced a hand on the hood, and threw up.
Fear and whiskey aren’t a good mix, she thought as she drove to her apartment. She would take a hot shower, put on some comfy clothes, and indulge herself by watching her favorite movies for the rest of the day.
In a couple of days, she’d go back to Howling Good Reads and see if she had a shot at spending time with the new Liaison.
At least she accomplished one thing. If Meg Corbyn disappeared one night, for whatever reason, everyone would figure she was running away from Simon Wolfgard and no one would make much effort to find her.
* * *
Meg sniffled and sorted mail. She didn’t have enough money left to run again, so she had to hang on to this job long enough to get paid.
She glanced up when the door to the back room opened but didn’t say anything until Tess stood on the other side of the table.
“Mr. Wolfgard left his coffee.” She glanced at Tess, then focused on the mail. She remembered seeing green in Tess’s hair yesterday, but not the red. Was changing hair color some kind of hobby? And if it was, why was Simon snapping about her hair?
Tess pursed her lips as she studied the insulated, covered mug. “Actually, he brought that for you.”
Startled, Meg looked up.
Tess nodded. Then she said gently, “What happened, Meg? You’ve been crying, Simon’s riled up, and the Crows just told me that Asia bolted out of here like the whole pack was on her heels.”
“I was starting to sort the mail when she came in and introduced herself. She said Mr. Wolfgard had promised she could have this job, but he hired me instead. So she was curious about what I did besides sign for packages.”
“Did you tell her?”
“I said I sorted the mail for the Courtyard.”
“Did you tell her anything about who is in the Courtyard? Mention any names?”
Meg shook her head. “I guess it’s natural for people to be curious about this place, but offering to help me sort the mail seemed too forward. But some people are like that,” she added defensively. “Outgoing and chatty. Harry from Everywhere Delivery is chatty too, but Jester didn’t say talking to Harry was wrong, and I did tell Asia I needed to get back to work. She shouldn’t have sat on the counter or swung her legs over, but people do that when they want to chat. They sit on a piece of furniture and swing their legs.”
Now that she wasn’t as scared, Meg started to get mad. “Then Mr. Wolfgard showed up and threatened to bite Asia’s leg. So she ran off, and she’ll probably never come back.”
“Do you want her to come back?” Tess asked.
“I have questions,” Meg countered. “Things I can’t ask him.”
Tess raised her eyebrows. “He’s a Mr. Wolfgard and a him?” She sighed. “What kind of questions?”
“I didn’t see a place in the Market Square to wash clothes. Am I supposed to wash them in the bathroom sink or . . .” Going to a laundry beyond the Courtyard wasn’t something she wanted to consider.
Looking thoughtful in a scary kind of way, Tess picked up the insulated mug and handed it to Meg. “It won’t be hot, but it should still be warm. By the way, that mug isn’t something you should put in the wave-cooker.”
“Okay.” Meg took the mug, removed the lid, and obediently took a sip of coffee.
“As for doing laundry, we send out some things to a laundry service—like bedspreads, curtains, and . . . other things we don’t want to handle. There is also a coin-operated washing machine and dryer in the social center that employees are allowed to use. And each residential complex has a laundry room.”
“Are there instructions for using the coin-operated machines?”
Training image. A commercial laundry, its walls spattered with blood, and two people dead on the floor.
Meg shivered.
“Tell you what,” Tess said. “I’ll come by around four thirty. That’s long enough past the office’s usual closing for any delivery trucks that are still slowed down by the snow. We’ll go to the clothing store and pick up whatever you need to get you through a few more days. Then I’ll take you over to the laundry room at the Green Complex. Did anyone give you your Market Square card?”
“Jester dropped it off with my pass, but he didn’t explain what it did.”
“Typical,” Tess muttered. “Do just enough to stir things up. It goes like this. Everyone who works at any of our stores is paid in human currency and also receives credit that can be used at any store in the Courtyard. So while your pay may not seem like much in terms of the money you get, you’re also getting double that amount credited on your card each week. At the end of each month, you can stop in at our bank and receive a slip telling you what you have left on the card.”
Since she didn’t have to pay for her apartment, the wages were more generous than she’d thought.
“I don’t pretend to understand humans,” Tess said. “Giving both sides a chance to understand each other is the reason the Business Association decided to open up some of the stores to human customers. So I’ll talk to Simon about letting Asia Crane drop by to chat—as long as you and she understand that Simon will kill her if he catches her scent where it doesn’t belong. But if you have questions about being in the Courtyard, you can ask me. All right?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Tess smiled and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Then I’ll let you get back to work. The ponies will be coming soon. Don’t forget to come by on your lunch break. A Little Bite is providing the midday meal.”
“I’ll remember.”
She waited until Tess left, then put the Back in Five Minutes sign on the counter, locked the Private door, and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Nothing she could do about the puffy eyes, but dust could cause puffy eyes too, couldn’t it? And that corner that held the older mailbags and packages was dusty.
She unlocked the Private door and tucked the sign under the counter just in time for another delivery truck to drive up.
It looked like she’d get to try out the dust excuse and see if anyone actually believed it.
* * *
“SIMON!”
Hearing Tess’s voice, Simon vaulted over the checkout counter, an instinctive response to some knowledge embedded into the essence of his kind. When she strode from the back of the store, he knew why he wanted to give himself room to fight.
Her hair was completely red and coiling as she walked toward him.
Not black. Not the death color. But close enough.
Tess looked around. Her voice thundered through HGR. “Howling Good Reads is closed for the day. Anyone who is still in the store sixty seconds from now will never be seen again.”
Others and humans ran for the nearest door, whether it was HGR’s street door or the archway to A Little Bite.
“Tess?” Julia Hawkgard called from the archway. “Are we closing too?”
“Customers go. You and Merri Lee stay to close up.”
When Simon turned toward the street door to lock it and flip the sign to CLOSED, Tess snarled, “Not you, Wolfgard.”
He walked up to her. “I’m the leader of this Courtyard. You live here because of my invitation. Remember that.”
Threads of black appeared in
her red hair.
“If I have to make friends with a monkey in order to clean up your mess, you’re going to make some concessions,” she said.
“You don’t have to make friends with anyone.” He wasn’t sure she was capable of making friends. And despite the efforts he and Henry had made over the years, they still didn’t know what kind of terra indigene Tess was. But they knew she could kill. They did know that.
“Well, I have. For the sake of the Courtyard, I have made friends with our Human Liaison. Now it’s your turn.”
“What do you expect me to do? Asia Crane would have pushed where she didn’t belong, and she’ll keep pushing.”
Tess tipped her head. “Even now?”
“Even now. And Meg isn’t strong enough to hold her ground.” But she had been strong enough to run from something—or someone—and had enough spine to ask him for a job.
“You’ve turned Asia into forbidden fruit,” Tess said.
“What?”
“You’ve read enough human stories to know the lure of forbidden fruit.”
Yes, he had. And if Meg smelled like prey the way she was supposed to, he wouldn’t have responded in a way that was closer to protecting one of his own. Oh, he still would have forced Asia to back down, but he would have done it the same way he dealt with a customer in the store who wanted access to places that were private.
So it was Meg’s fault that he hadn’t behaved correctly.
“Simon?”
He heard the warning note in Tess’s voice. “I won’t forbid Asia from visiting with Meg, as long as she stays on her side of the counter.”
“And I’ll talk to my employees about helping me befriend the Liaison,” Tess said.
“And keep a sharper eye on Asia?”
“That too.”
Her hair was still red, but the black threads were gone and the coils were relaxing.
Since it wouldn’t be viewed as a retreat now, Simon took a step back and looked around. “I don’t feel like opening up again.”
“No one will come in today anyway,” Tess said. “But tomorrow the fear will have faded just enough.” She smiled. “I heard John mention you received a shipment of terror books.”
“Horror books.” Now he smiled. “Including a couple of boxes of terra indigene authors I don’t usually put out for human customers.”
“Maybe you should make a display of them and put them on sale tomorrow. I expect we’ll be busy.”
“We could have tripled sales if we’d eaten one of the customers before they’d all gotten out.”
Tess laughed. “Maybe we can do that next time.”
Simon sighed. “I need a day out of this skin.”
“And I need a few hours of solitude. See you tomorrow, Wolfgard.”
“Tomorrow.” He tipped his head toward A Little Bite. “What about your shop?”
“Julia and Merri Lee will clean up and close up. I’ll tell them to take something over to Meg before they leave.”
Choosing to be satisfied with that, Simon pulled out his keys and secured the dead bolt on HGR’s street door. He checked the office, and stopped long enough to call Vlad and tell him the store was closed and also mention doing a display of horror books by terra indigene authors. Then he turned off lights as he went through the building, put on his winter coat when he reached the stockroom, and left, locking the back door.
He didn’t want to be in this skin. He wanted to wear the body of a Wolf. But he had to stay in human form until he got Daphne’s son, Sam, outside for a few minutes of fresh air—which was all the pup could tolerate since the night Daphne was shot. Once he got the youngster settled inside again, he could shift and run alone for a few hours.
So he set off for the Green Complex, hoping a walk on a cold day would frost some of his anger and frustration—and wishing again that he could find something that would break the fear that kept Sam locked in a single form.
* * *
Meg had her coat on and the bowl of carrot chunks on the sorting table with the mail when the ponies neighed. She opened the sorting room’s outer door and smiled at their grumpy faces.
“Good morning,” she said, hoping they couldn’t recognize forced cheer. “I brought a treat for all of us, since we’re all working hard to get the mail to everyone in the Courtyard. So let me get the baskets filled, and then I’ll show you what I brought.”
Maybe they aren’t grumpy, Meg thought as she filled the slots in Thunder’s baskets. Maybe that’s just what pony faces look like.
When Thunder moved away, she wanted to remind him she had a treat for all of them, and felt disappointed that he was leaving without giving her a chance to make friends. But he simply circled around until he was behind Fog and would be first in line again.
She brought the bowl with her when she picked up the last stack of mail for the Green Complex—Fog’s destination today.
Apparently, ponies did have more than one expression. When she offered two carrot chunks to Thunder, he took the first warily and the second eagerly. Bobbing his head, he trotted off while the others jostled one another to reach the bowl.
“Wait your turn,” Meg said. “I brought plenty for all of us.”
They settled down and waited for their treats, looking as interested in her as they were in the carrots. When Fog trotted off, Meg closed the door and felt that something had finally gone right that day. Setting the bowl on the table so that she could munch on the rest of the carrots while she worked, she went into the bathroom to wash carrot flecks and pony spit off her hands—and put a clean bandage on her finger.
* * *
As Kowalski drove down Crowfield Avenue, Monty noticed the Closed sign on Howling Good Reads’ door and said, “Pull over.” He studied the sign, then looked at the Closed sign at A Little Bite. “Is it usual for them to be closed when most other places are open?”
“No, it’s not,” Kowalski replied. “The Others can be whimsical about business hours, and sometimes the stores are closed to humans so that the terra indigene can shop without being around us. But when that happens, there is usually a Residents Only sign tacked on the door, the lights will be on, and you’ll see people in the stores.”
“So whatever caused this can’t be good.”
“No, sir, it can’t be good.”
Monty opened his door. “I see some movement in A Little Bite. Wait here.”
Getting out of the car, he went up to the door and knocked loudly enough to ensure that the two women in the shop wouldn’t ignore him.
The dark-haired one hurried to the door and pointed to the sign. He responded by holding up his ID.
She flipped the lock, pulled the door open, and said, “We’re closed.”
“Is there something I can do to help?” Monty asked, his voice quiet and courteous.
She shook her head and started to close the door when the other woman called out, “Let him in, Merri Lee. He can take some of this coffee and food. He is police. Tess said we should be polite to him.”
Merri Lee pulled the door open enough for him to slip inside, then locked it again.
“Sorry,” she said, keeping her voice low. “There was an . . . upset . . . earlier, and it’s better for humans not to be around here today.”
“What about you?” he asked.
“Julia is a Hawkgard, so I’m okay.” She raised her voice to a normal volume and addressed the woman pouring coffee into two large travel mugs. “I’m supposed to bring some of the food to Meg.”
“Already have everything set aside for her,” Julia replied. “For you too. And me. You have a carry sack?”
It took Monty a moment to realize the question was aimed at him. “No, ma’am, I don’t.”
“We usually sell them, but you are the police, so I’ll give you one,” Julia said.
The heavy fabric sack had two sleeves with stiff bottoms that were sized for the insulated travel mugs, plus a zippered compartment that could hold sandwiches or containers of food. There wa
s even a section to hold cutlery.
He watched her fill up the sack with sandwiches and pastries. It looked like they were cleaning out anything that was intended for sale that day and wouldn’t be held over for tomorrow.
“What happened here?” he asked.
“Jenni said Simon upset the Meg and made her cry,” Julia replied. “Then that Asia came into Howling Good Reads and yelled at Simon, and then Tess and Simon yelled at each other over what happened with the Meg. That’s when they closed the stores. It’s not safe when Simon and Tess yell at each other.”
“Is Ms. Corbyn all right?”
Merri Lee nodded. “Just upset.” She watched Julia zip up the sack and added, “You should go now.”
Concern mixed with a warning. Whatever had happened today had happened before. The humans—and the Others—knew how to ride it out.
And hoped they lived through it?
Nothing he could do, so he accepted the carry sack and food with warm thanks, and slipped one of his cards to Merri Lee when she let him out of the shop.
“Lieutenant?” Kowalski asked when Monty got in the car.
“Pull into their parking lot. I’d like a few minutes to think while we have something to eat.”
Once Kowalski parked the car, Monty handed out coffee and food.
Merri Lee, being human, might not say anything about him being in the shop, but Julia Hawkgard would report his presence to somebody. So he couldn’t stop by and talk to Meg Corbyn and reassure himself that she was just upset, but there were other ways of checking on things that weren’t officially his concern.
Telling himself to be satisfied with that, he enjoyed the unexpected meal.
* * *
Someone knocked loudly on the office’s back door, then knocked again before Meg could reach it.
