Punish (Feral Justice Book 1)

by Vella Munn

  One month behind bars. Probation. Restitution. Wouldn’t it be worse, far worse for Joe because two human beings had been killed?

  “What about the dogs?”

  “They were put down.”

  “Put down!” She couldn’t get a handle on her anger. “What does that mean, shot between the eyes? Their throats sliced open?”

  Strong hands gripped her arms. She stared at them. “It’s not that and you know it. Look, Rachelle, if you were hoping I’d tell you everything, I can’t. I only know what’s happening on the animal control end. I think you’re right. The two of you should talk to a lawyer. If it turns out that his dogs were responsible, the media attention alone will be hell to deal with.”

  “I don’t want him to have to go through that.”

  Nate released her but didn’t step away. “There wouldn’t be anything for him to go through if he’d kept those dogs contained. Not having them neutered or spayed—the public’s going to do a lot of blaming because of that alone.”

  Wishing she were back in the cow pasture watching the calf, she scooted to the far end of the table and stood. Nate stayed where he was.

  “There’s one thing he can do that’ll make things easier for him,” Nate said.

  “What?”

  “Tell Joe to kennel the dogs and call law enforcement. Maybe they can stay with him until—unless—”

  She shook her head. “I think, because of what he went through, he can’t handle the idea of them being locked up.”

  Nate came toward her, making her wonder if he was trying to connect with her. “This situation has taken on a life of its own. Joe can’t call the shots any more than you or I can. It’ll go even harder for him if he refuses to cooperate.”

  “What if Smoke, Gun and Stone run away?”

  He glared. “Is that a possibility?”

  “I’m just asking.”

  His expression said he didn’t believe her. Before she could come up with a response, the crack of bat against ball followed by masculine cheers pulled her out of the quicksand closing around her. A big-bellied man, fists pumping, lumbered toward first base.

  She waited until the ball was back in the pitcher’s hands before looking at Nate. If he viewed her as an adversary, she didn’t see it in his expression. “I need to tell you something.”

  “What?”

  Do it. Too late to back down. “I saw one of the grays the other day. I, ah, I haven’t told Joe.”

  “Where?”

  “Near the high school. It happened not long after you, Joe and I talked. It was in a pasture. There was this calf that had gotten separated from the rest of the herd. When I saw the dog—I was afraid it was going to kill the calf, but it didn’t.” Have I gone too far? Too late. “It came to within about twenty feet of me.”

  “Why was it there?”

  “I don’t know.” She barely managed to stop another shiver. “That’s been bothering—”

  “Do you want to say it or should I?”

  Her mouth dried. She couldn’t maintain eye contact.

  “This is going to sound crazy,” he muttered, “but it has to be said. Maybe it was following you.”

  “Why would it?”

  “Maybe because the dogs sense you’re important to Joe.”

  “They’re just dogs.”

  “Are they?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Nothing.” He pressed the heels of his hands against his thighs. “Tell me everything that happened?”

  She spelled out not just the connection between the calf and gray, but how it had made her feel. That was easier than revisiting the question of what the dog was doing near where she worked.

  “The dogs like to explore. Maybe—I’m talking off the top of my head—maybe the one I saw had been drawn in by cooking smells from the cafeteria. Maybe either the nearby cattle or the deer caught its attention and—”

  “Deer?”

  “I understand there’s a herd in the area. They graze alongside the cattle, drink from the same troughs and use the same salt licks, snag some of the hay the farmer puts out. The day I had my interview I spotted a couple of fawns and their mother. They were adorable.”

  Nate shifted his weight. The move brought him too close to her but she forced herself not to move. “Maybe the gray was hunting fawns.”

  “No! What an awful thing to say.”

  “Not if it’s the truth.”

  She stared pointedly at her watch. “I didn’t come here to argue with you. I just wanted—it was crazy of me to think you’d tell me anything about the investigation. Go do your job. I’ll take care of Joe.”

  “It isn’t that simple. Maybe one of the grays being around the school was a coincidence. Maybe it had nothing to do with you. But if—if there’s some kind of reasoning going on—you need to be careful.”

  “I’m not afraid—”

  He invaded her personal space. “Maybe you should be. Call me if it happens again, got it?”

  Chapter Nine

  Rachelle forced herself not to call Joe until she’d reached the school parking lot. As she waited for his hello, she scanned the nearby pasture. Nate was wrong. If Joe’s dogs were hunters, the one she’d seen the other day would have taken down the calf. Fawns were smaller, but they were also much faster and full of survival instinct. Killing a dumb, defenseless calf would have been a simple matter for the big, strong dog.

  Damn Nate Chee. Now, replaying their conversation, she regretted telling him what she had. Never again would she make the mistake of thinking he might be an ally.

  “I’ve been waiting,” Joe said. “I wish I’d known it would take you so long to contact him.”

  “I’m sorry. Ah, look, I talked to some people at work. They gave me the names of two attorneys. Do you want to get in touch with them or should I? I think—we need to be prepared, in case.” In case what?

  When Joe didn’t immediately respond, she wondered whether he was debating telling her to back off or trying to decide whether to involve her any more than she already was. He’d adopted the dogs and given them free rein of the county, and was ultimately responsible for their actions, but he was the only father figure she’d ever had. That ran deep.

  “I’ve never talked to a lawyer,” he said. “After we were freed, the military assigned support staff to each POW. They took care of—crazy, isn’t it? All those years of living my life and suddenly I might need a mouthpiece. What should I tell him or her? That the grays—Rach, I’m not going to admit anything until there’s indisputable proof.”

  So you admit there’s a possibility. “Look, let me make the first calls. Then we’ll decide where to go from there.”

  “I don’t want you—”

  “Joe, please let me be on your side.”

  Hearing Joe sigh, she wondered if he knew how much he’d revealed with the sound. No wonder he felt overwhelmed. She did too. Not waiting for him to ask about the meeting with Nate, she jumped into an explanation of what they’d talked about. She even told Joe about seeing one of the grays and passing that on to Nate.

  “Now I’m thinking I made a mistake by talking to him,” she admitted. “He isn’t your friend and he isn’t on our side.” She forced a laugh. “It’s you and me against the world.”

  “No it isn’t.”

  If need be, I’ll make it. “I wish we knew more about their background,” she said. “You never saw their mother?”

  “No. I figured she was dead. That’s the only explanation I have for them being alone.”

  “And you talked to—”

  “Have you ever been on Hopi reservation land? There’s miles and miles of nothing. I spent hours looking for someone. Finally I came across this old man on horseback, but he didn’t speak English.”

  Either that or the man had decided to have nothing to do with the stranger who’d wandered onto sacred Hopi land.

  “I knew the pups would die if I didn’t feed them, so I drove to Tuba City and got some milk a
nd tried to ask questions. The Natives—they acted like I wasn’t there, so I brought them home with me.”

  Maybe Joe was right and the dogs’ background was immaterial. Besides, even if she learned something, what difference would that make?

  “I’ve got to get to my classroom.” Despite her comment, she kept her attention on where she’d seen the calf and gray. Today nothing moved. “We’ll talk tonight. And keep the dogs with you.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “I mean it.” She couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice.

  “This isn’t your—”

  “Let’s not go through that again.” Years ago this man had shown her how to find lizards and to listen for crickets and frogs. They’d hiked on moonlit nights and read the same books—her choice. When her breasts had started to develop he’d sat her down and told her boys would look at her differently now. Her mother had tried to stop the conversation but Joe had insisted she needed to understand that this was her body. If she didn’t want to be touched in a certain way or in certain places, she had every right and responsibility to tell that person to stop. Now.

  “Joe.” She wiped at a tear. “I’m on board whether you want me to be or not.”

  He sighed again. “You always were stubborn but—hon, sheriff’s deputies were just here. They had a search warrant.”

  She shivered. “No! All right, we figured they’d get one. What happened?”

  “The dogs are here. The cops took pictures of them and samples of dog shit.”

  “For DNA purposes.” And the truth. “I wonder how long it’ll take to get the results.”

  “I asked, but they wouldn’t tell me. Rach, I could take the dogs somewhere. Make sure they’re safe.”

  The desperation in his voice tore at her. It took all her strength not to give in to it. “Don’t. Please. You’ll get into all kinds of trouble. Maybe jailed.” She waited a moment to let that sink in. “What if they did it? We don’t dare let that happen again.”

  Again.

  * * * *

  Smoke woke again as night gave way. She left her brothers sprawled next to Food-man and slipped out of the open window. Smells teased and taunted her senses, but she resisted the urge to follow the rabbit scent near the kennel. Instinct begged her to run the rabbit down, but she’d long fought what genetics had imparted on her. She knew how to push it aside.

  Another demand, this one coming from a place she didn’t understand and that sometimes frightened her, quickened her pace. She headed cross-country, careful to keep her distance from humans and their possessions. Gun had recently taken this route and had told her what he’d seen and smelled. Now it was her turn to explore as much as she could. Once the miles were behind her, she’d surrender to the Force, become its willing servant.

  Running felt good. Freeing. Life-affirming. This early in the morning, fall’s touch was easy to find. She absorbed it, remembering her first days of life when Food-man had placed her brothers and her on a blanket in the back of his vehicle. At first all that mattered was that she was no longer huddled near a dirt road. Food-man was gentle. He hummed and cuddled her, held her against his heart so she could hear it beat.

  He’d stopped several times, and during one of them he’d returned with warm milk, which he’d helped her drink by lifting her head and letting the milk dribble down her throat. As her belly had filled, she’d nuzzled the human who’d saved her life, and had fallen in love with him.

  But then he’d started driving again. With each mile he’d taken her and her brothers farther from the land of her birth. The Force had wrapped itself around her small heart, and she’d cried.

  Now, going on two years later, the Force’s hold was even stronger. It demanded more.

  After covering some three miles, she reached where she’d never been. The nearby buildings made her uneasy until she’d determined that no one was around. Based on her experience at other places, she believed it would soon fill with noisy humans, and the stench of vehicles would sour her sense of smell. Fortunately, her goal was the nearby land.

  Something Gun had told her surfaced. He’d been trying to determine what made him uneasy about this area, when a woman had confronted him. To his shock he’d realized she wasn’t a stranger. She was the woman who’d recently come to see Food-man at his place. Food-man had feelings for her and she for him.

  Not now. Think about her later.

  Smoke nodded to indicate she’d received the Force’s message. She skirted the buildings and paved-over earth as she made her way to the pasture. It was exactly as Gun had described, a mix of open land and hills covered in trees with cattle concentrated mostly in the open areas.

  Nose down, she followed one scent after another. She occasionally came across trails and deer scat as well as the larger piles cattle left. Based on the mingled smells, she concluded deer and cattle coexisted. What had Gun said, something about the bad smells being concentrated on the hills? Her unease growing, she forced herself to head in that direction. Even before she reached the trees, she caught the scent of something that made her hackles rise.

  Blood. Large amounts of it here, there and over there.

  And so many short, bristly brown hairs intermixed with the blood that she had no doubt more than one deer had died there. Residue of a metallic smell warred with what was left of pain and fear. The stench of human beings was so faint it took her several moments to separate it from the smell of death.

  Humans had mistreated the little dogs she and her brothers had rescued. One man had sacrificed an innocent dog trying to save himself—and had paid for it.

  Rage gripped her, took her back to the earlier attack. Nostrils flaring and mouth open, she began tearing at the bloodstained earth. For several minutes, only releasing her fury mattered, but then her muscles started burning, and she made herself stop. That was when she spotted something deep in the shadows.

  Every nerve alert, she slowly approached. A deer carcass lay half-buried by leaves. Maggots swarmed over a bloodied shoulder. Whatever had struck the deer there had done so with enough force to shatter bones and leave a large hole.

  Why had the deer been slaughtered only to be left to rot?

  Another wave of rage seized Smoke. This time she threw back her head and howled.

  * * * *

  The lumbering yellow metal things had finished spitting out humans by the time Smoke left the pasture. She’d vomited near the dead deer and marked several blood pools with urine. A deep restlessness, much like what she’d experienced when she’d first come across the caged dogs, filled her, and she knew she had to share today with her brothers.

  Instead of returning to them, however, she heeded another demand from the Force. This one took her north of where she’d been. After trotting for a while, her hackles rose and she started to pant from excitement and nervousness. She’d compared herself to enough dogs to know she was larger and stronger than most. The smell coming to her on the now-heated breeze confused her.

  Dog, but something else as well. Two separate living things woven together.

  Dropping to her belly, she slowly approached. The creature had become aware of her presence, as witnessed by a low chuffing sound. Smoke dug into the ground, and she didn’t try to keep her fangs covered.

  The chuffing changed to a howl. At first it took all her courage not to flee, but then curiosity won over self-preservation. Besides, the Force had brought her here. She lay motionless and pulled in as much air as her lungs could hold. The dog scent was stronger now but so was the other thing—the wild.

  Wild?

  Smoke stood and started walking, careful to make as little sound as possible. She trotted up a rise and positioned herself behind a thick bush. Then, hackles up again, she peered around the bush.

  Metal fencing. A large enclosure meant for both keeping things in and out. A house left of the enclosure and the smell of Strange-man coming from it. The man smell wasn’t particularly strong, which told her that whoever lived there wasn�
��t at home.

  Movement behind the tall fence claimed her attention. Lowering her lids in defense against the sun, she watched. Learned.

  Four doglike creatures were trapped inside the spacious cage. Judging by their demeanor, they were all aware of her presence, but only one hugged the fencing, pacing back and forth. She wondered if he was the howler. Maybe not, because now he was silent. Alert and restless in his skin. Watching her as keenly as she watched him.

  The longer she studied the wild, the more he intrigued her. His scent said he was male. She wasn’t in heat but even so she wished he’d mount her.

  He might kill her. She didn’t dare forget that.

  The wild stopped pacing and rose onto his hind legs so he could cling to the fencing. Something changed about him. He became even more untamed. More filled with hatred for where he was forced to live. His bright yellow eyes dug into her, and she realized he was as curious as she was. Except for touches of white on his ears and paws, he was deep black.

  He couldn’t get to her. The powerful metal held him prisoner.

  She whined. Saliva dripped. Her tail lowered and found a seldom-used home between her hind legs. Despite her nervousness, she approached. The others stopped moving and positioned themselves on either side of the young male.

  The Force commanded her to study the black wild, but she had trouble concentrating on the order. She felt sorry for the trapped creature, yet was afraid of what might happen if he were free. If he had the chance to escape, he’d leave the others behind.

  Then what? He’d be alone. Not wholly a dog and not enough of what else ran through his veins.

  Like her and her brothers.

  Her brothers?

  They were waiting for her to return. Even if staying with Food-man put their lives in danger, which she sensed could happen, they wouldn’t leave on their own. She’d become the leader because the Force spoke to her more than it did to them.

  The Force wanted all of them. Needed them.

  Same as it had the other day when fury and revenge had ruled them as they’d killed.