Marked In Flesh (The Others #4) - Anne Bishop Page 0,119

of the duplex as a temporary residence or even rent it if he wanted to stay instead of squeezing into the efficiency apartment in the Courtyard or hanging on to the one-bedroom apartment he’d rented when he’d first come to Lakeside. While the offer was generous—and Monty had no doubt Burke would respect his privacy—he couldn’t count on regular work hours, especially now, and he would end up leaving Lizzy with Eve Denby or Ruth Stuart anyway. Easier for everyone to have Lizzy staying across the street from her caretakers and playmates.

And despite yesterday’s upset, the Courtyard was still the most protected place in the city.

So many things he’d like to discuss with Burke—and nothing either of them could say with his seven-year-old daughter and Grr Bear sitting in the backseat.

“Daddy?”

Monty looked over his shoulder. “Yes, Lizzy girl?”

“We really can’t watch TV or movies today?”

“Mother Court passed sentence. No movies or TV for a whole week.”

“But Grr Bear and I didn’t do anything bad.”

“You were accomplices.” He saw Burke’s lips twitch.

Lizzy conferred with Grr Bear. Boo Bear, Lizzy’s previous stuffed toy, had been her constant companion. Grr Bear, whose wooden head and paws had been carved by Henry Beargard, seemed more like a conscience that was less inclined to go along with “cute naughtiness,” let alone outright wrongdoing.

But Grr Bear couldn’t discourage all misbehavior, especially when it was started by someone else.

Monty suspected that, from now on, Nathan Wolfgard’s teeth would prove to be a more effective deterrent in that regard.

Lizzy tried again. “Grr Bear thinks maybe not a whole week if we behave?”

“Does Mother Court show leniency?” Burke asked so quietly the question wouldn’t carry to the backseat.

“Not in my experience,” Monty muttered. Until yesterday when he saw her in angry-mom mode, he’d thought of Eve Denby as a practical, energetic, amiable woman. Last night he considered what would happen to any appeal for mercy once Eve teamed up with his mother, Twyla.

Gods. If he were still a child, he’d give Pete Denby half his allowance each month to be the attorney on retainer.

Monty turned his face away to hide his smile.

“Daddy?”

“Don’t know, Lizzy. I’ve never stood before that particular judge before.”

“Oh.”

The discussion lightened the mood in the car until Monty dropped Lizzy at the Denbys’ apartment, and he and Burke drove to the Chestnut Street station.

“Didn’t think about it last night,” Burke said. “Was there anything in the kitchen for breakfast?”

“Not really, but Eve had said Lizzy could have breakfast with Sarah and Robert.” And he would welcome a large cup of coffee—even what was served in the station’s cafeteria. “Have you heard anything through your grapevine?”

Burke didn’t speak for a long minute. “Some trouble around Market Street—again. Trouble around what is left of Lakeside University as well as the technical college. Nothing that wasn’t expected here. Governor Hannigan locking down the region as fast as he did stalled any attempts to burn Intuit villages or any other settlements within the wild country. Or course, his actions might have saved the Northeast from at least some of what’s coming, but it pretty much destroyed his chance for being reelected if the residents of Toland have anything to say about it. And when it comes to elections, they usually have quite a bit to say.”

“What about other regions?”

“News bulletins on the radio this morning talked about human triumphs over the terra indigene.”

“What does that mean?”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

• • •

Vlad stared at the images on the TV screen.

There hadn’t been enough time to warn all the Wolfgard, and not all the Wolfgard keeping watch over human places had human allies.

When had the clever monkeys stopped being clever? Did they think only humans were seeing these pictures of them dancing around piles of dead Wolves? Did they think only humans noticed the bodies of the puppies that had been killed along with the adults? Of course, humans thought nothing of killing their own young, so why should they hesitate to kill other species?

So many places. So much slaughter. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Wolves had been killed throughout the Northwest and Midwest regions. How many Wolfgard were left in those parts of Thaisia?

Then he saw it, the picture that was different from the rest.

Joe’s face looks like that.

“Meg.” Vlad shut off the TV, rushed out of his apartment, and raced up the stairs to Meg’s place, just two doors away from his home in the Green Complex. Knocking softly, he tried her front door, hoping it was open, hoping .