Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,111

cleared-out houses. He hadn’t found something he called a Wolf bed, but he had found a folding cot. After moving Kane’s desk to one side, there had been enough room to put the mattress on the floor. John had added a couple of blankets as a mattress cover and thought it would do as a comfortable place for Kane to sleep when he was in the office.

Kane obviously thought it would do since he gave the mattress and blankets a quick sniff before lowering himself onto them with a groan.

The wolverine wasn’t paying attention to Kane. She was staring at Rusty—or the remains of something in Rusty’s crate. Then she narrowed her eyes at Virgil. “Who gave Rusty one of the treats?”

“Cowboy Bob,” he replied blandly.

She looked at the toy leaning against the side of her desk, then turned back to Virgil, baring her teeth. “Cowboy Bob? Really? Is that what we’re doing now? Blaming the stuffie?”

She looked bigger than she had a minute ago, but he met her eyes and said, “Yeah.”

The sound she made reminded him of a whistling teakettle on the boil.

She brushed past him, giving him an elbow in the ribs before she grabbed one of the bowls near Kane, who flinched and then whined when he realized his injured leg wouldn’t allow him to get out of the way. When the wolverine headed for the back rooms and started banging around in the kitchen doing who knew what, Virgil blew out a breath.

He was starting to understand what Tobias Walker meant by her emotions being big. Fortunately for the Wolves, there was a reason to shove her out the door and let someone else deal with her for a while.

She returned to the front room and put the bowl of water where Kane could reach it easily.

“Tolya Sanguinati needs you to talk to the females from the Dixon ranch,” Virgil said. “He’s waiting for you at the saloon.”

“Why there?” She didn’t sound quite on the boil anymore but still close enough.

“Scythe is protecting them while Stewart Dixon is protecting the wounded male, who is at the human bodywalker’s office.”

The wolverine nodded. Virgil stepped aside to let her pass. But she stopped when she was abreast of him and stared at the door.

“You tell Cowboy Bob that if he gives Rusty another unauthorized treat today, I will pull all the stuffing out of his arms.” She walked out of the office.

Kane whined.

He didn’t answer, but he heard Kane sigh—and felt the same relief—when he turned the lock on the door.

* * *

* * *

Tolya?> Virgil called.

Tolya frowned.

That sounded ominous. But no matter what Virgil would like to believe, Deputy Jana was just a human female.

With a gun.

Seeing her walk into the saloon, Tolya realized he’d been too busy to have much contact with all the new arrivals, including their female deputy, and had been assuming she was some combination of Barbara Ellen bounce and Jesse Walker grit—they being the two human females he’d had sufficient contact with to gain some understanding of that gender in the human species. Now he had a better appreciation of why Virgil referred to Jana as a wolverine.

“Mr. Sanguinati,” Jana said. “You wanted to see me?”

“There was an attack on a ranch early this morning.”

“I saw your e-mails. Ranches north of the town are part of our jurisdiction?”

“There is a Wolfgard pack who keeps watch in that area, but I don’t think there are any human police, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jana nodded before looking at the four women sitting at the table farthest from the door. “If the daughter was attacked, I’ll need to ask some personal questions. They may want to do that somewhere more private.”

“They have use of the female dressing rooms upstairs, or we can use Scythe’s office,” Tolya said.

“You’re sitting in?”

“Yes. I, too, have some questions.”

“Does Scythe have a pad of paper and a pen? I left the office without them.”

Tolya silently made the request. Scythe walked out of her office a moment later and held out the items.

“Thanks.” Jana walked over to the table. A moment later, Candice Caravelli and Lila Gold said their good-byes and walked up to the bar.

“There’s been no trouble here,” Scythe said.

“Good.” The word acknowledged both messages. Tolya looked at Candice and Lila. “Anything I should know?”

“Melanie is really scared,” Lila said.

Tolya wasn’t sure if Candice Caravelli’s