Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,112

silence meant she had nothing to say or nothing she wanted to say to him and Scythe. He would consider that later.

He joined Jana and introduced her to Melanie and Judith Dixon.

“What happened this morning?” Jana asked.

“Ranch work starts early, as soon as we can,” Melanie began. “Mom was out collecting eggs from our chickens, and Dad was in the stable taking care of the stallion while my brothers and the hands were tending the other horses and putting them out in the paddocks. The house’s front and back doors were open to let in the cooler air. We lock up at night, but it’s always been safe to leave the doors open during the day when someone’s around.”

“That makes sense,” Jana said.

Tolya listened and struggled to comprehend the undercurrents. He’d had more interaction with humans in the past few weeks than he’d had in the whole of his life, and he wasn’t always sure if he was reading humans correctly. It sounded like Jana was confirming that the females had done nothing wrong by leaving the doors open. Why would that have been wrong?

“I was setting out food to make for breakfast when I heard a couple of cars drive up.” Melanie frowned. “Didn’t see any headlights, but I didn’t think about that. Could have been the hands coming in from the cabins.”

“Cabins?” Tolya asked.

“We have two cabins on the land we …” Judith stopped. “On the land we lease for grazing. Men will stay there for a couple of days at a time to check on the cattle, as well as ride out and make note of the available grass and water. Sometimes, if we get a fast-moving storm or a heavy snowfall, it’s a place to shelter. My husband told the Wolfgard that the terra indigene are welcome to use the cabins too. We keep them supplied with cans of food and jugs of fresh water, as well as seasoned wood for the stove.”

Tolya nodded. He knew the Wolfgard had no quarrel with Stewart Dixon and his family. He also knew the Wolves and Dixon had hunted together to bring down meat for both their families.

“I heard the back door open,” Melanie continued. “I started to turn away from the counter, figuring it was one of my brothers coming in for coffee. But it was a stranger. He shoved me up against the counter, shoved me hard, and put a knife against my face. He said he could tell I needed a good humping, and if I stayed quiet no one would get hurt. He …” Her hand shook as she picked up a glass of water that was on the table and took a sip. “He grabbed my breast, then started pulling at my jeans. But he wasn’t getting them open fast enough, because the next thing, he pushed me down on my knees and started to pull down his zipper. That’s when another man came into the kitchen, just for a moment. He said, ‘By all the dark gods, we don’t have time for that. Someone sounded an alarm.’ He ran off, and I heard the screen door in the front of the house squeak and thought Dad was going to be mad because he asked my brothers to oil the hinges last week.”

“Who sounded the alarm?” Jana asked.

“The Owlgard,” Judith said. “A pair of them moved into the hay barn after the troubles. Stewart installed an Owl door for them and built a kind of platform under it so that, once the chicks hatched, the adults could be outside if they wanted and still be close to the nest.” Taking the glass from her daughter, she sipped some water before handing back the glass. “Anyway, all of a sudden one of the adults was swooping around the chicken coop, which they’ve never done before, and I guess one of them went to the stables and shifted to tell the men there were strangers in the house. Stewart and the boys came running, but Manuel had been heading for the house anyway because he heard a car driving away fast and felt uneasy enough that he wanted to check on Melanie.”

“Manuel rushed in, shouting when he saw the man and realized …” Melanie gagged a little before regaining control. “The man rammed the knife into Manuel before running out the door. I heard Dad shouting and he shot at the car, but the men got away.”

“The car has a broken taillight now and a broken