Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,141

dark but easily covered. The bruises on her neck … She hadn’t had hickeys like that since her schooldays, when the mark was confirmation of being desirable. At least, that was the myth that swirled around in the sticky mess of adolescent hormones. Being desirable enough to be marked, claimed. And becoming more desirable because of that marking, that claiming. Other young men noticed girls who wore that particular badge—or hid it beneath a scarf.

Other men.

As she showered and dressed, Jesse considered how much Tolya might understand about human sex. Not the physical act. He knew plenty about that. Gods, did he ever know about that. But the emotions? Was the bruise just a result of his feeding or had he deliberately made it to serve as bait for the man who had hurt her feelings last night? Would such a man, seeing that bruise, approach her today and renew his offer of a pity fuck? And if he did, who would be watching?

Not Tolya. He was too intelligent for that, too subtle. But there were so many eyes always watching the humans. Crows, Hawks, Ravens. Was the puff of air just air, or the Elemental Air coming to stand beside you? Didn’t matter who watched or who listened. She wasn’t sure if the idiot man from last night was someone waiting for an interview that would decide if he would become a resident of Bennett or if he was passing through. She just hoped she didn’t see him again and he was on the first train out of town.

She dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, willing to let people see the bruises rather than suffer from heatstroke by being overdressed. But she left her hair loose around her neck—and she did tie a bandanna around her throat. Since Tobias was on the ranch, she didn’t care about shocking any of the men and, if she was honest, was a little bit curious about how someone like Virgil Wolfgard would respond to seeing that kind of bruise. But the girls—Barb Debany and Lila Gold and even Jana Paniccia? No, she didn’t want to shock them by advertising that she’d had hot, steamy sex last night.

Looking out the window, she spotted Tolya talking to a female. Not a woman in the strictest sense, and not a shifter who couldn’t quite get the human form right. Nothing wrong with that one’s form, except you would never mistake it for a human.

“Elemental,” Jesse whispered.

The female looked up, as if she could hear even a whisper once sound met air.

Jesse grabbed her room key and hurried down to the street.

The female was gone by the time she got outside, but Tolya was there, waiting for her.

“You look pale, Jesse. You haven’t eaten yet.” Despite being said courteously, the words sounded like a scold—but a scold that held affection.

How much should she read into him calling her Jesse instead of Jesse Walker? She had a feeling that last night had changed something between them, that courteous formality had yielded to something warmer.

“No, not yet. But I will. Hearty breakfast, with meat.” She studied him. “Any news about Meg Corbyn?”

“Let’s go to the sheriff’s office. Virgil, Kane, and Jana should hear this too.”

They walked across the square in companionable silence.

Virgil stared at her neck for a long moment, then grunted, his sole opinion. Kane didn’t seem to notice, but he was still in Wolf form so that might account for the lack of interest. Jana glanced at her, then Tolya—and then she blushed.

Jesse figured it wasn’t the hickey that caused the blush; it was seeing it on Tobias’s mother that threw Jana off stride.

“No need to tell him,” Jesse said with a smile.

“I’m so with you on that,” Jana replied.

“Human females,” Virgil growled. “Even when you speak ordinary words, you speak a different language.” Then his eyes met Tolya’s, and a kind of electric tension filled the office.

“Air heard from her kin in the east. Meg Corbyn is alive, but there is … concern … about her mind,” Tolya said.

Jana sucked in a breath. Jesse felt her heart pound.

“The cuts that Cyrus human made were not done properly,” he continued. “As a result, Meg Corbyn is seeing too much.”

“Will she recover?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t know,” Tolya replied. “That is all the information about her that traveled last night. But Simon, Vlad, and the rest of the Courtyard will help her.”

“What else?” Virgil asked.

Tolya looked at the Wolf. “We have all received instructions from Namid’s teeth