Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,142
and claws. We are to inform the Elders if a Cyrus human comes to Bennett—or Prairie Gold.”
Virgil nodded. Jana looked uneasy.
Jesse felt chilled. “What’s a Cyrus human?”
“Someone like Cyrus James Montgomery, the man who abducted Meg Corbyn,” Jana replied, eyeing Virgil and Tolya.
She knew the name. After all, she was the one who relayed the message from the communications cabin. No, she’d been asking for a definition.
Meeting Jesse’s eyes, Jana nodded to acknowledge that she would do whatever she could to get the term defined.
“Jesse, I will escort you back to the hotel, and you will eat,” Tolya said.
Since she was hungry and feeling a little weak, Jesse didn’t argue. Besides, she had a feeling that Jana would have an easier time getting some agreement on the term if other humans weren’t around when she talked to Virgil.
“How much blood did you consume?” she asked quietly as she and Tolya retraced their steps across the square.
“Enough that you should be sensible and eat—but not so much that what was taken would put you in any danger.”
“It never occurred to me that I might be in danger. Not with you.”
He stopped walking and stared at her, and that made her smile. No, she wasn’t forgetting that he was a predator who could easily snap her neck, or tear out her throat—or drain her of blood. But she trusted him.
“This isn’t like the stories,” she said. “We’re not in love or fated to be together forever.”
“That is true.” He sounded wary.
“But I did enjoy being with you last night and would be happy to spend time that way again. Humans sometimes refer to such arrangements as ‘friends with benefits.’ ”
“I have heard this phrase.” He hesitated. “That kind of arrangement would be … sufficient … for you?”
She thought about the man in the Bird Cage Saloon—and she thought about the pleasure she’d felt with Tolya.
“I’m old enough not to let hormones overwhelm sense. And I’m clear-sighted enough to understand what this is—and what it isn’t. So, yes, Tolya. This arrangement would be sufficient. If that changes, I will tell you.”
“Very well, Jesse.” He looked baffled but he smiled. “Go eat.”
Relieved that she wasn’t the one who had to define actions that amounted to a specific kind of crime, she walked into the hotel and ate a very hearty breakfast.
* * *
* * *
Darn it, Jana thought when Virgil turned on her, effectively pinning her against her own desk. I have to remember how easily he can do that, even in human form.
“Would you recognize a Cyrus human if one came to Bennett?” Virgil asked.
“It’s not that simple.”
“How is it not simple?” He leaned closer and bared his teeth, revealing the too-long-to-be-human fangs. “He stole the sweet blood from the Lakeside Courtyard and hurt her. He stole her from the Wolves.”
And that, more than all the rest, was what Virgil considered unforgivable.
She had to create a tightrope of words and get to the other side of this chasm that had opened beneath her. If she didn’t get his agreement on the specifics of what made someone a Cyrus human, how many men would die just for being an asshat after one drink too many?
“I would be reluctant to accuse anyone of being such a person without some proof …”
“You would wait until he harms someone?” Virgil’s eyes flickered with the red of anger. “Our Maddie is still a pup. She would not survive what was done to Meg Corbyn. But you would wait until she is bleeding?”
“That’s not what I said.” She put enough snap into her voice to have his eyes narrowing. “You can’t accuse someone of a crime before the crime is committed.”
He snorted.
“Can we agree that a Cyrus human is a man, or a woman, who abducts another individual, who takes someone against his or her will?”
He stared at her and said nothing.
“That’s what Cyrus Montgomery did—he stole Meg Corbyn. Abducted her. That is the specific crime he committed that put her in danger. That is what makes—made—him a Cyrus human.”
He still said nothing.
“Some behaviors are indicators that a person might behave badly, might be a danger to one of our citizens.”
“You would recognize these indicators and howl a warning?”
“A warning that someone should be watched? Yes.” She didn’t want the Others to condemn some fool as a Cyrus human when he was actually guilty of some other kind of assault. Not that an attack of any kind was acceptable, but getting killed would be an extreme punishment when a