Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,146

with water and opened the restroom door—and wondered if her legs would hold her long enough to get home.

Candice stood outside the door. She slipped an arm around Barb’s waist.

“I broke a bottle.”

“Don’s cleaning it up,” Candice said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ve never had someone say bad things to me,” Barb said as Candice steered her to a table that had a bottle of ginger ale and two glasses. “Not things like that.”

“Then you’ve been lucky.” Candice poured the ginger ale. She set a glass in front of Barb before taking a sip from the second glass.

Don was still behind the bar cleaning up the glass and spilled liquor when Virgil stormed into the saloon at the same moment the office door opened and Scythe stepped out.

Barb didn’t look until Scythe passed their table. Then she risked a glance. Red hair—the color of anger—with thin streaks of black and blue. She wasn’t sure if that color combination was within a safe range when dealing with a Harvester, but she noticed that Virgil wasn’t shy about looking at Scythe. Then Harvester and Wolf looked at the floor—and Scythe snarled.

“That bunghole bugger peed on my floor!”

Candice choked, then whispered, “Gods. Don’t you wonder how she knows words like that?”

There wasn’t time to wonder about words because Virgil strode over to their table, slapped his fur-covered hands on the wood, and snarled, revealing Wolf fangs.

“That male. Was he a Cyrus human?”

She leaned away from him. She couldn’t think, didn’t even know what he meant. But she’d had enough of scary males, and she desperately wanted to give whatever answer would make Virgil go away.

The Wolf turned to Candice. His eyes were almost solid red with fury. “Was he a Cyrus human? Was he?”

“Yes!” Candice’s voice cracked. “Yes, he was.”

Virgil stepped away from the table and stripped off his clothes. Shifting to Wolf, he sniffed the stranger’s pee, then ran out of the saloon.

Candice tried to take a sip of ginger ale, but her hands shook too much to hold the glass. “Gods, he’s scary.”

He was. He surely was. But as Barb sat there shaking, she realized she wasn’t as afraid of Virgil’s savagery as she had been of the weird gleam in the stranger’s eyes.

* * *

* * *

Jana had finished a circuit of mounted patrol when she saw Virgil, in human form, rush into the Bird Cage Saloon. He wasn’t howling for backup, so it probably wasn’t serious. Might not even be official business. Might just be …

Virgil leaped out of the saloon in Wolf form, sniffed the ground, and ran north, heading for the train station and livestock pens.

Not good. Kane couldn’t run yet, so the only reason Virgil wouldn’t want his other deputy around was because he didn’t want any human interference.

“Come on, Mel.”

She aimed the gelding toward the hitching post across from the saloon. After tossing a rein over the post, she ran into the saloon and saw Barb and Candice huddled at a table, Don behind the bar, and Scythe staring at a small puddle.

“What happened?” When no one answered, she looked at Barb and Candice and put some bite into her voice. “What happened?”

“A Cyrus human came into the saloon,” Scythe said. “He upset Barbara Ellen.”

Jana felt the floor dip and swell for a moment. “A what? How could you tell?”

“Candice knew.”

She hurried to the table. Barb looked pale. Sick. Frightened. “Barb?”

“He … said things. And he grabbed me.” Barb held out her hand. “I was scared.” The last words were whispered.

“Did you think was he going to abduct you?”

Barb gave her a blank look.

Jana looked at Candice. “Why did you say the man was a Cyrus human?”

“Because Virgil came charging in here, and the way he asked if the man was a Cyrus human, I was afraid to say no,” Candice replied.

Gods, gods, gods. No question the man’s behavior was out of line. The way Barb shivered told her that much. But out of line wasn’t the same as trying to abduct her.

“I’ll get a full report later.” She ran out of the saloon and across the street. Flinging herself on Mel’s back, she galloped north.

She had to catch up to Virgil. Had to stop him before …

Had it been trash talk that warranted a strong suggestion that the man leave town—or even warranted a bite from Virgil—or had it been more, a real threat that could have ended in rape or abduction? As law officers, they needed to determine that. And she needed Virgil to