Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,147

agree that they had to agree that someone was a Cyrus human before they acted. He couldn’t go around scaring people into giving him an answer that would end up involving the Elders.

Galloping, galloping. She and Mel whipped past the town’s new border—where human law ended. Mel dropped back to a lope while Jana looked for some sign of a man or Wolf as they approached the original town boundaries.

A scattering of buildings on the right, and a road leading to what the maps in the land agent’s office had indicated was the newest developed area, which included a new building for the sheriff’s department—a facility she’d never see, let alone use. Nothing on the left now but open land—and Virgil running in the middle of the road up ahead. But there were tire tracks and skid marks to the left, indicating that a vehicle had gone off the road and continued overland. He’d missed those.

She didn’t hesitate. She followed the tracks, followed the miscreant. Technically she was out of her jurisdiction, but she’d worry about that later. First she’d arrest the fool and get him back within the town boundaries, and then …

Jana spotted the car. Not moving. Car door open but looking odd.

She spotted the birds circling high above the car. Circling and circling, as if waiting.

Mel stopped so abruptly she almost went flying over his head. He snorted and backed away. Tried to turn and run.

“Easy, boy. Easy.”

She tried to coax him forward. He wasn’t having it.

Then she remembered what Tobias said about paying attention to what the horse was trying to tell her.

Stopped car. Circling birds. She was probably too late to do anything more than report a death, but … Maybe Virgil was on the trail of the man who had been in the saloon, and that’s why he’d ignored these tire tracks. Maybe this car belonged to someone who had been squatting in one of the houses and got spooked by something and tried to go overland instead of staying on the road. Maybe someone was injured and needed help. Being foolish shouldn’t be a death sentence.

It was her duty to find out if someone needed help, her job to bring them back to town and human law. She hadn’t gone back the other day to find out what happened to those people who had been poking around the houses. She was a cop. She should have gone back. How could she believe she could do the job if she walked away again?

“Okay, boy.” Jana dismounted and ground tied the gelding. It wouldn’t keep him with her if something more spooked him or he smelled a predator, but if there was something nearby, she wanted him to be able to get away.

She scanned the land around the car, looking for what Mel had sensed. She didn’t see anything except some cloth fluttering near the car, didn’t hear anything. She hesitated; then she approached the car, debating with herself every step of the way. Should she draw her weapon now or wait? Were the birds circling above terra indigene or regular ravens or vultures or whatever else was up there? She needed to …

Needed …

As she reached the car, the wind changed direction and smelled of death.

The lower jaw lay next to the left front tire. The rest of the head was caught in the smashed windshield.

Jana swallowed hard to keep her stomach down and looked at the fluttering cloth.

They hadn’t eaten the body. Not all of it. Maybe there hadn’t been time. After all, Virgil had been in pursuit minutes after the man left the saloon, and she’d been minutes behind Virgil.

She didn’t see any legs, and the torso had been cracked open, all the richest organs scooped out and consumed—or carried off. But enough of the body had been left for the circling birds, for …

A shimmer in the air, like heat rising. But the rumbling snarl that was too close, too close, oh, much too close, wasn’t a sound made by heat.

Her hand twitched, moved toward her gun.

Teeth clamped on her wrist, causing her to gasp because she was suddenly too scared to scream. Then the breath of a growl on her skin.

She hadn’t worked for him that long, but she’d recognize Virgil’s annoyed growl anywhere.

He tugged. She stepped back. He tugged. She stepped back.

Step by step they retreated from that shimmer in the air until Virgil swung her around so that she was facing Mel. Her legs were stiff with the