Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,197

Sarah Gott were running toward her, and Evan and Kenneth were rushing to check on Abby.

Holstering her own weapon, Jana touched the Wolf’s shoulder as she looked into unseeing eyes. “Kane?”

Already gone.

He went down in the line of duty. She wasn’t sure that would be any comfort to anyone—and it occurred to her that the first time she had to notify next of kin, she’d be telling Virgil that his brother was dead.

After pulling Kane off the man far enough to secure the weapon, she looked at Evan and Kenneth. “Abby?”

Evan shook his head.

Something wasn’t right. More than the three dead bodies. Something …

Rusty’s frantic barking finally got through to her. “Barb?” she shouted. “Barb!”

How many shots had been fired?

Jana ran to her own house, pulled open the screen door, and … “Barb!”

Arriving just behind Jana, Hannah pulled off her apron, swiftly folded it, and crouched beside Jana, saying, “Use this for the wound. It’s freshly washed.”

She pressed the fabric against the wound. “We have to get Barb to the doctor’s.” Except the medical building was on the town square, smack in the middle of the fight.

Evan rushed up. “We had a feeling, so Barb called the doctor just before all this … At least one of the doctors will be at the hospital today.”

The dead would have to wait. “Help me load her into my vehicle. We can’t wait for the ambulance.”

Evan and Kenneth carried Barb while Jana kept pressure on the wound as best she could.

“I’ll go with you,” Hannah said. “Sarah will take your pup and the bird to our house, and clean up …”

“Anything we can do?” Evan asked after he and Kenneth got Barb settled in the back with Hannah now applying pressure on the wound while Jana wiped her hands on her jeans, smearing them with blood before she got behind the wheel.

“Call the neighbors and make sure nobody else was hurt,” Jana said, putting the vehicle in drive. “And stay inside until this is over—unless you have to run.”

Then she put the vehicle in park again and stepped out shouting, “Air! Air, I need you to send a message!”

Air appeared. She looked at the Wolf in the street. “Virgil is fighting.”

“You don’t need to tell Virgil anything.” Jana pointed toward the Elder Hills. “Can you get a message to them?”

“Yes. But they are dealing with humans who are in their territory. They are not fighting inside the town boundaries.”

“You tell them …” Jana struggled to breathe past a sudden flood of anger at beings who ignored boundaries whenever it suited them but couldn’t be bothered now? “You tell them if they don’t want the rest of the Wolves to die, they’d better … ffffffuck the boundaries and get in the fight!”

She jumped in her vehicle and drove off.

Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. Did she really say that? Well, the Elders wouldn’t know the F word, right? And what difference did it make if they did? They needed to stop sniffing their own tails and do something!

As she raced to the hospital, Jana realized Virgil wasn’t the only notification she would have to make that day. She’d have to tell Kelley about Abby. And as she drove, she prayed she wouldn’t have to send that kind of message to Lakeside police officer Michael Debany.

* * *

* * *

Their footsteps filled the street with an odd and terrible silence as they moved unseen toward the bodies, Wolfgard and human.

They hadn’t needed Air to deliver a message. They had been close enough to hear the howling of that … female … who dared to challenge Namid’s teeth and claws. They didn’t understand all the words, but they understood the tone.

The female didn’t want boundaries? Then there would be no boundaries. And the first human they would deal with …

The terrible one sniffed around the bodies and breathed in that female’s scent. They didn’t need to follow the trail of the metal box, so they would join the fight in the center of the Sanguinati and Wolfgard territory. Sooner or later that female would come to the watering hole—and he would find her.

* * *

* * *

“We’ve got company.” Tobias took his foot off the gas and tapped the brake.

“We don’t have time for this,” Jesse snapped. Then she saw what Tobias must have sensed moments before—the horse and rider in the middle of the road.

“We make time for him.” He stopped the truck and rolled down his window.

Yes, Jesse thought as she watched Fire and