Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,21

belongings in their new homes? And how upset would he make Jesse Walker when he announced his decision to stop the cleanup as it was currently being done?

And how was a species that seemed to need so much going to be able to survive on so little? Bennett would not be allowed to swell to its original population, and life would be simpler because of that.

Tolya stopped in front of the Bird Cage Saloon, which was a hive of activity. For a form of terra indigene that lived on the outskirts of almost everything, Scythe had recognized the one business that had galvanized all the humans who were already in Bennett. And not just because it was a saloon and a place that provided the alcoholic beverages humans liked to drink. It was a frontier saloon, with bartenders and girls dressed as they had dressed decades ago. Madam Scythe even hired an Intuit who would be the saloon’s professional gambler. Jesse Walker said there was romance to the idea—a concept he didn’t understand but accepted.

He felt another predator silently moving toward him but gave no sign of knowing until Saul Panthergard said, “Tolya.”

He dipped his head to acknowledge the Panther. “Saul. Are you settling in?” It had surprised him that one of the Panthergard had wanted to be this close to humans—until he’d been introduced to Joshua Painter, a human who had been raised by Saul’s kin and was, in human terms, considered Saul’s younger brother.

The Panthergard weren’t as solitary as the cougars whose form they had absorbed many generations ago. They had learned how to hunt as that cat hunted—in fact, they could hunt far better than the animal. But regardless of whatever form the terra indigene absorbed to keep them the dominant predators in the world, regardless of whether they took the shape of Ravens or Wolves or Panthers—or humans—they were still terra indigene and lived solitary or in packs according to the ways of their particular kind of terra indigene and not the shape they could wear over their true form.

“The cub needs to be socialized with his own kind, but I can’t teach him how to be around humans or even talk to humans,” Saul said. “He needs a task so that he can fit in, and he needs a teacher.”

Movement in the square made Tolya turn. Barbara Ellen, riding the blue horse named Rowan, cantered toward the sheriff’s office, her face scrunched up in anger—an expression so unusual for the usually bouncy almost-vet that Tolya realized she must have been brooding about yesterday’s clash with the sheriff and had finally worked up to being mad enough for a confrontation.

“Follow me,” he told Saul. “I have a teacher for Joshua.” If Virgil doesn’t eat her, he added silently as he shifted to his smoke form and raced toward the sheriff’s office.

He arrived just ahead of Barbara Ellen—and just in time to shift back to human form before Virgil walked out of the office. There were flickers of red in the Wolf’s amber eyes, a clear warning that Barbara Ellen wasn’t the only one who was angry.

Barbara Ellen’s blue eyes didn’t change to provide such a warning, but the horse reacted to her emotions. Or maybe Rowan reacted to Kane’s sudden, and silent, appearance in Wolf form as the deputy came around the side of the building.

Barbara Ellen dismounted and said, “Hold this,” as she flicked one of the reins at Kane. He snapped at the leather and then looked surprised that he was now a horse holder.

Exploding fluffball, Tolya thought, remembering Vlad’s phrase for uppity human females as Barbara Ellen stomped up to Virgil.

“Look!” She pushed up the sleeve of her shirt to reveal dark bruises. “Look! That’s police brutality!”

Virgil leaned toward her, bringing his face closer to hers before he pulled back his lips and revealed teeth that were too long and sharp to be human. “You were resisting arrest.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I wasn’t arrested. You didn’t arrest me!” She looked at Tolya, who wondered what he was supposed to do.

“If you howl ‘police brutality’ for a bruise you got because you fought me, then I’ll write up your stay in the cell as an arrest for disturbing the peace,” Virgil growled. “Or we can just say you spent a few hours in jail because you needed some ‘me time’ to help you remember that many predators who will be in this town don’t know much about humans and need to be approached with