Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,22

some measure of caution and sense. Which way do you want me to report this to your brother the cop?”

Her mouth opened and closed, making Tolya think of a fish out of water—a comparison he was sure should not be shared with any female within a day’s travel of this town.

“Barbara Ellen and I have business to discuss,” Tolya said to Virgil. “Do you need to continue this discussion?”

“I wasn’t interested in this discussion in the first place.” Virgil stared at Barbara Ellen and growled, “The next time, the bruise you get as discipline will be from my teeth.”

Barbara Ellen lowered her head and muttered a word quietly enough that a human wouldn’t have heard what she’d said. Unfortunately, the four males standing around her heard the word just fine.

Virgil showed his teeth.

Tolya said.

Virgil eyed him, clearly torn between wanting to establish dominance over the fluffball and getting her out of his fur.

More gently than Virgil had grabbed her yesterday, Tolya closed his hand over Barbara Ellen’s wrist in an inescapable hold. “Come with me.”

“What about Rowan?” she protested. “I should take him back to the stables if I’m going to be a while.”

“Kane can do that for you.”

Kane didn’t sound interested in being a horse walker.

Tolya didn’t respond to the Wolf. Instead he reached out to the Panther.

“Are all the pet animals fed and watered?” he asked. Since she was an almost-vet, this was her primary task right now—caring for the small animals that had survived until she could convince other humans to take them.

“Yes, but—”

“Good. I need you for a special task.”

“We’re all supposed to help sort things from the houses for a couple of hours each day.”

Tolya nodded. “You’ll be sorting books.” No one had asked why he’d designated a room in the government building as the place to store the books that had been removed from houses and now would have to be sorted into some kind of order. The truth was, he’d wanted to keep that task for himself instead of handling other, less interesting, human possessions. But to keep the peace, and to help Saul, he would give up some of the pleasure of looking through the books.

“You’ll also be showing another member of our community how to do this sorting,” he continued. “In return, you may select a bag of books as a bonus for being a mentor. I would also appreciate you setting aside any books you find about the frontier days. Those would be for me.”

“Okay. Who am I helping?” she asked, almost pulling ahead of him now that the task sounded interesting.

“Joshua Painter.”

“Oh.”

What did “oh” mean? Good? Bad? He guessed it meant something good since her blue eyes now had a sparkle to them that had nothing to do with being angry with Virgil.

“Saul feels Joshua is ready to interact with humans,” Tolya said. “I thought sorting the books would help the cub reinforce his reading skills, and you, having experience with shifters because you lived in Lakeside, could help Joshua bridge the gap between his old life and this new one, as well as answer any questions he has about human things.”

“I can do that.”

Barbara Ellen had not shown this level of excitement when she’d met other young males who were staying in Bennett. She had been friendly, and being one of the few human females currently living in the town, her company was sought after by many. But this … giddiness … for a male she hadn’t met? Well, he would assess her emotions at the end of the day. If there was no change, he would preempt receiving another message of alarm from Officer Debany in Lakeside by writing to Vlad and telling him about Joshua Painter. After all, if Barbara Ellen’s brother was going to get excited about her living with a parakeet named Buddy, he could imagine the man’s reaction to a male who had grown up among the Panthergard—a male who was a few years younger than Barbara Ellen, although just old enough to be considered an adult. He wasn’t sure that mattered or should be a concern, but it was another thing to keep in mind.

“What are you going to do with the books?” Barbara Ellen asked. “Sell them?