Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,44

found the dead children, who found the blood prophets who had been left to die, that not all of the unwanted children died. They just followed their instincts to a better place.” Jesse looked at Saul and smiled.

He studied her and nodded, finally satisfied that she posed no threat to his human kin.

“I will send word to the terra indigene,” Tolya said. “Can you contact the Intuit communities?”

Jesse nodded. She was part of a group of Intuits who received information about the cassandra sangue through Steve Ferryman, who lived on Great Island. She would send an e-mail to everyone on the list. The people in the Midwest would receive her message. So would the Intuits manning the communications cabin that could transfer messages to the cabin that was just across the Northeast border. They would send it on to Steve.

“Speaking of Simple Life, what do we do with the howler I put in jail yesterday?” Virgil asked.

“The other men insist they only know what he told them, that he asked to join them at the border station so he wouldn’t have to travel alone,” Garnet said.

“He had a ticket and clothes in a carryall,” Virgil said. “The clothes smelled like him and matched what he and the other Simple Life males were wearing. So he is what he says he is.”

“Being Simple Life doesn’t mean he’s a good man,” Jesse said.

“I’ll call the train station closest to the border and see if anything happened near there recently,” Nicolai said.

“Ask if there was a news report involving women of a certain age and look,” Jesse said. “The man might have needed to disappear quickly if he had behaved badly.” A lame way of talking about assault … or worse … but she didn’t know what the terra indigene thought about such things.

Virgil snarled. “Well, I’m not calling human law and asking about this human.”

“Then what should we do with him?” Yuri asked.

“We could just eat him,” Virgil replied. When Tolya said nothing, the Wolf growled, “Fine. We don’t eat him, but I’m still not calling any humans. When is that deputy going to show up?”

“She’ll be arriving on Sunsday,” Tolya said.

“I’m going to have to deal with that human until then?”

“Why don’t we put him on the northbound train?” Nicolai said. “The westbound train coming in this afternoon follows a route up to the border of the High North regions.”

“That’s just passing along the problem to someone else,” Jesse protested.

Nicolai smiled, showing a hint of fang. “Not really passing along a problem.”

It took her a moment to realize what he meant. Not passing along a problem; passing along a meal.

Bennett’s town council didn’t want to start a panic among the new arrivals by killing a man when they didn’t have a better reason than they didn’t like him. But they also knew it wasn’t likely that he would survive long enough to reach another human settlement where he might pose a threat to the females living there.

The meeting ended with the agreement to send the Simple Life man north, and the terra indigene headed off to their various businesses and tasks. Only Tolya remained, watching her.

“Your distress is a scent in the air,” he said quietly. “Predators are attracted by scents like that because they signal prey that is, perhaps, easier to bring down.”

Jesse opened her right hand and stared at the bruise on her left wrist. “Are you going to have a token human on the town council?”

“No. The terra indigene reclaimed Bennett. We run this town. The Elders won’t tolerate this place continuing to exist if we don’t.” Tolya leaned toward her. “And if you, who should know you are safe when dealing with us here, feel distressed by our ways, then how would a human who hasn’t earned our trust going to survive being in a room with us?”

“I wasn’t distressed about being in the room with all of you. I was distressed by the subjects we were discussing.”

“The reason doesn’t change the scent or our reaction to it,” he said gently. “But I will keep your question in mind, and if we find one or two humans who can earn our trust as you have, we will consider having them speak to us about human concerns in an official capacity.”

That was more of a concession than she’d expected—until Tolya added, “And you could attend such meetings as Prairie Gold’s representative. As you’ve pointed out many times, your town and your people have a stake in Bennett’s survival.”

Now,