Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,78

third day on the job, and she’d been angry about having all the desk work dumped on her, had been angry about Virgil walking her around the square like some inadequate pet while he made the rounds. Even when he’d scared her yesterday, she’d been thinking of him as a human male sending the message that she couldn’t be a cop on her own, but what if she considered his actions from the point of view of her being part of the pack? Virgil was dominant. Even in human form, Virgil was darn scary. In Wolf form … She wouldn’t want to see him coming after her. Kane was next, being the senior deputy, not to mention being a Wolf. That made her third in the pack. That didn’t make her less; it was simply her place. And the typing and filing and handling the e-mails? Her ability to do those things were human skills she was providing for the benefit of the pack, like Virgil’s and Kane’s superior sense of smell and ability to track because they were Wolves. Like their ability to communicate with other terra indigene even when those beings weren’t in human form.

Virgil hadn’t thrown her down and rolled her on her back, forcing submission the way he’d done with Rusty, but had he been sending clear, to him, signals that she needed to acknowledge his dominance and her place in the pack?

Jana went into the kitchen and returned with the bowl of water. She opened the crate door enough to let Rusty have a drink and managed to close it before the dog could escape. Then she turned on the computer and checked the e-mails.

More there than she expected. There were probably a ton of e-mails sent to the previous occupants of the sheriff’s office, but she didn’t know the username or password. Maybe there was someone in town now who had the computer skills to get access to those e-mail accounts or just eliminate them.

Rummaging in her desk, she found a notebook. Dating the top of the page, she wrote a summary of each e-mail, putting a big star in front of the time-sensitive ones—like the meeting of the town council that Tolya Sanguinati had called for tomorrow afternoon. She printed that one out and put it on Virgil’s desk. She could show him the others if he wanted to read the full text.

The only message that gave her a moment’s pause was from someone named Jackson Wolfgard, who was located in a place called Sweetwater. He asked for confirmation that this was the correct e-mail address to reach Virgil and Kane Wolfgard and also asked for confirmation of the phone number.

Jana hesitated. The name Wolfgard meant he was a terra indigene Wolf, but being a Wolf didn’t mean he was a friend. Still, this was a public e-mail address and phone for the sheriff’s office, and other communities should know how to contact them.

She replied to the request for information, signing the e-mail as Deputy Jana Paniccia, Bennett Sheriff’s Department. Before pushing the SEND button, she copied the e-mail to Tolya Sanguinati. Having finished that administrative task, she sat back and considered what her role as the human deputy could be.

* * *

* * *

Jesse eyed her son, who was holding a fuzzy gray puppy against his chest, the fingers lightly scratching the pup’s neck and shoulders. Damn him, but he’d always known which critter would tug at her heart if he brought it home. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t put up some resistance.

“When I said I’d consider adopting a dog, I didn’t mean I wanted to raise a baby.” She gave Tobias a stern look.

“But she needs a mom.” Tobias looked at the pup, then looked at Jesse. “I already took her to the vet and had him look her over. She’s weaned, and the vet gave her the shots she needs right now.”

“Weaned doesn’t mean housebroken.”

“No, but she’ll learn fast. She’s got a real good brain inside that small head. And given her age …”

Jesse drew in a breath. Weaned meant older than eight weeks, but the puppy still had the baby fuzz. The pup would have been born shortly before the Elders and Elementals had torn through the continent of Thaisia, wiping out the entire human population in some towns—like Bennett. So there hadn’t been anyone to teach the pup.

“Where is her mother, her littermates?” she asked, trying to resist reaching for the furball just a little bit longer.

“Don’t know,” Tobias