Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,94

it was less likely that Maddie would be seen by someone who realized what she was and saw nothing but profit.

The day had rung her out. Not just the physical work, and not just the niggle of doubt about some of the details in Abigail Burch’s story, but the gnawing sense of guilt that maybe she was confusing the puppy. She needed to have a firm idea of what she wanted to accomplish with—and for—Rusty and then find out how to do that. And once she figured that out, she had to convince the big bad Wolves to follow her rules when it came to her dog, or poor Rusty would get caught in the middle of mom-and-dad squabbles about how to raise the kid.

Gods. Perish the thought of Virgil in that role. Except … he was the sheriff and that made him the dominant enforcer in the town and that made him the dominant Wolf in the town. Or maybe being the dominant enforcer was the reason he’d been given the job of sheriff. Whatever. The point was that she and Virgil had to agree on how to oversee Rusty’s education.

She was so not looking forward to that discussion. But she didn’t have to think about it for the rest of the day. She would take Rusty for a walk and then some playtime in the backyard. But right now, all she wanted was some food and a glass of beer. Or a large whiskey. Or …

Even under the water, she heard the howls coming from her neighbors down the street.

… a sledgehammer.

She turned off the water, dried off as quickly as she could, and threw on some clothes when she heard Rusty howling in the living room—and heard Buddy the parakeet making a loud scoldy noise that was either the parakeet version of a howl or an objection to the sound Rusty was making.

“Hey, girl,” Jana said as she moved toward the dog.

Rusty looked at Jana, wagged her tail, and howled again—and was answered by Virgil, Kane, and John.

Jana grabbed the leash from the basket near Rusty’s crate and snapped it on the dog’s collar—just in case Rusty tried to go through the screen door to join the Wolves.

“We are here,” Barb said, walking out of the kitchen.

Jana studied her housemate. “And … ?”

“I think that’s the message. We are here. The Wolves in the Lakeside Courtyard would howl at night and my brother said that was the message. Or one of the reasons they howled.”

“Who were they telling?” She didn’t think the humans who lived in Lakeside were that thrilled to know the Others were close enough to be heard.

A howl. A sound so deep Jana felt it vibrate in her bones and freeze her blood. A huge sound.

A second howl. A third. So close the windows rattled.

“Hold her,” Jana said.

Barb rushed forward to grab the leash. “Don’t go out there. Humans shouldn’t go out there.”

“I’m a cop.” She wanted to run into her bedroom and grab her weapon, but she wasn’t dressed like a cop, wasn’t going about official business—and she didn’t think that whatever was outside would notice if she pinned a badge to her T-shirt. It would notice the gun—and kill her for carrying a human weapon.

All right, then. She had faced down a few bullies at the academy with nothing but attitude; she could do it here too.

After checking that Barb had a tight grip on Rusty, Jana slipped outside and walked into the street just as the Wolfgard answered those deep, terrifying howls—and were answered in turn.

How close were those things? What were they? Elders, sure. But what did that mean? They were howling, so … gigantic Wolves? Or something that howled but was even older and more primal than the Wolfgard?

She didn’t know—and understood on a gut level that she couldn’t know and survive. She also understood something else. The humans living in Bennett needed some way to know the boundaries, needed to know where the lines were now drawn that separated streets that were within the jurisdiction of the police and town government from the streets that were in the wild country and were under the jurisdiction of them.

“Virgil?” Jana called softly, hoping her voice wouldn’t carry much beyond the Wolves.

He turned to face her. Kane and John continued to face the direction of the Elder Hills.

“We need to talk about some things tomorrow,” Jana said.

He made a sound she took to be agreement.

She nodded. “Okay, then.” She looked toward