The Crows who were perched on the shoulder-high wall that separated the delivery area from Henry’s yard started cawing moments before Nathan quietly arrooed a warning that another delivery truck had pulled in.
She grunted when she straightened up and walked into the front room. Then she frowned as she pulled out the clipboard and wrote the name painted on the side of the small delivery van. “Blooming Blossoms. That’s a new one.”
It was nothing more than a comment, but Nathan moved closer to the counter.
The man opened the door but didn’t quite enter the office. He gave Meg a nervous smile. “I’ve got a delivery for Theral MacDonald. Am I in the right place?”
The pins-and-needles feeling swept over Meg’s ribs, then felt like it wanted to burrow into the bones.
Nathan looked at her, then growled at the deliveryman.
“I can sign for that,” she said, struggling to stay calm.
“So she does work here? I was told to confirm that before handing over the delivery.” He held up the flower arrangement.
The prickling filled Meg’s hands now as well as her ribs. “She’ll be able to pick up the flowers here.”
“I guess that’s all right as long as I get a signature.” He strode to the counter, keeping an eye on Nathan. “That’s some pet.”
“Uh-huh.” She glanced at the man’s shirt as she signed for the flowers. The dark green shirt had the Blooming Blossoms logo on the left side. No name tag, though.
“You should keep your dog on a leash.”
She gave the deliveryman a vague smile and wondered what kind of employer would send someone to the Courtyard and not tell the person anything about who lived there.
Put a Wolf on a leash!
Of course, Sam used to wear a harness and leash when he came to the office with her. Could the man have heard about that from another deliveryman? Or did he really not know the difference between a dog and a Wolf?
The deliveryman studied her, and she studied him. He had blond hair and blue eyes. Nothing unusual about that combination. She couldn’t recall a training image that would fit his overall look. Not handsome. Pleasantly attractive?
But something about him made her skin prickle. Go away, go away, go away! she thought fiercely.
The mail truck pulled up.
“Busy place.” He sounded annoyed about that.
“Yes, it is.”
“Well, you have a nice day.” He walked out and held the door for the mailman.
“Anything going out?” the mailman asked as he set a mailbag on one of the handcarts that was used for larger packages.
“Not today, thanks.”
She waited until he’d walked over to retrieve the mail from the blue mailbox positioned outside the consulate. Then she bolted into the sorting room. She wasn’t surprised when Nathan leaped on the counter and came in right behind her. But she was surprised when he shifted to his human form.
His naked human form.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
She scurried to the other side of the big sorting table so that she couldn’t see him from the waist down. Naked naked wasn’t as disturbing as when Nathan shifted into that weird blend of human and Wolf that made him look like both and neither.
When he started to come around the table, she squeaked and scampered to the doorway of the back room. “You should put on some clothes when you’re in human form.”
He snarled at her.
Okay, not interested in clothes, she thought, trying to ignore her curiosity and not peek at his parts, since that could be construed as sending a signal. At least, according to The Dimwit’s Guide to Dating that she’d been reading ever since that . . . confusion . . . with Simon the night he’d shifted from Wolf to human form and she kicked him off the bed. But the kicking was because of the dream she’d been having and not because of Simon being naked . . . and human.
Since Nathan didn’t seem to care one way or the other if she saw him naked, maybe Wolves and humans didn’t read the same signals?
The office’s back door opened. Nathan, looking satisfied, shifted to Wolf form and returned to the front room.
Okay, that signal was clear enough.
“Tattletale,” Meg muttered as Simon and Vlad rushed in.
“Meg!” Simon said. He bared his teeth. “Nathan says you’re itchy. Why are you itchy?”
“I’m not.” She didn’t feel even the slightest tingle anymore.
“Arroo!” Nathan said, his forelegs on the front counter so he could watch what was going on in the sorting room.
Meg turned and glared at him. He stared back.
“I was itchy, but now I’m not,” she amended when Simon growled, clearly more inclined to take Nathan’s word over hers right now.
She held out her hands. “No more prickles. When that deliveryman showed up, the pins-and-needles feeling started and kept getting worse. I got away from the front counter as soon as I could.”
Vlad hissed. Simon and Nathan growled.
Meg decided she didn’t like being growled at in stereo.
“We’re not upset with you,” Vlad said.
Funny, it sure sounded that way.
“What was delivered that caused the prickles?”
“A flower arrangement,” she replied.
As soon as she moved toward the door with the PRIVATE sign, the prickling began again around her rib cage. When she reached the door, the pins-and-needles feeling became a painful buzz along her ribs and a fierce prickling in her hands. She’d been focused on what she was feeling and hadn’t realized Simon and Vlad were standing so close. When she tried to back up, she stepped on Simon’s foot, making him yelp.
Simon grabbed her and hustled her to the back room.
“Is she all right?” Vlad asked, rushing to join them.
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her hands. “The prickling is fading again, so there must be something about the flower arrangement that is causing the reaction. The flowers came from a company called Blooming Blossoms. They’ve never delivered here before.” She stopped, thought.
“Meg?” Simon said sharply. “You turned pale.”
“Delivery for Theral,” she whispered. “The flowers are for Theral.”
Vlad slipped out of the back room. She heard him pick up the phone and say, “Come to the Liaison’s Office.” Pause. “Fuck waiting for someone to watch the cash register. Get over here now.”
Meg blinked at him when he returned to the back room. “You swore at Merri Lee?”
“How did you know I was talking to Merri Lee?” he asked.
“She told me she was working the checkout counter at HGR this morning, so it had to be her, and you said . . . something bad.”
Vlad rocked back on his heels. “It seemed appropriate. Should I apologize?”
“At any other time, you would have yelled at her for leaving the cash register unattended, so, yes, you should apologize.” Meg wasn’t sure if a human employer would have apologized, but if she’d been yelled at unfairly, she would want an apology.
Vlad sighed.
Merri Lee arrived at a run. So did Tess, whose brown hair had green and red streaks and was starting to curl. The rumbling voice in the front of the office announced Henry’s arrival.
“What’s wrong?” Tess demanded.
“Something to do with flowers,” Simon replied. “But we don’t know why they’re causing trouble.”
Determined to find an answer, Meg headed for the front room with Merri Lee on her heels and the three terra indigene close behind. But she stopped before she reached the Private doorway and wrapped her arms around her herself, wanting to claw and claw until she could reach the buzzing.
Meg backed away from the door. Merri Lee slipped past her and stepped up to the front counter.
“Nathan says it doesn’t smell like anything but flowers and a little bit like the human who carried it in and someone else,” Simon said.
“Probably the deliveryman and the florist.” Merri Lee studied the flowers. “Nice arrangement of seasonal flowers. I don’t see anything here that looks strange or dangerous, although I suppose most flowers could be dangerous if someone tried to eat them.”
“Where’s Skippy?” Meg asked.
Nathan and Simon sighed, but it was a valid question. Skippy was willing to eat anything that looked or smelled vaguely edible—and other things as well.
Merri Lee turned the vase. “There’s no card.”
“That’s unusual?” Tess asked.
Merri Lee nodded.
Meg rubbed her arms, edged close enough to the doorway to see what was happening, and looked at Merri Lee. “The deliveryman said they were for Theral.”
“You both smell afraid,” Simon said. “Why?”
Merri Lee hesitated. “You know why Theral is living in Lakeside with her cousin’s family, and why Officer MacDonald escorts her to work and home again?”
Simon nodded. “Montgomery said she ran away from a mate who hurt her.”
“His name is Jack Fillmore. He could have sent the flowers just to confirm where to find her.”
“The deliveryman called Nathan a dog,” Meg said. “And he was annoyed that the office was busy.”
“What did he look like?” Merri Lee asked, then held up her hand. “Wait. I’ll call Michael and ask him to have a quiet word with Lawrence. Maybe the MacDonalds have a picture of Jack Fillmore. The rest of the family might have tossed out the photos, but I’ll bet Lawrence kept one in case the police need it.”
“Theral thought she would be safe here,” Meg said, then added silently, Like me.
“She is safe,” Simon growled. “Is Montgomery still at the efficiency apartment?”
“No,” Merri Lee said. “He had to go to the station. Lizzy is taking the bookstore field trip with the Wolf pups. Eve Denby said Lizzy could spend the day with Robert and Sarah, but Lieutenant Montgomery doesn’t want her to leave the Courtyard without him.”
“Sensible,” Henry rumbled.
“We need to know more, but Henry and I have to leave for the meeting with Steve Ferryman,” Simon said. He studied Meg. “Is that all right?”
“I’m fine.” She retreated into the sorting room, moving to the other side of the table. That far away from the flowers, the prickling was nothing more than a mild annoyance.
Simon followed her.
“I’m fine,” she said again. “You go to your meeting.” She waited to see if there might be some kind of prophetic response to the words.
Nothing.
“Okay,” he said after studying her. “Henry will take the flowers over to the consulate so they won’t bother you. Vlad is calling the police.”
“Human law doesn’t apply in the Courtyard.”
“No, but the threat isn’t in the Courtyard. Besides, Officer MacDonald is family to Theral, so the police will know anyway and want answers.”
She nodded. Then she gave him a wobbly smile. “I didn’t cut.”
“That’s good.” He hesitated, shifting from one foot to the other.
“You shouldn’t keep Henry waiting.”
But he still hesitated. Then he sighed and walked out of the office.
“You sure you’re okay?” Merri Lee asked quietly after Nathan curled up on his bed and the rest of the terra indigene had returned to their own work. “I’ll stay if you need me.”
“I’m okay.”
Meg thought for a moment. Simon was a Wolf, and human rules didn’t always apply because even when he looked human, he didn’t think like a human. And yet . . .
“He seemed . . . disappointed . . . when he left. Simon, I mean.”
Merri Lee leaned on the sorting table. “When Michael and I are together and one of us has to leave, we kiss good-bye. Maybe Simon would have liked the Wolf equivalent.”
Meg frowned at her friend. “I’m not going to lick his face.”
Merri Lee laughed. “Okay, but if he’s in human form, I think a kiss on the cheek would give the same message.”
“I am here.” Connection. Companionship. Touch.
“Touch of a hand works too when you’ve got an audience.”
Something to think about. Meg smiled. “Are you going to leave Vlad at the checkout by himself?”
“He yelled at me, so I’d let him fend for himself, but I think Ruth could use a hand right about now.”
After Merri Lee left, Meg opened the delivery door and pulled the handcart into the sorting room. She needed to get the mail sorted before the ponies arrived to have their mail baskets filled.
But after she dumped the mail on the table, she just stood there, making no effort to work.
Connection. Touch. I am here.
Definitely something to think about.
CHAPTER 35
Moonsday, Maius 14
While Simon drove up River Road to Ferryman’s Landing, Henry answered one phone call after another. When a full minute passed without the mobile phone squawking at them, he said, “Problems?”
“Messages,” Henry replied. “A policeman has arrived from Toland and wants to interview the Lizzy. Captain Burke asked if the meeting could be held at the consulate.”
“Smart move. Why didn’t Lieutenant Montgomery ask? He’s the one who usually works with us.”
“Perhaps because the Lizzy is his child and his asking would cause some trouble we do not understand. Stavros Sanguinati also arrived this morning. He and the policeman from Toland must have taken the same night train.”
“Do you think Stavros insisted on riding in the private executive car?”
Henry bared his teeth in a smile. “If one of those cars was part of the night train, I’m sure he was riding in it.”
In Thaisia, the terra indigene could travel by train anytime, anywhere, in exchange for the railroads being allowed to build tracks through the wild country to connect human communities. But until Simon, Lieutenant Montgomery, and Dr. Lorenzo had gone to the Midwest during the hunt for the Controller, the Others hadn’t known there was usually a car that had luxuries, like leather seats and its own little kitchen and shower, and didn’t stink of so many humans. Now the Others did know, and the humans who used those cars could no longer count on the travel time between cities to privately plot and plan against each other—or against the terra indigene.
Even when there wasn’t a vampire or a shifter in the car, the terra indigene now watched the humans who used those cars. It was fortunate for humans that the Elementals, and some of the usually unseen forms of earth natives, paid little attention to the clever meat unless provoked.
“After the police talk to the Lizzy, Lieutenant Montgomery will talk to Meg about the flowers and the human who delivered them,” Henry said.
“The bad mate.” This male had driven Theral away from two other jobs in another city. Being kin to Officer MacDonald and living with his parents in Lakeside provided her with some safety. Working in the Courtyard provided her with more.
Was it enough?
Simon wanted to shake off the human business that stuck to him these days like burs in fur. He knew why things had changed, and he didn’t regret Meg’s presence. She not only made it easier to deal with other humans; she provided entertainment for everyone in the Courtyard, making the press of all those humans living in Lakeside more bearable.
But that didn’t mean her presence wasn’t confusing.
Take her friendship with Nathan. He was glad they got along. The Liaison’s Office wouldn’t run smoothly if Meg and the watch Wolf didn’t get along. But sometimes Simon resented looking out the window and seeing his squeaky toy romping outside with another Wolf when he had to deal with st
upid human paperwork.
But Nathan was what humans called a work friend. Meg didn’t spend much time with him away from the Liaison’s Office. She didn’t cuddle up with him to watch television or movies. She didn’t share a bed with Nathan whether he was human or Wolf.
Those were things she did only with him because he was a different kind of friend. It was almost . . .
A scent, a feeling in the air, caught Simon’s attention, scattering his thoughts and reminding him of why he’d made some of the choices he’d made over the past few years.
“If the terra indigene who work in Courtyards become too human, do we become the enemy?” he asked softly.
Henry turned his head, his shaggy brown hair whipped by the air coming in the windows. “Are you asking for yourself or for another reason?”
“Do you smell it?”
Henry looked away and said nothing. Then, “Yes, I smell it. Their scent wasn’t here the last time we drove to Great Island. It’s a reminder of how far removed we are now from the earth natives who live in the wildest part of the wild country.”
It also meant that the ripples caused by rash actions the humans had made over the past few months had reached the primal wild country, disturbing the kinds of earth natives who usually didn’t come this close to human habitation when their intentions were still benevolent.
The wild country was a term for all land that humans weren’t allowed to use, but the wild had different levels, like the circles of a target. The center was a human place. The first circle contained the terra indigene who could shift and pass for human, at least long enough to interact with the interlopers and receive the agreed-upon goods that were payment for use of some land—that is, the Others who worked in the Courtyards or lived in their own settlements near human villages in order to keep watch. The next circle were terra indigene who liked some of the things humans made but didn’t want contact with them. Those two circles made a buffer of a few miles between humans and the wild country that was unmarked by human influence in every way. Beyond that buffer . . .
The forms they took when they didn’t walk in their true earth native form had no names. Their footsteps were a silent thunder felt beneath stone and grass. Even powerful shifters like the Wolves, Bears, and Panthers were no match for them. They were Namid’s teeth and claws.