They were snarled in the rapids of creeks and streams and rivers. They were screamed down waterfalls.

They were shouted within the rumble of rockslides.

The teaching story with all its lessons would come later. But for now, the Elders and Elementals in the Northeast sent this message to every part of Thaisia:

Cyrus humans are a threat to the sweet blood. They are a threat to all of us.

Whenever a Cyrus human is found … Destroy him.

* * *

* * *

Pawing the bedside table in the dark, Jana finally located her mobile phone and wondered who would call her before dawn.

“Jana? It’s Tobias.”

“Is this my wake-up call?” She rubbed sleep from her eyes and wasn’t sure if she sounded flirtatious or grumpy—and didn’t care. Then his tone reached her brain. “Is everything all right?”

“Something …”

Alert now, she waited as he worked out the words that might come close to describing what he was feeling.

“The cattle are restless,” Tobias said. “The horses are uneasy.”

“The weather?” It was Messis, so it was hot. And dry. She’d been so busy since she’d arrived in Bennett, she hadn’t paid much attention beyond heeding everyone’s advice and making sure she carried water in her vehicle or saddlebags.

“I think it’s more than weather.” He said it quietly, like he was afraid of being overheard. “If you’re riding Mel today, be careful. Stay sharp. And pay attention to what he’s telling you.”

Restless animals. Something more than weather.

“I’ll stay sharp,” she promised.

“I have to go.”

“Me too. I think Jesse is still in town. Anything you want me to tell her if I see her?”

He was silent for so long she wondered if he’d ended the call. “If she’s going to be in town another day, have her call me. Otherwise I’ll see her when she gets home.”

“Okay.” The next words came out in a rush. “Take care of yourself.”

“Always.”

She heard the smile in his voice as she ended the call. Then she sighed and turned off her alarm. No point trying for a few more minutes of sleep.

She padded through the house, let Rusty out for her morning piddle, started the coffee, put fresh water and some kibble in Rusty’s bowls. Once the pup was back inside, Jana took a quick shower and returned to the kitchen wearing a long T-shirt and a towel wrapped around her head.

She found Barb, heavy-eyed and rumpled, staring into the open refrigerator.

“You have a case of refrigerator blindness this morning?” Jana asked as she took two mugs out of the cupboard and poured coffee into them.

“Poop on you,” Barb muttered.

Amused—and wondering if her housemate was actually awake—Jana steered Barb to the counter. “Drink coffee. Find your words. And your brain. And your bounce.”

Barb made an unspellable sound but shifted her focus to staring at the mug of coffee instead of the inside of the refrigerator.

Jana made scrambled eggs and toast and watched Barb come back to life as they ate breakfast.

“Long night?” she asked.

“Long,” Barb agreed.

“Do we need to have a talk about the birds and the bees?”

Barb stared. Then blushed. “No. Absolutely not. No.”

“If I promise not to tell your brother the cop?”

Hesitation. “Maybe.”

Oh, gods. Well, she’d brought it up, hadn’t she?

She glanced at the clock and realized she didn’t have time to find out more. Kane had stayed in the office last night with Cory, so she didn’t have to drive him to work today, but that didn’t mean Virgil wouldn’t be standing by the police car waiting for her. Or he could be trotting to work on his own, marking territory as he went.

But she didn’t think that would be the case this morning. If Tobias felt uneasy when everything should have been fine again, it was a good bet that Virgil knew why.

* * *

* * *

Jesse woke slowly, feeling ripe and deliciously languid. Used in the best sort of way.

Maybe she would stay in bed all morning. She could order a meal and have it delivered to the room and spend a few hours nibbling and reading. She always had a book tucked in her overnight case, even if she didn’t expect to have time to read more than a chapter. This morning she could indulge herself and …

“Arroo!”

“Cory!” Jesse jackknifed to a sitting position and looked at the empty crate. Virgil had taken the puppy yesterday, and except for checking now and then to make sure Cory was all right, she’d left the pup in the sheriff’s office and stayed focused on whatever she could do to suppress the panic that had built in people who didn’t know what was going on but knew they had nowhere to run if the terra indigene turned against them. Then the news, brief as it was, that Meg Corbyn had been found alive.

Despite the majority of residents not knowing why the crisis was over, only that it was over, fear and stress had morphed into manic relief that left people—and she was among them—entertaining foolish ideas. And doing things that, perhaps, hadn’t been wise. Except, gods, it had been a long time since a man had pleasured her the way she’d been pleasured last night. And if this languidness was caused by the amount of blood Tolya had taken, it was a small price to pay for feeling so incredible.

As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, Jesse noticed the note anchored under the book she’d set on the bedside table.

Jesse,

Your puppy is at the sheriff’s office playing with Rusty. She is fine. You should eat a hearty breakfast this morning. Meat is recommended.

Tolya

P.S. You might want to wear a scarf if you are going to see your son later today.

“Scarf?” Jesse muttered. “In this heat?”

She scrambled out of bed and stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. The bruises on her inner left thigh and the inside of her right elbow were dark but easily covered. The bruises on her neck … She hadn’t had hickeys like that since her schooldays, when the mark was confirmation of being desirable. At least, that was the myth that swirled around in the sticky mess of adolescent hormones. Being desirable enough to be marked, claimed. And becoming more desirable because of that marking, that claiming. Other young men noticed girls who wore that particular badge—or hid it beneath a scarf.

Other men.

As she showered and dressed, Jesse considered how much Tolya might understand about human sex. Not the physical act. He knew plenty about that. Gods, did he ever know about that. But the emotions? Was the bruise just a result of his feeding or had he deliberately made it to serve as bait for the man who had hurt her feelings last night? Would such a man, seeing that bruise, approach her today and renew his offer of a pity fuck? And if he did, who would be watching?

Not Tolya. He was too intelligent for that, too subtle. But there were so many eyes always watching the humans. Crows, Hawks, Ravens. Was the puff of air just air, or the Elemental Air coming to stand beside you? Didn’t matter who watched or who listened. She wasn’t sure if the idiot man from last night was someone waiting for an interview that would decide if he would become a resident of Bennett or if he was passing through. She just hoped she didn’t see him again and he was on the first train out of town.

She dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, willing to let people see the bruises rather than suffer from heatstroke by being overdressed. But she left her hair loose around her neck—and she did tie a bandanna around her throat. Since Tobias was on the ranch, she didn’t care about shocking any of the men and, if she was honest, was a little bit curious about how someone like Virgil Wolfgard would respond to seeing that kind of bruise. But the girls—Barb Debany and Lila Gold and even Jana Paniccia? No, she didn’t want to shock them by advertising that she’d had hot, steamy sex last night.

Looking out the window, she spotted Tolya talking to a female. Not a woman in the strictest sense, and not a shifter who couldn’t quite get the human form right. Nothing wrong with that one’s form, except you would never mistake it for a human.

“Elemental,” Jesse whispered.

The female looked up, as if she could hear even a whisper once sound met air.

Jesse grabbed her room key and hurried down to the street.

The female was gone by the time she got outside, but Tolya was there, waiting for her.

“You look pale, Jesse. You haven’t eaten yet.” Despite being said courteously, the words sounded like a scold—but a scold that held affection.

How much should she read into him calling her Jesse instead of Jesse Walker? She had a feeling that last night had changed something between them, that courteous formality had yielded to something warmer.

“No, not yet. But I will. Hearty breakfast, with meat.” She studied him. “Any news about Meg Corbyn?”

“Let’s go to the sheriff’s office. Virgil, Kane, and Jana should hear this too.”

They walked across the square in companionable silence.

Virgil stared at her neck for a long moment, then grunted, his sole opinion. Kane didn’t seem to notice, but he was still in Wolf form so that might account for the lack of interest. Jana glanced at her, then Tolya—and then she blushed.

Jesse figured it wasn’t the hickey that caused the blush; it was seeing it on Tobias’s mother that threw Jana off stride.

“No need to tell him,” Jesse said with a smile.

“I’m so with you on that,” Jana replied.

“Human females,” Virgil growled. “Even when you speak ordinary words, you speak a different language.” Then his eyes met Tolya’s, and a kind of electric tension filled the office.

“Air heard from her kin in the east. Meg Corbyn is alive, but there is … concern … about her mind,” Tolya said.

Jana sucked in a breath. Jesse felt her heart pound.

“The cuts that Cyrus human made were not done properly,” he continued. “As a result, Meg Corbyn is seeing too much.”

“Will she recover?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t know,” Tolya replied. “That is all the information about her that traveled last night. But Simon, Vlad, and the rest of the Courtyard will help her.”

“What else?” Virgil asked.

Tolya looked at the Wolf. “We have all received instructions from Namid’s teeth and claws. We are to inform the Elders if a Cyrus human comes to Bennett—or Prairie Gold.”

Virgil nodded. Jana looked uneasy.

Jesse felt chilled. “What’s a Cyrus human?”

“Someone like Cyrus James Montgomery, the man who abducted Meg Corbyn,” Jana replied, eyeing Virgil and Tolya.

She knew the name. After all, she was the one who relayed the message from the communications cabin. No, she’d been asking for a definition.

Meeting Jesse’s eyes, Jana nodded to acknowledge that she would do whatever she could to get the term defined.