At least, no one human. She had revealed her true nature when she killed Asia Crane, the human female who had participated in the attempted abduction of Sam and Meg. Afterward she wondered if Henry or Simon had suspected what kind of terra indigene she was, but neither of them said anything. She valued their unspoken acceptance enough that she wouldn’t deliberately bring trouble to the Courtyard without good reason.
“See something you like?” Nyx joined her.
Tess glanced toward the Courtyard’s customer parking lot. How many Sanguinati were watching from the shadows? “I see a pack of two-legged nuisances.”
“Hmm. I see takeout.”
Tess laughed, which seemed to enrage the men. One of them pulled a small container out of his coat pocket and waved it at them.
“Come on, then!” he shouted. “Bitch in a jar!”
Nyx’s smile didn’t change, but Tess’s hair turned red with black streaks. Black. The death color. So tempting to let her true nature show when she could feel the effort Nyx was making not to attack.
But in the end, the men weren’t tempting enough. Yet.
She went back into the shop. A moment later, still smiling at the men, Nyx went into Howling Good Reads.
Had to make a decision soon. She’d already checked her stockroom and knew what she had to order. It wasn’t going to take Merri Lee much more time.
It wasn’t the terra indigene’s place to protect humans—at least not when they were beyond the Courtyard’s boundaries. But she knew one human who would be interested in keeping Merri Lee from harm.
She dialed the number for HGR’s office. “Vlad? Tell Simon I want to be at the meeting when he talks to the police.”
“You’re out of the beef flavored? What about the chicken?” Meg listened to the blustering manager of the Pet Palace and bared her teeth in a smile. She’d read a magazine article the other day about how maintaining a positive attitude produced better results when dealing with someone who forgot the service in customer service.
Unfortunately, Wolves were much better at discerning attitude than humans. As soon as she bared her teeth, Nathan hurried over, flopped his forelegs on the counter, and pricked his ears to hear the other side of the conversation.
Since she was trying to order more boxes of dog cookies, she was surprised he’d resisted butting in for as long as he had.
“What about the puppy cookies?” Meg asked. “Completely sold out of those too. I see. When do you expect …? Oh. No longer being made? Yes. I’m sure you are sorry.”
“Arrooo?” Nathan queried softly.
She hung up a little more forcefully than required just as the office door opened and Nathan twisted around to see who was coming in.
Harry from Everywhere Delivery hesitated in the doorway. Then he came in and set his packages on the end of the counter farthest away from them.
“Guess I don’t have to ask if you two are having a good morning,” he said.
“Arrooo!”
Meg blew out a breath and picked up her pen and clipboard. Harry was a darling who chatted about his wife and showed her pictures of his grandchildren. It wasn’t fair to be grumpy with him.
“Sorry, Harry. I’m having some trouble getting an order delivered.” She began filling out the information on the packages he’d brought.
“Oh? What kind of trouble?” When she didn’t answer, he looked at Nathan. “Guess you can’t tell me?”
The Wolf leaped over the counter and through the Private doorway into the sorting room.
“Do not shift unless you’re going to put on clothes!” Meg yelled when she heard Nathan rummaging around.
He returned with a box of dog cookies and dropped it on the counter.
Harry looked at the package, then raised his eyebrows at Meg.
She sighed. “I called the Pet Palace to have them deliver more boxes of cookies. The manager informed me that they were out of stock, all flavors, all sizes.”
“It does happen, Miz Meg,” Harry said. “You go into stores the day before the next delivery, and you’ll find plenty of empty shelves. And with seasonal items, stores just plain run out for the year.”
“I understand that,” Meg said. “But that doesn’t explain why, when I called Hot Crust yesterday to have a pizza delivered, they told me they didn’t make deliveries anymore, and a few minutes later I saw their delivery car drive by!” Since Nathan was crowding her to the point of stepping on her foot, she put her hands over his ears and whispered, “And Julia Hawkgard told me that when the Courtyard bus went to the plaza last Firesday, there were signs in some of the store windows that said Humans Only.”
She let go of Nathan’s ears in order to dig her fingers through the weave of her sweater and scratch at the pins-and-needles feeling that suddenly filled her right arm.
“Damn fools,” Harry muttered. He picked up the box of dog cookies. “This what you want?”
“Yes, but—”
“Don’t carry much money on me, but I can swing by that store during my lunch break and pick up a box or two—unless they’re telling the truth about being out of stock.”
“I have money,” Simon said, stepping up to the counter.
She hadn’t heard him come in. Nathan squeezed behind her to crowd her on the other side, wedging her between a Wolf in Wolf form and a Wolf in human form. It made her very aware that she was a short human—and it made her aware that the pins-and-needles feeling was quickly fading.
Simon put two twenty-dollar bills on the counter. “People might ask questions if you buy too many. A box of each flavor will be sufficient.”
“Fair enough.” Harry pocketed the bills. “I’ll see what I can do.” He tapped a finger to the brim of his cap and left.
“Watch the counter,” Simon said, then took Meg by the arm, hauled her into the sorting room, and closed the Private door.
“Nathan can’t sign for packages unless he shifts,” Meg protested. “And a naked Wolf is not going to make deliverymen feel easy.”
“This will only take a minute. Why are you scratching your arm?”
“It prickled.” When she reached for her right arm again, he grabbed both her wrists and held her hands apart. “Simon!”
“Your skin hasn’t been prickling all week. Not here, not at home. And you haven’t needed to cut.”
He was being careful not to hurt her, so she didn’t struggle—especially when she realized he was right about the pins-and-needles feeling. And he was right about the cutting, up to a point. Some days she wanted to cut, desperately wanted to feel the euphoria, but she didn’t need to cut. While everyday activities couldn’t match the orgasmic release that came from cutting, they did blunt the need. And being surrounded by neighbors who had a wickedly keen sense of smell meant you couldn’t hide even the smallest cut.
“I don’t understand,” Meg said.
“When I went to that meeting on Great Island? Steve Ferryman said that Intuits live in small communities in order to become attuned with the place where they live and the people around them.”
“I’ve never heard of Intuits.”
He looked uncomfortable. “They’re a between kind of human.”
“Between what?”
“Between a human like Lieutenant Montgomery and a human like you. Most of the Intuits can’t see prophecies, but they get feelings about things, for good or bad.”
“Most of them?” Meg’s heart jumped. “But some of them do see visions, speak prophecies?”
Fur sprang out on Simon’s cheeks and hands, then retreated and returned. Involuntary shifting was a sure sign of strong emotions in the Others.
“The cassandra sangue originally came from the Intuits,” Simon admitted. “At least, that’s what I was told.”
He didn’t want to tell me that, Meg thought. So why is he telling me now?