Waited.
If he headed for Prairie Gold, his men might be exposed to that storm the whole way and would be injured and useless by the time they reached the town. Of course, if they got caught by the twister or the fire, they wouldn’t be much good either. But at least they’d be trying to save something.
Black headed for his ranch.
Jesse followed a wide game trail. By the time her people had reached the terra indigene settlement, the Ravens and Hawks had already spread the news about the humans killing the Wolves. Surprisingly, the adults in the settlement had no objection to her taking the Wolfgard young with her to the hiding place Joe Wolfgard had arranged. In fact, all the young from the settlement were with her. Fledglings from the Owl, Raven, Hawk, and Eagle gards were riding on human shoulders or on the backs of juvenile Wolves—or were balanced on the packs they’d loaded onto two burros.
When she had time—if she lived—she’d ponder the oddity of Wolves keeping a handful of burros as pack animals, and what it said about the Others that the burros knew they didn’t need to fear these predators.
“Jesse?” Shelley gasped behind her. “Jesse? We need to stop. We need a rest break.”
“We’ll rest when we get there.” Couldn’t be much farther. Joe had said a couple of miles beyond the terra indigene settlement. Water. Shelter. A spot that could be defended.
Which could mean it was also a spot that, if overrun by an enemy, wouldn’t give them any way out. The humans, anyway.
“Arroo,” Rachel said softly, suddenly trotting ahead of Jesse.
The youngster had stayed close to her throughout the journey. Jesse wasn’t sure if Rachel was helping to act as a scout or if the Wolf wanted to be near any adult she recognized.
The only adult Wolf who had been left at the settlement was the pack’s nanny. The rest of the adults had gone out to deal with the humans and had died.
The pups are orphans now, all of them, Jesse thought.
“Jesse?” Abigail Burch this time. “Can’t we stop a minute? The children are tired.”
Tired was better than dead.
Jesse hesitated when Rachel rushed back to her. But the Wolf seemed excited, relieved. A couple of minutes later, Jesse shared that relief. Water flowed into a pool before the creek continued down the hills to the settlement. There were rocks that provided shelter, and trees that would provide shade. Couldn’t make a fire here because they were in the wild country. Joe had warned her about that. But they could huddle up in blankets to keep warm if they had to stay up here overnight.
Once they had set up camp, she would figure out where they could set up the latrine—and where to picket the burros.
“We’re here,” she said, moving aside. “Step lively, now. Everybody in.”
Not all the Prairie Gold women had come with them. A few had sent messages that they’d had a feeling they needed to stay at the farms and help look after the animals. But they had sent their children. In truth, they had a point. Meg Corbyn hadn’t said to hide the women, just the children. Just the Wolves.
Feeling Rachel pressed against her leg, trembling, Jesse felt a pang of grief as she remembered Joe standing outside the general store, ready to step in if needed but allowing Rachel to make her first foray into a human store on her own. Jesse hadn’t had time to get to know him well, and she regretted that. Working together, they could have bridged the differences between terra indigene and Intuits, could have built a partnership the same way other places were trying to do.
Rachel whined.
“Hush up,” Jesse snapped at the women and children whose voices had been steadily rising. Stepping into the gap between rocks, she raised her rifle, prepared to fire.
The women fell silent or frantically tried to hush the children.
Nothing. Nothing. Except the pack’s nanny had led the puppies to a hiding place behind a fallen tree. Except Rachel stood at her side, panting and trembling.
Nothing but an odd silence.
Then something shimmered on the game trail. Something her eyes couldn’t quite see.
Something big.
“That’s far enough,” she warned.
A wet snarl—more a feel in the air than an actual sound.
“We have permission to be here, and we’re staying until I’m told it’s safe to bring the youngsters back to their homes.”
Rachel suddenly shifted, now a human teenage girl crouching beside her. “Jesse Walker is our friend. She . . . was Joe Wolfgard’s friend.”
Where do you aim when you can’t see? That dark glint. Was that an eye? Gods, how big was that thing?
It took a step closer. She couldn’t see it, but she knew it had moved closer.
“If you’re one of the terra indigene who lives in these hills, then you should know why we came up here, should know what happened to the Wolves.” Jesse took a slow breath. “We’ve lost enough friends today. In that, I think, you and I are the same. So I’m telling you now that the only way anyone is taking any of these youngsters away from here is if I’m dead and can’t fight for them anymore.”
Hesitation. Then it was gone.
Jesse didn’t know how anything that big could move that quickly or that silently, but she could feel it was gone.
“The Elders will watch the trail,” Rachel whispered. “We’ll be safe here tonight and can go . . . home . . . in the morning.”
Jesse lowered the rifle. “That was an Elder?”
“Yes. They are old forms of terra indigene. They are Namid’s teeth and claws.”
Namid’s teeth and claws. I believe that. I surely do. Gods above and below. “They live in the hills?”
“Yes. They allow us to take some wood and yellow stones to trade with humans. And our . . .” Rachel’s breath caught on a sob. “Our pack could hunt up here.” She looked at the other juvenile Wolves who had come with them. “We’ve been learning how to hunt, but we aren’t strong enough yet . . . We can’t . . . How are we going to feed the puppies?”
“We’ll figure something out,” Jesse said quietly. “You should shift back to Wolf now. You’ll be warmer wearing fur.”
The girl nodded. After shifting, she joined the other Wolves, who were huddled in one area. All the terra indigene young had chosen a particular spot, each gard keeping to itself. In the center were the Intuits, setting out blankets, pulling out cups for drinking and packages of food.
Ellen Garcia came up to Jesse, who leaned against a rock and divided her attention between the game trail and the camp.
“I’ve got about thirty pounds of raw meat packed on one of those burros,” Ellen said.
“Told you not to bring anything we needed to cook.” Thirty pounds? No wonder they’d had to leave a few things behind, even with women wearing packs of things babies and small children would need.
“Didn’t bring it for us.”
Jesse looked at the other woman. Tobias was the foreman of the Prairie Gold ranch, but Ellen and Tom looked after the buildings and vehicles, and Ellen cooked for the men. She also had some training as an accountant, so she kept the books for the ranch as well as the dairy and produce farms. While Jesse liked Shelley Bookman and considered her a friend, she recognized Ellen as a kindred spirit—a woman who got on with what needed to be done.
She huffed out a breath as she glanced at the terra indigene young. Meat eaters, every one of them. “Didn’t think of that.”
“No reason why you would. We have a couple of cattle dogs, so packing some raw meat in the provisions is second nature for me. I’ll take care of that part of the camp.”