“Why didn’t you arrange for the cards to go directly to Lakeside?” Joe asked.

Something about the look Jesse gave the Others made Jackson growl and caused Joe’s fangs to lengthen to Wolf size.

Jesse said, “I had them shipped here because, even though I trust the woman I spoke to when I placed the order, I had a strong feeling that it was better for everyone if the cards weren’t sent directly to anyplace where a blood prophet lives.”

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20

Firesday, Juin 15

The Wolves, along with ranch hands on horseback, cut eleven yearling bison from the Prairie Gold herd. Then smoke wrapped around the animals’ necks, and Tolya and Nyx fed on each animal just enough to make it easy for Wolves and men to pen the bison in a makeshift corral that held tubs of water and feed.

After giving the bison time to drink and eat, they headed for Bennett, a pickup filled with supplies leading the way while the men and Wolves kept the bison moving.

Tolya had called the train station to let them know a livestock car would be required for the train going east to Lakeside. Joe hadn’t heard what the human at the station said, but he’d heard Tolya’s reply: if the terra indigene couldn’t reserve a car for livestock, no livestock would be permitted to travel by rail from this part of Thaisia. That meant the ranchers who sent cattle to the slaughterhouses located in cities beyond the Midwest Region would be stuck with animals they couldn’t sell and couldn’t move overland without losing half their herds to the predators who would gather for the feast.

Could he have stopped Tolya from making such a threat? Did it matter? The Sanguinati was far more skilled at dealing with the humans in Bennett than he could be. Besides, Tolya deferred to him whenever decisions involved the Intuits, who were the humans the terra indigene settlement needed to interact with on a regular basis.

They kept the herd moving at a steady pace.

Joe wanted to push on while they still had light, but Tobias argued that there would be nowhere to set up camp for the night once they passed the crossroads. There was nothing but human-controlled ranchland between the crossroads and Bennett, and once they arrived in town, they would have to hold the bison in the stockyard until the train was scheduled to depart. The less time they spent in town, the less time for people to stir up trouble.