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.”

“Thanks.”

They enjoyed a comfortable minute of silence, just listening to the other women settling the children. Then Ellen said, “You trying as hard as I am to not think about what’s happening on the ranch and in town?”

Jesse nodded. “I keep thinking we’d see the smoke if the worst happened, but I’m not sure that’s true.”

“Guess we’ll find out in the morning.”

“Guess we will.”

“Well. I’d best get to chopping up some of that meat before all the youngsters realize they’re hungry.”

Jesse worked up a smile. “Feeding that crew should be interesting.”

While Ellen went to work preparing meat for the furred and feathered, Jesse continued to keep watch. Had Rachel seen clearly what human eyes and brain refused to understand? What might have happened if a Wolf hadn’t spoken up for them?

What would happen to any of them if there was no one like Joe Wolfgard left to speak for them when the Elders came down from the hills?

Jesse rubbed the ache in her left wrist.

They were coming. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name.

•••

Ignoring the dead bison, they gathered around the Wolves who had been heaped into a mound. They sniffed, circled, considered.

<This killing,> one of them finally said. <This is what it means to be human. This is what humans do.>

The anger grew slowly, filled muscle and bone and blood. And in a few of them, it... changed. They rose on their hind legs and shifted the shapes of legs and hips in order to stand upright. Front paws changed to hands, but the fingers still retained the claws of a predator. The body reshaped to a powerful torso and shoulders, a strong neck, and a head that retained the teeth and jaws that could bite through bone.

They would tower over their prey, but this shape would be able to enter dwellings, dig out what tried to hide.