Simon opened Howling Good Reads’ back door an inch and sniffed the air. The Elders’ primal tang drifted around the area behind the stores, but they had moved away from the Courtyard. Were they heading back to the wild country, or were the Elders gathering in another part of the city for a massive hunt?

He poked his head out the door, ready to duck back inside.

“Simon!” Henry called at the same time Simon heard the phone in HGR’s office ring. Well, Vlad was working upstairs and could take the call.

The Grizzly’s voice wasn’t coming from the studio or yard; it came from behind the Liaison’s Office.

<Simon!>

The tension in Vlad’s voice had Simon running up the stairs to the office.

Vlad held out the phone. Simon’s heart raced and his body trembled. He’d seen that look on Vlad’s face once before.

Taking the receiver, he said, “This is Simon.”

“The metal snake stays in its burrow, or we will kill it.” It wasn’t a voice meant for human speech, and even over a phone line, it scraped against Simon’s bones.

“Forever?”

Silence. Had they taken the question as a challenge?

“The trains bring some of the human foods we use in the Courtyard,” he added.

“You do not need human food, Wolf.”

“The sweet blood needs human food.” By this time, Henry, Tess, and Nyx had entered the office. They looked alarmed when he mentioned Meg. All right, there weren’t many things that couldn’t come by truck or ship if they were supplying only the Courtyard, but it would be good to know if trains were no longer a means of transportation.

“Day dweller,” was the snarled final answer. “It travels with the sun now.”

Meaning trains, and any cargo, could no longer travel through the wild country between sundown and sunrise—a rule that was already in place but hadn’t been strictly enforced. Simon wondered how many trains would be destroyed and how many passengers killed before humans believed the access through the wild country was really limited.

But not completely denied—yet.

“The sweet blood is the howling not-Wolf?”

“She sings with the Wolfgard,” he replied warily.

A huff. A snuff. A... laugh? Then the buzz in his ear of a disconnected call.

<Wolf.>

<Air?>

<The Elders are returning to the wild country, but we think some of them are curious about our Meg and will visit again.>

He whimpered. Couldn’t help it. He put the receiver back in the cradle and noticed Lieutenant Montgomery had joined the group in the office.

“We’ll need to talk to Captain Burke and Agent O’Sullivan to convey a message.”

“Can the police get out there now?” Montgomery asked, gesturing toward the windows to indicate the city.