Chapter 1
She felt the vibration of the train along the tracks long before it came into view, curving around the last of the grassy hills on its way to the flat space by the depot. She knew she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the train tracks. Not this time of day, or anytime of night.
Then again, if Dela Woodsey was the kind of wolf who did everything her brother said, she'd never get out of the house.
As she loped back up the hill away from the line, there was a small rustle in the grass behind her. Carrie Mykris inched closer on careful paws, dropping the bundle of their dresses out of her mouth as she came alongside her. "Scoot over, Dela, I can't see a thing over your big, fat head."
"Hush now, Carrie. They'll hear us." Dela scolded. Bad enough that she was sneaking a peek herself, but it was double trouble with Carrie along. Still, she could hardly leave her best friend behind, and if she hadn't openly invited her the odds were good that Carrie would have found a way to tag along anyhow. It wasn't like she had anyone to keep her at home...
So few of them did, really. Between those that had never come back from the Great War and those the Spanish Flu was taking even now, the Lonegran pack was getting thin on men.
It was to the point where even the Alpha admitted it. Until they could grow themselves back, they needed to take on outsiders. Not from anywhere nearby -- that'd be pack suicide. Real outsiders, from back East or even California. Truly fresh blood.
Omer, Dela's older brother, had been absolutely livid at the whole idea. She shivered in the tall grass, remembering how he'd snarled and raged inside their fragile wooden house.
"Come West, young rogue, come West! The prairie is wide open, and so are the legs of the widows and orphans in my poor little pack. Come see for yourself all the good things we have for the taking." He'd growled, furiously pacing the room. "It's not right, Dela. We're strong enough. We need more men, but we know how to make those all on our own."
She hadn't argued with him. Why bother? Omer hadn't been right since he'd come back from the War. So angry, so troubled... and he wasn't the only one. A lot of the boys hadn't come back the same, or even come back at all.
Which was why, in Dela's opinion, the train was a good thing.
It didn't look like much as it slowed down for the depot stop. Just a few passenger cars and the usual freight cars loaded with a mix of coal and cattle. She lifted her nose and sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent of the extra cargo she knew was aboard.
Beside her, Carrie did the same. As the cars came to a stop they both crept forward, inch by inch, scenting the wind. If I sniff any harder, Dela, I'm going to hyperventilate and faint. Carrie sent her note through the mind link, her eagerness spiked with anxiety and fear. Do you smell anything extra at all?
By way of answer, Dela shook her head and huffed out a big breath of air. She'd pulled half the prairie in through her nostrils, and she wasn't picking up anything past the coal smoke. The wind was just flat-out blowing the wrong way, dammit. She took a chance and sat up on her haunches, raising her head out of the grass a few inches.
Down the slope on the train platform she could see the fireman talking with the station agent as they took on water for the train. Twisting her ears, she could just make out the sound of their voices.
"Quiet crew you've got with you this afternoon. No one wants to get out and stretch their legs?"
"Nah," the fireman said. "They loaded up back in Cheyenne and haven't budged a muscle, the lot of them. Every one of them's got their own seat and they're parked in it like their marking their territory."
That's got to be them, Dela thought. Who else marked space like an arrogant pack of wanna-be alpha males?
"Troublemakers, you think?" asked the station agent, flicking his eyes back toward the train car. Out here, folks had no patience for that kind of thing.
"Don't think so," the fireman shrugged. "Hard to tell. Not a talkative bunch. Sober lot. Fancy dressers, too."
Tell me what they're saying, Dela! Carrie sent through the mind link. Is this even the right train?
Carrie, hush! I'm trying to listen. Dela leaned forward just a little more, taking one tiny, cautious step toward the tracks.
Around her, the grass moved just a shade too much, and the men's heads turned. She snapped back to the prairie dirt and willed herself small and invisible.
"You see that?" asked the fireman. "Looked like a wolf."
The station agent snorted. "Not likely here. Peak of the afternoon, and besides, we keep 'em down with the bounty."
"Bounty? I thought they were calling that off."
"That's what it said in the paper," the station agent allowed. "State won't pay it this year. County will, though. Two silver dollars. Just take the ears down to the Justice of the Peace."
"Noted, noted," the fireman nodded, turning back to his water and his train. "I'll have to bring my other gun with me next time. Could be good hunting around here."
"No, not here. Like I said, we keep 'em down round here. Further down the line is where you'll find them. Always wolves being spotted round Lonegran district and those new little towns."
The engineer swung down from the cab. Dela couldn't see him, making one with the prairie as she was, but she could hear the smart clomp-stomp of his boots along the boards of the station platform and the sharp boom of his voice. "You ladies about finished with your chat? We've a schedule to keep. If they're not getting off, we'd best be moving on. There's a lot to unload in Lonegran, and I want to get it done before dark."
There was grumbling and stomping and sloshing water and more stomping and then, with a sharp whistle, the train pulled away.
Dela put one paw out over Carrie's paw and held it there for a slow count of 300. Then she sat up and wheeled around for their bundle of clothes, snatching it up and taking off at a run. If they were going to beat the train to the Lonegran station -- and avoid her brother's watchful eye -- they needed to move fast.
