I woke up, groggy. I was on the couch on my side, with a warm, furry body tucked in against my chest. Very warm. There were two more fuzzy lumps. One at my feet and another lying along my legs. The pups had somehow gotten into the house.
I yawned, stretching out my toes slowly so I wouldn’t disturb their sleep. I could hear voices behind me, in the kitchen area, murmuring. Either Shane and Max were here, or someone had put a TV in the kitchen and was watching it.
Lexi lifted her head and looked at me. The pup’s emerald green eyes were studying me. I got the feeling that she worried about me, but I wasn’t sure why I had that thought.
“I’m okay, Lexi.” I whispered, bringing up a hand to rub the pup’s back. The voices behind me stopped, as if they had heard my soft whisper.
Before I could wonder about that, Lexi yipped and bumped my chin with her head.
“Ouch.” That was louder. I grabbed the pup and wiggled to get away from the other two, trying hard not to push any of them onto the floor.
“Let me take her.” Max reached over the back of the couch and grabbed Lexi, the pup whining her protest. “Shhhh, Lexi. Let her get up and settled. She needs to stretch out her back and legs after sleeping for so long.”
Shane came around and pushed Betta to the end of the couch and then picked up Soren and placed him next to his sister.
“You can get up now.” His voice was a low rumble, sounding strange to me as if he was hiding his feelings about something.
I sat up and stretched out my legs. Arching my back to bring it back into alignment didn’t work as I had hoped. So, I stood and did it again, a soft cracking sound filling the air.
“Well, that must have felt good.” Max smiled at me, still holding Lexi, who had turned to watch everyone else.
I gave him a small smile, reaching out for Lexi. “My pup.”
Max grinned, handing over the wiggling pup.
I dug my nose into the pup’s fur and breathed in deep. This pup smelled like home. It would be tough to leave her. I wondered if it would be okay to keep the pup and then chastised myself. Lexi was still wild. She should return to the forest as part of a Pack. Sadness started to overcome me, but I pushed it back. It was what it should be.
The pup sighed, looking over towards Shane. He frowned and shook his head, before moving his eyes back up to meet mine.
“What happened?” His voice was still a deep rumble. I wondered what had caused him to want to hide his emotions, except his voice told me he was deeply impacted right now.
I shrugged. How do you tell someone that your brother-in-law was creepy even if you had no evidence? How do you tell them that someone had sent you a picture of your husband’s last moments, that there was a person out there that had seen him hurt but hadn’t helped him at all, even when he had begged for help? These men didn’t know Thomas. They wouldn’t understand.
“Flashback. To when my husband died.” That would have to do. I put the pup down on the coffee table, next to Shane. “It’s been a while since I’ve had one. They told me this is just part of the grieving process.”
I met Shane’s silver eyes and then glanced away. The man didn’t look like he believed me, and I hoped he wouldn’t ask any more questions about it. I didn’t know what to say.
Max interrupted by moving towards the back deck. “Well, we should get these pups outside and fed again. They should eat more.” He picked up Soren on his way to the French doors, using one foot to pull the door open wide enough so he could slip through. He stepped out onto the deck. “This is how you little rug rats broke in, isn’t it?” He moved outside with the male pup.
Shane stood and took Lexi in one hand and Betta in the other, following his friend.
I exhaled. No interrogation. Good. I turned and went to the refrigerator, checking the bowls of cut meat. Picking one, I followed the men outside.
The two men were standing with the pups facing them, sitting at their feet, all in a line. The pups stared up at them, contriteness crossing their faces. I couldn’t see the men’s faces but it almost looked like the pups were getting a stern talking to. I chuckled, and Lexi swung her head around to look at me.
Shane tensed. I watched the flow of muscle and tendons as his back muscles moved under his T-shirt. Wow. He must work out a lot. I wondered how they would feel under my fingertips, as I smoothed my hands down his back… I shook my head, blushing.
Max turned, catching me ogling his friend, and smirked, taking the bowl of meat from me. Luckily, he said nothing about it.
“I need to add more nutrients to the meat.” He dug into his pocket and slipped out a baggie, emptying it into the bowl. He glanced around before shrugging and using his hand to stir the bowl. Handing it back to me, he wiped his hand on his jeans.
“Ewww!” I wrinkled my nose at the bloody streaks. Max just raised an eyebrow.
“I have had worse on my clothes, believe me. If not me, my wife. Part and parcel of being in the medical field. In the meantime, make them eat. They need both the protein and those extra vitamins I’ve added.” Holding up his hand still smeared with the juices from the meat, he walked back into the house.
I walked over to the pups and knelt, placing the bowl in front of them. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to come to their defense, but my instincts drove me to do so.
“Leave them alone, Shane.” My voice was firm as I shoved one hand against his legs, causing him to stumble a few steps.
Shane jerked in surprise, his eyes searching out mine, but I refused to turn away from the pups in front of me.
Betta and Soren started to eat, but Lexi sniffed the bowl first and then looked up at me, crinkling her little nose. I grinned and pointed at the bowl.
“Eat, Lexi. You need this.”
The pup sighed and then joined her siblings in the meal.
I stood up and looked at the man still standing beside me. His silver eyes met mine. Another feeling of déjà vu passed over me, making me a little dizzy. There was something so familiar….
“A little bossy, aren’t you, Holden?” He grinned at me, before turning and following Max into the house, only pausing at the door to continue.
“Tomorrow, we should play hunting games with them. They need to learn that food isn’t just presented to them.” He disappeared into the house.
I stared after him. He was right. They needed to learn how to hunt. I was sure they would have an easier time learning to hunt than I had trying to figure out Shane.
He seemed like he was friendly one minute. Then he would turn distant before running away the next. I wondered what he was thinking. It was obvious he cared about the pups, but there was something more about this situation he wasn’t saying.
I turned back to watch the pups eat. I was getting some strange vibes here. Like something hid right under the surface and everyone else knew it was there except me.
It felt like I belonged here with the pups and…. Shane. Other times, it was as if I was the outsider. I didn’t understand the undertone I felt. While it made sense that these two men had found these pups in a lab where horrendous experiments were being done on them, I couldn’t understand why they cared so much about them. They were not scientists. In fact, while Max was a doctor, I wasn’t even sure what Shane did.
Movement caught my eye at the corner of the enclosure, disrupting my thoughts. Squinting, I saw a brown and tan wolf push its head through the brush next to the chain-linked fence. I knew it was staring right at me.
I held my breath, my first thought being to protect the pups. I moved between them and the edge of the deck. I wasn’t sure why I thought this wolf was here to harm us. But I was sure it wasn’t to say hello.
Glancing at the fence, I hoped that it would slow down the large beast. Because it was huge. I haven’t seen a larger wolf, ever.
It growled, its yellowish eyes locking in on mine, its nostrils flaring.
Lexi turned and looked at the wolf before growling her puppy growl back, her ruff on her neck standing straight up. The other two pups, looked up at her sound, growling and yipping as they moved to surround me.
I glanced down, surprised. It almost was as if the pups protected me. From a wolf who was several sizes bigger than I was, let alone them. I gasped. Such a large beast would snap them up in a second.
The links of the fence clanged. Whirling, I watched as the wolf scaled it in seconds. How the heck had it done that? I never heard of wolves in the wild climbing fences like that. They would either go around it or under it, digging to tunnel under the barrier.
It wasn’t until it dropped into the enclosure that fear caused my heart to pound.
It was in. In the enclosure. With me and my pups.
The pups went on the defense, with the two female pups taking up guard duty beside me. Soren, though, stopped growling, even though his lips pulled back away from his teeth. He streaked off towards the invading wolf, going on the offensive.
I gasped, knowing that he was way too small compared to it. He would get hurt if I didn’t stop him! Before I had taken two steps, though, the young male pup jumped, soaring up and grabbing the larger wolf’s nose.
The wolf shook its head, almost in annoyance, and the pup went flying, sliding across the ground to hit up against a rock.
Not even thinking of calling to the two men in the house, I ran to stand between the wild wolf and my pup. That thing hurt my pup. I would not let it kill him.
“Go on! Git! Get out of here!” My voice boomed out; its tone lowered to sound almost like a growl itself. I crouched down a little, giving myself a steadier base, my eyes locked on the wolf. I heard the doors to the deck open, but I didn’t acknowledge it. This wolf would attack if I gave it any chance.
“Leave.” Shane’s voice dropped low, his deep tones causing something to reverberate in my body. I wanted to drop to the ground and grovel, but I fought it and kept standing, protecting the young male.
The other wolf, though, dropped its eyes from me, dropping to its belly, a whine coming from it.
“Leave!” Shane’s voice roared in my mind, even though it didn’t sound like he had increased his volume at all to my ears.
With that, the large wolf turned and jumped, almost missing the top of the fence. Its hind feet scrabbled on the links before gaining a foothold and launching over the top, tumbling to the ground on the other side. It ran into the surrounding woods, its tail tucked between its legs, its body close to the ground.
The air still held tension. I resisted my struggle to look at the pup until all trace of the wolf had disappeared. I then moved to check him over, to make sure he was okay. He seemed a little dazed, but nothing appeared broken. I didn’t see any blood, either.
Max strode over to me. He must have followed Shane out. “Let me take him, Holden. Check on the other two and Shane.”
I glanced at him, bewildered. I understood the other two pups, but Shane?
Looking towards the house, I could almost see the tension radiating from the man. He stood tall, his hands clenched into fists and his eyes glinting in the light. His head was up, and he was glaring into the woods, his own nostrils flaring as he took in deep breaths of air. Something inside of me recognized that this was a dominant male, protecting those under his care. Something inside me thrilled.
I didn’t even look down at the two female pups, which were cowering near their den. I just walked straight to Shane, who didn’t seem to see me. His focus was on the woods, his eyes shifting over the landscape. And for danger. Step by deliberate step, I went up the stairs, tripping only on the last one. His eyes flicked down to meet mine at the noise.
I shivered. A different man stood in front of me. He was almost like a wild animal himself. Feral. A strange glint shone in his eyes, reminding me of wild wolves I had encountered in the past. He was silent and watching me. I knew he was waiting for something. Some signal from me. I just wasn’t sure what.
I reached out and touched him, sliding my hand over his forearm. “Shane.”
He growled. Growled! My eyes widened in surprise.
Except, that didn’t scare me. Instead it made me want to comfort him.
I grabbed his face with my hands, pulling his head down closer to me, shaking it a little. “Shane, it’s okay. The pups are fine. I am fine. The wolf is not here anymore. You made the wolf go.”
In my gut, I knew I said the right thing. I suspected that fear for those he protected consumed him.
I heard a weak whine.
Whirling around, I looked in horror. Lexi was down, on her side, her little body shaking. Her tongue was out, her pants rapid. Betta was the one whining, poking at her sick sister.
