Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I’d given her shit about that when we’d left, but apparently, she’d known it was going to happen.
After I’d pointed out that it was a wolf, she’d done some research and had found out that in the city of Mooresville, you weren’t allowed to have wild animals as pets.
Since she wasn’t keen on giving up the wolf, she’d looked up breeders from out of state and had started blatantly lying to everyone who asked about him.
“Your old lady has a wolf in my house.”
I looked up at Aaron, trying to ignore the way thinking about Ellen as an ‘old lady’ made me feel.
“She thought it was just a dog when she first got it,” I told him.
He snorted. “I don’t see how that’s possible. The thing looks like a fuckin’ wolf.”
I shrugged. “She’s telling everyone that it’s a wolf-dog. So let’s go with that.”
He gave me a droll look.
“Yeah, let’s,” he said. “’Cause then I don’t have to report a wild fucking animal in my own home.”
I grinned.
He grinned, too, until Linc started laughing and caught his attention.
“I saw the video today,” he said.
I winced.
I’d seen it, too.
Twice more because it’d been posted all over social-fucking-media.
“I recommend filing a police report,” Aaron said. “I can help you out with that in the morning.”
I grunted in reply.
“I was thinking the same thing myself, but was waiting to hear what the deal was before I strongly suggested it to my kid,” I informed the man at my side.
“I’m assuming that by strongly suggested, you mean force,” he chuckled. “But I agree with you. That wasn’t cool, and Linc’s lucky nothing worse happened. Apparently, this is the new thing going on in the area. Antagonizing the biggest guys to see who can get them to snap. A lot of times it doesn’t always end like it did with Linc. I highly suspect that was what was going on there.”
I grimaced.
“Exactly what we fuckin’ need,” I grumbled to myself. “Fucking teenagers being stupid.”
I’d been a stupid teenager once, but I’d never been that stupid.
“I’ll ask him what it was about later tonight,” I grumbled. “And try to enjoy the rest of the party since y’all are already two hours into it.”
Aaron’s grin was unrepentant. “I only got here fifteen minutes ago, and it’s at my own house.”
That was obvious since he was still in uniform. His dog, Tank, was soaking up the attention across the room, and creeping closer and closer to Achilles.
“Your dog is about to meet a wolf,” I pointed out.
Aaron’s eyes followed my gaze, and he grinned. “Tank’s a curious little shit. Plus, there’s another dog in his territory. He won’t hurt the pup, though. More like let it know who’s boss in this place.”
Tank finally made it across the area and stopped with his face only inches away from the wolf pup’s.
They looked at each other, sized each other up, and then each started to bark. Though, Achilles’ was more of a howl.
The entire room froze at the noise, and I started to chuckle. Aaron had obviously found it funny as well.
“He’s never met someone like him before. I’d bet he’s trying to determine the smell, and why he’s different.” Aaron was grinning wide.
Before the noise could get any louder than it already was, I walked over to break up the bark/howl fest and scooped up Achilles.
The moment he was in my arms, he calmed, but he bared his teeth at the much larger Tank.
“He’d eat you for breakfast, wolf,” I told the pup. “Time for you to go visit the great outdoors.”
Tank growled as I passed, and I snorted at the ornery other dog.
“You’ll have to remember that you can’t waltz into a bigger dog’s territory, and think you’re allowed to be there.” I told the pup as I made my way outside. The moment we were in the yard, I let the wolf go, and he immediately started to investigate.
I heard the door open and close behind me, and knew before she’d even wrapped her arms around me that it was Ellen who’d followed me out.
Chapter 22
May your coffee kick in before reality does.
-Coffee Cup
Ellen
The door clicked softly behind me as I followed Jessie out.
“You look tired,” I murmured to Jessie’s back as I wrapped my arms around him from behind.
He grunted in agreement.
“I feel fuckin’ worn the hell out,” he agreed immediately, wrapping his large, callused hand around my hands that were locked around his gut. “Didn’t help that today was humid as fuck, though. Wearing that mask and all those clothes makes it hard to breathe as it is. Add in ninety percent humidity like it was today, and I was ready to get the hell gone before I even got started.”
I ran my nose along the muscles of Jessie’s shoulder blades. They rippled underneath me as I did it.