Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I lifted my fingers at him before holding out my hand to one of the older men; the man flinched a little when he seemed to finally notice me. “Hello there,” he said, glancing at his companions before taking my hand with an unexpected gentleness. Out of nowhere, he grinned before turning to the leader of the community, every inch of his serious face disappearing like I’d imagined it.
Ilya, the Alaskan leader, shrugged. “Told you.”
The older man focused back on me, his grin still in place while he murmured in a surprisingly kind voice, “You’re the pup’s guardian?”
Duncan leaned against my lower leg, sending me a dose of “love.”
“Yes?” I replied. He seemed amused. What had Ilya told him? “I’m Nina. Thank you for coming all the way here,” I went on, not sure what was going on. When he let go of my hand, I aimed for the other older man and took his too.
He was smirking by that point too.
Did they know who my father was?
I didn’t have time to worry about that though. If they knew, they knew. I gestured toward my boy, watching the strangers closely when I did. “This is Duncan,” I told them.
Duncan plopped on his butt and aimed those bright red eyes at each man. His tail was straight in the air, attentive and watchful. His nostrils flared as he smelled them better. With all he’d grown, his ears didn’t look so massive on his head anymore. I’d looked up pictures of adolescent bloodhounds, and Duncan’s body—with the exception of his tail and coloring—was identical to them. Big ol’ ears, intelligent eyes, long and lean, and still growing.
No one reacted; no one said a single word.
The two strange men continued inspecting Duncan, and he looked at them right back. His tail had stopped swishing and was standing straight up, motionless. I made myself stay relaxed, kept my breathing even, my hands loose.
I hadn’t thought about it until then, but if they were the same as Duncan, could they speak telepathically too?
A silent minute later, one of the older men turned to the other, and they both smiled much bigger than I ever would have imagined from how emotionless their faces had seemed when we’d first walked in.
“He’s perfect,” a voice I didn’t recognize said in my head.
I froze and caught the eye of the first older man who winked at me.
It was Ilya who ordered in that tone that was very close to Henri’s Great Wolf one, “Tell them how you found him.”
Beside me, Henri grunted. “What did I tell you about demanding anything from mine?”
Not making a smug face was almost impossible.
The other leader sighed before narrowing his eyes in irritation. “Can you please tell them how you found the pup, Nina?” he asked pretty sarcastically.
Fluffy looked at me and nodded an encouragement.
This man would always have my back, and I loved him so much. And so, I exhaled slowly, then I told the strangers the story. All of it.
The men from Alaska didn’t say a word until I was done.
There were more looks, followed by an overbearing silence that even Franklin and Ema seemed uncertain over. It was obvious from their body language. We were all being weird.
I rocked on my heels, hoping someone could just say something.
I waited and I waited and I—
“Love,” Duncan told me.
His entire attention was focused on me. And I smiled so hard I felt it in my chest. Love you too, I mouthed to him.
Ilya noticed. “What did he say?”
I tugged my donut’s ear gently. “He told me he loved me.”
The two older men shared yet another look, and I had to tap into my inner Henri to keep from making a face, because that was getting annoying. Did they find what they were looking for in him? Was he whatever they thought he was?
Couldn’t they just tell me?
“Duncan, would you come here?” the winking older man asked, and I appreciated it because I was dang near certain he could’ve asked him telepathically instead.
If Duncan answered, it was only to him, but a moment later, my boy trotted over. With a lot more agility than I would have expected, both men kneeled to pet him, touching his ears, checking his teeth, even rubbing their fingers over his tail in a way that said they had no fear of his magical fire.
They smiled the entire time, and I didn’t imagine the wistfulness when one of them sighed and said, “We’ve thought for so long that we were the last of our kind.”
I swallowed hard at what that implied.
The other one tickled him beneath the chin, and Duncan wagged, earning an even wider grin from the man. “You’re a good-looking young man, little brother.”
That… that didn’t mean biologically that was the case… but… but could it be?
“We haven’t seen our mother in sixty years,” the winking man explained, his attention still on my donut. “We weren’t sure….”