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)
“Look at him, Fluff. He doesn’t look like he could be a weapon of mass destruction,” I murmured, and as if the universe was listening, it tripped him. Duncan’s paw caught on something, and he went butt over head, tumbling once before shooting up to his feet again, like nothing had happened.
I grinned even as that familiar low-grade fear filled my stomach.
But whatever happens, we’re going to be together.
Between us, we could face anything.
Like my harbinger of death biological parent, who had gotten knocked out by his brother and left to sleep in the yard for hours until Franklin had taken pity and, with help, had loaded him into his car and taken him to a nearby motel. When he got back, my uncle had given me the basics. My DNA dad was going to back off, but he wanted to talk. Eventually. In the future, but in the near future.
He seemed like a stubborn goat with an ego problem, but of course he would be just that.
And I’d agreed. A part of me hoped he would forget and change his mind—it wouldn’t be the first time he did—but another very small and petty part of me was glad he had regrets and was forced to live with them now. And that very tiny, itty-bitty part of me hoped he would try and work at it, that he would come to grovel. I had questions.
We’d see.
I wasn’t holding my breath.
Plus, I had to survive this first.
Henri made a deep sound in that barrel chest as two men walked across the patchy mountain grass. I was sure the brothers, who told me all about how they’d been called the Huodou when they’d lived briefly in China, could sense my nerves, but I’d decided I wasn’t going to hide them. Duncan meant the world to me; I’d never downplay that.
The brothers and I had already discussed our game plan for this. They had shared with me what they would say to Duncan, and I appreciated that they’d been willing to, so we were all on the same page. I couldn’t blame them for hoping there was a chance the donut might go back with them. It wouldn’t be fair to not present him with every option he had either. Even if that option made me want to curl into a ball.
Duncan and Agnes bounded over right on time, my boy coming straight for us, body-slamming me in his excitement, his head and limbs rubbing over parts of mine. I hugged him and pet him and groaned when he stepped on sensitive places. Then I watched as he climbed over me to pounce on Henri, running up his body in a way that reminded me of a lion cub trying to play with its father.
Henri laid there, nosing Duncan back, letting him use him like a trampoline.
And then I watched as my puppy took a flying leap off before charging toward the adult hellhounds, biting at their pants before running circles around their legs. One of the brothers gave me a subtle nod before they kneeled. There were smiles and pets, and it was easy to see the three of them not only genuinely like each other, but that there was a bond there.
They were telepathic just like Dunky, they had confirmed. He couldn’t communicate with them any more clearly than he did with me, but they understood enough. One day, when he was older, that gift would allow him to include more and more people in his conversations, slowly but surely.
My hand strayed back to Henri’s leg, the one closest to me, and I held it as he set his head on top of mine again.
We hadn’t mentioned Alaska to Agnes, who hadn’t warmed up to the men, but she came and sat to the side of Fluff, and the three of us watched as Duncan plopped on his butt and stared up at his much, much older brothers. Listening. Paying attention.
They were probably telling him how happy they were to meet him. To know he existed. To see him doing so well.
Then I imagined that they probably started explaining about how they lived very far from here, and that their place was in some ways a lot like ours.
At some point, they were going to get to the part where they told him that eventually, someday, he would be able to turn into a human boy, and how that fire that came out of his throat would become so much stronger and could be dangerous if he didn’t learn how to manage his emotions well. The same went for his tail. They wouldn’t tell him yet that when he got to a certain age, his bite would become deadly, but we had at least a decade or two before then, they’d warned me.