Ethan (The K9 Files Book 1)

On her way back to the couch, much of her bravado slipped away. She managed a few more steps into the living room, where she collapsed onto the cushions. Her two dogs joined her again. She cuddled them the best she could, trying to calm them down, so they didn’t jump up and hurt her arm. With the painkillers, she felt better, but, at the same time, she felt weepy and exhausted.

She sat on the couch, her feet tucked under her, so she curled into the corner again, finding that position the most comfortable. One of the dogs stretched out beside her, his head on her legs; the other one lay at her feet. Her sore shoulder was propped up with a pillow, and she just closed her eyes for a moment.

Only a moment ended up being several moments. When she opened them again, Ethan stood in front of her, setting a cup of tea on the small coffee table at her side. She smiled at him. “Is that a second cup? You don’t have to look after me.”

“No, I don’t,” he said calmly. “But I want to. And, yes, it’s a second cup. Your first went cold.”

Warmth flooded through her, filling all the lonely spots inside, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. “You’re a very nice man.”

He gave her a startled look and then chuckled. “You have no idea,” he teased. “I could have completely rummaged through your place and stolen all your money, while you were out cold.”

“Good luck with that,” she said with a smile. “I don’t have anything worth stealing.”

His gaze warmed in understanding. He looked around at her house. “Is this place yours?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s comfy,” he said. “I really like that. Coziness is something you miss when you don’t have a home base. This is a home, not just a house.”

“It is,” she said. “You’ll find your home base again.”

He nodded and sat on the couch at the far side from where she sat. “I will,” he said in agreement.

“Where are your dogs?”

“They’re all back at the house,” he said. He glanced at his watch. “After I have tea and get you something to eat, I’ll head out to look after them.”

“I don’t think I could eat anything,” she confessed. “My stomach is pretty queasy.”

He frowned and studied her face. “Headache?”

She shook her head, then shuddered as pain racked up and down her spine. “Okay, so there hadn’t been a headache,” she said starkly, “but that movement may have changed things.”

“How about just a little bit of soup and a piece of toast?”

She winced. “Honestly, I don’t think I could eat anything.” When he continued to frown at her, she smiled and said, “No point in adding food to a queasy stomach.”

“Unless it calms down the stomach and gives the painkiller something to work on,” he said. “I can make you a sandwich.”

She lay here, thinking about it, and then said, “Well, if you made one and left it on the coffee table, then I could have it when I am hungry.”

On that note he stood and walked the few steps into the kitchen. She could hear him puttering around, but, since he didn’t ask her any questions about what she wanted, she knew it would be whatever came her way. Not that she minded being looked after. It was a novelty she could get used to. She tucked a little deeper into the couch and let the painkillers work.

When she surfaced again, her house was empty. She straightened painfully and saw a note on the coffee table beside a platter of sandwiches. She laughed. “Unless he’s joining me, that’s way too many sandwiches,” she said out loud.

The dogs looked at her and wagged their tails.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said with a smile. “Sandwiches are people food, not for dogs.”

She reached for the note to see it was from Ethan. She read it out loud. “I didn’t want to awaken you. Sandwiches until morning. I’ll call you later.”

She smiled, made her way to the bathroom, and, after she awkwardly washed her hands, she walked into the kitchen, awkwardly putting on the teakettle. What she really wanted was a cup of comforting tea to have with the sandwiches.

Cinn turned and checked the clock, surprised to see how late it was. She must have slept for several hours.

As she poured milk into her cup of tea, her phone rang. She carefully maneuvered the phone and the teacup out to the living room where she sat on the couch again. “Hello?”

“Hey, you’re awake. I was afraid to call earlier, in case I woke you up.”

She smiled. “I’m definitely awake. Thanks for the plate of sandwiches.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Just sitting down to a cup of tea and having my first bite.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “You made enough for two. Are you coming back?”

“I wasn’t sure if you would go to bed and sleep for the night.”

“I’m thinking about it,” she said, “but maybe, once I get some food in me, I’ll be in decent shape for a little while.”

“In that case, I might pop by again.”

“I’ll save you a sandwich.”

She carefully placed the phone down and picked up a sandwich. It looked to be ham and cheese. At her first bite, she deemed it excellent. She lifted the corner of the bread to see what gave it the extra special flavor and found a touch of sauce. As she tasted it, she realized it was a mix of mustard, horseradish and mayonnaise. It was really good.

She settled back, happy to relax without crying out in pain. At the hospital, she’d been devastated by the shoulder injury. At the moment though, the painkiller was still taking off the edge, and it wasn’t too bad. Of course, if she jerked it or moved it too much, then that was a different story. But, in the sling like it was, she was doing quite well with one hand.

She sipped her tea and waited for Ethan to arrive.

Something about him just made them almost instant friends. It was a little disconcerting. She wasn’t the kind of person to step into a relationship as fast as she had stepped into this friendship. Was it a good thing? She trusted him, but she wasn’t sure that was smart. She really liked him as a person. It was obvious he had a big heart.

As the headlights turned off the highway and came down her long driveway, she watched uneasily, not sure if it was Ethan or somebody else.

Instinctively she wanted to get up and turn off all the lights in the living room, but it was too late. The truck was only two hundred yards away. Anybody coming down the highway would have caught sight of her well-lit house. With much relief, she watched Ethan hop out of his truck. When he went to lower the tailgate, and a dog hopped down, she thought he’d brought Bella with him.

No. This one was bigger. Darker fur but missing in spots. Scarred?

With the dog on a leash, which was a surprise, he approached the front door, knocked and then stepped in. Instantly her dogs went crazy. She tried to call them back, but they weren’t having anything to do with that. Finally Ethan made a sharp whistling sound, and both dogs glared at him, then came back to sit beside her.

She turned to look at the newcomer. It was not Bella. Cinn frowned and shifted back in the couch. “And who’s this?”

“His collar says Bart,” Ethan said quietly. “He’s one of the dogs I rescued from the drug center.”

At that, the shepherd swiveled his head to look at Ethan. Then tilted his head to the side.

“Hey, Bart. It will be okay, boy.”

The dog slowly lay down on the floor. She wasn’t sure he understood what had happened to him, but he was understanding something, … an absence of abuse probably. “So there were two females and two males, including Sally?”

“Appears to be, yes.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off the new arrival. The dog didn’t scare her, but a calculating look in his eye made her ever-so-slightly worried. She was used to dogs, but these dogs Ethan kept bringing by were not the kind that made her comfortable to be around. They didn’t laze about on the floor like any normal dog.

Bart tracked her movements as if she had something he wanted. And then she realized she was holding a sandwich. In fact, she really did have something he wanted. She carefully replaced the sandwich on the plate, watching as the dog tracked her hand movements there. She grinned. “Did you feed him?”

“Oh, he’s been fed,” Ethan said. He walked forward, ordering the dog to heel. The dog fell into step behind him.

Surprised, she looked at Ethan, at the dog, and then back at Ethan again. “They’re very well trained.”

“They are very well trained. I just don’t know the extent of their training or their loyalty,” he said. “I’m still figuring that out.”

“I’m not sure how you would do that.”

“I’m putting them through their paces. But it’s taking some time. I’m working with them one-on-one, so I hope it’s okay that I brought this guy.” He walked over to the easy chair and sat himself down with Bart at his side. But Bart kept his eyes on the sandwiches.

“Sure.” She motioned at the platter and said, “Help yourself.”

He leaned forward, picked up a sandwich, and, as he pulled it toward him, Bart made a snap toward it. Instantly Ethan corrected him on it and had the dog lay down until he was calm.

She watched in fascination. Ethan did everything in a controlled, ready manner, as if he was expecting it. “You knew he would lunge for that, didn’t you?”

“They were given just enough mistreatment that I figured he had to fight for what he wanted, especially food. A sandwich is an easy test.”

“How do you deal with that?”

“He just needs to be corrected every time he steps out of line,” Ethan said.

She nodded and continued to watch as Bart tracked the sandwich. With every bite it seemed like Ethan made exaggerated hand movements, moving the sandwich out to where it was obviously visible to the dog; then he would pick it up in a slow motion and take a bite. “Are you teasing him?”

“No,” Ethan said. “I’m giving him lots of chances to go for it again.”

“He seems to have learned quickly,” she said when Bart made no move for the sandwich.

Ethan nodded. “If we were past this kind of training, then I could give him the last bite. But, as it is, I won’t take that chance. It’s pretty easy to ruin a good dog’s training with treats.”

She glanced at her two dogs and shrugged. “Mine are spoiled, not that they don’t have some training, as they do, but I tend to get lax. Still, they aren’t that bad.”

“Most dogs are spoiled,” Ethan said. “But there’s spoiling, and then there’s training. You don’t dare mix the two.”

She wasn’t sure she agreed with that, but he was the one dealing with dangerous dogs. She had gentle house pets. She reached for the rest of her sandwich, and Bart’s head turned to track her hand. A little unnerved, she settled back and took a bite. “He’s not taking his gaze off me.”

Ethan nodded and gave a small self-correction on Bart’s leash, and Bart turned his gaze toward Ethan.

She was stunned. “He really is well trained.”

“He is,” Ethan confirmed. “Almost too well trained. My dogs in the military were this way. Makes me wonder if they’ve ever had any downtime or playtime. Like people, you can’t work all day without repercussions.”

She ate quietly for several long moments, studying the dog. “I don’t get a sense of animosity from him.”

“No,” Ethan said quietly. “Attentiveness. He’s unsure. He’s unsure of me. He’s unsure of you.”

She smiled. “And maybe that’s a good thing.”

He reached for another sandwich. His phone rang just then. Instead of picking up another sandwich, he pulled his phone from his pocket.

She listened quietly while he answered.

It was Gunner. It was obvious from the conversation that Gunner had heard about today’s events. Ethan looked at her and said, “I’m with her right now, and she’s fine. I have one of the dogs with me too.”

She could hear an exclamation coming out of the phone.

He just chuckled. “It’s fine, Gunner. I know what I’m doing.”

They spoke for a few more moments, and he pocketed the phone.

“I gather news traveled fast?”

Ethan nodded, took the sandwich and scarfed it down in several bites. He looked at her and said, “You should be heading to bed soon.”

She wanted to shrug, a movement she was only now realizing how often she did by the pain that poked her every time. “I will, after time for the next painkillers.” She checked her watch and made a face. “Essentially that’s now.”

“Do you need help getting undressed?”

She frowned, sat up and thought about it. “No, I think I’m fine. I won’t attempt to shower tonight.”

“If you want to in the morning, I can come by and change the dressing.”

“I think I’m supposed to leave it for a day and then go into the clinic and have them take a look at it.”

He nodded and stayed quiet. Finally he stood, ordered the dog to walk with him and said, “Call me in the morning. If you hear anything around the place tonight, you let me know.”

She turned to him, accidentally jerking her shoulder. She cried out and clapped a hand on her injury. After a few moments of deep breathing, the greasy waves of pain settled down into her stomach. “Why would you even say that?”

He stared at her with a steady gaze. “You’re the one who got shot. And we never did track down the truck.”

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I forgot about that truck.”

“And maybe you should keep forgetting about it,” he said. “Enough has gone on today. I doubt any more danger is coming your direction.”

“But you don’t know that, do you?”

He tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you worried?”

She chewed on her bottom lip as she considered the question. “I wasn’t until you brought it up.”

“As soon as you lay down, that truck would have popped back into your mind,” he said.

She groaned. “Yes, you’re right. It would have.” She walked carefully to the window and stared up at the highway. She pointed where she’d seen the truck. Of course it wasn’t there. “I didn’t see it close up, so I couldn’t give you details about the driver. It seems like it was the same truck that was back later in the day.”

He stood, frowning, thinking for a long moment. “If you want, I can go home, grab a few things, work with the dogs a little bit and then come back. I don’t want to be away from the animals too long.”

“Not necessary.” She smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

But he wasn’t convinced. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you here alone.”

“It’s what we have to do,” she said, “because I’m sure as hell not coming to your house. So I’ll stay here. You stay there, and it’ll be fine.”

He thought about it for a moment and said, “I’ll come back and check on you tonight.”

“I’ll be asleep,” she warned. “Don’t wake me up.”

He grinned. “You’ll never know I was here.”

“If you come into my house, I sure as hell better,” she said, “because that would really freak me out. I don’t want to wake up with you wandering through my house, scaring the bejesus out of me.”

He watched as she headed to the stairs. “I’ll take a walk around and check your security.”

She made a face at him as she stepped up on the fourth and then the fifth step. “Now you’re really scaring me.”

“Go take your painkillers, get ready for bed. Have a good night’s sleep. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

With that, she had to be satisfied. She trusted him. No point in second-guessing herself now. He’d been there for her so far. She wasn’t about to let nerves change anything. She still had her dogs. They might not be trained guard dogs, but they were great early warning systems.

Upstairs she could hear him walking through the house. She took off her jeans, leaving on her yoga top, and managed to pull on a clean T-shirt. She did a quick job with a toothbrush, a face wash, and then gratefully sagged into her bed. She took her painkillers and turned out the light. One of the dogs hopped up on the bed beside her, and the other lay on the floor. She didn’t hear another sound. She just closed her eyes, rolled over and fell asleep.

Ethan checked over the security on her house. There was only one word to call it—dismal. He didn’t like the look of any of it. He pulled a couple windows closed. That would not stop a professional break-in, but it would stop most people. He checked the back door and realized it, too, was Mickey Mouse. He propped up a kitchen chair under the door handle. If nothing else, she’d wake up and would have a chance to escape, if she heard a commotion downstairs.

After doing the best he could, he walked out the front door, locking it shut behind him, and stood on the step for a long moment.

Bart stood at his side, never making a sound, but matched his step pace for pace. He reached out a hand and held it in front of Bart’s nose. Bart sniffed it several times, then stared at him. He eased a hand on Bart’s forehead, feeling the dog tense at the contact. “It’s all right, boy. Your days of being abused are over,” he said gently.

He didn’t know if the dog understood or not, but he’d like to think that the tone of his voice and his reassuring hand giving pleasure and not pain would go a long way to helping the dog understand. They stood like that for a long moment, as Ethan gently scratched the dog behind the ears and then down the neck.

It would be a long time before he could clip their claws or take the matted hair off their coats. But he’d take every step in the right direction he could. He motioned toward the truck, and the dog hopped into the bed on his own. Ethan closed the tailgate, got into the driver’s side, reversed the truck and headed up to the highway.

Once there he parked and got out with the dog and took a look to see if he could spot any tracks. Darkness was settling in, and he had to use the flashlight on his cell phone to check.

There were definitely tracks. The problem was, there were too many of them. Giving up that idea, he hopped back into the truck, allowing the dog in the front of the cab this time. The dog walked over to the far passenger side and stared out the window, but he obediently sat while Ethan drove back to the house.

He didn’t like leaving Cinn alone. He figured he’d give himself a couple hours to sleep and then do a quick sweep again of her property, making sure all was well. This way he could change the dogs out at the same time.

Back at his rental house, Ethan let Bart into the house and proceeded to dish out dog food for all four of them. He had Sally segregated. She needed a lot more care.

He still wasn’t sure what the relationship was between them. He had her in a spare bedroom down on the main floor. With food in his hand, he walked in, keeping the door closed behind him, and gently checked her dressings. Her tail wagged when she saw him. He crouched in front of her and gently stroked her head. He helped her to straighten up slightly so she could eat. Once she plowed into her food, he realized she was definitely improving.

Nothing like seeing a growing appetite in an injured dog to realize she was well on her way to mending. He sat with her for a long moment.

A dog barked outside the door to the spare room. Opening it, Ethan found Bart looking up at him expectantly. Ethan put a leash on him, then let him inside the room, so he could meet Sally. Her tail went crazy, and she whimpered. The two dogs brushed their noses back and forth. Bart stuck his head into her food and had a few bites, and she didn’t seem to care. But then he wanted to sniff her all over. The problem was, she was ill and definitely had that medicine-sick smell. But Bart didn’t seem to mind. As soon as he was done sniffing, he found a corner of the blanket and lay down beside her.

Crouching between them, Ethan smiled. “Well, you obviously know each other.”

Sally was still tired, and, outside of tail wagging, she kept her movements to a minimum. He needed to get her outside so she could do her business. But that would be a little harder. It was one of the reasons for being in the spare room, because it was closest to the front door.

He dropped Bart’s leash and put the sling back on Sally. “Come on. Let’s get you out front.”

He helped her to the front door, but Bart wanted to come too. So he took Bart’s leash dragging behind him, opened the front door and carefully let the two dogs out. Bart wanted to dance and bark around, but, with Sally in the sling, Ethan’s hands were already more than full. It was hard to give hand signals.

Carefully, Ethan let Sally walk a few steps in the grass. He was taking the bulk of the weight of her body off her injured leg, while he let her go to the bathroom. He didn’t even have bags to collect anything yet. But it was good to see her body functioning normally. After she was done, he helped her walk around the yard once. It was important for her to exercise as much as she could.

He could see she was tiring because he was carrying more and more of her body weight as they made their way back to the front steps. Bart obviously wanted to stay longer. But the front yard wasn’t fenced.

Ethan managed to get both dogs back into the house. As soon as he had the front door shut, he dropped Bart’s leash and maneuvered Sally back into her bedroom. He helped her lie down again, gave her another blanket to lie on, and then closed the door, leaving her alone. Bart stood in front of the door and whined. But Ethan wasn’t sure about leaving Bart with her. He didn’t want him to hurt her at this stage of her healing.

“You can see Sally in a little bit, buddy. When we go back in, I’ll make sure you get to come and visit too.”

Bart barked several times, then lay down in front of the closed door. He just wanted to be close. Ethan figured that was close enough.

Bella was out back. He fed her and gave her several moments of cuddles then brought Bart out to join her. The two appeared to be good friends. Bella had taken to his presence the easiest. He was still a long way from brushing her, but at least she was amiable to having a new owner.

And that was more than he could say for Boris. His name was written in the spikes around his collar. This was Ethan’s K9:01 dog. His real name was Sentry. Ethan quickly sent Badger a text, confirming he had found him.

Sentry still refused to eat. Even with the offer of food, he wouldn’t trust Ethan. Sentry didn’t bark or snarl when Ethan approached, but he did back up, and his tail poofed. That was enough warning for Ethan to realize he’d already crossed the line. If he wanted to keep his head intact, he needed to give Sentry lots of reach. He figured, by the time Sentry understood what was going on, he’d already have him where he wanted him. As long as he had the other three dogs’ cooperation, it wouldn’t take long for Sentry to fall into line. Sentry just had to know it was his idea first.

Ethan walked out to the backyard and stood on the deck, a cup of coffee in his hand as he pondered the night ahead. He hadn’t liked the idea of leaving Cinn alone. But he also had the dogs to look after. What he should have done was taken Bella there and left her to guard Cinn. But Ethan didn’t know Bella well enough to trust her yet. That she got along with everyone and appeared to listen to the commands as he gave them was one thing, but he couldn’t put her in a position where he had to trust her to do the right thing without him being there. He couldn’t test her in that way too soon.

Bella was still an animal. That was first and foremost. She’d also been extremely well trained and wasn’t as badly abused as the others. Sentry looked to have been systematically beaten into being an aggressive dog. He was the only one that worried Ethan. It could take a long time for him to come around.

As for Sally, well, she looked in pain right now, but Ethan hoped eventually she’d be just as grateful to be with her new clan, safe away from where she’d been.

Ethan checked his watch and found it had been an hour already. He’d planned to go by Cinn’s house every two hours. But, once at her place, Ethan figured he’d stick around, see if he noted any suspicious activity, maybe walk the place with the dogs, give them a good run in the dark, do some practice drills and see how they reacted.

As he contemplated the idea more and more, he grabbed Bella and Sentry, leaving the other two behind, putting his selected pair in the truck. Although Sentry was eager to get into the truck, every time Ethan approached, Sentry’s lips curled. He would certainly put Ethan to the test.

It was pitch-black outside. Ten minutes later he pulled onto the shoulder of the highway near the edge of Cinn’s driveway, just taking a quick look before approaching closer. Then he pulled halfway down her drive and parked. He opened the tailgate, letting both dogs out and hooked Bella up to a leash. Sentry just looked at him. There was almost a dare-you-to attitude in his gaze. Calling him to his side, Ethan closed up the tailgate and walked down the driveway. He surveyed the lack of security on the place and frowned. There wasn’t even a gate crossing her driveway. And sure, a gate wouldn’t keep the trash out. But it did keep a surprising number of people away.

No lights were on inside Cinn’s house. He could hear one of her dogs barking. He let out a gentle whistle to it in reassurance. He walked the perimeter of her yard, getting an idea of what passed for nightlife at her place. With his truck parked halfway up the driveway, he doubted anybody would approach.

He walked out the back gate, where Cinn had gone for her run, took Bella off her leash and told her to run. He picked up the pace, noting the faint path in front of him. The trail was treacherous, particularly when the ground was wet. But Bella appeared to be having a fun time racing ahead, back and forth, and finally Sentry even seemed to relax enough to jump and run around with her.

When Ethan whistled for them, they both came running. Only the look in Sentry’s eyes read What? I wasn’t coming because you asked me to.

Bella fell into step beside Ethan at his command. At that point he put her through several of his regular training paces to see what she knew and what she didn’t know. She understood so many commands that he wondered if she was a police dog—or military trained. How likely would that be?

Then Ethan turned to look at Sentry, who shot him another look, this one saying, Don’t even bother. Ethan ran to the tree line, coming up close to the spot where they’d found the body of the man who killed himself. There he slowed his steps and walked, enjoying the freedom of being out in the moonlight. The moon was high, and it cast a beautiful wide glow across the earth. It gave him a surprising amount of freedom to check out the lay of the land.

How had the shooter known she was out running? Were more drug-house guys watching Cinn’s house? Ethan walked out to the highway and turned to look at her house. It was easy to see it off in the distance. If they’d been tracking her, she would have been right there in the open, coming toward them. In fact, she probably ran right into this shooter’s range, so he could take her out. But he’d missed.

After Ethan watched for a few minutes, he sauntered back down onto the open fields, looking to see if it was just a lucky position or if this had been planned.

But that also implied forethought. As if the bad guys were hoping she’d come toward them, and the shooter was prepared on the off chance she did. The opportunity had presented itself. He’d have to find out from her if she ran this way on a regular basis. Routine made it much easier to pick off somebody.

He slowly walked back toward her house. As he did, he ran Bella through a few more tasks. She could jump; she was good at walking on her back legs, which really surprised him.

She knew all the basic commands. She knew go, stop, heel, sit, shake a paw. And guard was a good one because he really liked to see her snap into protective mode with her ears alert. What she had trouble with was relaxing her guard. She did seem to understand okay. The command should have been relax guard, but Bella didn’t understand that command either.

During this testing of Bella’s training, Sentry sat and ignored the two of them. Whenever Ethan walked closer, Sentry curled up a lip, but he didn’t growl, and he didn’t attack. Ethan would take that as progress. He kept walking closer, backing away, and walking closer again, but in casual movements as he worked with Bella, who was all too eager to please. She enjoyed working. She enjoyed the challenges and the physicality of the training.

Ethan could get her to jump up on logs, jump over logs, run flat-out. He hadn’t worked on any of the attack signals because he wasn’t dressed for it. And he needed to be in a safe surrounding before she went kamikaze on him. She had the ability to take down a man in a heartbeat. He didn’t want to be the one who hit the ground with nobody there to help him. And he was a little concerned that Sentry might just jump on that attack bandwagon with a whole lot more glee. At the moment the male dog seemed content to be with them. Or maybe he was content to be with Bella. There was obviously affection between the two of them.

It was good to see that Sentry considered himself the alpha dog here, possibly only because Bart had been injured, but that was where the problem lay because Ethan needed Sentry to follow Ethan’s commands. Still, tonight showed progress. Both dogs responded to commands of come, and that was good. Bella responded to stay perfectly. Ethan had yet to try it on Sentry.

They sauntered back toward Cinn’s house. He knew she was sound asleep, and that was the best thing for her. He had already been out walking for two hours himself.

As he came through the garden and around to the front of the yard, the front door opened, and Cinn stepped out. In a longish T-shirt with some slippers on her feet, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she looked absolutely adorable. He took the steps to stand over her.

“I’m sorry if I woke you,” he apologized. But inside, he wasn’t terribly sorry. He was delighted to see the vision before him.

“I needed to get painkillers anyway,” she whispered. She looked down at Bella and smiled. “This is the one you had earlier, isn’t it?”

He snapped his fingers and brought Bella toward him. She came over, sat at his feet and looked up at Cinn.

Cinn asked, “May I touch her?”

“Put your hand out, so she can smell you.” And then he gave the command to Bella. “Friend.”

Bella didn’t seem to change her mannerism. But neither was she being difficult. She sniffed Cinn’s hand and then unconcerned, stretched out on the porch floor in front of them.

“Well, I guess that’s acceptance,” Cinn said with a chuckle. She glanced around her front yard. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been outside at this hour of the night.”

“It’s gorgeous,” he said. “We were just out running in the fields where you were shot.”

She spun to look at him, her eyebrows rising. “Yes, but I don’t have a regular route—nor even make a regular practice of it. I just love to run sometimes. Besides it’s good for the dogs. Why?”

He shrugged. “Looking for ways to put Bella through some exercises, and I wanted to keep an eye on the house for a bit, see if any traffic ran along here,” he said. “But there’s been nothing. It’s quieter than I expected, but that’s because you are below the highway, so the noise coasts over you.”

“That’s normal, particularly at this hour. It’s really a quiet area,” she said. “That’s partly why I like it.”

He could understand that.

She turned to look at him. “Do you want to come in and have a cup of tea?”

“You should go back to bed,” he said gently.

She wrinkled her face up at him and nodded. “I know. But you’re here.”

“No,” he said with a laugh, hopping down the front steps. “I was here. But I’m going home now. Go to bed.”

“Did you really come just to check on me? I thought you would drive past to make sure nobody parked there.”

He smiled. “Nobody has been here recently. And it’s already well past two in the morning. I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine for the rest of the night.”

She nodded. “I’m sure I will.” Her dogs swarmed around her ankles, wagging their tails and being generally friendly idiots. Sentry sat on the walkway, ignoring them. She motioned at him. “He doesn’t look very friendly.”

“He’s not,” Ethan said. “But that’s okay because he’s been forced to be a lot of things. Right now it’s all about him finding his own way.”

Surprised, she looked at Ethan. “I’ve heard of people putting all kinds of human attributes on dogs, but I haven’t heard any New Age metaphysical ones like you just spouted.”

He chuckled. “Hey, my methodologies are hardly New Age. It’s all about common sense.” He walked toward the truck parked halfway down the driveway, turning to wave at her. “Now go to bed.”

She beamed at him. “Thanks for stopping by.”

He motioned for Sentry to follow and gave a whistle. Bella came running to his side, and the three walked away.