by Jade Alters
While the food was heating, I took a glass down out of the cabinet and opened the refrigerator. I'd seen a bottle of wine when she had the fridge open before, it was red wine, it would go nicely with my pasta. I was happy to see it was already opened and I poured myself a glass.
It was early in the morning for wine, but I was pretending to be a dog, currently standing naked in a stranger's kitchen, waiting for the food she'd given me cold and on the floor to heat up in the microwave. I deserved a glass of wine, and damn it was good.
As soon as the microwave dinged I took the bowl out, found a fork and went over and sat down at the table with it...like a human.
I eat fast, and that was a good thing since it turned out that Cheyenne showered fast too. I heard the water shut off and shoveled in the last few bites, drank the rest of my wine, rinsed out the glass, put it back in the cabinet and threw the bowl back down on the floor.
I shifted just as I heard the bathroom door open.
Seconds later, Cheyenne appeared in the hallway, wrapped up in a towel.
She smelled good and her skin was all dewy and fresh looking. She looked at me and smiled and then looked over at my bowl.
“Wow! I guess you just don't like eating in front of people, huh?” She came over and squat down to pet me. It wasn't my fault that my eyes were level with her cleavage.
She had nice cleavage and I was suddenly feeling things I shouldn't be feeling for my best buddy's mate, but she was touching me, and it was hard to put all of that out of my mind.
“You're a good boy, aren't you? You're so handsome too.” I pulled my head up and closed my eyes. With a satisfied smile on my face I let her pet me underneath my chin. This gig might not be too bad after all.
As soon as I had that thought, I heard a key in the door. I remembered I was supposed to be acting like a dog and I started wagging my tail and ran toward it.
I saw Cheyenne frown and look at the doorknob as it turned. I wondered if she was trying to figure out if she locked it or not. I had forgotten that, I'd have to be more careful.
It opened and a pretty little dark haired Balinese girl walked in. I rubbed up against her and watched as she looked at me with a shocked look on her face. “What the heck? Where did he come from?”
“Why are you home so soon?”
The little petite brunette growled and said, “My family...I can't deal with them today. I was on the ferry when my sister called me to complain about my mother and as soon as I hung up with her, my mother called to complain about my sister and my father. I told her I was ill and I wasn't going to make it to brunch.
As soon as the ferry docked, I got on the return ferry and came home. Your turn now, where did that hairy beast come from?”
“I'm sorry. I was going to text but I didn't want to bother you. Isn't he pretty? His name is Gray.” I stuck out my tongue and wagged my tail, waiting for her to say I was pretty. Instead she said,
“He needs to brush his teeth. Whose dog is he?”
Well that was insulting. I brushed my teeth this morning. It was her chicken and pasta that gave me the bad breath. It wasn't even all that good anyways. It would probably give me heartburn.
“I don't know,” Cheyenne said. “I found him downstairs. He has a tag and a collar, it's got this address on it but no apartment number. Mr. Balik says there's no one here with a dog so I'm going to put up posters and see if anyone claims him. I hope you don't mind if he stays here? It'll only be for a few days.”
The little dark haired girl raised an eyebrow and said, “Is he housebroken?” Jeez, insult to injury. Of course I'm house broken.
“I think so,” Cheyenne said. “Let me get dressed and I'll take him out.” Take me out? She expects me to go outside like a common animal? I mean, yeah, of course I've gone outside before, most of my life in fact. But, that was in the woods, in the wild. I can't just pee on a main street in town. Cheyenne bent down and rubbed my neck. Her face was close to mine, so I licked it.
She laughed.
“That tickles, and Myrna's right, I'm afraid, you could use a toothbrush...or a mint.” Wow, do they even know I have feelings? I watched Cheyenne go down the hall toward her bedroom. Once she was gone, I turned to look at Myrna and she was frowning at me. I whined at her and wagged my tail. She made a face and then walked past me into the kitchen without even so much as a pat on the head. I'm not sure I like this one.
I sat down and watched her open the fridge.
She pulled out the bottle of wine I'd just sampled and she frowned again and held it up.
Damn, she noticed that some of it was missing. Maybe she'll think Cheyenne drank it. I watched her take down a wine glass and pour the wine into it.
About that time, Cheyenne came out of her room in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was wet still, but she was braiding it as she walked toward us. She was really pretty. I was busy staring at her when Myrna said,
“Did you have company today?”
“Just Gray,” she said, giving me a cute little wink. She's an animal lover for sure, that's a check in the pros category.
“Does Gray drink wine?”
Cheyenne looked confused. “No...” she chuckled. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, I know you don't, and I just opened this bottle last night. There's more than the one glass I drank gone. I thought maybe you snuck hot guy over here while I was out.”
Hot guy? Who's this “hot guy”? Ridge won't like that and I didn't want to be the one to tell him. He has a temper sometimes. “Myrna! I told you, I'm not seeing Ridge again. Maybe we should talk about you drinking wine at ten a.m.”
“Trust me, if I would have made it to brunch, I'd be drinking whiskey. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be in such a foul mood. But my family...” she rolled her eyes and took a drink of the wine. Her phone made a noise and she picked it up off the counter and looked at it. The grumpy look on her pretty face turned into a smile instantly.
“Brett?” Cheyenne said to her friend with a smile.
“Yeah, he wants to take me on a picnic for lunch.”
“Awe, that sounds like fun.”
“He's so different from every guy I've ever dated,” she said. “I keep waiting for the real him to show up, you know?”
“Maybe this is the real him.”
Myrna's smile looked sad. “How is it that after everything, you're still not cynical?”
Cheyenne laughed. “Are you kidding? I'm cynical all the time. I'm still shocked that Ridge wanted me.”
Myrna's eyes narrowed. “You're too good for him,” she said. “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” A cheater? What did she mean by that?
“Well, I'm not seeing him again, so it's not even worth talking about.” Cheyenne's emotions changed abruptly. I could sense it. The more I was around humans, the more I realized that I was actually better at sensing how they were feeling than most. Ridge was well aware that I had that ability, and I didn't doubt that was part of why he'd sent me here. I heard in his voice earlier on the phone that he wasn't going to give up on her no matter what anyone said.
The rest of the pack didn't know him the way I do. Ridge has never wanted something as badly as he wanted her.
Cheyenne bent down and rubbed her hand from my head to my tail, I worried once again about how much I enjoyed that.
“You ready to go out and potty, guy?”
Suddenly I forgot how good her touch felt and I was annoyed.
Go out and potty? She's got to be kidding, right?
I looked up at her face and saw that she wasn't.
She stood up and walked over to the door and opened it.
Tapping her thighs she said, “Come on Gray, let's go out and potty! Come on boy.”
Completely humiliated, I hung my head and followed her out.
Ridge was going to owe me big for this. I followed Cheyenne down the steps and to the grassy area out front.
She sat down on a wrought iron bench and in a high-pitched voice she said, “Go potty g
uy!”
Fat chance.
No way was I “going potty” in front of her, on the lawn, in front of an apartment complex, in the middle of town.
No way.
“We're going to stay out here until you go. If you go in the house, Myrna will throw us both out on our ear.”
Damn it.
Ridge is going to owe me BIG for this.
By the time I finally “went potty” behind the building where she couldn't see me humiliate myself, Myrna had left for her picnic.
It was getting close to lunch time and as I was getting hungry.
Once we were inside, Cheyenne started making herself a turkey sandwich, and suddenly seemed to remember she hadn't given me any food since the pasta that morning.
“Oh poor Gray! What an awful pet owner I am.”
She looked down and I was staring up at her.
I trained my hungry eyes on the turkey sandwich and she smiled and said, “You hungry guy?” In the spirit of humiliating myself, I wagged my tail and panted, with my tongue hanging out the side of my mouth like a cartoon character.
She ruffled the hair on the back of my neck and said, “I'm sorry I didn't get any dog food yet. I will, I promise.”
My eyes cut back over to the turkey and she said, “I get the feeling you don't mind not having dog food, huh?”
With another laugh she tossed a few pieces of the sliced turkey into “my” bowl. I walked over to sniff it but waited until she turned to finish making her sandwich to wolf it down.
When she turned back around and looked at my bowl she said, “Wow, you were hungry. Poor thing. I promise we'll go get some dog food as soon as I finish my lunch.”
She sat down at the little kitchen table and I went over and curled up at her feet. While she ate with her left hand, she rubbed my fur absently with her right she looked like she was deep in thought. I wondered what she was thinking, but didn't have to wonder for long.
After a few minutes she said, “You're lucky,” I told Gray. I lifted my head to look at her face and she said, “Dogs don't have to worry about dating, or falling in love, or getting married. It's messy business.”
She took another bite of her sandwich. It looked delicious.
“I'm still young,” she went on, “I have a lot of time left to date and to find that special someone. But I can't help but wonder if it's going to hurt every time it doesn't work out. Don't tell anyone,” She said to me, the dog, even lowering her voice to a whisper, “I didn't have my first date until I was 19 years old and in college. I didn't even have sex until I was almost 21.”
Without even thinking about it, my ears perked up and my composure switched to attentive. I'd never had a girl tell me about her sex life before.
She was looking at me and she laughed and said, “Typical man. I mention sex and all of a sudden, you're interested.”
She wasn't mad though.
She pet me again and went on, “I discovered early on that sex was the only interest they had in me. Why is that, Gray? I think I'm a nice person, smart, kind of interesting if someone took the time to listen to what I have to say.”
I thought she was smart and interesting. I let out a little bark and she smiled sweetly and said, “You're interested, aren't you? You're a good boy. Such a good listener.” I shamelessly liked it when she called me a good boy.
She let her hand swing down in front of me with half the turkey sandwich clutched against her palm. “You want the rest, boy?” I took it, in one bite. If anyone were to judge me for it, I might just eat them too.
“I have a secret. I think I can tell you,” she said, “You won't tell anyone else, right?”
I barked again and she gave me another beautiful little laugh. I liked the sound of her being happy...maybe too much.
“I have a huge crush on a crazy man. At first, I thought it was just because he was hot, really hot. But then he kidnapped me, told me some crazy things...and despite all of that, I still ache to see him. Do you think I'm just lonely, boy? Maybe I've made up this fantasy in my head that I am able to “fix” this guy?”
I barked again and with a sad face she said, “I'm not sure there's any “fixing” for what's wrong with this guy. I don't know, maybe there's nothing wrong with him and I'm being judgmental. Everyone has their quirks, right? Everyone grows up in a certain culture, believing certain things that the rest of us don't understand or believe...maybe that's all it is with Ridge. He grew up in a whole different place.”
She laughed, but that time it wasn't a happy place.
“The problem is, I guess, that even though I saw a glimpse of that place with my own two eyes...my brain still doesn't want to believe it. I'd almost rather believe he's a liar, rather than a...” she laughed again and that time she sounded like she might cry. I hoped she didn't cry. I would have no idea what to do with a crying woman.
“I can't even say it.”
She sighed and stood up. I stood up too and rubbed my fur against her leg. Smiling down at me she said, “Thanks for listening, boy. I guess we should go put up some posters and while we're out, we'll get you some dog food, and maybe some treats.” She sounded excited about that. I couldn't imagine how I was going to choke down dog food, or God forbid, “Treats.” I also couldn't imagine how I was going to tell Ridge she still had a huge “crush” on him, when I was crushing on her myself.
10
Chase
I didn't know what Ridge was up to, but I could tell he was up to something, and it would probably end with him in trouble and maybe poor Grayson too.
Ridge and the alphas finally got back from the crime scene sight late on Sunday afternoon. I had guard duty on the compound all day so as I was making my rounds and I saw how exhausted they all were.
They all seemed to be interested in nothing but food, shower and bed. I'm not sure what, if anything they'd found out about the dead men yet, but they had spent the better part of two days going back and forth out there with the detectives that came out from Bali.
When I passed by Ridge and Grayson's little cabin, Ridge was on the phone. He was inside, but his window was open and it really wasn't my fault that wolves have great hearing. We all know that, so if he wanted to keep things under wraps, he should lower his voice.
I may have stopped when I realized what he was talking about and I may have stood upwind so he couldn't smell me there, hiding and eavesdropping. But I was glad I did because maybe I can waylay whatever crazy plans he had now, before he dragged poor Grayson into his mess. Grayson was so naive and Ridge was his hero. He'd follow him blindly into a fire if he thought Ridge needed him, and sometimes I thought Ridge took advantage of that.
“Hey Gray. I guess you can't carry your phone around on this assignment. I hope you hid it in a safe place. Call me when you get this message. I'm anxious to find out if you heard anything about me...does she hate me, or do you think there's a chance for me? Have you seen any signs of her dating anyone else or anyone else sniffing around, interested? Call me, buddy, please.”
Somehow he sent Grayson in to get information from Cheyenne, but how? Who was he posing as?
I almost went over and knocked on his door and asked him, but I thought hearing it from him would make me complicit. If I just went on a little investigative excursion of my own, and happened to find something out...well, I couldn't be blamed for that in the end, could I?
I looked at the time on my phone. Hansel, a young wolf that the pack picked up before they left Afghanistan, was supposed to relieve me and take over the post for the rest of the evening in five minutes.
Maybe once he did, I'd take a walk...or more like a run, into town.
Sadly, as much as I was curious about what Ridge was up to, I was even more interested in seeing Cheyenne again.
I'd never admit that to Ridge.
He is sure she's his mate. I have no idea what it's supposed to feel like when you meet your mate. I always just assumed that like Ridge, I would just know.
What I knew a
bout Cheyenne was that I was drawn to her in a different way than I'd ever been drawn to a woman, female wolf or human. I've had her on my mind a lot even before the cabin. Seeing her in the bar, talking and laughing with Ridge used to cause a little ache in my heart. I would never try to compete with Ridge.
He was my best friend, my brother, almost, and even if I was disloyal enough to try and compete, Ridge is much better looking than me.
He's bigger and stronger, and I know that he's smarter…
No woman would want me, when Ridge was one of her choices.
But it wouldn't hurt to look at her, right?
I liked looking at her. I liked her smile and the way her pretty dark eyes lit up when she laughed.
“Hey!” I jumped, startled at the sound of Hansel's voice.
“Hey.”
“You were like a million miles away. What were you thinking about?” I felt my face go hot. I'm a terrible liar.
“Lunch,” I said.
Hansel laughed. “Yeah? Maybe dinner with a beautiful she wolf.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “Unfortunately those are in short supply around here.”
Hansel nodded and said, “I say we go back to the old ways, the mating rituals and all that. We could find a few willing human women I bet. It would be kind of fun, to fight for them, don't you think?”
I laughed.
“Yeah, but good luck convincing our human alphas of that.”
Hanson, like Ridge, Grayson and I, grew up wild. In the days when our parents were all alive, a female, be she wolf or human, was up for grabs by any UN-mated wolf in the pack. Even if one wolf claimed her first, the rest of the pack had the right to fight for her.
The strongest in the pack always ended up mated first, of course. Chelsea and her mates didn't like that idea, mostly because the female wasn't given much of a choice. She was simply taken, fought over, and kept.
I can see both sides, I guess. I thought about
Cheyenne again and I knew deep down that I wouldn't mind having a shot at her. But then again, there was no way I could beat Ridge in a fight, so I'm screwed either way.
