Chapter 6

• He wasn’t sure he went into the right drive until he saw Blair step out of the big ranch-style house and stand on the porch. The pup went under his legs and jumped out as soon as he opened the door. Asher had to mentally coach his legs to get out. He had pushed driving without a break to the point that he probably shouldn’t have, but he just wanted to get back to doing something.
• Blair was grinning at him, “Did you stop and pick up a traveling companion along the way?”
• The pup stopped at the bottom of the steps and growled. With a quick glance back at him, as if to say, ‘You got my back?’, he slowly descended the stairs.
• “That’s a real wolf.” Blair looked down at it, then at Asher for a second, and then back down at it. “The girls are going to do that thing.”
• Asher stretched his arms over his head, “that thing?”
• “Yeah,” Blair nodded, “you know, cute animal, cute baby,” he shrugged, “that thing.”
• “He belongs to Journee.” If any animal could actually belong to someone, he thought, “or he was with her.”
• “Right, Calum was just telling us about that.” He motioned to the door, “Shaelan says she’s going to be fine.” Blair bent over and pet the top of the pup’s head. “Must have been scary having one of your clan hurt like that.”
• Asher glanced at the van, wondering if he should go grab his jacket if they were going to continue to stand outside and talk. “That’s the thing,” he waited for Blair to straighten up, “she was part of the clan, and then she disappeared when some others did.” He looked at the pup so he didn’t have to think too much about what he was going to say. “When the others were slaughtered.”
• “Wait, she made it back? Like Leah did?”
• “I don’t know. She got hurt before talking to my Alpha, and she can’t speak words until she can shift back.”
• “Damn. I didn’t know that.” He gave the door a stern look. “Does Calum know this?” He motioned to the door again, “They took her to the new secret location.”
• “What is that about?”
• Blair opened the door, “you know as much as I do.” Before Asher could go in, he called into the house, “Kobie, can you bring out a bowl of water and something a wolf pup would eat?”
• Asher was almost plowed over as he tried to step in. Kobie and a redheaded woman pushed their way by him. He turned to go in, and then a dark-haired woman and two little girls came out. He did a double-take. It was Emersyn and her daughter. She looked much healthier than when he’d been transporting them.
• “It’s a real puppy.” The biggest girl said.
• “Don’t ask if you can keep him, Daisy. He’s on his way to his human.” Blair glanced at Asher and shook his head.
• Looking in, Asher checked to make sure he wasn’t going to get run over, trying to go inside this time. He saw Calum, Noah, and two other men standing in a large kitchen. Before the women could change their minds, he went in quickly.
• “You have a wolf pup?” Calum looked amused.
• Asher blew out a breath, suddenly feeling more tired now that he was out of the divers’ seat. “No. Journee has a wolf pup. They flew her away, and I got to bring the pup.”
• “How does that work? A cheetah running around with a wild wolf pup?” An older man asked.
• Asher looked down at his boots and then used the toe of one against the heel and pulled his foot out. It felt great taking them off. “I don’t know how it happened. Journee couldn’t speak to anyone in her cat form.”
• “Kelsey’s going to want one now.” The big redheaded man said.
• “Good luck to her with that.” The older man said, “They usually come with parents that have sharp teeth.” He took off his hat and rubbed his nearly bald head, “something must have gotten that ones folks.” He put his hat back on.
• “Asher, this is Gage and Cooper.”
• Asher nodded, set his boots aside, and went further into the room.
• “I have some steak we were thawing out,” the little redheaded woman came in the door, “it will just take me a minute to cut it up.” She patted Gage on the chest as she went by him, “I don’t think he’s big enough to eat it whole yet.”
• Gage watched her walk into another room with amusement on his face.
• “Asher just told me that Journee was taken when some others were,” he glanced at Asher with a questioning look.
• “Eighteen years ago.” Asher supplied.
• “No one knows how she got away and got back,” Blair stated.
• “She didn’t talk to no one before she got hurt in her cat form?” Cooper asked.
• “No. She said she had to talk to my Alpha about something and was hurt before anyone could talk to her.”
• Calum pulled out his phone and started typing. “We’ll keep her confined until she can speak.” He glanced up, “She wasn’t in a good state during the flight, so I doubt she knows where she was taken.”
• “I thought it wasn’t that bad.” Asher wondered if he’d missed an injury.
• Calum tucked his phone back into his pocket. “She didn’t like being on a chopper.”
• “Don’t blame her there,” Asher stated. He’d flown once and wasn’t a fan of it.
• “I need to call Devin,” Calum looked around the room. “You probably need some food and a shower.” He smirked at Blair. “We’ll let the girls fawn over the pup for a while, and then we’ll discuss transportation in the morning.”
• Blair nodded. “I’m going out to explain to Daisy that we are not getting a wolf.” He went back out the door.
• “I’m not sure where we’re putting him for the night.” Asher glanced at the door, “he won’t go inside a building.”
• “If you’re worried about big predators,” Cooper grinned at him, “don’t. There are so many tigers in this area now that most of the wildlife has moved on.”
• Asher nodded, “Yeah, rescued tiger clan has been the most popular.”
• The redheaded woman came back out and opened a cupboard. “Do you think he’ll come into the house?” She dropped a steak onto a plate.
• Emersyn’s daughter came running in. “The puppy went under the step. He gone-appeared.” She turned around and ran back out.
• “It will be fine outside, Kels.” Gage went over and leaned against the counter and watched her cutting the meat.
• “What if the storm comes back?” She paused and looked at him, “And it is he.” She went back to cutting, “Why is he even born? It’s too early for litters to be born.”
• Gage turned his head and gave Asher a questioning look.
• Asher shrugged; he knew nothing about the animal. “I’m going to grab my bag.” He gave Gage a polite nod and went back over to his boots.