Right, for the girls.
“We’ll have to find the rest of them homes. How long do the puppies need their mama’s milk?”
“I don’t know.” I looked at Esmerelda for an answer.
“At least eight weeks,” she said. “They’re three weeks along now.”
“What if Brenton used his magic to speed up their growth?” Elias said. “Could we find them homes sooner?”
“Speed up their growth.” I whipped my head in his direction as I held the puppy closer to my chest. “And miss out on all their cute puppy antics. No way. They grow at their pace. It’ll be good for the girls.” I grinned.
Running a hand over his chin, he laughed. “For the girls.”
I heard Alastor’s laugh before I saw him. While it’d be the polite thing to go see him, I couldn’t force myself to move, especially when a puppy crawled over my ankle and settled there. I scooped up the tiny thing and rested it over my stomach.
Another puppy ambled toward me, stumbling over its legs as it tried to run. Elias picked him up and set it on my lap. When Leah came in, I gave her a puppy even though I might have pouted as I did it.
By the time Alastor found us, the mama, or Luana, asBrenton decided to name her, was feeding all four of her pups with Brenton beside her, petting her big, bony head.
“What can I feed Luana to help her gain weight?” Brenton asked.
“I’ve always heard broth and peanut butter are good for dogs,” I said.
“I don’t know what peanut butter is, but do you mind if I make her chicken broth when we get back to your place tomorrow?” he asked.
“You can make it now,” Alastor offered. “I have everything you’d need for it in my tent. I also cooked her up some chicken a couple of nights ago.”
“Oh.” Brenton ran his hand over her back, where her spine and rib cage stuck out. “Were you planning on keeping her?”
“No.” Alastor leaned down to pick up a puppy that stumbled away from Luana. “I was hoping to keep this one.” He inched the all-brown puppy to his face. “Unless someone already claimed him.”
“I want those two.” I pointed at the first two I held earlier.
“The white one is a little female, and the brown and black one is a male,” Alastor said. “When they grow, will it cause health problems if they were to breed together?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I imagine it would, right? I wonder if there’s a way I can get the boy fixed.”
“What do you mean fixed?” Elias asked.
“In the human realm, we’d fix dogs so the females couldn’t get pregnant and contribute to overpopulation,” I explained. “For a male, a vet would snip-snip their testicles.” With my fingers, I made a motion like scissors opening and closing.
“What?” Brenton hissed out.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Elias grabbed thebrown male pup and held him to his chest as if to protect him from me. “You’re staying far away from him and his nether regions.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Brenton asked, clearly appalled.
“I didn’t do it.” I snickered. “Veterinarians did.”
“That’s cruelty,” Elias went on.
Leah laughed. “I think I could sterilize him without snipping anything off.”
“Do you think it’d be better to sterilize the male or the female?” I asked. “If we find more dogs in the future, it’d be nice to be able to breed them so there are more dogs.” And puppies.
While Leah and I spoke, Brenton left to cook the broth for Luana, and Elias and Alastor stayed close by. Eventually, they left, and Brenton returned with broth mixed in with chicken and vegetables. Where making broth had been an all-day process for Grandma Richter, Brenton had finished in less than an hour. I didn’t bother questioning it, knowing magic must’ve played a role.
Seeing him, Luana wagged her tail and rose to her feet to greet him, so he knelt in front of her to set the deep dish down for her. She ate slowly, sometimes stopping just to stare at Brenton.
