“So, have you had any real breakfast yet?” Suze asked as they started toward the main building.
“Wouldn’t that be brunch at this hour?” he teased, grinning.
“Look at you. Did your man teach you a new word?” she teased right back, making him laugh with delight.
“I could eat,” he admitted, knowing he’d need to be alert for meeting the new arrivals.
“Excellent. Maria brought in some food for you, just in case.” Suze’s daughter worked at the shelter and liked to feed people, especially rare visitors like Leaf.
“Sounds good to me,” he murmured, following her inside.
While Suze warmed up the meal, Leaf walked around the break room. There were all sorts of things tacked on the walls. Some were on corkboards, some were written down with chalk, and there were even dry-erase boards. He liked the way the people here left notes for one another.
There was a board in one corner that had a black storm cloud drawn on it. Under it was a list of things that were negative, but nobody was allowed to nag about or blame others on. “Crates need to be cleaned thoroughly” was on top of the list that day, with the last word underlined twice. There was also “no cussing out idiots” and “ALWAYS CLOSE THE GATES.”
Snorting, Leaf moved on to the next board.
It was a combination of Missing flyers and notes tacked on them with joyful “Found!” written in several different handwritings. There was a section for happy rescue stories too. One of them was just simple Polaroid picture of Husky sitting in the doorway of Leaf’s RV.
“He’s a handsome lad,” Suze said behind him.
She set their plates down and poured them both a glass of water from the pitcher on the long table. He sat down across from her and tore a piece of homemade bread into smaller bits, then stuffed one in his mouth. And groaned happily.
Suze chuckled. “She still makes the best bread, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Leaf hummed happily.
They dug into the tasty stew, enjoying it in silence. Yeah, Maria was an awesome cook, and maybe enjoying her cooking might’ve been a tiny part of why Leaf liked to visit Suze’s shelter.
“So, newcomers?” he asked when they were done eating.
“Yeah, remember couple of years ago when they busted that one ring in Arkansas?”
“The college athlete whose family was all wrapped up in it?”
“That’s the one. One of his brothers went back to the family business. In Nevada, this time.”
Leaf cursed out loud. “At least they got the bastard?” He tried to find the fucking silver lining.
“Yeah. There were thirty-one dogs there, half of them puppies. We got five adults and one mama with four puppies.”
“Ten total?”
“Right. The mama is okay—she’s been handled and isn’t aggressive to anyone—so the pups should grow up fine. It’s a couple of the others I’m worried about.”
“Fighters?”
“No. Bait.”
Leaf cussed again, scratching the back of his neck in an agitated motion, a tell of his—according to Seth—that meant he was so very pissed off under the calmish surface.
“Okay. Well, I guess we should get to it, then? I think Grace can help with the… the shy ones.” He fucking refused to call living beingsbait, for fuck’s sake.
“Sure. Want to see them in their runs first?” she asked as they got up and cleared the table.
“Yeah. Do you have a lot of volunteers?”
“A few new ones popped up, as always after the word gets out there’s been a fighting ring bust. Why?”
