“Yeah. Someone needs to call them to come get it, but it should be Mikael,” Rider stated.
The sound of the ATV came from the direction of the path, and soon Mikael and Dallas stomped up the stairs. Dallas was holding a bag of supplies and Mikael had a plastic bag on his arm.
When a sleek black jaguar slunk inside after them, it took Derek a few seconds to realize it was Noah. Mikael tossed the bag onto the table and Noah shifted, then grabbed his clothes from the bag and put them on. Efficient.
Dallas ushered everyone else out of the bedroom while Mikael went to deal with the dog situation. Derek rounded the bed to be closer to his mate and help Dallas and Noah with turning him.
”These are superficial injuries,” Noah murmured thoughtfully as he examined the puncture wounds.
“It looked horrible,” Kit said in a small voice, and somehow Derek hadn’t seen him in the corner where he was hiding from everything. It was a miracle he hadn’t shifted, he was so distraught.
Derek held out a hand and the boy came to him, shaking with tears and adrenaline. Derek held Kit close to his side as he watched Noah and Dallas work.
“The good thing is, the dog wasn’t ready for a cat like Cal. A regular cat would’ve been dead, but Cal knows how to move and protect himself,” Dallas murmured as he examined a nasty-looking gash on Cal’s shoulder.
“How does it look?” Derek asked.
Noah had fetched a bowl of water and a roll of paper towels from the kitchen and helped Dallas clean up the blood that was sluggishly pumping out of several punctures. At least none of them were on Cal’s head or neck.
“I think we need to flush these out for bacteria so we can leave them all open. It didn’t manage to tear anything, I don’t think,” Dallas finally stated and they went on to clean the wounds and bandage Cal’s left shoulder and upper arm.
“Derek?” Mikael stood in the doorway.
“Kit, you stay with your dad and the guys, I’ll be right back.”
Kit cuddled up to his father and kept an eye on Noah who was putting Cal on a drip. Fluids would be good for sure.
“What’s up?” Derek asked, following Mikael out of the house.
“I called the guy whose dog it is. Also checked the dog. It’s upset but friendly and not that badly hurt. Rider tackled it well and Cal couldn’t get through the thick fur. But it has blood on its muzzle and a deep scratch, too. It’s obvious it’s been fighting.”
“Okay…?”
“I wanted to know how you wanted to deal with it,” Mikael said and Derek saw the dog that looked confused, sitting by the wood shed. It had the collar back on and Mikael had used rope to secure the dog to a tree.
“What do you mean?” Derek asked, walking to the animal.
It felt so weird seeing a regular dog like this. To Derek, most animals weren’t just that.
“Well, we can clean the dog up and say we don’t know where it got the cut or give the guy a reason to feel worse about it by telling him it attacked your cat. It would keep him from letting the dog loose anywhere too close again,” Mikael murmured as they both crouched down to pet the dog.
It seemed so happy again, as if nothing was wrong at all. Other than it had tried to kill Derek’s mate.
“Yeah. Anything to keep this or any other hunting dogs from coming here.”
“Okay, so I’ll lay it on a bit thick and when the guy talks to you, look sad and angry.” Mikael got to his feet and slapped Derek’s shoulder firmly, smiling a little.
Derek snorted and got up. The dog looked okay.
A minute or so later, the dog perked up and began to wag its tail. Derek noticed that the said tail was curled over the dog’s back, much like the Akita’s Derek’s neighbors had had when he was a kid.
A dirty, older model Mitsubishi SUV rolled into the yard. The dog went nuts. Derek didn’t have to ask who the guy stepping out of the car was.
A rapid-fire exchange in Finnish followed, as Mikael and the man who was in his mid-fifties maybe, talked and gestured. The guy went and calmed the dog down, then frowned at the scratch on its nose and the blood on the fur and around its mouth.
Mikael said something including Derek’s name, then gestured at him. The guy walked to Derek and held out a hand.
“Derek, this is Hannu,” Mikael introduced the man. “Hannu, meet Derek.”
Derek shook his hand. The guy said something that sounded like apologetic and weird.
Mikael replied to it, then translated to Derek. “He says he’s sorry about your cat. He thinks the dog killed it and I’m going to let him believe so, especially with your shirt like that.”
Derek looked down at himself, and noticed that his long-sleeved shift had Cal’s blood all over the front and one sleeve.Shit.
“It’s… it’s okay,” he told Hannu, who seemed to understand that much in English, as he seemed relieved.
Hannu frowned, then said with difficulty, but clearly enough, “I’m sorry, very sorry.”
Derek smiled tightly, then gestured at his shirt and excused himself, leaving Mikael to deal with the rest. He needed to get the shirt off right now.
