I put an arm over Zina’s shoulders and pulled her close as Bodie walked away. “You okay?”
She took in a jagged breath. “What kind of person does something like this?” Tilting her head up to meet my gaze, her bottom lip trembled. “People can be so cruel.”
I nodded. I wasn’t about to admit that I’d seen animals treated much worse on some of my travels around the world. “We’ll get them situated. They’ll be fine.”
“But the warehouse . . .” She shrugged my arm off. “Where am I going to put them?”
“We’ll figure it out. Together. Okay?” My thumb brushed over her knuckles. I pressed a kiss against her temple. “Trust me.”
Nodding, she let her head drop to my shoulder. “Okay.”
Bodie came back and we began to catalog the dogs. My stomach tossed and turned as I took in the conditions the poor pups had been forced to live in. Some of the older dogs had scars on their muzzles. One was missing a leg. Zina had left her emotions checked at the door when we entered the first shed. She moved around the kennels, calling out markings and conditions like she was doing inventory at the warehouse, not detailing the travesties put upon dozens of dogs.
By the time we were done, the sun had almost set. I carried kennel after kennel out to the trucks, loading them as full as possible to eliminate the need to return. The whole place would be better off if someone took a torch to it. Bodie’s other deputies arrived and they filled their truck beds with kennels as well. By the time we got the last pup loaded, I was ready for a showerand a whiskey. I wasn’t even hungry anymore. Seeing how these animals had been treated had ruined my appetite for the night.
“Ready?” Zina appeared at my side, a clipboard in her hands.
“What’s the plan, boss?”
“To the warehouse for now. I called one of our volunteers who’s a vet. She’s going to meet us there and check over all of the dogs.”
For a moment I wished I’d finished college and pursued my veterinary degree. I’d feel a hell of a lot more useful if I could actually help treat the animals instead of just providing the muscle to move them around. But moving around was what I seemed to do best.
“You coming?” Zina asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah. I’m right behind you.” I might not be able to change the past, but I could do something about my future. Maybe I didn’t need to take off when the wedding was over. Maybe I could find a job around town and give Char a hand for real instead of just tossing money and words at the situation.
There would be plenty of time to think about all of that later. Right now I needed to focus my efforts and attention on helping Zina with the dogs. I’d promised to help with the deductible on getting her that new roof and that meant I had to do whatever I could to make sure the Munyon wedding went off without a hitch. Even if I had to work around penguins and pit bulls to pull it off.
CHAPTER 25
ZINA
Over the nextfew days I found myself relying more and more on Alex. He’d made it clear he wouldn’t be around for the long haul, but I needed help and he was there, so it made sense to let him pick up the slack. After the vet had gone over all of the dogs we’d seized from the puppy mill, he we tried to find other shelters to take in as many as we could. But even after a few volunteers drove some of them as far away as Kansas and Nebraska, I still had too many dogs on my hands.
At least I wasn’t in it alone. Alex had been right by my side the entire time, doing everything he could to help right a very wrong situation. We hadn’t had time to talk much since we’d brought the puppy mill dogs back, but I had let him back into the bedroom so at least when we fell into bed at the end of a nonstop day, we had each other to curl into.
With that thought in mind, I rolled over in bed and set my feet on the floor. Alex groaned and reached for me. “Just a few more minutes?”
I leaned over to brush the hair off his face. He wrapped an arm around my back and tugged me over. “Hey, we’ve got to get down to the warehouse.”
“I know.” He pulled me in for a kiss, and for a moment I was tempted to crawl back under the covers and get reacquainted with the parts of him that I hadn’t had the luxury of enjoying for the past couple of nights.
“Later, okay? We’ll make it an early night. I’ve got some volunteers coming in to do the night routine.”
“Really?” He perked up, lifting his arm from over his head.
I almost laughed at the instant enthusiasm. “Really. We can order in and eat in bed and?—”
“I don’t even need food if you’re promising you and me, a night with no interruptions.” He propped himself up and nibbled on my neck.
“Trust me, you’re going to need to eat something. You’ll need your strength for what I’ve got in mind for later.” I waggled my brows.
He flung the covers away and hopped off the bed. “By all means, let’s get to it then.”
My heart pitter-pattered as he stalked toward the bathroom. I’d love nothing more than to climb back into bed and run my fingers over every sculpted inch of him. But duty didn’t just call, it was yelling and screaming at me. We only had a couple of weeks left before the wedding party came to town, and I needed to do everything I could to get the rest of the dogs relocated before the bride and groom found out their wedding venue was being used as a temporary dog rescue shelter.
I tamped down the hunger pangs for Alex’s touch and pulled on my clothes. As I clambered down the stairs to the kitchen, a new voice rang out. Who the hell was that? I paused outside the kitchen door. Maybe Morty had the television turned up too loud again.
