Chapter 1
Dorian
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Look crazy or save a life?
What was I thinking?
Possibly save a lifeanddefinitely look crazy.
“When did you get the…German shepherd in?” Playing dumb, I frowned at the wolf-looking canine in the large back kennel at the animal shelter I volunteered at on a regular basis.
I was pretty sure it was my declaring him a shepherd that made him start growling at me, but it could’ve just been the dog comment in general. There was no way that was a dog but I seemed to be the only one who understood that because Mandy chuckled. “We think it’s some kind of wolf hybrid. It’s definitely not just a shepherd.”
Silly me.
But at least I hadn’t asked her where she’d gotten a werewolf from.
“Really?” Still playing dumb, I cocked my head and studied the animal that was smaller than I’d always expected a werewolf to be. “Isn’t that illegal?”
If it wasn’t, it should’ve been.
She sighed and seemed to get distracted as he gave another low growl. “It’s not a good idea no matter what. He’s snapped at everyone who’s tried to come near him and wouldn’t let the vet tech check him out at all. We nearly had to sedate him to get him in the kennel because he came to a lot faster than we expected.”
Well, I wouldn’t want to be poked and prodded either…much less locked in a cage by humans.
“Came to?” How had they ended up with him?
Frowning, Mandy didn’t seem to like the answer to my question. “Someone appears to have hit him with a car from what we can tell. He was out cold when he was brought in but he woke up slightly disgruntled before we could do much.”
Oh.
“Right now he seems fine, but Sara is still trying to figure out who to call because…well…he’s just not adoptable no matter what he is, and if he’s actually part wolf, there are rules we need to follow.” She didn’t seem like she wanted to follow the rules, which made me decide not to take the conversation down that path.
No one wanted to fill out any extra government forms unless it would come with a grant at the other end.
“There’s no way of knowing what he is without a genetic test.” I knew that from a mutt my mother tried to have declared a pureblood beagle so she could try to breed it. “Are you guys going to pay for that?”
Her wince said she knew they weren’t going to pay for anything. The shelter was always barely scraping by, and their complete inability to tell anyone no was probably how the werewolf ended up there to begin with.
“We’ll figure something out.” She shrugged, trying to convince herself it’d be fine. “There’s no way he’s going to be adoptable.”
Not in his current headspace.
“How…” What was I going to do? “Um, how about I sit with him for a few minutes before I start walking the other guys?”
Her look of disbelief should’ve been rude, but I was slightly impulsive when it came to dogs or anything canine related.
“I won’t go near the kennel.” Holding up a hand like I was swearing in court, I did my best to look as honest as possible. “I will not go near enough for him to lick my hand even if he was the cutest Great Dane you’ve ever seen.”
They’d gotten one in last month who’d somehow wandered out of his owner’s house. How they’d lost something that size had amazed everyone, but he’d been at the shelter just long enough for everyone to fall in love with the cuddly giant.
“He’s not safe, Dorian.” Still frowning at me, she waited a few seconds before sighing. “Fine. But if you get bit in any way, you won’t be allowed back. We’ll lose our insurance.”
