“How’d you know?”
“Her belly looked a little stretched to me already. Like she’d had a litter before.”
“She did. Not long after Roach brought her home. He said if he was going to have guard dogs, they were going to earn their keep by making puppies he could sell.”
“Wait, I thought dogs only had one litter a year,” I said.
“They have two heat cycles a year,” Colter said. “So theycanhave two litters a year. But no ethical person would let them. It’s not good for them. Especially for a bastard like Roach, who I’m sure didn’t get her vet care.”
“No,” Emma said, her eyes sad.
“We’ll get her to a vet,” Colter assured me, pressing a hand into my lower back. “Mack too. Then get them both fixed so it stops. After the puppies, obviously.”
“I know you didn’t sign up for puppies.”
“Signed up for you,” he said. “And I’ll happily take whatever comes along with that.”
“Aww,” Emma said, shooting me a soft smile. “I never thought I’d see her actually tolerate a man,” she added, looking at Colter. “Let alone fall for one. You must be pretty special.”
“I mean, she’s really in it for the gift baskets,” Colter said, making us both laugh.
“That’s definitely a part of it,” I agreed as Emma retreated to the connecting room to love on a very happy Sugar.
“What’s the other part?” he asked.
“The orgasms, obviously,” I said, pushing him down to the edge of the bed.
“Really? Not the beard?” he asked.
“That’s part of the orgasms,” I reminded him. “No, don’t give me that look. You’re not getting any until those ribs heal.”
“Like hell. I can power through,” he insisted as I pulled out the first aid kit to start cleaning up his hands.
We both knew that abstinence was not going to happen, no matter how beaten and battered we were. But it wasn’t the time.
“So, what happens now?”
“Now, I think you should stay here with the girls. Make sure they have what they need. Make sureyouare taking care of yourself too. The guys will probably drop Morgaine and Vienna here. Then they will head out to the clubhouse with us to help with the cleanup. They have a car, so they’ll bring the dogs out of there when we’re done.”
“We can’t bring three dogs into the hotel.”
“No,” he agreed. “But we can find a more dog-friendly one over near the city for a night or two. Just until we can get to the other girls and get them all into rehab.”
“What about the other guys?” I asked.
“Well… Crow and Judge are heading out that way right now. They’ll… handle that. We don’t have to worry about that part of it.”
“Just two of them?”
“Know you didn’t get to know Crow well, but he can handle it. Trust me. Judge is really only going there to reel Crow in if he gets too crazy.”
“Okay. Good. Then what? The guys are buried. The clubhouse cleaned. The girls in rehab. The dogs vetted. Then what?”
“Then we go home,” he said, giving my hip a squeeze. “To Shady Valley.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Colter
