“It sounds like a wolf—an animal we have back on my own home planet—Earth,” Kiera said. “But I thought you didn’t have any Earth species here?”
“We do not,” Dr. A’flerzz affirmed. If they’d had human features, they would have been frowning in confusion, Kiera thought.
“Can we go and see what it is?” she asked. She didn’t know why, but she had an urgent feeling that she needed to see whatever animal was making that sound.
“Well…I zzupose we ought to zee what’s going on,” Dr. A’flerzz agreed.
“Sorry, Iyanna,” Kiera said to her friend. “I know you want to see the plants but I’ve got to see whatever’s making that sound. It sounds like it’s hurting, poor thing!”
Iyanna gave her an indulgent smile.
“The plants can wait. I know how anxious you get when you think an animal is in pain.”
“Thank you,” Kiera gave her a grateful smile and hurried after Dr. A’flerzz who was already leading the way.
They rounded the corner and came into a long room filled with cages. Most had plasti—glass shields and housed exotic small animals, but there were a few larger cages made of metal.
Kiera’s eyes were drawn immediately to the largest cage of all. Inside it, pacing and howling, was the biggest wolf she’d ever seen in her life. Or was it a wolf? Its huge golden eyes, when it looked at her, were strangely human. But the rest of it just looked like an ordinary wolf—albeit a huge one—with fluffy gray fur and a long, bushy tail.
She didn’t know how she knew the animal was a “he”—she just did. The same way she knew he was miserable here—miserable and desperate.
“Oh, poor baby!” she crooned going to the cage at once and putting her hand right through the bars to reach him.
“Hey, maybe you shouldn’t do that!” Iyanna protested, sounding distinctly nervous. “That thing’s as big as a small horse, Kiera! He could take your hand off in one bite.”
“Indeed, I would urge caution,” Dr. A’flerzz warned. “We do not know what kind of creature thizz izz, but it izz clear from its teeth that it izz an apex predator.”
“Aww, he’s just a big baby!” Kiera said. Ignoring the warnings, she reached further into the cage. “Here, boy—come here,” she called softly.
The wolf didn’t hesitate. It came at once, butting its huge head against her hand, begging for pets and scritches, which Kiera was more than happy to supply. His fur was surprisingly soft and fluffy, and his tail was wagging so fast it was nothing but a blur.
“Well, I guezz he likezz you,” she heard Dr. A’flerzz remark.
Iyanna laughed.
“I haven’t seen an animal yet that didn’t like Kiera. She’s just got the touch, you know?”
“Animals know I understand them,” Kiera said, smiling. “Just like this good boy knows. Don’t you, boy?” she asked him, scratching behind his ears. She had both arms in the cage now, doing everything she could to get contact with the huge animal.
He whined happily and made a low chuffing sound, which was common for wolves. Most species didn’t really bark like dogs—it would scare off prey when the pack was hunting. Instead, they gave low chuffs used to communicate without giving away their presence to prey animals and rarely barked.
“Where did you get him at if not from Earth?” Kiera asked, aiming her words at Dr. A’flerzz though she was still facing the wolf.
“He wazz in a derelict zhip floating in zpace—the only creature alive when it wazz found,” the scientist explained. “The rezzst of the crew muzzst have abandoned him. Pozzibly there wazz no room on the ezzcape pod.”
“Aww, poor baby! Lost and all alone,” Kiera crooned. She scratched behind his ears and he closed his eyes to slits of pure ecstasy, his tail thumping the floor. She frowned—that was another thing wolves didn’t commonly do—wagging was more of a dog thing, wasn’t it? She needed to brush up on her lupine knowledge to know for sure, but her new friend certainly didn’t act like a typical wolf.
Nor did he smell like one. There was no musky dog or wolf scent like she would have expected. Instead, his scent was like…well, it almost smelled like some kind of really good men’s cologne. It had notes of wood smoke and fur and cedar and underneath all that was a wild, masculine spice like nothing she’d ever smelled before. It drew her to the huge wolf, and she found herself wishing her head would fit through the bars so she could bury her face in his dense, fluffy ruff and just breathe him in.
Of course, it would probably be crazy to get her face so close to those massive jaws, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Kiera didn’t know how she knew—she just knew—the same way she knew the huge wolf was male.
“Well, I’m zzertainly glad you like thizz creature, but I fear we muzzt get on with our tour,” Dr. A’flerzz said pointedly and Kiera realized she’d been on her knees, reaching through the bars, stroking and petting the massive animal for almost five minutes.
“Oh, uh…” For some reason she felt extremely reluctant to leave him, but she knew she couldn’t stay here all day. She still had the breeding pair of schoonies to get settled in the shuttle and taken back to the sanctuary. Also, Iyanna didn’t have all day to ferry her around—her husband, Dra’vik, was watching their son, who was an exuberant toddler and full of energy. She needed to get back to her men eventually.
“Come on, Kiera—we can come back and see him again at the end of the tour,” Iyanna said gently. “You can see he’s not really in pain—maybe he’s just lonely.”
“Lonely…right,” Kiera murmured. Actually, she had the feeling that the big wolf was more desperate than anything. Desperate to get out, maybe? But of course, she couldn’t let a huge predator out of his cage without permission—not even though he was a total love bug.
