Her friend was more practical.
“Kiera, are you serious? You want to bring home a horse—sized wolf with you? You don’t even know what he eats or what his real temperament is. What if he goes crazy and rips your throat out?”
“He would never,” was his mate’s confident reply. “I want him—he needs me.”
“Well…you have been approved by our committee to take care of any of our animalzz and you do have a nice large zzanctuary,” the insect buzzed. “I zzuppose he would have plenty of room to run and exerzize.”
“Good—then I want him,” his mate—whose name appeared to be “Kiera” said firmly.
“Well, I don’t see how you’re going to get him home if he won’t even let go of your arm,” her friend pointed out.
“Let me talk to him,” Kiera said. She stroked Brux’s fur and looked into his eyes. “Listen, boy, I know you want to come home with me and believe me—I want the same thing. But first I need to finish this tour of the ship and get some other animals I have to take back to my shuttle. Once I do that, I promise—I promise—I’ll come back for you. So can you let me go for now?”
Brux looked at her for a long moment. Her scent spoke of truth—she wasn’t lying or hiding anything. She really was going to come back for him. He could wait a little while for his mate to finish her errands—he knew she would bring him home with her.
Carefully, he opened his jaws and released his arm.
“Oh my God,” the friend said faintly. “How in the world…? Did he really understand you?”
“He seems to.” His mate smiled and ruffled his fur again before withdrawing her arms. “You stay right here,” she told him. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
Brux found it difficult to suppress the worried whine that rose in his throat when he saw her walking away with her friend and the insect. But he knew she’d been telling him the truth—she would come back for him and then they would be together forever.
5
KIERA
“I don’t get it—how did you get him to understand?” Iyanna was still looking at her like she’d grown a second head. “I mean, you never told me you were a damn wolf whisperer!”
“I’m not—I haven’t actually worked with wolves before—though we had some red wolves that are native to Florida in the Lowry Park Zoo,” Kiera said distractedly.
She was drying off her arm—the one the wolf had held gently but firmly—on the side of her sweater and noticing that the wolf’s breath didn’t smell bad at all. In fact, the scent coming from her completely unmarked arm was like a mixture of cherry and cinnamon. She would have to ask Dr. A’flerzz what kind of kibble they’d been feeding him and get some to take home with her. It must be remarkably good for the wolf’s teeth for him to have not even a whiff of bad breath.
“Let me see your arm!” Iyanna demanded, as Kiera started to roll her sleeve down. “How does it look?”
“See for yourself.” Kiera held out the arm in question, turning it from side to side so her friend could see the truth.
Iyanna grabbed her hand and turned it back and forth, scanning the smooth, unbroken brown skin.
“I can’t believe it—he didn’t even leave any teeth marks!”
“Of course not—he didn’t want to hurt me. He just wanted me to promise to get him out of here.” She grinned. “He didn’t have to do that, though. The minute I saw him, I knew I wanted him.”
“He zzeemed to feel the zzame way about you,” Dr. A’flerzz remarked in their buzzing voice. “But are you zzure you want to bring such a large predator home with you?”
“Positive,” Kiera said, and was a little surprised to find that she had no doubts at all about her decision. Yes, it was hasty, and she hadn’t considered all the implications of having such a large and dangerous pet, but it just felt so right she couldn’t deny it. The huge wolf belonged with her—that was all there was to it.
6
KIERA
The rest of the tour passed in a blur for Kiera because all she could think about was getting back to the huge gray wolf and taking him home. All the while Dr. A’flerzz and Iyanna were discussing various plants and they were loading the schoonies, (which looked a little like long—necked llamas but with scales instead of fur) into the back compartment of the shuttle, she was dreaming of wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his furry ruff.
She didn’t know why but the big guy had really stolen her heart, and she couldn’t wait to get him back home to the sanctuary and take care of him. He’d been neglected long enough—she was going to make him her special baby, she decided.
The minute the schoonies were loaded and everything was ready to go, she hurried back to his cage.
The minute he saw her, the huge wolf was on his feet. He rushed to the cage door, whining and pawing at the bars.
