Just as I was starting to lose hope, though, a deep, familiarwoofsounded from the last crate, as if in greeting.
“It’s her!” I squealed, scrambling over to see our puppy sitting politely at the center of her kennel. Unlike the scared demeanor she’d had out in the alleyway, she’d clearly grown into her confidence here, panting lazily with a big grin on her face.
According to the sign on her crate, she’d only come in a few days ago — so recently that they hadn’t even named her yet. But she was already bigger now than I remembered — apparently, the food we’d been leaving out had helped.
“Oh baby,” I pressed my hand through the bars, letting her sniff my hand before giving her a pet. “I’m so glad you’re doing okay.”
As she licked my palm, I could already feel the tears welling in my eyes. I was so relieved to see her safe and sound. At the same time, I hated seeing her trapped behind bars in such a crowded shelter.
It was a step up from the dumpster, I supposed, not that that was saying much.
“Well, it’s alive.” Dom grumbled. “Let’s go home.”
As she tried to storm toward the exit, I wheeled around to face her. “No, we can’t.”
Dom stopped, glaring back at me. “What?”
The words had even surprised me. But I knew that I was right. “We have to take her home. She needs us.”
67
KIERA
Dom crossed her arms,staring the dog down more than she bothered to look at me. “No. We are not taking her. She’s alive, that’s it.”
From inside the kennel, the dog — a slobbering mess — panted with excitement at her visitors.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I made my case. “Come on, Dom. No one’s going to take a shelter Rottweiler. They get a bad reputation.”
“For a reason.” Dom’s jaw tensed. “She’s probably untrainable.”
Spencer let out a laugh. “Or you’re too pussy to try.”
I wasn’t going to let up. “The reputation is exactly why you should want her. People will turn tail just at the sight of a dog her size.”
“She ran from Grant’s car, she didn’t even try to fight us.” Shaking her head, Dom was deadset.
Groaning annoyance, Spencer rolled her eyes. “Because she was abused, you fucking asshole.”
Cutting through all of us, Leo kneeled in front of the chainlink gate. She pressed her knuckles up against the metal,enough for the dog to give her hand a wet lick but not giving her a chance to bite if she was more nervous than she was letting on.
Leo took a peek at her coat. “She looks pretty healthy considering she’s been out on the streets for a few weeks.
Our pup scooted closer, putting her big maw in Leo’s face with only the chainlink separating them.
“Hell,” Leo let out a laugh. “I’d be terrified of her if she was waiting for me on the other side of a broken door.”
Just as Dom opened her mouth to protest a little more, the shelter staff came over with a thick slip lead and a tennis ball. “Want to take her to the yard? She could use a run.” I could only assume this was Jamie, the other staff Dani mentioned.
“No—” Dom started.
“Yes!” Leo, Spencer, and I all said in unison.
Jamie raised an eyebrow.
Waving Dom off, I explained ourselves to her. “I’ve been feeding her outside our autobody shop for a few weeks but she took off. I was worried something happened to her.”
A smile took over Jamie’s face as she winked at me. “Well, then it’s fate that you found each other again.”
