Page 98 of Mommy

There were puppies and moms at the last location, at least according to what Ezekiel said. Moms need to be bred in order to have pups.

Abigail shrugs again.

“Leo sometimes took me along when he got the moms. They were always only a few days from poppin, if you know what I mean.”

My jaw hardens, teeth grinding.

I know what she means.

I know too damn fucking well what that means.

It all completes an infuriating picture, the pieces clicking together and every bit of fabric forming a perfect tapestry.

Nodding towards the crumpled note, I force my lips to part despite the acid in the back of my throat.

“Call her, secure the apartment and don’t be a bitch.” If she fucks this up, there goes our chance at the inside information on the ring, but… that’s a risk we’ll have to take.

Abigail huffs out a breath, but snatches the paper from the table between us.

She doesn’t bother with a good bye, and I thank whatever god listens for that.

It seems like that nightmare is finally over.

At least for now.

Having met Abigail, it’ll probably be a while before she’s settled in and ready to talk to us.

I just hope she doesn’t need too long, because I’m with Ezekiel on this topic.

There is definitely something going on, and I’d like to be on top of it before the situation turns into a complete catastrophe.

Chapter fifty

Ivory

There’s a new dog at the shelter. He’s a puppy, only a few months old. Samuel came in twice to look him over, remove the wire from his snout and treat the dented wound underneath.

He looked tired as fuck, but wouldn’t tell anyone what was happening. The first time he mentioned a dog, but when Shelly inquired more info at his next visit, he just shook his head and went to work on the newbie.

I did catch him on the phone though, talking about a bad parvo case. It’s not hard to guess that he had to put the dog he mentioned earlier down and that’s why he won’t talk about it anymore. I just wonder whose dog it was?

Shelly told me Ezekiel and Rosemary brought our new dog in late at night, and he’s now living in one of the smaller kennels.

“He needs a friend, bad.” Liam says, watching as the dog sits shaking in the middle of the play yard. He has been keeping the pup company.

He’s lonely, but that’s nothing we can change.

“We could try and introduce one of the more agile adults?” I say half heartedly, but I already know that we won’t. He’s thin and frail, and I can already see Lilo & Stitch running him over in excitement. The risk of him getting injured is too big. And that’s not even the worst of it all.

Since he’s so young, he’ll have to be by himself a while longer to reduce the risk of him catching any type of sickness in the shelter. At least until he’s grown strong enough to resist them.

Next to me, William takes a sip from his coffee and I mirror him, getting another mouthful of my own.

It’s not real coffee of course, but this morning, when Derek prepped my breakfast I asked if I could try his mushroom drink, and when I said it was tasty he packed me a little of it. All I had to do now was put the brown powder in a cup and add hot water.

It smells a little like cinnamon and coconut, not at all like mushrooms and honestly: it’s very tasty. I could actually see myself switching to this permanently in the morning instead of tea.

“Someone is coming for Bella today. A family with a teenager, they wanna look at her and maybe take her for a walk.” Liam says, his eyes still on the puppy a few feet away.