Page 11 of The Enforcers: NOAH

“He might. He’s prob’ly bored in there all alone.”

She gazed at Brock, seeing the signs of a possible temper tantrum if she didn’t give in. Brock was usually a sunny little boy, but lately he’d been exhibiting signs of sudden temper. Having been up all night performing surgery on the wolf, she had nothing left to deal with that.

She sighed. “You have to promise me to keep your hands out of the cage,” she said. “If you try to pet the wolfdog again, you’re coming right out of there and I’m taking your tablet away until tomorrow.”

He gazed at her with his innocent hazel eyes. “Okay. But he should get lots of pettings. Then he wouldn’t be so sad.” He cocked his head. “He wants you to pet him too, and give him kisses.”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. Even if he did turn out to be domesticated, this didn’t seem like the kind of dog you talked baby talk to and gave kisses. Especially since he could literally bite her face off, if he wanted.

“I think we’d have to get to know each other much better before I’d risk giving him kisses.” Without thinking, she added, “And he’d probably have to buy me dinner first. Or at least a couple of drinks.”

Brock looked confused. “But woofs hasn’t got any money.”

She ruffled his hair. “It’s a grownup joke, sweetie.”

She let him drag his little beanbag chair into the recovery room and put it in front of the wolfdog’s cage. He curled up in it and held the tablet so the wolf could see, explaining the cartoon series he was watching very seriously before starting the first episode.

Danged if the wolf didn’t lie there, staring at the screen with Brock.

Heck, maybe he was bored.

She was fascinated, though. He showed the physical characteristics of a wild wolf, but he was definitely socialized. And there was something about the look in his eyes…

She’d taken blood samples during the surgery, to analyze later and check whether he was a pureblood wolf, and to compare the DNA with the giant wolves in Justin’s pack.

If only some of them had survived. She hadn’t found a trace of them in the other places she’d searched.

But the last thing Justin had asked of her—his dying wish—was for her to save his pack, the wolves he’d bonded with in the back country. The poachers had taken some of them—the ones they hadn’t killed. If she could find them and return them to Alaska, she’d feel like she’d finally honored Justin’s memory.

Maybe then she could let him go.