It had masses of grey fur that was tinged in green. It had four legs with three toes on each foot but was sitting more like a toad would than a dog. It had huge, bulging eyes that protruded from its face, sharp fang-like teeth that were bared while it panted around a massive,longtongue that was nearly reaching the floor. A little pool of sticky drool puddled at the base of the tongue and its flat face didn’t have much of a nose or ears.
“Is that… adog?” I asked just as it flicked its tongue, slapping itself across the eyeball—without blinking. The tongue slowly slid down its face and then hung down in its previous position.
What the holy hellspawn?
“Uh… yes?” he answered, but he didn’t sound too sure himself. “He’s what I have,” he added with a shrug. “And he walks… kind of.”
I turned incredulous eyes his way and he sent me a charming smile, his gaze flickering between me and hisdog.
“What’s his name?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.
That question stopped him in his tracks and I could see the panic in his expression.
“Dog,” he answered with a quick nod.
“Dog?” I asked, turning to fold my arms across my chest as I took him in—all seven feet of fine male specimen. “That’shisname?”
“Well,” he drawled, not looking at me, but focusing onwhatever the hell creature it wasbehind me. “I just got him, and I haven’t settled on a name yet.”
He’s lying. And he’s absolutely terrible at it.
The male was all but vibrating with unease where he was standing, his fingers flexing like a five-year-old who’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. For some reason it made me smile, but I had to hide it, so I pretended to scrub a frustrated hand across my face.
“And does he have all of his shots?” I asked, focusing on him again.
That brought him up short, and his brow furrowed before he looked at thedogand then at me. “What are those for?”
“Oh my Gods,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I’m sorry Krusk,” I said with a sigh, ignoring the way his name on my tongue rolled right off like it was meant to be there. “But I can’t help you. You’ll need to get everything settled with him first and then—”
“Wait—” he called, grabbing my hand for a second before I turned and looked at where our hands were clasped—the green skin of his beautiful as it enfolded mine. He dropped it just as quickly, backing up a step as if he knew he was overstepping. “Please, just tell me what I need for him and I’ll get it done.”
I crossed my arms, struggling not to rub my hand against my thigh. It was tingling from where he’d touched me and I didn’t want to think too deeply about how viscerally attracted I was to my friend’s soon-to-be-malefriend.
I studied the worry on his face and sighed deeply, biting my lower lip. He probablyreallywanted to keep this dog—or whatever the hell it was—and he didn’t know what he needed to do.
“Okay,” I said with a put-upon sigh. “I can walk you through everything you need, but you have to promise that you won’t letDog out of the apartment until you have everything covered. We don’t want him getting sick or any other… um…dogssick.”
He nodded, focused entirely on me, and it was a bit unnerving, being the complete focus of this male’s attention, but at the same time, it was glorious.
CHAPTER 12
Krusk
“It needs shots,” I told my brother, opening his apartment door with one arm so that I could let myself in while I hefted the gigantic monstrosity that he’d forced Zara to help him smuggle onto the plane. “Or else she won’t be able to walk him.”
Savla was sitting at his desk with his computer, shaking his head from side to side already even as he stood and held his arms out for the beast. “No way. I’ve looked into it, and I don’t know that it’ll be safe for him. They’ve formulated those things for the dogs of this world and he’snot.” He said this while making kissy faces at the unblinking, squashed face of thenot dog.
“I think that’s more than obvious that he’snot a dog,” I said with a sigh, rolling my eyes. “That thing almost got me in trouble with my mate.”
“I don’t think Ribbon had anything to do with your failure,”Savla disagreed, petting the thing while it lay its head on his shoulder, closing its eyes in bliss, drooling down my brother’s arm.
“Is that its name?” I asked, dropping into one of the armchairs near him. “I panicked and said his name was Dog.”
“That’s a terrible name,” he scoffed, moving to sit on the sofa. He put the pantingthingnext to him and gestured towards him. “He’s the most handsome mountain toad I’ve ever seen.”
“He doesn’t lookanythinglike any mountain toad I’ve ever seen, Sav,” I told him, trying to ease the burden of him owning the ugliest creature in the history of ugly creatures. “And he eatseverything.”
“He has a healthy appetite,” Savla sniffed while Ribbon’s tongue slapped against his eye again, moisturizing it.
