As I shifted from foot to foot at the trailhead to Topher Falls, my eyes once again went to the SUV that I was fairly sure belonged to Constance.
“I sent a ‘hiker’ out to get lost,” Major, the vice president of the MC, and resident search and rescues lead, called out. “He left about ten minutes ago, and plans to get lost somewhere in between here and the end of the trailhead. Odin, you’re working Peanut today, right?”
Peanut was my one-and-a-half-year-old bloodhound I’d adopted from the Jesper County Animal Shelter four months ago.
Today was the first day he’d been back with me after he’d spent a month away in SAR school with a trainer out of Billings.
He was eager to be out of his cage, so I’d decided that maybe it would be best to take him to tonight’s meeting so he could show off and get some of the wiggles out.
Plus, it was never a good thing to have a bored bloodhound at home waiting for you.
Usually, I took him to the office with me and let him have free rein when I wasn’t working.
Today, he’d been in a kennel in the back of the car while his trainer had brought him back home to me.
“We are,” I confirmed.
Hopefully.
When I’d gotten him from the shelter, the ladies who’d been taking care of him had informed me that his last owner had died during a search and rescue mission, and she’d been training him to be a search and rescue dog.
I’d gone in there intending to get a damn cat.
Not a high-maintenance dog.
But I hadn’t been able to tell that cute little face no.
And so our story had begun.
Since I hadn’t known jack shit about search and rescue, I’d joined the team and had taken Peanut to the recommended training even though I’d thought he might enjoy it more to stay at home.
He’d been happy to see me today, and secretly, I’d been happy to see him.
Not that I’d ever admit it.
The world didn’t need to know that I had a weakness.
“All right,” Major said. “Who’s our medic today?”
Sage, a newbie on the team, raised her hand.
Her dog was by her side as well, but he had a muzzle on and growled at anyone who got close to his master.
Peanut and I steered clear, and I didn’t bother asking why Sage had brought the dog with her.
A few weeks ago, that dog had been rescued by Holly at the dog fighting ring.
The dog had been traumatized and was now reactive as fuck and couldn’t be left alone, or he destroyed literally anything that was near him. He also had PTSD and didn’t react well when he was not in clear line of sight of Sage.
Or Gentry.
Though, we weren’t going to mention Gentry in Sage’s presence.
He was a hard topic for her.
If I was more of a friend, I’d find out why.
But I wasn’t, and I didn’t.
