Page 44 of Wild Wolf

I closed Amber’s door, shook my head at Nicolina’s antics, and turned to her father. “Do you want to take Petra with you? I don’t want to crowd Amber’s feet.”

“Yeah, I’ll take her. We’ll need to stop when we get reception. You don’t have a cell, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t have any tech right now.”

“We’re fixing that. Richard? Ask your friends to bring Declan back into the modern world.”

Richard poked his head out of my cabin. “Anything else while you’re demanding miracles? Declan, what do you want us to do about your dishes?”

“Leave them. I’ll deal with them after we’re back. You’ll wreck your suits if you try to do dishes right now.”

“We’ll deal with them, you mean. There’s no way you’re going to be slaving away cleaning the damned dishes.” Richard disappeared into the cabin, and a few moments later, everyone filed out.

It amazed me so many could fit in the space, which I’d viewed as somewhat cramped with one man and a wolf. Then again, I’d spent most of my life alone.

One extra pushed the limits of my comfort, yet I struggled with my awareness that I found the presence of so many to be comforting.

One day, my life might make sense. I got behind the wheel of my truck, shoved the key in the ignition, sent a prayer to the truck gods, and started the engine. While it protested, it started without much of a fuss.

“Are you emotionally attached to this truck?” Amber asked. “I’ve determined, over the course of my life, that men get unreasonably attached to their trucks.”

“Not really. Why?”

“I want to crush it with a tank.”

“Only if we take turns driving the tank,” I countered.

“I will pay the import fees on this piece of shit for those terms. Deal.”

“But Amber, why not just take a Russian tank on a joy ride? We can see which is tougher, their tank or my truck.”

“That’s the hottest thing anyone has said to me since I was last bribed with your brownies,” she announced. “While that was only a few minutes ago, it was worth stating.”

I laughed. “You like my brownies that much?”

“Had you tacked on that you make the world’s best brownies with your original marriage proposal, I would have hesitated long enough to demand a taste test, after which I would have committed myself to holy matrimony. I would have been laughed at until the end of my days. That’s what happened to Nicolina. Richard made her cookies, and that was that.”

“Cookies aside, aren’t they just a good match?”

“They really are, but we will forever rib her over having been seduced with his cookie-making ways.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that. She gets cookies.”

“That she does. Did they brief you on what we’re supposed to be doing with the Russians?”

“No. I have no idea what’s going on. I’m just driving the truck and following them, since they’re blocking me in.” I leaned over to get a better view at the chaos behind me in my side mirror. “And they’re fighting over who is going in which vehicle. How are you feeling?”

“Surprisingly good. I don’t feel like I have to swallow every five seconds to keep from throwing up now. It’s going to take getting used to having a wolf in my head, though. But she’s pretty sleepy right now.”

“She’s been working hard to help you heal. I’m confident you can handle having her around. They’re worried she might be too gentle for your current lifestyle, though.” I frowned. “I’m not sure if I was supposed to say that.”

“It’s fine. You haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve seen this time and time again. The wolf isn’t necessarily what the new Fenerec wants, but at the end of the road, the wolf is what the new Fenerec needed. We’ll figure it out—and there’s something to be said for being able to walk away at long last. To me, she is hope.”

“They mentioned rescue ops.”

“Rescue ops are the best. They’re the kind of job I walk away from knowing I’ve done some actual good. I wouldn’t mind just doing those.”

“Or training?”