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Two hours later, Oakley watched as Walker Ranch hands finished constructing the kennel. She was impressed with their speed and attention to detail. The kennel was twenty feet square, chain link on all four sides, and a covered pitch roof to keep it dry. There was a house with a built-up floor, padded with clean horse blankets, washed per her instructions to eliminate horse or chemical smells.
She sat in the back yard with the pups. Thanks to the ranch being stocked on darn near everything, she was able to fashion harnesses from leather and had leads attached to the harnesses so she could keep the pups from wandering off.
The pups alerted her to the arrival of someone new. Even at their young age, they were remarkably aware of their surroundings. Oakley turned her head and saw Naomie Taylor-Walker headed towards them. Surprisingly, the pups didn’t bark, they just sat, ears up and watching curiously.
“Well, look what we have here,” Naomie said as she stopped beside Oakley. “Mind if I sit?”
“Not at all,” Oakley replied.
“And who are these fine fellows?”
Oakley regarded the pups before answering. “They haven’t been named yet. I’m waiting for them to tell me their names.”
The smile that came on Naomie’s face surprised Oakley. “I think maybe you and I may be cut from similar cloth,” Naomie responded. “Riggs mentioned youwanted to test the pups to get a genetic reading on whether they’re wolf hybrids, or wolves.”
“Yes, but I have no lab and can’t take them to the base so…” she left the sentence unfinished.
“Lucky for you, I do.”
“Riggs mentioned something about that. Is it nearby?”
“Down at the stables. Want to take them down and run the tests?”
“You’re a vet, as well as a million other amazing things?” The question was out before Oakley could stop it.
Naomie just chuckled. “Call me a person with endless curiosity.”
“Or amazing,” Oakley added. “And I’d love to get the testing done.”
“Then let’s do it.”
Oakley stood and looked at the pups. “Come on, guys.”
To her surprise, they trotted along with her, sniffed, and explored as far as their leads would allow. When they reached Naomie’s lab, she unlocked it and held the door for Oakley.
“Holy smokes,” Oakley stopped just inside the door and looked around. “This is some setup.”
Naomie smiled. “I’m a bit of a lab snob. Besides, it’s vital to our breeding program.”
“Which is?”
“Performance horses.”
“Oh, I went to a show in Stockton last year with a friend. Those animals are amazing.”
“As are the canines you train.”
“You’ve seen military dogs perform?”
Naomie shot her another smile. “Let’s just say I have a lot of friends in interesting positions. Which brings me to something I wanted to talk to you about.” She gestured across the room. “Let’s get some blood drawn, and then the pups can sniff around while we work.”
For the next half an hour, their attention was on getting blood drawn from the pups and preparing the samples. “What type of testing can you do here?” Oakley asked.
“Are you familiar with the VGL wolf-hybrid test?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. We test with the Y-chromosome markers, obviously, because the pups are male to determine the haplotype inherited from a single parent, along with wolf-specific DNA markers and population analysis of DNA markers.”
