Rescuing Jack

Rescuing Jack.

Caitlin Ricci.

Chapter 1.

CLARA"S WORDS WORDS, punctuated by the sound of her tapping pen, cut through the early morning calm of the animal rescue. "Marius, are Grace and Hope ready to go home today? Ms. Davis should be here to adopt them within the hour." punctuated by the sound of her tapping pen, cut through the early morning calm of the animal rescue. "Marius, are Grace and Hope ready to go home today? Ms. Davis should be here to adopt them within the hour."

Marius looked up, his gaze focusing on the bossy brunette seated across from him at the large desk. "Yeah. I made sure their travel cage was all set up, and they"ve been comfortable in them for a little while now. The rabbits are going to be fine."

Clara twirled her bright-pink pen in her fingers and clicked noisily on the keyboard in front of her. Her screen went to the next page, and he smiled at her from where he sat behind her as she focused on her morning tasks. "Is Seth coming in? I wonder if he"s still sick. Maybe I should call him," Clara asked all this without turning to look at him.

Marius rose from the chair he"d been comfortably relaxing in to wrap an arm around her narrow shoulders. "He"s fine. He got a stomach bug. Relax." He called on the old magic that flowed through him and let a touch of it seep into her overworked mind. Within seconds, he felt her begin to relax. She sighed and reached up to pat his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you. I needed that. Mitch and I have been up a lot lately with Banjo. You know how it goes when you bring a new dog home, especially a sad case like his." She leaned forward, and Marius let her go. Instead of returning to his comfortable chair, he chose to walk around to the front of the gray counter that separated them from the potential adopters coming through the front door. Clara"s desk was the first one in front of the door while his was nearly against the wall as the desks curved in a sort of spiral behind the part.i.tion. It was artistic and he"d planned it like that so when people came into the rescue, her smile was the first thing they saw instead of him so early in the morning. There was an empty s.p.a.ce beside her where Seth usually sat, but with him not being there, the s.p.a.ce was holding Clara"s jacket. He fussed with a pile of pamphlets, making sure they were neatly stacked and presentable for when the rescue opened in less than ten minutes. Of course people couldn"t get to them while they were on his desk but if they ran out of the pamphlets placed around the lobby he"d be ready to fill them again.

"Yeah, I know how it is," he replied, moving on from the pamphlets to a basketful of brightly colored stickers they liked to have available for the kids. "Rescues can be tough."

Clara turned away from her computer to face him. "Are you sure he"s right for us? He just doesn"t seem all that happy. Like maybe we"re not the ones for him. I don"t want to keep him from finding his perfect home if it"s not with us. Maybe if we just fostered him for a bit instead of outright adoption he"d be better."

Marius leaned on the counter. He was tall and had the broad shoulders that were common for his kind, which usually didn"t bother him except that the counter was narrow and he had to watch out for things he might risk knocking over. Clara"s last coffee mug was the most recent casualty he could remember. It had taken a nasty tumble and died that way. "Yes, I"m sure you"re right for him. How long have we been doing this?"

"Three years," she answered automatically, reaching for her nearly empty cup of coffee.

He nodded. "And we"ve placed how many pets in that time? Hundreds?"

She took a sip, keeping her gaze on his over the rim of her pink mug. "Three hundred and forty-seven. The rabbits today will take us up to forty-nine, and you"ve got a home visit this afternoon for the gray cat in the back that should bring us up to fifty."

Smiling, he reached over the countertop and picked up the pot of coffee to refill her mug. "You"re great with numbers. A real savant. You know that right?"

She blushed prettily, nodded to give her thanks as he filled her mug, and took another sip. "But your point?"

"With all those animals we"ve placed, I"m always right," he reminded her. He wasn"t gloating, but he was proud of what he"d been able to do for the animals and for the people he was able to help by bringing them both together.

Clara put her mug aside and turned back to her computer. "Yeah, yeah. d.a.m.n werewolf. We"re lucky to have you. If every rescue had a s.e.xy wolf leading their efforts they might actually have a better adoption rate."

He laughed, then turned to walk the short distance to the wide gla.s.s door that marked the entrance to their little rescue. The parking lot was empty, but he knew it would fill up soon. It always did. People came to see the animals, to get a gla.s.s of Clara"s sweet tea, and, more often than not, to gawk at the werewolf. He unlocked the door, propped it open to welcome the warm summer morning breeze and stepped back. He didn"t mind the people that came just to see him. They usually left with a new pet. But even if they didn"t, werewolves coming out was a big deal, and he was the only one in the small town. The more people who saw him, who knew him as the man who helped them in some way, the fewer of them who would be afraid of him. They"d only been public for two years now, but a lot had changed in that time. The hardest part, and also the slowest, was changing the ideas people had about them. Hollywood and the like had done a number on his kind. But all of that was starting to get better, and he had hope that in the very near future werewolves wouldn"t be any more of an oddity than purple hair was. He went back to his seat behind the desk, pulled a stack of paper forward to look busy, and waited for the first of the visitors to arrive. The dogs were ready, the cats were comfortable, and the rescue was clean. People would be coming to adopt animals today.

"How many do you think?" he asked Clara.

She giggled. "Taking bets already?"

"It"s tradition. So what"s your number?" Marius pushed. The bet only mattered before nine o"clock when they officially opened. After that they couldn"t bet again until tomorrow morning. They had less than two minutes.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Five. Of any species."

Maries nodded. Five was a good number of animals to adopt out in a day. But with Ms. Davis coming in to take two just that morning he thought it was a bit low. "I"ll go for ten. Of any." Her eyes widened a bit, but she smiled at him.

"Being ambitious there, huh chief?" she teased him.

He shrugged. "It"s a good number. Even if we don"t hit it, ten is a good number. And if we do, then you"re buying me pizza again."

"And I get chocolate," she reminded him. "The good stuff."

Marius laughed. "Yeah, I"ll get you the good stuff. You have expensive taste, woman."

Snorting, she turned back to her screen and continued typing. Marius swiveled in his chair to better face the lobby. The rescue was open now. He smiled, made sure his badge was on correctly, and waited for the first of the people to come in.

He didn"t have to wait long, because within five minutes a small blue car pulled into the lot.

Its paint was peeling, and the parts that were exposed showed obvious signs of rust. But Marius wasn"t concerned. Unlike a lot of people he knew, he didn"t let something as superficial as the paint on a car bother him. In fact, the little blue sedan looked a lot like his old one before it had finally died a few years before. He was reminiscing about the last road trip he"d taken in it when the driver"s door opened, and a young man stepped out. His vision was acute, but Marius couldn"t make out the man"s features until he stepped closer. What he did see was a head of shiny black hair and a thin frame hidden by an oversized suit jacket. The man locked his car, and a minute or two later he was coming through the front door of the rescue. Marius sat up a little straighter, ready to greet their visitor and hopefully help him make the decision to become an adopter.

"Hey. Welcome to a Forever Home," he said, trying to meet the man"s gaze. As soon as Marius got close to seeing his eyes, however, the stranger ducked his head, instead looking at the floor. "Are you here to see the animals?"

The man slowly nodded and stopped where he was, a good four feet from the counter. Marius frowned, a bit uncertain of how to approach such a quiet person. It was more than simply the man"s unwillingness to speak to him. There was something there, something dark that bothered Marius"s sensitive nerves. He shared a concerned glance with Clara as she rose from her desk.

"You"ll need to sign in here," she said, pushing the clipboard toward him. As he stepped closer, Clara gave him a tentative smile. "Are you looking for a dog or a cat? Or possibly a parrot? We have all sorts of pets here."

He took the pen and signed in, but his hand appeared to tremble as it came out of the overly long cuff of his jacket. "A dog."

Marius offered him a smile as well, glad they"d figured that much out, though the man"s answer had been nearly too soft to hear. Clara nodded, and Marius was surprised she"d been able to understand his quiet reply. Marius rose to his feet, ready to help the man find the perfect dog for him. "Sure. We"ve got a good variety of dogs. I"m Marius, and this is Clara. What"s your name?"

He didn"t miss the way the man retraced his steps when Marius stood. He"d put more distance between them as if something about Marius bothered the stranger. Clara cleared her throat and gave Marius a look, telling him she"d seen it as well. She reached up to take the clipboard and scanned it. "Well, Jack, welcome to our rescue. Marius will show you to the dog area and help you out," she said, dismissing him. There was a note of bitter coldness in her voice that Marius recognized but knew wasn"t necessary. She was upset that someone didn"t like him. They"d been friends since high school, and he"d told her plenty of times that a werewolf didn"t need her protection. Clara was stubborn and rarely listened unless it benefited her in some way.

He squeezed her shoulder, letting her know he appreciated her effort as he walked around her to the little swinging door that kept their area separate from the adopters. Sometimes they kept new dogs with them while they waited for the kennels to be prepared; sometimes, though, they brought out their favorites to play with them and make the day go by faster.

"The dogs are just finishing breakfast," he said as he walked through the small door and approached Jack. "I"ll show you to the kennels."

Jack continued to look at the ground, but Marius did see his head bob just a little in a nod. He turned and led the way through a gla.s.s door with a dog on it, making sure to hold the door open for Jack as he came in behind him. Even if the man said nothing, Marius knew he was there. It was more than his smell or the way Jack"s quiet footsteps reached his werewolf ears. There was something about him, something that covered Jack like a thick film, making his skin tingle. But it wasn"t a part of Jack. He could tell that much about him. He wasn"t bad, as he seemed. If Marius had thought that he"d have refused to allow him to adopt. Technically that would be wrong, but they were a private rescue, and he"d exercised that right before when he thought adopting an animal out to a person or family wasn"t the right choice for the animal. Both times they"d been furious with him, but he stood by his decision.

This wasn"t like those times, though. Whatever he was sensing from Jack had nothing to do with him as a person. It was more like something was following him. Like a cloud. Only, not quite.

He"d walked past the first three dogs without realizing it and quickly stopped to give Jack time to look each one over. "Is there something you"re looking for?" he asked, hoping to get a read on the man"s wants in a dog. People said Marius had a knack for helping the right owner find the perfect pet, but really it wasn"t like that. He knew his pets and thought he was a decent judge of people. When he combined those two he got great results with adopting out his animals.

Jack held his hand up to his waist and waved it back and forth.

"A big dog?" Marius guessed, frowning. Jack nodded and tucked his hands back in his pockets. "This"ll work easier if you tell me what kind of lifestyle you have, what you want to do with the dog, and those kinds of things." Marius was just trying to be helpful, but the more he spoke the faster he saw Jack retreating from him. The man had hardly moved, but his shoulders hunched and he lowered his head, appearing as if he wanted to get away from Marius.

Marius bit back a sigh and looked down the line of dogs in front of him. Each was in its own kennel and though the floor was concrete for easy cleaning, each had a variety of toys and a bed off the floor to lie on. Going on a hunch, he slowly started walking down the aisle, past the smaller dogs. As he expected, Jack barely looked at the dogs they pa.s.sed. Marius led him around the corner to the dogs that were still much smaller than he was as a wolf, but they suited apartment living and the elderly community just fine. A lot of people liked lap dogs they could cuddle with. Jack didn"t appear to be one of them.

Marius turned the corner again, this time pa.s.sing the medium-sized dogs. They weren"t a large rescue and only had around thirty dogs at a time since they tried to stay under capacity in case a huge rescue effort came in, and people needed places to house the animals. That plan had paid off more than once when natural disasters struck or a really bad neglect case with a h.o.a.rder was located.

One such case, Missy, stared out at him from the back of her kennel, her tail between her legs. Marius looked between the small red spaniel mix and the man currently trailing behind him and had an idea. He stopped in front of her kennel and put his hand on the chain-link gate that kept her in. The tips of his fingers curled over the smooth wire. "How about her?" he asked casually as if he didn"t see the similarities between the man and the dog. As if they didn"t share the same unwillingness to meet his gaze, the same hunched posture. As if they didn"t both have a cloud surrounding them in suffocating darkness.

Jack glanced at her but quickly shook his head, not even giving her a chance.

"You sure?" Marius asked him, leaning against the kennel"s gate. "She"s a good girl. Her name"s Missy. She came in last month from a neglect situation."

Jack"s gaze strayed to her again, and lingered but he quickly looked away. He brought his left hand up to his hip again, showing Marius that he wanted a still larger dog. Nodding, Marius figured he"d at least show the man the dogs he was so set on. When they moved away from Missy"s kennel, Marius gave her a little wink. Of course the little spaniel mix would have no idea what he"d meant by the gesture as she moved as far away from them as possible and shivered. But he liked treating the animals like they could understand him.

He couldn"t explain it, but he was pretty sure Missy was the dog for Jack, if only he was willing to give her a real chance instead of dismissing her because she wasn"t the size he wanted in his new dog.

They pa.s.sed a few more dogs before Marius stopped in front of the last dog in the shelter, a ma.s.sive Irish wolfhound their volunteer, Seth, had named Domino after the way he tended to knock everyone and everything down around him. He wanted Jack to approach the dog, to show some interest in him, but he merely stood in the middle of the aisleway, hardly moving or even looking like he was breathing.

"This is our largest dog," Marius said, as if Domino"s obvious towering height hadn"t made that point clear. "He"s an Irish wolfhound. You can"t get much bigger than that as far as dog breeds go." He saw Jack"s gaze go to Domino, and he slowly nodded, though he made no move toward the dog. As if Domino knew they were talking about him, the ma.s.sive dog lumbered forward, his head up and his ears forward.

"You"re a good boy, Domino," Marius said, putting his fingers against the chain-link gate so that the dog could sniff him. He was rewarded with a wet tongue against his fingertips, and he smiled down at the dog"s s.h.a.ggy gray head. He wagged his tail, his whole body swaying with the movement, and released one loud bark.

Out of the corner of his eye, Marius saw Jack shudder. He frowned, wondering what was wrong with the other man and took a step toward him. "Are you cold?" he asked. "We can turn up the heat if you are. Admittedly, I don"t get all that cold, and Clara wears a sweater every day so it"s hard to know how comfortable she really is." Domino barked again, and Marius watched as Jack"s shoulders bunched, and his arms came up to wrap around his middle, seemingly for protection.

Marius took another step toward him, his hand outstretched toward Jack"s trembling arm. "Hey, you okay?" He tried to keep his voice soft, his posture as nonthreatening as possible, but it hardly seemed to matter as Jack kept shaking. Marius"s fingers landed on the stiff sleeve of Jack"s oversized coat, but the man was quickly gone, his loud footsteps echoing through the big shelter as he ran. Marius heard doors slam, and dogs barked at the unusual interruption to their morning. "What the h.e.l.l was that?" Clara asked, her voice as loud as a siren over the sounds of barking dogs.

Marius came toward her, not liking to shout over them. He found her in front of a small terrier she was trying to calm. "He took off," Marius explained, not really believing it himself.

She huffed loudly and got to her feet. "Well, he"s officially an idiot. And him being against werewolves is his problem. Not yours." She poked him painfully in the chest to punctuate her words. "You hear me, Marius? That"s his issue. You"re a good man. A smart man. A-"

Marius stepped back before she could poke a hole clear through to his ribs. d.a.m.n, her nails were sharp. He rubbed his chest and winced. "I don"t think it was about that. Well, maybe a little. But there was something about him. And besides, if he didn"t like my kind, then why come here? No one is forcing him to look at a rescue for a dog."

Sighing, Clara shook her head. "You think too kindly of people. You know that, right? His keys fell out of his pocket on his way out of the building. Will you put them on his car? I"m in the middle of a conference call with an investor." She rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder before hooking Jack"s keys to the pocket of Marius"s jeans. "And if he does come back, tell him not to run out like that again. He would have startled our visitors if we"d had anyone else around. As it was he worked up the dogs more than enough."

Marius nodded. She was right. But still. "Don"t you ever get tired of being so bossy?" he teased her as he followed her back out into the lobby.

She laughed and slid into her chair and went back to work. Marius watched her work, fascinated with the way her small fingers moved over the keys without having to search out each individual one like he did. She looked up and shooed him away with a wave of her hand, effectively dismissing him.

He shot her a grin, then went outside, ready to put the keys around Jack"s antenna and leave it at that. The man had run out like a crazy person, and Marius didn"t owe him any more than that. And yet, he felt like he did. Leaving the keys out in the open like that didn"t seem right but keeping them inside of the rescue, in a place Jack clearly didn"t want to be, felt wrong too. So, after checking to make sure that Clara was still all right, he pocketed them and went in search of the mysterious Jack.

Chapter 2.

HOT TEARS TEARS burned his eyes as he sank to his knees beside a barren tree. Though the humiliation was bad enough, what hurt Jack the most was the fear that moved through him at even the thought of the big blond man coming that close to him. He buried his hands in his pockets to keep them from shaking as he leaned back and slid onto his b.u.t.t. It wasn"t a comfortable spot to be in, but he hadn"t been able to keep running either. He was so out of shape. So weak. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and flexed his fingers. They weren"t shaking as badly he supposed. But now he had to figure out where he"d lost his keys. Probably somewhere while he was running. He sighed and let his head fall back against the rough bark of the tree. This was going to be a very long morning for him if he really had to retrace the steps he didn"t even remember taking in search of his keys. burned his eyes as he sank to his knees beside a barren tree. Though the humiliation was bad enough, what hurt Jack the most was the fear that moved through him at even the thought of the big blond man coming that close to him. He buried his hands in his pockets to keep them from shaking as he leaned back and slid onto his b.u.t.t. It wasn"t a comfortable spot to be in, but he hadn"t been able to keep running either. He was so out of shape. So weak. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and flexed his fingers. They weren"t shaking as badly he supposed. But now he had to figure out where he"d lost his keys. Probably somewhere while he was running. He sighed and let his head fall back against the rough bark of the tree. This was going to be a very long morning for him if he really had to retrace the steps he didn"t even remember taking in search of his keys.

"Hey."

Jack lifted his head and looked up, surprised to see the blond man standing above him. He blocked out the sunlight, casting a shadow over Jack"s face and obscuring the other man"s features. He dropped his head, unable to look at the man for very long.

"You... uh... dropped your keys," Marius said, crouching down and placing them in the dead gra.s.s between them.

Jack looked at them, wanting to reach for them and pull his things close. But Marius was too close to them. If he put his arm out there Marius would be able to touch him. He licked his lips and swallowed thickly, wondering how he was going to convey what he needed to the other man without using words. He pushed toward the other man, his palm flat as he repeated the motion. It was a long shot; after all, he wasn"t using any recognized form of sign language. He tried it again, harder this time, but Marius didn"t seem to get it.

"I don"t know what you want." Marius sounded a bit annoyed and really Jack couldn"t blame him for it if he was. He probably looked like a raving lunatic, especially after running out of the shelter like some insane asylum escapee. All he needed was a straitjacket to complete the look.

Pressing his lips together, Jack realized he had to make a choice: take his keys and risk getting touched or tell the man what he needed and risk getting laughed at and touched anyway. Not speaking had been working out pretty well for him so far, at least. He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity, wondering when he got to be so dense. This was hardly working for him. But it was better than the alternative. And it let him be a coward.

He slid his hand off his thigh and placed it on the ground beside him. The dirt was warm, and it clung to his nails, making them appear even dirtier. He looked between his hand and Marius"s shoes, judging the distance. It couldn"t have been more than a few feet. He acted quickly, darting his hand over the dirt until his fingertips met with the metal ring of his keys. He barely had a hold on them before he pulled his arm back and hugged his keys to his chest, glad to have them back. Now he could go home and forget this day ever happened. He was still trying to erase yesterday but maybe trying to get rid of both days would help combine them and make it easier. Or something like that. He hadn"t had much luck with it yet. But there was just one problem. Marius was still there. It was bad enough that Jack would have to go back to the rescue, that he"d feel the eyes of the people there on him as he got into his car. But he didn"t need Marius next to him for that to happen. He was perfectly capable of embarra.s.sing himself without witnesses and had been doing it well enough on his own for a while now. He lifted his hand and made a shooing motion by flicking his wrist toward Marius"s legs. When the other man didn"t move, Jack tried again, harder this time. Maybe he was dense. Maybe tossing a rock at him would make him leave. Too bad Jack didn"t have the guts to do that.

The man"s loud sigh interrupted his nearly frantic hand waving. Jack paused, wondering what was coming when Marius crouched down in the gra.s.s with him, his gaze level with Jack"s. If he"d been looking up. "Is it because I"m a werewolf?"

Jack shook his head. That wasn"t it at all. Though he could admit a curiosity to see their town"s werewolf up close. But no, that wasn"t why he"d run.

"Then what is it?" Marius asked him.

He sounded frustrated, and if Jack had actually felt like talking he might have said something to ease the other man"s worry. Maybe. He wasn"t sure what words he would have used, though, if he had chosen to speak at all. Maybe a touch would have been better in this situation. Maybe a hug. Hugs were nice. Or at least they had been. He didn"t know what he could handle now. Maybe nothing. What if that was it? What if he wasn"t able to ever touch another person again? It would be safer. For him. But why did that possibility hurt so d.a.m.n much?

"Hey," Marius said, his voice soft. He reached toward Jack"s face but Jack quickly backed up, his spine pressing painfully against the tree trunk as his arms came up to block his face. He trembled and forced himself to remember to breathe as his arms stayed above his head, protecting it. He waited for the first blow, wondering if that would be the end of it and if he could keep from crying out this time. Probably not. He hadn"t been able to before.

He heard the gra.s.s crunch under Marius"s shoes. "d.a.m.n. You sure you"re not afraid of me because I"m a werewolf?"

Though he wasn"t sure if Marius could see him, Jack shook his head. It wasn"t because of that. Maybe if he had any idea what a real-life werewolf was like he might have been afraid of him because of that too. Instead, he only knew that Marius was a man, and that was reason enough to get his heart racing and make him feel like bolting. Just like he had before. He must have looked like such an idiot in the shelter. He wanted to apologize, to explain what the h.e.l.l was wrong with him. But that took too many words, and he was just too tired to try any more today. He"d managed to get out of the house. That had to be something. At the very least it was more than he"d managed to do in the last week.

"You can lower your arms. I won"t touch you anymore or even try. I was just trying to wipe a tear off your cheek. Won"t happen again."

Jack slowly opened his arms to be able to see Marius. He"d stepped back even more, placing a good five feet between them. He appreciated that. No one could move fast enough to hurt him before he could put his arms up again from that distance. He gave the man a little nod. He wanted to thank him for being nice and giving him some s.p.a.ce, but a nod would have to do. He was still crouched, and Jack sort of wished he could see the color of his eyes. Eyes and smiles had once been turn-ons for him. Now, though, he wasn"t sure what his turn-ons were anymore. Or if he even had them. Maybe they"d gone away too.

"Still want a dog?" Marius asked him.

Jack nodded. Yes, he wanted a dog. He needed one.

Nodding, Marius sat down on the gra.s.s and pulled his legs up and under him. He rested his elbows on his knees, looking comfortable. Jack wished he could sit like that, like a person, instead of whatever the h.e.l.l he was now.

"And you still want a big dog?" Marius pressed. "They"re all pretty loud. Most dogs are. Domino isn"t the exception; he"s more like the rule. And you didn"t seem that great with loud noises back at the rescue."

Jack didn"t move. He didn"t have an answer for him. If all dogs were loud, that was going to be an issue. He couldn"t do loud right now. Maybe later, in a few months, or maybe years, but right now he couldn"t. Even the TV couldn"t be as loud as he used to like it. And he hadn"t played a videogame in a long time. At least not one that actually had a lot of noise in it.

Marius rubbed a hand over his blond hair. It fanned out in a row of messy spikes that almost made Jack smile. He might have tried to, but the gesture felt so foreign to him that he wasn"t sure he could even make it anymore.

"Look," Marius said, dropping his hand to his lap. "I"m not trying to talk you out of owning a dog. They make amazing pets. I"m a dog person more than a cat one. But cats are okay too. h.e.l.l, most animals are great pets. We had a duck at the rescue once. Someone got it for their kid for Easter, and then it grew up, and she wasn"t sure what to do with it. We took it to a farm up north. Anyway, if you want a dog, I can help you pick one out. People say I"m good at that. At finding the right dog for a person. And I think I know which of ours would be good for you. She"s scared too, and she"s got some trust issues. Sound kind of familiar?"

Jack closed his eyes, not wanting to listen to what Marius was saying. The dog part didn"t bother him; he was starting to realize his reasons for wanting a big dog might have been a bit misguided. But the idea that Marius could see through him, to see that he was that scared and also that he wasn"t about to start trusting anyone that easily, felt a bit odd. Like someone was peeling away his layers and leaving him raw. He didn"t like that feeling. "Will you come back to the shelter and look at her?" Marius asked him.

Jack didn"t know what to do. Did he want a new dog? He wasn"t quite sure. Everything had seemed to point to that this morning when he"d gotten in his car. But now he didn"t know what he wanted. Maybe he was better off just going home. He"d had a lot of excitement for one day. Going home sounded a lot better. He shook his head, his mind made up. He wouldn"t be going back to the shelter today. He"d had enough.

Marius rose and stretched his arms above his head. "Okay. Well, it was nice meeting you. I guess. If you want to look at her tomorrow you"re welcome to come back and visit the shelter. Her name"s Missy. If you come back just ask one of the people at the front desk to get her for you. They"ll know which one she is. And to get back to your car, just follow the really faint trail that cuts through this field. If you hit the road you"ve gone too far west." He pointed his arm straight out the way Jack had come, showing him the faint path. Jack nodded. Marius started walking, and Jack waited until his footsteps had grown quiet in the dry gra.s.s before unfolding himself from his position at the base of the tree and slowly getting to his feet.

MARIUS STEPPED STEPPED back into the rescue, glad to see Ms. Davis there picking up her rabbits. Clara popped up behind the desk once she saw him, a dozen questions dancing in her worried gaze. He stepped up to the elderly woman and placed his hand on the small of her back, blocking Clara"s questions for the moment. At least until Ms. Davis was out of their lobby. "Thank you for taking them. I"m sure they"ll make wonderful pets for you." back into the rescue, glad to see Ms. Davis there picking up her rabbits. Clara popped up behind the desk once she saw him, a dozen questions dancing in her worried gaze. He stepped up to the elderly woman and placed his hand on the small of her back, blocking Clara"s questions for the moment. At least until Ms. Davis was out of their lobby. "Thank you for taking them. I"m sure they"ll make wonderful pets for you."