Chapter 9
Finn
I stood outside the Out of Bounds Scotland office, Ajax’s lead loose in my hand. After a little over a week together, we were still finding our way. The Belgian Malinois sat at attention beside me, his dark eyes alert but not quite engaged. Not yet.
I held out a hand, giving him a moment to register it before I gently scratched the top of his head. “Ready for a wee adventure, lad?”
Ajax’s ears twitched, but he maintained his disciplined posture. Charlie had trained him well.
Alex had slipped out during lunch to lay a trail through the woods behind our office. Before heading out, he’d handed me one of his gloves with a grin. “Think he’ll remember how to do this?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Now I crouched beside Ajax, holding Alex’s glove. “This is different from our walks, boy. This is work you know.” I held the glove under his nose. “Find Alex.”
The transformation was immediate and stunning.
Ajax’s entire body tensed, his nose working furiously at the glove.
On deployment, I had, of course, seen Ajax at his peak.
I knew what he was capable of. During the past week, I’d seen glimpses of his training, but watching him shift from depressed companion to focused military asset was like watching someone wake up. Maybe I was doing something right.
“Find Alex.” I repeated the command Charlie had used countless times.
Ajax circled, nose to the ground, working through the confusion of Alex’s scent being everywhere near the office entrance. He paused, head lifting to test the air, then dropped back down. After three tight circles, his body language changed. He’d found the trail.
With a low whine, he pulled forward, and I let the lead run through my fingers. This wasn’t about control. This was about letting him remember who he was.
As he moved with purpose toward the treeline, I murmured quiet encouragement. “Good boy, that’s it.”
His tail wasn’t quite wagging, but it had lifted from its perpetual droop.
His steps were purposeful, his body language confident for the first time since I’d brought him home.
This wasn’t the dejected shadow who’d been following me around.
This was a working dog doing what he was born and trained to do.
I kept pace behind Ajax as he worked the trail, his movements becoming more fluid with each passing minute.
The path Alex had laid took us up a gentle slope, winding between evergreen trees and moss-covered boulders.
The scent must have strengthened, because Ajax’s pace quickened, his nose never leaving the ground as he navigated the twisting route with absolute certainty.
“That’s it, lad. You’ve got this.” I did nothing to interfere with his work, merely keeping a steady pace behind him.
The trees thinned as we crested the hill, opening to the meadow high above the village proper with its secret cache of ancient standing stones and the cadre of roaming sheep that always seemed to be here.
Ajax paused at the treeline, head lifting to test the air.
Something shifted in his posture, and I knew he’d caught Alex’s scent on the breeze.
With renewed determination, Ajax pulled forward, leading me straight across the meadow toward one of the massive stones. He circled it once, twice, then stopped abruptly on the far side, where Alex stood waiting with a broad smile.
Eyes locked on his quarry, Ajax let out two sharp barks and sat.
“Well done!” Alex dropped to one knee, already pulling treats from his pocket. “Bloody brilliant work, Ajax.”
I released the lead, letting Ajax move forward to collect his reward. Alex scratched behind his ears as he fed him treats, murmuring praise in that soft voice he reserved for animals and his wife.
“Look at you, remembering all your training.” I leaned against a nearby stone. “Charlie would be proud, mate.”
Alex produced a rope toy from his pocket and gave it a little shake. Ajax’s eyes tracked the movement, and for a moment, he seemed unsure what to do.
“It’s all right. This is for you.” As Alex shook the rope again, the dog hesitantly reached for it.
“That’s it.” Alex engaged in a gentle tug. “Good boy.”
The hesitant pull became slightly more enthusiastic. Not the exuberant play of a happy dog, but progress nonetheless. When Ajax released the toy, I swore I saw the faintest wag of his tail.
I exchanged a glance with Alex. “Did you see that?”
“I did.” Alex grinned, making a show of scratching Ajax’s chest. “Who’s the best lad? You are! Absolute champion tracker!”
I joined in the praise, perhaps overdoing it a bit, but the sight of that tentative tail wag felt like a breakthrough worth celebrating.
As we started back for the office, I glanced at my friend. “Maeve’s going to lose her mind when she smells him on you later.”
“Aye. And Saffron’s likely to avoid me for a week. But it’s worth it.”
The wee kitten we’d found hiding in our building during renovations had turned into Alex’s very opinionated cat and still only tolerated Ciara. Maeve was terrified of her.
Ajax maintained that slight lift in his demeanor on our way back to the office, occasionally glancing up at me or Alex as we descended through the trees. His stride had more life now, different from the mechanical plodding of our previous walks.
Alex emerged from the trees at the back of our building first. “We should do these tracking exercises regularly. Maybe even get him back to some of his search work, eventually. He’d be an asset to mountain rescue work.”
“Aye, I think maybe he’d like that.” I watched Ajax navigate a fallen log with an ease that belied his middle age. “He’s not likely to go quietly into retirement.”
“None of us did.” Alex tugged open the back door, and we headed inside.
The sound of female voices drew us toward the front.
I expected to find Parker and Jade, but I didn’t expect Saoirse to be with them at the desk we referred to as the Command Center.
Her green eyes met mine, and I came to an immediate halt.
Her face was calm—polished, even—but I’d seen behind that veneer once already.
The way her hand slipped up to tuck her hair back wasn’t for neatness. It was nerves.
My brain threw me back to that moment in her office a week ago when I’d been ready to commit violence in her name.
The black eye that had ignited the reaction had faded considerably. She’d managed to cover the lingering bruise with cosmetics, such that anyone who didn’t know what to look for wouldn’t notice a thing. But I still saw the slightest puffiness in her cheek.
Realizing everyone was staring, I cleared my throat. “Dr. MacGregor. Are you coming by to check on Ajax?”
Saoirse paused. “Yes, and no. How is he doing?” She knelt as she asked the question, extending a hand toward Ajax, who’d stopped when I did.
He glanced up at me, and I nodded. “Go ahead. You can say hello.”
With less hesitation, Ajax padded across to Saoirse, his tail giving another tiny wag as she scratched beneath his chin and cooed.
“He’s coming along.” I watched Saoirse’s gentle examination of Ajax. “Better than I expected, if I’m honest.”
“He looks more alert.” She ran her hands along his sides, checking his condition. “Has he been eating properly?”
“The puzzle feeders worked wonders. He’s not exactly enthusiastic, but he’s getting there.”
Ajax leaned slightly into her touch, another small but significant sign of progress. A week ago, he’d barely tolerated being handled by anyone but me.
“Falkor’s been the real breakthrough. He basically appointed himself Ajax’s emotional support dog from the moment they met.” The gentle giant had simply flopped down next to the grieving Malinois and stayed there, offering silent companionship that somehow bypassed all of Ajax’s defenses.
“They’ve become inseparable at the office. We keep them both in the back room while I’m out. I’m still not comfortable having him interact with clients yet. But those two curl up together on that ridiculous dog bed Callum bought and stay that way for hours.”
Saoirse’s eyebrows lifted. “Callum bought a dog bed?”
“Right? The man now has strong opinions about orthopedic support for aging military dogs.”
“To be fair, he has strong opinions about orthopedic support for all of us,” Parker pointed out.
“Still, that’s sweet.” Saoirse’s smile seemed genuine, and something in my chest loosened at the sight.
“We’re all spoiling him rotten.” I shifted from foot to foot, not sure what to do with myself. “He’s got more toys than he knows what to do with, though he’s only just starting to play with them.”
Ajax glanced up at me, then back at Saoirse, his posture more relaxed than when we’d entered.
The difference between the heartbroken shadow I’d brought home and the dog standing beside us now wasn’t dramatic, but it was real .
Like watching someone remember how to breathe after holding it for far too long.
Or maybe that was me projecting again.
“He’s still got a long way to go, but there’s progress.” I reached down to scratch behind his ears. “The tracking exercise we did was the most engaged I’ve seen him. Like watching him remember who he is.”
“Tracking exercise?”
I couldn’t put my finger on what, but something changed in her expression as she said it. Something beyond professional interest as Ajax’s vet.
“Aye. A quick scent drill. He tracked Alex up to the high meadow behind the village.”
Saoirse looked reluctantly impressed. “That’s all excellent progress.”
I folded my arms. “Okay, so that’s the checking on the patient portion. Why else are you here?” I could tell she was off somehow. “Something’s bothering you.”
Her gaze shot to mine, her eyes widening faintly in surprise. Her professional demeanor slipped, and I caught a glimpse of genuine worry in her eyes.
“Actually, I came because I need help.”
I blinked. Of all the reasons I thought she might’ve shown up—professional concern, curiosity, sheer bloody stubbornness—this one hadn’t made the list.
And yet it hit me like a gut punch.
The woman who always had an answer was here to ask me for help?. Okay, maybe not me specifically. Alex was here, too. But still…
The admission seemed to cost her something. “I have a friend, Isla Grant. She’s a biologist working on the rewilding project at Ardinmuir Estate.”
“The biodiversity study?” I asked. “I’ve seen some of the research stations when I’ve been guiding out that way.”
Saoirse nodded. “That’s her work. She’s been documenting the changes since they introduced the wild cats and reduced the deer population.” Her fingers twisted together. “She has a satellite phone and always sends a check-in text every day. It’s been four days since I’ve heard from her.”
Alex frowned. “Maybe her phone died?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but Isla’s meticulous about her equipment. She carries solar chargers, backup batteries—everything.”
“Could be out of range?” Jade suggested.
“She knows the dead zones by now. If she can’t get a signal, she hikes to higher ground.” Saoirse’s voice tightened. “She’s never gone more than a day without checking in.”
I watched her carefully. This wasn’t simply professional concern. “Have you contacted anyone else?”
“Everyone. The MacKeans, her department at the university. No one’s heard from her since I did.” She took a deep breath. “It’s another three days before she’s due back in the village for supplies.”
“Is there anyone else out there with her?” I asked.
“Not this trip. She prefers working alone.” Saoirse’s voice caught slightly. “Look, I know it probably sounds ridiculous. There are a dozen rational explanations. But something feels wrong.”
I’d learned long ago to trust that kind of instinct. “It’s no’ ridiculous.”
Her eyes met mine, relief flickering across her face at not being dismissed.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I need to go check on her. I know her research sites, her usual camping spots.” She hesitated. “But some of those areas are pretty remote. I don’t know them well enough to go alone.”
And suddenly I understood why she’d come to us specifically. Out of Bounds Scotland specialized in remote wilderness guiding.
“You need someone who knows the back country of Ardinmuir.” I nodded slowly.
“I was hoping one of you could come with me to try to find her, to reassure me.”
“Of course we’ll help.” Alex’s calm voice seemed to soothe her a little, and I had to bite back a surge of irritation. This wasn’t about a popularity contest. A woman might be in danger.
“Have you contacted Police Scotland? Mountain Rescue?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have enough proof of something being wrong, and I didn’t want to waste a lot of resources if this is merely a case of her phone being damaged and she’s absolutely fine.”
Alex and I exchanged a look. He inclined his head. “Nomad, I believe you’re up.” Turning back to Saoirse, he added, “Finn is the best tracker of all of us.”
“And there’s Ajax.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to set him back in his recovery.”
“This is what he was trained to do. Find people. And other things. This won’t set him back. It’ll probably liven him up a wee bit to give him something more challenging than chasing Alex up a hill.”
Saoirse caught that lush lower lip between her teeth in another show of uncharacteristic anxiety that had me thinking about all the ways I’d like to soothe that little hurt with my own mouth.
At last, her shoulders dropped—in acceptance or defeat, I didn’t know. “If you don’t mind, I would appreciate it if you could help me find my friend.”
“Of course.” I paused. “You dinna have to come with me.” I could move a lot faster on my own.
That look of resignation turned mulish. “She’s my friend. I’m the reason you’re going out there. I’m the one who’ll know if something’s wrong. I’m coming.”
Her voice didn’t waver, but I heard the fight in it. The kind you only use when you’re terrified and trying not to be.
I’d been wrong about her. She wasn’t an ice queen. She just kept all her emotions buttoned down tight. But I’d gotten a glimpse of what lay underneath, and now all I could think about was keeping that fire burning.
It was my turn to incline my head. “Okay. Then let’s make a plan.”