Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
“Ithink we should go away for the weekend, baby.”
“What?” Devon blinked at Laird, and Laird grinned at his confusion.
“Well, I know you’re working less right now, but you’re not quite off your feet full time yet. Even if we just go over to Hot Springs Junction and stay at that cute little hotel Hank says is so nice, it will be great.”
“Oh, I would love that. They say there are some super cute shops over there. Like old school, like it used to be here before all you alphas started moving in and making babies.”
Laird hooted at the teasing. “Secret Springs can only get so big, baby. The mountains and rivers make it that way. But yeah, it’s supposed to be as cute as Silverton.”
“Without the cool railroad.” Devon winked. “But they do have a bunch of haunted stuff.”
“Yeah, that’s cool. Did you know that the Bad Badger has a ghost too?”
“Really?” Devon blinked over, obviously surprised. “No shit?”
He nodded, tickled to share something about the town that Devon hadn’t known. “That’s what Jeb says. There’s some kind of an entity in there. It’s been a tavern for God knows how long. I think it actually predates the hotel.”
“Oh wow, that’s neat.” Devon stretched up tall, his back popping. “Well, make sure when you go in there and have your beers that no spooky creature tempts you away.”
Laird rolled his eyes. “It would have to be a pretty damn amazing spectral form, one that looked exactly like you.” He said that last bit before he got himself into more trouble. “One hundred percent.”
Devon snorted at him, and rolled his eyes. “That is kind of cool about the bar. These little towns are just full of exciting, interesting things.”
“They are. I know the hot springs is mostly off limits at this point in your pregnancy, but the Junction is a tiny town, so it’s an easy walk on Main Street.” Laird just wanted Devon to get away from work stress, as Raven said he was wearing himself out too much.
“I think it sounds great. You just let me know when we’re going, as I’m assuming that you’re talking to Raven about it.” Devon yawned and winked. “Are you able to take off a couple days?”
“Yeah, Nick said he’d even come feed the cats.”
“Wow, thanks. Well, I would love to go.” Devon rubbed his belly like he was soothing himself.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. He’s just kicking my ribs. It’s like he’s trying to punish me for something.”
“No, not punish you. Maybe he’s trying to encourage you.”
Devon blinked at him. “Encourage me? To do what?”
Laird tried to think of anything and finally settled on, “Kiss me. I’m sure that’s what it is. He knows that I’m in desperate need of a kiss.”
Devon started laughing, but he did get a kiss that was actually quite enthusiastic. “I like the way your son thinks.”
“Right? Me too. It’s like he knows me or something.”
They both started laughing again, the sound just kind of rollicking between them.
As they kissed, there was this sound that made him stop even as Devon pulled back.
“What was that?”
It was like a weird chirping type of sound, and Laird felt as if it was coming from in the yard.
“I don’t know if you can hear it, but it’s coming from outside.”
“I hear it.” And they needed to find out what it was.
“I don’t like it. Maybe it’s a little bird that got knocked down from the rain.” Devon levered himself up, so he stood, and they both headed to the front door.
The sound was louder out here for sure, and it sounded strange, almost like a cry.
“I don’t like this, Laird,” Devon repeated. “Find out what it is.”
“I’m working on it, babe. I’m working on it.”
“Do you want an umbrella?” There was one sitting by the door, and Devon handed it over, so he popped it open and wandered down the stairs, searching.
It was definitely louder down here. “It’s coming from underneath the stairs.”
He bent down. He needed to put some kind of a siding or fencing or latticework or something so that when their baby started crawling, he couldn’t possibly get in here.
He blinked, trying to focus. “Good lord, are you a dog or a rat?”
The tiny creature was no bigger than a minute, but as soon as he held his hand down, it came right to him. It was a little dog—tiny and fuzzy.
“Laird? What is it?”
“I think it’s a puppy, either that or it’s a really hairy white rat.”
“Shut up. Don’t you say that. Bring it up here, and let me go grab some towels.”
Laird kept the puppy close until Devon arrived, towels in hand to wrap it up close.
“The little thing’s shivering. It’s just tiny and fuzzy. Let’s get it warm—do you think we should wash it?” Devon pulled back one of the towels. “Yeah, he’s muddy. She’s muddy. It’s muddy. Let’s get it washed off. I mean, it’s already wet, right? And then we can dry him off and give him some food.”
The little beast was pure white with this black nose and black eyes. It couldn’t even weigh two pounds.
Laird had never seen anything like it, because his family tended toward Labs and that kind of dog if they were going to have one. But God, it was like a drowned rat and it needed help.
So he took it to the sink and got some dish soap, which was gentle enough to wash ducks, right? Laird got the water running until it was warm, not hot, and zonked the little pup in there, washing gently. “Good thing we don’t have a flea problem, and hopefully he doesn’t have any ticks.”
“Oh, my gosh, don’t say that. I hate ticks. When I go trail running, that’s one of the things I’m always super paranoid about.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll look him over really good.” And in fact Laird did, after he was washed clean and all the mud was gone. The little guy was white and fluffy and, after Laird dried him off with a towel, he checked him over completely for ticks, including in his ears and around his butt area.
“He seems clean of all sorts of vermin. I mean, I don’t know about worms. I guess we need to quarantine him from the cats until we know if they share a bacteria base?”
Devon chuckled. “You would think a nurse and an EMT would know that, but I’m not sure.”
“Well, a worm is a worm, right? So we’ll figure that out.
But we’ll keep him separate from the cats.
Do we have a crate or something?” They’d have to keep the little guy until they could figure out where he belonged.
Surely something this cute and this little belonged to somebody.
How had it ended up under their steps, though?
“Yeah, a big crate for the cats when they’re sick or smaller ones for when I have to transport them. But they should be squeaky clean, so I’ll get the big one.”
“Just tell me where it is, baby.” He handed off a puppy with a dry towel. He didn’t want Devon having to lift and carry something that big.
“Oh, it’s in the garage. They’re all sitting on a shelf on the back wall.”
“Got it.” Which meant another trip outside.
So Laird grabbed the umbrella from next to the front door on the porch, and trudged out to get the big crate.
He let himself into the detached garage, checking, like he did always, for leaks because the place was a little bit older.
Then headed to the back wall. By the time he got back inside, Devon and the puppy were sitting on the couch, and all three of the cats were there sniffing curiously at the new phenomenon.
“What do they think?” Laird grabbed another big fluffy towel and put it in the bottom of the crate. He didn’t have any puppy pads or anything, so they would just have to wash whatever happened.
“Interested, but not homicidal. I’ll take it.
” Devon chuckled softly. “So, I called the vet. They have an appointment in about an hour, believe it or not, and I think we should take him in and see if he’s microchipped and all the stuff.
I can’t imagine anybody just deserting a puppy like this, small and so fancy. ”
That was his lover—practical, sure. “All right, love. We’ll take him in, and we’ll see what we can do. Do you want to take it and leave it there?”
Devon stared at him. “Are you insane? The vets have enough problems and—No, I don’t want to take him to animal control.
I think we let the shelter know we have him.
I think we check for microchips and hope we find his owner, but no.
No. Absolutely not. I’m not going to dump D’Artagnan on the street. ”
“D’Artagnan.”
“Yes, that’s his name. I’m going to give him a name.”
Oh man, they had a dog. They so had a dog. There was no way at this point that they didn’t have a dog.
Unless he was someone else’s dog, but he had a feeling D’Artagnan was coming home with him again from the vet. Laird’s gut was usually pretty straight on.
“I need to get out there and make sure there’s no one else under the steps.”
Devon’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God, you don’t think somebody just left a whole litter there, do you?”
“I sure hope not, baby. That would be awful. But it’s been known to happen. If they thought it was someplace warm and dry and they couldn’t take care of him, I’ll go check.”
Lord, he’d hoped to hell they weren’t any more puppies under there. He never should have said anything. He should have just gone and done it. Devon was now gonna worry about the rest of this litter incessantly.
He got a rain jacket on and a flashlight in hand before he headed outside. If he did find a whole litter in here, he wondered what he would do. He supposed there were enough friends floating around of Devon’s that needed dogs that he could give them away.
Relief flooded Laird when there were no puppies under the stairs. He checked the whole perimeter of the house and even looked a little bit into the neighbor’s yards, and there just weren’t any other puppies. So, this little guy had made his way there on his own.
D’Artagnan. God help him.
He hurried in to reassure Devon. “No bonus puppies. Everything is clear, so far as the eye can see. Let’s get this little one to the vet and see if he’s microchipped.”
Devon nodded and pulled on his slicker. “I can’t decide if I want to hope that he has a family to go home to or if I want to hope he can come home with us.”
There was no good answer to that. “Let’s just be grateful that, no matter what, somebody wants him. Okay?”
Devon smiled at him. “You know, that’s absolutely right. It’s hard to potty train a puppy, and this may not be the perfect time. Right?”
Like he was going to get away with that, because Laird was going to be potty training this teeny tiny little puppy, he just knew it.
He wondered if he could get the cats to do it.
Now, that would be a sight to see.