Page 39 of Dominion

She didn’t re-emerge for a couple hours, when her stomach started growling. She padded to the front door and opened it, looking around for Ben. The wolf was sitting on the front steps. He turned and bared his teeth at her.

She froze, her body having an autonomic reaction to the danger an enormous, snarling wolf presented. Reason took over, and she forced herself to step out and sit down on the step beside him.

Ben got up, shoving his nose under her thigh, as if to make her stand, too. When she didn’t, she saw teeth again. He bit the fabric of her skirt and tugged, making a growling sound. Refusing to be cowed by him, as terrifying as he may be, she rubbed his head. “Okay, okay, I’ll go back in. But I’m hungry. Aren’t you?”

He leaned his body against her legs, pressing her forward and through the door.

She laughed. “All right, I’m in. You want me to see if there’s any food here?”

The wolf looked toward the kitchen.

“Okay. Let’s see what your friend Zolla keeps in his cupboards.”

She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, which only contained a few take-out containers, beer, and condiments. She opened the cabinets. He had plenty of non-perishables: cans of soup, beans, macaroni and cheese packages. She pulled out a couple of cans of chili. “You probably want meat, right?”

She searched the drawer for a can opener and, finding one, opened the can.

She wondered if Ben would shift back. In a way, it was easier with him in wolf form. She wouldn’t be offended by his lack of conversation. And it was hard to be mad at a wolf.

She dumped the chili into two bowls and heated it up in the microwave. “I’m actually a good cook, not that you’ll be able to tell from this meal. Maybe someday you’ll let me cook for you. What was up with neither you nor Karen eating my banana bread? That was downright rude.”

The wolf’s mouth opened again and she thought he was laughing at her.

“What? It was. What’s up with you and Karen, anyway?”

When the wolf actually rolled his eyes, she chuckled. “No? Nothing?”

He stepped around her and she instinctively backed away, then gave a nervous laugh. The kitchen seemed tiny with his huge four-legged body taking up space. “It’s hard not to be intimidated by you,” she said. Forcing herself to conquer her fear, she stepped forward and held out her hand for him to sniff.

She thought he might be laughing at her again. She buried both hands in his fur, rubbing his soft ears and the thick fur at the scruff of his neck. “You sure are beautiful.”

He held still for it, but she couldn’t tell whether he liked it or not. Maybe being pet like a dog was beneath a werewolf.

The microwave beeped and she took their bowls out, setting his on the floor at his feet. “Sorry if that’s not how you eat. I’m new at this.”

It seemed fine, because he cleaned his bowl in about one minute flat. She’d only taken a few bites in the time it took him to eat. “Do you want more?”

He gave a little chuff, which she took to be affirmative, so she opened another can of chili and heated it up for him. She stared at his huge form as he ate. He was as tall as a Great Dane—the kind of dog you make jokes about riding like a horse.

If they had children together, they could ride him.Sheesh, where did that thought come from? They weren’t having children together. They weren’t even dating. They got each other off and that was the end of it.

Though he hated being indoorswhen in wolf form, he hung around with Ashley that afternoon.

He had run to Ashley’s place when he first went out and sniffed around. People had definitely been there. He made a note of the scents. Even if they managed to get her sister back, he didn’t think Ashley would be safe. Not until they figured out who was behind all this. But where could she and her sister go? And who would watch over them? It could take weeks or even months for this plot to unravel.

He actually thought Zolla’s place was as safe as any, and he did trust the wolf.

Ashley read for a while, but as dusk came on, she grew restless, pacing about the room.

“Do you think they ever had any intention of returning Melissa?” she asked him.

He figured it was rhetorical, since he couldn’t speak. He preferred it that way, anyway.

She looked at him, a pinched look tightening her face. “I kind of don’t. They weren’t wearing any masks or anything. Which means, either they’re really stupid and they don’t care if we can identify them, or they planned to kill us both.”

He had arrived at the same conclusion, which was why he wasn’t letting Ashley out of his sight.

She paced some more. “I probably should’ve just called the police when I got the first message.”