I threw my legs over the edge of the mattress, and growled when I heard the board wince from my weight. “Screw this. I need a date with Mister Coffee.”
I tripped down the stairs, set up the coffee maker, and flipped it to brew, before slumping into a chair at the table with my hands covering my face. I needed to figure out how long Adam was going to be down, or if he'd even look me in the eye again after what he'd tried doing to me. I was hoping he wouldn’t remember it.
He'd tried to force himself on me. He'd been starting Transition, which no one had seen coming, or expected to happen so fast for that matter. Dristan had told Ryder that the brand on my neck might have stopped my own Transition and kept me hidden as a human. Had it tampered with Adam's, somehow suppressing his Transition? Neither one of us had any idea that we were Fae, not until Ryder had taken me inside Faery and something had affected the brand to make it fade.
Adam hadn't been able to control what he'd done. It scared me to know that, soon, I would be turning into a mindless sex machine. When the coffee maker beeped, I released my face and stared at it. The entire house was silent. The only noises inside it were mine and Mister Coffee’s, and he sucked at listening. Maybe I should get a dog to keep me company.
I smiled and made a list of things I needed to get from the store while I was out and about today. After drinking the entire pot of coffee alone, I showered and glared at my leg where there was still a red and angry looking welt. I quickly got dressed and left the house.
It took more than an hour to finish shopping and find the animal shelter. A perky maybe twenty something year old girl smiled and bounced over to me at the counter. “Hi! Can I help you find you something?”
“I think I need a dog,” I found myself blurting out to the bubbly blonde.
Twenty minutes later I was leaving the animal shelter with a shaggy dark gray dog that looked like a small wolf, who had been left in the wild a little too long, judging by the amount of ribs he was showing. We discussed names—well, I suggested names, all of which received a firm whine from my four-legged friend. I settled on naming him Mister Fancy Pants, since he had darker colored fur on his legs than he had on the rest of his body.
I smiled and started walking toward home, with Mister Fancy Pants on his brand new leash. I walked slowly, because he wasn't in the best shape, and looked like he could use a few meals to fatten him up. At least he was getting a chance at life—maybe. “I've never owned a dog,” I said to my new pet.
He whined.
I’d probably whine too if I was him, since I’d never owned a pet before and it probably showed. At least the shelter had taken care of all that shot stuff and said he was healthy. The rest was up to me.
Why the hell had I wanted to get a dog again? We walked home in silence, which I guess was pretty normal, since he was a dog after all. When we arrived at the house, he wasn't impressed at all. In fact, he showed me just how unimpressed he was by growling at the walls for at least three straight hours.
“Enough already. The wall is not gonna bark back, Mister Fancy Pants!” He growled at me. Maybe he didn’t like his name? “Don't pee on my carpet, no sniffing, no barking, and no chewing while I'm gone. Stay away from the coffee—touch it and you're gone.” He blinked at me and then snapped his head back at the walls and went back to circling them like a sentry—well, a growling, whining sentry.
My cell phone rang, startling me, and I answered it. I winced as the dog continued to go off at the walls as if they would attack him. “Stop barking!”
“What?” Ryder asked.
“I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Mister Fancy Pants.” I should seriously change his name. It was too long.
“Who the fuck is Mister Fancy Pants?”
I snickered as he said my dog's name. Coming out of his mouth, it really sounded bad.
“He's my dog. I got him at the shelter today.” I sounded defensive, even to myself.
“Why the hell did you get a dog?” he asked with a hint of horror in his tone.
“You can't tell me what I can and can’t get, Ryder.” I tapped my foot waiting for his reply.
He laughed. He set down the phone and laughed at me! I glared at my end of the phone, before hanging it up. I waited, wondering if he'd had a purpose for calling, or if he'd just wanted make my life hell, since he'd said nothing important. Why phone me when he could just sift here and torment me in person? The phone promptly rang again. “What?” I shouted.
“Bad timing?” Alden asked.
“Bad day. I'm getting ready now. I will be at Nightshade in an hour, and I’ll call you with the target’s location. Anything else?” I asked, slipping easily back into Enforcer mode.
“Don't die.”
I laughed. “Gee, thanks. Really feeling the confidence lately,” I said looking towards the dog as it started barking again. “Seriously! They’re walls, nothing is there.”