Page 56 of Wicked Healing

“I admire the career you’ve made for yourself,” he told Erin abruptly.

Surprise widened her clear gold eyes. “What? Oh, thank you,” she said with a smile. “If you’re expecting to be taken care of by a honey mama you’re with the wrong girl. This will never be a money making business. But it is satisfying. And you can be paid in all the love you can humanly take,” she cooed, leaning down to the effusive mixed breed shepherd. “Isn’t that right, Mavvers?”

The dog bounded around her, ecstatic at being recognized and encouraged to do what he loved. then he ran toward Luca, the dog leash tangling around his legs. Before he knew it Luca was on the concrete, fighting off an overgrown puppy and laughing his ass off.

Erin dragged the animal away but Luca had to wipe his face free of dog spit.

“Okay, that didn’t go as planned,” he murmured.

He also realized, somewhat belatedly, that his ass was on a wet concrete floor. It had just been cleaned, though it hadn’t had a chance to dry. “I might go change and make a few calls. Meet you on the back porch at six?”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said, smiling. Quickly she leaned down for a kiss before walking Mavvers to his room.

Luca took it as a mark of serious growth that he was able to get up off the ground without help. Considering Erin left him on the floor to get himself up, he would consider that another mark that he was healing. Once on his feet he headed out into the late afternoon heat to his apartment, Wicked at his heels.

The voicemail he’d received had been in the back of his mind all day. He’d been planning on what to say, but when the call finally went through and Lt. Hampton’s sharp voice answered, his tongue shorted out. When he introduced himself, Hampton’s tone warmed considerably. It almost sounded like Hampton was happy Luca had responded to the voicemail.

“Can you tell me a little about yourself?” the man asked.

Luca explained that he and Wicked had been with the SEALs for several years and a vague idea of how they’d been injured. He didn’t go into how many were injured that day, but he did go over how many IEDs Wicked had found in his career. He explained how Wicked had been bred and trained by the best and that in spite of his amputation, he had a vital life ahead of him.

“Wait, not to be indelicate, here, but I thought you were the amputee?”

“We both lost a leg in the explosion,” Luca explained.

“But the animal can still do everything he did before?”

“Well,” Luca admitted, “I don’t have a lot of IED’s out here in the desert, or a lot of terrorists for that matter, but his core training is still intact and there are no signs of PTSD. Physically he’s perfect, running almost five miles with me every day right now.”

Hampton expelled a breath. “I want you to come in this week, Mr. Carmichael, so that we can get you through this academy. As long as your background checks out and you pass the physical, we will find a place for you here at Phoenix PD. I have the hiring authority to say that. At the very least your K9 training will be invaluable. We have two K9s retiring in the next year.”

Exhilaration roared through Luca and he only listened with half an ear as they scheduled the panel interview for Thursday, two days from now.

“Bring three references, your discharge papers from the Navy and two forms of identification.”

“Yes, sir,” Luca said quickly, and they hung up.

For a minute he could only sit there, then the enormity of what had just transpired hit him. He sank to the couch, stunned.

He had a job with Phoenix Police Department.

Where was Erin?

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