Page 29 of In the Cover of Darkness

Looking at the dogs, she firmly saysGoand they suddenly start running around the yard, barking in excitement. They must have had some pent up energy because they do this for at least five minutes before coming back and rubbing their heads against Mila's legs, sitting at her feet once more, panting heavily.

I barely noticed what they were doing if I'm honest, because I stepped into Mila as the dogs were running around, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her back against my chest. She was tense for a few seconds before she relaxed into me, and we laughed at the dog's excitement, the tension from earlier having left us both.

“Dante, you got a minute? I need to go over some paperwork with you before you go,” the sheriff calls out, waving his arm to come over to him.

“I'm just going to go and talk with the sheriff. Are you going to be okay for a minute?” I lean down and say to Mila, still holding her against me.

“I'll be fine. Go and sort what you need to, and then we will take the boys for a walk.”

Reluctantly, I let her go and start walking toward the sheriff. I have all the paperwork for the dogs so I know he wants to speak with me in private about something. I've been waiting for any information he might have found on Trevor. I asked him back on that first day in the hospital to let me know, and I hoped we had come to an unsaid understanding about what needed to happen.

“I didn't want to say anything in front of Mila, but there's a little problem. It's not a problem per se but a challenge—”

“Just say it sheriff, have you found him?”

“Basically, no we haven't. I've put word out in the district about wanting to talk to him, but after that run-in with her friend, he's become a ghost. He's not been to work or back at the house they lived in. There was a rumour going around that my contact heard, but can not confirm. That he tried to sell the house but because it was in Mila's name, in her family trust, he couldn't do anything with it until she's 30, and it's released to her completely."

“How the fuck does a man like that disappear? Surely he has slipped up somewhere.” I say, running my hand over my face in frustration.

“I just think you should keep the dogs nearby, and tell Ace for you both to be aware that he could be trying to find her. Seeing as Woodman is not a large town he might be hanging around as it was the last place she was near, but he could also go exploring nearby places including Hidden Valley. His car is still in our impound lot and there's been no hint of him trying to find it either. Look, I'm not saying you have to go on high alert, but his behaviour since it all happened has been unpredictable. If anyone comes asking questions about her I'll be in touch, and if anything unusual happens on your end, let me know.”

“He won't live long enough to get close to her again sheriff, I can promise you that,'' I growl, clenching my fists until my knuckles are white.

“You and her got a thing going on?” he asks, both of us looking over at her playing with the dogs.

Desperately wanting to say yes, but not wanting to go into complicated detail about everything that is and is not happening between us, I tell him the only truth I know for certain, “She's endgame for me sheriff, nothing else matters but her.”

I shake the sheriff's hand and thank him for his help with the dogs, walking back over to Mila.

“Look boys, your dad has finally returned and we can go for a nice long walk,” she says looking at me before walking over to the small pile of dog things we now have, grabbing two leads from the pile.

My breath hitched and I'm not sure if she noticed. She called me their dad, and I instantly had visions of us walking the dogs in a spring meadow, our children running around us, laughing, with so much love between us all, nothing could ever break it.The light catches her eyes just right, that when she looks at me, the flecks of honey shine through. The fantasy is so close I can almost smell the scent of flowers in the air, and feel the warm breeze blow across my face.

Passing me one of the leads, we each take a dog, and head off on a walk around Woodman in the winter sunshine, a cold breeze cementing me to the here and now. Taking her hand in mine, we walk in a comfortable silence, occasionally talking to the dogs, and I let my thoughts drift to what the sheriff had said about Trevor.

Chapter 25 - Mila

We arrived back at the house mid afternoon, having spent the rest of the day exploring Woodman with the dogs. It was nice to do something as simple as going for a long walk with Dante, and despite the snow covering most things, the dogs loved it.

Ace waves us over to the barn when we pull up to the house, and I let the dogs out of the back seat where they slept most of the way home. Instead of running around to explore as I expected, they both stick to either side of me, ears on alert for any danger. I've always loved dogs but even I find their behaviour rather unusual. I'm not complaining, because I have two gorgeous new fluffballs to keep me company, but I do feel a little bad for Dante, seeing as they're technically his dogs.

As we approach Ace, a low growl starts to come from Attila so I stop walking. I have no clue what to do so I kneel, rubbing both Attila and Ragnar behind the ears and softly explain that Ace is not a threat and we will be staying with him for a while so it's not acceptable to bite our host. Ace chuckles as he hears this, and Dante just shrugs standing nearby, waiting to see what willhappen. He knows all of their commands, but we spoke earlier about seeing what would happen if we just treated them like normal family dogs, and only used their commands if necessary.

Standing upright again, I say “Attila. Ragnar. This is Ace. You are to be good to him, okay, he's family.” Ace leans over and puts his hand out for them to smell and they slowly approach him before licking him in acceptance and returning to my side.

“Okay boys, I've got enough bodyguards around me for one day, I don't need you two hanging around anymore. Go on, off you go and explore.”

“Shit, Mila, for a second I thought you were talking to me and D, telling us to go play or something,” Ace says laughing.

“You want me to scratch you behind your ears too,” I say, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

But before Ace can respond, Dante cuts us both off saying, “No one is scratching anyone. Especially not him,” he says, gesturing to Ace.

Laughing, I walk over to Ace and loop my arm through his, walking into the barn, “Lead the way. What have you got to show us?” Looking back over my shoulder, making eye contact with Dante I continued saying, “And maybe if you're a good boy I'll give you a treat later,” giving him a wink before turning back. Ace then whispers in my ear, chuckling, “You're going to get me killed if you say things like that.”

This only aggravates Dante more and we both burst out laughing as mumbled swearing comes from behind us.

"You know it's fitting, D picking two dogs that love you more than him. It's like it all worked out how it was meant to,'' Ace says to us both, making me wonder if there is any truth to what he's saying, that everything that was meant to happen, has and will happen. That this new mismatched family we're forming was always meant to be.

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