Page 81 of Wolf Roulette

I watched her leave the office and returned to my seat.

If the airport came together, the pack would have a way to find their mates, a way to prevent their extinction if they stayed in the valley,anda way to leave if the tribe won and wouldn’t agree to a truce. Assuming I could get my stewards to agree to a delay while the airport was constructed. Which wasn’t certain.

It was a start.

Thursday mornings were relaxed. Our strategy teams were hard at work, and I’d listen to their initial ideas later.

I had a few hours to study.

I plugged in my laptop. While it woke up, I logged into theEastway Bankapp on my phone and transferred two hundred and fifty dollars of my first head steward pay into the account containing the last of Mum’s debt.

Shouts erupted from outside, and I jumped up to peer out the window. The gardeners had congregated.

And all of them pointed in the same direction.

Oh my god.

Running, I burst from the manor seconds later and leaped down the front steps.

“Nothing to worry about,” I hastily called to the stewards. “He’s here to see me.”

I bore down on the filthy pup. “You better not have come this far by yourself.”

Panting, Axel flopped on his side, exposing his neck.

He’s exhausted,Booker said.

I scooped up the pup. “Your mother will be out of her mind with worry.”

He whined.

Yeah,I wasn’t falling for that cuteness. He was in the dog box.

“Where’s the nearest hose?” I asked Marty.

He led me to a tap beside the manor stairs. “Is that a Luther?”

“Yes. A very naughty one.” Holding Axel by the scruff, I narrowed my eyes. “You’re having a bath.”

Oh, hedidhave some energy left.

“That won’t help you,” I chided as he tried to wriggle free.

The howling pup didmanage to soak me from head to toe by the end. I wiped a damp sleeve over my face.

Marty returned with old towels. “Need these?”

“Thanks.”

“I’ve never seen a Luther baby before.”

Because there was only one.

Wrapping Axel in towels, I gathered him up and strode to the kitchen.

“Randi,” I called to the first steward I saw. “Could you grab my phone off my office desk, please?”

Her eyes rounded. “Is that a tiny Luther?”

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