Page 29 of Kiss of Fury

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.

Verity had said the issues were intestinal. “Vomiting maybe.”

“Is it all green and chunky?”

“Possibly.” He studied the freckled, animated face. “The way your mind works…” He shook his head.

How was he going to entertain the kid all night? “Are you hungry?” he asked hopefully.

It was a little early for dinner, but eating would give them something to do. He and Verity always met at the cabin after work to shower before dinner. She was conscientious about hygiene, since she worked in amedical environment. “You never know what you might bring home,” she’d explained.

“No,” Brody said.

Now what? He gazed across the quad to the paddock where hornigers grazed. Dusty had dispatched a crew and brought in the mama and her calf. After the babe was no longer nursing, they’d separate mama from baby and bring the little one into the barn to be tamed and trained. The calves offered the most promise of domestication. They had one other calf, recently weaned. Already they could see a stark difference between its trainability and Demon’s. They hadn’t given up on the other beast, but he was probably too old.You can’t teach an old horniger new tricks.

“Would you like to see a baby horniger?” he asked.

Brody’s eyes widened. “For real?”

“For real, but safety comes first. You must listen to me. If I tell you to do something, you have to do it. No arguments.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Okay, we’ll go see the horniger and then have dinner.”

“Yay!” He jumped around.

They crossed the quad to the paddock. “First rule. You don’t ever enter the paddock without an adult. Hornigers are dangerous. They can kill you. My friend Jason Steel was almost killed by one. They are not tame. They are not pets; they are wild animals. The only reason you can pet the baby is because it is a baby, and I’m with you. You understand?”

“Yes.” He bounced on his feet.

The herd inside the paddock was far enough down the field for them to pass. “Let’s go.” He climbed over the top of the fence, and Brody slipped between the rails. “Give me your hand.”

Keeping a firm grasp on his charge, he strode briskly to the barn, Brody skipping to keep up with his long-legged gait.

Demon snorted and pawed the ground as soon as they entered. The boy jumped and shrank closer to Fury. It did funny things to his insides to have the boy turn to him for protection. He was the bogeyman people ran from as soon as they figured out who he was, but by then, it was too late.

“That’s Demon,” he said. “We won’t get too close to him.” He nudged the boy toward the rear of the barn with a hand to his back.

In the last stall, the baby nosed around in the hay. Covered in downy fur, it had a bump on its nose where its horn would be and nubbins for antlers on its head. On six spindly legs, it wobbled toward them and uttered a plaintive bleat.

“Wow. It’s a real baby horniger.”

“Her name is Annie Oakley,” he said. Dusty had named her after a famous female sharpshooter. “You can touch her nose like this.” He stroked Annie’s long snout.

Brody trailed his fingers over the animal’s nose to the bump at the tip.

“That will grow into a horn,” he explained. “You can pet her neck, too.” He patted the animal’s side. Early training involved exposing the young ones to many different people.

Brody stroked Annie’s neck. “Her fur is very soft.”

“She’ll get shaggy when she’s older. Her fur will be wirier.”

“Are you going to ride her when she’s older?”

“That’s the plan.”

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