Page 69 of Where There's Smoke
If only he could be allowed off his leash, I could have let him run loose in the fields. But he was the kind of dog who would scamper for the hills to chase a wayward bunny and never return. I was pretty sure Melody would be heartbroken if I lost one of her animals, so I kept him tethered to me as we ran.
“Are you finally tired?” I asked the dog, as if I expected him to reply.
While he didn’t talk, his body language said everything. He flopped down on the ground, showing his belly, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. I gave him a good rub on the belly, unable to deny such a cute boy a bit of attention.
Laughing to myself, I gently tugged the lead to encourage him up. “Come on,” I said. “We need to get you back. I’ve got things to do today.”
Actually, I was going to be building his new home.
Elliot, Fitz, and I had three days off, and we’d decided to take a few hours each day to help Melody with the rescue. Some of the structure was recoverable. It was far from ideal—it needed a lot of cleaning and rebuilding—but we were going to throw together what we could so she could at least start taking in rescues again.
What she didn’t know was that Fitz was still working in the background to ensure she had a much better facility. I didn’t want to say anything and spoil the surprise. He’d had several issues trying to buy the property he wanted, so it was still very up in the air. In the meantime, we were helping Melody rebuild what she’d had before. Elliot thought Fitz was crazy—but he was used to his overly generous, crazy moves.
Melody, on the other hand…we’d just have to see.
Still, it didn’t hurt that Fitz was also obsessed with the omega, even if he hadn’t told her that explicitly. Though, he’d been very upfront about dating and gave off every vibe that he’d found what he wanted and he wasn’t going back.
Waving at the receptionist as I walked through the rescue toward the back kennels, I gently tugged on Walnut’s lead.
“Come on, you can’t say hello to everyone.” I chuckled. He was hands-down the friendliest dog I’d ever dealt with. He just wanted to kiss, love, and jump on everyone. If he could find a home that could exercise him properly, he’d be the perfect family pet.
All the workers at the rescue knew me well now, so no one even questioned me as I walked through the building.
“Here we are, young man,” I said, opening the door to Walnut’s kennel. I could’ve sworn the dog pouted at me for a moment before resigning himself to his fate and returning to the small space.
His mood quickly improved when I walked over to one of the nearby cabinets and pulled out a large, meaty bone I had spotted earlier in the day.
“Here you go. You deserve it, boy,” I said, handing it to him. Considering he’d just run several miles, he definitely deserved the treat.
Once he was settled on his bed, happily chomping away—me completely forgotten—I smiled and turned to leave. I always felt satisfied after a good run. There was something about the exercise that made me feel amazing, but now there was an extra layer of satisfaction from helping one of the rescue dogs at the same time.
I could see why Melody did it. There was something so fulfilling about it.
And I wasn’t too proud to admit that I really liked the idea of this being in our future, too.
An hour later, I was still wearing my running clothes as I pulled up at the burned-out old rescue. Melody was already there, furiously scrubbing the floors. When she heard me enter, her head shot up and she smiled, her whole face lighting up.
“Hey, I’m so glad you could come,” she said.
“Of course, I’m happy to help. Where are Grumpy and Dafty?”
Melody snickered at my joke. “They’re around back, building some of the kennels and doing drywall, I think. I offered to help, but Fitz shooed me away.”
As he should. Melody already had enough on her plate without doing construction work too.
“Do you want me to help you or go help them?” I asked, leaving the decision up to her. After all, she was the boss.
Melody cocked her head to the side, her nose scrunching in thought. “As much as I could use a hand here, I think maybe you should go check with them first,” she said with a frown.
I resisted the urge to pout—I’d much rather have stayed with her—but getting the rescue up and running was important to her, so I’d do as she asked. And look at that, I was actually being friendly instead of proceeding directly to the back before even coming in. Still, that was because it was Melody.Other people? Eh. Her? Yes.
Walking through what was left of the property to the back, where the kennels had originally been, I found both of my pack mates working on a section of drywall.
“What’s going on here?” I asked.
“Nice of you to finally join us,” Elliot grumbled.
“I decided to take one of the dogs on a run.”
