Page 8 of A Mate For Matrix
“Seven, but I’ll be eight soon,” Gracie replied with a giggle. “He’s so beautiful.”
“Yes, he is,” Jana replied, watching as Linguine lowered his head and ran his tongue carefully over the back of Gracie’s hand.
K-Nine felt something stir in his core systems—a longing. A pull. This one would make a good pack.
He rubbed his head against Gracie’s hand when she started scratching him behind his ear. He wondered if he could take this little girl with them. She really knew how to scratch.
“Gracie, time to go,” Violet called out. “I got you some candy, too.”
“I have to go. Thank you for letting me pet your dog,” Gracie said, turning and running back to her transport.
“Bye! It was nice meeting you,” Jana called out, taking over scratching his head. “I think you are a charmer.”
K-Nine grinned and pulled his head back inside Jana’s transport. He let out a surprised ‘woof’ as the little girl blew him a kiss from the window of the departing transport.
Yes, there is something very special about that little human. It would be interesting to see what she accomplishes when she grows up, he sighed, sticking his head out the window when Jana pulled out of the refueling station.
His eyes narrowed to protect them from the wind, and his tongue hung out as the transport picked up speed. He was really beginning to like this world.
It is time… he decided, for a pack of my own.
Chapter Four
Jana giggled as she watched the newest member of her family struggle to walk under a wave of kittens. It wasn’t easy when you had three kittens attacking you all at once. She knew that from experience.
It turned out that Linguine was a total sweetheart. He was endlessly patient—and just as curious as they were. She hadn’t known what to do with him at first. Once she’d finally reassured herself that he wasn’t going to eat the kittens or her, Jana had given him a quick exam and found no injuries. Her best guess? The truck had grazed him and knocked a few circuits loose.
Hoping his natural instincts would guide him home, she’d opened the back door to the office. Instead of taking off into the woods as she’d expected, he had sat down and stared up at her with wide, curious gray eyes.
Unsure of what she should do, she had loaded him and the kittens into the back seat of her ten-year-old, dark green Toyota Camry, made a quick stop at the gas station and the grocery store, and then headed home.
“Butter, I swear, you’re going to choke on a tail one of these days,” Jana warned as she lifted the forty-pound bag of dog food out of the trunk of her car.
“Ugh! This is heavy,” she groaned. “Honeybun, keep up, sweetheart.”
Jana blinked, frozen in place, as Linguine turned, opened his jaws, and—like a mother wolf—gently lifted Honeybun by the scruff. The kitten dangled with a sleepy mewl, utterly unbothered. When she released a pitiful meow, Biscuit lunged for her tail, as if trying to save his sister from certain doom.
Shaking her head, Jana turned back around and toe-opened the back screen door, which was slightly ajar, waiting for her ensemble of misfits to enter.
After she’d put the dog food in the pantry, Jana knelt down and gently extricated Honeybun, who was staring back at her with a sleepy look, from Linguine’s hold. She tucked the kitten against her chest and reached out with her free hand to scratch behind Linguine’s ear. Once again, the look of pure bliss came into his eyes. She was about to stand up when a glow on Linguine’s ear caught her attention.
The soft red glow blinked steadily at the edge of his ear, no brighter than a firefly’s pulse. Her fingers brushed it and found a raised bump beneath the fur—metallic, smooth. Not natural. Not wild.
“What’s this?” Jana whispered, her eyes glued to the light.
Linguine’s ear twitched and he sat frozen, his gaze on the door. Jana carefully lowered Honeybun to the floor. Realization dawned on her, and she released a groan.
“That’s a tracker device, isn’t it?” she asked, twisting to sit on the floor. “Of course! You were probably raised in captivity, which is why you are so good around people, before you were released back into the wild. They are probably tracking you to see how you are doing. They are so not going to be happy to find that I’ve adopted you,” Jana groaned in despair before she looked at Linguine with a twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, well. We’ll just tell them that this is Jana’s Resort for Wayward Animals. It will be our little secret, okay?”
Jana bent and pressed a kiss to Linguine’s forehead before scooping up the three tiny attention-seekers clamoring around her feet. She pushed up off the floor and wiped her hands on the back of her jeans. With a shake of her head, she scratched the wolf’s head once more before she turned her attention to her daily chores.
“Okay, guys. Momma’s got to clean up yesterday’s mess before someone else gets stuck in the laundry basket,” Jana informed them with a grin. “Who wants to help fold clothes?”
Almost immediately, the three kittens took off for the living room as if they’d understood what she’d said. Jana paused in the doorway and looked back at Linguine, who continued to stare intently at the door. A slight frown creased her brow, and she gave him a sad smile.
“Do you want to go out?” Jana asked in a slightly uneven voice. Her eyes widened and her breath caught when Linguine turned to look at her and shook his head. “Well, how about you keep the kittens occupied while I fold clothes? Mr. Marker, the landlord, came by for the rent last week, and the cheeky little furballs had taken my panties out of the basket just as I opened the door. I was mortified that he saw them playing tug-of-war with them! You know what that dirty old man said? He said he wouldn’t mind playing with my panties as long as I was wearing them! He’s got to be, like, in his, I don’t know, sixties? I was like ‘take the money and go already!’”
K-Nine’s eyes danced with amusement at Jana’s rambling commentary. He had learned over the few hours that she liked to talk… a lot. He’d never encountered anyone so entertaining in his life. Even Matrix didn’t talk this much.
