Page 9 of A Reluctant Boy Toy
My ugliness.
I had worn my scars long enough that I was used to them, yet I started from scratch with each new person I met. It was sheer hell waiting for others to react.
Except Sebastian didn’t react, unless his sweet smile could be called a reaction. “May I please meet Hades and Persephone? Or would that be too much for them on top of the shoot today?”
I stepped aside. “Move a bit closer to the pen and squat down on their level, but don’t stick your hands out, and don’t stare them down.”
His lips twitched. “I should cluck like a chicken, though. Right?”
I didn’t bother to answer him.
“God, they’re so beautiful.” He picked up the hem of his gown and carefully knelt four feet away from the fence where Seph stood, staring at him. “Pretty Persephone. Is Hades your boyfriend?”
“They’re desexed so they can’t reproduce,” I told him. “They’re a bonded pair.”
“Yeah?” Deacon reacted to someone on his headset. “Shit, okay, okay. I’m coming. Stone, sorry. I’ve gotta go. Thanks again for your patience. See you later, Bast.”
“See you.” Keye was so focused on the animals he didn’t turn to say goodbye.
I waved. “Bye. Thanks, Deacon.”
“Desexed?” Bast asked. “I’ve never heard that term.”
“Ah. Yeah. Male dogs are castrated. Females are spayed. But it being a male-dominated world, few men liked the wordcastrate. Vets always use euphemisms likeneuteredor, in the case of horses,gelded. But desexed covers the whole splendid panoply of making sure animals don’t reproduce.”
“Are you a vet?” he asked.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Depends on how you mean that. I am a veteran but not a veterinarian.”
He glanced up, surprised. “How did you end up working with hybrid wolves?”
“My brother’s wife Ariel owns the New World Wolf Sanctuary. Normally, she’s the one who would be here with Hades and Persephone, but she’s due any day now, so this time it wasn’t possible. I work with the hybrids, and I was available, so I’m helping out.”
“So you’re not an animal trainer?”
“Not at all,” I admitted. “I’m just a handler. I know what Hades and Persephone need, and I make sure they get it, but I didn’t train them. That was all Ariel.”
“What’s it like at the sanctuary? Do they live with you?”
“Not like you think. Some people keep hybrids as pets, but not Hades and Persephone.” I sat beside him. “Socialization is more complicated than just nature versus nurture.”
“I’ll say. How did they end up at the sanctuary?”
“Some people, for whatever reason, want to own wild animals. There’s a market for everything from venomous snakes to bears. I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t know.”
“Unfortunately.” He nodded solemnly.
“People breedCanis lupus familliariswithCanis lupusfor a lot of reasons. They like the look of wolves, so they want pets who look like wolves but who will be loyal and protective of humans like dogs. Or they want to own something wild. Hades and Seph were rescued from a Craigslist breeder in Idaho. Ariel trained them well, but they'll never be house pets.”
“I see.” He didn't take his eyes off Hades and Seph.
“Other stories don't have happy endings. Hybrids often end up euthanized by people who aren't prepared to do what it takes to care for them. Wolves won’t accept them. They really can’t live like dogs, unless you don’t mind them chewing a hole in the drywallandthe exterior wall to escape captivity after they trash your house. Sometimes, like with these two, they look enough like wolves for film work, and are temperamentally stable enough to be trained. These two enjoy having a job to do and exercise and fresh air.”
Sebastian made a noncommittal noise. “If you were with them by yourself, could you go inside the pen? Do you interact with them?”
“I do, yeah. But don’t take that as an excuse to take your safety for granted.” I lifted my hand to the fence, and Hades butted it with his head. “At home, we’ve spent countless hours having fun together. On set, there are about a million rules I need people to follow to make sure there’s no danger, including keeping them in pens and kennels. Crating them when we need to drive somewhere.”
“Do you think I could ever go in with them? Feed them or—”
