Alpha Bites

³I don¹t know, Myra,² Jenny said, pacing back and forth, her arm waving wildly as she talked to her roommate on her cell phone. She was on her supper break and needed to vent. ³I just can¹t decide which one I like better.²

³Well, you¹re going to have to figure it out sooner or later,² Myra replied.

In the background, Jenny could hear the whirr of a blender. Myra made her living off grinding up all sorts of things to make protein shakes, and she was always experimenting. ³Sooner rather than later, I think. Liam doesn¹t seem to have a clue, but Sasha keepsŠ sniffing me. I think he suspects.²

³He¹d have to be an idiot not to.² Myra chuckled, the sound merry, like the woman herself. ³You can¹t double time guys like him. Tell them, Jen.²

³I will, I will.² Jenny bit her thumbnail, watching the clouds gather in the sky outside her veterinary clinic. Looked like rain. ³Okay, I gotta go, My. I¹ll see you in a few days. After, you know.²

³I do know. I¹ll say a prayer to the Moon Goddess for you,² Myra said, like she always did. ³Be safe.²

³You too, honey,² Jenny returned. ³Later.²

³Bye.²

The phone flipped shut in her hand, just like that, and Jenny sighed, rolling her stiff neck and shoulders. Really, she needed to hire more help. Trying to make sure all of the animals she was keeping for observation would be safe was, well, trying. The problem wasn¹t the work. It was the fact that her clinic was so far out of town. No one wanted to commute out there. Hell, no one could really understand why she¹d chosen the location except Myra, who knew her dirty little secret.

The small building with its food storage shed and attached dog run was hers though, and it sat on a clearing off the main highway, a patch of woods sloping up the hill behind it. Jenny went back in, smiling as the whines and barks from the dogs and meows from the cats doubled in volume.

³Gotta get you guys bedded down for the night, huh? I promise, I¹ll get you locked in good and I¹ll leave you alone.² Jenny petted this nose and that tail as she got the food storage containers out and started laying in dry food for the night. She¹d be back to herself in the morning, and could come in and do it all over again.

Jonas the Rottie whined at her and Jenny went to check his sore paw, automatically glancing at the clock as she went. ³Poor baby,² she said, ³still hurting, huh? Don¹t you worry. It¹ll heal up in no time.²

Contrary to popular belief, animals weren¹t afraid of her. Now Sasha had caused the cats to sort of hiss and spit a little, but really, that could have been all that testosterone the man exuded as a human and had nothing to do with the other. He was all man.

So was Liam. That was the problem. They both had a lot to recommend them. Sasha had dark hair and kinda golden eyes and this deep, vaguely Russian voice. Liam had deep red hair and green eyes and the Irish lilt andŠ yeah, well. It was no wonder she was torn.

A shiver wracked her and Jenny hurried through the rest of the chores, soothing yelps and wags, trying to get outside before the sun went down. Just a few more minutes.

Was that her hand shimmering?

She made it out the door, locking it behind her just in time. All of the dogs inside the shelter answered her when she let out her first howl.

Read a review

Read another review

Order Alpha Bites