Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
This time, the thing had actually managed to score a bite to my arm, her little claws scraping my skin. She barked and snarled continually now, twisting and fighting the leash as hard as any wild dog I’d ever seen. I thought the poor thing had lost its fucking mind. Gone mad.
“Watch out, girl!” The guy lunged for the dog at the same time Blossom did.
I was about to pull my gun and put the creature down, because no way was that dog going to hurt Blossom, no matter how much it pained me to kill one of my dogs, when Blossom finally made it on her hands and knees to the little thing, and it jumped into her arms, settling there. The pup turned to be able to see both me and the man as she snarled and growled, fierce as any full-grown dog I’d ever worked with.
“Well… shit.” That from my buyer. He grinned at the woman and puppy, scrubbing a hand behind his neck. “Don’t suppose you got another one you ain’t sold yet? Seems that one’s chosen her owner loud and proud.”
I scowled down at the pair. “No.” I pulled out my wallet, forking over the guy’s money. I normally wouldn’t have that much cash on me, but I think I’d known it would come to this. I wasn’t even fighting it at this point. There was no way I was going to be able to sell that dog. And no way I was going to be able to separate her and Blossom. She was Blossom’s. No question about it. As I gazed down at them, both woman and puppy looked up at me, bared their teeth, and snarled at me.
“Never seen a walker hound get that aggressive with anything other than a raccoon. She wasn’t scared one bit. She was pissed as hell. She’ll make you a fine guard dog there, young lady.” Then the guy frowned as he got a better look at Blossom. “Looks like you need one. You good here?” He glanced around the place as if looking for a threat.
Blossom buried her face in the puppy’s neck. The dog turned her head and growled at the guy before whining again.
“She’s good.” I urged Blossom to her feet and swung her up into my arms, carrying her to her scooter. She put the puppy in the basket in the front of it where she had a blanket for the little hellion to ride on.
“I can speak for myself, Walker,” she snapped. Girl was pushing back against me more and more. Probably because, as she healed, I tried my fucking best to keep her at arm’s length. It was getting harder and harder, because this girl was special. So fucking special she broke through my defenses like no one other than Rebecca ever had. And that scared the fucking shit right outta me.
The guy just laughed. Thankfully he wasn’t angry. “Guess that means no one here hurt you. I didn’t see it with these guys, but it never hurts to make sure.”
Now I wanted to pull my gun to put this guy down. “We would never hurt a woman like that,” I snapped. At least, not unless she deserved it. We had no problem taking care of business if the infraction was big enough, but we didn’t hurt women for shits and giggles.
The guy raised his hands. “Didn’t think you did. But I can see this girl has enough spunk to take care of herself. If not, that pup will do it for her. If she’s that fierce at seven weeks, I can imagine how vicious she’ll be when she’s an adult.”
I sighed. “Come on, Blossom. I’ll take you back to the clubhouse.”
She glared up at me, bent to pick up a piece of gravel from the ground, and chucked it at me with surprising accuracy. It bounced off my chest. Stung like a motherfucker, but I deserved it. “I’m perfectly fine! You know. On my own.” Then she started the scooter and sped off. She’d healed nicely, but her feet were still pretty sore -- hence the scooter -- and the bruises were still fading. Thankfully she hadn’t had any facial fractures and no brain bleeds had popped up. Either her stepdad’s bodyguard was used to dealing out punishment so that he avoided any life-threatening damage, or she’d just gotten lucky.
“That’s one fierce woman you have there.”
“Yeah. She’s a handful.” I wanted to grin. She was, but she wasn’t warming back up to me like she had before. I didn’t really blame her. I’d been an ass. When she’d accepted me as her protector, I’d really thought I’d have an easier time. Shoulda known better. Now that she was feeling stronger, she was pulling away, and everyone around me noticed. I felt like they were just waiting for the right moment for one of them to lay a claim on her and take her from me. Not. Fucking. Happening.