by Tasha Black
But Dr. Bhimani was wrong. The world was not all cruelty and danger. So far, it seemed to be populated with an assortment of interesting, kind-hearted people.
Lobo felt at peace.
11
Veronica
Veronica arrived in her tiny office at the kennel, exhausted but happy at the end of a long, productive day.
The candidates were all doing well in their training. Even Percy Reeves seemed to be hitting his stride today, with Lobo along to help.
She was a little worried about Biscuit, but hoped he was just having an off day. Everyone had them - dogs as well as humans.
The candidates were all talking about going to the Legal Beagle for a drink and they had invited her to stop by.
Normally, she wouldn’t mix business with pleasure, but they genuinely seemed to want her there. She decided she would stop in for one drink and then leave them to their fun.
Besides, they had also asked Lobo, and he had said yes.
Veronica, that’s no reason to go, she chided herself.
But it was undeniable that the big alien made her feel… at home.
And besides, she was supposed to keep an eye on him. She couldn’t let him wander into a bar to drink and socialize. He might blow his cover.
“Veronica,” Lobo’s deep voice took her by surprise. “You’re coming, aren’t you?”
He was gazing at her from the doorway. He looked so hopeful.
It wasn’t easy to reconcile his hard body and ferocious good looks with the sweetness of his personality.
“Yes, I’m coming,” she assured him. “I just need to do one or two quick odds and ends here.”
“I will wait with you,” he declared contentedly.
“No, no,” she said. “Go on and I’ll be there in fifteen minutes or so. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“What wouldn’t you do?” He looked mystified.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s a figure of speech. I only meant, don’t get yourself into trouble.”
He laughed.
She found herself laughing too. Not so much because the interaction was particularly funny, but because he was laughing and it felt good to laugh together.
“I will not get myself into trouble, Veronica,” he said at last. “And I will see you in fifteen minutes.
He gave her a genuine smile. It was warm and sweet, and the sexiness of it blew her away. He disappeared back into the hallway, and she was left with a momentary feeling of loss.
Come on, Nunez, stop mooning over the pretty man and finish your work.
She attacked her paperwork and filed a few notes.
When she was done, she headed to the ladies’ room to freshen up and redo her messy ponytail.
But once she let her hair down, she found herself brushing it and letting it hang loose around her shoulders instead.
Veronica seldom wore her hair down, and never in a work environment. But it looked nice.
Don’t make yourself pretty for him, her inner critic yelled.
But it wasn’t really for him. It was for herself. Everyone deserved a moment to let their hair down, didn’t they?
In spite of the humidity, she followed the glow of the streetlights to the Legal Beagle with a slight spring in her step.
The air was thick with the scent of night jasmine. The post office had a border hedge of the sweet flowers. Veronica was tempted to caress the tiny white blossoms with her hand as she walked past, but managed to suppress the urge.
Moths danced in the light of the street lamps and Veronica wanted to dance with them.
What was getting into her?
In her mind’s eye, she saw Biscuit head-butting Lobo’s chest and smiled.
No, yelled the voice inside her head. You finally have the freedom to make your own happiness. Don’t hand off the keys to your emotions to anyone else ever again.
Veronica agreed with the voice. But it was hard to focus on such things when the air was so sweet and the glow of the pub light ahead throbbed alluringly through the mist. And ever again seemed like such a long time.
She didn’t need Lobo for her happiness anyway. She just appreciated his way with the animals and his helpful nature.
And his looks, you appreciate his looks.
Well, it would take a saint not to notice how unbelievably gorgeous Lobo was. And Veronica was no saint.
Then there was the matter of the way he looked at her.
As if she were the most important person in the universe.
The voice in her head tried to speak again, but for once Veronica silenced it.
She had been burned by men before, it was true.
But Lobo was not a man.
He might look like a man but he had none of the preconceptions of humanity - none of the machismo or the bent against commitment that human men were raised to embody.
Veronica had sworn off men.
But maybe Lobo was an exception…
She reached the pub at last. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the thick wooden door.
It was crowded inside. The sounds of laughter and conversation filled the air.
Her eye went immediately to Lobo.
Of course that was only natural. He was the tallest guy in the place, by a lot.
He was also at the center of a circle of admirers.
Several of the female cadets from the academy surrounded him. One cadet, whose long auburn hair nearly reached her hips, was stroking his arm and speaking to him, a coy smile on her lips.
Lobo smiled down at her, listening intently.
Veronica couldn’t hear what was being said, but she didn’t need to.
A guy who looked like Lobo would always have women throwing themselves at him. And though he might not be schooled yet in the ways of men, he soon would be.
The red-haired girl threw her head back and laughed, revealing her elegant neck to Lobo.
Veronica looked away.
She hardly knew him. It was ridiculous that she had been nearly ready to trust him, based on nothing.
She managed to hold back the gloating of the voice in her head and focus on locating her candidates.
She caught sight of Morrison and the gang - they were all around a table not far from where the cadets had cornered Lobo.
Veronica slipped an elastic band from her pocket and pulled her hair up into the usual ponytail.
Then she strode over to join the group at the table.
It would be good to get the candidates comfortable with each other. The dogs would sense their camaraderie and everyone would have more fun and be more productive.
Focusing on work helped Veronica feel better. In the world of the dogs, she had all the loyalty she needed.
12
Lobo
Lobo stepped in the door of the men’s suite at the old academy with his spirits downcast.
He had been replaying the events of the evening in his head over and over again as he walked home.
Veronica was unhappy with him. But he was at a loss as to why.
“How are you, brother?” Hawkeye asked.
“How was Veronica?” Conan asked, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Lobo shook his head.
“That bad, eh?” Hawkeye was grinning. He had been confident things would work out between Veronica and Lobo. Lobo only wished he shared his brother’s optimism.
“I did something wrong,” Lobo said. “But I’m not certain what.”
“Sit down,” Conan said, patting the seat beside him. “Tell us everything. We will work it out together.”
Lobo smiled and went to his brother. This was how they had worked out the strange customs of Earth when they made a study of its pop culture together back on Aerie. What they could not puzzle out on their own they could usually figure out when they combined perspectives.
Except for Crystal Pepsi. They had never been able to understand that.
“I’m not sure where to begin,” he admitted.
“When
was she last happy?” Hawkeye asked, hopping over the back of the sofa and onto a cushion as if he were a cowboy in a western movie.
“We had a good work session today,” Lobo began. “And I went to her office afterward to accompany her to the local tavern. But she asked me to go on without her.”
“Did you interrupt her work?” Conan asked.
“No,” Lobo said. “Well, yes, but she seemed happy to see me. And we laughed.”
“Laughing is good,” Hawkeye noted.
“Yes, she smiled at me when I left,” Lobo said. “Then I went to the bar.”
“The Legal Beagle,” Conan said dreamily. “This is a clever name.”
“Agreed,” Lobo said. “And I met many new people, including more cadets who live in the new academy building.”
“Were you polite?” Hawkeye asked. Manners were of utmost importance on Aerie, and improper manners caused no end of heartache there.
“They were all very welcoming,” Lobo explained. “Though I did not understand all of their jokes, it did not stop them from laughing and even patting my arms. They seemed to like me very much. No, I am sure I did not cause her any embarrassment there.”
The other two nodded in agreement, so he went on.
“Somehow she arrived without me noticing,” he said. “So when I turned back to check on the group from the K-9 program I was very happy to see her sitting next to Morrison and I excused myself from the conversation with the others immediately, so I could join them.”
Conan nodded.
“But when I arrived at her table, she would hardly look at me,” Lobo said sadly. “And she left so quickly. She did not even eat any of the free peanuts.”
“Free peanuts?” Conan sounded intrigued.
“I tried to accompany her,” Lobo said. “But again she insisted that I should stay with the others.”
“And you stayed?” Hawkeye asked.
“She was adamant,” Lobo said. “I waited as long as I could bear it, which was not long, and then said good-bye to the others as well. And here I am.”
“This is not good,” Hawkeye declared.
“What have I done wrong?” Lobo asked.
“It doesn’t seem that you have done anything wrong,” Conan said softly. “Which means you violated some rule we don’t know about.”
“Or it means the trouble is with Veronica herself,” Hawkeye said. “Which means you can’t fix it.”
“What would be wrong with her?” Lobo was mystified. As far as he was concerned Veronica was perfect in every way - a great teacher, a kind person, and a hard worker.
“It’s not that something is wrong with her,” Hawkeye amended quickly. “I only meant that maybe this was a decision Veronica made on her own - the decision that she did not want to be your mate.”
“She’ll come around,” Conan said encouragingly. “You’ll just have to try harder to show her that you can be a good match.”
“He’s right,” Hawkeye said. “Remember, they told us on Aerie that humans might have an aversion to mating outside their species. She just needs a little time to become comfortable with you.”
Lobo nodded. But inwardly he was worried. Veronica seemed like a very determined person. If she had closed her heart against him, he wasn’t sure how he could open it.
13
Lobo
Lobo headed to the kennel early the next morning. There was an unfamiliar ache in the pit of his stomach. He had awoken at the crack of dawn only to realize that Veronica had already left without him.
He had gone to bed determined to get up early enough to prepare a breakfast for her. A woman who worked as hard as Veronica should have eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, not a protein packet.
But she hadn’t been in the kitchen when he rose. And when he tapped on her door it swung open to reveal that she was not in her room.
Now he had no idea what he had done wrong and he was faced with a day of working with the woman he adored without knowing how to make things right.
He reached the enclosure and opened the gate.
He moved to the first kennel to feed Anka.
The graceful alpha female capered up to him and he felt a measure of his distress fading.
He squatted down to scratch her ruff and she threw a paw over his shoulder as if she were giving him a pep talk. Warm camaraderie flooded from her to him, filling his heart further.
“You are a good leader, Anka,” he told her.
She snuffled at him as if she were laughing, then her ears perked up.
He looked to where she was looking and saw that Veronica was going to Masha for her morning meal.
“Good morning, Veronica,” he said, rising.
For a moment he thought she would smile. Her dark eyes flashed and the corners of her lush lips began to rise.
Then she bit her lip and turned away.
“Hey,” she said over her shoulder.
“You do not have to give the dogs their breakfast,” he told her, closing Anka’s door and coming out to see Veronica. “It will be my honor to feed them. After all, you gave them their evening meal last night.”
“No biggie,” she said.
He tried to puzzle out what that might mean.
But he was too distracted by the sight of Veronica bending over Masha’s dish to figure it out. Her raven ponytail caught the light and her hand held the dish out so gently to the beta female that it made his heart ache.
“Nunez,” a man’s voice called from the other side of the gate.
“Captain Henderson,” she said, straightening up and closing Masha’s door.
“May I come in?” the commissioner asked.
“Of course,” she replied, jogging over to the gate to open it for him.
Lobo trailed behind her.
The captain strode in. He wore a very official-looking uniform and had the sun-colored hair of a movie villain.
Dr. Bhimani had explained to the men back in Stargazer that the movies that taught them about humans were filled with unfortunate stereotypes, one of which was that well-dressed men with straw-colored hair were always bad guys. She told them that plenty of humans who fit this description were upstanding citizens.
But Lobo viewed the Captain with a certain degree of suspicion, just in case.
“How’s it going with the candidates?” he asked Nunez.
“It’s going well, sir,” she said immediately. “There are some standouts, but they are all working hard. I’m pleased.”
“I’m glad,” the man said. “This program has a lot of challenges right now.”
“Yes, sir,” Veronica agreed.
“We can’t afford any embarrassments,” he went on. “We have enough liability as it is. I hear you took on a rescue animal. I hope it’s not dangerous.”
“No, sir,” she said. But Lobo could taste the distress shimmering in the air around her.
She was not telling the truth. Or at least not all the truth.
Lobo was astonished that an honorable person like Veronica could lie to someone she respected enough to call sir.
As a matter of fact, the man must be in great power if he required the honorific to be spoken with every reply. Lobo wondered what would happen to her if her treachery were discovered.
Just then, he caught a shiver of movement out of the corner of his eye.
All three of them turned to see Officer Biscuit slinking along the back fence.
“Is that dog loose?” The commissioner sounded horrified.
Veronica’s mouth dropped open and her face went pale.
She must have left the dog’s kennel door open last night. This was a surprise as Veronica was very careful with the dogs in Lobo’s opinion.
The commissioner’s face was turning beet red, and Lobo could feel fury emanating from him.
“I’m so sorry,” Lobo blurted out. “I had opened Officer Biscuit's door to feed him when you arrived, and I came to greet you instead,” he told the commissioner. “I must not have closed it prope
rly. I have failed in my duty.”
His heart pounded in his chest.
He had lied.
On the other side of the commissioner, Veronica’s face went slack with wonder.
“Who are you?” the commissioner demanded.
“This is Lobo,” Veronica answered for him. “He’s an intern. He just started yesterday so he’s still learning the ropes.”
“We don’t have interns in your budget,” Henderson snapped.
“Unpaid,” she added immediately. “He’s a college student, interested in law enforcement.”
“Is that so?” Henderson asked Lobo. “Where do you go to college?”
“Tarker’s Hollow,” Lobo replied, hoping there would not be a follow-up question. It was the only college he knew of besides the fancy ones from the movies.
“Interesting,” Henderson nodded. “Good to know you liberal arts types can still get your hands dirty from time to time.”
Lobo nodded back, then glanced down at his hands. They did not appear to be dirty at all. He was at a loss, but he could sense that the man was pleased.
“Grab the dog,” Veronica said. “Get him back in his kennel and feed him.”
“Yes, sir,” Lobo said immediately, trying his best to imitate her manners.
He thought quickly and decided to make a dignified bow to the commissioner, who clearly outranked him by a factor of two.
Then he dashed off after Biscuit.
14
Veronica
Veronica sat on the fire escape, looking out over the K-9 enclosure at the old stone monastery and the fields beyond.
“This is heaven,” Brooke declared, taking a large bite of her ice cream sandwich.
“You have low standards,” Veronica observed.
Brooke elbowed her in the ribs in a friendly way. Brooke was super fit, and used to going pretty hard in her sparring sessions. But she’d remembered to be careful enough not to bruise Veronica’s ribs this time.
Veronica had to admit that it wasn’t so bad. She appreciated the fragrant breeze and the soft moonlight on the monastery, making the whole thing look like a castle from a fairy tale.