“You can’t be serious,” Levi growled.
He was right to be pissed, anything could have happened from the mom attacking the cub, to the cub attacking the cat and kittens.
“Sure am! It’s totally not advised to do that, unless you know what you’re doing, and the cat is practiced at nursing other species, but apparently it worked out ok. When the buyer said they were ready and that their kid had a cage all set up in the room for it, they collected it and started the trip down, keeping it like a puppy in the vehicle with them.”
This poor little guy had been through so much in such a short space of time.
“What’s its nature like? Is it calm all the time, or does it have feral tendencies?” Tate asked, reaching out and letting the cub sniff his hand before he stroked it again.
“Oh, that baby is a cross between a kitten and a puppy,” she sighed. “We have an animal behavioral specialist who attends and does assessments on our rescues for us. A big part of the sanctuary is dedicated to wild animals, and she’s the best in her field, so she knows what to look for. Her report says that it’s taken on the characteristics of the kittens in the litter it was nursed with, and must have been treated with a lot of human love because it isn’t defensive or aggressive. Sure, it’s not been in touch with humans for its whole life, but it was through a majority of the development of its independent cognitive function since it opened its eyes. That’s a key phase for them, and because it happened during domesticity, the more feral and wild characteristics have been tamped down. That said, it’s still a wild animal so he could snap back into them, but so far we haven’t seen them, and it’s not fair to deprive it of the attention it’s used to until we have someone experienced with rehabilitation into the wild working with it.”
Tate didn’t looked convinced by this, and watched the cub as it growled and twisted in my hands, leaning down toward the floor. Placing it on its feet, we all watched as it strolled back over to Tate and nipped at a fold in his jeans to play like a little savage with. With each yank and growl he got more material to bite down on.
Then, it did something that none of us expected. It sat down, wagging its tail, and let out a yap at him. It was cute, it was bizarre, it was freaking awful. This little creature who should be in the wild with its litter would never get that, all because some asshole’s kid wanted a pet fox – something which they’d probably seen on television.
“It’s at this point that I should maybe add that the guys transporting him had a Labrador with them, so it does what the dog did as you can see. In fact, we’ve got the dog here because the men are awaiting trial and no one wanted to come and get it…” she broke off and frowned as she looked at the baby fox who was wagging its tail and yapping at Tate.
“Is it up for adoption?” Levi asked, watching as Tate gently played with the cub.
“Yeah, they signed him over to us. Both men have priors along with warrants out for various things, so the owner requested the dog be given to a shelter as soon as they were brought in.”
Tate had been listening the whole time, and as he carefully picked it up, he asked, “What’s the dog like?”
I had an idea that I knew where this was going, and if that was the case, we were going to need to hit the pet store again.
“She’s a sweetheart,” Barb sighed. “She loves the baby, so it’s hard to split them up, but we want to at least try to get the cub more… uh...”
“Fox like?” Levi offered, nodding his head.
“That’s it. There were quite a few animals in the truck though, Lily. And that’s where I’m hoping you’ll come into it.”
“What else was there?” Tate and I asked at the same time, making her grin.
“That’s cute y’all do that,” she chuckled. “Anyway, there were some different breeds of dogs, kinda weird ones that are more rare and one that we haven’t got a clue what it is. The vet’s doing tests on it to find out its breed though, so we’ll know soon enough. There were three guinea pigs with long hair, a python – at least they had the brains not to put it in the same cage as the other animals,” she added, rolling her eyes. “You’d be amazed at the amount of times people do dumb things like that. A cockatoo…”
“Pass,” I blurted, shaking my head. I hated those things after I’d been bitten by one when I was a kid. It had been my friend’s pet, and one second he was loving and cute, the next he was a raging asshole.
“Right now, the only two that have had a full disease screen run on them and that have been cleared by the vet and behavioral team are the Labrador and unknown puppy,” Barb told us, clasping her hands together in front of her. “Those are the two I’d feel happiest being fostered too.”
“Can I meet her?” I asked at the same time as Levi this time.
Glaring at him, I repeated the request and added, “Seeing as how I’m the one taking them home.”
“I can always take them,” Levi offered, looking smugly at me.
“No, you can’t.” And I was serious as hell about it. Whether I was feeling maternal and protective because I was pregnant, or because I was just an animal protector, I would be the one taking them home with me.
I’d even started going through names in my head, and everyone knows that once you name a dog, it’s yours. It might be an unspoken rule, but it was definitely a rule.
Not hanging around for us to argue it out, Barb left leaving the two of us glaring at each other.
“What about the baby?” he snapped, scowling over at his brother who was chuckling as the cub burrowed into his neck excitedly licking whatever skin he could.
“I’m fine holding him for now,” Tate replied, pulling the cub away and holding him up in front of his face. “You’re a cute little bugger, aren’t you? I wasn’t sure when I heard about ya, but now I’m thinking I like you.” The cub whined and wiggled to get closer to him again, making him laugh as he brought it back to his chest.
“I meant the actual baby,” Levi clarified, pointing at my stomach.
“My folks don’t know yet,” I hissed, checking the door over my shoulder.
Wincing, he nodded. “Sorry, didn’t know. It’s still a question though. And this is a lot to take on with all of that on top of it.”
“Not really. No more than it would be buying a puppy or kitten while you’re…” I broke off and looked back at the door to check it, “you know. So looking after Foxy Loxy here at the sanctuary and taking the other two home with me should be ok.”
“Foxy Loxy?” Tate asked sounding disgusted. “Hell, no. We’re calling it Schwarzenegger or something hard ass like that, not Foxy freaking Loxy.”
What a dick! What was wrong with Foxy Loxy?
“He’s got a point,” Levi backed his brother up. “You gotta go with a masculine name for a fox.”
Two men against one pregnant lady. Fucking awesome.
“For foxe sake,” I sighed, realizing I wasn’t going to win the argument just now. I needed time to regroup and find the best angle before I went in for the win and to do that, I had to make them think they were the ones winning, hence the cute sigh.
Grinning over at his brother, Tate nodded and looked back at me. “You’re so not naming our son.”
Whispering as I heard Barb’s footsteps coming back toward us, I replied smugly, “It could be a girl, Felullah Consuela Trixibelle.”
I’d expected disgust, but all I got back was a triumphant grin and shake of the head. Well, that was disappointing!
I never got the chance to ask why he was looking so smug because the door opened, and in came the waggiest tailed Labrador I’d ever seen in my life. I’d always overlooked the Labrador breed for some reason, never considering them when I’d decided at some point I’d get a dog, and now as I watched its body moving from left to right with the force of its wagging tail, I was kicking myself.
Labradors were good with babies too, weren’t they?
I knew I was taking it home with me, but that was confirmed when Barb put a gray pupp
y down on the floor with it, and the Labrador started licking it like a mama with her baby. In return, the puppy jumped up to try and lick it back and then ran around it in circles. The two of them played like that for a couple of minutes, until they focused both their attentions on me and came over. With a big slobbery lick over my ear from the Lab, and excited puppy snuffles at my hand from the wiry-haired baby, I was a goner.
“I’ll take them!” It was unnecessary to confirm it, but I yelled the words into the room just in case the pet stealer in the corner tried to get there first, making everyone jump. Well, aside from the dog and the fox who both started yowling.
After a couple minutes, Barb took the baby fox out to be fed while Levi ran to get the stuff we’d bought for it from the vehicle, leaving me and Tate behind with the dogs.
I really wanted to take the cub home with me too, and the fact I couldn’t pissed me off. At the same time, I knew he was in the best hands here and that I’d get to see him as often as I wanted to and that he had to be here if he stood a chance of being returned to the wild. I also knew already that there was no way in hell I’d be giving these two dogs up, even not knowing what the puppy’s breed was.
I was a mama bear on a mission now. I had the protective hormones running through me, I could mother anything and everything – so long as it wasn’t a cockatoo – and that was now my vocation in life… I was so screwed!
Tate
After another trip to the pet store, during which Levi had stayed at Lily’s to keep an eye on the dogs, we’d brought all the new pet shit into her house and laid it out.
“I love your chickens,” Levi snorted as he lay on the floor under the two new dogs, sounding like he was struggling to breathe.
“What happened here?” I questioned as I walked around him to get to the couch.
“Well, we played for a while and then I figured that they’d need a potty break, so I opened the door and checked the garden was properly fenced in. It is, just in case you’re wondering. No holes or gaps found. They ran out and found the chickens – and just sayin’, that one chicken is a freak of clucking nature. Then, we walked around and played for a while until Dougal here,” he rubbed the sleeping Labrador’s head, “found the other enclosure. Fergus,” he pointed at the puppy, “was the only one of us who liked that shit flinging little bastard.”
Grinning, I made a mental note to get my brother back out into the garden and close to the cage again so I could see it happening for myself. “Gross isn’t it?”
Nodding, he tried to shudder under the weight of the dog, but it just looked like his brain was going offline for a second. “After all of that, I brought them back in again and we played tag for the nine hours you were gone.”
When he glared at me like it was a hardship for him to have babysat for even ten minutes, I snorted and called him on his shit. “You’re lying out your ass if you’re even implying that you didn’t love every second. You’re also lying when you say nine hours, it was an hour tops.”
“You’re also talking out your ass when you say their names are Dougal and Fergus,” Lily announced as she breezed into the living room and sat next to me on the couch.
Not going to lie, I was doing my best not to puff my chest out like the chickens outside at the fact she’d chosen to take the seat next to me instead of one of the others. My cock might also have tried to puff itself out seeing as how her tit brushed against my arm when she shifted to get more comfortable – tried being the key word to describe it. Even the little tic of a movement it made felt like I had a gorilla using it for a trampoline, so it thankfully decided after that first one that it wasn’t going to do it again.
Levi argued his case refusing to be vetoed. “Look, Dougal is a great name for a Lab…”
He had a point.
“It also responds to the name…”
Most likely a lie unless Levi had been holding food out for it at the time.
“And Fergus the puppy. Who wouldn’t love that?”
Probably people named Fergus, Ferguson or Fergie?
“The Labrador is female,” Lily sighed, taking a deep breath in, but not getting the chance to use it when Levi used her words back at her as an argument.
“Don’t be so sexist. A female can use a man’s name! Hell, a man can use a female’s name.”
Groaning, I settled back and made myself comfortable so I could have a nap while the argument played out. I wasn’t getting pulled into this shit.
Something which changed just as I was crossing over into the nap state I’d been intending to go into.
“Isn’t that right, Tate?”
Granted, I’d heard Levi say those four words many times throughout their argument, but I’d ignored them, or planned out how to cause him pain when he’d pulled me away from the nice nap time I’d been looking for.
This time, it was Lily who’d said them though, and that changed everything. She was the woman I’d had a moderate-to-severe crush on for months, she was the woman I intended on having a lifelong relationship with, she was Lily, and she was also carrying my baby.
So, I did what any man in my shoes would do (and if they say otherwise, they’re lying out of their asses) – I replied immediately.
“Absolutely!”
The look of triumph along with the grin on her face when I opened my eyes was almost dick hardening. The look of revenge on my brother’s though would have scared that erection away, if I’d been capable of having one.
Swinging my eyes back to Lily and seeing the look of triumph and happiness on her face again, I had no idea what I’d agreed to, but I’d gladly take a beating down from Levi to see that look. Some might call me pussy whipped, but they’d be wrong. Ignore the fact she was carrying my baby, I was a man who wanted to make his woman happy. She’d broken my cock, not my balls, so no one could even try and say she was holding them in the palm of her hand. That said, if she decided to I’d be a happy guy… then again, after this morning, they might need a bit of time to get over the memory of their neighbor’s trauma.
Eight
Lily
I was exhausted. No, that word didn’t cover it. I was – drag my knuckles across the floor, pee in a diaper because I didn’t have to move, blinking took too much energy, and feed me through a tube exhausted.
I was also learning some new things about pregnancy, even if I wasn’t that far gone, that I would have to remember for the book based on the harsh truths of pregnancy I was writing when it was all over.
Pregnancy totally drained you of energy. Blinking felt like you were trying to run to the summit of K2. Yawning was like an off-switch for your body and brain. We were tired, we were yawning and we should be sleeping, so ping – off you go. Walking was like someone had filled your legs with concrete and popped you on the surface of the moon to run a marathon. At the pet store, a heavily pregnant woman had skipped past me and I’d wanted to smack her. I’d also been concerned for the baby bouncing around between her legs, the sac holding it being tested with every bounce. But she couldn’t have been human because pregnancy didn’t allow you to have energy like that.
Next point – pregnancy made your emotions border on irrational, wanting to smack a pregnant woman aside. No, scratch that, definitely add that in because it was a good example, but there were the tears, irritation, anger, happiness, wanting to cry… it was all over the top and you swung between the emotions faster than you could say the word bitch. Bitch – there, I just went through four different ones between the bitches.
Peeing – sweet fairy farts and mermaid titties, peeing was a whole new bodily function for me. My bladder had apparently shrunk to the size of a pea, and the amount of urine I produced would have filled a reservoir, apparently. I also produced it without drinking, and at this stage I was suspected that my body was now absorbing the moisture from the air and steering it right to my bladder. The feeling every ten minutes was like it was going to burst any second, and peeing became the most satisfying feeling in the world. It
was literally a body shudder moment because it felt so awesome, something you got to enjoy Every. Ten. Freaking. Minutes.
Next up was hunger. I wasn’t ‘hungry’ anymore. There were only two stages at this part in the baby baking process – full and hangry. I’d never understood why the word hangry was even used, it just seemed dumb to me that someone would be so hungry they were angry. The answer – because they were pregnant. The panic and anger I felt when I was hungry now was insane. I needed that food, I had to have that food, I wanted that food more than anything, and if you deprived me or got in the way of me getting it – well, it sucks to be you. Levi had found this out when he’d gone to eat the last donut that we’d picked up while we’d been at the pet store. He’d gotten it to an inch away from his mouth when I’d walked in and snapped it out his hand with my mouth. Not my hand, my freaking mouth like a rabid squirrel stealing his nuts back.
Emotions – again, there was no in between on those. I could be emotionally comfortable, sure, but that was it. I was either one extreme or the other. I’d never been a crier, but the amount of times I wanted to cry now or had to force myself not to was just plain exhausting.
I guess leading on from this was also indecision. I was undecided about a ton of shit, a majority of it so vapid and ridiculous that if I’d told Beau she’d have smacked me around the head. The names of the dog and puppy shouldn’t be this difficult, but they were. I loved one, then hated it, loved the next one, then hated it… Was Tate with me just because of the baby? Yes, no, yes again, no again. Did Levi actually believe me, or was he just being nice? Was the sky blue, or was it a gray-blue? Was that cloud giving me the bird, or was it a penis? Was Tate being nice about his penis and what I’d done to it, or was it really broken?
Tainted Gold: Providence Gold Series Book Three Page 10