Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 22

JAEGER

We had been at Derkshin for hours.

All the dogs easily warmed up to Izzy, but only one warmed up to me. It was a small brown fluffy one. I wasn't playing with the dogs like Izzy was, the most I did was pet the ones that occasionally came to me where I sat under the shade of a tree. Eventually, the brown one didn't bother leaving my side.

"Can you quit petting the poor dog so awkwardly," Izzy said.

"What do you mean?"

"That's not how you pet a dog. You're supposed to stroke him, not whatever you're doing."

"I'm petting it."

"No. You look like you're delicately pulling his fur."

"Same difference. Plus," I added. "The fact that it isn't leaving means it likes it."

She rolled her eyes and said, "He's not an it, he's a he."

"No, I think I'll stick to it," I said, solely to spite her.

She seemed to realise this and narrowed her eyes at me before throwing a stick in my direction. 

"You missed," I smirked.

"Did I?" She smirked back.

By the time I realised what she had done, the dogs had already started charging in my direction. I could hear her laughter over the pants of the dogs as they raced for the stick. Several bumped into me in the process. 

She bent down on one knee to receive the stick, only to be tackled to the ground by one of the other dogs. But she didn't mind it. She loved getting piled on by the dogs, and laughed anytime they leapt on her.

She seemed like a whole other person when she wasn't trying to kill me. 

I remained seated beneath the tree, watching her as she laughed and I lost track of time, lost my sense of place. I couldn't tear my eyes off of her even though there were so many other things I could look at. The dogs, the sky, even the ground, yet my eyes stayed on her. 

The way the sun kissed her burnished brown skin and brought out the natural brown highlights in her kinky hair. And the way her laugh travelled throughout the field. It was rather strange how intrigued I felt by her. Her joy was infectious and anytime she laughed I felt my own lips tug, threatening to curve into a smile. 

She finally ran out of energy and plopped down in the shade near me, panting.

"Tired?"

"No, I'm so full of energy that I could run several laps around the field," she deadpanned, and I couldn't help my laugh.

"Should we keep moving now?"

"No, one more hour."

"One more what? You could go for another hour?"

"Yeah, I just needed a little rest," she said, laying down all the way. "I hope you gave him a name," she gestured toward the fluffy brown dog I was still petting. "You can't just call him it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not a name."

"I happen to like it."

"Give him a proper name."

"No. I don't need to."

"You do. What kind of psycho pets a dog as cute as him and doesn't give him a name."

"The kind of psycho that's better than the psycho who speaks to dogs even though they don't understand what you're saying."

She scoffed. "Just give him a name."