him, but she’d pretty much decided to keep him.
He was sleeping in his pen when she entered, but he immediately awakened and tried to struggle to his feet when he saw her. The bulky bandages impeded him, but it didn’t stop him from trying. She hoped his leg healed. She’d operated and put in a couple of screws. Initially she’d been worried that she might have to amputate, but he seemed to be healing. He’d probably always have a limp, but he definitely didn’t seem to be in any pain.
He looked up at her and then looked around as if checking to see if she’d brought anyone with her. She carefully picked him up. He was around fifteen pounds, but should be five pounds heavier. She could feel his ribs through his patchy fur, but already he’d put on half a pound and she could feel the hair beginning to re-grow. She cuddled him close and checked on his leg. The paw sticking out of the bandages was warm, and he responded to her touch. Gangrene had been a real possibility, but it seemed like they’d dodged that bullet. It might be weeks before they knew if the bone knit properly, but the life-or-death risk was over.
“Oh, Otis.” Wriggling, he licked her face with his little pink tongue. It was only then that she realized she was crying. “So what do you say? Want to be my forever dog?”
As if he could understand, Otis started licking her face harder which caused her to cry harder. “If only all dogs were as loveable as you. Let me get your stuff. You’re coming home with me.” She put him down in his basket, and she wrote a note for the volunteer who was on the early shift.
Finally she gathered up his collar, some toys, some dog food, and a small dog bed out to her SUV and then came back for Otis. He had an anxious look on his face but then calmed down when he saw her. She picked him up in her arms and walked out, shutting off the lights behind her. She settled him in the dog bed which she’d placed in on the passenger seat and clipped into place with the seat belt.
She felt that shiver again as she did up her seat belt. After she started the engine, she turned to Otis who was sitting up and looking around. He didn’t seem upset, though. It was like he was looking for someone he knew.
Did he feel something, too? Maybe it wasn’t just her imagination. But if he did, he certainly didn’t seem to be upset by it. She looked around the parking lot, but although her parking space and the clinic doorway were well lit, the outer edges of the lot were shadowed. She shrugged, telling herself she was imagining things, put the truck into gear, and headed home.
* * * *
Alex limped out of the shadows. It was good to see Lena again. He thought she was going home after the club. He hadn’t realized that she was going to the clinic. He’d come to see Otis when he’d seen her SUV in the parking lot, so he’d parked his truck in the next lot over and walked to where he could see the back entrance, but not close enough that she would spot him in the shadows and waited.
He reached down to rub his own lame leg. He’d seen the posters she’d put up and the pictures on her website trying to find the owner of the spirited little animal. He wasn’t sure what had made him break into her clinic for the first time three nights ago, but he felt a kinship with the abandoned pup. Lena really needed a better security system because it had been darned easy. He had only planned on checking up on the pup and maybe trying to find out if she had been contacted by the owners or someone who knew the owners. He felt a need to punish anyone who’d do that to an innocent creature, or that was what he’d told himself the reason was, but one look at Otis and he found himself shifting and curling up with the little animal, sleeping soundly for the first time in months. He’d almost overslept and had to dress quickly and slip out before the volunteer on early shift caught him.
He’d been more careful when he’d returned the