Page 4

The little practice on the row of terraced houses was engulfed in darkness. Clients had left only moments ago, consultations lasting longer than our regular operating hours.

“Where the fuck was Stuart today?” Abbie grumbled as she piled the last lot of steel instruments into the steriliser.

“Dunno. Probably off with another of our lovely clients. Sure, he was sniffing around that woman who breeds the Dachshunds.”

“Probably.”

I was tired. I’d survived on half an hour’s nap at lunchtime and so much coffee I was probably sweating it out of every pore.

“Who’s on call tonight?” Abbie asked as she emptied a glug of thick disinfectant into a bucket.

“Who d’you think?”

She shook her head, strands of blonde moving back and forth.

“Dunno how he dares to take a wage out of this place when he’s never here. We’d get through far more clients if he actually bothered to show up for more than half a day.”

“Yeah, but so would he.”

Abbie giggled, the noise filling the air with a lightness I hadn’t felt all day.

“You know you really need to schedule a day off,” she said, slopping a tatty mop into the red bucket and making the first wet swipe across the operating room floor.

“I know. I need a day to sleep.”

“I wasn’t thinking of sleep. I was thinking of you coming out with me and Ewan. He’s got some really fit friends, you know.”

“I don’t have time for a boyfriend, Abbie. Not at the minute. Besides, look at me. I’m a constant mess.”

“Just get out of those sexy green scrubs once in a while. That would do. It doesn’t have to be commitment, Alice. You just need some fun in your life. All work and no play…”

“Makes Alice not lose her half of the flat for non-payment,” I interrupted. “Student loans, Abbie. Student loans and shit wages, that’s what makes me dull.” I sighed, wiping a chunk of hair that was sticking to my forehead with the back of my hand.

“What time will you be home tonight?” Abbie asked, steering the conversation away from my entire lack of a life.

“Dunno. Kinobi needs another round of meds and observations soon. I’ll pop back after that, I suppose. You’ve got a good couple of hours with Ewan without me there.” I winked, knowing the question was solely so Abbie could decide how wild their sex shenanigans could be for a few hours. “Just don’t piss the downstairs neighbours off again. I want no more letters of complaint handed to me as I get home. I’m sure they thought it was me.”

The blonde girl smiled widely, a twinkle in her eyes. “That was so funny!” She giggled, the mop bouncing over the floor with each bubble of laughter.

“Not for me. I wanted Hell to open under my feet and get me out of there.” I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks just thinking about it.

Abbie moved away across the floor, mopping and laughing, her shoulders shaking with each burst, and I shook my head, turning back to the equipment still seeping in the sink, waiting for their turn in the steriliser.

The practice was quiet once Abbie left, the only signs the faint beeping of the equipment monitoring the dog who slipped in and out of doggy consciousness. But even when the sedative wore off, she was too weak to lift her head, her eyes following me around the best they could. I plucked her chart from the holder on the cage, glancing over the writing that had become more scribbled as I’d got more tired through the day. I scanned, checking the numbers, checking the number of meds I’d administered.

Three bangs broke through the quiet, my heart stuttering in my chest, the chart falling to the floor with a clatter. I wheeled around, unsure of where the noise came from or what it was. Kinobi grumbled from the cage. My eyes searched the room, my body tense, my chest tightening. My heart picked up a sprint, thumping furiously. Outside, something moved. A shadow in the wind, something just outside the window. A tree? In a treeless yard. Idiot.

But even in the darkness outside the practice windows, there was something there even darker.

The bang came again.

Yet it wasn’t a bang, but a knock. Someone’s knuckles on the frosted glass windows.

“Who…who’s there?” I called out, wincing at the weakness in my voice. “Hello?”

And a voice answered from the shadows on the other side of the glass.

“It’s me. It’s Cade.”

“Who?”

“Cade. I brought the dog in last night.”

I took a breath, willing my heart to slow down.

“Can you let me in to see her?”

“I…I…Round the front. Come round the front,” I shouted at the glass.

The shadow moved, the darkness where he’d been stood growing that bit lighter. And my heart should have slowed, calmed, but it hadn’t. It beat harder than ever.

I moved through the corridor that skirted one side of the building, past the consultation rooms, too many for the amount of vets we had, towards the reception. The door at the front was bolted from the inside. Five of them, securing the door to the frame at regular intervals. I slid them all back, heavy metal slowly gliding back until the door bounded inwards and the shadow from the yard took shape in the light behind.

I hadn’t appreciated his height from last night when he stumbled in covered in the dog’s blood, and maybe now that he was fully dressed, he seemed that much taller. Tonight, he towered above me, a leather jacket zipped to his chest, his hands covered in black gloves, a bike helmet in one, his legs covered in that same tight black leather. And now he looked dangerous, here on my doorstep, just me alone in the building. Last night, he was shaken and vulnerable. Tonight, he was in control, composed.

“You going to let me in? Or you bringing the dog to me?” he spoke, a voice of deep, thick velvet.

“She can’t be moved right now,” I tripped over the words, glancing at his face and dropping my eyes away again.

“I know. I know. I was just teasing. And it’s fucking freezing outside. Would appreciate an invite inside.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Course. Come in.”

He stepped around me and I closed the door behind him, securing each lock back into place, shutting out the freezing air spilling in. And now I’d locked myself inside, with a man I didn’t know.

“Follow me,” I stepped forward, leading the way, with him behind me where I couldn’t see him, or what he was doing.

My heart fluttered faster, assaulting my chest with each beat, like someone hammering a drum inside my chest. I quickened, trying to put some distance between us, so I could get in that room and get some space away from him, but his long legs kept up, keeping pace. I could feel him right behind me, the darkness and the cold rolling off all his leather.

I almost bounded through the door, to where there was space, where there was a weapon. And where, if I needed to escape him, I had to search for the key. Shit. Panic had risen so far up into my chest, I could barely speak. Or breathe. My chest felt like it was crushing inwards.

“You ok?” the velvety voice from behind me asked, and I jumped.

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“You just seem tense tonight.”

“Tired. I’m tired.”

“Have you been here since I left this morning?”

I nodded, turning slightly. But the man didn’t look like he wanted to assault me. His face was full of genuine concern, green eyes concentrating on my face, his blonde hair flopping to the side, a tiny covering of stubble making his perfect face just slightly imperfect. At my feet, the dog whimpered.

“You can say hello to her,” I started, dropping to my haunches and scooping the chart from the floor where I’d dropped it. “But she’s very weak. I don’t want you to overstimulate her.”

His face twitched at the side. The tiniest of smiles, a brief flicker of something in his eyes, and then he stilled, crouching down and pushing his fingers through the bars of the cage. The dog raised her head, just enough to touch him with her nose before she let herself flop down again. But behind her, her tail wagged, slow and careful, but it bobbed, just enough.

“You ok, girl?” he whispered, barely audible. “Your dad’ll be ok. He’s as tough as you. You’ll see him soon.”

“How is he?” I asked, the question coming out before I had time to stop it from forming.

Cade pushed upwards before turning to face me, swiping a hand through thick hair, which fell, unruly, back to where he’d tried to move it from.

“Yeah…uh. We don’t know yet. They were operating last I heard. Dunno anymore.”

“Crap. Sounds bad.”

“Is.” His voice faltered, his face more lethargic now. Then, as if he snapped out of it, his eyes lightened and he glanced around. “You didn’t get the bullet out of the dog?”

“Uh…yes, actually. I have it just over here.”

“Good. I’ll take that.”

“Why?” I asked, then immediately winced.

“Because when I find out who shot the dog, I’ll find out who shot my brother.”

“Your brother? The Demon? He was shot?”

The words trickled out, uncontrolled, unbuffered, my alarm flowing with them. Cade stepped forward, just a half step, but enough that the towering man in leather that smelt like clean oak and sweet and spice mixed together was now barely an inch away from me.

“Yes,” he answered, the deep velvet turning into a husky, low whisper, resonating, dangerous, captivating.

And all I could do was stare up into those intense green eyes. Eyes which held me to the spot even though the mention of more gunshot wounds should send me diving for the key for the back door.