“I love you too, you wily coyote. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re not a meta, you know.” She smiled at his eyes as they seemed to narrow reproachfully. “But you’re the smartest, strongest, bravest coyote in the whole world.” His tongue lolled out of his mouth, draped over his sharp teeth as he seemed to smile widely.
Meg couldn’t help but sigh happily as she hugged him close, burying her face in his coat and breathing deeply. Her coyote smelled like a mix of wild wind and fresh grass with a hint of canine musk. She kept him pretty clean, despite his efforts to roll in the dirt and plod through muddy streams. Sometimes it seemed as if he intentionally sought the most disgusting things to smear all over himself just to get a rise out of Meg. Or maybe it was because he loved his baths. She would bring him into the shower with her and use the handheld shower nozzle on him. That’s how she bathed him before they left. So, as she breathed, it wasn’t surprising to smell the strawberry doggie shampoo she doused him in earlier.
But there was another scent she caught. Frowning, Meg nuzzled her nose against his neck and sniffed. Cologne? He smelled like…she pulled away from her coyote and gave him an accusatory look. “Have you been spending time with Creed?”
Maze looked at Meg innocently, slurping his long tongue back into his mouth for a moment then let it flop back out—making him look as if he was grinning.
“You stinker! Whose side are you on anyway?”
“Oh, he’s on your side, that’s for sure.” Creed slipped into the aisle and into the seat beside Meg.
She couldn’t think of a single clever thing to say to Creed, so instead she turned to Maze. “Hop down, buddy. You weigh a ton.”
Maze grinned and licked Meg’s cheek once more before complying. Now she had coyote hair all over her black ninja costume. Okay, it wasn’t a ninja costume. But that gives you an idea of what kind of clothes she was wearing. They were all dressed in black. But once they pulled their ski masks over their faces during the attack, you’d be able to tell which was Meg. Just look for the skinny one with silver coyote hair all over. She absently swiped at the hair, wishing her brain didn’t freeze every time Creed came around. She felt like an idiot—a hairy idiot.
“I admit I was playing with him this morning when he was running around trying to dry off after his bath. He sure loves to play fetch.” Creed was smiling down at the coyote, “Don’t you buddy?”
Maze grinned and scooted closer to Creed’s feet so he could put his paw on his lap. Meg’s eyes bugged out of her head. Creed noticed. “What’s wrong?”
She looked back and forth between Creed and Maze and shook her head. “Nothing, I guess. It’s just…I’ve never seen him do that with anyone but me.”
“Do what?”
“Put his paw into your lap. That’s his way of showing submission, devotion. At least, that’s the interpretation I gave it since he only did that with me before.”
Creed grinned at Maze and rubbed his ears just the way the coyote liked it. “What can I say. We took a liking to each other. Didn’t I like him before?” he asked casually.
“Well, you didn’t dislike him. I just don’t think you interacted very much. Except for the times you shot him with a tranquilizer.”
“Times—plural?”
“Twice.”
“Yikes, sorry about that big man. No hard feelings, right?” He spoke directly to Maze, leaning over so they could talk face to face. Man to man…or something like that.
“Well, to make up for it, he ran my ass ragged this morning,” Creed winked obviously to Maze.
Meg just shook her head at the two boys beside her, bonding like the oldest of friends.
“Maze, I have to talk to Meg for a minute. You just hang back, okay?”
Maze whined a little, but obeyed by lying down at their feet.
Meg’s jaw couldn’t have dropped further. How did he do that? Maze only obeyed her that completely—and really, only when he wanted to.
“Listen, I wanted to ask you a question.” Creed turned to her, his expression turning serious.
“Okay.”
“There’s this girl at the Facility. I want to offer her the chance to leave with us.”
“A girl?” Meg felt her heart tightened painfully. What the heck?
“Yes, she helped me when I was recuperating. She even slipped me some pain meds to help with my migraines. I think she would be willing to leave with us. What do you think?”
Her mind spewed all sorts of thoughts, but she bit her lip and tried to calm down before speaking.
“Who is she to you?” There, that was a reasonable question without screaming, punching or even using one four-letter word. Yeah me.
“She was one of my doctors.”
“One of the doctors that performed those horrible tests on you? Taking samples from you like a common lab rat? One of those doctors?” Okay, my cool was slipping as evidenced by the squeak at the end of my last sentence.
“She’s different.” Creed frowned looking into his hands. Apparently, I wasn’t reacting the way he anticipated.
Well, I have news for you buddy! I’m no Mother Teresa! I’m not passive like Gandhi. I rage when I’m mad, and if you’re going to be around me, you’d better damn well get used to it.