Now here Zach sat. On a Friday night, watching a house. He could see into it through a window, but all he saw were the two other females still arguing. Boy, could those broads go and go and go. Sara had disappeared and he was really starting to miss seeing her. Although Conall was enjoying his view of Miki. The angrier she got the more Zach could smell Conall’s desire for her. Twisted. He saw Conall quietly pad by, his white-blond fur ruffled by the light wind coming from the East.

Zach scratched his muzzle with one paw as German techno music hit his ears. Good German techno music. In the boonies of Texas? He looked back at the house. The music died after a few moments and a couple of minutes later Sara stumbled out onto the porch. She was wearing baggy sweats and a big Hockey shirt. He heard her friends laughing, but he refused to believe they were laughing at the fact that she seemed to have trouble walking. He’d hate to have to kick their asses.

But Sara was laughing too and he realized he was getting protective over a woman he didn’t know and really didn’t want to know. He had no plans of getting all tangled up with a female. Especially not this female.

He was a good 100 feet from the house, but he could hear her clearly. “I hate both of you!” She yelled as her friends came out on to the porch. Sara sat straddling the banister, and boy, was he envying that banister, while Miki hit the swing and Angelina sat on the stairs.

He was marveling at how they went from full-on screaming one minute to hysterical laughter the next.

And he wished he could have heard what they had just been talking about in the house because Sara’s next sentence completely intrigued him, “But forget about me, I think Miki’s the one with the chance to get laid.”

“Don’t start.” Miki warned.

“He was like the dog,” Angelina offered, “and you were like the chew toy that was on top of the cabinet. He couldn’t quite reach it but he wouldn’t stop staring at it.” Sara burst into another round of laughter while Miki looked like she was about to lob her beer at Angelina but changed her mind and took a long swig instead.

“But,” Angelina continued, “No one seemed the least bit interested in me.”

“Well, of course not,” Sara answered. “You have no obvious physical flaws and you weren’t balls-out rude. Why would they be interested in you?”

The three women laughed some more at that. Then they drank their beer and quietly listened to the night. Zach couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful. And when Sara leaned back and stretched, a low growl coming from her throat that he felt more than heard, it took all his control not to charge over there and drag her beautiful ass back into the house and to her bed.

***

“We should go hunting next week.” Angelina offered, “Work off someof that aggression.”

“Yeah, Miki.”

“She’s talking to you, bonehead.”

Sara was floored. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, come on. When you told that biker last week you were going to shove your fist up his ass?”

“He touched my tits.”

“You’ve got big tits,” Miki muttered.

“And when you threw that helmet at Marrec?”

“I missed.”

“Barely.” Miki added.

“Would you shut up!” Sara snapped at Miki. Both her friends smirked at her, and Sara realized that they were right. She had been aggressive lately. Really aggressive. Perhaps dangerously so. But she didn’t know why.

She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just stressed.”

“Your leg?” Angelina gently asked.

“It’s nothing serious,” she lied. “It’ll be fine.” She smiled at her friends, “Really.”

Angelina and Miki exchanged glances, but moved on.

“So,” Angelina offered, “That Zach’s quite a piece of ass, huh?”

“We are so not having that conversation!” The three friends laughed as Sara felt her face get red. “Bitches.”

***

Zach gave Conall a wolfish grin. He had to admit, it was nice being referred to as a “piece of ass.”

He watched Sara lie to her friends. And she was lying. The girl was in a momentous amount of pain, but she was hiding it amazingly well. She was a lot stronger than any of the Pack, himself included, was giving her credit for.

Sara finished her beer. “I’m thinking about getting a new dog.” Well that came out of nowhere. And based on her friends’ reactions they were none too pleased.

“Oh, for fuck sake.” Miki snapped.

“I thought you guys liked dogs.”

“I’m a cat person,” Angelina volunteered. Zach had already guessed that.

“I like dogs, just not the dogs you get. You always pick some scraggly-ass stray off the street and try to make it a pet.”

“You could get a cat.” Angelina offered hopefully.

“Agents of Satan? No thank you. I like my eyes right where they are. In my head.”

“Ladies,” Angelina sighed, “Is this, what we’re reduced to? Are we going to be…” she had an expression of utter disgust on her face, “pet people?”

“I can’t.” Miki leaned her head to the side to stretch the tense muscles, and Zach heard Conall give a low growl. “No pets. No plants.”

Sara smirked, “You mean anything that needs actual care?”