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times yesterday, but neither of the doctors was in. By the time I called again, the clinic was closed.”
    He frowned. “The message machine has an emergency number. The doctors aren’t that hard to reach.”
    â€œWell, it didn’t feel like an emergency. I checked my leg—it looked clean and it wasn’t bleeding. I washed it and doused it with peroxide just in case.” That had stung like crazy at first but at least the peroxide hadn’t foamed up around the punctures, as it would have if they’d been dirty or infected. “So I thought it could wait until today.” She smiled but for some reason he was still frowning. Excuses suddenly came tumbling out of her mouth as if she was in grade school facing a glowering teacher. “I’ve been pretty busy. In case you didn’t notice, I have a newspaper to run and deadlines to make. I had to assign someone to take photos of the damage from the ice storm—there was a fallen tree blocking Main Street. And there were other calls to make, stories to be written. I just lost track of the time and well, forgot .” Crap. That sounded completely lame even to her. And why was she trying to explain herself to this man?
    â€œPretty tough to forget that a wolf used your leg for a chew toy.”
    â€œWell, of course I didn’t forget that . My leg feels like it was caught in a bear trap, okay?” She couldn’t keep the defensive tone out of her voice, and that pissed her off. She glared at him, wondering how the hell this man had managed to knock her off-balance so easily with less than three sentences.
    There was a pause. Then his mouth twitched so slightly that she wasn’t sure she’d seen it. “I see I’ve left my manners in the truck. Can I have a do-over if I apologize and promise to stop grilling you?” He held out his cup and grinned. “I really don’t want to risk losing out on more of your great coffee.”
    She rolled her eyes but topped off his cup, her anger deflating like a balloon. “I’m sorry too. I’m just stressed, I guess. I can put a lot of things to the side—like making repeated calls to doctors’ offices—when I have other priorities, and my main priority has been to try to convince people that there’s a dangerous animal out there. I’ve been on the phone a lot.”
    â€œYeah? Who did you call?”
    â€œThe usual. The cops and the mayor’s office and the Fish and Wildlife guys for starters. Most wouldn’t even listen. Well, the RCMP listened enough to send an officer over. He was nice about it but it was obvious he thought it was a dog attack. Said they’ll definitely keep their eyes open. If an animal is found and its owner is determined, they’ll lay charges. He’s going to refer my case to the local bylaw official, but I don’t know what good that will do. I’d already called him myself.”
    â€œYou told all those people and no one believed you?”
    â€œHey—city girl, media type, new in town—what do you think?”
    â€œNo credibility at all, eh?”
    â€œNot a shred. So I figure I’ll write up the story as if it was a big nasty dog, say it was acting strangely—no exaggeration there—and maybe people will think it could be rabid, maybe they’ll be a little bit worried.” She stopped and thought then. “What am I saying, I should be the one that’s worried. What if it did have rabies?” Her hand went to her head. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She should have crawled to the damn clinic if she had to and gotten herself checked out.
    â€œI doubt that you have to worry. There’s very little incidence of rabies in this part of the country. I haven’t seen a case in ten years.”
    â€œReally? That’s a huge relief. Well, I can still write the story so at least people will be on the lookout for a weird dog, and maybe no one else will get