Read Love in Dreams: Rescue for Free Online

bitten three people. Randy
was the only one who could ever even feed him. He’s a real bad one, this.” She
raised the gun again. “You probably want to go back to your cabin now.”
    Cass watched the woman turn and aim. The wolf-dog’s hackles
raised and his pupils dilated so wide that his eyes turned black and then
orange. Cass’s ears buzzed in fear and a strange kind of anticipation.
    “Go on now!” the woman yelled.
    Don’t do it, Cass.
    “Wait!” Cass shouted. “Wait, ma’am!”
    The woman took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She
didn’t turn around.
    “Lady,” she growled, “I tried to say it nicely. This time I
won’t. Get the hell off this property and go mind your own business.”
    “No,” Cass said, determined. “I’ll take him.”
    The woman lowered the gun one more time, sighing “Are you a
lunatic?” as she backed toward Cass and eventually turned to face her.
    “No,” Cass said. “I think I can find a rescue place or
someone in town to take him.” She walked toward the animal, expecting it to
relax in her presence. It didn’t. A low growl made her reconsider her grand
plan. “I mean,” she added, “I don’t want to keep him. But I want to help him.”
    The woman squeezed her eyes shut. Her entire face was lines
and wrinkles and age and fatigue. She took three deep breaths, and then opened
her eyes to stare hard at Cass.
    “Okay,” she said. “Only because the Danbys were good to my
brother. But if anything happens to you, don’t come crying to me. When I unlock
one end of this chain and hand it to you, this thing is your responsibility.
Got it? He could rip your heart out and I’ll have nothing to do with cleaning
up the mess.”
    “Understood,” Cass said. “I’ll handle my heart.”
    The woman leaned her gun against the cabin and walked slowly
to the section of chain that secured the wolf-dog to the structure’s cement
foundation. She unlocked a padlock and jerked the chain free, handing the cold
iron links to Cass. Then she dramatically dusted off her hands right by Cass’s
face.
    “There you go, missy! Your brand new puppy,” she said
sarcastically. She walked back to the truck with her gun. Cass heard her mutter
“damn fool” under her breath.
    “Good luck to you!” Cass said cheerfully. “Nice to meet
you...”
    “Wanda.”
    “Nice to meet you, Wanda!”
    “Sure.”
    Wanda fired up her truck, reversed in a spray of gravel, and
peeled out of the parking area.
    “Well!” Cass said. “What a pleasant lady.” She hefted the
chain in her hands and turned to look at the animal on the other end.
Thankfully, he’d relaxed. The hair along his neck and back had flattened. The
eyes were a soft green again.
    “That’s a good boy,” Cass said, pacing in a small circle. “I
have no idea what I’m going to do with you. What have I done? I have no idea.
Not a freaking clue. I could be moving tomorrow. Or next week. Or never. Do you
understand that?”
    Oddly, it seemed like those green eyes did understand
some part of what Cass was venting.
    “Will you follow me?” She tugged gently on the chain and
pointed. “We’ll go over there, to my place.”
    The wolf-dog stood on shaky legs and started walking toward
Cass’s cabin.
    “Okay then, this will be easy.”
    The pair padded over to the back door, and Cass guided her
new companion into the unfinished back room. It was a reasonable space – about the
size of the kitchen, but without any refinements. Just large squares of
particle board for the floor and bare gray sheetrock for walls, the color so
similar to the wolf-dog’s scraggy coat that he blended in with each panel he
passed. An old recliner sat in one corner, along with a TV tray and several
boxes.
    “I guess you’ll stay in here,” Cass said. She approached the
wolf-dog slowly and reached for his collar. He stayed calm as she unbuckled the
thick leather strap. When it fell away, Cass cringed. The leather had worn a
wide bare spot along the