Rogue Queen ➵ 2.0

➵ XXIX. Found You

Sunday, January 14th, 2018, 3:00pm

The Greatest Show - The Greatest Showman

Rei's POV

"BACK THE FUDGE OFF! SHE'S MINE!" Zaine shrieks, protectively cradling the young Australian Shepard pup to his chest.

Killian, along Reese, Dexter and Jordan (the men of the Healer group) all pout, wanting to hold the little ten-week old pup. The one that Zaine has claimed as his. He won't even let Killian hold her. Pet the pup, sure, but no one is allowed to take the pup from Zaine's hold.

The pup is one of four puppies we rescued from the animal abuse case. There were five fighting dogs, two of which had to be put down due to their injuries, which were so severe Serena couldn't heal them completely and that would leave them in pain. There were also three rabbits that had been caught and that we released into the forest.

The puppies were going to be trained to be more fighting dogs. Probably bought from dog breeders, we found them locked in cages, looking starved and sad. All of the dogs are being cared for by the Healers but we visit every day to help take care of them and everyday that little pup is coddled by Zaine and both of them love it.

I roll my eyes as Dexter tries to distract Zaine so Reese can get the puppy by sneaking up behind him. Zaine, knowing what they're doing, bites at Reese's hand when he reaches around over his shoulder, making Reese quickly pull back.

"Please Changeling," Killian whines, "We wanna see her too."

"Look all you want," Zaine huffs, leaning back on the couch. "But Stitchie is staying right here with me." He glances at Reese, Dexter and Jordan, "Besides, you three see her all day."

"Stitchie?" Jordan repeats, tilting his head.

"I'm calling her Stitch." Zaine shrugs, pointing to the three stitches in the puppy's back. "She has stitches, so her name is Stitch."

The little white pup wriggles in Zane's arms, trying to lick his face. Zaine chuckles, cuddling the puppy and cooing. The pup is mostly white and covered in big black spots with blurry edges, like the fur doesn't give a clear, defined line where the spots' edge is, if that makes sense. There's a black spot over one of his pale blue eyes. We can't be sure but it looks like the pup lacks full peripheral vision since she sometimes runs into things when she turns to fast.

No one minds though, 'cause the pup is fucking adorable. (Fun fact: This is my dog. One of my dogs is in the story now.)

I crouch down and gently rest my hand on Prix's back as he lies on his new dog bed. Prix, a black Great Dane, was the best fighting dog, the strongest one. He's also been one of the hardest to rehabilitate but we're getting there. It helped when one of the rogue warlocks that follows me talked to him using his ability to talk to animals. Prix seemed to relax and lower his guard a lot after that.

I hear Rhea laugh and see two of the puppies playing tug of war with a sock.

I check my watch. "We should be heading out soon."

Zaine whines, "But I don't wanna go!"

"We're coming back tomorrow," Clove says, scratching Trophy, another one of the dogs, behind her ears.

"Can we keep it?" Chase asks, sitting next to and leaning against Zaine and patting Stitch's head.

"Who, Zaine? Of course you can keep him," Reese replies, grinning.

Zaine sticks his tongue out at him, then looks at me. "Can we keep her, Reina?"

Stitch licks at Zane's chin, making him laugh.