Without Reservations

www.samhainpublishing.com

    Without Reservations
    He was rubbing his arms and his hair stuck up every which way. God, he was cute.
    “Hey, Bit.” He kissed Keaton’s forehead on the way in the house and handed him the puppy.
    Bit shut the door and locked it. “What were you doing outside?”
    “I heard something and came to check it out. Saw a guy running off.
    Pita charged out the door after him.”
    Keaton’s eyes widened. “Really? Did you catch him?”
    He shook his head. “Nope. But Pita sure tried.”
    Pita squirmed in Bit’s arms and Bit put him on the floor. He scampered toward the back of the house. They heard the dog door open and close.
    “Is it safe for him to be out there?”
    Chay shrugged. “Yeah, we scared the guy off. I couldn’t find any evidence that he tampered with anything.”
    “Hmm…” Bit walked past him, still rubbing his arms. “Did you get a good scent? Was it someone you recognized?”
    He followed Bit into the kitchen.
    Bit stood at the refrigerator door, leaning on it, looking inside.
    “Yeah, I got a good scent, the man was a wolf, but I didn’t recognize it.”
    Bit moved some stuff around in the fridge and stood back up, once again staring into the open refrigerator. “You think maybe we should call the pack? Or maybe the police?”
    Chay wondered how long it would take Keaton to realize they needed to go grocery shopping. “And tell them what? If I didn’t recognize the scent, he’s not from our pack and there wasn’t anything messed with.
    Besides, I don’t think he’ll be coming back, knowing that I saw him.”
    “What did he look like?” Bit started rubbing his arms again.
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    J.L. Langley
    “I didn’t see him see him, but I know he was about five-eight with a slim build. He had on a dark green jacket, a red ball cap and black jeans.”
    “Hmm. You think it was just someone nosing around?”
    “More than likely. Probably looking things over, seeing if there was anything easy to steal. I’ll call John Carter tomorrow and see if any visiting wolves have checked in with him.”
    “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Why don’t we lock Pita in for the night though, just in case.”
    Right on cue the dog door opened and closed. Pita came bouncing into the kitchen.
    “I agree. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Chay leaned against the cabinet and watched the puppy go to the fridge, put his front feet on the bottom ledge and have a look.
    Bit shooed him away. After another minute he shut the door and turned toward Chay. “We don’t have shit to eat.”
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    Without Reservations

Chapter Eleven
    Keaton woke to an insistent whining noise. What the hell? The whine came again, followed by a constant thud. He blinked his eyes open and looked at the clock. Eight a.m. Keaton grunted and mumbled, “Fuck.”
    He reached for Chay and came up empty-handed. Chay’s side of the bed was cold. Which would explain the thud. The man was insane for working out at eight on a Sunday morning. And how did he listen to that crappy music?
    Pita started whining again.
    “Damn it.” Keaton sat up and ran his hands down his face. Jesus Christ, he was going to have to work harder at tiring the man out at night. The thought that Chay could still get up at this time of day after the strenuous exercise the night before was a real blow to the ego.
    Apparently, the puppy had slept through Chay’s departure too.
    Keaton threw his legs over the side of the bed and padded naked down the hall to let the puppy out.
    He opened the dog door for Pita and cool air whooshed in, deflating his morning wood. Damn, it was cold outside. He should get some clothes on, but his stomach growling brought him up short. He was already closer to the kitchen. What a dilemma. He shrugged and headed for the kitchen. He’d grab some cold pizza from the night before and take it back to bed and eat. There was bound to be something on TV. Just because Chay was demented and up working out, didn’t mean he had to get out of bed yet.
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    He got into the kitchen and found the pizza box lying open, empty on the table. “Damn it.” Chay could have at least saved him a piece. Shit. He wasn’t a morning person at the best of times. “Wake up with no one to snuggle with, dog whining, shitty music playing, fucking freezing outside and now no damned food.” He growled.
    Pita came in from outside as Keaton