Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

Tate didn’t looked convinced by this, and watched the cub as it growled and twisted in my hands, leaning down toward the floor. Placing it on its feet, we all watched as it strolled back over to Tate and nipped at a fold in his jeans to play like a little savage with. With each yank and growl he got more material to bite down on.

Then, it did something that none of us expected. It sat down, wagging its tail, and let out a yap at him. It was cute, it was bizarre, it was freaking awful. This little creature who should be in the wild with its litter would never get that, all because some asshole’s kid wanted a pet fox – something which they’d probably seen on television.

“It’s at this point that I should maybe add that the guys transporting him had a Labrador with them, so it does what the dog did as you can see. In fact, we’ve got the dog here because the men are awaiting trial and no one wanted to come and get it…” she broke off and frowned as she looked at the baby fox who was wagging its tail and yapping at Tate.

“Is it up for adoption?” Levi asked, watching as Tate gently played with the cub.

“Yeah, they signed him over to us. Both men have priors along with warrants out for various things, so the owner requested the dog be given to a shelter as soon as they were brought in.”

Tate had been listening the whole time, and as he carefully picked it up, he asked, “What’s the dog like?”

I had an idea that I knew where this was going, and if that was the case, we were going to need to hit the pet store again.

“She’s a sweetheart,” Barb sighed. “She loves the baby, so it’s hard to split them up, but we want to at least try to get the cub more… uh...”

“Fox like?” Levi offered, nodding his head.

“That’s it. There were quite a few animals in the truck though, Lily. And that’s where I’m hoping you’ll come into it.”

“What else was there?” Tate and I asked at the same time, making her grin.

“That’s cute y’all do that,” she chuckled. “Anyway, there were some different breeds of dogs, kinda weird ones that are more rare and one that we haven’t got a clue what it is. The vet’s doing tests on it to find out its breed though, so we’ll know soon enough. There were three guinea pigs with long hair, a python – at least they had the brains not to put it in the same cage as the other animals,” she added, rolling her eyes. “You’d be amazed at the amount of times people do dumb things like that. A cockatoo…”

“Pass,” I blurted, shaking my head. I hated those things after I’d been bitten by one when I was a kid. It had been my friend’s pet, and one second he was loving and cute, the next he was a raging asshole.

“Right now, the only two that have had a full disease screen run on them and that have been cleared by the vet and behavioral team are the Labrador and unknown puppy,” Barb told us, clasping her hands together in front of her. “Those are the two I’d feel happiest being fostered too.”

“Can I meet her?” I asked at the same time as Levi this time.

Glaring at him, I repeated the request and added, “Seeing as how I’m the one taking them home.”

“I can always take them,” Levi offered, looking smugly at me.

“No, you can’t.” And I was serious as hell about it. Whether I was feeling maternal and protective because I was pregnant, or because I was just an animal protector, I would be the one taking them home with me.

I’d even started going through names in my head, and everyone knows that once you name a dog, it’s yours. It might be an unspoken rule, but it was definitely a rule.

Not hanging around for us to argue it out, Barb left leaving the two of us glaring at each other.

“What about the baby?” he snapped, scowling over at his brother who was chuckling as the cub burrowed into his neck excitedly licking whatever skin he could.

“I’m fine holding him for now,” Tate replied, pulling the cub away and holding him up in front of his face. “You’re a cute little bugger, aren’t you? I wasn’t sure when I heard about ya, but now I’m thinking I like you.” The cub whined and wiggled to get closer to him again, making him laugh as he brought it back to his chest.

“I meant the actual baby,” Levi clarified, pointing at my stomach.

“My folks don’t know yet,” I hissed, checking the door over my shoulder.

Wincing, he nodded. “Sorry, didn’t know. It’s still a question though. And this is a lot to take on with all of that on top of it.”