Chapter Nine
Seven pups in total.
Four girls.
Three boys.
And a very tired mother. The vet had stayed to check on them and had promised to come the next day to make sure there was no sudden setback.
Milah was in love.
The pups were the cutest things and the mother, she adored her. The mother had already been scanned and there was no chip, nor did she have any tags. From her fur, it didn’t look like she had any collar.
The vet had suggested she might have been roaming wild.
He’d taken some blood and started them on some antibiotics and treatments.
“I wonder how long she was out there,” Glory said. “She looks like a young dog herself.”
Milah agreed.
Damon hadn’t called on her last night. They did have their agreement, and she would honor it.
He hadn’t killed the dogs.
James was inside the room, and she smiled at him. The mother had wandered over to him and sat at his feet.
“We’re going to have to name them,” Milah said. She had the little girl she had found first in her lap.
“Yes, we are,” Glory said.
“Damon will not keep them in the house,” James said. “There are kennels outside.”
“Dogs shouldn’t be kept outside. It’s way too cold, and these are so cute.”
“And they’re going to grow up to be big.”
“Can you seriously not look at the girl at your feet?” Milah asked. “See the way she looks at you.”
James glanced down and cleared his throat. The mother dog was staring adoringly up at him. “I do not need a dog.”
“But they are so easy to love.” She kissed the pup’s head. “And this one, I’m going to call Snowy.”
Glory chuckled. “Sounds appropriate.”
“Where is Damon?” she asked, wanting to go see him.
“He is in his room,” James said.
Milah looked toward Glory, who smiled at her.
“I … I am going to go and see him. They’ve had their medicine and feed for the night,” Milah said. They were staying in her room, at her insistence.
“I’ll stay a little longer,” Glory said. “If that is all right?”
“Yes, of course.” Milah realized she didn’t have the authority to say yes or no and looked at James.
“It is fine. I will stay also.”
She reluctantly got to her feet and left the pups. There was another guard outside that she didn’t recognize.
Damon had changed his men once again. She realized he did it regularly. It was all part of his protection so no one would be able to find a weak spot.
Maybe that was his weak spot. The constantly changing men. Even as she thought it, she didn’t entirely know how. Not that it would matter. She had made a deal with him, and she wouldn’t back away.
She would keep her word, even if it meant sleeping with Damon.
Arriving at his room, she lifted her hand to knock and hesitated. What should she do? She had lied about not being a virgin. Did he think she was a woman who knew what she was doing?
Drawing her wrist back, she forced herself to continue, even though sex wasn’t something she knew anything about.
Damon asked who it was.
“It’s me,” she said, calling out to be heard and wincing at how weak she sounded. Clearing her throat, she repeated the words and hoped there was something firm in her voice. She didn’t want him to know that she was terrified.
“Come in.”