I'm Rhett, Alpha of Tallowridge, and I'm walking my own damn yard at midnight like a dog that can't settle.
Garnet's been under my roof one day. The clinic light is on, and there's blood on the wind.
She's got a hurt wolf's leg across her knee, a needle in one fist, and blood to her elbows.
The rescue is half starved, all teeth, and she's kneeling right in front of it.
I get a fistful of her jacket and haul her back just as the wolf snaps, teeth clicking shut where her face was.
Rhett: Are you out of your fucking mind?
Rhett: He'd have taken your cheek off.
Garnet: He wouldn't. He's scared.
Rhett: He's a wolf, sweetheart. Scared is when they bite hardest.
Marn is in the doorway with his radio buzzing, his eyes going from the blood to me.
Hedda is behind him with her braid over one shoulder, and she's already smiling.
Hedda: One day. She's been here one day and she's already elbow deep in a pack wolf.
Hedda: What's next, Rhett? You gonna let her cook for us?
Rhett: You don't touch pack wolves.
Garnet: He was tearing his own stitches out. Somebody had to.
Rhett: Not you. Nothing in this yard is yours to fix.
I take her wrist and lift it. Her fingers are slick and red, and there's a slice across her palm she doesn't even know she has.
Rhett: That's not all his blood, is it.
Garnet: He got me once. It's fine.
Rhett: It's not fine. You could've bled out in my clinic and I'd have found you cold with a wolf chewing on your boot.
Rhett: You're reckless. You put your hands where they don't belong, in the dark, where nobody can pull you out.
Garnet: I was helping him.
Rhett: You were showing off.
Hedda: Bitch thinks she's a vet now. Give her a real cut next time, Rhett, see if she sews that too.
Garnet's face goes red from the neck up. Her chin comes up, and I hate how much I like that.
Rhett: Hedda. Out.
Hedda: Are you fucking serious?
Rhett: Take Marn with you.
She stares at me, decides not to fight me in front of the stray, and goes.
Then it's just us, and the wolf's breathing going slow, and her, close enough that I can smell the blood and the pine under it.
Rhett: I catch you in this clinic again without me, and I'll chain you to that attic stair myself. Understand?
Garnet: You wouldn't.
Rhett: Try me.
I get three steps into the yard before I turn around.
The salve tin is on the shelf behind my desk, and I know exactly where it is. That's the part that gets me.
I set the tin on the table between us, hard enough that the lid rattles.
Rhett: Put that on it. Not him. You.
Garnet: You said not to touch him.
Rhett: I said don't be stupid. It's a short list. Try to keep up.
She leans over the tin, and when she straightens up I haven't moved back, so her face is right under my chin.
Attic dust in her hair. Her cut hand shaking. And I don't touch her. I don't.
Garnet: Rhett.
Rhett: Don't.
Her breath goes across my throat. My own heart is banging like a loose gate.
Rhett: I'm not going to be the man who breaks his own rule over a stray with a bleeding hand.
Garnet: You keep saying stray.
Rhett: It's a hell of a lot easier than saying your name.
I step back first. It's the hardest thing I've done all week.
Rhett: If the bastard who put that bruise on your jaw comes up this road, you don't hide. You find me.
Garnet: And what will you do?
Rhett: Something I won't lose sleep over.
She looks at me like she believes it. God help her.
I go out into the cold and stand there till my hands stop shaking. It takes a while.