“That’s my brother Tanner, acknowledging that we found her.” Fisher brought out water for Tammy and pulled out the emergency blanket and covered her with it.
Tammy was drinking the water, shivering a little. He tried his phone, but he wasn’t getting any signal.
When Kira realized Fisher couldn’t get through on his phone, she howled again to let everyone know where they were again.
Tanner howled back. He was getting closer, and she knew he was running to where they were.
Before long, Tanner, Shawn, Devlyn, and even Heath were running to catch up to them. Tanner said to Tammy, “I’m so glad Kira and Fisher found you.”
“I’m a doctor,” Heath said to Tammy, and checked her over. “We’re going to take you to the rescue station where your mommy is and get you warmed up further.”
Then Fisher said, “Do you want me to carry you?”
She shook her head.
Fisher said, “Here, take my hand. If you get tired of walking, one of the guys will carry you, okay?”
Tammy nodded.
But once they began to walk, they were moving so slowly, Fisher asked, “How about if I give you a piggyback ride?”
Tammy finally agreed.
But Tanner gave Fisher a look as if he couldn’t be serious, crouched down, and she climbed onto Tanner’s back instead. Then he began to jog, and everyone kept up with him. It didn’t take them long at this rate of speed to make it back to where Tammy’s mother and the family’s dog were. Shep began to bark and raced off to greet Tammy. Her mother was in tears as Tanner crouched down and Tammy released him, then she ran to join her mother, the dog nearly knocking the girl over in his exuberance to greet her.
It was a joyful reunion and Kira howled with elation. Then she licked Tammy, saw a news crew coming to speak with Fisher because he had found the girl, and Kira headed back to the car. She didn’t want anyone to take pictures of Fisher because she was thinking if the kidnappers saw him in the news—but no, he had been a wolf. Okay, so no problem there.
“Good job, guys,” Tanner said.
Fisher waved goodbye, and he jogged after Kira. Before long, she was standing at the car, and he opened the door for her. “Well, that was a great experience.”
She jumped into the back seat of the car and shifted as people, including the girl’s father, began to return from searches, and headed out. “It was.” Kira began getting dressed while he sat in the front passenger seat. “I just didn’t want the news reporters to get a picture of you but then remembered you were a wolf when the kidnappers saw you. And if anyone caught pictures of me, I wasn’t a wolf when they saw me, so we’re good.”
Fisher laughed. “I wondered why you were in such rush to get out of there.”
She finished dressing and climbed into the driver’s seat. She could have let Fisher drive, but she didn’t want him to have to use his shoulder that much. Not when he was supposed to be at home, resting. She couldn’t believe that he had offered to give Tammy a ride with his injured shoulder, but then again, she could. He was truly heroic. She was glad when Tanner took over instead.
Heath came up to the passenger door and she rolled down her windows. “How are you doing, Fisher?”
“Great. No pain at all.”
“Okay, good. I want you to go home and rest. Kira, make sure that he does. We’re all having dinner tonight at Bella and Devlyn’s home, so I’ll be checking on you again. And no more offering to give lost kids piggyback rides,” Heath said, shaking his head.
“He’ll rest. He has a mission to go on once I learn where the kidnappers are. If he doesn’t rest, he’s going to be left behind.” Kira was sure that would be an even bigger incentive for Fisher to take all the downtime he could get.
Heath smiled. “She has got your number. See you all tonight.”
“See ya,” Fisher said.
Then Kira drove off and they headed home. “I guess you and your pack members run as wolves in the park some. I’ve never been here before, so I figured that I would only think of it as the place where we rescued the kidnapped boy.”
Fisher had his phone out and was checking it out. “Now we have a new memory—a little lost girl. Everyone there with a phone, and that was everyone, was taking photos of us, by the way. Everyone’s sharing them and news sources are sharing them now too. I’m sure that they’ll try and track us down to get the whole story.”
“You. I was just a dog.”
“A beautiful wolf.”
They finally reached his home, and she pulled into the garage and parked next to his car. “It’s so neat that you have so many wolves to back you on ventures like this,” she said.