Page 10 of Black Dog

He stood up smirking. “Alright. Going.” He looked back over his shoulder. “You’d better call if you need anything.”

“I will.”

“I’ll be mad if you don’t.”

“Great Paddy.”

Storm couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

He’d been gone long enough for Litha to doze off when the phone rang. There were only a handful of people who would have gotten an answer. Elora was one of them.

“Hello.”

“Oh my gods, Litha. You sound AWFUL! What’s the matter?”

“Cold.”

“Oh.” Pause. “How bad?”

“Bad enough I sent Storm to his family celebration without me. And I’m super pissed about it. Witches don’t get colds. Demons don’t get colds. But I’ve got this tiny little bit of human somewhere in here that’s weak and vulnerable and generally useless.”

“Yeah. That’s pretty bad.” Pause. “How’s the baby?”

“Good.” Litha’s hand automatically went to her tummy when the subject of the baby came up. “He or she, and don’t ask because I’m not telling, is practicing some of those moves you teach the knights-to-be, usually when I want to sleep. So what’s up?” When Elora didn’t answer, she added, “You might as well tell me. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Hear what?”

“That something’s wrong.”

“Oh. Well. I…”

Ram took the phone away. “Litha. Blackie’s missin’. My mate and firstborn are in a state. We’ve called the neighbors and looked everywhere there is to look. We were hopin’ you might have a look?”

Litha had brought the chair up to a full upright position. “I don’t know if I can track when I’m sick. Certainly not from here. Maybe from there.”

“I know ‘tis a lot to ask when you’re under the weather.”

“You guys not afraid of germs?”

He lowered his voice and whispered into the phone. “Between you and me, what scares me most in the world is no’ findin’ that dog.”

Litha sighed and then sneezed. “I’ll be there soon.”

She ended that call and selected Storm.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Blackie’s missing.”

Of all the things Storm was prepared to hear when he saw that Litha was calling, that wasn’t one of them. He ran through the reasons why Ram or Elora would have called Litha with that news and quickly put together that they were hoping the tracker could find the dog.

“Criminently. I like Blackie as much as the next person…”

“No, you don’t,” she interrupted. “YoutolerateBlackie.”

“Alright. So I’m not the world’s biggest ‘dog person’.” He put that in air quotes even though Litha couldn’t see. “I was just going to say that you’re staying right where you are until you’re well.”

“It’s not about the dog, Storm. It’s about the people who love him. Although… remember when that dog found Elora for you? The way I heard it, she was being shredded by vampire and you guys didn’t know where to begin looking?” When she paused, she heard him sigh and knew he’d give in. “I told them I’d be there in a few minutes. The question isn’t whether or not I’m going. The question is, do you want to go or do you want to stay?”

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