Page 5 of Four Calling Birds

“What the hell happened, Lotte?” I whispered as I kissed her temple. “What has that asshole done to you?”

3. Mellie

Charlotte

Iawokewithastart. My senses were on overdrive. I heard tweeting birds, and smelled the scent of birchwood and smoke. I was in a dark, cold room, staring up at some interesting crown molding. To one side were large, multi-paned windows, blocked by heavy curtains.

There was a small gap between the heavy curtains that let in a dull, white light. The gap was just wide enough for me to see a manicured field, a red barn and a mountain covered in forest. The day was halfway through, the sun was in the western sky on the far side of jagged mountains with trees bare of seasonal leaves, pock marked with evergreens. In the hazy, gray mid-afternoon, it gave them the vague look of thorns.

I was in a strange bedroom. I tried to turn onto my side, and groaned in pain. I had a sports bra on, but no shirt. I had a bandage on and was still slightly bleeding from a knife wound to the torso. A few more ribs up, and they would have struck me in the heart.

I fiddled with my pants pocket, feeling the secret compartment that was on the inside of the calf. A hidden pouch for a small blade, and a necklace that I couldn’t wear anymore. I pulled on the silver chain tugging out the little pendant of a blue flower in a clear, resin circle. A Forget Me Not.

I put it back in its hiding spot and brought my feet down to the ground with a groan. I tried to sit up, but I fell forward, my knees hitting a soft carpet with a faded, vaguely Persian, red pattern. My hands slowed my descent, as my forehead came forward. Dizzy. I was dizzy as fuck. My stomach hurt. The throbbing, slicing pain slid up to my shoulder, and down my back to my thigh. I hoped I hadn’t done something to my sciatic nerve, because that would certainly be a bitch to deal with…

Why had Brett saved me? He could have let me bleed out. That would have made everything so much simpler. Now, the Scorpio Network would be on my tail, and they were not going to be happy.

Had I seen Mack last night? I lifted my head, looking around. No. That must have been a hallucination, because… well… this wasn’t the house I had remembered.Ourhouse. No,hishouse. We had decided that when we separated that I would just vacate his life, and he’d get to keep everything. I’d just take what I could carry out.

It wasn’t Mack’s idea. It was mine. I was trying to make it easier for everyone. But that didn’t lessen the sting.

Oh, and I remember those parting words. They didn’t even come from Mack. They came from my former Father-in-Law, affectionately called “Big Mack”.

“What good is a bitch if she can’t have pups?” he had said in that gruff, smoker’s voice. “You’re better off getting a newer model.”

My relationship with my in-laws had always been contentious. Worse, as time went on and the promised grandchildren never came. Big Mack was glad to see me go. Mack stood, staring at the ground as I walked away. It wasn’t how Iwantedthings to end. I was the one doing the leaving, after all. But I had hoped that I could have had one hug. Or a kind word? No, that was delusional. But I had hoped…

I shook away the memories, feeling my dyed hair grazing the sensitive skin of my cheek. I hated coloring it, because it meant bleach, which always gave it the consistency of straw. My life as a secret agent didn’t exactly give me a lot of time to keep a good hair care routine.

I walked down a hall, to what looked like a living room. There was no TV to be seen, but there was a roaring fireplace, with a deer rug on the floor, and several stuffed heads mounted on the wall. Then, I saw the one thing that could have stolen my pain and brought joy to my otherwise blackened heart.

Bo. Bo, the old German Shepherd, with a graying snout and a chew toy under one large paw. He was happily snoozing on the puffy couch. I couldn’t believe he was still alive.

“Hi, boy!” I said, coming down to my knees in front of him and scratching his ear. He looked… old. His coat was duller and rougher than before. It broke my heart not to have seen him in all these years. Time was stretching behind me. There were so many missed cuddles that made me ache.

He opened one lazy eye, then his tongue lolled out in a doggy grin.

“Oh! You remember me don’t you, sweetheart?” With one long lick, he gave me a kiss that went from my chin, up one cheek to my forehead. “You do remember me!”

If you don’t get thrilled when a dog decides you’re cool, then you don’t have a soul. And Bo was the coolest dog in existence.

He slowly lumbered off the couch to where I was on the floor. He sniffed at my abdomen, right at the knife wound. His cold little wet nose lightly smelt the area over the cut before he whined.

“Oh, it’s not so bad, sweetheart,” I reassured him. “I’m mostly okay. Just need some more rest. No wrestling bears or escaping cartels for a few months and I’ll be right as rain.”

I cupped Bo’s face in my hands. His snout had a lot more drab than before. His eyes were a little milky as well. But he was still the same dog I had known years ago. He gave me a kiss, a long, sloppy lick from mouth to eyebrow. I scrunched my nose and wiped the spit away with the back of my hand.

“I’m glad to see you too, sweetheart.”

Someone knocked on the door. Whoever it was, Bo must have recognized him because he gave one greeting bark, then lay down on the rug. Had it been a stranger or a mail man, he would have tried to ram through the door. One bark was a greeting. More than that was a warning.

I got to my feet, feeling a little dizzy when I straightened, then walked, hunched down one side, to the front door.

I opened it to be greeted by a chestnut brunette, young, with breasts that were emphasized by the yellow and orange checkered button down, which bowed at her breasts. Her modest little braid was practical, yet still very full and cute. Her heart-shaped face and light sprinkling of freckles, as well as the smile she turned my way, before she actuallylookedat me, was tooth-paste commercial worthy. Shescreamed“nurturer” from every fiber of her being.

If she didn’t already have a brood of kids, I’m sure she’d have one real soon.

What did she think about the shirtless woman greeting her at another man’s door? I wasn’t sure. Her face only registered surprise.

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