In the deepest, darkest part of my soul I’d kind of hated Dallas Kent.
It was an admission I wasn’t particularly proud of. It wasn’t that I’d expected Dallas to actually ride in on his white horse and save me – though in truth, I’d fantasized about that way too often to be considered healthy. No, my anger at Dallas had been because it had made the torment go from being just a fact of life to an endless prison of humiliation. Before Dallas had come along, I’d been able to at least dismiss the cruel taunts and painful practical jokes, because it had been easier to pretend I hadn’t cared what my tormentors and their friends thought. But when the boy I’d put on a pedestal had witnessed it all, I’d started to wonder if maybe I really was all those names I’d been called. I’d begun to question why I hadn’t tried harder to fit in when I’d been younger – maybe doing so would have meant Dallas wouldn’t have looked at me with pity all the time.
Well, he was definitely going to be looking at me with pity now, considering everything I’d said yesterday.
I’d even told him about “the incident.” Maybe not the whole story, but I sure as hell hadn’t missed the shock in his eyes as soon as I’d admitted that I’d been accused of theft.
Although theft really didn’t cover the fact that a million-dollar Stradivarius violin in my possession had gone missing.
The mere thought of what had happened three months earlier had me shoving the memory away.
However I’d gotten here, I didn’t care. If I was lucky, Dallas would stick me to work somewhere I wouldn’t have to interact with him or any of his other staff, and I could just keep my head down and earn enough money to get my parents back in the black and my butt out of Pelican Bay.
The parking area was empty as I pulled in, making me wonder if Dallas even had any other employees. I made a mental note to ask if I needed to park my car somewhere else, since that could be the reason I wasn’t seeing any other cars. Within a few seconds of getting out of the car, the wolf-dog trotted around the building like he had the day before. But this time I didn’t completely panic at the sight of the animal. He still made me nervous, but if I was going to prove to Dallas that I could handle this job, I needed to man up around the wolf…dog…wolf. Damn, I really needed to ask Dallas what exactly the animal was. It most certainly looked like a wolf, but from everything I’d seen on nature programs about the majestic creatures, I knew they couldn’t ever be considered pets. Which had me guessing the animal was at least part dog, because I doubted Dallas would risk endangering people who came to the center by letting a wolf run around unattended.
After letting the wolf-dog sniff my hand, I risked running my fingers over his head. He didn’t thump his tail like a regular dog would, but he did lick my wrist.
Dallas had told me to arrive by eight in the morning, and even though I was early, I still wanted to make a good impression and show my new boss I was taking this job seriously. So I gave the animal a final pat and then went to see if Dallas was in the office, since he hadn’t appeared when his pet had. A glance through the glass portion of the door showed the office was empty, so I followed the wolf-dog who’d wandered back the way he’d come, figuring he’d lead me to Dallas.
I found him face to face with a bear.
And not the kind of bear that you’d find in pretty much every gay club in existence.
No, this bear was covered in a thick layer of fur instead of hair, and its dark eyes were on Dallas, who was standing on the opposite side of the heavy fencing that separated the pair. There was a second fence surrounding the entire pen, so Dallas was actually standing between the two sets of fencing. The bear was sitting on its haunches, its huge paw pressed against the fence as Dallas fed the animal something through the links.
Even though I knew the animal couldn’t get to Dallas, I still felt a sliver of fear for him. Dallas was a big guy, but the bear was just huge. I didn’t know anything about bears, but my gut was telling me it was a grizzly bear.
I didn’t dare move even a muscle as I watched the two of them. The sight was both frightening and beautiful at the same time. Knowing that they were natural-born enemies, yet they’d found this moment of peace between them…