She flew downstairs and flung open the door. Across the lawn, a black shape sprawled like a spreading ink stain. Dragon. Tobias crouched over him.

She stumbled down the steps of the front stoop and launched herself toward the two of them. "Oh my God, poor Dragon, poor baby, what happened?" She dropped to her knees next to the two of them. A weird whining cough came from the dog's chest, as if he was trying to cough something out.

"Something's stuck in his throat. We have to get it out or he'll suffocate."

Tobias manhandled him onto his side. His furry limbs sprawled awkwardly and scrabbled against Tobias’s arms, leaving long scratches.

"I need you to hold him while I try to get it out. Come here and take my place."

Her heart hammering, she slid next to Tobias, feeling his iron thigh against hers. Poor Dragon was thrashing, terrified. She managed to get her arms and legs around the dog, pinning his limbs to minimize the damage he could do. She rested her chin in the scruff of fur at Dragon's neck, where he loved to be stroked.

"We got you, Dragon. We'll get that thing out. Don't you worry."

Tobias put his hands on Dragon's jaws, which were slightly ajar, drool dripping in big globs. Wild-eyed, the dog twisted in protest. "Okay, my friend," he muttered to the dog. "I'd really prefer to keep this hand, just so you know."

Carolyn held Dragon as tight as she could. "I've never seen him bite."

"Bet you've never seen him with a hand down his throat either." Grimacing, Tobias worked his hand between the dog's jaws. Dragon tried to bite down against the invading hand, scraping his teeth against Tobias’s skin. But Tobias kept going, reaching his fingers toward whatever was in there.

Tears blurred Carolyn's eyes as she watched, her arms full of tense and struggling dog. Tobias was one brave human to be willing to stick his hand into the slobbery, drooling mouth of a terrified dog.

"I feel it," Tobias said after a few excruciating seconds. "It's a ball."

"Probably a tennis ball." Relief flooded through her. With all the strange things that had been happening, she'd been half convinced this was another attack by Joseph. "He likes to chase them."

Tobias grunted as he worked to dislodge it. Sweat dripped down his face. Dragon's entire body was rigid now—fear? Or was he suffocating?

"Got it." In a swift move, Tobias dragged the slobber-drenched object from between Dragon's jaws. He sat back on his heels, ball in hand. The dog thrashed his way out of Carolyn's grip and scrambled a few feet away, where he shook himself like an enormous black dust mop.

Carolyn collapsed onto the grass, her entire body shaking. "Oh my God. Thank you. Thank you. I was so scared. If you hadn't been here, Tobias…" She buried her face in her hands. "I don't even want to think about it."

"Hey, hey. Don't think like that. He's fine, that's all that matters. Dogs chase things, it happens. But this ball…" She looked up to see Tobias examining the slobbery thing. Dragon's teeth had mauled it into an unidentifiable shredded mystery lump. He sniffed it. "Smells like meat."

"Maybe that's just the smell of his saliva?"

"I don't think so." He stared at it some more, turning it this way and that. "I hate to say it, but I think someone wrapped meat around this ball. They wanted Dragon to wolf it down."

A horrid jolt of fear shook her to her core. Someone had tried to kill Dragon? Who would do such a thing? Everyone in the neighborhood loved Dragon. Everyone at the dog park loved him, everyone on campus loved him. He was one big lovable slobbery sweetheart of a dog.

She looked over at him, making sure he was still alive and well. The sun on his coat made it shine like black shoe polish. He was nibbling at one of his paws, running his big tongue over the nails.

"What if it was Joseph, the kid from last night?" she said slowly.

Tobias crouched beside her, wiping his drool-covered hands on his jeans. "I think it's time you tell me more about this situation. Who is Joseph? Why does he mean you harm?"

Right now, she was so grateful to Tobias that she'd give him anything he wanted, even answers. Besides, he'd earned her trust—and more.

"I'm not sure why he's doing all this. But I can tell you who he is. I knew his parents from a group called the Light Keepers Brigade. About fifty families live there. My mother died when I was five, and my father got kind of…lost. Eventually he met Lilith, my stepmother, at church, but regular church wasn't enough for her. She wanted something more purist, more old-school. They got involved with the Light Keepers and when I was ten we moved into their compound. It's more or less a cult, though they wouldn't call themselves that. Very traditional, very authoritarian. They do whatever the leader says. It's also a private militia. I spent more time learning how to handle weapons than I did learning math."

Dragon lumbered to his feet and came over to Tobias and licked his face. Tobias laughed, but even Dragon's big slobbery tongue couldn't distract him from his questions. "So they took you out of school?"

"Oh yes. They don't want outside influences on the kids, but in my case, it was a little too late. I was ten, and I already had my own ideas about things. I didn't like the part where women are subservient to men, or the part where you always do what you're told. Not to mention their beliefs, which never made sense to me. So when I turned eighteen I left."

"They allowed that? You can just leave?" Tobias scratched Dragon behind the ears, exactly where he liked it. Carolyn felt slightly jealous, to tell the truth.

"Of course. But you have to sever all ties to the group, including your immediate family members. You become a "pariah." No one is supposed to talk to you or look you in the face if you're a pariah. Did you notice that Joseph never looked directly at me last night? That's why. And that's the reason he left those letters under my door. The idea of communicating with me directly was probably impossible for him."

He gave her a puzzled frown over the top of Dragon's glossy head. "So why is Joseph out and about? Did he leave the Light Keepers too?"

"No, he's clearly still a member. Young men are allowed to attend college, as long as they study something useful to the group. Evergreen has a good computer engineering program, that's most likely what he's here for. Once he gets his degree, he'll go back and put it to work for the Light Keepers. He'll get a wife for his trouble and be a daddy in no time."

"That's how it works, huh?"

"Oh yeah. Arranged marriages are all the thing. God forbid a woman have a say in any aspect of her life. That's why I left, and I've stayed away, just like I was supposed to. I'm dead to them. So why is this happening?" She gingerly picked up the sopping wet ball, which was nestled in the lawn where Tobias had dropped it.

"I don't think it's a tennis ball," Tobias said. "Maybe a stress ball? I noticed a symbol on it, but it's hard to read because of all the teeth marks."

She stared at the disgusting object, recognizing the symbol right away. The Light Keepers logo. She'd seen so many renditions of it that she'd recognize it anywhere, even mauled by a meat-seeking dog. Someone had come here with one of the Light Keeper promotional items, covered it in meat and fed it to her dog behind her back.

A rush of anger made her surge to her feet. "It was them! I didn't believe it at first. Why would they go after my dog? And Dragon doesn't even belong to me! This is bullshit! I'll get Joseph expelled for this. This is attempted murder. I don't care what they want to do to me, but Dragon is an innocent dog who has nothing to do with them." Her fury rose as she pictured Tobias wrenching apart the dog's jaws. "You could have lost a hand."

"But I didn't. We're all fine." Tobias rose to his feet as well, flexing his shoulders to ease the strain of his wrestling match with Dragon. "Let's take a breath here. Let's get Dragon settled in, clean ourselves up. Then we'll figure out how to handle this."

She glared at him. "You're using that soothing voice. I remember it from yesterday."

"Oh, so you already know my voices?"

"Oddly enough, I do. A couple of them, anyway. This is the voice you use when you want someone to calm down so you can make them do what you want."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you been talking to Aiden?"

She laughed, then laughed again out of amazement that she could laugh. Dragon had nearly choked to death.

But now the big Newfie was trotting across the lawn after a grasshopper that kept leaping between his legs. The dog was fine. He probably didn't remember any of it, because he lived in the moment like all dogs. Dragon was fine, thanks to Tobias. She wanted to kiss him for his bravery. Hard and long, deep and hot.

Stop that.

But how amazing was this man? He'd put his hand down a dog's throat without flinching. She reached over and lifted the cuff of his shirt. Long scratches ran up his wrist and forearm. "Look at you," she exclaimed. "My God."

He shrugged his big shoulders. "It's fine."

"It's not fine. We have to clean these up right away. No arguments." She lightened her tone, added a teasing edge. "Come inside so I can soap you up and douse you with Bactine, baby."

"Is that your voice to get me to do what you want? Because it's absolutely working."