chapter nineteen
A net made of thick rope closed around her, and she was hoisted into the air, dangling from a tree branch. Tarnished silver plates were woven into the upper reaches of the net, reflecting sunlight in multiple directions.
With her mind reeling, Jordan scrambled to sit upright.
Sydney watched from below, eyes wide with fascination.
She’d pushed her, but why? Had she simply been impatient for Jordan to look at the backpack or had she known it was a trap? That made no sense. How could Sydney have known, and if she had known and pushed Jordan—
Jordan’s heart sank into the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to follow that thought through.
Jordan forced herself to speak in a calm voice, even though she wanted to scream. “Syd, I need you to run back to the hollow as fast as you can and return with help.”
“They want a female.” Sydney’s knees bent and her fingers stretched toward the earth.
“What are you talking about?”
“Now David won’t be alone.” Sydney crouched on the ground.
“Sydney! What are you doing? I need your help.”
Ignoring Jordan, Sydney shifted.
“Sydney!” Jordan screamed in one last futile attempt to get through to her sister.
She watched in shock as her sister raced off on four legs, back down the mountain and out of sight.
Jordan’s heart raged. She thought of screaming some more, because she wanted out of this damn net, which quivered and shook as she gripped the woven rope, pulling herself to a stand. The twisted branch overhead groaned. Jordan jumped up and down, forcing the rope above to strain against the thick branch every time she landed. She wasn’t suspended far enough off the ground to risk more than a couple of bruises if she could force the branch to break, but she still needed to free herself from the net. When Jordan next landed, the ropes swung below her feet and pushed her backwards into the side of the net. Her knees bent as she steadied herself then tried again. It was impossible to land steadily on two feet, but that didn’t stop her from jumping and jerking at the net.
She was still struggling when a human male roughly her father’s age crested the hill carrying a long rifle at his side. Cold horror chilled her, as though she’d awakened inside a nightmare.
Jordan tried to calm the galloping stallion of her heart, but it had been spooked.
The man smiled with a friendly grin yet Jordan trusted him no more than a rabid wolf or a vulhena.
“I’m not here to harm you.” He kept the rifle pointed at the ground. “Are you a friend of David’s?”
“Where is he?” Jordan snarled.
The man’s grin didn’t falter. “Back at the cabin. He’ll be happy to see you. Now, I’m going to get you down, but I need you to remain in human form. Fangs put me at a disadvantage, and if I see you flashing any I’ll have to use my rifle. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is put a bullet in you.”
Jordan studied the human. She didn’t want to speak to him, but in the end morbid curiosity won out.
“And why’s that?”
“We need your help. I’ll explain everything back at camp, but we have to go. Are any of your packmates nearby?”
Despair tunneled down Jordan’s throat. The closest shifter was Sydney—long gone and, from all appearances, a traitor. Jordan was still trying to piece it together, because she couldn’t believe her own flesh and blood would purposely serve her up to humans.
“I’m alone,” Jordan answered bitterly.
“You won’t be for long.” The man went to work freeing her.
He didn’t leer at her. It was almost as though he was immune to naked females, but once she was free, his body tensed, and he lifted his rifle to his side.
“Precaution only,” he said, following her gaze. “Go ahead and find yourself some clothes from the pack. We filled it with dresses in several sizes.”
Jordan blanched, but she’d rather wear a dress than nothing at all. She unzipped the pack, yanked out the dress on top, and wrenched it over her head and down her body. It came down to her ankles and sagged in the middle, but she wasn’t about to go through the pack and play dress-up in front of this human.
“Now, put the pack on. We head down the mountainside. You first.”
Jordan slipped the straps of the pack over her arms. “Where are we going?” she asked. “The suburbs?”
“You’ll see.”
The human urged Jordan down the south side of the hills. About halfway down, he instructed her to take a westward path. At least they weren’t heading to the wasteland or to the suburbs and city beyond them. Terrible things happened out there. If this human was on his own, Jordan would have a better chance of getting away, especially if he was truly taking her to David. Two against one. She liked those odds.
“How many of your kind are out here?” she asked. “Are you going to take me into the city?”
The man spat on the ground. “We ain’t never going back to that cesspit.”
A kernel of hope formed inside Jordan’s chest. The human looked genuinely disgusted by the city. Perhaps she could reason with him or trick him into letting her and David go. First, she needed to get to David. She was the hollow’s one chance of bringing him back home, and she wasn’t about to waste it by making a run for it.
The trees were sparse and the terrain rocky. Jordan could have navigated it a whole lot better on four legs.
“Take the trail down,” the man said.
A cabin loomed in the distance. “Is David in there?”
“He is.”
Jordan hurried forward. “David,” she yelled. “David!”
Another older human male with messy brown hair and a crooked nose stepped around the cabin’s outer wall, his firearm lifted.
“You can put down your weapon, Kirk.”
The one named Kirk lowered his weapon, his eyes bugging out as he stared at Jordan. Gaping at her, he said, “David, you can come out.”
Jordan held her breath, releasing it when David rounded the bend, his eyes bright with excitement, smiling as though it was the best day of his life. It really was him—the hollow’s lost packmate. Although they were both captives, excitement filled Jordan. She hadn’t expected to see the boy alive again.
David ran straight for Jordan. As he did, she noticed he was missing half his left arm. Her heart gave a sickening lurch as David ran the rest of the way to her and threw his good arm around her.
“Jordan! I’m so happy to see you!”
Jordan gave him a light squeeze and tried to step back, but David held on. “What happened to you?”
“Got him in the same trap I caught you,” the human said. He gave a chuckle. “Didn’t think we’d get lucky twice.”
Jordan pulled away from David and growled. “What happened to his arm?”
The human who had caught her frowned. “He tried to escape. I had no choice.”
Horror crashed over Jordan with gale-like force. Bile burned up her throat. It filled her mouth and clogged her stomach. Jordan pulled away from David forcefully and snarled at the human. “What do you want with us?” Her gums ached as her fangs quivered with yearning to replace her molars and rip the human’s arms to shreds.
The human who had caught her nodded. “We need you, Jordan. You and David.”
She narrowed her eyes, recoiling at the sound of her name on his lips.
“And in exchange for helping us, we’ll provide everything you need: food, water, shelter, and protection.”
Jordan had all that and more in the hollow. Plus, back home she had the most important thing of all: free will.
The man who’d caught her looked at the one named Kirk. The hard lines on his face softened. “Where’s my sister?”
“Not far. I sent her to pick blueberries after you left. I didn’t want to get her hopes up.”
“Good. I’ll get her. Give these two space.”
Kirk nodded.
The human headed down a narrow trail that disappeared around the cabin. Kirk moved to a rock and sat down, setting his firearm in his lap.
This was their chance! They could run downhill into the wooded area and find a place to shift. The humans wouldn’t have a chance of catching them after that.
“We were afraid we’d never see you again, David. Thank the moon you’re okay,” Jordan gushed for Kirk’s benefit. He watched from roughly fifteen paces away, his shoulders relaxed. They’d have to make like the wind and blow out of there into the cover of trees before he had a chance to put a bullet into one of them. It was a risk worth taking.
David blinked back what looked like tears and beamed at her the same way baby Fran did at Emmy when her sister coddled her.
Jordan pulled David into her arms and hugged him to her chest. He settled against her with a happy sigh. Jordan whispered into his ear. “We have to make a run for the woods. Follow my lead.”
David stiffened and jerked his head back, gaping at her with wide eyes. “No,” he whispered frantically. His eyes darted toward Kirk then pinged back to Jordan. He turned his back to the man. “You don’t understand. They won’t hurt us as long as we obey them.”
“Obey.” Jordan’s lips curled over the word like it was a cockroach that had crawled inside her mouth. “We’re not dogs. We need to go now.”
David’s chin trembled. “They threatened to cut off my other hand if I ever tried to run again.”
“I’m going to kill them,” Jordan said between crushed teeth.
David swallowed. “Jay didn’t want to do it, but after I tried to run, he had to.”
The bile turned to acid in Jordan’s stomach and throat. The revulsion of it made it hard to think. Her wolf bristled to take over. She’d start with the one named Kirk then go after Jay and his sister. Her body shivered.
David grabbed her arm. “Don’t do it,” he hissed. “They’ll take your arm, too. Please, Jordan.” His voice cracked on her name.
“What do they want with us?” Jordan asked, pulling her arm out of David’s grasp.
David’s face turned red as tomatoes. His eyes darted away, and he focused on an area above Jordan’s shoulder.
“What is it, David? They must have told you.”
“It’s for Wilma, Jay’s sister, Kirk’s wife,” David stammered. His face blistered, turning redder yet. “She lost three sons. She wants shifter pups that will be strong and survive. She wants to raise them as her own.”
David’s flush was like a wildfire, sparking and jumping to Jordan. Disgust swirled inside her gut while her mind bellowed in outrage, hissing and snapping at her innards.
The man named Kirk stood up. Jordan’s head jerked to watch him, but he wasn’t looking at her. He stared around the cabin, seeing something—or someone—Jordan could not.
“Wilma, we got one, honey,” he said gently. “We got a female.”
“A female?” A woman’s voice rose in excitement.
“Yes. A young, fertile-looking one.”
“How soon can I have my baby?”
There came a loving tsk from the one who had captured Jordan—Jay. “Nine months, sissy. You know how these things work.”
“And after that?”
“Another nine or so.”
“And then?”
“How many do you want, hon?” Kirk asked.
“As many as possible. As quickly as possible.”
“Sissy,” came Jay’s chiding voice. “We want to keep the female healthy. I saw what happened to the ones they bred too quickly at the compound. Miscarriages and milk drying up. We need her breastfeeding for as long as possible.”
Jordan’s stomach churned. Her chest felt as though it would cave in under the weight of her revulsion.
Foul, horrible, disgusting words assaulted her ears and senses. A huge, hard lump formed in her throat. She couldn’t swallow past the fist squeezing tightly below her jaw. Although she was clothed, she’d never felt more exposed in all her life.
She had to get out of there.
The one named Jay was still out of sight, and Kirk’s attention was on his wife.
The same plan could work. She could run for the trees and keep running until she put enough distance between herself and the humans to shift. David could follow her or stay. The choice was his, and he’d have to make it at the spur of the moment. She’d already given him fair warning.
But before Jordan could make a run for it, a shot exploded above her head. She crouched over the ground, heart speeding away and taking oxygen along with it. She’d never heard such a horrifying sound—and that included the screech of vulhena.
The woman cried out in distress.
Jay had rounded the corner and aimed his rifle and fired right above Jordan’s and David’s heads.
“What happened?” the woman cried. “Is David okay? Is the female?”
Kirk leapt from the rock, rushing around the cabin. He disappeared, voice trailing after him.
“Everyone’s fine. Jay was just firing a warning shot to keep the female from running.”
“She’s still here?”
“Yes. Yes, of course. Don’t worry about a thing. Jay and I will take care of the shifters.”
While Kirk soothed his wife on the other side of the cabin, Jay walked over to Jordan and David. “That’s right, Wilma. Nothing for you to worry about,” Jay called over his shoulder. “Now why don’t you go inside and prepare us all a nice warm meal? We head out in the morning. We’ve already pushed our luck sticking around this area for so long.” He stopped five feet in front of them and lowered his rifle. If Jordan ran, he could easily tackle her. If she got to the ground to shift, her chances of survival would drop with her.
The sound of a door opening and closing loosened Jay’s jaw. He looked directly at Jordan. “As I said before, we need your help. Yours and David’s.”
Jordan snarled. “You want to breed us and steal the pups for yourself.”
Jay exhaled through his nose in a rush of air. “I have no interest in breeding. Your kind owes us. My sister lost two of her sons to wolf shifters. She lost her third in childbirth five years ago and hasn’t been able to get pregnant since. The poor woman would have gone mad with grief if not for the hope Kirk and I have given her. Now, you and David are going to make her losses up to her. You’ll give her shifter pups and, in exchange, we’ll look after you and keep you as comfortable as we can so long as you don’t try to run away.” Jay glanced up at the sky. “I understand how the full moon works. In two days you and David will get started on the first pup.”
Sharp claws raked across Jordan’s gut and bile oozed out, filling her veins like poison. “I will not mate with David, and I certainly won’t make babies for your crazy sister.”
Jay shrugged and nodded at David. “You can let him impregnate you willingly or I can hold you down. The choice is yours.”
“Choice?” Jordan hissed with disdain. “And what if David refuses?”
“He won’t.”
Jordan had never hated a face as much as this man’s. She hated his sunken eyes and thatch of thick hair sagging over one side of his wrinkled forehead. Most of all, she hated the certainty in the human’s voice.
She snapped her attention to David for confirmation. He stared at the ground, saying nothing.
“He’s already lost one arm. He knows I won’t hesitate to take another.”
“You don’t need to take my hand,” David spoke softly.
“No. I imagine not.” There was no hint of gloating in the man’s voice. No triumph or sick joy, only cold affirmation.
“You are a foul, disgusting pig,” Jordan spit at the human.
The man nodded. “Civilization has been forsaken. We live in depraved times. Know that I take no enjoyment in this arrangement. I am simply doing what needs to be done, and so will you.”
“I’d rather die.”
“Jordan—” David sputtered.
“Don’t talk to me,” she snapped. She couldn’t even look at David, and the worst thing about that was knowing that if she didn’t get away soon, she’d have to feel him inside her during the full moon—a sacred time for claimed mates.
A pang of sorrow welled inside her for not having told Raider how she felt when she had the chance.
“She’ll need the kennel,” Jay said. “Go get it.”
The air thickened as David walked away. Though Jordan was unfamiliar with the word “kennel,” it made her shudder long before David returned carrying a large plastic box with a metal gated door. He set it on the ground. Jordan stared at the thing in horror.
“Open it,” Jay said.
After David complied, Jay lifted his rifle and pushed the barrel directly against Jordan’s heart.
“Get inside,” he said.
Cold dread filled her veins and tightened all around her, strangling and suffocating. This was her moment to decide. She had said she’d rather die, but with the gun pressed hard against her chest, all she wanted was to live—to return to the hollow and see Raider again. To get a chance to tell him she loved him.
Glaring, Jordan crouched down in front of the kennel. Her wolf howled inside her soul—a call to shift and rip this human apart limb by limb. But shifting meant death. Jordan wasn’t ready to leave this world, even as fucked up as it was. She’d find another way to escape. She had to.
Abandoning all sense of self-respect, Jordan backed up into the kennel so she could at least watch what was happening through the metal squares.
Jay slipped a lock over the door’s latch and secured it with a metallic rasp. “I’ll let you out when it’s time for dinner.”
He walked away, the sound of his footsteps receding while David remained at the side of the kennel.
Dinner? Had the day already gone?
Good, Jordan thought, grinding her teeth. Raider would know she was missing. He’d find her. He wouldn’t stop until he did. Hope unfurled inside her heart and spread across her chest, stopping short at her throat. Raider had also tried to find David and failed. It was safe to bet that Sydney would share nothing of use. Her little sister had lured her out here. She’d known about the humans and the trap and used that knowledge to throw Jordan into the net. Jordan’s stomach twisted. What foul kernel of loathing could have made her sister hate her so much?
“How did you end up here?” Jordan asked. Her words gusted out of her mouth like a cool breeze.
“Your sister.” David’s bitter tone matched Jordan’s mood.
He kept his place out of view at the side of the cursed kennel. Jordan attempted to sit up, but the top of the box was too low and she had to lean forward.
“Sydney insisted on seeing the city. She wouldn’t let it go no matter how many times I told her it was too dangerous and not what we’d been assigned. ‘Fine, then we’ll just look at it from the top of the mountain,’ she said. Or was I too much of a scaredy-cat to simply look at the city from afar?” David sighed bitterly. “One day, at the start of patrol, she told me she was going with or without me. She called me a little baby and said partners are supposed to stick together.”
Jordan’s heart constricted. The lying little bitch.
Remembering her sister’s words from earlier felt like reopening wounds. “I told him it was too dangerous—that we weren’t allowed—but he told me to stop being a little baby. He called me a scaredy-cat and said that if I wouldn’t go with him, then he’d go by himself.”
But it hadn’t been David who’d pressured Sydney into leaving the hollow. No, Sydney had been the one to manipulate and bully David into compliance, and then she lied about it.
From beside the cage, David grumbled. “I couldn’t let her go alone, but now I wish I had.”
“What happened?”
“We made it up the mountain and saw the city. The second we did, I told her it was time to turn around and go back, but she said we’d come all that way, and she wanted to explore a little longer. She took off down the bluff, and I chased after her until we came across one of the hollow’s backpacks. Sydney said it must be one of the packs that got left behind during the last supply run. She said we should look and see what was inside. I said it didn’t matter. We couldn’t carry it once we shifted for the return run back to the hollow, anyway. But she had to know what was inside. I asked her if she would stop messing around and return to the hollow after we looked, and she promised she would. So I went to grab the bag, but it turned out it was bait for a trap. Once I was hanging in a net from a tree, Sydney took off. She said she’d get help. I waited and waited, but no help came. Until Jay did.” David cleared his throat. “How did you get here?” His voice rose hopefully as though anticipating more help was on the way.
Jordan dashed it away when she recounted the story of how she’d ended up in the exact same trap as David.
“Why would she do that?” he asked in bewilderment. “She’s your sister.”
Yes, why? What could her motive possibly be? Jordan’s brain had been a bit too occupied with humans and threats of breeding to contemplate the sick and twisted reasons for Sydney’s actions.
“With me, it was an accident, but you—” David stopped mid-sentence.
There really were no words for what Sydney had done to them. She might not have expected David’s capture, but withholding the truth was every bit as devious as pushing Jordan into the trap.
“I don’t understand it,” he said softly.
“I think she didn’t want to get into trouble.” It was all Jordan could think of in David’s case. Something had always seemed off with Sydney. She’d always watched things unfold with cool detachment. Even her tears seemed forced—faked. Her tantrums were very real, fueled by the only emotion she’d ever shown genuine comprehension of: jealousy.
Envy was a traitorous bitch.
“She’d let the humans have me just so she wouldn’t get in trouble?” David asked bitterly. “What reason could she have to hand you over?”
The grate covering the kennel’s opening fragmented the surrounding trees and hills into squares. Jordan’s eyes went out of focus as she stared out. “To get me out of the way.”
It hadn’t been Camilla who had poisoned Emerson. It had been Sydney. She’d seen Emerson getting close to Raider on the council and flirting with him in the glade. Then, she’d learned that Raider was going to be paired with Jordan, so she’d pushed her into the river the same way she’d pushed her into the trap. She must have felt desperate that morning, knowing how close Jordan and Raider had become and with the full moon only a couple days away. It had been her last chance to get rid of Jordan. The girl was deranged and delusional enough to think she still had a chance with Raider if she simply eliminated the competition. That’s all it was to her—a twisted game she wanted to win for the sake of succeeding.
Even if it meant killing her own sisters.
No, Jordan thought. Even Sydney couldn’t go that far. Her mind wouldn’t accept it. She just couldn’t.
David moved to the front of the kennel and sat on the ground facing Jordan. His eyes and mouth stretched in his young face, with disbelief written across his features.
They were both in this hellacious situation because of Sydney, yet Jordan suspected he had just as difficult a time accepting that she’d done it on purpose. She must have misunderstood the consequences.
Jordan pressed her hands to her head; she was wasting time thinking about it. She needed to figure a way out of this situation. She’d deal with Sydney once she got back to the hollow.
She stared through the grate into David’s eyes. “Tell me everything about the humans. When do they eat, sleep, wash, and hunt? Is it just the three of them?”
Ever so slowly, David nodded. He glanced over his shoulder and, seeing they were alone, told Jordan everything he’d observed during his captivity.
From the moment Jay freed him from the trap, the humans had not mistreated him, except for the one time he’d shifted and tried to run away. Kirk had jumped on top of him and held him down while Jay grabbed the ax and chopped off one of David’s front paws. They weren’t worried that he’d get away on human legs, as either man could overpower him within seconds. Jay had heated the blade in a fire and used the smooth, flat side to cauterize David’s bloody stump. He’d passed out from the pain. Once he’d regained consciousness, he shifted into human form.
“Ever since they took my arm, I only shift at night when they tell me to guard the front door inside the cabin.” David hung his head and stared at the ground with vacant eyes.
Jordan pushed her fingers through the gaps in the metal gate.
“We’re going to get out of here, David. I promise.”
He studied the lock on her cage. “How?”
“You said Jay does the hunting. That leaves one human, not counting the woman. Next time he leaves to hunt, we look for an opportunity. Or we slip away while they’re all sleeping. We just have to keep our eyes open. There are two of us, and we’re not that far from the hollow.”
David’s head lifted. “Do you really think we can make it home?”
“We have to.”
The alternative was unthinkable.
It was still light out when they ate dinner. Holding his gun on her, Jay let Jordan out of the kennel and led her and David into the cabin, pointing out their places at a wood table. He seated them with their backs against the wall, while he and Kirk took the spots across the table and nearest the front door. Wilma ate her food on the kitchen counter, keeping her back to them. She had long, tangled dark-brown hair with threads of gray and wore a frumpy yellow dress that reached her knees. Unlike the men, she was barefoot. Every so often she hummed to herself then stopped before taking up the tune again.
Jordan wolfed down the dinner. She’d missed breakfast and needed her strength to escape.
Jay watched Jordan with an approving smile. “Jordan appreciates your cooking, Sissy.”
The woman started humming louder as though to tune her brother out.
Jay put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Isn’t that right, Jordan?”
Jordan lifted her lips in a silent snarl. “I’m hungry.”
“Too bad you couldn’t help me hunt.”
“I’d love to,” Jordan said, sweet as steel. “Mankind is my favorite type of game.”
The woman stopped humming.
Jay merely nodded. “Your pups will learn obedience. They will help their mother.” He glanced at his sister.
This time, Jordan’s snarl wasn’t silent. Jay was out of his chair in a flash, yanking Jordan out of hers by the back of her dress.
“Every time you behave like an animal, you go back into the kennel.”
She didn’t struggle. She didn’t want to tempt Jay to hurt her in a way that would hinder their escape. She didn’t want him to do anything that would permanently damage her, such as chopping off a paw. She thought of Kallie limping around on her bad foot.
The evening meal churned inside Jordan’s gut.
Jay opened the door of the kennel and pushed her forward. Jordan had no choice but to go in face-first, turning her back to the door and her enemy. The space inside was cramped, with no room to turn around, sit up, or lie down.
The lock clicked into place.
Heavy footsteps moved away from her then stopped. Jay began to whistle a tune. At least he didn’t talk to her.
Kirk joined Jay later, and they let her out to relieve herself beneath a tree then brought the kennel inside for her to spend the night on the kitchen floor.
“It will be more comfortable if you shift before getting in. Sissy, wait outside.”
The woman left the cabin wordlessly while Jay and Kirk backed up, leaving David beside Jordan.
She hated that they were right. It would be more comfortable for her to be locked inside in wolf form. More importantly, she might be able to chew her way out of the plastic walls. But that meant undressing in front of these human scumbags. David must have seen her naked at some point. They were always dressing and undressing in the open. Jordan rarely paid much attention unless casting an admiring glance at one of the muscular males. She’d never stolen a peek at David, but he might have at her.
He flushed and turned his back to her.
“How are you going to shut the cage door if your back is turned?” Jay barked.
David flipped around and looked at the ceiling rather than Jordan. He had told the humans he would hump her, but it was one thing to say something under threat and another to actually violate her. Jordan wanted to believe that, in the end, David would not go through with it if given the chance.
As soon as her dress hit the ground, she joined the articles on the floor and began the shift. Once in fur, her wolf snarled at the humans by the door. Jordan had to call her back from deep within her subconscious.
The men aimed their guns at her.
“Into the kennel, wolf,” Jay said. “One wrong move, and you’ll leave us no option.”
Jordan bared her fangs and snarled as she backed slowly into the kennel. With a shaky hand, David closed and latched the door.
“Try to get some sleep, Jordan,” he said softly.
The plastic felt all wrong against her belly as she placed her head on her front paws and listened to the movements within the cabin. Wilma came back inside. Wood creaked as she and her husband ascended to the loft. Jay dragged blankets over to the kennel and tossed them on the floor beside it. He gave a grunt as he lowered his body over the bedding, causing the fur to rise on Jordan’s back. So much for chewing through the plastic. Jay would probably wake up if he heard her—if the man even slept. Jordan wouldn’t put it past him to lie awake all night making sure she remained captive.
“David, guard the door.”
Jordan lifted her head, watching David as he moved to the door and undressed. He was of average height and skinny. His young body had yet to fill out. After he shifted, a stump appeared where his left front paw used to be. He sat on his haunches, scooting around awkwardly to face the front door. A whine seeped past Jordan’s teeth. David’s ears twitched, but he didn’t turn around. He spent the night staring at the front door.
Jordan didn’t sleep. Anytime she made the slightest movement, Jay cleared his throat. Finally, she lay down, setting her head on her front paws, alternating between closing her eyes and staring with forlorn eyes at David.