Shelter Me by Catherine Mann Page A

scary. Her beta son liked to play as if he was all full of himself, but he was scared of her, too. I could smell the angry stink getting worse mighty fast. Trying to charm her by playing it low-key and cute rubbing my back on the grass hadn’t worked. People usually lapped that stuff up. But this lady wasn’t having any of it. I figured she was a cat person and left it at that. Hindsight, that was a mistake on my part.
    But let’s get back to the feeling of victory. Sorry to digress. I’m a dog. We’re easily distracted. Squirrels. Hot dogs. Birds. Garbage trucks. You get the picture.
    In spite of the cranky bitch on the monster machine, my primary mission was well on track. Mike was moving in with the McDaniel family. He’d finally gotten the message after I chased him down twice. That first trek to the motel was long with lots of sniffing to find him. My paws took a serious beating in the woods and then dodging cars.
    Not that I had to worry about getting caught. These people were amateurs compared to threats I evaded in Iraq. We can talk about that more later. I hope you appreciate how hard I’m working to stay on topic here.
    The last time I chased down Mike was easier. I just hopped in the back of his truck and whammo. They got the message. He was living with the McDaniel family. He was sticking around to help.
    My mission should be complete. The Colonel would be happy his family was looked after. But things didn’t feel settled yet. We dogs are all about sensing. You people would do well to trust your instincts more often and quit relying so much on things. Things were flawed. Breakable.
    Instincts were natural. And my instincts were shouting at me loud and clear.
    I didn’t like that Mrs. Hammond much. She smelled like cabbage. I prefered the smell of hot dogs. But whatever. I knew in my gut that woman was out to cause trouble for Lacey.
    There were so many people around here to figure out, it made me a little itchy at times, learning lots of new smells and routines and all the rules, rules, rules. These people lived by their clocks and rules. They were so uptight they couldn’t appreciate the simple pleasures in life. Like rolling in the grass. Sleeping on a warm blanket. Sniffing a fragrant butt.
    The people here were confusing. They really had me resisting the urge to chew my tail in frustration over all the conflicting signals. Gramps made me sad, but I knew what to do even when he lost his way or thoughts. Half the time he believed I was his old dog Trooper who had already gone to the Rainbow Bridge where critters wait for their people so they can walk together to meet the Big Master. The Colonel would go there in his mind sometimes and play fetch with the other Trooper. But I didn’t think he would cross over the rest of the way until his family was okay.
    And they were definitely not okay.
    Sierra was sad and mad—and even if nobody else could smell it, I knew she was totally sexed up for Mike. I restrained myself from humping her leg, though, out of respect for the Colonel.
    Lacey was tired and really needed a week at a spa, but instead she stayed busy so she wouldn’t cry. I could smell the salt of those tears she held back, along with the scent of alcohol she managed to hide from everyone else. So far she’d kept her drinking to nighttime, but I was watching her. She needed a friend. I would work on that.
    Nathan worried me most in those days. He smelled like death. The kind of smell when somebody had given up on life. I had more experience than most dogs in recognizing that stink from my time back home overseas. Soldiers got that smell right before they decided to eat a gun or step into the line of fire on purpose. When I was playing ball with Nathan and Mike, every time I picked up the ball after the kid threw it, I caught a whiff of him on it and I knew. The boy was in trouble.
    One step at a time, though. I’d only been here a couple of days and I’d accomplished a lot. I would lie low, go