Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“I do not like what you are saying,” Matthieu said in a low voice.
“Hate to tell you, but you’re being very negative today,” she told him with fire.
“Now is not the time to flex that sassiness at me,” he warned.
“I agree with Maya, you’re being a real downer,” Millie told him.
He turned to Millie. “And I do not need you to agree with her. You are in enough trouble.”
Millie huffed out a breath. “That’s rude. And this isn’t my first animal rescue, either! Maybe I’ll join this group that you belong to, Maya.”
Um.
Well, Maya wasn’t so sure about that. It was kind of dangerous and she was learning that having friends meant that she really wanted to protect them. She didn’t want anything happening to Millie.
“No, you will not,” Matthieu told Millie. Then he turned to Maya. “And you will have nothing more to do with them.”
Well. She couldn’t agree to that.
“What sort of rescues have you been on with them?” Millie asked.
“Um, well, all sorts. I’ve rescued animals from abusive situations. And I’ve been to protests about animal testing and stuff. Anyway, let’s get this situation sorted first. What is your plan?”
“I thought that someone could create a distraction while the other two people go in and grab all of the puppies,” Millie suggested.
Hmm. It had potential. It just needed a bit of tweaking.
“What sort of distraction were you thinking?” Maya asked. This could make or break the plan.
“I was thinking . . . fire or maybe a car accident. I could crash my car into a power pole. Or into the front fence. Yeah, that would work. That would bring everyone in the house running out.”
“How many people are in there, do you know?” Maya asked. That plan did sound like it might work. But it would depend on how quickly she and Matthieu could work to grab the dogs. They needed some more hands.
“No,” Matthieu said. “We are not doing that.”
Headlights appeared behind them before she could start arguing with him over that decision. He was being rather short-sighted in her mind. They could make this work.
Matthieu frowned and turned to look at the vehicle behind them. Then he let out a sigh.
“Finally. Back-up.”
Huh? What did that mean?
He unlocked the car doors and a back door opened.
“What the hell are you thinking, Millie?” a voice asked.
“Spike!” Millie cried cheerfully. “You’re here! This is awesome. We really need an extra pair of hands.”
“Do you just? To do what?”
“To rescue the puppies, of course,” Millie said. “We can’t leave them there. I’m going to create the distraction, you guys rush in and grab all of the puppies. Wait, how did you know to come here? What are you doing here?”
Had Millie only just thought of that?
“Sav called me,” Spike said as he settled into the seat next to Millie and closed the car door behind him.
Millie threw her arms around him like she hadn’t seen him in ages. She kissed his cheek several times and to Maya’s surprise, Spike didn’t say a word. She didn’t know why, but he kind of looked like a guy who wasn’t into PDA. Not that she knew him and Millie was such a warm and loving person that she wasn’t sure why it surprised her.
He was a big guy and as she took more of him in, she could see that he was very serious looking. Stern.
“Sav called you?” Matthieu asked. “Livvy knew about this?”
Uh-oh.
She’d gotten Livvy involved in this and if she was in trouble that was her fault too. Maya could feel a tight knot forming in her stomach and the guilt kept feeding it. Making it tighter, making it burn.
What had she been thinking?
“Maya, are you all right?” Matthieu asked.
His hand landed on hers and she realized she’d been rubbing her stomach.
“I’m so sorry,” she blurted out, turning to Millie and the rather-scary Spike.
“Why are you sorry?” Millie asked.
“For involving you and Livvy. For getting you both in trouble. You could have gotten hurt following David here, spying on the house. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“I told you before, this isn’t your fault. This is about the welfare of these puppies and I wouldn’t have been happy if you hadn’t told me what was going on. What would you have done if you’d been the one to follow David home?” Millie asked.
Um.
“Not sure I should answer that on the basis that it might incriminate me,” she replied.
“Ooh, good answer,” Millie told her. “You should be a lawyer. You could be a Little lawyer!” She bounced up and down.
“Millie,” Spike said in a low voice that she recognized because Matthieu had used that tone of voice on her before.
“What?” Millie asked.
“Is Maya even a Little?” he asked in a quiet voice. “And if she is, she might not want that announced in front of people she hardly knows.”