Faith continued, "Plus, Kane's fur is more a dirty blond where Rane's is tree bark brown."
The girls took another step forward.
Faith turned to the youngest. "What color doggie would you like … sorry, I know Grace's name but not yours, so can you tell me your name?"
The little girl grinned. "Sophie."
"Sophie, I almost have a rainbow of dogs, so what color doggie would you like?"
Sophie took the last step to Faith. "I want a white snow doggy with big water-colored eyes. As you know, the monsters don't like water or cold things. We tried to get close to water, but we must have still been too far. Did you go in the water? Is that why you don't got a shirt?"
Faith smiled. "You're right, Sophie, the monsters don't like water, and you were just a bit too far from the water. My shirt got wrecked helping fight the monsters, but don't you worry about that, I have lots of clothes at home. So let's find you a doggy protector. I have the perfect one for you. His name is Griffen, and he's even more of a teddy bear than these two."
There was a whole lot more laughter outside now as Griffen came in slowly. Sophie gasped and ran to Griffen, petting and hugging him as she chanted, "I love you. You're going to be my best friend and save me and my sister from the monsters. I bet they'll be scared of you, because you're the color of snow and your eyes are blue like water."
Griffen plopped down in front of Faith.
Grace sat down next to her sister, tears running down her face. "I wish we'd had a doggie protector so I could have saved our dad."
"I'm so sorry, Grace, but you can have a protector now."
"But I don't have anywhere to keep it now. My dad's gone, and I don't have a Mum anymore either." She was crying so hard it was tough to hear the last bit.
Faith moved over and hugged the girl. "Would you like to join my special family?"
Sophie stopped kissing Griffen to say, "Me too, me too. Grace and I are always supposed to be together, that's what Dad said."
Grace nodded. "Okay, but can I have a Mummy doggy, please?"
Faith smiled at them. "Ah, sweetheart, I can get you one of those, lat-" Suddenly a beautiful black wolf with brown eyes came running in and licked Grace's face. Faith nodded to Della, Kane's mother. "This is a Mummy dog. She's come to check on her babies."
Grace and Sophie looked around and as one said, "I don't see any babies."
"Why, we're hugging her biggest babies. Do you want to know something? These are only three of her babies, she has ten all up."
"Wow."
"Would you like to come with me and meet her other babies?"
Both girls nodded.
"Okay, kiddos, we're going to go outside. There will be some people, and more doggies. But we're going to go to a big white van."
Both girls nodded again. Faith moved slowly, trying not to wince so she didn't scare the girls further. She got up, leaning on Kane and Rane, and started limping, walking slowly to the exit.
* * * *
Kane knew Faith was about to collapse so he didn't care when Jamie came over to them and picked Faith up. She made a weak protest about Jamie being hurt. His response was to kiss her forehead.
"You're lighter than a feather."
Jamie then put on his, as Faith called it, lady-killer voice and turned to the two little girls.
"So I hear we have two new family members."
And as all females do around Jamie, apparently all ages, the girls constantly darted glances at him, giving shy smiles and moving as close as they dared.
"Why are you carrying Faith?" Grace asked. "She's not a baby, put her down now." The little girl even stomped her foot for effect.
Jamie chuckled. "It's so nice to have another hotheaded redhead around."
As usual Jamie had cast his spell, and Grace seemed to forget she was telling him off. She smiled, saying, "My daddy always said us redheads have to stick together."
Jamie snickered and gently placed a sleeping Faith in the middle seat so the girls could sit on either side. Griffen, Rane, and his mother hopped in after the girls. Kane, still in wolf form, joined them, and Jamie hopped in behind them.
His father Jack drove toward home.
"Do you have a doggie protector, Jamie?" Grace asked.
"Yes, I do, and he is red."
"You must live in a house with a big backyard. We lived in a flat."
"Yes, I have a two bedroom house."
"What about Faith? Does she live with you? Because that sounds small for all us and her doggies."
"Well, Faith just got back from a big holiday and hasn't decided where or who she is going to live with."
Kane growled at his idiot brother as the girls started to cry. Faith startled awake at the noise and listened to the girls.
"She has to have a place, she said we could come live with her and be part of her family."
Faith, who even in her tired state was on the ball, answered, "Silly Jamie. I live in a big, five bedroom house overlooking the water."
The girls clapped and the tears instantly stopped. "That's so good, Faith, because the monsters don't like the cold or water. Right?" said Sophie.
"You're right, they don't."
The three girls fell asleep shortly after. Faith awoke as Kane picked her up and moved her inside. Jamie and Jack grabbed a girl each and placed them in the bedroom next to Kane's. Della and Griffen followed, still in wolf form, and jumped on the bed, curling up on each side of the girls.
Kane took Faith to their room where he took the rest of her clothes off, carried her into the bathroom, filled the tub with water, and placed her in the warm bath. She winced and clung onto him tightly. He reached into his doctor's bag and did what he could. Kane looked Faith in the eyes.
"I'm so proud of you. What you did for those girls, how you handled them … I'm in awe of you, princess. I think, if at all possible, I fell even more in love with you."
Faith smiled, she seemed too tired to speak.
"I'm going to give you something to help the pain. It will also help you sleep through the night."
He picked an exhausted Faith out of the bath, dried her, and put her into bed.
Chapter 5
After putting Faith to bed Kane joined his father and some of his brothers in the lounge room.
"We have a huge problem. Those three demons were working together. They also knew things about us they shouldn't have," Kane said as he stared at his father and brothers.
His father and Arden shook their heads. "Are you sure, Kane? Demons are loners, they have never been seen together or worked together before."
Rane answered, "Well, these sure did, and they knew we were coming, but not who or how many of us there would be."
"They even knew Faith. One demon said he was surprised Kane left her behind and she is one of the most powerful soothsayers in this century."
Shock showed on Arden's and his father's faces.
Kane sighed. "We need to have a pack meeting. We also need to get in contact with the alphas of other packs. It sounded like they want Faith, so she needs a guard, which she will definitely not like."
His dad raked his fingers through his hair. "We also need to find out Faith's vision. I have a feeling it will be very useful information. I say we organize a pack meeting for tomorrow afternoon. By then we should have as much info as we need. Let's all go home and be back bright and early in the morning. Ah, before I forget, Kane, I got Ava and Eve to pack some of Faith's clothes and put them in your room. They also told her parents were she was."
With that last comment everyone left and Kane joined Faith in bed.
* * * *
Faith stretched, snuggling into Kane some more. She had the feeling she was being watched and not by Kane. She snapped her eyes open to two pairs of eyes staring at her, muffled giggles, and pointing. She elbowed Kane who shot awake bare chested. The girls giggled even louder.
"Hi, Grace and Sophie. Is everything all right?" Faith asked, making sure the sheet covered her naked body.
"We're hungry, and the sun is out. Can we have breakfast?"
Faith sighed, looking around for something better to cover herself with. "Sure. I'll get up, just give me a minute."
Sophie jumped up and down. "Do you have Coco Pops? That's my favorite. Faith, do you know you have a man in your bed? Are you married? Because my daddy said boys and girls don't sleep in the same bed unless they're married." Sophie stopped jumping and looked at Faith's bare fingers. "You don't have a ring on your finger, did you lose it?"
Faith stared at the little girl. How on earth did she get all that out in one breath?