~°~Chapter Thirty~°~

"Hayden." Dale's exasperated voice pierces through my haze of mental screaming as I wait for the huge dogs to attack us and tear my arms and legs off. "Hayden, they've stopped coming."

"Huh?" I mutter, prying open one eye to look behind me.

He's actually right. Somehow, the seven monsters are all sitting obediently in a pile in front of us, wagging their tails furiously and starting at us with a fixation that has me getting goosebumps.

"They're puppies Hayden, which means they're babies, they aren't going to attack you or try to kill you." Dale explains patiently.

I look down again, still wrapped around Dale, well he has a point, they actually look cuddly and adorable like oversized Teddy bears but I still can't get my head around their size. "But why are they so big?"

"Because they're big breeds, it just the way they are." He nudges me encouragingly. "They just want attention, why don't you come down let me show you how harmless they are?"

I eye him suspiciously at this but nod to and start to make a move to come down, he grabs my waist before I can move further and gently places me down on my feet.

I try not to let my legs turn into jelly at this, I try really hard because I wasn't getting any closer to the monsters by falling down until I absolutely needed to.

Dale squats and clicks his tongue softly, the response is instantaneous. The seven of them charge at him, yipping and barking loudly.

I flinch, a look of horror on my face as I slowly inch back, they all jump on him, their collective weight sending him sprawling on the ground. Proceeding to mock bite parts of his body and lick his face.

I move back some more, it might just be a game because Dale was laughing hard and trying to push them off but that one grey-brown puppy looked like he really wanted to eat Dale's leg.

I bump into the wall, the room is a wide open space, windows are placed everywhere making it quite bright. The floor is carpeted and full off discarded chew toys.

I'm on the left side of the room against the wall and along the wall there are shelves backed up against it, the back of the room has lined up bowls of food and water, and their cages are against the right side.

It's not a bunch of different cages like I expected but one giant contraption, there's a thick furry carpet in the middle, no doubt to allow the puppies to sleep in a dog pile.

I look back to Dale who's having the time of his life with the dogs that are now trying to drag him off in different directions, I'm much calmer now but that doesn't stop me from sliding down the wall to a crouch in an effort to make myself smaller.

Thankfully they were too engrossed in Dale to notice me, I rest my head against the wall, content to watch him play with them.

I swerve my head to the side and stiffen as my eyes come in contact with grey splashed black fur, slowly I raise my eyes up to see what I was crouching beside and a choking noise leaves my mouth when I fully find out.

Dale had said that they were eight and I've been counting only seven, because the eighth puppy had been sitting beside me all along.

It's roughly my height as I'm crouched down and I stare face to face with an animal that's supposedly still a baby, the puppy just watches me quietly as I try to rein in my unstable breathing.

After a while of it just watching me, I get braver, I mean if it wanted to attack it would have done that while I wasn't even aware that it was there, plus it really looks like a stuffed animal and my hands are itching to bury themselves in it's thick coat of shiny fur.

"Hey." Nothing comes out from how tight my throat is from nervousness and a healthy dose of fear so I clear it and try again.

"Hi." I say in a tiny voice, tentatively reaching out a hand in the puppy's direction. 

The puppy leans forward, eyes still on me and sniffs my hand, it takes all of my bravery not to flinch back at this so when it quickly swipes out a tongue to lick my outstretched hand, I yelp and snatch it back.

The puppy tilts Its head probably wondering just what the hell was wrong with this human, I slowly reach out both hands this time around and it dips it's head so that I can pat it.

"Silver doesn't like strangers." Dale's voice interrupts my concentrated petting.

"What?" I look up at him.

He squats in front of me and cards a hand through the puppy's fur. "She's the one I found abandoned and wandering and she's not welcoming to new people, that's why she sits in a corner all by herself." He looks at me with awe in his eyes. "It took Suzy nearly two weeks to be able to touch her and you're already cuddling in the first five minutes."

I clear my throat and avert my face from his frank adoration. "Oh…" I hum something unintelligible under my breath, not sure of what to say.

"I think we spent enough time with puppies." Dale announces and I look up with wide eyes.

"You didn't think that this was the only place I'd take you right?"

I just shrug noncommittally. "I wouldn't have minded."

"Well I do but there's one last thing before we go." He informs me with a mischievous smile.

I narrow my eyes at him. "What's that?"

"Hold this in front of you." He says excitedly, pulling me to the center of the room.

I frown down at the larger than life sized bone shaped stuffy in my arms, then look up at him. "What's this…"

I don't get all my words out because he lets out a deafening whistle and points at me, yelling…"Doggie pile!"

My screams of terror get buried by a storm of tiny monsters but that doesn't stop me from screaming louder.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"Hey, hey, Hayden, it's okay." Dale tries to comfort me.

I'm wrapped around him in the backseat of his SUV sobbing hysterically, even I'm shocked by my reaction to the 'Doggie Piling' but I can't help it anymore than breathing.

The puppies had been loud, yipping and growling, trying to get to the bone stuffy or just rolling all around me so Dale hadn't noticed my episode until minutes later when he called them off.

I was wrapped around myself on the ground, sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe. Dale was in full panic mode but no matter what he did, I couldn't seem to catch my breath, just when I was starting to turn pale from a lack of oxygen, he sharply pinched my side forcing me to take an unconscious deep breath.

I can breathe now but it just gives me fuel for more crying, he scoops me up and makes his way outside.

Suzy and Luke were in the main shop and rushed to us when Dale swept outside with me.

"What happened?" Suzy asked in terror. "Did he get bitten??"

"No, it's just a panic episode, I need to get him to calm down." He quickly says, going outside and slipping in the backseat so that there would be enough space.

And that's how I got where I am, wrapped around Dale like a baby koala, sobbing desperately against his chest.

I can't explain it, the terror I felt when the dogs jumped at me was too acute and sharp to be realistic, it felt like the weight of seven aggressive intents were pressing down on me, robbing me of my ability to think or breathe.

Dale just holds me tight and rubs circles on my back, soon enough my crying starts to dry up, I start to get exhausted.

Dale sighs, in heavy relief and I feel bad for worrying him the way I did.

"I'm sorry I did that." He rumbles lowly, carding a hand through my tousled hair. "I should have asked if you were comfortable with it."

I just close my eyes and relax into the comforting hug, my knees are on either sides of his thighs and my arms are wrapped against his neck.

Luckily, I'm too exhausted from my panic episode to get flustered by the fact that I'm sitting on him.

I just hum, not angry because there was no way he would have known, I didn't even know until it happened.

If he had warned me it might have even turned out worse because then I would have been aware of what was coming, giving my mind the material to create a visual ten times worse.

"Do you want to go back home?" He asks softly, the constant petting lulling me to sleep.

I shake my head, honestly, I was already feeling much better as soon as he got to me and wrapped his arms around me.

He hums and gently steps out of the car still carrying me, I'm grateful he doesn't leave me alone because just then my mental state was really fragile and there was no guarantee that I wouldn't get another episode.

There were miles of forest he could drive to where he could drive easily with me on his lap without attracting attention and not for the first time I was grateful for living in the countryside.

"Let's go on a drive."