Chapter 115

Sarah POV

The shouts of delight, laughter, and barking brought Zane out of his study. He was in time to see his daughters literally rolling on the floor with the puppy, which seemed to have doubled in size since we sent it for basic house training a few days ago, though its paws were still huge.

The trainer, a blond beta named Emile, who wore blue denim pants, a black tee, and a denim vest, waited while the girls and puppy calmed down, then she explained she needed us all to know Selene’s new commands.

“Have you really managed that much in just a few days?” Zane asked.

Emile looked a little insulted, then said sharply, “Zuò!”

Selene instantly sat.

“Excellent!” I said and clapped.

Emile went to the puppy and petted her. “You must always let Selene know when she’s done something good to reinforce the training. It can be a dog treat, like a little chicken, but just making sure she sees you’re pleased is enough.”

Emile stood and announced, “Tǎng!”

Selene lay down.

“Why did you train her in Chinese?” Zane asked, which I was glad about because I had no idea what she was doing.

“You don’t want to train dogs in the local language,” Emile said. “A stranger could come along and tell her to sit and stay or whatever.” She looked pointedly at Chloe and Grace.

Ah, that made sense. Anti-puppy-knapping was a good idea for anyone, but especially for us. And Chinese was obscure enough that people wouldn’t pick up right away that those vocal shouts were commands.

Emile trained the girls in five commands after that: sit, stay, lie down, heel, and roll over. They were thrilled to watch Selene follow their commands, and soon they were asking to take the puppy out to the hedge mage.

“Of course,” Zane said, and the little trio was gone in two seconds.

Emile laughed. “It’s a good dog choice for your family, Alpha Zane.”

“Yes, I’m pleased,” he said.

“Chloe’s already warned us about making sure her ears stay clean,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Keep her leashed, or she’ll be running after everything in sight.”

“We’ve a fenced-in area she’ll be able to run around in,” Zane said. “Otherwise, yes, the leash.”

“And you realize she’s useless as a guard dog.”

Zane and I laughed. “We have people for that,” I said, covering another pang of guilt.

“I’ve emailed you both some basics,” Emile said. “So, if that’s all, I’ll be off.”

Zane handed her a small envelope I knew held her tip, and we saw her off in an Uber from the portico. No sooner were we about to go inside, however, when a red Porche 411 pulled up.

“Ella,” Zane muttered, which surprised me. I thought he liked her company.

She emerged from the sports car like Venus from the waves. She was stunningly beautiful with her curves and height and shining brown eyes, yet her form-fitting clothes were oddly modest with a high neckline for her brown top and tapered but not painted-on matching brown pants. For a moment, she just stood there with the wind blowing in her bright blond hair as though we were all supposed to applaud.

Jordan came around the car from the other side. He was wearing light blue jeans and a plain red t-shirt, and while he should have just like another little pup, I thought of Satan.

“Zane, darling!” Ella called as she made her way across the small-gravel path, put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed his cheek. I might have been an air kiss. I wasn’t sure, and I realized I seriously didn’t care.

“Please, please, be a darling and look after Jordan for the afternoon? Pretty please?”

“Another photoshoot?” Zane asked.

“And it’s for a good cause, a PSA for milk or something.” She pouted and then smiled and dazzled.

I thought it was getting a little stale, but I reminded myself that being catty about another woman’s looks wasn’t good for anyone. Zane wasn’t drooling, and I wasn’t cowering. Things were good.

“You’ve taken children to a photoshoot before,” Zane said.

She looked affronted, then calmed into another dazzling smile. “But this time there’s no one I trust to look after him. I need to make sure he’s safe.”

She looked at us both. “It’s just for five hours, six, tops.”

“I can watch after him,” I said. During the exchange, I’d recognized the stony look on Jordan’s face. He might be a little jerk, but no kid should be made to feel like they were a piece of unwanted luggage.

Zane looked at me in surprise but said only, “That’s settled, then.”

“You’re a lifesaver!” Ella crowed, though she, thankfully, didn’t try to kiss me, air-kiss or not. In a second, she was back in her little car and speeding away.

“Would you like something to eat?” I asked Jordan.

“Where are Grace and Chloe?” he asked.

“Playing around here somewhere,” I said. I beckoned him into the villa. “How about some lemonade?”

“That would be lovely, Miss Sarah,” he said in his slightly accented and cultured tones. Zane broke off for his study, and I led Jordan into the kitchen for some of the fresh-squeezed lemonade someone, I suspected Hans, had left for us.

We sat at the island counter on the barstools and regarded each other.

“And how are you doing?” I asked. “You must be in third level now. Is this visit causing you trouble in keeping up with things?”

He looked at me with his large brown eyes. I suspected he’d practiced that expression in the mirror for an hour or twenty.

“I was ahead in my studies,” he said. “They said it would be better for me to sit out for a few weeks because I already skipped a level, and they were worried about my social skills.”

I bet.

“And I don’t want to go too far too fast myself,” he said next. “You have a degree in education, right? So you know it’s not good when a pup’s brain puts them in a situation the rest of them can’t match.”

“So,” I asked. “You don’t think of social skills as being part of your ‘brain’?”

He frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“School is about knowledge and academic skills, but it’s also about socialization, right?”

He nodded, looking at me uncertainly.

“We all want to make sure the pups in our care get the very best out of their early years as they can,” I said. “We want them, and at this point a lot of people would say, ‘especially alphas,’ to learn about life properly. But it’s the same for all wolves. Alphas, beta, gammas—they all need to know how they can best serve themselves and the world, don’t they?”

He nodded again.

“Now, you’re an alpha, which means people will be looking to you for leadership, to help them make themselves the best they can be.”

“I understand, Miss Sarah,” he said.

“Do you?” I couldn’t help asking, and just then Selene barked.

“You have a doggy?” Jordan asked.

I nodded. “Yes, a Golden Retriever puppy named Selene,” I said. “The girls are playing with him in the hedge maze, I believe.”

Jordan looked at me, and I realized his body was shaking. And then he burst into tears.