Free The Awakening by Kat Quickly

I can see. It’s just a mess.”
    “Well that’s good,” Josh nodded. “About this key then. Who else has one?”
    “My mother. But she rarely leaves her apartment, she certainly never comes here. She has a key, just in case, you know. AA, of course. And I guess the concierge. I can’t see any mischief there.”
    Josh wrote some more notes. “You’d be surprised. People you think you can trust are often the first to betray you.”
    Andrew coughed. “I think that’s a bit rich, Josh.”
    “No offence, bud. But in my experience that’s often the way. Someone you least expect or someone unknown that has a tenuous connection and often an obsession. I mean, you aren’t exactly a private citizen, Carmen.”
    “I guess not. Now about my dogs. That’s really all I’m worried about. Excuse me.” Carmen went back to the garden where the vet had returned and was about to move the dogs into the back of a van.
    “I’d like them to go to my vet,” she said to the police vet.
    “I’m sure I can take care of them.”
    “I’m sure you can,” Carmen’s tone was unusually sharp. “But I want them where they will be most comfortable and best looked after and that’s with Cody and Beckett. I’m calling now. You can speak to them, tell them what you know.” Carmen usually went out of her way to be polite to everyone she met. But something about this little thin lipped man set her teeth on edge. She wasn’t having him anywhere near Alaska and Zanzibar. She was going to make sure they recovered, thus they needed to be with people she trusted. People who knew her dogs. She was not about to take any risks with their lives.
    He handed the phone back to her. “All right then. We’ll take them there now. I guess you want to come for the ride?”
    She nodded and without a word to AA settled into the back with the dogs. It wasn’t far too Cody and Beckett’s and some things were important. She cradled Zanzibar’s head in her lap, stroking his silken fur. Like Alaska, he was breathing shallowly. But they were both still breathing. Carmen stroked Alaska’s flanks, not willing to think about life without these two. It was hard to make Andrew understand that they were more than pets to her. They were her best friends, her family. They were always there, loyal, loving, devoted to her. She loved the simplicity of such pure animal devotion and she knew no man could match it. Well, perhaps one. Yes, there was Victor in her head, understanding her wordless thoughts, her deepest feelings. Where had she conjured him from?
    Predictably Andrew was still in her apartment talking to the police when she returned an hour or so later. He was cross. She’d ignored his text messages while she’d been at the vet’s. “You can’t just go off like that,” he hissed as she came through the door. “Leave me here like a fool.”
    “Seriously Andrew, do you expect me to believe anyone thinks you’re a fool?” She knew s he should have been more contrite but he should have known she’d prioritise the dogs. “I’m sure you’ve been really helpful here.”
    “Honestly Carmen, anyone would think you cared more about those dogs than anything else.” He was doing his best to be understanding, after all it was her home that had been invaded and trashed, not his and he should be aware that people react to stress in different ways. He looked at her, still in his t-shirt and boxers, no make-up or perfume, those extra-ordinary long legs and his heart softened. She looked such a waif, but a very sexy waif. He put his arms around her. He just wanted to get her home and back into his bed. “Oh, Carmen, I’m sorry. I know how much Alaska and Zanzibar mean to you. Of course you’d go with them. Will they be all right?”
    She nodded. “Doc Cody thinks they’ll be fine. Something sinister in their water. He’s amazed they’re alive. The dose should have killed the. He’s keeping them in for a few days, well until all the poison is through