Dogs of War

Chapter 3

"Johnny," my voice is irritated as I shake the sleeping Scot. "Where the bloody hell has Wolf gone?"

Soap jerks awake, arms flailing as if he was falling from the bed before he managed to orient himself.

"Right here," he muttered half asleep and half panicked.

"Nope, guess again." I cross my arms, eyes staring down at the man dead asleep in the hospital bed, no Wolf in sight. 

"What d'ya mean?" he rubs the sleep from his eyes and sits up finally looking around the room. 

"I swear she was right here." He leaps up out of the bed and makes his way for the door preparing to look for Wolf. 

"Johnny," I grumble to catch his attention. "She's in with Medic. You were meant to be watching her."

"I was watching her, I swear. We were curled up on the bed."

"Looked more like you were sleeping than watching her."

"Well, she is very comfortable to cuddle up with."

I cross my arms glaring at Johnny with disappointment. "She's meant to be resting."

"She was unmanageable when she could communicate with us. How do you expect us to enforce her rest time now that she's mostly canine?"

"She's well trained. She'll follow orders, even if she gives sass the entire time."

He raised an eyebrow at me and I knew he didn't believe me. "What'd Price want?" He asked instead changing the topic as we walked to grab Wolf.

"Hand over of my projects, not that I've been working on much lately anyway. Now that Wolf is awake again and Dr. McKenzie wants me on site until she's discharged so Price has me confined to recruit management and training plans."

"That time of year already huh?" 

"Yep, gotta get everything recertified, and Price has decided to leave the planning in my hands."

"Terrifying."

"Thank you."

I push open the door to the space Dr. McKenzie was sharing with Medic Archiel to find her laid up on the couch with Wolf over the top of her like a very furry blanket.

"Och, Lass,  you ok under there?" Soaps voice filled with amusement.

Wolf whines in response, tail thumping against the back of the couch happily. 

"Not you, ye wee monster," he laughs and walks over patting her behind the ears. "I'm talking to the poor lass yer squishin'."

"Don't mind me, Irish Bar," Archiel's voice muffled from underneath Wolf.

"Awa an bile yer heid ya bampot." Johnny crosses his arms annoyed. "At least use a Scottish brand of soap."

"English, Bubbles so all of us understand." Archiels voice held a hint of smugness and I watched as Wolf stretched out, hands coming up around her back claws digging into Wolfs back right between the shoulder blades where I knew Wolf couldn't reach by herself. The way Wolf melted into the scratching had jealousy screaming through me. I knew those claws must have felt good through the fur, but that was my Dog to be scratching. Who did this medic think she was?

Wolf whined again nose turning towards me as she scented my jealousy and knew the medic would have scented it too.

"No need to be jealous, Casper. She's still your Dog of War. She just wanted scritches while Soap slept."

"What, did she tell you that?"

"In a way. I checked in on her earlier and she followed me back out demanding scratches so I obliged."