Borrowed Time

Chapter 195

It was odd to be the first one awake for once in a house with at least three morning people, but Juliette had been unable to sleep the second she heard Emma's dogs barking in the basement. That was what had roused her first, and since no one else was up, she decided to just take them out herself on a little walk. Only problem?

Big fucking dogs. Three big fucking dogs that could easily pull her over at any moment if they got over-excited, which she was hoping that they wouldn't. So far they'd been very gentle with her, not even pulling on the leashes, only occasionally letting out excited whimpers when they saw other animals or other dogs in general, which was fine.

Honestly, it was sweet... She just didn't wanna get thrown in the snow in the excitement.

"Are you guys cold? Your fur isn't that long..." She said, feeling chilled even through her jacket, but the dogs seemed content to keep wandering the neighborhood, as if the cold did nothing to them... But she'd been around shorter haired dogs before, often they could get cold. She'd just have to keep a close eye on them, look for any signs of discomfort.

Her goal was to make it to the edge of the actual town before going back to the house, but with the bitter wind she wasn't sure that it was going to actually happen... It was seeming more and more like a pipe dream.

"You guys have a lot of mental fortitude for dogs. Gotta love that." She muttered, feeling one of them tug a bit on the leash, making her grimace. "Woah, buddy. Relax, you're a lot stronger than me... But I am bigger than you, and I'm hoping that that is enough for me to be able to stop you... I don't wanna test that theory at all." She said, holding his leash a little tighter as he let out a loud bark, making her jump a bit as she glanced around, trying to see what he was barking at, but it was hard to tell... It was still early, no one else was really out, so there was no one to be barking at... At least not that she could see and that made her a thousand times more uneasy than if she could see someone coming towards her. Statistically, getting snuck up on had not done her very much good over the past year, and it wasn't something that she wanted to have happen again.

"Okay... Walk a little faster, we're gonna turn around buddies." She tried to pull their leashes gently, to lead them back towards the house, but they all seemed hellbent on going towards whatever one of the dogs was barking at.

Juliette, for her part, had absolutely no interest in going to meet whatever or whoever the fuck was waiting for them at the bottom of that hill, that sounded like a really bad idea.

"Listen, work with me here... You guys have big teeth and a strong bite force, I've got a fist that I could use but I'd prefer if you didn't take me to my untimely death." They were still pulling just as hard. "Don't care? Cool, good to know that the life of the person who was kind enough to drag herself out of bed means nothing to you." She groaned, letting them adventure further down the hill. She kept her eyes peeled, looking around to see what the fuck was getting to them, but she couldn't see a goddamn thing.

And then she heard it.

The faintest little meow - and the dogs were losing their fucking shit, pulling her hard towards it... She fell to her knees, getting dragged through the snow as she grimaced, feeling the wet cold seep through the fabric of her sweatpants before she stumbled back to her feet once they'd stopped, concerned whimpers leaving their lips.

She approached a crumpled paper bag slowly, hearing a pained mewling as she got closer. She gently set down the leashes and looked back, using a hand movement that Emma had taught her, watching as they sat instantly.