SYNCHRONICITY (Dream Walker) 🖋

Cody

They heard a knock on the door. Alison rose quickly, grabbing Sebastian's dress shirt along the way.

"Sebastian..." Alfred's concerned voice came through the heavy door.

As she buttoned the last button she could easily reach, she looked to Sebastian and he nodded and only then, did she open the door.

Seeing the younger man cradling his dog in his arms, Alfred crossed the room quickly and knelt down before him. "Give her to me." Then he turned to Alison. "Miss, there is a red dog bed in the living room..."

Alison nodded and ran through the large house toward the other dogs, forgetting they were there, instantly putting them on alert, and she prayed that these wolf-hybrids remembered their training.

She tiptoed between the last two dogs and picked up the dog bed and the larger dog got to his feet. "Stay," she said with authority. "Friend," she said.

The dog disregarded her and growled as the second dog circled and the third got up from his spot as did the fourth.

"Amigo," she said. "Amiga...? Fuck...Ami..."

Her gaze was blurring as her fears mounted. She blinked her eyes in rapid succession as she focused on a framed photograph, a photograph she'd viewed in her dreams. The photo of Sebastian standing behind a pregnant girl in a red dress before a well lit Christmas tree. She looked hard at the photo and realized that the pregnant girl in the photo was herself. Her pulse roared in her ears as her gaze moved to the photograph next to it,  Sebastian and a far younger James in matching tee shirts with a screen print of a grey wolf cub and a brown bear cub and the word, KODA.

It was the runt who grabbed at the hem of the shirttail and pulled her backwards. "Koda," she whispered, still hearing only her heartbeat in her ears. The dog pulled with more insistence. "Koda," she said again. The dog released her and moved to stand between her and his litter mates. She slowly walked backwards, whispering her mantra. She tripped over Tanny's toy box and fell backwards causing her to cry out finally and this caused the dogs to circle around her quickly, their brownish-amber eyes with their pin-point pupils, glaring at her.

The dogs sniffed at her and while they had yet to make a move, but their presence looming over her, felt menacing.

Hearing her cry out, Sebastian came flying through the house incensed, with his wand brandished. "KODA!"

The dogs cowered at hearing his raised voice. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around Alison, protecting her with his own body.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, her body still shaking from adrenaline.

"It's okay. Just give them a minute," he whispered. "Cody come," he said quietly.

The smaller dog glanced in their direction and backed up until he stood next to Sebastian.

"Easy bud," he said quietly. "It's okay..."

Cody grumbled at his brothers and they disbanded as quickly as they came together.

"I take it that Cody got picked on a lot," she asked quietly.

"Yeah. But if there's an alpha to be had..."

"Oh brother," she grumbled.

"What," he chuckled.

"Please don't tell me that you buy into all that alpha shit with the dogs?"

He grinned. "No Love. These guys aren't pack mates. They're litter mates for certain. My point is that Cody is the smartest. He had to be to survive those three. You see, they were brutal to him when they were pups." He rose to his feet. "Come on. Cody was the closest to his mum. He'll be hardest hit by her passing."

"Oh my god...Sally bore those dogs!"

He nodded as he got her to her feet and removed Sally's pillow-bed from her still clutching fingers. "Some douche bag cunt neighbor had a half wolf that got out of its pen. I wasn't here at the time and poor old Alfred had this place locked up tighter than a drum for a month!"

"What happened to the half-wolf?"

Only then did she realize that Sebastian was still naked as she followed behind him. He walked into his room and headed for the opened sliding glass door and knelt down beside Sally's body. He explained that tradition called for her body to remain outside and not be brought back into the house again.

"I'll bury her myself. You're welcome to keep me company if you want?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"Do you have good reception here?"

"For...?"

"I have to call my sister."

He smiled. "You still haven't done that yet? Oooo...you're going to be in big trouble! Lil Sis is gonna be so mad at you!"

She nodded and rolled her eyes. "I know," she groaned.

"You're welcome the house phone. Actually, no don't. This number is unlisted. How about I remind you..."

She huffed. "I'm perfectly capable of remembering things!"

He winced a smile as he tilted his head and smiled sympathetically.

"Fine..." Alison nodded and turned to find Cody standing at the doorway watching Sebastian lay Sally's body on the large pillow and he whined. Alison thought it interesting that he looked more wolfish than his litter mates but sounded more like his mother who was a German Shepherd Dog. She stood aside and let the dog approach.

Cody sniffed various areas of Sally's body and nudged her with his snout and whimpered. He then turned and trotted back into the house.

"Where the hell is he going?"

"Food?"

He shook his head. "No. There's nothing they can get into."

"Toys?"

He nodded. "There's toys everywhere."

"What's her favorite?"

He smiled. "She's got this little pink spiky...ball..." His face crumbled when Cody returned carrying the ball. "Oh god...Bless him," he whispered.

Cody dropped the ball on his mother's face and it rolled away. Cody nudged his mother's snout with his own and when she didn't move, he whined and pawed gently on her face.

Still getting no reaction from his mother, he laid down and lay his massive head on her shoulder and sighed; she looked tiny by comparison. Sebastian reached out to pet him and Cody snapped at him.

"Well that shite won't fly," he said angrily.

"Just back away slow...he's grieving just like you are. Do you have crates for them?"

"Yeah they each have a crate in the basement. Why?"

"You're going to have to lure him to his crate so that you can bury her. Make it worth his while...a nice, big fat piece of juicy steak ought to do nicely," she said.

Sebastian groaned. "You're the professional."

"Yes I am and you'd do well to listen!"

"Well, lets get dressed and get a move on then. It'll be dark soon."

"Okay...?"

"There are predators in the hills." He rose slowly and then walked into the room and grabbed a pair of jeans from a drawer.

"I forgot all about that. But they won't go after Sally will they?"

"Nope. But they will go after Cody."

She nodded and stepped into her panties and pulled them to her hips. "Okay..." she reached for her overnight bag.

He tossed the jeans on the bed and approached her then circled his arms around her from behind. "Thank you," he whispered. She turned to face him.

"What for?"

"For earlier...for this...I must ring James and let him know. It's going to break his heart. They grew up together..."

Alison embraced him tightly.