Chapter 1

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         Harper shivered to herself as she drove down the dark street towards her new house. All the houses were dark and the street was only illuminated by the street lamps spread out every few houses. At the very end of the road and on the right was her house. She had yet to see it, after all she had been driving for days and only stopped when absolutely necessary.

Detective Brown had overstepped his boundaries as an officer of the law when he offered her a safe haven to escape to. When he had seen the state she was in and realized that there wasn't anything he could do to protect her, he'd given her an envelope with a key and a slip of paper with an address. That was three days ago and Lindy was finally arriving at her destination. Pulling into the dark driveway, she double checked the address and slowly got out of her car. It was a small pale blue house house with a white picket fence and a gravel walkway lined with flowers. It really was a quaint little home fit for people just settling into their lives. In another life, it would have been the perfect home for Harper.

Sighing, she heaved her heavy bag out of the trunk of her small red four door and started toward the front door. She paused when the sound of a twig snapping reached her ears. Instinct had her body tensed and ready for flight, terrified and hyper sensitive all at once. Keeping a tight grip on her bag, Harper slowly peered to her right where the yard met the forest line. All of the houses on her side of the street backed up against a small forest filled with tall trees and countless wild animals. Fear that one of those wild animals could be near had her heart racing. It was also the fear that the predator of the human kind could be the one near her.

Another snapping of a twig had Harper backing up a few paces and frantically scanning the trees in front of her. As her eyes adjusted to the pure darkness of the looming forest, she could just barely start to make out the rustling of a low bush as something prowled forward. A scream rose to the back of her throat as the leaves began to quiver more violently before suddenly being shoved aside. All of the breath escaped her as terror filled Harper's body and she shut her eyes tightly. As stupid as it sounds, she didn't want to witness her own death. The world must be laughing right now, she thought bitterly, as she just barely escaped with her life from her home only to die in a place that was supposed to be a safe haven.

After a moment when she felt no sharp claws ripping her to shreds and no chilling voice blistering her ears, Harper slowly cracked her eyes open. Standing in front of her, reaching just above her waist line, was what appeared to be a massive dog. Curious and intelligent eyes stared at her wearily as they both sized each other up. The dog was black from head to toe with a large snout and thick body. Looking a little more closely, the dog appeared to be almost rugged in the sense that his fur was matted with dirt and there were scars along the side of his snout and above his eye. No, this certainly was not some well kept and groomed dog. This dog had clearly been wandering the forest for most, if not all, of it's life.

Breaking the silence, the dog huffed loudly and took a step closer to smell Harper. Still not sure if the dog was a friend or foe, she remained still. After a few deep breaths, the dog stared straight at her as if he were searching the deepest depths of her soul. It was a bit unnerving to say the least. After another long moment it seemed like the dog instantly changed moods. The odd and mysterious yellow color of his eyes suddenly brightened and his body shifted from alert to almost friendly. Harper was startled when the dog powered forward and jumped on her, cleanly knocking her to the floor.

"Get off me you beast!" Harper shouted as the dog stood over panting and looking down at her with an almost impish smile.

Shoving off the ground, Harper managed to rise to her feet and stared down in bewilderment at the dog. It was almost as if it had been waiting for her and was happy to see her. The dog turned and trotted toward the front door, nudging the wood of the door as if to tell her to open it. Hesitantly moving forward, Harper pulled her keys from her jacket pocket and clumsily unlocked the front door. Shooting inside, the dog gently nudged her to stay in the doorway of the house. She busied herself with finding the light switch to turn on the hall light. After fumbling around in the dark for a few seconds, she found the correct switch and light flooded the hallway. Closing the door softly behind her, she dropped her bag to the floor and looked around. Right next to her was a door and upon opening it she realized it was a small closet.

Taking a few steps forward, Harper stopped at the dog suddenly came thundering down the stairs and raced towards her. Bracing herself in case it launched itself at her, she breathed a sigh of relief when instead it stopped just short of her. It tilted its head at her as if to tell her the house was all clear. Smiling curiously, she slowly ruffled the fur atop his head and moved forward into the house. There was a small wooden staircase further down the hall and just beyond that the large living room came into view. It was decorated with a homey feel with a plush sofa stretched out in front of a large television and a fireplace off the the side. Rugs kept the hardwood floor from being too cold and an armchair near the window offered up endless possibilities of sitting there in the winter and watching the snow fall gently.

Across the hall was a neat kitchen and small dining area that has windows that opened onto the back yard. Seeing as it was near midnight and there were no lights on outside, Harper could not make out any features of the back yard. Walking back along the hall and up the stairs, with the dog still on her tail, she came across a small bedroom and bathroom and than a larger bedroom with an attached bath. It was a nice modern touch to an otherwise old fashioned and homey cottage.

Each of the rooms had a nice warm feel to them that instantly soothed Harper's tortured soul. Sitting on the bed in the master bedroom she looked around and sighed. She had come a long way and she only had Detective Brown to thank for that. He had gotten her out of that city and offered her this vacation home that he and his late wife owned. When his wife has passed a few years ago, he had stopped coming to the cottage and instead hired a maintenance crew that came in every so often to clean and tidy the place should it ever be needed. His wife had clearly done a lovely job of decorating the cottage and giving it a soft and almost woodsy feeling.

"Well, what am I supposed to do with you?" Harper addressed the massive dog sitting in front of her. It was clearly a mutt with many different breeds intertwined in its blood.

Bending her head low, Harper took a quick peak between his legs and whistled softly. Okay, it was a boy. Definitely a male dog. If she didn't know any better, Harper would have thought a satisfied gleam passed over the dog's face. Having a dog was not anywhere on Harper's list of things to do when she had settled into this house. Get a job, get more clothes, try to piece herself back together. Those were all on her list. Getting a dog? Definitely not.

But still.

She felt a strange connection with the dog and knew she couldn't exactly just throw him back outside to face the creatures in the woods. Clearly the dog was no stranger to fighting to live but she felt like he could have chosen anyone to be his owner and for some inexplicable reason, he was choosing her. He was giving up his life of being a wandering stray and had chosen to become a house pet with her. And how could she say no to that?

"I suppose I'll have to add quite a few things to my shopping list for you." Harper muttered, reaching forward to pet the dog.

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