They both shared a look full of frustrated longing. Then they squared their shoulders, and got ready to open the door.
* * * *
Ben dabbed tenderly at his still-swollen lip and almost felt guilty as he left the pet boarding house. Both for Tyson, who was only being her usual self, and for the boarders, who would soon learn exactly what that meant. But Drake’s smile, waiting for him outside and gilded by the rising sun, was enough to banish anything but keen anticipation for the time when they were back at Drake’s place. Well, there was also the fresh worry that this was all somehow too good to be true and couldn’t last.
They summoned a rainbow bridge and walked in companionable silence. They could hear noise first—the screech that seemed ripped from the throat of a siren who’d just stubb
