Ethan Gray had never met Blanche's uncle, though she'd mentioned him a few times. From what he gathered, the man had a fondness for hitting the bottle pretty hard.
Before this evening, Blanche had always been on high alert about whether he'd been drinking. Once, when she heard he'd knocked back a few, she bolted right out of there without a second thought.
Hearing her bring it up again now, Ethan couldn't help but feel a pang of concern. He treaded carefully as he asked, "Does your uncle get rough with you when he's had too much to drink? Has he ever hit you?"
Blanche puffed up her little chest with all the bravado she could muster. "Hit me? No way! I'm super fierce, you know."
To prove her point, she let out a series of wild growls—snarl snarl—morphing into a pint-sized mad pup, snapp
