Becoming the Luna Chapter 30

"Hayden." Dale's exasperated voice pierces through my haze of ntal screaming as I wait for the huge dogs to attack us and tear my arms and legs off. "Hayden, they've stopped coming."

"Huh?" I mutter, prying open one eye to look behind .

He's actually right. Sohow, the seven monsters are all sitting obediently in a pile in front of us, wagging their tails furiously and starting at us with a fixation that has getting goosebumps.

"They're puppies Hayden, which ans they're babies, they aren't going to attack you or try to kill you." Dale explains patiently.

I look down again, still wrapped around Dale, well he has a point, they actually look cuddly and adorable like oversized Teddy bears but I still can't get my head around their size. "But why are they so big?"

"Because they're big breeds, it just the way they are." He nudges encouragingly. "They just want attention, why don't you co down let show you how harmless they are?"

I eye him suspiciously at this but nod to and start to make a move to co down, he grabs my waist before I can move further and gently places down on my feet.

I try not to let my legs turn into jelly at this, I try really hard because I wasn't getting any closer to the monsters by falling down until I absolutely needed to.

Dale squats and clicks his tongue softly, the response is instantaneous. The seven of them charge at him, yipping and barking loudly.

I flinch, a look of horror on my face as I slowly inch back, they all jump on him, their collective weight sending him sprawling on the ground. Proceeding to mock bite parts of his body and lick his face.

I move back so more, it might just be a ga because Dale was laughing hard and trying to push them off but that one grey-brown puppy looked like he really wanted to eat Dale's leg.

I bump into the wall, the room is a wide open space, windows are placed everywhere making it quite bright. The floor is carpeted and full off discarded chew toys.

I'm on the left side of the room against the wall and along the wall there are shelves backed up against it, the back of the room has lined up bowls of food and water, and their cages are against the right side.

It's not a bunch of different cages like I expected but one giant contraption, there's a thick furry carpet in the middle, no doubt to allow the puppies to sleep in a dog pile.

I look back to Dale who's having the ti of his life with the dogs that are now trying to drag him off in different directions, I'm much calr now but that doesn't stop from sliding down the wall to a crouch in an effort to make myself smaller.

Thankfully they were too engrossed in Dale to notice , I rest my head against the wall, content to watch him play with them.

I swerve my head to the side and stiffen as my eyes co in contact with grey splashed black fur, slowly I raise my eyes up to see what I was crouching beside and a choking noise leaves my mouth when I fully find out.

Dale had said that they were eight and I've been counting only seven, because the eighth puppy had been sitting beside all along.

It's roughly my height as I'm crouched down and I stare face to face with an animal that's supposedly still a baby, the puppy just watches quietly as I try to rein in my unstable breathing.

After a while of it just watching , I get braver, I an if it wanted to attack it would have done that while I wasn't even aware that it was there, plus it really looks like a stuffed animal and my hands are itching to bury themselves in it's thick coat of shiny fur.

"Hey." Nothing cos out from how tight my throat is from nervousness and a healthy dose of fear so I clear it and try again.

"Hi." I say in a tiny voice, tentatively reaching out a hand in the puppy's direction.

The puppy leans forward, eyes still on and sniffs my hand, it takes all of my bravery not to flinch back at this so when it quickly swipes out a tongue to lick my outstretched hand, I yelp and snatch it back.

The puppy tilts Its head probably wondering just what the hell was wrong with this human, I slowly reach out both hands this ti around and it dips it's head so that I can pat it.

"Silver doesn't like strangers." Dale's voice interrupts my concentrated petting.

"What?" I look up at him.

He squats in front of and cards a hand through the puppy's fur. "She's the one I found abandoned and wandering and she's not welcoming to new people, that's why she sits in a corner all by herself." He looks at with awe in his eyes. "It took Suzy nearly two weeks to be able to touch her and you're already cuddling in the first five minutes."

I clear my throat and avert my face from his frank adoration. "Oh" I hum sothing unintelligible under my breath, not sure of what to say.

"I think we spent enough ti with puppies." Dale announces and I look up with wide eyes.

"You didn't think that this was the only place I'd take you right?"

I just shrug noncommittally. "I wouldn't have minded."

"Well I do but there's one last thing before we go." He informs with a mischievous smile.

I narrow my eyes at him. "What's that?"

"Hold this in front of you." He says excitedly, pulling to the center of the room.

I frown down at the larger than life sized bone shaped stuffy in my arms, then look up at him. "What's this"

I don't get all my words out because he lets out a deafening whistle and points at , yelling"Doggie pile!"

My screams of terror get buried by a storm of tiny monsters but that doesn't stop from screaming louder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, hey, Hayden, it's okay." Dale tries to comfort .

I'm wrapped around him in the backseat of his SUV sobbing hysterically, even I'm shocked by my reaction to the 'Doggie Piling' but I can't help it anymore than breathing.

The puppies had been loud, yipping and growling, trying to get to the bone stuffy or just rolling all around so Dale hadn't noticed my episode until minutes later when he called them off.

I was wrapped around myself on the ground, sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe. Dale was in full panic mode but no matter what he did, I couldn't seem to catch my breath, just when I was starting to turn pale from a lack of oxygen, he sharply pinched my side forcing to take an unconscious deep breath.

I can breathe now but it just gives fuel for more crying, he scoops up and makes his way outside.

Suzy and Luke were in the main shop and rushed to us when Dale swept outside with .

"What happened?" Suzy asked in terror. "Did he get bitten??"

"No, it's just a panic episode, I need to get him to calm down." He quickly says, going outside and slipping in the backseat so that there would be enough space.

And that's how I got where I am, wrapped around Dale like a baby koala, sobbing desperately against his chest.

I can't explain it, the terror I felt when the dogs jumped at was too acute and sharp to be realistic, it felt like the weight of seven aggressive intents were pressing down on , robbing of my ability to think or breathe.

Dale just holds tight and rubs circles on my back, soon enough my crying starts to dry up, I start to get exhausted.

Dale sighs, in heavy relief and I feel bad for worrying him the way I did.

"I'm sorry I did that." He rumbles lowly, carding a hand through my tousled hair. "I should have asked if you were comfortable with it."

I just close my eyes and relax into the comforting hug, my knees are on either sides of his thighs and my arms are wrapped against his neck.

Luckily, I'm too exhausted from my panic episode to get flustered by the fact that I'm sitting on him.

I just hum, not angry because there was no way he would have known, I didn't even know until it happened.

If he had warned it might have even turned out worse because then I would have been aware of what was coming, giving my mind the material to create a visual ten tis worse.

"Do you want to go back ho?" He asks softly, the constant petting lulling to sleep.

I shake my head, honestly, I was already feeling much better as soon as he got to and wrapped his arms around .

He hums and gently steps out of the car still carrying , I'm grateful he doesn't leave alone because just then my ntal state was really fragile and there was no guarantee that I wouldn't get another episode.

There were miles of forest he could drive to where he could drive easily with on his lap without attracting attention and not for the first ti I was grateful for living in the countryside.

"Let's go on a drive."