Maya let him guide her back to Ink’s office as he messaged someone on his phone. “Just letting Ink know what’s going on. He and Brody will join us for the meeting.”
Butch was still standing outside the office door. He looked uncomfortable as he saw them.
“He said you wouldn’t mind him going in there!” Butch said hastily.
“What are you talking about?” Matthieu asked. “Who said that?”
“Captain.”
“He spoke?” Maya asked. “Like he used actual words.”
“Welll, not exactly. I asked him what he was doing. He gestured at me to move. I said, won’t Maya and Matthieu mind? And he shook his head.”
“Captain is in there?” Matthieu asked, reaching for the door. They walked inside.
To her surprise, Tank hadn’t even hesitated to get out of the car and follow them into Callahan Security earlier. He’d stayed pressed to her side, clearly protecting her.
Under any other circumstances, she would have been crying tears of joy, but she felt like she was in a bubble and everyone else was carrying on around her without her.
God, she was so grateful that they’d saved all of her babies.
Vince was an asshole who needed to pay for this.
As they stepped into the room, she ran her gaze around, taking in her pets. Marshmallow was in his cage on the desk. Princess Priss was also in a cat carrier on the desk. She’d been very upset earlier and the vet had given her a light sedative so she was sleeping.
Captain was sitting on a chair behind the desk with Dougie on his lap. Dougie let out a few woofs and jumped down, running toward them. Well, he banged into the side of the desk then the leg of a chair first.
She winced. Ouch.
Big Berry was in the corner of the room with Tank and . . . Gummy? Gummy barked and ran to them. Big Berry let outa snuffle, waddling over. Tank stayed where he was, but he watched them both.
She made her way around all of her babies, checking on them. She got to Tank last and patted his head, talking to him quietly.
“Captain?” Ink asked, stepping into the room. “Are you coming to the meeting?”
Captain shook his head and gestured to the animals.
“You’re staying in here with the animals?” Ink asked, sounding surprised.
Captain nodded as Tank leaned against her. His weight was heavy but she didn’t care. If anything, it was helping to ground her.
“We’re all ready for the meeting,” Ink said to Matthieu and Maya. “Brody is joining us.”
Brody. He’d warned them about the fire.
“The chickens,” she said suddenly. “Have the chickens been sorted?”
“Spike and Duke came and moved the entire coop along with the chickens to Spike’s place,” Ink told her. “They were going to go to Ink’s house, but Spike’s is closer. And Millie insisted that she was their godmother so they had to go to her.”
Oh.
“That’s good. Millie will look after them.”
“She will,” Ink agreed. “She said to tell you that she’ll guard them with her life.”
She wanted to smile. But it just didn’t come. That numbness had fully taken hold of her.
Matthieu held out his hand to her as she stood there. “Come on, Maya. Let’s go get this done so we can figure out where we’re going to next.”
