“Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not easy being here. I keep flashing back to seeing him after you removed the arrow. I was sure he was going to die. Thank you for saving him.”

“It wasn’t me who did it.”

I had a feeling she was referring to God.

“I wish I could give him a better life.”

“I’ve seen how he watches you. I think he knows you love him. You two are family.”

“I’m his only family. And he’s mine, if I’m being honest with myself.”

Immediately, I felt embarrassed by the intimacy of this admission.

The examination room was achingly bright and nauseatingly sterile, but the smell of the wolf—like forest loam after a rain—overwhelmed the chemicals they’d used to clean the surfaces.

Out of nowhere Lizzie said, “I’m sorry to hear about you and Dani.”

“What did you hear?”

A flush crept up her throat into her cheeks. “Her mom told me about you two breaking up. It didn’t sound like it was a secret.”

Nicole Tate lived less than a mile away from the Pennacook Hospital for Animals and brought her pets here all the time. Dani’s mother had liked me once. She even used to get a little flirty. Nicole had had a habit of stroking my biceps after she’d had a couple of glasses of Chardonnay.

But her attitude had undergone a metamorphosis over the summer when Dani had been hospitalized with a near-fatal fever. I had been working a case in northern Maine and unable to rush to her bedside. Afterward, Nicole had decided that I wasn’t the boyfriend her daughter deserved.

Maybe she was right.

Poor Lizzie Holman, though, kept getting redder and redder. She fingered the gold cross around her neck. “You didn’t break up?”

“It’s OK,” I said noncommittally.

“I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I placed a hand on Shadow’s warm, furry ribcage. His heartbeat felt strong and reassuring. “Don’t worry about it.”

She pretended to clear her throat. “I guess we should get started with his tests. It will take a while if you want to grab some lunch. The Boom Chain makes a great burger.”

“I brought a sandwich.”

I ate in my Jeep all too often. Like most wardens, I pretty much lived in my vehicle. I took the opportunity to fetch my lunch bag and thermos and found a chair in the vacant “Kitty Korner” where cat owners could sit with their felines, away from bounding dogs.