Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) by Lydia West Read Free Book Online Page B

ignoring her raised lip.
    "What's the matter with you?" Seeing that
Mhumhi was in no state to answer, she addressed Bii. "What
happened?"
    "We met a hulker," said Bii, who had gone to
lie down on a piece of fabric torn off the sofa. His tongue was
hanging out and he looked weary. "It went after Mhumhi."
    "Are you all right, Mhumhi?" exclaimed Sacha,
standing up on her hind legs to brace on Mhumhi's shoulder so she
could inspect him. "Are you hurt?"
    "No," said Mhumhi, turning to try and keep
licking her. Sacha butted him away with her head.
    "A hulker, you said. I thought they were all
gone from this area."
    Mhumhi glanced at her small eyes and wondered
if she was thinking of the domestic, for she had sounded
pensive.
    "It killed a coyote," he said. "It was horrible ." Sacha turned to lick his neck again, and he
wagged his tail.
    "Mhumhi came back to help me," Bii said.
"Brave of him. I thought I'd die behind that dumpster, waiting for
the thing to go away."
    "You did?" said Sacha, pricking her ears, and
then she hopped and snapped at Mhumhi's chin. "Don't you dare do
something like that again! What if it had gotten you!"
    "But what if it was attacking Bii?" he said,
and flinched when she snapped at him again.
    "What were you going to do, you big dumb
puppy? Cry at it? You see a hulker, you run away! Understand?
There's nothing you can do for someone who gets caught."
    "Yes, I understand," he whined, falling to
the floor and rolling over, tail wagging against his belly. Sacha
stood over him a moment, letting him lick her face, then
snorted.
    "Stop fishing for attention and go feed
Kebero now."
    Mhumhi gave a heavy sigh and rolled onto his
feet. He looked back at her, eyes wistful.
    "Oh shut up, Mhumhi, you're not a puppy
anymore." She gave his a elbow good-natured shove with her head.
"Go on now!"
    Mhumhi went upstairs with his tail wagging,
and when Kebero came up and jammed his nose in the corner of his
mouth, even regurgitated for him without complaining.
    Kutta, who was lying on the bed, got up and
stretched. "What was all the fuss about downstairs?"
    Mhumhi told her about the hulker while Kebero
ate, expanding on all the gory details. When he had finished, Kutta
furrowed her brow.
    "It attacked you?"
    "Yes," said Mhumhi, a little put out at her
dull response. He'd been expecting to be fussed over again.
    "Are you sure it killed that coyote?" she
asked. "It sounded like it was just carrying it."
    "Well, it was dead , Kutta," said
Mhumhi. "I don't know what else would have smashed it up like
that."
    "Exactly, you don't know," said Kutta. "Maybe
it was just taking the body away somewhere."
    "Why're you so eager to defend it?" Mhumhi
asked, feeling a bit irritated. "It was certainly aiming to smash
my head in!"
    "Mh-Mh-Mhumhi!"
    They turned, for that had been Kebero,
slinking towards them with his tail tucked. "Will the huoooooolker
come here?"
    "Oh, no, Kebero," said Kutta, springing at
once to lick his ears. "No, no, it won't come."
    "Wh-wh-what if it smashes my head? I’m
sc-scaaaaaowed…"
    "Oh, it won't, Kebero," she said, shooting
Mhumhi a look over his ears, as if it were all his fault.
    "You don't know that," Mhumhi said, feeling
cross. "I bet it could get through the door even if it was pushed
closed."
    "Stop, Mhumhi! It's all right, Keb."
    Kebero was whimpering and huddling against
her forelegs, and she was having to bathe his neck and shoulders to
soothe him.
    "It's not going to come in, Mhumhi's lying,"
she told him. "Don't listen to him, he's just trying to scare
us."
    "I am not, you didn't see it, Kutta-"
    "Be quiet, Mhumhi," she said, glaring at him,
and he snapped his jaws shut.
    Kutta managed to quiet Kebero down with much
cajoling, and settled him on the bed with the promise that she
would bring Bii up to play with him. She rounded on Mhumhi in the
bathroom again.
    "Why'd you have to scare him like that? Bii
got him talking so well- he wasn’t stuttering at all this
morning-”
    "Well, he should know about