Redeeming the Lost (A Comforter's Tale)

Chapter 3

The pup on Mary's lap suddenly sneezed, waking himself up. As I rolled onto my stomach, Anabel had to use both arms to keep me from falling.

"And who is this charming lad?" I asked, focusing on the puppy who was about twice my size.

Mazie smiled at her son. "His name is Darren."

Looking up at Anabel, I asked, "Can you put me down? I bet he'll want to play as soon as he wakes up."

She hesitated, suddenly reluctant to let me go, which I had expected since she would have unconsciously connected her own improved mood to holding me. The old wounds hadn't healed enough for it to be easy to part with me.

"Why don't you shift and join us? It's been a while since I got to torment someone new."

Intrigued, she knelt down and put me on the grass. She stepped back, and it looked like a heat haze covered her for a split second before a dappled grey and black wolf stood in her place.

Even though she was lanky and a bit smaller than average, her large head was still elbow-high on Mazie – which meant she completely dwarfed me. I trotted forward with a wagging tail, and she leaned down to nuzzle me.

Rearing up on my back legs, I tried to wrap my front legs around her muzzle, but only succeeded in falling sideways and rolling onto my back. Anabel snorted in amusement and poked my stomach with her nose. I batted at her muzzle with my fuzzy paws, earning some snickers from Mary and Mazie.

The pup, Darren, blinked sleepily but watched us with growing interest. Rolling over, I began bouncing around Anabel while yapping happily. Anabel dipped into a play bow, bringing her head down where I could reach it once more.

Barreling forward – and trying my hardest not to trip – I managed to jump onto the back of her neck and promptly scrambled between her ears to pose proudly.

"And I hereby vanquished the terrifying grey wolf!"

Anabel snorted and rolled her head to the side, sending me tumbling back into the grass. A surprised look crossed her face, right before Mazie chuckled.

"She just realized that she can't mindlink you even though you can mindlink her," Mazie explained. "She says it's unfair."

"The only unfair thing here is the size advantage she has."

Anabel rolled her eyes, as if to express how much control she had over that detail, and bounded away before crouching down until her stomach rested on the grass. Pretending to be stealthy, I veered around her and came in from the side to tackle her shoulder.

Playing along, she sprawled out on her side, as if the impact had actually done something besides sending me tumbling tail over tea kettle. I quickly got back up on my feet and pounced on her side, trying to climb up her slippery fur with my over-sized paws.

The puppy on Mary's lap started squirming, unable to sit on his grandma's lap when there was a game taking place right in front of him. She put him on the grass by her feet, and he ran towards us with more coordination than I had ever managed.

I yipped and slid down Anabel's side, away from him, playing catch-me-if-you-can as we ran around Anabel. From the slightly vacant look in her eyes, I suspected she was mindlinking several people to learn more about the weird quirks of Comforters. It was probably going to be a short conversation since she had just heard almost everything.

It took three laps for Darren to catch up to me. His larger and more coordinated form had the upper hand, although he was too young to really think about strategy and stuff like that. Then again, I usually never cared about strategy unless it helped me get into mischief.