Tiger Winter - 17. Wonder

Jian fell asleep on the world’s shortest car journey from the Cochrane train station to the traveller’s hotel. It was cold in the truck, shockingly so after the warmth and softness of the gently rumbling train, but the temperatures that made Emmett’s breath fog the windshield and fired his brain into activity made Jian draw himself up into his clothes, his fingers vanishing into his sleeves as he shut down. Jian might’ve liked the snow, but he was built for a different sort of climate.

After Emmett had parked them up, he took nothing but his and Jian’s small knapsacks with him to go and check in. The train guard had done a good job, and had booked them the best room the hotel had, spacious and nicely decorated, with a king size bed, enormous duvet and fluffy blankets. Having spent nearly a month in Moosonee where hot water restrictions kept all showers to a three minute maximum, the first thing Jian did was wake up and pour himself into the big frosted glass cubicle under the hot water. Emmett listened to the water running over his companion’s body with more than a touch of jealously.

“You’re not having a shower?” Jian exited the bathroom in a puff of steam, a towel wrapped around his hips, looking so shockingly similar to the first time Emmett had ever seen him that for a moment he wondered if he had dreamt the last four months completely.

“Er, no… I mean, should I? Do I smell?”

Jian stepped within a foot of Emmett’s chest and sniffed him greedily.

“Heavenly.” Jian glanced down at his feet, and then back up at Emmett, “I was sort of hoping you might join me.”

“Oh! Sorry…” Emmett ran his fingers through Jian’s damp hair, holding a silk-like skein between forefinger and thumb. “You should have said.”

“I didn’t want to… pressure you.” The glint in Jian’s orange eyes faded, fast as the setting sun in the deep winter. “I’m sorry.”

Emmett got the distinct feeling the boy wasn’t talking about not inviting him in to share the hot water.

“That day in the woods…”

“I didn’t realise! Oh Xue, I am sorry!” Jian’s taut frame sagged suddenly with the weight of his misery, and Emmett simply scooped him up, and held the young man tight against his chest, lifting his feet from the floor, not caring for his disruption of the towel.

“Hush now, little Tiger,” Emmett walked them both to the bed, and half sat, half fell onto it, “don’t worry about it now: that’s all over.” He pressed his lips against Jian’s hair, and for the first time in reality, looked down at the naked form of the young man who he adored.

Jian was perfect in every detail. The little not-tiger was slim and well put together, all in proportion, his skin tanned and smooth, the definition of his muscles subtle and perfect. Emmett had already spent hours studying the lines of his neck, his strong, narrow hands and wrists, the curved hard lines of his jaw. Now his gaze drifted lower: to Jian’s surprisingly long and shapely legs, the almost plump curve of his hips and thighs, and the soft swelling of his cock, nestled in his groin, similarly tanned, smooth and inviting. Emmett felt guilty to be fully dressed and watching the boy so openly, but when his dark eyes flicked back to Jian’s face, the boy was watching Emmett stare at him, and he was smiling.

“We’re all alone now, Xue,” he murmured gently, “there’s no one to be quiet for.”

“Just one more thing,” Emmett hated to have to wait, but he had to clear up, in his head at least, what had happened that snowy afternoon in the woods. “That thing, with the… instruction?”

“I think it’s called a ‘command’. I know my oldest cousin and his mate can do it: it’s how Lotus-Petal makes him do the laundry.”

“That’s cruel,” Emmett replied, but he couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“I promise, Xue; I won’t do it again.”

“Shhh…” Emmett pressed his finger over Jian’s lips, and shivered when the boy kissed the digit. “Save it for a time when it’s needed.” He placed his hands either side of Jian’s hips, turned the boy so that the tiger was straddling his lap, “I promise not to say ‘no’ to you again. Not for this.”

“Oh, Xue!” Jian’s eyes glowed like the sun for a moment, and then he was out of focus as he grabbed Emmett’s face in both hands and kissed him. Emmett had never kissed a real tiger, but he assumed that if the animal didn’t instantly claw his face off, then it would be a little bit like kissing Jian. The boy was an impossible mixture of hard and soft, with his questing tongue and the lingering presence of his oddly sharp teeth. His fingers wound into the back of Emmett’s hair, fingernails digging into his neck, and as Emmett kissed him back with an equal amount of force, the boy purred into his mouth, his entire body vibrating in the most erotic manner Emmett had ever experienced.

“Wow…”

“You’re wearing way too many clothes,” Jian panted, his lips damp and swollen from the bruising force of the kiss, “I never get to look at you naked.”

Emmett was about to complain that he ended up being naked a lot more often than Jian did, especially in between changing in and out of fur, but he really didn’t feel like saying anything much as Jian ran his strong hands up under his shirt and Emmett helped him by tugging the material off over his head. He’d eaten the previous day, and for the smallest second Emmett wished he had let himself go for a full three days; been slim and full of extra muscle definition when Jian finally had a chance to really look at him. The little tiger cut the thought off mid-way through.

“Don’t you dare,” Jian glared like he could see the inside of Emmett’s head, “you’re perfect all the time.”

“Babe…” Emmett kissed him again, and this time it was his turn to cup the back of Jian’s skull, cradle his super soft hair and delve into his mouth. Jian whimpered in pleasure, and Emmett pulled him close, pressing their chests together with a hard thud as their sternum’s met.

It was Jian who pushed back at him, the angle of his body encouraging Emmett to lie back against the mattress. The polar bear swept his arms up to grab a pillow, and cushioned his head as Jian broke the kiss to sit up, butt-naked and perfectly balanced over his groin.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” Jian panted. Emmett didn’t have time to say anything. The boy’s strong slim fingers worked the fly of his jeans, the sound of his zipper incredibly loud in the stillness which was only broken by the panting of the two men. Emmett lifted his hips, used one foot against the other shin and with a little shuffling, kicked his last remaining clothes away across the floor somewhere. Jian looked down at his naked body, and smiled exactly like a happy tom-cat would. “Oh, Xue!”

Emmett glanced down his chest just as Jian’s weight settled over them both. Having the long tanned length of the boy’s hard cock so very close to his own throbbing erection was incredibly arousing, though not nearly as much as it was when Jian pressed his palm down over Emmett’s dick, trapping his length against his own abdomen. Jian chuckled and arched his back as he moved down for another kiss.

Fantasy sex was amazing, erotic, and stimulating in many ways; but ten seconds later Emmett was sure he would never mistake it for the real thing ever again. Having Jian moaning in his ear, panting as Emmett touched him back, and having the boy’s own strong fingers wrapped around his erection, working him in a manner that made Emmett see stars was far too awesome to mistake for a dream or a vision. Emmett used his other hand to stroke down the boy’s spine and found Jian’s back curving automatically for him, his pert rear suddenly presented into Emmett’s palm. The polar bear grinned, grabbed his arse, and pulled Jian up bodily by the hips. The young man lost his balance rather suddenly, fists impacting into the mattress above Emmett’s head with a thud, and craned his neck to look down at his partner.

“Xue?”

“I’ve wanted to do this for months,” Emmett muttered.

He squeezed the tops of Jian’s thighs, and the boy scooted up the bed automatically until Emmett was looking directly up at his quivering erection. Jian sat up, watching Emmett below him as the polar bear craned his neck slightly and took the head of Jian’s cock between his lips. The tiger groaned suddenly, his whole body snapping into sharp focus as Emmett wrapped lips and tongue around his cock. It took Jian a moment to realise what was happening, but he was pliable in Emmett’s hands, adjusting the set of his hips to make things easier for the bear. Once Emmett wasn’t putting pressure on the wrong joints in his spine, he groaned gently, causing Jian to mewl again in reflected pleasure, and decided there was nothing quite so wonderful as watching the boy above him, his entire body thrumming with pleasure.

Emmett loved to give head: there were few better places for a cock to be than between his lips, and now Emmett knew exactly why. Jian tasted like sea-salt and exotic flowers, and his skin was velvet soft, his pulse loud as thunder and as Emmett suckled on his flesh every edge of the boy above him became outlined in shimmering gold. It wasn’t a vision, and Emmett reached up and wrapped strong hands around Jian’s narrow waist, pulling the little tiger closer until his nose bumped the boy’s pubic bone. Jian mewled as Emmett tongued the underside of his cock, purred and hissed like a cat in heat, and half-snarled as Emmett dragged the very edges of his teeth against his sensitive skin. Emmett could feel his lover’s orgasm building up under his skin, and his mind was overwhelmed with the tide-like flushing of his own pulse as he edged closer to the point of no return.

Jian’s fingers against his cheek were oddly cool, and Emmett looked up into eyes rich and complicated as the evening sky to watch Jian smile. He knew without words what Jian wanted.

“You’re sure?” Emmett flexed his spine as he sat up, bringing him level with Jian’s face once more. The boy didn’t hesitate in kissing him strongly.

“Mmm… we taste awesome together.” Every inch of Jian was smug and glowing with pleasure. “Of course I’m sure.” He reached down between their bodies and wrapped strong fingers around Emmett’s erection. The polar bear grunted in shock and pleasure. “Touch me.”

It wasn’t a command, not this time, but Emmett obeyed his lover as though it had been. If Jian said he was sure, then Emmett realised it wasn’t worth his skin to argue with the little tiger about it. And anyway, he really didn’t want to have to stop, not after so long waiting for the chance to be alone together without being interrupted or overheard. Emmett wet his fingers, and trailed a string of saliva from his lips down to Jian’s hot entrance. The tiger stroked him, slow and rhythmic along his length, and Emmett watched Jian’s narrow chest heave as he pushed his slick digits into the tightness of his body. Emmett had been given the impression that it had been a long time since Jian had been intimate with anyone, and the tense muscle now surrounding his fingers only reinforced Emmett’s assumption. It pained him to go as slowly as he did, and Jian was no more patient, snapping and thrashing in pleasure as Emmett invaded him. Once Jian’s fingernails had left a series of crescent-moon dents in Emmett’s forearm, the polar bear figured he was ready.

For a moment, everything went very still as Emmett’s hands settled on his lover’s hips. Jian was shining in gold, and from the way he looked at Emmett, the bear wondered if in Jian’s mind, he too glowed and glimmered in the half light of the hotel room. Emmett couldn’t remember ever having wanted anything more in his life than to make the beautiful young man smile, and now Jian was straddling his hips, looking down at him and shinning with adoration. The boy smiled softly, and ran his fingers across Emmett’s chest.

“I love you.”

Emmett touched the head of his cock to Jian’s slick entrance, pressing towards the centre of him as heat built between their bodies. Jian mewled, his orange eyes vanishing for a moment as he bit his lower lip.

“Yes…”

Emmett did as he had been asked; unconsciously spreading Jian’s smooth cheeks open with his fingers as he brought the boy down over his crotch. The tightness made his heart thump irregularly against his ribcage.

“Xue,” Jian stroked his face gently, and smiled like royalty, “my Xue-bear…”

Emmett couldn’t hold himself back, and with a groan his slid the rest of the way into his lover, gasping at the heat and pressure around his cock. Jian purred as he was stroked, inside and out, and the vibrations that rippled through his taut body drove Emmett halfway mad with desire. They rocked together, each moving in perfect time with the other, their bodies moulded to fit, as though by some grand design, there was no better place for Jian to be than astride his lover, and no greater sensation for Emmett than to lie buried in the body of the little tiger. Pleasure was traded back and forth until both of them glowed brightly enough to light the room.

Jian screamed first, a noise that was part whimper and part cry of ecstasy as he came. His emission seared into Emmett’s flesh like a branding iron, and as Jian smiled at him, still panting, Emmett didn’t need the boy to whisper in his ear that he loved him again to bring him to the point of orgasm: which wasn’t to say that he didn’t love to hear it. Jian’s voice was soft, satisfied, shaking with the come-down from such heights, and Emmett groaned until he had no air left at all as he flooded the tight passage of his lover’s body. Emmett couldn’t have said exactly how he knew, if he had even been able to find the energy for words, but he knew that now, their scents were indelibly inked onto the other’s skin.

They parted with the lewd slap of skin on skin, and Jian folded himself instantly into the space made by Emmett’s shoulder, chest, and out flung arm, and for a while, all either of them did was pant and gasp for oxygen. Jian rolled; nuzzling Emmett’s armpit for a moment then sat up and wrinkled his nose.

“You smell like man.”

“Is that bad?” Emmett inquired, fighting off the urge to yawn.

“No,” Jian lay down again and inhaled, “sort of. Let’s go have another shower.”

“You’re gonna use up all the hot water in the place,” Emmett mumbled, only vaguely coherently. He got himself into a sitting position, then blinked awake as he stared at Jian.

The boy possessed more grace than Emmett though it was possible for any single person to contain, and it was probably a cat thing, because Jian was more feline than he had ever been before, standing in the hotel room, wriggling his bare toes into the thick plush carpeting. Emmett could have sworn that he could see, drawn out in blended points of light, the shape of the young man’s wonderfully striped tail, and the relaxed set of his ears. As he watched, one swivelled back to listen to him, just before Jian turned and glanced over his shoulder. He smiled, and the vision faded. Emmett got up, chuckling to himself, and gathered the slender young man up in his arms.

“What’s so funny?” Jian asked as they entered the bathroom.

“Oh nothing,” Emmett put him down and stepped into the shower cubicle as Jian adjusted the water. “I just realised you are a tiger after all.”

*

“Xue?” Jian sat up, his brow furrowed as he scanned the view from the windshield, “why have we stopped?”

“You’ll see, c’mon.”

The drive from Cochrane had already been long, and Emmett was happy to get out of the truck and stretch his legs. Despite the hours behind the wheel, Emmett had never been happier to be stuck inside the cab of his truck, with the man he loved. Emmett took a deep steadying breath as he glanced over at his lover, trying to calm his racing pulse, and just as all the edges in his vision turned gold, Jian took his hand and squeezed softly.

“Easy, Xue-bear.” The little not-tiger’s voice was measured and calming, but his pulse was racing just as hard as Emmett’s own. “There’s plenty of time for that later. Now, why are we here?”

“Surprise,” Emmett pressed his lips against Jian’s silky hair. Behind his eyelids, memory flashed up a vision in vivid Technicolor of Jian in his lap, his narrow fingers woven into his smooth hair, all the muscles in his little body taut and strong. Emmett had to blink very hard to dislodge Jian’s moan of pleasure from his ears.

Jian slapped his bicep with a soft snarl and stepped away.

“Stop that!”

“Sorry,” Emmett bit his lip; he hadn’t meant to pour the vision into Jian’s brain, “I didn’t m-”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Jian’s smile was honey-sweet, but he shivered visibly as the heat from the fantasy washed over him. “What’s my surprise?”

Bracebridge was a lovely little town, but for Emmett its greatest feature was the fact that it was home to the offices and adoption centre of the Moosonee Puppy Rescue. It was a funny little place, a bit ramshackle and rustic, but perfectly functional, and the puppy rescue was at least run by people who loved dogs, adored puppies, and wanted the very best for each of their charges. Jian was wide eyed and full of smiles as they stepped through the main door, because there were four young puppies playing on the other side of a long desk and safety gate. Another little black bundle of fluff was being cuddled and fussed over by a frazzled looking middle aged lady behind the desk.

“Jason?” she stared at Emmett in shock, “Jason Garrick?”

“No ma’am; I’m his oldest son Emmett.”

“Oh,” she smiled with relief, “I was wondering how your father had managed to suddenly become twenty years younger.” She placed the little black puppy into a box behind the counter to sleep; it mewled in an adorable manner. “How can I help you both?”

“This is my boyfriend Jian,” Emmett glowed to be able to introduce the little tiger as his own for the first time.

“Nice to meet you; I’m Kara.”

Jian smiled, and Emmett pulled the young man to his side with one arm.

“I’d like to give him a puppy.”

Jian gaped at him.

“Babe!”

“Go make friends, Tiger,” Emmett nodded to Kara, “I’ll deal with the paperwork.”

Adopting a puppy was not quite the same as walking into a pet store and simply handing over money. Kara introduced Jian to the four puppies of various ages that were ready for adoption before she and Emmett sat down across a table with a stack of forms.

“So I suppose I don’t need to run you through the joys and challenges of raising and owning a husky?” Emmett smiled, but shook his head. “They are not the easiest of dogs. One of you will be home full time? These dogs have had a rough, and sometimes horrible, start in life, and we only place them in homes where there will always be someone about.” Kara looked at him levelly, “occupation?”

“Associate Lecturer in Animal Population Migrations at the University of Toronto,” Emmett smiled.

“And your boyfriend?”

Emmett paused, glancing over to where Jian was now prone on the office floor, being used as a cross country climbing course by the puppies. Apart from surf, Emmett had absolutely no idea what his boyfriend wanted to do with his life.

“He’s still deciding.”

“I see. And you know how much exercise they need?”

“Lots of long walks,” Emmett promised. “He can even come to lectures with me once he’s all happy and trained up.”

“You’ll be contractually obliged to neuter him when he reaches six months,” Kara arched an eyebrow. “That won’t be a problem will it?”

“No ma’am.”

“Good. Some men have something about their dogs getting cut,” she shrugged. “I don’t understand, but I’m told it’s a ‘guy thing’. We’d best get you a pen, and you can start filling in all the forms.”

It took Emmett an hour to fill everything in, in legible block capitals, and he had to ask Jian how his last name was spelt, which was sort of embarrassing considering how proudly he had introduced the tiger as his boyfriend. Just as Emmett was signing the last page of the form, staring at the blank spaces he had left where it asked for ‘details of puppy’, he scented a change in Jian’s rich flowery aroma, and looked up to watch the boy walking towards him, a soft, fluffy, grey-blue and white husky snuggled against his chest.

“Xue, this is Pitanê,” Jian turned the little puppy to face the big polar bear, “Pitanê, this is my boyfriend Emmett,” he smiled conspiratorially at the little dog, “but we call him Xue, ‘cause really he’s a big fluffy polar bear.” The dog squirmed and licked Jian’s chin with his pink tongue. “That’s right; he is a good guy.”

“He’s the one?” Emmett asked. He held out his hand for the puppy to sniff, “Hey, little boy.”

“Oh yeah, he’s the one alright. He likes you!”

The little dog had begun to lick Emmett’s fingers, but after a moment he sneezed his adorable puppy sneeze, and crawled his way more securely into Jian’s arms. After only another minute, he wriggled, and Jian put him on the floor where Pitanê padded around in a circle, then sat exactly on the toe of Jian’s boot and yawned with a squeak.

“Pitanê?”

“It means ‘to be hopeful’ in the Plains Cree dialect,” Kara explained, “Pitanê and his sister came to us from Attawapiskat where they were discovered with their mother in the dirt crawl space under a house. The mother was in such a terrible condition,” Kara gulped audibly and blinked back the memory of tears, “that even though she was flown to the dog hospital, we couldn’t save her, and she had to be put down. The pups have been without their mother since they were six weeks.”

“Your sister is here too?” Jian asked the puppy.

“No, she was adopted a week or so ago. The family wanted him too, but Pitanê didn’t like them.” She smiled at the little pup, who yapped and tried to burrow a hole into Jian’s chest. “I think he was probably waiting for you to come along. He’s fifteen weeks old. Here,” she took the forms from Emmett, “I’ll fill in his details. Will you be keeping his name?”

Emmett glanced across at his boyfriend and grinned; Jian chuckled.

“Oh yes: to be hopeful fits very well with us.”

Kara gave them a large cardboard box with the lid cut off and one of the blankets that Pitanê and his sister had slept with to help settle the puppy into the truck for the journey ahead. Bracebridge had its own pet store, and Emmett sat in the truck, with Pitanê standing in his box on the back seat, both of them looking out of the window to the door Jian had vanished into. The puppy didn’t seem particularly interested in getting to know him, but had latched onto Jian without hesitation. The not-tiger returned from the store weighed down by two large carrier bags full of puppy goodies, and Emmett was saddened, but not surprised, when his boyfriend climbed into the back of the car with the dog. Just as he was about to pull away, Emmett felt a wash of warmth against his back, and Jian’s fingers tickled the back of his neck.

“Can’t forget my snow-bear now, can I?” he whispered. Emmett let himself be lost in the kiss, filled up by Jian’s jasmine scent until Pitanê whined from his box. “Think that’ll tide you over until we get home?”

Emmett grinned, and headed south.

“So what did you get?” Emmett glanced back into the rear-view mirror to share in Jian’s happy smile and wealth of purchases. Pitanê seemed just as interested as he was, and now that Jian was back in the car, the puppy was not so content to simply sit patiently in his box. After five minutes of placing the dog back into the box each time he tried to climb out, Jian settled for having the dog on his lap while he showed both his companions all that he had bought.

“So I got a food bowl, and a water bowl,” Jian showed the latter to Pitanê, who instantly slobbered on it, “I got the size the man in the store said would be right for him when he’s older. Kara told me the mother was a Siberian, but the dad could have been anything, and she thinks he was maybe a malamute: Pitanê could end up anywhere from forty-five to ninety pounds. You’re gonna be a big fluffy boy,” Emmett realised with the change of pitch in Jian’s voice that the tiger was no longer talking to him. “Yes you are: our good, big, fluffy boy!” Jian smiled and ruffled the dog’s ears. “Thank you, Xue.”

“I wanted to make you happy,” Emmett smiled back at his boyfriend.

“You always make me happy, Xue,” Jian’s voice reached out and stroked him, making Emmett shudder and breathe harder for a moment, “I love you; thank you.”

Jian had apparently purchased most of the shop, because apart from the water and food bowls, he also showed both Emmett and the dog several chew toys: bone shaped, dead fish shaped, and one made from tennis ball material that was dog shaped and contained a squeaker that made Pitanê yap and bark and waggle his tail in an over excited manner. Jian put that one away and told the little dog very firmly he wasn’t allowed to make himself car sick. There was a harness, similarly shaped to a pulling harness, but designed for puppies in training, and a bungee cord for it; a normal flat leather lead about eight feet long that could be folded and hooked to shorten it for walking in town; a collar, bright orange, with a quick release buckle and an empty D-ring ready for Pitanê’s identity tag; a squashy paw-print fleece covered dog bed that looked for all the world like a giant pillow; a puppy toothbrush and chicken liver flavoured toothpaste; and an entire bag of mixed treats and puppy-sweets, along with a large bag of the kibble Kara had recommended to them because of its high meat content. Jian had also purchased the dog’s next round of worming tablets and flea drops.

“And how often do we have to do that?”

“I think every three months? Oh, once he’s an adult,” Jian examined the boxes, “we do the flea treatment every month forever, and it also kills ticks. The wormer is a puppy one, and we do it every month until he’s six months old, then he changes to a different tablet, and it’s every three months.”

“He’s gonna run our schedule, huh?” Emmett glanced up to find the little puppy watching him, one grey and white ear folded out sideways, a frown on his little face. “Are you listening to me there Pitanê?”

For the first time, the puppy yapped happily at him, and within moments had squirmed his way out of Jian’s lap, somehow managed to cross the foot well and scrabbled with his little paws against the centre console between the front seats.

“Whoa there, little boy!” Emmett put a hand out over Pitanê’s back to steady the young dog as he pulled over onto the hard shoulder. “He’s an explorer, huh?”

“Curious and hopeful,” Jian smiled, “I think he suits us very well.” He smiled as the puppy clambered his way into Emmett lap, and put his paws up on the steering wheel with a little yap. “Good idea Pitanê, I think we should all go sit up front.”

Jian exited out into the chill air and shut the passenger side door before the dog had a chance to escape, and he brought with him the bed-cushion, blanket, and Pitanê’s new collar. Emmett wrapped his hands around the dogs little chest, holding him tight and feeling Pitanê’s little heart beating hard against his fingers as Jian set the collar to the right length and fastened in around his neck with a little click. Pitanê yapped, his tail wagging furiously and beating against Emmett’s abdomen and arm.

“I think he likes it,” Emmett let Pitanê escape from his hands and scamper back over to Jian, who had the cushion beside him on the seat, and the puppies familiarly scented blanket spread out over bed and lap, “you keep him over there now. I don’t really think puppies and driving go very well together.”

“Sure,” Jian stroked the dog as he lay down, suddenly exhausted by so much new experience, “Emmett?”

Emmett looked across at the boy he loved, shining and smiling in the front seat of the truck. Jian used his name so rarely that Emmett was nearly worried about the serious expression on his face.

“Tiger?”

“I love you: you bought me a dog.”

“Yes?” Emmett grew slightly more concerned, but then Jian reached out and touched his thigh, and Emmett felt flooded with warm orange-red love that smelt like Jian. “Babe?”

“I want to stay with you forever.”

“Then we want the same things.”

“One day,” Jian took a deep breath, “one day I want you to come to the beach with me.”

“Alright,” Emmett felt that he would have agreed to go to the moon if it meant Jian kept on smiling, “but for now let’s focus on getting this little guy trained, and maybe telling your family that you have a boyfriend now.”

“Oh no!” Jian put a hand over his mouth as his eyes went wide, “what the hell is Rain gonna say when we bring home a puppy?”