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Five pm was precisely when the bulk of her day care clients cas and, unfortunately, just the walk across the large rooh for Zach to attract a shocking amount of fele or happily randuy like Zach Sullivan needed was a puppy to net for even et outside, he put the dog down on the grass Cuddles i her tail She could tell fro beside her that he wanted to play, too, but he was too well trained to break protocol on a whi did your brother have Cuddles before he asked you to watch her?"

"A couple of days"

She was glad to hear the slate was fairly clean, at least "The first few days with a puppy are really important They can be so cute that even when you want to keep to the rules, you end up breaking thehs three pounds," he said as Cuddles began to roll on the grass "How iven a little freedom?"

Heather knew far too well the price of freedos who felt lost and afraid in a boundaryless world, but for wo men like Zach Sullivan Men anted what they wanted, when they wanted it, without any regard for anyone else--and got it

"Freedom is overrated," she told him in a hard voice When he raised an eyebrow at her tone, she et, she’s recently been taken away from her mother and litterate our world Just like thiscould happen to her It’s your job to watch over her, and to teach her how to stay safe"

"This isn’t just a business for you," he noted "You really care about dogs, don’t you?"

Surprised that he had any insight whatsoever into her, she put her hand on Atlas’s back and said, "So "What happened to him?"

Atlas’s ears perked up when he realized they were talking about hi attention to her subtle cues, rather than being too busy ad his reflection in herto notice the world around him

"I found Atlas at a puppy mill"

"A puppy mill?"

"It’s where unscrupulous breeders crank out asbucks His left ear flopped to the side just enough that no one wanted to buy hi hirass "Rough start, huh?" Atlas not only let the big"Lucky you, getting to go home with Heather"