Chapter Text
"What's the matter, pup?" old Mags, the half-blind dog warden, crooned to Peeta as she offered her hand for him to sniff through the bars of the cage.
He whimpered in response, wishing his head would quit throbbing.
Mags was a gentle soul, who years ago spearheaded the effort to open a no-kill shelter in Panem, long before the idea took off in the mainstream. "You're such a pretty boy; you know that? Now I wonder," she studied Peeta intently, her cloudy eyes focusing on him as best they could, "are you a husky or maybe a kind of sled dog?"
Only our half-blind dog-catcher wouldn't recognize a wolf, Peeta thought, giving her age-spotted hands a nudge and sniff. I guess I should be thankful she hasn't had cataract surgery yet.
He pulled his head back quickly from her friendly overture, his over-heightened canine senses going bonkers over what he'd found; Mags smelled like bacon grease this morning. Typically he didn't mind that scent- who didn't like bacon?- but this morning, it made his stomach churn. That was entirely his fault, though, and he laid on last night's drunken rampage- the one that had landed him in here. He'd behaved like such an idiot.
Shapeshifting werewolves, or wolves as they were known to their human counterparts, had inhabited the woods surrounding Panem for hundreds of years and lived amongst the people in human form for almost as long. No one thought much of seeing a wolf roam the city's outlying fields or groups of them congregating on the edges of farmland. Seeing a wolf roam the middle of town on a Friday night, however? That had gotten him busted by the law, more specifically the dog warden. None of this would've happened if Peeta hadn't gotten into old man Abernathy's moonshine with his brother earlier in the night.
Rye had better spring me out of here, and quick, he thought, resting his head on his paws. The cage he was in was too small for his human form, and that made transforming out of the question. Members of the pack could never let humans watch them shapeshift. He had to hang tight for now.
"Are you hungry, boy?" Mags asked, unlocking his door a moment later and sliding in a bowl of kibble.
Peeta whined, turning his face from the food. Even if he hadn't felt as though he might get sick in here, he only ate dog food as a last resort.
Yes, he'd tasted kibble, and no, he didn't like it.
"Maybe you got into something nasty while you were out on your own, a dead animal or something? Did it give you a tummy ache, I wonder..." Peeta coughed a little, covering the gag he felt at the idea of decomposing roadkill. Run-of-the-mill wolves might eat roadkill, but his kind would not.
"Here's some water for you,' Mags told him conversationally as she slid the second dish inside the crate.
Peeta couldn't help it, he yipped and put his head in the bowl, taking long, undignified slurps of the water. He typically didn't like eating or drinking in his wolf form, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. What he wished for was some aspirin or Pepto tablets.
She continued speaking to him in that gentle, soothing tone she reserved for the animals in her care. "Drink up. I still can't believe I didn't find a microchip on you somewhere. I know someone has to be missing you- so don't worry, boy, I'd wager your owner will be here soon enough."
The old woman pottered around the holding area, which only had Peeta in residence at the moment. "You finish that up, and we'll move you to the big room. You don't want to stay back here all alone, do you?"
"Come on in girls," Mags said, unlocking the door to the corridor lining the holding rooms for the dogs and shuffling backward out of the way. The steel door Mags wrangled weighed almost as much as she did, and it was like playing hell to keep the force of it from slamming her against the wall.
Prim bolted through the moment it opened while Katniss followed much more slowly, shaking her head at her sister's antics.
"Talk you into coming again?" Mags asked, patting the older teen on the back. It wasn't a real question.
Katniss nodded curtly and let her lips curl up in the slightest hint of a smile. "Yep," she drawled.
It had become the sister's habit over the last several months, since the first weekend Katniss had her driver's license and the keys to her mom's rusty station wagon, to visit the local shelter on Saturday mornings and help Mags with the strays. The two girls would typically walk the dogs, help her feed the animals, and clean up the pens.
Any time Mags tried to thank Katniss for her help she would mutter something about how great volunteering would look on her college application. She always shook her head at Katniss's attitude; that girl didn't know the first thing about taking a compliment or credit for anything, either.
"Who do we have this morning?" Prim asked, walking down the corridor and peeking her head in at each of the dogs.
"Oh, we're not too full this morning. The usual cast of suspects is here, plus one I picked up this morning. He's kind of a big fella, unneutered, caught snarling at some teenage boys hanging around outside of the movie theater," Mags said. "One of the boys who reported him was that one who's got a thing for you… what was his name?" she snapped her fingers when the name came to her recollection. "Gale Hawthorne! He's the one."
Katniss shook her head and walked over to the corner where Mags kept the leashes hanging from a hook. "Does anyone need to be walked?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"Katniss went out on a date with Gale last night," Prim volunteered unexpectedly, giggling under her breath.
Katniss dropped the leash from her hand.
"Did he call while you were with him, Kat?" Prim continued.
"No, he didn't. And Prim," Katniss scowled at her sister, "shut up."
"Really? Well, Gale is a good looking boy," Mags volunteered, surprised but wholly oblivious to the tension hanging between the girls. She wouldn't have pegged that Hawthorne kid as Katniss's type. He was too big and broody, his personality too much like hers. She'd seen him running around town with a lot of different girls. "You going out with him again?"
"I don't think so," Katniss volunteered softly, "we didn't hit it off."
Meanwhile, Prim peered into the crate where the new dog was resting. "Hey there, boy," she greeted him, her tone gentle.
The dog was big, with silvery-blond fur and a wide stance, but appeared as if he were still a juvenile. He stared back with very un-doglike blue eyes and whined, giving Prim the distinct impression that he was in pain. But that wasn't the only thing that seemed off about him. "What kind of dog is this, Mags?" she finally asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Husky or something like that, I think."
Katniss walked over then, coming to a stop next to her sister and peering into the pen. The big male seemed to perk up at the sight of her, before ducking his head and using his paws to cover his face.
"He seems embarrassed," Prim giggled, nudging her sister. "He is a boy dog- he must think you're pretty!"
Katniss ignored her sister's ribbing. "You need to get your eyes checked, Mags. That's a wolf," she said after studying him for a moment. "At least part wolf."
"Katniss, hush," Prim hissed, glaring at her sister before glancing over to see if Mags had been paying attention.
The older woman continued humming as she sorted through paperwork on her desk, blissfully alone in her own world.
Prim breathed a sigh of relief.
So far, so good.
"Well, it is!" Katniss countered, jarring her sister back to reality.
"What do you think is going to happen to a wolf at the dog shelter? They don't have a way to take care of something like that here. Mags will have to call someone from the state to come in and get him if she finds out."
Katniss scowled at her younger sister- leave it to Prim to be so concerned about a wild animal's welfare. Well, half-wild, at least. The dog (or whatever he was) seemed pretty tame.
Maybe he had an owner somewhere.
Still, Katniss put up an argument. "If I know he's a wolf, and you know he's a wolf, don't you think anyone else who comes in here and takes one look at him is going to figure out what he is? Mags is going to know sooner rather than later."
Prim bit her lip and turned to study the dog again.
His solemn gaze shifted back and forth between the girls. He seemed to be listening to their conversation very carefully.
"Why don't we take him home? He isn't safe here- someone from the game warden's office will come to get him, and then what?"
Katniss laughed. Her sister had to be the only twelve-year-old who knew about the inner workings of animal management in local government. "No way. We can't take him home. That thing, whatever he is, he might eat Buttercup, and then you'd feel terrible."
"He seems very civilized…" Prim countered, turning to face Katniss head-on.
"There's a lot to think about when taking in a dog. He'd… he'd hurt you if he decided to hump your leg. Look how big he is!" Katniss sputtered out.
Prim rolled her eyes. "Aww, he wouldn't do that. Look at that sweet face of his!"
The dog was staring at them with his head cocked and his jaw hanging loose. His expression was almost incredulous.
Katniss stared at him. He was very sweet looking. But instead of giving in to her sister's pleading and her own softening towards him, she shook her head. "Prim, sweet or not- that dog is not coming home with us."
"Thanks for taking him off my hands, girls," Mags said as she opened the back end of the station wagon to let the wolf-dog climb in. "If his owner turns up, I'll send them your way."
"Oh, don't worry. It's no problem at all. Maybe we'll end up keeping him- I've always wanted a dog," Prim chirped, patting the dog on top of his head.
Peeta turned his head just enough to lick her palm and gaze at her with nervous eyes.
Once Katniss shut the hatch behind him, he laid down in the back of the station wagon, fighting the full-throttle panic that was taking over. This wasn't supposed to happen- he wasn't supposed to be going home from the shelter with a family. Shit, he had a shift at the bakery in two hours. He was going to be in so much trouble when his mother found out about this.
Everything about this morning was just abso-fuckin-loutley fantastic.
Peeta got up in the back end of the station wagon just long enough to turn in a circle several times before laying back down again. He was too agitated to sit still.
How was he supposed to get away from them and find somewhere he could change back to human form?
And to make things a million times more awkward, you know, because this wasn't his idea of hell on earth or already, it wasn't just any random girl taking him home, it was Katniss - the girl of his dreams and the entire reason he'd made an ass of himself and gotten locked up last night.
Not that any of that was her fault, no- Peeta was a big boy (wolf?), and he would take responsibility for his actions, which had been idiotic. He'd spotted Katniss walking out of Sae's with Gale Hawthrone last night and seen red. Fucking Gale with his hands on her back, Gale as he leaned in and tried to kiss her. Peeta couldn't help feeling like he was getting punished for being too much of a chicken shit to ask her out on a date himself.
Peeta had been so drunk he hadn't realized that he'd shapeshifted before going after Gale, barking and snarling as if he were rabid. Which hadn't been ideal- although looking back on it, if he ever did want to try talking to Katniss, it was probably better that she didn't know it had been him acting like a jackass that night.
And now he was in a huge mess because of that behavior. He just needed to figure out how to get out of the Everdeen's home and back to his place before things got any worse.
Well, maybe Peeta would wait just a tad longer before sneaking home.
He was finding it hard to leave once he ended up sprawled out on the couch with his head resting on Katniss's lap. She was using her nails to scratch the top of his head, and behind his ears, something he'd just discovered was his idea of heaven in wolf form.
Peeta knew he'd have to be careful, or he might end up humping her leg before the day was out- and there was no coming back from that brand of shame.
"Scruffy seems happy," Prim said, petting the smooth fur of his back.
"Scruffy" sighed again and closed his eyes. That's not a very original name, Peeta thought. But it's not like I can stay with them for long, so what does it matter? She could call me Shithead if she wanted to.
"He sure does like you, doesn't he? I thought he was going to be my dog. Huh." Prim continued, her tone of voice a little salty.
Katniss laughed, bending over Scruffy's head and kissing the space between his ears, letting her lips linger there before laying her head on his and curling her entire body in towards him.
"He's not a pillow," Prim said.
"I disagree," Katniss said. The dog's fur was soft, warm, and silky, and he smelled good, not a scent one would associate with a dog. It was more like cookies, which was unexpected but pleasant.
Katniss had never really been a dog person, so it was surprising how safe and comfortable she felt with this one. Her anxiety melted away as she cuddled with him.
"I've never seen you that affectionate with a person, let alone a dog," Prim continued.
"Maybe he can be my therapy dog," Katniss said. "I need something after seeing Gale last night- which was terrible, by the way. And Scruffy is a very good boy, much nicer than human ones."
"Your date with Gale couldn't have been that bad," Prim chided.
"It was," Katniss said. "He wouldn't keep his hands off of me! He kept trying to touch my butt."
Peeta nuzzled against her gently, but he couldn't help but rub his head against her in a territorial manner.
If only leaving his scent on her actually would work to keep human guys away. I knew something was wrong, that bastard. That's okay, Katniss- I'll be your therapy dog as long as you want me to, he thought.
"I wouldn't complain if his brother's hands were all over me." Prim giggled. "Rory is cute ."
Katniss sat up and glared at her sister. "You are not allowed to say things like that. You're twelve. You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yeah, and you're sixteen. You should want guys to hold you and kiss you," Prim countered. "Don't act like there's something wrong with me when you're the one who's a weirdo."
"I'm not- Prim, I'm not a weirdo! Why would you want some guy you aren't even interested in putting his hands all over you?" Katniss asked as she rested her head on Scruffy again. She was instantly calmer. Maybe they really should keep him.
"Why wouldn't you?" Prim teased.
Katniss sighed. "With that attitude, you are never, ever going to be allowed to date, so that you know."
Can't say I blame you for that Katniss. She's too cute, and there are too many assholes looking for nice girls to take advantage of, Peeta thought as his eyes slipped closed. He was fully aware that he needed to figure out a way to get home, but the drunken night and short amount of sleep he'd gotten had caught up with him. He couldn't fight the drowsiness off any longer if he tried.
Peeta was so damn comfortable laying draped across the girl of his dreams, and Katniss was petting his head and telling him he was a good boy… not to mention she'd just validated his distrust of his arch-nemesis Gale.
And well- maybe he was a good boy after all.
It was only moments later that he was snoring lightly.