The Defender

Joe brought Quest up to be weighed and fed. As they worked, he asked, “My mother has always loved parakeets. I was raised with one around the house. Did you ever have a parakeet when you were a kid?”

A shaft of pain struck. Swallowing, Katie found herself blurting out the truth. “My growing up years weren’t exactly great. I never had a pet of any kind.” She compressed her lips to stop the flow of words. What on earth had she just said? Katie was normally very secretive about her childhood. She looked over quickly at Joe, dismayed at his perplexed gaze. Who wanted to hear her sad story? She was sorry she’d said anything. “Most kids don’t have great childhoods.”

A flush raced across Katie’s pale skin. Joe saw her gulp and quickly avoid his eyes as she fed Quest. He’d touched a nerve. He knew from her record that her childhood had been a massive, ongoing car wreck. How she’d survived amazed him because she seemed so damn fragile and otherworldly. His job was to get her to talk and trust him. Joe searched his memory for something that wasn’t as prickly a subject that she might respond to.

“Life can be hard.”

His voice was low with understanding. Katie’s anxiety shifted and dissolved. He stood with the peregrine on his glove. She felt a powerful sense of protection emanating from the man. The knot in her stomach lessened. “Your life as a Marine Corps officer was very dangerous.”

Joe knew she wanted to avoid talking about her childhood. Okay, he’d go where she wanted. “I liked what I did in the Marines, Katie.” There, he’d used her name. Joe had seen an instant response as her name rolled off his lips in a husky whisper. Katie’s expression changed instantly and more of the darkness left her exquisite dark blue eyes. Katie was deeply touched by the simplest things, he realized. “I liked being a leader. And I had good men working under my command. We shared a common bond and brotherhood.”

“Yes, but you nearly died in Afghanistan.”

“Came close,” Joe agreed, one corner of his mouth tucking inward. “I’ll be back.” He went to put Quest away.

Katie waited until Joe brought up Hank, the red-tailed hawk. The raptor was eyeing Joe, as if deciding whether he liked him. Then she smiled as Hank ruffled his plumage. Yep, Joe had won him over. After weighing the hawk, she said, “I’m sure your parents were worried when you were wounded. I can’t think of a more awful place to be as a parent.”

He liked her sensitivity. Katie could feel for other people and realize the pressures and stresses upon them. Originally, he’d thought she might be completely self-centered, as drug addicts and children of drug addicts sometimes were. He was wrong and the discovery made him happy for no accountable reason. “Yes, my poor mother was stripping gears to find out about my medical condition. Eventually, they flew to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany to be with me.”

“Wow,” Katie said, feeding Hank, “that must have cost them a lot of money.”

“It did. But you do anything for the ones you love. They cashed in their retirement savings. I was one happy guy when they showed up. I’d just come out of surgery, and to wake up and see my mom and dad at my bedside was a huge plus for me.”

“I can imagine. I can remember so many times when I wished my parents had been there for me.”

Katie was sorry she’d said anything.

Gently, he said, “What do you mean?” It was an opening. Would she go there? Fear and anxiety suddenly came over her expression. His gut tightened. Could someone fake such a visceral reaction? Joe didn’t know. Katie looked genuinely stressed over her admission.

Katie looked away. “Don’t mind me, Joe. I’m emotionally off today. I’m just not myself. Go ahead and take Hank back to his mew.”

So close and yet, so far away... Joe nodded and carried Hank to his mew. For a split second, he’d thought Katie would divulge something about her past to him. And then she’d closed up like a safe.

In the last mew was a female great horned owl with the name of Athena. This owl was the largest of its kind in the United States. She was multicolored with black, white, gray and brown feathers. Athena’s sharply pointed feather ears made her appear alert. She was snoozing on a large perch at the back of the mew when Joe disturbed her. Opening her huge round eyes, Athena stared unblinkingly at him.

“Is Athena a cranky sort when you wake her up?” he called to Katie

Katie walked to the entrance. “No, why?”

“She’s giving me a funny look.”

“Oh, Athena is a really slow awakener. If you think Moon was slow, Athena’s ten times worse.”

Glancing toward her, Joe grinned and said, “Hey, I relate to that. When I was a teenager, my mother used to pound on my door forever to wake me up. I was always a deep, late sleeper.”

“And you were probably late more than once to catch the school bus?” Katie guessed, feeling warmth drench her as he gave her that very male smile. Hungrily, she absorbed the care banked in Joe’s eyes. His mouth was beautifully shaped and she found herself staring at it. Inwardly, Katie felt her heart beat a little faster as he shared that intimate smile with her. It made her feel desired. Those unexpected sensations flummoxed her. Katie didn’t know what to do. Joe made her feel special when she knew she was not.

“Yep, you guessed it. My mother about pulled all the hair out of her head during my teen years. I was a late sleeper. Even two alarm clocks wouldn’t wake me up.” He chuckled fondly over those memories. Athena finally walked up to where he had his gauntlet placed against the branch. She fluffed her feathers repeatedly and then climbed, one foot at a time, onto Joe’s proffered glove.

“Are you still like that?” Katie wondered as Joe walked to the mew door.

“No. I got the stuffing kicked out of me in college. After graduation and joining the Marine Corps, I was one of the lightest sleepers in the world.”

“And when you came home to visit your parents, I wonder if your mom wasn’t surprised?” Katie laughed.

Joe allowed Athena to hop onto the perch to be weighed. The owl began whistling softly at Katie, who was holding a leg of a rabbit for her. Joe read the numbers and she jotted them down. She held up the rabbit leg. Athena opened her mouth and promptly grabbed it. Katie was always amazed how a long foreleg of a rabbit could disappear into the owl’s throat so quickly, but it did. Once the meat and bone were gobbled down, Athena fluffed and then her eyelids half closed.