19)

I woke up at the age of fourteen for the first time with an oversized puppy leaping up and down on my bed, before throwing itself on top of me and squirming its way in under the sheet to lick my ear.

“Ugg! No Saku, no kisses!”

Then she was off of me, off of the bed, and racing around the bedroom I was going to have to leave behind today.

Of course, she was a girl dog, Great Grandmother did not trifle with males.

“I guess you need to go outside?”

Saku froze in place with her head twisted towards me, before leaping onto the bed again, then from one side to the other, leaping over me again and again while barking in little yips.

“I guess you do.”

Sweat shorts, tee shirt, and socks, then I opened the door and leaned to the side as I took the hit from an excited puppy as it rammed her way pass me in the door, rather to let it hurt itself running into a steady leg. The little gal felt even lighter than she looked as she bounced off of me, all bones and fur.

She raced down the steps, around the bend, and then came back up to see what was taking me so long, giving me a single questioning stare and a “Woof” before racing down the steps again.

I went over the railing to catch up with her, lightening myself a bit so I didn’t wake anyone up by slamming down on the steps with a thud.

On the next step down I could smell sausages cooking in the kitchen down below.

Werewolves.. the sun is hardly up and they’re already getting something ready to eat.

Downstairs I could hear claws tapping on linoleum, and my Grandfather and Gruncle trying to hype my puppy up so much she was going to have an accident. By the time I got into the kitchen though Saku had gone silent as I saw my Grandpa tossing her bits of a bratwurst sausage to her.

“Grandpa no! People food is bad for dogs, and what you eat is even worse for her.”

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He grinned at me and tossed the last bit of the sausage in his mouth before chewing it up. My Gruncle Drew laughed and turned to me. "He headed out around two in the morning to get your dog a collar and a leash, as well as some puppy chow. He's just spoiling his Grandpup."

So that left me standing there feeling both annoyed and grateful, but I settled on annoyed as my puppy barked for more sausage. When I turned to chew him out he held up his hands in surrender. "They're all beef, low sodium too, I got a guy in the butcher's department at Redd’smart.”

He pointed over to the wrought iron lounge chair in the sunroom with a bright green and black nylon leash coiled up on the seat. “They had a machine for the tag, I put the Sheriff’s office for the address and phone number. Hope I spelled the name right.”

I checked and call Saku over to put the collar on the overexcited squirming pup. “Yep, you spelled it right.” I also checked the address but didn't ask why. I don't think having someone use my dog to find out where I lived was much of a danger. But the old man was still worried about protecting me and my family, even if he often didn't know how exactly to go about doing so.

But sending anyone trying to track me down to his law enforcement Super Werewolf girlfriend who had nearly a hundred other Werewolves, many of whom were heavily armed, on call was a good start.

So out the door, I went for nearly a half hour of being dragged along by a little black doggy who wanted to sniff at everything before she finally peed just a little in nearly a dozen different places before racing me back to the house.

I was going to have to learn how to train her because I was not going to be doing that every morning, it would cut into my morning run time.

Back in the kitchen, I had my parents, Grandma Bree, and a sleepy Ami and Aran waiting for me. My Dad hefted Ami up into his arms despite her age and headed out the door I had just opened. “We got some business at our new home before we move in.”

The others shuffled out the door as well. Only Grandma Bree explaining that, “It time to set the final Wards, once those are set even I would be weakened if I entered without an invitation or with ill intent.”

She had done most of the work before the foundations had even been set, even having Ami and me bury the stones we had copied the symbols from her tablet onto as one of her lessons. “Three of the same blood, witches all, will make for a strong ward that will only grow in strength throughout the generations. Even if the house passes into the hands of others, it will still protect those who make this their home.”

Today was a lot simpler. Mom passed around some envelopes containing hair from our last haircuts. "We had planned on doing this in a metal bucket on the back deck at home when Ami started showing her power, but a fireplace is supposed to be even better."

Grandma made a “tsk” sound at her. “It’s a hearth, even if you never cook on it. Your stove or John’s barbecue would have been a better choice than a bucket."

My Mom narrowed her eyes. “I’m not burning hair where I cook… Nevermind.”

From what I had learned so far, blood would have been better than hair, even just three drops. But my Grandmother knew better than to start a fight that wasn't worth winning.

Besides, her next lesson would probably be how to upgrade the wards with our own blood when we could do so without the parents ever knowing. At least Aunt Rosaria wasn't setting the wards, she probably would have just stabbed everyone with some magical flying needles and claimed we were being babies if we complained.

After that we got to eat with the entire family split up with the adults in the dining room, and the kids either at the breakfast bar or outside on the patio.

“No Suka, no begging. Aran stop feeding her, I don’t want her to learn to beg.” My little brother was fascinated with my dog, staring at her with wide eyes. He wasn't trying to pet her at all, only slipping her a little bit of food while grinning at her with the same smile he got while playing with his toys.

After we finished eating I found out why my Grandfather had us to wait to move into our new home.

All of the extended family who had traveled across the country to celebrate my birthday, bringing gifts no less, now found themselves getting pressed into being free labor by my Grandfather. Hauling over our accumulated belonging and new furniture which had been being stored in his basement until the house was ready.

Evil old man.