"Sasha is a wolf," I said carefully, redirecting a little to hopefully easier topics. "Will she shift soon? Or has she already?"
"Pups don't shift for the first time until they're around four or five," Archer explained. "They keep warmer that way with the extra fur while they're little."
"I see." A sudden idea occurred to me, and it made my blood pound with anticipation. "When I first woke up here, you offered Sasha to me to hold." I sawed my teeth across my lower lip, my cheeks flushing at how badly I'd reacted to that. She was just a baby. Completely harmless, Archer had said. "Um, so, can I do that now?"
"No," Grady said simply.
The word crushed me far more than I ever thought it could.
"Not until you wash your hands in the snow. You didn't wipe all of Archer's blood on my coat." There was almost a smile in Grady's rough voice, or at least the suggestion of one down deep.