This story goes out to Ghostjae. I hope you, and everyone else, will enjoy it.
"Ha-woooooooo!"
I smiled and shook my head as Kiba howled at the full moon. He was definitely a playful puppy, and the local pack of wolves have learned to tolerate his marking my territory with Penny, the grown pitbull keeping a watch over the little party.
Penny was about ten years old, a fully grown pitbul powerful enough to probably bust down a door with only a little effort. She never would, though, unless commanded... Without my order to attack or do anything violent, she was a loyal watch dog and the sweetest thing you'd ever meet. Kiba, however, was a trip. His mother was a husky, a grown dog by the time I adopted Penny. She was a gorgeous husky that wound up mating with a wolf. A few of the people around took some of the pups, and Kiba is mine.
So, I get to deal with a mix of loveable pup and feisty wolf with a loveable guardian. I lived up in Montana, enjoying the lack of business and the cool weather. A gentle snow started falling, but the full moon was still un-obstructed as Kiba reared back again. "Ha-woooooo!"
I started to chuckle, but a very unfamiliar howl joined in with Kiba's. I looked around the trees, wondering why it sounded like a human imitating a wolf... As I looked around, the snow fell more, obstructing my vision a bit and adding to the few inches on the ground. Penny stood up, ears tracking sounds I couldn't hear. Kiba was already hopping his way through the snow, toward a clearing in the woods.
"Kiba!" Penny understood and dashed after Kiba, faster than I could dig my feet out of the snow to run after the two. Before I went, I stopped... I could see the clearing, but the sky above was clear. I kept looking up to find snow falling from a cloudless sky. Something was wrong... I reached into a pocket of my coat and unseathed the knife I kept on me at all times, hanging on as I took off after the two sets of canine footprints in the snow.
The closer I got, it seemed, the harder it snowed. Eventually, despite being in a nearly straight line, the tracks eventually had faded away. To my luck, there was no howling wind... just a curtain of snow. I raised my free hand to my mouth, cupping it to call out, "Kiba! Penny!" A steady stream of barks came from straight in front of me, maybe just to my left. It was Penny, and her bark was strong... She was safe, at least. I finally arrived, hearing Kiba's happy barks and Penny's whine as she came over to me before back to wherever she had stopped.
Suddenly, she dashed off and took something into her mouth, holding on so whatever it was couldn't escape. I saw someone standing, but... wait, the snow started thinning once it was held onto. I could make out a distinctly human shape. The snow finally stopped, and Kiba was running happy circles around the lady as Penny held a very gentle drip on the hem of her coat. What I could see of her face was frightened, and a bit frightening.
Her skin was fair and pale. Her mouth looked worried, and between her nose and lips were the beginnings of whiskers. Literally, canine whiskers poking out of her cheeks. Scarier, and oddly even more beautiful, were her eyes, wide with fear and shaped like a wolf's, soft with warmth despite the fear. She dared not move, though I felt she was feral in her own way. Kiba barked happily up at her, causing her to snap out of the trance and look down at the puppy pawing at the legs of her pants.
"Penny, you can let go." Penny let go of the girl's coat... the grip was so loose that it really just slid out. Whoever this lady was, she was apparently taking a risk based off some kind of trust with the dogs. She knelt down and Kiba instantly jumped at her face, attacking it with playful kisses. It brought out pure, childish laughter as she started petting it with glove-covered hands. "Hi... Who are you?"
A sigh was my answer. "Your dogs are sweet... And very well raised." Her eyes closed, and I could faintly see her nostrils flaring. "You reek of fear, but... no malice. I suspected these dogs were raised to reflect their master, and I guess I was right."
I blushed a bit and crossed my arms, trying to hide the knife I drew earlier. "Thank you, but... that doesn't answer my question, if it's not rude."
The lady smiled a bit and shook her head before removing her hood. I was greeted by ears popping up from her brown hair, confirming that she was some kind of demi-human. "Alice. Every so often, someone like you is sensed to have such a strong, friendly bond with certain animals that people from my world want to see it firsthand. It happens most often with felines, and lord knows how many of you humans want the rabbits to visit. Me? I saw you, and your pets' trusts in you. So... I'm here."
I nodded and stepped slowly to her. My caution was obvious, I could tell, since she cleared some snow to make a kind of seat for me. I plopped on my butt next to her and dropped my knife to the side, wanting to show trust despite caution. "So... you're actually here to just see me? Or friendship?"
She shook her head and tucked up against my side. "To be your pet, too, if you'll allow." I looked down and read her eyes... I'd been around dogs forever. It was easy to see an extreme amount of hope in them.
I smiled and... well, I didn't know if I should hold her like a dog or a person. So, I settled on both. I tucked the bridge of my nose against her forehead while wrapping my arms around her, smiling to seal it. "Sounds good... I don't want to make your trip in vain, that's for sure."
A childish, happy squeal assaulted my ears as I was bowled over in a hug. A happy growl emnated from Alice as I was squeezed enough for my lungs to empty. "Oh, thank you-u-u!"
My laughter started until I wound up grazing my arm on the knife I dropped earlier. "Gah!" I jerked my arm up, a light cut having shown up on it.
Alice started looking around, frantically putting two and two together to make everything BUT four. "Oh, no! I hurt you, and... wait, that knife? You had it out... You thought I'd hurt you? And now I did, you won't want me around, I'm sorry!" Snow started pouring immediately as I barely caught her arm before she could run off. Despite it, I could see her looking at me, worried and almost scared again. Her nostrils flared and her eyes caught the wound on my arm before she dropped down and held my arm to look at it. "Oh, I'm sorry... I wish I could help, but I don't know about your cuts, andβ"
As much as I appreciated her concern, the frantic panic needed to end. My other arm took her head softly from behind and pulled her into me, letting her sink into my arms and clothing as she stared up at my still-smiling face. The snow died down all over again and she finally smiled, curling up. As she did, a tail sprouted from under the part of her coat that slid up, and started wagging quickly. Penny stood up and shook the snow off her, while Kiba was still rolling around like a puppy.
So much snow... "Alice, I'm not upset at you for what happened. I was stupid to let the knife lie instead of put it away properly. But what's with the snow? I know you're related. How does it keep appearing and vanishing like that?"
Her face relaxed a bit; she was happy for a change in subject. "My kind lives in a snowy place, too. So when coming from there to here, snowfall came with it. A normal trip would only make a few flakes, but I was so worried you wouldn't like me, I kept the doorway open. Kiba and Penny kept me from leaving until I was assured you were okay... It was just me panicing again. I opened it again thinking you wouldn't want me around after that... I'm sorry, master."
"Master?" The word surprised me... and sent a warm wave of tingles right down me. Hearing it was... nice.
"Yup! I came here to be your pet, if you'll allow, so you're my master!"
"Heheh..." So I had a canine girl as a pet. "If you know other people that go through like this, how do the relationships usually wind up? I'm curious." It wasn't meant to be something to base the relationship on, just understand what she thought she was getting into.
"Most times? Sex, really. I haven't met a girl who jumped worlds who didn't want to flaunt their bodies to whoever they revealed themselves to. I don't doubt some just become friends, but a lot of the girls are just willing to manipulate people by giving them what they want."
"I could imagine that." I stood up, smiling as I held my cut arm out to Alice. She looked at the wound with regret but took my hand as I helped her up. "Come on. Let's go home, then, and get you acquainted." Another happy squeak met my ear as she clung to my side, but she gasped and slid her hand away the moment she came close to the wound again. A happy squeeze got her to calm down again. "Silly. Kiba, Penny, and Janice gave me my share of hurt from accidents, yet you see how they turned out... minus Janice. I miss her."
"Oh, yeah... Kiba's mom." She took the lead, apparently able to smell her way to my home as Penny and Kiba trotted along behind us. "I really don't mind where this ends up, as long as I can see you every day. Your love for canines was strongly felt, and Kiba and Penny really seem to agree you're a good person."
I chuckled again and knelt over, scooping up a restless Kiba into my arms. He immeditely raised on my arm to lick at my face, making me stop. Alice laughed brightly and joined in, lapping a very dog-like tongue over my face like Kiba. I eventually had to pull back from the affection to breathe, wiping my face off with a frosty sleeve until I could spot my house's back light shining.