Oakley's Vacation (with audio)

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part One

Chapter One: Puppy Love

Anne had left explicit instructions in her message. Go to her apartment and there was someone she wanted me to meet. No, she wouldn't be there, but it was okay. Just let myself in with the spare key she had given me for emergencies or to crash if I drank to much and just needed a place from time to time. 

Her friend had a surprise for me, and she would explain what to do next. 

Fuckin' Anne. Always trying to set me up. 

But after what she had gone through in the past six months, I could cut her some slack. 

So, after work, rather than braving the traffic for the suburbs, I walked the three blocks to her apartment building and went up the elevator to the seventh floor and walked down the hallway and to the left to stand in front of her door—738. 

“I don't know why I let you talk me into these things, Anne,” I said as I fished inside my purse for the key. “You know none of your hook-ups for me have worked out.” 

I was still sighing and shaking my head as I slipped the key into the lock and twisted it. The door clicked open and I pushed it inside. 

Imagine my surprise to see a super cute, part Collie puppy sitting in the foyer, looking up at me and wagging its tail like it was trying to achieve liftoff. 

Leaving the door open behind me, I dropped to my knees and started to rub the dog's scruffy neck fluff. “Awwww,” I said in my “reserved for children, puppies, and kitties” voice, and the dog reached up with its nose and pushed the cold, wet button into my face and then licked my cheek several times.

“Okay, okay, that's enough kisses.”

I stood up and walked toward the living room, just in case Anne or anyone else might be waiting there for me. Thankfully, it turned out the puppy was the full surprise, and there wasn't a potential date for me this time. 

“Who's a good puppy?” I asked, noticing the dog follow me into the room. I scratched the top of

its head, then I knelt beside it and twisted its collar around to find a name. 

There was none. Only the pink leather collar. A quick peek beneath the sweet pup confirmed my suspicions based on the pink collar. She was a girl. 

“Hey, sweet girl,” I said, continuing to stroke long scritch-scratches down her back. “Who's a sweet, sweet puppy girl?” I asked. “Who's a good girl? You are. You're a good girl.”

She licked me again, then stood up and walked away through the foyer and to Anne's bedroom.

“Guess that's enough love for now, huh?” I mumbled aloud. “Since when does Anne have a dog?” I stood up and made my way to the kitchen for a can of seltzer water. Like usual, she had a variety ranging from plain to fruit mixes. I chose a lemon-raspberry and closed the fridge, then popped open the can and took a seat at her breakfast table. 

The dog returned with an envelope in her mouth. I put down my water and reached to take it from her. 

“No, no, girl. Can't get into Anne's mail. That might be important.”

She let go and without looking, I placed the envelope on the table. The puppy barked sharply, bouncing on her forepaws. 

“Need more attention, sweetie?” I leaned over and scratched between her ears. “Don't suppose you have any idea when your mommy will be back, do you?”

She barked again. 

“Yes, yes, your mommy will be home soon, I'm sure. Then she can introduce us properly and maybe even tell me your name.”

I stopped petting her. 

She barked. 

“Bossy little thing, aren't you?” 

She walked in two circles around the table and chairs then stopped at my seat, plopped down on her butt and barked again, looking up at the table.

“I wonder what you name is. I bet I can guess it,” I said. “Let's see. With that pretty pink collar, 

I bet you're a Princess or a Fluffy, or something cute like that. And knowing Anne, she'd probably name you like one of her stuff animals anyway, so that's got to be it.” I drummed my fingers on the table. The dog made another lap. “Although, she could also have named you something even more generic. Something like Lady. It is the most common name for girl dogs in the U.S. At least I think I read that on the Internet somewhere.”

When she came to rest at my side again, I petted her head. She looked at me, then the table, then walked beneath it to lie down with her face and chest resting on my feet. Soon enough I felt her deep breathing as her chest rose and fell and her wet breath blew faintly against my bare skin through the dress sandals. 

I grabbed a piece of paper and decided that it was late enough, and I could see Anne some other time. Feeling the sweet girl resting peacefully on my feet, I scribbled down a quick note to tell Anne how cute I thought the puppy was and that she'd have to tell me all about her later, and that I was sorry I couldn't stay longer and wait for her to return. Then I glanced to the fridge for an unused magnet. I found three, one of Donald Duck with the Disney World logo on a flag he was waving, one with a picture of the Leaning Tower, and another that doubled as a business card for her apartment building's handyman. I got up, apologized to the puppy for disturbing her rest, and stuck my note beneath the handyman magnet, scratched the doggie's ears—as she had followed me again—and then told her, “Well, I sure hope to see you again. You'll have to apologize to Anne for me, okay, sweet girl. I just don't have time to sit and wait for her. I have to get up early in the morning for a presentation.”

Then I made my way to the door, the pup following me every step. 

“Oh, you are such a sweet girl,” I said. “I'd love to stay but I really do have to go. I'm sorry.” 

When she saw me reach for the door, she skittered on the hardwood floor back toward the kitchen and I was afraid I had spooked her somehow. I have other opportunities to make it up to her the next time I visited though. 

I closed the door behind me, and as I was locking the deadbolt, I heard her not backing but going nuts on the other side. 

“Sssshhh, sweetie,” I said through the door. 

She didn't slow down. 

“Your mommy will be home soon. I promise. Quiet down for now, okay?”

More loud, sharp barks, the kind that would get Anne in trouble with the neighbors. 

I sighed deeply. “Well, shit. I can't just leave her like this, and have Anne's neighbors get pissed at her.” I unlocked the door again. “Damn it. I'll try to quiet her down and then maybe I can leave.”

When I opened the door, the girl was quietly waiting in the foyer again just a few feet away. She dropped the envelope from the table onto the floor. 

“You really, really like that letter, don't you?” I said. “Let's see about some food and water instead, girl.” 

I stepped over the letter and went to the kitchen to check her bowls. But there were none. How the hell have Anne gotten a dog and not any food and water bowls for her? 

The bedroom. She must have put them in the bedroom. 

The pup followed me to Anne's bedroom. I searched the floor and even opened the closet, but there was no sight of any bowls. The bathroom maybe? I searched both the master bath and the hallwaybathroom but still no sign of any bowls. 

I was back in the kitchen going through the cabinets for bowls to use when I saw her plopped down in her butt again, holding the letter in her mouth. 

“God damn,” I thought aloud. “All right. You really want me to see that letter.”

I reached down and took the envelope from her mouth. 

It had my name on the front. 

I opened it, careful to avoid as much dog slobber as I could. 

There was a folded piece of paper inside. It read: 

Unfasten the collar before you leave. 

Then read the inscription. It's very, very important.

“What the real, ever-loving fuck?” I all but yelled and laughed at the same time. “Damn. Anne sure did a good job teaching you this trick. I wonder how long that took.” 

I squatted to see almost eye-to-eye with the pup and floofed her ears and neck. “Not only beautiful, but apparently really smart too.”

I stood up and put the note and envelope on the table. Then I got down her her level again. 

“Okay, but only because you insisted,” I said. 

The leather felt just like any other collar as I inspected it for any surprises Anne might be trying to prank me with after the trick the dog had done. But nothing. Just a soft lining sewn onto the back for comfort and to avoid chafing the dog's neck. 

I unclasped the plastic catch, and pulled the collar from around her neck. Holding it open in my hands, I straightened it out flat and noticed a small label that was part of the soft lining. It read: “Come back, Anne. Ipso factum dipsum.”

Basically garbage except for the weird line about Anne returning. 

Still, the note from Anne had been specific, made up words and all. 

So, I read them aloud. 

The dog glowed. 

The dog started to fucking glow green. 

Then my eyes freaked out and the dog quickly transformed into the form of a human woman. 

When the green faded, Anne was standing in front of me.

“Hi,” she said. “Thanks.” 

“Holy fucking fuck,” I responded.

Chapter Two: Vacation Plans

“Holy fucking fuck,” I said again, backing away on my butt and knees as my best friend Anne stood in the kitchen smiling down at me.”

She walked forward until she was standing directly over me. “Thanks,” she said. 

“What the actual fuck, Anne?”

“Put it back on me, then when you're ready, take it off and read the incantation again.”

She leaned over, pulled her long, blonde hair away from neck and presented the pale white skin there to me for the collar.

“I'm serious, Anne,” I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes hard, before continued. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Just put the collar back on, and you'll understand it far better than I can explain it to you.”

“No. Not until you tell me what's going on.”

“Just put on—”

“I'm not putting on the fucking collar until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Fine,” she said, then snatched the collar from her grip, then clicked it closed around her neck. 

Immediately her form was bathed in green light again. Only this time, her lithe, beautiful hourglass shrank to that of the beautiful female collie mix puppy.” 

When the dog was fully transformed, it barked at me. Then it walked over and shifted its head to the side, giving me an easy view of the collar.”

My fingers shaking, I twisted the collar until I had the clasp in my fingers. I pressed the release buttons and removed it from the fluffy neck. Then I flipped it over to read the inscription again: “Comeback, Anne. Ipso factum dipsum.”

The green glow returned, and soon Anne was standing in front of me again. 

This time I possessed enough of my wits to notice that she was totally naked. 

“You...” I started. I tossed the collar into the floor. “Magic?” I asked, staring up her. 

She nodded. 

“Now you have no choice but to believe the unbelievable, let's have a bear and I can explain to you why I did this?”

Five minutes later, Anne had put on a pair of yoga pants and a Motley Crew t-shirt and we were sitting together on her sofa, with a six-pack of some craft IP I hadn't seen before on the coffee table in front of us. 

“You know what's going on with me,” Anne started. “After the divorce, then the depression, the court time, my mom passing. This past year has sucked more than any other time in my life.” 

“Well, yeah, but...” I let my breath suck in with a loud, wet whisp. “But... dog.” 

“Yeah, dog.” she echoed. 

“How?”

“Magic, like you said earlier. If I put on the collar I turn into that beautiful little part collie, part lab puppy you thought was such a sweet girl earlier.”

“You heard all that? You understood it?”

She nodded. “Every word.” She grinned. “When someone removes the collar and reads the incantation, I change back.”

“What if you get lost somewhere? Or heaven forbid, I'm unable to read the inscription or it gets ripped off the collar? How would you get back to normal then?”

She laughed. 

“That's not funny. This is serious.” 

“I know. That's why I'm showing it to you. I want you to be the one to be there if something goes wrong.”

I couldn't respond. I simply stared at the collar on the table. 

“But there is a back-up built into the spell. If the collar is removed, then as long as it stays off for three hours, I'll automatically transform back into myself, as long as I'm in a place to safely do so.”

“Safely do so?” I muttered. 

“Yeah, like suppose I'm in a dog crate that doesn't have room for human me and it would hurt me to change back, then I won't until I'm out of the crate. That kind of thing.”

“Oh?”

“I'll be fine. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Okay. I know. I mean, I still believe it, but I know it.” I crossed my legs. “You know?”

She nodded.

“It's a lot to take in, I'm sure.”

She grabbed another can from the table, then a second one.

“Another beer, I imagine.”

I nodded. 

“I have a confession to make,” she said as she handed me the beer. 

“Worse than turning into a dog?” I asked, popping the tab.

She shook her head. 

“Good. I don't think I could handle it if you had more than that. My brain is already doing back flips at the moment.” 

She smiled. “Like I was saying, this year, particularly the past six months have really wiped me off. I need a vacation.”

“Just pull from the trust fund and the settlement from the divorce.”

“I will, but that'll be for my rent and utilities. This is different. Have you ever heard people say they need a break from it all?”

“All the damn time.”

“But they don't typically mean it. They can't. But I can.”

“I don't understand, Anne.” 

“With this collar, I can totally take a break from being Anne Sanderson, I can take a vacation from being human. I can sleep and eat and play and let someone else take care of me.”

I looked at her as if she had tried to convince me she was made out of cockroaches and craft glue.

“Don't look at me like I'm crazy.” 

“You're talking like you're crazy, sweetie.”

“Listen. I'm unemployed. I've got all the money I need.”

“So go vacation. A real one. Take some of that money and got to Venice, Rome, Paris, Japan, hell, anywhere.”

“Anywhere is exactly what I had in might, Shelley. More specifically, you're house.” 

I stood up quickly, almost dropping my beer. 

“You what?”

“Let me say it plainly. I want to turn into the dog, and I want to live at your house as your puppyfor the next three months. That's the vacation I want?”

I stamped my foot and actually made beer splash from the can. 

“Have you lost your fucking mind, Anne?”

“Listen.” 

“No. Hell no. Fuck no. That's ridiculous.” 

She took my hand and pulled me back down to the couch. Then she took a deep breath and let me go. “Then you're really going to hate this part, I'm afraid.”

“I already hate it.” 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gaudy red jewel on a small wire circle. 

“This will make it worse then, or better, depending on how you look at it.” 

I leaned back and gave the sofa my full frustration and agitation—and the added weight it created from my heavy heart. 

“Well,” I said flatly, “go one then. Get it over with.” 

I shut up as loudly and deliberately as I could, hoping she would pick up on my growing resentment at the situation she was putting me in.

“Okay,” she said, “Remember how earlier I was able to understand you and still think like a human while I was in dog form? Well, this will amp up the spell that makes me a dog. See, it wouldn't be much of a vacation if I was still stressed out and exhausted by all the things my human mind was focusing on, so this little costume jewelry will make my transformation affect more than just my body.”

“Hold the fuck up,” I interrupted, but she shook her head. 

“Wait till I'm finished, then cuss at me all you want to.” 

“Oh, I fully expect to,” I all but spat into the air between us.

“Anyway,” she continued after readjusting her position on the couch to better face me. “If this is attached to the collar, then it will limit my ability to interact like a human.”

I started to interrupt her again, but decided against. 

“Don't worry. It won't hurt me or take away my personality or anything like that. But it will keep me from understanding human language. It will also affect my vision and sense of smell, and help me react to things more by instinct than by rational thought.” 

She paused for a moment, no doubt expecting me to chime in, but I was still too busy processing. 

“I'll still be aware of the fact that I'm Anne, and I'll still have all my memories of being human, but I won't default to them. And don't worry, this is something I need to help make this vacation from my actual life actually mean something. I know you don't get it. And I know you think I'm nuts, but thiscollar and this pendant will give me the change I need to get away from thinking about my divorce and all the awful shit that has happened to me this year.”

She took a deep breath, then continued. 

“Anyway, I can't exactly stay here and take care of myself, especially if I'm acting on instinct asa dog, and since you own your place and you neighborhood is already full of dogs and cats, I figured I was were your dog during my vacation, then not only would you take excellent care of me, but I wouldn't be afraid of this crazy plan backfiring on me.”

I stood up again. Crossed the room. Glared at Anne. Crossed the room again, then into the kitchen and back through the living room to the foyer. She was smiling weakly at me, her eyes watering. 

“Well?” she asked. 

“I...” I started but stopped. 

I returned to the living room. Lifted the collar and moved it around in my fingers. Put it down again. Reached for the pendant and rolled it between my thumb and forefingers. “This turns your brain into a dog brain?” I asked. 

She shook her head. “Not exactly. It just limits me so the kind of instincts and senses a dog would have.”

“You won't understand English?”

“Not like I do now. I'll still understand tone, like if you use a stern voice to tell me to get off the couch or stop growling at a cat or something. And I'm sure I'll be able to learn a few words, especially basic commands, more if you actually take to obedience school or something like that.” 

I caught myself laughing and cut it off so it sounded like a snort instead. “Wow. You're really serious about this?”

“More serious than I've ever been in my life, Shells.” 

“It's just... just so weird.” 

Anne nodded. “I know. But I really need this, Shelley, and you're the only person I trust to do this for me.” 

“But, three months, Anne?”

“I know, but you don't know what it's been like for me. Do you know how many times I've looked at those sleeping pills and thought of just ending it? Or just driving into a telephone pole while I'm in town running errands.”

“Fuck, sweetie! Anne...” 

“I know. That's why I want you to think it over for the next two weeks. I have details and prepayments to release from the bank for my bills while I'm gone.”

“You really thought this through, hon, didn't you?”

Anne nodded. 

“But damn. I mean, just...” I shook my head, hoping my frustration my fly out and help me truly understand the pain that would lead my best friend to such a choice. “God damn, honey.” 

“Don't decide now. Think about it. But if you do decide to, I'll need one other thing from you,” she said, with a grin. 

“One more. What else? Maybe you need me to teach you tricks and let you entertain children and senior centers?”

“If you want, but no, this is more rudimentary than anything like that.”

“Okay, because I lose the courage to even ask, what do you need?”

“Well, if you're going to be my owner, I'm going to need you to name me.” 

Chapter Three: Oakley

Anne and I didn't talk or see each other for the entire week, her choice. It would be easier for me to make the transition if I didn't see her, she said, if she just had me show up at her apartment to pick up my new dog and then just close up her apartment and reset her heat and AC, turn off all the lights and the router so her neighbor's didn't steal her wi-fi and run up her bill while she was gone, be a second set of eyes to make sure anything perishable was taken out of the refrigerator and thrown away, that kind of thing. 

She had pushed back when I texted her the new name. 

Oakley. 

“What kind of name is that for a cute puppy?” she had texted me back. 

“Who owns who?” 

“Point taken.”

“You name is Anne. And Oakley makes me thing of Annie Oakley, the greatest female gun in the West. So, if you want to be my dog for this cockamamie adventure, then you're name is going to be Oakley.”

“Fine,” said her last text. 

Three days later, I found myself at her door again, key in hand, trembling a little and knowing there would be a sweet Collie mix waiting for me. Of course, it was too late to back out, as she had already transformed, determined not to let me interact with Anne until after the three months were up—with the exception of a twice-monthly “chat” without the red gem to ensure she was still okay and hadn't started to lose her mind or if she wanted to end the adventure early. The latter was my hope anyway. 

Both the deadbolt and the knob unlocked easily and I opened the door and went inside. Instantly I heard the dog leap off the couch and onto the floor, then skitter on her nails to the door and bark at mehappily, bouncing up and down all the while. 

“Who's a good girl?” I asked, falling into a natural pattern of squatting down to love on the sweet puppy who was so happy to see me. “That's right,” I said, catching a glimpse of the red pendant looped onto the collar. “You're a good girl, aren't you?” 

I reached for the collar and saw that in front of the pendant there was also a new name tag that was engraved with “Oakley DeLuca” and my home address and cell phone number. It was shaped like a heart and it jangled like a bell against the pendant when they hit each other. 

“Well, well, well,” I said. “That's certainly a surprise.” 

I walked to the living room and saw a printed note on the coffee table. 

It read:

Thank you so much, Shelley. I love you for this. I really, really do. I know it's weird and it makes you uncomfortable, but you don't know how much it means to me that you're willing to go through with it for me. I really do love you so much. Anyway, there is a lot to do. I will know by sight from my memories, and I will love you and not be afraid of you, so that won't be an issue. But I will not yet know my new name, nor any of the commands to do what you want me to do. I hope I will not cause you any trouble while you train me to be a good girl. 

There are a few things I want you to make sure I follow just because I want them to be part of my experience. First, please remember to treat me like any other dog. Feed me whatever dog food you choose, and use the money on the prepaid card on the kitchen counter. If you want to let me be an inside or outside dog, that is up to you. If you want to let me on the furniture and bed or make me sleep on the floor on in a dog bed, that is up to you as well. Of course, if you want to pamper me and spoil me, that is up to you too. After all, I really want you to be my owner and to take care of me as you see fit. 

I have thought about it, and I do hope you'll have me trained. I so want to be a sweet and smart puppy that knows so many words and obeys her owner. I also know that sometimes your work takes you out of town and when that happens, feel free to either have me boarded at a kennel or have someone you trustdog sit with me.

I know you will not want to do this, but I do want you to crate train me while you are at work. I believe it will make me a more obedient girl and also make me appreciate you even more when you return home and set me free from the crate. Please, please, please do this. It will be hard, but I really think it is a vital part of my experience. 

You will find the crate flat in its box, ready to assemble. I have also bought a pet carrier that should give me sufficient but not extra room and keep me safe during car rides. I had already bought two bags of dryfood that I want you to start me on, and some treats and dental sticks to care for my teeth. If you want to spoil me with table food, I won't complain I'm sure, but don't feel obligated. I'm the pet, you're the owner. 

In case you should need it if I prove to be a surprisingly stupid or disobedient puppy, there is a shock unit you can attach to the collar to teach me how to behave. I don't want to experience this, but I don't want to be a stupid or out of control dog either. Even if it is difficult you must train me to be a good girl. 

The prepaid card should cover any expenses I create for you. I have also set aside a separate account in your name containing $5000.00 in case anything unforeseen comes up and just to say thank you so much for doing this very strange thing for me. 

I can't think of anything else except that when I see you next time, I will be your dog and you will be my owner. 

Your loving friend and puppy,

Oakley DeLuca

I read the note a second and even third time. Then I sat on the couch to read it yet again. Oakley leapt on the sofa beside me and I fluffed her neck scruff. She licked my hand, and I said, “That's a goodgirl.” 

She settled in my lap, her face resting on my legs, her eyes wide open and looking up at me. 

“Anne,” I said. “Can you understand me?”

Oakley said nothing. 

“Anne, just let me know if the pendant is really affecting you.”

Still nothing except her wet, puppy dog eyes and loud breathing. 

I couldn't resist the need to try, and I took the pendant off the collar. 

I asked again, “Anne, can you understand me?”

Oakley looked up and barked once. 

“Is that a yes?”

She barked again. 

“Okay, let's just make sure. Bark twice for yes, and just one for no. Okay?”

Two barks. 

“Earlier, before I took off the pendant, could you hear me?”

Bark. Bark. 

“Good. But could you understand me?”

Bark. 

“No. Okay. So the pendant does work.”

Two barks again. 

“Do you want it off or on?”

She looked at me without barking. 

“Oh, sorry. Yes or no questions. My bad.” I laughed. 

“Do you want the pendant back on?”

Bark. Bark. 

“Okay. You got it, girl.” 

Two more. 

I fastened the pendant back onto the collar, and she looked up me, then licked my hand again. 

“How about now? Can you understand me?” 

No noise at all. She just licked me again and lay her head across my knee. I let her rest there for about a half hour, but I knew I couldn't let time slip away. Sure, it was a Friday evening but I had promised to keep Oakley at my place and if I stayed on the couch with such a sweet girl for too long, I was sure I'd fall asleep right then and there. So I wiggled my legs to give her the hint to get off me, and I still ended up almost having to crawl out from beneath her. 

“Come on, Oakley, be a good girl, and let Shelley up, okay.”

When I was up I went to the bedroom, and I found the crate unopened in the package, a cardboard box with two bags of food, several squeaky toys, the shock unit, and the treats and dental sticks Anne had mentioned in the note. On the floor was the carrier, and she was right. There was room for Oakley to get inside, but little room to turn around or get comfortable. Of course, if the point of it was to keep her safe, the less room she had to get jostled about the better, so once again, Anne had made a perfect, if dehumanizing choice. 

I whistled for Oakley, and she trotted into the room. She saw the carrier and stopped.

“Come on. Be a good girl, and get in, sweetheart,” I said, but her only response was to whine. Itwould be easier to take off the pendant and get her inside that way, but of course that wasn't the experience she wanted as Oakley. 

So I knelt beside the open door, and patted the floor. “Come on, Oakley, come on, girl.”

I even made thchk thchk noises to attract her. 

Finally, I got one of her toys, a rubber clown, and squeaked it then gave it to her. She took it immediately and squeaked it back at me. I took it and repeated the squeak and gave it to her again. We played the game several times, and then I finally squeaked and tossed it inside the carrier. 

Oakley stepped cautiously halfway inside and picked up the toy with her mouth. I quickly but gently pushed her in the rest of the way and clicked the door closed behind her. 

She started to whine and didn't stop for several minutes. 

All the while, I sat beside her in the floor, reaching through the narrow bars of the door and stroke her fur. She struggled to turn around so she was facing the door, and when her snout pushed again the bars, I touched her wet, little nose, and rubbed from her forehead to her snout, until she finally relaxed. 

I couldn't believe how much she reacted like a real dog. If I hadn't known the truth, I would have thought she was just playing a joke on me, only pretending to be as limited at a natural-born canine. 

“That's a sweet girl, Oakley. Just calm down. You're fine. It's all fine,” I repeated to her while her whines grew quieter and she dropped to her belly on the floor of the carrier. “That's right, girl. 

Who's a good girl? Oakley's a good girl. Oakley is a very good girl.” 

After a few minutes, she finally quieted down all the way and kept watching me from the carrierwhile I walked through the apartment turning off lights and resetting thermostats, etc. The cabinets and fridge was safely empty of anything that would spoil, and I soon returned to get her. 

“Be right back, sweetie,” I said, and I grabbed the box of treats and food and toys from the floor. I set it down in the foyer, realizing I would need a cart, so I called up from the office and in a fewminutes one was waiting right outside the door. 

“You're not Miss Anne,” said a tall, chubby kid of no older than twenty years old. 

“Nope,” I said, ignoring the urge to tell him how accurate his assessment of the obvious was. 

“She's on a trip and asked me to take care of a few things for her.” 

“Cool,” he said as he pushed the cart into the room. “Need some help?”

I started to say no, but realized I hadn't accounted for how heavy Oakley might be in the carrier,so I said, “Please, thank you,” instead. 

He smiled and put the box from the foyer on one side. “What else?” he asked with a friendly grin.

“In here,” I said, and I led him to the bedroom. I pointed to Oakley in her little cage. “Both the dog and that crate beside her.” 

“Awww...” he said, kneeling to get a better view of the dog. “Does she bite?”

“You know,” I said. “I'm not sure. She doesn't with me or Anne, but Anne didn't say how well she did with strangers. Better not try to pet her, just in case.”

His face expressed his disappointment, but he didn't push the point. And I wasn't ready to put real-dog Oakley to the test yet. The last memory she would need when she returned to being Anne would be of biting some kid at her apartment. 

He lifted the carrier by the handle and carefully placed it own the rolling cart. When he set her down, Oakley raised up on her front paws and gazed through the door to see what was going on. 

“It's okay girl,” I said. “This nice man is just helping me get you down to my car.”

He then placed the packaged crate on its side between Oakley and the cart's rails. 

“That it?” he asked. 

“Ready,” I said. 

“Then lead the way.” 

And I did. I took him to the freight elevator, held it open for him and the cart, then we rode down to the parking deck. He followed me to my car, and I unlocked the doors.

“Can you put the boxes in the back seat and the carrier in the back please?”

He nodded, and he sort of tossed the food box and the crate into the back seat a little carelessly, but when it picked up Oakley, he was as gentle as he could be. I popped open back of my SUV, and he set her inside the on the blanket I had spread out in anticipation for her. 

“Want me to fasten her in?”

I nodded, and he took the bungie cords and tightened them around the carrier and through the rivet hooks placed in the back section for transporting stuff safely and double them back around the side of the carrier so that poor little Oakley wouldn't be shaken back and forth across the storage area during the drive to my house. 

“Thank you so much,” I said, and offered him a five dollar bill, hoping that was enough. 

Chapter Four: Heinz 57

When I let Oakley out of the carrier and the car, I quickly snapped the leash on her, and it was a good thing I did because she took off running across the yard after being cooped up in the rubber cage. She didn't get far though, and I held the leash firmly which caused her to snap back from the pressure on her neck. 

“Slow down, girl. You're gonna rip my arm out of its socket.” 

“New dog?”

I turned to see my neighbor from two doors down walking his own mutt down the sidewalk. 

“Tony, hi.” I said. “Yeah, got her from a friend.”

“She's beautiful.” His dog, what he called a Heinz 57 with a little bit of everything in it, trotted over to Oakley and sniffed her. She cowered a little, obviously deferring to the male's attention and showing more than a little bit of fear around the larger dog. But she didn't growl or react strongly. 

“Fred, stop it,” he said to the dog. “Heel. Sit.” 

The dog backed away and came back to stand beside him. Then he sat on his butt and waited.

“Wow, Tony. He's well-trained.”

“Thanks. He's a good boy.” 

“Where'd you get him trained?”

He grinned. “I did it myself. It's kind of my job.”

“No shit?”

“No shit. I run classes out of the vet's office on Smith Street.”

“God, that's awesome. I need to get her in classes.”

“The trick, between you and me, is to always have a treat ready as a reward.” He knelt in front of Oakley, and she backed away. “Watch.” 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a round dog treat, Then he held it in an open palm in front of him. 

“What's her name?”

“Oakley,” I said. 

“Light the gunslinger. Cute.” Then he turned his attention to my friend turned pet. “Hello, Oakley. You're a pretty girl, aren't you.” 

She sniffed the air between them and took a half step closer. 

“It's all right, sweet girl.” He touched his chest with his free hand. “Friend.”

She took a full step this time, then another. 

“That's right, Oakley,” he said. “Good girl. That's right. Friend.” 

Soon she was close enough to take the treat from his hand. As she did, he stroked her ears and held her there while she chewed the treat. 

“That's a good girl, Oakley.” 

“Wow,” I said. 

“She sweet. Should be really easy to train, as long as you don't spoil her too much.”

“Well, that might be a little difficult.” If he only knew, I thought. It was hard enough treating like a dog at all, but to actually have to forbid her from things she had been free to do just days ago, that would be tough. Maybe not on her thanks to the pendant, but on me for sure, since the idea of actually punishing my best friend or even just molding her into 'good girl' still wasn't something I had gotten comfortable with. 

I just had to keep reminding myself that (a) she wanted this and (b) she wasn't really Anne anymore by choice, she was Oakley. I might be able to treat Anne like a dog, but I could take care of Oakley until Anne got what she needed from this bizarre vacation. 

“Well, believe it or not, you do them a favor by being firm with them. Not mean, and never violent, but strict and firm.”

“Mind if I pet Fred?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. He's not only my good boy. He's my best student.” 

I extended my hand in front of the larger dog's face and he sniffed it, then let me pet him. I scruffed between his ears and then along both sides of his soft, furry neck. 

All the while, Tony was still petting Oakley, who had stepped even closer at the offer of a second treat. “Yeah, you should be easy to train, girl.” 

And so I enrolled Oakley and me in Tony's class, and we started with a two-week boot camp fornew dog owners. At the end of the two weeks, Oakley had learned to recognize her name, knew how to heel and sit. She had also learned the difference between the commands “get down” and “lie down.” In the interim, Tony had started to drop by to check on her during Fred McFurry's (as I learned Fred's full name was) walks. I had taken to inviting him in and letting Fred and Oakley play in the backyard. She needed a puppy friend, I told myself, and it didn't hurt that Tony seemed to take an interest in me too. And, well, it had been a few months since my last actual date. 

At his suggestion, I took Oakley to get her shots, using the credit card Anne had given me to cover everything she might need, not just the usual rabies and distemper. The vet recommended having her spayed eventually, and I freaked out inside, not having thought about that. I assumed of course that Anne wouldn't won't that, since I wasn't at all sure if that would be something that could also be fixed—no pun intended—by the magic collar when she did change back. Besides, even in her little doggie brain, there was no way she'd want to have sex with some male dog, and even if she did, as her owner, I simply wouldn't allow it. After all, I did have her crate and I could put that to good use if just to keep her chaste. 

All the check-ups told me she was exactly what Anne had told me she would be—a mostly collie mix with some lab, about seven months old. 

A few weeks after our graduation from boot camp, and after checking in with the Anne part of Oakley during one of our chats for just a few minutes every other Sunday, we enrolled in the extended class, this time more for me than for Oakley. 

She had told me yes—two barks still—when I asked about more training. And she had also answered the same to my question “Was training fun?” and “Are you still having a good time?”

Because of her responses, It had gotten easier to think of her as “just” a pet dog, and not because she was so good with her commands and even learning a few cute tricks like begging, rolling over, fetching her toys, and was working on playing dead. It was totally because Tony and I were getting closer. Hanging out together while the dogs played in the yard have quickly become making outtogether while the dogs ceased to exist for a little bit in our minds. 

We even allowed them both in bed with us when he spent the night. 

In fact, it was Tony who told me the news that sent Oakley's underlying humanity back to the forefront of my brain like a rocket. 

“You see this bleeding,” he told me as he petted her to keep her distracted from his real intentions. “And this swelling.” 

He was point to her vulva. And it was all true. She was leaking a little blood and she was very, very swollen. 

“Does that mean...” I asked, unable to complete the question. 

He nodded. “Yeah, it's about time. Most females start their first heat at about eight months old, and I figured Oakley here would be due anytime for the past couple of weeks. I'd recommend either crating her or me taking Fred back home for the next two weeks unless you want to risk them mating.”

I shook my head. “Definitely not.” 

I saw his smile flatten slightly. 

“I mean, I don't want her to have puppies yet. I still haven't decided if I'm going to have her spayed or wait to have a litter later and then do it.” 

“Good idea,” he said, smiling again. “It's best to wait until their second heat, but that's primarilyfor breeders who bitch out their females as a business. Still, when she does have her next heat, think about ol' Fred. They really do get along and better the stud you know than the random stray you don't, right?” He sat down beside me on the foot of the bed. “Besides, don't you think their puppies would be super cute?”

I grinned. “Well, of course they would, silly. There are the two cutest dogs in the world, right?” I was smiling and playing along, but I was secretly terrified for Oakley. 

“I think just to be sure, I might do both, crate her more except for walks, and even limit those tothe yard for the time being. I think I'll miss the next two classes too. No need to put her training to the test that much.” 

He laughed. 

“Yeah, heat can derail a lot of training sometimes. Even the best trained puppers get sidetracked by the smell of a bitch in heat. And the female tends to want it as much as the males.”

“It's biological, I know. She's going to want to mate and reproduce. I read the internet too, goofball.”

He tapped my thigh, and I considered us both lying back down for another round of lovemaking, but I couldn't get Oakley off my mind. 

“And if you don't mind, could you keep Fred McFurry at your place until she's out of heat, please?”

He nodded. “No probably, Shelley. You're the boss.”

Chapter Five: Fred's Best Friend

And it worked. I crated Oakley during the day while I was at work, just like she had requested in her letter. And I kept her away from other dogs and only took her outside on the leash to “walk” and do her “poo-poos” and “pee-pees.” 

When our next chat rolled around, I took off her pendant and immediately asked her if she was okay.”

Two barks. Good.

“Are you aware that you're in heat?”

Two more. 

“I mean, not now, but when the pendant is on.”

Two barks. 

“How does it feel?” I asked without thinking. 

She looked up at me with the puppy dog equivalent to “How stupid are you?”

“Sorry, sorry. It's easy to forget. Let's see.” I wriggled up my lips and eyebrows to think. “Okay, let's try this. Does it make you want to have sex?”

Two more barks. Loud barks. One might say excited barks. 

“Like really, really bad?”

Two more just as loud. She even bounced on her front legs as she 'spoke.'

“Wow. Are you upset with me for not letting you mate?”

Just one bark.

“God, I can't tell you how happy I am you said that. Even if you told me you wanted me to let you, I don't think I could. That's just too weird, Anne.”

One bark. 

“Sorry, Oakley.”

Two barks. 

“Anyway, it has been fun taking care of you like this. I just hope you're getting what you need from this experience.”

Bark. Bark.

“And it did allow me to meet Tony.”

Bark. Bark. 

“Even as a freaking dog, you're determined to be my matchmaker.” 

Two enthusiastic, bouncy barks.

“So, I guess you enjoy watching us from the floor on our date nights.”

Two barks. 

“Oh, I wanted to ask if you liked the new food. It's supposed to be the best for your mix.”

Bark. Bark. But softer, not bouncy.

“Do you want me to spoil you more?”

One bark. 

“You sure?”

One back again. 

“You you're still happy being my pet dog?”

Two bouncy barks. 

“Oh, back to the heat thing.”

She looked up at me, eyes wet and wide and mouth barely open, panting with her tongue hanging out. 

“The vet mentioned about the health benefits of getting you spayed, and—”

One loud bark. Then she backed away, walked back to me with another single loud bark.

“Okay, okay. I didn't say I was going to do it. I just wanted to know if that was the kind of thing the magic collar would fix.”

Bark. 

“So if that happened, you'd still be sterile when you changed back?”

Two barks. 

I rubbed her head and gave her ears special attention. She licked my face.

“Hey, stop it. That's fine when you've got the pendant on, but it's weird when we're talking like this.” She obviously didn't care, and she licked me again and kept it up. In the end, I was on my back on the floor while this cute dog was bouncing around and giving me kisses. When I was finally able to push her away and sit up again, I kissed the brown diamond about her eyes. 

“You are such a sweet puppy, such a good girl.” 

She barked twice. 

“Yeah, nothing you don't already know. I know. I get it.” 

Bark. Bark. 

“Anyway, as I was saying, just for the sake of argument—and I'm not proposing letting this happen—but what if something did happen and you got pregnant as a dog? Like maybe you want to trythis again, and I'm not with you when you went into heat. Would you be pregnant when you changed back, and would you be a woman pregnant with puppies?”

She barked once. 

“Oh shit. That was two questions. Let me do them one at a time.”

“Would you be be pregnant when you changed back?”

One bark. 

“Oh. Hmm... So the puppies would just die or disappear?”

Bark. 

“Wait, I don't understand.”

She sat on the floor next to me. 

“Could you even change back?”

One bark. 

“What about after the birth?”

Two barks. 

Suddenly it hit me, the protection the magic gave her. A human woman couldn't safely give birth to a litter of puppies so she couldn't change back. It wouldn't be safe for her pups either, and maybe as a part of her that protection extended to them too.

More reason than ever to make sure she got through her heat cycle without getting mounted. 

“It's the magic protection, right?”

Bark. Bark. 

“That makes sense,” I said. “Oh, I bet you miss Fred, don't you?”

She stood up and licked me and barked a lot.

“I figured. But sorry, until you're not in heat, we can't risk him taking you for his little doggie girlfriend with benefits.” 

After that, I put the pendant back on her collar and let her back to the crate for the evening, as I had during her heat cycle to avoid her bleeding onto the bedsheets. 

Tony called me in the morning, apologizing for disturbing me on my way to work. 

“Listen, my sister kid is in the hospital, and I don't have time to arrange for the kennel. I'm gonna be gone two nights to help her out and sit with my niece if I need to, but I really need you to keep Fred for me. I know it's the worst time to ask since Oakley's in heat, but...”

How could I say no to Tony? “Not a problem. I'll just move the crate into the washroom and keep the door closed. But you're going to owe me a little heat of my own if I do this for you.”

He laughed. “You have but to ask, my lady,” he said. “Listen I really, really appreciate this. I can call the kennel and get him in tomorrow night, but if you can just handle tonight that would really save my ass.”

“Don't worry about it. I'll just keep him both nights. With Oakley in the crate at nights, I miss sharing my bed with somebody warm.”

“Point taken.”

“Good boy,” I said.

“Thanks so much.”

My doorbell rang.

“That's me,” he said.

“Wait, you were already on the way here?”

He laughed loudly. 

“What?”

“I've been waiting at your door since before I placed the call.”

“God damn, you know me well, don't you? Hold on, I'll get the door.” 

So it was that I had both Oakley and Fred for two nights. The first day I kept them completely separated, but they had caught each others scents and Oakley barked and yipped constantly from the closed off washroom. Fred, on the other hand, had recognized his friend and also the musky scent of her heat and he clawed at the closed door almost every time I turned my back on him. 

“No, no, boy,” I told him. “Can't play with Oakley until it's safe.”

He growled at the door and whined. 

Oakley returned the whine from inside. 

“Damn, girl,” I said, shaking my head. “You weren't kidding about how back you wanted it, but sorry. I promised to take care of you.” 

I called for Fred to heel and follow me to the living room and left Oakley whining in her crate. Fred and I watched a movie, and I even let him up on the couch to lie in my lap, but his ears never relaxed and he kept his face toward Oakley the entire time, even when his eyes were closed as she softly panted against my legs. 

When I got up to go to the bathroom, I found him again at the laundry room door, and I called him to the couch again. He obeyed, but whined the whole way back to me. 

After the movie I needed to get a shower after my workout in the spare bedroom, and I checked the door to the washroom to make sure Oakley's virginity would be safe while I was bathing. It was fully clicked and as smart as Fred was, he still was just a door and didn't fathom the concept of a doorknob, even the fancy handle ones in my house. I pushed the lock just in case. 

Then I went to the shower and stripped down, fully expecting to see him resting at the door and whining for his 'girlfriend' when I returned. 

Rather than listen to the music of their unspoken lust, I turned up the speaker in the bathroom and sang along to a Madonna playlist while I bathed. I didn't want to take too long, but I did need to do my hair, so I made it through three songs, including the 12-inch remix of “Like a Prayer” and had started the fourth when I was able to turn off the water and start to dry off. 

I didn't hear them so I figured he must have already lay down at the door to rest and miss Oakley. But I did hear her whining and yipping again. 

“Hold on, Oakley,” I yelled out. “I'm drying off. I'll take care of you in a minute.” 

After wrapping up my hair in a towel and throwing on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, I went into the hallway and turned to check on the dogs. 

The door to the laundry room was wide fucking open. 

I screamed and ran inside, almost slipping on the floor. 

To my horror, Oakley was backed up against the crate's bars, her ass in the air and her head down on her paws, whining and yipping. Behind her, Fred rested his front paws on top of the crate and was pumping my Oakley through the bars. I jerked at his collar but he only growled and kept working his pink doggie dick in and out of my best friend.

“Stop it, Fred!” I yell. “Stop that!”

I pulled at him again, and he actually fucking snapped at me, not trying to bite I was sure but just to tell me to back off, that this bitch was his.

I raced back to the bathroom for a cup or water and returned to throw it at him and see if that would get him off her before it was too late, but when I arrived, he was no longer pumping. He and Oakley stood rump-to-rump at the side of the crate. She whimpered and he had the most self-satisfied look of smugness I had ever seen on a fucking dog. 

He had knotted her. And not only that. He was relaxed. That meant he has already shot her full of his potential babies.

I fell to my knees beside the cage and waited for his knot to fade. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said as I looked at Oakley. I wanted more than anything to take off that goddamn pendant and apologize to her. I had failed her. I was supposed to take care of her, but I had lether get mounted and mated like some bitch in heat while I was enjoying my shower. 

I reached for the pendant, but I stopped. I couldn't. I just couldn't face her right now. Not the part of her that was my best friend. 

In a few minutes, Fred's knot loosened, and I started to yell at him, but it wasn't his fault. He was just doing what dogs do. He couldn't control it anymore than Oakley could have. It was nature. It was millions of years of evolution telling them both to propagate the species. If it was anybody's fault, it was my fault. 

He walked to me and lay down with his head in my lap. I played with his ears. “Well,” I said, trying not to be angry at him. “I guess you had fun. I hope she did too.” Then I stood up and had him follow me out to the back yard. “You're too damn smart, Fred. I didn't plan on you being able to get that door open since it pulled up instead of down.”

I left him in the yard, slid and locked the door behind me after I went inside, and fell to the floor, leaning back against the cold glass. I called Tony to let him know what happened. He was sweet and overly apologetic, but I made sure he knew it was my fault. He offered to set up the kennel, but I told him not to worry about it. What was done was done, and as long as it was okay with him, I'd just keep Fred in the back yard for the rest of the time. 

All the while I was wondering how could I ever face Anne again after this...

I took a deep breath and went to the laundry room. I glanced down at an exhausted female dog, and I faked a smile. “I hope you enjoyed that. I'm so sorry.” Then I turned out the light. Looking at her only made me feel shame. I closed the door, locked iteven though Fred was no longer inside, and went to bed. 

The next morning, I went to her and let her out of the crate so she could go outside to take care of her business. I thought about Fred being out there, and I decided to take her out front instead. When she was back inside, I realized that I owed it to her to talk with her about what happened. 

I removed the pendant again, earlier than scheduled, and before she could even bark, I started crying and tell her how sorry I was.

She barked and licked me. Even though I had failed her, she was being kind, loving me. 

“I'm so fucking sorry,” I said. 

She barked once and kept licking my face.

“I don't blame you for being made at me. I'd be furious.” 

One bark. More kisses.

“Don't like to me. I failed you. I totally let Fred take advantage of you.”

Another bark. 

“Yeah. I did. There's no way to sugarcoat it. For all I know, you might be pregnant now and won't be able to change back when you were supposed to.”

No barks, just kissed this time. She licked my face, my hands, my neck, even my ears. I didn't want to laugh—I was too upset and pissed at myself—but it was starting to tickle. 

“Stop it. I'm trying to apologize for letting you get mounted. God damnit, Fred even had his knot in you.”

She shoved her snout under my chin and forced my head up to look at her. It was pretty clear her eyes were filled with something she wanted to tell me. But it was something I'd have to stop bawling in order to figure out with our usual yes or no questions.

“I'm so sorry.” 

One more kiss, right across my lips.

“Did it hurt?” I asked when I was able to stop sniveling.

She barked twice, but softly. More like whimpers than actual barks. 

“Bad?”

One bark this time. 

Now she had me curious. 

“Even the knot. That had to hurt.”

Bark. Bark. 

“And I assume he, actually, you know, finished.”

Two more barks. 

“Fuck, I'm so, so sorry, Anne.”

One bark. 

“Okay, okay.” Even now. “I'm so sorry, Oakley.”

One more bark. 

“But I am.” 

No barks. Still more kisses.

“I know. I know. You're trying to make me feel better.”

No barks. Instead she lay in my lap and rolled over onto her back to give me her belly.

“Belly rubs?”

Two soft barks. 

“Okay.” And I gently stroked her belly with my nails. She stretched out her legs and wriggled her paws. When I got her good spot between her back leg and crotch, she shook her hind leg like a very, very happy dog.”

“Don't worry,” I said. “I won't let that happen again.”

She yipped one time as I kept scratching her belly. 

“I know. I'll make sure you two stay far apart. Just in case.”

Another quick yipping bark. 

“Wait...” I stopped rubbing her and rolled her off my lap. “Do you want me... to... to..”

She stood up and let her mouth hang open, her tongue resting just out of it. 

“You're fucking kidding me, Anne.”

One bark.

“Oakley, whatever.”

Two barks. 

“Are you telling me you want to let you do that again?”

Two soft barks. 

“Goddammit, Anne.”

One bark. 

“Fuck, whatever. Oakley.”

“No way. No fucking way.” 

One bark. 

“I hear you. But it ain't happening. He already—”

Two quick, loud barks. 

“No.” 

“I let him do that already—”

Two more loud barks. 

“Already...” I said. 

She put her head in my lap. 

“He already did it.”

Two softer barks this time. 

“Fuck.” 

“And that makes you want more?”

Bark. Just one. 

“I'm sorry. I'm trying to work this out. It would be easier if you let me take off the collar.”

She jerked away and barked once. 

“Well, then you're gonna have to give me a minute.” I slumped my shoulders. “Already.”

Two more barks. 

“Okay, let's see. Since he already mated with you and, well, finished, the damage is already done. Is that it?”

Two enthusiastic barks.

“That doesn't mean I need to let it happen again.”

No response. 

“It doesn't.” 

She rested in my lap again.

“I don't think I can. It was accident the first time, but this time I'd actually be giving you to him.I'd be the one actively letting him fuck you.” 

She barked softly twice. 

“Fuck, Oakley,” I muttered. 

Two more barks. 

“Very funny, you bitch,” I said, then caught myself. “Sorry.”

Two more barks. 

“Well, yes, it's true, but...”

She kissed me again. 

“Shit. Let's just make sure I get this all straight. You didn't necessarily want this to happen but since it did, the damage is done. You're mostly likely already pregnant.”

Two more barks. 

“And it must have been enjoyable enough that you want to do it again.” 

Bark. Bark.

“Or is it that your little doggy brain wants it so bad.”

Bark. Bark. 

“That's two things. Which is it?”

She looked up at me with wet puppy dog eyes. 

“You want it again because it was so much fun?”

One bark. 

“Okay, must be that your doggy brain want it because of the heat?”

One bark. 

“You not making any damn sense. Are you saying it's both?”

Two very, very loud and happy barks. 

“Wow. And you're not saying this just so I don't feel so bad about letting you get fucked by a... well, fucked?”

Bark.

“And I guess this will help you have the authentic being my dog vacation you wanted in the first place.”

Two more barks. 

“And you're not mad?”

One bark. 

“Shit, Oakley.” 

She rubbed her snout into my face, then licked me again. 

“Okay, okay, I get it. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.” 

Another kiss. 

“Fuck.”

Two more loud, bouncy barks.

“Hardy har har, bitch.” 

Two more. 

“Fine. Before I change my mind.”

I put the pendant back on her collar and then grabbed her leash and led her out to the back yard. Fred bounded up to us both, licked my hand, then did the same to Oakley's vulva. 

“Damn, boy. At least let me go back inside so I don't have to watch.”

I unhooked Oakley from the leash and the two chased each other across the yard. Fred was clearly the pursuer and each time he was catch her, he would attempt to mount her. She would shake him off and make her earn the right to mate her. 

“I hope you like being the star of your own nature documentary, Oakley,” I said, as I went inside. I couldn't leave though, so I kept watching as they kept up the chase and then Fred finally succeeding in poking his erection inside Oakley's apparently very willing pussy. I had expected to be freaked out, but somehow after my talk with Oakley, I found myself more fascinated by their mating than disgusted with it. After all, she was a dog, and she had a female dog's instincts. Not only that, but she had even requested to doing it again. 

“For science,” I said with a laugh, as I watched Fred pound his pink cock into her over and overagain until he knotted and grunted and then turned around and they lay down together, ass to ass. “Well,” I said to no one, “I'm not letting either of you back in after that. You can spend the rest of your time outside until all this is over. I don't want to keep getting interrupted by your rutting and humping all weekend.” 

I closed the blinds and left the two dogs outside, then sat on the couch and started another movie. I realized I need to call Tony to let him know that I had changed my mind and decided to let the two friends become more intimate.

Chapter Six: What Happens When You Litter

I don't know if it was from the first union or one of the many others Oakley and Fred had attempted (though accomplished was a better word—everything they attempted they succeeded), but after her heat was finally over, I took her to the vet and sure enough, she was indeed pregnant. I had no clue what my next step was, except that she needed to wait until after the litter before she could safely transform back into Anne. 

I even put that to the test during our next chat.

I told Oakley that she had a litter on the way, and she seemed happy about that, then I told her I wanted to try something and that I was going to take off her collar. She pulled away, but when I told her to stop and to sit, he did. It was as if her training had become part of both brains, the doggy instincts but also the learned memories that would stay with Anne's awareness. 

“Stay,” I said, and she did so obediently. 

I unclicked the collar, and nothing happened. I let her have the run of the house for the rest of the day, waiting to see if she would change back but she remained in her dog form. In fact, she was so adamant about it that she brought me the collar several times, and I was forced to put in away in a kitchen drawer to keep it away from her. 

Her punishment, I told her, was going to be to go without the pendant for the next week. She would still be a dog, and a pregnant one, but she would have to interact with me for the next five days as a self-aware mixed breed—though not Collie and Lab this time—but on Oakley and Anne. And that meant when I took her on walks to the dog park, when kids wanted to play with her and pet her, when I took her to her training, when Tony and Fred came over to spend the night, and when she waited bored and lonely in the crate during the day while I was at work. 

She barked her annoyance at the idea of the punishment all throughout the day, but I didn't relent, although I did return her collar to her that evening, just without the pendant, which I had hidden away at the top of my closet.

“Now you be a good girl, Oakley,” I told her as I motioned for her to join me on the bed that night, as was our custom. 

She barked once, still mad at me, and determined to be a bad girl and show me how upset she was.

“Bad girl,” I said firmly, and she lowered her head and whimpered, then stopped as if she caught herself behaving like just a trained dog. I got off the bed and walked to her. “Up,” I said, not talking to her but giving her a command, and she leapt onto the bed. “Lie down, Oakley.” 

She circled twice and then lay down. 

“Stay,” I said. 

She got up and walked to the edge of the bed to leap down. 

“Bad girl,” I said. “Stay.”

She did. 

“I guess I trained you better than you realized, sweet girl.”

She simply looked at me like she was sulking. Or at least as much as a dog could look like she was sulking. 

I patted the space beside me. 

“Stop pouting, Oakley, and get your ass up her for night-night cuddles. Tell you what, I'll give you a choice. You can cuddle up here with me...”

She barked once.

“...or I can crate you for the night.”

Another single bark. 

“Sorry, girl. Those are the only options. After all, you told me you wanted to be my dog, and that's exactly what you are.  So those are you choices, cuddles with Mommy or a night in that awful ol' crate.” I patted the bed again. “What do you say, Oakley?”

She lowered her head and crawled up to the empty spot usually reserved for Tony. 

I scratched her ears and she lay down. 

“Good girl,” I said. 

In the morning I took her with me on my run, and we met Tony and Fred outside when we were done. Fred licked her face and sniffed her, and I glanced at her, and smiled, and she returned his attention. 

“Wonder if Fred is thinking about his puppies,” I said to Tony. 

Tony laughed. “Nope. Oakley gets the maternal instincts but for Fred it stopped after she went out of heat. 

“Just a good lay. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am,” I said. 

“Well, the doggy equivalent of it.” He grinned. “You're in a good mood this morning.”

“Maybe I'm just looking forward to seeing those cute puppies. Or maybe I'm just missing you since you didn't come over last night.”

“Sorry,” he said. I have to take care of my business every now and then, but I'll make it up to.”

“I'll hold you to that.” 

“Tonight at seven?”

“Absolutely,” I said. Then I turned toward the house. “I'll see you after work.” 

I led Oakley back to the house, commanding her to heel and smiling at her each time her conditioning took over. Then I let her wander around the house while I showered. But she just waiting on the bathroom floor staring at me sadly through the door. 

“Don't make those sad eyes at me, little lady,” I said. “You know those aren't gonna work on me.” 

She lifted her head and kept staring. 

“You bought your crate and now you're going to have to lay in it,” I said with a laugh. “I know it'll be a little different with your Anne brain in charge, but you wanted the experience, and I think it's a good idea for you to go through it at least a little bit with full awareness and not just instincts. You need a little time to actually process what you're going through.”

She lay back down. 

“Aw, sweet puppy.”

After I got ready for work, I told her to heel and she followed me to the crate. When I opened it, she stepped away, but a “bad girl” from me made her stop cold. “In,” I said in a firm voice, and in she went. I latched it shut and smiled down at her. “I guess Tony was right. You do have to be firm with pets.” 

I had to admit that I was enjoying being with the Anne part of Oakley again, but treating her as just a pet had become almost second nature to me, so it was easier than I had expected to treat the hybrid Oakley/Anne puppy as anything special. I actually really have fun making sure she acted like she would have as just Oakley. 

While I was at work, I couldn't stop thinking of her, and I was already excited about taking her out to do her business when I got home. I wondered what would go through her mind as she found herself defecating and urinating outside but fully aware of the actions that ran contrary to her humanity. I couldn't wait to pet her and play with her, and then put her back in that awful crate while I went out on my date with Tony.

When I got home, she barked and bounced, and I wasn't sure if she was happy to see me, happy to get out of the create, or honestly wanting to talk to me. It was easier than I had thought to ignore her and clip the leash to her collar, and tell her, “Outside.” 

She bounced beside me, and I smiled, but still didn't ask her even a single question about her day. She barked and yipped, and finally I told her, “Bad girl. Quiet.” 

“Come,” I said, and tugged on the leash. “Heel.”

She walked beside me through the foyer, and the living room and then outside. “Hold on, girl,” I said and unclipped the leash. She ran into the yard, then looked back and noticed I wasn't coming out with her. I waved and closed the sliding glass door. Then turned and headed back into the house.

But of course I watched her through my bedroom window as she looked dejected and walked to the far corner to poop and pee then returned to the door and waited on the concrete patio.

I let her wait, even walking by the door several times to and from the kitchen. Each time, she stood up and barked at the door. And each time I passed by and left it closed. 

After several trips, I finally relented and opened the door to call her inside. She looked up at me and even in her little doggie eyes I could tell she suddenly noticed I was in a skimpy little dress for my date.

I knelt before her and opened my hand, showing her two of the dog treats Tony had recommended. 

“Hungry?” I asked, and she reached out to grab them.

“Wait,” I said. “Patience.”

She stopped, just like she had been trained, staring at the treat, then looking up at me, then back again, clearing salivating for it.

“I've got a date tonight, Oakley, so sadly you're gonna have to go back in the crate.”

She whined, still alternating her eyes between me and the treat. 

“But since you poo-pooed and pee-peed like a good girl, here's a treat for you. 

She looked at me. 

“Okay,” said. “Catch.” 

I tossed the treat into the air, and she jumped up onto her back legs and caught it in her mouth. 

“Good girl,” I said. “Who's a good girl? Oakley is my good, good girl.” 

She swallowed and look at my hand again, where I was still holding the second treat.

“Shake,” I said, and without a thought she did. “Switch.” She changed paws. “Such a well-trained good girl,” said. Then I made a circular motion with the treat, and even without telling her to play dead, she rolled over onto her back and lay still. “Good girl,” I said and she jumped to her feet and I gave her the treat. She took it carefully, and then sat down to chew it. 

“Come,” I said when she was done. 

She followed me back to the crate. This time though, she only looked up at me sadly when I told her to get in, and she went inside without resisting. 

I told again she was a good girl, and offered her a third treat, one I had kept hidden in my other hand. 

I latched it, turned out the light, closed the door, and left her softly panting in the dark. 

When I returned it was late, and I was exhausted and a little drunk. Tony was with me, and I didn't want Oakley around while we had sex, so I let her out of the crate and outside to take care of her needs. I left her out all night, and woke up with barely enough time to get to work. Tony promised to take care of her and make sure she got fed and crated before he left. 

He must have, because that evening when I got home, she was bouncing and barking again like the happiest puppy ever. I got the feeling that she wanted to talk, but I ignored her again. This was Oakley time, after all, not Anne time, and she was still being punished. 

I let her back in the house after her business was done, and I called her onto the couch while I kicked off my pumps and set my poor tired feet free the oppressive chains that was business formal. She trotted to the couch, but instead of jumping up, she stopped at my feet and sniffed them. She didn't see me watching, I guess, and she licked them through my stockings. I let her a few times before I called to her, “Oakley, up.” 

She stopped licking, then walked to the edge of the sofa and jumped up. She was acting so much like a regular dog I actually checked her collar to see if somehow she had managed to find the pendant. But no, it wasn't there. This was all the Oakley/Anne hybrid. Of course, she would still have all the natural senses of a dog, I realized. Not only was the training sticking even without the pendant, but the thinks that smelled good to her as a dog, that tasted good her as a dog, those things would still be active as well, just like her dog eyes wouldn't allow her to see the same way as a human being. 

I stored that one away in my thoughts for later. 

“Good girl,” I said, scratching her ears. “Did Mommy's feet taste good, sweet girl?”

She looked up at me, then looked away, apparently embarrassed. 

I kept scratching her ears. 

“Don't get embarrassed puppy. It's okay. You're Mommy's good girl, and you can lick my feet whenever you want to. I think they stink, but they must smell better to your nose.”

She tried to look away again. I kept scratching those soft ears. 

“It's okay, baby girl. You don't ever have to be embarrassed to my my good girl.” 

She looked up at me, revealing the whites at the bottom of her eyes. 

“Such a pretty girl.” 

She whimpered, still looking up. 

“Okay, it looks like something's on your mind, Oakley.”

Two quiet barks. 

“You want your pendant back, don't you?”

Two more. 

“Well, that's not happening. You've still got a few more days of your punishment, and you did say that I was supposed to take care of you how I saw fit.” 

“Is that it?”

One bark. 

“Well, what is, girl? Is Timmy stuck in a well?”

I couldn't help but laugh. 

“I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.” I cleared my throat. “Let me guess, you're tired of the crate?”

One bark. 

“No. You like the crate?”

Bark. 

“Oh, you don't like the crate but that's not it?”

Two barks. 

“You know, having a conversation with a dog isn't easy.”

Two barks. 

“That was rhetorical.” 

She placed her front paws across my knees.

“Hmm...  Time to play twenty questions, I guess. Animal, vegetable, or mineral?”

I laughed again. She lay her head heavily into my lap and sighed loudly. 

“I'm sorry. I'm having so much fun with you like this, but I'll get serious.”

Bark. Bark. 

“Okay, is it something wrong with you?”

She looked away, then up at me. Once bark. 

“Good, it's not health related. That's something.”

Two barks. 

“Phew. Is it something that you want?”

Bark. Bark. 

“I think I need a dog Ouija board to talk to you, Oakley.” 

No response. 

“I told you I'm not giving the pendant back until a few days.”

One bark. 

“It is food-related?”

Bark. 

“Something about Fred?”

Two barks.

“Oh, missing your stud, huh?” I couldn't believe how easily I was making jokes about the fact that I had allowed, no, given her to be mated by Tony's dog. 

Bark. Bark. 

“But you're not in heat. So it can't be sexual.” 

One bark. 

“Wait, is it sexual?”

Woof. Woof. Quieter, almost embarrassed. 

“How? You're not in heat.”

She looked up at me. 

“Oh shit. It's because you're not wearing the pendant.”

Two woofs. 

“Your dog instinct wouldn't be thinking about it at all, but your human thinking right now is allowing you to actually think about it like a person would remember an awesome night with a talented lover.” 

Two more. 

“Well, that's too bad because unless you can get in heat again, he's not remotely interested in having sex with you. Is that why you want the pendant, to get it out of your head?”

Two barks. 

I considered getting the pendant to help her out and give her a break, but somewhere in my mind, a wicked little thought was forming. She had wanted to be a dog, and she had even talked me into letting Fred fuck her—repeatedly—and get her pregnant, and she had been the one to push me to let the experience be as genuine for her as possible. 

So I would.

“Sorry, Oakley,” I said petting her head and running my fingers through her thick fur all the way down her back. “You actually miss having sex with Fred. I can't believe it was that good for you.”

Two barks. 

I kept rubbing her back. 

“I'm curious. Did it feel good or did it feel right? I mean you weren't thinking like a human then, and dogs don't typically fuck for the pure enjoyment of it, so was it something you only like in retrospect but in the actual moment, it was just something you realized felt right and natural? I know that's a complicated question but does it make sense?

Bark. Bark. 

“So, part one. What is enjoyable when you had the pendant on?”

Woof. Woof. 

“Was the memory of it enjoyable when I took the pendant off?”

Woof. Woof. 

She rolled over onto her back and exposed her belly to me. I scritch-scratched it with my nails. 

“Did it feel 'right' when it was happening? Even the first time?”

Two more woofs. 

“Okay, okay. This is weird, Oakley. Really weird. I'm talking with my dog about her having sex. How did I ever let you talk me into this?”

She looked up at me panting quietly. 

“Fuck. Well, I don't know what to do to help you. I can't say I'd enjoy the idea of letting you go all bitch in heat again with him, but it doesn't really matter because you can't go into heat right now, and he's not interested if you're not in heat.”

She kept looking up at me, panting and enjoying the belly rub. 

“And even if it is driving you crazy thinking about how much you want him to unsheath it for you and mount you again, I'm not giving you the pendant back yet.”

She whimpered in my lap. 

“In fact, I've actually got a little bit of bad news for you, sweetheart. Tony and I are going out of town to the Falls this weekend, and we planned to have both and Fred kenneled while we were gone.

Oakley whined at me but stayed put. 

“I know. I know. Originally you would have been wearing the pendant when that happened, but thanks to your little bitchiness with the collar, you're going to have to go through that without it. And then when Tony and I get back, we're going to have a little chat about that experience.”

I found her sweet spot inside her left thigh and her leg started to twitch. The more she tried to stop the reflex, the more I scratched her there and make her wag that leg like any other dog. 

“I hope you're still enjoying your vacation, Oakley,” I said, grinning as her leg kept wiggling. 

Chapter Seven: Anne & Oakley

Because they were such good friends, and because Tony knew the Dr. Bettany so well, we were able to have Oakley and Fred share one of the larger kennel cages while we were gone. And thanks to the video cams, we have 24/7 access to watch them at any time, or even to scroll back through the footage or download it. 

Tony had told me Dr. Bettany was a super swank vet. 

I couldn't resist taking a peek at them often, especially during dinner or at the hotel. About the only time I didn't was when we were actually hiking and once during a museum tour of the Falls history. 

Poor little Oakley. I imagine that if I had allowed her to wear the pendant, she'd have played with Fred and been super interested in all the other dogs. But with Anne driving her little puppy dog body, every loud bark made her jump. She didn't seem to trust the dog to her left, and she spent more time huddled behind Fred than playing.

But for all his lack of human chivalry, Fred was a good friend to her. He growled at the neighbor and licked her to try and comfort her. 

I couldn't help but laugh when at one point she lowered her face to the ground and pushed her bottom up toward him. Wow. She was really serious about wanting more doggy style action from him. He ignored her of course, except for occasionally licking her there, but he had absolutely zero interest in sex. 

Every time she tried to encourage him, he shut her down. He just wasn't having it. 

Apparently the attendants on duty noticed her odd behavior and each time a new one arrived for a shit, he or she would inspect Oakley to see if she was in heat, then shake his or her head and walk out with a confused look. 

But my sweet, horny puppy didn't seem to mind. She kept trying. 

I couldn't resist showing the video to Tony and asking him if that was normal for a female who was pregnant.”

“It's certainly not common,” he said, “but there are some cases of females encouraging sex outside of heat. But without the chemical changes and the pheromones, it rarely leads to anything actually happening.” He pulled the tablet closer and looked again. “I definitely think you're going to need to get Oakley spayed after this litter though, unless you want it to happen again.” 

I laughed. “You're probably right. Too bad we can't do something for her though.”

He grew suddenly serious. “Well, I wouldn't recommend it but you can get the scent of a bitch in heat and rub it on a female's genitals, especially if you're training them to mate and want to get them used to the action, or to keep them in practice between being mated.”

I took the tablet back and looked at my sweet puppy. I smiled.

“But not with her pregnant. Not with this being her first heat too.”

“Poor girl,” I said to the screen. “You're just gonna have to go without for now, I guess.”

I tossed the tablet to the side of the bed. 

“But I'm not, am I?” I practically purred to my boyfriend. 

“Never,” he said. 

When we returned, of course I showed Oakley the video. In fact, I played it on the TV with the sound up so she could hear herself whimper and beg for Fred to fuck her. 

“You're such a little slut,” I said with a laugh.

I shouldn't have been able to tease her so, but after everything that had happened, particularly the fact that she was carrying a litter or Fred's puppies in her growing belly, I couldn't help it. She wasn't completely a dog in my mind, but she wasn't remotely Anne anymore either. And the longer I let her remain the hybrid with a dog body and a human mind, I couldn't help but find her situation laughable. She was like the victim in a bad 1950s sci-fi movie, only without the sex. 

It was funny, when she was just Oakley, under the power of the pendant, and acted like the dog she believed herself to be, I was so much more tender and sweet and protective of her. But with her wits about her, even if she still had all the limitations of her dog body, I felt almost as if she deserved to be made fun of a bit, deserved to be a embarrassed at choosing willingly to turn herself into a dog. 

“I can't believe my little Oakley is so horny.” 

She tried to leave, but I commanded her to stay and watch. She sat on floor, not wanting to share the couch with me.

“Did you ever imagine that would be you, girl? Hiking up your ass and begging my boyfriend's dog to hump you?”

She whined and lay down, still watching as commanded. 

“The good news is that Tony told me there's a way to help you get what you want even when you're not in heat.” 

She lifted her head and looked at me. 

“That's right, sweetie. I can buy it on the internet and have it here in two days with priority shipping. Basically, some breeders harvest the urine from their bitches when they're in heat, and if I lather a little bit of that on you, then ol' Fred starts believing your in heat again and goes nuts trying to get his little doggie dick inside you.”

She sat up and took a step toward me.

“That bad news is that I'm not going to do that for you.” 

She barked twice. Loudly. 

“Bark all you want, horn dog,” I said. “Still not doing it.” 

She bounced and barked twice again. 

“Sorry, sweetie. I have to think about your puppies more than worry about your pussy.” 

She dropped her ass to the floor and sat down again. Then she pointed her nose to the kitchen and whined.

“Sorry, girl. Still one more day until you get the pendant back. I'm sure you can make it.”

She whimpered and lay down again. 

“I'll tell you what. Why don't I take you to the park?”

She barked once, still sulking. 

“Why don't I take you anyway?” I laughed. 

I leashed her and made her heel all the way to the SUV, then I opened the back door and the door to her carrier, and told up, “Up!” 

She leapt into the back of the car. 

“Inside,” I said flatly. 

She looked at me and whined.

“Inside,” I said more firmly. 

She climbed in and turned around. 

“Lay down, Oakley,” I said.

She lay down and rested her sad puppy face on her paws. 

“Aw... Is my sweet girl sad? Don't you worry. I bet we'll find some kids to pet you and make you feel better at the park.” 

I closed the carrier, and then the door after check the straps to make sure she was secure. 

It was a nice, cool day, and the park was full of families. I called my friends Camron and Callie from work and they brought their two daughters over to hang out with me and Oakley for a while. 

While under the power of the pendant, Oakley had played with the twin girls, eight-year-old Ashley and Angel, many time and gotten on well with them. And I couldn't wait to see her play with them now, having to emulate regular doggy mode with her human thoughts. 

The girls immediately ran to Oakley and hugged her. They petted her sides and ears and neck, and before long she was on the grass on her back getting lots and lots of belly scratches from them. 

“Be careful with her tummy girls,” I said. “I don't know if your mom and dad told you, but Oakley is going to have puppies.”

The both beamed like flashlights and kept petting her tummy, just with more gentle strokes. 

“Ooh,” they said together. “Can we have one?”

I laughed and cut a glance to Oakley. “I think that's up to your mom and dad.”

“Mom?!” Angel said. 

“Dad?!” Ashley said. 

“We'll see. Maybe.” Camron shrugged. 

“If they're as sweet and good-natured as Oakley, then maybe.” Callie looked toward Camron but he didn't want to have to consider it at that moment. 

“We've still go a while to go, girls,” I said. “Let's let your mom and dad think about it.” 

“Can I take her for a walk around the park?” Ashley asked. 

“Why don't you both do it but stay on the sidewalks and don't forget to pick up her poops.” 

“Gross,” Angel said, making a face. “You're doing that part, Ashley,” 

“Okay,” Ashley said and took the handle of the leash and Oakley led the way around the path where joggers and dog walkers typically stayed. 

Ironically enough, I realized, the girls are in great hands with her other than her being in good hands with them, this time. I laughed. 

The girls brought her back and handed me the leash, then ran off to the playground chasing each other. 

“Would you like that, girl? Would you like for Angel and Ashley to have one of your cute little babies?”

She barked. 

I laughed. I knew what one bark meant. 

“Yeah, I bet you would.”

“Well,” Camron said. “Don't your hopes up. Callie and I still need to have a long talk with the girls about responsibility.”

“Whatever you decide, it's fine with me. I'd just love to see the puppies go to folks I know will take care of them rather than strangers at the pound.”

Oakley barked again, louder this time.

I played with her neck fluff. “Shush, girl. Mommy's trying to have a conversation.”

But she ignored me and barked again, this time pointing her snout directly at me and her eyes looking like a mixture of hurt and anger.

I smiled at her. “That's enough, Oakley.” I pointed at her, and commanded, “Quiet. Sit.” 

She hushed and plopped back onto her haunches. 

“She's such a good dog,” Callie said. “If her puppies are as good and sweet as she is, it might not be so bad.”

I laughed. “She has her moments, but she is very well-trained. If you do get one of her litter, be sure you Tony to help you train it. He's amazing.

“Speaking of Tony,” Callie said with a wicked gleam. “How's that going? You two sure are seeing a lot of each other.”

I blushed. Oakley lay down at me feet. 

“And with that, I'm going to go play with the girls,” Camron said, rising. 

“Don't want to gossip with the girls?” I asked him teasingly. 

“I'd rather have Oakley's puppies myself,” he said with a grin and walked away. 

I glanced at my good girl and thought, that could almost be arranged, huh, Oakley?

After we returned home, Oakley spent much of the night sulking in the foyer and refused to join me in the living room. I refreshed her food and water and kept an eye on her in case she needed to do her business, but I gave her the space she needed. 

I don't know what she had expected to happen to her litter of puppies. Honestly I don't think she was thinking at all since she was under the spell of the pendant. But now, in her right might, surely she knew she couldn't keep them. They might have to stay with her long enough to get weaned, but did she honestly plan to just keep them when she turned back into Anne? How the hell would that work? They would be her children and they would be normal puppies. Not even puppies with human identities like their mom. 

No. I was her owner, and it was for the best. No matter how upset she got at me. The puppies would have to go to good homes. Surely she would understand that. 

“Are you going to sulk all night, Oakley?”

No response. 

“Come on, girl. Talk to me.”

One soft bark. 

I grinned. 

“If you're going to be a brat all night, I could just put you back in the crate then.”

I heard her claws skitter on the foyer floor and in a moment she peered around the edge of the doorway and gazed in at me. 

“That's better.” 

She flopped down onto her belly half in and half out of the living room, lying down where I could see her and she could see me. But she still refused to interact or be my good girl on the sofa. 

“I almost can't wait to give you the pendant back tomorrow. I have to say you have a much better attitude when you are just Oakley. Honestly Oakley is a much better behaved puppy than Anne.”

Sure, I was baiting her, but I had to get some response. In spite of knowing I had made the right choice about the puppies, I still couldn't stand to see her so sad. 

“Listen,” I said, giving her my full attention. “If you're going to vacation as a dog ever again, then you have to realize you can't just get mated and keep all the puppies. How the hell would you take care of them all?

“No, the best thing is to make sure they go to good homes where they'll be loved. Well, the best thing would be for you not to go into heat and get mounted, but the next best thing after that would be to give them to folks we trust. 

“But, if you can't deal with that, then either you have to stop becoming a dog after this vacation or find someone else to be your owner. Because if it's going to be me, I'm going to have to make the decisions, not you.”

She kept looking at me, obviously listening, but not speaking. 

“Or...” I stopped.

She barked softly twice.

“Now you're interested, huh?”

She got up and walked into the living room. She still didn't come to the couch but she did look at me with her head resting on the coffee table across from me. It would do for now.

“Well, the only other way to stop all this puppy insanity would be to do what the vet suggested in the first place. Especially if you are going to want to do this as often as it seems you plan to.”

I popped my knuckles. She widened her eyes at me, showing off the arc of white below her brown circles. 

“If I just got you fixed, that would solve everything. You could be all Oakley for as long as you wanted, but you wouldn't go into heat again and I wouldn't have to worry about more puppies, and you wouldn't have to face the heartbreak again of me giving them away.”

She sat down, her face still on the table.

“We don't have to talk about it now. We've got time.” I pointed to the door. “Are you sure you don't need to go out? It's been a few hours.”

She got up and walked slowly to the door. I opened it and let her outside. But instead of running into the yard to do her business, she went to the edge of the patio and lay down, looking away from the house toward the fence.

I got the pendant from the kitchen drawer and walked out to join her. 

“Here, girl,” I said. “Come here, girl.”

She trotted to me slowly. Without letting her see what I was holding I started to play with the thick fur at her neck. Then while she was still enjoying the scratches, I latched the pendant onto the same ring at her name tag and rabies tag. 

The change in her attitude was instantaneous. She looked up at me, barked with several high-pitched excited yips and yaps, then licked my hand and nuzzled my face. 

“That's my good girl,” I said. “Feel better now?”

I kept rubbing her face and neck while she licked me and gave me all the kisses. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled. “What the hell am I ever going to do with you, girl?”

Chapter Eight: Pre-Natal Prep

I felt so rotten for punishing Anne that I let Oakley skip the next check-in and just let her stay in dog-instinct mode for the next month. It was so easy to let her be Oakley, and after all, she seemed to have a lot more fun without the distractions of her humanity to get in the way.

During that time, Tony and I got a lot closer. We have taken another weekend trip together and boarded Fred and Oakley at the kennel again – separate this time since she was really starting to show and we were a little concerned about them getting too playful with each other. Closer, of course, meant we were sleeping together regularly and staying over at each others’ houses and bringing the dogs over as well. Together, the four of us, Tony, me, Fred, and Oakley were starting to look like a stereotypical suburban family.

We still let the twins visit and play with Oakley and Fred, but we had to make sure they knew to be more careful with Oakley because of the babies.

It wasn’t long before we started to notice several changes in my good girl, and thankfully Tony prepared me for all of them. We were away again and watching her on the kennel monitor when we noticed that her appetite had changed at about three weeks into the pregnancy. She started to eat everything in sight, I guess building up a supply of food and nutrients for the puppies. About two weeks after that, her belly really swelled. It became pretty evident even to passersby during our walks then that she was going to have puppies.

Because of all the changes, I even gave her another week with the pendant. Better to let the dog side handle all that stuff like canines had for years. Letting Anne over think it or worry about it too much might have been too much for her and push her over the edge.

It was only when I noticed the puppies moving inside her and realized that she was starting to discharge milky slickness from her enlarged teats that I decided to finally remove the pendant and have another chat with her about how soon her puppies would be coming. When I did remove it, she barked softly twice in a sort of hello, and I petted her head and rubbed between her ears.

“Well, hello there, sweet girl,” I said. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve let you stay in dog mode?”

She barked once.

I laughed.

“No, I figure you don’t. Time doesn’t mean too much when you aren’t tracking it the way people do, does it?”

Another soft bark.

Well, it’s been five whole weeks since I returned the pendant to you, Oakley.”

She barked twice.

“Yes, I said. I gave you five whole weeks of vacation without having to worry about anything other than having fun and letting your body get ready for those cute puppies you’re going to have soon.”

Two more barks.

“According to Tony, it’ll be about another week, maybe two, but you’re swollen and leaking in all the right places, so probably just one.”

She stepped forward licked my face.

“Aw, I love you too, Oakley.”

She barked twice.

“I know you do.”

I petted her head again.

“Do you remember anything from your time in dog mode? I mean, you said you still have the memories, just not stored and wondered about like people would. Do you remember being in the kennel last weekend, for example?”

She barked twice.

“Oh, good. Did you like that?”

One bark.

“No? Why not? Didn’t like being separated from Fred?”

Two barks.

“Sorry about that. I know it must have been boring being alone, but I had to think about the puppies. We couldn’t have you pushing yourself to far playing with him.”

One bark.

“Well, I hope it wasn’t just Fred. I hope you missed me too.”

Two more barks.

“Awwww… that’s my good girl.”

She licked my lips and nose in three long, wet sloppy kisses.

“Gross,” I said. “That’s enough.”

One bark, then she did it again.

“Did it feel like it was longer this time?”

One bark.

“No?”

Another single bark.

“Okay. Would you like to go a while again? I mean, your original timetable is screwed now because you have to take care of the puppies until they’re able to be weaned off your own milk and learn to eat and drink regular food. That’s gonna add a few weeks to your ‘vacation.’” I took a deep breath before continuing. “So I figure it’s okay to let you stay in your preferred mode during that time.”

She barked two enthusiastic yips.

“And it’ll make it easier to take the puppies away when their ready too, since your instincts won’t fight that as much as your Anne brain would.”

One bark. One loud, gruff bark.

“Don’t start that again, Oakley. You know you can’t keep them.”

One more. Louder this time. More angry sounding.

“Sorry, girl. I make the rules. You either play along or get spayed.”

Another bark, a little softer. She took a step backward away from me, but I looped my index finger in the ring on her collar and didn’t let her pull away any farther.

“Like it or not, the puppies will be given away. I’ve already arranged with Callie and Camron to get the cutest boy for the twins. And then Matt at work – you remember him, don’t you, the guy from IT who had the crush on you – well, he wants one too. Tony knows a girl who has been looking for a puppy for a while and wanted one of Fred’s if he ever mated, so that takes care of all but one of them, if the vet is right in saying there are four furry little puppers inside you.”

She tugged at her collar, still trying to pull away, but I said with a stern tone, “Sit.”

Oakley plopped down on her little doggy butt quickly at the command.

“Good thing to know pregnancy hasn’t affected your obedience training,” I said with a laugh.

She barked once.

“Anyway, I didn’t really want to bother you, since I know you were enjoying yourself with the pendant, but I did feel like the other part of you needed to know how soon things would… well, change for you. It didn’t seem right to let you go through that without at least some warning.”

Instead of responding, she only whimpered sadly and looked away.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re mad at me, but somebody has to be the grown-up here, and as your owner, I suppose that falls to me.”

More whimpering.

“Well, I figure you probably want to go back to dog mode instead of being all sad about the puppies, and honestly, after seeing how you reacted pretty much like I expected you too, I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to putting the pendant on you again too this time. You’re so much easier to deal with when you’re carefree and obedient instead of mopey and upset at me. I prefer your playfulness to your silent treatment.”

She barked twice weakly.

“Do you want to talk again before the birth?”

One mournful bark.

“Are you sure?”

Two low, sad barks.

“What about after?”

She just looked up into my eyes, her own wet and deep brown and sad.

“How long after the birth I mean?”

She held my gaze, not making a sound.

“Just after?”

One bark.

“How ‘bout right after the puppies are able to walk?”

Another.

“How ‘bout right after they get weaned, before the are given away? That way you could at least get to know them as real human memories.”

One more sad, low bark.

“After they’re gone?”

Two very quiet barks.

“You’re going to make me cry, girl. You know that?”

No response.

“Not that it will change anything. You can’t keep them. There’s no way you could emotionally cope with have a pet that was your own child,” I said, still holding her collar. “And even if you did, chances are when it got older, if it was a male, then it might end up trying to mate with you too, and I’m sorry, but that’s just way too fucking weird.”

Still no response.

“You do understand, right?”

Nothing.

I tugged at the collar. “I’m going to need an answer from you or I’m going to crate you for the next fucking week, Oakley. Do you understand?”

Two weak barks.

“Okay. That’s better. Let’s try this again. I know you don’t like it.”

Two barks.

“Yeah, you’ve made that abundantly clear. But do you understand why it has to happen this way?”

She looked up at me again with wet eyes.

“Do you?”

Finally she responded. Woof. Woof.

“Good girl.”

I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her fluffy neck and hugged her. Her wet nose pressed into my neck, and I smiled.

“So, when I put this pendant back on you, you don’t want me to remove until the pups are given away to their new homes?”

Two soft barks at my ear.

“And you realize that could be another two months or so that you’d spend with your humanity basically turned off.”

Two more soft barks.

“Okay, girl. Just know that I love you and that I’m doing this for your own good and to help you get whatever the hell you need to go through out of your system.”

She licked my neck and my ear. I hugged her again before clipping the pendant back onto her collar. Then I let her to the sofa, motioned for her to get up and lie down with me, and she yipped happily and joined me lazily, dropping her head into my lap as I grabbed the remote and flipped through channels for anything decent to watch.

Chapter Nine: Peeing on the Towels

"Four puppies," Tony exclaimed after Oakley pushed out the final of her offspring. "They all look to be healthy, and mama's doing fine too. Just tired, as she should be after such exhausting work."

I watched, trying not to get too emotional, as Oakley licked each of the pups clean of her blood and birth goop they were coated in. I would have gagged more than a little if I had thought of her having to do that without the benefit of the pendant to allow the motherly instinct to kick in. When they were clean enough for her, she lay still, panting and letting her tongue hang out of her half-open mouth as she drooled all over the messy tangle of towels I had placed on the laundry room floor for her when Tony had told me to be ready, that the little could come any day now. At that point, I had pretty much kept her inside the laundry room no matter how much she whined and whimpered, and when I did go visit her, I always closed the door behind me so she wouldn't get into the rest of the house.

It was only because she had cried out when the first pup started to arrive that I even knew to check on her again. 

I had been lying down on the sofa, on the phone with Tony again as usual, half watching some documentary about the Alps, when she yelped out and then let loose a loud, throaty, pained howl. Still clutching the phone, I had taken "Tony" with me and quickly yelled for him to get his ass over to the house and that I could see the head of the first baby barely poking out.

He raced over, but stayed on the phone with me the whole time, reminding me not to worry, not to interfere, that bitches had given birth for millions of years without any help from worried pet owners. I could keep an eye on her, but there was no need to get involved, no matter how she whined or cried or howled. As the old saying went, this too shall pass. 

When he arrived, he came straight to the laundry room, hugged me and gave me a peck on the cheek, then knelt beside Oakley to check on her progress. 

The first two babies were out and the third was mostly there, only it's hind legs remaining inside her birth canal. That one plopped out like the others and before too long, after another series of painful whines and whimpers, Oakley had started to push the fourth and last puppy out into the big, wide world. 

I had a wicked thought that it would be completely justified to take off the pendant for a few moments and let her more human comprehension "enjoy" the experience too. Then I instantly regretted it and felt bad as she struggled to squeeze the last of her little onto the towels.

Instead, I reached to pet her and tell her what a good little mommy she was, but she snapped at me and growleds as I got a few inches away. I jerked my hand away, startled. She had never reacted that way to me before. 

Tony shook his head and touched my shoulder. "She's fine. It's just her mothering instinct. She's all pain and puppies right now. Just give her some time, and she'll be back to normal again."

I couldn't help but give her a hurt look, but she wasn't remotely paying attention to me. 

After all the pups were sufficiently licked and coddled, we waited until they began to wiggle around in search of her nipples. 

"I know it's tempting to help them, but don't," Tony told me. "They'll find the nipples just find eventually."

So he helped me up, and we left the room, turned off the lights and let Oakley to get know her new family.

I desperately needed something to divert my attention from what my best friend was experiencing and had just endured. Sure, she was in dog mode, but even then, there was enough of Anne still running that brain to where the pondering would be able to pop through every now and them, especially in moments when nature wasn't demanding her attention. It was those moments I was concerned about. How would she react when she realized that she had crossed a line she hadn't expected to even encounter in her initial plans for her little doggy vacation? Not only had she been mated by a male dog, but now she had her own litter of puppies that would no doubt grow into some combinations of her and Fred. She was the first human woman to have a litter of puppies. Surely that thought meant something to her. Pride? Joy? Shame? Humiliation? Fulfillment? Maybe just exhaustion? I had no way of knowing until we spoke again later in the week. All I could do was let her continued to nurse and care for her babies as her nature directed her, and keep her safe and fed and healthy. 

Tony, bless his heart, noticed my stress, and even though he misunderstood my concern as just that of average new pet owner worried about her pet, he did take me to the living room and motioned for me to sit on the couch. 

"She'll be fine. So will the pups. They all were born pretty quickly with no breaches or problems, so I wouldn't worry about them even a little."

I wanted to tell him that wasn't what worried me, but how could I just dump all that shit on him?

"She's a natural. Let her bond with the kiddos overnight, and we'll peek in later just to see how they're doing. Then just keep them in the laundry room unless Oakley needs to go out or scratches at the door. Eventually, she'll need to get a little time away from them. They'll whimper a lot, but they'll be fine while she gets some alone time to keep healing."

I smiled. "Thanks."

I mean, I did need to know all that, even if it wasn't the stuff I was thinking about. After all, Oakley was not only my first dog to have puppies, but my first dog period. 

"Come here," he said, patting his lap. "Lie down." 

I did, turning on my side to face him.

"Other way," he said with a wave of his hand.

"Okay," I said and flipped over in his lap.

Then he rolled me over onto my chest and massaged my shoulders and lower back. I had no idea how long because within a few minutes I had fallen fast asleep, lost in some of the weirdest dreams I could remember every having. 

In my dreams, I was walking Oakley to the dog park. When we arrived, I got down on all fours and played with her for a bit. At some point, I realized that too had become a dog, a shaggy black lab. 

But the change didn't bother me. Instead, Oakley and I continued to play for hours, chasing squirrels, catching treats, just running all over the grass and around the trees and benches, barking at all the people and the other dogs. 

When it came time for our doggy playdate to end, some woman I didn't know called for Oakley and she bounded to the person like she was her owner. But I was her owner, I thought, even in my dreamlike stupor. 

Then someone called for me, and I somehow recognized my new name as Pepper. It was a stupid name for a dog, I thought, but it was mine, and my owner had given it to me, and so I was proud of it anyway. I raced to the voice and saw Anne and her ex-husband waiting for me with a leash. I stopped, looking around for Oakley, but her owner was taking her away. 

"You can play with Oakley again later, girl," Anne said, leaning down to rub and fluff my furry head and shoulders. 

Then the dream changed, and I was being walked by Anne toward a red truck I couldn't read. 

"I'm really sorry, Pepper, but he doesn't think we can keep up such an energetic dog in our small apartment. I promised I'd get something smaller. But don't worry. I'm sure you'll be happy in your new home."

She led me to a man in a blue uniform waiting beside the truck, and he clipped his own leash to my collar, then unclipped the one Anne was holding. Anne was crying.

"I'll take good care of her," the man said, and he led me around to the back of the truck and opened a cage that was built in to the bed. "Up, sweetie. Be a good girl." 

I looked to Anne sadly, wistfully, wanting to stay, but she lowered her head and turned away and started walking back to the front of her apartment. 

"It's okay, girl," the man said. "We'll be good friends, I'm sure." He patted the floor of the cage and added, "Come up. Come on. Be a good girl."

I am a good girl, I thought, and without wasting another second I did as I was told. I leapt into the cage and turned around to face him. He closed the door and clipped a small padlock over the catch. 

He drove me all the way across town to a sort of farm where several other dogs were lying down or playing on the large property. Instead of letting me join them as I wanted, when he released me from the cage, he led me directly to a group of kennel pens around the back. We walked past  several other dogs in cages, mostly other black labs like myself, and I was thrilled to think that I might enjoy my new home after all with so many new friends to play with. 

I looked up at him and wagged my tail. I wanted to be sure he thought I was a good girl. I wanted to make him happy. But mostly I just wanted to play with those other dogs. 

He smiled at me and I wagged even harder, thumping my tail against his leg. 

The dreamworld shifted again, and I was in my own pen. But not alone. I was sharing my large kennel with another black lab. The scent told me it was a male. My scent told me he knew it too. He was sniffing my backside, and his pink cock was already out. He barked and I lowered my forelegs to make myself available to his passion. 

The next scene I saw was Anne looking at me through the metal grid of my pen, smiling. She was alone. 

"I'm glad you're happy," she said, "but I wish I had just kept you. That bastard left me, and we never did get another dog."

I whimpered and rose to lick her hand through the cage door. 

"That's why I'm here. Not just to see you again, Pepper." 

My puppies scampered around my legs, playing and nipping at each other in play fights. 

"What do you say, Pepper? Which one of your puppies should I take?"

I looked up at her, hurt that she wasn't here for me. 

"I'm so honored to get one from your first litter, girl."

Then she was gone. All my puppies were gone too. Just me and another black lab in my cage, Then me with my rear raised to him to welcome his natural rutting again. 

Then giving birth to my second litter. 

Then more rutting. 

Another litter. 

Another mating. A different black lab.

More litters. More mating. 

No more Anne. 

And then one day there was no more mating. No more rutting. No more litters. Just an old bitch who wouldn't earn her spot on the puppy farm any longer. And old dog to tired to play in the yard with the younger bitches.

The last shift was my owner latching a leash to my collar and leading me down a hallway to a room usually reserved for my shots and inspections. He was crying and tell me I was a good girl, and that he only had one thing left for me to do, just let me put me up on the table for one more shot. 

I woke up to Tony jostling me rigorously. 

"That sounds like some crazy nightmare," he said softly as I slowly opened my eyes. 

"God damn," I mumbled. 

"That bad?"

"That bad."

"Want to talk about it?"

Hell no, I thought. Fuck no. Not in a million fucking years. "It's okay. I'll be fine."

"Sure?"

I nodded against his legs, where I had still been lying during my fitful nap. 

"God damn," I said more coherently this time. 

"Sounds bad." 

"Well, it wasn't wine and roses." 

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Totally," I said. "How's Oakley?" 

"Sleeping, or at least she was resting while the puppies nursed again when I checked earlier. 

"Good."

"Get dressed. I'm taking your to dinner to get your mind off all this."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He helped me up to a sitting position. "Seafood okay?"

I shook my head. "Steak. Very, very expensive steak."

He laughed. "You're the boss."

"And you'd better believe it." 

So I got ready and we went to dinner. We even took in a movie before returning to the house. He had done a good job distracting me, and the nightmare and my concerns about Oakley were a million miles away from my thoughts. 

When we got back, I couldn't help but peek in on Oakley and her babies.

She was quietly nursing, but she looked up weakly at me with a sort of expression that I was certain was a sort of motherly pride. Her doggy brain, her instincts, were happy, were content. She gave me a soft woof then lay her head back down on the nasty towels and licked the puppy closest to her. 

I smiled. 

She panted quietly. 

I closed the door. 

In the morning, while I was making coffee after waking up later than I had wanted after a particularly arduous night with Tony -- again, he said, to help me take my mind off whatever was bothering me -- I heard her scratching the door. I opened it an inch or so, and she stuck her nose out at me. 

"Hey there, beautiful," I said, stroking her nose. 

She pushed against the door with her snout to open it further.

"Okay, okay. I get it."

I opened it far enough to let her out, and she walked to the sliding glass door to the back yard.

"Tired of peeing on the towels, huh?" I chuckled. 

She looked up at the handle and barked. 

"I know. I know. I'm coming."

I opened the door and she slid past my legs and ambled out to the grass, then she squatted to empty her bladder. Then she walked a few feet away, circled three times, then squatted again, this time for a different reason. 

"Feel better, Oakley?" I asked, and she barked when she heard me say her name. 

After she defecated, she walked to a spot of sunlight need the patio and she lay down in a tight ball on the grass. 

"Need a rest, huh?"

No response. Instead she simply lay in the grass and close her eyes. I went back inside and left her snoring lazily on the ground. I did pop in to see the babies, and they were sleeping too. The smell from the towels hit my nose like roasted death, and I hated that I would need to still wait a few days to wash them. Dog pee, blood, and whatever else came out of Oakley's birth canal was not at all pleasant. I closed the door and went back to the living room, not allowing myself to actually fall asleep on the couch since I knew she'd need to come in soon and nurse the pups again soon. 

Chapter Ten: Second Time Around

I shot lots of video of the puppies for when I knew Anne would eventually want to see them, after she had dealt with the fact that they had been given away. I filmed them every day for at least a month, and then I even filmed them being picked up by their new owners. I stored all the videos on a micro SD card, put it in a plastic bag, and hid it safely away in my underwear drawer for whenever she might be ready. 

I even waited an extra three weeks after her pups were gone before I chatted with her again. I definitely wanted to let enough time pass so that she might not be so angry at me when she regained her human perceptions and remembered how upset she had been with me during our last talk.  

When I did finally remove the pendant, she barked softly, but not with the energy she usually did for our time together. 

"Still mad at me?" I asked.

She barked once.

"That's good to know." 

She lay down in the floor in front of me and rested her face on her front paws. 

"What's wrong, Oakley? Are you okay?"

She looked up at me, not responding other than to give me a raised "eyebrow" glance. 

"Oh. Sorry. Yes or no only. It's been a while. I forgot." I gathered my thoughts before continuing. "Do I need to take you to the vet?"

Bark. 

"So it's not your health."

Bark. Bark. 

"That's good. Sad?"

Bark. Bark. 

"The pups?"

One bark.

"Oh?" That surprised me. "You do remember your time with them, right?"

Bark. Bark. 

"Good. I shot video too for when you turn back into Anne and want to see it."

Bark.

"You don't' want to see it?"

No response.

"I don't understand. What's wrong? You do want to see it?"

No response.

"Help me out here, girl. I'm lost."

She stared up at me again, clearly unsure of how to communicate what was on her mind. 

"Let's start over. You don't need the vet?"

One bark.

"Are you ready to change back?"

One bark.

"Oh. So that's it. Well, you knew this vacation wasn't going to be forever, and that I get to made those decisions for you while you're my dog."

Two barks. 

"And I've already given you way more time as Oakley thanks to you getting pregnant and having to wean the pups and then having to wait until they were all re-homed." 

Two more barks.

"But you're still not ready to change back?"

Bark. 

"I'll have to figure out some way to explain to Tony why you're not here. And I know Fred will miss you." 

Her eyes were suddenly a wetter shade of deep, dark, brown. 

"It's okay, girl. We'll think of something together." 

Bark. Bark. 

I reached for the collar and started to unclasp it. "No time like the present, I guess," I said. 

But she jerked her head away. 

"Bad girl, Oakley. Here," I said, patting the floor in front of me.

She walked tentatively back to me. 

"Sit." 

She sat. 

I reached for her collar again. 

She snapped at me and skittered into the laundry room. I followed her and found her waiting at the door of the crate. 

"Bad girls get the crate, huh?" I asked, trying not to laugh. 

Two barks. 

"Shit. You're serious."

Two more. 

"Damn, girl." I squatted beside her, petting her between her ears and hugged her. "You're too precious," I said. "I'll tell you what. If it will help you feel better, I'll give you another week. I suppose I have enough still left on the card you gave me to cover that long."

She licked the side of my face, the barked twice.

I opened the crate.

She gazed up at me.

"But you still have to go in the crate for snapping at me. That was a very bad girl. And bad girls get the crate." I smiled down at her, then motioned to the inside of the cage. "Get in, Oakley."

She walked into the crate, then turned around and lifted her head to expose the spot where her pendant was missing. I still held it in my hand. 

"Oh, no, I said. This is going back in the top of the closet. I'll give you another week, but you'll have to do it with all of your awareness in your cute little doggie head. I need you to prepare for changing back, not get lost in your canine instincts again. 

One bark. 

"Sorry, girl," I said and closed the cage door, then twisted the catch to lock it.

I left her crated for three hours then returned to let her out for her needs, and then when she came back in, I clipped her short leash on the collar and told her it was time for walkies. She barked happily several times and bounced a little at my feet. 

"You like walkies, huh?"

Two barks. 

We stopped at Tony's house and he and Fred joined us on a long walk from our neighborhood all the way to downtown. I had forgotten plastic bags for any waste since I hadn't planned for a long walk, but he had brought plenty, so messes left along the way weren't an issue. 

So many folks wanted to pet both dogs, and of course, Tony and I let them, explaining how well-trained they were and even handing out his business card to a few people. 

We returned to Tony's place and left Oakley and Fred to play in the yard, while Tony and played in his bedroom. Afterward, we let them both in to sleep with us in bed, and soon we were all lost in dreams. 

And so it continued for the next week until Tony had to go away on a week-long training course. I offered to keep Fred for him and even told Oakley I'd give her almost another week, until the day before Tony got back before I'd remove her collar and recite the counterspell. But she'd have to spend them without the pendant.

She reluctantly agreed, and I had started to notice that even without the pendant, she had either intentionally or instinctively kept deferring to her dog nature. I didn't pressure her into talking with me if she didn't want to, and I simply let her play with Fred and eat and sleep and enjoy her dog life. If I hadn't known the power and purpose of the pendant, I would have thought her just another dog in just another yard in just another neighborhood. There was no indication of any human intelligence driving her, at least if one judged by her actions. 

When Tony called to tell me his car had broken down and he'd be a few more days, I told him not to worry, and that no, it wouldn't be a problem to keep Fred a little longer, that he and Oakley were having a great time together. 

I noticed Oakley rubbing her ass on the ground a little and I made a mental note to ask Tony about that when he returned. After all, it wouldn't do to have Anne return to her human body only to have a case of worms or something worse even. 

Two days later, when I returned home from work, I found the two dogs in the back yard still playing. I had left her out of the crate while Fred was visiting, determined to let her last few days as Oakley be memorable ones for her. 

"Wanna stay in the yard overnight?" I asked her before I went to bed?"

She barked twice. 

I smiled. "Okay, you and Fred have fun. I'll check your food in the morning."

She yipped happily and scooted her butt along the ground again, whining a little, and I told myself to look that up on the internet in the morning when I got up. 

When the sun shined through the parallel blinds and painted me beneath bars of alternating light and shadow, I stretched, got up, and went over to my computer. When the search results showed up on my monitor, I ran to the living to bring Oakley in. 

But it was too late. 

Fred had mounted her again and she was whimpering and whining as he pumped her. I opened the door just in time to see him turn around, having just knotted her, and she whimpered again as god knows how many potential new puppies were shot deep inside her, all hoping to pair up with one of her eggs. 

"Fuck no," I said. "Not again." 

I walked to them. 

Oakley turned her head to look at me. If a dog could be smug, it would have been her. 

"You," I said. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

Bark. Bark. 

"You know you'd be going into heat again and you played me so you could be Oakley even longer, even if it meant having another litter."

Two more barks.

"God damn it, Anne."

Bark.

"Fuck that. I'm pissed."

She turned away and whimpered a little more as Fred shifted his weight behind her. 

"God damn you, you little bitch. Yes, bitch. I mean it."

No response to me, but another whimper in response to her mate. 

"Well, the joke's on you this time, Oakley. You may have succeeding in stretching out your time on four legs, but I'll be damned if you're going to do it with the pendant this time."

She barked once loudly.

"Sorry, bad girl. No pendant. If you're going to do this, you're going to do it to all of you. You wanted to be a dog. You're going to be a dog. You are. No cop outs. No easy roads. You get to experience all of it with all of you."

Another bark, followed by a long whine. 

"Bark all you want, sweetie. My mind's made up." 

I opened the door to go inside then stopped and turned around again to face the knotted dogs. 

"Since you're so determined to get what you want, I'm just going to leave you out here to fuck your little doggy brains out. I'll bring your food out later, but for now you two kiddos have fun."

I walked inside and slammed the glass door. God damn her. God fucking damn that bitch. And acting like a actual bitch too just to get her fucking way. Well, if she wanted her way, she could god damn well have it. She could god damn choke on it.

I was so angry I went for a drive and didn't return until after I had brunch and picked up groceries. When I got home I put the food away but still avoided Oakley and Fred until later that afternoon when I took out their food and water bowls. 

I said hello and petted them both as they sat a few feet away from each other, obviously between rutting. This time I sat on the patio bench, and watched them. It took a minute of two for Oakley to notice me, and when she did I smiled and waved. 

She barked once, but not very loudly, and it sounded more than a little like she was very distracted. 

Which I didn't find confusing at all. 

Fred was up on her and pumping feverishly as if his only purpose in life was to fill her and the world with more puppies. There was no love, no tenderness, no affection even. Just animalistic rutting, plain and simple. She was in heat, and she smelled to him like sex. He was a male and her body knew that she needed to be fucked. The world needed more puppies in it and nature would be sure they did their part to meet that need. 

But I also knew it was more than that. As a dog, purely a dog driven by mere instinct, sex wasn't fun for Oakley. It was a duty bred into her by millions of years of evolution. But without the pendant, with all the Anne parts of her mind also occupying that Oakley brain, she could understand what she was going with Fred. She could appreciate for the sex that it was. She could probably even really enjoy it. 

As long as the idea of getting fucked by Tony's mutt didn't shame her too much, didn't distract her from what the Oakley needs told her were far more important. 

When Fred finished after another minute or so, he knotted her again, and they both lay down on the ground, ass-to-ass. Each move he made gave her a shudder and made her whine softly from the jerking of the knot inside her pussy. 

I took a break to go inside and get a can of Strawberry Acai water and returned to the patio and to the bench. I watched them and sipped my water, and it wasn't too long before the de-knotted and Fred came around to lick Oakley's face a few times, then return to his spot behind her to lick her swollen nethers. 

Apparently his attention got her going away and her scent had him erect again in a matter of minutes. She rose and stood still, and he mounted her again, trying to stab her with his pink puppy cock. He jabbed several times, but finally entered her and she yelped and barked sharply. He either didn't notice or didn't care, and he simply pounded her relentlessly as before, and before long, beneath all the noise of their rutting, he finally stopped and turned after knotting her again, and they both lay down their bodies joined together for the time being. 

I checked my message and social media on my phone while they rested, and at one point, Oakley got up and walked over to me and pushed her nose against my hand. I stroked her snout. 

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, girl." I raised my phone, turned on the camera app and snapped a picture of her. Her mouth was open so that it looked like she was smiling. I knew better, of course. Dogs smile with their tails, not their mouths. 

"The trouble is, girl, that I can't stop thinking of you as my best friend stuck in a dog's body when all you really want is to be treated like a dog. Since I can't wrap my brain around the why of all that, I guess it's just too hard for me to accept it in the way you want me to." 

She licked my hand. 

"But I do love you, both as Anne and as Oakley."

She licked me again. 

"I still can't believe you chose this, I mean, actually thought it about it without the pendant and wanted to entice Fred to mate with you again just so you could stay a dog longer."

She barked a quiet and tired woof. 

"Oh?" I asked. "Did you want to mate with him again or not?"

Two woofs. 

"But not just to remain a dog?"

Two more. 

"Oh shit," I stammered, hoping my realization was wrong. "Did you actually enjoy having a little of puppies?"

Two happy little barks, almost yips. 

"God damn, really?" 

She licked my hand again. 

"Is it because Tony and gave you first litter away?"

She barked once. 

"Well," I said. "I guess ultimately it doesn't matter. What's done is done, as they say, regardless of the how or why of it."

She nuzzled against my knees and I rubbed her back. 

"Maybe you really do need a break from everything that was Anne. Maybe just being a pregnant, happy dog is what's best for you? After all, what the hell do I know?"

She pressed her nose against my bare leg where my shorts stopped. 

"Hey, that's cold," I said.

She looked up and gave me that sort of smile expression again. 

"Is that what you really want, Oakley, to just be a happy little dog for the rest of your life, playing and going for walkies, and going into heat and pumping out litter after litter of puppies, only to do it all over again?"

She looked up and panted. Further in the yard, Fred must have caught her scent again. He stood up and walked over to join us. She started to walk away, but I held her collar to keep her near me. 

"Don't be ashamed of it if it's what you really want, Oakley. After all I've seen of the two of you, you shouldn't be embarrassed to let him hump you right here and now, right in front of me."

I held her still, but she didn't try to pull away. 

Fred sniffed her, then mounted again and this time got a hole in one the first time. She looked at the ground at first, but the more he pumped her, she started to pant heavily and whimper from the motion and friction inside her. 

"Such a beautiful girl," I said. "Such a horny little girl, but absolutely beautiful."

When they knotted together this time, I got up and went back inside. 

For the next two days, I left them alone, spending my time working and then watching TV at home. I was sure to refill their food and water, but other than that, I left them to their constant fucking. 

They were still going at it when Tony called me to let me know he had the car fixed and would be home the next day. Of course I explained that somehow I had screwed up again and that Fred and his hot-to-trot little girlfriend were going to expand their family with another litter.

Chapter Eleven: Bringing Back Anne

This time, I never actually gave Oakley back the pendant. She went through pregnancy, the birth, all the nursing and having to take care of the babies and even watch them find new families and be taken away. But she basically fell into a pattern that would have convinced me she had found the pendant and had snuck it back onto her collar if not for the occasional questions I would ask her and her yes or no response. But mostly, I let her keep to herself and her pups. 

So it was that she remained a beautiful half collie, half lab puppy dog for a little more than ten months instead of the three she had gotten me to agree to. 

Without the benefit of the pendant, she had somehow managed to become more authentically a dog than before. She never asked for it anymore, and had apparently learned to react more instinctively without it having to impair her humanity. Her world was more run by her nose and taste and sound and reflexes to such stimuli. Well, that and the commands she had been taught and conditioned to follow with little to no thought on her part. 

When the second litter had been given away and she I have given her a few extra days to rest and stop moping around whining about the missing pups, I called her into the living room and got down in the floor with her to play. We wrestled and hugged and rolled over and generally just made a mess of both of us, and once I was tired and sitting back against the couch but still on the floor, she plopped into my lap and snuggled. 

"Sweet little Oakley," I said. "Such a good doggie."

She closed her eyes and rested her face against my hip. When I was sure she was relaxed, I made my move. Pretending to scratch all the extra fur under her neck, I pushed my hand under the collar, lifted it about an inch, then quickly pressed the clasp that unlocked the pink leather, and it fell off into my lap. 

She jerked over to her feet and barked loudly and reached with her mouth for the collar, but I was too fast for her. I snatched it away and stood up. 

"Too late, Oakley." 

I took it to the bedroom and she followed me every step, whining sadly at the prospect of having to become Anne again after so long as Oakley. She watched as I opened the closet and pulled down a small metal safe. I sat on the bed, twisted the tumbler knob and when I opened it, I pulled out the pendant to show her. I put it back in and added the collar to it, then closed the door and gave the knob a spin. 

She whined and looked up at me with a begging look as I returned the little safe to the top of my closet. 

"Three hours is what it will take, I believe you said, my dear," I said. 

She barked at me once and then growled. 

"You feel that way now but you'll get over it later."

She growled even louder. 

"Fine. Be that way, sweetie." I smiled and touched her head, but she pulled away. "Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing Anne again in a few hours." 

She plopped onto the bedroom floor.

"Don't be so hurt. I could have just said the incantation, but I figured you might enjoy a few hours to prepare for the return and to do any final dog things you might like." 

She stood up and walked to the laundry room. She climbed into the crate. 

I laughed. "That's not going to work this time, Oakley."

She lay down on the floor of the cage, then pulled the door closed with her teeth. Since she was unable to lock it closed though, it swung quickly open again. 

I laughed again. 

"I don't think that's tight enough to stop the transformation, girl."

I left her in the laundry room and closed the door. She could wait there until she was herself again. 

I went to the bedroom and left her an outfit and a large, fluffy towel on my bed for her. Then I went to visit Tony, planning to spend the night so that Anne wouldn't have to deal with me so soon after I had forced her to transform back to normal without any warning -- not that she hadn't gone way over the original plan anyway. 

Still, no need to push her. 

She didn't call me until several days later. After I said hello, she told me, "I want my collar and pendant back." 

"Sure. I'm here. Come over and get it."

"Leave it out on the door for me."

"How long are you going to avoid me?"

"I want my stuff."

"I want my friend." 

"It's too soon. I'm still angry."

"I know you are. That's why you should come over so we can talk."

She said nothing, so I continued.

"I was concerned about you."

"Sure."

"I was."

"I know. But you didn't ask me or anything."

"I was your owner. And I'm still your best friend." 

"It's still too soon. I just don't want to talk about it." She was crying. "Not unless you're going to let me put on the collar again and you take of me."

"I think --"

"Don't." Her breathing faltered through the phone. "Just don't."

"Well, you're not getting either of them back until you talk to me."

There was a long, long pause on the line, but I didn't interrupt it, didn't hang up. If my best friend needed time to think for a few moments, she could have it, but we would need to talk. 

"Fine." 

"Today?" I asked. 

"No. Not today. I need another few days. How 'bout Friday?"

"Sure, let's meet for lunch at the diner. My treat."

Another pause, not nearly as long as the previous one. 

"Fine."

I could tell she was about to hang up, so I interjected, "One last thing, please."

"What?" Her tone was gruff. She was getting fed up again.

"I just need to know where you got the magic stuff. I wanted to check out and see what other stuff they might have."

She sighed loudly, and gave me another measurable pause. 

"I'll send you the link." 

Then she hung up without even a goodbye. 

I got her email about eight o'clock that night. I immediately went to the site and found the phone number, then called the next morning. The woman on the end of the line was pleasant and extremely helpful, answering all my questions. 

"Yes, we can adjust the spells."

"Absolutely. Those changes are very simple."

"Of course I can ship it overnight, but it'll cost more."

"Okay, PayPal is fine. Or Cash App, and I'll get on it right away. You should have it by Friday."

I smiled as I hung up. I was sure Anne would appreciate my little surprise for her. 

The package arrived Friday morning, and I opened it immediately. Inside the little box was a plastic Ziploc bag containing a similar pendant to the one I still have in my possession that I had used with Oakley, only this one was a fiery red color that seemed to flicker under even my inside lights. 

I grinned, and looked forward to making things right with Anne.

Lunchtime on Friday found her actually waiting for me at the diner even though I arrived ten minutes early. She must have really wanted her collar and pendant back. I waved, and she nodded, as I approached the booth in the back and sat opposite her. 

"Hey. I missed you," I said. 

She nodded again.

"I'm sorry I had to surprise you for the transformation, but I was so afraid that if I hadn't, you might never agree to come back to yourself."

She took a deep breath and let it out so slowly I almost didn't notice. 

"Any, like I promised, here's your stuff, but with one little surprise I think you'll enjoy."

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned. "No surprises, please. I don't think I can handle another of your little surprises."

"Trust me," I said. "You'll like this one." I reached across the table for her hand but she pulled it away. "You're still mad at me," I said with a weakened smile.

"I'm not yelling, am I?" she asked. 

"I guess I'll take what I can get." 

 I grabbed my purse from the floor and placed it in my lap. Then I rummaged inside it for the plastic grocery bag in which I had put the collar. I took it out and handed it to Anne. 

"Thanks," she said. 

She immediately opened it and retrieved the collar. She looked so excited that I thought she might put it on at the moment, whether everyone in the diner would see her or not. Thankfully, she just placed it on the table and opened the bag wider, looking for the pendant.

"Where's--"

"--the pendant?" I finished  her question for her. "I have it still. But I have this for you instead. That's the surprise." 

I grabbed the Ziploc baggie out of my purse and showed her the new red pendant. 

"What's that?" 

"This is what is going to make you love me again." 

"What did you do, Shells?"

She stared at the new stone. 

I grinned. 

She tilted her head to study the way the light danced across the pendant's surface. 

"I called that magic place. I had them make a new one." 

"A new one?"

"Yeah. A new one." 

"Can I have it?" she asked, reaching across the table.

I shook my head and dropped it in my purse. "Not until you hear me out."

"I'm listening." 

"Good. I love you, and I missed you. But I also and big enough to realized that I've learned something new about you and that if you need to depend on me to let you be you and to take of you at the same time, I'm going to have to be the responsible one."

"Shells," she started, frown evident in her tone.

"Let me finish."

She fidgeted but shut up anyway. 

"Okay, so what I learned. I learned that you really enjoyed being Oakley."

"Yeah," she agreed.

"But not just enjoyed it. You needed it."

"I..." she started, then stopped. Then she looked around the diner for a moment as if building her courage. "Yeah. I think I did."

"I think you do." I smiled with a warmth that surprised me. "Not did. Do. As in still do." 

She nodded, but didn't answer. 

"And I also learned that if you make the right preparations, even a ten-month disappearance from you won't set off any bells in the world."

"Well, it helps that I've been basically alone except for you and a very few real friends since my parents died."

"Exactly. Which brings me to this new magic rock I brought you." 

Her eyes grew a little wide even though I could tell she was still trying to hide the building excitement from me.

"Could you sell the idea that you're taking a world tour?"

"I don't understand."

"Well, you just came back from a ten-month vacation. After a few days, I figure you might be ready for another one, this time traveling around the world on that settlement money."

Her eyes lit up. "Do you mean...?"

I nodded. "Yes, but with a few adjustments to make be not worry about you."

"The new pendant?"

"Exactly. The new pendant. Now, are you starting to understand why I wanted to see you in person?"

She nodded. "How long?" 

I ignored her. "The new pendant is basically to insure that you don't lose yourself while you're Oakley, and nothing happens that you can't come back from."

She lowered her eyes and gave the top of the table her full attention. "No heat I guess."

"Like I could take that away from you."

She looked up again, confused. 

"No pregnancies. But you'll still go into estrus like normally."

She smiled, then it fell and she said sadly, "No puppies?"

"No," I said firmly. "That's one of the rules I'm Iaying down for you. No more puppies. Especially with the other changes the pendant makes for you."

She placed her hands flat on the table. A waitress came up to us and asked us what we wanted to drink. I asked for an unsweet tea, and Anne asked for apple juice and coffee. The waitress walked away and told us she'd be right back with those.

"Other changes?"

"Yes," I said, leaning back against the hard place booth seat. "First, you won't have two modes, Oakley mode and Hybrid mode. You'll have just one."

"Okaaaaay..." she mumbled, not sure what I meant.

"It's okay." I took a breath and noticed the waitress looking our way. She noticed me and pointed with her eyes to the tray of drinks. "In a minute. She's coming back. Be ready to order." 

I could tell Anne wasn't happy. Even her blonde ponytail looked like it was put out with me at having to wait, but she nodded and looked at the menu in front of her. 

"Good girl," I whispered, and her face flushed red. "See, I do get it. I just don't want to have to be so worried about you." 

I could see that even her ponytail was feeling relieved. I grinned. 

The waitress placed the tray on the table then gave us each our drinks. "Ready to order?" she asked in an obviously tired attentiveness.

I ordered the two eggs scrambled hard and wheat toast. Anne got a chef salad. She jotted down pencil scratches on a pad, smiled, and told us that sounded good, and it should be out in a few minutes. Then she smiled again and turned around to go put in the order across the counter to the short-order cook in the back. 

"Just one mode?" she asked again when it was just the two of us. 

"Yes. That's all part of the spell for the new pendant. In addition to you being able to not get pregnant, you also will still have your initial reactions to things you encounter be those of a dog's natural instincts, but you'll also have your awareness as Anne to keep you from acting on them right away. If you choose to behave on pure instinct, it will be because you chose to not because you didn't have a choice."

"Oh." 

"And it will still bring you to the dog level of understanding. Even though you will have full awareness of who you are as Anne the human woman, you will still not be able to understand human speak outside of the commands you already know and anything new I teach you. Just as before, you'll have to learn any new commands by experience and discipline."

"Goody," she said, smiling warmly. "I actually loved that."

"And you made me very proud how well you did."

She beamed and blushed again, and I knew I had made the correct choice to let her transform again -- and to speak her to her like a pet even in her human state, albeit privately and in hushed tones. 

"You were a very good and very smart good girl," I said, then added, "my little Oakley." 

She tried to hide her smile from me that time, but I noticed it anyway. Rather than push the point, I continued. "In the same way, you will also have the same limitations as before, a dog's understanding of colors, your increased sense of smell, and your new fascinations with the taste for things human you might never find appealing."

"That certainly made the dry kibble more enticing," she said.

I nodded. 

"And now for the biggest change?"

"Bigger than that and the no puppies thing?"

I nodded again. "Yeah. It's pretty huge."

Her excited smile flattened a bit, obviously expecting me to give her bad news. 

"The spell has a time limit. There's no counter-spell to change you back before hand, even if I take the collar off. Until the spell runs out of time, you will remain Oakley. And even if you are wearing the collar when it runs out, you will transform back into Anne.

Her smile flattened even more. "Okay," she said, a little dejected but resigned to her fate if she wanted to transform again. "How short did you make it?"

"Well," I said. "That why I asked you about a world tour. I also wanted to know if you loved being Oakley enough to get out of your lease on the apartment and put all your furniture and stuff into storage. Even if I just let you go another ten months, there's no sense in you having to throw away your money on rent and utilities."

"That makes sense, but it sounds like you're not talking about just another three month stint this time."

"Three months my ass," I said. "It was a full ten months."

"Well, that was because of the puppies." 

"And whose fault was that?"

"Yours the first time."

I shot her a stern glance.

"Mine the second. But with all the stuff you just said, even if we're not concerned about me getting pregnant --"

"Knocked up with another litter," I corrected.

"Pregnant," she said and shook her head. "Even with that safety concern taken taken care of, it doesn't sound like we planning for just another three months like the original plan."

"Thanks to the adjustments in the spell, since I don't have to worry about you and I know you'll be safe, I feel like I can relax and let you experience life as Oakley for a little longer, especially if everyone you know thinks you're cruising around the world on the settlement money."

"How long?"

"Can you do it? Break the lease. Put your whole life as Anne in storage? Commit to being Oakley for a while?"

"How long?"

"Good pets don't ask questions they can't understand the answers to," I said. 

She rolled her eyes at me.

"How long, Shells. I honestly don't care, but I would like to know before I commit."

"Don't trust me to take care of you?"

"Fine. Don't tell me."

"Here's what I'm going to need from you. I need twenty emails in plain text that I can send from your account periodically to keep up the ruse you're jet-setting. And then you can sign several postcards to keep up the illusion. I'll need all your online passwords so I can post crap to your accounts or put up a hiatus post. And I'll need access to, and this is the big one, your bank and financial stuff in case of some emergency since you want be able to break the spell and take care of it."

She sat up straight. Her shoulders went tight. She looked around the diner. 

"Do you trust me?" I asked. 

"Wow. This is big," she said, still looking around and mulling over all I just dropped on her. 

"I know, but I figured from what I had seen of you, you either needed to go big or go home. You get your time. I get your safety. And you don't get reported as a missing person."

"How long?"

"Are you sure you really want to know?"

She nodded.

"Two years." 

"Oh. Wow."

"Yep."

"Two whole years?"

"Two whole years. We can't keep just having you flip back and forth, or your cover story as my dog falls apart. We're lucky that Tony's out of town for a few weeks as it is. You wouldn't believe how Fred is whining and moping since he's all alone." 

"Poor baby."

"Poor baby, she said. Poor boyfriend."

Her eyes looked at the floor again.

"Don't even pretend. It's okay. You were a dog, after all."

"Yeah."

"Anyway. Tony's back in town next Saturday, so you've only got a week to prepare. Either that, or we call it off and I tell Tony you got hit by a car and had to be put down to explain why you're gone." 

"He's lonely, huh?"

"Whining like a mother fucking brokenhearted lover from an Elvis song." 

"Poor Fred. Still, two years."

"It's up to you. We could even extend it if you change back long enough at the end to write me a bunch more emails and sign a few more postcards. As long as your safe, and as long as you eventually come back to me as Anne, I can let you really get all this out of your system." 

"And if I don't? Or worse, if I commit and then change my mind and have to wait two years to change back?"

"Hey, you're the one who wants to be a dog. So, should I tell him to expect you back soon?" 

She sighed, then fidgeted with the collar. Took another deep, deep breath. 

"Or not?" I asked. 

I looked into her eyes for the answer. 

Chapter Twelve: Best Laid Plans

Anne didn't wait for Saturday, or even Friday. Hell, not even Thursdays. Instead, she met me at my house on Wednesday with a safety deposit box key, telling me that this key would get me into her financial information which was stored in the box downtown at the bank. She also handed me a manila envelope with copies of the end of the rental papers, printouts from where she had shut down her streaming services and other monthly or annual accounts, and the shut-down agreements for power and utilities the one house she still owned after her ex-husband's death. The last piece of paperwork was the carbon copy for the storage unit in which she had put the stuff she hadn't donated to charity shops. She handed me the key to that too, and I put it and the bank box key on my regular key chain. 

Fred heard her and bounded into the foyer as he did whenever someone entered the house. She dropped to the floor and loved all over his neck and face, scratching and fluffing and hugging him like long lost friends. 

When she stopped he walked to me and bounced up to put his fore paws on my legs, and I leaned down for a kiss from him. He did and then dropped to all fours again and looked up at me. 

I noticed Anne was looking at me too. 

"I'm ready," she said, holding the collar out to me. "I just need the pendant to make it work this time."

I took the collar from her and I motioned for her to follow me to the kitchen. She did, Fred at her heels, but I stopped her and reminded her that dogs walked on four legs, not two. 

She smiled, appreciating my dedication to her fantasy even while she was the human Anne, and immediately dropped to her hands and knees before continuing to heel on our way through the living room. We stopped at the counter, and I opened the odds and ends drawer and pulled out the blazing red pendant. She watched me at first then locked her gaze on the stone instead, eyeing it impatiently. I clipped it onto the collar's D-ring and squatted in front of her. 

She started to speak, but I pressed my finger to her lips. 

"Bark, girl," I said. "Are you ready?"

Two barks. 

"That's my good girl," I said. Then I clasped the collar around her neck, and no sooner that the plastic catch clicked shut than she glowed red this time and Oakley was standing on all fours in front of me. 

Fred went nuts with excitement, the smell of his old friend and mate making him jump around like a spoiled puppy. He couldn't kiss her enough, and she stood there and took it all, even returning the affection by licking his mouth and face too. He sniffed her and kissed her again. He bounced around her in two circles, yapping his happiness at his friend's return. It didn't matter to him that less than a minute ago she had been a human woman. He probably longer even remembered that since Anne was an unknown to him. But Oakley! Oakley he knew! Oakley he remembered by scent. Oakley he had missed and whined and cried about while she was gone. But now she was back, and nothing in the world could have made him happier. 

"Can you hear me, Oakley?" 

She barked when she heard her name, then bounced along with Fred, happy to see me and no doubt happy to be Oakley again. 

"I'm glad you're happy, but can you understand me?" 

There was no sense that she was able to comprehend, just aware of the change. 

"Sit," I said, and her cute little doggy butt parked itself on my kitchen floor. "Shake," I said, and she lifted one paw. I took it. "Good girl," I said and patted her head. 

I grabbed her bowls from the cabinets and put them on the floor. I filled one with fresh water and the other with dry kibble. She took a few bites, then went back to play and run through the house with Fred. 

"Okay," I finally said after a few minutes. "Y'all are way too rambunctious for inside the house." I opened the sliding glass door to the backyard. "Out, Fred! Out, Oakley!" 

Both dogs raced through the open space and into the yard and continued to play, ignoring me completely as I watched them through the glass. I let them play for a few hours and lie down together in the shade, then move to the sun as the afternoon grew cooler. Close to dinner I decided to call them in. I left Fred to rest in the living room, but I took Oakley to the bathroom and ran some lukewarm water for her. 

"Another surprise for you, girl, another good one." 

She looked at me as if wondering why I wanted her in with me while I took a bath, but I pointed at her, then pointed to the water. She cocked her head sideways. I pointed again, first to then to the bathtub. Then I made a thumbs up at her. 

She barked twice. 

"In," I said, and she stepped into the tub. "You got filthy outside, sweetie," I said, actually enjoying that she couldn't understand me more than a few words or a few concepts I could convey with hand signals to trigger her inner awareness when I needed to. That was nice to know. "Fred is next, but I figured you'd be easier since you'd catch on quickly and not be a brat or make a mess."

I grabbed a large plastic cup and poured water all over her back and neck, then used a wet cloth to soak her belly and the insides of her legs. Then I soaped her with her with the regular dog soap and lathered her up so much that she looked super silly. I told her to "Stay" while I took a  few photos with my phone for posterity. I wondered if the rubbing her fur and skin felt as good to her while I lathered and rinsed her as I imagined it must. 

"I bet that feels good, Oakley," I said, and she turned to face to me at the mention of her name. I waved hello, not wanting to figure out how to convey what I had just said to her. 

When I was done, I fluffed her dry with a thick, fuzzy towel and I let her shake out the rest of the moisture while I hit behind the towel. Then I dried her again at least a little and opened the door to let her out into the rest of the house. 

When both Oakley and Fred were bathed and drying in the coolness of the central air conditioning, I finally went to the kitchen to fix my dinner. Nothing major, just a large bowl of ramen and two quick-serve spring rolls for the toaster over. As both cooked, Fred and Oakley both came into the kitchen, staring up at the stove top with their eyes and nose. 

I ate slowly, trying to enjoy the food after having bathed both dogs, but both kept begging for food. Oakley would get the hint when I told her no, but poor Fred was salivating so hungrily that he just couldn't stop coming back to beg again. And each time, Oakley returned right beside him. I would glare at her, and she'd bark playfully, apparently enjoying our game of "bark all you want, you're not getting anything."

In the end, I divided my leftover broth between two bowls and put them on the floor for them. They lapped loudly and emptied their  bowls almost before I could get up from the table to throw my napkin away. Then they both looked back to me asking for the rest of it. 

I laughed and took my glass of water with me to the living room and lay down on the couch to watch a movie. Fred lay down on the floor beside me so I could rest my hand on him, and Oakley jumped onto the sofa and lay between my legs and the back of the couch. In no time, both dogs were snoring softly, and I soon turned off the TV and joined them in slumber. 

Chapter Thirteen: Penrod DeLuca

I got the bad news from Tony about three weeks in during Oakley's newest stint as my dog. He was taking a job in Utah developing training videos and national schooling for other dog trainers, and he'd be moving out there in three weeks. After that, we hung out whenever we had a chance after work, and he let Fred stay with me a good bit so he and Oakley could enjoy their time together before they moved. But we both knew the long-distance thing would never work out between us. It just wasn't who we were as people. 

I did feel really bad for Oakley and Fred though. Eventually Fred would forget after the move, but in her current state I couldn't very well explain to Oakley what was happening between us all, and she'd just have to learn the hard way through the experience of missing her friend and eventually realizing that Fred and Tony weren't coming back. 

Of course, it was just another few weeks after Tony and Fred left us for greener pastures that my sweet little girl went into heat, and without Fred around to take care of her, she whined loudly and sadly and scratched her crotch on the floor to let me know how unfair it all was to her. 

I kept her in the crate during the day, of course, but when it got too much for me in the afternoons and at night, I let her stay outside so she wouldn't disturb me. 

Even after just a little over a two months into her new adventure as my dog, it was becoming a lot easier than I had expected to just think of her as my pet instead of Anne, and I was sure that was because of the safety measures embedded in the new spell. Hell, at one point I even considered getting the website to put together a spell for me to make me forget she was ever Anne and just know her as Oakley the dog until our spells would lift together at the end of her two-year stint. 

I tried letting her back in at night, but the whining continued, so I left her in the back yard to spend the night.  

The next morning before I crated her again, I saw several dogs nosing around the yard. Strays, I assumed, since there were no neighbors walking them. Most of them ran away when I shooed them, but two stuck around just outside my front yard, a large boxer mix with a face that looked like he'd run into a shovel too many times and a cuter, but smaller, Heinz 57 mutt that didn't seem to have any real defining breed traits, just a black and blonde coloring in furry splotches. 

"Sorry, boys," I said. "But you're no Fred, and my baby has higher standards." 

I grabbed the newspaper from the stoop and went back inside, laughing a little to myself at how popular Oakley suddenly was in the neighborhood. 

I brought her in and let her wander around the house while I got ready for work, but promptly put her in her crate for the day before I left for the office. It was funny, I mused, how quickly she had learned way back last yet how to hold her 'business' when she was in the crate. Sure, she was ready to go when I got home and let her out, but after the first three accidents she had never had another. 

The first thing I did at the end of the work day was let her out into the back yard. She came back to the door to come back inside, but I shook her head at her and told her "No, not while you're in heat. The way you carry on is just too much for me." I knew she couldn't understand me, but that only made the experience more authentic for her and more fun for me. It was surprising how freeing I found our owner-pet relationship now that I knew she was safe from all the things I had been afraid of for her--even it she hadn't been concerned about them herself. 

"You stay outside, baby girl. Mama's going to get a long, long bath and then turn in early. Mama had a rough day today. You'll be fine outside. I'll see you in the morning."

She looked up at me confused as I closed the shades, and I guess she realized that meant she was out for the night because she walked away from the door and lay down at the edge of the concrete patio, whimpering just loud enough for me to hear it through the door. 

I smiled and went to draw my bath. 

When I awoke the next morning I realized quickly that I had overslept and I rushed to the shower, got dressed, and totally forgot about my poor dog stuck in the yard. Of course, I realized that she still had plenty of food and water in her bowls in the backyard, and she'd probably enjoy spending a day out of the crate for a change so I didn't worry too much. 

When I got home, though, I realized what a mistake I had made. Three of the dogs from the morning before were in the back yard with her, having dug a hole under the fence. The boxer with the smashed-in face was fucking her and from the sounds she was making, she was welcoming the attention. The other two, the cute one with a splotching coat and a sort of Rottweiler mix were apparently waiting their turns, barking and bouncing and fully erect while they surrounded the two mating canines. 

"Oh shit," I said, dropping my keys and purse into the living room floor and scrambling for the door. I flipped the latched and whipped it open, banging it against the stationary side so that it bounced back and hit my foot on the way out. "Get off her!" I yelled. "Get out!"

But he wasn't moving away. And the other two just backed away a few steps but kept their attention focused on the bitch they had smelled through the neighborhood and were ready to claim as their mate. 

The bulldog growled as I got closer, and when I reached to pull her away, he bared his teeth and barked three times very aggressively. Then he turned away and grunted as his knot entered Oakley and pinned them together. 

I walked to her front and knelt at her face. "Do you want this?" I asked. "Because I'll fucking pull him off you even if he ends up attacking me." 

She looked up at me with a confused look in her big, wet eyes. 

I made a hole with my left thumb and forefinger, then poked my right forefinger in and out of it in the universal symbol for sex. She waited a moment then barked twice. 

"Good," I said, more to myself than to her. Then I pointed at her and then make a cross over my heart with my arms and then repeated the motion for fucking.

She took another moment, looked up at me and barked twice. 

Just to be sure, I did it all again. 

Two more barks. 

"Okay," I said. "If that's what you want, Oakley." 

And I left her in the yard with her little doggy orgy party. I did shut the blinds though. I hadn't minded watching her and Fred go at it for some reason, but to see her ravaged by three strays I knew nothing about was something different, something raw, something pure animal and off-putting to whatever part of me still held on to the idea that Oakley and Anne were the same person. Fucking Fred had been love, I had somehow convinced myself, but with those three, it was just rutting, plain and simple. And something about that felt wrong to me. 

But apparently not to her, and that was something I would need to get my head around because, like it or not, nothing would change until her two years were up, and that had been my choice and hers. 

The boxer mix came back every day until her heat cycle was over. The Rottweiler came over several days, and the little mutt did too even though he was too small to really get up to Oakley's level. Still, their difference in size didn't keep him from trying or from wanting to take his shot and the pretty collie mix. Across the week, several other dogs from the neighborhood scooted through the hole under the fence and took their turns with Oakley as well, including a German Shepherd named Wilbanks that lived down the street and had gotten loose from his house one morning without being missed somehow. There there were two large lab mixes, one dirty brown and one black, that dropped by twice. Both had collars, but I never got close enough to read them and see whom they belonged to. 

Through it all, Oakley had the stamina of a puppy version of a porn star. He was always ready after a short rest and then she was up again with her ass in the air and ready to be mounted for another go-round of heavy rutting. 

I think she was a little afraid of the Rottie and the boxer. Whenever they approached her for their turn to spray their potential babies into her, she always cowered and acquiesced to them in a way that she didn't with the others. With the others, she was more demanding, more apt to snap at them if they did something unpleasant of that she didn't like or want. But with the boxer and the Rottie, she let them do what they wanted, and she was quiet until the sex made her whimper. I could tell they were probably even hurting her a little, but that wasn't uncommon for dog mating. Sex was all about creating a new generations and had nothing to do with loving relationships. And it had been just what she wanted. 

Then it all just ended. When her heat scent went away, it was like a switch flipped off in the brains of the male dogs who hadn't been able to keep away. I didn't see any of them again except for the Shepherd from a few doors down, and even he seemed to pay no mind to Oakley even when they ran into each other during walks. He just growled softly and gave her room to pass and discouraged any attention she might give him.

"I guess that's a new of him being your new Fred, sweet girl," I whispered to her, though mostly to myself, after we passed them. Then I'd pet her head between her ears and tell her I loved her and that she was a good girl.

Thankfully, the new spell had worked and she didn't get pregnant no matter how many dogs had mounted her and how many times they had filled her with the potential litters nature had told them to spray into their bitch. The world may have needed new puppies in their tiny dog brains, but they wouldn't get any help from Oakley's puppy womb. 

We settled back into a pattern of crating, taking her out for business, going for daily walks, playing in the dog park on the weekends, and the needed trips to the vet for her shots and check-ups. At some point, I realized that days would go by without me even once thinking of Anne. It was just Oakley and me, and it was nice. It was, I dared to think it, right. 

She cuddled on my lap on the couch as I watched TV. She slept with me at the foot of my bed. She came in after taking care of poops and pee-pees when I got home and gave me kisses and all the love her little doggy heart could give before going to the kitchen to fill up on kibble and water. 

Then when her heat cycled hit again about seven months later, all her love-em-and-leave-em friends showed up again--well, most of them--and a few new studs looking for a good time. 

This time I allowed only two of the strays inside the fence and had put concrete blocks around the inside of the perimeter to discourage the massive group rutting from last time. The studs I had chosen for her were a large mutt with a flat face and chocolate brown fur and a what looked like a super-cute over-sized version of a spaniel-beagle mix. Both seemed far better tempered than either the boxer or the Rottie from before, and it was clear after a day or two that I had made the correct choice for Oakley's latest heat. 

Neither had tags, and when I looked them up on the neighborhood apps and the forums on the vets' websites, I saw that they flat-faced mutt was a pet named Wally. The spaniel-beagle mix that was too large for its genes didn't seem to belong to anyone. 

After her heat was over, I called Wally's owners and reunited the friendly mutt with the two kids who had missed him. 

I took the other to the vet and had him checked out, but rather than leave him in the back to either get adopted or be put down eventually, I had them give him all his shots, and I took him home with me. I even bought him a new collar and got a heart-shaped pendant with the name "Penry" on it. It was the best I could think of, a reference to the janitor on Hong Kong Phooey. 

He was so happy to see Oakley again when I brought him home that he kissed her and sniffed all over her. She looked up at as if to ask what was going on, and I called him over and held him still for a few moments to show her his collar. I pointed at him and then tapped my chest. 

She barked twice. 

"Good girl," I said. "Penry," I said as I pointed at him again. "That's a name you'll both learn soon, I'm sure." 

He ran off into the yard and circled it in several laps, getting the lay of his new home. She looked up at me, licked my hand and barked twice again, as if to let me know she approved. Then she ran to join her new best friend and play and run together and get to know each other. 

From that point on, only Penry, or Penrod as he was official on record, had access to my sweet little Oakley during her heat cycles. The two became bosom companions, often lying in the yard or the house together, kissing and sniffing each other, and sharing the foot of my bed as we all slept together at night. 

When I got called away to a two-week seminar for work, I had them both kenneled together in neighboring pens, and they were both on their best behavior during the time I was gone, as long as they were together. 

Once, when Tony and Fred came back to visit his family still in town, they dropped by and he put on a fake hurt expression and then added, "Replacing me I understand. That would be easy. But replacing Fred so easily, that hurts." 

We laughed and we let all three play together for the rest of the day while Tony and I hung out and drank and caught up. For old time's sake we had sex again, but I didn't invite him to stay the night. Even Oakley didn't seem to mind barking goodbye to Fred as long as Penry was around to keep her company. 

It was nice, relaxing routine that was benefiting us both. Oakley was obviously enjoying her time as a my pup and as companion to Penry, and I was moving up at work. It was so nice and so comfortable that when the circled date on my calendar marking the day when Anne would return was a bit of a shock to me. 

Chapter Fourteen: Betrayal

It was a Wednesday morning when I awoke to Anne standing naked in my backyard knocking on my sliding glass door. Penry danced around her legs and she alternated between petting him and knocking. She didn't seem at all phased at being naked. And I guess it shouldn't have. She had gone two years without a need for human clothing, so why would it bother her to be naked. He didn't seem phased to suddenly have a human woman as his companion instead of a female dog. I assumed she must still smell enough like him and like outside for it not to make her seem so vastly different an individual to his nose. 

"Come in, girl," I said to her as I opened the door, completely out of habit. I let her pass by me, and I suddenly realized that I had treated her as if she were still Oakley. And she hadn't corrected me. I quickly gave her the robe I had brought from the bedroom and told her to put it own. "You too, Penry," I added and he bounded in behind her. 

She looked at me for a few seconds, like she was trying to get her bearings again as a human. Then she took off the collar and handed it to me. 

"Sorry about that."

"About what?"

"Treating you like you were still Oakley."

"But I am Oakley. I think I always will be after this."

"Oh?" I asked, motioning us both to the sofa. She followed me and sat beside me, pulling her knees up under her. "What do you mean by that?" I asked. 

"Oakley's a part of me. She lives inside me when I'm like this just like Anne lives inside her when I'm a dog." 

"I guess that makes sense," I said, taking her hand. She let me. "Are you feeling okay? Do you want a shower. Need some breakfast? Real breakfast, I mean."

"Slow down, please. I'm still just getting used to walking on two legs again. I can't handle a full interview."

"Okay," I responded with a laugh. "I get it." There was a long pause as she just scanned the room as if she were rediscovering the vantage point of human eye level. "Well, I don't really get it, but I mean, I get that you get it." 

She nodded. 

"Anyway, are you feeling okay?"

She shook her head. 

"No?" asked, pressing the point.

She shook it again. 

"What's wrong?"

"It's hard to say, to use words for it, I mean. I'm feeling sad and scared and wrong, especially when I see how happy he is," she added, pointed down into the floor where Penry sat at her feet. 

"Still miss it, I guess."

"Yeah. It's a part of me."

"Don't tell me you like it better than being Anne."

"I like being Oakley."

"Better than being Anne."

"I like being Oakley. Being Oakley feels like I'm being me."

"That's just because you've gone so long without being Anne. Besides, we've still got the collar, and if you need to do it again, it still works, and can start the whole two years over again after two days."

"I have to be Anne for two days?" she asked somewhat dreamily.

"Well, I hope for longer than that," I said with a laugh. "I do miss my best friend, and I was hoping to talk with you about the whole experience, you know." 

"Okay. But I kinda miss my best friend too," she said, gazing at Penry. 

I tried not to appear hurt by her comment. After all, she was still diffusing the fuzz in her head after two years in a fur coat and four legs. But I couldn't deny that it did indeed sting to hear that I was so easily replaced by a four-legged new best friend in her mind. 

"Yeah, the pendant has a two day reset, so that the spell's recipient can get a break and make human decisions again before re-casting it or to be taken advantage by an owner like me and suddenly transformed again right away against their will."

"Two days," she mumbled more at me than to me.

"Yeah, for Anne's safety," I added emphatically.

I excused her to sit along in the living room with Penry, and I took the collar to the closet. I locked it away in the safe since I wasn't thrilled by the way she seemed ready to slip it back on at the soonest viable moment. 

I took a shower myself and when I was dry and dressed in actually clothes instead of my nightgown, I went back to the living room and saw her still sitting in the same spot, lazily stroking Penry's furry head, staring vacantly at the opposite wall.

"Anne," I asked, and she startled a bit and turned to face me. "You must be tired. You were pretty zoned out there." 

"I guess so," she said, but we both knew she was lying.

"Why don't you go get a shower and lie down. It's not like you have anywhere else to be. Until you put in an appearance in public, Anne is still overseas, as far as anyone knows."

"Right," she said softly. 

"Go," I said flatly, and she got up. "Bath." 

She had already responded before she realized I had used Oakley's commands on her. "Whoa," she said. 

"Whoa," I repeated. "I can't believe that worked."

"Well, I did spend two years following your commands, so I guess that's all still inside my brain." 

"Go," I repeated, and she nodded and went to the bathroom as I instructed. 

Penry followed her every step of the way. 

She stripped out of the robe and stepped into the shower, then invited Penry into the tub with her and he jumped up and over the edge immediately. Then she closed the curtain and the two of them took a shower where she cleaned not just herself but him too. I left them alone, and when I finally her the water stop almost twenty minutes later, I peeked in to see a naked Anne drying off the dog and kissing him as he returned the affection with lots of loving licks on her face and neck. She grinned and sat in the floor with him and they kept playing while she continued to dry him. 

I watched in silence and she didn't notice me at the door. She was far too wrapped up in her time with her furry friend. 

Eventually she stopped and looked around. She finally noticed me. 

"Hey," I said. "You two are still super cute together." 

She blushed. 

"That's something I haven't seen in two years."

She looked at me confused. 

"A blush," I explained. "You couldn't do that as a dog. It's cute though."

"Oh," she said, as if it was all in the world to say. Penry jumped at her face and licked her again with a long, loud, wet slurp.

"He really loves you," I said. 

She nodded.

"He's a good boy," I added. "Such a good boy."

She nodded again. 

"And you're a good girl," I said. 

She blushed. 

"Why not take a nap?" I sat on the bed and motioned for Penry to come up. "Up," I said. Both he and Anne got on the bed, and I smiled at her reaction. "Lie down," I told them both, and then I watched until they were both fast asleep on my bed. 

They were practically inseparable for the next day, and only when I forced Anne to focus her attention on me did she leave him alone, but he still followed her every step and rested at her feet unless I kept him outside. 

After dinner Thursday night, which I had made Anne eat with me and kept Penry outside, she was sitting in a light blue cotton dress and a pair of cheap flip-flops. 

"Are you doing any better?" I asked. "As Anne, I mean, as yourself." 

"You ask that like there's only one me now," she said. 

"There is. You just spent time as a dog, but you were always Anne."

"It doesn't seem like it, not to me. Time passes differently when I'm Oakley. I'm more in the moment. It seems both short and forever at the same time. When they're no need to measure the moments there's no need to let them control you, you know. It's like it could have been two years or it could have been ten years. It didn't matter, and I couldn't really tell a difference."

"Oh. Wow." 

"After a while, I felt like I had sort of always been Oakley and I always would, even though I knew I had also been Anne and always would be." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I know that can't sound at all like it makes sense to you."

"It's okay. I just want to know how YOU feel. It doesn't matter how it sounds to me, sweetie."

"Okay," she said and fidgeted with her hands in her lap. 

"How was dinner?" I asked. 

"Fine. Weird. Whatever."

"Weird?"

"Yeah. I had to wait for it and then eat it on a schedule. I have to get used to that again."

"Oh." I shook my head for clarity. "I didn't expect a response like that. I meant was it good."

"I know. It tasted fine."

"Maybe I should spend some time as Oakley so I can understand all this better," I said with a laugh.

She snapped at me with a biting, "No." Then she softened. "I mean, you can't be Oakley. That would be like me suddenly saying I'm going to Shelley. You could be some other dog, but you can't be me." 

"I was kidding, sweetie. I don't have any dreams of being a dog."

"Oh. Okay," she said. "I'm sorry for yelling." 

"It's okay." I took a deep breath, then another. "Listen, are you okay? I mean, really okay?"

"I want to go back."

"Back where?"

"Back to Oakley." 

"That's what I figured. But do you want to or do you need to?"

"Both, I think." She pushed her chair away from the table and got up to leave.

"Stay," I said without thinking. 

She sat down, then glared at me. "You can't keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Telling me I'm Anne and then treating me like I'm still your pet, giving me commands that I can't help but react to." 

I looked down. "I'm sorry. You're right." 

She placed her hands on the table, drummed her fingers for a few moments, then placed on hand top of the other. "I think I need to go back. It's only another day, right? And everyone I know still thinks I'm bouncing around the world from country to country."

"Unless we get a new pendant, it would be another two years. That's a long time to commit to."

"I told you that time is different."

"You did, but two years is still a long way to be... gone." 

"I won't be gone. I'll be right here."

"Not as far as the rest of the world is concerned."

"I don't care. The rest of the world can suck it," she said, her passion surprising me. "As long as you can keep taking care of me."

"Still," I said. "Two more years."

She leaned her head back, popped her neck, switched hands on the table, tapped her foot on the floor.

"What?" I asked. "Whatever you're trying not to say, just fucking say it."

She signed, dragged in a breath that seemed to go on forever. "Can it be longer?"

I stood up quickly, almost slamming my hands on the table. "Longer?"

She nodded. "Yeah, longer."

"I can't believe I'm asking, and I'm not saying I'll let it happen, but how long are you suggesting?"

She held up one hand, five fingers spread out. "Five years."

"Five years?!"

"Five years."

"Whoa. That's an awful long time, Anne. What am I supposed to say to people you know?"

"I was thinking about that last night. We could tell them I was lost somewhere in Europe or Japan, or at sea, somewhere where my body could have disappeared and eventually had me declared dead instead of missing. In the meantime, since you already have access to all my accounts, I would just sign everything over to you in my will, and once I was declared dead, you'd inherit everything from me."

"Whoa," I said. "Back up. That doesn't sound like five years. That sounds like forever to me." 

"Well, after five years, it would be simple enough to do another five, and then another, and then after that, unless the magic kept me from dying, I'm pretty sure I'd hit the end of a dog's natural lifespan." 

"Let's push that do the side for a moment. Forgetting about that, let's look at this from the other side, what if something happened to me? What might happen to you then? Taken to the pound and put down? Adopted by someone else who doesn't know who you are? Or become a stray? Have you thought about that?"

"You'll outlive me by a long time, Shelley, but even if something happened to you, you'd have it in your will who would take care of me."

"Sure, but what would they do when suddenly in a few years, my dog suddenly turned into a beautiful young woman named Anne?"

She got up and carried her water into the living room. I followed, and we sat opposite each other, her on the couch on her legs and me in the chair leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. 

"Did I find the flaw in your plan, my pet?" I asked once I was ready to pursue the conversation further. 

She shook her head. "I thought about that too. Why stop at five years? I was only suggesting that because I thought it would be easier for you to stomach." 

"Wait. For me to stomach?"

"Yeah. I don't really want to come back this time. I like being Oakley. Oakley is who I really am."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," I said. "No fucking way. I wasn't happy with five years, but forever?! Hell no."

"I could do it without you."

"Sure," I almost spat. "And without Penry, and without someone who loves you to take care of you. What are you planning to do, just turn into and show up at the pound hoping to get adopted by a stranger?"

"I'd figure something out, Shells."

"Fuck," I said. "Fucking fuck."

She smiled. "You're cute when you're all upset at me." 

"Fuck," I repeated.

"You said that already," she said. 

"God damn it."

She grinned, obviously enjoying how she was pushing my buttons. 

"So, five years?"

"Or longer."

"Shit." 

We hardly spoke the next day as I had work and she was sleeping in. I kept the collar locked in my safe, knowing how likely she might be to spend another two years as a dog just to spite me for my resistance to letting her live out the rest of her years as one. She made dinner on Friday night and apologized for scaring the shit out of me with her plan. She even admitted that it wasn't well thought out and that it was most likely because of the residual Oakley that was still in her brain. Another two years might be plenty, and she'd definitely want to do that, but not until I thought she was ready. If she trusted me as her owner, then she would also trust me as her best friend. 

We ate and talked, and talked and drank wine and watched some stupid romantic comedy together that night, and I fell asleep on the couch. 

When I woke up, I peeked in at her on the bed, and I didn't want to bother her, so I went for a run. When I returned, I opened to door to find Oakley waiting for me in a sit and stay position. 

"What the fuck, Oakley?!" I yelled. "I can't believe you lied to me and did this anyway! That's two more fucking years that we can't do anything about. There were still so many things I wanted to ask you about, but I wanted to wait until you were ready. Fuck. Damn it, Oakley. How fucking dare you." 

She only looked up at without understanding a single goddamn word I was saying except for her name. 

I didn't even pet her as I walked past. 

"Fucking bitch!"

She walked beside me at a heel. 

"Don't cozy up to me know, Oakley. Oh no. That's not gonna work. I'm pissed."

She tried to guide me to the kitchen but I stopped her with a firm, "No" followed by a "Sit." She plopped her furry ass on the floor and looked up at me. 

"You can eat outside. Hell, you can spend all fucking day outside and all night in the goddamn crate for this."

I walked to the back door instead or letting her lead me to the food bowls in the kitchen. I opened sliding glass door and told her to "Get out" and "Now" and then I slammed it closed behind her. She waited at the door and whined loudly, even when Penry tried to get her to play. I simply glared at her through the glass, then closed the blinds and ignored her. 

Instead of sitting in the living room where I could still hear her whine, I went to the shower and let the hot water pelt my skin for at least a half an hour before I even started to clean myself from the run. Afterward, I was still so mad that I simply put on a pair of panties and a over-sized t-shirt and lay down to go back to sleep. 

As I slept I dreamed of Oakley. 

She ran free in the countryside, and Penry chased her, then they stopped and change direction with her rushing after him instead. A man came onto the front porch and hugged me as I watched them play, then he kissed me and rubbed a growing bump on my belly. When the scene blurred and changed, Oakley was in the floor licking my baby's face while the infant girl laughed and squealed. When it changed again, the girl was playing in the yard with both Oakley and Penry while I sat on the porch holding a second child in my lap, a boy. Another change and we were standing together, my boy around five years old now, huddled at a small cross that read "Penry, Good Boy." When it changed again, my daughter and I was sitting on the floor beside Oakley as she whined as she breathed heavily and slowly with the kind of effort that comes when death is coming. Then she stopped breathing completely and my daughter and I both wept openly.

 

I woke up crying several hours later. I wiped my tears and went to the living room and peeked outside to see both pups playing together outside. I closed the blinds again before she could notice me. 

I was hungry after skipping breakfast, so I went to the kitchen for something quick and easy, like instant grits or a granola bar. 

That's when I saw the handwritten note stuck to the refrigerator door with a cow magnet. At least I knew now what she had been wanting me to see in the kitchen. 

It read:

Dear Shells,

Please don't be mad. At least don't be too mad. I mean, I know you're going to be mad, but don't stay mad. 

Okay, I'm rambling. Sorry. 

Sit down. Please sit down before you read this next part. 

If you check your safe you'll still find the old collar and pendant locked inside. I ordered a new one of each Thursday while you were at work. It arrived yesterday afternoon. This way you can't blame yourself. This time it's all on me. You can take care of me or not. It's your choice. But I sure do hope you do. I need you. Now more than ever.

My mind reeled. The bitch had gone behind my back, not sneaking into my safe for the danger we knew, but as far as ordering a new collar that had been untested, and one, on top of that, that I still had no idea what it actually did to her. 

Anyway, because you need to know, I wanted to get a spell that would be permanent, but I just couldn't do that to you. Instead, this bright yellow pendant I'm wearing now will keep me as Oakley for at least five years, but you will be able to change me back after that by using the silver stone that will arrive a month from now. Just hang on to it somewhere safe, maybe even in my safety deposit box. That one can change me back, but not immediately. If you decide to change out the yellow one for the silver one, it will begin the process of returning me to becoming Anne. 

But, it will take another five years for me to change back, and it will reduce me to the same level of understanding I had with the previous stone that I used first. Even though I will eventually change back, I will become pretty much just a pet dog for five full years. So you can change me back, but you have to put up with me being just a dog. 

Or you can just let me be the dog I want to be. It's up to you.

Oh, a few other changes to the spell. 

1. I know you like the safety of me not being able to get pregnant when I'm in heat, but I don't think that would be fair to Penry. I feel like I owe him a litter. So, I can get pregnant, but only from him. The spell controls that. So you don't have to worry about random strays doing it to me.

2. I will still be like a dog in the way your red stone did for me -- sight, vocabulary, taste, that kind of thing. And I"ll still have human awareness because I know that's important to you. But not when I'm in heat. During my heat cycles, I really don't want to think. I just want to be. So for the whole heat I'll be pretty much just a dog. But when it's over, everything will be normal again. 

This isn't a change to the spell, but I did go to my attorney's office and have my will changed. You will inherit everything. I booked a plane ticket to Germany, and I even paid someone off the internet to take my place on the flight so it looks like I went. I get a cover story, you get an alibi, and they get a free vacation and ten thousand dollars. A fair deal all around. 

Anyway, at the end of the five years, if you decide to let me remain a dog, just try to find "me" in Europe via a private detective, and when he or she can't locate me, have me declared missing. Eventually my case will grow cold and the attorney will help you petition the courts to have me declared dead, and the trust fund and all the property will go to you. 

In the meantime, I'll be having the time of my life as Oakley, best friend of Penry and mother of his litters. If you feel up to it, I'd like to keep one of the puppies one day, especially if you let me remain as Oakley. 

Oh, one last thing, this new pendant will let me age as a dog. I don't want to remain young as Penry grows old and dies. I want to grow and age in a way that makes sense for me as Oakley. Plus if you do make me change back, I need to be older when I finally show up. It would be really weird if I showed up as young as I am now, right?

Well, I love you. And I love that you love me. Not just as your best friend Anne but also as man's (or woman's) best friend, Oakley. Until you decide otherwise (and I hope you don't) I'm your dog to do with as you please. You're my owner. I'm your pet. And I genuinely believe that's the way it needs to be. I never thought I'd be so happy as Oakley that I'd never want to be Anne again, but it's true. I'm your dog. And I always want to be. 

Your loving bitch (often in more ways than the obvious),

Oakley DeLuca

God damn that girl. She had committed me to being her owner at least ten years. Did she not know the kind of shit that could happen in ten years. Did she not care?

Hell, by the time she could change back, she'd be ten years older, and that's only if she returned to human form. If she remained a dog, she'd be ten years older in dog years. Combined with the two from before and the almost a year before that, if she didn't change back, she'd be a very old lady for a dog. 

And then she'd be dead. There would be no way I could change her back after that. Hell, she might not even make it for the ten years. Some dogs started getting feeble at just twelve years, and even if I used the silver pendant on her then, she'd never live long enough to transform back into Anne before her time was up. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

I was beginning to get pissed again, but I sat down and cried instead. 

I did love her. And like it or not, she had tied my hands. I had to face facts. 

1. She was my pet dog Oakley for the next ten years minimum. 

2. She could get pregnant if Penry mated with her. 

3. When she was in heat, she would lose her sense of humanity and awareness and just fully be a bitch in heat. 

4. She wanted to keep one of her future puppies. 

5. She wanted to have her ultimately declared missing and then dead and inherit everything in her name. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

I didn't stop crying. 

6. She wanted to remain my dog forever, or at least until she died a dog's natural death. 

7. She genuinely believed she needed to be my dog and I needed to be her owner.

8. She loved me as her best friend, but she loved me more as her owner. 

Fuck. It was a lot of crazy shit to have to learn to deal with. 

Just fuck. All the fuck. Every god damn bit of fuck in the whole world. 

Chapter Fifteen: New Normal

As a punishment for what she had done, I insisted on keeping her crated during the day while Penry ran free in the yard while I was at work, and I also crated her at night. She was only out of the prison bars after work and before bed. That gave her time for walkies and a few hours to play with Penry in the yard. But the rest of the time was “bad girls get the crate.”

Still, I didn't treat her meanly. I petted her and loved on her, and played with both of them outside from time to time, but I made sure to give her less affection than her companion. I wanted her to crave it, to yearn for it. 

When she ran up to me for a pet or a belly rub, I would give it, but not for long, and then I would call Penry over and lavish my attention on him. Sometimes I would even take her inside after walkies and put her back in the crate while I stayed up to watch TV. 

When her first heat cycle started, I intentionally kept her away from her mate. She didn't like that, and she barked and growled at me, but I told her she would be a good girl again no matter how much work it would take. Poor Penry pined for her loudly anytime I let him inside as she smelled her through the laundry room door, but I had replaced the handle with one that locked in a way only human hands to undo. No more surprise rutting waiting for me in that room!

When her heat was over, I finally let her play with her friend again, and she moped noticeably at me whenever I tried to love on her. Of course, I would use her commands and make her come to me, which I could tell frustrated her to no end since it kept her from punishing me back. I would just scratch her fluffy neck and back and keep telling her to sit or stay if she tried to get up and leave, and each time she would plop the doggy ass on the ground and get still. 

At least until her little willful streak tempted her to try it again. 

I kept up her shots and check-ups, and I even changed vets so I didn't have to go to the one that reminded me of Tony. 

On weekends I took both Oakley and Penry to the dog park and let them run free, and she was still a big hit with the kids, who loved to play with her thick neck fur and chase her around. 

In the evenings I watched TV, and I insisted that she sit on the sofa with me when I had her and Penry inside, and after a few months, I decided to let her spend the night out of the crate—as long as she slept in bed with me. I even let Penry become and indoor-outdoor dog again after a good bath and they both started being my bed buddies. 

When the first year was almost over we had put all the hurt feelings behind us, and we had  begun a new routine for our little family of three. 

It was going so well that she didn't even pitch a fit when I crated her and kept her from Penry for her next heat, not that she could have thought about it with her awareness temporarily shut off inside her brain. 

Even work was going well. I had gotten a promotion and a raise, and I had started to date again, but hadn't found anyone special to focus on. Still, the time out with someone who would lavish attention on me, at least for a little was a lot of fun. Some of them liked my dogs when I brought them home with me, and some didn't, and that was one of my criteria for whether or not they got another date. 

There was even one guy Oakley really liked. She would sniff all over him and lick his hands, and he would bring her treats each time he visited, but I discovered later that he was better with dogs than with people, and I had to let him go, much to Oakley's disappointment. 

On the few occasions I have to go out of town for work, the new vet also had a kennel and I kept both dogs there in separate pens, but they played together in the yard for hours at a time. 

Our one-year anniversary ironically coincided with the beginning of Oakley's estrus cycle, so in a way she wasn't there for it, but in another way she was able to enjoy it immensely. After keeping her locked away from her mate during the first two, I finally left her in the yard with him when this third one began. I completely ignored them no matter what kind of ruckus they made outside. I let them whoop and holler and carry on like two dogs in heat, and I let her celebrate her anniversary in the way I knew she's appreciate it best—just being my dog and just following her natural inclinations without a human care in the world. 

I spent most of the two weeks of her cycle replenishing foot and water for them, but otherwise l left them alone together. I didn't even bother with walkies. I tried not to intrude at all, and I even went on several dates just to leave them alone at home to fuck each other's brains out, hers quite literally at this point. 

I even spent the night at my date's house two of the nights, and that's how the accident happened. I tripped over some golf clubs and fell down the stairs into his basement, breaking my leg. I spent a few days in the hospital and when I got out I had a cast and I was told it would be best to get someone else in to take care of the dogs. 

That's how I met Elena. 

PART TWO 

Chapter Sixteen: Meeting Elena 

Elena and I met at the dog park about three months into Oakley's new life as my lifetime puppy. Oakley and Penry were playing tug of war with a rope toy I had thrown to her, and when they had finished with it, a dog I hadn't seen before at the park walked between them and took it. Penry growled, but the dog growled back at him. That's when Oakley stepped forward and tried to snatch her toy away from the new dog. 

But she was clearly the weaker dog, and not only did he jerk it from her teeth easily, but he also trotted a few feet away to gnaw on her prize. 

"It's okay, Oakley," I said, not wanting to try my own luck with the new dog. He was a bigger dog, at least sixty pounds or so with a good mix of what looked to be German Shepherd, Setter, Rottweiler, and good ol' fashioned hound dog in his blood. He was solid and strong and really enjoying the rope toy. 

"Hamlet, bad boy," said a voice from behind me.

The male dog immediately dropped the toy. A young Asian woman of about twenty-five walked past me to the toy and picked it up. She shook the dust off it, then wiped it against her shirt, and handed it back to me.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I can get your dogs a new one if you like."

"Oh, it's fine," I said. "They have plenty of toys. So many they can't possibly play with all of them."

"Right?!" she said, laughing. "Same with Hamlet. Not that it keeps him from wanting to take things that don't belong to him." 

"It's no big. Thanks though."

She stuck out her hand. "Hi. I'm Elena."

"Shells. Sorry. Shelley." I took her hand. "Are you new here? I mean, I just haven't seen you here before, and it feels like I'm always here with Oakley and Penry."

"Oh. Penry. Cool name. Is that for the cartoon dog, the karate one from the old cartoon?"

I nodded. "Did you say yours was Hamlet?"

"Yeah. I'm a Lit major, and I love me some Shakespeare."

"Cool."

"But to answer your question, yeah, I moved in a few weeks ago, and this is the first time I've been able to dig my head out of boxes long enough to take Hammy to the park." She watched him as he lay in the grass, his eyes still watching the rope toy I held at my side. "But he's usually so much better with other dogs. I don't know what got into him."

"It's all good." I called Oakley and Penry over to meet Elena. "Say hello to Elena," I commanded, and each of them sat down and present their paw to shake hands.

"So cute," she said and got on her knees to take their 'hands' and return the shake. She looked deeply into Penry's eyes and then Oakley's. "Sweet puppies," she said, letting their paws go. 

Instantly Penry turned and ambled back to his spot under the tree. Oakley held Elena's gaze and just stared back at her intently. 

"Oh, this one's special, isn't she?"

"Well, I think they both are," I corrected her.

"We always do," Elena said, and then stood up. Oakley trotted off to join her mate in the shade of the branches.

"Hamlet," Elena called, and snapped her fingers, and the dog got up and walked over to her. "Sit," she said, and he dropped to his butt, his tail wagging like a baby snake. "Go ahead, he'll let you pet him. 

I reached out tentatively, and he didn't snap or even look up. So I went ahead and touched his head, then rubbed it. "Good boy, Hamlet," I said. 

He looked up at his name and panted.

"Good boy," Elena said. "He's a special dog too," she said. 

"I bet," I said. 

We met a few more times that week at the park, and on Saturday, Elena felt close enough to invite me over for a lunch of sauteed vegetables on the grill. I agreed, still missing a neighborhood friend since Tony had left. Besides, she was cute, and it had been a long time since I had exercised that part of myself romantically. And she didn't seem to be at least a little bit interested in me.

She even offered to let me bring Oakley and Penry over with me, so how could I refuse?

We ended up spending the whole afternoon together, the dogs all playing in the yard, and Elena and I sipping hard seltzers and munching on grilled veggies. Around six o'clock, just as the breeze picked up and the sky looked like it was going to let loose the kind of flood that mythologies were built on, I called the dogs to me so I could leash them and excuse myself so I didn't overstay my welcome. 

"Do you have to?" Elena asked. "We could take the party inside instead. I've got board games, lots of movies, and plenty more snacks."

"Serious?"

"Serious." 

"Sure."

Once we were inside with all the food and the dogs, Oakley and Penry followed Hamlet to the back of the house and lay down on the cold tile of the guest bathroom. Elena offered me a seat beside her on the couch. 

When I was sitting, she grabbed my face, pulled me to her, and kissed me deeply.

"Whoa..." I said when I got my breath back.

She pulled away slightly, but not too far. "I'm sorry. Did I misread any of..." She waved her hand toward me, then back to her. "...this?"

I shook my head. "No. No. Not at all. Just caught me off guard a bit."

"I've been accused of being too forward," she said. 

"It's okay. I liked it." 

"Good." Then she pulled close to me and kissed me again, slower and longer this time, her breath warm in my mouth. 

"Whoa," I said again. 

"A big fan of Keanu?" she asked. 

I laughed. "Sure, I know all his best lines." 

We laughed together. 

She took my hand and helped me up from the sofa. "Did you mean what you said about liking it when I caught you off guard?"

"I didn't exactly say that, but yeah, I do like it. It's nice."

"Good," she said again, and then she tugged me gently to her bedroom. 

We shut the door behind us to keep the dogs out. I heard Oakley scratch and whine once, then bark softly and walk away. "She gets jealous," I said between kisses. 

"Let her," Elena said. 

I didn't wake up until close to one in the afternoon. I woke up naked, half entwined in Elena's sheets and half exposed to the ceiling fan that gave me goosebumps in all the visible places. I was still so tired from the amazing night together. After going solo for so long, it had felt wonderful to spend the night with someone who knew how to make a woman's body respond. 

I heard the shower turn off, and in a few minutes, Elena returned to the room in all her nude glory. Her body was exquisite, well-toned, pale, and simply beautiful in all the ways I loved. In all the ways mine wasn't. 

"Good morning," I said.

She smiled. 

"He was my fiance," she said.

"What?"

"He was my fiance."

"Who was?"

"You don't have to hide it. I know all about it."

"I don't understand."

"Hamlet. He was my brother."

"I don't--"

"You don't have to pretend with me, Shelley," she said as she sat beside me on the bed. "I know all about the magic."

"You..." I just couldn't get the words out. 

"Yeah, me." She crawled onto me and pushed me back onto my back. "Ssshh."

Then she shut me up for another thirty minutes with a passionate kiss that led to my first orgasm of the day. 

At breakfast, I was sitting at her dining room table with a mug of coffee. The mug read, "I ruff my dog" and had a cartoon picture of Hamlet printed on the side opposite the handle. 

"So, how did you know?"

"An aura. It shows a sort of magical energy not everyone can see. I noticed it immediately on Oakley but not on Penry. He's just a normal dog, right?"

I nodded.

"But Oakley used to be human, I'm guessing, or you used some strong magic on her for some other purpose."

I pushed her question to the side for the moment. "You said something about Hamlet being your fiance?"

She nodded. "Seven years ago, he got cancer. He was fine at first, but when it got bad, it was clear he wasn't going to make it through chemo, so we went looking for other solutions. That's when we discovered the little magic shop online."

"And the cancer?"

"Gone as long as he's in dog form."

"If he changes back?"

"He can't. We bought him the one-way trip."

"Oh..." I gasped aloud. "Sorry. I didn't know there was a permanent spell."

"Not even with Oakley? Her aura is totally long-term."

"Her choice. It's a five-year minimum, but I can force her to change back if I want to, but that takes another five years."

"Permanent by ongoing choice, then, not by the spell."

"I guess," I said. "I haven't decided yet."

She smiled. 

"So," I said, stalling as I spoke, not wanting to get too personal so fast, but she obviously wanted to talk about it. "How much of..."

"He's all dog. Nothing left but a few scattered memories. It was all part of what he wanted. To start over. Kind of his own personal way to have reincarnation. It just felt right to him, and honestly, who was I to argue with him?"

"And his parents?"

"Died years ago. He never really knew them. I was all he had." She drew in a quick, heavy breath. "We even picked up the body of a stray from a local vet and had it cremated. That's the ashes that were dumped when people thought we were having a service for him. It was all pretend. He was even there with me on the leash while we dumped the ashes."

"Wow."

"I know. Right." 

"Wow."

"If your Oakley decides to make it permanent, you could do something similar."

"Wow," I said yet again. 

"So, have you ever done it?"

"Done what? Dumped fake ashes at a fake funeral?"

Elena laughed. "Silly," she said, punching my arm. "Used the collar on yourself?"

I shook my head. "Not my game. Not my kink."

"Why does it have to be a kink? Maybe it's just a way of relaxing."

"Excuse me," I said. "I've seen what Oakley gets up to with Penry and with Fred before that."

"Oh, so she does mate then?"

Okay, I thought, now this is not the kind of thing I figured I'd be talking about with a stranger, but I had to admit it was nice to have found someone who understood the kind of things I was feeling. Besides, with all the bodily fluids we had exchanged during the night, we were exactly strangers anymore.

I looked away as I answered regardless of our intimacy. It just felt respectful to Oakley.

"She's had a few litters."

"Oh, wow."

"Well, the first time was an accident. Fred humped her through the bars of her crate where I was keeping her thinking it would protect her from him during her heat cycle. After that, she wanted to do it again, so I let her."

"Whoa. She wanted to..."

I nodded. "Yeah, we had a sort of code worked out, one bark for no, two barks for yes, so I could check in on her."

"That's cool. And she asked you to let her mate again and to have another litter."

"She did. I think she liked the whole vacation of it, just doing what nature directed her to. No pressure, not stress."

Elena grew quiet for a few moments.

"What about Hamlet?"

"I let him mate once, but he hasn't been around many females in heat. Not with it being just him and me." She crossed her legs and rested her hand on my knee. My skin warmed to her touch. "I had a friend who had a female he wanted to get one litter out of before he had her fixed."

"Oh."

"But after that, he's never had another bitch. I get wigged out thinking about him just having sex with a regular dog, and I didn't think I'd ever find another one that used to be human."

"Oh shit. I never even considered that." I listened for the dogs. They were playing in the back of the house. 

"That's why I asked if you ever used the collar yourself."

I looked at her confused. She squeezed my knee.

"It's weird to talk about." She looked at my eyes as if forcing herself to keep us focused on each other. "It made me jealous. I mean, I knew he wasn't himself anymore and that he needed to, but, in my mind, he was still the guy I was planning to get married to." She paused again and sucked in a dry breath. "So I got another collar, one for me. I thought that if he had to mate, and I was going to be jealous because of it, then the least I could do was be there for him, you know."

"Whoa."

"Well, I did say it was weird."

"Did you ever, you know..."

She shook her head. "Mate, no. But I did spend one weekend as a dog just to see what it was like and to play with him. I even arranged for a friend to come over and check on 'my dogs' --" She made the air quotes as she spoke. "-- in case something went sideways."

I scrunched up my face in thought. Something about it was bugging me. Then it hit me. "How did you get the collar off to turn back?"

She laughed, then leaned in and kissed me. 

"It's magic, silly. After the spell was done, it unsnapped by itself to let me change back."

"Shit. I didn't know it could do that."

"So you knew it was a magic collar that could turn a person into a dog but didn't think it was capable of unfastening itself?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I guess that is kind of silly, huh?"

Elena grinned. 

"So," I said. "Did you ever do it again?"

"Nope. Didn't feel right, at least not to me. All I could think about was who would take care of Hamlet if something happened to me while I was a dog or if we both got stuck that way, so I haven't gone back."

"Come over to my place tomorrow night," I said, leaning in.

"Oh, my bed not good enough for you?"

We smiled together. "Please."

"How could I refuse."

The next night, I prepared paella, and we watched The Orphanage together and snuggled close to help each other through the jump scares. After that, we kissed -- a lot -- and made out so much we missed the end of the movie. 

We left Oakley, Penry, and Hamlet out back for the night to play while we did the same in my bedroom.

After we got up after sex for a midnight snack, I left the room for a minute and went to the top of my closet for the original collar from the first time I met Oakley. I held it at my side and returned to the living room and showed it to Elena. 

"And what's this, Shelley?"

"This is the first collar, the one that was just an on-off one. She was my dog Oakley when she had it on. My friend Anne when she had it off."

"Ooh," she said, taking it from me. 

Without warning me, she slipped it around her neck, and no sooner had I heard it click than she morphed into a white and gray Husky.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "That's not what I was expecting." 

The dog walked to me and lifted her head to expose her fluffy neck. I took the hint and unfastened the collar. I stared down at her as she stared up at me, confused I guessed. I flipped the collar over and showed her the incantation. Then I read it aloud. 

She was suddenly Elena again.

"Cool, huh?"

"I suppose." 

"Well, if you didn't want me to transform, why did you bring it to me?"

I caught a quick breath in my throat and took a moment to think. I really still wasn't sure I wanted to admit why I brought it to her. It was all too weird.

"Why did you not turn into Oakley?" I asked. "That one was supposed to turn the wearer into Oakley."

She laughed. "Your friend didn't ever explain the way the magic worked, did she?"

Okay, I thought. Maybe not in-depth and definitely not the specifics of the rules of spells. "Not really," I said weakly and more than a little embarrassed.

Elena leaned in and kissed me on the mouth. "It's okay."

She backed up and grinned. 

"The way it was explained to me was this. Just like we each have an ideal version of how we see ourselves or an ideal man or woman we'd like to date floating around inside our brain, those who use the magic to transform have an ideal version of their transformed self also. The magic uses the focused neural energy to create that idea in a way that makes sense."

"And you see yourself as a Husky?"

"I had a beautiful Husky when I was a little girl. It's my go-to image for a dog."

"Well, you were absolutely a beautiful Husky." 

She blushed. "Thanks." Then she took the collar from me again. "You didn't answer my question though."

"I didn't," I replied.

"So?"

I took a deep breath, sighed, looked at her, then sighed again. "I thought about what you said. If I'm going to even begin to understand Oakley's needs and wants for this magic transformation stuff, then I need to experience it, at least once."

"Thatta girl!" she all but yelled. 

Before I could even finish speaking, her hands were at my neck, and I heard the collar click in place and my world exploded into what felt like millions of new sensations. 

Chapter Seventeen: My Life as a Dog

The first thing I noticed was that I was suddenly looking up at everything. The world had become a taller place. I could also recognize so many things that I couldn't see anywhere close to me. Foods from the kitchen around the corner. Oakley's musk on everything everywhere I turned my nose. Penry's toys wedged under the couch. The difference between the scent on one side of a door and the scent on the other side. A faint dirty wood smell from the few pieces of lumber stored in the garage. And the colors. There were still there, but not all of them. Everything seemed to be shades of blues and sepia tones. The brightness of the world had disappeared. Everything was filtered like old photographs in a way. 

"Why, hello there, girl," I heard Elena say to me as she squatted beside me to rub my head and scratch my ears. "What a sweet little doggie you are."

I lifted my neck as she had, hoping she'd get the hint to take off the collar.

She smiled.

Then she stood up and walked to my kitchen.

When she returned she was holding the short leather leash for walkies. 

I shook my furry little head vehemently.

"Oh," she said with another sweet smile. "Is this not what you were asking for?"

I thought for a moment, pushing the need to have her pet me again from my mind, and gave one sharp bark. The deepness of the tone surprised me. In fact, I really had no idea what kind of dog I had become. 

She clipped the leash to the collar anyway. 

I barked again. 

She laughed warmly. "Oh, that's right. You and Oakley had that cute one-bark-two-bark thing, didn't you?"

I barked twice.

She laughed again. "This is so freakin' precious," she said. "But we can talk later. Now it's time for walkies."

I barked once and didn't move as she pulled on the leash to get me to follow.

She turned and tisked-tisked at me.

"Bad girls don't get treats," she said. "And you do want your treats later, don't you, pretty girl?"

She tugged again and pulled me off balance, then kept up the tightness so that I had no choice but to either follow the leash or fall over.

"Good girl," she said as I followed her. 

When I saw her heading to the door though, I hit the brakes and barked loudly.

"Sweet girl," she said. "Did you want to experience this or were you just lying to me?"

Damn, I thought, relenting. She was right. She had me. This was the whole point of me showing her the collar, just not the timetable I had imagined. She opened the door, and I followed her like an obedient pooch. 

If being inside had been overwhelming to my new senses, being outside was almost enough to overpower my conscious mind. I could see even in the darkness, but it was my nose that was driving me. Each new smell pulled me away and only a tug on the least would draw me back. I kept my head low to get each whiff along the ground. If my eyes were compromised by my change in vision, my nose more than made up for the loss. It was like smelling the world for the first time. It was easy to see how Oakley could get so caught up in her new doggie world that she could forget her human world. 

"Heel," Elena said with a chuckle, and I lifted my head to look at her towering above me. I found that as long as I focused on her and her alone I could avoid much of the temptation invading my sense all around me. Just watch her and keep in step. "Good girl," she said. "That's it."

I trotted by her side, still having no idea what I looked like except for my white legs with brown, intermittent patches. My ears felt heavy enough to flop around as I walked, so they weren't pointy like a German Shepherd's ears. But other than that, I had no idea. 

I just followed the leash and the woman holding it until I saw her house come into view. I was so confused. Why was she taking me to her place? And what about the other dogs at my place? 

"Come on, girl," she said, pulling me toward her door. Then she looped the handle of my leash onto the top peg of the railing on her porch. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

She unlocked her door, opened it, and disappeared inside. She returned in a minute not looking any different. While I was trying to figure out if she had just needed a bathroom break real quick or what, she reached into her pocket and knelt beside me. She pulled a metal tag out of her pocket and showed it to me in the glow of the front door floodlight. 

It read: "Ophelia."

So that was her reason for stopping. She wanted to give me a name tag. Sweet.

No. Wait. How long did she plan to keep me like this? Hell, how long could I handle it before I gave in as Oakley had?

"This was mine, the one I used when I was a pup with Hamlet. I thought it was cute, Hamlet and Ophelia."

Cute. Right. 

She clipped the tag onto my collar. 

"There you go, little Ophelia. Now you look like you belong to someone in case that mean ol' dog catcher gets you."

She laughed loudly and then lifted the end of the leash from the porch railing. 

But before we took off for the rest of my 'walkies' I realized with great horror that I needed to pee. I looked around for a place to hide and went to her shrubs. She gazed at me smiling and nodding.

"Go ahead," she said. 

I tried to hide behind the bushes, but she wouldn't give me enough slack, so in the end, I simply had to squat on my back legs and go in front of her and anyone who might be walking by -- admittedly not many after midnight, but it was the possibility that makes the embarrassment feel stronger. 

I was glad that dogs couldn't blush. 

"Good little Ophelia got her little bladder empty I hope," Elena said. 

I looked up but didn't respond.

"Well, did you, Ophie?"

God, not a nickname. And certainly not Ophie. 

I barked twice, hoping she wouldn't want to embarrass me further. 

"Good girl, Ophie."

Shit. That awful name again. Ophelia was bad enough, but at least it made sense since that was the name of...

Fuck.

Ophelia was Hamlet's prospective wife. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

His mate.

Holy fucking fuck. 

Certainly, Elena didn't plan to do that to me. If I had used the two-year collar, I would have been safe for conceiving, as least as long as I was able to avoid Penry's lust. But I would have been stuck as Ophelia for two whole years too. With the original collar, I would return to myself the second the collar was removed, but I had no magical protection for getting pregnant. 

And if Elena's choice of name for me meant anything... Well, shit. 

She led me around the block and back to my place and then took me not into the house, but into the backyard, where Hamlet, Penry, and Oakley were resting under the tree. 

Upon seeing me and picking up on my scent, all three dogs bounded over to me, and Elena unclipped the leash from my collar.

"Hey, guys," she said to the others, scratching their floofy necks in turn as they vied for her -- and my -- attention. "I'd like you to meet Ophelia. She's a guest." She turned to Hamlet and Penry and said very sternly, "She's a friend. Be nice." 

Hopefully not a friend with benefits, I thought as Hamlet sniffed me all over. I cowered before him and let him do as he pleased. The last thing I needed was to get mauled by the bigger male who no longer remembered any of his humanity. When he was done, he barked once loudly and then licked the side of my snout before walking away to go lie down again. 

Penry sniffed me like I was a new toy for him to play with, and he nudged my side, then scooted behind me and took a few good whiffs of my asshole. He must have been satisfied because he reached out and licked it twice and I pulled away but he pressed on and gave me a third doggie kiss on my poophole. 

Oakley had gotten close but not close enough to give me a proper dog greeting yet, and it dawned on me that the behavior was because she understood her place in the new pack. When it was just her and Penry, there were friends and occasional mates when she went into heat. But with the addition of the second male, she had been relegated to the bitch. The boys would vie for dominance as their natures demanded, and she would become the leftover dog -- at least until her heat cycle began again. Then she would be the mate of them both, starting with whichever male had been able to assert his strength as the pack leader. 

When the boys were done saying hello, Oakley finally came up and licked my face. She looked beyond me to the sliding glass door, and it looked to me that she was wondering where I was, well, where her friend Shells was. 

I wanted to tell her, I'm right here, sweetie, right here in front of you, but all I could do was bark twice softly. 

She sniffed my snout, my neck, my ears, my chest, then barked twice at me. 

I nodded, which must have looked funny for a dog to do, and barked back at her twice.

She licked me then barked twice more. 

I nodded and barked twice more to repeat what I hoped was her signal.

Then she jumped up on her back legs and bounced at me and covered me with kisses. 

"Want to change back now, Ophelia, or do you want to play with your friends a little before I take that collar off you?"

My soul relaxed at those words, and I ran off into the yard with Oakley bouncing at my heels. 

"Okay, play with your friends. Got it." She turned to walk to the door to go in. "I'll be back out before dawn. You have fun." 

That's right, I thought, trying to focus through the little doggie instincts to play and run and bark with my new friends. I do have to go to work today. I didn't even think about that.

But Oakley's bounce beside me and wet tongue on my snout pushed the thought from my mind and I chased her around the yard again while Elena went inside. We raced each other in circles and then grabbed the rope toy for a game of tug o' war. Time went by so quickly that I didn't even notice when the sunlight hit the horizon and Elena came out in her nightgown. 

She called me over by my puppy name, full name this time, not the nickname, and it took me a minute to recognize she was calling me since she hadn't used my human name. When I did though, my first reaction was to run to her obediently. Did all dogs want to do what they were told by a human, or was it just something from the magic? Regardless, I was halfway there when I thought about it, so rather than stop and think, I kept going.

Oakley followed me, yipping happily, and soon enough, both Hamlet and Penry bounded over to us as well, and Elena was in the middle of a melee of kisses and wet noses. 

"Okay, puppers, tell Ophelia goodbye," she said, strapping the leash to my collar. 

Then she led me inside and before she could close the door, Oakley sneaked by and let herself in. She followed us to the master bedroom, where Elena had already made my bed after spending the night there without me. 

"Ready, my pet?" she asked, squatting to balance on the balls of her feet as she reached for the collar.

I barked once.

She laughed. 

"Fun, right?"

Bark. Bark. 

"Sorry. You've got responsibilities as Shelley, and not just at work," she added with a flirty grin. 

Then she grabbed the collar and unsnapped it. I waited as he recited the counterspell. At once, most of my sensory world grew dull as the colors around me blossomed into bright, vivid hues, and things around me became smaller. 

Before I had a chance to feel like myself again, she wrapped me in a strong bear hug. 

"Well," she all but kissed into my ear. "What did you think?"

Chapter Eighteen: The Wild, Wild Life

Two months passed before we used the collar again—either collar. She had brought hers over and decided we should store them all together. She had returned the Ophelia name tag to her lavender leather collar and placed it in my safe along with my two pink ones, one with the counterspell sewn on the inside padding and the one with the pendant and Oakley nametag still attached to it, the one that was a two-year trip, no way back, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. Hers was the automatic, 48-hour collar. 

To the average eye, though, it just looked like a collection of keepsakes from puppies I had lost over the years.

The further I got from the transformation, the less I liked to think about it. I enjoyed the time as Ophelia, but I also knew I had let myself get too immersed in the experience. Just the one time had made it far easier to understand Oakley's mindset. Elena had been one-hundred percent right about that. And if Oakley enjoyed it, then who was I to take that thing she loved, that one and only thing she really loved most likely, away from her. 

If I had been leaning toward changing her back after five years, I was definitely thinking of the opposite option for her now. She was happy. She had Penry, and now she had Hamlet's friendship too, at least for as long as Elena and continued to be a couple. 

And it was super nice to have someone around who could identify with my concerns, someone who had experienced them all herself, someone who also now had someone to share the secret of the magic with. 

We actually arranged a weekend away, just Elena and me, and took our collars to the mountains. Rather than staying in a cabin, we stripped down and put out clothes in the car and paid for two days' parking. Then we strapped on the collars and before we knew it we both were running free through the woods. 

It was potentially risky, and it was most likely that risk that made the idea so exciting to us. Besides, we had the other dogs kenneled, so they were fine. And as long as we undertook the adventure together, I trusted Elena and she trusted me. I was ultimately dependent on her to change me back. She would automatically transform after two days, but then I'd still be stuck as a dog until she physically removed my collar, and even then I would have a few more hours unless she read the incantation to counter the transformation spell. 

So, if anything happened to her, I knew it was within the realm of possibility that I might be stuck in the wild as a human-thinking canine for the rest of my shortened life. 

Even worse, she might just change back and leave me on my own in the woods. Or keep me as her newest pup. Or put her collar on again and let the two of us live out our lives together in the mountains, learning how to catch rabbits and squirrels and forage for edible plants. 

I couldn't deny that the potential danger made the weekend exhilarating. 

I needed to pull my thoughts together, and not let my mind wander in the sensory overload as we traipsed through the open expanse of grass and trees and slopes. 

After an afternoon of running and resting and playing in every stream we encountered, the dusk had finally arrived and we had lain in the shadow of a ledge that offered protection from any weather we might face -- calm, searing heat or thunderous, wet storm. As I lay panting, my tongue lazily hanging out of my mouth, drooling onto the ground, Elena came over to me and licked my snout. I returned the kiss. 

It was nice. We were dogs, true, but we weren't just dogs. Together, we served as reminded to each other that we were human too. Something as simple as a kiss was a reminder that we were two women in love, only pretending to be dogs, no matter how strong the call of the wild might sing to us to stay. 

She nuzzled me onto my back, and I thought that even as a fellow dog she had commanded me to roll over. I would have laughed if I could have made that kind of sound from my little doggie vocal cords. 

But instead of being satisfied with making me do a trick, she instead licked my belly. Her tongue felt wet and warm on my pink tummy skin, and I was sure I would have gotten goosebumps if I had been human at the time. Then she moved to the little furry groove between my hind legs. 

I didn't know enough about the animal kingdom to know if we were the first bi-sexual dogs getting each other off in the wild, but I honestly didn't care. I simply lay still and whimpered in short breaths as she continued to lick me. Now and then she shoved her long snout inside me a bit and licked me deep inside. The differences between my dog and human plumbing were evident as I didn't get the almost electrical sensation I got as a human woman, but the pressure of her snout and tongue inside me was particularly filling and stimulated the conceptual part of my brain. 

Well, I guessed, people weren't lying when they said the brain was the most sensitive sex organ, and that was true, I was learning, even when that brain was in the body of a literal horny bitch. 

She kept up the attention for a while, then stopped and rolled onto her back and barked at me. I got the point and rolled over to give as good as I had gotten. 

We went back and forth for several hours until the sky was almost pure black, then we cuddled together as she slept on and off during the night. 

In the morning, I awoke to find Elena gone. I panicked and ran to the top of the ledge for the best lay of the land. I didn't see her, even from that vantage point. I barked and howled, then got quiet and waited for her answer. Nothing. I howled again. Waited. Still no response. 

Instead of her, I caught sight of a single gray and black wolf walking toward me. He stopped at my second call and lifted his head to sniff the air. He must have caught wind of my scent because he locked his gaze directly on me. 

Shit. 

My imagination went wild. I just knew that she had wandered off and the worst had happened. She had encountered the wild wolf and she was either hurt or dying or worse, already gone, in which case, I would no doubt be next. 

I mean, sure, I would fight tooth and nail but my puppy body wasn't built for battle. My best bet would be to run as far as possible and hope to somehow make it back to my house in the city almost two hundred miles away.

Imagine my surprise when she emerged behind him from the brush. She didn't appear to be hurt in any way, and she walked to the wolf and licked his face. He returned the affection, and together they walked to me. When they approached, I came down from my ledge and looked at her with my head angled in confusion. The wolf stood beside her, staring at me and panting. 

I barked.

She barked back at me. 

Then she walked up to me and licked my snout several times. 

Something in her actions told my doggie brain not to worry, that everything was okay, that the wolf didn't plan to eat me for breakfast. 

Then they ran off, but she stopped at the edge of the clearing and turned to bark at me. I followed. Together with the wild male, we ran all over the woods and chased small game. He caught several squirrels, but Elena and I only chased them for fun. He was a good provider, I guessed, since he was eager to share his catches with us, even biting into the good meat and then dropping a fresh kill in front of each of us. 

We ignored the delightful smell of the raw meat for a while, and then hunger overtook me first, and I took a tentative bite from the squirrel's belly. It was delicious to my new sense of taste, and it only drove home to me just how starving I was. Dogs were not created to be herbivores, and the gifted meat proved it to me. When I finished devouring the little creature, my snout was a bloody mess. 

With my hunger relieved, it was only then that I noticed the weird feeling inside me. The wolf sniffed the air and then returned to his meal. I noticed that Elena was working on her squirrel as well, bones and meat and fur, all of it. When there was a few scant traces of fur left from his dinner, mostly part of the tail and a little bit of skull, the big male walked to me and licked the blood from my face. There was something warm and welcoming in the action, and I tilted a bit to the side to give him easier access. He covered my snout, my face, my ears, even my chin and neck with long, wet, warm, sloppy licks, and I wasn't sure if he was trying to get all the blood off and enjoy more of the taste of game or if he was trying to clean me or if there was some other reason. 

I looked at Elena, and she too sniffed the air, looking up momentarily from her meal. 

Then I did the same. There was definitely a new scent in the breeze. It was something musky that I hadn't smelled before. 

As the male kept licking me, I noticed yet another new scent hit me. It was something that I wanted more of, something that I moved my nose around to find the source. I realized that it was coming from the wolf, and, after a few minutes, he stopped kissing my face and moved behind me to start giving my ass and pussy the same loving attention. His tongue was longer and rougher than Elena's and I enjoyed the friction of it inside me. He consistently, by natural inclination rather than purposeful technique I was certain, lapped across my mostly hooded doggie clit, and, although the sensation was different from when I experienced it as a human woman, it triggered a rush of sexual excitement throughout my furry little quadruped body. 

That's when I realized the new scent I had noticed first was coming from me.

Had I gone into heat some quickly, so unexpectedly?

I didn't have time to think about it though, because he had stopped licking me and was trying to mount me, poking and prodding at my vulva. I resisted. No matter how warm and nice his tongue had been, I wasn't so far gone that I actually wanted to get fucked by a wolf up in the mountains. Each time I moved out from under him, he raised onto me again and kept trying to enter me from behind. 

All the while, Elena kept gnawing on her squirrel, looking up at me every few moments. 

I shook him off again, and this time he growled at me with a threatening tone. It was as if he were telling me in perfect English, "You're my bitch. Act like it so I don't have to hurt you." 

I barked back at him several times. No way was I going to let him have me... Not that way. 

But I was so wrong. 

He lunged at me and bit my neck, not deep enough to actually hurt me, but tight enough to let me know he was serious about taking me as his mate. I snapped at him as best I could -- admittedly a worthless gesture -- and he bit harder, drawing blood this time. I whimpered. 

Elena growled at him, and he growled back threateningly. She sat down and returned to the remains she was crunching. 

Keeping his grip on my neck, he continued to pump at me, occasionally almost hitting the target, but mostly missing. Then, at last, I yelped as he banged his pink cock into me. He wasn't wide like a typical human penis, but he more than made up for it in length, and with my smaller, domesticated canine vagina, he was still more than wide enough to fill me up. 

I whined and whimpered in spite of myself as he pumped me furiously, determined to give me his babies. 

Oh shit, I realized through the clouded brain filled with doggie pleasure. If I got pregnant, I would be trapped in this form until after the puppies were born and weaned. The magic would protect both me and them, as it was bound by the laws of the universe or whatever to not do harm. 

I tried to jerk away from the wolf, but he clamped down on my neck again and held me fast until his knot was pushing at my entrance. 

No! No! I screamed in my thoughts, but the only sounds I communicated were long, loud howls that sounded more like pleasure than resistance. 

The knot pushed harder against my vulva. It was warm and thick and the pressure was immense. I twisted to one side and then the other, but it was no use. Eventually, the wolf's strength won out against my small body and lesser might. His knot plopped inside with a sloppy sound, and I felt stretched beyond my limits. Still, he pushed, and once the knot was firmly locked inside me, I knew it was over for me. Neither of us was going anywhere until the deep was done. There was nothing left but to wait for him to spurt his steady stream of possible wolf-puppies inside me. I waited. He turned around and dragged me a few inches to a spot where he felt more comfortable. Almost immediately I felt something hot and sticky shooting deep inside me, all the way to my little puppy womb, I guessed. 

Soon, his knot subsided, and he moved away. I fell asleep from the sheer exhaustion of the mating. 

When I awoke later, Elena was licking my swollen vulva, massaging away my pain from the rugged rutting. I whined at her softly, enjoying her sweet attention far more than that of the wolf's lusty abuse. I was leaking a combination of my blood and his cum, and she was cleaning me in such a way that revived the sense of excitement in my loins. 

My scent was still strong in the air, and her gentle lapping wasn't helping to settle the burning need for sex that my body was telling the world around me that I needed. Sure enough, the wolf returned momentarily, and he nudged me up with his snout and with a growl to punctuate the demand. A growl at Elena convinced her to let him have his way, and she lay down a few feet away. 

Is this what Oakley feels, I wondered. Especially the first time? 

I stood up and presented my ass and pussy to him. If the previous mating had taught me anything, it was that resistance was futile and nature would have its way. 

It only took a few tries this time for him to penetrate me, and shortly, I was listening to his grunting and growling while I whimpered and moaned. I tried to relax this time and embrace the experience for what it was -- sex. If this was something that was going to happen regardless of what I wanted, then I could at least try to enjoy it and try to understand it to help me better comprehend Anne's fascination with wanting to become Oakley permanently. 

Throughout it all, Elena stared at me, her eyes wide and wet and black. 

After another immeasurable period of time, I was soon alone again on the dirt beneath the ledge, resting quietly from the exertion. Elena once again came over to comfort me with her tongue. I wanted to ask her to stop, to tell her that although it was sweet she wasn't helping. In fact, all she did was to keep my need for sex high and my scent so strong in the air that it would beckon the aggressive wild beast to take another shot at populating the wild with his babies. 

I went to the stream later in the day for water, and the wolf went with me. After I drank my fill, he took me again, so I rested again beside the trickling water while he disappeared for another few minutes. When he returned, he had a rabbit in his maw, and he dropped it in front of me. This time I didn't even let my human brain try to interrupt my hunger with its initial disgust. Constant mating was hard work and I was famished. He let me eat in peace, and when I was done, he licked my face clean again. 

When I felt strong enough, I went back to the camp to find Elena sleeping over half of a freshly killed squirrel. I assumed she had eaten the other half already. Who was I to judge her after what I had done? 

I lay down beside her, licked her face, and then closed my eyes to rest. 

Eventually, the wolf returned, and he mounted me several times throughout the night. 

In the morning, I found him gone, and Elena was standing over me, fully human. She shoved a shushing finger against her lips and whispered, "Let's hurry back to the car before he comes back," she said. Then she clipped the leash on my collar. 

Of course, she hadn't done the spell. It wouldn't work anyway if I was pregnant. 

I lifted my head and sniffed, then led the way back to the car, trotting but not running. I took us to the edge of the parking area, and Elena, still naked since we had left our human clothing in her SUV, peeked out from the brush to see if the coast was clear. Luckily, in spite of the collection of cars in the graveled lot, there was no one there, and we quickly went to the car. Elena lifted the hatch and let me in. 

"Get in so we can keep your scent out of the air, sweetie." 

I leaped into the back of the car, then she grabbed her clothes, and closed me inside. She got dressed, and when she opened the door to climb inside, I smelled the wolf's scent in the air and I knew he was close. 

I watched as he emerged from the brush, carefully approaching the vehicle. He zig-zagged toward us, and I wondered why Elena wouldn't close that damn door faster. But she sat with it open, stretching until the wolf was almost beside us. 

"Hey, Tom," she said, reaching out to pet the wolf's scruffy neck. "Who's a good boy?"

What the ever-loving fuck?!

I started to bark and she shushed me. I stopped for a moment, then realized I was defaulting to her as my master, and I knew I had to stop that shit cold. I barked even louder and didn't stop until she yelled at me to stop. 

Even then I growled steadily.

"Would you rather it was a wild wolf, after all, Ophelia?" she said with a laugh. 

She opened the door and let Tom, as I now knew his name to be, into the seat beside her. He sniffed the air and barked at me. 

"What do you say, Ophie? Another quickie before Tom's owner comes to get him?"

One sharp bark. 

Sure, I had enjoyed it when I let myself, but that didn't mean I wanted it to happen again any time soon. 

"Sorry, boy. No means no," she added, still rubbing his face. 

In a few moments, the wolf started to glow with a golden hue, and a tall naked man with graying but still dark hair sat on his knees in the passenger seat smiling at me over the headrest. 

"Ophelia, I'd like you to meet Tom," Elena said. 

Again I thought, what the ever-loving fuck?!

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