Chapter V: Wash away what I've done
Not waiting for Aran to calm down, the collie unlocked the side of the crib and lifted the wolf from the mattress. She carried him out of the room and into to the hallway, then through another open door into a hollow-sounding room. There, she put him down on a changing pad. The room felt warmer than the one with the crib in it.
"Aran?"
His ears perked up, still sobbing.
"I'm going to clean you up, but I need you to be brave and let go of your plushie. Can you do that for me?"
Suddenly, the wolf snapped back to reality. He was a twenty years old canine, seeking comfort in a plushie after soiling the diaper someone put him in. He did not need any of this, and yet it was forced upon him. Aran released his grip on the stuffed husky, causing it to fall out of his hands and land on the floor. His tail moved away from between his legs, where it had been tucked until then.
The female unzipped Aran's sleeper and took it off him. However, during this process, the wolf was moved around quite a bit. Since he laid on his back, this consequently squished the content of his diaper, making the wolf feel even filthier.
He no longer cried, not even when the female took his diaper off and wiped his bottom clean. In retrospect, Aran suspected that he just shut the outside world away, like he did when he was bullied.
"There, that's better. I assume you didn't like any of that, did you?" the female asked with a gentle voice.
Aran shook his head.
"How about a nice bath? It'll help you feel better."
Not waiting for an answer, the female walked over to the other side of the room and turned a water tap on.
"This will only take a minute or two, but don't worry, I'll put you in so you won't get as cold."
Again, completely ignoring any input the wolf might or might not provide, the female lifted Aran from the changing pad and put him in the bathtub. The water level was still rather low, but the wolf experienced its warmth as savory.
"I think your pacifier is a bit redundant now. I'll take it out, but only if you promise to keep your muzzle shut. Can you do that for me?"
The wolf hesitated for a few seconds, but then nodded. The female unbuckled the pacifier harness and took the nipple from Aran's muzzle. He decided to keep his promise and remained silent, despite all his questions. With the grotesque rubber nipple gone, Aran finally had the freedom to move his tongue again.
"I'm actually surprised that you're so docile," the collie said, "Kaiser said that you put up quite the verbal resistance in your first interview."
Aran turned his head to the female with a sharp move. She knew about Kaiser! Wait, 'first interview'? Did that mean there would be more where that came from? The wolf shook his head. No, no more. He did not want to talk to the Doberman again, at least not if that meant being tied to a chair again.
"That's an observation, not an invitation, by the way," she continued as she shut the water off.
The wolf then felt her hands move through his fur. 'Shampoo', he thought. The collie continued to lather Aran, humming a playful tune in the meantime.
"Aran? I'm going to remove your blindfold, but I want you to keep your eyes closed so the soap won't sting, okay? I'll let you know when you can open them again."
He nodded and the collie fumbled at the back of his head, undoing the blindfold. Underneath, Aran obediently kept his eyes closed and allowed the female to lather his head. When she was done, the collie used a showerhead to rinse the shampoo out of Aran's fur.
She subsequently turned the water back off again and pulled the plug. As the water drained, the wolf wondered what would happen next. He did not get very long to think about that, as his train of thought was derailed by the feeling of a fluffy towel being wrapped around his upper body.
Now almost all of the water was drained and the female lifted Aran and put him back on the changing pad again. She sat him on the edge of the pad, his feet dangling down. The wolf waited in anticipation as the female took both of his hands in hers.
"I hope that you understand that I'm not going to bathe you every time you mess yourself. I'll always clean you up, tough. You can open your eyes now, by the way."
The wolf did as he was asked and blinked a few times. In front of him was a six foot tall robust looking female border collie, probably in her early thirties. She wore a brown apron over an emerald green skirt that reached to just below her knees.
"Welcome to your new life, Aran. My name is Jennifer, and I'll take care of you. You can call me 'mommy' if you like, but it's okay if you address me by my first name."
Aran tilted his head. "Mommy? Why should I call you that? I already have a mother and I don't feel the slightest need for one."
Jennifer smiled.
"That's not what you said when you moved out, was it?"
"Aran, what has gotten into you?" the timber wolf asked.
"Me? I'm not the cause of the problem here!" the black wolf shouted back to the other end of the hall, "You're the one that disowned me! You let me down every time I needed you! You said you stopped loving me, so you would care less whenever that bastard beat the living hell out of me! I owe you nothing!"
The timber wolf was visibly taken aback.
"Young man, that's not how you talk to your mother!" she said, recollecting herself.
The black wolf inhaled sharply through his nose, swinging the large duffel bag over his shoulder.
"I have no mother," he said, turning his back on the timber wolf.
He slammed the front door behind him as he left the house, never to return again.
It was as if the slamming door in Aran's flashback shook him up and brought him back to the present.
"How would you know?" he countered.
"Pup, I know much more about you than you could imagine," she smiled.
"Pup? I'm not your puppy! First of all, young wolves are cubs and second, what is all this? Why are you treating me like this? I'm twenty years old, I can take care of myself!"
Aran hoped to intimidate the collie, in an attempt to make her answer some of his questions. However, all he got in return was a stern look.
"Listen, little one, this is how it works: for starters, I don't want you to raise your voice to me again. If you do so anyway, I will have to reprimand you. I don't like to do that, but I won't hesitate to do so if you require correction."
The wolf remained silent, thrown off balance by Jennifer's unimpressed attitude.
"Furthermore, there is literally no valid reason why you should doubt me. I'm here to act as your caregiver because you clearly need one, and I'm not referring merely to physical need."
"But I don't-" Aran started, but the collie cut him off by putting her index finger on his muzzle.
"Hush, puppy. You forget that, despite how tough you might consider yourself to have been in you old life, I'm not the one that's sitting naked on a changing pad."
This comment threw the wolf even further off balance. The collie did not appear to be easy to play.
"So, are you going to allow me to redress you, or are you going to fuss?"