To Stalk Or Not To Stalk: He protec, He Attac... But he also has your back.
Luke is feeling ill and after screwing up at the tavern he gets manhandled by Teak, will Alon Stand up for his totally-not-obsession?
What time was it again?
Luke tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, groaning as he struggled to get out of bed, trying in vain to get in a few vestiges of sleep by keeping his eyes closed as he stood up, he knew he had to get up, he had to help Burry, after all, tonight Cooper was going out with his team for some spelunking so things will have to be extra ready and the dogs well fed to ensure a fruitful trip, they needed nutritious food and drinks to withstand the cold and the work they would have to go through, Luke just wanted to help any way possible.
If he managed to get out of bed that is.
Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the long work hours that he spent working at the tavern, getting everything ready or the long nights spent talking to Max, helping the dachshund with his music, also the perpetual hide and seek that he was doing with Teak, avoiding the dog brute as much as he could or helping Rune out and ALSO looking out for Alon, cuz Luke swore that even if that wolf didn't open his muzzle a lot, when he did he usually started an argument with plenty of others dogs and Luke actually liked Alon so he wasn't keen on the idea of the rogue dagger enthusiast getting eaten by an angry mob because he sneezed the wrong way, Luke having to personally intervene to lower the proverbial and sometimes literal fumes as Alon got daggers ready or the mob the dog irked pulled out weapons of their own.
Luke had been on the receiving end of an angry mob too many times in the past to know that it wasn't fun.
"You look like shit…"
"Fuck!" The flailing human fell unceremoniously to the ground, an abomination of man and bedsheets, one barely discernible from the other. Luke groaned once more, now fully awake but sorer than before, his muscles felt like gelatine, his nose felt like someone shoved cotton through it. "Hey Alon…", because of course, who else could it be other than the wolf that seemed to be wherever he went, Luke was starting to think that Alon may be stalking him. "Fancy seeing you here by the way…"
The wolf only nodded, producing a cigarette out of one of his many pockets. "You slept very little, could basically hear your dissatisfied grunts across the country." Alon puffed the smoke out eyeing Luke as if he has something on his face
Luke raised his head in astonishment, the movement making him keenly aware of the headache splitting his brain into many pieces, yet he endured because this situation didn't happen every day. "Alon, is this an alcohol-induced dream, or is that concern I hear!?".
The wolf merely scoffed, "do not fool yourself for I am merely worrying about the state of my beverages for the day, a tired bartender makes for poor tasting drinks." Alon looked to the side indignation clear, how could the human suggest something like that?. "Get up if you are feeling healthy enough to produce an acceptable meal and passable drinks.", the dark-furred canine closed his eye in protest, opening the door to Luke's room, glancing at him one last time. "I suppose you might want to get dressed first."
The human that was currently standing up, reached for his private parts startled covering as much as he could before remembering that the sheets were close by, quickly reaching over and himself covering himself with them instead.
Alon snorted, amused, he would never understand the human, he left through the sliding door before checking once again the state the human was in. Hair out of place, bags under his eyes, runny nose, dried up lips and to anyone with good eyesight, Luke would seem kinda weak and shaky. Alon didn't press the human further for information, he knew he would get no answers from the obviously ill human, he would keep an eye out just in case, he didn't want his drink to taste like piss after all and only Luke was capable of managing to produce a palatable drink.
No other reason at all…
*********************************************************
He still looks like shit…
Alon watched from his usual spot at the tavern, today was a busy day, after all, dogs of every color and breed talking, laughing, and ordering nonstop, the noise is about the only thing felt at the place… Along with the smell of dogs. Alon's gaze swept the room instantly zeroing on the flustered human trying to tend to the pack of canines ordering a combination of drinks and several different foods, in a way Alon respected that the human was able to remember each order and who made it, also the actual order in which they were done, it was a talent in a way.
On his normal days, Luke would skillfully traverse between each table tending to every dog quickly and skillfully, ceremoniously delivering the correct order and leaving a few choice words, most of the dogs ignored him yet the human still made an effort for a connection, grasping at something that Alon knew he would not get. loneliness making the human a little desperate for validation, yet those that paid attention to him were usually just the ones that talked to him on a daily basis, Luke would warmly greet them like always, make some conversation and keep working with spirits renewed and a steeled determination to get through the day.
Today was not one of those days
The poor human seemed to forget who he was talking to, let alone which order belonged to who, bumping into the tables and patrons alike quite often, some dogs even snapped at him or insulted him for stepping on their paws or accidentally hitting them with a cup, Alon kept subconsciously reaching for a dagger in the table just in case he had to stop a nasty bite from happening, wouldn't be the first time that Luke got hurt on the job by an act of somebody else, especially dogs not fond of the human, glancing to his two o'clock Alon kept a special watch on a certain someone that was practically searching for an opportunity to present itself, the Brute of a dog kept his eyes glued onto the Human, staring suspiciously at Luke scowling a little bit more every time he stumbled or made a mistake.
The sound of shattering glass made Alon aware that said opportunity had in fact presented itself, Alon didn't wait for a heartbeat before standing up one of his claws instinctively reaching for a dagger, he could see dogs gathered around Teak's table, the commotion making it impossible for Alon to directly see what was happening, his heartbeat was unusually fast( the adrenaline, he convinced himself), pushing aside every dog on the way ignoring the growls and barks he got in return he made his way into the fray. Pushing aside the final dog in his way Alon took the scene in, Teak was grasping one of Luke's wrists and from the pained expression on the human's face Alon could assume that Teak wasn't being exactly gentle, the brute practically lifting the human off the floor as he growled, sticky saliva falling on Luke's face as Teak looked as if he was going to tear the human apart with his teeth, Alon quickly looked around the room searching for the holier-than-thou dog, Cooper, Teak's superior, he would have made the brute PHYSICALLY apologize for this kind of behavior let alone if that behavior was directed at the human, anyone with a working brain could see that the dog was smitten with Luke.
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!, YOU TRYING TO KILL HUMPHREY!?" The brute yelled, referencing the bleeding dog on the ground, who was slowly standing up, more scared at Teaks yells and barks than his injured muzzle, Alon searched harder for Teak's superior, he seriously didn't want to intervene unless it was absolutely nece-
"It was an accident, Teak, I swear!" Luke replied as much as he could while Teak was gowling and pulling him around by the wrist, his futile attempts to get away going unnoticed by the much bigger dog. "I slipped and fell on him and his muzzle broke the glass and-!"
"YOU PLANNED THIS!" Teak barked in his face, spit flying out of his mouth. "YOU THINK I DIDN'T SEE HOW YOU LOOKED AT US, HOW YOU'VE BEEN BEHAVING TODAY!?" Alon remembered Teak's superior basically ran away when Luke weakly greeted him, that dog was such a coward, reprimanding himself Alon searched for Luke's other friends, the twink wasn't around and the fuckdog had to leave for an assignment… That only left the fatass as the only choice otherwise Alon had to act quick-
"Teak quit playing around, boy. now Luke has just been out of it today, now quit yer games and-" Burry said, a small smile on his as if he was just reprimanding two pups for playing too rough, that was exactly what the big dog was thinking, that somehow Luke was playing with Teak...Playing… PLAYING!?, Alon slapped his face in disbelief, all that fat in that dog's bloodstream had to affect his brain surely.
"Y-Yeah, T-T-T-Teak, i-is just a-uhm- a few s-s-shard o' glass…" Humphrey added, FINALLY, someone with reason, the poodle's wounds looked more serious than they actually were, the shards of glass sticking out of his muzzle were nothing a few stitches and a little mana restoring couldn't handle, Alon had personally seen dogs recover perfectly from more serious injuries, this particular dog looked more mortified about Teak's behavior than the shards themselves.
"BULLSHIT!" Teak screamed, Alon grabbed a dagger
"I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE EVER TRUSTED A HUMAN!" Teak raised a fist, Alon raised the dagger
"I'll put you in your place." Teak whispered darkly. His fist flew…
*TWUNK*
"..."
"..."
Luke roughly fell to the ground, too shocked to move, he checked himself out of panic, other than his previous condition nothing else had affected his well-being, he was still alive and definitely not mauled to death by a huge angry dog, he noticed that the silence in the tavern was deafening, a pin drop would have been heard, Luke rapidly glanced up at the sound of several weapons being unsheathed.
To say the sight shocked him was an understatement, Teak was frozen in place, the paw that was about to give Luke cranial surgery was impaled by a big dagger, it was kinda unbelievable to find out that the paw was impaled to a structure-support metal beam right beside them, blood slowly trickling from the wound, the big dog didn't seem to actually be in pain, just shocked at the fact that this was even possible, staring open-mouthed at the offending object. Looking to the side Luke could see Alon surrounded by several weapons pointing dangerously close at his face, yet his face seemed bored as if this was no issue whatsoever, he even flicked one of the swords pointing at him away with one of his claws, staring at the rude metal stick with a grimace of indignity, had Alon saved him?.
"What. Are. You. Doing?." Teak said dangerously calmly as he turned towards the rogue and pulled the blade out of his paw as if it was nothing but a splinter, wiping the blood on his pants before stomping over to the wolf's location.
Alon looked completely bored and unimpressed by the other canine's pissy fit display, Teak was taller than Alon and yet the wolf looked at Teak as if he was looking at someone's unknown spoiled pup. "Just making sure that you don't doom us all, especially during my relaxation time, I don't appreciate the yelling, barking, and spit when I'm having my favorite drink…"
"What are you even talking about!?" Teak got up closer to Alon's face, the wolf recoiled with a gagging motion, hacking and covering his muzzle in both an attempt to insult Teak and…. He gagged Teak's breath actually.
"Your breath and stench are revolting, no wonder you have few associates." Alon openly challenged the bigger canine, glaring at him, if looks could kill, Teak would have been buried already, Teak started growling and the other dogs inched their weapons closer to Alon who didn't even seem to care that they were even there, as much as the other dogs were uncomfortable with Teak's prior overly aggressive behavior to them an outsider attacking a dog was a much more serious matter.
Alon motioned towards Luke. "The human is obviously ill, your air-filled skull doesn't even know if it can be transmitted to other species, it could kill you and spread from you to others decimating Shelter in nothing but days…" Alon explained, the dogs lowered their weapons, whispering among themselves, worried about the implications, the human HAD been acting strange that day. What if it was already too late?, were they all already doomed?.
So that's why Alon had… Helped Luke…
The human for a moment thought that the wolf had actually saved him out of concern for his friend, yet as much as he believed and liked Alon the wolf was just like every one of his friends, Max and Rune would have just laughed at Teak's behavior taking it for a game rather than what it actually was, just like Burry did… Why couldn't anybody see what was happening?, Why did this happen to him?
"The hell!?. You can't fool me!, you are just-" Teak pointed an accusatory claw at Alon, itching for a fight but being interrupted.
"Aye, the boy is telling the truth, I've seen it me' self!" The crowd parted to reveal the speaker.
"Sir Thistle!?, this wolf just attacke-" Teak was interrupted once again by the old heeler as he got closer using his walking cane, Luke knew that Thistle wasn't actually that old, the dog just liked to use that in his favor.
"Stopped you for doing something foolish, boy!" Luke noted that the senior dog stood between him and Teak casually maneuvering as Teak tried to not lose Luke from his eyesight. After his fourth attempt to go past the old dog got Thistle to hit him over the head with his cane, making the brute stop and pay attention. "Down boy!, am' talkin' to ya', Luke ove' here may not have the deadly disease but we can't ever be too sure of anythin', wouldn't wanna' put everyone else in danger, right boy?" Thistle's persuasion worked on the other dogs as they all started nodding their heads, completely forgetting about Alon in the process and lowering their weapons.
Teak, seeing that no one else was going to support him, reluctantly gave in. "No sir, I wouldn't want to endanger everyone…" he looked miffed about the whole deal. "The human does enough of that as it is." He added, petulant.
"Good dog!" Thistle congratulated Teak, ignoring the last part. "Now, now, everyone, I'll be takin' Luke here to his room, huh... since am old and shit the disease can't really get me soo… git!, shoo!" Thistle quickly defused the crowd, with shooing gestures making Alon a little impressed at the old fart's skills.
Just a little.
Luke was taken out of his shock by a gentle paw landing on his shoulder, Thistle's warm smile bringing temporary relief, he was feeling like shit, not just physically but emotionally as well, the warm appendage on his shoulder and the heeler's presence helped soothe that feeling of betrayal. To Luke, it seemed like Alon didn't care at all about him, he had thought the wolf to be different from the others, they both were treated as outcasts so it was natural that they should have to stick together right?, glancing at Alon and finding him looking anywhere else but at Luke made the human feel worse.
"Come boy, let ol' daddy Thistle tuck you in, I'm sure ye' be needin' some rest." Thistle helped Luke up, letting the human support some weight on him, escorting the human out, putting an arm around Luke, slyly moving his arm down towards Luke's ass, the human promptly moving the heeler's arm back up.
Alon looked at the display from the corner of his eye, he would leave those two be, for now, ancients know that they both need it.
He had something to take care of first.
"You really think this is over?, what is the human to you anyway?." Teak threatened, still close to Alon, the question kinda struck a chord in the wolf, what was Luke to him anyway?, he could just have ignored everything, there was nothing to gain for him, his thoughts were interrupted again by the Tosa dog.
"You wouldn't even put up a fight, wolf." Alon just stared at Teak and chuckled, how quaint from Teak.
"I don't need to fight you to ruin your life, you know that right?..." Alon looked downright wicked, he didn't smile much… To see him smile in this sadistic way… it was unsettling for many reasons.
"Are you dumb what could you possibly have that could-"
"Do they know?." Alon just asked, Teak's confusion only grew, what was wrong with this wolf?.
"What are you talking about?, your tricks won't work, if you want a fight stop beating around the bush, and let's get to it!" Was on the verge of starting a scene again, his veins were visible through his fur.
Alon quickly closed the distance between the two, Teak would have ripped the wolf's face off were it not for the words tbat left his mouth.
"Do the others know who you are, Brutus?" Alon whispered, Teak effectively froze solid, no other movement was done by him, one might mistake the Tosa for a statue. "Do they know what you did?" Alon could see the shivers that started to rake Teak's body.
"What do you want?" Teak meekly pleaded, Alon smiled.
Information could be a weapon deadlier than any dagger or sword. "I don't want a repeat of today, this whole ruckus during meal time is entirely unpleasant." Alon's smug attitude might make someone think that he was getting a sick pleasure out of making Teak quiver with fear and worry.
And they would be right.
"Yes… It wont happen again..." Teak agreed, looking down, trying to control his nerves.
"Good, now get out of my sight before i change my mind." Alon threatened.
Teak, formerly known as Brutus promptly left, Alon having sated his need for retribution went to leave the tavern, his mood had fairly soured, he would leave Luke be for the day, Alon knew the old fart wouldn't lay a claw on Luke… Well not with ill intention… not with physically damaging intentions?, maybe he should check up on the human after all.
"Thanks." Alon stopped in his tracks, looking at the owner of those words.
He stood face to face with Burry, the dog that despite shamelessly stating that Luke and Shelter were what cherished the most refused to help the human when he had been in need, why was he thanking him, so he did know that Luke was in danger!?, Alon's anger was staring to rise up and he rudely left, leaving the chubby dog staring at his back.
Why was Burry thanking him for?, there was nothing to thank, he was just assuring the safety of his food and drinks, the was absolutely no other reason of why he had donde what he did.
…
Absolutely no other reason…