A Lion's Healing Love

by Draugr & Element

Chapter 2: When Are You Coming Home?

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

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As Georgio's alarm blared its annoying tone the next morning, he smacked it like the hand of god to silence it. He groggily opened his eyes, rubbing them one at a time and then heard something else next to him. It seemed he was being woken up as much by Randall's complaining whines as though he were a backup alarm.

"Good morning, Randall," he said, scratching him between the ears. "I have to get up, but you can sleep in if you like." After a quick peck on the cheek, he slipped away from Randall and the bed, listening close for any signs of distress from his wolf. He was surprised to hear only a few soft whimpers as he tip-toed to the shower. He left the door open to help Randall feel a little better - although he only heard a few more whimpers as he started the shower. Georgio assumed Randall had fallen back asleep.

After toweling off and dressing in his usual slacks and polo combination - Randall not stirring the entire time - he sat by the bed and pet his wolf's cheek, giving him a soft kiss while he slept. After a few moments he gave him a gentle shake to wake him up.

"Last call for affection until this afternoon, Randall..." he warned, surprised to feel just as reluctant to leave Randall alone as he suspected Randall felt about the matter himself.

"Mmmmpphhh..." the wolf complained, his head half under the pillow to hide his eyes from the harsh morning rays of light. He was not a morning fur. "Don't go..." he pleaded. After having had a couple moments to come to his senses, he blindly reached out to the lion, and managed to grasp his shirt - even though he knew he was not large enough to stop him.

Georgio chuckled, removing the wolf's paw from his shirt and giving it a kiss.

"Now, now, don't be like that, you know I have to leave," he said, pulling Randall's head into his lap so he could calm him.

"All the doors are locked. All you need to do is get up, dress, and go over to Kana's like a big boy when you wake up. Kana will call about noon if you aren't awake by then, okay?"

"I...I have to be here alone?" Randall let out a high-pitched, fearful whine, nuzzling his master's lap. The lion couldn't help but smile and chuckle a little. "Well, you could go over now but the boys are still home, and so are Tom and John." Randall whimpered up in his master's direction, pouting a little. He hated the idea of being alone but the idea of being around two rowdy cubs and two slave policemen was even scarier to him. His master did promise he was safe and secure in the house, however...that was enough to make him feel a little better, at least.

Georgio saw the worry in his eyes and smiled softly in response. "Would you like me to sit here with you until you fall asleep again?"

"I...I don't wanna be alone..." he whimpered. "But I'll try, Master...if you're here with me while I fall asleep it'll be easier."

Georgio furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think of something. "Well, like I said, you can go over to Kana's now if you want. I'm sure she'd let you nap on the couch if you like. Would you prefer that?" Georgio didn't know if Kana would be ready this early for him with both boys and her masters on the plate, but he didn't exactly want to leave a terrified lupine slave in his house alone. He might not have any home to come back to if he did.

Randall wrung his digits together, trying to decide. On one hand, it would be nice to try to be brave for his master. He knew the lion could not be with him all hours of the day. But...not being alone would be nice too."

"I...I'll see how I manage here, Master," he finally said, his voice sounding a little weak. He laid back down on the pillows, placing one paw on his master's thigh so he could feel that he was still with him.

Georgio laughed. "It doesn't matter to me, pup, it just means I get to carry you over and tuck you in on the couch. A little more time, just you and me, but if you are going to freak out here when you wake up...I don't want you breaking anything. Understand?"

"I...I..." Randall let out another whining sound, his indecision over the matter beginning to frustrate him.

"I...I wanna try here. I won't break anything, I promise!" he said, folding his ears back.

"Shhh, okay, okay, Randall," Georgio shushed, stroking his head. "You sleep and go over to see Kana right after." He lifted Randall up so that his head was resting in his lap again. "Now you go to sleep...shhh, it's okay."

"Mmmmkay..." Randall mumbled, already tiring. As he was pet, the sensations seemed to lull him into sleep and melt away his stress. After a few moments he was completely out, even lightly snoring.

Georgio gently laid him back down on the bed, and walked downstairs, leaving a note where Randall would be sure to see it, right on the front door.

_Randall

Go over to Kana's as soon as you get up, and give me a call. She knows my number.

-Master

PS: I love you._

~

Randall shook his head, trying to clear it out as he eventually stirred from sleep. He looked over at the clock and noticed that it was 11am - and then it hit him. His master was really gone. Randall was alone. He grabbed hold of the sheets, curling up with them, taking a big long sniff at them, the smell of his master comforting him. His first instinct was to just hide in the bed until his master returned home...but he had to at least try. Being able to smell Master helped a little bit.

He finally managed to get out of bed, and decided that maybe putting himself to work would distract him. He made the bed as nicely as he was able to, then went across the hall (tip-toeing silently) to get dressed in one of the loincloths.

Once done with that, the wolf found himself frozen at the top of the stairs, feeling strangely frightened at the prospect of descending them into an empty house. His master's bedroom was sort of his "home base" and it wasn't easy to stray from. It took him a good ten minutes, but he finally managed to get downstairs via a series of pep talks, stopping at every step, and other minor delays. When he got downstairs he saw his master had put a note on the door. He grabbed it and read it, holding onto it, as though it were a piece of his master that might connect him.

He opened the door a crack, then suddenly slammed it shut, breathing hard.

"I...I can't...I can't...I can't..." he said, shutting his eyes and shaking his head. Another ten minutes passed, then he tried again. This time he managed to get the door open further, and even stand in the entryway a couple seconds before he shut it again. He cried a few tears of frustration at not being able to make the short distance between the two homes.

Randall pulled himself back together after a few seconds, and went over to the phone, hoping to find the number to Tom and John's somewhere nearby. He found it written on a piece of paper inside a cabinet where some phone books were laying. He dialed up the number.

"Kana?" he asked, a little eagerly, hearing the other end pick up and not waiting for a response from their end.

"Hello?" came a soft, feminine voice from the other end. "Randall? Is that you? Are you okay? Are you scared because your master isn't home?" she asked, guessing what was going on.

"Could...c-could you come get me? I can't make it outside..." Randall whimpered, clutching the phone tightly, tail tucked between his legs and ears pressed flat against his head. He felt rather ashamed that he couldn't bring himself to do such a simple task - whereas a couple weeks ago he would have taken the first chance he could get to dart off and run away.

Kana chuckled lightly, amused at what he'd asked. He was so much like a puppy, reminding her of the boys not too many years ago. "Sure, Randall, I'll be over in a few minutes. I can leave Jordan alone for a few minutes." The line went dead, and about a minute later exactly, there was a knock on the front door.

"Hello? Randall?"

Randall slowly opened the door, peeking around to make sure it was Kana. He managed to slowly inch his way outside after he saw it was her.

"Thanks..." he said rather sheepishly. "And...I'm sorry," he added, looking toward the ground.

"It's okay," she laughed, taking his paw in her own. "It's okay, we just have to get back, come on."

After making sure the door was locked and shut behind them, they made their way back over to the house. Randall's paw grew clenched hers even more tightly. She looked over and saw the poor wolf shaking, realizing just how terrified he was of the short trek over. Feeling sorry for the lupine, she sped up her pace until they were back indoors, where Randall finally released his grip and seemed to relax a little.

"You must be hungry. Would you like something to eat? I was just about to prepare Jordan's lunch to help him keep up his strength. He just woke up a little bit ago, too."

Randall wagged his tail. "Sure! I'll eat anything you make," he said, blushing a little. Randall may not have been interested in girls, but he certainly admired Kana. She was everything he wished he could be. Calm, confident, capable...

He rubbed his bandaged shoulder as he followed her into the kitchen, the mating bite that he had received still a little sore.

"So, Randall, what happened at the wedding? Come over and sit, I want to hear all about your weeken-"

"Oh, Randall!" Kana suddenly exclaimed, seeing the bandage, her voice growing serious and bearing concern. "What happened to you? Did you fall, what's wrong?"

"Oh...um...not exactly," Randall said, the insides of his ears flushing red. "Well...I got to see the wedding and all, and Master made me give someone a piggyback ride...that was fun though, I guess, so I'm glad he made me do it. The bride and groom even talked to me!" he said. That really helped pump up Randall's self esteem, and it showed by the way the tone of his voice changed as he mentioned it.

"But, um...this...well...Master and me...ah...," the wolf paused a few seconds.

"He mated me," he finally said, still blushing, and looking down, although he was smiling as his tail was wagging at the same time.

"Randall! I'm so happy for you," she said, giving him a big hug. Then she blushed a little, realizing she was getting ahead of herself.

"I mean...um, if...if it was something okay for you, that is...he didn't...?"

"No! Nothing like that!" Randall was quick to say, after he hugged Kana back. "Master wouldn't ever take me under the tail if I said no." That thought still seemed kind of weird to Randall, that his feelings would be taken into consideration, but he knew it was true.

"I actually kinda had to push him a little to get him to do it in the first place..." Randall grinned a little as he said this. His eyes got a little glazed and distant as he remembered how great it had been.

The beautiful shepherd smiled even bigger, giving him a quick, affectionate nuzzle. "Well he is very sweet, and only wants to make sure you are happy, so...wait, he mated you? As in you're...you're his mate now, he didn't just have sex with you? Really?"

Randall cocked his head and looked at her curiously.

"Is...is there a difference?" he said, not really understanding, his past messing with any proper understanding of relationships.

Kana nodded. "Of course! Having sex with someone is just...well, sex. When you mate someone it's like...boyfriends, taking that big step. It's almost as big as marriage, if that bandage on your shoulder is what I think it is..."

"Oh! I know what you mean, yeah! We're mates now. Master wanted to make extra sure I knew what all of that meant before I raised my tail, y'know, since...well...y-you know, I-I was...d-didn't have a lot of...good experiences, in the past." He lifted up the bandage a bit to show Kana the two bite wounds, which were really beginning to heal up quite nicely. There would be scars, but these would be scars Randall would be proud of - instead of ones he'd try to hide.

Kana smiled and hugged him close, giving him another friendly nuzzle. "Randall that's so great. You must be so happy to have someone to love you now...you're so lucky. I hope I can find a girl half as sweet as you are, I'd be so lucky."

"I am...," he agreed, "...I didn't know anyone could be like that until Master came along and rescued me." Randall sat there a moment, thinking about what she had said, when suddenly something crossed his mind.

"You don't have a mate?" he asked, surprised. Of course, he'd never seen her with anyone, but he hadn't actually thought anything of it.

"Maybe Master could find you someone you'd like?" he said. With his new attachment to his master he thought it was sad that Kana couldn't have someone to be with like he was with his master.

"No, Randall, I don't think so...there's a lot of gay males out there, but girls like me? Very hard to find, in my experience...besides, I want to find my mate out of chance, and well, maybe someone that is free, like who you found, Randall." She got up and started to prepare some sandwiches for lunch. "You are really lucky..." she said, wistfully. "Always let him know how much you love him, okay?"

"I will," Randall nodded. He felt bad for Kana, but didn't press any further on the subject. He hoped Kana wasn't mad at him for-

"Ah! I was supposed to call Master!" he exclaimed all of the sudden, his thoughts suddenly broken.

"Oh? The numbers are next to the phone. Master Georgio's cell phone number is there, call that one, alright?"

Randall did so quickly. He was a little bit worried; he'd disobeyed his master by not calling immediately like the note said. He hoped his master would not be too angry with him.

"Master!" he exclaimed, as soon as he heard the phone pick up. "I'm sorry I didn't call right away, I really am and I promise I won't forget again!" he blurted out. The thought had not occurred to him that his master would have have really been able to tell if he hadn't called immediately.

~

About 25 minutes away, walking down the halls and observing a new shipment, Georgio was holding his cell phone away from his ear, with his paw over the mouthpiece. "Jeez!" he exclaimed, shocked at the sudden volume. His ear had felt like it was against a concert speaker, for a moment.

"Hello to you too, Randall...I assume you were chatting with Kana, then? It's about noon now, so you're on time, sweetie." In the background Randall could hear some other slaves - plenty of whimpering, and one stallion grunting, trying to break out of his cage, shaking the bars. Georgio walked away a little, not wanting to scare Randall with the noises. "So how are you? Did you sleep well?"

Randall let out a sigh of relief, he thought for sure he was going to be in trouble. He knew it was only something very small, but with his old masters it almost seemed small things like that netted him even worse punishments.

"I slept okay, Master...I didn't like being alone, but I made it for about half an hour or so...I had to have Kana come get me, I couldn't go outside without you there." He didn't mention how tough that half an hour had been, but in his mind he'd managed it, since he hadn't thrown a tantrum or wasn't hiding somewhere.

"Well, I'm still very proud of you Randall. That was a very big step for you to take. And there's no shame in Kana coming to get you. It's a process of small steps, understand? Maybe tomorrow you can have her stand out at her door, and then you can run over to meet her."

"Maybe..." Randall said, although he sounded unsure. "What's all that noise?" he asked, the continued sounds of the new "shipment" a little garbled through the phone receiver.

"I'm checking out our inventory...the warehouse guys are short on staff today, and there's a few in this new shipment that are a bit more roudy than others."

"Oh..." Randall said, his ears falling back. He had kind of been entertaining the idea that he might go with his master to work sometime, but this was another fresh reminder that such a thing might be too rough on his psyche.

He stayed silent, but did not hang up the phone, waiting for his master to say something to him.

"Well Randall, I'm glad you made it there. You be good though, okay? You do anything Kana tells you to do. And speaking of doing what you are told to do, did you do your morning punishment before you left the house? If not you'll have to do it double tonight, alright?"

Randall gave a few frightened whimpers realizing he'd forgotten to do his punishment.

"No...I forgot...I'm sorry, Master!" He was feeling like a bad wolf...he hadn't managed to stay alone very long in the house, he'd almost forgotten to call Master, and now he'd forgotten to do his morning punishment.

He stayed on the phone even though he didn't have anything else to say, unwilling to break the link.

"Okay then, Randall," Georgio said, making no mention of Randall's frightened outburst. "I'll hear from you in an hour okay? An hour and a half if you think you can make it that long," he amended, seeing a few more slaves that he could tell would be difficult to handle. He made a kissing sound into the phone. "I love you, goodbye," he said.

"Okay, see you in an hour!" he replied, tail wagging. "I love you too!" He held the receiver up to his ear for about a minute after his master had hung up, then finally hung up his end too.

Kana set a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches down on the table. "So how is Master Georgio? Is he okay? You sound upset."

"He's doing fine...I...I just forgot to do my punishment this morning," he said, looking back down, his tail wrapping around one leg. "I was too stressed out over being alone to remember."

Kana nodded. "Well, how about we take your lunch up to Jordan's room. He's feeling better, and said he'd like to spend a bit of time with you. Think you can handle lunch with him? I promise he will be pretty calm," she asked, not sure how Randall would feel about that. He'd met Jordan before, of course, but Kana was still getting a handle on what wouldn't make the wolf feel nervous - and from what she could tell that list was very, very short.

"Um...okay," Randall said, sounding a bit unsure of himself. But, he was feeling quite submissive after screwing up so many times this morning, and would do most anything anyone wanted him to do at the moment - his master's orders aside.

Kana grabbed a couple glasses of milk. "Grab the plates, please, I've only got two paws."

Randall followed her upstairs and into an open bedroom door where Jordan was laying on the bed, reading a comic book. He looked up, his expression widening into a bright smile.

"Randall!" the dalmatian pup exclaimed, clearly excited to see him. "I've been waiting for you like all day! You're gonna play with me, right?"

Kana chuckled, saving a stunned Randall from having to give an awkward reply. "After your lunch, Jordan, now you both eat while I get some chores done, okay?"

Randall sat down next to him, finding himself not quite so nervous as he had been before. He did look a little worried as Kana left, but that feeling quickly passed.

It wasn't long before the sandwiches were devoured. Jordan was grinning and rubbing his stomach. "Mmm, Kana's sandwiches always make me feel better."

"Hey, let's play some video games. Dad got me an awesome video game for my birthday. I'm so glad you're here, without my brother or dads I'm kinda bored. Kana plays with me sometimes but she always has to help look after the house."

Randall seemed kind of surprised as a controller was thrust into his hand and the TV turned on.

"So have you played this game before?"

Randall sat there stunned a moment. He'd often seen his first master's kids playing this sort of thing, although this one looked a lot better. The wolf had never gotten to play it, of course, but he had enjoyed watching.

"I, um...I'm not entirely sure what this is..." he exclaimed, not even sure if he was holding the controller right.

"Oh that's okay, I can teach you." He turned the controller around and started up the game, showing him what buttons to use, how long to hold them down, what to press when...eventually Randall got the gist of it.

"It's easy, I promise, let's try it a bit, okay?" Jordan started up a race, taking off - although to be a fair sport, he made sure Randall got the hang of it first.

The wolf spent a good bit of time running into walls, getting a little frustrated with the finicky controls, but he didn't get angry, managing to reign in his anger for once. Perhaps Jordan's child-like laughter was infectious enough to keep him in good spirits. With a bit more guidance, he managed to get going and stay going in the right direction. He couldn't manage to beat Jordan - except when the dalmatian let him win. Even naïve Randall could tell this was obvious, he was simply too far behind for such a gesture to go unnoticed, but he did appreciate it nonetheless.

Randall did not much understand the concept of competition when it didn't involve his life or dignity, so there wasn't a huge drive for him to win. He was just glad to be having fun, and that someone else would want to have fun with him.

"You're so cool. You're like an older brother," he said, with a grin.

"Hey, you beat me that time! On my favorite track! I didn't even have to slow down as much, you must be getting better!" Jordan said, laughing.

"Thanks," Randall said, his tail thumping up and down on the floor. He knew he hadn't really won but crossing that finish line and seeing his part of the screen light up sure felt good. Suddenly, the game paused. Randall looked over at Jordan, a bit confused.

"Hey Randall...can I ask you something?"

"Y-yes...of course, Young Sir," he replied, giving Jordan his formal title.

Jordan giggled and poked him. "Don't call me that, it's just Jordan. That makes me sound like a grown-up. Kana doesn't even call me that!"

"Oh...um, o-okay, Jordan," he said. When his first master was absent, and he was tutoring his children, he was allowed to refer to them by their first time, so it wasn't a terribly unfamiliar sensation for him.

"So...what's it like, being a slave? Is that why you're scared of my dads?"

Randall paused. He tried to think of how to answer this. He knew Jordan was too young for him to really talk about his experiences, but he didn't want to treat him like a dummy, either. Kana was a slave too, and he was sure Jordan was not completely ignorant of the slave's world.

"What's it like? Until Master rescued me...horrible. But now...I feel...safe. I don't have any worries...well, not big ones, anyway. I wouldn't want what I am to change, ever. I don't think I could take care of myself if I were made free somehow. That's kind of a scary thought, I guess, but Master would never leave me. I mean, I have to do everything Master says even if I don't want to, which I wouldn't have to do if I were free. But being free...the thought of that scares me. I don't know how you do it."

"I'm sorry," Jordan said, giving him a side-hug. "But I'm glad you like Uncle Georgio. He's really awesome, we like him too. He's so cool. He gives the best presents. You're really cool, too. I hope we can play together a lot since you'll be next door."

Randall felt a bit overwhelmed as all this came after him. He kept his eyes trained on the floor, an action that had literally and figuratively been beaten into him and was very difficult to break free from. He thought a moment as to how he should describe his relationship with Master, not knowing if it would really be appropriate to talk about love with Jordan.

"I can't...I can't even really describe how important Master is to me..." he said awkwardly at last, and ruffled Jordan's headfur. He bit his lip and wondered if that was maybe something forbidden...he'd done it automatically but his first master had punished him terribly for doing that to his kids, perceiving it as a sign of dominance from the timid wolf. Jordan did not act like he'd done anything wrong, though, so it must have been okay.

"Heh...you're nice too. And I like playing with you, but I gotta work up enough courage just to get over here on my own..."

"You really like Uncle Georgio, don't you? My dads were boyfriends before they got married because they really liked each other. If you really like him, maybe you should ask him to be your boyfriend? I think that's allowed, isn't it?" he asked, one ear falling over as he looked at him curiously.

"Um...we're kinda already boyfriends...mates..." Randall said, realizing it was fine to broach this topic on some level with Jordan. He was blushing almost the entire time Jordan was talking. A real relationship like this was something completely new to Randall, and although on some level an instinctual and necessary attachment, he couldn't help but be embarrassed about being so open about it, feeling somewhere in him that it should be private. Part of this stemmed from observing his master's actions with him in public, and being more subdued.

"Really? That's neat! My dads were mates before they got married. I was only a little puppy when they did but I'm in the pictures with them. They made me wear a tux, I looked like a little dork I think." Jordan exclaimed, laughing. "You and Uncle Georgio should come over and play with us more. He never comes over enough. Or maybe when Uncle Georgio is working you can come over through the backyard gate. Uncle Georgio's side is locked so you can come in when you like, but we can't go over there. He says it's because he doesn't need rugrats knocking at his back door but I think it's 'cuz he doesn't want us to see him kissing when he has a boyfriend," he said, giggling, making "kissy" faces, hugging himself and giggling.

Randall smiled a little, his unease broken by the pup's antics. While Jordan was laughing, he had time to think - the fact that a backyard gate existed seemed odd to him. Why wouldn't his master have mentioned that to him? Things would have gone by much easier for him...but then again, if his master did not mention it, it was for a reason. Randall did not know that the real reason Georgio had kept it a secret was because he wanted his wolf to grow some self-confidence, something he felt would not happen if Randall was allowed to hide and stay in the relatively safe and confined area of the backyards. Eventually Jordan stopped laughing long enough to press Randall on another question.

"But what about my dads? Why are you scared of them?"

Randall bit his lip, again taking a moment to figure out how to answer. "I've had...bad experiences...with slave police in the past, and...when I see them in uniform, all those memories come back at once, and it's hard to see them for who they really are. I can't explain it very well."

"But they wouldn't hurt a fly! They just say they have to be rough sometimes when slaves resist but they are never really mean to them! They do always tell Cody and me to be good though and work hard at school or they'll bring home a collar for us, but I don't believe them." He knew it was just one of those things parents said to keep their kids in line, like threats of military school.

"I know your dads are nice...it's just..." Randall shut his trap quickly, not wanting to talk to the youngster about his past history with the slave police, for fear of scaring him too much. He tried to imagine Jordan with a collar, but the thought was just too unpleasant.

"I'd never want to see that happen to you." he said, almost meeting his eyes as he said that, but falling just short.

"Well my daddies are really nice. They say if I ever get in trouble with the police just be nice and respectful and quiet. They say sometimes they have to be really mean when you get fresh with them. Is that why you're scared? Because they were mean to you? Were you fresh to them?"

Randall shook his head and looked down. "No, I tried to be nice and polite...but...sometimes it doesn't matter. They just...um, they just are mean to you anyway," he said, correcting himself mid-way through the sentence. He didn't think there wasn't any need to be specific with Jordan about what exactly the more cruel slave police did to the "property" they caught. "My daddies wouldn't be mean to you, they are really nice. They even came to my school for slavery classes. They let us try out their whip, it looks like it hurts but it seems kinda cool. I learned you can en-...um, enden-...um, I don't know the word but you can be a slave for a year or however long you want if you sign a contract. Is that what you did, Randall?"

Jordan did not notice the few frightened whimpers Randall had made as he talked about the whip, nor the submissive posture the wolf had adopted as some terrible memories began to flash through his head.

"I-I...I d-didn't ch-choose this..." the wolf said, drawing his knees up and hugging them, feeling vulnerable.

Jordan pouted a little when Randall acted this way, not entirely understanding what was going on.

"Hey!" he said, standing up on the bed and pulling his legs from him, moving to sit in his lap so he could give Randall a hug.

"I'm sorry I upset you Randall! I didn't mean to! Please don't be sad, I don't want to make you sad!"

Randall swallowed. Either he was getting better, or Jordan had intervened just in the nick of time to keep him from shutting down, but he was back to normal relatively quickly. He wiped a few tears away when the Dalmatian wasn't looking so that he wouldn't know he'd been crying.

"L-let's do something else, Young S-I mean, Jordan. I could use a distraction, if you don't mind."

"You wanna play some other video game, then? Or maybe you could read comics with me! My dad got me the new issues of my favorites this morning 'cuz I was sick, you can read them with me if you want. Some of the words are really hard so I'm not sure what some of them are about but I like the pictures."

"Well...I'm not the best reader myself, so maybe you can explain them to me." Randall could read enough to get by on a day-to-day basis were he actually free, but it wasn't a great strength with him. He knew he was smart regardless of that, he'd proven that in various ingenious, out-of-the-box ways of devising escapes from his old masters, but his reading level was barely at an elementary school level - but paired with his adult reasoning and understanding, he could usually bullshit his way through anything he needed to read.

"Okay, but you have to pick one and then I'll read it with you, okay?" Jordan said, moving a big stack over in front of the wolf.

Randall scratched his head. All of them looked very foreign to him, and exceptionally violent. He wasn't sure what he should pick. He sorted through the stack until he found a cover that didn't look so...mean. "This one looks good," he said. He couldn't read the title very well, it was some long word that would have taken him a good minute to muscle his way through.

"Ooo, I don't think I ever finished this one. Do you know what this is about?"

"No...never heard of it before," he said.

"Oh, it's so cool, it's my favorite! There these guys that are born mutated from being blasted with radiation and have awesome powers! If I had a power I would shoot lazers. What about you, Randall?

"Um...I'd become invisible," Randall said, thinking how nice that would be. "Or be able to walk right through stuff." That would have certainly aided his escape attempts.

Kana came to the door just then, knocking on the frame.

"Well, don't you two just look comfy...Randall, Master Georgio is on the phone for you. He's wondering why you didn't call him, it's been well over an hour and a half now," she explained.

Randall looked up at Kana and whimpered as she said his master was wondering why he hadn't called, thinking he was in trouble. He shot up to his feet and darted to meet her halfway, taking the phone, throwing Jordan off his lap in the process. The Dalmatian laughed. "That was fun, do it again!"

Randall's attention, however, was elsewhere. "Master! I'm sorry! I know I keep screwing up today but I'm trying, honest, I really am!"

"Randall, calm down, it's okay. Kana told me you were distracted with Jordan. Are you having fun?"

"Um...yeah, I am, Master...are you coming home yet?" he said, wagging his tail and feeling hopeful. The day had otherwise passed pretty quickly, but for some reason the sound of his Master's voice, who, as far as Randall was concerned, may as well be on the other side of the world, suddenly made it feel like years had passed since he'd woken up that morning.

Georgio laughed. "Randall, no, it's two o'clock. You've got about three more hours. Are you going to be okay playing with Jordan until then? You're watching your anger, right?"

"Three hours!?!?" the wolf exclaimed, feeling crestfallen. His entire body seemed to sag in disappointment. Randall was acting as though he'd not seen his master in months, which was certainly how he felt.

"I'm behaving, Master, I haven't acted mad at all."

Georgio smiled and made a kissing noise over the phone. "That's a good boy. I'll call you in an hour, alright? I love you Randall, bye."

Before Randall even had time to recover, he felt a small weight latch onto his waist. He yipped and instinctively twirled around to face his "attacker" which just spun Jordan around and around. Apparently the Dalamatian was feeling much better than he thought.

"Got you!" Jordan said. "Don't be sad, we can play and have fun, okay?" Randall finally figured out to just look over his shoulder. He grinned and wagged his tail, or at least as best as he could with a large pup mashed against it.

"That was fun!" he said, letting go. "Let's wrestle!" Jordan said. Kana picked up the dropped phone then looked over at Jordan, feeling this might be too much for Randall.

"Maybe we should ask Randall if he is okay with that? Is that okay with you, Randall?" she said. "Besides, you're still sick, Jordan."

"But I'm feeling better! I promise!" the Dalmatian pouted.

Kana looked over at Randall, able to tell he was not very comfortable with the idea. "No, you two should play something else like a board game. You might be feeling better, Jordan, but your body still needs rest. Go get a game instead."

The little guy nodded, knowing Kana was in charge. "Okay, come on, Randall.."

Jordan got out something simple for them - Checkers. He sat down and looked over at the wolf.

"You know how to play, right?" This time, Randall actually did know how to play. On occasion, when his first master had not been home, he had been able to sneak some games in with those kids.

"Uh-huh," he affirmed. Randall actually was pretty good at this one. He was the first to get a king, but Jordan was able to get more of his pieces. Eventually it came down with Randall backed into a corner he could not get out of, moving back and forth with Jordan's pieces surrounding his.

"I-I think you win.."

Jordan nodded. "Yes! I win!" he exclaimed, excited. He looked back over at the wolf though, remembering the manners he'd been taught. "You did really good though! Let's go and finish the comic book now, it looks like a good one!"

Randall started picking up the game first. Jordan looked over at him kind of funny - not used to cleaning up his room so promptly - but then figured he should help.

After packing everything back up, Jordan sat down at the head of the bed with Randall beside him, and then they began. Randall was surprised how quickly he was drawn into the comic book world. He focused in intently on the words and pictures, listening to Jordan and at the same time trying to work on his reading skills. He didn't know all the words and couldn't get through the entire page before Jordan was ready to turn it - but he thought he was doing a pretty decent job.

Suddenly Jordan turned the page and stopped, not reading a word. "Hey Randall, will you read this page to me, pleeaassse?" he begged, giving him the best puppy dog eyes and whimpering. Randall tried to suppress a giggle. Was that really how he looked when he pulled this trick on his master?

"I'll help you read it when you don't know all the words!"

"Um...okay, I can try," Randall said, unable to resist his begging. He struggled through a few of the longer words, but was able to do a good bit of guesswork on the ones he didn't know. Sometimes he had to look at the letters and think of a word that made sense to him, and then see if that "looked right." That seemed to work pretty well.

He stopped on one word, though, and couldn't figure it out at all. It didn't make any sense when he sounded it out, and couldn't think of any words that would make sense that should have those letters in it. He stared at it and turned the book back and forth, trying to see if he could make sense of it. He hated admitting defeat, so he looked over at Tomas to see if he knew what it was.

Jordan giggled, finding the event quite funny. "Okay, let's see...um...it looks familiar, I think...p...pro...fus...oh! I know that one, it's easy. It says "professor." Daddy says it's a fancy word for teacher because it sounds snooty."

"Heh...well...it doesn't come as easy to all of us..." Randall said, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He picked up where Jordan had left off and kept going to the end, only pausing a couple times where a word gave him more than the usual amount of trouble.

"It's okay, Randall, some of these are really hard to say, I can't even get some of them," he said once, when Randall looked particularly upset.

Near the end, while they were attempting to sound out yet another word, Randall's ears picked up the distant sound of a phone ringing.

"Gotta go, Jordan!" he said, shooting out of the room and rushing downstairs. He picked up the receiver, hoping he wasn't too late.

"Master? When are you coming home...I miss you..."

Georgio was sitting in his office, and sighed. It was hard enough for him to deal with these unruly new slaves, much less his own being so clingy.

"Randall, it's still two hours, now stop being such a baby and live with it already, okay?" he snapped. "Time has been flying by for you, hasn't it? Now I can't talk long, I have something important I need to do, but are you going to be okay?"

Randall cringed, feeling hurt by his master's words. He was hoping to be reassured, he just wanted to be with him so badly is all. "I'm...I'm...I'm...s-s-sorry..." he whimpered. "I'll...b-be okay..."

"Hey, Randall, I'm sorry...it's okay, I'm right here, don't be scared. It's just been a long day for me. I'm sorry I snapped. I-" Georgio suddenly cut off as the large stallion that had been attempting to break the cage before was led into his office by a couple of the warehouse workers, two large elephants.

"Randall, I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll see you later alright?"

"Okay...I'll see you when you get home!"

"Bye, I love you," he said, hanging up, looking up at the stallion. "Okay, now...we need to have a little talk..."

~

Randall sunk to the floor, hugging his knees. He wasn't frightened, just overwhelmed. No matter how much fun he was having, the day was really dragging by without his master around.

Jordan had made it downstairs by then, running over to sit beside the wolf, thinking he was sad again. "It's okay Randall, don't be sad, Uncle Georgio will be home soon."

"I'm not sad, just...overwhelmed. A lot of things keep changing and I feel like I can't keep up. Randall sat there a moment, not sure what else to say or do."

"How about we do something you want to do, then? What do you want to do, Randall?"

"I'm...I'm sorry to be such a bore, Jordan...but I think I might need to lie down for a few minutes...get my bearings straight again." Randall looked a little disappointed, he was having fun with Jordan and wanted to play some more but right now he needed to clear his head.

"It's okay, you can nap on my bed. I want to watch cartoons anyway down here. Jordan giggled, running into the living room and turned on the TV.

Randall made his way back upstairs after making sure Jordan was going to be okay - this might not be his house, and he might just be a slave, but he was an adult after all, and felt responsible for keeping Jordan safe since he was spending time with him.

He went over to the bed and pulled the covers up over his head, trying to block out any sights, smells, and sounds - not an easy task considering his genetically gifted canine senses. He finally managed to drift off, waking up an hour later. He yawned, still mentally exhausted - but he at least wasn't overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, downstairs, two uniformed rhinos walked in the door. "Daddies! You're home!" Jordan exclaimed, running up to give them a big hug. They had a sad look on their face, however. "What...what's wrong?" the Dalmatian said, backing up a little. John kneed down to whisper something in his ear.

"Now, don't say anything aloud until I can talk to Randall, okay?" He grabbed a jacket then made his way to the staircase.

"Randall? I'm coming up. I'm in uniform but I covered it up, so stay calm, okay? There's something important I need to talk to you about."

"Um..o-okay!" he shouted back. Randall grabbed the blanket in his paws and huddled up in a corner of the bed against the wall. He whimpered a bit as John came into sight, but didn't panic.

"Randall...Georgio is in the hospital."

Now he panicked.