FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*

A commission for :iconguri: I've been sitting on for a while, letting it mature and...waiting for more to come - so this is the first chapter, presented to you - and I hope to hear what you think!

*

Levi sipped from his stale, almost cold coffee, and looked unhappily at the laptop screen in front of him on the cafe table.

We regret to inform you that at this selection -

He clicked the message window shut without even bothering to read the usual placations about them keeping his information in mind in case a vacancy might open up in the future. Fuck that, Levi thought. He wasn’t interested in the future, he was only interested in today, and even next week would be suitable, too, in his mind, as he slapped the mug down to the table. He gave a quick glance over to the barista behind her counter and wondered just how long he could still loiter at the cafe without buying anything besides the coffee that was nearly gone.

The blonde boy ruffled his hand through his hair and let out a displeased sigh. That was three more rejections he’d gotten today, and rent was coming up in a week, as well as a variety of other bills he simply wouldn’t be able to afford to pay. Even his internet had been shut down due to outstanding payments, which meant that coming to the cafe was the only way to leech on their free customer wi-fi in the hopes of finding at least a temporary job to cover his immediate living costs. He didn’t even dare to think about the student loans he’d soon have start paying back, too, let alone all the other running expenses of living in the city.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath.

He changed the window in distaste and began to browse Facebook, hoping for an idle distraction, but stopped when even that ended up being a depressing effort. All too many updates were about his former college friends enjoying their life or boasting about their exciting, well-paying jobs. His own efforts had been failing for so long that he couldn’t relate to them, to the smiling faces, expensive sunglasses, the shiny cars, the better halves clutching them in sickly sweet couple selfies.

What did he have look forward to? Cold coffee in cafes and the cheapest food he could buy. He’d probably have to start shopping at the food bank soon.

Levi spent perhaps half an hour reading the news, wondering if he was going to be kicked out soon for not buying anything more. As he browsed, the laptop let out a little ‘plink’ to tell that he’d received a new email. He changed over to the window containing his email browser and saw the header Re: Potential Employment.

“Right,” he mumbled. Levi had read so many rejection messages during the single day that he didn’t really have energy left to muster much excitement about this one. It was just probably another ‘thank you but no thanks’. He clicked the message open and read.

Mister Crestfield,

After reviewing your attached resume and your application,

you are invited for a private interview in regards to the open

position as a personal assistant. Please see further instructions

in the attached file.

Best regards

His stomach leaped. He had to read the message a further three times before he comprehended the fact that somebody was actually willing to give him a chance. He did have to remind himself of the possible job, though, he had applied for so many of such variety that he was having trouble remembering the details on everything. This one was someone who probably had too much money and too little time at their hands. The work description seemed nothing more than taking care of the housepets and doing some odd jobs around home. He didn’t think he was the handiest individual, but he could push a lawnmower like anyone else. And they always had dogs at home when he was a kid. They barely needed any care besides food, water and being taken out for a walk so that they could take a shit. This possible employer didn’t seem the type to have some really weird ass pets like….iguanas? Colibris? He couldn’t even think of anything stranger than that.

Levi felt much more pleased himself when he opened the attached PDF file, to find that it contained driving instructions to some location as well as orders to appear there on next Thursday at 2 pm, and that he could confirm his appearance by sending a message to the address from where the original message had been sent from.

He didn’t think twice about writing a short reply, saying that he was definitely coming and that he was definitely looking forward to showing what he could do.

*

Levi was left in awe the moment he got out of the obscenely expensive taxi (which the employer was going to cover, whatever the outcome of the interview) outside the address he’d been told to arrive to. He could see the house alright, but it seemed to be a hundred yards away, beyond the well-tended grounds and the large metal gate protecting the driveway into the house itself. A tall brick wall surrounded the premises - obviously the owner preferred his privacy, and it showed. He thought he glimpsed security cameras on top of the fence while he paid the cab, and then went over to the gate. His instructions had told him to call at the gate, though there was nobody there when he arrived. He couldn’t see anyone through the thick bars of the steel gate, either, just the house. It looked like a modern affair, not an old mansion of Gone with the Wind type, neither one built in faux old fashion to make it look old and regal. No columns or slanted roofs, either, or ostentatious statues. It didn’t look like the Kardashians lived there.

He discovered what looked like an intercom on a pillar supporting the gate. It was a complex thing, with a camera, a keypad, and several other buttons as well. The one with the image of a phone receiver seemed like a safe bet to start with, Levi thought. He made a final adjustment to his hair and to the nicest clothes he had found to wear before pressing it, though, which brought out a brief buzz from a speaker grille on the machine embedded into the wall.

Levi waited, and wondered briefly whether anyone had actually heard his call, but then there was another buzz, and a voice finally responded.

“Yes?”

The voice sounded impatient. Levi hoped he wasn’t late yet. He couldn’t really look at his phone for the time, either, because he had a feeling that the camera on the panel was looking at him.

“Hey, I’m...ah...Levi Crestfield, I’m here about the job I contacted about, and I was told to be here around now?”

He could almost imagine the camera lense blinking at him, as it seemed to be watching him even now.

“I shall open the gate. Walk to the front door and wait there.”

“Yes, I will, thanks!” Levi hurried to speak up.

There was another electric buzzer, followed by the rumble of gears when the gates began to be moved to either side by some unseen mechanism. Levi didn’t wait for them to be opened all the way, but slipped between them as soon as there was enough room. The path was gravelled and scratched under the soles of his sneakers, but the steps of the mansion house, for that was the only way to describe it, were white, polished stone. The door was black and shiny, seemingly wooden, yet sturdy. The doorbell was a brass one, shaped like a paw, he noticed, with some curiosity, as he touched it in the hopes of summoning whoever he was going to meet.

Again he waited, and again he felt a pang of nervousness, brewing in his stomach before the door finally opened, accompanied by the clicking of many unseen latches.

He was tall, sturdy, and most of all, he was not human - at least not in any traditional sense. The great Transhuman experiments of the past had given birth to a whole range of subspecies, mixtures of animals and men whom some saw as abominations, others as little more than curiosities, and almost everyone wondered on occasion just how human and how animal they were and in which proportion. The sight of the man, whom was some sort of a long-haired, aggressive canine, like a wolf or at least a dog close to one. He wore a pair of black shorts and no shoes nor socks, which meant that upon the doorstep stood a pair of very large paws, complete with claws. His shirt was quite tight and revealed thick arms and a strong neckline. The eyes glanced down to Levi, whom was shorter, over his muzzle.

“Crestfield?” the voice was low.

Levi shook away his surprised face and steeled himself.

“Yes, sir!” he extended his hand. “Levi Crestfield, very good to meet you!”

The wolf glanced at the offered hand but did not make a more to meet the greeting.

“Are you here for the pet position?” he asked.

“Uh...yes...yes, sir, personal assistant and...pet carer?” Levi added quickly, remembering that extra stipulation from the job description.

“Right,” the wolf said.

“I don’t think I caught your name, sir,” Levi mused

The wolf just gave him a look.

“That is not relevant at this point. You are here simply for me to interview you. If you are accepted for this role, then you will need to know my name if you are to serve me. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir” Levi nodded quickly.

The wolf stepped aside.

“Come in, and follow,” the wolf said. “Behind me.”

“Okay,” Levi said nervously.

He couldn’t help but watch the wolf’s tail as it moved with the anthromorph’s gait, something truly...alien about him that simply transcended any human type of behavior. He led Levi through the hall, past the stairs and into a large room, some sort of a sitting room with a truly huge television to one side, leather couches and chairs, windows opening to the backyard.

“Sit,” the wolf said.

Levi glanced around the room, wondering just where he was meant to settle down, and he could see that the wolf-man was watching too, following his every movement. Levi decided on one end of the couch, where he did sit, even if the wolf’s eyes seemed to narrow somehow when he chose his spot. The wolf himself took a position on one of the armchairs, one that allowed a view of the couch. He sat stiffly, paws on the armrests, bare feet upon the thick carpet that covered the floor.

“I understand you would be able to start the job immediately?” the wolf stated.

Levi was surprised by that statement - could it really be that he could start earning money that soon? If this interview went well...the possibilities seemed endless.

“Yes, sir,” he said with a quick smile, “I am currently unemployed, so it would be more than possible for me to start right away, sure.”

“Hmmm,” the wolf nodded.

“And given the chance...I’m really a fast learner, and I’ve been described as a people person - “

The right corner of the wolf’s muzzle lifted to bare one white canine tooth, which Levi decided was message enough to fall silent.

“I am not a person,” the wolf said.

Levi felt a blush creep to his cheeks.

“I hope I did not offend.”

“No,” the wolf said.

“Well...I’m also good with animals,” Levi said, “we had dogs when I was little, well, still do.”

The wolf’s ears perked.

“What kind of dogs?” he asked.

“A German Shepherd,” Levi answered, “a female one.”

“A bitch,” the wolf stated.

Levi blinked.

“Yeah, I...I guess, so, yes.”

“I know a few,” the wolf said.

Levi couldn’t tell whether he was serious or not. He did know that German Shepherd anthromorphs existed, he’d even met one himself, so the possibility was that the wolf wasn’t joking.

The boy’s hands fidgeted against his lap while he tried to choose his words carefully.

“So what kind of pets do you have, sir, and what kind of care would be involved in this position, should I be accepted?” he pressed on with the questions he considered relevant.

The wolf let out a chortle.

“Somehow I get the impression that there has been some confusion about the nature of the work I am offering,” the wolf said.

“Uh...yes?” Levi was concerned now. What if he truly had come to apply for a job he was entirely unqualified for, or that there was something else he hadn’t taken into account. They had his resume, and his personal letter of introduction, everything, surely they hadn’t invited him if he was wholly unsuitable for this job.

“You would not be expected to be taken care of any pets,” the wolf said. “No, I expect to take care of my pets myself."

The wolf took a deep breath.

“It is a pet I am looking for, not a handler,” he said.

Levi blinked.

“Eh...I’m not sure I understand,” he said.

“I have...my preferences,” the wolf said, “and to sate my needs for a certain kind of companionship, I am looking to employ a pet. A pet is neither a toy nor an object, a piece of property of certain kind, perhaps, but respect as a valuable asset as it is. A pet provides companionship for me...in the ways I prefer.”

Now Levi was starting to feel utterly confused. The wolf was making precious little sense with what he said. All the while he sat there, too, still like a statue, just watching him quietly. He was starting to feel concerned, too, not exactly for his physical safety, but because he didn’t understand the situation he was involved in. He could only hazard a wild guess.

“Uh...does that mean...that you’d like me to find you a...a pet?” he said. “I’m not sure I know quite the right kind of people, I mean, I think my dad knows some dog handler but - “

The wolf’s tail snapped against his chair and made Levi fall silent.

“I do not look for you to procure me some four-legged thing,” the wolf sounded like he might either start growling or laughing at any moment at Levi’s feeble talk. “I require a human pet, and you have been deemed...potentially useful.”

This far Levi hadn’t managed to think about. The man truly was rich enough that it had actually melted away any remains of civilization in his mind and that he really was so rich that if he decided that he could pay someone to ‘play’ his pet, he could ask some poor fool to come over and tell him to do tricks for him. He felt sick.

“I really don’t understand,” he said.

The wolf shrugged.

“You’re of the right age, right type..right gender… unattached, unemployed. I see it as a perfect opportunity for you, and I would be getting exactly what I want.”

Levi started to feel angry, too. That someone could think such a thing about...a fellow man...that someone could be bought for amusement like that...like this was the..Ancient Rome or something.

“So...you want to...pay...someone...me...to play some...play...pretend to be a dog, or something?” he had to put it into words spoken aloud, to get to the true ludicrousness of things.

“And to pay very good for it, too, of course, especially in relation to the requirements of the job which are not particularly stressful nor demanding,” the wolf stated mildly, “only requiring the right mindset, the willingness to follow orders like any well-trained pup would, and...being open, of course. Available.”

“Available?” Levi could hear his own voice becoming more shrill while he fidgeted on the couch.

“Like any good pet, to amuse his master,” the wolf spoke in a voice so steady that it unnerved he man to no end. “Playing games, providing companionship...all the reasons why anyone would care to own a pet. With some special dispensation, of course.”

Levi’s neck prickled. What the fuck could be even more ‘special’ than what had been listed before? He only really wanted to get out of the place before things became even weirder.

“Well I don’t think - “

“Of course, a human pet has the option of turning down any further services required of him, which is why a human pet is preferable, of course, besides the fact that I have no interest whatsoever in committing any such acts with a...four-legged individual.”

Now the realization dawned on Levi, and he didn’t like it at all. In fact it sent him to his feet, like an electric bolt up his spine.

“This is some fucked up sex thing, isn’t it?” he yelped. “Some fucking - “

The wolf seemed unfazed by the outburst.

“I suppose the technical term is BDSM, but we all have our preferences, don’t we?”

Levi huffed.

“I think I’m done with this shit,” he said. “I’m just gonna leave now, okay? I’m sorry if I wasted your time but this is just so fucked up that I don’t want to have anything to do with this thing, so - so thank you for your time and - well, good luck!”

He rounded the couch and turned to leave, when the wolf coughed.

“Perhaps you are right,” the wolf said.

He heard shuffling, and movement of such speed that it made Levi turn about. The wolf was approaching him, with one paw being pushed into the pocket of his shorts.

“Alright, then”, The wolf said.

One huge paw clutched around Levi’s arm and he let out a surprised yelp.

“Hey!”

The wolf began to walk him through the living room, past the doors and over into the hall, tugging the staggering boy with him.

“Hey, let me go!”

“Obviously I have misjudged you, Mister Crestfield,” the wolf rumbled as they went along. He neither sounded nor looked happy, with his ears flattened, his voice full of growling. “Certainly you seem very much unsuitable for this job, if you have this kind of an attitude.”

“Yeah, right,” Levi muttered.

They were at the front door, which the wolf opened, and Levi took the chance to immediately slip out, to stand on the steps. He was breathing heavily, and felt quite listless, looking at the wolf whom stood at the doorway, still digging into his pocket. While Levi watched, he procured a bill and offered it, holding it by one corner.

“Here is fifty bucks for going back home to wherever you live,” the wolf said. “For whatever time you have left before they have to let you go because you haven’t been able to pay your rent. I’m afraid that isn’t going to be enough to cover that…”

He glanced at the bill on the boy’s hand, a bit rumpled by now.

“...but for each according to what they deserve, isn’t that so?” the wolf stated sternly.

Levi huffed.

“I don’t know what exactly makes you tick but it isn’t quite right, I think.”

The wolf shrugged.

“Power,” the wolf said. “Nothing more than power.”

“Well maybe you need another kind of a hobby than...pet-keeping!”

“It is a shame that you see it like this,” the wolf said, “you would have been very suitable. Headstrong, too, I can tell now, even more than before.”

Levi snorted.

“Whatever,” he said, “I’m not gonna be anyone’s...plaything, whatever that means!”

“A pet is a venerated position, you should not belittle it,” said the wolf.

“ Well, thank you, but - “

“Of course, a human pet requires the respect of being allowed choice, too,” the wolf continued, “the pet’s stay here is voluntary, and whatever services would be at the choice of the pet as well…”

Levi shook his head.

“Well that’s your problem, finding someone to do that for you, whatever you are called.”

“It is a shame, indeed, such a shame...with a six-figure sum being paid for it…”

Levi felt mind-boggled that the wolf could be throwing away such an amount of money - as well as cursing that the money was being offered for such a bizarre amusement, too. Truly the man must’ve been incredibly lonely, besides his warped sex drive, if he truly wanted to pay someone that much for the sake of getting someone to bark a little and then fool around with him. He couldn’t comprehend it.

“Well, you know, I was going to say that I was ready for every kind of indignity that comes with pandering to someone’s whims - oh yeah, dude, I’ve read the stories about all those hollywood stars and their crazy demands, all sorts of weird shit comes up online when you search for personal assistants - but playing dog? Sex? That’s...that’s not right, man!”

“It is not prostitution when an employee offers, on his free will, sexual favors for his employer, when it is done in mutual consent,” the wolf said.

“Yeah, right, hello, Monica Lewinsky!” Levi snorted.

“I am quite serious,” said the wolf, “I would be willing to offer the job to you still, with the dispension that any sexual activity would happen at your...insistence.”

“I’m not gay,” Levi said. “I don’t do guys, not even when being paid. I don’t know about some guys, but my sexual orientation can’t be changed with cash. Sorry.”

“Would it even be sex for you if you didn’t enjoy it?” the wolf suggested. “How do you even know what I would consider sexual, Mister Crestfield? Don’t you think that I might find it extremely erotic to simply wield such a power over you so as to call you my pet? How even that would be...most agreeable..”

Levi bit his teeth together. The way the wolf spoke...boldly, so unashamedly, how he laid every fact down like that, and made sure that the boy knew everything that was going in his mind. It seemed so strange, so alien, so difficult to comprehend for him. He’d never known anything weird like that, he’d ever had any sexual urge beyond what surely was the most...placid and commonplace, of simply liking putting it into a nice hole while squeezing on a girl’s bouncing breasts. This wolf-guy’s thoughts wandered in wholly different roads, ones that Levi had never even contemplated, nor wanted to.

“I think I’m gonna go over to the gate now and call the cab, so…so yeah.”

“Shame,” the wolf said. “It would have been a very good deal, all things considered - your outstanding expenses covered, a weekly allowance...living arrangements, of course, since you would be staying here with me…”

Levi swallowed hard. He hated the wolf for it, for waving the goddamn money in front of his very eyes like that, practically within his grasp but still a million miles away, beyond strange territory.

“Even that…” the wolf nodded towards the boy’s hand holding the crumpled bill, “for a single week...a hundred times more..a hundred times that. And after that the regular pay, of course…”

His fingers almost twitched around the money in his hand.

“That’s ridiculous,” Levi said, “for what? Barking and playing fetch?”

“Among other things,” the wolf stated with unnerving calm, “some other things might be suggested, but demanded….no...unless asked for, of course. I would never let a pet down in their desire.”

Levi swallowed.

“Are you fucking joking?”

“I take my leisure very seriously,” he wolf said, and finally cracked a smile, though on his jawbones it looked more worrying than showing that he was amused. “Five thousand for one week.”

He might be out of his apartment in a week if he couldn’t pay the outstanding rent for the past two months and everything else he was owing immediately. That five thousand bucks, which the wolf seemed to regard with about as respect as a receipt from McDonald's, would also pay for the internet and the 200 dollars he’d borrowed from his buddy Jeff and…

It would even cover part of the student loans, at least until he would have something else, another kind of an income, anything.

“Five thousand?” Levi repeated.

The wolf’s tail swatted against the doorframe.

“And a fifty-dollar advance,” said the wolf.

Suddenly the money felt filthy in his hand, but also oddly reassuring. There could be a lot more there where that came from.

A hundred times more, even.

“For...for what you said?”

The wolf shrugged.

“For providing me amusement for a week. And then more, perhaps, if you are still obliging.”

“A week...and nothing too weird?”

“Suggestions, not demands, Crestfield,” the wolf said. “Under one condition, however.”

Levi felt more wary again.

“What is it, then?”

“Come, and I’ll show you. Follow me.”

The wolf stepped away from the door and entered the hall once more, seemingly not about to wait for Levi to follow. He glanced at the doorstep and knew that he only had seconds to decide whether to go or not.

The first step was the hardest, but he did so, following the wolf’s slowly swinging tail, this time through another door into what seemed like a secondary sitting room, this one with a large fireplace, a sitting group, no television, bookshelves lining the walls. It didn’t appear like a study, for there was no desk, or anything he thought belonged to such a place, but yet it had a masculine feel to it, perhaps even more so than the rest of the house he had seen so far

“Stay,” the wolf said.

Levi stood in place and waited, while the wolf moved over to the side to fetch something. It was revealed to be a tripod he was carrying, with a video camera already fitted in place on the top. He opened the viewfinder screen, took aim, and hit a button to light up the red recording light.

“Stand there,” the wolf said, and moved away from the camera, to stand in front of Levi, both of them being captured by the camera.

“What’s this?” Levi asked nervously.

“I need to hear it from you, Crestfield,” the wolf said. “I have to hear you say, on record, that you will be serving me under your free will and choice, at your request. You ask to serve me, and that has to be on record here. That is my condition.”

Levi glanced nervously at the camera, then at the wolf who stood there as stoic as ever, seemingly not about to waste facial expressions on him.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“So…” Levi said, “what do I have to tell you?”

“Like I said. You’ll say your name and tell me that you are choosing to serve me under your own will, and that you are asking me to have you as...mine.”

Levi didn’t want to say to the wolf that he thought it was a freaky thing to do, but already the fifty dollars he had been awed of before started to feel like a measly sum compared to the total of what he owed. Instead he looked at the camera.

“Well...I, Levi Crestfield - “

Now the wolf almost barked.

“Don’t look at the camera, look at me,” the wolf said. “You are telling me, not the camera. The camera is only there for the record.”

“Okay…” Levi said. “I...Levi Crestfield...ask...you...that can...serve you...as you see fit...as I ask you to...to be your servant? Is that alright?”

The wolf looked at him briefly.

“You have to mention being a pet, or it won’t do.”

The wolf seemed like a real stickler, he thought. He also knew that he didn’t really have a chance.

“...I...ask to be your...pet?” Levi spoke uncomfortably.

The wolf chortled.

“A bit low on sincerity, but I’ll let it pass for now, yes,” said the wolf. “Stay.”

“Was that it, then?” Levi asked.

“No,” the wolf said. “You’ll also have to sign the legal contract which binds me to you as well so that I’ll have to pay your pension and whatever crap everyone employing someone has to take care of. I do things by the book...pet.”

Levi swallowed his complaint at such a statement, but nodded.

“Alright, sir,” he said.

The wolf went over to a large chest of drawers standing near one wall, with a mirror above it. The wolf opened the top drawer and produced a pen and a leather folio. Those he brought over, and opened the foldio, holding it with both paws, with the pen on top of it.

“Sign on three places and initials where they are needed,” he said. “Such a bother, isn’t t?”

Levi looked at the sheets of paper, but as soon as he saw his name there, he didn’t really feel like reading more. If this meant that the five thousand dollars were going to be his, he’d sign about any agreements short of donating a spare kidney to a Mexican drug lord. The wolf’s hold on the folio was steady and he didn’t even come to miss for a desk or a table to write on. It was still unnerving, with the wolf watching his every move, and knowing just how big the paws holding the folio were, compared to his own hand gripping the pen.

“That should take care of that...and stay still there, just one more thing…”

The wolf took the folio away and put it into the top drawer. Then his attention turned over to the a black box that sat on top of the chest of drawers, one that looked like the sort where some woman would keep jewellery in. The wolf flipped open the top and revealed what wasn’t trinkets but what looked like...well, Levi just wasn’t sure.

“What is that?”

“This is a remote override unit to the house safety and security system,” the wolf said. He pressed a button and the box let out a sudden beep. Then he input a code into a keypad with rapid tapping, too fast for Levi to even contemplate following the movements. After that the wolf turned to face Levi.

“Come here. Now.”

Levi approached, to be gestured at the box by the wolf’s big paw. His fingers pointed out a big red button, something like a fire alarm, and it was shining with a light inside its somewhat transparent surface.

“This is the override button,” the wolf said, and gave it a press. The box clicked, and let out another beep. The wolf closed the black cover again. It didn’t seem to be locked in any way, besides the simple cover.

“What...what does it do?”

“This button...touching this button does a variety of things that you’ll be told later, but what you have to know is that it opens the front door and the front gate,” the wolf said. “What you must know is that this button signifies your...employment. Pressing it causes an immediate termination of your employment, without pay.”

“So…” Levi looked at the box, “do I need to know a code or - “

“No,” the wolf snapped. “Just pressing the button will do, and I will know that you will press it, and when you, you are to leave this place and never to come back. You must understand what it means to press that button. It means you are terminating your employment and you will not be welcome back when you do so. Do I make that clear enough?”

“Yes, sir,” Levi said, thinking it was all very dramatic, but the wolf seemed to be prone for hyperbole, anyway.

“It is simply there to show that everything you do is by choice...pet,” the wolf said. “Everything..including choosing when to leave. And then you will press that button.”

In a week, Levi thought, as he nodded to the strange wolf.

“Okay,” Levi said. “I understand what it does. So what about when I want to go out otherwise?”

“What?” the wolf asked. His ears perked in the direction of the boy.

“When I’m not working,” Levi said, “I’ve got stuff to do and places to go to and - “

“Everything will be dealt with,” said the wolf. “The pet need not worry about anything like that. The master takes care of everything for the pet, and now that you have asked to be my pet…I shall deal with your needs, pup.”

Levi frowned.

“Well I’m not sure what that means but...alright?”

“That’s my boy,” the wolf said. “Come on. We need to get you ready, then.”

“Ready for what?”

The wolf’s tail flicked sharply, and he seemed to tense, but he turned to look at the boy, and did not appear too stern, at least not when he started to talk.

“I understand that this is new to you, and you have a lot of questions, but you should hold back and remember that all of them will be answered in time,” the wolf said. “You are my pet, after all, and the master always takes care of his pet. And I know that many pets are very curious creatures, and I accept that. But all in due time.”

“Okay, then,” Levi said.

The wolf actually smiled.

“Good boy,” he said. “Let’s go to your room, then. I’ve got everything ready for you there, pup.”

“I...I’ve got my own room?”

“Been waiting for quite some time, pup!” the wolf announced. “Follow!”

“Alright…”

The wolf strode out of the strange study and into the hell again, with Levi in tow, until he approached a door on the other end of the tiled hall, one that looked otherwise like a regular door but had a keypad next to it, like the one Levi had seen before by the so-called red button. The wolf must have noticed his look, because he spoke.

“Yes, it can be locked, but everyone in this house knows not to go where they’re not meant to go to,” he said as he grabbed a rather conventional doorknob to open it. “This is your room. Enter.”

It was dark still within, as the wolf reached out for an unseen light switch.

“It was a very expensive renovation of the room, so I expect you to treat this room with the same respect that you shall treat me and the rest of my property, pup,” the wolf said. “Come on in to see what I have here for you. Come on!”

The boy could not admit that he understood what the wolf got out of calling him “pup” as if talking to a real dog, but if it was paying him five grand in the week to come, he was willing to be called pretty much anything as long as it made him money.

He was through the door and the lights were switched on, and he almost balked and turned about the same moment to go and smash that stupid red button. It was not a very large room, but it had obviously been carefully set up for the purpose it was meant to serve, painted, bare walls, lighting fittings on the ceiling, some sort of a thick, industrial, grey carpet covering the floor.

A stainless steel dog cage stood in one corner, padded with blankets, with its door open. An alcove to one side was tiled with white, shiny ceramics, the floor receded and with a drain hole on the center, a conventional shower piped to the wall. Various collars and leashes hung from hooks on the wall, and there was a basket full of dog toys, chew toys, fetching toys, balls, rubber throwing rings, anything a dog might enjoy playing with. A sturdy steel table was put onto one side, opposite to the washing cubicle, and held a variety of black items on it, and the only one Levi could identify with any certainty was a thick leather collar.

“What is this?” Levi gawked, turning to look at the wolf whom stood nearby, steady and unmoving.

“Your room,” was the wolf’s laconic reply. “Your bath, your bed, your uniform.”

Levi looked at the cage again, at the collars, the wolf, the entirety of the room that smelled vaguely of leather and something he couldn’t identify.

“There was no talk of any of this, dude!”

“There was very little talk about anything besides money and sex, and we talked a lot about both,” the wolf said. “Obviously there is a lot more to this as well.”

The wolf strolled over to the table and picked up a bizarre-looking black leather mask, complete with what could only be described as perky dog ears on it. Levi stared at the mask, with its empty eye sockets, with terror.

“That’s...what the hell is that?”

“I told you, I want a pet,” the wolf said, “since you are a boy, I need to do a few adjustments you will oblige to.”

“You want me to dress up as a dog?” Levi yelped.

“No, you are to undress,” the wolf stated. “Right now.”

“What?” Levi yelped.

“Pets don’t wear clothes,” the wolf said. “Only these items to make you more presentable for your master.”

Levi huffed.

“I thought we agreed to no sex business!” the boy raised his voice.

The wolf wouldn’t budge, standing there with the doggy hood in paw.

“You seem to be obsessed with sex, boy,” the wolf said. “I already told you that sex will only happen if you ask for it, and I have agreed to that arrangement. This...this is just a ...a uniform, if you prefer to call it that. A sign of your status as the pet.”

“And you expect me to wear that...that...bondage shit?” Levi waved his hand at the table and its contents.

The wolf glared at him. “I expect you to wear ‘that bondage shit’ as you put it, but I also expect you to keep a civil tongue in your head. So far, I have decided to let you speak, unlike most pets. I suggest you stop trying to change my mind about that.”

Levi bit back his next caustic remark. It seemed that arguing with the wolf was not going to get him nothing but the boot from his last chance at making a quick buck.

“Right,” he said. “But no weird business, okay?”

“I have no doubt that everything that will happen next will be extremely weird by your sentiments, pet, but I know that is the only way it can go,” the wolf said. “Strip. I’ve got many things to do today, and playing with my pet is only one of them. You are my luxury, after all, pup.”

Levi could not think of anything sensible to answer to the wolf’s comments, and hence decided that the best he could do was to obey, for the moment.

“Okay.”

He didn’t hurry with it, that far he wasn’t going to go. His clothes were soon folded down on the table, although his boxers remained on. The room was quite warm, but he still felt a nervous chill on his spine, standing there with his arms folded, bare toes itching on the thick carpet under his soles. The wolf observed his underwear, but did not comment.

“Stay,” the wolf said. “We’ll start with the harness. It’s made of very fine leather, and especially for you. The fit should be good enough. If it’s not, I’ll have another one made to measure.”

The wolf picked up lengths of leather, with a clatter of metal accompanying it when the ends swung and the buckles hit against one another. Levi almost balked when the wolf approached, but remained put when he felt the cold metal touch his bare, pale skin.

“Ugh,” he humphed.

The wolf’s fingers felt warm, the pads rough and alien on Levi’s body when the leather was pulled over his head and then over his chest. The black leather was adorned with shiny steel studs that pressed onto Levi’s skin, cold momentarily before his body heat turned them into a non-issue. The strange feeling of the leather surrounding his torso and slipping down over his hips made him shiver, especially when the buckles were wound up and the clash of the strips became more firm on his slim body.

“Hm...you could use some exercise...that’ll be arranged,” the wolf commented. “This underwear has to go now. These straps go around your thighs.”

The wolf tugged on the leathers to indicate it, and caused Levi to look at him over his shoulder, the tall man behind him and holding onto the straps of the harness.

“Is it necessary?”

“Yes.”

It did not seem that there was room for negotiation in that issue. Levi had no choice but to tug his boxers down and stand there, with his hands naturally slipping down over to cover his modest groin. The wolf didn’t seem to even pay attention, despite his earlier comments, for he was busy adjusting the straps to pull them around the boy’s thighs and securing them on the back, below Levis’ buttocks, with firm tugs to make them conform with the boy’s body.

“Hmm...that’ll do,” the wolf declared. He began to circle the boy, looking him from all directions while observing his paw work with the harness. “It does fit you. Maybe a little loose around the chest but we’ll do something about that.”

“Another harness?” Levi asked.

The wolf poked his chest and grinned.

“Or another torso,” the wolf said before turning over to the table again.

Levi was sure that the wolf meant another fool to play a puppy dog for the wolf, but his thoughts became more concerned with the wolf’s antics again when the anthromorph picked up another leather object from the table.

“Hold your hands forward, pup.”

“What is that?” Levi asked.

“Hands forward,” the wolf repeated.

The boy complied.

“Push your hand into it, push it until your fingertips are on the bottom,” the wolf instructed. “I’ll push.”

It looked almost like a boxing glove, made of black, tanned leather. It felt smooth on the inside, and the passage of his fingers was somewhat difficult, the interior being quite tight.Levi’s hand conformed to its shape, which pushed his fingers upwards and curled them a little. He contemplated the strange feel of that while the wolf adjusted a buckle about the wrist and tightened it.

“Now the other one,” the wolf said, as he picked up the second object.

“What are these, anyway?”

His right hand was enclosed into leather as well, strapped and fidgeted, before the wolf seemed happy with it.

“Arms down.”

At this position, the almost nude boy could finally look at the mysterious glove from some distance. Now it made more sense - from the top, it looked vaguely like a dog’s paw, though the fingers were fused together, it being a glove, and the shape of the glove made the position appear quite like that of a dog raising a paw to say hello, if one had been taught to do as much. The effect was disconcerting.

“Wow…”

“It may take some time to get used to, I am sure,” the wolf said. “Now, sit. Got to have your other paws done.”

“My feet too?” Levi asked.

The wolf pulled out a small steel stool from under the table.

“Sit. Easiest that way.”

The wolf procured a further pair of the leather objects, this time to turn Levi’s feet into footpaws, Their straps went up over his ankle to keep them securely in place. Levi mostly spent the time the wolf was kneeling in front of him wondering if the anthromorph was getting off staring at his dick, which would have been somewhere nearby. His own primary concern was the state of his hands. They were locked inside the mittens and he could not open them himself, not even with his teeth, by the looks of them, the buckle was too complex and heavy for that.

“You’ll be taking these off when I’m not...playing with you, right?” Levi asked.

The wolf finished up with his feet and stood up.

“When it is necessary, pet.”

“You did promise me answers to my questions...sir,” Levi added the honorific in the hopes that it would placate the wolf at least a little. His ears perked, which seemed like a promising sign, too, though it did not stop the wlf from picking up the thick leather collar from the table.

“Keep your head up and look straight ahead of you, pup.”

The collar was heavy and almost rested on Levi’s shoulders. When it was secured, he could feel its pressure about his throat, but it did not impede him from breathing. The wolf seemed to spend some time behind him, fiddling with the collar and its locking mechanism, whatever buckles were used to hold it in place.

“Keep sitting there. The hood comes on next.”

Levi was not looking forward to that strange thing, but he could also not stop the wolf from pulling it over his head. It tousled his hair and stuck it over onto the top, and the wolf had to adjust the hood to make the eye holes line up with the boy’s eyes, gazing now through the slits in the thick leather. The air he breathed in with rapid gulps smelled like leather, too, some sort of an oily substance that had been used to treat it. His cheeks immediately started to feel very hot, and he began to sweat.

“It’s hot in here,” Levi muttered. The doggy mask muffled his voice, since despite it being open on the bottom so that his chin could move freely, the leather formed a muzzle over his face, a hollow that made his voice sound strange. “It’s tight.”

“It’s meant to be,” the wolf replied, staring at the boy-dog now sitting in front of him. “Makes you look just right, I think...I feel like something’s missing yet but...this’ll do for now.”

“Do I have to be like this for long?”

The wolf put his paw over Levi’s head and ruffled it like one would do to a dog, the leather ears flicking about under his touch.

“As long as I say so, pup,” he said, “now, down you go.”

Levi climbed off the stool and stood somewhat insecurely on his leather-wrapped feet. They felt unlike any shoes he had ever worn, because they drastically changed the shape of his foot. They also felt heavy, when he lifted his feet to try and test how they felt.

“I said, down,” the wolf repeated. “You’re a pet now and pets walk on all fours. This is an order, pup, and will be one until further notice.”

“B-but - “ Levi glanced down at the carpeted floor.

“Pets don’t talk, either, but I am allowing you that privilege for now so that your initial training is easier to accomplish, boy,” the wolf sounded impatient by now. “Down.”

Suddenly the thick carpet made much more sense for Levi, whom now got to sample how it felt under his knees. His hands were padded by the leather of the mittens and allowed little in the way of tactile exploration, besides the pressure on his wrists that were now tasked with carrying his weight on them.

“Look at me,” the wolf said.

He lifted his muzzled head and glimpsed the wolf, whom stood nearby and observed his new doggie with a smirk over his dark lips.

“Yes...that’s better, much better. I’m sure you’ll get used to moving in this proper way soon. I’ll have some things to deal privately now, but you’ll be free to explore the house as you wish. Pets are allowed in every room with an unlocked door, with certain principles in place, of course.”

“What is it?” Levi asked.

“Pets don’t climb on furniture without explicit permission,” the wolf said. “The same goes for touching any objects or items, including electronics or any other fitting or item in the house. Pets don’t use them independently unless given permission by their master.”

“But - “

“That is all, pet,” the wolf patted the dog-boy’s shoulder. “I will be back in some time, and I think it will be feeding time, then.”

The wolf turned about and headed for the door, but stopped at the doorway to speak.

“You be a good boy,” he said, before he left the room, the door closed behind him.

*

Thank you for reading! More to come!