Hearing You.

The new morning came on with no warning. It is like she blinks once and suddenly; the alarm rang obnoxiously while it strobes red ’ 05:00 AM .’ Idonea wakes up with a start, trying to stretch, but someone still held her down. She whimpers groggily, clawing away her face with her front paws.

The alarm went off for some time, piercing her poor sensitive eardrums till she had no choice but to fully stay awake. A certain male also wakes up, silencing the alarm with a slap of his hand while groaning.

“Okay...okay...I’m up.”

He releases her, stretching his hard-toned body next to her. Each section of muscle on his body flexes its prominence made her mind run dirty with insanitary thoughts. Her jaws smacks shut to keep herself from panting.

“Mhm. Good morning pup. Did I make you uncomfortable?”

He pets her head, smiling from one ear to the other.

“I forgot to mention that I am a notorious cuddler.”

Tell me about it.

She yawns, wanting to sleep more. It isn’t a well-rested night, since the night spent cuddling is full of her arguing with the conflict of her emotions. Keeping her up for most of it.

“Sorry!”

He slips out of the covers, giving her one last pet on her head before sauntering over to the closet.

“Sleep my furry friend. I am going to get dressed.”

Why? It isn’t like your job requires it...

She watches him pick out a set of clothes, a red shirt, and jeans. He places it on the bed and shimmies his pajama pants off.

Holy moly!?

Her muzzle instantly buries in the pillows, listening to him change his clothes. Her heart thuds hard against her ribcage.

Why would he just change in front of me!? Right...he thinks I am a dog... why would a dog ever have a reason to be shy...

“Heh. Silly. I won’t say it’ll be fun for a pup like yourself. But come join me downstairs anytime. I only ask that you stay quiet.”

He presses a forefinger to his lips, looking even more tempting to snack on with his new clean clothes and the messy blonde hair.

“My fans will be tuning in soon. If...you can even understand me, just please be mindful.”

Her ears flick; it is the time of hour that she usually tunes in for. Offended that he will ever think she’d get in the way of his work, she exhales through her nostrils.

“Good.”

He waltzes right out, keeping the door open for her to follow but not waiting for her. His presence is dearly missed in no time, temptation to chase him down fill the cracks of his mind. However, she had other things to do. Her body rises from the mattress then she hops off it. Her heavy paws lands with a thud, and she whimpers at the noise. Hopefully, that didn’t disturbed Leas, but no one came to reprimand her. After a few minutes, she gets over her guilt and investigates this room. He keeps this place tidy; the only disorganization is how he sets the posters on the walls. Her nose is pushing into every creak and under every piece of furniture to sniff out secrets.

Nothing .

The oddest thing he had in this room is that strange fur coat. She pads over and presses her wet nose against it, sniffing the remnants of a seal mixing with the strong scent of Leas.

It’s just a gaudy fur coat.

Her nose finds a pocket in this coat, and the snout instantly shoves into it to look for anything. If there is anything. Her nose feels a rolled-up paper. She grips the edge of it and pulls it out. It fell to the ground, the size of a book page, and kept rolled by a small string. She paws at the string some, hooking her sharp claw underneath the string to pull it loose. Idonea unfolds the paper, but what she saw isn’t anything incriminating, at least not right away. A hand drawn picture of a seal and a small script of words in what must have been in another language. Her eyes didn’t recognize the lettering.

This looks very Norse.

Her two paws spread the paper flat, so she can read some of it better.

‘Ageless...you...are...but...slave...to...sea...’ What is this about a water island? Am I reading this right?

Her brain scrounges all she knew in Norse. Although she is an immortal, she didn’t know EVERY dialect. Norse people spread out as much as the Romans did, and a lot of them had some significant changes in their written format. If his lineage comes from Iceland, then she might as well be trying to relearn the alphabet.

Grumbling beneath her black lips, the bit she translates had no relevance in her mind. Just more strange things about this human. A new question fills her wolf’s skull.

What reason does he have to always keep this around him?

No answer came to her. Even as she starts to hear talking downstairs, nothing can get her to figure this out yet. She haphazardly rolls the paper back and shoves it back in the pocket with loose string and all. He might never check his pockets; he might never think that someone rummage through his things. Especially a dog like being that he just picks up the night prior.

Hmph, gotta act like a dog now!?

She chuffs angrily, prancing out the bedroom door and down the flight of steps. Following the sound of talking led her further downstairs, treading down another flight of steps carefully.

Idonea thought she will be in an unfinished basement, but what she saw was another living floor. This one is for a workout room or his radio station. She first saw the weights, treadmill, and a butt load of exercising equipment in one corner that had a mat and a mirror that cover the whole wall. Another room had a sign over the door that said, ‘On air’ . The door is open enough for her to listen in on the talking, finding that it is just Leas talking the microphone off. A conversation that he is having entirely for himself but heard by hundreds of people.

“Friends...have you ever had something magical happen to you? Does it feel like the fires of our sun scorching every fragment of your being? Is it beyond anything that you can imagine? Is it like happy little tremors in your eyes? Hold onto that feeling, it is as fleeting as happiness but the most memorable out of all your experiences. These moments are what will motivate you to live and pursue the trivial things in life with a big ole smile on your face. Maybe...I am a bit naive to say so, but I just felt that feeling not too long ago and it has lightened some of the melancholy in me. Let me play you something that fits this feeling the best...”

‘Closer to your heart’ by Clannad starts up in the background. Her tail sways with the music; she plops down right at the opening of the door. She can listen to music like this all day, calming her every instinct to be wary. She is so relaxed she did not realize that someone is watching her.

By the end of this song, he chats with the crowd again.

“Remember. These feelings can come from anything. Being close to a loved one, getting the highest score in pinball, and even cuddling with your new furry best friend. Let me play you another song.”

Her snout wrinkles, embarrass by his display of affection that seems directed her way.

Did he really see me as something worth cherishing?

She would blush if she could, but her paw covers her face to display some of her embarrassment. At some point, she had fallen asleep under the soothing tones of the radio. The only time she notices it is way after Leas finishes and already bade his farewells. She awakes with a jolt when he pets her head gently.

“Wake up sleepy pup! You’re kind of in my way.”

He says this both in sweetness and a sharp edge of ridicule in his tone.

She huffs, finding nothing cute about his teasing. She got right up and prance away, head tilt up and away from him.

“Alright. Alright. Just having a little fun here.”

He pouts to feign his innocence, following her around like a little lost puppy. But that expression changes to a wily smirk,

“Come, come. I’ll repay my abuse with some breakfast.”

Her tail wags then, despite her little annoyance. Food is necessary right now; the mission is second on her priority list. She follows him up, not realizing that he is fashioning a leash out of a belt. Her first instinct is to walk in the opposite direction.

“Wait! Pup! I was going to take you out!”

Nope! Drawing the line at leashes....

If he is worried that she will have an indoor accident, she can go outside by herself with no entourage. And she tries to say so by yipping or growling. He will never be able to understand wolf’s language. He just calls her energetic.

Dumb blond mother-!?

She didn’t know how he manages to get the leash on her. The damn bastard somehow use food as a bargaining chip. But this leash did not last. Once outside, she unhooks the buckle and is out running circles around him in seconds. Leas did try to catch her, but he must’ve notices that she isn’t leaving his side and stops trying. She thinks she is obvious about it! One, she isn’t trying to run away. Two, instead of chasing the critters that are obviously out there, her focus is just on him.

He later apologizes for his behavior but quickly said something about,

”I was…never going to find out that you are well trained…”

Whose fault is that!?

She snorts, trotting over to the bushes and out of his sight. Pretending to go just to satisfy the stupid human.

I am just going to sneak into his bathroom later.

Idonea might have a wild side, but she had lived in human society with working bathrooms too long. The luxury of a bathroom beats getting your ass chewed by ticks. Even her pack lives in a condo-style arrangement, with working showers and bathrooms. Her matriarch, also known as her mother, used to say,

”We may look like animals, but we have standards.”

The memory made her chuff annoyingly, embarrassed that a human is even getting away with this ridiculous play. After some time, she prances back to him. Noticing the brief worry on his face, and the occasional pacing in one spot.

His face lit up at the sight of her,

“Thought you’d run off for sure.”

Thought about it...

Idonea blinks at him, hanging her tail low. Such a reaction from him made her feel guilty for faking this whole thing. Made her feel like a fraud.

The guilt is enough to pace over and lick the back of his hand. He uses that hand later to pet her on the head, the touch felt so gentle.

“It’s going to be very hard giving you back to your owner.”

Jokes on you, I don’t have an owner!

Then another thought came up. If he can’t find anyone that owns her, he will end up keeping her based on his earlier infatuations. How is she going to explain never being in the same room with her human self?

What the hell, Idonea!? You plan to come here in human form!?

The wolf can’t let him claim her as a pet, it’s disgusting and degrading. Her head lowers as she follows the human back inside, plotting a way out of this. A new part of her, one that keeps making her guilty, has fallen in love with the idea of playing along to keep him happy. After all, she can learn more out of him this way.

The other respectful part of her demand is to just forget about his feelings and go back home as soon as possible. She might need to console him if he believes the “dog” ran away though. And she might not be any closer to understanding why she feels so entranced around him. In her wolf form, his scent is still intoxicating but she had more focus in this form. Despite last night, he hadn’t tried to get too cuddly while in her wolf form. Not like how he is in her human form; he didn’t know personal space. It might have something to do with her human side, which seems weaker from the scent.

Or maybe he cast some spell?! Nah... this all doesn’t make sense.

Her wolf head shakes while her right ear twitching to show her agitation. She, of course, did it during the pet session, which made him concern all over again. Leas retracts his arm away, tilting his own head to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

Arrgh!? Stop it.

He is very empathetic. She moves to the door, making sure to bump him on his leg with her body to hint that he didn’t need to overthink it.

Annoying human.

But every time she thinks about this, she is still taking the extra step to make sure he isn’t upset. Like a pathetic dog with her owner... Idonea-the warrior diplomat- had become the greatest softie of all wolf-kind. All her enemies would laugh at her now if they could. Her family will surely just exile her for her perversions. She slips away before he can pet her again, not ready for affection. She can only take so much of the lovely onslaught before she just decides to cave in and have him all to herself. It is bad enough that he cuddled her all night.

What more must I endure?

Leas follows her to the door, chuckling beneath his sweet smile. He opens the door for her,

“Time for breakfast, pup!”

She yips excitedly, pouncing into the house with vigor. Her stomach always had room for more food.