Book To Read
34
I opened it up, the scent hit me like a ton of bricks. Jessie. The pillowcase must have been hers from when she was recovering here.
I woke up about noon the next day; I hadn’t felt that good in months. “Beta John, please come to my office,” I heard over the link.
“Yes Alpha, five minutes.” I quickly dressed and went down the hall of the Alpha’s wing to his office, right across the hallway from the Luna’s office. I knocked and went in, wondering if my nose was messing with me. It wasn’t. “Patrick!” I rushed across the room and embraced him. “Thank you. Thank you for protecting her.”
“I did what I needed to do, John. She’s an amazing woman, I know you two will be happy.” We sat and he caught me up on the latest things out of Russia; Yuri was becoming more and more desperate to kill her as the courts approached a final decision that would leave him with nothing. He told me about returning to Russia to be a Beta in the Moscow Pack, and the real possibility he and Mischa might become Alphas soon.
“That’s amazing,” I said as he finished. “But what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to train you,” he said. “Your mate needs two things; she needs her mate with her, and she needs protection. You’re training so you can do both.” Alpha Esca opened a drawer and handed him two things. The first was a big dog vest that said “SERVICE DOG” on both sides. “Here’s the deal. You can’t get back into the United States any other way; I’ve got paperwork here from Doc Connall stating Jessie has seizures that can cause her to lose consciousness and has a service animal to detect the onset and help her. All that is true, she’s blacked out once since her head injury. As a service animal, you are allowed to fly on a plane, go into restaurants, escort her anywhere in the United States. We’ve got your papers, training records, veterinary records all set. You just have to stay in dog form and learn how to act like a service dog.”
“Will she know who I am?”
“She can’t. You know she’s still afraid of you, but this way you are close enough to let the mate bond work. You get a chance to be around her all the time, to learn about her, to help her. I’m going to tell her you are one of my protection dogs who I cross-trained to be a service dog for her. I will teach her commands for how to direct you to attack a threat. She can never know you are far more than just a wolf hybrid with a lot of training.”
“She doesn’t know about us?”
“No, we’ve left that to you. There is one thing she did on her own, though.” He told me about how Father Kempechny was a witch, the power he passed to her as he died, and how she used the powers to save them all when they were attacked on the motorway. “She has power, but little training. If it happens again, she could pass out and be helpless for days. All it takes is a single shot and Yuri wins.”
I growled, there was no way under the Moon that my mate would be taken from me. “What do you need me to do?”
“Shift so I can put this on. Your training starts now.” He was holding a collar, it wasn’t a tough dog collar. It was aqua blue in color, it had silver studs, and the name ‘CUDDLES’ was stamped and painted in silver on the side.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
“Nope. Who doesn’t like a service dog named Cuddles?”
I looked to my Alpha for help, but he just shook his head. “If I didn’t owe you so much I’d kick your ass for this,” I said as I pulled my clothes off and shifted into my silver-grey wolf.
“I know,” he said as he fixed the collar to my neck.
“Beta John, you are forbidden from shifting unless commanded by an Alpha to do so, or if shifting is required to save the life of you or your mate.” I felt the weight of the command go through me. “Behave and learn, the longer this takes, the longer your mate is without you.”
I pressed my head against his thigh, thanking him for his help.
“Come on, Cuddles, it’s time for puppy school,” Patrick said with a little too much levity. I growled and followed him out the door.
*****
You’d think basic obedience training would be easy for a werewolf, but it wasn’t. Patrick spent most of the afternoon working with me on how to heel, sit, and other basic commands so it would look right. Charles and the Alpha stopped in, mostly because my mental rants to them were driving them crazy until Alpha put an end to it. “Patrick is away from his mate and his responsibilities to his new Pack because he wants to see Jessie protected. You need to shut up, listen and become the best damn service dog the world has ever seen, or you’ll be away from her even longer.”
My ears when back and I whimpered; he was right. “Sorry Alpha.” I focused on the commands, and by dinner I could pass the obedience course without corrections.
Patrick was pleased, and he told me to heel as we walked away from the indoor field we were using, across to the castle for dinner. I was still under Alpha command, I couldn’t shift back, and as we walked into the main dining room everyone stared at us. I growled, not pleased with their reaction. Patrick grabbed my ear and twisted, he wasn’t Pack so he couldn’t communicate mentally. “You’re still on duty, a service dog never growls unless his charge is in danger,” he said. He let go and I followed him to his seat, sitting behind him at his command. The food came out, and it smelled wonderful; all the things I had missed about my homeland’s food for months. I sat patiently, waiting for the Alpha to give me the command to shift and join them, and they didn’t. An Omega brought two bowls in and set them against the wall. “Go eat,” Patrick said as he turned to me.
The humiliation. Normally we only ate in animal form if we had hunted or we were being punished; our meals were mixed in the bowl and given to us that way. I moved over and saw there was dog kibble in the bowl and water. “You have GOT to be kidding me. Where’s my food?”
“You have to learn how to be a service animal for Jessie; she’s not going to feed you people food, and you can’t turn your nose up at what she gives you. It’s a high-quality dog food, plenty nutritious. Quit complaining, it’s the only dinner you’re getting,” the Alpha said. His voice sounded mad, he expected more.
I focused on the big picture. I needed to get through this training so I could be with Jessie. I stuck my muzzle in the bowl, crunching the dry pellets. I was hungry, and I had to admit they weren’t the worst thing I’d ever tasted. It just sucked. I figured the faster I ate the less I’d suffer, so I wolfed the food down and then washed the taste out of my mouth with a long drink. When I was done, I returned to a sitting position behind Patrick.
As the people started getting up, some would scratch my ears or pat my head as they walked by. This was humiliating; I was not some juvenile on punishment, I was a senior Beta. One of the children came up and gave me a big hug. “Can Cuddles come play outside later,” she asked as she scratched my neck.
“He’s got more training,” Patrick said. I licked her neck and face as she squealed and ran away to catch up to her parents. “Good boy,” he said. “A service dog is trained to ignore people around him and stay focused on his charge. People might pet you, call you names, even try to feed you. You need to ignore them unless your charge tells you it’s all right. If that happens, you need to be like your namesake- friendly, non-threatening and safe. You can’t give Jessie reason to wonder if she will be safe with you.”
I nodded my head as he got up. “Heel,” he said, and I came around to his left side, my head even with his hip. He walked me through the castle, using the commands I’d learned and adding additional ones. He had me open doors, fetch things, even sit in a corner. “You’re always watching,” he said. “Sometimes Jessie might put you somewhere out of the way, maybe she’s working or meeting with people. You need to stay out of anyone’s attention, blending in to the background. Never let your guard down, remember your primary duty is to protect her from danger.” He called me to heel and I followed him outside.
He showed me a hand signal for “go play,” and explained what it was. “She’s not going to need you by her side all the time, and you have to go to the bathroom sometime. The ‘Go Play’ command allows you to run off and burn off some steam and leave steamers in the woods. Don’t go so far you can’t keep your eyes on her, but at least poop behind a tree or something.” I ran off into the trees, barking excitedly as that would be expected of me. I found a good spot and dropped a deuce, then peed on a few trees along the edge. “Cuddles! Come!” I ran back as quickly as I could, coming around to sit at his left side. “Good boy,” he said, palming a liver dog training treat. It was pretty tasty. “I’m going to give her some of these, Larry will help train Jessie on how to command you and run you through your paces. This is what is normal for training our dogs. Do your job right and you might get a treat.” I looked up at him, tilting my head, hoping this would end soon.
We trained the next morning on attack and protection commands, which were far easier for me, and reviewed all the other commands and hand signals I had been taught. After lunch, Charles was with us as a Pack Omega drove us to the airport. We suspected Patrick might be under surveillance, and we didn’t try to hide his departure. His presence at the Pack was no secret, it was part of his training to take the Beta position in Moscow.
It was a nice day, so instead of being stuck in the big dog kennel in the back, I was in the back seat with my head out the window. It was the first time I’d done that, normally we were never in our wolf forms in cars. I could see why dogs liked it so much. We drove onto the airfield where the private jet from the United States had just landed, and parked to wait for it to taxi in. The airport tanker immediately drove over to start fueling it up.