Bonus Chapter

  ... los

  ?

  Dalos.

  ...

  Dalos.

  Who is Dalos?

  Dalos.

  Oh! Am I Dalos? I'm Dalos!

  "Dalos!"

  That's Master's voice!

  "What do you mean? I don't understand."

  Some lady person was talking to Master?

  No! Master is mine!

  The lady person sounded mean. I didn't like the mean lady.

  I opened my eyes to find Master's soft shirt pressed against my nose. It smelled like Master!

  How did I know what Master usually smelled like?

  As much as I tried to remember anything from further than a few seconds back, my poor little puppy head couldn't remember anything. It was almost like I was just born in Master's hands.

  I nuzzled his chest, feeling Master's strong arms wrapped around my little puppy body. I wanted this moment to last forever... But another set of arms squished me against Master. I didn't want to complain about getting squished into Master because Master felt the best, but I didn't like other arms squeezing Master.

  Master is mine!

  "____. Meet Dalos. He's my familiar." Master's strong and perfect voice stated.

  I am Dalos! I'm Master's fur-miliar!

  I raised my chin proudly, showing off to the world that I was Master's fur-miliar.

  Bow before me, stupid person. I am Master's fur-miliar and Master will never love you as much as me!

  "Familiar? Dalos? Wait, you mean that's..."

  "He's the Alpha Hound. I've formed a contract with him." Master's voice filled me with pride. His eyes stared down into mine, I hoped Master would never look away. "You don't need to worry, he won't hurt us. Dalos is a good boy."

  I'm a good boy! Master said I'm a good boy!

  My tail wagged wildly against master's arms as I stretched my little fur-miliar body and gave Master a big kiss. My body felt super warm with energy just from licking Master's face.

  "(14Y, are you okay?" A different person, not the stupid person, talked to Master. I didn't hate her voice as much as the stupid person, but I didn't like how close she acted toward Master. "Do you need rest? Don't push yourself."

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  I didn't understand what was going on, but Master's body tensed up. He held me tight as he leapt in between the stupid person and the not-as-stupid person. For the first time, I looked at someone other than Master.

  The sight of the stupid person caused my little tail to go stiff. My tiny body quivered in Master's arms. Stupid person wasn't the right name for that one... They were the scary yellow one.

  "Wait! ____, it's not what you think." Master was begging to the scary yellow one.

  Master! I can beg! I can be just like Master! Please Master, ask me to beg!

  I looked up at Master, hoping he'd give me a command so I could show him how smart his good boy fur-miliar was. But Master was only looking at the scary yellow one. I heard a pout escape my throat.

  "I know you have a soft spot for her, (14Y. But she tried to kill us! There's a limit to how trusting you can be." The scary yellow one's words drew my attention. She said the other person tried to kill Master? But that was strange. I didn't sense darkness from the other person. I couldn't see the other person because Master's chest was in the way, but I could sense her.

  "If it weren't for her, I would have been killed by the Hound!" Master's words confused me. Master said I was a Hound, but a Hound tried to kill Master? As much as I tried, I couldn't remember anything before waking up to my name.

  It wasn't me. I'd never hurt Master.

  I realized that in my deep fur-miliar thoughts, I missed something Master said. I shrank in Master's arms, feeling like I'd betrayed him by losing focus. Maybe I wasn't such a good boy after all.

  "So what? She's already betrayed us once." The scary yellow one kept pushing back against Master. She was very rude, and really wanted to hurt the other person.

  "She couldn't move after she used that ability. I had every opportunity to get revenge on her then. Tara had to know that there was a good chance she would have been killed by either of us after she was disabled. She saved me anyway. She was willing to give her life for me... Please. Raif isn't here! It's just Tara." I didn't fully understand what Master was saying, but this other person saved Master.

  I might not give her bites if she tried to give me head pats.

  "(14Y, step aside."

  My entire body tensed with the fury of a million chomps. I mustered the deepest growl possible and showed the scary yellow one just what was waiting for her if she hurt Master. I was terrified, but defending Master was my number one job.

  I am Master's fur-miliar. I will protect Master, even if I am scared.

  To my surprise, the scary yellow one took a step back and her face looked a tiny bit less scary... Just a tiny bit.

  I protected Master! I'm a good boy!

  "Fine, Tara, for now you can join us. But don't think for a moment that I will let my guard down around you. One false move and I won't hesitate to make you wish you'd run when you had a chance." My eyes never left the scary yellow one. Just like they weren't going to let their guard down around the other person, I wasn't going to let my guard down either. "But right now, we need to get back to town."

  Before I knew what was happening, I felt Master's body get sleepy. The tasty energy I got from Master was still there, but it was much weaker. Master dropped to his knee, still holding me safely.

  "(14Y, are you alright?" The other person got really close to Master. I thought about growling at her too, but I realized this wasn't the time to be jealous.

  I got my first chance to see the other person. They looked caring, like they wanted to make Master get all better. They had all sorts of leashes covering their human body. Was this person a dog-walker? Even if they were, I only wanted Master to give me walks.

  "I just need..." Master's strong body fell into the lady wearing lots of leashes' arms. I wanted to move away from their touch, but Master was more important.

  Smooshed between Master and the lady wearing lots of leashes, I could feel my little fur-miliar body trying to feed on both of them. Master still gave me plenty of tasty energy, but Leashes tasted different. Their energy didn't fill me up like Master's. Master was like an endless buffet of tasty energy, but Leashes was almost empty.

  I need to get away from Leashes. If Leashes is hurt because of me, Master would be sad. I don't want to make Master sad.

  Even though I didn't want to leave Master's arms, I squirmed my little body out from between them and sat next to Master on the ground. Leashes reached a free hand out to give me head pats, but that would make Master sad. I backed away so Leashes knew not to touch Master's fur-miliar.

  Leashes and the scary yellow one were exchanging words, but I had no interest in listening. My entire focus was on Master. Leashes knelt to let Master rest his head on their lap. I didn't know if it was comfortable for Master because Leashes' legs were trapped in some sort of net. Maybe the leashes and nets meant that Leashes was a fur-miliar like Master?

  I yipped gently at Leashes to ask if they were Master's fur-miliar too.

  "Such a little sweetie. Are you worried about (14Y too?" Their eyes looked at me warmly. I could forgive them for being too stupid to understand my question.

  Not all humans are as smart as Master.

  Eventually, the scary yellow one and Leashes lifted Master off the ground. I took the chance to jump up onto Master's head and burrow in his floofy warm hair. I could taste loneliness in Master's energy. I couldn't understand what happened to Master before I became his fur-miliar, but I didn't want Master to ever feel lonely. I hadn't tasted all of the flavors of Master's energy, but I knew that loneliness, fear, and sadness tasted much worse than pride. The flavor when Master called me Good Boy was the best flavor.

  As Master was carried with one arm over each of the other two, I shut my eyes to rest just like Master. I fed off Master, letting him make me the biggest strongest fur-miliar possible. Even in his sleep, Master was good to me.

  I love Master the most. I would do anything for Master.

  I opened one of my eyes to secretly watch the scary yellow one.

  I would kill for Master.

  But now, I would rest.

  When I wake up, I'll give Master so many kisses. And I will make Master so proud that he will forget to be lonely.

  Master's thoughts flowed into me. His loneliness drifted to happier thoughts. I didn't understand, but he was dreaming about something called Pugsley and some perfect being named Betty White. For some reason, the back of my head reminded me that Master was thinking of the good Pugsley from something called Addams Family Reunion. The energy swelled inside Master as he dreamed about what Pugsley and Betty White would look like with mustaches. I didn't know what mustaches were, but I could tell they were something Master loved dearly.

  My body exploded with energy as I felt myself reach something called Level 2.