Dare – Book II – Chapter 6

The world was in twilight, the grey moment between day and night, and I was moving amongst the people. I’d left the house, sneaking away because I didn’t need or want my brothers to follow me. I thought perhaps that I was looking too far when there were a lot of people living on the reservation.

The Native Americans knew me already; most of them had seen me at least once, during the Awakening, but little beyond that. I was more like a rumor, I suppose, a ghost maybe, and some of them understood and accepted me, but many didn’t. I had little knowledge of that, however, just as I knew next to nothing about any of my neighbors. Except for Joe and his family, White Cloud and a few of the tribal elders, I hadn’t spoken with anyone. My new Master could be among them, I thought, and I was trusting my spirit to guide me. It seemed as if I should recognize my new Master instinctively, if I could only find him.

The first stars appeared as I moved through the reservation cautiously and for the most part it wasn’t concentrated as a real town might be, but sprawled across the valley. There were large trailers and small houses here and there, with fields and small tracts of land, much of it wild and overgrown, to separate the families. I couldn’t say how many people were there, but it seemed like a lot and I became hopeful as I ran and crept and even crawled through the reservation.

I watched the people moving about, many of them outside to enjoy the warm summer evening after their dinners, or visible through their windows as they sat inside, watching television or reading or whatever it is people do. I could smell the place and the humans, strong and strange smells, different from the home in which I lived, but familiar all the same. Too strong though, those scents and the sounds as well, too loud were all these people and I felt overcome at times by my senses. I was nervous and my heart would leap at every alien noise.

I was determined though, and so I was moving as a wolf might, from shadow to shadow, staying low and wary. I approached from downwind so much as possible, though even when I was caught by the shifting breeze the people didn’t seem to notice me at all on the air. I didn’t completely trust these humans, not for any real reason except that I was not one of them. It was very much like trailing the pack in the hills, on those occasions when I would venture high and look for Chance, my mate. I would be wary of the other wolves and watch them from a distance. This was the same for me and if I was always struck by the differences between my human self and my animal nature, now I was also reminded of the similarities.

“Who’s that? What are you doing there?” A woman had spied me and it was late already, the sun having long set, but she’d caught me moving as I crossed her yard, wanting to look through the windows into her trailer.

She wasn’t so old and pregnant maybe, sitting in a chair and smoking. I could smell the acrid smoke and it made my nose itch. She had a dog with her and children inside. I could hear them arguing and a man’s voice yelling something, probably telling them to be quiet, or go to sleep. The dog was what caught my attention though, even more than the woman who was staring at me. It was a male and large, like a German shepherd, and he was up and barking at me.

I gave him soft barks of my own and stepped back, into the shadows as the dog came close, jumping from the porch with shoulders high and his head low. He was curious and protesting my late visit, but that was all. The woman said nothing more, or if she did I didn’t hear her. Perhaps she thought her dog would run me off, but I was waiting for him, getting down to meet him and he sniffed me for a moment and then stood there as I pressed my nose close to his belly to scent his sheathed prick and the musk there.

Being a female, I was no threat to him and dogs had always liked me anyway. He nosed my cunt and satisfied himself, deciding I wasn’t in heat, and so the animal went back to the woman. He paused long enough to mark the nearby leg of a rusty swingset before laying down close to her feet with his head and ears up, staying alert but relaxed.

“Get out of here. Go on. I don’t know what you’re doing, but do it someplace else…” the woman was telling me and her words meant very little except that there was no Master for me there.

Sometime later, maybe a week or more after my futile and incomplete search of the house for a newspaper, the paper which advertised for things like dog girls and presumably Masters, I brought up the subject with Joe during one of his evening visits.

I was signing a check, slowly and deliberately writing my name on the bottom so that Joe could buy more food and vitamins and soap, and all the things that we needed and which I’d always taken for granted. I was also paying the two boys, Jay and Mike, for the work they did everyday, although Joe told me they should be paying me, since they were having sex with me as often as they could. He promised me he’d talk to them about that, but I hadn’t complained or anything and I didn’t mind it very much anyway.

“Joe?” I asked and my voice cracked even on that one simple word. I hadn’t spoken in a long time. Not since the funeral.

“Huh? Yeah, Dare. What is it?” He looked at me with some surprise and I think he was used to my silence.

“I … We…” I looked at my three brothers who were sitting on the floor because it was cooler than our bed, ” … need a Master.”

“Ahhhh…” The big Indian licked his lips and blinked at me and I wondered if I’d chosen the right words or not.

“A new Master,” I tried, keeping my eyes on his. “For us.”

“Right. Yeah, well…” he cleared his throat, ” … I’m not exactly sure how to go about finding you one of those.” He chuckled softly and I tilted my head.

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t even know how Jim found you,” he scratched his head. “I mean, there’s probably a lot of guys who’d love to meet you, but you have to be careful.”

“Careful.” I nodded because that sounded important.

“Yeah, like … Well, you have a lot of money for one thing, Dare,” he said and I just shrugged, which made him laugh. “Right. I know you don’t care, but you need to think about it.