The Canine Relationship

Chapter 1: She Cannot Be Real

My fingers danced away on the computer keyboard as I sat at my desk in my office, second floor, of the FBI Las Vegas precinct, I was typing up a report of the previous investigation I had done, a drug bust, it was a one million dollar haul of cocaine and heroin, it was my twenty first bust of my career, the whole precinct threw me a party and the Deputy Director gave me an award.

My eyes drifted down to the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, to take a glance at the time as it read: 5:00PM, it was almost time to head home.

I pause to take a break, as I crack my knuckles and stretch my hands. I swivelled in my office chair as I look over the commendations on the wall with my name on it, medals of honour, certificates, you could say I'm a well respected FBI agent, I take my job seriously, I do it and get it done, no if's or butt's, well I've been a FBI Agent for the last fifteen years, in those said fifteen years, I've been an unmarried man, too busy with work life, not enough time to settle down.

I give a sigh, as I think about the years, not even realizing how lonesome they were, I was too focused on work.

I lean over to grasp my Styrofoam cup of coffee, a cappuccino from star bucks, taking a swig of it as I place the cup back down on my desk, hoping the caffeine hit will boost up my tired self.

After a few more types, my report was done, doing it a once over, checking for spelling mistakes, making sure it was accurate to the letter, I sent it to the higher ups. Logging out of my computer, as the screen goes back to flash the FBI logo.

I stand up, stretch my back, reach for my suit jacket as I pull my arms through the sleeves and with a shrug, slide it over my shoulders.

Reaching for my gun holster, sliding it on my pants band, also grabbing my badge giving it a once over then clipping it to my belt. I opened my office door, walking out closing the door behind me with a soft click.

As I walk past the offices, an office door opens, as Matt, a long-term colleague and friend of mine poked his head out.

"Hey James, aren't you forgetting something?" he asks me, as I stop in my tracks and turn around.

I ponder my mind, "I don't think so, what am I forgetting?" I reply.

"The bet I made with you the other day," he says with a smirk.

"Damn, you got me." I say in an annoyed manner. I and Matt made a bet on who would get this year's new car, obviously he won by purchasing a new Chevy pickup, while I still had my three year old Ford Mustang.

It was a twenty dollar bet; I made a defeated look, as I reach in my pocket for my wallet, opened it and fished out a twenty dollar note.

I held it out, as Matt plucked it out of my hand. "There you go, mister new car, you won."

"Hot damn, nice of you to say." He smirks.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." I say.

He laughs. "I'm twenty dollars richer."

"Right," I say, as he continues to laugh at my smug face. "I better be off, see you tomorrow, same time?"

"Like the last fifteen years? You really need to find yourself a girl, James." He says casually.

I give him a bland look, "Really? Like that would happen, I don't think so."

"Yeah, you say that, deep down I know you need a girl, you know you need a girl in your life." He says.

"Eventually Matt, it will happen." I reply.

"Eventually meaning a few years from now?"

"It will happen, when it happens." I say as I look at my watch, "I better be off, Matt, or we'll be here all day with me getting a lecture from you on when I will find a nice girl to settle down with."
"You need that lecture, James."

"Bye, Matt, see you tomorrow." I say as I start walking towards the elevator to make my way down to the underground car park, to the police cruiser the bureau assigned me, an unmarked 2013 Dodge Charger.

"I'm still going to hold the 'you need a girl in your life' against you, James."

"Yeah, yeah." I say over my shoulder as I hit the button for the elevator.

On this hot June evening, ten minutes later I'm on the freeway heading home, as I drive into the residential suburb that I live in, I give a yawn as I can't wait to get home, relax and watch some TV.

I drive past the local sporting park, with a baseball pitch, not a soul in sight, on this beautiful summer evening you would think people would take advantage of that.

A bright blue light is caught in my peripheral vision, and immediately comes to my attention. "Ah, shit. What's going on now? Is it a blown transformer? Or is it teenagers letting off fireworks?" I mutter to myself.

Whatever it was I better go investigate it, in case I need to call the local PD or fire department.

I turned off the main street I was travelling along to go home as I pulled into the car park for the local park.

I parked my cruiser, got out and started walking towards this mysterious light source. I rested my hand on my gun as I got closer and closer, it was a ring of light.

"What the hell is going on?" I mutter. I got closer; the ring of light, which more looked akin to a halo, vanished.

Now I became nervous, I slowly grab hold of my pistol and slide it out of its holster, as I clasp both hands in the traditional weaver technique.

Amongst some maple trees, where the ring of light had been, a person was lying on the ground, limp and not responding, from a distance it looked like a woman.

"Oh, shit. Ma'am! Are you okay?" I call out to her. I inch closer to the person cautiously, with my gun clasped in my hands, just in case it is a deranged or delusional person, intoxicated or high on drugs.

As I got closer, I stopped immediately in my tracks, on realizing who the person is, or 'what' the person is.

"Oh my god," I say slowly, "It can't be. What the hell?" My heart began pounding in my chest.

The person was not just a woman; it was...a dog, but looking like a human, legs, arms, hands and feet.

The closer I got, the more she resembled a wolf of some sort. I remember in my youth, I've seen and read about artistic predictions of animals that resembled us humans or anthropomorphic animals who walk and talk like us, but I had thought it was just all fantasy but, it's... real, but this is impossible.

I withdrew my law enforcement protocol and knelt down, I was nervous, I know what wolves are like, well living in Nevada, a desert more or less, I wouldn't know personally, but I have seen enough nature documentaries to know that they are the top predator when it comes to the wilderness of the mountains in Canada and the eastern states.

It was at this point that I could clearly see that she was bleeding heavily from a wound on her hip as well as her lower leg, as her clothing had soaked up the blood. I slowly lowered my gun and slid it into its holster, as my sense of danger slowly began to give way to concern. I knew that it was perhaps unwise to get involved with something like this, but my natural sense of empathy as well as my genuine desire to help as a law enforcement officer somehow compelled me to tentatively walk over to where she lay and examine her.

I was so dumbfounded by her sudden appearance, coming from a ring of light suspended in mid-air, that's more like a science-fiction movie or TV show as well as spite the fact that I've never seen anything like her, which I never actually looked at her closely, only from a distance until now.

She had a tail like that of a wolf, except bushier in appearance. While the wolves that I've seen in nature documentaries and at zoos had different colored markings and patterns on their fur. I gently ran my hand along her leg to check the severity of her injury; I was surprised to find that her fur was remarkably soft to the touch. Despite the current situation, my eyes ran down the length of her lithe body and came to rest on her chest. While her exact species remained a mystery to me, she still had breasts...and rather beautiful ones at that noted that she was wearing clothes. While it was obvious that she was related to some type of wolf, her maw was not the ferocious visage of death that people had come to associate with them. She had a very gradual and soft look to her snout that surprised me to say the least. I, despite not having seen anything like her in my life or during my FBI career, found her strangely beautiful. Despite the fact that she was unconscious, she seemed to exude a certain aura of elegance.

I observed that she's dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a matching short-sleeved shirt. I notice that she is also wearing leather boots that come up about a third of the way to her knees.

She was coloured a dark grey with white blemishes underneath her chin, which I assumed ran down her chest, I over looked her long bushy tail, it defiantly looked like a wolves tail, it had that bushy look, grey colouring ran the top of her tail to the tip while a white blemish that matched her chest fur ran the bottom of her tail to the tip.

I shook myself as I remembered that she, in fact, was seriously hurt and that her life could very well depend on me at this point. I threw away my misgivings as I moved to lift her gently off the grass and carry her to my police cruiser. Her breathing was erratic and she was shivering slightly.

I look around the park as I hold her in my arms walking towards my parked cruiser, not a soul in sight; no one was out and about. I'm actually thankful that no one was out; I don't know what passersby would think of seeing a man in a black suit holding an anthro wolf girl in his arms, they would get a shock of their life.

I entered the car park with the strange creature in my arms. I, with great difficulty managed to open the back door to my car with her in my arms and carefully laid her on the backseat I then hurried to the trunk of the car, popped it open, revealing all sorts of law enforcement gear, including a 12 gauge pump action shotgun nestled on a rack underneath the trunk lid, I found the first aid kit to get some bandages for her injuries.

I applied some bandages to her wound to hopefully counteract it, just a temporary treatment until I can get her to my house. I flung the backdoor shut with a quick 'thud' as I make my way around the car to the driver's door as I get in and shut the door.

I pause to take a deep breath as I grip the steering wheel making my knuckles go white; this is really taking its toll on me, I release the steering wheel with my grip, as I then give the dashboard a frustrated punch, "This cannot be happening! SHE is not real! This is physically and fundamentally impossible!" I mutter in an annoyed manner.

I casually sit in the driver's seat not knowing what to think, or feel, or say, I grab my phone and unlock it, contemplating if I should call this in to the bureau or local PD. I tap my phone on my thigh, still thinking on what I should honestly do, 'take her to my house; there she will be safe and I can look after her, or bring her to the precinct for questioning on whom she is, where she is from, how she got here.

But she will be considered a new species or even an alien, people higher ranking than the FBI and me combined will take her away from me and then scientists will put her in a lab and study her like some foreign object.'

I start my cruiser, as the V8 engine roared to life, I slammed the gear stick into reverse, backing out of the parking lane, slamming the gear stick into drive then with a light squeal of the tires, take off towards my house.

That's my decision. In no time I arrive at my house, pulling into the driveway, shutting the car off.

Stepping out of my car, shutting the door behind me, I walk around my cruiser to the back door, swinging it open, I lean in, gently and carefully take the female anthro wolf in my arms, she was moderately heavy, but I managed.

Heaving her in my arms, I walk up my front door, managing to fumble with my keys and unlock the front door; I swing around to look if any neighbours have managed to see me, none by the looks of it.

I walk in and softly kick the front door closing it, with my right leg. I throw my keys on a nearby cabinet near the front door; I entered my living room with the anthro wolf in my arms. I laid her on my couch and went to get some more bandages and coagulant for her injuries. I rummaged around in the kitchen for some cloth and shuffled through my bathroom for some medicine.

Several minutes later I returned to her and gasped softly upon seeing that her bleeding had taken a turn for the worse, blood seeping through her clothing onto the upholstery. I immediately knelt down next to her and applied some of the coagulant to the deep cut on her leg. She visibly winced and whimpered in pain, but did not awaken. Her breathing remained quick and shallow, and I quickly applied the medicine to her other wound by carefully and gently sliding up her shorts leg being careful not to make any intimate areas visible and wrapped them both in pieces of a towel that I cut.

Even with her injuries at least temporarily cared for, she still appeared restless and she still panted, sweating profusely. Then I decided to ponder on what I'm seeing, 'I thought dogs and members of the canine family couldn't sweat like we humans do, I thought they only sweated through the foot pads on their feet.

Well I guess I've learned something new by this mysterious wolf girl, which wolves who are anthro like us, can sweat like a human.'

I decided that my couch wouldn't be very suitable for her to rest on, so I carefully though gently picked her up in my arms and made my way to my bedroom upstairs.

I walked up the stairs to the second floor of my house, as my bedroom door was already slightly ajar; I used my foot to open the door as I walked into my bedroom.

I gently placed her on my king-sized bed, tearing away the sheets with my freehand, as I place her down. I quickly dash downstairs to retrieve the medicine I had acquired through rummaging through my bathroom and kitchen, then dashing back upstairs into my bedroom.

I over look her; I momentarily think she would be more comfortable without those boots on or the least amount of clothing.

I slowly, start to untie the laces of her boots, as they become loose and untwined; I slowly slid the boot up and over her left foot, noticing she wasn't wearing any type of socks, assuming wherever she comes from, there's no need for such things.

I slowly place her left boot onto the floor, beside the bed, and then started work on her right boot, untying the laces, and then slowly lifting her right boot up and over her foot, placing it on the floor beside her left boot.

I noticed that her feet weren't like standard canine feet, which are digitigrades, but her feet were like our feet, she had five toes, each one with a sharp claw representing as a toe nail, her feet also had foot pads that dog and cats are known to have, she had them on her toes, her heels, the arch of her foot and also the planum of her foot, which is the area at the top of her foot, behind the toes and the arch.

Since I hadn't the slightest notion as to her species of wolf, I wasn't exactly sure of her susceptibility to normal medications, but I decided to take a chance; for I knew that if her condition persisted...bad things might happen, to the point I will have to call for an ambulance, won't that be a perfect sight for some unsuspecting paramedics. I once again made my way to the bathroom and retrieved a bottle of Nyquil. I returned to her, pouring the turquoise liquid into the plastic cup that came with the bottle. I gently cupped her chin and slowly poured the liquid into her open mouth. Little coughs and sputters followed, but I still persisted. I tilted her head back and was relieved as I felt her throat muscles undulate as she swallowed.

I waited about a minute before her breathing began to slow and return to something resembling normal.

"I don't know exactly what or who you are, but just know that I want to help, as a friend, an alien to you and also a law enforcement officer." I whispered as the strange anthro wolf at last started to rest peacefully.

I slowly and quietly made my way to my bedroom door, opened it, stepped on through closing it softly behind me with a soft click.