nearly skidded into a rose bush. “It’s just…. Carl used to—in the beginning of all his shit—he’d buy me things or give me candy. So I’d like him. Then he’d do… shit to me. I don’t want to do that to Dude. He’s… it’s not right. You either give stuff because you want to or you don’t, you know? Things shouldn’t be… fucked with. I know it’s stupid because he’s a dog and everything, but… hell, apparently he’s my dog. And I don’t want him to be lied to.”
“Fair enough,” Donal murmured softly. “I can see yer point, and I agree. Yer relationship with him is based on a lot of trust. He’s come to ye and depends on ye for that. I understand.”
“Yeah, then you’re the only one.” Miki scoffed. “Most people think I’m insane or something.”
“No, not insane. Just—yer world’s very stripped down, Miki boy. Yer honest. People sometimes have a hard time with honesty. Ye don’t cover things up with pretty words if ye don’t like someone, but yer polite enough to be civil to someone if ye have to.”
“Shit, you must be talking about Brigid.” He grinned at Donal. “Sorry, I know she’s your wife, dude, but she’s… man, she’s like swallowing Sriracha to cool down your throat after you munched on a habañero.”
“It’s why I fell in love with her.” Donal put his feet up on a low coffee table, then grinned at Miki. “M’life was very… ordinary before I met Brigid Finnegan. Then I couldn’t imagine me life without her. Crazy and stubborn to a fault but fierce and loyal. I knew she’d be a good mother to m’children and a good soul to have in m’heart for the rest of m’days. She’s pretty too. That had a long way of it, Miki boy.”
“Yeah, I’m going to take your word on that one.” He shrugged. “Women—not a single… anything.”
“No, I’d gathered not,” Donal teased. “But I promise ye something, Miki boy. I will do my very best to ensure none of mine push ye too hard or do harm to ye and yer dog. That I promise ye.”
“Yeah.” Miki eyed him carefully. “What do I have to do for that?”
“Ye just keep lovin’ my Kane. Because I tell ye, boyo, I’ve never seen m’son as happy as he is with ye.” Donal winked at Miki. “And for that, I’ll battle any dragon that needs it. Even if it’s my boy’s mother.”
Ten
I’D FORGIVEN Kane.
It took me a bit longer than I liked, but when he brought Miki home—my human was not in the condition he’d been when he left the house. He was better now but not at first. It’d been days, but still, he hurt. Badly.
No, Kane was on my shit list. And I could shit a lot.
Luckily for Kane, there was steak being grilled on an outside stove-thing and I’d been promised one of my very own.
Promised by Donal—Father of the Foot-Stompers and Grumbling Mountains, Mate of the Betrayer.
Still, a man sometimes has to make do with what he has in front of him, and that’s the only reason I could think of Donal having the Betrayer as a mate. Well—looking around the yard—she also seemed to have very large litters, a plus if a male wants to establish a bloodline to leave behind.
I’d already done my part. Preferring only human-bonded mates ensures not only a healthy litter but also puppies nearly always guaranteed to find their own humans without much effort. So far, all sixteen of my offspring have been scattered about the neighborhoods, and each of them are content.
That is all a dog could ask for in life.
That and freely-given bacon, but apparently that is too much to ask of some people.
People.
Miki was people. Good people. He’d come back to the house broken a bit but better inside. He’d gone out to fight something inside of him but instead found someone waiting for him—an evil he didn’t create but reaped anyway.
Sometimes humans betrayed each other with much bigger things than bacon.
I found my Miki and climbed up into his lap. He didn’t mind that I’d found the dead fish guts again, although this time, I merely nosed them around a bit. They smelled of Donal and oranges. The first I’m fine with. The second sting my nostrils, so I left it be.
Although by the cat-smug look on Donal’s face when he saw me come out of the roses, I’d say he was the one who’d gotten orange in there somehow.
“Your dog