Collar the Wild

Chapter 7 - Delivery

Ember makes his way back inside, pulling Cal's boots off at the door and lays the game board down on the dining table as instructed. All the plates, bowls and glasses used for lunch have been cleared away and the table itself looks shiny. The decorations in the centrepiece consist of neatly arranged leaves and flowers spiralling a long, oval dish. Inside it there is a bed of coloured pebbles with small twigs and mossy clumps laid over them. Standing up out of the pebbles are two beautifully decorated, hand-pulled glass fish facing each other.

Ember never took the time to properly admire the attention to detail that goes on in the peripheral vision. Cal seems to do very good work making sure this house looks pretty, no matter where you look. The door to the kitchen opens and Hess pops out, startled by the black wolf's sudden presence.

"Ah! Fuckin' 'ell." He curses, and puts his hands on his hips. "Don't loiter behind a door like that. Where's Voigt?"

"Sorry Hess. He's still doing gardening, your master said I should help you instead of him."

"Heh, my master." He chuckles and peers inside the kitchen to check the clock. "Alright, come on, the delivery guys are usually on time."

Ember follows along behind Hess to the main hall who then opens a small cupboard and pulls out two pairs of black shorts with elastic waists. He hands one to Ember and slips his legs into another, slotting his tail into a crudely cut hole under the waistband.

"Can't have regular people see our dicks" Hess mutters, almost sounding disappointed.

"I'm surprised you're not more concerned that we're still in wolf form. Don't they get scared?"

"They did, for a while. It was a whole thing early last year and was not pretty. Took us ages to find a delivery service to transport stuff to us because a lot of the distributors wouldn't do it themselves." Hess explains walking to the front door and opening it.

Walking out behind him, this is the first Ember has seen of the front of the mansion. It seems very typical of this style based on what he's seen of the rear; trim grass, well-tended bushes and flower beds on either side of a path leading to the bulb of a teardrop roundabout. A van is just pulling up behind the gate and a man steps out to punch a code into the keypad. The gates swing open and he steps back inside to haul the vehicle closer.

The two wolves go down the path, one approaching more cautiously than the other as the van is pulled to a stop and two men get out. One smiles nervously and walks around to the back to unlock the metal doors and the driver comes around the front and up to the brown wolf.

"Hess! Good to see you." He swings his arm and vigorously shakes Hess's hand, talking cheerfully. "It's usually the other two I see for deliveries, how are you doing my friend?"

"It's been a while, eh? They don't let me out of the kitchen very much" he replies, winking to show he's joking. "Is that a new guy? Where's Eric?"

"Broke his leg poor guy, so he's out of the deliveries for a bit while he gets better. I'm hoping he can bounce back, 'cause he was a good lifter." The cheerful human says solemnly.

"Oh no! Give my best to him, alright?"

"I will, he'll like that. I have Keith with me instead today." He turns around but his partner is already out of sight. "He's here on my word he'll be safe, but with you here I'm not too sure now."

They laugh and Hess turns to the side, holding out an arm towards the black wolf. "Simon, I'd like you to meet our newest member, Ember."

"Heh, Ember ... member" Simon chortles and holds out a hand which Ember takes gingerly, not sure how tightly he should grip. "It's great to meet you, mate. You look like you can carry pretty good, so why don't you go help Keith haul the stuff off the van?"