Collar the Wild

Chapter 14 - Magic

"Hello again, Ember." Alek greets cheerfully, looking up from writing on some paper. "Sorry to have turned you away like that, I just didn't want to take up too much of the others' time while they're waiting for us to finish. Come, sit."

"Thank you, master."

"If it still makes you uncomfortable, you can drop the title if we're on our own. At least for a couple of days."

"No ... that's alright, master," Ember dips his chin. "I should learn to get used to it."

"Good boy." Alek smiles and gets back to writing on the paper.

Ember wriggles a little in his seat when he gets called a good boy, and then tries to look to see what the human is doing. With a special kind of pen, he seems to be writing symbols on a square piece of paper, seemingly unconcerned that the wolf is watching. Ember gives up trying to understand the strange language and looks around on the desk instead to see that it's changed considerably since he was last sat in this chair. There is a large, metal contraption with a long lever that looks like it's used for stamping or pressing things. Next to it is an elevated metal crucible with a lit candle under it and a pile of blue wax melts in a small box.
When Alek finishes writing, he scrunches up the paper, sets it down in the shallow dish above the candle and uses a little wooden stick to set it on fire. It burns very quickly and leaves a grey ash in the basin. Then he drops in one of the beads and they both watch as it begins to liquify and suck up all the ash until it glitters, with a little assistance from a tiny metal spatula. Alek stands up and insists the wolf do so as well.

"I don't know if he told you, but Voigt offered to stand guard while this happened." He says, gesturing the wolf to lean forward. "I told him I wouldn't need his assistance and I believe that to be true."

The small key in Alek's hand drops into the lock and with a quick turn, the collar springs off and is caught before it clatters to the table. In an instant, a sense of freedom washes over the wolf's body, tingling his fur. He doesn't feel like he needs to worship this human anymore. He no longer feels the urge obey, and most importantly, he no longer feels repulsed by the thought of leaving.

However, in that moment, counter-reactions start flaring in his brain. Reminders of his recent past flash into his vision as a warning, disparaging the notion of returning to it. The empty cabin, the mindless wandering, the shitty job, the emotionless one night stands ... The very idea of running away, now leaves him with a sense of guilt for throwing away the best thing that's ever happened to him. Abandoning the first people who genuinely seem to care about him and discarding the gift of their generosity makes him sick to his stomach to a point where convince himself that the collar is off and that this isn't another of Alek's magical influences.

Making a final decision that will determine his future, he sits back down and smiles at his master.

"I knew I was right to trust my instincts." Alek says proudly and places the collar on his desk before sitting back down. "Just be careful with the leather."

Ember tilts his head and follows Alek's gaze as he looks down. He yips and quickly grabs his semi-erect penis just before a glob of pre drips down onto the chair. The touch alone excites his penis further so he has to let it go and keep it propped up on his legs so it doesn't attempt to leak on the floor. Now that there is no longer a resistance against his orgasms, the urge to masturbate has now skyrocketed. Thankfully, the presence of the human is providing enough formality, that he feels it would be inappropriate, especially since he knows there would be negative consequences to those actions. Instead he decides to distract himself by focusing on what Alek is doing with the collar.

He flips it over, unhooks the silver plate with the pair of pliers and pulls it off. He then places it gently and strategically on the baseplate of the press and pulls down the lever until a new sigil is plastically formed into the metal. Then he slides out the plate with the new mark and dabs a cotton bud soaked with a clear liquid into the impression before drying it with the other end. In very little time from that point, as though there was a sensitive window, he picks up the metal dish with the shiny blue fluid with a pair of tongues and pours it in. The liquid fills out all the corners inside the mould, but to be sure, he holds it over the candle until the silver heats up a little bit and allows the wax to form a better bond to the metal.