Fly

The Devil wears a fur coat

I'm dedicating this to Jcpuppydog thanks for the votes!

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I turned around with so much force that my thrashing tail left an angry red mark forming in my girls leg. A deep growl escaped through my raised lips, my hackles stood on end. I was seething with fury at this...this... monster. He had ruined my young life, but I wasn't about to let it continue; this fight needed to end. Today.

"Long time, no see, huh Storm? The last time we saw each other must have been...oh, that day in the training rings at Riverwood Academy. I've seen you around quite a lot though, you just never saw me.", he smirked. Behind me I heard the confident voice of my girl speaking up.

"Sorry, how do you know my dog?", she questioned. He chuckled, averting his gaze to rest on her.

"This little mongrel used to be mine. He was pathetic, so I got rid of him. When I saw him that day talking to Breeze, I decided that my fun was far from over and he still hadn't fully learnt his lesson.", he sneeringly replied

"And what does this have to do with Breeze?"

"She's my dog.", he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

My girl gasped slightly and turned to face Lily, expecting her to deny the claim.

"Poppy, I'm sorry. It's just, I thought if you knew I didn't actually own a dog, you'd become just like the others who bullied me for it. I really am sorry for not telling you though..."

My girl, true to herself, nodded her head in disbelief, smiled and put her hand on Lily's shoulder.

"I understand, and I forgive you. It was quite hard for me to admit to you guys that Storm and I were only there on a scholarship. Don't worry about it!"

I smiled. It was most definitely her best trait, being able to forgive easily. It had sure done me justice over the years because I used to be quite a cheeky pup!

"Sorry to ruin such a 'perfect' moment, but I still want what's rightfully mine.", Jake interrupted.

"'Rightful' my behind. He's no more yours that he is The Queen of England's!", my girl countered, seething with anger. I nudged her, my way of telling her to let me handle this. I stepped forwards, closing the gap between us.

"But aren't you curious to know how I did it, how I found out you were who I thought you were", Jake asked, his voice changing from one of determination, to one of mocking.

I nodded at him, my curiosity peaking. There was only one dog who knew who I had previously belonged to, and one person, my girl, who had never told a soul before now. But that meant...I had to be...no, Breeze would never do that to me.

"It wasn't Breeze, Storm. That little mutt would never betray you, don't you see the way she admires you, how she looks at you when you're out on that course? Even a blind monkey could have seen it. No, I had inside help getting to you, a professional none the less."

As if on some sort of cue, a black and white spotted Border Collie swaggered towards us from the direction of the gates. He held a confidence that instinctively made us all take a slight step back. He was intimidating, for want of a more powerful word.

"This is Jack. You may have seen him around campus before because he too is my dog, my rightful dog. He saw you and showed you to me, he wanted revenge on you as much as I did.", Jake sniggered. Either I was stupid, or he was making no sense. I had never met this dog before, why did he want revenge on me?

"I see you still do that head tilting thing when you're curious. I'm surprised you don't recognise him, Storm. Jack here is your brother. I was meant to be having him as a Christmas present. He was the puppy I wanted, you were just the little runt who sat isolated in the corner. Well, my parents agreed there and then to get Jack, but when they went to pick him up, without me there, they changed their minds and took you instead".

Well, that explained it, but I still didn't understand why Jake couldn't have just been happy with me.

"I had told all my friends that I was getting a cool puppy, not an ugly, spindly mongrel. And Jack never found a home after that until I went back for him. He missed out on his puppyhood because of you.", Jake finished.

"And don't you think it's a little unfair that you ruined Storm's puppyhood because you were an ungrateful, spoiled little brat. I would've given anything to get a puppy for Christmas, whether it was the one I picked, or the one my parents picked.", my girl interrupted.

"Stay out of this, girl.", Jake snapped. I took an intimidating step towards him, how dare he speak like that to my girl, she wasn't doing anything wrong. My hackles raised and my teeth were bared; I was ready to end this fight, today.

He tried at first to just laugh at me, thinking I was going to back down, that I wasn't serious in my actions. When I advanced on him further, his shield began to crumble, his eyes filled with fear. I was furious at what he had done; done to me, and to all those other dogs that he hurt.

But I still couldn't do it. Not because I didn't want to, but because, without him, I never would've been given everything I hold dear to me now. So I stopped, just like that, and walked back over to my girl, and to Lily, Bo, and back to Breeze.

Jake stood confused, Jack just as equally by his side. But there was another reason I stopped, for stood behind the monster stood its catcher. And by the catcher stood two angels in fur: Nugget and Natcho. While the police officers arrested the man and captured the dog, Nugget and Natcho ran to us.

"We hope you don't mind our dropping in on what we assumed was a private conversation...", Nugget started

"...but we thought you could use a little assistance!", Natcho finished for him.

"Jake took us from our kennel and tied us up with rope, of all things, and we escaped, got the police to follow us..."

"And showed them the farm!"

"Yeah, and showed them the farm, then brought them here!" Nugget and Natcho said together. Breeze rushed forwards and embraced the two Collie crosses. Lily and Poppy watched on, Bo stood eating the flowers and I walked over to Jake.

And as I watched the man who had affected my life so much, climb into the back of a police van, I felt nothing. I used to feel love, a deep burning affection; he was my boy after all. When he left me, I felt pain, anger and betrayal; no decent person should just abandon their dog. But now? Now I felt nothing.

He meant nothing to me, and for the first time in my life, I felt truly happy.

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A/N
So, only the epilogue left...hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I loved writing it! Well, the end part anyway.

Anyways, the question today is simply:
Did you enjoy the book? And if not, how could I improve it?

I plan on going back through every chapter to edit them and make them longer if needs be, but any improvements besides those?

Epilogue will be up soon as I've almost finished writing it. If any of you have any questions about anything, please ask!

Waggy tails
Storm xx