The Return by Dayna Lorentz

head in Ginny’s direction.
    â€œNot any story I want to hear,” she groaned.
    â€œI don’t give a ripped toy if his story is terrible,” grumbled Rufus. “It doesn’t excuse anything he did. He’s still a bad dog, no matter what happened to him.”
    Shep didn’t disagree with Rufus — just because Zeus’s first family had abandoned him didn’t make up for the fact that Zeus had murdered dogs, their friends. But still, Shep hadn’t known that about his friend — his ex-friend. Zeus had always seemed a little distant, a little afraid of getting too close, like it was fine to play in the Park together, but forget anything else. Not that with collars around their necks, they could have done more. But he wondered if maybe they had barked about it, back when they had been friends in the Park, would Zeus have run off and joined the wild pack? Could things have been different if they had been better friends?
    Shep wondered how well he knew any of these dogs. For all the suns they’d spent together, they’d had precious few heartbeats to just woof about themselves. Shep wanted to know his pack better, and now that chance was slipping away. All so that these dogs could return to their collars, to the families that left them behind. Now that’s an idea….
    â€œI’ve got a story for you,” Shep woofed. “Once there was a pup who was born in the fight kennel. He grew up and escaped the fight cage only to find himself caught in a harsh world run by wild dogs. He thought he was saved when he was taken in by his boy, but then his boy abandoned him to be eaten by a storm.”
    He looked at his packmates to see if they’d caught his scent; they looked at him with stricken muzzles, tails low and still.
    He continued, “But this story has a happy ending. That dog met an amazing girldog and they rescued other dogs left alone in the storm by their families. She helped him to smell that dogs are meant to live as a pack, not alone in human dens.”
    He scanned the snouts of his friends. “Are you sure you want to go home to the humans who abandoned you?” he barked. “Why don’t we all stay here? There’s lots of prey to hunt in the Park. We dogs can rely on each other!” He smiled and panted and waved his tail.
    No tail answered his wag.
    Callie loped to Shep’s side. She winced a small, tight smile. “I’m sorry, Shep,” she woofed. “But we want to go home.” She licked his nose. “Your boy loves you. I’m certain that if he could have taken you with him, he would have.”
    All the dogs pressed closer to Shep and Callie, as if trying to take comfort from her woofs. They smelled scared and sad — Shep hadn’t made them want to stay with him; he’d made them think their families hated them. What kind of alpha did a thing like that?
    Pumpkin cocked her muzzle. “You all seem so, how can I bark this, kind of desperate? Crazy?” she yipped. “I mean, your humans love you. It’s like in Ginny’s story-thing — humans and dogs need each other. Once we get to the shelter, you’ll see!”
    â€œEasy for you to woof,” Zeus snapped. “Your mistress never left you. You never had to fight for your life on the streets.”
    â€œTrue,” woofed Pumpkin. “But that’s all over now. You’re almost home.”
    â€œThere’s a lot of city between us and home,” Dover barked, shaking himself. He turned to Shep and with a stern gaze woofed, “The sun’s setting.”
    Shep licked his jowls. He’d made his pitch as best he could; he didn’t want to upset his pack any further. If no dog wanted to stay with him, he’d have to form a new pack. But he’d promised Callie he’d get her home, and he would not break a promise to her.
    â€œLet’s get into formation,” he howled.

Shep gave the dogs a