"C'mon, Kami, let's go!" My owner's daughter, Cailey called to me from the doorway, the sun outside shadowing her face. I could still see that smile, a wide one that could brighten up anyone's day. But it was fragile, and could be shattered by the slightest touch.

     I bounded after her outside, quickly leaving my thick bed to jump around in the grass. She bounced out of the doorway so she wouldn't get pushed over by me, but she quickly chased me down the rocky steps. As her six year old legs tried to catch me, I caught a glance of her mother and father coming outside, side by side with a plate of sandwiches. The mother was setting them down on the picnic table on the opposite side of the fenced in back yard.

     "Cailey, lunch time," Cailey's father chirped and sat down at the table. Cailey panted over and collapsed on it.

     "Watch your hair," the mother named Carrie clawed a bit of Cailey's hair out of some mayonnaise on the sand which plate. I stepped onto the picnic table as well and hovered over the food. "And watch for Kami too, he looks hungry."

     I turned and tapped Cailey's thigh and whined pitifully for a chunk of her now half eaten sandwich which. It earned a few laughs from the family, along with half of an extra sub. Man, did that taste good.

     Once we finished eating, Cailey and I continued our chase. I let her catch up to me when she got tired. She jumped on my back, tackling me to the ground. I rolled onto my back with her landing on the soft grass. She jumped onto my side as I tried to look at her to fend for her attack. My head connected with hers, and because I was panting in the Arizona heat, my mouth was open and my teeth connected with her face. She got up, running and crying to her parents.

     "Kami... Kami bit me!" She screamed, holding her face in her hands as she tried to catch her breath.

     "No! No, it was an accident! Please, no!" I pleaded, coming over to Cailey who was being cradled in her mother's lap. I knew they couldn't understand me.

     "Brandon, get Kami, he's gonna bite her again. He's rabid. Look at him barking, he's just a wolf," Carrie said in a shakey voice, shielding me with her free hand. She wanted to scream, I could tell, but she was trying to calm Cailey. Brandon rushed into the house, grabbing a small black remote.

Zap!

     I heard many clicks - which meant that the shock collar was on full blast.

ZAP!

     I flew into the air and cowered with my tail between my legs and my ears pinned to my hackles as I shuffled under the picnic table. Brandon quickly reached behind the door for a long pole with a strong string hoop on the end. He rushed over to me and slipped it around my neck, despite my objections of backing up and ducking down further under the table. With Carrie watching with a face of horror in the background, he pulled on my legs and the pole and led me into the open. Pulling me into the house, he grabbed the phone and quickly dialled a number that I was all too familiar with. He held me inside with sweat running down his brow until I heard a van pull up.

     The side read, "Arizona Humane Society." I knew where this was going. No, I knew where I was going.

     I was dragged through the house, out the front door, down the walkway and then onto the pavement despite my fight.

     "This would be a lot easier if you'd cooperate, Kami," a woman wearing a protective suit grumbled as she swapped the metal pole with a readoption card for Brandon. I hated that she knew my name, that she was familiar with me enough to know it. That we'd been in this situation so many times before to know me on a first name basis.

     The woman, Brandon, and the driver picked up my squirming body from the pavement and forced me into the carrier. As they closed the door, I kicked and slammed the walls and bit and clawed everything I could reach. I felt trapped and helpless and there was nothing I could do about it besides one thing - make them regret the things they put me through. Make them feel guilty. I did this by howling deathly groans and yelps as if I was being run over as they closed the big white doors of the van. All I was meant for was to be thrown out like trash by families around Arizona.

--

     Half an hour later I heard the engine die and the air conditioning cease. Then, there were footsteps, and soon after the white van doors creaked open again.

     "Sorry Kam, I hate to do this to you," the woman slumped over as she lifted up the cage with the help of the driver. They heaved as they carried me through the Arizona Humane Society doors, setting me down in the lobby where they registered a returned dog report. I was let out of my cage but only with a muzzle and a kevlar leash, being led to the adoption halls where I was turned over to a short volunteer.

     "Hey Kami, welcome back!" I heard a Great Dane call to me in one of the cages of the hall. I growled lowly at him. He'd only been in here for two weeks.

     I was put in my normal kennel - the one at the very end of our hall, which was the hall for notoriously 'bad' dogs. Next to me wasn't the normal Chip, a medium poodle with a habit for escaping their owners, but in his place were empty bowls. He must've gotten out sometime in the last week, as that was the time that I was with the Mikinnon family. Lucky dog. He'd be back, though. They must've expected him back soon.

     The volunteer was a young man, maybe twenty, who often showed up at the shelter and requested especially to handle the big dogs. He grew fond of me, and I think he started to feel bad for me when I came back to the shelter time and time again.

     "Sorry," he glanced at my reused name tag as he put me in my kennel, "Kamikaze."

     He poured me the normal water and dry food. Before he stepped out of the kennel, he paused, looking over his shoulder. Thinking for a moment, he finally reached into his pocket and discarded a green bone toy onto the cement floor and walked down the hall after locking up my kennel.

     "Home again, home again," I mumbled looking at my reflection in the water bowl and slumping next to it.

     "You look crazy when you talk to yourself like that. No wonder you got brought back!" The same Great Dane from the other end of the hall chirped. Many others in the hall started laughing. He'll be out soon, I thought, inwardly this time. Frowning, I flattened out in the corner of the cage, staring at the rubber bone in the center of the kennel.

     It wasn't long before a beefy man strutted into the hall with a grin, tattoos lining his body. He was one of the ones who were looking for either a fighter dog or a guard dog. After being in the kennels for so long, you get to know the types of people and what they wanted.

     "What's this one? What breed?" He asked, a hardened expression on his face as he held it in his hand. He was scanning the Great Dane for muscles and determination.

     "Great Dane, purebred," the volunteer replied, staring at me from through the cages.

     "Nah," the adopter said simply as his face sank.

     The man continued to ask the same question as he went down the hall with the volunteer getting increasingly annoyed at the repetition. He looked interested in a pit bull that was in the center of the hall, but he was determined to keep looking for the best dog in the entire pound. Then he came to my cage.

     "What's this one?" He asked again, bending over and looking for teeth and claws, maybe even foam coming out of my mouth.

     "Wolf-husky mix," the clearly bored trainer replied.

     "Is that even legal?"

     "Yeah."

     "Are we allowed to bring him out?"

     "Yeah, but you have to wear this," the volunteer motioned to a thick leather jacket swaying on a hook on the wall next to him.

     The man put it on, zipping it up. It barely fit around his probably-full-of-steroids body. With a greedy grin like the Cheshire Cat he watched the volunteer unlock the cage. He stepped inside and crouched in front of me, his pants that were also leather squeaking. Prodding me with his arm out in front of my jaws to see if I'd bite, I sniffed his hand, which made his frown reappear.

     "It's a wuss!" The man complained, turning around and stomping to the pit bull cage. "Open this one."

     The volunteer pried the door open and let the man inside, the dog instantly snarling with tears of foam curling down his wrinkled neck.

     "This one," the man grins, letting the dog bite and tear at his arm. Confidently he tapped the dog on the nose. The dog instantly stopped growling, clearly intimidated by the man. The volunteer rolled his eyes and took the man to arrange his papers for adoption.

     After a few hours, I heard a group of people coming through the halls next to mine.

     "Felix, that's the bad dog row," I heard a motherly voice say.

     "I want to see all the dogs," a child replied, peeking into the hall.

     The family of four - a mother and father, a sister and a brother - entered the arch of the hall. The family walked like a row of ducks with the father going behind the two kids, the mother going first. The little girl was latched on to her mother's wrist while the boy rushed up to cages and stared in pure awe, despite the growling the dogs gave in return. They made their way slowly down the hall. When they came to my cage, the parents looked skeptical while the kids seemed excited to see a wolf, like they were in a zoo.

     "Can we pat him?" The little girl asked, pressing up against the cage eagerly. Oddly, she seemed less scared of a wolf than the other domesticated dogs. Maybe, I thought, it's because I'm the only one not foaming at the mouth in this place. I wondered if I should even try to get these people to like me. My morale was in the hole after the Mikinnons.

     "Yeah. I don't know why he's even in this hall, he's such a nice dog. Must've run out of room in the other halls," the volunteer stared at me as he made his way into the echoing hall. He must've heard the family from the hall next door. The way his expression was and the way he talked wasn't normal, almost as if he was putting on an act. Not for himself, but for me. His voice was tender and sincere, trustworthy and easy to listen to. It was his way of urging me to get up - he wanted me to get a forever home. He opened up the kennel door without the necessity of the protective leather jacket almost instinctually knowing that it wouldn't be needed.

     "What kind of dog is he? Looks like a wild animal," the mother asked almost like she was trying to sound enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. She looked the most skeptical about getting a dog.

     "He's a wolf-husky mix."

     I fakely whined happily, jumping up and wagging my tail so hard that my entire backside was swaying. The kids fumbled over to me with happy squeals. As they hugged and patted me, I licked their faces, earning a few laughs and 'aww's. The parents seemed to grow interested in me, walking into the cage and scuffing up my ears themselves.

     "So what do you say, Felix? Marie?" The father asked, smiling down at my pleading eyes that weren't fake anymore. I was trying to make that volunteer happy, even if I was going to be back in 1-3 weeks anyway.

     "I love him!" They cheered in unison, Marie jumping onto my back. I froze, not wanting the same thing to happen with her as what happened with Cailey.

     "Great!" The volunteer smiled and then looked at the parents. "You come with me, your kids will be fine with Kami."

     "That's his name?" I heard the mother ask before my ears were being tugged on like reins on a horse by Marie who was hovering over my back.

     "Well, his name is Kamikaze, but we call him Kami for short."

     "Well Kami, you're gonna be my best friend! We're gonna dress you up, braid your fur, paint your nails and everything together!" Marie buzzed after stepping away to see what she could modify on my body.

     The parents came back with wide smiles, the mother shoving a few papers into her leather purse. The volunteer hooked a thick leash around my neck and handed the new owners a muzzle and shock collar.

     "It's protocol. He's not actually gonna need this," he informed and looked back at me. "He's a good family dog."

     "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Marie cheered, jumping up and down while trying to sneak away with the leash. I picked up the green bone and was ready to set a new record for how long I could stay with one family.

     "I don't even know if you need the leash," the volunteer said and took the bone from my mouth, launching it down the hall. Knowing what he was doing, I blasted down the hall and came back with the bone in my panting jaws, head held high. "See?"

     The parents looked at each other than to the volunteer approvingly, the father taking the bone from my mouth and chucking it down the hall again. I came back with it, the leash lazily dangling behind me. The volunteer unhooked the leash and let the father hold the bone on the way out of the pound.

"That was quick," the Great Dane seethed as I walked past. With my head held on an invisible pedestal of pride, I paid no attention to him.

     "C'mon Kami, let's go home!" Marie bounced out of the Center's doors. In and out in only five hours... New record! I thought and left with a pleased grin. The outside air felt more crisp and new, as it did whenever I was adopted. However, this time it was more special. It was an intense urge to start anew, to really try and stay with this family, or at least spend as much time with them as I could.

     I was led to their bleach white suburban that had a thin skin of dust from the desert roads. The father clicked a button on the keys and the solid trunk door pried itself open. Inside was a puffy hazel dog bed with soft fur tufts, my favorite kind of bed that was made only by a specific manufacturer. They also produce my favorite food-related toy, which was an edible red bone that had pork fat filling and the outside shell was thin bone.

"Get inside, boy," the father motioned with his hands and then patted the trunk floor. It had a rubber lining to keep out fur. I hopped up, still wagging my tail. He slammed down the heavy trunk and got into the car, as did the rest of the family. On the way the kids sat in the back with me, freaking out that they had their first dog and pulling on my ears. I didn't mind. I loved it. I loved being loved.

We drove for maybe half an hour before the car slowed to a stop in a standard family friendly neighbourhood. The family name was Carsons, as said on their mailbox. Their house was an average one, but they had a very nice fenced in yard in the back. I was pretty sure they had a pool as well. Maybe this could be the home that I could stay in forever. I just had to be carful. I knew that people were slow to accept wolf-dogs - if at all.