We were on our nightly walk through the forest. The chain clinked as I walked beside Nicklaus, careful not to walk ahead. I had done everything asked without so much as crying all week. As a reward, Nicklaus takes me on two walks a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Afterwards, he hoses me down and has me wait in his bedroom whilst he showers. After, we both go to bed. A loud 'thud' snapped me back into reality. I looked over as I stopped walking. Nicklaus had stopped and was staring straight ahead. Following his gaze, I saw a small child laying face down on the ground. They were covered in dirt and their clothes were torn and almost shredded to pieces. His skin was battered and bruised with mud dried to hair and skin both. There was barely any skin over his bones, showing he was starved and underweight. The poor malnourished boy looked only to be eight.

My instinct was to run over and make sure the young child was alive, but my fear of Nicklaus was greater. I stayed put. Nicklaus began to approach the boy and I walked beside, the chains making small clink sounds with every step. We stopped at the boys head and Nicklaus crouched down. I whimpered slightly at the fear of what he would do to the boy as he reached a hand out and rested it on the boys dirty hair. It took me by surprise when he then attached the chain to his waist and picked the child up.

"Come." Nicklaus said as he looked down at me with a blank expression.

We walked back to the house as I kept glancing at the boy in his arms. I could hear his heavy breathing. He was in pain. The sounds of the forest that I normally listened to were now blocked out as my soul focus was the boy; His heavy breathing, the slight groans and grunts of pain, and the incoherent mumbles. As we entered the house, there were some pack members I didn't recognize standing by the door. Nicklaus passed the boy to one of them and watched as they walked off to another room. I stood by Nicklaus and bowed my head to wait for my next command. The chain as tugged gently as he began to walk towards his office. I quickly moved to walk beside him.

Once in the office, Nicklaus disconnected the chain and walked towards his desk, as I stood by the door with my head bowed. I heard movement as the chain was put away and the cage opened. "Get in." My head stayed bowed as I plodded over to the cage and climbed in. I was numb to most emotions now. It was like there was a void in me that ate everything that I felt. The cage was shut as I curled up and rested my head on my paw. Nicklaus walked to his desk where he opened his laptop and began to do some work on it. This time there was less typing and more reading. Time passed and I was bored and sleepy. But I couldn't sleep. Not without permission. I must of sighed at that point because all of Nicklaus' movement stopped. No papers rustling, no typing on the laptop, no clicking of the mouse, no scratching of a pencil; Nothing. In a panic, I looked up at him. Our eyes landed on each-other and I just couldn't look away like I knew I should.

"You can have a shower later. You can sleep for now." Warmness filled me for a moment. 'Is he actually being considerate of me? No, of course not'. I was being crazy. My thoughts where just pointless and hopeless dreams. However, it still didn't stop the smile that made its way onto my face. My head rested on my paws as I curled my tail around me and closed my eyes. I saw Jon. I saw Charlotte. I saw the family that adopted me and welcomed me into their homes. The amount of homesickness I felt was killing me. 'Will I feel this way forever or will it get easier? Will I forget them? Voices, smells, appearances?' So many thoughts flooded my mind.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I did. I woke up still in the cage, but with the exception of the ticking of the clock, the room was silent. Looking over at the desk, I was surprised to see the chair empty. There was no sign of him in the room, and I really needed to stretch out. The desire to run was rushing through me. My body ached at being forced into a confined space for so long and was earger to run and get my blood pumping and adrenaline racing. That wasn't going to happen though.
What felt like hours passed and still no sign of Nicklaus. Movement had started up again throughout of the rest of the house, but no one came by the office.

Getting too antsy, I tried to move around as much as I could, getting into different positions. Nothing helped. A few seconds after I gave up and remained curled up with my tail around me, the phone in the office rang. Hope of it bringing Nicklaus back into the room started to rise but quickly sank as reality slapped me 'round the face. A huff made it's way through my mouth, making a weird whiny sound. Never before had I heard a wolf huff.
I was so caught up with my thoughts that I didn't notice the man enter the room. The man from before. The man who had given me the phone then escorted me to the office after my nap. But as the door creaked and slammed shut, the switch in my head was flipped back to reality, making my head also turn to face him. He waltzed over nonchalantly and opened the cage. Looking at him for reassurance to leave, I hesitantly crawled out as I paused and stretched my front legs then hind legs momentarily. He was glaring at me so I quickly let my tail tuck under me and my head droop in a bow. "He wants you to wait in his bedroom. Follow." Again, not many words were said. I simply nodded and plodded along behind him as he held open the office door.
Moving around the house in wolf form wasn't much of a challenge since I was such a small wolf. According to Charlotte, the amount of times a wolf transforms while still growing can play a role in the size due to its development. Therefore, it makes sense that my wolf is on the smaller side. In the bedroom, I stayed in wolf form as I had not been instructed to turn. I was somewhat thankful since I would have been naked in front of yet another man. Nicklaus had a large dog bed on the floor in his room on which I was told to wait on. The man left the room once I had obeyed and locked the door. The room was dark since he hadn't turned the lights on or opened any curtains. An eerie feeling lingered in the air, uncertainty rolling over me like that of waves far out at sea. None of this was a part of the routine of which I was learning to become accustomed. The feeling was that of the first days I was here. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait around long before Nicklaus returned. Ignoring me, he walked straight past to grab his clothes and made a beeline for the bathroom, presumably to shower. It was when he came out in his nightclothes that he finally paid me a slither of attention.

"Change."

One word. After all that time, that was the only thing he could say. But I still obeyed. Closing my eyes, I focused on seeing how I looked as a human. Every detail from my shape to colour, I visualized every bit. When I opened my eyes, I was curled up naked upon the dog bed.

"You can go to bed." He said. I nodded and shuffled to the bed, fighting to keep my arms at my side as he got angry when I tried to cover myself. Tonight however, was different. His eyes weren't taking in my body like usual. There was a blank stare on his face instead as if in deep thought. Maybe it was to do with the boy that he had found. But I shan't dare ask. I simply obey.
Once in bed and under the warm cozy covers, I made my attempt to sleep...