My Pet Mate

Chapter 1

A bell rung as I entered the shelter, and a boy came in running, "Hello! Welcome to The Angel Paw Animal Shelter. How can I help you?" he spoke. The boy looked to be around 17.

"I'm looking for a dog to adopt." I spoke.

"Awesome! We have plenty of those wishing for a new and happy home. If you would follow me." The boy spoke and took me to the dogs.

As soon as the door opened the sound of barking filled my ears. It was loud and gave me a headache but it also made me excited for my new friend. We looked at plenty of dogs, some big some small. I didn't really mind what kind of dog I would get. I suppose with my apartment a small dog would be ideal. But big dogs have always been my favorite as a kid, since they gave me a sense of safety. There was a big field of grass behind my apartment, a sort of community space for the people living there. So I could take it out there. I also lived in a fairly safe neighborhood, so I wasn't afraid to take it on walks either.

Eventually we passed a cage were the dog wasn't barking excitedly up and down. Instead, it was hidden in the corner of the cage, and it seemed like it was sleeping. I crouched down in front of the cage.

"What is up with this one?"

The boy gave me a sad smile, "That one is a special case. He's usually like that, just laying in the corner. We caught him just outside the woods, we're honestly not sure what breed it is. Looks like a wolf more than a dog but the dog catcher insisted on bringing it here. He's usually aggressive towards people and other dogs and doesn't like to eat dog food. We think he might be spoiled, since he will only eat actual meat."

I hummed in reply, "I wonder what happened to him before he got caught."

The boy shrugged, "No one knows. Like I said, he's either sleeping or acting really aggressively. We're afraid we'll have to put him down sometime soon, because of his behavior."

"That's so sad." I muttered as I slowly extended my hand in the cage.

"Be careful! You wouldn't be the first one he bites." The boy warned me. I retracted my hand.

The dog however, seemed to suddenly wake up. His head shot to me and it almost felt like it was staring at me. He seemed to shoot from his trance and stood up and walked over, sitting down in front of me.

"Huh? That never happens." The boy mumbled.

I looked at the dog, I hadn't realized just how big he was. I was crouched down and sitting down he was as slightly bigger than my posture. I was around 5ft7, so I wasn't short, but this dog looked to be around 5ft or so and it definitely looked wolf like. It was mostly black with a silver glow, but what stood out to me was his beautiful blue eyes. The dog was magnificent, and I wondered how a dog this beautiful ever ended up here.

It was calmly staring at me, as if he was trying to tell me something. I slowly reached out again, and he placed his head against my hand. His fur was incredibly soft, and I carefully pet him.

"Wow. Are you a dog whisperer? He's usually growling and barking at everything he sees!"

The wolf's head turned to the boy and as if he heard him, he gave him a growl.

"See? You must be special!" the boy chuckled, clearly used to this behavior.

I smiled at the dog, who was now looking at me again. "I'll take him." I spoke without really thinking about it.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If he's nice to me it would be rude to turn him down and let you guys put him down later." I explained my reasons.

"I suppose so. But I mean he isn't just aggressive, he's massive and like I said, he doesn't eat normal dog food. Buying him meat will be expensive." The boy told me.

I shook my head, "I'll figure it out. I'll take him."

The boy nodded, "Ok! Well then, let's go take care of the paperwork."

I smiled and stood up, making the dog in front of me whimper. "It's ok boy, I'll be back soon." I told him before walking off.

"So, what do we know about the dog?" I asked the boy when we were back at the front desk and the boy was grabbing the dog's paperwork.

"Not much, the fact that he is a boy, that he doesn't eat dog food and that he has an aggressive and lazy nature." The boy explained as he handed me some papers to fill in.

I hummed in reply as I started filling out my name and information. When I was done filling out the boy gave me another paper with the dog's information while he went out to collect the dog from his cage.

As I was pondering on what to name him, I heard the boy curse and suddenly the door opened and I was tackled by the dog, who started licking my face. I started laughing as the tongue tickled and I tried to push him off me. "S-stop boy! You're heavy!" I tried to say between my giggles.

The boy came running out with a worried look on his face. "Thank God, I thought he'd attack."

The dog got off me and growled at the boy. I stood up as well and gave the dog a pat on the head, "No, I think he's happy to be out of the cage." I told him with a smile.

After that I continued filling out the form, this time also holding onto the leash of the dog to make sure he wouldn't escape.

"Do we know the dog's age?" I asked the boy.

He shrugged in response, "Nope. We're guessing not too old. Around 4 or 5 years old. But we're not sure."

The dog snorted beside me, making both the boy and I look at it with questioning glances.

"Uh... anyway. What are you gonna name him?" The boy asked.

I sighed, "I'm not sure. I'm never good at names and a lot of good names are already associated with students."

"You're a teacher?" The kid asked.

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah," I turned to the dog, "what do you want to be called boy?" The boy gave me a short bark. "Yeah that doesn't really help."

"We used to call him Hunter here in the shelter. Not sure where it came from but he looks like a hunter, so hence the name." The boy suggested.

The dog snorted, but didn't give a growl, "I guess I'll go with that then." I told him and wrote it down on the paper.

After I filled everything in I gave him the paper and he gave me some papers with the dog's information and stuff. "Ok then that will be 125 dollar."

I sighed as I got out my wallet. The dog next to me snorted again, as if he disagreed on the price. I smiled at him, "I know how you're feeling buddy." I told him as I handed over the money.

After him talking a bit more about the dog and adoption process I was finally good to go. So with the dog in hand, I stepped out of the shelter. The dog stretched as he stepped in the sun. It must have been a while since he was out of that cage. The paper said he came in around a month ago. The dog looked at me and I smiled at him, "Ready boy?"

I was surprised to see him give me a half-nod. As if he understood what I had said perfectly.

I shook it off and started walking. Let the loneliness be gone and my new life begin!

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Hey hey!

Thanks for reading this first chapter! Hope you liked it!

See you next time luvs!