THE YARD

Chapter 4

"Grey Dog thinks he is the biggest and strongest, but I am." He growled whilst raising his voice towards the end, deep in his gut with a glare over at the tires. The bloodied holes on his lips were still visible, even in the evening moon's light.

Grey Dog twitched an ear and opened his eyes, so Jax swiveled back towards her in a hurry.

"He just gets lucky with his bites 'cause he's been in so many fights."

The black-and-white male suddenly tried to lock eyes with Flare, but she averted her gaze by leaning her head away. "Doesn't matter so much now anyways, since we'll get to breed." She seemed to smell Jax's breath right as she was thinking that she didn't want to.

It took a few heartbeats before the stone-cold horror sank in all the way. Flare's insides felt like ice. She felt the pace of her heart speed up like horse hooves racing faster and faster.

"I mean, you're taller than me with long legs and you're way too skinny and weak while I'm stout and strong, but-"

Her claws were digging into the warm earth now. "Why would we breed?" Flare said, her voice coming out very unconfident but also indignant.

"Because female dogs are made for breeding, and male dogs get to mate with them as soon as they're in heat. That's how puppies are made. And every dog gets the urge to make puppies." He peered down at her as if he was confused about why she didn't agree. The wheels were turning in Flare's mind, as she realized that Jax had completely failed to grasp the point.

Just because we all have the instinct, doesn't mean we have to act on it with any dog in the near vicinity! She wanted to bark in his face, make him listen to anyone else's words but his own. If only Jax weren't such a brute, she'd have spoken the words aloud instead of in her head.

And then she saw his eyes slowly harden, as if he was really thinking about how to further respond. Although his neck-fur didn't rise again, he curled his lip and allowed a snarl to creep into his throat. This wouldn't have scared any other dog in The Yard, but it did Flare. Suddenly she felt threatened and crouched lower, with her ears flattened so they couldn't be nipped at. Jax bent closer as she did, as if he enjoyed some other dog cowering before him.

"You don't have much of a say in it, anyways. You're just a weird freak of a she-dog."

"And she isn't good for anything but breeding," a much deeper voice cut in. Flare jumped and then tried to hide her reaction, but apparently White Dog had already seen it because he glowered at her from several paces away while Jax laughed.

The younger dog's floppy jowels moved as he said something supposedly amusing, but Flare was paying attention to White Dog. He was much larger and scarier. He pinpointed his gaze like predator on prey.

"A she-dog like her will make terrified, weak and skinny pups... Unless a real fight-dog mates with her." He didn't wait for Jax or the tan she-dog to answer.

"Like me."

"Bogus!" Jax snapped. Flare flinched away from this loud retort. White Dog curled his lip and raised his head now, his shriveled and shredded ears clearly visible in the weak moonlight.

"Tan She-Dog is going to breed with me, I'm sure of it." Flare tried to muster up a no, but nothing came out as she sat crouched in her slab of shadow near the house. All of the other dogs were nearing now, apart from Mocha who was busily nibbling at some grass near the back fence, and could hardly be seen besides the shadowy movement of her head and jaws.

"Shut up, you two!" Snapped Grey dog, who'd taken a pace or two off of his tire. "Just fight it out now, or wait until the shed," he growled. His voice held no authority; instead he just seemed thoroughly annoyed at how the others were squabbling in the middle of the night.