Bow-wow was my head throbbing when I woke up. By the time I came to it was surely midday, but the mere act of opening my was still an achievement. Of course it didn’t help to have what felt like a tongue drooling all over my face. It unfortunately didn’t occur to me who exactly it might have been on top of me, but in my surprise and confusion I immediately shoved them away, hearing a sudden thud and yelp from the floor beneath me.

For some reason, I was now sitting on the parlor sofa, unaware of how I’d gotten there, and Chloe, my slave, was slumped against the arm of the couch on her knees, rather than her own bed where she usually slept. It was only then that I realized who I had just kicked to the carpet.

“Arf!” She barked, and like a cat, I jumped onto the back of my sofa before falling over it, finding myself on the floor behind the couch. Excitedly, the little thing followed me up, clamoring onto the cushions and the backrest until she could see me down there.

“Excuse me?” I groaned as I stood up, once again pulling the stupid bitch off my furniture and holding her as far as I could from me. “What the hell is your little mongrel doing inside?”

Chloe whined adorably as she awoke, looking up at me with her heavily drooping eyes. “Hm?”

I dropped the dog on my slave’s lap, watching her suddenly flop backwards as it began spreading its slobber over her face instead. “I thought I told you to keep your mutt outside.”

“Posy!” She giggled. Oddly enough, I noticed that Chloe’s hands were cuffed behind her back, which I strangely didn’t remember doing, but my slave still made her way upright with almost no difficulty. Clearly that dumb ball of fur energized her somehow. “Well I didn’t let her inside,” she said, cleverly appending it with, “I know better.”

“Then who in the world did, if not you?” I asked pointedly.

“You did.” Chloe said. “Don’t you remember?”

“I didn’t let that thing in here. You know how much I hate dogs, why would I bring it inside?”

For as long as I’d known her, Chloe enjoyed this tendency to encrimson my sight with a single scoff. Just seeing her glowering at my feet cajoled me to kick her in the head, but then I recalled how hard it must have been to hold that tongue of hers and realized punishing it would only inveigle further malign. Given what I did remember from the previous night and a whiff of our surroundings, it was a shock that neither hound had bitten me yet.

“Scooch!” I shouted the moment the dog stepped on my toes. If I was anything like my brother I’d have loosed my leg on the pest, but I was thankfully not so cruel as to kick my own pet’s dog, in front of her or otherwise. When I first bought them, it was in the hope that a puppy would help my slave’s attitude, and I didn’t want to hurt the damn thing so much as get it out of my house. “Chloe please, take your tyke outside!”

“But I can’t-”

“Don’t argue with me, just get it out!”

Imped, Chloe staggered to her feet, futzing a bit with her limbs still in the armbinder. “Ahem?”

“Eugh.” I patted down my clothes and realized I didn’t have my keys, dizzily stumbling to my purse on the table and pouring over the contents for a moment before deducing they weren’t there either. “Gah, fine. I’ll unlock you later. Go make breakfast while I take care of the dog.”

“Without my hands?” She stammered.

“You’ve got a good head game, don’t you? How about you make do with that instead of running your mouth?” I spat. “Now move it, ginger junk!”

My slave’s freckled cheeks turned ruby red. Humiliated, Chloe bit her tongue and bowed, obeying my command without another word. The appropriate response would have been to acknowledge her owner when given an order, but it was a marked improvement over insolence.

If I had known Chloe’s dog would have tailed her, I would have simply sent them outside, but trying to get the damn animal out of my home before it broke anything, I reached down to grab the creature as it moved to follow her. Unfortunately, this was when I found out how difficult puppies could be, as it shot across the house thinking we were now playing some sort of game, forcing me to chase after it and pin the pooch down.

It was a well known fact that I hate dogs. Always a cat person, I had four felines here at home– Thea, my old black companion, Hera and Hestia, a pair of twin gray tabby kitties I recently adopted, and Sophia, the calico pussy I rescued to help torment my slave– plus there were three more at the family estate, named Aine, my sassy tortoiseshell, Mercury, my shorthair tomcat, and Inari, my bright white bobtail. The trio still lived with my father, where they were presumably cared for by whichever of his many servants they’d grown attached to since I’ve been gone. Daddy had a few pets of his own. The servile wing was always full of slaves, who I imagine my father probably had his way with behind closed doors, or else I wouldn’t have been born. Unlike my late mother, however, all of the women at the manor were permanently sterilized, tubes not merely tied but removed entirely, a procedure which I almost inflicted upon my own human pet. Chloe’s wild animal, suffice to say, would need to be spayed.

“You little bitch!” I said, picking her up by the collar. “If you beset your mangy paws on any of my precious kittens, I’m getting you a shock collar too!”

Not liking the way I was holding her, the damn thing clawed at my arm, scratching me as it tried climbing to a safer grasp. A shrill caterwaul jumped from my lungs at the sudden lash, but I was easily out-shrieked by the litter of yips and yaps oozing from its mangy mouth.

“Ouch! That’s it! You’re never coming inside again!”

With the beast at arm’s length, I carried her by the neck scruff to the dining room, trying and failing to open up the back patio door before finally giving up. Still not finding my keys anywhere nearby, I couldn’t help but bang my head against the thick sliding glass. At first, all of the precautions seemed necessary in order to keep her my prisoner, but now that I was without my normal means to unlock them, I had almost come to regret destroying Chloe’s controller. The only reason I didn’t, despite at times feeling like I too was becoming a captive of my own home, was because I knew that this was exactly how she felt, a slave always trapped within her cage.

Worst of all, when I returned to my room to look for the keys, I discovered that it too was locked. It was no wonder I woke up in the parlor, whatever state I had been in last night, I must not have had my keys by the time I reached the bedroom. We made it in the house somehow, however, which meant they had to be here somewhere, and I was now forced to hold the dog to my chest as I figured out a way to get the little thing to the yard.

Eventually I was sober enough to think of checking the main entrance, and sure enough there they were, still sitting in the lock of the ajar foyer door. I pulled them from it and closed the door, drunkenly fumbling it into the opposite keyhole and locking it shut from both sides. My stomach turned at the thought of what might have happened had Chloe discovered the open door first, but I tore my mind from the idea and decided to just be thankful she hadn’t. At last, I was able to unseal the way to the dining room patio and make my way straight for the deluxe dog house in the backyard and drop the puppy into the fence. It was honestly far nicer than the little pest deserved, but there was no time to locate an alternative right now, not while I was burdening myself worrying about the slave inside potentially slipping out beneath my notice.

Chloe was actually on the porch by the time I got to her, kneeling by the exit as she set what looked to be a bowl of oatmeal at my feet, having in a way successfully left the confines of my house, if only to meet me just outside the walls.

“You belong in the house.” I scolded her.

“I thought you said that dogs belong outside.” She replied, retreating her gaze as I approached until it was pointed straight down. “I’m sorry, Master.”

“There’s the respect I deserved an hour ago. I assumed this means you ‘know better’ now?”

Chloe nodded her head. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“And what have you brought me?”

“It was the best I could do,” She said. I picked up the bowl of oats and it was indeed something. Chloe already wasn’t the best of cooks, but this was just gross, admittedly I knew it wasn’t her fault, but there was still no way I was going to put that in my mouth. Instead, I tapped her legs and turned her around, picking the binder up and finally releasing it from her arms.

“Back inside and make me a proper meal, and don’t step a foot through that door until I say so, or I won’t be letting you out to see your dog again today.” I told her. “Oh, and clean up your face while you’re at it, you’ve got a little something in your hair.”

“Ngh…” Chloe whimpered, cradling the gunked up ends of her hair like she would a dead child, lamenting the loss of her precious locks as she stumbled back to the kitchen. “Y-yes, Master…”

That was better. Finally, I was alone. I had been holding in the urge to vomit since the moment the day started, but only now did I have the space to actually let it out. Needless to say, nobody was going to want that bowl of oatmeal anytime soon, with the exception of maybe the dog.

“How did you get out?” I asked as if the puppy could answer. I didn’t care much for the critter, but not even I had the stomach to let her take more than four, maybe five slurps of barf pudding before confiscating it. “Stop that, you’re disgusting!” I picked her up again, and this time she didn’t seem to mind it, tail wagging away like we were still playing a game. “God I hate dogs!”

Not wanting to deal with her anymore than I already had, I set the dog loose on the yard to play, secretly hoping she’d find a way to escape even if I knew it’d only set Chloe up to do the same. As much as I hated the mongrel, I did love my mutt, and I knew it would break my pet’s heart to see the little thing go, much the same way it broke my heart when I first lost her.

“Breakfast, Master.” Chloe said. Some months ago I know my slave would have taken this chance and sprinted right through the door had it not ended in her instant electrocution, but even with that threat gone she stayed where she was told, waiting for me to give permission.

Beckoning her to me, I took the food and set it aside on the deck, taking her body into my arms. I spun us in place for a moment before sitting down, straddling her legs over my lap as I ate. “Mine.” I said with my fist curled around the back of her collar. “I won’t let you escape again.”

Chloe draped her sore arms over my shoulders and clung tightly to me, face buried in my neck. “Please don’t make me go back, Master. I promise to be better.”

“It’s okay, pet. You did good.” I assured her. “I’m sorry for scaring you like that. After chasing you up a chandelier the facility demanded that you be sedated for security purposes.”

Chloe shoved herself away from my chest until upright. “Is that what you call sedation?! They left me chained up in a dungeon?! It was horrifying!”

“I know, I know. You’re safe now, I swear. Say what you want about me, but I learned from last time. Don’t tell Chloe about her upcoming surgeries.”

“Surgery?!” Chloe shrieked. “You mean you let those people cut me open again?!”

A catty hiss skinned through my clenched teeth at her tone. “Don’t talk to me this way, okay?! That body belongs to me, I have the right to do as I please with it. Or have you forgotten about that contract we signed?”

My redheaded delinquent respectfully quelled her outburst, retreating both of her neatly groomed paws and sharp gaze into our overlapping laps.

“Y’know I was going to let it slide, but now that we’ve breached the subject, you broke a whole host of rules last night, didn’t you? Do you care to fess up to those, or should I start going down the list?”

Chloe’s bell chimed weakly as her head shook. “I got into it with-” She hesitated, “Mr. Griffin…”

“Oh no. What did you do?” At this point I was more concerned for her than disappointed, anybody who put their horse before the cart knew not to mess with my brother, especially at times like this. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Just a little, Ma’am. He only hit me once, but I can still feel it.” Chloe cradled her left cheek, recoiling an inch from me as I reached out to take a look. I'd been so focused on myself that I didn’t even notice my slave’s condition.

“You have a black eye.”

“You didn’t seem too fussed about it at the time.” Chloe must have expected me to smack her and was not so subtly trying to get ahead of me with her short comments. But perhaps unluckily for her, Chloe had already taken more of a beating than I would have liked. I had no intention of hitting her unless she initiated, and although she did flinch at my slightest twitch, my pet did know better than to stop me from touching her.

“Tell me,” I said, “I didn’t do anything to you last night, did I?”

I awaited an answer with a lump in my throat, watching intently for any emotion that might betray her, a dry cough, an avoidant stare. It was a blessing to see the gears turn normally as she shook her head, earnestly trying to communicate to me. “Not that I know of, Mistress.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s pray that you’re right. But while that does help, I’m still not happy to hear that my brother bruised you like this. You’re my property. Nobody marks you but me.”

“Master, I-” Chloe began. “Posy? What are you doing up here?”

Posy was the name of our puppy– though I typically referred to her by affectionate nicknames such as mutt, mongrel, or monster– just like I called her mom. The dog was effectively Chloe’s, but like everything of hers, it technically belonged to me. She was a border collie. My maid’s favorite breed. She had never owned any kind of dog, or even had a pet before, but for some reason, Chloe adored border collies.

Seeing the smile that puppy put on my pet’s face made everything worth it. Chloe was more precious to me than any cat, bird, fish, or lizard could be. If I had to put up with a dog, knowing how happy it made her, then a few barks, bites, and scratches were a price I was willing to pay.

“What do you have there?” Chloe asked. Posy was holding a shiny red ball between her teeth, much too big for her mouth, and it wasn’t until Chloe took it from her that I realized what it was.

“An apple…” I muttered. “Give me that.”

Not knowing what the big deal was, she obliged, handing the round off to me without a fuss. “Looks like we have a little retriever on our hands.”

“Where did she get this?”

“I dunno, Mistress. Must’ve been in the yard somewhere.”

“But how? I don’t have an apple tree. It’s not like it just fell from the sky.”

“It could have been a bird.” Chloe suggested.

“Oh yeah, blame it on the wildlife. They famously have nothing better to do than bombard my lawn with garbage.”

“Do you think it blew in somehow?”

“From where, the ocean? Are we bobbing for apples in my pool now?”

“Maybe it was a delivery?”

“A single fruit? Someone delivered a single fruit to the middle of my yard, is that it?”

“Maybe it’s like a candygram! Like how you can get sweets delivered anonymously!”

“Sent by a fan?” I asked as I bounced the apple off of her forehead.

Chloe rolled her eyes at me, fixing her hair with a pout. “Well you wouldn’t’ve happened to drop it, would you?”

“Highly unlikely given that I don’t bring in my own groceries.”

“Then it has to be from last night.” She concluded. “You must have brought it home with you.”

“I suppose so.” I sighed.

The apple turned over in my hand as I examined it. There was no sticker to identify where it might have originated, but it felt fresh off the shelf. Aside from the tiny holes where a couple little canines had been, the fruit looked untouched.

“Eww, that’s gross…” I heard Chloe retch. “You were right. This oatmeal tastes disgusting.”

“Oh god. Tell me you didn’t eat that.” I gagged. “Here. Feed it to the dog. You can have mine.”

“No thank you, Ma’am. I think I’m gonna skip breakfast and go clean up before I get sick.”

Chloe took the dog with her and got up, leaving me on the back porch alone with a naked curtsy. By now I’d missed the morning bird calls, which I much preferred to midday, and with the sunny sky threatening to crawl up my patio, I had very little appetite to finish my food. Taking a bite, however, I was somewhat impressed. That girl knew how to make herself some eggs. Her attempt at bacon was a bit lackluster, but the potatoes at least, were also very solid.

“Hey you,” I said to the tiny mouth sniffing at my food. Plating the apple, I hoisted her upwards, rubbing whiskers with my cat and kissing her nose. “Oh, Sophia. Look how you’ve grown…”

Sophia was as happy to be held as the day we met. I used to frequent this approximately local animal shelter– Pet_Space – which had this adorable logo of that astronaut puppy above the underscore, with leftover cat chow I had in excess of feeding Thea, who I always purchased too much food for. And it was there I first spotted her, this tiny calico kitten with a cute orange patch between her little ears. Naturally, I was blindsided to hear her name, but when I asked them how she got it, nobody seemed to know where it came from. Apparently, the poor thing’s whole litter had been orphaned by their parents, and small, defensive Sophia was the last to be adopted.

Were this a feel good movie her origin story would’ve ended there, but that’s not how this works. In the real world, perfect little kittens find homes. Of course there was something wrong with her. She was aggressive. She was possessive. Clingy, yet distrustful. You had to hold her in exactly the right way and never let her go. As such, Sophia had rejected every potential owner she met. In a way, Sophia was a lot like a puppy. She required enough constant care and attention that fostering her would be a labor of love, and who better to provide such a labor than my very own workdog. Tending to her fellow pet, the perfect punishment for such a lowly animal. It was fate. God had dropped an angel of judgment in my lap, and it had Cavalier’s name written all over it.

Yet a funny thing happened when Chloe was taken away. While she was gone, I realized that over time, Sophia hadn’t imprinted on me, but on her. After all that time I forced them to spend together, the little thing must have permanently bonded to Chloe, because without her, my poor baby grieved. Holding that lonely kitten in my arms, I knew in my heart that Sophia missed Chloe every bit as much as I did.

“Speak of the devil…”

Sophia leapt from my lap the moment Chloe was in sight, but was promptly intercepted by a certain little ball of fur overeager to play with her big sister, who Posy chased into the yard. Meanwhile, the only pet I wished to play with was on all fours inside the sliding glass door, holding a leash between her teeth to be led outside.

“Aww, c’mere you.” I said as I took the leash from between her wet lips, yanking my drooling mutt to me for kisses and ear-rubs.

“Mmm…” She moaned from mouth to mouth. “My lobes have been itching to be pinched…”

“I know you have. But things are okay now.”

We shifted around until I had Chloe next to me, sitting pretty and letting me feed her food scraps as the both of us watched our respective animal companions play.

“I feel like I owe you an explanation for this morning.” I said. “There’s a reason I don’t like dogs. The truth is I’m afraid of them.”

Chloe looked surprised, but nodded her understanding, quietly listening.

“When I was little, my brother had this dog- Lizzie.”

“Lizzie?” She asked. “You mean his dog girl? That Liz?”

I shook my head. “No, not her. A real dog. Elizabeth was the name of his childhood pet. She was given to him at a young age by his mother, and my brother loved her a lot, but that thing was a menace. The meanest thing I have ever seen.”

“What happened to her, Ma’am?”

“Leah Watts.” I said, a smile poking out of my frown. “Leah was with me when I was attacked. Had my guardian angel not been there to protect me, I might have died, but Leah was able to shoot it down before it could kill me. My brother never forgave her for it. To this day he doesn’t even know that his dog tried to eat me. Leah always took the blame on my behalf.”

“It sounds like Leah was an amazing woman.” Chloe replied. “I assumed your whole life had been easy, it never occurred to me that you could’ve been through such an awful experience.”

“You had no way of knowing. It’s something I’ve tried to hide from you for as long as I can.”

“Does your family know? Does Cyrus?”

“As if. It’d break my big brother’s heart to learn that his baby sister was traumatized by his dog.”

“I take it his wife’s name is no coincidence then?” She asked.

“Wife?” I chuckled. “Chloe, those two aren’t married.”

“They’re not?”

“God no. I’m honestly shocked they’re still together. His old slaves never made it this long.”

“I just assumed– you know– it seemed like they were in love?”

“I mean they might be, but dad wouldn’t let her marry him any more than he’d let you marry me.”

“Huh. I never thought of it that way.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve made it no secret that you two aren’t the best of friends.”

“Who? Liz and I?” Chloe scoffed. “Can you blame me? She likes a perfect little submissive slave and I can’t stand it, it’s so annoying.”

“Liz hasn’t always been that way, you know.”

“Hasn’t she?” Chloe asked.

“Not at all. You should’ve seen it, Chloe. When he first got her, Liz had an attitude that’d make you proud. Of course nobody has been quite as troublesome as you, my little rebel.” I sighed. “But maybe that’s my fault.”

Chloe’s head seemed to lower with shame, her mind’s gears deep in thought as she picked up the apple. “No. It’s my fault.”

“Well, whatever the case, it turned out alright in the end.” I said, taking the apple from her and shaking my head. “Go get the girls and let’s head inside.”

Chloe nodded. “Posey! Sophia! Come on!” She shouted, and after a moment, the pets were running in after her, leaving me outside alone.

Standing back up, I took one last look at the apple and sighed, tossing it out into the lawn, hoping to never see it again.

“Rest in peace.” I whispered.