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Unjust Love

A Shepherd’s Love: Part Seven

By Roofles

The moon was beautiful that night.

Tan Colt stood near the window in the hotel room, looking out of it at the city they found themselves for the week. Knoxville, Tennessee. Bradley’s hometown, or close enough. Even in the middle of the night, he could see the traffic going by. The streets were busy with what he assumed to be “ladies of the night” though that term referred to men, woman, and everything in between these days.

Things must’ve changed so much for him, for Bradley, Tan Colt thought as he mused over the thoughts late at night. Since the human was here last.

It was 2050. Bradley was thirty-one. It would’ve been in the early 2030s that he was living here, growing up as a child, running down these streets and playing with his brother Georgy and his friends. Were there drug dens, then? Were there prostitutes on every corner? Were there preachers on one side, whores on the other?

There were those familiar sounds of night. Traffic, people yelling, someone was crying in the distance and, of course, the sounds of sirens. Something was on fire and it was impossible, from his vantage point, to see if that was on purpose or not.

A cop car drove by. An ambulance shortly behind it. People barely got out of the way, these days, for the cops or EMTs. It happened so often. There was always a call. It was never ending. Something was going on in the city, any city, no matter the day or hour it was.

The German Shepherd figured it wasn’t too far different from how Bradley had grown up. Hopefully, at least, it was safer back then.

Back then… Tan Colt hadn’t even been… made, yet.

Did Bradley, back then, dream of being a police officer? Tan Colt didn’t know. He knew so little of his partner. Such things hadn’t really come up in the past five to six months they’ve known each other. Tan Colt didn’t have much of a past to tell and Bradley hadn’t shared his own on the matter.

“Would we have been friends back then, if you knew me?” Tan Colt muttered aloud, letting his thoughts drift down to the streets below. Trying to picture a young Bradley with his older brother Georgy and then himself along for the ride.

He doubted it…

Tan Colt turned towards the mirror above the dresser in the room. Even with all the lights off, his bright hazel eyes could make everything. He didn’t have his shirt or shorts on, just a jockstrap that kept things contained. He was large. Covered in thick, lush fur. He had a double coat, unlike some of the other breeds of K-9’s. The upper layer of guard hairs kept more than just dirt and moisture away from his skin. He was bioengineered to be a tank, a shield to protect civilians from threats. The undercoat, though shorter, was dense and soft to the touch. It kept him warm even in the coldest of months and even help air his skin during the warmer months. His coat could protect him like body armor could for a human.

With broad shoulders and a heavy chest the word “Tank” was at the forefront of his mind. He was solidly built. “Sturdy stuff” he’d been called in the labs. He was fit with almost no body fat on his body. He was the perfect specimen. Muscles bulging underneath his thick coat of fur. Top of his class. Breaking records during the physical trials and acing any test put in front of him.

He was perfect as far as the lab rats were concerned.

But, Tan Colt couldn’t help feel so substandard in comparison as he stepped closer to the mirror. He touched the muzzle on his face with a hand. Whiskers poked from his gummy black bumpy lips that covered his fangs. His nose was too large. It was black, bumpy, and wet to the touch. Looking down he could see paw pads on each of his fingers, a gray ashy color that were somewhat rough to the touch, coarse from his hard work at the facility and on the job.

He didn’t have hair like a human did, no. Just that thick coat of fur that covered his body from the tip of his pointed ears down to his tail and toes. Feeling his chest, he brushed over one of the nipples hidden underneath the fur. It was sensitive to the touch, but he had too many. He was so… “ugly.”

In a way, he was the farthest thing from a human. Their smooth skin, only two nipples, their feet were flat and not lifted like his were. They didn’t have a bushy, long tail like the German Shepherd had. Their ears were positioned on the side of their head and couldn’t lift and move, tracking sounds. Their nails and teeth were so… blunt. Tan Colt had to file his down as to not accidentally hurt someone.

And he was so strong. Just flexing in front of the mirror he could see that. No human could match him. Tan Colt was always holding himself back. Setting limits for himself. Shackling himself to, what, fit in?

“Where are these thoughts coming from?” He murmured low and deep to himself. He stopped, reaching up to feel his throat. He had growled. Growl? That was so… inhuman.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t see himself with them. With humanity… how any K-9 could, he wasn’t sure.

Tan Colt turned from the mirror not wanting these thoughts to linger, to fester like an open wound. He’d been… happier, right? Since he stopped taking the suppressants? Sounds were more… crisp to his ears. Everything looked brighter and the colors were so vibrant and full of life now! Even food tasted better! Everything, everything seemed… more.

And with it, came the other hand.

His concerns, his thoughts, his fears, and worries had been muddled, dulled down thanks to the suppressants. Without them, there was nothing stopping these thoughts, these feelings from sinking in. Self-doubts and insecurities that came along with them. He never had to deal with them before. Not until now.

The K-9 German Shepherd model walked over and took a heavy seat on the bed. It sunk in from his weight. He was so heavy. That dense muscle weighed so much more than fat did. His bones were thicker, stronger. He could get hit by a car and walk away with minimal damage! Something Bradley had joked about with him even.

“Like a brick wall.” That’s how Bradley described him as. He’d been friendly, joking about it but those thoughts bubbled to the surface now in the quiet, dark room Tan Colt found himself in.

The body, the person in the bed with him shifted and moved over. Bradley rolling to his other side to reach out, searching blindly with a hand. Tan Colt offered his own and he could feel those… small, furless fingers grab hold of his meaty one.

Bradley instantly relaxed, dreaming of something Tan Colt was sure with the way his face twitched ever so slightly. Tan Colt just watched the human sleeping there next to him. It eased his thoughts, his worries.

Was that why they were paired up with humans? Because, if the suppressants stopped working for whatever reason, their human could serve as a means to ground them? The thought was comforting even if Tan Colt didn’t fully believe it.

Some random human meant… nothing to the police officer, though he’d never admit that out loud. He was made to serve and protect humanity. He’d seen what humans were capable of. Read about it and experienced it firsthand. What people did when given freedom. Drugs, sex, abuse, muggings, robberies, rape, violence and hate and…

But not Bradley.

This person, this man lying there next to him, was what kept Tan Colt focused in the maelstrom of feelings running through his body after denying himself the drug he’d been living on since his… creation. Able to experience so many things for the first time.

“Hormones…” Tan Colt huffed a breath. “That’s all this is. A chemical imbalance that my system is trying to process and correct.” He nodded, thinking it over slowly. “I’m a fucking teenager now… lovely.” He just needed to sleep it off, he was sure. It would take a couple days but then his levels would naturally balance out and maybe then he could sit down with Bradley and talk to him about it… about them… about everything.

His nose twitched. An instinct Tan Colt could never get over. It twitched and with it, he sniffed. Breathing in the air around them. He could smell the sheets. He could smell the nearby bathroom. He could smell someone walk down the hall past their room. Tan Colt could even pick up scents from outside even with the window now closed.

But it was a single scent, a smell that lingered in his nostrils that made his heart begin to pump. Pounding in his chest as a knot formed in his throat, toes gripping at the carpeted floor and drool pooling on his tongue as his claws gripped the sheets.

He knew the scent well. He smelled it every night, every morning and throughout the day. There were so many foul, disgusting scents out there that, in the crowded city, Tan Colt would lean closer to that smell, breathing it in and let it comfort him. Let a pair of arms wrapping around him as he breathed it in.

Bradley.

The smell wasn’t as strong as back in their own apartment. But it was there. Above everything else, standing out as the German Shepherd closed his eyes letting his nose breathe it in. A manly stench of male. Bradley had been in the car all day and hadn’t showered when they arrived. And it showed.

Before, Tan Colt could just filter it out and let the drugs, his medicine, the suppressants, dull out any thoughts that came along with that musk. Now. He had no safety net to fall back on. At it truly hit him like a truck.

Tentatively, Tan Colt reached out a hand towards Bradley’s sleeping face. With a dull, blunt dark nail he moved the hair out of it so he could get a better look at his sleeping friend, his partner. His human. His Bradley.

“You are so handsome…” Tan Colt voice was low, deep, and husky as he spoke. He had to lick away the drool threatening the spill out of his muzzle. He wanted to lick the human up, slather him in drool with tongue kisses. But he resisted, he had too. “I could look at you all night and still, never, get tired of it. Tired of you… ever.”

Tan Colt realized then and there, in that hotel room… he hated humans. He hated those outside who would call and beg him to save them while spitting at his feet after. How they glared at him, whispering behind his back when all Tan Colt had ever wanted to do was help people…

But not Bradley. He was the one exception in it all. Other than those back in the labs, at Project Tomorrow. No one cared for his safety. For what he thought. For how he… felt. Bradley did. Bradley would, Tan Colt knew. He just needed to… share these new feelings with him, when the time was right. Collect his own thoughts so he could express them properly. To him. To Bradley.

The bed shifted and creaked as Tan Colt laid there, over the covers next to his partner just looking at him.

“You…” Tan Colt hesitated as he kept his voice soft, lying his head down on the pillow next to Bradley’s own. His nose was so close that if he just leaned forward, even an inch, he could bump it against Bradley’s own. “You never shun my touch…” Tan Colt held his hand against the human’s cheek, softly, and felt Bradley nuzzle up against it. Exhaling and relaxing once more. “You even seem to… enjoy it? Enjoy me…?”

So many humans withdrew and coiled away from Tan Colt’s touch as if afraid to be burned or that he was some sort of poisonous reptile. Bradley never had. Ever since the two had met. It had been Bradley that reached over to comfort Tan Colt, not the other way around. This human, his human, had made the first move.

The very first day, Bradley had reached out to take hold of Tan Colt’s hand.

Bradley had always been the first to do many things for Tan Colt. The German Shepherd had watched. Always watching him, learning from him, growing thanks to him. He could fit in because of Bradley. He learned what he could and couldn’t do. All the small things they hadn’t taught him back at The Kennels, one of the training facilities he’d come from.

“You brought to me, what I was missing… What they couldn’t teach us…” Tan Colt’s tail thumped softly on the bed as he laid there, over the covers, holding the human’s face, holding his hand, and looking into that sleeping face. “You brought me what it means to be… human.” That was what he’d been missing there at the training facility.

Charts, paperwork, numbers, statistics… those things weren’t… human. They were disconnected from the emotional element. They worked for the masses, not the individual. For people. Not persons. And Tan Colt hated people… he hated the masses… but he didn’t hate the individual. He didn’t hate Bradley.

Tan Colt didn’t want to move. He was afraid too. He could smell Bradley, could hear the human breathing next to him… feel that soft, fuzzy face against his fingers. He worried what he might do if he moved, if he breathed, if he acted on these intense instincts trying to override his rational mind.

He was leaking. Tan Colt could smell the strong whiff of pre in the air. He was soaking through the jock strap as he just stared into Bradley’s sleeping face. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t just… could he? Tan Colt wasn’t sure what to do. He knew what he wanted but didn’t know what Bradley needed…

Is that what they had been deprived of? Was that why Con Rad was so angry about it? Being denied these… No, Tan Colt reasoned out. These feelings were overwhelming him, and he needed to relax, to breathe and to calm down. He didn’t think those at Project Tomorrow had any ill intent prescribing them the drugs.

They had taught them, trained them but they still needed to experience life for themselves. They knew that. The scientists knew they needed to be “collared” with the drugs to help them adjust to such a change. Tan Colt was sure, eventually, the suppressants would stop for all the K-9’s in due time. When Project Tomorrow felt it was appropriate to do so.

So, Tan Colt would wait. He’d force himself too if he had too. Wait for Bradley to see him beyond just a partner, beyond a friend or even a possible one-night stand. Tan Colt couldn’t bare the thought of just being a notch in Bradley’s bed post. No, he’d wait to sort out these new feelings until Bradley needed to hear them.

Tan Colt knew one thing.

There was only a single thing, a single thought, a single word that could describe that moment as Tan Colt laid there, looking at his human. And he had to say it, for his own ears to hear. To know, it was true.

“Mine…” Tan Colt eyes focused intently on the human before him, seeming to glow in the moonlight slipping through the curtains. “You are mine…” And with that, the German Shepherd nuzzled up to the human, not daring to slip underneath the covers that night.

For he knew, if he did, he would take Bradley in more ways than one…

…

Bradley distinctly heard the sound of a door opening and then someone, he suspected who, trying too quietly close it after their entrance. There was a thump, a bump and something hit the floor as Tan Colt cursed by the door loudly before letting out a low whine, clamping his muzzle shut with two hands to try and contain the sound. The hotel room door slammed shut behind him and Tan Colt yipped at that, almost catching his tail in it.

Bradley tried to ignore it. To ignore him as he pretended to stay asleep. If he did, maybe, the K-9 would get it and leave him be.

The German Shepherd tried to sneak over, back to the bed as Bradley kept his eyes firmly shut refusing to look at the K-9. Every step Tan Colt took made the floor creak and both winced at the sound of it. Five steps, five creaks before Tan Colt crossed the room.

The bed dipped and sunk in as the blanket lifted and a lump began crawling underneath it, over towards the human trying to sleep before, with an “oof,” that lump fell over his stomach and chest.

“The hell are you doing?” Bradley sighed, lifting the covers up to look at the German Shepherd lying across his chest now.

Tan Colt had one of his gray sleeveless tight T-shirts on and a pair of jogging shorts. The K-9’s ears perked up with the covers and his face split into a panting smile as he looked at the human looking down at him.

“Hi.” Tan Colt’s tail wagged.

“What. Are you. Doing?” Bradley just asked again, trying to keep calm as he annunciated each word out slowly as if suspecting Tan Colt was a bit on the special side.

“I went for a jog.” Tan Colt just shrugged, and Bradley dropped the blanket over the K-9’s face. The human glared over at the nearby alarm clock trying to distinguish if it was seven in the morning or seven at night, his sleep addled mind still trying to figure out why he was awake at this ungodly hour.

“A… jog?” Bradley mouthed the words without saying them. He lifted the covers to look at the heavy, fur covered weight lazing half on top of him between his legs. “Why would you?” Bradley voice dripped with distaste at the very idea of waking up before the alarm to go… jogging. He nearly choked on the word.

“We were stuck inside the car all day, yesterday.” Tan Colt just wrapped his arms around the human, resting his furry chin on Bradley’s hairy chest as he looked at him. “I was feeling antsy.” For more than one reason but the German Shepherd didn’t tell his human that.

His human. Tan Colt look away from Bradley’s face. Just seeing those eyes, even angry, looking at him filled his chest with joy.

“You are one very strange creature, Tanner Colton.” Bradley said using his full name and dad voice. He let the blanket fall back over that furry, whiskery face. Tan Colt’s bumpy black nose was poking free from the end and his hot dog breath was panting over Bradley’s face making his nose wrinkle. “You also forgot to brush your teeth…”

“Relaaaax,” Tan Colt exhaled the word making Bradley cringe. “I haven’t eaten yet.” As if that would somehow make his morning breath better. “I waited for you. No matter how long that takes. I’ll wait for you…”

“You had time to go jogging… but not eat? I’m impressed.” Bradley just closed his eyes once more, pretending to ignore the weight on his chest and the muzzle poking out from under the covers. He hated to admit it felt nice to have Tan Colt’s heavy, warm, furry body lying on him like this. He took a slow breath, pushing Tan Colt up with his stomach before letting him rest back down. That was a workout in itself. “Why are you in bed…?”

“Waiting.” The K-9 just wagged. His legs were draped off the side of the bed, uncomfortably, as the German Shepherd tried to stuff his body underneath the comforter of the bed.

“For?” Bradley groaned out, covering his face already knowing the answer.

“You?” Tan Colt tilted his head as if confused. He thought he made it rather apparent. Maybe next time he’ll jump on Bradley.

“For me to what?” Bradley groggily asked not liking where this was going as he rubbed over his eyes now.

“Get up to get breakfast. Together.”

“No.” Bradley voice cut off sharply with the single word.

“Get up.” Tan Colt insisted, wagging his tail faster.

“Let me sleep!” Bradley protested.

“Brad, Brad, Brad,” Tan Colt bounced on the bed shaking them both as he held the human. He could easily lift Bradley up, even from this position but decided shaking the bed was far more fun.

“What!” Bradley snapped, sitting up and glaring at the K-9 as he lifted the comforter to glare at the man who had dared to wake him from his peaceful slumber.

“I’m hungry.” Tan Colt stuck the tip of his tongue out at him. “Feed me.”

“What? Just go get something to eat.” Bradley waved him off, trying to shoo this annoying pest away.

“Take responsibility for adopting me.” Tan Colt just said with a wry smile. “I’m your dog, remember. Feed. Me.” The German Shepherd rolled over to his side, lifting up both arms and wagged fast enough to shake the bed with the motion. “Feed me!”

“Don’t make me suffocate you,” Bradley grabbed one of the pillows.

“If you don’t feed me, I’m gonna have to eat cha’ instead.” And, to Tan Colt’s credit, he gave Bradley a rather convincing raspberry over the human’s stomach before the human could catch on.

And Bradley burst into a fit of giggles making the German Shepherd ears perk up.

“Don’t. Don’t do that!” The human breathed out, trying to catch his breath as he shoved a hand against Tan Colt’s face, trying to push him off. The German Shepherd didn’t budge as a smile slowly spread over his lips. “Don’t! I’m warning you!” Bradley voice rose an octave.

“Don’t… what?” Tan Colt was already easing off him, brushing his hands down the human sides slowly making Bradley squirm. “Don’t… do this?” And the K-9 tickled both of Bradley’s sides who kicked out violently and let out a startled yelp that caught in his throat before bursting into laughter.

“I’ll kill you! I swear! Where’s my gun?” Bradley tried to fight him off and struggled against the K-9’s strength. Even with Tan Colt holding back Bradley couldn’t match him. There had been a reason why he never armed wrestled the German Shepherd. “Stop! Stop!”

Tan Colt didn’t let up as Bradly flipped around on the bed as the German Shepherd straddled his hips, tickling over his sides and under his arms and between his legs as he pressed against his ass.

“I’m going to pee! You asshole!” Bradly tried to throw a pillow at him before ended up falling off the bed after that bumpy nose pressed underneath one of his arms. Tan Colt took a deep breath of his human before Bradly slipped off the bed and with a loud thump, hit the floor.

“I feel like we’ve done this before.” Tan Colt, on the bed, looking down at the human who was trying not to scream into the pillow he still held.

The German Shepherd lifted a foot.

“I will kick your face in. I swear to god, Tanner!” Bradley warned, red in the face.

“It can’t be that bad,” Tan Colt just said nosing his foot and sniffing over it before giving it another lick. And got promptly kicked in the face for it…

…

“I warned you.” Bradley just said a good fifteen minutes later getting ready for the day.

Tan Colt just whined, rubbing the front of his muzzle still.

“I don’t do well with tickling. Like. At all.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Tan Colt grumbled. “I was just playing.”

“You seem to be very… playful, lately. Is everything alright?” Bradley asked from the shower. The door was open, the curtain drawn back as the human quickly washed up for the day. Not wanting to stink of German Shepherd during his brother’s wedding rehearsal.

They still needed to get Bradley’s tux sorted out and figure something out for Tan Colt to wear. It wasn’t like they sold things in K-9 size. And having the muscular six seven-foot K-9 walking around in a pair of tight-fitting jogging shorts and a T-shirt was only asking for trouble with his conservative Christian values family.

“I’m feeling great.” Tan Colt rubbed his snoot. “Other than my nose.”

“I warned you.” Bradley just laughed as he turned the shower off and began to dry off. There was a moment of silence that followed and Bradley voice shook, ever so slightly. “Tanner?”

“I’m here.” Tan Colt poked his head around the corner. “You okay…?” He asked the dripping wet human standing in the bathroom.

“J-just making sure you didn’t slip off to breakfast before me!” Bradley tried to joke but his voice shaking slightly. “Don’t want your fat ass gobbling up all the sausage.”

“We both know you’re the sausage gobbler.” Tan Colt snorted out a breath as he watched the human towel off. Bradley had come out into the main room, away from the small bathroom to do so. Not seeming to mind the K-9 watching him.

In fact, Bradley seemed far more relax with the company rather than opposed to it as most people did when standing around naked.

“Like I haven’t heard that before.” Bradley groaned though, shaking his head as unpleasant memories surfaced. “Not looking forward to meeting the old gang, again. They have like one joke, me being gay, and like nothing else.” He shook his head as Tan Colt just watched him.

“Are you claustrophobic?” Tan Colt asked and got a look from Bradley. “You don’t like to shower at the apartment, either. You don’t mind the car though…” The German Shepherd thought about. “You don’t have an aversion to water either, seeing as how we both use the locker room showers just fine…”

“Oh. That…” Bradley brought up, started with but his voice trailed off as he turned away from the K-9. Tan Colt didn’t need to sniff the human to know he hit a rather sour spot for the human. “I just… don’t like small showers. Is all.” Bradley shrugged the topic off as if it was a distasteful jacket.

“Andrew mentioned that as well…” Tan Colt ears folded back. “Bradley… is everything, okay?”

“I should be asking you that!” Bradley deflected. “You’re the one who has been on top of the world lately! Seriously, are you taking something and not sharing?” He played it off. Forcing the subject change at this point.

Tan Colt didn’t want to push it. The two were both clearly hiding something from the other. They had enough to deal with getting through the wedding without getting at each other’s throats over it. The stress was clear on Bradley face since yesterday, his brow creased in a frown at the idea of seeing his family.

“Your family can’t be that bad, can it?” Tan Colt asked as the two headed out of their room.

“Just wait.” Bradley sighed heavily with a shake of his head. “I swear it would’ve been easier if they did something… more?” Tan Colt gave him a look. “Like if they really gave me a reason to disconnect from them. But they haven’t. They’d never go that… far. Just enough to make my life miserable. Is all.”

“That’s family.” Tan Colt just shrugged and got a look. “I saw that on a sitcom once…”

“Right. That makes more sense than you…. Do you even have a family?” Bradley felt flushed just asking the simple question. He tried not to pry too much into Tan Colt’s past due to what he was.

“We… grow up with others, like us, yes. But not a family as in blood relations like humans do, no.” Tan Colt tried to phrase it properly so Bradley could understand as the two grabbed quick breakfast burritos from the buffet before heading across the street to the United Methodist church on church street. It was literally across the street from where the two had slept the previous night.

The large stone church loomed over all the other buildings, resting on top of a small hill with a bright green lawn growing around it. The morning sun hit it perfectly to give the whole thing a halo making Bradley cringe as if the eye of god was judging him for not going to church more often.

“I need more coffee to deal with this.” Bradley just grumbled rubbing at one of his temples with a hand, holding a to go cup of coffee with the other.

“If you woke up earlier…” Tan Colt just grinned, tail wagging next to him.

“Humans need sleep, Tanner.” Bradley couldn’t believe he was having this discussion, again, with him. “Not all of us can be super dogs, like you! All buff and handsome and perfect!” The human grumbled as bitter as the coffee was. “Great, now I’m sounding like Andrew. This day couldn’t get any worse!”

The German Shepherd’s ears splayed out at that, and he felt a heat rise to his face.

“I’m not a super dog…” Tan Colt tail wagged faster. “I’m just the way god made me.” He teased as the two walked up the steps to the front doors of the stone church. The church had a large parking lot that was mostly filled up, which only increased the anxiety Bradley was feeling.

Everyone from his hometown would be here or at least, would be, tomorrow when the wedding was being held. Though growing up in Clinton Tennessee, their family worked at and even went to school in Knoxville which was just a skip and a hop over from his hometown these days with how the city had grown. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible and was hurrying inside with the K-9 tailing behind for once.

“Before anyone asks-,” Bradley started up with before getting abruptly cut off by a cry. He forgot to give Tan Colt the run down on his family.

“Bradley!” It was his mother, Cassie. Even for someone pushing sixty, with a girth that could barely be contained in the yellow sunflower dress she somehow slipped into, she was a spry woman barreling his way. “My baby boy!” She cried out before throwing her arms around him and scooping him up in a painful hug, showering him with kisses.

Tan Colt snorted nearby, looking around the room. He was getting plenty of looks, which was beginning to annoy him, but tried to appear calm in front of Bradley’s family. For some reason, he desperately wanted to make a good impression on them all.

“Hey, mama. Good to see you too.” Bradley just said as she let him go.

“Getting a bit of a New Yorker there, huh?” Cassie teased Bradley’s bad accent. “And scruffy! What is this dead rat on your face?” She said pulling at his beard.

“You pick up a few things…” Bradley blushed, rubbing the back of his head as he looked away as he rubbed the spot.

“A couple of things indeed!” His mother said looking Tan Colt up and down several times. “You said he was big. Not this big!”

“Mama!” Bradley said loudly trying to shush her. Tan Colt gave him a look. “I’ve been corresponding with my mother since I left for college. You… came up. Once or twice.”

“Since he abandoned me, more like.” Cassie clicked her tongue at that. “You know how hard it’s been with just me and your father? Georgy doesn’t even visit. Or call!” She started up with. “And what do you mean once or twice? Every message is about this big boy!” She gestured wildly at Tan Colt putting the German Shepherd on the spot. Tan Colt wasn’t sure if he should answer or not.

“I warned you,” Bradley mouthed to Tan Colt who just kept a pleased smile on his face. His tail wagged, happy to hear Bradley was at least talking about him. He was just relieved Bradley’s mother didn’t have to ask about him. That didn’t stop anyone else from doing so.

As they moved further inside someone that looked and didn’t look like Bradley came over to see who was stealing the show from them. Tan Colt instantly picked up on who he was. Bradley’s brother. A bit skinnier than his younger brother, Georgy was in a nice tuxedo even for the rehearsal and looked as if someone had shoved a stick up his ass with the way he was walking towards them.

“And who is this?” Georgy motioned at Tan Colt without acknowledging him. “Couldn’t get a real date?” His brother teased Bradley though there was an undertone to it Tan Colt didn’t like. He had to control the growl creeping up his throat. “What happened to you and Andrew? I thought the two of you were… partners.” Even their mother rolled her eyes at the way he had said the word as if implying the two had been dating.

“Tanner Colton is my new partner. He’s also my plus one.” Bradley just made sure to add on as if saying Georgy had given him the clear go to have him come along. “You already knew this, Georgy… Tanner, this is my older, dumber, brother Georgy.” Bradley introduced the two.

“Tanner Colton, please call me-,” Tan Colt offered a hand with his shoulders back, chest out and head held up high as he tried to introduce himself. Georgy ignored him as if he were just one of the angel statues inside the church.

“Dad’s been trying to call you all month.” Georgy brought up. Tan Colt gave Bradley a look at that, lowering his hand back down to his side.

“Yeah, well… been busy.” Bradley just muttered in his defense.

“He’s trying to figure out when you’re moving back!” Georgy just pressed not letting his brother slip out of it now that the two could talk in person. Bradley couldn’t conveniently be called away and hang up the phone in person. “We got the spare room open…” And his brother eyed the K-9 finally, giving him a scowl after. “For you. Only.”

“Good to see you too, bro.” Bradley rolled his eyes. He kept opening and closing one hand as if unsure what to do with it. Tan Colt offered his own and Bradley graciously took it, practically able to feel the support pour into him from the simple touch. He had half a mind to punch Georgy in the face.

Two minutes. It took two minutes for him to want to punch his brother on the day before his wedding. It had to be some kind of record.

His mother gave the two a look but didn’t say anything as Georgy continued to interrogate his brother about it.

“I’m going to take dad’s job if you don’t move back soon.” His brother didn’t seem to approve though, crossing his arms. “They’re merging the police forces together. Knoxville is, sort of, consuming the outlining cities to become one major city. Just like everywhere else, huh? You movin’ back wouldn’t be much different from New York.” He rolled his eyes. “Well, without all the gangs.”

“Yes. Everything is just hunky dory in Knoxville and everything is shit,” Bradley rolled his eyes.

“Language.” Cassie just shook her head between her two sons.

“In New York.” Bradley just went on. “That’s why no one lives there. Just drug dealers and criminals and gangs, unlike here!” He opened his arms looking around. “White as freaking Jesus Christ in this room! Fuck, Georgy, you know anyone who isn’t as pasty as your fat hairy ass?”

“Bradley!” His mother cursed under her breath, asking for them to be forgiven in “the lord’s house” as the two brother’s just continued.

“Well, at least last time you visited you brought someone with you!” Georgy brought up suddenly.

“Excuse, fucking, me?” Bradley snapped right back, the two brothers’ standing in the middle of the walk way. Everyone went around them, glancing in their direction as they butted heads.

“Andrew at least was, you know…” Georgy trailed off though, not wanting to seem to acknowledge Tan Colt despite the German Shepherd towering over the other two humans. Despite his best efforts to shrink into the floor and disappear.

Tan Colt thought he could draw attention. When Bradley and his brother got together people forgot about the genetically engineered K-9 in the room.

“I gave you a plus one so you could bring Andrew to my wedding!” Georgy just yelled back.

“Why would you want that prick coming to your wedding?” Bradley asked with a roll of his eyes, a shake of his head and a closed fist he so desperately wanted to punch his brother with.

“Because at least he isn’t some animal!” Georgy glared.

“You don’t know Tanner!” Bradley got right up in his brother’s face. “Tanner has saved countless lives! A good cop! He’s a good man! A good guy! My best friend and the best damn partner I ever had!” Bradley just said in the heat of the moment, face turning red.

“He’s a dog.” Georgy just pointed at the K-9 who wasn’t sure if he should be happy or not about all this.

“I rather have a dog as my partner, than you as my brother!” Bradley shouted back. The two were on the verge of losing it as someone finally cleared their throat. The pastor of the church stepping forward.

“Cassie,” Pastor Robert stepped forward, separating the brothers. “George… we still have some things to go over…” He pulled Bradley’s brother back by his shoulder.

“Oh-kay, then… We really should get ready. Bradley still needs his tux altered.” Their mother had only been shaking her head, unsure how to separate the two brothers.

“You can put a bow on him all you like. He’s still just. A. Dog. You understand what that’s like, huh, Fatley?” Georgy slapped Bradley’s stomach making the officer pull back, ashamed about the weight he’d put on. Tan Colt nails dug hard into the palm of his hand, resisting the urge to smack Bradley’s brother upside the head.

Cassie quickly took Bradley away from his brother and headed towards a side room. Neither of the two checked to see if Tan Colt was following as Georgy sneered after them. The German Shepherd chose to follow than to deal with Georgy or any of the other guests whispering about him behind his back.

“Why didn’t he leave it outside?” Tan Colt’s ear flicked at that one. “It’s even uglier in person.”

“It’s going to get fur everywhere!” The German Shepherd could feel his tail trying to tuck between his legs, shoulder slouching. “Who brings an animal to a church?”

“Probably try and eat the entire cake.” Two other people were laughing. Laughing behind his back. Laughing at what a freak he was as that sinking feeling began settling into his stomach once more.

“Do not associate yourself with an animal and defile yourself with it.” Someone quoted a bible verse.

“Cursed is the man who has relations with any animal.” Another brought up making Tan Colt think they misunderstood their exact… partnership. He was legally not classified as an animal, anyways, though he didn’t point that out. He just happened to… look like one.

Growl like one.

Smell like one.

Was covered in fur like one…

“Why would they even make these things… It’s against god’s teachings.”

“Wanting to play god.” That was something Tan Colt had been warned about back at Project Tomorrow. Despite the year, or age, religion would always stand before the progress of man.

A weight filled his chest and it hurt as he jogged after Bradley and his mother, trying to figure out what it was. Shame? Disappointment? Fear? That’s what that was. He was afraid of disappointing Bradley. Ashamed of what he was. Afraid of coming here in front of his family and childhood friends. Maybe he should’ve waited in the car… like the dog he was.

Tan Colt shut and locked the door behind him, trying to keep his breathing even as he walked over to join the two in the room. He approached Bradley but didn’t announce himself. He didn’t need too.

He felt a hand brush against his own as Bradley talked with his mother in one of the side rooms. There was a tailor already waiting for his partner who stepped up onto the stool provided as his height was measured out. He was almost as tall as the K-9 was now. Bradley was still talking to his mother but every now and then would look over to make sure Tan Colt was still there, standing nearby.

Tan Colt just smiled in return, just glad to be his anchor right now. It was harder to do so, to be that rock, without the suppressants. To keep his cool. All the smells, the sights, the sounds, the whispers behind his back… Tan Colt would put up with it all just to make sure Bradley could too.

“Tanner?” Bradley asked after the German Shepherd pressed his snout against the crook of Bradley’s neck, taking a slow breath of his human.

“Ah, sorry.” Tanner pulled back quickly.

“You doing, okay? I was the one who almost killed his brother before his wedding day…” Bradley asked as the tailor stepped aside to work on some alterations to the vest so it wouldn’t show the bottom of his belly. “Been acting a bit… strange. I mean this trip has been strange enough already, heh…”

“Just a lot of new smells, is all. Lot of strange… people. Your brother…” Tan Colt ear twitched, hearing things out in the central room where the ceremony was going to be held. “Just needed some… relief.” He stumbled with the word, ears splaying out as he felt that heat once more.

Was he embarrassed? Tan Colt couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this. Like some worked up hormonal teen.

“So, you sniffed me?” Bradley asked in a whisper, glancing over at his mother and the tailor talking nearby.

“You’re… familiar.” Tan Colt nodded though. “Sometimes, when there are so many people out in a new environment… I need you to stay… grounded.” Tan Colt picked at the fur around his fingers. Bradley stopped him with a single hand placed in between the two, so the German Shepherd had to hold his hand instead.

“Thanks for being here.” Bradley said softly. “I know it wasn’t what you wanted to do on your time off.” He took a second. “But… I needed you, to be here. I think I really would’ve punched him if you weren’t there…”

“It wasn’t like Andrew was going to show up.” Tan Colt had meant it as a joke, but he felt his fur standing up at the very idea of Bradley’s old partner being here instead of him. He took a second, releasing his breath and trying to let the anger out with it. He didn’t mean to get so… worked up, over such a thought.

The idea of anyone being here, besides Tan Colt, bothered him deeply. It perturbed him that it did. One thought, one feeling after another layered and stacked on each other. Like the cake in the other room. It smelled so good. And now Tan Colt was hungry on top of everything else…

“Tanner, was it?” Cassie came over and the K-9 looked down at the rotund woman dressed like a sunflower. Her yellow dress even had flowers on them, though they looked like daisies.

“Yes, ma’am?” Tan Colt stood at attention, facing towards her.

“We were talking,” she motioned at the tailor who was eying him as if this would be the greatest achievement of his career or an absolute flop. “And we might be able to whip something up for you to wear too.”

Tan Colt glanced at Bradley who just shrugged in turn.

“Now then, go along with him and he’ll get you set up.” Cassie shooed the K-9 towards the side behind a room divider where he was promptly stripped naked and measured by someone half his size. Tan Colt kept jumping and moving as he was worked over. “You seem… happy.” His mother started with.

“What?” Bradley had been watching their blurred silhouettes through the divider.

“You’d usually storm out after a fight with your brother, like that. We wouldn’t hear from you for the rest of the night… but you’re still here.” His mother smoothed his shirt out as she talked.

“I, guess?” Bradley wasn’t sure what to say to that. He hadn’t really thought about it. He still a few choice words to say to his brother though.

“You and… Tanner, seem to be doing well. You wrote about him a lot, recently. Every message, you at least mention him.” His mother said, talking in her soft voice that always seemed to put everyone at ease. “You still haven’t told me why you aren’t moving back yet…”

“Just been busy, is all…” Bradley turned away not wanting to admit it to himself let alone his mother.

“He does seem very… nice.” She just continued.

“Tanner is… yeah.” Bradley muttered in reply as he saw one of those triangular ears perk at his words. He was sure Tan Colt was eavesdropping on them. “I’m glad I brought him, instead of Andrew.”

“Yes, you two were never right for each other.” Cassie clicked her tongue again with a shake of her pudgy face. “You needed someone supportive and understanding… he seems very reliable with what you’ve told me on the e web.”

“Email, mother. It’s email.” Bradley wanted to face palm. This entire conversation was both better and worse than what he figured today was going to be. He expected Georgy’s jabs at him. That’s just what siblings do. Especially when one of them were a giant donkey-hole. “That’s been around for over fifty years…”

“Don’t sass me!” Cassie said giving him a good smack upside the head making Bradley wince. A low growl came from the other side of the room but that was quickly replaced by a startled yelp as Tan Colt’s tail was grabbed and lifted to be measured.

“Yes, ma’.” Bradley said, rubbing the back of his head. “Is he going to be okay?” Bradley dared to ask looking towards his partner.

“Now then, does he make you happy?” Cassie asked as her face stayed unnaturally void of emotion. Only the corners of her eyes showed the concern for the question. And what it would mean for her son.

“I…” Bradley looked over to see Tan Colt standing there looking at him with large, puppy dog eyes from around the divider now. He was fidgeting. Pulling at the fur around his fingers, waiting for the very answer to the question as his mother was. “Yes. He makes me happy. Happier than I’ve ever been…”

“Good.” Cassie just said, leaving it at that as she brushed her hands off and headed for the door. “You two get dressed. The tailor will make sure your suits are ready for tomorrow. We still have the rest of this to get through,” she openly groaned. “I hope they cut the cake soon.”

“Ma’! No! You’re diabetic!” Bradley tried to say but the door had already slammed shut in his face. “Fair warning. Don’t get between a mother and her son’s wedding cake.” Bradley smiled over at the German Shepherd. “Looks like you’ll be uh… joining us, for the ceremony? Huh? That’s… good? Right? Sorry,” he ended up just apologizing anyways. “Come on.” Bradley motioned and headed for the door. “We still got the rest of this to get through. Too bad you can’t get drunk, because I sure as hell am!”

“Yeah…” Tan Colt’s tail wagged. “You make me happy… too… Brad.” The K-9 followed after him. “Happier than I’ve ever been.”