“I can’t believe how fast you’re learning, Kai. I’m impressed.”

My ears flick, and I blush. “Thank you, Master. You are a rather good teacher, after all.”

He ruffles my hair. “And you’re a good student, Mr. Kai.” Warmth runs down my spine at his touch. If I was a cat, I’d start purring. “How about this, for next time. We practice more handwriting, and we’ll start reading whole paragraphs.”

“Of course, Master.”

We leave the school and step outside into the sunset. He stretches, making that long noise that you usually make when stretching. For some reason, I watch him, his arms reaching towards the sky, his shirt lifting. He gives a breath of relief and looks at me. “What?” He looks down at himself, fixing his shirt and wiping his eyes.

“Nothing.” I look away. I feel like I just watched another wolf roll over to show his stomach, exposing his soft flesh to the world. My face warms again. “Nothing.”

“Uh, okay.”

We walk through the grass and past the trees, stopping to listen to the stream before moving on. The sun is so warm, the air so sweet, there’s the buzzing of bugs, and my tail waves around as I walk.

His voice startles me. “I don’t know why it has to be me.”

“You?” It sounds so rude, but I just say it without thinking. Did he mean why the other children would treat him like that?

He frowns. We continue walking along the path, and he kicks a rock. “I mean, they don’t have to say or do anything. They could just leave me alone forever. Let me study in peace until I leave for university.”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

He doesn’t answer.

But he sighs. “You don’t really get it. Just ignoring them like that doesn’t work. I already tried so many times.” He isn’t angry. He just says it, like he would say the summer is warm. “But I’m glad you’re not them. I don’t want you to ever be like them. I think you’re my first actual friend, after Jacob and Merle.”

“I…” I am what? My mind seemed to split into many paths, twisted and tied together. There were words: brother, wolf, dog, slave, servant, son, friend. “I am?”

“Yeah, I guess. You’re always there. I mean, you have to be, but… it’s like, you always listen and we talk and I like you being around.”

“Thank you, Master.” But I look away, feeling dread. We were friends? Was I still a servant?

If Master believed that I was a friend, would my duties change? Would I treat him differently? Because of the contract, I would always be a servant. I was here to fulfill his orders. To protect him and his soul. As a servant, that was all I would need to do.

But he said I was a friend, now.

“Hey, Kai. Why’re you so quiet?”

“…I am not sure, Master.” I want to save these thoughts for bedtime, when all I would do is wait for him to drift into sleep. But they prowl around in my mind, waiting for prey. “Maybe it is the heat.”

Master grunts and puts his hands in his pockets. “Do they really think we’re like that?”

“Like what, Master?”

“They always say we’re brothers or lovers or partners or something. But you’re not my real brother. You’re not my partner or my lover and you’re not Merle or Jacob. You’re just my friend. A servant. That’s all.” He keeps his eyes on the road, but he’s frowning. “Right?”

“That sounds correct to me, Master. I am here to serve you and fulfill your orders.”

“No matter how stupid or bad they are.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Even if you don’t like doing them.”

I tilt my head at the word. “‘Like’?”

“Yeah. You just do whatever I say, whether it’s right or wrong or even if you hate it. That’s dedication.”

I stare at him.

“So, be honest.” He turns around and I almost walk into him. “Do you like learning to read?”

“What do you mean by ‘like’, Master?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? I already said it. Do you enjoy it or do you do it because I say you have to do it?”

“Whatever you want me to do, Master, then I will do it.”

His voice becomes frantic. “But if I gave you the choice to learn or not, would you want it? What would you want to learn? Would you want to be in a real school?”

My head begins to ache with these questions. Was there a correct way of answering them? On the first day, I thought choosing between names and breakfast times were difficult, but the answers for this are too many. I rub my head, trying to soothe the ache. “I would do whatever you wanted, Master. Anything you choose is fine with me.”

He frowns. “Anything I choose for you?”

I nod.

“What about when we were in the meadow? Talking? Did you like doing that?”

I stare at him.

“Or whenever I’m teaching you stuff? Do you like it or just pretend?”

I cannot answer. I stare at the grass.

“Humiliating you all the time? Hurting you? Don’t you hate what I do to you?”

Fear strikes me, but it is all I feel. It is whatever Master wants me to do, whether it hurts me or not. Anything he does to or asks of me, I accept it all. “I am fine with it all, Master. I do not care. Whatever makes you happy. That is all I live for.”

He stares at me, disbelief on his face.

He begins to walk away. But he turns and says, “Don’t follow me.” He runs, taking the path that branches away from our house. I stare at him until I can no longer see him.

And so I walk home alone. And as I do, I feel an ache in my body completely different from anything else. Like I had been kept in a tiny room and was unable to move for days at a time. My breathing was too fast, my face too warm. Like my heart was trying to escape. I shiver as the wind blows past me, even though I’m not cold.

My head hurt. What was he saying? What did he mean, liking and hating things? I look at the ground, my eyes warm and wet. I blink the water away. The entire world is blurry, but clears when I blink again. I wipe my eyes and there is more water on my finger. I look up at the sky, now nearly evening, without a cloud in sight.

Why was I crying?

Supper is quiet. I continue to attend to Mother and Father and wash the dishes. Ensure the knitting, books, clothing, shoes are arranged properly, and I sit on the bed, staring out the window, then at his, before curling up and waiting for him to come home.