Cecily POV

It was Saturday! In other words, the best day of the week.

I slept in, no annoying alarm clock to disturb my glorious rest. After leisurely getting up, I ate breakfast and fed the dogs—which they barely touched. Was it the brand of food? I then spent the entire afternoon lazing about... my kind of day.

Alpha and Art barely left my side the entire time. We finished the movie we had fallen asleep in the middle of the night before and then Aiden watched me play some Kingdom Hearts, growling when the enemy was kicking my butt and howling in delight when I managed to beat a boss. Art would periodically watch in between naps, laps around the house, and playing with the toy I had gotten him.

Once it was evening and the weather outside had cooled down, I dragged myself away from my electronics and got ready to walk the dogs. I couldn't help but feel bad that they'd been stuck in the house since yesterday. I motivated myself with the promise that I'd grab an ice cream cone while walking.

I put my wavy hair-- the result of yesterday's braid-- into a messy bun and grabbed my walking shoes that had been collecting dust in the closet. Sophie had convinced me to purchase them during one of our shopping sprees and they'd only been used a handful of times since.

With their collars and leashes in place, I decided now was a better time than any to start training Alpha to turn the lights on and off.

Guiding him to the switch in the living room using his collar, I flipped the switch while simultaneously saying "turn it off". After doing that a few times, I reached for his paw and guided it to the switch while once again saying the command. Before long, he began doing it on his own and I could not contain my excitement.

No more getting up to turn lights on and off!

Squealing, I hugged Alpha and then Art joined in on our little celebration.

Feeling like I could take on the world after that success, we set off toward a nearby park where my favorite ice cream stall was located.

As we walked at a leisurely pace through the city, many people were turning to stare at Alpha and Art but kept their distance. I guess it was because Alpha was... intimidating, to say the least. But hey, that was fine by me! It spared me the agony of making a fool of myself when having to make small talk with strangers.

The walk, surprisingly, wasn't too bad. The breeze and cooler temperatures kept me from overheating and the slow pace wasn't exhausting... yet.

As we neared the park, I noticed a man walking our way freeze at the site of my dogs, looking puzzled and angry. Confused, I gave the man a wide berth as we approached him. The minute we passed him, he seemed to snap out of it, giving me a strained smile before continuing on his way.

Did I somehow do something to offend him?

I brushed the strange encounter off as we reached the park, my mind now focused on the ice cream stall in view. I quickly ordered my favorite flavor, strawberry, and found a bench to eat my favorite food on.

"A very merry unbirthday! To me! To who? To me!" I sang as I dug in.

A whine brought me back to reality as I looked down at Art who was staring at my ice cream. Alpha placed his paw on the pup's head.

"Sorry, Art. This one is mine!" I told him as I continued to savor the sweet creamy goodness. In that moment, I felt my phone vibrate and I looked down to see a text from Sophie. I then remembered she had asked for a photo. Smiling, I slid off the bench and between my dogs.

"Cheese!" I said, snapping a picture and laughing at both of their expressions. I quickly sent it to Sophie and decided to make it my wallpaper. What could I say? They were growing on me.

Noticing that there were puppies playing in the park, I let Art off the leash to run around while I texted Sophie and played on my phone.

"Sorry Alpha, I'd let you go too but you're too big and I have a feeling people would freak if they saw you off the leash," I apologized. Alpha just nudged my knee and watched Art as he ran around with the other dogs.

As I was looking down at my phone, I noticed a shadow fall over me. I looked up to see the man from earlier on the walk standing a few feet away.

"Hello! I haven't seen you before, come here often?" the man greeted, smiling down at me and then at Alpha.

Alpha shot up from his spot, a low rumble emanating from his chest. He quickly turned to look at the dogs running around a distance away and not a second later, Art was running toward us, stopping behind Alpha.

Distracted by Alpha and Art's behavior, I placed a comforting hand on Alpha's head before turning back to the man.

"I-I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked, feeling my cheeks burn. If his reaction earlier had been my imagination, I was definitely giving him a reason to be bothered by me now.

The man's smile only grew. "I haven't seen you here before. And I would remember such a pretty lady."

I felt myself blush even more, certain I now looked like a tomato and couldn't possibly merit the 'pretty lady' compliment.

"I...uh" I gave myself a mental slap and tried pulling myself together. "I don't come here often. Or almost ever. I came to give my dogs some fresh air, and ice cream," I said, holding up my ice cream cone toward him as if though showing proof. I internally cringed and quickly lowered my hand holding the ice cream cone. Could I get any redder?

The man just continuing smiling, not flustered by my awkward show and tell. He looked down at my dogs, an odd glint in his eye. "Your dogs are very... unique. Can I ask where you got them?"

"I actually found them by chance. In a box, actually."

One of the man's eyebrows lifted at my response.

"How... interesting."

He then took a step toward us. "May I?" he asked, reaching out a hand toward Alpha.

Alpha immediately growled, bearing his teeth at the man.

I quickly pulled the leash tighter, keeping Alpha closer just in case he acted on his threat. "I'm sorry, I just got them and they're not fully trained yet..." I apologized, quickly reaching down to fasten the leash to Art's collar before he decided to start growling at the man as well.

"Well, it can't be helped," the man said, retracting his hand. It happened so fast I didn't have time to blink. One second he was retracting his hand and the next, his hand swung out, knocking the remainder of my ice cream cone from my grip. It fell across my shirt and landed on my lap in a wet heap.

I shot up, staring in shock at the cold mess on my clothes.

"I am so sorry!" the man apologized.

"It's okay! Mistakes happen," I said, chuckling awkwardly as I tried to use my hands to remove the mess and only managing to spread it further.

Alpha immediately shot up and began to paw at my shirt, Art using his nose on the melted mess now dripping down my leg.

Touched, I smiled at them. "I'll just wash my clothes when I get home."

The man tsked.

"I can't have you walking around like that when it's my fault. Why don't you go to the nearby bathroom and wash off," he offered. "I can watch your dogs for you in the meantime."

I hesitated, not wanting to leave my dogs with a stranger. Especially when Alpha had just been aggressive toward him.

"I'm sure your dogs won't mind you going to get yourself cleaned up," he said, turning to Alpha. "You won't, will you?"

They both just stared at each other, a weird static in the air. The moment was broken when Alpha took a step toward the man and then turned to me.

Confused by his sudden change in behavior, I continued to hesitate, but relented when Art took a step away from me as well.

I handed the leashes over to the man. "I'll only be two seconds," I said, both to the man and my dogs.

I then ran to the bathroom and cleaned my clothes and legs as quickly as possible. I promptly exited the bathroom and hurried back to the bench that was.... empty.

The man and my dogs were gone.

I felt panic explode within me as I quickly looked around to no avail.

Where were my dogs?!