Demon Dog

When he reached the van, the doors slid open and Alex saw Zero, the leader of his father's Diamond Team.

"Alex," came Zero's succinct greeting.

"Zero," Alex replied, just as briefly.

Alex felt the pull on his belt that was attached to the leash on Max. It was only then that Alex remembered rather belatedly that Max had never met Zero.

Alex looked into the van and saw only one other person inside and that certainly reduced the risk and problem.

Generally, hand-raised wolf pups would approach unfamiliar people with apprehension, showing behaviors like crouching and tail tucking. This indicated their dislike and fear of being taken out of an area that they considered their territory.

However, Max was not like that. Unlike most wolves, Max was not skittish around human beings nor was he a neophobia i.e. the fear of anything new.

Although part of the reason was that Alex practically lived with him (or vice versa) so he had become acclimatized to humans, it was basically due to Max's genetics, too. Some wolfdogs would never be able to socialise with humans as they were more 'wolf' while some wolfdogs learned to trust humans (as they were more 'dog').

Max seemed to be a unique existence of its own. Sometimes, he was really like a fierce wolf when hunting and sometimes, he was like a friendly puppy.

What Alex was worried about was that while Max was generally not wary of humans, Alex had also been training him to be cautious of other human beings. There was a difference between being scared and wanting to run away, and being cautious and having its defences up.

Thus, there was a danger of Max attacking if he felt threatened - or if his Alpha commanded it.

If this was within his territory, Max would have been much more vigilant and aggressive. However, this was not at home, which is Max's territory (or rather, Alex's territory). It was anothers'.

By entering the van, they were essentially encroaching on another pack's territory.

Alex looked down at Max, who had started to growl a bit deep in his throat and his canine teeth were showing slightly. Max's instinct was to avoid any confrontation but as his Alpha was here, he would not hesitate to defend.

So Max started to growl, in case the other pack started getting aggressive in order to protect their territory. He had to show that he was not afraid of them even though they were bigger than him.

The growl immediately stopped when he felt a familiar pressure on his head. Looking up, he saw his Alpha staring at him and shaking his head softly. He then looked at the other pack and noticed that they did not reciprocate his growl with their own growl, so he backed down.

If his Alpha showed no aggression, he would show no aggression.

His Alpha knows what was the best!

And his Alpha was the best!

See, even when they were in another territory, there was no conflict.

The other pack didn't show any sort of aggression and seemed to welcome them.

Awesome.

With that thought, Max suddenly gave a yelp and his tongue rolled out as he panted happily.

Zero, seeing this, raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but think that the pair in front of him were like two peas in a pod.

He jerked his head towards the other guy in the van.

There was a long metal table in front of him, like what one would see in a veterinary consultation room. Obviously, that was for Max.

Alex patted the table and Max jumped up on it obediently.

The other guy tilted his head in surprise and showed how impressed he was with the tacit cooperation and understanding between the two.

"Hello, my name is Jon," he said as he introduced himself, "I am going to check your dog for any wounds."

Alex frowned, "He has no wounds."

"It's for precaution," Jon replied, "May I?"

Jon knew that this was no ordinary dog, so he was not going to take things for granted. As a professional groomer, he knew what to do.

Alex placed his hand in front of Max's face, palms open. He then gestured towards Jon and made an OK sign.

Max looked at his Alpha's hand, then at Jon, and sat down while gnashing his teeth.

Alex frowned, snapped his fingers a few times, and glared at Max.

Max whined a bit, lowered his head, and turned to look at Jon. With obvious reluctance, he gave a small yelp and sat still.

"You can proceed," Alex told Jon.

Jon then reached out tentatively and ran his hands over the fur, checking his entire body carefully. Once he was sure that there were no wounds, he then took out a spray bottle and started to wet Max's fur while explaining, "The best is to give him a bath before putting on the dye but obviously, that would not be ideal now. I'm spraying this to wet his fur as damp fur would hold the dye better."

Having done that, he then took out a tube and showed Alex, "This is an ophthalmic ointment, for his eyes. As we plan to dye his entire body and face, the ointment will help prevent any dye from irritating their eyes. It would reduce the chance of infection in case the dye gets into his eye."

Alex nodded, "Let me do it."

Jon handed the ointment to Alex who went in front of Max. He put his hand in front of Max's face, palm up.

Getting the signal to pay attention from his Alpha, Max stared intently. His Alpha was showing something weird, and then, he clenched his hand into a fist.

Max whined a bit, not liking the fact that he was commanded to sit still.

He didn't dare move, though, as he could feel the fierceness emanating from his Alpha. Even when his Alpha made him keep his eye open and something cold entered his eye, he did not flinch.

When the first was done, he heard his Alpha praise him, rub his head, and gave him a treat in his hand. Max sniffed the wonderful ball of meat and wolfed it down happily.

So even when his Alpha did it again for his other eye, he didn't mind as much as he knew he would get the treat again.

Once that was done, Alex stepped back and said, "You can proceed."

Jon wanted to laugh at the serious demenour of the small boy but he managed to hold it in. He was paid a lot of money and being a sleeper of MIB, he would never reveal what happened today.

Growing up under MIB had been his salvation, and though he was not good enough to be an agent, he was glad his skills could be useful to them. 'Sleeper' basically meant that they lay low and quiet, and did what needed to be done when called - no questions asked.

And despite the fact that they would have done it for free, their services and loyalty were always rewarded in one way or another.

Alex watched silently as Jon worked quickly. Soon, his grey and white wolf pup lost all of his distinct colouring and markings that made him stand out as a hybrid. Instead, what stood in front of him right now was a dog that was entirely black.

Alex grinned.

Perfect.

His wolf pup looked like the Demon Dog from Hell. Minus the red eyes.

"I added a special touch," Jon told Alex.

"Huh?"

Running his hand to the opposite of Max's fur, Jon said, "In some parts, there are these red markings. When he has his fur bristled up, prior to the attack, it'll look like lines of lava."

Alex raised his eyebrow.

Max was more perfect than he thought.

"I felt that was an apt marking for Cinder's partner," Jon replied with a smile.

"Indeed," Alex agreed, "If only his eyes were red.".

Then Max would really be the Legendary Demon Dog.

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

Outside, Kyle was lost in thought a bit.

He had noticed that Max was highly intelligent for an animal, and being a hybrid, its characteristics and behaviour would be hard to predict. Gordon had warned him about this, and that once the wolf pup reached s*xual maturity, it may seek to change its hierarchy in the pack.

In other words, slim though it may be, Max may want to become the Alpha.

Kyle hoped with the bonding and interaction that Alex had with Max would eliminate this possibility, but he could not take the risk that it was not eliminated. That was part of the reason why he thought of having Max become Cinder's partner.

The idea may have been a tiny seed but upon seeing the training, it became a sprout and Sayuri simply nudged it more by initiating the first move. Until now, Kyle did not know whether this was too early, or just right but he chose to trust in his wife and take what will come.

So they waited patiently while Alex turned to Cinder and Max to … well, whatever Cinder decides to call him.

When they heard the van door open, they turned to look there and saw a small boy entirely in black, wearing a black mask emerging.

Beside him was a black dog.

When it turned to look at them, his red eyes were shining bright.