I no longer needed a collar.
I proved my loyalty many times over throughout the years.
Granted
I had little choice in the beginning. She was my only source of support. If I didn't protect her,
there was nobody else I could turn to.
We fell into a predictable pattern.
I would always be there for her whenever she needed someone. She could always count on me to take her some place fun, usually with me dashing far ahead.
She was healthy, but not a fast runner.
When the tide came in, when the fog was undraped from the night's radiance, I would stand before her as she wanted me, join her in mind and in spirit, and clear away
the clouds that gathered in her mind.
But
one day she did not return.
I waited days for her before smashing down the door of our home.
I could smell her perfume in the air. And it led me to an unmarked grave.
That was where I began to lose the last shreds of my humanity.
I stopped
caring about society and the world that destroyed her, and I lived only for the parts of that world that still reminded me of her. All else I would tear with my claws and rend with my jaws.
And
on nights when the clouds lifted in a pale imitation of our time together, I would raise my voice and howl for
the years never to come again.
In time I would lose all
memory of our past lives. I would haunt
the town where we once lived, and seek my vengeance against them, against all those who would take our lives from us.
If they showed no humanity towards her, I would show none to them.