Not Your Dog

Cry Wolf II

Logan was trapped in the torture chamber for a full weak. Every time he believed they would destroy him, they left him with a chance of recovery. They broke every bone in his body and then used advanced medicine to force him into recovery.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The fact that they restored his health gave him hope that he could live freely after surviving the torment, and yet it nearly drove him to insanity. The constant torment slowly started to break his mind.

It was a psychological warfare. Added to the pressure was the thoughts of his original body. Every time he asked the system, it told him the information was classified and his ranking was to low.

His eyes became dull and lifeless and he could barely lift his head up. The guards in charge of tormenting him could only sigh in wonder. They all believed that the dog truly was the most loyal of all the animals.

Finally, after the second week of Logan's imprisonment, the Emperor of the beasts grew interested. There was a beast man in his empire that could remain stubborn after countless days of torture. The Emperor became fascinated by Logan's character and decided to pay a personal visit. After all, dragon's have their own pride and Logan was a soul trampling on his pride.

[Warning, plot divergence... Recalculating.

System failure in progress...

Forced logout.]

Logan's eyes widened in distress. If the system was gone, how was he supposed to know what actions to take. But for an inexplicable reason he also felt relief. Due to Logan's lack of memories he was very untrusting towards the system. He couldn't remember who he really was and the system had only told him to complete the assigned tasks without elaborating as to why.

As Logan was in a daze due to the system's departure, he didn't notice that the Emperor had arrived.

When he finally snapped out of his daze, he turned his head to the side and spat a mouthful of blood out. His piercing gaze turned to the door of his cell where he could see the outline of a tall and handsome man. Logan couldn't prevent his mouth curling upward in a demented laugh.

The man standing before him seemed like a celestial beauty. He had long black hair decorated with jade ornaments. The man's eyes were a molten gold that shimmered and flowed in the dim light. Logan could tell the man had an appreciation for the elaborate as his robes were decorated with gold threaded dragons. The man's chiseled features were blinding to Logan's eyes and he knew without any doubt that this man was the reason for his suffering.

"Come to torture me yourself, Imperial Highness?" Logan's cracked voice mocked as he laughed even harder.

The Emperor of the beasts was intrigued by the man's lack of fear. Even after two weeks of constant torment, he was able to display a fierce dedication to the Rebels. Of course, he didn't know that Logan's courting of death was due to his confusion of what was going on. Logan could only do as the system ordered.

The Emperor stepped into the cell and walked around Logan, his eyes inspecting every detail. Logan was too weak to track the Emperor's motion, so instead he closed his eyes and entertained the idea of rest.

"Get him to shift and then bring him to my chambers." The Emperor's silky voice commanded before he turned and left.

The guards rushed to complete the Emperor's tasks. Logan was released and thrown to the floor before being forced to swallow a tablet. Due to the hormone prohibitor, the tablet was needed to flush the drugs out of his system. Logan's only option was to writhe on the ground, retching until the drugs left his system.

A beast man's instinct when facing pain or danger is to shift into their beast form. As soon as the drugs left Logan's system he resumed his wolf form even though he was unwilling to comply. Logan had always been most comfortable with his wolf form- at least in his memories. His bones cracked and he whimpered in pain as the transformation occurred. It wouldn't be a painful process if he was in full health.

He lay on the ground panting weakly. He couldn't even struggle as a muzzle was fitted over his snout and a chain collar slid around his neck.

He was half dragged and half carried out of the palace dungeon. He had gotten accustomed to the smell of blood, urine and vomit so the fresh air of the palace was particularly overwhelming. Logan closed his eyes to the assault of the sunlight.

After reaching the Emperor's chambers, Logan was left lying on the delicately tiled floor. The chain around his neck was secured around a stone pillar. Even if Logan had the energy to struggle, he would be unable to free himself.

After several hours of lying limply, Logan heard the footsteps of the Emperor approaching. Due to Logan's currently weak constitution the Emperor had seen no reason to have guards watching over him. Logan felt as though the Emperor was mocking him when he had him dragged out of the dungeon.

The steps stopped at Logan's head. His eyes glared up at the Emperor tiredly. He weakly struggled to move away as the Emperor bent down and grabbed his head. The Emperor swiftly clipped a collar around his neck before undoing the chain. His cool fingers ran over Logan's fur, admiring its softness.

Logan was curious about why none of them had noticed the collar he was already wearing. The system had told him it was the symbol of their contract and that all other information was classified as his level was too low. Logan felt extremely stifled with two collars around his neck. Both served to show he was trapped with these foreign memories and lack of identity.

The Emperor's touch slid over the muzzle. Logan growled half heartedly and the Emperor withdrew his touch with a cold laugh.

"Since you are such a loyal dog, Zhen will find a way to tame you."

Logan looked at the man with a disbelieving gaze. He felt a rush of hate that all, even his benefactor Regan, saw him as just a simple dog. Logan's memories verified the fact that he was a king amongst wolves and far from a tame animal. Regan had spent tremendous efforts in the past to tame Logan, and that was built on a foundation of good karma.

Sensing the doubt in Logan's eyes, the Emperor chuckled sadistically.

"What an interesting dog..." he muttered, completely enthralled.