Since the morning she'd been waiting eagerly. It was Friday and Roger had promised to come and fetch her for a date. A weekend out of jail, and a chance to win him as her new guardian.

  Each time she heard foot steps she had been at the door of her cell, just to be disappointed when someone else walked by, but the man whom she was waiting for.

  Now though, she heard different steps. No police boots, shows with a softer soles. So far she had seen Roger only as hologram, but she recognized him immediately once he and some police officer as escort came around the corner and she waved and bounced happily, "Hey Roger! You've come!"

  He waved back, less enthusiastic but friendly enough, "Hello Vivian! Wow, they really keep you in a cage."

  She had to laugh almost against her will, "Yeah, now you know I wasn't joking when I said that."

  The officer unlocked the door and let Roger in, "Mr. Rose, be careful. She's killed a man and it wasn't pretty. Remember the panic button."

  She waited just long enough for Roger to fully enter the cell until she embraced him in a hug, and soon was held tight as well. Just a moment later she heard how the door was shut.

  He laughed softly, "I imagined a killer beast a bit less cuddly."

  She shook her head, still holding him, "Please don't call me killer or beast. I'm not", and loosened her hold on him, "I'm Vivian."

  He nodded and rubbed her shoulder some, "Alright Vivian, sorry about that. Say, you wrote you've got only a very few clothes of your own and we might need to buy you some outfit for the weekend. But I'd like to see what you have anyways."

  "Sure", she opened the bag with her few possessions and laid out the five bikinis that she had. Clothes on fur just didn't feel right to her, so unless it was too cold, bikinis were her favorite choice.

  Roger just looked briefly over them, "On the photos you wore something different though. What happened to that?"

  "That's been what the mobsters made me wear, and what I had been wearing when I got arrested. I had nothing else at the time when I took the photos", she explained.

  "Do you still have it?"

  She nodded, dug the set out of her bag, and held it a bit clumsily in front of her prison uniform, "Yeah, I still have it."

  "I'd like to see it on you", he prompted her.

  She looked at the two leather pieces, "These, really?"

  He nodded, "Yes. You looked good in that outfit, at least on the photos."

  She hesitated for a moment before she nodded, "Alright, give me a moment to change", and stepped behind the curtain that gave her a bit of privacy in one corner of the cell. She already disliked the idea to wear exactly these pieces, but she also wanted the companion contract. She'd survive wearing these for a day or two. It didn't take long to change, it took longer to steel her nerves and show herself in a confident manner in just this outfit.

  Roger clapped and gave her a thumbs up after she had stepped out, "Looking sharp! Yep, that's it. Unless you really don't want to wear it."

  She didn't. But she also didn't want to ruin her date before she even had left the cell.

  "Do you really think it looks good on me?" She looked at him, and then down over herself again, her hands on her stomach.

  He nodded again, "Yep, you've got the power to wear something like that and make it look good."

  She nodded, still a bit hesitant, "Alright then. But if someone calls me murderfloof in public I want you to shoot them with that gun", she pointed to the stun gun which he carried openly in a holster at his belt.

  "Nah, I'll let you bite them. That's more impressive", he replied with a big grin.

  She grimaced and rose her hands a little, pointing them at him, "Roger, I'll be in big troubles if I bite someone."

  He gave her a pat to the shoulder, "Just kidding. But you can hiss, right?"

  She looked at him, "Yeah?"

  "That should be scary enough with your fangs. Alright, ready to go?" He asked with a grin.

  "Just need my bag and a spare outfit or two", she stuffed her communicator and her spare outfits quickly into her old bag and lifted it up, "I'm ready, we can go."

  Roger turned around and gave a shout, "Someone can hear me? We're ready to go!"

  Foot steps answered and the same officer who had escorted Roger in came to open the door, "I hope you know what you are doing Mr. Rose. And I need your signature."

  The police officer stored the keys in a pocket and held a tablet towards Roger.

  "What for?" Roger looked at the officer.

  "You'll act as her guardian while she is with you. You will be held responsible for all her actions. I can't let her out without you signing this, even if it's only temporary", the officer explained.

  "Now I really feel like taking a beast out of the shelter", Roger said with a laugh and signed with a supplied pen and she just quietly came to his side to take his hand. He looked at her and she smiled back and gave him a quick nod.

  It felt almost weird to walk unbothered, neither pushed nor shoved nor called beast and then they were actually outside the police station with a private hovercar parked just a few meters down the lane. A few more steps, and he opened the car's door for her to enter.

  The car turned out to be one of the models where people could sit across each other in the cabin. But the couch-like seats were big enough for three people on each side and Roger and her sat side by side. She had snuggled up against him, first chance since a long time. Roger had an arm held around her, his other hand held one of her hands and she had her head rested to his shoulder. Life was good for once.

  "Vivian about your voice", Roger started to talk.

  Her ears perked up, "Yes?"

  He reached over to rub her cheek gently, "I know you want your former voice back. But see, I only ever heard you with this voice. It's the voice I like. So, I have a proposal for you. I'll make a deposit in your name, so you can pay for a voice restoration later. But while you are in a companion contract with me, I want you to keep this voice."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  She thought about it for a while, ears drooped before she looked at him again, "If you really like me this way?"

  She felt his hand on her cheek again, "I met you like this. I don't want another Vivian."

  "Roger, I must confess something", she looked at him.

  "Yes?" He looked back at her.

  "This Vivian has really bad table manners", she tried to dodge the direct implication.

  "Huh?"

  "My mind goes blank if I eat. Not a problem if you give me a bowl of meat at home. Trisha, who helped me before, had me eat in the kitchen cause it was too horrible for her to watch. I'm afraid it will not look good if I try to eat in a restaurant", she explained.

  "Are you willing to give me a demonstration?" He actually smiled at her.

  "A demonstration?" She looked at him with risen ears, incredulous.

  "If you feel worried about eating at a restaurant, how about we eat in our hotel room today?" He offered.

  "I usually only eat once a day and I had a portion already. But I can eat another portion, and then nothing till Sunday evening or Monday", she explained.

  "I can order burgers or pizza to our room, but I guess that's not the right food for you?" He asked.

  She shook her head a little, "If you want a demonstration, we need to stop at a shop, which sells food for large pets. Dogs or large cats. But ... see. Trisha had me eat in another room because she could not stand it. I'll happily eat in another room if you feel disturbed. I don't want ..."

  She sighed, "Yeah. Vivian the beast."

  "I still want the demonstration. So pet food?" He looked back at her.

  She nodded, "Raw meat with bones and sinew. Not the canned stuff. But in air tight bags, the smell makes me crazy hungry."

  He leaned over to the autopilot panel to select a new destination for them, "Now I'm curious."

  It had not taken long. One pound beef, one pound bunny pieces in airtight bags and meanwhile they had checked in to their hotel room. A nice room, higher up in one of the skyscrapers with a nice view. The low evening sun gave the city a quite special look, artificial light mixing with the gentle yellow of the low sun, many windows gleaming in the light.

  Now they waited for Roger's burgers to be delivered and he pointed to the bags, "And you plan to eat all that?"

  She nodded, "Most. I can't crack the large cattle bones. But everything I can crack, I'll eat."

  "And you eat like that every day?" He looked at her.

  "Yes, this body has a crazy high metabolism. I'm strong, I'm fast. Well I was before they kept me in that cell all the time. I'll be again once I can do proper sports and get into running again. I loved to run the quarter mile", she smiled at the memory.

  Still smiling, she added, "Had a friend to play catch with me. He's been good at throwing. I could run and jump and catch, and go all out. I'd like to do it again. Trisha said it's humiliating, but it's not."

  She looked at him ears perked up, "Are you good at throwing? Anything, ball, stick, frisbee?"

  He smirked, "Probably good enough. What's your favorite?"

  "Frank had dog toy, sort of a ball, which squeaked when caught. I loved that", she told him with a smile.

  Someone knocked at the door, "Burger service for room 1012."

  "Come in, door's open", Roger called and she braced herself. Food. Meat even.

  Now they sat at their little table in the hotel room, on Rogers side there where two burger boxes and a portion of fries, she had the two bags with beef and bunny and was hungry as hell, "Bon appétit, Roger."

  He smiled at her, "You too Vivian."

  She smiled back for a moment and then hurriedly opened the bag with bunny pieces, took a good sniff and began to eat. Bunny came with softer, smaller bones and tasted very nice. Very juicy. Good as appetizer. Then the beef. Tougher sinew and stronger bones. She worked hard to tear the sinew, even harder to crush the bones, but some were just too tough. She made very sure to nibble the last bit of meat from them. Eventually, she still felt hungry but for a while she just sat and kept her eyes closed till the hunger faded and the satisfaction rose. Two portions of food a day were close to heaven and now she was sleepy.

  From afar she heard Rogers voice, "Vivian" and she opened her eyes again. He had one burger box open and apparently taken one bite from the burger.

  "Roger?" She smiled at him. She felt ready to sleep now.

  "You look happy while you eat", he smiled at her.

  She nodded and smiled back at him, "It was delicious."

  He took another bite from his burger and chewed, and after a while he stated, "I see why you don't want to eat at a restaurant though."

  She chuckled, "Ya. But Tom was like you. He ate together with me. Trisha couldn't watch and had me eat in the kitchen. Maybe I can give you company in a restaurant anyways? With so much food today I don't need to eat till Sunday evening or even Monday. So tomorrow we can try and see how that works."

  "Did you know that your snout wrinkles all cutely if you try to crack the harder bones?"

  She shook her head but had to grin, "No, I never noticed that."

  ----

  It had become evening, even night and now she stared at two shoelaces dangling from Rogers hand, "Roger, please."

  He shook his head, "You've killed a man with a bite. Now you tell me you get bitey during sex and your former partner had you face away from him for safety reasons. I want to see your face though."

  She covered her face with her hands. Shit again.

  "Sorry Vivian. This is our first time and you said by yourself if you bite someone again, you'll be in big trouble. So this is not only to keep me safe, but you too."

  She pointed at the shoelaces, "Wash the things at least if you want to put them into my face!" And more quietly she added, "How is this supposed to be romantic?"

  "I'll try to make up for it later, alright?" He offered.

  She sighed the little hiss, "Thank you."

  He vanished with the two shoelaces towards the bathroom. Muzzled. She was going to be muzzled with shoelaces. Because he was afraid she might bite. Admittedly she had bitten pillows and blankets in the past. And shoelaces were the only thing that they had in this hotel room which seemed suitable right now.

  She heard water running in the bathroom and hissed quietly again.

  A few minutes later he returned.

  She sat on the bed.

  "Ok, Vivian, I know you don't like the idea but you're intelligent enough to know it's better this way."

  She nodded, "I know. But I still feel stupid."

  "Look up to me, keep your snout shut for the moment", he requested.

  "I want to feel like a normal person for once", she had to let him know.

  "With some luck you'll get used to it in a little while. Now look up to me, and keep your snout shut, ok?" He requested

  She nodded and rose her snout towards him.

  A slightly damp shoelace got wrapped around her snout and tied with a knot. Then the other shoelace was tied over the back of her head so the first one couldn't slip off by accident.

  She felt him sit down at her side and then was hugged. She just leaned in, hugged him as well and rested her head to his shoulder.

  She felt gently cradled and relaxed a little, "Zis feels shtoobid."

  "Well, I can understand you", his voice had a friendly tone.

  "I don' wan' do dalk like zis." She would not speak until she absolutely had to.

  "You don't need to. But don't be shy to tell me if you want something or if something feels bad for you."

  She held more tightly onto him.

  "Vivian, try to bite me", he demanded.

  She stared at him and shook her head.

  "We must test if this works", he did not relent.

  She grabbed his nose and pulled.

  "Vivian! I know you hate it, but it's important. Try to bite my neck", he insisted.

  All vampire style she embraced him and ... she could nibble a bit with her smaller front teeth. The canines stayed locked. It was more a sort of kiss if anything.

  She looked at him and gave him a thumbs up. He looked back, "So you really don't want to speak?"

  She shook her head.

  "You agree to what's coming?"

  She nodded.

  ----

  She woke up. She must have had passed out. Her body just put too many things into overdrive. Not that she'd complain in this case though.

  Besides her she could feel Roger's warm body. He seemed fast asleep. And wrapped around her snout were still the shoelaces! She turned on the light on the bedside cabinet and fiddled with the knots but with her claws and the knots out of her sight it turned out to be too tricky for her to undo the laces.

  She shook Roger at the shoulder.

  He groaned.

  She shook him harder.

  He seemed to wake up, "What is it?"

  "Get zeese zings off me!" She pointed to her snout.

  "Oh!" Now he seemed to wake up for real, "Sure."

  He quickly untied the laces and she smacked her snout a few times, licked her lips and nose, "Did I really pass out?"

  "Yeah, you did. How did you like it?" He put the shoelaces to the side.

  She smiled and snuggled against him, "It was good, very good. How did you like it?"

  He laughed, "Would have liked more of it. Say how do you feel now?"

  She looked at the the shoelaces, "Do we need these again?"

  "Do you remember how often you tried to bite me?"

  She was thinking for a while, then eyed his neck. Yeah, there were marks.

  "I don't but I guess we need the laces. Tie them again?" She asked and offered her snout for him.

  "So this is a yes?"

  She nodded swiftly, "Just tie my snout."