I woke up early the next day, since I had to go to the local veterinarian. Even if we do not have pets. I went to the bathroom to freshen up. After Sean left yesterday, I immediately called Olive Hunter, she is indeed a woman. We have a meeting with her next Wednesday. Lory wants to go shopping for her dress on Monday. I guess that is a perfect moment for me to choose a tuxedo. After freshening up, I carefully looked outside, Lory was still sleeping.

Then I walked to the kitchen, “Time to make some breakfast.” While making some tea and coffee, I heard Lory walk over towards me.

She hugged me. “Thanks for making breakfast again.”

“You are welcome, my love.” I turned around and gave her a kiss.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I am excited to find the truth about the territorial fights.”

After breakfast, Lory quickly left for the hair salon. After getting dressed and grabbing my jacket, I took my keys. I sighed and put them down, it is only a fifteen-minute walk. I walked outside and waved at Lory as I passed by. She is getting ready for the first customers. As I walked, I put my hands in my pockets. The street is always quiet. As I looked around, I barely saw any cats or dogs. There is this tunnel, that would be the fastest way.

As I entered the tunnel, I noticed that a few of the lights were flickering. I stopped as I felt an odd breeze. Not a breeze you should be feeling in a tunnel. A strange portal in reality opened up, two of them. One behind me, and another in front of me. Three people jumped out of them, on both sides. They looked the same as Lory, different but, they are the same species.

A wolf man, a human with a tail and the same ears, but gray, walked over towards me. He wore some kind of chain mail as armor, he was also wearing some kind of steel pants. Perhaps plate legs. Silver, oily hair is pulled back to reveal a long, wild face. Expressive blue eyes, set charmingly within his sockets. He spoke up with a heavy voice. “Are you the man named Steve?”

“Yes, I am, and I have places to be.”

“You do not seem impressed, I assume you have met Lorraine.”

“Do I look like I am going to give you answers?”

The wolf man grinned, “No, but we can make you talk.” He drew a metal sword. “You are a mere human, there is nothing you can do against me, let alone, six of us.”

I smiled, “I know Kung-Fu. Well, I don’t, but it is more fun to say that. Compared to, I know of some lost martial art that I learned from a dude in the middle of nowhere when traveling through the lands for my special job.”

The wolf person walked over to me, his sword primed. “Enough of your nonsense, give me answers, or I will strike you!”

I grimaced, “Bite me. Oh wait, you have fangs.” I think he had enough of my messing around as he swung his sword at me. I swayed aside and dodged the incoming sword. “Woah, that looks sharp, it might be able to cut off my head.”

He swung it at me again, I did a backflip avoiding it. As he tried to stab me, I twirled aside, and it passed beside me, with a flat hand, I slammed my hand down on his shoulder and he cried out in pain. He tried to give me a headbutt, but I moved aside in time, then I gave him a headbutt. One of the other wolf like people ran towards me.

He came at me with a spear, I jumped up and landed on his spear, launching him through the air. The spear had fallen to the ground. I saw a sword come for me and I leaned backwards, it flew over me, I got up and kicked the spear up and caught it. “Now it's a fair fight.”

He swung his sword at me again, and I blocked it with my spear, I slid it across his sword and disarmed him. He immediately drew a dagger and charged at me. I stepped aside and let him trip over the spear. He face-planted on the ground. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right arm. When I looked back, I saw one of the wolf people had snuck up on me and stabbed a dagger into my arm. I used my elbow to hit him in his face. Another one of the wolf people charged at me, I slashed the spear across his face and blood splattered everywhere.

As another one ran at me, I threw the spear, and it hit him full in his gut. Blood gushed out his wound as he grabbed it with both of his hands.

“Whoops, that might have been more painful than I wanted.” The wolf people who addressed me got up and attacked me, I swung behind him and punched my flat hand on his shoulder. He cried in pain and fell on his knees. I kept applying pressure and he screamed in pain. I looked around, “Back off, all of you, or I will snap his neck.”

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One of them looked at me, “But, how?”

I let a sly smile form, “Would you like to find out?”

The wolf man held up his hand, “Don’t attack. It is clear this human knows how to fight. If we want to find Lorraine, we need to find a way to take him out.” I put my knee against his back, then I pulled on his arm and I heard a loud snap.

The wolf man cried out in pain. “You will never take me out, nor will you find Lorraine, whatever your deal is with her. Now, tell me more about Lorraine.”

He panted in pain, “Alright, just, don’t break any more bones, please.”

“Fine, but I am going to keep you hostage for now.”

“Alright. Lorraine is a princess of the wolf people. Her mom and dad are the queen of a large piece of land in the fairy kingdom. They wanted peace with the Empire. They arranged a marriage between Lorraine and the prince of the emperor. On the day they were to be wed, Lorraine ran away. Not wanting to marry, only for love. We have been trying to find her for years until we managed to find a trace of her here. You have traces of her on you, that is how we tracked you.”

I whispered in his large ear, “You will never find Lorraine, she is protected by me, and no matter how many people you will bring, I will take them down.” I showed him my ring. He immediately understood. “I am going to let you go, if you don’t leave, I will not hesitate to kill you. I have been in the army, if needed, I will kill you.”

He slowly got up and opened a portal. “We are leaving, this man is dangerous.” They all went through, most of them harmed. The wolf man took one look back at me, then he went through the portal. I sighed as I looked at my right arm. The dagger is still stuck in my arm.

“They ruined my jacket.” I continued my way to the veterinarian. I encountered some people on the way, they looked strange at me, one of them even asked what was going on. Of course, I made up a lie on the spot, I told them someone tried to mug me. As I walked into the vet clinic, I walked over to the counter. “Hello, I have a meeting with Megan, if you are wondering why I am late, someone tried to rob me.”

The man looked at me and nodded, he pointed at a room. I went inside, there I saw Megan. Blonde, frizzy hair hangs over a thin, warm face. Small black eyes, set deep within her sockets.

She walked over, “Oh my god, are you alright?”

“Yeah, this is nothing. But, I would be grateful if you can patch me up.”

Megan put her hands on her waist, “I work on animals, not humans.”

I smiled, “You will do an impressive job, I am sure of it.”

“Alright, can you take off your jacket?”

I did so and sat down. “I came here to talk about the cats attacking the dogs.”

Megan pulled out the dagger and started patching me up. I barely winced in pain. “Are you certain, you want to talk about that? Not the dagger in your arm.”

“Oh, just some dude thought that he could rob me. Somebody with a black belt in an ancient martial arts style, I also served in the army. The Doom Corps, ever heard of them?”

“Yes, I did, everyone has. The Corps that annihilated the opposing force by going behind the enemy lines and converting the country that attacked us to the United States.”

“Well, I just did not see the person he had brought with him, rookie mistake, maybe I am getting rusty.”

“Did you harm them?”

“I broke his arm, and the other guy, I totally ruined his nervous system.”

Megan chuckled, “Okay, remind me, that I should not mess with you.”

I laughed, “I don’t bite, I only attack in self-defense. Now, I am some kind of journalist, writing articles, peaceful stuff. I have seen enough death and destruction. Killing a dictator and his guards will do that to you. I don’t even respond to the CIA or FBI asking me for missions anymore. You know, peace.”

Megan nodded, “I can understand, there is only so much a man can take, even someone as famous as you, but you look different from the picture they showed on television back in the day.”

I smiled, “I was much younger then. It was before I met a woman I wanted to stay with. It is one of the reasons I don’t fight anymore.”

Megan handed me the dagger, I looked at it, this one had strange engravings on it, it was perfectly crafted. Megan looked at it, “This dagger looks like it is worth a lot.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I think they might have stolen it from someone, not realizing the value, they used it as a weapon. Now, tell me about those cats.”

Megan laughed, “Fine, cats, It all started a while ago, when a bobcat got introduced into the ecosystem.”