James Luckett. That's me. Just call me Luckett, everyone else does. Heh, it's as if everyone forgets my first name. I used to be the government's favorite killer but can you actually believe I'm a wanted criminal now because I refused to kill a seven year old girl? Yep. I went from their best, most respected assassin to their worst nightmare in a single job. It's been 16 years ago since I stood in front of that girl and gave everything I've ever lived for, dooming myself to be running for the end of my days.

Luckett, a man appearing to be a very well aged, lean yet toned, scruffy 30, sat at the bar, glaring gloomily at the wall, stracthing his head through his messy light brown hair and finally he tipped his keg back for the last time, draining contents, slamming the mug back down on the counter and he turned around from there. Ice blue eyes searched the room before he stood rather dizzily and simply walked out.

Leaving the bar he wandered drunkenly around town for a while until muggers tried robbing him when he shifted to a wolf, looking rather domestic and getting caught by animal control several hours later at around two AM when he wandered into a woman's yard and passed out.

The next morning he woke with a start to find himself laying on a concrete floor and a wire door in front of him then realized with a rather human groan that he'd been caught by animal control... again.

Emma, such a boring name. Even my last name is boring. Johnson, how common and boring is that? At least my looks are above average. Or so I'm told by every guy and some girls, I meet. Yeah, I don't know much about that. I'm just your common blonde haired girl who works at bar.

Emma was pulling her long, silky honey blonde hair into a ponytail. She usually did before she had to go to work, but today was her day off and she was going to go to the shelter today to pick out a dog. She lived alone in a large house off the main road in this small town. Her nearest neighbor was five miles away from her house. She liked the quiet and solitude of the house, but there had been a string of break ins lately and she didn't want to leave herself vulendable to attacks. Emma checked her makeup, simple eyeshadow, lip gloss and a little mascara, then stood from her vanity table. She wore simple blue jeans that hugged her hips and butt and wore a simple red cami under a soft black cardigan.

Emma lefted her house, smelling the brisk October air. The weather was warm with a crisp chill to the air, so she didn't need anything more than her cardigan. She pulled out her car keys and unlocked her little red pick up truck. She always loved pick up trucks, something about them that drew her. Plus, if she get a dog, it'll be easier to hual him around in. Pulling out of her driveway, she turned left, heading to town.

She reached the shelter about twenty mintues later. She pulled into a spot and hopped out of her truck. It was a quiet day in town, not many people around, Emma pondered if she should go shopping later. She reached the small grey building, the sign outside the door on the wall reading "City Shelter". She smiled at the desk clerk as she entered and told the girl that she was here to adopt. The clerk was probably a little older than Emma, since she was only 23. Emma was led into the back, where the animals were kept.

I'm 150 years old and in all my life I've only remembered the scent of one person. That girl 16 years ago. It was so unique, almost like the fresh smell of a pine forest. In this town I'd come across that smell a few times and was transported back in time to that night that I showed up on the doorstep, a gun in my hand and ready to do my simple job when a seven year old girl came to the door. My target came to the door. She was too sweet, too innocent to end and I couldn't bring myself to do it, dropping my gun there on the ground and simply walking away.

The large white wolf had dozed off but as that familiar pine scent filled his nose he stood and looked around, his ears perked and his tail wagging just enough. He knew it when he saw her and he was shocked by how much she'd grown but he shook his head and stretched rather animal like before clawing at the door and putting just enough cuteness in his gaze.

He just wanted someone to adopt him so he could get out of this hell cell without being caught as a were. This happened often and he knew just how to get adopted, knowing just what tricks to pull and pulling them all for this woman

Emma stood looking around at all the cages. Her heart broke for a lot of the animals locked up in the cages. Her attention was snagged by a white wolf looking dog who was clawing at his cage. She went over to him and was startled by his steel blue eyes. She had never seen an animal with eyes like his before. She reached her hand out to him, letting him smell her. He was a large animal and rather fierce looking, she thought he would be perfect to take home. "Hi there, fella. Would you like to come home with me?" She asked the white wolf. She looked up at the clerk and nodded to her. "This is the one." Emma said, smiling as she stood. She was happy to find just a fine dog to keep her from being lonely and to protect her.

After filling out some paperwork and paying some fees, Emma had her new friend on a lesh and ready to go. She lead the dog outside to her truck. "I hope you like your new home." She said cheerfully to the white wolf. She wasn't sure what she was going to name him, she'd figure it out after she got him home. She let him get into the cab of the truck and climbed behind the wheel and started it up.

Luckett watched as the woman came into view and though his outward manner changed not at all he couldn't help but think bitter thoughts, as such, Damn it! Why?! Why am I being thrown these innocent types. The only kind I soften for?! When she asked if he wanted to come home with her he sneezed to be cute and sway her more and was pleased, if not bitter about it, that she chose him.

As the human slipped the leash on him he had to resist the urge to bite them, not liking having to suffer the indignity of being leashed but rather forced himself to wag his tail and after jumping in the cab he stuck his head out the window to clear his head of that sharp pine scent and hearing her crawl in he looked over crawled on her a bit as if to ask for pets before going back to the window, perfectly acting the part of a playful yet protective dog.

Emma laughed lightly as her new friend crawled on her and then went back to the window. It was an ueventful trip back home. Emma had retched over from time to time to pet her new friend. As she pulled into her driveway, she looked over at him and smiled. "Well, we're home." She said, taking the lesh off him. There wouldn't be a need for it anymore. He would be able to run around as freely as he wanted. She reached over and let him out of the cab of the truck so he could sniff around his new home. She climbed out herself and watched the white wolf, hoping to find out something to name him.

Luckett looked around the place and wandered sniffing about and digging at certain places but after a while he danced back up to her and gave her a canine grin. On the way home and while exploring he'd been thinking of how this could work out for him if he stayed and he'd decided the pros out weighed the cons. He'd get free reign of the house, including being allowed to stay where he was if he was on her bed and she needed to change, free water, free food, endless days of relaxation, free showers, with her he had to add, and much much more. All he had to endure would be having to eat dog food when she was home, having to stay as a dog when she was home and acting dog like when not alone. The realization the sealed his descision was when he realized that the men who were after him would never find him provided he stayed as a dog for they would be looking for a man, not a domesticated wolf.

He danced in front of her then ran to the door and back to her, bouncing and giving a soft "woof woof" before dancing cirlces around her and finally sitting in front of her with his tail wagging and his tongue lolling out.

Emma smiled as she watched the wolf run around the yard and return to her. "I'm glad you like it, boy. Now what to call you." She said to him, not in baby talk like some people would to a pet. No, Emma talked to the wolf as if he could understand her. She had bent down to rub behind his ears, then she lean forward and kissed him ontop his head. She stood and headed towards the front door. Last night she had went to the local Wal-mart and bought a doggie bed for the living room, a food and water bowl, some food and a few toys. She day dreamed of feeding him scraps from her leftover dinner and having him sleep at the foot of her bed. "Now, what do I call you?" She pondered out loud, watching him.

Luckett was getting into acting like a dog and as soon as the door opened he smelled food and his more wolfy side took over though he knew he was a little out of control as he rushed into the kitchen, slidign on the smooth flooring and hitting the counter as he started digging at the bag before he noticed the dog food bowl and he scrambled over to the bowl, so hungry he didn't even care it was dog food, he just wolfed it down, literally, and finished it in just a minute before he followed his nose to Emma and gave her a canine smile, wagging his tail at her and sneezing once before play bowing at her, his rear in the end and his tail wagging happily, his tongue lolling happily.

Emma was about to yelled at the wolf as he rushed into the house, but she just ended up laughing instead. "I gues they didn't get a chance to feed you." She said, picking up a green fuzzy tennis ball. She went to the back door and opened it, smiling at her new friend. "You wanna play, boy? Go get the ball!" Emma said in a playful tone and chucked the ball out the door. She wondered if she would ever find the right name for him. She was playing with the name lucky, testing it out in her head.

Luckett was having fun until she decided to play fetch with him and that was a bit too much for him but he ran after and caught the ball, bringing it back drooly and wet with slobber after stopping to take care of some business. He bounced around for the ball again, hating himself as he did but an alternative toy became avaliable as he saw a squirrel and took off after it, eventually coming back and dropping the small creature on her feet and looking up at her as if to say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Emma laughed as she had watched him fetch the ball for her. When he had brought back the little animal, Emma choked up. She hated to see animals hurt, even wild ones. She putted Lucky on his head, she had decided that while he was running around the yard, and picked up the dead creature. "It's ok, Lucky, I forgive you. Just don't do it again." She said, her green eyes watery as she went to her gated garden to bury the squrriel. She wouldn't let Lucky in the garden at all, so she knew the little animal was safe from being dug up again.

After buring the little guy, Emma called to Lucky. "Come on, Lucky, let's go inside and watch some TV." She said. She let them both back inside. She fliped on the TV and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She wiped away the tears, and washed off all her make up. She returned to the living room and curled up on the couch.

Luckett pretended a sneeze as he laughed at the name she'd chosen, it was so very fitting and she had no idea how fitting or why it was. He watched her bury the squirrel and turned a blind eye as another squirrel teased him from afar though it took all his control not to run after it. He bowed his head for a moment, giving the squirrel a moment of peace as it was buried then bounced again as she stood, laughing oddly again as she called him Lucky. He followed her into the bathroom, not to watch her but because he genuinely felt guilty. When she got on the couch Luckett settled beside her, licking her face once with a remarkably unslobbery tongue before setting his head in her lap, twitching his ear a few times to try to get her to pet him.

Emma rubbed Lucky's ears absent-mindly as she watched the news. She felt better having him around now, she felt safer and less lonely. She had always been called weird because strange things always seem to happen to her, so she never really developed close friends or really dated. It was the curse of living in a small town, when something weird happens to a guy you go out with, it spreads quickly. Emma hadn't really dated since that one time and probably won't. She was feeling really lonely until she found Lucky.

After another hour or so of TV, the sun had set and her stomache growled at her. She hopped off the couch to find soemthing to eat for dinner and to refill Lucky's bowl. "Don't worry, boy, I promise I'll spoil you with human food." She said happily as she looked over at him from the stove. She had found some steaks, two, and deicded to throw them on the grill. The second one was kind of small, so she thought she would toss it in Lucky's bowl when it was done. Emma began humming to herself as she cooked, the kitchen, which opened up into the living room, began to smell like cooking food.

Luckett stayed with her until she decided to cook supper when he stayed on the couch. When he heard food in his bowl though he moved into the kitchen with her and slowly ate his dog food. He no longer resented having to eat this type of food, becoming quickly attached to this life and this woman who'd adopted him as he realized how easy he'd have it from here on out. He finished his supper and smelling that delicious odor he stayed in the kitchen with her, sitting out of the way and to the side where he could be with her yet not be considered begging. He was conscientious about begging, knowing how annoying it was. Suddenly he heard a strange noise and ran to the front room, growling as he went and barking as the noise persisted, running back into the kitchen to make sure she was still safe before running back to the other room and barking again.

Emma had just pulled the steaks off the grill when she heard Lucky barking. She ran to the living room where Lucky was barking his head off. She looked around, worried that someone was trying to break in. She peek out the front door and the windows, trying to see anything. "What is it, Lucky? Where is it?" She said, trying to see anything. She didn't see anything herself. She locked the doors and the windows, crouching down near Lucky. She wrapped her arm around his neck, her body beginning to shake. The windows started to rattle slightly, slowly increasing as her fear rose.

Luckett listened again and the sound was gone but as she started to shake and the windows making noise he licked her face, trying to comfort him and pawing at her slightly before huffing in her face. He wagged his tail and whined as he tried further to comfort her but soon he wiggled free and danced by the door, now needing to go out to take care of some business. He wanted to see what the odd noise had been as well, having to learn what a few sounds were in this form.

As Lucky licked her face, Emma calmed down and the windows and house stopped shaking. She started laughing and stood up. "Thanks Lucky. I love you." She said as she opened the door so he could go outside. She leaned against the door jam, watching him in the frotn yard. She also scanned the area, wondering why the house and windows started shaking then stopped. Those kinds of things always seem to happen whenever she was scared or angry. "I'm just a normal girl, why does that stuff happen?" She pondered aloud to herself.

Emma sighed and went out to the front porch. She sat on the swing that hung from the top of the enclosed porch. She started to swing back and forth, enjoying the crisp night air. Fall had always been her favorite time of year, she loved the bright colors of orange, yellow and red leaves that fell from their dark trees. She loved the cool weather and cloudy days. She was a bit strange and liked the cloudy and rainy days over bright and sunny days. The only thing she didn't really like at all were her nightmares. She hoped that tonight she would be able to sleep without the nightmare.

Luckett ran around for a bit after taking care of what he needed, digging and such then smelling around and following some scent paths and bringing her an old shoe he found, offended that someone would leave such a thing on her property. Standing on the porch he smelled something odd, he went back to the door and scratched at it, looking to her as if to say, "What about dinner?" then scratching at the door again.

He was trying to act dog like but was unsure how well he was doing it as he moved back to her and gave her a puppy dog face, and went back to the door, scratching again.

Emma was startled for a moment. Then she got up and opened the door, smelling the burnt food. "Oh shoot!" She yelled at herself. She rushed inside, leaving the door wide opened, and turned off the stove. She had left her mac and cheese on for too long and the cheese had burnt. "Well darn... there goes the mac and cheese." She said, dumping it into the trash. She cut up the little steak and dumped it into Lucky's bowl. "There you go, boy. A little steak for being such a good protector." She said as she began to nibble on her own steak.

After dinner, Emma washed up and headed to the bedroom. She left her room door opened as she began to strip down to her underwear. She had no reason to be wary of someone watching her, she only had Lucky and he wasn't going to do anything. She un hooked her bra, she hated sleeping in them, and slipped on her silky light blue nightgown. She stretched her arms out of her head, then crawled into bed. "Lucky, you can sleep in my bed with me if you want." She said sleeply as she laid down against her mound of pillows. Her golden blonde hair sprayed out over the pillows, looking like strands of gold.

Luckett moved in after Emma and closed the door after her, hoping she wouldn't remember that she'd left the door open. He scarfed the steak down, finding it so good he almost wanted to shift just to tell her how good it was. He followed her into her bedroom and watched as she undressed, not even bothering to look away, figuring it'd be weird for him to do so and just flat out enjoying the view. At her invitation he hopped up onto the bed and snuggled against her side, letting out a long groan as he stretched then started falling asleep, dreaming of having the same kind of lazy day he'd had today.

There was a knock at the door. Emma had just woken up because she was thristy. Her mommy and daddy were still sleeping. Emma didn't know she shouldn't open the door, that no one who her parents would know would be at the door. Emma rubbed her eyes as she went to the door, it was dark and the wind had picked up. Emma opened the door again, seeing a man standing there, he had something in his hand. Emma looked again and saw that the man held a gun at her. She stood there, blinking her green eyes at him. The Man looked at her and dropped his gun, he turned and disappeared into the night.

Emma sat straight up in her bed, she was sweating. She had the dream again, one she had been plagued with since she was a little girl. She rubbed her face, there was something eery about the dream, it wasn't so much scary as it was disturbing. In the dream she was just a little girl and there was a man pointing a gun at her, yet she didn't react. She had known what guns were at that age, she should've been scared out of her mind. Emma looked down at the sleeping Lucky by her side and ran a hand through his soft fur. She was so happy to have him in her life, she never knew owning a dog would be like that. There was something about Lucky, he wasn't a normal dog, he was different. Emma smiled softly to herself as she got up to rinse her face with cool water.

Luckett had been having a rather strong dream of a woman he once knew and woke groggily when she ran a hand through his fur but he made no move but to stretch slightly and draw in a deep breath, letting it out in a content groan. Soon he rolled to his back but found she was gone so repositioned on the foot of the bed, sitting and waiting anxiously for her to come back. Being next to another person, even as a dog, had helped him sleep immensely. Normally if he fell asleep as an animal he'd wake up as a human again but she'd had him sleeping deeply. He settled himself at the foot of the bed, crossing his paws in front of him and setting his head down on them, watching anxiously for her return, wanting to have that nightmare free sleep again.

Emma yawned wide as she flipped the switch in the bathroom. She shuffled back towards her bed, smiling sleepily at Lucky as she crawled back in. She reached out rubbing him behind his ears. "Miss me, Lucky?" She said as she pulled the covers up around her. The warm cozyness of her bed brought sleep back onto her. Emma was soon drawn back into a dreamless sleep.

"Crap, crap, crap! I`m late!" Emma cursed herself as she rushed around the house. For the first time in years Emma had overslept. She had to be at the bar in half an hour and it takes that long to get there. Emma grabbed her purse and kissed Lucky on the head as she took off out the door. Soon she has disappeared into her truck and down the road.

Luckett fell back asleep as well and woke with a start as she rushed around, staying out of her way so he didn't impeded her movement and when she left he went to his bowl and frowned as he found there was no food in the bowl and shifted to grab a bowl of cereal to eat but after that one bowl he couldn't stop eating, so ate the day away, making a huge mess of the kitchen counters and eating nearly all her food. He stopped eating a couple times to shower and shave but the rest of the time sat and watched TV and ate. When he finally stopped eating he felt sick from eating so much and sighed as he shifted to a wolf again and went to the couch to lay down on and watch the TV still.