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The view from Ruul's home was what he considered to be perfect. He wouldn't have bought the land and built the mansion if it wasn't. But the view from up here was almost as breath taking.

The dog god stared out of the huge window that made up the full wall of the conference room, and before him was the complete cityscape with an almost completely uninterrupted view. To see such a thing was rare for him, even though if he so chose he could simply fly or climb to such a height himself. But it was a much more appreciated venture when such things came organically. Such was with the signing of a couple new contracts.

From the long table that dominated the room, several bodies stood up from leather bound chairs, each dressed in formal attire for their positions of great managerial importance. One of whom was Jaid. She stood where she was, behind the chair she had just been sitting at and smiled as the others casually filtered out of the room, talking among themselves and looking at their phones.

There was one other that stayed back though, who didn't exit the room. She was a woman with long hair tied up in a tight bun and a fit body that portrayed a healthy lifestyle. She had sat opposite of Jaid when the main conversation of contract negotiation had occurred.

Ruul caught sight of the woman in the faint reflection of the window, but with his eyes hid behind a pair of all concealing sunglasses she wouldn't have been able to return the look. Vixen and mink shared curious glances and knowing nods in a wordless conversation that made the husky very curious as to what they were discussing. Finally Jaid turned away from the other woman and slowly approached the dog god.

"Ruul, there's someone here that I'd like for you to meet," the mink began as she strode up to his side. Ruul turned enough to look at his lover and then turned further to point his head towards the vixen.

While Ruul had been present for the whole meeting, he didn't much care to be bothered with conference room politics, and thus he hadn't learned the name of a single person that was just in there. It was sort of Jaid's job to deal with all of the mortal things that came with his growing empire of wealth.

"It's very nice to meet you, uh...Mr. Ruul," the vixen said and flashed an apologetic smile while holding out her paw. "I'm afraid I don't know your last name."

"I don't have one. Ruul is just fine, thank you," the dog god replied, his thundering voice keeping a flat tone as he spoke. He took her paw in his and gave a firm shake.

"Ruul, this is Carmella. She's the branch manager for the construction company that over saw today's proceedings," Jaid explained while coming up to stand by his side.

"I see. Were there other things that needed to be discussed before we left?" he asked while turning back to the mink.

"No," Jaid giggled. "This goes beyond the physical world."

The fur on the back of Ruul's neck bristled at the oh so casual remark and insinuation of Ruul's less than mortal facade. Giving away his identity wasn't something he liked to do so casually unless it served some decent purpose. What caused him his current irritation was how flippant the mink was being with his true identity.

"Is that so?" he sighed and folded his thick arms over his chest. "Do tell."

"I've known who you really are for quite a while. You leave quite a big footprint if someone knows where to look," the vixen explained as she leaned her backside against the edge of the table.

"And who am I?" he asked.

"You're the dog god from the Chinese Zodiac. And you came around during the year of the dog? You couldn't have been more obvious," she replied with a wry smile.

"There are plenty of dogs in the world, I'm hardly special," he laughed. "Do you not see them any other year?"

"How many dogs do you think walk around with glowing eyes?" she retorted with a smirk, which made Ruul's visage noticeably crinkle. "Or get shot? Or hit by cars? Or own the same mansion, businesses, and stocks?" Carmella's eyes shifted to the mink. "Or even have servants that never age? What year would you say you were born, Jaid?"

Jaid quirked an eyebrow and smirked back at the other woman. Before she could interject a snide remark, Ruul broke in first. "If I am who you think I am, then wouldn't it be unwise for you to upset me? Certainly a god would have no qualm about killing a mortal threatening to expose his existence."

"Oh, I'm very sorry, but I don't want to expose who you are," the vixen replied. "Of course there'd be nothing to expose if you were just a simple mortal husky."

"Correct..." Ruul sighed. "You're just wasting my time now. Either get to a point or my assistant and I will be leaving."

"Well first, prove me wrong. Take your sunglasses off," she said quickly. Ruul's muzzle bristled in a low snarl that gave off no sound. There were many things that Ruul could do. The physical attributes that he gave himself had no constraint, but the one thing that he couldn't change was the gleam of his eyes.

The room grew quiet as the suggestion hung in the air. All the while it did, Ruul's mind was running with thoughts on the current situation. Her audacity irked him, as did most cocky mortals. Killing a mortal was a rare thing and far beneath a god to do, it was also a very hard thing to cover up. He could also erase her mind with a very simple wave of divine power, but that also had its own ramifications. He didn't know how deep his identity delved into her thoughts or how much it had consumed her life, so erasing who he was and replacing the memories could prove to be very disastrous for her. Of course, there was also the option of letting her go on with the information that she knew and see what she was trying to get out of it.

The snarl on his face relaxed and transformed into a smile. He reached up and slowly pulled away his sunglasses, showing his featureless orbs. As soon as they came into view, Carmela gasped and placed a paw over her mouth as she stared with wide eyes. Despite her considerable confidence it seemed that she still wasn't expecting her hunch to be true.

"Jaid, how did you come to know Carmella?" the husky asked while keeping his gazed fixed on the vixen and tucking his glasses into a pocket of his jacket.

"We initially started out as friends when I would come around here for business. We got pretty personal and then one day she sort of just...hit me with it. Apparently there's quite a sizable underground network of Zodiac god believers and she threatened to release everything she knew to them. I thought it was best to wait until you were here to see what you wanted to do about the situation," Jaid explained softly.

"Why didn't you bring this to my attention sooner?" He rumbled.

"I didn't want to start your time here with anything stressful. Since you only have three months left I thought this would be the best time," she said.

"I see. And has she spoken to you about what she intends to extort us about?" he continued.

"She has, but I think she would do a better job of explaining what she wants," the mink replied and came to stand closer to her lover. She leaned against his side in a comforting manner.

"I want a guarantee of paradise," Carmella blurted out when she realized that she now had the floor.

Read the full chapter here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/year-of-dog-9-29233625