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I immediately grip his pant legs, looking up at him with wide eyes. He didn’t even think twice about putting me down.

“I’m not going anywhere, Little Pet,” Daddy reassures me. “I know you don’t trust me right now, but I promise. I wouldn’t be able to leave you. Not when I’m just as attached to you as you are to me, but I think doing this will be good for us. It will help you learn some new things, but it will also help our bond grow. It will show us that it’s okay for us to be a couple inches away from each other.”

“Do you not like touching me?” I ask, pushing my bottom lip out, and my eyes watering as I stare up at him.

Panic flies across Daddy’s face as he squats in front of me, shaking his head. “I love it, Little Pet. If I could have you attached to my hip all the time, I would, but I’m worried that, in the future, it won’t happen constantly. I’m worried you won’t be able to handle it and you’ll pass out and hurt yourself. I don’t want you to be away from me, either, but we need to think about the future. I run a shop, and I might have to leave you in the kennel if I’m helping a customer and can’t hold you.”

“I don’t think you should work anymore then,” I mumble.

Daddy chuckles and shakes his head. “I know you don’t want me to, and I don’t either, but in order to provide for us and make sure we can afford things, I need to work. Not as much as I was before, but a little bit here and there. I still have some customers whose work I have to finish. But everything is going to be okay. Now, let’s learn some tricks.”

He stands again and steps away from me, sitting on the couch. Sucking in a breath, my eyes stay glued to him as I try not to panic. Everything is going to be okay. Daddy is right in front of me, and he’s not going to leave me.

“You’re okay, Little Pet.” Daddy gives me a reassuring smile. “I’m going to stay here. I want you to focus on my words, obey what I tell you, and that’s it.”

“O-okay,” I hesitantly say.

“We’re only going to do sit, stand, and lie down for right now. I don’t think you’re ready for trying to crawl yet since you haven’t attempted it,” Daddy says. “So, now I want you to get on all fours to the best of your ability.”

Taking a deep breath, I push myself onto my hands and knees, feeling extremely wobbly, like I could fall over right away. Everything feels so heavy, like it did when I first arrived on Venkoria. The difference in gravity was so different, and I couldn’t get up in my kennel for a long time. It was the absolute worst.

“Such a good Little Pet. Hold it for a couple more seconds,” Daddy praises me. “Now, sit.”

I immediately plop onto my bottom, letting out a breath as I look at Daddy. That came out so much more than I thought it was going to.

Daddy holds out his palm, with two little brown circles in it.

“This is kibble, and your reward for standing and sitting,” Daddy says. “Come on, lick them up.”

Without a second thought, I lean forward and lick his palm, picking up the two pieces of kibble and swallowing them before I chew them. They were so tiny that it didn’t feel like I needed to chew.

“Lie down,” Daddy commands as he points at the ground.

I lie flat on my stomach and wait for Daddy to praise me, but it never comes.

“Stand up,” he commands once again.

It takes everything in me to get back on all fours, looking at Daddy when I finally get myself to a steady spot. I want to ask him how much more we’re going to do, but I don’t want to make him angry and demand more out of me.

“Sit,” he commands, and my bottom hits the ground. “Such a good Little Pet for listening to Daddy so well. Come on, take the kibble.”

He brings his hand closer to my mouth, and I lick the pieces of kibble off his hand, swallowing them whole once again.

“You were so good for me,” Daddy praises me as a loud ding goes off in the room. My eyes search for where the sound came from. It was super close. “I think my Little Pet deserves some pleasure. How does that sound?”

I nod, but keep looking around the room. Where did the sound come from, and what was it? I’ve never heard that in his house before.

“That was my phone,” Daddy explains as he pulls it out of his pocket. His eyes move across the screen before a deep frown forms on his face. “Daddy needs to go downstairs to his office. One of my customers needs something done, and I have to do it right now. It can’t wait, sadly. Do you want to come down with Daddy, or do you want to wait here?”

“You,” I quickly say.

It wasn’t even a thought as to whether I should stay in the house or go with him. I will always go with him.

“You can’t leave me alone. I think I would die if you left me here all by myself,” I confess.

Daddy’s face goes serious. “You aren’t going to die without me. You are going to live because I demand it.”

“What about the pleasure?” I ask, changing the subject.