If anybody asked, Hector was a German Shepherd. And for the record, he did look like one, unless you looked closely and long enough. Which was why Alecia was comfortable letting him walk with her along the busy city streets and into her favorite coffee shop.

“Morning, Alecia,” greeted the cashier, who by now knew her name. “Aw, what a cute dog you got there.”

Alecia felt the creature roll his pitch black eyes, but ignored him. Instead, she smiled, “Hector is a sweetheart. Can I have two of the usual, please? Thank you.”

“Two salted caramel hot chocolate, coming right up,” the man said as he noted down her orders into the computer.

After getting the two cups, Alecia chose a table in an isolated corner of the shop, far enough so she could talk without being overheard, with Hector following behind.

“This is embarrassing,” Hector said, his canine mouth moving in ways unnatural for a normal animal, as he climbed onto one of the seats. “I’m a wolf, not a freaking dog.”

“Hush,” Alecia frowned and sat opposite him. “You’re being way too loud. Even in New York people rarely encounter talking dogs.”

The wolf did not take well to being called a dog, so this earned the young girl a soft growl.

Alecia, setting the cups on the table, merely smirked. “It’s not my fault you’re stuck here.”

“That boy was a liar,” Hector snapped. “He cried for wolves when there are none. Besides, I’m just doing my job and teaching him a lesson.”

“That boy is a childhood friend,” Alecia said. “Johnny is now in the hospital and forever traumatized.”

“At least he’s not dead, unlike the rumours are saying,” Hector rested his head on his paws, then voicing what sounded close to a human’s scoff. “They think I ate the boy. What am I, a primitive predator? Biting him was bitter enough, and I don’t even eat sheeps.”

Despite herself, Alecia laughed. “Well, they don’t know that you aren’t, Hector.”

She pushed one of the coffees closer to the wolf, while taking a sip from her own cup. She watched as Hector skillfully licked from the tiny cup, amazed that he didn’t knock over the cup, let alone spill even one drop of the liquid. Alecia said, “I still don’t know how you manage that.”

“I’m talented, I know,” Hector remarked. “But it does take years of practice and looking ridiculous breaking porcelain.”

Looking at the German Shepherd-disguised-wolf and ignoring how odd they must look to glancing strangers, Alecia realized how much she’d missed her friend. “Are you really leaving again?”

Hector nodded, obviously feeling a similar warmth towards her, “Master wants me to teach a little girl about being smart with strangers. I think she’s called Red or something.”

“You know Dad hates when you call him that,” Alecia moaned. “And so do I. It makes us feel like some evil owner victimizing a poor magic wolf.”

Hector’s mouth formed a smile, which would’ve looked out of place to anyone unaccustomed to talking wolves. “I know. It entertains me.”

Alecia huffed and crossed her arms. She pouted in a humorous manner, but the tears that soon fell from her eyes surprised them both. It didn’t take long for her to start sobbing, “I’m sorry, I’m such a crybaby. But why do you have to go all the time? It’s so quiet at home.”

Seeing his friend cry, Hector leaped off his seat and padded towards her. He rubbed his furry head against her and comforted Alecia as any wolf would a girl. “You know I’m coming back. I always do.”

“It’s just that I’m in New York and I see Dad working sometimes, I’m reminded of the worst things,” Alecia said, stroking Hector’s head for comfort. “I get so scared of turning back into…”

“Wood?” Hector offered, finishing the sentence for Alecia, who nodded weakly. “Don’t you worry. Geppetto is the best woodcarver, and his love for you is so strong, its magic would be unbreakable.”

“There isn’t a single trace of believer left here, and that makes me doubt my own existence,” Alecia admitted. “You just make me feel safer, Hector.”

Hector said nothing and they remained silent for many minutes. Both understood the solace in that quiet.

Until finally, a waiter approached to collect their empty cups. Alecia muttered a thank-you and stood up to leave the coffee shop.

And so the young girl the city knew as Alecia, who was once a wooden puppet in her father’s workplace, walked home with her best friend, the wolf.