Sukie became a regular feature at Samoto.

She never left Lisa’s side; she even acted as a ‘guide dog’ at times, when Lisa wasn’t feeling very steady on her legs.

Anyone that needed to see Lisa had to be introduced to Sukie first; if they weren’t, a low growl soon reminded them what they had forgotten about…

Sukie’s suit was so good, Lisa was able to take her for walks in public without anyone realising what she was.

People thought everyone from Samoto was a bit weird, anyway; now they were a bit intimidated by them, especially the ‘boss’ with her guard dog…!

Lisa sat at an outside table at a café, Sukie parked beside her on the floor.

Lisa tickled Sukie behind the ears, and she shook herself with ecstasy.

It was just bad luck that someone’s cat appeared over the road…!

Before Lisa could stop her, Sukie took off like a rocket.

It had always amazed both Lisa and Shan how fast Sukie could move; in her mental state, she had just never thought otherwise, so running in her ‘position’ was quite normal for her.

Sukie missed the cat but was hit by a cyclist on the pavement.

With a strangled yelp, she fell over onto one side.

Before she could stop herself, Lisa yanked the cyclist off of her bike, throwing her to the ground.

She then went alongside Sukie, cradling her in her arms.

Lisa hit the red button on her mobile, completely ignoring the cyclist…

Shan and Stacey raced up in the bus.

“This bitch ran into Sukie!”, Lisa cried, still cuddling her.

Shan and Stacey carefully picked up Sukie between them and carried her onto the minibus.

Stacey then shot off back to Samoto with Sukie, promising that she’d let them know about her asap.

Shan and Lisa then turned to the cyclist…

“Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it…”, said Shan.

Nobody had ever seen Shan really lose her temper before.

Conveniently, the street was empty, as it was a quiet afternoon.

The cyclist, stunned but trying to apologise, was caught completely by surprise when Shan backhanded her, hard.

Shan moved forward slowly. At the same time, Lisa’s mobile rang.

“She’s ok!”, came Stacey’s voice. “Sukie’s ok! She was just stunned.”

No one said anything for a second.

“Get lost, before I really get angry”, said Shan, smiling sweetly…

The cyclist went white as a sheet, jumped on her bike, and shot off…

Lisa just looked at Shan with a smile.

“God, you’re beautiful when you’re angry…”, she said…

The incident, though easily resolved, acted as a small warning for Lisa and Shan.

What would have happened if someone else with medical training had got to Sukie first, or she had been more badly injured?

They especially didn’t need to have a regular vet looking at her.

In the end, they solved the issue by updating Stacey’s qualifications to include veterinary ones and registered her as Sukie’s vet.

As Lisa couldn’t walk far anyway, Samoto would always be the closest place to take Sukie to for treatment.

“I love it when a plan comes together”, Shan said…