"Please, I'm not a dog," Jared barked. "I just got turned into one. Please, someone, help me!"
He started seeing snippets of his life flash before his eyes: brotherly ties with Kevin, mixed feelings about his parents, the unrequited love of Callie.
The man tightening the restraints on Jared's canine limbs suddenly vanished, replaced by a dark being emanating a wave of coldness. Wepwawet opened his muzzle and produce sounds. Jared was not certain they were words, but he understood them.
The scene moved forward with glacial slowness, as if everything and everyone, other than Jared and the Egyptian deity, had been encased in a bubble of thick syrup.
"Oh, my," Wepwawet remarked, glancing at the hypodermic syringe in the shelter worker's hand. "This looks serious."
Jared barked. "Do something. Please!"
Wepwawet's features twisted into a grimace, whether from delight at Jared's pleading or boredom from the sheer tedium of it all. He clasped his hands in front of him and peered into the sheepdog's terrified eyes.
"I should not interfere," the entity remarked. "I set things in motion, putting you on the path, so to speak. It's not in my purview to interfere once the consequences start falling into place."
"They're going to kill me!" Jared barked his eyes darting from the jackal-headed deity to the gleaming needle in the worker's hand as he continued to advance with infinitesimal progress.
"Yes, I do realize that," Wepwawet answered. "On some levels, I do regret that for you. You've been more sport than I've enjoyed for quite some time. Quite frankly, it may have been centuries."
"Then go away and leave me alone," Jared barked, having decided to prepare for the end rather than provide Wepwawet with more amusement. "I have more important matters..."
The being laughed, peeking into his thoughts. "Oh, that's a good one," he said, still laughing but trying to control his laughter. "You still think you have a human soul."
Jared felt the words pierce his mental armor. "What are you saying?" Jared barked.
"You're simply a residue, the shadow of your former human self, superimposed on the dubious mental faculties of one English sheepdog."
The man with the needle was only a few steps from him.
"Shaggy?" Jared whimpered.
"Yes," Wepwawet said. "So proud of you. You got that without any other hint from me."
It disturbed Jared to think that the selfishness and cruelty of the impostor, however, truly originated with his own former human intelligence, so unwittingly transferred to the sheepdog that had taken occupancy of his human body.
"So, like a snowflake in late spring, you were sure to melt away sooner or later," Wepwawet said. "Except, now, we will never get to the later."
"Please," Jared hated to beg. "I'll do anything."
The shelter worker drew along the side of the table as Wepwawet helpfully adjusted some of the straps. Jared struggled and felt his cock emerge from its sheath as adrenaline saturated his body.
"I think that it is customary to say something like you may feel a brief sting," the entity said.
Jared saw the worker place the needle against one of his forelegs.
"Any final words?" Wepwawet asked.
Jared growled. "I'm not sure that is even physically possible," Wepwawet riposted.
Jared felt a tiny sting. Suddenly...