My husband was worried I would be lonely while pregnant, so he brought home a Golden Retriever to keep me company. Instead of pampering her, I immediately handed her over to an illegal breeding mill, ordering them to force twelve litters out of her until her body completely broke down. In my past life, I poured my whole heart into this dog. I took her everywhere, cuddling her in bed every night. Within a single month, I aged until I looked fifty, my unborn baby lost its heartbeat, and I bled out on the operating table. When my soul floated away from my dead body, I watched my supposedly terminally ill best friend, Veronica, slip right out of the dog’s skin. She stood before my husband, glowing with radiant health. “It’s all thanks to that soul transfer spell,” she gloated. “Possessing the dog let me lick her every day and drain her life essence completely.” Garrett shrugged coldly. “Having her life stolen by you was her privilege. Dying saves us the hassle of getting rid of her ourselves.” Reborn back to the beginning, I smiled. Send them to prison? The law wouldn’t touch them without proof. But a bitch in heat? Sending her off to pump out a dozen litters was only fair. 1 “Find me an underground breeding mill. The dirtiest, nastiest place you can get, where they force dogs to pump out litters back to back. Hurry.” I gripped my assistant Linda’s wrist so hard my fingernails dug straight into her skin. Linda stood frozen, her eyes wide with shock. “Evie, are you serious? But Garrett bought that Golden Retriever specially for you…” “Just do it.” My voice was flat, so deadly quiet that even I shivered at the sound of it. From the living room, Garrett’s cheerful voice drifted down the hall. “Evie! Come out here, babe. Look what I brought you!” I let go of Linda, took a slow, icy breath, and pushed the door open. A Golden Retriever sat right in the middle of the rug, her coat glossy and bright, a pink silk bow tied around her neck. The second her eyes locked onto mine, a strange, knowing flicker passed through them. That was no animal’s gaze. It was human. It belonged to Veronica. In my past life, I died without ever understanding why my body gave out. It was only when my soul detached from my corpse, floating uselessly above the operating table, that the brutal truth slapped me in the face. Veronica and I had been best friends all through college. When she fell ill, I stayed by her hospital bed. When she ran out of money, I wrote the checks. During her supposedly terminal illness, I even encouraged my husband, Garrett, to visit her often so she wouldn’t feel alone. And how did she repay me? She traveled to Southeast Asia and picked up some dark soul swapping ritual. She stuffed her own consciousness into the body of this Golden Retriever and had Garrett bring her into my home under the guise of keeping me company while I was pregnant. Every single day, she licked me. Every single day, she drained my life essence. By the time I hit seven months of pregnancy, I looked like an exhausted fifty-year-old woman. My baby lost its heartbeat, and I bled out right there on the operating table. Floating up near the ceiling of the delivery room, I watched Veronica’s spirit slip out of the dog and glide back into her sickbed in the ICU. The body that was supposed to be clinging to life suddenly bloomed with radiant health. Garrett had wrapped his arms around her shell, whispering, “She’s dead. Her house, her savings, her studio, everything is ours now.” Veronica had giggled, her voice full of satisfaction. “Her money is nothing. I stole seven years of her lifespan. I get to live another twenty years because of her.” My ghostly fingers had clawed at the air, desperate to shred them to pieces, but I couldn’t touch a thing. Now, I was back. Right back to the very day Garrett brought the dog home. “Evie, what are you staring at?” Garrett wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. “Veronica went through a ton of trouble to find this sweet girl for you. She said Goldens have the gentlest temperament, perfect to keep you company while you carry our baby.” The dog sat on the rug, looking up at me. The corners of her mouth curled upward into a sickeningly human grin. A dog was smirking at me. She pushed herself up, trotting toward me with her pink tongue lolling out, reaching toward my bare ankle. I took a sharp step back. In my last life, this was how it started. She licked my hands, my face, my swollen stomach, every single day. And every time she did, I felt a deep, invisible chill pull something vital right out of my core. On day two, my hair started going gray. On day three, my skin went slack. By the end of the month, my sight had gone dim and cloudy. When I lay in the ultrasound room, the technician searched desperately for a pulse before looking up with pity in her eyes. “Mrs. Vance, I’m so sorry. There’s no heartbeat.” Back then, I blamed myself. I thought my body was just too weak to carry life. Only now did I know the truth. This bitch had licked the life right out of my unborn child, breath by breath. “Evie?” Garrett frowned, searching my face. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” I forced a small, sweet smile. “What’s her name?” “We haven’t picked one yet. You decide.” I looked down at the Golden. She was wagging her tail enthusiastically, but her eyes were far too sharp, far too calculating. “Let’s call her Vee,” I said softly. Garrett grinned. “Cute name.” Vee. Short for Veronica. I wanted her to know that I knew exactly who she was, even if she couldn’t fathom how. Vee trotted over, rubbing her head against my calf and pressing her wet tongue against my ankle. A sudden, unnatural cold seeped straight through my skin. I stared down at her. She was still smirking. I crouched down and stroked the fur on top of her head. “Vee,” I murmured, smiling back into those creepy eyes. “You and I are going to have so much fun together.” A flash of smug triumph gleamed in her eyes. Behind me, Linda walked out of the hallway, her face pale as a sheet. When I had grabbed her arm earlier, I had scribbled three words onto her palm: Find a breeder. She knew I didn’t mean a licensed pet store. She knew I meant the kind tucked away in the backwoods, where rusty cages lined filthy sheds, where females were bred until their bodies broke, and where useless dogs were discarded like trash. I walked back into the bedroom, turned the lock, and pulled out my phone. In my past life, I was too soft, too trusting, so kind that I let them slaughter me without a fight. In this life, I was done being nice. Garrett knocked on the bedroom door. “Evie, why’d you lock the door? Vee hasn’t had her dinner yet.” “I’m exhausted, babe. I need a nap. Feed her for me.” Silence hung outside the door for a few seconds. “Alright, get some rest,” Garrett called out. I heard his footsteps fade down the hall, followed by his gentle voice speaking to the dog in the living room. “Your mommy’s tired, girl. Let’s leave her alone.” Vee let out a soft bark. Even through the thick wood of the door, I could hear the petty satisfaction laced in that sound. 2 Linda came back early the next morning. Deep dark circles bruised the skin beneath her eyes. She clearly hadn’t slept a wink. “I found a place,” she whispered, sliding her phone across the counter. “It’s a four-hour drive out into the country. The guy running it goes by Grizz. He takes any job if the money’s right.” I scrolled through the photos on her screen. Corroded wire cages. Stagnant water troughs. Photographs pinned to the wooden beams showing female dogs with numbers scrawled beneath them, tracking how many litters they had pumped out. “How much does he charge?” “Eight hundred a litter. Guaranteed hit. If you want… back-to-back breeding, he charges extra.” Linda’s hand trembled, but she didn’t ask a single question. She just kept her head down. “Ask him how much for twelve litters straight.” Linda froze. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before she typed it out. Three minutes later, the phone buzzed. Grizz says he’s never taken an order that crazy, Linda read off the screen. Twelve litters in a row will destroy the dog’s body. She won’t survive it. I took the phone and typed a quick reply: If she breaks, that’s on me. I’ll pay double. The reply came back almost instantly: Deal. I locked the screen and leaned back against the headboard. The morning light peeked through a crack in the curtains, casting a warm glow over my slightly rounded belly. In my last life, my baby died at seven months. In this life, my baby wasn’t even born yet, but I was already collecting the blood debt. Garrett’s voice floated in from the living room. “Come here, Vee! Let daddy brush your fur.” Vee gave a happy, high-pitched yip. I closed my eyes. Just wait. As soon as Garrett leaves for his business trip, her nightmare begins. Garrett brought up the trip two days later. “An investor summit in Chicago,” he said, tying his shoes by the front door. He leaned up and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back in three days. Take care of Vee while I’m gone.” “I will.” “Call me if you need anything.” “I will.” He knelt down, patting Vee’s head gently. “Keep an eye on your mommy, okay?” Vee wagged her tail, pressing her snout affectionately against his palm. The front door clicked shut. I stood by the window, watching Garrett’s sedan pull out of the driveway and disappear down the street. I waited three full minutes to make sure he wasn’t turning back. “Linda,” I called out. Linda emerged from the kitchen, key fob clutched tight in her hand. “Get Vee into the travel crate and put her in the trunk.” Vee was sitting on the couch, tilting her head at me with her tail slowly swishing against the cushions. She had no idea what was coming. She still thought I was the same gullible idiot she had drained to death in another life. I walked over and crouched down, bringing my face level with hers. “Vee.” She stretched her neck, trying to lick my cheek. I didn’t move away. Her tongue brushed against my skin, wet and unnaturally cold. “Do you know what I hated most about you?” I whispered right into her floppy ear. “It wasn’t that you stole my life. It was the way you looked at me after every lick… like I deserved to be bled dry.” Vee’s tongue froze in mid-air. She tilted her head, her dark eyes filling with a sudden, sharp confusion. A real dog wouldn’t look confused like that. Only Veronica would. I stood up and wiped my cheek with the back of my hand. “Linda. Lock her up.” When Linda moved in with the heavy plastic crate, Vee started backing away, sensing the danger. She tried to bolt toward the hallway, but Linda grabbed her by the scruff and shoved her inside. Vee thrash violently, her claws scraping wildly against the hard plastic walls. I picked up the crate by the handle, carried it down to the garage, and threw it into the trunk. Right before the heavy trunk lid slammed shut, Vee stared at me through the plastic grate. Her eyes were no longer filled with smug superiority. They were burning with pure, unadulterated venom. Good. That was the look I was waiting for. That was the exact same look she gave me when she pressed her paws onto my stomach in my past life, crushing the last breath out of my baby. The engine roared to life. I sat in the passenger seat, setting the GPS destination: Grizz’s Farm. During the four-hour drive, Vee never stopped making noise. It wasn’t normal barking. It was a high, shrill, desperate screech that sounded horrifyingly human. Linda gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. “Evie… that noise… it doesn’t sound like a dog…” “Just drive.” I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window. When I died on that operating table in my past life, my screams were a hundred times worse than hers. 3 Grizz was even nastier than his photos suggested. He was a short, thick-set man with a shaved head, a heavy gold chain resting over his stained shirt, and faded tattoos snaking up his thick forearms. He squatted down, peered into the crate, yanked Vee’s jaws apart to inspect her teeth, then checked her ears. “Decent build,” he grunted, standing up and kicking the side of the crate with his boot. “Bit on the older side, though.” “Can you breed her?” “Of course I can.” He grinned, revealing a row of crooked, yellowed teeth. “As long as she’s got a uterus, I can get her bred. You really want twelve litters out of her?” “Yes.” “Let me be real with you, lady. You can’t just do twelve litters all at once. You gotta space ’em out. If she recovers fast, that’s one litter every two months. Twelve litters means two full years. If she doesn’t recover well… she’ll probably break down by the sixth or seventh.” “What happens when she breaks down?” “Paralysis. Organ failure. Death.” He shrugged nonchalantly, as if talking about an old pair of shoes. I looked down at Vee through the grate. She was huddled in the back of the crate, shivering uncontrollably. She understood every single word. You drained my life for seven years, I thought. Asking you to pop out twelve litters over two years isn’t cruel at all. “I’ll pay extra,” I said coldly. “Keep breeding her until she literally can’t take it anymore.” Grizz chuckled, a dark, gravelly sound. “I like your style.” He motioned for two of his farmhands to drag Vee out of the crate. One guy pinned her neck to the muddy ground while the other grabbed her hind legs. Vee fought back with terrifying ferocity, her claws digging deep grooves into the dirt. Her head twisted around, her eyes locking onto mine with absolute fury. That look. It was no animal. It was a woman trapped in fur. It was Veronica. She stared at me through those yellow canine eyes, her jaws opening and closing, not to bark, but trying desperately to shape human words. I couldn’t hear a sound over the noise, but I could read her lips perfectly: You’re crazy. I smiled softly at her. “I’m not crazy,” I whispered, stepping closer until I was looking straight into her wild eyes. “I just stopped being stupid.” They dragged her screaming toward the rusted metal sheds at the back of the property. Grizz offered me a cigarette. I waved it away. “First round happens tonight,” he said, lighting up. “I already picked the sire. A massive German Shepherd. Produces big pups with heavy bones.” “Don’t worry about keeping the pups small,” I said coldly. “Use whatever male you want. Put multiple sires in with her if you have to. I care about quantity, not quality.” Grizz stopped, the cigarette hanging from his lip as he eyed me up and down. Then he grinned. “Got it. I’ll make sure we don’t hold back.” Linda stood behind me, her face pale as ash. “Evie… the way that dog looked at you…” “What about it?” “It didn’t feel like a dog.” I kept quiet. From deep inside the wooden shed, a sharp, ear-splitting shriek pierced the air. It wasn’t a bark or a howl. It was too high, too agonizing, sounding like a woman screaming for her life. Grizz scratched his head. “Damn, that bitch sure has a pair of lungs on her.” I ignored him, turning on my heel and walking back toward the car. Linda hurried after me. “Evie, are we leaving?” “No. We’re staying right here.” “Here?” “I want to watch,” I said, opening the passenger door. “Every single litter. I’m going to see it all with my own eyes.” Linda opened her mouth to argue, but seeing the cold resolve in my eyes, she quietly got into the driver’s seat. I leaned my head back against the headrest and rested my hand over my belly. A small, gentle kick fluttered against my palm. My lips curved into a real smile. “Don’t worry, baby,” I whispered to the dark. “Mommy’s getting justice for you.” Around midnight, a sound woke me from a light sleep. It wasn’t a scream. It was a low, desperate whimpering sound, squeezed out from the very bottom of a terrified throat. I stepped out of the car and walked toward the dimly lit shed. A single naked bulb hung from the ceiling, casting long, sickly shadows. Grizz wasn’t there, just two hands sitting on overturned buckets, smoking rolled cigarettes. Inside the rusted cage, Vee lay curled up in the corner, her back legs trembling violently. Her stomach was already noticeably swollen. The dark magic bound to her soul was reacting to the pregnancy, accelerating the process. The farmhand noticed me and tossed his cigarette butt onto the dirt floor. “All done, ma’am. That Shepherd took to her right away.” I nodded, stepping right up to the iron bars. Vee lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot, the fur around her snout soaked with tears. Do dogs cry? They do when a human soul is trapped inside them. I reached out my hand and lightly poked her swollen belly through the bars. “Congratulations,” I whispered, my voice dripping with honeyed poison. “Litter number one.” Vee violently flinched, pulling herself deeper into the shadows of the cage. “Don’t be scared,” I said, standing up straight and looking down at her. “We’re just getting started.”
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