FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 11

Zack's heart pounded as he heard the demand. Zack turned to Drailsin, the dragon staring at him with wide eyes, "What the hell is he talking about Zack?" Drailsin asked worriedly.

"Zack's a werewolf, my dear dragon." Balthazar giggled softly, "Can't you see the bulging muscle and growing body? He found your picture so interesting because it very closely resembles what he becomes. Come on Zack, show him." Balthazar chuckled and flicked his finger once, a Dollmomin behind him flung itself at Zack.

Zack caught the demon and growled furiously as he grappled it. The demon raked its sharp claws across his body multiple times, tearing apart the jacket he was wearing and leaving marks of deep scratches all along his body, though the claws didn't penetrate his skin. Zack howled as he let loose, in the few seconds he spent to pry the demon away from his body and throw it back at Balthazar, his body finished its transformation. The pants he wore tore apart, falling to the floor as Zack stood naked, body hunched over slightly in his werewolf form, his eyes glowing and his body heaving as he glared angrily at the demon leader.

Kyle and Drailsin watched the exchange with held breath, Kyle taking in the form of Zack's transformed self while struggling in the air against his captives as Drailsin gaped in surprise, his muzzle hanging open.

Balthazar had ducked as the thrown Dollmomin flew over his head, and clapped as he rose up, "That's a boy! Quite literally, look at that sexiness." Zack growled deeply, curling his upper lips and snarling as he clenched his paws together as Balthazar continued to taunt. "Don't you think so Drailsin? Doesn't he look exactly what you had dreamed?"

The dragon was staring at Zack in awe, but slowly, the dragon shook his head, "I...guess? Zack...who is this guy?" He asked the snarling werewolf as Zack glared at his enemy.

"His name is Balthazar and he's the one causing all those crimes in the city." Zack snarled and Balthazar giggled softly. "These demons bring out violent emotions off people and feed on the aftermath."

"Ohhhh close." Balthazar chuckled, "They don't bring out anything, they just egg it on. They can sense when people are upset and they whisper in their ears to make them more angry. It's not the anger they feed on, it's the despair afterwards. When people fight, it leaves negative power in the air. That's what they feed on. They don't need it often, but without it they'd die." The demon leader held up his hands, "Light and dark, it balances out."

"Why does that mean they fight werewolves?" Zack growled, "Luran told me they've been fighting Dollmomin for hundreds of years."

"That wasn't always the case though." Balthazar wagged his finger agian, striding around the couch casually. The hooded, faceless being reached out and rubbed his paw along Kyle's chin. The dalmatian whimpered and Zack growled deeply, paws shaking as Balthazar forced Kyle to look into his hood. Tears filled Kyle's eyes as he looked into the darkness.

"It used to be that Dollmomin left werewolves alone, they kept to themselves, living off the negative energy, inciting a fight here and there and doing nothing more. Until the Void Lord emerged from the emptiness of space." Balthazar released Kyle's chin, turning towards Zack, "Before you ask, no, it doesn't have an actual name, that is all it is known as, the Void Lord."

"The Void Lord took control of the Dollmomin, and began using them to slowly weed out civilization. Its ultimate goal is the eventual destruction of society, it feeds on chaos and death. Rules, laws, peace. Those are its enemies. It targeted werewolves because it saw potential in turning them "feral." To use them as tools to bring the rest of society down."

"So you want to take my blood and use it to turn people in mindless, crazed werewolf beasts." Zack growled, and this made the demon leader pause, blinking at him, and Zack grinned. "Luran saw it in his visions. You want my blood to turn werewolves wild and savage. Such an infectious thing will spread across the whole world, one bite and that's it. It's like a zombie plague."

"Bah, zombie plagues are used too often, I've been a part of those in the past. Eventually people out live the walking corpses and start over from scratch." Balthazar shook his head as he sat down on the couch, "But he's right, that is what I want your blood for. I plan to infuse essence of chaos into it, it'll cause anyone infected to become crazed." He clicked his tongue then and pointed at Zack, "We're getting way off topic here. Bite Drailsin, or I kill Kyle."

"What if I just take you out right now?" Zack growled loudly, and Balthazar chuckled deeply.

"You think you can?" He challenged, standing up slowly from the couch. The demons holding Kyle hissed out loudly, and the one finger pressed against Kyle's throat pushed it a little harder. The canine whimpered the pressure from the demons against his neck, even though he couldn't see them. His eyes pleaded at Zack for help.

"Maybe he can't, but I might." Drailsin growled out himself then as he stood beside the werewolf. In his paws, he held a book.

Balthazar looked at the book, laughing, "A book? What you got in that huh?"

Drailsin pulled his paw back and he threw the thick book at the demon leader, admittedly, he seemed to catch Balthazar by surprise. Balthazar caught the book and he snarled as he held it, reading the title quickly, "This...is a cookbook!" He looked over the rim of the book at Zack and Drailsin, "Did you really think this would stop me?"

The dragon grinned and shrugged, "No, but it made a good distraction to give them enough time." He pointed around Balthazar's shoulder as Luran's voice shouted.

"Balthazar!"

Suddenly, the five werewolves rushed through the doorway of the cabin. Shade and Urie tackled a large majority of the Dollmomin as they burst onto the scene from the door. Kyle yelped as he was brought to the ground as he and the Dollmomin holding him were bowled over. Balthazar spun around but Zack took that chance to tackle the demon leader to the ground. Zack was surprised that he actually collided with Balthazar, so far the demon had seemed untouchable to anyone.

Before the demon leader could recover, Zack clawed across Balthazar's chest, his claws tearing into the robe and suddenly there was blood and blue fur. Balthazar shouted out with a curse in a different language, clicking his fingers. His body dispersed under Zack, becoming a cloud of smoke that quickly slithered through the air and out the door. Luran followed after the cloud, Urie close behind him while the other werewolves were wrestling the Dollmomin with loud screeches, snarls, and shouting. Drailsin hid behind the counter of his kitchen, a knife in his paws as he swatted and swung at a few Dollmomin that were trying to inch closer to him along the countertop.

"Balthazar! Get back here!" Luran howled out as he followed out the door, and Urie disengaged to follow as well.

Zack heard Drailsin shout out at him, but over the noise of the battle in the small cabin he couldn't make out the words. Instead of trying to listen, he jumped over the writhing mass of Dollmomin and three other werewolves and chased after Balthazar with Luran and Urie.

In the night sky, the dark cloud flew along the tops of the trees with the three lycantropes giving chase on the ground. Luran and Urie were running on all fours, but Zack kept up in pace running on his hind legs.

Several hundred yards away from the capin, the smoke descended to the ground in front of the three lycans. With a small puff of the black smoke, the demon leader reappeared. Balthazar gave a growling snarl as he held his chest, a bleeding gash across it as he cursed again in that other language before saying, "Blast it! How did you know I was here?!"

"You can't hide from the eyes of the moon forever demon!" Luran barked back. "And it looks like we finally know why you're so interested in using Zack, he's the only one who can hurt you! None of us have ever been able to wound you, but Zack can touch you!"

Balthazar snarled again as he took a step back, clutching his bleeding chest. The blue fur was visible still, stained red with blood.

"Zack, circle around his left, we'll corner him together." Luran growled lowly and Balthazar laughed, lifting up a hand to the air.

"Don't think you have me cornered just yet! I prepared this as a contingency plan just in case!"

Balthazar snapped his fingers, and suddenly there was a loud boom behind the trio of werewolves. Zack looked back over his shoulder as a fireball rose into the sky. His eyes went wide as the ground shook around them slightly.

Balthazar giggled while his form again began to dissipate, fading away as he sneered out at them, "Better get back there and make sure no one's dead...hehehe." And the demon vanished.

______________

Zack and the others returned just about two minutes later to a burning cabin, a few parts of the walls nearest the kitchen blasted completely apart and with the Shade, Tarn, and Raze dragging out Drailsin and Kyle. Smoke was rising into the air as the cabin was ablaze.

"Zack!" Raze shouted out as they approached, as the white and black furred lycan was carrying Kyle out from the fire. Kyle seemed out cold at first, but when Raze shouted out for Zack, the dalmatian barely managed to lift his head. As Zack ran closer and saw what was wrong, his blood ran cold.

"No...no no no no." He stammered repeatedly as he pulled Kyle from Raze. Kyle grunted raggedly as he and Zack both fell to the ground, the werewolf barely catching him as the dog's legs gave out. Across his chest, was a deep wound that was bleeding profusely.

Zack held Kyle steady on his knees as the canine tried to breath, taking a harsh breath but then coughing in pain.

"No no no." Zack repeated, his arms holding Kyle up, one paw trying to press against the wound to stop the bleeding.

"What happened?" Zack shouted at the werewolves, but no one moved, as they stood to the side, ears pinned back. Drailsin was the one who responded, standing aside Tarn as the red furred werewolf was helping him stand.

"It was when they charged in...and the...whatever they are, those things, dropped him. They cut across his chest with those claws. I tried to tell you to check him, but you ran out the door after that man..."

Zack cursed, looking at the dalmatian beside him. Kyle tried to speak, "I-I'm okay...just need-" Kyle coughed again, blood splattering the ground in front of him as he heaved and he fell forward suddenly. Zack caught him once more, this time laying the dalmatian across his lap.

"Get help!" He shouted, but Luran shook his head.

"We can't stay here, we can't be seen. Someone from the lodge will be here in minutes. We must leave, that includes you Zack. You can't be seen here like this."

"But he's dying!" Zack shouted again, he turned his head to Raze, "Is there nothing we have here to help him? No first aid or anything?"

Raze shook his head slowly, ears pinned back still, as Drailsin calmly added, "There's first aid in the cabins, but mine was in the kitchen and would have been destroyed by that explosion just now, we were lucky to be close to the door when it happened as it was...the other cabins are all locked. That explosion should have alerted the security team though, someone should be on their way."

"It took us twenty minutes to get here! And for whatever response teams you have it could take even longer!" Zack snarled as Kyle felt like dead weight in his arms. "He's going to bleed out!"

The werewolves gave Zack apologetic looks. Tarn's and Raze's ears were both pinned back and both looked incredibly saddened. Shade stood with his arms crossed over his hulking chest, deep scratches and cuts lined his black fur as he was also bleeding from a deeper gash on his leg, but he showed no emotion other than silent observation as he looked down at Zack. Urie was giving a questioning look over at Luran, while the Alpha remained unmoving, his face neutral as he spoke.

"We can't stay here Zack, we can't bring him with us, he'd die before we could return to the cave. If we're found out, we'll be hunted down. You can't stay here either, we can't allow you to be found like this. Imagine the kind of questions it'd raise."

Zack listened to Luran, his eyes staring up at the Alpha, wavering as they filled with anger and sadness. Kyle's eyes had closed, his voice harsh and rapid as he was trying to breath, blood slowly seeping from the deep wound on his chest, staining his upper body and dripping onto the snow below him as Zack held him up. Zack lowered his head, as Drailsin spoke up.

"I'll make sure he gets help Zack..."

"He won't survive that long...not in this cold and with that wound..." Raze whimpered.

"Then I'll vouch for Zack, they were my guests here after all. He can change back right? He can stay and wait." Drailsin snarled back.

"Won't change that the pup won't survive before help arrives." Shade grumbled, his chest huffing.

Zack began to shake, as Tarn spoke out too, his voice uneasy, "We can't just let him die though can we?"

"Sacrifice of the few for the many..." Urie said softly, at which Raze shook his head.

"There has to be something we can get, anything..." The medicine wolf began to pad his way to the burning cabin, but Luran barked out at him.

"Enough! We can't stay here!" Zack felt that prodding his mind, as Luran extended his influence and began to assert his dominance as an Alpha. "We need to leave! Zack, leave him!"

The command echoed in his mind, trying to claw at his own self reasoning, to erase the resistance he had towards the order. However, the knowledge that Luran was trying to stop the other werewolves from helping only made Zack more angry. With a growl, he shook his head. "No..."

Zack picked his head up, his green eyes glowing as he stared directly at Luran, whose own eyes glowed as he was snarling in his own anger. "Ya know what?" Zack began trying to assert his own presence, as he slowly spoke, "How dare you...how dare you!" His body shook as he howled and shouted at Luran, his Alpha presence surging and completely smothered that of Luran's, making the white Alpha blink in surprise and his anger fading from his face.

"How dare you come into my life like this! I was fine before you lot suddenly showed up! What the hell do I care if you all die!? Why the fuck should I care anyway?! Huh?!" Zack stared crazily around at the five werewolves standing in front of him, "I should never have let myself get roped up in your problems! A month ago what would I have cared if you all got killed huh?! I wouldn't have given a single fuck! So what if Balthazar kills you! If I never let myself transform again, he'll never get the blood he's going after!"

He fixated his stare on Luran as he snarled, "I've been guilt tripped into a responsibility I never wanted! Like it was somehow my fault you lost your family!" He glared pointedly at Shade then, the big black werewolf going wide eyed at the raging lupine, "I'll never be able to just live normally! How dare you stand there and tell me I can't save the one I've fallen in love with after you came in and basically destroyed by life! What the hell say do you really have in it huh Luran?!"

Carefully, Zack stood up, holding the dalmatian in his arms. He stepped forward, baring his teeth as he got in Luran's face. He felt Urie wanting to intervene, but his Alpha presence was just too thick for the Guardian to make his body move. He remained frozen as Zack growled at the other Alpha. Luran seemed unaffected, but he made no move as he held his arms at his side, letting Zack snarl at him.

"You're really going to stand there as an innocent is killed, while he slowly bleeds in front of you...?" He growled deeply.

Luran started calmly back at Zack as he spoke slowly, "It was not my choice to inform him that you were a werewolf. There was no need for him to know."

"What choice would I have had otherwise?! His father attacked him, egged on by one of those damn Dollmomin!" Zack retorted, "Eventually, I would've had to tell someone eh? It would've been impossible for me to continue living life without it eventually being found out by someone close enough to me! Even if he didn't know, he still would've been targeted tonight by Balthazar and we'd still be right here!"

Zack leaned in even closer as he lowered his voice enough that only Luran could hear, "What are you really Alpha of anymore huh Luran?" Luran's face remained passive as Zack whispered angrily, "A small little band of rebels fighting against impossible odds? With your only saving grace as me? Should you really even be an Alpha anymore if I'm the one who does all the work? You said it yourself, I'm the next generation."

Zack pulled back, not even feeling remotely sorry for his lashing out as his boyfriend was dying in his arms, "I swear...to whatever its name was, whatever damn god it is that you worship, whatever damn entity gave me these fucking eyes that are so important...If you let Kyle die like this..." Zack's hackles raised and he bared his teeth. "I'll kill you myself."

This made Urie growl deeply, and even got Shade's ears to fold back, Raze and Tarn giving loud whimpers with their tails tucked between their legs. Drailsin was watching silently, his tail twitching in apparently agitation and he was glaring at Luran as well, obviously with Zack on that front. The threat in his voice was real, Zack meant every word and they all knew it. If Luran really would let Kyle die, Zack would kill Luran himself. To Zack, no one willing to just let an innocent die should be a leader of anything.

The two Alphas stared each other down for several seconds, Zack's hackles still raised and baring his teeth in challenge. He dared, almost wanted Luran to deny him again, so that he could rip out his throat and take his place as the true Alpha.

And Luran could see that in his eyes, the werewolf's expression softened slowly as he studied Zack's face, and he eventually closed his own green eyes. When he opened them, they were no longer glowing, and he put a paw on Zack's shoulder.

"Bite him..." Luran said, and instantly, the four werewolves around him all turned their heads pointedly at Luran. The lapse of concentration Zack experienced at the two words caused his dominating presence on the other werewolves to slip, and they each started shouting different things.

"You mustn't! We're not ready for that!" Urie snarled.

"We don't even know what he'd truly become!" Raze said, "He could turn into those raging monsters you had your vision about!"

"We can bite others ourselves!" Tarn shouted. "If you let Zack bite him-"

"You'd be doing exactly what Balthazar wants!" Shade growled, finishing Tarn's sentence.

"But he's right." Luran returned to them, looking around at the other four werewolves, his paw squeezing Zack's shoulder. "I've...been lost in my own rage." Luran looked sadly at Zack, as the silver furred lycan stopped snarling, his hackles lowering and his own eyes stopped glowing, confusion instead filling his face.

"The only thing I've been thinking about for days since I received that vision...has been killing Balthazar, for revenge for my family and not thinking about how it's been affecting Zack. I've been viewing him as a tool to help achieve that goal, and stopped considering how drastically his life was changing because of us." Luran looked over his head again at Urie, "Further, I unnecessarily worried you all when you thought I was out cold when I was just meditating, trying so desperately to find more information on him to use against him. I forgot about caring for the family I still had with me. I forgot what we really started our journey to do. It's to stop Balthazar from killing, to stop him from his evil. Revenge for our families is a good plus...but we can't start trampling over the bodies of innocents to eventually defeat Balthazar. What's the point of stopping him, if there's nothing left to save?"

Luran grinned, his tail wagging, "We've gone months thinking that nothing could hurt Balthazar, but we saw tonight that he can actually be hurt. Zack is able to touch him, able to injure him. I don't think tonight went as planned for Balthazar. He knew all along that Zack could hurt him, that's why he's targeting us and the city, using hostages to leash Zack to his whims. Balthazar planned to lead Zack to his fate and take the blood with Zack thinking he was unstoppable, but that's no longer possible. Now that his weakness is found out, I think Zack needs to develop and become more powerful.

The four werewolves remained silent at their Alpha's words, Tarn looking down at the ground and Raze giving a silent nod of understanding. Luran again squeezed Zack's shoulder. "We could be the ones to do the bite, but he is Zack's mate, and if we bite him, he'd probably stay a werewolf for good. There's at least the unknown possibility that Kyle can change back and continue his normal life. So, Zack, bite Kyle, the transformation will heal him just like it had healed you at first."

Zack looked down at the dalmatian in his paws, whose eyes remained closed, probably passed out and completely unaware of what was being said as he bled out. Zack pulled him closer to his body, lifting Kyle up and lowered his head at the same time. His heart raced as he opened his muzzle over Kyle's right shoulder.

He paused, listening to Kyle's breathing in his ear as he held the canine against him. He heard the soft whisper in his breath, "I love you...Zack."

Zack closed his eyes and shivered, Kyle had been awake the whole time, and knew exactly what was about to happen. With resolution burning in his chest, Zack closed his jaw around Kyle's shoulder as hard as he could. His teeth broke the skin, and Zack tasted and felt blood well up in his maw. Kyle froze up in his arms, his breath hitched in his ear as Zack's sharp teeth dug deep into his body.

Zack held the bite for a dozen seconds, before he pulled away and licked the puncture marks on the front of Kyle's shoulder with a small whimper. Kyle resumed breathing again, taking more rapid and short breaths as Zack guessed at what the canine was starting to feel. He remembered that first transformation in the warehouse, his knee first started to burn something fierce where Tarn's fang had scratched him, followed by those racking pulses through his body.

Even as he thought of those pulses, Kyle experienced the first one. He arched his back in Zack's hold, giving a strangled gasp, eyes popping open and coughing up blood once more afterwards. His entire body shuddered and Zack held tightly onto him. The others watched on, Drailsin's eyes were wide, while the werewolves were curiously watching the effects of the bite.

"Gahh-ahhh!" Kyle shouted out, his voice ragged from his blood lose, but the intense pain burning from his shoulder and through his body was even more agonizing. He was still bleeding as he twisted once more in Zack's arms.

"It's okay Kyle! I've got you! It'll be okay!" Zack shouted while the dalmatians eyes locked on to his, as he twisted and writhed. His shoulder seemed thicker and larger, the white and black fur had grown heavier than the rest of his body. For a small moment, the pain receded and allowed Kyle to get a moment of clarity. His paws grabbed hold of Zack and hugged around him, just in time for the second of those throbbing pulses to spread through his body.

"Just hang in there!" Zack pleaded as he held onto Kyle as the canine shouted in pain once more. Zack felt Kyle bite onto his shoulder, stifling his howls of pain slightly. Zack jolted slightly at the bite, but allowed it as he held his mate, and felt the dalmatian's body start to grow and swell in his arms.

Starting from his right shoulder, Kyle's body grew and shifted. New muscle swelled along his arm, back, and front chest, following a flowing wave of growing fur. The short, fine hairs that made up that classic dalmatian coat of black spots, puffed out into the fuzzy coat of a werewolf. The spots did not vanish, but the hairs lengthed, unable to keep the complete rounded shapes anymore, meshing with the white fur, diluting the blackness of the spots.

Kyle's body shivered against Zack's, the wound on his chest rapidly mended, the blood flow ceased as the skin repaired itself before getting stretched out by his swelling chest as his organs expanded, his lungs and heart expanding before his ribcage did, causing sharp discomfort before his bones began making loud and audible popping noises. The swell of Kyle's chest pushed against Zack's body, but the lycantrophe remained holding onto him.

The transformation crawled it's way along Kyle's body for nearly two minutes, each racking pulse that shot through the young male's body spreading the transformation another few inches along his extremities, shown by the growing fur and the growing muscles along his arms and torso. His bones continued to make loud pops and cracks, and Zack could feel the dog's muzzle and face thicken and lengthen out, and suddenly much sharper teeth were digging into his shoulder as Kyle's growls and whimpers of pain turned deeper and huskier. The claws clinging to his back grew and dug into his skin, the arms they were connected to had grown longer and squeezed him tightly with newly grown muscle.

Zack blushed deeply as the realization of what was happening came to him. His boyfriend, his mate, was joining him as a werewolf. In order to save Kyle, he had to do it. He prayed in his mind to that god Luran had once told him about, chuckling quietly as he held Kyle, the final painful pulses attacking him as his legs were changing, the rest of his body transformed. Kyle whimpered out, his now long ears flat against his head and tipped with black fur that had once been a spot on them.

Kyle's legs began to thicken with muscle and growing fur, the jeans he was wearing strained to contain them, until the bones began to crack and shift. The jeans ripped apart, bursting open as the sudden shift of bone tore them apart. Kyle gave a gasp as his legs shifted to the digitigrade stance, his ankles popping up along his legs and his footpaws popping as they changed into that more feral looking hindpaw.

As his footpaws finished their change, Kyle suddenly slouched against Zack with a final, relieved shudder, releasing his bite on Zack's shoulder. He panted heavily as the final pulses of the transformation faded, and picked his head up from Zack's chest to look up at him.

"Please..." He started to say, his voice a few notes deeper than normal, "Please tell me I won't have to go through that again."

Zack chuckled and he smiled fondly at his mate, his tail started to wag rapidly, "No, the first time's just a bitch..." But Zack leaned in before Kyle could say anything more, tilting his head as he kissed Zack deeply, locking his muzzle with Kyle's newly shaped face. It took a moment for Kyle to get used to the new shape of his muzzle, but given they were both now in werewolf form, he eventually found the right position and returned the kiss passionately.

However, Kyle's actions in the kiss slowed and eventually his lips parted from Zack's, the newly transformed dalmatian passed out, his body slumping in Zack's grip.

"Kyle?" Zack whispered worriedly at first as Luran put a paw on his shoulder. Zack looked up at the Alpha.

"He's fine." Luran said softly, smiling "He'll be okay, the transformation heals the wound, but it can't replace the blood, and it probably took a lot out of him." Luran looked over at Shade, giving a small tilt of his head. The hulking lycantrophe nodded and began to come closer.

"He isn't changing back..." Zack continued as he looked back down to Kyle's resting face. The newly made werewolf's muzzle was flecked with black fur, the only place that his spots seemed to have remained full spots.

"He may not be able to right away like you did. We'll have to wait until he wakes up to find out if he can. You'll have to be the one to instruct him on it." Luran said as Shade knelt down in front of Zack and gently took Kyle into his large arms.

"I'll carry him down the mountain." He explained to Zack.

"We need to leave though, like, now." Raze said in a rush. "People will be here any moment." Shade turned away from Zack and the pack of werewolves began to briskly retreat as a group into the trees nearby.

Zack stood and started to follow, before looking over at Drailsin, who had been watching the events quietly. "I'll be right behind you guys, just let me speak with Drailsin here first..." Then he turned back to face the dragon.

Drailsin was scuffed in several sports, his clothing torn by the explosion and a single cut on the side of muzzle. He was still holding his left arm with the other as if it was injured, but he otherwise seemed fine.

"Your arm okay?" Zack asked him when the others were far enough out of earshot.

"Yeah, just feels like it got pretty banged up." He chuckled and shrugged a bit, "Don't worry about me, the doctor we have will fix me up. But you should get out of here before they end up seeing a pack of werewolves running through the woods."

Zack nodded, "About that..." he began.

Drailsin shook his head, "We'll find time to talk about it later. I do have like, thousands of questions, most notably being, just how big does your cock get?" The purple furred dragon chuckled, giving a bit of a grin, "But I'm sure you have questions for me too..."

The werewolf nodded again, "Yeah..." Zack said. Drailsin had been able to see the Dollmomin, but had pointedly ignored them in the cabin just before Balthazar arrived. "You can see the Dollmomin."

Drailsin shrugged, "I've nearly been able to see them all my life. Until today I never met anyone else who could. But seriously, leave those questions for later, go take care of Kyle. I'll explain my own thoughts on why I can see them later."

Zack started to turn walk away briskly, but he shot back at Drailsin, "My dorm room, Monday?"

"After my acting club, sure." Drailsin confirmed and nodded, waving with his good paw a moment, "Be careful until then. I'll tell the rescue crew that you and Kyle left earlier today." And Zack turned fully and dashed to catch up with the others, coming to walk beside Shade so he could be as close to Kyle as possible.

_____________________

It was nearly five in the morning when Zack and the other werewolves finally reached their cave towards the bottom of the mountain. Climbing down such steep terrain was challenging, and with Shade carrying Kyle, they had to take it slower than they'd normally do.

Raze took over watching over Kyle, but Zack sat down close by and watched as the dozing werewolf recovered from his ordeals. He'd still had not changed back to his normal form. Luran had told Zack that he himself had changed back while unconscious, so seeing that Kyle was not doing so was beginning to worry him. What would he do if Kyle was now stuck in that form? What would Kyle do?

It was just like they'd discussed. In biting him, Zack effectively was killing Kyle's old life. He'd never be able to return to a normal life again if he couldn't change back. Still, that was better than actually dying wasn't it?

Zack was plagued by these thoughts the whole night, until at nine in the morning sleep finally began to tug at him. Reluctantly, as Raze refused to let him sleep next to Kyle, Zack went across the cave to Tarn's spot. The russet furred lycan was already sleeping, so Zack laid down in the grass around him on the cave floor and closed his eyes to sleep.

Unfortunately, it was only a few hours after that that Zack woke up to something cold prodding at his sheath. Opening his eyes, Zack looked down to see Tarn nudging at his balls and the thick sheath over them. Tarn saw him waking and he smiled up at him while licking softly over the opening of his sheath.

However, instead of enjoying the pleasure he felt, Zack growled lowly and reached down to push Tarn's head away. "Not now Tarn, not after today." He said softly from his tiredness.

Tarn sat up slightly and he looked down at Zack, his voice also quiet as Zack saw that the rest of the werewolves were all sleeping. Shade was curled up in a giant ball in his corner of the cave, while Urie and Luran were holding onto each other and Raze was laying a few feet away from them since Kyle was taking up his own nest.

"I know, that's why I wanted to try and take your mind off things." Tarn returned, his paw coming forward to gently rub the silver lycantrophe's orbs.

Again, Zack growled lowly and he pulled his lower body tighter to himself, tightening his legs up to hide his privates from Tarn, who gave a low whimper as Zack snarled up at him, "Seriously? With my boyfriend laying halfway across the cave? No way."

Tarn tilted his head, "So? Shade had many suitors in the pack, though he may have had one he called his mate, it didn't stop him from doing it with others, even sometimes other males. Sometimes his mate even joined in on it."

Zack narrowed his eyes, "That may be how werewolves work, but sex for furs is more personal than that."

"So why would you have allowed me to do what I did that day you first came here?" Tarn asked, his voice getting a little quick.

Zack remained with his eyes narrowed, and a growl in his voice. "That was before I was able to patch things up with Kyle, I wasn't with him."

Now Tarn was the one who growled, "And now that you are, no one else can touch you? Is that it?"

"No Tarn, it isn't it!" Zack hissed back through his teeth in annoyance, "I just don't feel comfortable letting someone grope and play with my cock while my boyfriend just nearly died and may have to give up his old life if he can't transform back! I have a lot on my mind right now but you trying to feel me up isn't going to make anything any better, so I don't want it right now!"

Tarn stared down at Zack for a few moments, before he gave a short sniff with his nose and turned his head away, closing his eyes. The russet furred werewolf turned away fully then and he laid down, showing his back to Zack and remaining silent. Zack watched him for a few minutes before he laid his head back down and sighed, closing his eyes again and trying to fall back asleep.

As he was just about to fall back asleep though, in the back of his mind Zack picked up the emotions now coming from Tarn behind him through his scent. Sadness, anger, and the most unexpected, envy. Unable to sleep as it weighed heavily on his mind, Zack opened his eyes and stared blankly at the walls of the cave while he heard Tarn started sniffling behind him. "I wanted him...It's not fair!" Zack heard Tarn's voice whisper in his ears and he folded them back and grimaced to himself.

Zack turned around and he watched Tarn's back again, as he continued to radiate his emotions like a beacon in the dark. Zack carefully shuffled closer to him and wrapped his paws around Tarn, who jumped and paused while Zack cradled the other werewolf against him, chest to back as he spooned Tarn.

"I heard that..." He said softly and he pressed his forehead against the back of Tarn's neck.

Tarn remained still, his body only shivering softly as the realization that his emotions had been heard because of Zack's abilities as an Alpha and he whispered back, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay..." Zack sighed and he began to rub his paws along Tarn's chest as he hugged him. "I understand...but I can't deal with that kind of stuff right now...please understand that."

Tarn nodded briskly, and Zack felt a few drops land on his paws as he realized further that Tarn was actually crying. Zack gave a small smile at the emotion Tarn was showing.

"You love me, huh?" he asked.

Tarn remained silent for several dozen seconds before he managed to speak, "I...I don't know? I just had been thinking ever since we found you...that you'd need someone to like, be there for you. I don't think it's love, at least...not quite...I just, wanted to make sure that you'd never be too stressed by everything that was going to be happening to you or that you had someone warm to sleep with...and since I was the one that changed you, I just felt it was what I was supposed to do..."

Zack nodded gently, and he nuzzled the back of Tarn's shoulder softly as he wagged his tail a bit and smiled still. "I see...thank you Tarn, but I'll be fine. This right here is enough to help." He chuckled, "I don't need to cum to feel better."

Tarn nodded back but he continued to talk, words just seemed to spill from his muzzle, "When you brought Kyle here I could smell you on him and everything, I knew you you had claimed him. At first I thought I could still help you on the werewolf side of things while Kyle handled your normal life but then everyone was giving hints that he'd probably be the first one you'd bite when we were ready for it and I knew if he did join us he'd take over that duty too...I don't...I don't know if it's that I want to be your mate or whatever...but thinking I'd not get to again or anything..." He fell silent, his words were failing him and Zack could tell he wasn't really getting across what he really wanted to say.

"It's okay." Zack repeated simply, "I understand, I really do. Just not tonight, okay?" He felt the other werewolf nodding again and Zack pressed his head against his neck once more, "Just go to sleep for now..."

Slowly, Tarn's shivering stopped and he became calm, and Zack felt him drift off to sleep as his body relaxed fully in his arms. Zack remained hugging him as he sighed inwardly. As much as he did understand Tarn's feelings, he really didn't want to have to have Tarn trying to butt into his relationship with Kyle, but perhaps Kyle would be okay with it? The dalmatian had never been very discreet in the amount of arousal and interest he showed when gawking at the werewolves' bodies.

Things to worry about for another time though, Zack decided as he closed his eyes and relaxed, falling back to sleep easily with Tarn's shared body warmth.

_______________

The next day Zack woke up alone, but fairly well rested. It was really late in the day though when he did wake up, with everyone else already awake as well, besides Kyle. The first thing he did was check Kyle, but the transformed canine was completely comatose in his sleep, his breathing was steady and normal. The wounds that had healed in his transformation appeared to have left a scar under his fur that may make the skin there feel tight, but his body seemed otherwise normal according to Raze's examinations of him.

"Given the amount of blood he lost, I'm not sure when he'll wake up exactly, but hopefully it'll be later today or at least tomorrow, but he'll need to continue resting up." The medicine wolf told Zack and Luran as they sat together in the cave. Shade and Tarn had been sent to gather food from the city. Urie had refused to leave Luran's side when the Alpha tried to get him to leave, but Luran didn't fight him on it and seemed to just accept his mate's desire.

"Any sign of him transforming back to his normal form so far?" Zack asked, but Raze shook his head.

"None that I've seen. He might not be able to, at least not while asleep like this." Raze tapped a claw on the cave floor as he thought, "You may have transformed back while knocked out, but you also didn't nearly die before being bitten. Kyle's body may simply not be up to the task yet."

Zack nodded at the attempted reassurance. It was only an unassuming guess on Raze's part, he knew.

Beside him, Luran had his arms folded as he sat listening, "I'll take it you'll try to assist him in transforming back when he wakes up?" He asked to Zack.

"Yeah, I'll try, not really sure how I could though..." Zack growled in frustration. "Ever since I met that other me, I've been able to change back and forth just by thinking about the need to be one or the other."

"Do what you did with him. Sit down, relax, get him to meet his own inner self."

Zack tilted his head, frowning. Would it be the same way for Kyle as it was for him?

Before he could think much more on it, a small and sharp noise made the werewolves jump, the sound of a radio suddenly turning on, before a scratchy and static filled voice replaced it.

"Um...hello? Anyone there...?" Zack recognized the voice as Drailsin, and he flipped around to see the walkie talkie laying on its side near Luran and Urie's nest. It was the one Zack had given to Urie weeks prior, so that they could communicate if needed should Zack be unable to get to the cave sometimes.

Zack stood and moved quickly to retrieve it. The small receiver was very awkward to hold in a werewolf sized hand, so with a thought, Zack began transforming back to his normal form. In the dozen seconds it took him to turn back, Drailsin continued to speak into the device on the other end, "This thing on? Hello?"

Zack brought it to his muzzle and pressed the button to talk back. "Drailsin? That you?"

Quickly, the dragon's voice responded back, sounding incredibly relieved, "Oh thank goodness I hoped that this was what this thing was here for. I mean, who in all heck has old things like these just laying around anymore?"

Zack shook his head as he quickly spoke back to the dragon then. "Nevermind that, what are you doing in my dorm room? And why are you already off the top of the mountain?"

"About that..." Drailsin returned carefully, and he made a few grunting noises for some reason. "I think you better see the news..."

"I can't right now. I'm with the werewolves and I can't leave Kyle alone. There's no technology here and my cellphone was in the cabin when it exploded."

"Well...this is really important cause well..." several seconds of silence followed before Drailsin's voice came back, sounding agaited "It seems that...both you and Kyle have been reported as dead."

Zack paused as he heard this, and suddenly a new voice shouted from the walkie in his paw.

"If this really is Zack, get your fuzzy ass here now damn it! I can't believe this nonsense-" Zack winced at the voice's loudness and the way it suddenly cut off.

"Linus...?" He asked carefully, and the voice from the other side shouted back in response again.

"Yeah it's Linus you damn fool! You have any idea how fucking worried I've been?! My only buddy in college goes off for a weekend and then I hear he dies in some explosion on the mountain?! Then I come here to your room all sad and shit and there's this dragon guy already shifting through all your stuff!? I nearly freaking killed him before he managed to tell me some crazy ass shit about you being a werewolf or something! Then he finds this walkie talkie and you answer it like some ghost from beyond the grave! You damned wolf I swear I should-Stop trying to take it from ya overgrown lizard I'll rip off that fucking tail!"

"Wait." Zack said urgently, pushing the button again to cut off Linus' voice, "What do you mean I've been reported dead?"

There was several more seconds of silence before the walkie was turned back on, this time with loud shouting that sounded like it was in the far background as Linus was yelling, "Give that back, damn you! I'll tear your arms off! Don't think I won't!" As Drailsin's voice spoke over it, harshly as he was apparently wrestling Linus at the same time. "Look just get down here and you can see it for yourself, just hurry up I can't hold off this muscle head for long! Get off me you lug, damn it, if you really want my ass that bad take me out to dinner first!"

Drailsin's voice cut off and Zack stared at the walkie in his paw.

"I think you should go." Luran said, as he and Raze had listened to the whole exchange as well.

"But what about Kyle? I can't leave him here alone."

"He'll be fine with me and Raze, I swear it on Lumaria." Luran said and Raze nodded in agreement as Luran continued, "If you've been reported dead...the situation may be more confusing than it needs to be." The Alpha werewolf growled, "Assuming Drailsin reported that you two left earlier that day instead, I smell Balthazar's stink all over it..."

_____________

Three hours later, Zack entered the college campus, being careful and using his senses to not be seen. He didn't have a change of clothes from the night before and was still naked. He entered the dorms and ascended to his room. Opening the doorway, he was presented with the sight of Linus on the ground of his room, tied up by his bed sheets wrapped tightly around him with Drailsin sitting on the bed, arms folded.

Immediately as he opened the door, Linus was shouting, "Holy shit! He's...He's actually still alive!" The lion's eyes were wide as he stared up from the floor at Zack.

"Of course he is! I told you I wasn't lying!" Drailsin shouted from the bed. "Though I forgot he didn't have any clothes..."

"Just what the heck is going on?" Zack asked quickly as he immediately went to grabbing himself some clothing. He began slipping on a shirt as he continued, "I thought you were going to tell them that Kyle and I had left earlier that day instead Drailsin."

The dragon stood up from Zack's bed as he waved his paws rapidly, "I did! When the team arrived I told them that something had exploded in the kitchen, I mean, that is where it exploded anyway! When policemen managed to get up to the resort after I was treated I told them the same story, but then later on the mayor went on TV with a sudden news press conference and he reported that you and Kyle were dead! Well, he didn't say your names but he said two students had died!"

"The Mayor?" Zack passed as he was just about to pull up a pair of pants over his legs and a red pair of boxers he'd gotten on while the dragon was talking.

"Yeah! Look." Drailsin said and he turned towards Zack's computer, where there was a news website already open for him with a video. Drailsin moved Zack's mouse and he tapped play.

The Mayor, Tyrone Russ, his large ursine paws holding the edges of his podium was staring into the camera, several camera flashes going off.

"I've called this conference to inform the city of a terrible accident that happened up in the mountains earlier last night. A gas leak or electrical wiring issue caused a cabin in the resort to explode. There were two Trent college students and another student staying there that night for the weekend, who shall all remain unnamed for privacy reasons..." The bear paused briefly, closing his eyes. He gave a sigh, "It's with deep regret to say that of those three young people...two did not survive the explosion. Our hearts go out to their families..."

The reporters in the room suddenly began asking several questions, but the Mayor remained with his eyes closed in silence as it did, until the room began to realize what he was doing and the reporters also fell silent. After his moment of silence, he opened his eyes once more..

"I will attempt to answer questions at a later conference, but this conference is to first inform of several changes that will be happening in the city in the wake of this news. Pending the investigation to the cause of the explosion, the tram car to the mountain resort has been closed. Further, we will be reaching to the family of the students directly to inform them. We request the utmost respect and privacy for them going forward, until the causes of the accident are uncovered from the scene their identities are to remain unknown, and any news channel found harassing or revealing them to the public will be prosecuted to the fullest extend the law allows. To this effect as well, effective immediately, I present to you my official aide, who will be taking over a small amount of my duties. He's been a little banged up recently stopping some crimes in the parks, but he's been the best officer out on the streets stopping the recent increase in thefts. Sergeant Valander Castiel!"

The cameras began flashing once again as now, a blue otter walked into view from the side of the stage. Zack watched as he came forward and shook hands with Tyrone. Valander was lean, he looked well built, the short fur of his species showed his muscles well, but he wasn't overly buff, his body mirrored that of Zacks normal one quite a bit. He had bandages wrapped around his arms and around his chest. He wasn't wearing a shirt, probably due to that it would have interfered with the wrappings. The one on his chest was slightly bloodied.

After shaking hands with Tyrone, Valander took the podium and began to speak candidly, "It's my pleasure, everyone, to take this position. Please, feel free to refer to me as Val, for short. My apologies for being, well, slightly indecent, took a few stab wounds recently hehe." This earned a few chuckles from the crowd, and he continued more sternly, "With the recent increases in crime, the revenue of the city has gone down slightly as tourists have begun to avoid Trent. We at the police department are taking this very seriously in getting down to the root cause of the crimes. It's my belief that some form of organized crime has taken root in our city, and is probing us, testing for our weaknesses. I've developed strategies and plans to begin trying to weed out the cause, but for them, we will have to take some...extreme measures..." Valander paused a moment, visibly chewing on his bottom lip, before continuing, "With some increased recruitment in the police force, I intend to improve the coverage of the law force, and to bring about justice to whatever is harming Trent city. The details, I cannot entirely share...but rest assured..." At this point, Valander grinned, "Things will be all for the better in the end."

After saying that, Valander stepped away from the podium and again shook Tyrone's hand, before they posed together. The camera zoomed in tightly onto Valander's face, and Zack froze as he saw his red eyes staring back at the camera. A chill ran down his spine, and as the video continued and Valander continued to look right into the camera while grinning for several seconds before the video cut off, he knew for sure that stare was meant for him.

Those wrappings on Valander's chest weren't because of him getting injured fighting crime. That large blood marking on his chest that had seeped through the bandages wasn't from being stabbed, but from being slashed by Zack himself. Blue fur...sudden appearance into city politics...Zack was sure of it, there was no doubt in his mind.

Valander Castiel, was Balthazar.