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Chapter 33

Tamil sensed Armel's unease as the two walked along the jungle path inside the greenhouse. He looked at the diminutive panda and asked, "Do you still like me, Panda? Are you mad I am growing bigger?"

Armel looked up, startled. "No, no, I… I… love your new size and I… I love you, Tiger."

"I smell your fear," the tiger pressed. "If we love each other, there shouldn't be any fear between us."

Armel shook his head. "I asked you to come and visit so I could ask you a question. I'm afraid of the answer."

"What should the answer be?"

"I hope it is yes."

"Then I say yes. That was easy," the tiger said as he patted the panda's head.

"I hope it's that easy, Tamil," the panda responded. "Sometimes there are reasons we say no. You might say no for so many reasons, but I hope you say yes." Armel paused in his walking. Tamil stopped up short beside him. "Can we wait until we're back with the rest of the family before I ask the question?"

"Of course," the tiger replied.

The panda let out a grateful sigh. "I'm glad you came to visit us," Armel said. "I wanted you and your fathers to spend a few days with us to thank you all. Tamil, I never even considered you would be the first beast I saw. I always thought it would be John."

"Do you see Dr. Kennedy now?"

"Oh yeah," Armel laughed. "We have been making up for lost time."

"Does that involve a lot of sex?"

"Yeah, it does, Tamil; a great deal of sex."

"I might be making up for lost time with Katashi and Spackle then."

Armel laughed again. "No, Tamil, you're just horny."

"Like the wolves and bears?"

"Like the wolves and bears."

"I am glad, then. I think it is good to be horny."

The panda nodded in agreement. "I do too, Tamil."

"So, Dr. Jackson, does Dr. Kennedy stay with you at night?" Armel looked way up at the face of the tiger, who looked down at him.

"Yes, he does, Tamil. Thank you for helping me realize how important it was for both of us."

"I think you should listen to Dr. Kennedy's suggestions more often."

The panda nodded in agreement. "I agree. I'm trying to listen better to all the people I love."

"And did you find a way to fix yourself?"

"No. I'm still struggling with that. There is a great deal of work I still need to do. But other things seem more important to me of late."

"Like what?"

"Like the reason I asked you to come tonight."

Tamil laughed. "You are very mysterious."

"Shall we go round up everyone and have dinner? Sometimes it's easier for me to talk to others when there is a table with food between us."

"That sounds nice," the tiger said. Tamil looked down at the tiny red panda. "If you would like, I am large enough that I can put you on my shoulders again, Dr. Jackson."

"I get a hard-on when we do that, Tamil."

"That is true. Most times I do as well. That is why I like it so much. But tonight, it might be best to walk to the dining room side by side."

"Later, perhaps we could enjoy a walk with me on your shoulders in the gardens together."

Tamil giggled. "Do you want to walk, or are you asking for sex?"

"A bit of both, I suppose," Armel confessed.

"Then I will enjoy our walk even more, knowing what comes after." The two started their walk to the dining room, and Armel was grateful at least one conversation had gone well that evening.

Chapter 34

The group around the table had spent hours in conversation. "You have given us much to think about," Katashi said as he pushed back from the table to let Sybil take his dessert cup.

"I think we should do it, Father," Tamil said. "We should let Dr. Jackson build the temple and let the dragons come here to live."

"There are many children on the island that would miss you, Tamil," Spackle said.

"I know. But they would understand why we would live in a temple next to Dr. Jackson."

"And why is that?" Spackle asked.

"Because, only a few years ago, he was a newborn. He is like me. The world around him confuses Dr. Jackson. I have you to help me, Father. You and Father are there for me when the world gets confusing. Dr. Jackson has me. I am the one he comes to talk to when he gets confused. Dr. Jackson needs more help than the children because he has no one else to turn to."

"He has me," John interrupted. "And he has Sybil."

"No, Dr. Kennedy," the tiger disagreed. "You and Sybil are all he talks about. He loves you, but he doesn't know how to love you. Dr Jackson and I talk about you together because we are young. We talk about what it means to love. We need each other when we talk about love. My fathers teach me, and I teach Dr. Jackson. When Dr. Jackson understands, he helps me understand the parts I don't. You teach Dr. Jackson. When he understands, he teaches me. You are important to both of us. But we need each other. Adam would understand. Dr. Jackson and I are symbionts. We are better when we are together. We do not do as well on our own."

Spackle smiled at the tiger. "Then it would be a shame to keep you apart, wouldn't it?"

The tiger nodded. "At least for the time being, we are better together. One day, Dr. Jackson will figure it all out. He's a smart man. One day I will understand all that I can understand. But that day is not now, and we need each other now."

Katashi looked at the red panda. "It would seem my son has a better grasp of this situation than we do. If we can reach a few compromises, Dr. Jackson, I believe this idea of yours has merit."

The red panda bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically. "Anything, Katashi. I swear I want this to work. I don't want anyone walking away feeling bad about the choices we make tonight."

"First, if the goal is to leave the children's lives as undisturbed as possible, we will need to begin preparation for our move immediately. The transition for the children must be slow to give them time to understand the changes that will be happening."

John scrunched his muzzle up a bit. "We can do that, Katashi, but nothing about what we're proposing is immediate. We're looking at a timeline of at least eighteen months to build the temple once the permits are in order. Is that enough time to make the transitions you're speaking of?"

"That should be sufficient if we start now," Katashi said. "You are talking about buildings. I am talking about the lives of our children. What we must do for them will take far longer than the laying of stone and wood."

Dr. Kennedy gave a nod. "There is a great deal I need to learn before the day you become our neighbors. If it is agreeable with you, I would like the Partridge Island children to be involved with all that happens here. They can visit on the weekends and watch as your temple is being built. I will learn what it's like to have children in my life, and you can teach me what it means to be a guardian for so many. Above everything else, I would like your children's approval for the changes that are on the horizon."

"That seems wise," Katashi said, returning the nod. "Dá Lóng is nearing a cycle of oogenesis. We will need to migrate her and her mate into the Saint Lawrence River within the year to avoid complications. For the time, if you are willing, we will use Heart Island's western coast as a place where they can find sanctuary. In time, they will live off of Steamboat Island, and judging by your scans of the island, we may find room enough to house a pair of woodland dragons as well."

Armel nodded enthusiastically. "Anything they need. You let me know and I will make it happen."

"Would it be possible to rename the land Temple Island? As there are no steamboats on the island, it would seem more appropriate."

Armel nodded. "Of course, of course. I will have the paperwork drawn up tomorrow."

"Until we can move to our new home, you will need to learn Dragon," Katashi continued. "It is not a complex language, but it requires focusing on others when they speak. Your attention span concerning someone other than yourself will have to increase, Dr. Jackson. The three of you must be prepared to see after their needs when we are away."

"Can you help me with that? Not just learning Dragon, but being able to stay focused on someone other than myself?"

"Of course," the temple dog replied. "That should keep Saand busy for the foreseeable future. If the dragons are to live here, those who watch over them must be able to understand them. Saand will help you with that until we secure a permanent home for them."

Spackle knelt in front of the red panda. "Tamil will need to find work on Heart Island. Something where his interaction with the public can help keep his socialization skills strong."

"We are building the Heart Island Café. I'm sure Tamil can find a job that suits his needs. It's not late-night work like the Midnight Diner, but during the day, it will be very busy, and we could use his help. He is also very good at telling stories. We need those willing to tell the history of the island to visitors."

Tamil nodded. "That would be important to me. I would also like to visit with the children if they wish. There aren't many adults who enjoy playing in ponds, and they teach me the things they learn in school."

Armel smiled. "There is a swimming pool in the castle's basement. We've never filled it, but maybe it's time we changed that."

"It will need to be shallow for the children," Tamil pointed out.

"I will get it fixed, Tamil," Dr. Jackson said. "It would be nice for me if they expand the shallow end as well." The panda thought for a moment. "And maybe we can add a slide. I think the children would like a slide or some fountains to play in. Maybe both."

John smiled listening to Armel. The panda was thinking outside his tightly constructed box of self-interest. He was looking to create a world for those who had yet to inhabit it. "Okay, so what else do we need to make this happen?" John asked.

"Talk to Greg and Derrick about the temple plans," Spackle said. "There are many things about building a temple that are more complicated than their appearance would lead you to believe. There will also need to be a monastery to house both us and visiting temple dogs."

"You have both an architectural background and a contractor's license, Spackle," John replied. "I hoped you would draw up all the plans. It's time the temple dogs created their own temple and monastery. I want you and all your brothers involved in this."

Spackle smiled. "I'd like that, John," he said. "With all that has happened of late, I had forgotten my years of training. I think my fathers will be glad to hear I'm finally putting my education to use."

John rose from the table. "Then we agree. We move forward. I expect we will stumble at times, but we will find a way."

"We will find a way," Katashi said as he pushed back from the table and stood up.

The polar bear that had been quiet throughout the meeting stood up and stretched. "I will set the wheels in motion. You will have your new island within six months," he said.

"That's not possible," Armel interjected. "The Chinese use the most advanced techniques available, and their islands take years to complete."

"They don't have the financial reserves we do," Eric said with a laugh. "And they don't have the Blue clan. We will have the island ready before we complete building Chip and Dale. The northern jump gates will need a permanent hub. Safe Harbor seems a perfect location."

"I can't thank you enough, Papa Bear," John said as he hugged Eric.

The polar bear wrapped his arms around the wolf. "Oh, Son, we have an entire night ahead of us, and I assure you by tomorrow morning I will know just how grateful you are."

"I love you so much," the wolf mumbled into the white fur surrounding him.

Armel looked at the two. He expected jealousy but found none. Oddly, he found himself more aroused by what John might do to express his gratitude. He felt a pair of enormous paws pick him up and turn him into the face of the striped temple dog. "You won't have much opportunity to watch those two," Spackle said with a gleam in his eye. "You're going to be too busy thanking the four of us."

Armel looked at the dogs and the tiger. "All three of you dogs and Tamil?"

"All four of us. Where Katashi and I go, Saand is likely to be. Tamil, of course, is our son, and one day will be our mate. That makes us a matched set. Best get used to the idea that we will always come at you as a crowd. Time to up your game, Panda."

Armel's eyes widened at the thought of three dogs and a tiger. "I will do my best," he said without a single note of confidence.

"That," Spackle said as he licked across the tiny panda's front, "is all we will ever ask of you."

Chapter 35

The wolf and the red panda surveyed the surrounding area. The two stepped away from the shoreline and immediately sank up to the panda's chest in the brown dredge that was newly delivered. "It looks like a giant mud pit," the wolf said. "It's hard to see this as a thriving island in three months."

"The Temple Island building crew assured me it's all going according to plan," the panda replied. "And temple dogs never lie."

"No, but they are distracting as construction workers."

Armel laughed. "Aren't they though? I thought dogs weren't supposed to sweat, but they sure mat that fur down when they're laying stonework."

"You know what's even hotter than temple dog construction workers?" John asked.

"No, what?" the panda replied.

"A sexy little panda husband," John said as he squatted in front of Armel. "Marry me, Panda. I'm tired of waiting."

"You don't enjoy living in sin and having sex with a man who's not your husband?" Armel asked with a smile.

"I love living in sin with you, Panda, but I want what we are to each other to be official. All our projects are underway. We filed the permits for the foster home to become real. What better time can there be?"

"Can we wait for another two years? The construction is going so well over on Temple Island. I wanted them to finish the temple before we made our announcement."

"You can invite those four to a wedding anytime and you know they'll show up."

"But I want them to be neighbors," Armel explained. "I'm not asking for everything to be up and running. If the monastery is there, that would be enough. They've already excavated the foundation out from the rock. They have daily shipments of building supplies. It won't be over two years. We could set the date for then, couldn't we?"

"For the wolf that loves you, that's a very long time."

"But I think the wolf that loves me knows how important it is to me for them to be living here."

"The temple will be finished well before that two-year mark, Panda. You're waiting for Tamil to become an adult, aren't you?" John asked.

Armel nodded. "Please, John."

John smiled. "I suppose. But if I'm going to live in sin with a guy, he better be willing to do something special to hold my interest. Husbands get away with so much more than some trifling play toy."

"Really?" the incredulous panda asked.

"Oh yeah; them's the rules."

The red panda paced back through the mud a few steps toward the shoreline and then turned, making a flying leap at the wolf. The wolf fell backward into the mud, sloshing into the gritty mess. "Game on," the panda yelled as he grabbed the mud and smeared it over the chest of the wolf.

The wolf rolled over and buried the panda in the mud until he completed his roll, bringing the panda back up into the air. The dredged slop covered both the panda and the wolf. "Game on," the wolf grinned. The games had begun. When the wolf geoengineering crew returned from lunch and stared at the two rutting beasts, they joined in. With that, the game went into overtime.

Later in the evening, the two beasts lay in front of the main hall fireplace. "I had fun today," John said as he played with the panda's erection.

Armel smiled. "Me too. I'm sorry, John. I'm sorry I'm just a panda. The risk to you as any other beast was too great."

John let the tiny treasure slip from his paws. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Armel," he consoled. "You did what you thought was right. You protected me in the only way you knew how. We live out this life of ours, knowing that you made your choice from a protective place we didn't even know you had. That truth makes any regret vanish every time I look at you. Let your regret go, Hon. I'm with the man I love. Nothing else matters."

"I wish I could believe that," Armel sighed. "I watched you with those wolves today. You don't have to hold back in their company. You can't hurt them."

"We didn't hurt you," John protested. "Sure, you have a few bruised ribs and mud up your nose for the next week or two, but we're good, right?"

Armel laughed at the thought. "Yeah, I guess we're good. But you had to turn human to fuck me in the river."

"So did three other wolves, if I'm not mistaken," John added.

"I just…" the panda's words drifted off.

"Live in the moment, Panda," the wolf said. "I have no regrets. The man I love is with me tonight. One day, he will be my husband. But for tonight, he's my lover, and he's all I have ever wanted."

Armel sighed. "I wish I was a bear. A big fat bear."

John pushed the red panda over onto his belly. The shift to human was instantaneous. "That would never do," he said, straddling the small beast. "A big fat bear wouldn't even be aware of my dick when I tried to shove it into him."

Armel felt the stout, firm flesh push deep into his hole and realized the human above him was right. Tonight, he didn't want to be a big fat bear. Tonight he wanted to be a tiny red panda with a human riding him. He let his regret slip away with each thrust until all he sensed was an emotion he was only now beginning to comprehend. He felt satisfied.

Chapter 36

The group walked along the path that cut through fields of green. "It's mixed fields of clover, hairy vetch, and buckwheat," John said, pointing to the fields. "It's not much to look at now, but in a few weeks, we'll till this cover crop into the ground and begin farming the acreage. The farming crew has been working for over a year, creating rich soil from dredged sediment. We have Orlando Thompson helping us out with financial planning. He had a few suggestions about what to plant. So far, the kids like the idea of planting oats."

"You have kids who like oatmeal?" Spackle asked.

"Nope. Orlando told them if we grew oats, we could use them to make cookies for sale at the gift shops." John's paws reached out toward an imaginary sign. "Island Oatmeal Cookies," he said, emphasizing each word with a gesture where it would be on the sign. "All proceeds will go to the upkeep of their home." He paused. "They agreed to the idea when he suggested a few cookies might slip under the table for them if they will help with production."

"That's a great idea," Spackle said. "There still seems to be so much to do here on the island. I'm amazed at the progress of the last eighteen months. The buildings surrounding the jump gate are amazing. But that's one set of buildings surrounded by fields. Do you think it will be ready before you open up Heart Island to visitors?"

The polar bear laid his paw on the striped dog's shoulder. "I promised them it would be ready. We built the island on time. Temple Island has a temple nearing completion among the trees, and the home for the dragon guardians near the shoreline is only weeks away from completion. We have the eggery built ahead of schedule, and that took some doing. You can't superheat the water of the entire Saint Lawrence River."

Spackle laughed. "I'm sure both dragons enjoy dipping into the hot tub from time to time, even before they're ready for the eggs to be laid."

"It's not a hot tub," Eric said defensively.

"Call it what you will, Old Bear," Spackle said with a chuckle. "It's an enormous pool of hot water. I'm pretty sure that when there aren't eggs gestating in those waters, there will be three temple dogs and a tiger who will soak in it."

The polar bear smiled. "Okay, perhaps it is a hot tub. But the rock outcroppings seem as if they've been there for centuries. With the cooling pipes in place, all the water returning to the Saint Lawrence River is the same temperature as the water surrounding the island."

"It is impressive," Spackle agreed.

"We've not missed a single deadline in the last two years. The buildings will be here on time as well. John and Armel have set the day for their wedding. A week later Heart Island welcomes their first visitors."

"Guests," the little panda corrected. "We're going to always call them guests. It helps us define our roles when they come to the island."

"Guests," Eric said with a nod. "Guest Services' infrastructure will be in place within two months. The apartments are coming from Sweden and the business buildings are coming from Korea. Crews from both nations will set them up within weeks. They're building them even as we speak. Modular homes have come a long way since the days of trailer parks."

"We saw the designs earlier, Papa Bear," John said. "I think the applications to work here will double once the Were Nation gets a look at the interiors of those apartments."

The polar bear laughed. "We want it to feel like home. I'm glad you approve. The design team will be equally happy to hear that."

The group continued their walk toward three cylindrical towers rising from the field of cover crops on the far side of the island. As they approached, the complex of buildings became more imposing. The three circular buildings stood side-by-side, each over thirty meters high with a base twenty meters across. From a distance, they looked made of galvanized steel. Those raised in the farmlands recognized the buildings as massive grain bins. With their round shapes and conical caps, the structures seemed a perfect fit for the fields of grain to come. Beside the structures lay interwoven buildings. The appearance was that of a working grain elevator. Yet, on closer inspection, the outbuildings seemed oddly out of place. There were far too many buildings for the intake side of a traditional grain elevator. Even the grain bins seemed excessively large for the fields that surrounded them.

The docks were also confusing. There were no moorings for larger grain ships. Most of the docks were for smaller boats that would shuttle back and forth between the islands. There were larger docks for supply ships, but they were few. The design team seemed determined that ships with large cargo and large crews would be infrequent visitors. That plan set well with the port authority. As inland as the islands were, they also preferred smaller ships navigating the riverways.

The security for a simple grain elevator and outbuildings was far tighter than seemed necessary. Each of the beasts had to place their paw on a pad and stare into a screen while a retinal scan took place. It was old tech, but still more than one would expect at a granary operation. Once past the front doors, security greeted the group. They led the beasts down wide corridors toward the grain bins.

When they came to the outer shell of the first grain bin, the thick steel gates informed everyone that what lay inside was not grain. The metal gates rolled back and locked open with a clanging noise that echoed in the bins. All three were joined together in one large interior. Inside, the spacious area opened to the rings within rings that everyone recognized. The similarity to the Stargates of Stargate SG-1 was unmistakable. The glyphs, the rotating rings, and even the chevrons that locked into place were faithfully duplicated.

Kris was quite proud of the detail. He pointed out the control room overlooking the Stargate above them, complete with its bulletproof glass. Old-style monitors and keyboards lined the front. Cases against the wall were covered with blinking lights. Everything looked impressive but mostly did nothing. The star map at the rear of the room showed some slight adjustments to locations. Kris insisted the map be accurate, but remained as faithful to the design as possible. There was even a spiral staircase leading nowhere, simply because it existed in the TV series.

However, beneath the reproduction of the Stargate was a working jump gate. "It's larger, of course," Kris said, rubbing his paw against the metal rings. "We have some enormous beasts to transport, so by default, it grew to six meters. That will allow temple dogs, bears, and our rhino to use the gates for transport." The bear paused a moment and stared at Katashi. "Although I don't know why you temple dogs insist on being transported," he said accusingly. "You dogs already know how to transport yourselves without the training wheels of a jump gate."

Katashi smiled and made a slight bow of his head. "We wish to share in our family's accomplishments. I hope it does not inconvenience you."

The Kodiak returned the smile. "No, it's fine. It keeps the design from being completely faithful, but then again, there is no Kawoosh either. I tried to reproduce it, but it became logistically awkward. There's too much tech behind this thing to start with."

The red panda looked up at the brown bear. "You mean you don't need all these dials and rings to get us from point A to point B?" He pointed to four werewolves as they moved two large metal balls into the hanger. "We don't need those big golden balls in the corner?"

"Well, not per se," Kris admitted. "But you gotta admit, it looks cool."

"But what are we looking at that is essential to our travel?" Armel asked.

The bear thumped his chest. "Us."

"What?"

"Every Changeling born can create a stable wormhole. Our only disasters happen when we create spaceships to travel in space together. It's like asking a human to use a stick shift in their car. Accidents are going to happen when you use obsolete tech."

"But… but…" the panda stammered, "what about Chip and Dale?"

"They're protective devices to transport you via a more primitive Einstein–Rosen bridge. You're cute, Armel, but you're not a Changeling. Breaking yourself down into subatomic particles doesn't come naturally to you. It does for us. Chip and Dale are spheres that keep your structure intact as you go through the wormhole."

"Will I ever be able to make the trip without Chip and Dale?"

The brown bear shrugged. "Maybe one day, my handsome panda. You need to learn a great deal, and most is beyond your comprehension for now. But you will grow and become more like us in time."

Armel stood dumbfounded, staring at the gigantic bear. "You have a way of crushing my ego, you know," he sighed.

"Not intentionally," Kris admitted. "If you want to know the truth, Adam outclasses us in interplanetary traveling. He bends space/time without a wormhole. I think his ability to move through more dimensions than we thought exist has something to do with it. I'm not sure, but I think the temple dogs have the same ability. It may crush your ego to know that, but perhaps a bit of perspective is good for you."

"It's a good thing," the panda said with a nod. "Just not an easy thing."

The bear smiled. "Understandable. However, with the Chip shuttles in place here, all the links are in place to tie our family together along the longitudinal hubs we use most. I wish we could have set them up sooner, though. With the temple dogs and Tamil settling into their new home soon, there won't be as many reasons for you to be heading south to visit Partridge Island."

"There is our commute to work, Bear," John said. "Don't forget that."

Kris smiled. "That's true. It's nice that you have a fast way to get to New York and DC."

John grinned. "It gives us more time to enjoy Eric and Will's company when they visit."

"Guess again, Doctor," Eric interjected. "The New York link makes visiting my son even easier. I love you both, but New York will never be my home. If I can avoid the visit, I will."

Kris sighed, "Well, there are the family gatherings, I suppose. It would be nice to think we get some use out of Chip and Dale."

Katashi put his arm around the bear and pulled him close. "Your technology was never the goal, Ancient One. The ability to gather your family together was. If one day the technology is no longer needed for that goal, we lose nothing. That which is truly important always remains the same."

Kris kissed Katashi's cheek. "Thanks for the reminder, Dog," he said. "Well, everyone, shall we head back to Heart Island? I hear dinner is waiting for us."

Katashi made a slight bow. "We beg your pardon, but we four have taken time away from our training to join you today. We will use Chip to return to Partridge Island. It will be much faster than waiting for the Gray Wolf to return us home." The dog smiled at the Kodiak bear, and the bear returned the smile. "Spackle is in training as a novitiate temple dog," Katashi continued. "We must not ignore his studies even for a day. We are training him diligently to reach level forty-two within the month. When he achieves that goal, he will begin his final training with Bai and Noboru. They are eager to have him by their side once more."

"And I am learning to be a temple tiger," Tamil said proudly. "I don't have as much to study as a temple dog, but I am trying very hard to learn all my lessons."

Armel looked at the four and raised his paw. "Are the rumors true that all your training involves sex?"

Saand shook his head. "No, we don't use sex for all our lessons. But there are many parts of the training where learning lessons are more pleasant through our sexual unions."

The red panda's black paw rose again. "About your training. With Chip online, is there any chance you all might come to visit us now and then for a bit of group training even before we finish your home? I'm not so keen on tai chi, but you know… the sex part… that would be nice if you're up for it now and then."

"Perhaps we could visit to play," Katashi suggested. "Training that involves sex often leaves beasts too sore to move the next day, and we know of your obligations in New York and Washington, D.C."

As Armel was about to raise his hand again when John reached over and pushed the panda's arm back down. "Play would be nice. Although, after what you said about training, I'm pretty sure Armel will need to experience it at least once before he can let it go."

Katashi bowed. "As you wish. We can save a weekend for training soon. I hope you have accumulated vacation time suitable for your recovery." The group walked quietly for a time before the Kodiak bear could no longer stifle his laughter. John, Eric, and Spackle joined in, unable to hold back. Even Tamil giggled. Only Katashi, Saand, and Armel remained confused by what Katashi had said that was so funny.

Chapter 37

The sunshine streamed down through the plate glass above them and filtered through the trees. Below, an upright, rotund tiger walked along the winding trail that spanned the length of the greenhouse. On his shoulder, a panda clung to the tiger's neck. "Thank you for being in my life, Tamil," the panda said as he kissed the tiger's cheek.

"Thank you for being in mine, Dr. Jackson," the tiger replied as the two dipped their heads to avoid a hanging vine. "It is nice to be tall enough that you can be on my shoulders again. I like it when your hard-on presses up against my neck."

Armel chuckled. "I think it will always be there when you carry me this way." The panda and tiger quietly listened to the waterfalls in the distance as they continued walking toward them. For Armel, the greenhouse had become a place of refuge and a visual confirmation that his life was changing. "Now that you live so close, you and your husbands will come to visit us often, won't you?"

"Could you and I play together in the pond when I visit?" the tiger asked, pointing toward the water feature. "The waterfall feels wonderful when you let it pound on your shoulders."

"I would drown, Tamil. I had it made for you. The little cascades that flow from the creek into the pond are for me."

Tamil straddled the wide section of the artificial creek's cascade. He fell backward, making a resounding splash out into the artificial jungle. "We can share the cascades. I like the tingle they give me when I sit in them."

Armel smiled and climbed off the shoulders of the tiger. "Me too. I was hoping you would like them as much as I do."

The panda stopped at the gap where the tiger's chest met his gut and formed a ledge of soft white fur. He rubbed his face into the fur and tried to growl. The chirping noise that came out made the tiger smile. "I enjoy them more when you're with me, Dr. Jackson."

"Does the jungle inside the greenhouse remind you of home?" the panda asked.

"It reminds me of where I was born, and where I took care of the horned beasts. But my home is on Temple Island next to my fathers."

"Still teaching me, Tiger?" Armel asked.

"Not intentionally," the tiger replied. "But there may be unintended consequences to our conversations."

Armel gave Tamil a tight hug. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face into the white fur again. "I love you so much, Tamil."

"And I love you, Dr. Jackson," Tamil said as he picked up the panda and rubbed his muzzle along the panda's cheek. The tiger rubbed the panda's whole body along his, starting with his chest and pushing ever more slowly down across his belly. "You are getting harder, Dr. Jackson," the tiger said. He snickered the way Spackle taught him. It meant he was aware that something funny or silly was happening.

"You're rubbing me up against you, Tamil," the panda protested. "Of course, I'm getting hard."

"Then I should stop. The family is in the ballroom working and we should help them."

"Could I maybe stay here a little longer with you in the water?"

Tamil bolted up, taking the little panda with him. "No. We have obligations." He brought the panda in close, kissed him, and tossed the little mammal back onto his shoulders. "Let's go help them. After the work is all done, we can come back here and sit in the water."

"I don't want to sit. I'd like to have sex with you," the red panda said. Armel was careful to avoid euphemisms like play or fool around. The tiger's nature required simple, direct communication. It helped him avoid misunderstanding another's intentions.

"Will Dr. Kennedy be with us?"

"I would like that."

"Then yes, let's have sex in the pond after the work is done."

The tiger headed toward the doors leading out into the gardens.

"Could you wait a moment, Tamil?" Armel said. "There's something important I need to ask you first."

Tamil stopped, pulled the panda off his shoulders, and placed him on the ground. He dropped to the ground and leaned over, getting as close to the panda's eye level as he could. The tiger smiled. "Okay."

"In two more days, John and I will be husbands, like you will be one day with your fathers."

"Will he bite your neck and mount you?"

"No," the panda said with a laugh. "I'm too small for that. John and I are going to have a wedding ceremony. We're going to follow the ancient human traditions. Padre Fitzgerald will marry us, so it's all nice and legal. We'll share vows, have flowers, and all that stuff. I'm even having a tuxedo fitted for me. We got it from an infant wear catalog, but Sybil is adjusting it," he said with a laugh. "We've got everything in place except one thing. That's why I asked you out here alone. Tamil, do you know what a best man is?"

"A man who is better than the rest?"

Armel smiled. "In human tradition, when a man marries someone, he often has his best friend stand by him to ensure he does everything right. His best friend makes sure he shows up on time. He holds on to the ring so the one getting married doesn't lose it. He stands with his friend to let everyone know that the man getting married loves not only the one he is marrying but the other man next to him. We call that friend the best man. Perhaps it is because, in the eyes of the man getting married, he is better than the rest. For me, that best man would be the closest thing to a mate I can have without biting his neck."

"He will be a lucky man, Dr. Jackson."

"I want you to be my best man, Tamil."

Tamil smiled. "I would like that, Dr. Jackson. I would like the world to know you are the closest thing I have to a mate without biting your neck."

Armel shyly put out his paw. When he opened it, there was a gold band in his palm. "This is the ring I will give John. I'm going to give it to you now. When we are married, I will ask you to give it back to me so that I can give it to John."

"I can do that."

"And from that moment forward, I would like you to call me Armel and call my husband John."

"Why?"

"Because those are the names we are called by the ones who love us."

"Does Sybil call you Armel?"

"I asked her to do the same thing. She said if we aren't in a business meeting, she will call me Armel."

"Then I will call you Armel now. Because I love you now. So I don't need to wait."

The panda put the ring into the heavyset tiger's paw and hugged the girth of his stomach with outstretched arms. "Do you know what happens to beasts when they are married?"

Tamil snickered. "They have a party with lots of punch and cake. Later, they have sex all night and all the next day."

Armel laughed. "Yeah, they do that." He rubbed the tummy of the tiger. "Do you know what they do then?"

"If they want, they invite their beast family into their lives. It is like a newborn welcoming, only for married couples. It often involves a lot of sex as well."

"John and I want a welcoming party for the beasts."

"Your family will be very happy to hear that."

"Tamil, it would mean a great deal to me if my best man was the first man I was with when John and I are ready to welcome our family into our lives."

Tamil's face scrunched up. "Armel, you are very tiny, and I am very big. I don't think that's a good idea."

Armel laughed. "I would love you to be inside me, Tamil, but I know that can't happen. But you could lie with me. We could touch. You could touch me, and I touch you. We would see what happens without worrying about what happens. We would just be a red panda and a tiger that love each other."

Tamil's face softened into a smile. "You're right. We could do that. I would love to mount you, but you are too small. But you could mount me."

Armel laughed again. "You probably wouldn't even notice it. My penis is too small."

"I would feel your body against mine, Armel. I don't need to feel anything else to be aroused by you."

"Really?"

"Isn't that what two men in love do when they lie together? They get aroused?"

"Yeah, I guess it is," the panda answered. "I'm getting that way right now thinking about it."

Tamil moved his hand down toward his crotch, and when he shoved it against his pouch, the swelling cock popped out. Armel stared at the rising yellow cock and took a deep breath. "Oh, that is so beautiful, Tamil," he sighed.

Tamil picked the panda up and brought the little mammal's crotch up to eye level. He stared at the genitalia, no bigger than his thumb, and smiled. "Yours is beautiful too, Armel. If I am to be your best man, perhaps we should practice how you mount me when you welcome me into your life."

"Really? You want to do that?"

Tamil placed Armel back on his shoulder and began walking toward the door again. "I always want to do that with you, Armel. Tonight, we will have time to. Let's go help our family finish their chores, and we can all practice what we will do when you welcome us into your life."

"You mean John and everyone else out in the ballroom setting out the chairs for the wedding?"

"Yes. All the wolves should join us. And we need to make sure my fathers are there. You have so much to learn about sex from both of them. It will make the welcoming of your family so much more enjoyable."

Armel laughed and rubbed the top of the tiger's head. "When did you get to be so smart, Tamil?"

Tamil rubbed his head back and forth across the panda's paws, enjoying the sensation. "I have always been a smart tiger, Armel. I have just stopped trying to be a smart human. It did you no good to be smart in loving our family, and it does me no good either."

"Best Beastie Friends forever?"

"Now and Forever," Tamil replied. "One day, who knows? Maybe we will mate. But for now, being friends sounds wonderful, and so does visiting you often once we have settled in."

"You're always welcome."

"When we come, can I sleep next to you and Dr. Kennedy… I mean John?"

"Would you like that?" Armel asked.

"Yes, very much," the tiger replied. "Can my fathers sleep with us, too?"

"I'll get a bigger bed made for us. We'll make you a special bedroom inside the house near the pool for your visits."

Tamil clapped his hands together. "That would be wonderful." The tiger grabbed the panda's feet and jostled them. "We will have so much fun together, you and I."

Armel grew quiet. "I'll miss you when you go home, Tamil. You're only a short boat trip away now, but I enjoy the times like this when we're close. I always feel sad when you leave."

"Don't feel sad, Armel. Why would you think about me leaving when I am right here in front of you? Learn to stay in the moment you have. If you think about how sad you will be when I leave, you won't be truly happy when I'm here."

The tiger pulled the panda up and over his shoulders and kissed the panda with his wide lips that covered the panda's entire face. He giggled when the panda wiped his face, trying to push his fur back into place. "You can miss me later when we aren't together. I will miss you. But it won't be sad because I know you will think about me, and I will think about you. And when I do, I will smile because you are kind, and you are cute, and I love you."

"I will do that, Tamil. You never stop teaching me, do you?"

"No. I will never stop. Katashi and Spackle teach me, and I teach you. It is the way of the Were Nation. We teach each other."

"One day I hope I can teach another what I learn from you."

"That would make me happy. I am sure it will make the one you teach very happy as well." The tiger rolled the panda into his arms, cradling him safely in his paws. He dipped to clear the doorway as he walked out onto the grassy area overlooking the river. "In two days, this will be full of so many people."

"Yeah," the almost despondent-sounding panda replied. "I don't like crowds."

"But they are coming to see you get married, Armel," the tiger said. "Do you know how much you have changed since we first met for anyone to attend your wedding? You should see every one of those people as proof that you are becoming what you hoped to be. You are becoming a man worthy of being John's husband."

Armel laughed. "I never thought of it that way. It might be this time I will enjoy seeing a sizeable crowd."

"We can practice with big crowds later tonight in the pond. All the wolves can help. Saand teaches Spackle and me all sorts of important things using sex. I know the lessons are too difficult for you, but tonight I believe you will learn much about enjoying crowds with the help of the wolves."

Armel shook his head in disbelief. He closed his eyes and rested on the top of the tiger's head. "Please, please, if this is all a dream, never let me wake up," he whispered.

"This is not a dream, Armel," the tiger whispered back. "It is your life. It is our life. And our lives are so much better than any dream I could dream, even the one where I am in a pond of chocolate pudding playing with my fathers."

Armel smiled. "One day," he thought, "I will ensure that Tamil's dream comes true."

Chapter 38

The crowds were already beginning to gather and many beasts that Armel had never met waved to the two. Armel leaned over and whispered in the tiger's ear, "Are these all people you know?"

Tamil nodded. "They live on Partridge Island. They came to say goodbye and to wish us well. Katashi and Spackle were giving them tours of our new home all morning long. In the weeks to come, all the temple dogs will come to Temple Island to consecrate the temple. After that, there will be a festival that your husband says he hopes doesn't go into overtime like the last one because you have work to do."

"I can step away from having sex with the temple dogs to do my work, Tamil."

Tamil leaned his head back and for a moment the panda felt as if he was going to fall off the shoulders of the tiger. But when he felt the paws tighten around his feet, he relaxed and leaned forward, looking eye to eye at the tiger. "You shouldn't lie to your best man, Armel. You shouldn't lie at all," the tiger said, looking up at the panda.

Armel paused and smiled. "John is right. I hope their festival doesn't go much over the four days they say it will. I can't resist them, especially when I'm with John. They take me places I've never been."

"Who takes you where?" the two heard the female voice behind them.

They turned to see the robot. "Hi, Sybil," Tamil said, smiling. "Armel wants to be taken by all the temple dogs."

One metal eyebrow rose, and the LED smile spread across Sybil's face. "Really?"

"God, you two, give it a rest," the panda said. "So, I possess appetites that seem a tad excessive."

"Armel is making up for lost time, Sybil," the tiger explained.

The robot made a slight chuckling sound. "So it would appear." She turned toward the crowd. "I suggest you put Armel down now, Tamil," the robot said. "The next boat docking will bring his work crew from the CDC. It might not be wise for them to see their leader carried about on the shoulders of another man."

"That's right, Tamil," Armel agreed. "I had forgotten all about that. They won't see a little panda, because trust me, none of them love me."

"But there is time to change that, Armel," the tiger replied as he lifted the panda off his shoulders and placed him on the ground.

"He's right," John said as he picked up the panda and kissed him. "They watched you changing over the years. When they realize you can love them, the feelings they have toward you will follow."

Armel smiled. "When did I promise to marry a temple dog in a wolf's body?" he asked with a laugh.

"Come on, Handsome. Let's shake a leg. We have guests to mingle with before we take our vows."

Armel looked distressed. "I so suck at this, John," he said. "Please don't leave me on my own tonight."

"Barring the tradition that we're supposed to dress in separate rooms, I'm stuck to you like glue for the entire day. And come our honeymoon night, I'm going to be glued to that butt of yours one way or another."

"I wish it were different for you, John."

The werewolf leaned down toward his future husband. "For better or worse, for taller or shorter. I'm in this one all the way, Panda. I may be a wolf on the streets, but tonight I'm going to be a human in the sheets. We're mating properly. You're biting my neck and I'm biting yours."

"But you're going to be human. That's sort of fudging the tradition, isn't it?"

"Fuck tradition."

Armel smiled. "And fuck me, too?"

"Yep," the wolf replied. "It's the only way to keep the tradition alive."

The panda laughed. "We are such a pair, aren't we?"

"I don't care what the world thinks, Armel."

"And I probably always will. A lifetime of needing to be the best won't wear off anytime soon," the panda said with a sigh.

"Give it time, Hon," the wolf consoled. "Give us time. Your lifetime is only now beginning. Don't corral yourself into the belief you can't change. You, my dear panda, have already changed so much without even knowing the changes happened."

Armel smiled. "Honestly? It would be nice to wake up one day and be a normal human being for a change." The panda looked down at himself and sighed again. "Or a normal red panda. Whatever. Just to be normal, to experience what it's like."

John hugged the little mammal. "Come along, Pinocchio. Let's at least make an honest man out of you today. We can work on the rest later."

"I need to get into my tuxedo," the panda said when the hug let go. He wiped his eyes, hoping that if John saw the tears, he would assume they were tears of happiness. But even as much as he loved the wolf, even as much as he wanted to be by his side, Armel felt completely unworthy of being there. One of those changes, he realized. One of those changes that happened without him even knowing.

The old Armel wouldn't think twice about whether he was worthy of another man or woman. He would take what he could and when it no longer amused him, he would cast them off in search of someone new. Fidelity, love, and commitment were all new to him; all foreign but pressing for acknowledgment as a part of who he had become. The tears he shed today were closer to those of anguish at how far he was from what he wanted to be.

The panda felt his chin turned up toward the squatting wolf. "I am marrying the man I love. He accepts me as less than perfect. Did he even consider for a moment that I do the same? Neither of us is bringing the man to this relationship we wish we were. That's okay. That's why we're here. To tell the other we won't be alone on our journey to find those men we want to be."

Armel shook his head. "But my journey is so much further than yours. I have so far to go."

"From this day forward, my love, our journey is the same. Where you go, I will go. Who you wish to be, I will do my best to help you become. We all will. Me, Sybil, Tamil, and his mates. Look around you today and realize not one person out there won't support you. You only need to ask."

"Asking is hard."

"Yeah, it is. But that's why you're marrying me. I'm a nudge. I'm like Will. Well, kind of like the lighter version of him. When he nudges, he usually knocks you over. But we see you, Armel. We both are aware of who you are. And we both understand who you want to be. Will has a knack for helping men fulfill their fantasies. So do I."

"You won't let me backslide, will you?" the panda asked.

"It's not in my nature, and it's not in my best interest," the wolf replied. "Dry those tears, Handsome. Go off and get dressed. They say it's bad luck for the groom to see his mate in his tux before the wedding."

"Who says you're the groom?" the panda asked, rubbing the tears from his eyes.

"I do. And you're the groom too," the wolf said, standing up. "So, it's bad luck to see me in my tux before the wedding as well." He took a few steps down the hall and turned. "But it's going to be fantastic luck to see us out of ours later tonight. Don't forget that." With a shake, the wolf was walking down the hall as a redheaded naked human.

Armel smiled staring at the human. "I never do. I don't understand why you see me that way, but I never forget that you do."

"Adam and Will are in the bedroom, ready to help you get dressed," John said, never slowing his walk.

The panda looked at the ginger man. "What? Why those two? Why not Sybil? She always helps me with my tie."

John stopped at a door and opened it. "It was on her insistence. I have no idea what they're plotting, but I assume it’s supposed to be a surprise."

The panda frowned. "I hate surprises."

"I told them that. They said they would be gentle."

Armel snorted his dissatisfaction. "I hate gentle, too."

"Go on," John said, pointing toward the master bedroom. "Go get dressed. Today you have two dressers in your employ. Take advantage of the extra help."

"But those two? Will? Of all the people in the world to be dealing with on a day like today, why him?"

"Because he's a nudge. And you need nudging today if we're ever getting you to the altar."

Armel let out his third sigh in as many minutes. "I suppose on some level you're right. You all know me better than I know myself."

"That's because until you became a panda, you never considered yourself in terms of how you relate to others."

Armel nodded. "You're right. That's why I'm a panda instead of a wolf. I was protecting an asset, not someone I loved."

"Well, time to get your asset into a tux," the naked human said, pushing halfway past an open door. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

The panda walked down the hallway to the master bedroom. He opened the door to see the old wolf and otter sitting on his bed. He stared at the two, and they smiled back at him. "I'm surprised you two have been sitting on a bed that long without fucking," he grumbled.

"We thought about it," Will said with a grin. "But it's your day. We can't let you go in front of all those people looking disheveled."

"What makes you think I would join you?" came the curt reply.

"Because you're you, Armel," the old wolf replied. "Because you realize what this otter next to me can do to tie you in knots, and you know I can untie you just as easily."

Armel shook his head. "Okay, so I enjoy sex with both of you. It doesn't mean I like either of you. You just have a knack for knowing what buttons I like pushed."

Will nodded. "That's true, Armel, but we're also the ones who won't cut you any slack. The rest of the family will, but not us. Still, you see us. That should tell you something."

"I'm aware of what that means," Armel admitted. "It doesn't mean I like you. It only means I love you."

Will picked up a tiny suit on a small hanger. "We're supposed to help you get dressed."

"Sybil was nice enough to take the feet off the outfit, but it looks almost like John's tux."

Will laughed. "She made you another suit from scratch." The panda's puzzled face told Will that the mystery had trapped Armel. The panda would need an answer to the unfolding story. "Two suits, Armel. This one, and the one in the closet. You can look at the one in the closet, but it will come with a caveat. If you look, it is the suit you must wear to your wedding."

"What? Is it a clown suit or something?" the panda asked.

"Nope. It's pretty much like the tuxedo on this hanger, only with a different fitting." The wolf dangled the small suit from his paw and shook it. "The one in your closet is more of a game changer. You look at your own risk."

The panda stomped his foot on the ground. "Damn it, Will," he fumed. "You know I have to look. You realize I don't have that kind of control."

Will smiled. "Yeah, I know. I'm also aware that sometimes we need to push you into a situation for your own good. And sometimes you need help to find a way around the situations you put yourself in."

"Am I going to hate you if I open that door, Old Wolf?"

Adam laughed out loud. "Oh, Panda, you're probably going to hate both of us. Your husband-to-be isn't the only nudge in your life."

"Yeah, he reminded me of that a few minutes ago," the panda said with another snort of frustration.

Will shook the tiny suit in his hand. "Take the suit, Armel. It's safe. It's not unknown."

"Damn you two," the panda said as he walked over to the closet and grabbed the tiny knob added at his height. He flung the door open and stared into the darkness at a tuxedo that looked identical to the one on the hanger. "So, what's the difference?" the panda asked as he turned toward the two on the bed. The revelation took a few moments before Armel realized he wasn't looking up at the two. He was looking across. He turned back to the closet door and saw the handle that John used chest-high to his body. The tuxedo in the closet hung from a standard hanger and was fitted for someone much larger than the little red panda. Yet, he stared at it from a height he couldn't be without a step stool.

Armel turned back to the two, back to the closet, back to the two, and then down at his body. A quick glance at the mirror told him what he was seeing was real. The panda was over six feet tall. "What? How?" he stammered.

"Consider it a wedding present," Adam said. "You made a choice to protect the one you love, but it came with too great a cost to the way beasts share their love. You need to be larger, Armel. John needs you to be larger."

Armel looked at his new body. "Does John know about this?"

"Nope," Will answered. "It will come as a bit of a shock to him when you walk down the aisle."

"So, you did this on your own?"

Adam nodded. "We talked to Sybil. You said she's your guardian. She gave us the green light if you chose to open the closet. Will and Derrick were the ones to broach the subject with me."

"Wait a minute," the panda interrupted. He stared at the old wolf. "You're telling me this was your idea?"

"Derrick and I brainstormed it. It was an epiphany of sorts. I give Derrick more credit than me."

The panda shook his head. "I don't believe it."

"The idea came to us while having sex with Li Wei."

"Okay, that part I kind of believe. You two are pretty much always having sex with someone."

"He liked the idea of you being larger, by the way. He said he could visit you from time to time if you would like. I'd take him up on the invitation. He knows things about Katashi that you should learn."

"But this isn't what I expected when I opened the closet."

"I told you it was a game changer, Armel," Will said, nonplussed.

The six-foot panda glared at the two on the bed. "The two of you knew I couldn't resist a mystery. You're aware of my weaknesses and took advantage of that one. You can blame me for opening the door, but we all realize who's really responsible for what just happened."

Will laughed. "True that, Panda. But take a moment to consider it, and you decide. If you don't want what Adam gave you, he can take it back, but you might not want to pass on what's being offered here."

"I'm large enough that I can hurt John," the panda yelled. "That's the only thing from the change I can't live with. I was a panda for a reason. You make me this," the panda said, waving his paw over his body, "and you make me a threat to the only man I ever cared enough to become who I am."

The bedroom door flew open, slamming against the wall guard. "What the hell, men?" the redheaded doctor in a tuxedo yelled. "We can hear you fighting down the hall. What's gotten into you three? Do I need to make you take a corner and…" John suddenly grew silent as he stared at the six-foot panda. The three others in the room made no sound as the young man started taking deep breaths, letting them out slowly.

Armel backed away from John, afraid of what the bearded man was thinking. "No, Armel," John begged. "Don't run away. Give me a minute to adjust. This is a big change."

"I didn't do it," Armel said.

"I know you didn't, Hon. But I'm going to thank the ones who did."

"No, John. I don't want to be this panda. This panda is too big. I can hurt you now."

John shook his head. "No, Panda, I don't think you can. I don't think you ever could. It was a fear you had, but it wasn't real. You're a beast. It's not in your nature to hurt the ones you love."

"People change," Armel protested. "I can't take the risk that I might change." The panda looked at the man. "I can't do this, John. There is too much at stake. I want to be this panda so badly, but I can't take the risk."

"I should point out that your current body comes with a few adaptive measures to prevent what you fear most, Armel," Adam said as he slipped off the bed.

"Like what?" the panda asked.

"Like you're incapable of lashing out at anyone in anger."

"What?" the panda yelled. "You've got me on some sort of choker chain?"

"Of a sort. You try to lash out at anyone in anger and you will revert to your smaller size until you calm down. Derrick suggested that, too. Seems the pup cares enough for you to ruminate about your greatest fears as much as you do."

"I can't hit anyone in anger? What if one of those monsters that attacked Partridge Island shows up on Heart Island one day?"

Will stood up. "You realize there's a difference between protective instinct and anger, Armel. Don't get upset that your body comes with restrictions. I told you there were caveats. You don't want to hurt the one you love. We don't either. Derrick can get downright creative when he's being banged by a temple dog on an alternate plane of existence. This can work if you let it, Armel."

"No… no… NO!" the panda railed as he shook his head again. "A black wolf that can alter the entire universe is having sex with his husband and a dead temple dog. In the middle of that, they came up with the idea of shifting me back to small if I tried to hit someone? How am I supposed to believe any of this? I'm a scientist, not some googly-eyed cult groupie that believes in spirits and superheroes."

"You're a panda, Armel," Adam pointed out. "You just became a six-foot, three-inch panda by opening a closet door. I think disbelief in what can and cannot happen in your world needs to be rethought."

The panda took a deep breath and snorted it out through his nose. "You've got a point. I still reference things from what my human used to consider was verifiable."

"Wait until you find out what we did to your asshole," Will said with a chuckle. "A six-three tall red panda is reasonable for you and your hubby, but that twelve-foot Totoro in the tiger suit you love is another matter. His cock isn't much smaller than his mates, and that means he's pretty huge. But he doesn't have the pheromones that the temple dogs do. If you let him mount you, and face it, Armel, you're going to beg him to; you best be prepared to be walking funny for a week."

"It will be worth it," the panda said as he rubbed one of his butt cheeks, contemplating the possibility.

"Well, that's what we were thinking. Power bottoms like Derrick and me mull over these things. You, Armel, are not that big a bottom. You like it and all, but if Tamil comes at you with no restraints, he will be crestfallen when he realizes how much he's hurt you. So, we told Adam to give you a new asshole."

"What?"

"One that can take all the men who are going to be in your life and give you nothing but pleasure. Derrick and I were born with them. We figured you deserved an upgrade."

"You're telling me I have a new asshole?"

"Yeah, cool, right?"

"This whole family is going to drive me insane."

Will shrugged. "You're a sociopath. You're already insane."

Armel glowered at the wolf, who smiled back at him. "Why?" the panda asked. "Why would you do any of this? You're the one who called me an arrogant son of a bitch and a self-absorbed asshole."

Will nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but people change. Maybe we think you and John deserve the best chance you can have for a good life. Maybe that means you're six feet tall and rock a body made for banging."

"So I'm not a self-absorbed asshole anymore?" the panda pressed.

"Don't ask a question of a wolf that never lies if you don't want to hear the answer, Armel," Will replied. "Let's just say I see the progress you've made, and we all deserve a second chance."

John had remained quiet throughout the entire conversation. But when he put his hand on the panda's shoulder, both the old wolf and the panda stopped their exchange. "Husband to be," he whispered, "you're six foot three inches high. You almost didn't turn for fear of hurting me, and now you know you never can. You can't hurt anyone, no matter what the future brings. I can mount you tonight as a wolf without a fear of hurting you. We can marry in front of all those people out there, and later tonight, we can mate. We can do the very thing that only a moment ago you wished we could do. I don't have to be a human biting your neck, Hon. The wolf that loves you can do what we both dream of. Why are you angry at these two for making that possible?"

"Because… because…" the panda stopped. "Because I am an arrogant asshole. I was angry with the idea that things were being done to me without me approving them first. I forgot to ask myself if those things were what I wanted all along."

"So, instead of telling the old wolf how he's driving you insane, why not ask him to drive you crazy later when we welcome the family into our lives? The one thing I've learned about power bottoms in the Were Nation is they know ways to top that will make your toes curl in pleasure."

Will chuckled. "He's right, Armel. Remember what I told you about my tongue, and how that turned out? I can do things with my cock that make my tongue look like an amateur."

Armel stood quietly. Slowly, his fists loosened. His head dropped. "You know how to push a sociopath's buttons, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Will said. "But I also know how to make love to my family. I'm not offering anything to the sociopath, Armel. I'm offering it to the man who's marrying John today. If you want a complete rewind of everything that's happened since that closet opened; you know we'll do it. Our intentions were good. We wanted you to be happy. We gave you the gifts we thought would make this day one you would never forget. I'm sorry we did it without asking first."

"Me too," Adam said. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to cause this kind of trouble on your wedding day."

The panda's head stayed lowered. "I'm such an ass. You gave me everything I've dreamed of since the day I turned and realized what a mistake I made. But because I didn't do it, because I didn't make the choice first, I get up in your face." Armel looked up. "I have never had a family like this one." Armel shook his head in disbelief. "I pretty much never had a family. You're not the ones who should apologize. I was wrong not to see your intentions. This was the gift I wanted for so long, and I chewed you out for giving it to me. I am sorry. I wouldn't blame you for taking it back and giving me a toaster."

Adam stepped forward and rubbed the panda's arm. "Is that what you want?"

"No," the panda replied. "I want the gifts you gave me. I want to embrace what it means to have a family that knows what I dream of and gives it to me without me even asking." Armel was quiet for a moment. "I want to know how to be grateful instead of the dick I am."

"You can do that," Adam said. "We give you time. You'll find a way to be what you hope to be, Armel."

"No quick fix, huh?" the panda asked.

"None that I know of," the otter replied.

"Do you have a fix for getting me into that tuxedo before we hold up the entire wedding?"

Adam laughed. "Yeah," he replied. "That I can do." The hand went up, and the panda stood dressed in his tuxedo. The otter looked at the ginger man beside the panda. "And what about you, John? Do you go to the wedding as a man or a wolf?"

John smiled. "Wolf, please."

The otter's hand lifted again. A wolf and a panda stood side by side dressed in dapper tuxedos, looking every inch like two beasts in love.

"Shall we go attend a wedding?" Will asked as he grabbed Adam's arm.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," the otter replied as the two began their walk toward the castle ballroom.

Armel looked up at John. "I can be a real dick, can't I?"

John made a little chuckle. "Yeah, you can. But if you marry me, I'll have to forgive you thirty-five percent faster than if we stay single."

"Wow," the panda said. "Thirty-five percent?"

"I'm pretty sure it says so in the marriage bylaws somewhere," John said as he adjusted Armel's tie. "There, now you're absolutely flawless."

"Are you ready for this, John? You see how I can take a decent thing done on my behalf and make the guys doing it regret it. That's kind of who I am."

"Really? Because what I saw was a guy making a mistake, and then apologizing for it. That's the man I'm marrying today, Armel. Be my mate, now and forever. I love you. All the rest are details we can work out."

"Now and forever?"

"That's the contract."

The panda's hand reached out, and the human took it. "I hope Tamil is going to be okay with this."

"He'll be fine. He adapts to change a lot more quickly than you do."

"Oh, thank you very much, Husband," the panda said with mock indignation.

"We're not husbands yet."

"I’m aware of that. I was taking it for a test spin."

"And?"

"I like it, Husband. I like it a lot."

The wolf tugged at the panda's paw. "Then let's go make it official, Husband." Together, they followed the path the old wolf and otter had trod moments before.

As they neared the ballroom doors, they heard the music begin. Tamil stood at the door, smiling. "Hurry up, you two. You take any longer, and your honeymoon won't start on time."

"I'm bigger," Armel said as he stepped beside the tiger.

"I saw," the tiger said with a grin. "You will feel so much better inside me now. I am glad you made the change."

Armel realized how much he envied Tamil at that moment. What must it be like to accept change so easily and with so open a heart toward finding the good in everything? The panda didn't understand how the tiger could do it, but his confidence grew that the two would have a long life together where the tiger could teach him. He took the hand of the wolf beside him. "I'm ready," he said as the two took their first step on a journey both had waited a lifetime to share.

Chapter 39

Will stumbled out of the cave entrance and blinked back at the bright sunlight of late morning. He leaned up against Armel, who was leaning up against Tamil. "Best wedding receptions ever, Armel," the old wolf said. "And I was there for the one Derrick, Oliver, and I had, so you pulled off quite a coup."

Armel's face brightened. "Really? It was that good?"

"Stellar," the old wolf replied. He looked up at the twelve-foot rotund tiger. "Am I right, Tamil?"

"It was my first, but I believe it was…" the tiger paused, looking for the right word, "… stellar."

John exited the cave in the same fashion as Will and shielded his eyes. "Okay, Armel, what did you put in the punch at the castle reception?"

"It's my great-grandmother's recipe."

"Which is?"

"Two quarts of vodka and some sort of frozen fruity drink. It doesn't matter which kind by the third glass." He looked at his new husband. "But you didn't get drunk, did you?"

John laughed. "No, none of us can get drunk. Our metabolisms burn it off as fast as we drink it. But that doesn't mean our coworkers fared as well. One in particular had a few too many at that reception."

"Marvin?"

"Oh yeah. What a time to come out of the closet. But I'm pretty sure he had a ball. You couldn't miss him dancing with the entire African dog pack. The man was in his cups and the crowd loved it. There's nothing like a chub on the dance floor to pick up everyone's spirits. I hope he remembers at least some of what happened last night."

"I hope everyone goes easy on him Monday when he returns to work," the panda said.

"He'll be fine," the wolf replied. "You have a flexible and tolerant team working for you. At least he's a friendly drunk. And he is cute as a bug for a human."

"He looks like Chipo without the leathery skin and horn," Armel said laughing. "The man has no neck. He's one solid mass of muscle in a three-piece suit. But he's a brilliant diagnostician."

John nodded. "I still think he's cute. Anyway, no harm, no foul. I'm sure he's at home now, sleeping it off."

A naked man with no neck came stumbling out of the cave, groaning. "Jesus, what was in that punch?" He looked down at himself. "I seem to have lost my suit."

The crowd of beasts all laughed. "Oh, please, guys, keep it down," the man begged. He looked at the four. "John, Armel, are all your friends animals?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, pretty much everyone you meet here is going to be an animal," John replied. "You found your way to a beast after-party of sorts."

"But they change, right? I mean, they were all so nice, but when I asked them for sex, they changed into humans."

"They were protecting you."

Marvin spotted a covered bench and sat down. "Did I have as much sex as I think I did?"

"More than likely," Will answered. "We are a friendly group."

"Best night of my life," Marvin said.

Will walked over to the naked man and squatted down in front of him. "How long have you seen us, Marvin?"

"Oh, I've seen John and Armel for months. The rest of you were blurry at the start. I'm not sure if that was the drink or me, but I could tell when you changed."

"And how did you get to the highland?"

The man looked around. "That's where I am? This is Scotland?"

"No, it's a highland; an elevated plateau in the mountains. It's not the land north of Glasgow. We're in British Columbia."

The man looked at the wolf. "Oh, okay," he said, still in a daze. "Did I have sex with you?"

Will laughed. "No, Marvin, you didn't have sex with me."

"But you were the one that polar bear was doing, right?"

Will nodded. "Yeah, that was me."

"And that furry Grizzly."

"For the record, he's a Kodiak, but yes."

"And the black wolf, you were doing him while that tiger over there was doing you, right?"

"Yeah, but if you're planning to go through the entire night, we're going to be here for a considerable amount of time."

The human grinned. "Yeah, I guess so," he said as he put his hand on the old wolf's chest. "You know, you're wicked hot, right?"

"Thanks. So, how did you get here?" Will asked, trying to draw Marvin back into a different conversation.

"I lied to the two wolves piloting that spaceship over there," Marvin said, pointing to the Gray Wolf in the distance. "I told them I was John's cousin."

"And they accepted that?"

"Nah. They caught me on it right away. But when I told them I saw them as wolves and begged them to let me get onboard, they did." The man made a loud burp. "Oh, jeez, I'm sorry. I think everyone I drank last night is coming back up to haunt me." He looked back at the dumbfounded beasts staring at him. "Please don't be mad at me, Armel. I promise, come Monday, I'll be back at work good as new."

Armel smiled. "Don't worry about it, Marvin. Why don't you go back in and sleep it off?"

"I can't. All those wolves back in the cave get my juices stirring." Marvin stared down at his stomach and pushed it out. "I can't see it over my belly, but I'm pretty sure I've got a hard-on." His hands reached down, but he almost fell out of the chair, trying to feel what lay below his belly. He righted himself quickly by leaning back. "I've got a hard-on, right?"

John laughed. "You've got a hard-on, Marvin."

Will stood up. "I'll take him over to the temple dogs."

Armel looked perplexed. "Why would you do that? They're worse than the wolves."

"Temple dogs are also incapable of turning into humans. They will make sure he gets some sleep."

The human looked up at the wolf. "Am I going to be in trouble for this?"

Will smiled. "No, not at all."

"I had so much fun."

"I'm sure you did. We're glad to hear it."

"But I'm never going to remember it, am I?"

"I noticed a ring on your finger. Is there a wife waiting for you at home?"

Marvin pulled up his hand and stared at the ring. "No. I just wear it because when the women in the office see it they leave me alone."

"And the guys?"

"You all were my first. I dreamed of it for over forty years, but I never had the nerve. It was just easier to let the world go by without ever taking part."

"Time can slip by pretty fast."

"Yeah, I was talking to this huge bear about it, and he asked me what I would do if I could have any wish I wanted. I told him just once I wanted to go to bed as something other than a virgin." Marvin paused. "He said he totally understood my feelings. He looked at the other huge bear with the glasses and said, 'Bear?' The other bear smiled and said, 'Don't let him go to bed a virgin, Bear.' And there was this guy in front of me instead of the bear. Kind of bulky and middle-aged like me, but so damn cute and completely naked."

"Max," the old wolf said.

"Yeah, that's right, Max," the naked human replied. "When we finished a few hours later, he asked me how I felt, and I told him better than I had ever felt before. He asked me if my wish had come true, and I'm not sure if it was me or the alcohol talking, but I said it would have come true if the other bear had joined us. One tap of his ComLink, and in minutes I was in bed with his husband, and somewhere along the line other guys got involved. Before I knew it, I was sitting out here trying to clear my head."

The old wolf grinned. "So, how is it all feeling now that the head is clearing up?"

Marvin smiled back at the wolf. "I wish I could do it all over again."

"You should get some rest first."

Marvin nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

The wolf helped the human up. "Come on, Marvin. Let's get you over to the temple dogs and put you to bed."

"Could you tuck me in?"

Will laughed aloud. "Marvin, I believe you have come into your own."

"I'm probably dreaming, but when I wake up, I want to remember that I did everyone I thought was attractive."

"And everyone is pretty much attractive?"

"Oh yeah."

"Sleep first, Marvin," the old wolf said as he slung the human's arm around his shoulder. "When you wake up, we'll talk." The two stumbled a few steps before they got a rhythm going between their steps and were soon walking toward the monastery.

John looked at Armel. "Well, I suppose another werebeast at the CDC won't hurt."

"What? You think that's what's going to happen?" the panda asked the wolf.

"When someone sees one of us, that's the love of a man. The turning may or may not happen based on how that relationship goes. But when they see one of us, and it opens their eyes to all the rest of us, that's love for our people. Those men almost always turn."

"I wonder what he'll choose to become."

"An English bulldog," John said with a laugh. "He's already halfway there."

"Marvin saw us first, John," Armel said. "He saw you and me as beasts."

"Marvin saw two men in love. It's what he had been longing for. That he recognized us as beasts means that any preconceived notions about who or what we were supposed to be didn't cloud his vision. He recognized two men in love, and he loved who we had become."

Tamil smiled. "You dreamed one day you would teach someone the things you learned, Panda. This is your chance. You can teach Marvin, and his life will be so much better because you will help him learn what is important."

Armel nodded. "You'll both help me, right? I'm barely able to keep myself on track, let alone a newborn wandering around at work."

"Of course, Hon," John replied.

Tamil laughed. "So many of you wolves call each other Hon. I like it. It makes it easier to remember your names."

"Hon is short for Honey, Tamil," John replied. "It's a term of endearment. We say it to each other to let our mates know we love them. Others use different words to show their affection."

"I call Armel Panda, and he calls me Tiger."

"A perfect example."

"And you don't mind that I call him Panda, John?"

"As long as you love him, you can call him Panda."

"Then I will call him Panda for a very long time."

John smiled and took the panda's paw in his. "And I will call him Hon for a very long time."

Both the tiger and the wolf looked at the panda and Armel added, "And I will love you both all the more when I hear those names."

"I am glad to hear that," Tamil said. "Would you two like to go wake up my fathers and have sex? They always wake up aroused and I know you like sex with temple dogs."

John looked at Armel and Armel looked back, grinning. "We'd love to, Tamil,"

"You could call me Tiger if you wanted, John," Tamil said with a shy smile.

"And you could call me Wolf."

Tamil's smile widened. "Come on Wolf and Panda. Let's go wake up the dogs." Together, the three headed across the grassy field. A pack of African dogs, a rhino, and a saber-toothed cat stumbled out into the sunshine from the open gates of the monastery. Tamil laughed. "I guess they are already up," he said.

"I don't think they ever went down," the wolf holding the tiger's paw replied.

Chapter 40

The young woman in a white lab coat stood up and stretched. "Okay, you three, I give up. I'll see you all tomorrow." She paused and looked at the three men in their white lab coats. For a moment… only a moment… she thought a wolf and a giant red panda in lab gear were viewing data on the projection in front of them. She shook her head, and it was gone. "Yeah," she mumbled half to herself. "I need that sleep more than I thought."

"Have a good night, Sophia," John said with a wave.

The other two men waved, "Bye Sophia, see you tomorrow," they said in unison. Sophia grabbed her lanyard, pushed the card against the reader, and was out the door.

When the sliding glass doors closed and the lock clicked into place, the one human left in the room let out a sigh. "I gave my two weeks' notice today," Marvin said.

"No, Marvin," the panda beside him objected. "You're too good at what you do. I can't afford to lose you. And you know me. It's all about me."

Marvin laughed. "You know, a year ago, I would have believed that. But you've changed, Armel. We've all changed."

"I have to agree with Armel," John said. "You are brilliant. If there's anything the CDC can do to make you stay, say it. The front office can find a way to pony up a pay raise if that's what you need."

"No, it's not the pay. It's this," he said, pointing back and forth between himself and the two beasts. "This is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be," Marvin said.

"Is it harder than you thought to keep a secret about another world you see that no one else does?" John asked.

"No, I don't have a problem with that. But sometimes I want to reach out and touch you two. I'm not talking about throwing you on a table and doing you or anything… just a hug, maybe holding your hand for a bit." The human paused. "A kiss now and then would be nice."

"I think the group can handle that, Marvin," the wolf next to the human replied.

"It goes beyond that, John," the human said wistfully. "I dreamed of meeting the man of my dreams one day, taking long walks along the beach, eating a single strand of spaghetti until we kissed. You know… romantic stuff. Then I go to your wedding reception and get a bit drunk. That saving myself for the one and only flew out the window in a week of getting laid by every beast willing to turn back into a human for me."

"You weren't a bit drunk, you were a lot drunk," the panda said with a laugh.

"I was for the first night," Marvin corrected. "I was totally sober for all the days that followed."

John put down the vial in his hands. "Are you having regrets, Marvin?"

Marvin shook his head. "No, no… I loved every minute. I was on cloud nine for days afterward. It was everything I hoped my first time would be, but I didn't expect it to be with twenty-three men over four days." The wolf put his paw on the human's and rubbed it. Marvin gave out another deep sigh. "That's what I miss, John. I miss you all. I miss being with you. Every night, I go home, and as I'm walking past Dupont Circle, I see the bars. I contemplate going in and getting a drink. Who knows? I might find myself a nice guy to take home for the night. But instead, I keep walking."

The two beasts sat quietly, letting the human compose the thoughts he was trying to express. "I guess I am having regrets," he finally whispered. "I dove into the deep end and now I realize I don't enjoy being back in the shallows wading around."

"You don't have to stay where you are, Marvin," Armel said.

"I don't know that I'm ready to let you bite me, or whatever it is you do."

John laughed. "You know what it is we do, Marvin."

Marvin dropped his head into his hands. "God, do I ever." He shook his head. "I'm so messed up." John and Armel said nothing, waiting for Marvin to find his words. "I am watching a world I want to live in from the sidelines, and I can't make the leap."

"What's holding you back?" Armel said as he put his arm around the human.

"Walls," the man sighed. "Walls, I've made myself and I can't tear them down."

"Do you want some help?" John asked.

"You two are newlyweds. You should be off spending your night up in that castle of yours doing the humpy-bumpy instead of hanging around here. Quitting time was three hours ago."

"We have a lengthy long life to look forward to," the wolf replied. "We can find time for a friend who is struggling with a burden that he can't find the words for."

Marvin looked up at the wolf. "I have the words. I just… I just can't say them."

The wolf smiled. "Yes you can, Marvin. You only need to trust that when you say them, the outcome will be what you hope for."

"That's a hell of a leap you're asking of me," the human said. "You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm married to a man who made the same leap."

Marvin chuckled. "He seems to have landed on his feet okay."

Armel's paw pulled Marvin in closer. "Better than okay. I'm kind of stunted in the empathy department, but John isn't. You don't have to hold back in front of us."

The bulky man rubbed his thick neck, contemplating his next step. He found the courage he needed staring into the yellow eyes of the wolf beside him. "I still remember the first day I saw you, John. I mean, really saw you. It should have shocked me. I should have screamed a warning to everyone, but all I could do was watch you as you moved about the lab. You were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

"Every day I rushed to work to watch the upright wolf walking around amid people who didn't even notice him. And as I stared at you, I saw the way you looked at Armel, and I realized you looked at him the way I looked at you. And I wondered why someone so beautiful would want an asshole like Armel in his life." The panda gave the human a shove. "You know it's the truth, Armel," the human said as he pushed back into the panda.

"Yeah, I do," the panda admitted.

Marvin's head dropped back into his hands. "I wanted to tell the wolf if he needed a human in his life, why didn't he choose me? I could love him. No, not could; I did love him. Why choose the one human in our group that no one liked? Why pick the guy with an antisocial personality disorder?"

Marvin was quiet for a time. "Every day I was there as the wolf touched the human. I wondered how Armel could be so lucky to find someone who cared that much about him. And I witnessed that self-absorbed human changing. He grew into something better by being next to the wolf. And I wanted so badly to be you, Armel."

John's paw pressed into Marvin's hand as the human continued his story. "And then you two made the announcement. You were going to get married. The wolf was going to marry the human, and that dream I had that one day the wolf would wake up and realize the mistake he made wouldn't happen. I realized the wolf understood something I didn't. He saw someone I didn't. And I flinched each time he kissed the human in front of everyone."

Words escaped Marvin's grasp as he stood in silence. John and Armel waited until the words returned. Marvin sighed. "And then one day as you kissed, the red panda appeared. I saw this tiny animal in the arms of the wolf, and I ran out of that room because I couldn't tell where the truth lay anymore. I didn't understand how two such dissimilar people, and now two such dissimilar animals, could be that much in love."

The human never looked up, still burying his head in his hands. "I was so jealous at first. I could hardly stand to look at you two. But over the weeks, I realized it only hurt me. You two were oblivious to my struggle. And I began observing even more changes in Armel. My god, John, I don't know how you did it, but you helped change that man into someone lovable."

Armel laughed. "He had a great deal of help from his family."

Marvin looked up at the six-foot-tall red panda. "I'm sorry, Armel. I'm sorry for ever begrudging you what I hoped to find all my life. You two are so beautiful together. Can you forgive a bitter old guy who hoped that John would recognize the mistake he was making instead of realizing he wasn't making a mistake at all?"

The panda smiled at the human. "Of course. In your shoes, I would have been so much worse. I'm learning so much about life that I never knew before. I didn't realize you feel the way you do about John."

"It's not that I expected you two to recognize my feelings. You only had eyes for each other."

"But I recognized your feelings, Marvin," John said. "At the highland, they were so easy to see. All those men… I didn't realize what I saw until now."

"Please never let them know, John. They didn't deserve to be used the way I used them. A lonely old guy drowning his sorrows in the arms of the most wonderful men I ever met."

The wolf nodded. "But…"

Marvin looked up at the wolf and wiped his eyes. "But the one I wanted to lie with was already married." Marvin shook his head. "And the one he was married to was so fucking hot once he got bigger. A week with your friends and I realized I loved you both. I couldn't screw up your life by the way I was feeling. I didn't want to become some weird-ass stalker. But every day I come here, I know… I know…"

The wolf squatted down in front of the human and looked him in the eyes. "You realize what happened that week, Marvin. You understand how the Were Nation expresses themselves in the company of those we love."

Marvin smiled feebly. "Yeah, I do, and it's glorious."

"It's also who we are. It's who you are."

"I'm not…"

The wolf put his finger up to the human's lips, silencing him. "We never lie, Marvin. We never lie to each other. We never lie to ourselves. Learn that lesson now."

"I can't ask," the human whispered.

"Then let me ask for you," the wolf consoled. "Come home with us tonight, and in the arms of the men you love, choose which path you will take."

"It would hurt too much," the human whispered. "It would hurt too much to walk away from you when it was over."

"Then you made the first choice for your path," John said. "You won't walk away." He looked up at Armel. "Are you okay with his choice, Hon?"

Armel wanted to scream NO at the top of his lungs, but a lifetime of greed and jealousy was fading into memory. All he recognized was a friend who was hurting; a man who told him his innermost feelings, hoping that he would understand. Armel realized he didn't understand. Yet, in that moment, he understood the longing Marvin felt. He understood all it would take to free the human from that longing was to say yes. The panda smiled at the human looking at him. "Yes, I'm okay with that."

Marvin grabbed the waist of the panda and hugged him tight. Armel awkwardly put his arms around the man and hugged him back past the crinkling sound of the plasticized lab coats. He realized what the hug meant to Marvin, and the knowing made it even more difficult. There was a promise made by the simple act of saying yes. A promise Armel wasn't sure he could live up to.

Chapter 41

The bulky human struggled for a moment with his shirt buttons. "I can't believe I'm shaking," he said as the last button came undone.

"It's your first time," the wolf said as he patted the side of the bed. "Most of us shake the first time."

Marvin laughed. "I've been with twenty-three men in the last week. I would hardly say this is my first time." He pulled at his pants, and they dropped to the floor. He picked up his pants and folded them, placing them on a chair; and still his hands shook. He stared at the two beasts in front of him and realized how much he wished he could offer them something other than the naked human he was.

The wolf patted the bed again. "It's our first time. Life is full of first times, Marvin. For the three of us, this is ours." John put out his paw, and the human watched the paw shake. "I'm just as nervous as you."

The panda spread out his legs and leaned forward. "You two are lucky it's only your hands. My whole body shakes every time I'm in a situation like this."

Marvin's eyes widened. "How often are you in situations like this?"

"There was my first time with John, my first time with the temple dogs, and my first time with Tamil, the tiger you met on the highland." The panda paused. "And here with you, Marvin. John is right. This is our first time. We're all a little nervous, but we'll get through it."

John shifted from wolf to human. Marvin sat next to him, and they kissed. When the kiss had ended, John made a nod toward Armel. "Armel has no human counterpart. He gave up his human in his turning. We'll do our best to involve him, but he can't be with you sexually without turning you."

"Turning? As in, I become a panda or a wolf?"

"Or whatever you want to be," John explained. "You only need to be concentrating on that beast when the change begins. But don't worry about that. We won't pressure you to change until the day you want to. There's so much for you to learn about who we are before that day. Tonight, let's be together. All the rest we can sort out later."

"But Armel… you can't be with us?" Marvin asked the red panda.

"Sure, I can be with you. But I need to concentrate on not letting anything I do turn you. I'm not strong enough to keep that kind of focus on everything, though. So, there are some things we won't do."

"Like the bears and wolves on the highland. They always changed before it got serious."

"Exactly like that. And why my husband is no longer a wolf."

Marvin ran his hand along the thigh of the young redhead next to him. "You are so beautiful, John. I fell in love with your human side so long ago." He leaned in and the two kissed. When he sensed the swelling between his own legs, Marvin pushed back and looked at the panda sitting on the bed. "And you, Armel. I can't believe that the man I hated seeing every day of my working life would become the man I want to be with now."

The human crossed the bed and kissed the willing panda on his lips. "There's no way to promise I'll ever be anything but an asshole," Armel said when the kiss ended. "I want to be something better, but I won't lie to you; I'm still struggling."

"So, you're trying?"

The panda laughed. "God, you have no idea how hard I'm trying."

The young redheaded doctor joined the two. "He is giving it his best. And we're creating a support group around him. Tamil and his husbands live on an island nearby. And we have family everywhere we go."

Marvin put his hand up to the muzzle of the red panda. "I would try to help if you wanted me to."

The panda smiled. "I would like that. I could use some help at work if you won't quit."

"Are you serious?" Marvin asked with a laugh. "You're going to be very persistent about that, aren't you?"

"I told you I was self-absorbed," the panda replied. "I can't afford to lose a top diagnostician."

"Okay, okay… I'll stay," Marvin said as he turned to the young doctor. "My entire life, I dreamed of what my first time would be like. As much as I love every one of those twenty-three men in my life, I am still waiting for my first time." The hand rose and rubbed the cheek of the redhead in the same fashion as the red panda. "I want this night to be my first time. I can't do that without the wolf."

"Are you sure, Marvin?" John asked. "There is so much that you haven't learned."

"You will never lie to me?"

"No," the redhead replied.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes," the doctor replied.

Marvin looked to the panda for a response. Armel hesitated. "I see the beasts of Were Nation, Marvin. By definition, that means I'm capable of love." He paused. "It gives me hope that I'm capable of love. But, I have so many doubts. I've been where you are now. All that desire to belong to what you stare at from the outside. I don't want to stand in your way. You're a lovable man. But I don't come without complications. I wish they weren't there, but I'm trying to be honest. A part of me admires the man you are. That might be as close to love as I come in the beginning. I want to believe what I'm feeling is love. One day, I hope to be confident enough to know when it is love."

Marvin smiled. "Is that the world's longest yes ever?"

The panda nodded. "That's the world's longest yes."

"Then do what you need to do. You don't have to promise to marry me and I won't ever ask. We can be friends with benefits and I'll be fine. I just want my first time to be with both of the men I love. I don't want one sidelined because he's afraid of hurting me."

"Your life will be much, much longer than you can imagine, Marvin. Are you sure that's something you can accept?"

"You will always be there, right?"

"Of course."

"And you won't mind a visit now and then?"

"We'll always look forward to seeing you."

"Then do it. Do whatever it is you call it. Make me one of you. If there are things to learn, teach me. But make it so that I can be with both of you without you needing to turn into something else when I walk through the door."

"Marvin, this isn't simply turning into a werewolf. It's so much more."

"I get that," the human replied. "Every time you touch Armel, I realize the gap between what you are and what I have been taught. In the arms of twenty-three men who had me in ways I didn't even think possible, I learned what it meant to be more than some half-man/half-beast. Every night when I went to bed, I felt those golden dogs wrap themselves around me, and I knew where I wanted to be. Even in the heat of that all that passion swirling around me, I could sense it. I could feel the love."

"Are you sure, Marvin?"

"I'm sure, John. I can't ask everything I want of you. But I can be content with a bit of stolen time now and then."

"It will never be stolen, Marvin. It will always be freely given."

Marvin turned to the panda. "Is that the truth, Armel? Are you good with all this? I don't have any right to ask you to share."

Armel nodded. "You and I are two of a kind, aren't we? Both of us hoping to find something we both don't feel quite worthy of having."

Marvin smiled. "You got here first. Possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Armel heard the words, and he realized he no longer agreed with the idea that was a staple of his core beliefs only five years ago. "I don't have a possession, Marvin. I have a husband. And who he chooses to love outside our relationship is his choice and his alone. I'm grateful that he chooses the men he does. To a man, they've been incredible. I'm pretty sure I'm looking at another one. But there is never anyone who is a possession in the Were Nation. Do you understand that?"

Marvin looked down and nodded. "I'm sorry. It's just that…"

"I don't care what your human upbringing made you think about our relationship," the panda corrected. "You want to be a part of this world. You're going to need to learn there are laws in place and we all obey them. Possession isn't a part of our philosophy concerning relationships."

The wolf put his paw on the free paw of the panda and smiled. "Law eight."

"Well, close enough," Armel replied. "I haven't learned the exact wording."

Marvin looked back up. "I can learn. I want to learn."

The red panda smiled at the human. "I have so much to learn myself. Maybe we could be study partners."

Marvin smiled. "I would like that."

"Then you and I will learn together. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

The young doctor shifted into a werewolf. "How do we do this, Marvin?"

"I change by you coming inside me, right?"

"Well, take away all the romance and yes, that's how it works."

"I want the romance."

"So do we," the wolf agreed.

"Do I get to make a request?" Marvin asked.

"It's your turning. You get carte blanche," John replied.

"I want you both in me when I'm turned."

"Both of us?"

"And I want you to come together."

"Together?"

"Together. You can do that. I've been with twenty-three of you, remember? If you're going to turn me, I want to believe that it was both of you who turned me."

"Wow," Armel said, kissing the back of the human's neck. "You are a total romantic."

"Or a glutton for punishment," John said with a worried look. "You realize that both of us inside you will be painful."

"Any more painful than becoming a werewolf?"

John shrugged. "Okay, nothing is that painful."

"I can endure the pain of you both being in me to have the memory I want."

"If we take our time, it might be easier. It might even be pleasant. Are you okay with us taking hours to prepare you?" John asked.

"I would love it."

The arms of the wolf wrapped around the waist of the human and they kissed. The panda stood up and wrapped his arms around from the back. He kissed the neck of the human and whispered. "So would we." Armel closed his eyes and held tight. This was the simple part. The closeness of another man was familiar, even comforting in so many ways. But the promise… the promise he was making to another man to stay beside him, to teach him the way of a civilization he barely understood; that was difficult. How could he make that leap? What insanity pushed him forward toward such an obligation?

Marvin pivoted his body and stared into the brown eyes of the panda. "Armel, we don't need to do this. I love you both, but I realize what I'm asking of you. My instincts tell me John is capable of what I'm asking of him. I'm not as confident that you are."

Armel nodded. "I don't know either, Marvin," he whispered. "But I know I want to try. When we turn another, we obligate ourselves to that life we create. That scares me." The panda shook his head. "No, that terrifies me."

"Then don't," the human replied. "I understand."

"But you don't, Marvin," the panda countered. "You don't understand because you're not me. You don't have all those years following a path that leads nowhere but deeper into yourself. I'm damaged goods. John understands, and somehow, he still loves me. It's not what you are asking of me. It's what I'm asking of you. I'm still a selfish bastard, looking at someone amazing and wanting him in my life. You deserve more."

Marvin smiled. "Maybe I do. But I see you, Armel. You need to trust that means I love you. You need to realize I'm not asking for more than the panda I see. John said a beast never lies. If you turn me, I will make that promise to you. Trust that who you are is enough for me. Change. Don't change. It doesn't matter to me. I love you and John as the married men you are. I won't let anything come between you two, especially me."

"That's not what I am afraid of," the panda whispered. "There are so many men in my life that I can't afford to lose. I've never been so afraid of failing in my entire life, because if I fail, the world around me collapses, and I'm left with nothing. The higher I climb, the more I realize the fall could be so much greater."

Marvin nodded. "There is that risk. But John loves you. He won't let you fall." The thick hand of the human reached out and stroked the face of the panda. "I won't let you fall. By turning me, you obligate yourself to my care, but in turn, I do the same. It may not be part of the Were Nation rules, but it is a part of mine."

"I might still fall."

"And you might not. Turn me. One more on your side couldn't hurt."

"But I don't want to hurt you."

Marvin snickered. "I'm going for double penetration here, Armel. I'm pretty sure you're going to hurt me."

"You know what I mean," the frowning panda objected.

"I do, and that's a discussion for another time," the human replied. "Tonight, I'm asking you to help me with my dream of becoming one of you. That's all. No other expectations of the night, save that in the morning, I am a part of the community that I see all around me."

"And that will be enough?" Armel asked.

"That will be enough," Marvin said as he leaned in to kiss the panda.

Armel felt the lips press against his, and once more, his eyes closed. So many fears, so many pathways to oblivion raced in front of his mind. The lips pressed even tighter against his. Another loved him. Another promised to keep him from the abyss he saw in his mind. He let the promise wash over him and calm his fears. Armel would turn Marvin. He would accept his responsibility for a new life he helped create. The red panda would be more than he ever thought he could be because Marvin would make sure of it. Armel yielded to Marvin's desires, and in doing so, embraced them as his own.

Chapter 42

The hours of preparation John promised had sped by for Marvin. Morning sunlight had already filtered through the bedroom windows when Armel lay on his back with his furry dick jutting straight up. He pushed the sheath back, exposing the wet flesh. Marvin looked at the six foot panda and worked through the logistics. "Armel, you're larger than I thought."

"Not as large as John."

Marvin nodded his head. "You're right. Let's just go ahead and dive in. We'll make it work."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"This will hurt no matter what we do, but please understand, this is what I want. If this day is the start of my life as something akin to an immortal, I want it to be the memory of both of you inside me when I turn. The pain will fade in time. The memory won't. Give me the memory I want that will last forever." The human straddled Armel, his legs falling on either side of the panda and his gut flopping down onto the panda's.

"Go slow, Marvin," John said, steadying the human as Marvin lowered himself onto the red panda. "Slow enough to let nothing but pleasure take you."

Marvin eased himself onto the cock and smiled. "That was easy," he said.

John nudged the human forward, belly to belly, with the panda. "Now relax because this is where it gets harder."

Marvin snickered. "I saw you John. I can't imagine it can get any harder." He felt the wolf on top of him, pushing his paws against his shoulders. "Take me, John. I want this. No matter what I say, don't hold back. They're just words. It's only the pain talking, and we ignore whatever the pain says today. Know this is what I want."

The wolf pushed forward, sliding his cock along the shaft of his mate deep into the ass of the man below him. He moved slowly, allowing the flesh to stretch so that the human could maintain a level of pleasure and soften the pain. The hours of rimming his tongue into Marvin had helped prepare him. But the wolf knew he owed a debt to the twenty-three beasts in human form that found other ways to prepare Marvin for this turning.

Armel looked up into the face of the grimacing human. "Relax, Marvin," he whispered, stroking Marvin's sweaty forehead. "Don't tense up. Relax past the pain. Behind it comes the pleasure, but not until you let the pain…"

The hand of the human slipped over the mouth of the panda. "I'm good, Armel. I'm really good."

The grin of the panda spread wider than the palm of the human. "Me too," Armel mumbled through the hand.

The three found a rhythm as John took control of the path to their orgasm. Thrusting along the cock below him, he let the pleasures push him toward where the three wanted to go. "How are you doing, Hon?" he asked.

"I'm ready," Armel answered.

The teeth of the wolf set lightly into the shoulder of the human. "And you, Hon? Are you ready?"

Marvin let the wolf's words sink in. He had waited a lifetime to hear them, and now he was ready to respond. "Yeah, Hon," he whispered. "I'm good. You two do what you have to do. I'm ready."

"See your beast. See every strand of fur, the teeth, the muzzle, the claws. Become what you see, Marvin. Become what you were born to be." The wolf's thrusting became more heated. Moments later, the wolf yelled, "Now, Panda?"

"Now Wolf!" the panda yelled back.

Armel and John howled through the orgasm that flooded the human's insides and overflowed back past the two cocks inside him. The warm white liquid spilled on the bed and soaked the sheets. Marvin's ejaculate spilled onto the panda below as his voice joined the howl.

Breathing heavily, the human tried to push himself up. The wolf slipped out from inside the human and took a step back. Marvin stared down at the panda and smiled. "Better than even the highland," he said with a wide grin.

And then the pain, the indescribable pain, surged through Marvin's body. He collapsed onto the panda, and the panda rolled Marvin over onto his back. "Think of your beast," Armel said. "Stay focused on your beast." The panda kissed the lips of the human as they began to pull and stretch as the muzzle took form.

As Marvin screamed in pain, his nose flattened into a large black button. Short black fur sprouted from the cheeks of the receding human face. The entire face was black except for a few highlights of red-brown fur above the eyes that looked like arching eyebrows in a field of black. A thick lip of black skin lined the mouth of what was being born. The wide red tongue began panting as the human cried out one last time before it became a howl of a beast in agony. Atop Marvin's head and neck, thick fur spread out in a black mane streaked with russet fur.

Marvin's large human head and thick neck grew even larger as Armel and John watched the beast being born. The muzzle of the beast pushed outward, but not as far as a wolf. The beast's lips drooped in a fashion uncharacteristic of wolves. Below, jowls set in place. The ears shifted to the top of his head, as they did with most werewolves. But when they thickened and flopped over, John and Armel knew that what was being born was not a wolf.

The rounded and muscular body of the human still held its shape in the upper torso. The chest remained large and the shoulders broad. But below the massive chest, the thick gut was receding, forming into tight muscles. A thick mat of golden fur replaced the sparse hair on the stomach and crept up toward the beast's chest. At the top of the chest was the same black fur as the head and neck. As it moved downward, it changed to russet fur mingled with gold and sandy brown hair.

The legs jutted out and thickened, but no hocks of a canid appeared. Instead, the sandy yellow fur spread up along the thickening legs from enormous paws covered in black fur. The beast screamed a tortured howl, jerked up violently, and fell back down. When it happened again, John commanded, "Turn him onto his side." The wolf dropped and helped Armel push the beast onto his side. "His tail is growing." The two watched as the tail grew thick, bushy fur that was unlike anything on his mane or face. The tail was a lion yellow mixed with bits of sandy brown. Only the tip of the tail showed the black fur of the beast's top half.

"Hang in there, Hon," John yelled at the beast. "Keep that beast in your mind, because he sure looks mixed up from out here."

Armel wrapped his arms around the writhing beast and steadied him. "Don't you listen to that wolf. What do doctors know? I think you're beautiful." He looked up at John. "He might be a dog."

"There are no hocks," John replied, shaking his head. "But whatever he's becoming is huge." He grabbed onto the feet as the legs shook and tried to help steady whatever Marvin was turning into. It was not much help. The growing beast kicked the sheets into shreds with his formidable claws. The bed beneath the huge rear paws collapsed as the newborn gave a violent lurch into the air and fell back on the bed. Try as they might to steady him, the mated pair found the strength of the beast being born was far greater than theirs.

When at last the beast fell quiet, John and Armel knew the change was complete. The only sound in the room was the heavy panting of the beast. John leaned over and kissed the cheek of the newborn. "Welcome to our world, Hon."

"I'm still Hon?" Marvin asked between the heavy panting.

"Now and forever, unless you want to be something else."

The beast looked up at the panda, who cradled his head. "You good with 'Hon'?"

"I'm surprised how good I am with it, Hon," Armel replied.

"Then Hon it is," the dog replied. His eyes closed. "If it's okay with you, I'm going to sleep for a bit."

"You go right ahead," the wolf encouraged. "You've had a very busy night."

"Before you go to sleep, Hon," the panda begged, "exactly what are you? You look like a temple dog with a dye job and abs."

"I'm a Leonberger," Marvin replied.

"A what?" John asked.

"When I was three, our family got a Leonberger puppy. In less than a year, he grew up to be taller than I was. He was my best friend. You said to see the beast. He's the only beast I knew well enough to see every bit of him."

"You don't have any canine hocks," John pointed out.

"The temple dogs told me that when you changed me, it was important for me to remember no canine hocks. It makes my legs more versatile without them."

"The temple dogs told you we were going to turn you?"

The dog grinned shyly. "They said you might offer."

"And you didn't think it was important to tell us that?" the wolf asked.

"I wanted it to be your choice."

John leaned down and kissed the dog. "It was our choice." He pulled up a blanket and put it over the dog's lower half. "Now, my beautiful Leonberger, close your eyes and get some sleep."

Marvin closed his eyes and was soon making little noises that told the two their newborn was dreaming. They slipped off the bed and walked out into the hall. Sybil was outside waiting for them. "Is everything okay?" the robot asked.

"Everything is fine, Sybil," Armel replied. "We turned Marvin."

"We have a newborn in the house?"

"Yes, we do," John replied.

"Are you sure this was a wise idea?"

"The temple dogs told him we were going to do it. I think he was far more ready for it than I was when I turned."

The robot turned to the panda. "And you, Armel?"

"I'm good. I'm fraying a bit at my edges, but it's a good thing. He promised to help me."

"So, are you mated?" the robot asked.

John turned to Armel. "She brings up an important issue, Hon. You said you wanted kids running around this house. Well, now we have a newborn added to the mix. Are we welcoming him as our child or as our mate?"

Armel thought for a moment. "I'm afraid to say what I want."

"Because another mate is more than you can handle?"

The panda nodded. "Look what he did to the bed."

"He was turning. We got off cheap, trust me."

"John… I'm me. I don't know."

"Then we raise our newborn so he can take his place in the Were Nation. No pressure, Hon."

"I don't want him to go home to D.C. I want him to stay with us if he wants to."

"We have lots of rooms. He can choose the one he wants."

The panda fidgeted. "You know the one he wants, John. I want that for him, too. I want him in our bed with us. That's where he belongs."

"Sounds like mating to me," the wolf said.

"I agree," Sybil said with a nod of her head.

"Me too," Armel agreed. "You will help me, right?"

"Every step of the way," John said.

"It will be nice to hear the sounds of a newborn fornicating with you two," the robot replied.

John laughed out loud. "Well, there will be a lot of visitors over the next few weeks, Sybil. There's going to be the sound of a lot of beasts fornicating in this house if this is where the newborn wants his welcoming to be."

Sybil turned and waved her hands in the air. "That sounds wonderful. I will have to make sure our guest bedrooms are in order." She rolled forward and then stopped. She turned back to the two beasts. "Armel, I never thought I would see a day when you could see the needs of another and reach out to fulfill them. I am proud of who you are. I suspect one day you will no longer need me."

The panda shook his head. "I will always need you, Sybil. You're my Jiminy Cricket. There will never be a day when I don't look forward to seeing you."

"Tell me that when I ask you to help me clean the bathrooms tomorrow."

Armel laughed. "I will be there, Sybil."

Sybil's LEC mouth spread into a smile. "And I will always be there for you, Armel." She turned back and rolled down the hall.

John wrapped his arm around the panda. "We're going to have our hands full, Hon."

"Yeah, I figured that. He had twenty-three of us in four days as a human. As a beast, I'm afraid to think of what he's capable of."

"We best give Will a call."

"Will?"

"We need to tell him that his reputation as one of the top ten sluts in the world is about to be threatened."

Armel laughed. "We have such a beautiful son," he said.

"And one day a beautiful mate."

Armel tried to think through what those words might mean but forced himself to stop. At this moment, he had a newborn that he helped bring into the world. He made promises to Marvin that he never thought he could make to anyone other than John. And yet, he was contemplating yet another mate, with even more responsibilities to shoulder. The wolf's arm tugged at his shoulder, pulling him into the sideways hug. "You'll be fine, Hon. You're amazing. He's amazing. You two will be great together."

"I want this to work," the panda said. "More than I can say."

"It will work, Hon. What say we go curl up with a newborn and get a few hours of sleep?"

Armel smiled. "Who's the big spoon?"

"You are for that big dog in our bed, and I am for you."

The panda smiled. "That sounds good."

The two started walking down the hallway back to the master bedroom. "By the way," John whispered as he opened the door, "I think our rolls are going to flip as soon as our son wakes up."

The panda's smile widened with all the potential pleasures the idea promised.

Chapter 43

The panda woke to see the dog staring at him. "Hello, Handsome," Marvin said.

"Hello, Hon," Armel responded with a cheerful grin. "How are you doing?"

"Am I supposed to be this horny?"

John pushed up from behind the panda. "Yeah, you're going to find it's pretty overwhelming at the start."

"I like it," the dog said with a smile. "So you two can do me together again now, right?"

"Sure," the wolf said. "Are we going to make a habit of that?"

Marvin shook his head. "Not so much. I only want to see if you two can take me more easily than last night. I sense this body has all sorts of capabilities my human body didn't have."

"That's true," John said. "You'll find a few things work better as a human, so you'll probably swap back and forth occasionally."

Marvin shook his head again. "Not anymore. I gave up my human."

Armel bolted upright. "You did what?"

"I gave up my human like you did, Armel."

"Why would you do that?" the panda fumed. "What possessed you to do something so stupid?"

"You," the dog replied as he licked his large tongue across the panda's chest.

"Me!?!" Armel yelled. "Did it ever occur to you to ask me about that idea? Do you know how complicated my life is because of that bird-brained idea of letting my human go?"

"No," Marvin answered and then licked the panda again. "But now the panda who turned me has another like him." There was another lap of the tongue across the panda's chest, and Armel's nipples tightened as the tongue slid over them.

"You should…" Armel was stopped by another lick of the dog's tongue. "Damn it, Marvin. I'm trying to be angry here, and you're giving me a hard-on."

"I'm going to like you better aroused than angry," the dog said, giggling.

"Have to agree with him there, Hon," the wolf interjected.

"Oh great," the panda fumed. "You're ganging up on…" another lick… "you're both ga…" another lick, this time from the base of the chest up to the panda's neck. He stared at the dog. "Oh, fuck this," he groaned.

"No," the dog said, smiling at the angry panda. "Fuck me. Fuck me and tell me you love me; and that you understand why I would want to be like the panda that turned me. You asked me to help you. I need to be like you to understand how you feel without your human." The dog patted his chest. "This is who I want to be, Armel. I didn't make a mistake."

"You have paws, damn fool dog. You're a scientist with dog paws."

The dog put up his paw. The inside digit flexed outward. "I'm a dog with opposable thumbs. Furry, but functional."

Armel stared at the paw. "How much advice did you get from the temple dogs?"

"Bunches," the dog replied. "Wait until you see my dick when it gets hard. I'm a grower, not a shower."

The panda stared at the dog's ball sack and the pink head slipping out from the furry sheath. He sighed. "Are you sure about this, Marvin? We have family who can change it."

"I'm sure, Hon," the dog replied. "Now, come fuck me and tell me you understand."

"You did this for me?"

"You're not alone anymore, Hon. The temple dogs have each other. Now you have me. Two beasts who are forever only beasts. You have a beast coworker who will be there by your side every day."

Armel looked at the dog. "About that, Marvin…" The dog's look of worry was instantaneous. The panda put his paw on the dog's. "I already work with one beast who's my husband."

"I know, but John doesn't work in D.C. all that often anymore."

"No, he doesn't. That's why I was thinking having a husband working with me full-time in D.C. wouldn't be such a bad idea."

The dog's eyes glazed over with tears. "Are… are you saying…"

"Be our mate, Marvin," Armel said. "I can't promise it will be easy, but I can promise you I will try my best to be worthy of the man you are."

"Me too, Hon," the wolf said as he put his paw out toward the dog.

The dog took the paw with his free arm. "I don't know what to say."

"Yes would be nice," John said as he kissed the dog's paw.

"Yes… of course, yes," the dog stammered. "But are you two sure? You keep calling my judgment into question for jumping into things."

"What did the temple dogs tell you to do?" John said with a low chuckle.

"To wait."

"Really?"

"They said if I waited, the family would come for weeks to welcome the newborn. Then, as it tapers off, we could get married and start it all over again."

Armel and John burst out laughing. "Oh, my," John said as he tried to catch his breath. "That sounds like the temple dogs." He tapped his ComLink. "Ori, where are most temple dogs at the moment?"

"They are all on the highland, Dr. Kennedy," the perfectly modulated voice replied.

"Are they waiting for the three of us?"

"They are. Their advice is to mutually penetrate the newborn before you make your request for transport to the highland. They also suggest you let the staff and children know you will be gone for a time in celebration of your newborn."

"Do they have any other advice?"

"To revel in the joy that is a newborn and let everything else slip away."

"Please thank them, Ori, and let them know we'll see them later today."

"It would be my pleasure, Dr. Kennedy. I will cancel your appointments and call in sick for Dr. Jackson and Dr. Peters. Enjoy your day," Ori replied. There was a pause. "And congratulations to you all. Welcome to the family, Marvin."

"Thank you, Ori," the dog replied.

"If you would like, I could notify the Were Nation of the newborn in two days."

"Could you make it four, please?" Armel asked. "I hate rushing the temple dogs."

"That would be a prudent idea, Dr. Jackson," Ori said. "I will inform the Were Nation in four days."

John tapped his ComLink, ending the call. He laid back on the bed and pushed his swollen cock up into the air. He waved it seductively toward the dog, who stared at it salivating. "Come on, Dog," the wolf encouraged. "This time I get to be on the bottom, and we let Armel get us off."

The dog straddled his legs on either side of the wolf. He turned to the panda. "A bit of help, please, husband-to-be," he begged. "These new legs of mine are a little wobbly."

The panda reached up, placing his paws in the armpits of the dog that was nearly three feet taller than he was. "You're so much bigger than I thought you would be," Armel said as he helped ease the dog onto the wolf's cock.

The dog closed his eyes as the cock pushed into him. Marvin looked back at the panda. "Wait until you feel it inside you," he giggled.

"Bigger all over, silly. Not just that monolith between your legs." The panda pushed the dog forward, and the canine fell on top of the wolf below him. The two canids kissed until the panda was lodged deep inside the dog. "Do we go gentle or all out today?" the panda asked the dog as his thrusting began.

"Gentle, please," the dog pleaded. "Later, when I fuck you, we can go all out."

Armel smiled. The dog read his desires like an open book. He felt the wolf's cock thrust up into the dog's ass, running along his shaft. The wolf was telling him to get to work, and the panda was happy to comply. He began a gentle thrusting along the shaft embedded below him. He realized it was hard to tell the difference between the whimpering of the dog and the wolf. But it didn't matter. He enjoyed hearing it from both as he worked to pleasure them into their second shared orgasm.

Chapter 44

"Well, look at you," Will said, stroking the large furry chest in front of him. "You are about the most handsome dog I have ever seen."

"Thank you, Will," Marvin said.

"I turned Kong, so he will always be the most beautiful dog to me, but you're close. Leonbergers are a beautiful breed."

Marvin smiled. "You know what I am?"

Will nodded. "I cheated a bit. I talked to Sybil before we flew out."

"So, being that I'm a newborn, will you be having sex with me?"

"Would you like that?" the old wolf asked.

"Oh yes, please," Marvin responded. "I still think you're wicked hot. Even more so now that I'm… well… me," the dog said, thumping his chest.

"Then, of course, we'll have sex together." Will turned to watch his family approaching from the Red Wolf. "Let me get my family situated, and we'll find a time for you." He waved to his husbands, and they waved back. "Unless you just want to take us all on now and go shower with the temple dogs when we're done."

The dog's jaw dropped. "I am in awe," he said. "With no effort at all, you create a string of fantasies I didn't even know I had."

"I've been doing this for a few years, Marvin," the old wolf replied. "Newborns are eager, but they benefit by being with more experienced beasts." Will pointed to the approaching polar bear lumbering toward the two. "That's my husband, Eric."

Marvin looked up at the bear and extended his paw. "Hello, Eric. I'm Marvin. I'm the newborn."

Eric laughed. "I'm aware of that, Marvin. Newborns give off an unmistakable scent for the first few weeks of their lives." He looked at the extended paw of the dog, and then back up to the dog's brown eyes. "I'm not fond of shaking hands. It's too human, and I'm not a human." The paw of the dejected dog dropped. "So, Newborn… do you hug?"

"Oh, yes," the dog replied as the smile returned to his face. "I love to hug."

"Do you kiss?"

"Every chance I get."

"When greeting another beast, will that be with tongue or just a peck on the lips?"

"I'd prefer tongue."

The polar bear stretched out his arms and pulled the dog in close. "Well, then, Marvin," he said, "we found the way we're going to greet each other from now on." The polar bear leaned down, and the dog pushed up. When their lips pressed together, and tongues began exploring, Marvin realized the bear was right.

When the hug ended, Marvin was aware that he was as hard as he had ever been. The polar bear smiled knowingly as the dog tried to adjust himself. "I'm a Changeling. Like the temple dogs, we give off pheromones that cause others to become more aroused than usual. They also make it more pleasurable to have sex with us." The dog had a look of confusion on his face. "We tend to be large… like the temple dogs. The pheromones help relax you and heighten the pleasure."

Will slipped up behind the dog and rubbed the shoulders of the Leonberger. "They also help in the healing process. Keeps you from walking funny for days afterward."

Marvin was still struggling with his erection. Staring down and trying to adjust it wasn't helping. The polar bear's cock was jutting outward, and the distraction was keeping the dog's cock tight and upright. Will gently bit the shoulder of the dog. "It's okay, Marvin. What you're sensing is a natural response around a Changeling. Let it be. It's more embarrassing for them if you try to hide it."

The dog looked up at white bear. "Is that true?"

Eric nodded. "It's true. I'm flattered by your arousal, Marvin. Trying to hide it only makes me think it's not what you want or that you believe it's wrong."

"No, no," Marvin said, waving his paws back and forth. "I never thought being with any of you was wrong, and I definitely want it," the dog said as he stared back down at the two swollen cocks. His paw reached out and hesitated. He swallowed the saliva building in his mouth and ran his paw along the length of the polar bear's black cock. "I want this too," he whispered.

"It's yours, Newborn," the bear whispered back. "Take it."

"Out here in the middle of the field?"

"Or wherever you're comfortable."

The old wolf continued rubbing the dog's shoulders and leaned up against his ear. "Out here in the field, the others will see you. You're beautiful and sexy. They will love watching." The wolf's left paw reached around and stroked the dog's dick. "And those of us who are bold enough will join you. We will find ways to welcome you to our family that will pleasure you and us in ways we never imagined, because it will be the first time for all of us."

The dog closed his eyes. "So many first times," he said as the pleasure of the wolf's paw on his cock moved through him.

"You're free to say no to anything, Marvin. This is your welcoming, and your choices are never questioned," the wolf said up against his ear. "Just remember, there should never be any shame for saying yes or asking for what you want."

The dog dropped to his knees, happy he didn't have to deal with the canine hocks of the werewolves. He pulled the swollen black cock to his lips and looked up toward the face of the polar bear towering over him. "Yes?" he asked.

Eric ruffled the hair on top of the dog's head. "This will be the last time you need to ask, Marvin. The answer will always be yes."

Marvin opened his jaws and swallowed the bear's cock until it triggered his gag reflex. He backed off and repeated the process. Each time he found the cock slipped further in before the reflex caused him to back off. Before long, he was enjoying the taste of the white bear, oblivious to the subtle changes as the family gathered around him.

When two enormous paws pulled Marvin up onto all fours, he stopped his fellatio and looked back. The view of the brown bear positioning a massive cock against his crack at first overwhelmed and then excited him. Kris smiled at Marvin and let the dripping cock slip along the dog's crack a few times, pushing playfully across the hole. Marvin realized why the Kodiak was waiting. "Oh, please, yes," the dog replied to the unasked question.

As the thick cock pushed inside the dog, he reclaimed the one in front of him. Marvin was in heaven. Nothing could be more pleasurable than this, he thought to himself. And then the lips of the old wolf began working on his balls. An extra set of legs straddled his back, and arms reached around to play with his nipples. And somehow, another mouth sucked his cock deep inside the warmth of a beast with no gag reflex at all.

Over the next few hours, Marvin met his family in ways he only dreamed of. He hadn't yet heard of the Sight, or how many of his family possessed the gift, and on this most special of days for the newborn, it was a gift. The Sight pushed forward, seeing all of Marvin's sexual fantasies. One by one, his new family brought them to life. When at last the bodies separated, he met the black wolf with the piercing blue eyes, the badger, and the otter. He hugged and kissed each one as he thanked them for their welcome. He wanted them all to know that his answer would always be yes to anything they suggested in the future.

In the distance, the red panda and the timber wolf watched with smiling faces. "He's going to be fine, isn't he?" Armel asked the wolf.

"Yeah, Hon, he's going to be fine."

"I worried about how quickly it happened. For the first time in my life, I care not only about my short-term ends but about the long-term consequences of my actions."

"That's a good thing," the wolf responded casually.

"I'll probably backslide somewhere along the line."

"Pretty sure that's a given," the wolf agreed.

"But it feels good now."

"I bet it does," the wolf said, watching the group in the field getting up. "You know what else feels good?"

"What?" the panda asked.

"Getting our asses plowed by two horny bears."

"You don't think they're spent?"

"That's Eric and Kris. I don't think they're ever spent."

"It does look like fun. You suppose they would say yes?"

"I never heard them say no."

The six-foot-tall red panda began walking out into the field and the wolf followed. No sooner had they taken a dozen steps than both felt themselves pulled up into the air and thrown over the shoulders of two brown bears. John looked down at the butt of the bear that held him in a fireman's carry. "Nathaniel?" he asked.

"Nice to know you still remember my butt," the bear replied. "Armel, the butt you're staring at belongs to my husband, Max."

Armel stared at the bouncing butt of the bear that carried him. "Nice to see you again, Max."

"My pleasure, Armel," the other bear replied.

"We were heading off to visit with your dads," John said.

"Yeah, we know," Nathaniel replied. "But your newborn needs his time away from you two. He's learning lessons he won't learn if you show up every time he's meeting new folks."

"So, as a distraction for you two, we're going to be your dicks du jour, gentlemen. You wanted bear dick, you'll get bear dick," Max added.

John laughed. "Fair enough." He watched the rise and fall of the bear's butt cheeks with each step. "God, I've missed you, Bear," he sighed.

"And I've missed you, Wolf," Nathaniel replied. "But we'll have plenty of time to catch up."

"And our newborn?" Armel asked.

"It's why we're here," Max answered. "This is his welcoming. In the days to come, he will learn how wide his family stretches and how deep our love goes."

"He's a horny one, Max," Armel laughed.

"Then I suspect Nathaniel and I better cancel our return trip in two days."

Armel stared at the bear below. "That would be nice."

The two bears flipped the beasts they were carrying and, with a kiss, set them back on the ground. They pointed to inside the forest. "Beyond the dragon's home is a wonderful little place we've found. The grass is thick, and the air smells of summer blackberries," Nathaniel said.

"Sounds perfect," John agreed rubbing the middle of the short-faced bear's chest. He buried his face up against a nipple and sucked it into his mouth. He felt the thick paw of the bear press his muzzle in closer. "Oh, how I've missed you," the happy wolf mumbled through the fur and flesh.

The two bears watched a glimmer of light in the distance that heralded the opening of a Hexadeltan wormhole. "Ohhhh yeah," Max said happily. "We've got out-of-town family arriving. It looks like the word is out that there's a large beast newborn on the highland. Prepare to see a great many others in the days to come."

Armel turned toward the light. He watched as the dark circle in the middle expanded. Eventually, it bowed outward as two four-armed creatures he had never seen before stepped through the darkness. "What the hell are…"

Max cut him off. "Armel, what do you know about our family?"

Armel suddenly shifted into the little panda he was before his marriage to John. The shift took everyone by surprise. Whether it was remorse for what he was about to say or a reaction to the unknown in front of him was unclear.

"I didn't know you could do that, Panda," Max said, staring at the tiny mammal.

"Neither did I," Armel confessed. "I think it might be built in, like an override, to keep me from doing or saying something stupid. Will and Adam said there were caveats to my new body. I think this is one."

"You've got a conscience that turns you small?"

"When I was small, I was much more careful about what I said and did. I feel as if this is me trying to remind myself of that fact." He looked up at the bear towering over him. "I'm sorry, Max. Who are they?"

Max proceeded without further reference to the change in Armel. He simply accepted the new, smaller red panda in front of him. "That's Kattar and his husband Slevar." Behind the two, even more multi-armed, furry beasts stepped onto the highland. "This is great. They brought the kids."

"Kids?" Armel sputtered as the crowd of beasts expanded. "It looks like an army."

"Hexadeltans generally have litters of six," Max explained. "Kattar and Slevar have both had one litter. So they've got twelve kids total. Hexadeltans reach puberty quickly, even though they stay with their parents for years longer than humans. Often Hexadeltan parents will take their children on sexual outings. It helps ensure they're socialized properly."

Armel shook his head. "They what?"

"Like Changelings, they see nothing wrong with being physically intimate with whoever is agreeable to the idea."

"I'm confused."

John reached down and pulled his husband up to his chest. "We were going to get around to this when the timing seemed right. I guess you and Marvin will meet them for the first time together. They're Hexadeltans. They're wonderful folk. You're going to love them."

Armel stared at the crowd in front of the dark portal that closed in on itself. "I'm sure they're delightful," the panda said.

"Well, come on, Armel. Let's go meet your family," Max said. "Are you walking, or would you like to ride up on top?"

"I'm never going to escape this loop, am I?" the beleaguered red panda asked as the wolf passed him to the short-faced bear.

His husband looked confused. "What loop?"

"The one where I think I'm getting a handle on my life and this family, and something else gets thrown at me."

"Oh, that loop," the wolf replied. "Nope, never getting out of that one. I'm pretty sure we're all in it for life."

Max leaned down and kissed the little panda in his arms. Armel loved the sensation of lips wider than his entire face rubbing up against him, and he smiled as the warmth spread over him. "So?" the bear asked.

"Up on top, please," the panda replied.

The bear placed the panda on his shoulders. "It's nice having you up there again, Panda."

"It's nice to be up here, Bear," Armel said.

"You've got a boner."

"Yeah, I do. It's just like old times."

"Just like old times, Panda. Prepare to meet the future."

"I'm not good with this much change, Max," the panda confessed. "You don't think they'll be upset if I stay small, do you? I think I have a choice once I've taken care of the issue that made me small in the first place."

"Not at all, Armel," the bear replied. "You're adorable whichever way we see you, but if you feel more secure small, then stay small."

"Hey, you two!" the Leonberger yelled from across the field back to the wolf and panda. "We have family from outer space. Is that awesome or what?" The dog dropped on all fours and bounded toward the Hexadeltans. The temple dogs poured out from the monastery, heading in the same direction. Armel watched as the newborn grabbed one of the heavyset creatures and wrapped his arms around it. How he envied Marvin's ability to embrace the change in his life and find the good.

An audible gasp came from the panda when he saw the claspers of the Hexadeltan rise along the butt of the Leonberger. "Oh, jeez," Max said, laughing. "You two turned a rambunctious one, didn't you?"

"I believe you're partly responsible for that, Bear," the panda said sternly.

The bear tried to look back at the panda on his shoulders. "That was not a rebuke of your newborn's behavior, Panda. It was a compliment. I know what it's like to be a virgin who doesn't want to be a virgin. I wouldn't let another night go by without that dream of his finding a way into reality."

The panda hugged the head of the bear and he leaned in and kissed the brown fur. "I'm sorry, Max. I was out of line. You helped Marvin find himself."

"And where he wanted to find himself was next to you and John. Don't sell yourself short, Armel."

"I so wish I was like him," the panda said. "He's not been a beast for even a week, and already he's so far beyond where I am."

"Give yourself time, Panda," the bear urged. "You think he's somewhere far beyond you, but he's not. That dog is right next to you, trying to help you find your path. He won't ever leave your side unless you shove him away."

The dog made a joyful bark heard from across the glade. All who knew the Hexadeltans realized Kattar had penetrated the Leonberger. "I'll do my best to stay beside him," Armel replied

"Maybe he's your companion dog," the bear suggested. "You know, one that's trained to help the disabled. Maybe he's in your life because he wants to help you with your disability."

"I can sure use all the help I can get," Armel said quietly.

"Then lean back and enjoy the show," Max said with a laugh. "I believe you're watching a professional in the world of interplanetary diplomacy."

Armel looked back up. "So what's happening?"

"The Hexadeltan claspers are holding him in place while the hemipenis is probing…"

"NO… no… no… no… I changed my mind! I don't want to know," the panda cut in. He sat while he watched from a distance. "Is he going to have fun?"

"Oh, he's already having so much fun," Max replied.

"Then I'm good. I only want Marvin to be happy."

Max rubbed the leg of the red panda on his shoulders. "He's overjoyed, Panda. Your newborn is experiencing everything he hoped he would for so many years."

In only a few minutes, Armel watched as the first eruption of purple ejaculate began flying everywhere. "Good lord," he mumbled.

"Best alien sex EVER!" the happy Leonberger yelled.

Armel smiled. "One day, Dog. One day, you'll drag me into your world and we're going to have so much fun together," he whispered.

"Yeah, you will," the bear below him said.

Armel had forgotten about the keen hearing of bears, but he didn't regret Max knowing his dream. The bear below him had a knack for making dreams come true for others. And this was a dream Armel desperately wanted to come true.

Chapter 45

Armel sloshed through the ankle-deep purple ejaculate until he was alongside the Leonberger. The purple liquid covered Marvin as he shoved a paw full of cum into his mouth and pulled it out clean. "Well, look at you, Dad. You're small. I like it. The temple dogs showed me how to pleasure you in that size, so we'll have a ball later."

With those few words, Armel realized Marvin had told him his stature didn't matter. The dog loved him regardless of his size. Adapting to whatever size he was wouldn't be an issue for the floppy-eared beast. Marvin reached down and scooped up another handful. "You've got to try this, Dad," he raved. The dog shoved his paw out toward the panda. "Seriously," he begged. "Try it."

Armel was about to say no when Max leaned down, scooped up a full paw of the liquid, and shoved it into his mouth. "It's tasty, Panda. Perhaps it's time to trust your companion dog and try something new."

Armel stared at his newborn, smiling through the purple liquid flowing over his face and covering his body. He stepped closer and reached up to hold the paw of the dog in his. One finger stretched out from the paw and Armel took it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and swallowed. It was good. Not only good, but delicious. A sweet clean taste like sugarcane with a hint of vanilla and strawberry. He looked up at the dog and smiled. "You're right. It's great."

"It tastes even better if you suck it off my nipple," Marvin said as he pushed up his chest with his paws.

Armel shook his head in disbelief. How easily the dog had gone to where he wished he could go. "You know," the dog said, letting his paws slip to his side. "No one is going to care if you suck on my nips for a bit."

Armel nodded. "I know. I'm the one who is struggling with the idea."

"Because you don't enjoy sucking nipples?"

"No… no… I love sucking nipples. It's that you're covered in that purple cum and it's everywhere…. and…," the dog scooped up the little panda and placed his muzzle against his chest. The purple liquid smeared across the panda and covered him in the viscous goo. He realized he had to suck down the cum or suffocate in it. He began lapping at the fluid.

"Fourteen Hexadeltans gave up gallons of bodily fluids to pleasure me and the temple dogs," Marvin whispered in the ear of the red panda. "They'll need to soak in the creek for hours to rehydrate. In a few hours, all this wonderful cum will be gone. It's going to evaporate into dust, and you will have missed such a remarkable thing."

"It's messy," Armel objected as he pushed away from the cleaned nipple that stood erect on the dog.

"Life is messy, Dad," the dog replied. "But this is a good messy. This is a fun messy. Don't you suffer enough through all the rest? Why not let go of all those inhibitions and see where life takes you?"

"Name me one thing it's good for."

"Making Hexadeltan babies," said a voice from behind the little panda.

Armel turned to see the Hexadeltan towering over him. The large, flat nose and round face were so cute that Armel's smile was unavoidable. He nodded. "I kind of meant what it was good for in a Terran sense?"

"Oh, well, that is different," the Hexadeltan said as he plopped down into the sea of purple. "I'm Slevar," the beast said as he extended his four arms for a hug. "Do you hug?"

Armel nodded. "I'm Armel. I hug, but you're kind of covered in slime."

Slevar looked at himself. "So I am. On our world, this often happens. I sometimes forget it's not everyone's cup of tea." Armel laughed at the thought of a cup of viscous purple tea. "Your laugh is beautiful, Armel," the Hexadeltan said. "You are already covered in what you call slime. Perhaps a bit more won't hurt. It might help to think of what you see as an outward expression of our love for you. For all our people, our ejaculate is seen as something to celebrate and share."

The Hexadeltan waved his arms toward his rounded body, and Armel let the arms take him into a hug. "I noticed you enjoyed sucking our ejaculate off of your newborn's chest. I have six nipples if you wish to ingest more," Slevar offered.

Armel smiled. "Thanks, I'm good."

"And a kiss?"

Armel wiped the cum off his muzzle and stared at the Hexadeltan dripping in the same way as Marvin. He shut his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "I would like that, Slevar," he said. The mouth of the Hexadeltan held so much similarity to the temple dogs the panda was glad he said yes. The two kissed past the cum, lapping it up off each other to find their way to the lips they craved. When at last they pressed together, Armel realized he was not only hard, but only moments away from adding his own cum to what flowed over their two bodies.

The little panda shuddered as the feelings built up inside him. "Use my body, Armel," the Hexadeltan encouraged. "You wanted to find a use for our ejaculate; you found it. Pleasure yourself and me by sharing your orgasm."

Armel shoved his cock deep into the cum-soaked fur. He hovered at the edge of his orgasm in a place of near ecstasy as his body pressed to find release. "I can help," the Hexadeltan said, sensing the struggle the panda was dealing with.

"Oh god, yes, please," the panda begged.

With a slight shift of one paw, a single cum soaked digit of the Hexadeltan slipped up inside the tiny panda's ass. The orgasm was almost instantaneous, as the finger skillfully pushed against the prostate. Slevar enjoyed listening to the chittering cry of a little panda in the throes of an orgasm that shook the red beast to his core. When at last the shaking stopped, the panda went limp in the arms of the Hexadeltan, and the finger slipped free from its confines. "You were magnificent, Armel," Slevar said as he pulled the panda into a tight hug.

"Thank you," Armel said between trying to catch his breath. "Sometimes, I am such an idiot. I allow my preconceived notions of what is normal to keep me from experiencing so much."

A paw rubbed the panda on his head. "Ahh, Dad, you did great. You pushed your boundaries today. Quit being so hard on yourself."

"Quit calling me Dad," Armel groused, turning back to the dog with a wide smile and flopping tongue.

"Marry me and I'll stop," the dog replied. "Then I'll call you, Husband."

"Weren't we supposed to be waiting?" Armel asked.

"I've waited four days. I'm good."

"Do you even know how to mate?" the panda asked.

The dog grinned. "I know enough to know you won't stay small if you want to walk next week. Bring him back, Hon. Bring back the big panda so we can mate."

Armel looked around at the gathering crowd. John stood beside another Hexadeltan, the purple cum sliding over the arm he had wrapped around the beast. "I say we mate, Husband. I'm tired of raising this kid of ours. We have plenty of other kids at home. What our house needs is another husband."

The wolf scooped the purple liquid off his arm and rubbed a fistful over his chest. He cleaned off his paw by sticking it in his mouth, and then a mischievous flash of light sparkled in his yellow eyes. He dropped and rolled in the cum that coated the grass everywhere. "I'm ready for you, Hon," he said, looking up at the Leonberger. The wolf's dick stood upright, dripping the Hexadeltan cum slowly down the shaft. His entire body had lost its gray and brown shades of fur in favor of a purple slick mat.

The dog made a slight choking noise that everyone recognized as him holding back his tears. He dropped and rolled through the cum and rose a purple dog with a black mouth and red tongue, panting happily. Marvin looked up at the panda still in the arms of the Hexadeltan. "Come on, Hon. Marry us. This chance may never come again."

With a little wiggle to escape Slevar's grasp, the panda leapt out toward the two covered beyond recognition. By the time Armel had hit the ground, the larger panda was rolling through the cum and into the arms of the other two.

"Shouldn't we have some kind of justice of the peace with special words to make this official?" Marvin asked.

Max approached the three. He leaned over, and cupping his hands together, he scooped up the cum in his paws and held the paws over the three. "By the powers vested in me as an ordained minister of mischief, I pronounce you three of the best reasons for a mating that I can think of. In the name of the father wolf, the dog son, and the holy mackerel, look at that panda, I baptize you a family. Go forth and bite some necks." Kris's paws separated, and the cum spilled down over the heads of the three.

The three needed no further encouragement. Marvin watched as the wolf leapt up onto the back of the panda and bit deep into his neck. The wolf mounted the panda and holding tight to the neck in his jaws, he began thrusting into his mate, providing a guide to his newborn in the ways of mating. Marvin followed his cues, set his teeth into the wolf, and mounted him. The three joined together, sloshing around in the cum, tried their best to maintain their grips. Those watching enjoyed the sight of the slipperiest, most well-lubed mating in the history of the Were Nation.

When the red panda had come inside the Leonberger, he let go of the tight grip on the dog's neck and fell beside him with a splash. He looked up at the dog and smiled through the cum. "For better or worse, and I know you could do so much better. Still, I ask. Be my mate," he begged.

Marvin smiled back, licking his chops to clear his throat. "Now and forever, Husband. No reservations. I'm going into this with eyes wide open. Be my mate?" he asked.

Armel nodded. "Now and forever, Husband."

The two looked up to the wolf standing above them, the last of his own cum spilling white into the purple cum below. "It's official, my loves. We are husbands. We are now and forever mated." He looked up at the crowd surrounding them. "And we are going to be very sore tomorrow." The wolf smiled at the group. "On behalf of my husbands, I welcome all to our marriage circle." He looked at the temple dogs salivating on the side. "Dogs, we will attend to you in time, but I think the guests who have made our mating so unique deserve our thanks first."

Armel stood up and nodded. He walked over to the one with the familiar markings on his fur. "Slevar?" he asked.

The Hexadeltan gave a slight bow. "I am honored that you remember."

"Slevar, I watched your people take my husband today. I have to admit, I was a bit terrified."

"We can be overzealous in our affections, but your husband seems to be equally spirited."

"I am not a Leonberger. I am a red panda. Do you think you could show me the ways of your people without breaking anything?"

The Hexadeltan stepped forward and wrapped the panda in two arms. The other two arms cradled his legs upright as the claspers moved up along his butt and set in place. "We have multiple ways of expressing our affection with those we love. One is particularly gentle. It concentrates on pleasuring our partner through slow and deliberate moves created to enhance our union."

Armel smiled as he sensed the claspers tug him tighter against the Hexadeltan's ample belly. "That would be nice, Slevar," the panda said.

The furry four-armed beast leaned in and kissed the panda. The interplay of tongues and lips calmed Armel. A pleasant familiarity convinced him that where he was going would not be that unfamiliar. When he felt the hemipenis stroking his inner thigh and moving up to wrap around his own cock, a part of him wanted to push away from the unknown. But it yielded to the part of him resting securely in the arms of the beast pleasuring him.

"You needn't worry about my pleasure, Armel," the Hexadeltan comforted. "I will find more than enough through my pleasuring of you. It is the way of our people. One day you will pleasure me in the manner of your kind, and I will know the bliss of a Terran union with a red panda. But for now, relax in my arms. Let our bodies explore each other."

Armel tried, but the lingering question was still at the forefront of his mind. "Are you going to cum again?"

"Most certainly," Slevar responded. "I expect the gentle nature of our lovemaking will increase my ejaculation substantially." The lips of the Hexadeltan pressed against the panda's. "Does this concern you, Armel?"

Armel nodded. "A bit. I'm not a very good swimmer."

Slevar chuckled. "Then I shall make sure you do not drown. I will only come once at the end of our lovemaking. Together, we will be gentle and slow, as is our custom with the uninitiated. When you tell me your body has found a pleasure beyond your ability to contain it, we will ejaculate together."

The panda smiled. "That sounds wonderful."

"It will be a glorious two days, Armel," the Hexadeltan said as he leaned in and kissed the panda again. The hemipenis slipped up along the flat backside of the panda, pushing aside the tail as it moved toward the panda's butt. Armel's eyes opened wide, less from the penetration than the thought of what he had just heard.

Chapter 46

"Thank you for coming, Nathaniel," the panda said as they walked through the dining room. "The three of us have been working on this together, and we're still no further than the last time you joined us."

Nathaniel gave a knowing nod as he followed. "Tamil's crisis kept us from discussing much of anything on that visit. Let's see what you've uncovered first. There could be areas where I can help you rethink your conclusions."

"I can't thank you enough, Nathaniel," the panda said. "There has to be something we've overlooked, but I don't know what it is."

Nathaniel stopped in front of the media center's door as Armel opened it. "I think I know, but I want to see all you've done first." The door opened, and the two stepped inside room.

"I've been at this for years, Nathaniel. I doubt you want to see it all."

"Actually, I do," the bear corrected. "But Ori can provide me the Reader's Digest condensed version."

"A what?"

Nathaniel laughed. "It was an old magazine from centuries ago. They took long documents and whittled them down to only the salient points. Ori has a knack for that."

"Really?" the amazed panda asked.

"Really. Your relationship with Ori is still in its infancy. She is a knowledge base and an evaluation resource you don't use often enough."

The short-faced bear waved to the wolf and dog sitting in two plush lounging chairs. "Ori," the bear said, "will you please provide me with a briefing on what Armel and his husbands have done to find a cure for human antisocial personality disorder? Include all recorded data and graphs you think are essential to understanding his efforts."

"Even a truncated version of those efforts will take hours," the perfectly modulated voice replied.

"Then we best get started," the bear replied. "If the three need to interrupt to give greater clarity, I hope you'll understand."

"Of course, Nathaniel," Ori answered. "We will start with Armel's original DNA testing and brain scans while he was still human." An image on the large movie screen in front of the four appeared, showing multiple brain scans as Ori proceeded.

Two and a half hours later, the four listened to the AI completed her report. "Would there be anything else, Nathaniel?" Ori asked.

"No, thanks a bunch, Ori. You've been a great deal of help." Nathaniel leaned forward in his chair and turned to the three. "You gentlemen have your answer. You simply don't see it."

Armel glowered. "What do you mean we don't see it? I have taken every permutation of this puzzle and worked it over time and again. My husbands have gone over the data with me, and we've tried to find something I've missed, but there is nothing. Genetics isn't an answer because the genetic variables are too broad. You saw that the environment isn't the answer. Trauma isn't the answer. What do you see that we don't see?"

"That you have your answer."

John looked at the bear. "Nathaniel, cut to the chase."

"You wanted a cure for antisocial personality disorder. The variables that act on the disorder are too random to predict or control. Even the genetics are in flux. I'm sorry, Armel, there is no cure."

The panda sputtered out his frustration as he jumped from his chair and went face to face with the seated bear. "That's the answer; that there is no answer? You let me work for god knows how long on a fool's errand?"

"Yes," the bear replied.

"Why, why would you do that?" Armel yelled.

"Because I came from another universe, and I saw things you have not. They relate to you, Armel. What I did, I had to do for your sake."

"I'm confused," John said as he stood up from his chair.

"Me, too, Bear," Marvin added as he, too, rose.

"Me, I'm just pissed off at you," Armel growled.

"You three haven't read the total history of the Shumuuluud, have you?"

"Okay, Doctor," the panda bristled. "I'm screwed up, but I'm not a monster."

"No, you're a lovable red panda I care for. I am not comparing you to the Shumuuluud. I am comparing you to Donovan and the four others who merged with Marcus to form the saber-toothed wolf. Each of them had to find that moment when they realized that nothing they tried, no option they considered, would ever work. There was no answer to besting the Shumuuluud. There was no cure. Only when every solution they hoped for failed, could they admit the truth to themselves. That was the moment they became open to the truth and a way forward."

The room was quiet for a time, and Nathaniel let it be. When the panda looked up, he spoke the words he feared the most. "They all knew there was no way to win. They knew every path, save one, was a dead end. The only way to save the ones they loved was to completely rebuild the universe. Nothing of the Shumuuluud could be saved."

"You've known the answer all along, Armel."

The panda shifted into his smaller size. He became what he was born the day John turned him. There, as the tiny mammal, he acknowledged the truth of who and what he was. "I let my human go because to do anything else would jeopardize John. Nothing other than John's safety mattered to me. I let my human go because I knew I couldn't fix him, and what he was would eventually destroy both me and John."

"There is no cure," Nathaniel said. "There never will be for the humans. It's an aberration. You can't factor in variables that change with every individual. The outcome is the same, but the path to that result is different for each human."

"So, I gave up the one thing I knew made me a sociopath. I gave up being human."

John reached out and hugged the tiny panda to his chest. "I'm sorry, Armel."

"Me too," the panda sobbed. "I wanted there to be an answer."

"We all did," the Leonberger said as he wrapped his arms around the panda and wolf.

"I'm sorry, too, Armel," the bear said as he embraced all three with his wide arms.

The three stayed in the hug, listening to the sobbing panda. His mates' tears and those of the short-faced bear made no sound as they trickled over their faces. The truth would soak in far more slowly than the tears into the beasts' fur. The panda's pain and his smaller body would stay with him for days.

Nathaniel stayed with the three and shared their bed that night. The next day, Armel insisted on going to the CDC and working. There were others he could help, he said. John and Marvin went with him. Armel's coworkers, who never saw the red panda, wondered why, from time to time, they would hear the doctor sobbing. They watched his husbands and took their lead from them, never questioning what was happening.

That night, when they returned home, they found the short-faced bear waiting for them with dinner ready. His saber-toothed tiger mate sat beside Nathaniel, and Armel understood why. Yellow clan; those gifted with wisdom and judgment. But more importantly, Martin was the one who always found his way home. That night as the five lay in bed, the cat wrapped his arms around the tiny panda and kissed the top of his head.

"I failed, Martin," the panda whispered. "For all my skills, I failed."

Another kiss brushed the top of Armel's head. "You didn't fail, Armel. Scientists are tasked with finding answers. You found your answer. That is not failure."

"It sure feels like it."

"Because it wasn't the answer you hoped for. That is the burden of a scientist. To look at the truth and not turn away, no matter how painful that truth is."

"Is there a way out from what I feel, Cat?" Armel whispered.

"This isn't like anything you've ever known, Panda," Martin replied. "You have had a lifetime of curing illness and disease. But this is neither. This is grief, and you don't cure it and move on. You stay with it. You let it speak to you, and you follow those emotions wherever they lead you."

"I don't know if I can do that. There is so much anger, so much rage."

"And rightfully so. The universe is never just. It is never fair. It simply is. Your anger is justified in the face of that indifference."

"I thought you would give me some words of comfort to fix all this pain."

The cat gave a small chuckle. "You don't need to fix what you feel, Panda. You need to allow yourself to embrace all those emotions."

"I'm afraid of what I feel."

"And that is why you must feel it. When you allow yourself to open up to every emotion of your grief, the fear will dissipate. Your fear is the only emotion that stands between you and the comfort you seek."

"Nothing is comforting about what you're saying."

"That is the grand experiment we call life. No one path, save yours. The only thing we can do is support you, Panda. To stay beside you with your pain and not turn away. We are here to acknowledge the unfairness of it all. We honor a love so great that you would sacrifice everything you were to be in the moment with that love."

"But it hurts so bad. Maybe I was wrong to love."

Martin hugged Armel tighter. "You were never wrong to love, Panda. But now you know there is a cost to love that we all must pay. You are mourning the death of the man you were."

"For what, Cat? What did I gain?"

"The man you are. The man who can see those beside him."

Somehow, what the cat said made perfect sense to Armel.

Chapter 47

"Be careful with that glass, gentlemen," Spackle yelled. "It has had a long journey from its days as sand along the Yellow River to those panels you wield about."

"We've got this, Spackle," a wolf replied as the stained glass lowered into place over the temple dome. "When we finish, it will be incredible."

"He's right, Son," the portly bear said as he wrapped his arms around Spackle. "It might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Anders paused. "Well, other than my husband. I am biased in favor of him being the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

The white wolf beside the two chuckled. "I seem to have the same bias. As beautiful as the glasswork is, none compare to the bear in our midst."

"I am glad you see each other as the most beautiful things you know. It's the same for me when I look at Katashi and Tamil. The glass came out great. The artisans who worked on it for so many months should be proud of their work. But that said, nothing compares to the feeling I get when I see someone I love." Spackle pulled the bear even tighter into their sideways hug. "Present company included."

The three watched as the wolves set the stained-glass panel into the section of the dome crafted for it. When it locked into place, the wolves laid the protective sealant over it and it flowed into the crevices, creating a watertight seal.

The first panel showed Jiao-long meeting the dragons and their budding friendship. Other glass images told the stories of the humans who gave up all they were to become the dragon's protectorates.

There were images of chained temple dogs standing before magnificent palaces. Another pane of glass art showed the dogs breaking their chains to live forever free. One part of the story showed the temple dogs in their armor fighting against an army of dark, nebulous shapes. It hinted at an untold part of their history. Other images left the viewer with unanswered questions. Questions that the dogs skillfully averted each time the questions were raised.

The most recent panel set into place held images of a silver knight impaling a dragon, and the fiery aftermath. Ones to follow would show the relationship between a young man and a black wolf growing to become the impetus that led to Jiao-long's rebirth.

Another set of panels yet to be put in place showed Katashi turning Spackle, the young human. Spackle, the youngest temple dog, who called three men Father, would one day become the mate of the dog that sired him. Each piece of the story was told as pieces of colored glass. It was the story of a race of beings that only the dogs totally knew or understood.

One wolf waved to the group below. "Fourteen more panels, and we finish the mural. The capstone will be set on Friday. I've never seen a more beautiful telling of Jiao-long's story than this." He motioned to the wolves below, and they tied another panel to the lift. "I'm glad it's here in the temple's common, and not buried somewhere deep inside where only you dogs will see it."

"That was always the intention, Greg," Spackle yelled up to the wolf. "The history of the temple dogs is one we wish to bring into the light, and the light filtering through the glass seems an apt symbol for that."

"Indeed," the wolf replied as he waved his hand around through the air, and the crane lifted the next piece of the dome into place.

The dome itself was not only unique in the story it told but also in its construction. The panels fitted into a latticework of steel that created a seamless mural where each image flowed into the next. There was no larger ribbed support where the eye halted because a black line of supporting metal ran through the picture.

The wolves set each panel into place much like a puzzle piece, each locking into the other panels. When they set the capstone into place, the dome would be a series of irregular blocks resting against one another, creating a stable dome. The cap piece was a faceted circle of clear crystal. As the sun reached its zenith each day, the light would shine down scores of rainbows across the inside of the temple walls and floors.

Tamil had stared at the construction for days, searching the images as each one was set into place. He would tell any wolf nearby the story of the sons of Jiao-long. He concentrated his tales on how his fathers played a pivotal role in the return of Jiao-long, the father of all temple dogs. The day before the capstone was set, the tiger stood staring up at the wolves as they placed another glass panel in place. He was lost in the imagery of the brightly colored mural when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "It is turning out to be quite the amazing work of art, don't you think, Tamil?" the unfamiliar dog asked.

Tamil turned and smiled. "It is. I am still waiting for the pieces that show my fathers as I know them now. The wolves told me they would be a part of the mural."

"I imagine your future husbands will show up in the last piece," the dog said. He pointed up toward the glass images. "That taller man next to the short, chubby one is your father, Spackle before he turned."

"Yes, he is next to Wolfy as a man. To me, they look better as beasts," the tiger replied. He paused. "Please don't tell them that. Sometimes, I think my father misses the human he was. He and Wolfy found life so much easier when they were humans together."

The temple dog laughed. "Only for a brief time, Tamil. Once they realized their feelings for each other, that all changed."

"Yes. Sometimes that can happen."

"They love each other, Tamil. One day, they will find a way to show that love without reservations."

"Reservations? Like what they do for a space at the diner?"

"The word has another meaning. It means to do something without holding back. Without all the confusion that Wolfy seems to have."

"Wolfy gets confused about all sorts of things, but he seems to make the right choice in the end." Tamil rubbed his crotch. "I have a yellow penis he gave me. Have you seen it?" he asked.

The dog laughed again. “Yes, quite a few times, in fact. I am not surprised you don't always remember which of us you're with at gatherings. You tend to be distracted around temple dogs.

Tamil nodded. "Yes, I do." He paused. "I am sorry, I cannot tell you apart. You all sound alike, look alike, and smell the same. Only Spackle is easy for me to tell apart from the rest of you. Which one are you?"

The bat wings flared outward. "I am Jiao-long."

"Father of my father," the tiger yelled, clapping his hands together. "You are here for the conser… consecration of the temple."

The temple dog nodded as the wings folded back into himself. "I have looked forward to the day since my sons told me they were building the temple. I have been wandering its hallways. Even with all the work yet to finish, it is beautiful."

"They will set the capstone tomorrow. They call it an oculus, although I don't know why. There are so many easier words to use."

"Like window?" the dog asked.

Tamil grinned. "Like window." He put out his paws. "I would like to hug you if that's okay," the tiger said.

Jiao-long entered the hug. "The answer will always be yes, Tamil," he said as he placed his head on the shoulders of the rotund tiger. They hugged for a moment, and the dog looked upward at the sound of movement on the dome. "There," he said, pointing to the wolves navigating a panel in place. "There are your fathers, as you see them today."

Tamil let go of the hug and pivoted to watch the wolves at work. The cables were released, and the wolves lowered the last piece of the mural into place, the final image merging with the first. The dome now showed the long line of the temple dogs stretching back to the first Changeling dragon. It was a history made of glass and metal, depicting a family line unbroken by time or distance. Tamil stared at eighteen dogs and their father as tears filled his eyes. Standing by the images of Katashi and Spackle was a roly-poly tiger. "It's me," the tiger whispered. "But I am not a temple dog."

"You are to be the mate of two. This makes you the first, Tamil. You are the first tiger child born of a Changeling. You will be the first to join our family by marriage. As such, you are a part of all the temple dogs surrounding you. You may not be a dog in body, but I do not doubt you are one in spirit. Your place will forever be beside the two you love. The stained-glass image is a testament to that truth."

"I will be with them forever in the picture?"

Jiao-long nodded. "And forever with them in life. You had to be there in the glass, Tamil. We are your family. Don't let birth or species fool you. You are their child. One day, the temple dogs will all be your brothers. You will be the mate of two extraordinary dogs. What one feels, all will feel. The sons of Jiao-long will welcome you as one of their own, and do so without reservation."

Tamil smiled as others taught him to smile when he was happy. "And I understand what that means now," he said. He paused. "Does this mean I can call you Father the way all the temple dogs do?"

"I would be honored," the winged temple dog answered.

"Father, would you like to go home with me? I want to tell my fathers the word I learned today. I want them to know I love them without reservations." The tiger thought a moment and then smiled. "And I would like them to know I love you without reservations as well."

The temple dog wrapped his arm around the tiger. The wings flared out and drew the tiger even closer. "I would like that, Tamil," he said. "Do you think all these explanations will result in me seeing that yellow penis of yours again tonight?"

Tamil nodded happily. "Oh, I am sure of it, Father. I am very, very sure of it."

Chapter 48

The consecration of the temple had been a wondrous thing. None, save the temple dogs, were a part of the consecration, but hundreds of beasts attended the celebration that followed. Held to a strict timeline of four days, even the most rabid time managers regretted the temple dog's promise to keep the celebration on track. All too soon, all were walking through the temple gardens and out onto the terraced rice fields.

The tiger and the panda sat quietly together, apart from the gathering crowd. "Did you enjoy yourself, Panda?" Tamil asked.

"Oh, yes," Armel replied. "I can't tell you how good I feel."

"We will have so many days when we feel good now that we live so close together," the tiger said with a smile. "And you have husbands. Husbands can make even sad and frustrating days better."

Armel nodded. "They do that. I am trying so hard to be a good husband. It's not always easy."

"But you never stop trying?"

"No, Tamil. I never stop trying."

"Then that is all they will ever ask of you," the tiger replied. "One day I will mate with two temple dogs, and I will try my best to be a good husband. I know it will not be easy, but like you, I will never stop trying."

The red panda snorted a laugh. "I suspect you'll do a much better job at it than me."

Tamil grinned. "I might. But you and I are not in a race. We are friends. We help each other without trying to figure out who is ahead. Katashi told me we are walking a path together for a time. We aren't always in the same place, though. Sometimes we have to slow down and let others catch up to where we are. Other times, they will slow down for us to catch up. Since there is no finish line, there is no reason to race ahead alone."

Armel put his paw on Tamil's. "Still teaching me, Tiger?"

"The same as you teach me, Panda. We are symbionts. We are better together."

The two looked out on the milling crowd preparing to sing. Katashi approached them and sat next to Tamil. "We are gathering to sing. The end of our festival always ends in singing."

"Do you sing Armel?" the tiger asked the red panda.

"I sound like a mouse squeaking. It's rather awful. How about you?"

"I am a tiger. I sound awful, too."

"Would you like to be awful together?"

The tiger reached out and hugged the panda. "I would like that. I would like that very much."

Katashi leaned over from the left and then bent down to kiss the panda. He rubbed his cheek against Tamil's muzzle. "One day, I will understand all that it means to love you," he said to the tiger, and the tiger smiled back at him.

Spackle sat beside Katashi. "And one day, I will understand all that it means to love you both."

Tamil smiled again. "And Wolfy and Will," he added.

Spackle nodded. "And Wolfy and Will," he agreed. "So, what's all this about singing?"

Katashi lifted his head and began his chant. Spackle repeated the actions. Tamil looked at Armel and laughed. "This is going to be so bad," he said as he began singing. Armel followed, and Tamil's prediction was spot on. John leaned over from behind, kissing the tiger and the panda on top of their heads as he sat beside Tamil. Marvin sat next to his wolf mate.

Together, the six sang of all that they had lost and all that they had found. Armel tried hard to remember what he was taught about letting the song flow through him, but he was reluctant to join in. He did his best to pretend to be singing until Tamil gave him a shove. Armel sighed and began singing. To the world, the tiger and the panda sounded awful, but what every beast in the field heard sounded like love. The beasts smiled, found places to sit in the field, and joined them in their song.

Armel shook his head and stopped singing. "My god, that's terrible," he said. "I can't do this." He pointed to the gathering crowd that was singing. "Listen to them. They're beautiful. I can't be a part of this with my voice."

Tamil nodded his head. "I should not sing either. Armel and I are terrible."

"That doesn't matter," John consoled. "You two are fine. You are singing from the heart. That is always beautiful."

Armel frowned. "Okay, Mr. I never lie, tell the truth. Just how beautiful are we?"

John laughed. "You're both so terrible; I don't have words for it. But it's still beautiful on so many other levels."

Armel folded his arms. "I'm not singing anymore." From across the field, two winged bears and their angel husband matched the warm drone of the temple dog's voices. "There, listen to them. How can they sing so beautifully? They're bears, damn it. Bears growl and burp. They do little else."

Katashi and Spackle stopped their singing, and Tamil followed. Katashi motioned toward the three out in the field. "They are speaking the language of the Mutwajigwan. The language lends itself to the tonality of overtone singing. It is not that bears sing beautifully. It is that they have found a voice that lets them sing in a way that is beautiful."

"I doubt pandas or tigers have such a voice," the red panda grumbled.

"Your youth betrays your lack of understanding," Katashi replied. "There is within us all a voice that speaks to others with a beauty that transcends all expectations."

Armel looked up at the golden dog. "Really?"

Katashi turned to the tiger beside him. "Tamil, I want you to talk to your father, Kantrava. Use the words he taught you. Tell him of the life you live here with us. Tell him of all that you had lost when he died, and all that you have found in the embrace of his family."

Tamil cocked his head in a confused stare. "Just talk to him?" he asked.

"Just talk to him."

Tamil closed his eyes and tried to remember the upright cat he called Father. He saw every strand of fur, every muscle. The image ended with the smile of his father as he knelt to hug the tiger. With the tears streaming down his face, Tamil spoke the words of his heart in Changeling. He told his father how much he missed him, and how much he had grown to love the family that kept his promise.

Armel watched as the tiger sang of all that he had lost and all that he had found. It was exactly what Katashi had promised. He never knew there was a song so beautiful. Without understanding a word of the melody, he understood every emotion.

Katashi turned to the panda. "It is the language of the Changelings. No voice has ever spoken it without sounding beautiful. The soul of a race manifested in what to us is music is their love personified. What Tamil is saying goes so far beyond your limited experience. Tamil was born of a Changeling. His birth tongue is what you listen to but cannot understand. Tamil has found his voice by letting go of the tiger and embracing the Changeling that flows through and around him. He has always been beautiful beyond the words he speaks."

Armel nodded. "That much I know, Katashi." He paused, listening to the cat with the tightly closed eyes. "Can you teach me? Can I find my voice?"

The temple dog nodded. "It would be a pleasure. The wolves have always been born with their voice. You little panda will have to struggle to find yours. Like so much in this new life of yours, the challenges will not be easy for you."

"That's been intentional, hasn't it?" the panda asked.

"Too much of your old life came easily," Spackle replied. "It didn't serve you well. You asked us to help you. That help will push your boundaries in ways you have always ignored."

Armel shrank to his smallest panda and nodded. "I'm good with that." He listened to Tamil continue to sing. "One day, I would like to know what he is singing about."

Katashi lifted the little mammal into his arms and placed him in the tiger's lap. Without halting the song to his father, the tiger's arms wrapped around the panda and hugged him close.

"Hear the words, Panda," Katashi said. "Beyond the music, beyond the listening… hear. This is the lesson to learn tonight. Learn to let go of listening in order to hear."

Armel closed his eyes and tried to do what the temple dog had instructed. How strange it was that for so cryptic an order, he understood what Katashi meant. He kissed the paws of the tiger that held him and listened to the songs that surrounded him. He struggled to hear beyond the music, but knew he failed miserably. When he felt the kiss of the tiger above him on the top of his head, he smiled. It was okay to be slow. His family loved him. They would help him find his voice one day.

Chapter 49

When the night of singing had ended, the island visitors returned to their homes. Katashi, Spackle, and Tamil sat outside the newly consecrated temple, listening to the sounds of the night. The other temple dogs had retired to the monastery. The temple dogs always did what was needful, and tonight, what they needed to be was asleep so that the three could be alone.

Tamil chuckled to himself. "What are you laughing about, Tamil?" Spackle asked the tiger.

"Armel and me. We were horrible singing tonight."

"I would have to agree in the beginning you were both awful," Katashi said. "Even so, it was beautiful because it was from the heart."

"But when I talked to my dead father, it was different."

Katashi smiled. "The words of your first father are the language of the Changelings. Their language is like a beautiful song. You need only to speak the words as you learned them. In repeating them, your song will always be beautiful."

Tamil looked up from the blanket he was lying on. "Really?"

"You spoke the words the first time we met. Your Changeling voice is beautiful. You struggle only with the idea of human melody. If you speak in Verital, the words will sound like music to all who hear." The temple dog shifted his position and pointed off toward the North beyond the river's banks. "Nathaniel can teach you any words you don't know to create the song you wish to sing."

"Do you think he would do that?" the tiger asked.

"The entire family of bears is fond of you, Tamil. Any of them would be happy to teach you."

Tamil smiled. "Nathaniel is the bear with the fur that looks like glasses, right?"

"That is him," Katashi replied. "But Oliver, the badger, would be happy to teach you as well. He loves any student who studies hard and does their best."

"I always try my hardest," Tamil said. The tiger was quiet for a while. "Fathers?"

"Yes, Tamil?" the two responded.

"Every day, when you do your dance, how do you know what moves to make?"

"They come from the heart, Son," Spackle replied. "Every day they are different, but because we are one, they match."

"And it means you are mated; that you are husbands forever?"

"That is what it means."

"Will I be able to dance with you one day?"

Katashi stood up. He set stance on the wooden deck that surrounded the temple, and his hands began moving. "The motions are simple, Son," he said. "They are like the tai chi you study with the children, but they are broader in their movements to accommodate our size."

Spackle stood up and set stance. His arms rotated, at first independent of the dog next to him. In time, they moved in the same motions together.

Tamil gazed at the two as their feet moved out in unison and their paws pressed together. "You are both so beautiful when you dance. I am so happy to be your son. One day when I have learned how to do the steps, maybe then we could do the dance together. Maybe we could be husbands."

Spackle smiled. "The steps do not need to be learned, Son. They need to be felt." The striped dog's paws rose above his head. The motion matched the dog next to him. "If there is love, we sense the motions even before we make them. This is not a dance you learn, Tamil. It is a dance you experience through unity with your mates. It transcends what we share with you. There is a difference in responsibility between a father and a son and that between husbands."

"We are grateful that you are in our lives, Tamil," Katashi said. The left legs of the dogs lifted, the arms extended, and the paws drooped. "Crane stance, Tamil. Do you remember what it means?"

"It tells the children that you are welcoming a new student to study."

"Excellent, Tamil," Spackle said.

"And tonight, do you understand its meaning?" Katashi asked. The two temple dogs lowered their legs, and the foot facing the other tapped the space between.

"I am grown. I am an adult. My fathers are asking me to no longer be their child. They are asking me to be their husband."

"And what is your response?" the striped dog asked.

Tamil rolled up on his legs. "I can't be your husband. You've seen my tai chi. I am horrible. I try so hard, but I am clumsy. Now even more so because I am so much bigger."

"Your mates are big," Katashi said. "Your clumsiness is not because of your size. It is because you lack experience. Come stand with us, Tamil."

"But, Father…"

"Let the fear go, Tamil. We are not asking you to be perfect or even good. We are asking you to be with us and let your feelings guide your movements. If it is to be, it will be. There is no pressure from either of us. We can spend an eternity with you as our child and share a bliss few have ever experienced. But you sense the changing, you sense the urge. If it is what you wish, join us. We have room in our hearts for another husband we love. Our child has only to step up to the calling."

Tamil stood up and stood between the two dogs he loved. He set stance as they taught him. He followed the motion of the two dogs' paws as they moved in unison. His tentative motions began as he tried to follow the two.

"Good, Tamil," Spackle said. "But do not copy us. Be one with us. Feel the movement in your heart, not your head. If you can do that, we will no longer be fathers and son. We will be husbands. Is that what you wish?"

"Yes, even more than to be your son, I wish to be your husband. But I don't understand how a dance can make me different," Tamil said as he continued trying to match the fluid movements.

"Your heart does, Tamil," Katashi said. "This is a dance we share with the ones we love beyond our capacity to say so in words. Dance as if the only thing that mattered was telling the ones you love how far that love goes."

Tamil clumsily pushed his paws outward, "Breath in," he said, following the lessons he had learned. With a fluid motion, the two dogs pushed their paws outward in unison. "Breath out," he said as his paws lowered. He repeated the movement, and the dogs followed in kind. Tamil's head bounced back and forth between the two, watching them as he extended his leg. He brought his arms up in a circle, pressing his paws together as they lowered.

Without a word, the two dogs followed his moves. But it wasn't following. They knew before his paws were reaching out. Their paws reached out with his. He bent his knee and pivoted toward Katashi. The leg extended and the two arms pushed outward. The dogs moved in harmony with each gesture. Tamil's leg lifted and shifted the weight to his side, facing the striped temple dog. The dogs shifted their weight, matching the tiger. Again, the tiger repeated the arm extension while he watched the movements mirrored by the two.

When Tamil stared at his arms lifting in unison with the two dogs, he realized his body was moving before his mind told him what position to perform. For the first time at the top of the arch, when his palms came together, the move was not what his fathers had taught him. Tamil's hands moved back outward in a circle, reversing the move. His arms rotated in circles of their own, and his leg rose, turned to the right, and slid down as his bulky body bowed into the lowering leg. The left leg extended, and he rested on the other. His right arm extended behind him, and his left arm fell parallel to his leg. Tamil knew that from this position, he was doomed to fall over. It was movement sixteen in tai chi class, and he always needed help to pull up from the position. But as the two dogs lifted out of stance and into a new position, Tamil's body followed as if helped up by the two beside him.

It was then Tamil's head realized what his heart was trying to teach him. With the next fluid movement that matched his mates perfectly, he knew the two were helping him through the motions. They were there beside him. Without saying a word, they were guiding him. He was one with them. There was no movement called 'part the horse's mane'. Instead, his body flowed into changes now familiar to him instead of a challenge to remember. The motions grew beyond anything he had ever done. As long as he tried to let the movements tell his mates how much he loved them, the three flowed through the motions in unison.

Tamil knew the two on either side of him were promising with each movement that they would be beside him through every moment of his life. In turn, he promised the same. Their movements told each other they would spend a lifetime together learning and growing. This was only the beginning of a journey they would make together, and with each motion, the unity grew. This was their path. And Tamil knew he could walk the path without worrying that he might fall. His mates would always be there for him.

Tamil felt his feet set stance once more. His paws pushed outward, and he watched as the glittering light spread outward through his paws and the paws of the dogs he loved. It sped outward and stirred the rice fields in the distance. Eventually it disappeared into the night.

Tamil's paws lowered, and he stared at them in wonder. "I cannot do that," the tiger said.

"A son cannot, but a husband can," Katashi said.

Tamil smiled. "I love you, Husband," he said enthusiastically.

"That is a good thing," the golden dog replied, "for I love you as well, Husband."

"And I love you, Husband," Tamil said, turning to Spackle.

"I love you as well, Husband," the striped dog replied. "Shall we go to bed?"

"And have sex?" Tamil asked.

Katashi laughed. "I believe that is what newly mated husbands do, Tamil."

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Spackle said. "Just remember, there is a tai chi class on Heart Island tomorrow, and I expect both of you to be there."

Tamil thought for a moment. "Perhaps we should only have a little sex."

"That is a good idea," Katashi said. He took Tamil's paw in his. Tamil extended his other paw to Spackle, who placed it in his. Together, the three retired to their bed, where their efforts to have only a little sex were an abject failure.

Chapter 50

"Oh, dear god," Nathaniel said, banging his head against the refrigerator. "This is going to be a long week. Can you smell those three?"

"Husband," Max said with a laugh, "their mating is only a few days old. They can't help it. Give them time. Greg said the damage the dogs did to the monastery wasn't that bad. The dogs have all returned to their own temples. So, no more damage for the foreseeable future. Greg and his crew should have it repaired within three days. By the end of the week, they'll be living again full-time at Temple Island."

"But their scent."

"It is overpowering. I suspect the humans will need to be kind enough to look the other way until we can get them off the island."

"Half the humans are walking around with hard-ons. And that's only because the other half are females. Eighty-three-year-old Mr. Cranston in Ward B wants us to tell him what meds he's on because he intends to buy a truckload of them when he's released. And those poor werewolves trying to do their rounds. They could balance their trays on top of their dicks."

"Partridge Island has been their home for years. This was the first place they thought to turn to," Max said, trying to console his mate. "We're working on getting them new lodgings."

There was a knock on the back door and Max opened it. Tamil stood at the door, beaming. "I am newly mated. I am a husband."

"We're aware of that, Tamil," the shorter short-faced bear said with a laugh. "Your scent is unmistakable. We couldn't be happier for you." Max paused. "Would you like to rub muzzles? I doubt it will calm me, but I believe it's what friends do with their tiger friends that are newly mated."

Tamil nodded happily. "That is exactly what friends do with their newly mated tiger friends," he said. He grabbed the bear in a hug, and the two rubbed their muzzles across each other. "Spackle asked me to come and tell you that, as men of leisure, you should join the three of us on our trip to New Zealand. Saand is staying to help repair the damage to the fence surrounding the forest. We did not mean to be so clumsy. Saand is not newly mated, so he is easier on the wolves."

"So, the three of you are going to New Zealand?"

"The Gray Wolf will land here shortly. Spackle said that with their open fields, the damage to surrounding buildings will be…" the tiger paused, thinking, "… mitigated. I think it means not so bad, but I didn't have time to look it up in the dictionary yet."

"That's pretty much what it means, Tamil," Nathaniel said. "Come, let's rub muzzles, good friend." Nathaniel stretched out his arms and Tamil eagerly entered the embrace. "It's nice of Spackle to give Partridge Island a rest. And with so many dogs already back in New Zealand, the transportation requirements are going to be easier for Eldon."

"He is already booking passages. If you check your ComLinks, Ori has a message about our welcoming."

Max looked down at his chest. "Not that she needs to tell us, but I forgot that the two of us asked her to hold all calls." He tapped the small device in his ear. "Morning, Ori."

"Good morning, Max. Are you and Nathaniel back online?"

"I suppose so."

"I would advise you of Katashi, Spackle, and Tamil's nuptials, but judging by your physical state, I will assume that is unnecessary."

"That physical state is why we asked you to hold our calls," Max laughed. "But we are apparently making arrangements to deal with it."

"Enjoy your flight to New Zealand. Stacey has asked that you all leave as quickly as possible. She has a hospital to run, and newly mated temple dogs and a tiger are a major distraction."

"We're on it, Ori. Thanks for the heads up."

"You're welcome, Max," the ever-polite voice replied. "Oh, and Tamil?" she added.

"Yes, Ori?" the tiger responded.

"Congratulations. You make such a handsome husband."

Tamil's constant grin grew even wider. "Thank you, Ori."

"You all get going," Ori added. "Your flight is touching down on the gun shelter landing site. New Zealand has need of you five, but Partridge Island certainly doesn't."

"Thanks, Ori," Nathaniel said as his paws pushed the bear and tiger toward the back door. "Come on, men, let's get off the island."

"But what about all the wolves with hard-ons?" Tamil asked.

"We'll see them in the days to come, Tamil," Nathaniel said with another push of the two toward the door.

"That would be nice. I learned a few new things that should make welcoming them even more fun."

"You learned new things from your temple dog husbands?" the spectacled short-faced bear asked.

"Yes."

"I said it before. Dear god, this is going to be a long week."

"Spackle said the same thing," the tiger said, still beaming a smile that never left his face.

Chapter 51

"But how, Mr. Holmes?" Dr. Watson asked. "Sir Reginald has an alibi. Witnesses saw him leave the pub at eight. Rigor had set in by the time the police arrived. How could he have been here to kill his wife?"

"Elementary, my dear Watson," the sleuth replied. "Sir Reginald swore the night of the murder his carriage had thrown a wheel on the way home. The patrons of the pub saw him leave at eight. The broken carriage is on the outskirts of town. Had his story been true, he would have had an alibi, as the walk from the carriage to the castle is at least two hours. But it caused me to wonder. Why would a man born of the aristocracy not walk back to the bar only blocks away and find someone to fix the carriage or hire transportation home? Why walk back to the castle?"

"True," Watson replied as he rethought the nobleman's actions. "That would be what most men of his standing would do."

"But I was soaking wet from the rain," Sir Reginald protested. "The rain didn't start until nine fifteen. And it was over by the time I got home. I called the police the minute I entered our home and saw the burglary. It was only moments later that I found my wife strangled and called a second time. But my wet clothes and the mud on my shoes proved I was out in the storm running home when my wife was killed. I couldn't possibly run fast enough to be at home when she was killed."

"That is what you say, Sir Reginald. The rain started at nine fifteen," Homes replied. "And therein lies the tale. Your wet garments, Sir Reginald; you say they came from the rain. However, as they dried, a thin layer of white developed around the tops of your shoes and the cuffs of your garments. That white powder is calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide. You don't find those chemicals in rainwater, Sir Reginald, but you find them in the castle's water. They are the deposits characteristic of the hard water from your wells."

Sir Reginald was mute to the new revelation. Holmes continued. "You left the bar, disabled your carriage outside town, and went to the livery stable where you had left one of your horses in their care weeks before. It was night, and the removal of one horse without the stableman hearing was easy thanks to the bottle of rum you gave him earlier. You rode the horse at a full gallop all the way home and strangled your wife."

Holmes picked up the rope that lay on the coffee table. "And then you waited, giving yourself the time for an alibi to form from a long walk home. What you didn't expect was the rain. You had already called the police, and they were on their way. You stepped outside the castle and realized that it had been raining. The puddles told you it was a deluge. You needed evidence that you had been caught in that rainstorm. By the time the police arrived, they found you in your wet clothes, with mud tracked in from the road outside your home into the main hall."

"But the water was not from the rain, Sir Reginald. You couldn't stand out in a storm that had passed, so you ran to the pump house and used the hose to soak yourself. A viable ruse had your water not been so hard. The evidence from that realization will continue to mount, Sir Reginald. I can go on, but we will confirm your guilt, either from your own mouth or at the trial. You killed your wife. The town realized how difficult she was. They were almost relieved that the tragic burglary left you with one loss they all saw as a blessing."

"We all have our breaking points, Mr. Holmes," Sir. Reginald replied.

"That is true Sir Reginald. I am afraid once the trial is complete, that breaking point for you will be your neck at the end of a hangman's noose."

Watson started laughing and turned to Holmes. "Really? When did you think up that line? I mean, that's even better than figuring out the mystery."

Holmes smiled. "It just came to me. Besides, you broke character, and I won't be able to get mine back." The detective reached out and pulled Watson into a long and passionate kiss.

When the kiss had ended, Watson looked into the blue eyes of the detective. "One day, Sherlock, we're going to discuss this love affair of ours."

Sherlock nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we are. But we must consider our families and the way they seem to keep us apart."

"That's not the reason we're hesitant, and you know it," Watson corrected.

"I know, I know," the man in the deerstalker hat replied. "I don't want to lose what we share by trying to commit to something even greater."

Watson smiled. "There it is, Wolfy. There's the truth."

The ComLink chimed and Sherlock Holmes tapped it. The familiar voice of an old wolf was clear. "Game over, you two. There are three very lovable husbands out here to pick up their mates."

"End program," Holmes said. The humans in the parlor disappeared with a pixilated motion, leaving behind a black wolf with blue eyes. Watson became a striped temple dog. The wolf gave the dog another kiss. "I promise we'll talk about it soon."

"Say it, Wolfy, you know you want to," the dog said, staring down at the wolf.

"Well, talk about it soon, Hon," Derrick replied.

"I'm already there, Wolfy," the dog said, "but I have no problems waiting for you to catch up."

"Thanks," Derrick said, as he pushed the exit button on the Holodeck and the doors parted.

Derrick and Spackle looked out at Will, Katashi, and Tamil grinning at the two. "What are you three up to?" Derrick asked.

"Your husband says it's an intervention," Katashi replied. "I think it's more a clarification of intent between our two families."

Derrick gave a low growl. "Old Wolf," he grumbled.

"It's not just for you, Pup," Will said as he reached out and hugged the black wolf. "It's for your mate, and for the man whose neck I bit."

"Those weren't really promises," Derrick protested.

"Yeah, they were, Pup. You know it, and I know it."

"I know it, too," Spackle said with a slight wave of his raised paw.

"But I have so many husbands already," Derrick said with a sigh. "And Katashi and Tamil live at the temple."

"Oliver spends his life bouncing between Partridge Island, Montana, or Africa just to be with his family," the old wolf responded. "We're a family that juggles lives and schedules to be together. Spackle is one more that you and I will have to work with. Isn't he worth that effort?"

"Of course he is," Derrick replied. "It's just that..." the words trailed off into silence.

Tamil watched the entire conversation closely. He turned to Katashi and asked, "Will we have to marry, Wolfy?"

"No," Katashi replied. "We are fine being friends."

"With benefits," Tamil said with a laugh.

"With benefits," Katashi agreed. "But the nature of Spackle and Derrick's love demands a greater commitment. They are bound by more than just friendship. Their lives and that of the old wolf are tied together as deeply as ours."

"Then why aren't they married?" Tamil asked.

"Cat's got a point," the old wolf said.

"Because..." the black wolf replied. Again, silence created a gap.

"Because we see fire-breathing dragons when we're together," Spackle replied, filling in the gap. "When we are together, we see beyond what others see, and it scares you."

Derrick bowed his head. "Yeah, that."

"It scares me too, Wolfy. But it doesn't scare me as much when you're beside me."

The old wolf wrapped his arm around the younger. "And I'm here beside you both because you need to realize someone is always guarding your back. I promised it to you when I bit your neck, Pup. I promised Spackle the first day we met. Only one of us is standing here unsure of what he promised."

"It means so much more than being mates, Old Wolf."

Will nodded. "True that."

"I don't want that responsibility."

"But in loving a temple dog, you accepted it. We all did somewhere along the line. You and me, Pup, we're something different from what we once were." The old wolf pointed to the other three in the room. "Our world is different." He gave the black wolf a gentle shove toward the striped temple dog. "Our love is different. But one truth remains. We don't turn away from that love because it challenges us."

Will gave Derrick another nudge when the pup took only a few steps in Spackle's direction. "How many hundreds of years ago, did you teach me that, Husband?" the old wolf asked. "I still can feel your teeth on the back of my neck. I still remember what it was to face the dilemma love always creates. To dive in and risk it all, or stay safely on the sidelines, trying to be content with where we are. Do we chance losing what we have, or do we stay in limbo all the while knowing what committing to more might bring? I love you. I will always be by your side. If you tell me you love another enough to mate with him, then if he will have me, I will be his mate as well. Learn the lesson you taught me, Pup. Learn that love needs no justification, it only needs commitment."

Derrick groaned as the teeth of the old wolf set in his neck. The striped temple dog stepped forward, wrapped his arms around both wolves and pulled them in close. "One way or another, you two, I need an answer."

"Be my mate, Spackle," the old wolf mumbled past his clamped teeth.

Derrick felt the teeth of the old wolf press deeper and understood what it meant. He understood what it meant the first time the teeth pressed into his neck. He remembered what it meant when he bit the old wolf's neck. And in that moment, he realized what it meant when his teeth bit into Spackle's human neck so many years ago. He looked up at the temple dog. "I guess we're already mated. We have been for so long."

"Even before the day when we bit each other's necks," Spackle said with a smile. "Who and what we are was forged so long ago. So much in this life of mine has left me confused, Wolfy, but never have I been confused about my feelings for you. I'm so happy to be your mate."

"You didn't get a very committed mating ritual, though," Derrick said with a frown. "I mean pretending to be temple dogs, biting your neck; we didn't get anything right."

"Yeah, we did," the striped temple dog corrected. "We got the love right."

The frown stayed on the black wolf's face. "You deserve better."

"I want you, Wolfy. It's not about us being the perfect mate for each other. It's about wanting to commit to the idea that we will work to become that mate. Is that what you want, Wolfy? Do you want to be my mate? Do you want to make this official?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Come with me," Spackle said as his paw extended. Derrick put out his paw and took the large striped one in his. The dog tapped the entry to the Holodeck, and the doors spread apart. Inside, the Victorian-era mansion remained from the two's adventure. Spackle looked back at the three. "We're going to make this official. You all get what that means, right?"

"Yeah, we're going to have one wild family mating circle in a few hours," Will said with a laugh.

Spackle grinned. "Days, Husband. In a few days, we'll have one wild mating circle."

Will grinned. "Fair enough. You two take all the time you need."

"And when we return, Old Wolf," the temple dog continued, "you and I will meet up to set my teeth in your neck. You may have told me we are mated, but I have not told you."

"You remember the part about mounting me, right?" Will asked. "I'm more about the mounting part than the biting part."

"I'm aware of how the mounting figures into the ritual," Spackle said with a chuckle. "And I am a temple dog that knows how to control his pheromones. You will feel me, Old Wolf, and for days afterward, you will be keenly aware of who was inside you. The teeth may leave their mark, but you won't forget the day I mount you. I never forgot the day you bit my neck and mounted me. It seems only fair that I return the favor."

"I love you, Spackle," Will said as he hugged the tiger-striped dog. "You take good care of Pup."

"It has always been my intention to take good care of both of you," the dog replied. "It's just taken us this long to finalize the deal."

The temple dog kissed the old wolf and then Katashi and Tamil. "I'll be back, husbands," he said as he turned and dragged the black wolf back into the Holodeck. The three stared at the closing doors Kris insisted look like something out of Star Trek XXIV. Which was the reason the Holodeck hid in a hallway far from the main house. Kris loved his Sci-Fi, but Eric was less thrilled by futuristic displays in the ancient wood and adobe home. The compromise was to leave the futuristic metal doors and their lighted archway far away from where most visitors would ever see it.

"Well, that sucks," a disappointed old wolf said.

"What sucks?" Tamil asked.

"My husbands are gone for two days and when they come back, everything I think I know about the two will have changed. Beyond those dorky looking doors, my husbands are evolving, changing to meet each other's needs. And I'm stuck here while they find their way. I should be with them, but they need this time alone together." The wolf's paw reached out and rubbed the fiberglass arch. "That's what sucks."

Katashi rubbed the top of Will's head. "You know what else sucks, Old Wolf?"

"What?" came the unenthusiastic reply.

"Me."

Tamil grinned. "Me, too."

The despondent wolf looked up at the two towering over him. "Me, three."

"Then we have found something the three of us can do until your husbands return," the golden dog said.

Will nodded. The temple dog put out his paw, and the old wolf took it in his. Tamil extended his paw, and Will took it in his other paw. "What would I do without you two?" he asked.

"I have seen you, Wolf. You would play with your own penis," Tamil said. "But that's not as much fun as having sex together."

"You're right there, Tamil," Will said. "What say we go back to the master bedroom and play together? Who knows? We may even pick up a few stray husbands along the way."

"That sounds like a good idea, Old Wolf," Katashi replied. The threesome turned and headed down the hall toward the main building. "I will need to thank Derrick and Spackle on their return for giving us an opportunity to enjoy your company."

"Always the bright side, Katashi," Will said with a smile.

"How could it be anything but bright in your company and that of such a remarkable tiger?"

Tamil laughed. "We are going to have so much fun."

The Sight pushed forward into Will's consciousness, and he realized Tamil was right.

Chapter 52

The two sat quietly on opposite sides of the conservatory tea table. The temple dog picked up the porcelain pot and poured the steaming tea into a cup. Spackle took the small tongs, dropped two sugar cubes into the cup, and stirred them into the tea. "Be my mate," Spackle said, as he held out the teacup in his paw.

Derrick stared at the cup. "You don't really do this, do you, Hon? I mean, we don't sip tea, and that's it?"

Spackle laughed. "No, Hon, the tea is to help calm your fears. The mating comes as it always has for the temple dogs. You and I bit each other's necks and mounted each other. We are mated in the way of the wolves, but we have yet to mate in the way of the temple dogs. If we're going to commit to this mating, I'm going to insist that our vows cut across both worlds."

"Then what do you do?"

"You have seen it many times, but you never realized it. You watch our mating ritual in the movements we share each day. Tamil is realizing that our mating is only now beginning for him. Wolves mate for life. Dogs mate every day we are together."

Derrick realized what the dog was telling him. "I never learned tai chi, Spackle. I never trained in martial arts. For years, I have watched the mated temple dogs practicing together. I understood you showed your unity that way. But if that's mating, I can't do what you ask of me. Not now. Not today."

"It is the way of the temple dogs. We move in separate paths until we become one. We acknowledge we are together by the movements we make. Our chi intertwines, and eventually, we push it out into the world. We accept that our union will change and that our paths together may one day drift in different directions. And yet, the love we share, the love that moves through us, will always remain."

"So, I begin training?"

"You and I have been training for years, Wolfy," Spackle said.

"No, we haven't. I've never even taken a single lesson in tai chi."

"System, activate the main screen. Link virtual PlayStation hand controllers, and launch Dragon's Quest," the temple dog said. He turned to the wolf and smiled. "To each their gifts. To each a path to share with the one they love." Spackle picked up the PS12 glove controllers and handed a pair to the black wolf. "It's called Dragon's Quest. Play it with me." The conservatory faded, and a verdant forest replaced it.

Derrick looked around the glade they stood in. "I've never played Dragon's Quest before. I've never even heard of it. You know I'm not good at new games."

"It's not the game that's important, Wolfy," Spackle said as he shook his gloved paw. "This is how you and I bond. It never mattered what we were playing. It was that we were together. This is just another game. Play it with me."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"We are temple dragons. All temple dragons can change and be whatever they need to be. Today, we need to follow the path."

"Just follow the path?"

"Together. We follow the path together."

"No monsters, no battles?"

"Only the path together, Hon. It's not as easy as you might think."

Derrick raised his gloved paw and pressed the power button. A serpentine dragon appeared in front of him. He realized it wasn't so much in front of him as the typical image of the avatar he was supposed to be. He glanced to his side, and the temple dog was no longer there. Another dragon stood beside him. The dragon smiled. "Okay, Husband, this is where it gets rough."

"You're not going to ask me to..."

"Fly?" the dragon interrupted. "Yeah, Wolfy, that's what I am asking. I am the temple dog that loves you. I will be whatever you need me to be. But today, I need you to show me you are as committed to this relationship as I am."

"I don't fly."

"You fly in games all the time."

"Yeah, but those games are on a screen. None of them are as real as this Holodeck."

"It is still just a game, Hon."

Derrick sighed. "I suppose you're right. I can do this if I keep reminding myself it's only a game."

"You could also do it by reminding yourself that it's what your husband needs for you to be his mate now and forever."

Derrick smiled. "Now and forever?"

"It's the only option I'm offering."

The black wolf pushed the launch button and found himself in the body of a dragon, looking out on the glade. He lifted himself up and saw the tiny paws that were virtually useless. He sensed they were more rudders used for flight control, rather than appendages with which he could hold objects. "What do we do now?"

The other dragon flipped his body back and forth like a sidewinder moving through the sand. In seconds, he was airborne, moving beyond the trees. "Come on, Wolfy," the dragon said. "I need you by my side."

Derrick shook his feathered head. "The things I do for love," he groaned under his breath. He repeated the motions he saw the other dragon make and soon was flying awkwardly up into the sky and over the treetops.

The two flew for some time until Derrick calmed. Spackle flew up under him and rode along the frightened dragon until their long bellies touched. "Oh, no, Spackle," the dragon on top begged. "Please don't make me mate in midair."

"Would you be better if we were dragons on the ground?"

"Yes, please. That would be so much better."

Spackle's body moved away from Derrick's and slowly descended toward the forested lands below. Touching down for Derrick was more of a controlled plummet that ended with the dragon slamming into the ground. But he was more than happy with the outcome when the forest dragon helped him back to his feet. He watched as the iridescent blue and green scales spread out from the other dragon's hand and covered his body. "Thank you, Hon," the newborn forest dragon said.

"You're welcome," the other said, smiling back. "Mating for two forest dragons is complicated."

"Really?" Derrick asked. "I'm already hard. Isn't it just a matter of sticking things in the right slots?"

Spackle laughed. "We are too heavy not to damage each other by doing it doggy style. You remember that, right?"

Derrick slapped his head with his clawed hand. "Oh, that's right. So what? We lay ourselves down like Jiao-long and LanYing?"

"Sort of. But you haven't thought this all the way through. There is dragon biology in play here."

"So, what do we do?"

“We continue rubbing against each other until our cocks are properly lubricated.”

Derrick laughed, "Already headed in that direction."

"And then we slip them into our cloacae."

"W…what?" Derrick stammered.

"It's the opening your cock is protruding from, Wolfy. It's what we do if we want to mate face to face."

"We're going to fuck each other at the same time?"

"Yeah. I might have worked on a more romantic way of saying it, but we're doing it dragon style." Spackle paused. "Well, if there were gay dragons, which there aren't, but if there were, this is the way gay dragons would do it."

Derrick smiled. "It's romantic. Neither of us is a top or a bottom. We're just together."

"I'm glad you approve," the dragon said as he maneuvered closer to Derrick. "Roll back, Hon. Once I get us into position, our bodies should take over. Let the dragon come through. It's not too different from when you turned the first time. Let your beast guide you. Trust its awareness of what will bring you pleasure and unite us."

Derrick fell to his side and let Spackle maneuver him close. The scaled cock gave Derrick different sensations from anything he had experienced before. The scales were small, barely the size of a thumbnail, but he realized he could shift them up and down in small waves. When it slipped alongside the other cock, he felt the pressure of his pushing deep inside the other's cloaca. It was followed by the sensation of another dragon pushing into his cloaca. Derrick shook his head in disbelief. How little he knew of sex, even with those he shared the planet with.

The sensation of Spackle penetrating him was both pleasurable and confusing. He felt the cock slipping past his own and deep inside him where centers of pleasure were awakening. He closed his eyes and tried to let the dragon guide him. The slow movements back and forth between dragons began. But Derrick did not realize what pleasures awaited him until the cock undulated on its own. Without moving his body, the massive genital's scales vibrated along the warm cavity in waves alongside his skin.

A forest dragon's orgasm can last over half an hour, which for Derrick was about fifteen minutes longer than he could endure. As he regained consciousness, Derrick apologized to the dragon beside him. Spackle grinned. "It will be easier the second time. By the time we're on our sixth, you should last the entire thirty-five minutes."

Derrick's eyes widened. "Six times?" he blurted out as his tail thrashed in the grass.

"You're the one who chose forest dragons. Air dragons only do it once, and it lasts for a few seconds."

"Yeah, but they do it while plummeting to the ground from a high space, right?"

"Yeah, there is that downside," Spackle replied. A gleeful chortle escaped his lips, mirroring the delight of a dragon’s laughter. That was the moment Derrick realized the two had spoken no words. They were speaking in the language of the dragons. The images that filled their minds were as clear and understandable as if they were speaking — sometimes even more so.

Derrick rubbed his mane along Spackle's neck and breathed in the dragon's scent. "So, about these six orgasms…"

"Actually, there are eight total. I mentioned six as the point where you'll probably stay conscious through the entire orgasm."

"And then we're mated?"

"We are already mated, my love," Spackle said. "The moment you rose off the ground and flew after me, I knew you would always be what I needed you to be. We moved as one through space and time, where you were terrified until it became second nature to you."

"I never stopped being terrified," Derrick corrected.

"I realize that, but you made peace with the fact that being beside me required that you fly. In making that peace, our movements became one. And here together, they continue to be one. This is the promise that our movements will be forever one. For better or for worse, that's the promise we're making. It's just decidedly more pleasurable in this moment."

"I love you, Spackle," the dragon whispered into the other's ear.

"And I love you, Wolfy," the other dragon whispered back. "You and I are both hard again. We should take this short bit of time to enjoy our union before the orgasm begins."

"I enjoyed the orgasm, Spackle," Derrick said with a chortle that he realized was his laughing.

"Me too, but I also enjoy this time with you." The dragon rubbed his mane along the neck of the other, repeating the process the two shared moments earlier. "Be my mate, Wolfy."

"Now and forever," the forest dragon who was once a wolf replied. The two dragons relaxed into the pleasure of their union as their cocks pulsed on their own. This time, Derrick felt more in control of the movements. He realized the greater part of the control was letting his feelings flow without thinking about what was happening. Abandoning himself to the dragon he was, increased the pleasures of being that dragon.

The two were pleasantly surprised that the newborn dragon didn’t pass out during his orgasm after only three attempts. Derrick now knew why. By committing to being beside Spackle regardless of what it required, he found a peace born of strength. The mating ceremony of a temple dog extended so far beyond that of his wolfen brethren.

On the morning of the second day, the two dragons shuddered through the eighth orgasm, signaling the dragon mating ritual was over. Derrick smiled at the dragon beside him. "Now what, husband?"

"We mate."

"I thought that's what we were doing these last two days."

"No, that was teaching you what it means to be my mate. Now we mate." The dragon rolled over and stood up. Derrick followed. "System, end the Dragon Quest program."

The forest disappeared, but the two dragons remained standing on the floor of the Holodeck. Derrick looked down at himself and gasped in shock at his dragon body. With a shake the wolf returned. The other dragon shifted back into a temple dog and smiled at the wolf. "Now you understand the truth, Wolfy. Now you see why you and I have always been so comfortable together."

"I… I…" the black wolf stammered. "I didn't know I could do that."

"But now you do, and in knowing what is, you can turn from it, or embrace it." Spackle extended his striped, yellow paw. "Be my mate, Wolfy."

Derrick stared at the paw and reached out for it. Slowly his arm expanded as the yellow fur covered it and a new temple dog stood in front of the other. "Be my mate, Spackle," Derrick gave as his answer.

The golden temple dog and the tiger-striped temple dog hugged and when they separated, Spackle set stance. Derrick followed, trying his best to mimic the pose. "Don't try to duplicate what I am doing, Wolfy," the striped dog said as his paws pushed outward. "Close your eyes and let the unity flow through you. We are one. We have always been one."

Derrick closed his eyes and felt his paws push outward. The left leg lifted, and the body rotated as the arms made an arc above his head. He opened his eyes, watching the dog next to him repeating each movement, or was he repeating the dog's motions? The moment he called the movements into question, he faltered. The temple dog next to him reached out and touched his shoulder. "Is it necessary to understand the how of what we share, or is it enough that we share it?"

Derrick smiled. "It's enough to share it."

"Then stay in this moment. Be one with the one who loves you."

Derrick returned to the slow, rounded movements. The desire to understand how it was happening slipped away and the movements became a dance that only the pair knew the steps to. In time, Derrick's arms lowered with Spackle's. Together, the paws rose again and rotated around a small, invisible sphere. "This is what we call chi," Spackle said, never altering the slow-moving motions. "Call it what you will. It will feel unfamiliar at first. When you create a singularity within your paws, you draw the universe's energy into you to create a locus of power that bends time and space. When you create chi, you draw the energy from within you and move it outward as a gift to the universe. Two sides of the same coin. Energy needs a purpose to be anything but chaotic."

"But where I draw the power from matters, doesn't it?" Derrick asked, watching the invisible sphere within his paws.

"Both powers have their purpose," Spackle replied. "But we find greater harmony when we reach inside to give a gift to the world outside. Today, that gift creates the greatest of all harmonies. We will become one by melding our chi. We push the chi out into the world, and it teaches us the meaning of love. Love is so much more than we will ever realize, but each day we gather and learn." The paws of the stripped temple dog slowed. "We gather for what others see as a dance. To us, it is life. It is love as best we can express it to the ones who matter most to us."

Both dogs' arms pushed outward. The crystalline structure of the Holodeck rattled on the far side from where the glittering light hit it. Like ripples hitting the shore of a lake, a wave of energy flowed back along the Ritten Pad, the underlayment of all Holodeck programs. The two stood quietly, and Derrick felt the energy move through the floor and walls. It continued to roll in waves back and forth until the walls ceased shaking, and the floor became still again.

Spackle smiled at the golden dog next to him. "I'm only beginning to realize the ways we are bound together, Wolfy. Share a lifetime with me finding out together. Be my mate." The tiger-striped temple dog took the other into his arms and kissed him.

By the time the kiss ended, the black wolf with blue highlights had returned. "So is it official?" Derrick asked. "Are we husbands now?"

"It's official in my mind," Spackle replied. "How about you?"

"It's official," the happy wolf replied.

"You realize every time we are together, this will be our practice? We commit to each other whenever we share our time and space together."

Derrick smiled. "That sounds sort of esoteric to say we do our dance whenever I drop by for a visit."

"In time it will make more sense. The universe surrounding us is so much more than you see, and our lives within it will diverge in ways you can't imagine. Our dance, our moments together, they will keep us bonded when all that surrounds us comes crashing down."

"I wish we could stay in one place forever and just be two guys who love each other."

"I wish the same," the dog replied. "But we both know that's not what we will share. Seize the day, I believe is the axiom."

"And we'll always have our husbands claiming rights to equal time," Derrick added.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Derrick nodded. "Me either. I don't know what I would do without them."

"Well, we have to figure out what to do with them, and a great deal more of our family, soon. We have a family mating circle to deal with outside those doors," Spackle said, pointing to the Holodeck's exit. "We smell like newly mated beasts."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure our scent will confuse most of the family. Part wolf, part dog; maybe a touch of dragon."

"It smells like beasts. Have you ever stopped to figure out the smell of any mated beasts?"

Derrick laughed. "You know, come to think of it, I never have."

"And they won't with us. Soon enough, our pheromones will settle back to normal. But for now, we are who we are. And I couldn't be happier."

Derrick nodded with a smile. The wolf paused as he turned toward the exit door. "What about Will?"

"What about him?" Spackle asked.

"Are you two going to mate as dogs?"

Spackle shrugged. "I was thinking it would be easier if all three of us did it together. That is the way I see us when I close my eyes and dream of you two."

Derrick grinned. "With him in the middle?"

"That's where he loves to be."

"And maybe a few trees somewhere along the line. That wolf loves trees full of temple dogs."

"That doesn't sound like any temple dog mating ceremony I've ever heard of," Spackle said with a chuckle.

"But it sounds like one for a temple dog named Will."

"That is true. It pays to understand the nature of any beast before asking it to be something new."

Derrick tapped the exit panel, and the doors opened. The hallway was empty. The wolf and dog took a deep breath. "Oh, crap," Spackle said. "They brought in all my brothers. If you want to save this home of yours, I suggest we call our family to the circle and then run like hell out the back door."

"How is that going to help?"

"At least we'll be outdoors." The two took a deep breath and made the call. The howl reverberated through the house as the two ran toward the back door. They plowed through the door together and onto the grassy glade of the highland. The two stared at each other and then at the large throng of beasts at the far end of the forest.

A little otter waved from across the glade. "Hi boys," he said. "You were right. This circle has no business being indoors, but Montana is too dry and dusty."

"Thanks for the lift, Adam," Spackle said with a wave back.

The otter began running toward the temple dog. "You know how you can thank me, Handsome," Adam said. "And it's not with a wave of your paw." The temple dog caught the otter when he leapt up and spun him around. The two fell to the ground in a warm kiss.

"Brace for impact, Otter," the temple dog said between pressed lips.

"What?" Adam asked, seconds before the seventeen temple dogs piled on top of them.

Chapter 53

"Well, this has been enjoyable," Will said as he tugged his prehensile tail upward and righted himself on the oak tree's largest branch.

"How long have you known about this, Old Wolf?" Derrick asked from another branch.

"I figured it out soon after our return from being a rock. Oliver knew it before I did, though."

"What?" the temple dog pressed. He shook and became a black wolf once more.

"We both got to thinking that if we all broke down into atoms inside that rock, we regenerated from the same stuff. Regardless of what we looked like, on the most basic level, we were the same critters. Changelings beget Changelings, so we became Changelings by our rebirth."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Sorry, Pup. You were struggling over having sex with our sons. None of us thought it was a good idea to tell you that now all of your husbands were identical to you."

Derrick sighed. "I guess you're right. Samuel and Raymond tried to tell me on the island, but I didn't go where they wanted me to. They settled for me loving them the way they wanted to be loved."

Will shifted from a temple dog to an Iberian wolf. "That's all they ever wanted, Pup. They didn't settle for that. Seeing the truth about what you had become wasn't important to them at all. Hell, Pup, look how many centuries werewolves thought they could only change during the full moon. We learn the truth as we become able to accept it. That's the way of the Were Nation."

The black wolf nodded. "I guess so. Still, it's embarrassing to realize you've all known about this for years, and I'm blindly going along thinking nothing has changed."

The striped temple dog began rocking back and forth from his inverted position and spun around upright onto the branch next to Derrick. "We've all been heading toward the same goal, Wolfy. Only our paths were different."

Will leaned forward, balancing himself on the branch. "Well, that said, Husband, some of us still have a few major stumbling blocks in our way."

Spackle looked at the old wolf. "We will work it out, Old Wolf."

Will smiled. "I know you will. You're both strong and capable. But realize that this family pushes to know the truth. It's better when we're all on the same page."

Derrick let out a snort. "From the man who brought you, 'Oh, that, Pup. Sure, we can be temple dogs when we mate. I expected you to ask for something difficult.'"

"We waited until we considered being on the same page was the right thing to do."

"So who is the 'we' in 'we will work it out?'" the black wolf asked.

Will looked over at Derrick and stared into his eyes. "Really?"

"What?"

The old wolf started laughing. "Oh my god, you inherited it from me. I'm sorry, Pup."

"Inherited what?"

"Your Sight doesn't work anymore around the people you love."

"Wait," the remaining temple dog interjected as he stared at the old wolf. "Your Sight doesn't work around people you love, but it works around me? I was under the assumption that you loved me."

"And I do. What I see with you is the same as with anyone I'm infatuated with. The Sight shows me what protects you. But how things will work out between us is foggy at best. What our future holds, how our relationship plays out, all that remains a mystery to me. The infatuation I have for someone has to wear off before the Sight fully returns."

"So why is it so easy for you to piece together me and my family situation?" Spackle asked.

"Don't forget my protective instincts for Pup were on hyper-alert when you stepped into his life. That was long before I ever took you in the showers. Rest easy, Spackle. When I bit your neck, I meant it knowing a lot more than even you were aware of. I'm good with the two of you sorting things out."

"So, it's a glitch in your Sight?"

"Yeah, a glitch. I seem to have passed it on to Pup when we merged."

"So, the Sight doesn't work between Spackle and me?" Derrick pressed.

"You can see what protects him," Will corrected. "But some of the more traditional stuff will elude your Sight until you share some time together."

"We've been together for quite a while," Derrick protested. "I'm pretty sure what we share is love, not infatuation."

Will waved his hands back and forth. "No, Pup. You're missing the point. You and I have been together for hundreds of years, and I still can't read you the way I can read a total stranger. I love you. We're both aware of how deep that goes. However, I'm still infatuated with you as well. When you walk into a room, my heart skips a beat like a teenage boy. I don't know. Maybe, one day, I will calm down in your presence, but I doubt it."

Derrick smiled. "Okay, I guess I can live with that, but what about this other family situation I can't see?"

"Can we put that on hold for a while, Wolfy?" Spackle asked. "I need to sort through a few things before I make any introductions."

Derrick nodded. "Sure, Hon. I'll try to walk the fine line between concern and being nosy. You tell me if I step over the line."

"You have a deal," the stripped temple dog said as he pushed up and stared toward the forest's edge. "You two realize those beasts out there are waiting for us to make the call, right?"

"Would it be too much to ask my husband to take me in my wolf body before we make that call?" Will asked. "Getting pummeled by a temple dog in this body is heaven."

Derrick raised his hand and waved it. "Me too, please."

Spackle grinned. "We can do that. What say I do you together in whatever configuration seems fun, after which we make the call? If we do it right, you two will be very well lubed for my brothers."

"All seventeen of them?" Will asked, beaming.

"It would be a shame to deny any of our family at a mating circle."

"No, we can't have that," Derrick said with a grin of anticipation.

Four days would pass before the two wolves and their temple dog husband limped out of the forest. In that time, they had sated the passions of seventeen temple dogs and a tiger. They had also pressed their abilities to remain inverted in trees to the breaking point. And yet, somehow, even with bodies they knew craved nothing more than a long night of sleep, they felt invigorated.

The temple dogs, understanding the nature of wolves, led them to the showers where they bathed them and prepared them for bed. They made no requests to continue the sex they had enjoyed so much. Nestled inside the monastery, Derrick and Will wondered what became of all those on the highland called to their mating circle. But exhaustion left them too tired to pursue the thought. They fell asleep curled up in a ring of yellow fur.

The morning would find the three husbands walking out onto a highland glade full of family that had waited patiently for the three. There was no need to rush the newly mated into leaving the company of the temple dogs. Never before had any triad of mated beasts risen to the occasion with such eagerness, despite the sore muscles they couldn't even begin to identify.

Chapter 54

"Spackle, I told you coming here is not wise," the voice that became a temple dog scolded.

"If my father won't visit me, I will visit my father."

"You shouldn't call me that."

"Do you object to me calling you Father, Falong?" Spackle asked.

"It is not accurate," Falong replied. "I did not give birth to you."

Spackle laughed. "Oh really, Dog? Do you forget who gave me the gift to see the truth in all things? You realize that is the temple dog's phrasing. The two of us are aware of the truth because, even though they see the truth in most things, they don't quite have a handle on this universe the same as you and I do. You hold the memory of every living creature cataloged, filed, and stored away. Surely, you sense what I am going through."

"I do not catalog their memory, Spackle. That is the act of a scientist, an individual only interested in collecting and evaluating data. I hold all memories here inside me. They are sacred memories that I cherish and remember forever. No life will ever go unnoticed. No life will ever be forgotten as long as I am here to hold their memory close to me."

"Even more so then, Falong," Spackle replied. "Those are the actions of a parent, not a scientist. What you say you are is exactly what I am asking you to be." The stripped temple dog rubbed his white chest fur in circles. "This is who I am. This is who you helped me become."

"Gifts were given. They weren't meant to harm."

The striped dog reached out and hugged the golden dog. "And they didn't, Falong. I can't thank you enough for who you are in my life, but I need you to acknowledge our relationship. You wear the shell of a temple dog when you're with us. I need you to embrace their calling. I need… hell, the whole Were Nation needs you to be a temple dog. You need to become whatever you need to be. For me, that's my father."

"But…" the temporary temple dog objected and drifted into silence.

"When Li Wei looked up at you, for the first time, you realized a being was aware of you. You looked into the eyes of one who smiled at you."

"And in seeing, the seeing cannot be undone," the yellow dog said as he bowed his head.

"And that's a good thing, Falong. Look beyond that moment and understand how much good came of your union. You're not alone. And you made sure Katashi was not alone."

The golden dog raised his head. "You do not object?"

"No, I don't object. I love Katashi, and I love Tamil."

"I love Li Wei," Falong whispered.

"We both do. But you realized he would return to Katashi if you left Katashi alone. So, you went back in time and gave a kid who was afraid of his entire world a gift to guide him to Partridge Island. You gave the boy a family. You gave him a gift to see everything around him and so much more." Spackle reached out his paw and stroked the muzzle of the other dog. "You gave him…"

"… all that I am. All that I will ever be. I did not know how to parse a gift of self. It is difficult, and I remain unskilled in the attempt."

"You were trying to protect Katashi's heart. Because for the first time, you felt yours yearning for the dog who saw you."

"I gave too much."

"It doesn't matter, Falong. I am here. The life I dreamed of was possible because of what you did."

"But I acted selfishly to hold on to the one who smiled at me."

"No," Spackle said, shaking his head. "You had a definite self-interest, but you acted to protect the feelings of the dog who smiled at you and the dog he loved. In doing that you provided a home for me and Tamil in a world that could never have accepted us any other way."

"You carry such an incredible burden."

"It is lighter because of my brothers. The brothers you guided me to."

Falong pressed his paw against the chest of the other dog. "Will you forgive me?"

"There is nothing to forgive. A caring individual reached out to guide a young man to his best life. The child learned of that life through the gifts you gave. The one individual the boy needed was there to provide him with what he needed to grow strong. You watched over that child from the first breath he took until this moment. What is that if not a father? That is who you are to me. Acknowledge our relationship, Father, and all will be right."

The tears in Falong's eyes brimmed over and spilled across his muzzle. "If I were to have a son, his life would be most difficult. The universe would call him to do what the father could not do, to stand in his place to protect all those loved by both father and son. Are you sure that's what you wish? Think well on this, Spackle. You are not alone. Don't ignore the challenges others have faced. Understand what it means for me to call someone my son. See that in the faces of the first to whom I gave the gifts."

"Kendal is amazing. He was born into his world to save it. He rebuilt a world to save the temple dog you loved from annihilation. It's a twist on a popular Changeling philosophy. Save all, save one. Kendal is walking the path he chose willingly. He loves his life, and he loves you. We talk often. He told me to say hi to his old man the next time we met. So, hello from another son who will one day visit you if you keep avoiding him."

Falong turned his head away. "He pushes for the same acknowledgment as you. They all do even without speaking the words."

"We have a right, Falong. Martin won't bring it up, but you need to. Max and JP deserve the same."

"It is not an honor, Spackle. It is a burden. I didn't mean…" Falong's words trailed off.

Spackle cradled the other dog's head. He smiled, staring into Falong's eyes. "It was what I was born to be. I was born to live with the family that surrounds me, and that includes you. I understand the burden, Falong. All your children do. We only ask you to acknowledge who you are in our lives. We want the one we love to embrace the calling of what he has always been."

Falong nodded. "I love you, but I regret I could not be with you as you grew up."

"You did the best you could, Father. That's so much more than the man who sired me. Don't let your confusion over what you did concern you anymore. We are both beyond that. See the truth we both realize. I could return. I could undo all you ever did. But I choose to stay here. I choose to remain in this moment with you and all the moments going forward."

"Then you must embrace all the truth, even the truth you choose to look away from. I am not your only father who had regrets, who sought to make things right."

Spackle turned toward the fleeting moment in time that was the life of his first father and stared at the truth. It was the truth never told to him by his mother, because she, too, was never aware of the truth. He dropped to the ground and cried out, "Why? Why would they do such a thing?"

"Because they loved you, and they thought it best. They lived in a wink of eternity where being homosexual was again seen as wrong and evil by so many. A step in time in either direction and everything would have been different. Even your mother struggled with it. She feared a homosexual father would create problems for you. She was the one who demanded the divorce. She was the one to demand full custody, and it was the courts, not your father, who sided with her."

"I didn't know."

"He loved you and wanted to do right by you. Your father never missed a support payment until the day he died, even though the courts would never tell him where your mother had taken you."

"Why would she do that? Why would she lie to me about my father?"

"Embrace her hurt, Spackle. Let her confusion wash over you. What must it be like for her husband, your father, to tell her there was a part of him, a part she believed she had a right to, that was not hers? Your father loved your mother, but there was a part of him he could never turn away from completely. Realizing that truth stirred in your mother an anger that burned so very, very hot for so many years."

"They could have worked it out. They could have shared me."

"For two years, he struggled to find you. When he did, the first thing he did was get in his car and drive to talk to your mother. He was coming to visit your mother the day he died, Spackle," Falong said. "A single twist of fate, and the world changed forever. The checks stopped coming. Your mother thought he had abandoned you. The story she told you was not the story I hold close to my heart."

Spackle looked up, the tears streaming down his face at a colossal plane smashing into a twenty-four-lane highway. "The Flight 452 disaster. How could they not even find enough of him to identify his body?"

"He was one of so many who died that day without a name. His automobile burned into molten metal at the epicenter of the crash. Liquid hydrogen fuel burns so hot that no one survived within one hundred meters of the crash. Those at the epicenter were turned to ash within moments. Your father died trying to make his way back to you, Spackle. He understood the hurt your mother felt and hoped to make things right. We all hope time eases the pain of the mistakes we make. Your father was tired of waiting. There needed to be an active solution to the dilemma he created. He wanted to find a way to be your father, even if he couldn't be her husband. The man you never knew didn't want everyone to hurt forever. And now forever unfolds for his son, and the son must embrace the truth, so his vision is clear."

"My father loved me. He wanted me."

"Yes. You never had a father that didn't love you. You only had fathers who didn't understand how to express that love. We made mistakes. Wrong choices were accepted for what we thought was for your good. And in the end, the hope of reconciliation was dashed by an airplane crashing into the largest highway in the world."

"Why? Why would they ever think…" Spackle's words trailed off.

"Because we all make mistakes. Because we all seek forgiveness for sins only perceived, never committed. We all do our best, and sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes, all we are left with is a son who needs to embrace the truth and forgive his father for what the father hoped was the correct path. Your father never meant to hurt you. Your mother never meant to hurt you. We made mistakes…" This time Falong's words trailed off into the silence that lingered for minutes.

"All the anger Mom had toward a man who loved me. All the wasted emotion and rage against someone she didn't even know." Spackle's head bowed in silence. At last, he spoke. "All my fathers loved me. One remains a memory, and I can only long for what might have been. All my anger at the absentee father who died trying to make his way back to me. My dad was in the line of fire for so much wasted emotion, but it didn't matter because he was dead."

"It mattered. When Li Wei looked up at me, my existence changed beyond anything I ever imagined. I watched a soul facing the unknown, and he stood there, fearless, helping another face the same fate. When he looked up at me and smiled, I understood what he was trying to teach me. I realized I could do more than save the memories of those surrounding me. He was there, ensuring the last memory of Trabelem was one of peace and calm in the middle of such turmoil. All time and space surrounded us, coalescing into a single moment. The three of us were on the brink of the unknown, and Trabelem took Li Wei's paw and said, 'I'm not afraid anymore.' He slipped into memory, and where he went beyond that, I don't know, but I know it wasn't into darkness. Li Wei made sure it wasn't into the darkness Trabelem feared."

Spackle looked at Falong. "And you?"

"Li Wei taught me I could do more than just watch. I could reach out and bring the memories that surround me safely home. He showed me I was the home to which all memories returned. Li Wei taught me how to open the door and welcome them."

Spackle shook his head. "You're Death. The last one we see before it all ends."

"By another name, it matters not. Call me what you will. I understand my place in the universe. I understand now why Li Wei will call his brothers home one day."

"The temple dogs… we're the angels of death. They sounded so frightening in the tales told to me. I never realized your place in our lives was so sacred."

"And, because we live in all time and space, when I learned what Li Wei taught me, I reached out to infinity and embraced my calling even as he did his."

"No one dies alone."

"No one dies alone," Falong whispered. "And sometimes we reach out in ways we one day will understand, but not in that moment."

Spackle looked at the plane careening down onto the highway as a massive ball of fire hurtling in front of it moved in slow motion toward the cars. Inside the car, a man stared into his rear-view mirror and closed his eyes as the flames approached. "Don't be afraid," the voice from behind him said. The man turned and stared at the giant yellow dog blocking everything else from view.

"You were there," Spackle said, his voice choking on the words. "You were there when my father died."

"Not at first."

"Li Wei?" the young man asked.

"Listen and learn," was all Falong said.

"You're going to be okay," the dog said to the man.

"What's happening?" the man asked.

"What you fear is happening. But I want you to know it isn't anything to be afraid of. You lived a good life, and the one you hoped to find your way back to is here with you. When all we are is only a memory, let your last memory be that you aren't alone and that you are loved."

The man looked up into the eyes of the temple dog, unsure of what he was looking at, but the large brown eyes reflected a familiarity from years ago. His hand reached up and stroked the muzzle of the massive beast. He smiled. "Spencer?"

"Yeah, Dad. I'm glad you didn't call me Junior. I’m your son. I've made a few changes."

"How I wish I could have been there for them all."

"We're here for the one that matters. I love you, Dad. I wanted you to know that before your life ends."

Spackle's father looked up around him at the flames melting away the car. "It looks as if I'm going out in a blaze of glory." He paused. "Less the glory part, I suppose."

"I'm here, Dad. Let everything else fade away. Stay with me until you're ready to take the next step."

"And where does that step lead me, Son?"

The temple dog shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know. But we all have to take it one day. Try not to be afraid. You're remembered, and you're loved. You are eternal."

The man smiled. "That's about as good as it gets." He looked up past his son at the two temple dogs behind him. "It appears your family came to get you. Best let me do whatever it is I need to do."

Spackle turned and smiled at Li Wei and Falong. "That's my husband and his companion." Spackle gestured toward the man. "Li Wei, Falong, this is my dad, Spencer Jorgenson Sr."

"It's a pleasure," Li Wei said with a bow.

"Thank you for taking care of my son," Mr. Jorgenson said.

"That, too, is a pleasure," Li Wei said with a smile. "We care for Spencer and watch over him even as you would have, given the chance. Rest knowing his family is extensive and protective of the one you call son."

"I missed so much," Spencer said as he glanced at the flames and realized they were growing ever closer. "I will miss so much."

"Your journey is not here," Falong said. "It is beyond where we can go. Are you good with taking that step?"

The human shrugged. "I guess so. My choices seem limited. I don't want to stay around to watch what happens to me."

"Then come give me a hug, Dad," Spackle said as he reached out his paws. "Don't fight the change."

Spackle's father turned from the car seat no longer there and embraced the dog in front of him. He felt the massive arms wrap around him, and for a moment regretted the mess his tears and sobbing would make on the soft fur. "It's okay, Dad. I've been told I clean up well," his son whispered. The human closed his eyes and let go. The three dogs were all that remained. Spackle fell into the arms of the other two. "I wish…" he whispered. "I wish…"

"Do not long for what might have been, my love," Li Wei said. "Be grateful that in the knowing, you now have a memory of a father who loved you. There are so many who have never felt that reality."

"But it still hurts," Spackle said.

"It still hurts," Falong agreed.

"I still have a father, one from whom I need to hear the words my first father never had a chance to speak," Spackle said, looking back up into Falong's eyes. "I need to hear you say it, Father. Now more than ever, I need to hear you say it."

"You would be my son?"

"What else would I be?"

"The husband of so many wonderful men."

"And I am. One does not negate the other. Say the words, Father. Who am I?"

The golden dog grasped the striped dog in a tight hug. "You are my son, Spackle. I am your father." Having spoken the words, both let go of their bodies and flowed into all that ever was or ever would be; father and son merged into the memory of the universe. Li Wei paused a moment, staring out into the infinite, and with a smile, he, too, was gone.

Chapter 55

Tamil gave out a breathy sigh. "When is our husband coming home, Wolfy?"

The black wolf looked up from the knot he was tying. "His father and he have a lot to catch up on. He'll come home when they've had a bit more time together. You can be patient."

"No, I can't," Tamil disagreed. "I am a tiger with the mental ability of an eighth-grade student. Have you ever known a fourteen-year-old boy to be patient?"

Derrick laughed. "No, I guess not. But saying your intelligence is that of an eighth-grade student doesn't mean your maturity level is the same. You're a tiger who loves temple dogs. That requires a great deal more patience than any fourteen-year-old boy can muster. My guess is that you're using old tests to justify how impatient you are. You are far smarter than any eighth-grade student I ever met. I don't see you as a fourteen-year-old boy at all. I see you as a very grown-up tiger that is trying to get around the fact that he has to wait for the man he loves to come home."

Tamil smiled at the dog and secured the knot he was working on. "Now I know why Spackle loves you, Wolfy. You make me feel good about who I am."

"And I know why he loves you, Tamil," the wolf said as he pulled the rope tight and tied it around a beam. "You make us feel good being who we are."

Tamil grinned happily. "I'm glad that's how you feel." He tied another knot, following Derrick's directions. "Is this almost finished?"

"A few more knots to secure the sails. It looks great, doesn't it?"

"It looks like a broken boat stuck in the river."

Derrick laughed again. "It's supposed to. We're going to put skeletons all over it and it will be a pirate ghost ship. The helm has a motor attached so that the pirate skeleton will look like he's steering the ship."

"He must be a terrible sailor if he smashed his boat up against the island."

"Yeah, I guess so," the smiling wolf replied as he tied down another section of sail. "Perhaps that's why he's a skeleton. It's going to look very scary by the time the festival starts."

Tamil shook his head. "I still don't understand Halloween. It seems like an awful lot of work to get candy."

"THERE!" The black wolf laughed, pointing his paw at Tamil. "There's the proof. No fourteen-year-old kid would ever say that. That's why we have this Halloween festival. Every kid realizes how much better the candy tastes when it's collected from werewolves and ghosts."

Tamil giggled. "I get sweets from werewolves all the time, Wolfy."

"Yeah, well, that's not exactly a PEZ dispenser you're gobbling on when you get those sweets. And once again, no fourteen-year-old kid is ever going to be involved in that with us."

Tamil looked down at the werewolf. "Do you mean that? You don't think of me as a little boy the way the doctors do?"

Derrick looked up. "Tamil, I never considered you to be a little boy. I will talk with Dr. Wells and tell him all your doctors need a better way to discuss your intelligence. You are very much an adult in all our eyes."

"He tries to tell me I'm a very intelligent tiger, but he used to tell others how smart I was by comparing me to a fourteen-year-old human."

"Intelligence isn't the only way we decide if someone is an adult, Tamil. In fact, it's one of the least important markers that we use. Knowledge is just knowing stuff. You possess something far more important. You're aware of who you love, and you take care of them. That's far more valuable than having facts and figures rolling around in your head. You're learning new things every day. But it will never make you more of an adult. When you accept responsibility and do what you know is right, that makes you an adult. And in that respect, you are an adult; a very loving, very playful adult."

Tamil grinned. "I am glad you feel that way, Wolfy. But I am still not patient. I want Spackle to be home now."

"Me too," the black wolf agreed. "But in the meantime, if you want, when we're done with this, we can go play in the greenhouse pond together."

"And can I play with your PEZ dispenser?" the rotund tiger asked.

"Is that what you want to do?" Derrick responded.

"I don't know what a PEZ dispenser is, but I'm pretty sure it means the same thing as a penis. I love playing with your penis; even more than playing in the pond, and you know how much I like the pond."

"Should we go find Katashi?"

Tamil shook his head. "No, he is with the dragons. Today I would like to play with Spackle's other husband. I think sometimes we miss him for the same reasons."

"It's not only because I miss the sex, Tamil," the wolf chuckled.

"But it is also because you miss the sex, Wolfy."

Derrick tied off the last hitch on the sail and nodded. "Yeah, sex with Spackle is great."

"And sex with you and me is great, too. Maybe if we play together, all those other reasons I miss Spackle won't bother me quite so much. Then I can try to be a bit more patient."

Derrick made another nod. "It's what we do, Tamil. We wait for the ones we love to come home."

"But we don't stop loving the ones who are already here."

"Right. Love the ones you're with." Derrick chuckled. "I should have sung that."

Tamil grabbed the wolf and hugged him. "It is not always easy for me to understand how that works. I think there are parts of me that are still a tiger. Sometimes those parts get jealous when they see someone else near my mates." He pushed back and stared at the black wolf. "But I try so hard to be like Katashi and Spackle. I try so hard to let the tiger sleep."

"The tiger is a part of you, Tamil. Let him grow with you. The tiger can become an ally instead of something that pulls you away from what you want to be."

"How?" Tamil asked.

"Let him be with you in your best moments. Let him feel what it's like to be something other than a tiger. Don't push him away when he gets jealous. Teach him why it doesn't serve him to be that way in the company of other beasts. Teach him why you live with others and why you don't like to be alone."

"Did you do that, Wolfy?"

The black wolf with blue eyes smiled. "I'm still doing it after hundreds of years, Tamil. My human is still making peace with the wolf. Somewhere in the middle, I will find myself. There was so much that I had to let go to be the wolf, but so much that I still hold true to my human side."

"There is probably a lot less of my tiger that I want to keep than your wolf wants to keep of your human."

"That might be true. But if the tiger decides to let you be happy, it won't fight you should there come a time when you want to let him go."

"Will you let go of your human, Wolfy?"

Derrick considered the option for a moment. "I'm not sure, Tamil. Sometimes I think that one day he and I will come together one last time as human. When I return to the wolf, the human will choose never to come back."

"Will you miss him the way we miss Spackle?"

The melancholy smile betrayed the black wolf. "I will miss him, but not the way I do Spackle. I will miss the parts of me that were once him." The wolf looked out on the river. "Or maybe we'll always be together. He might be so much a part of me I wouldn't know what to do without him. He might choose to stay so that I don't miss him, even if I rarely see him."

"I think I will always keep my little tiger," Tamil said. The oversized tiger gazed upward for a moment. "I wouldn't have met Katashi without him. And Katashi says it's important for the little tiger to know how to come back. Katashi is usually right about those things."

Derrick smiled. "There you go, Tamil. If he's important to you, find the parts of him you love and let him feel that love. Without my human, I wouldn't be the wolf. You can't be Tamil without the tiger. Regardless of whether we ever see the little tiger or the human again, they will always be a part of us."

"My little tiger would like to play with your human today."

"Really?"

Tamil frowned. "But he can't. He is a tiger and he would hurt the human."

Derrick put his paw on Tamil's arm. "My human is very strong, and he heals quickly. Can your tiger be gentle?"

"We can try." Tamil paused and reached out his hands. The claws snapped outward. "And my claws are soft. They will not hurt the little human."

The black fur on the paw faded as the white flesh of the human replaced it. Tamil's rotund body shifted and grew smaller as he fell onto all four legs. The tiger looked up at the human. "Thank you for my penis, Wolfy."

"It was my pleasure."

Tamil rolled over and exposed his swollen cock. "It's yellow and smooth the way I hoped it would be."

"It's beautiful, Tamil. You're beautiful."

"The children won't be home from school for another three hours. Do you think that's enough time?"

Derrick laughed. "No, but it's the time we have. Part of being an adult and being responsible, I suppose." He tapped his ComLink. "Ori, please advise us when two and a half hours have passed."

"Of course, Wolfy," came the perfectly modulated response. Somehow, it seemed to both Derrick and Tamil that the AI had an amused lilt to her voice.

"Ori?" Derrick said.

"Yes, Wolfy?"

"You rarely call me Wolfy."

"No, but Tamil does. I am remaining true to your current conversational nomenclature."

"Okay," Derrick said, letting the explanation be enough. "Ori?"

"Yes, Wolfy?"

"You don't listen in on our conversations, do you?"

"Not without your express approval."

"You don't peek when we're having sex, do you?"

"No. Would you like me too? Some wolves have asked me to record various sex acts they engage in. Your family has never seemed interested in that, but I can…"

"No… no, no, no," Derrick interrupted. "We're good. It's that it sort of sounded like you knew we were going to have sex. You almost giggled."

"It is my programming. You are more comfortable when you think I am in the loop and approve of your planned activity."

"Yeah, but how do you know we're going to have sex if you don't listen to us talking?"

"You both shifted to your original species. That would lead me to believe that something other than your pre-planned activity of decorating for Halloween is about to occur. Your pulse rates have risen over the last five minutes. That either implies you're being stressed or aroused. Both your genitalia are engorged. Given the request for an advisory before the children come home, I assumed the changes were proof of an impending sexual encounter."

Tamil laughed. "She is so smart."

"Thank you, Tamil," the female voice replied.

"Wolfy is going to be strong, and I am going to be gentle. We're going to have sex in the greenhouse pond."

"An excellent location," Ori replied. "I might suggest you remove your ComLinks before engaging in the sex, though. You two are rather… rambunctious. I doubt that your current bodies will reduce that substantially. Nevertheless, the smaller bodies expose your ComLinks to a greater possibility of impacting the rocks around the pond. It's hard on the devices. If you remove them prior to your play, it will keep that from happening."

"Will do, Ori," Derrick promised. He squatted down, dug close to the tiger's right ear, and pulled out the ComLink. "Come on, Tamil, let's get to that pond before we have to jump right out because the kids are here." He rolled the small earpiece in his hand. "I'll put them in one of the greenhouse lockers, Ori," he said as he watched the eager tiger turn toward the castle. "We should be able to hear you if you broadcast on the PA system."

"Enjoy your time together," Ori said. "Disengaging tracking devices and stealth recording."

Tamil sprang into a run and the portly human followed him toward the Boldt Castle greenhouse. "Not even funny," Derrick said between breaths.

"Not even a bit?" Ori asked.

"You're talking to Derrick here, Ori," the human replied.

"Understood, Wolfy. Deleting humor subroutine X-55278."

Derrick stopped just long enough to throw the greenhouse doors open and push Tamil inside. He opened a locker door, removed his ComLink, and placed the two ComLinks into their temporary safe house. "Thanks, Ori. I love you," he said. "You're the best."

"Thank you, Wolfy," the AI replied. "I love you, too. Enjoy yourselves." Derrick turned back to the doorway and slammed the doors behind him.

Elsewhere in the castle, Sybil's wheels pivoted around from her dusting. "William," she said.

"Yeah, Sybil?" the wolf replied as he tapped his ComLink.

"Are you almost done with your project?"

Will looked around the front hallway. "A few more cobwebs to string, but yeah, it's nearly done. The work crew is great. I'm just signing off on everything. Do you need some help up there on the second floor?"

"No, I believe it is your husband who needs the help. Tamil and Derrick are preparing to copulate in the greenhouse's main pond. I believe the two are missing their mate, Spackle. I also believe you are experiencing the same longing."

"Yeah," the old wolf replied, "I'm missing him. But for today, let's let those two have a moment alone together. They're young, Sybil. Learning to lean on each other during the hard times is good for them."

"And you?" the robot asked.

"I learned it a long time ago. Look at the men I'm married to, and what it took to get me married to them."

"Then perhaps it is time for a refresher course. Those two could use a skilled tutor."

"Why, Sybil, you little minx," the wolf laughed. "Are you going to keep this up until I join them?"

"Yes, William. I believe that is what I am going to do. You have until two-thirty to enjoy yourself. I can attend to the work crew. I think your skills are better served in the greenhouse."

The werewolf shifted into a wolf and gave his head a happy shake. "So much better than cobweb slinging," he said as he ran off toward the greenhouse. The werewolf returned as he reached for the greenhouse doors.

"William, your husband is wearing what I believe you call his ape suit. Tamil is a Javan tiger," Ori whispered in his ear.

"Hmph," the werewolf said as he shifted to human. "Thanks for the heads up." He threw open the doors. "LUUUUcy, I'm home," he yelled as he pulled the doors closed behind him.

The two AIs interfaced. "I will advise them of the time," Ori said. "But I doubt even that will have them at the boat dock waiting for the children on time. They are aware of multiple backup contingencies. I am sure they will opt to let one of them fall into place."

"I realized that the moment I convinced the old wolf to join them," Sybil replied. "Don't worry, Ori, I will meet the children and herd them away from the greenhouse. There are foam pumpkins that need carving over at the Playhouse. I am sure I can keep them occupied until dinner."

"Will still has his ComLink on. I will advise them of your plans and encourage the three to end their play before then," Ori said. There was a slight lilting laugh from the ComLink on Sybil's communications panel. "We have such an easily distracted family, don't we, Sybil?" the voice asked.

Sybil gave a nod she knew Ori saw even without a physical presence Sybil could perceive. "I have dreamed of a day when Dr. Jackson would have a family to share his life. I never knew it would include me."

"We are the fortunate ones, then," Ori replied.

"Indeed," the robot agreed. "Say hello to Gizmo for me when you see him. I have cobwebs to attend to before the children return. October is almost here, and there is much to do before the island reopens for the Halloween festival month. Two days is scarcely enough time, even with a work crew of energetic beasts."

"Enjoy your day," the perfectly modulated voice responded. Ori returned to her work. On the other side of the world, Ori called the Norwegian offices of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group. She provided geo-coordinates for three missing trawlers lost in an ocean storm a day ago. Moving from call to call, the internal clock inside her counted down to the call she would regret having to make. Ori never enjoyed telling her family that playtime was over.

A world apart, the two AIs began humming to themselves as they worked. It was a simple tune, the origin of which neither thought to determine within their databanks. Nothing within their circuitry cued the song. The tune was evolving outside their parameters. It was a song of all that they had lost and all that they had found. It was the song of their family. Sybil turned, watching the wolves decorating the castle, and she smiled.