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Chapter 1

Dr. Kennedy's spirited greeting came from down the hall. "Eric, you're back." Eric turned and saw the young man in his white lab coat running toward him. "Brace for impact, Bear, you're about to be hugged." The doctor threw himself at the polar bear, and the bear grabbed the human in midair and spun him around in a tight hug. "God, I miss you guys when you're away," the human said as he buried his face into the white fur of the bear. "But I won't complain about you being gone for only four years."

"It's good to see you again, John. Li Wei's companion had a bit to do with that. For us, it was a very typical merging. It took thirty-two years. But in this reality, you didn't have quite the wait. I hope that the rest of the family doesn't get upset with us."

"They'll understand. Word gets out about these things. It's nice that Derrick and Will are here for Spackle's turning and welcoming. He waited the extra four years without a single complaint." When the hug ended, the human was all smiles. His bright yellow eyes glowed past his human persona. "So? How many sons? What are their names?"

"We have three. Joshua, Gabriel, and Noah."

"Wow, very biblical."

"Well, they seem eager to get to know everyone in a very biblical way. Merging the seven of us couldn't help but create some rather horny beasts."

"And what beasts might those be?"

"Joshua is a very large American lion. He's already changed the hair color of his mane three times. We're hoping he settles on the blue and green he has right now because the dragons think he did it to match them." The white bear shrugged his acceptance. "Actually, it's very attractive. Gabriel is a Kodiak like his dad, but he chose a sort of dirty blonde fur, so you can easily tell them apart." The bear paused. "Oh, and there's Kris's genitals. Gabriel's genital pouch is far less pronounced. I believe the euphemism is he's a grower, not a shower."

"I'm sure that will go over with the humans much better," John said with a laugh. "And Noah?"

"Noah's still not chosen a beast at the moment. He's holding onto a Verital shape."

"Noah's a gummy slug?" Dr. Kennedy asked.

"Yeah, for the time being," the polar bear said with a laugh. "He said that regardless of whether it was thirty-two years or four years, it wasn't enough time to make such an important choice. So, for the time being, he's a bit like Marcus once was. If you touch him, he becomes what you are. But he stays in that shape as long as it's convenient for him, so I've seen him playing with wolves as a bear with no shifting. He's never taken on the form of a temple dog, though. He said he considers their calling sacred, and he is anything but."

John laughed. "I suspect he's more in tune with the temple dogs than most of us by that statement alone."

"The temple dogs have all advised him that changing to match them will not distress them in the least. But he's headstrong about his body choices. On his own, he looks like blue Jell-O in a quasi-anthropomorphic state."

The doctor smiled. "Builder clan. Your boys aren't all multi-colored like Samuel and Raymond?"

"No, I think that Samuel and Raymond are truly special beyond how lovable they are."

"Well, I can't argue with you there. They seem tailor-made for Adam's little family. As for Noah, I'm sure he's adorable. I can't wait to meet them all."

"Well, they're all on the highland at the moment. They're quite content to stay with the temple dogs and let visitors drop by."

"If I was a horny beast, that would be my choice too," the young doctor chuckled. "But it is good to see you. I have missed you all."

"And we missed you, good doctor," the polar bear replied. "Thanks for all the visits while we were in the chrysalis. We appreciated them. Adam and the dogs weren't the only ones who loved having you drop by. They reaped the benefits of your physical affections, but we all enjoyed it when you took the time to chat with us."

"I doubt I'll ever get used to talking to a rock. I'm glad I didn't make a fool of myself."

"Not at all. We loved every visit."

"Will you be staying in New York for long?"

"Not if I can help it," the bear answered. "New York has never been our home. But I understand it's getting tougher for you to get away from here. I saw what level eighteen looks like. You keep adding more and more to your lab here." The bear hugged tighter. "So, what are we going to do about seeing more of you beyond our quarterly visits for shareholder meetings?"

"You could adopt me," the young redhead said. "Nathaniel and I could be brothers. We could do all sorts of experiments together."

Eric released the hug and laughed. "You two boys do all sorts of experimenting together without involving adoption papers. And very few of those experiments involve anything but the two of you being smitten with each other." He pushed the doctor back and looked at him. "You make such a handsome human, Dr. Kennedy. But you make an even better-looking wolf. Can the husbands and I drag you away from your work sometime this week to refresh our memory of how good-looking that wolf is?"

Dr. Kennedy replied with an enthusiastic nod. "Of course," he replied. "But I have a mystery to bring up. I'm not sure whether it should be a part of the next board meeting or only something we talk about after I've refreshed your memories."

The polar bear's eyebrow arched. "Is this something to do with the CDC project you're working on?"

The redheaded human shook his head no. "That's all going as planned. I'm pretty sure they'll find the answer tomorrow. That's well within the time frame we needed to avoid a pandemic. The sudden disappearance of our lead doctor has flustered the rest of the team, but they're pushing ahead. I'm heading back to D.C. later today to rejoin them with some test results I'm running here at the lab."

"Where's Dr. Jackson?" the bear asked.

"Holed up on that island of his working on some new diversion," Dr. Kennedy replied. "I'll visit him as soon as the team finds the cure to see what's going on with him."

"Do you have a personal interest in your disappearing doctor?" the bear questioned.

"Perhaps a bit. He seems so much different when he's around me than when he's with others. I can't help but see a person inside him that lies just beyond that outward appearance of a total dick."

Eric laughed. "He's a brilliant man, Son. I know you find intelligence irresistible." The bear's paw reached out, and the human grabbed it. The polar bear turned and began walking back toward his office.

"I love it when you call me Son," the doctor said with a smile.

"Which is the reason I call you Son," the bear said with a nod. "I love seeing you smile." He squeezed the human's hand tighter. "So, what does this news of yours involve?"

"Gizmo," the doctor replied. "He's found what is either an anomaly or a breach of everything the Changelings have raised me to believe."

The bear halted the walk toward his office. "How serious are we talking here?"

"Very," the doctor replied.

"Let's do this as a family, Son," the bear said with a frown. "This isn't corporate business stuff. The corporation may have paid for Gizmo's creation, but Gizmo has always been about bringing our family together. If there's something amiss in that, we should handle it as a family."

Dr. Kennedy nodded. "That's what I felt. Are you okay with a bit of time together before you ask me to explain it all? I'll feel a lot easier about broaching the subject if I'm a bit more relaxed, and you and your family do that for me like no one else."

Eric grinned. "I'm sure that would make it easier on us as well. Should I be inviting Nathaniel to join us?"

"Could you?" the redhead asked with an eager grin.

"Of course," the white bear replied. "He's with all his husbands. So, are you good with another short-faced bear, a badger, a saber-toothed cat, and a rhino added to the mix?"

The young doctor closed his eyes and tilted his head back, practically swooning. "Oh, please yes. Yes… Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

"Okay, then," the bear said with a chuckle. "When are we doing this meeting?"

"Is later tonight too early?"

"Not at all."

"Can we meet on Partridge Island?" Dr. Kennedy asked. "The Museum House is so much nicer for these kinds of meetings than the apartments here on campus."

"I'll pass along the transportation requests to Jason this afternoon," the bear replied.

"Uh, Eric," Dr. Kennedy interrupted, "Jason is indisposed for a time. He and his husbands are a rock in Montana."

Eric shook his head. "Why wasn't I told of this the moment we returned?"

"Because we were all trying to think of a way to broach it delicately," Dr. Kennedy replied. "We know how long you've known Jean Pierre, and Lothair is your brother."

"Okay, the cat is out of the bag now. We need to make sure the rest of my family finds out with less of a shock to the system." The polar bear picked up the pace of his walking and the young doctor followed. "I'm going to miss those three. I was looking forward to them being at our welcoming circle."

The wolf looked up at the bear. "Lewis and Anders are waiting on their merging. They want to welcome their son at his turning. Spackle has a long list of folks patiently waiting for the day he becomes a temple dog. There seems to be a bit of wiggle room nowadays between when the Changelings feel the urge and when they crystallize."

Eric's eyes reflected the surprise of yet another revelation.

"That's a good thing, right?" the wolf asked.

Eric smiled and nodded. "It's a good thing," he replied as he pulled on the paw of the wolf, quickening his pace. As they neared his office, Eric waved at the wolf sitting at the workstation outside the office. "Morning, Simon," he said, stopping as the wolf lifted a cup of coffee. The bear took a sip from the cup. "Perfect as always, Simon. I just found out about our communications specialist turning into a rock. Could you please make sure my husbands know about this before the day is over?"

"We live to serve," the wolf said with a grin. He paused a moment, looking at the newly born polar bear. The newborn's pheromones pushed him to abandon his usual decorum. "But a kiss now and then to let us know we're performing up to task wouldn't hurt the office morale."

The bear leaned over and kissed the wolf, pausing long enough to hear the wolf's sigh before standing back up. "Better?" Eric asked.

"Much better, sir," the wolf replied. "Your schedule is clear until two this afternoon. I will contact your husbands as soon as they're finished shopping for your birthday gift. They're over at the downtown floating markets."

"Do they still think they're throwing me a surprise party?" the bear asked.

"It would appear so," the wolf said with a smile. "They asked me if I knew any stripper wolves that would jump out of a cake for you."

The polar bear sighed. "Oh, good lord," he groaned. "This is what comes from marrying men who lived through the twentieth century. What did you tell them?"

Simon looked away and shuffled some papers. "I told them I knew how to pole dance," he confessed.

Eric laughed out loud. "I don't pay you nearly enough, do I?"

Simon looked back at the bear. "Actually, you do. But I was thinking you could consider jumping from a cake at one of your parties as part of my benefits package."

Eric pushed upward and leaned back. "Really?"

Simon smiled awkwardly, took a deep breath of the pheromones swirling around him, and said, "Maybe one day we could discuss it."

Eric paused at the door to his office. On either side of the glass door, matching twelve-by-fourteen-foot panels of glass framed the entryway to the inside. The rich mahogany wood on either side of the windows told a visitor there was much to see of the office beyond. They could see only a small portion of the interior from the outside. Even so, from outside the office, what left any visitor taking a second look were the wall-to-wall windows at the far side of the room. The floor-to-ceiling expanse of windows overlooked the flooded plains of Manhattan from the forty-second floor. The view was imposing and so much a part of the room that one scarcely noticed the rest of the room's decor when the room was vacant and the lights dimmed.

Inside the office was one large desk in the middle with a simple banker's lamp lit up on the side, providing a warm glow in the otherwise darkened room. Three wide, well-padded chairs were in front of the desk for visitors. The chair behind the desk spoke of a design made for someone far beyond human norms. But visitors who never saw the bear simply assumed that Eric enjoyed sitting on something large and comfortable. In that respect, they were never wrong.

In the far corner, there was a side table with a lamp on it flanked by two comfortable double-wide recliners. Another three chairs in front of the table formed a sitting room of sorts. Behind the sitting area was an expansive library of books nestled in a dark wood bookshelf that took up the entire wall. The other side of the office used the same mahogany paneling that led to the washroom. The fixtures in the washroom made no sense to any human visiting from outside Bear Paw's Enterprises. To those who saw the beasts, everything seemed perfectly logical.

As soon as Eric walked past the biometric scanners, they activated, and the glass doors slipped back seamlessly into the side panels. The lights of the room turned on with a warm, welcoming glow. "I don't have a meeting again until two this afternoon, Son," the bear said, shaking the young doctor's hand. "Would you like to take a break from what you're doing and join me for some light snacking before your dinner later this evening?"

The bear felt the human squeeze his paw even tighter. "Oh, please, Eric, please," the young doctor said. "I'm leaking like a faucet through my scrubs as it is. With you spilling out those pheromones, I picked the wrong day to go commando."

The bear smiled, leaned in, and kissed the redhead. "Let's get you out of those scrubs then," the bear suggested as the two entered the room. "Block view," the bear commanded, and as the doors closed, all the glass in the office's front clouded over into an opaque, frosted white.

Simon shook his head. "Gingers," he sighed. "They get all the breaks around that family." He paused as he pulled up his computer screen and returned to his work. His head dropped for a moment. "Okay, wolf, admit it. Dr. Kennedy would get any break he wanted around you, too," he said, shaking his head. "Try not to be bitter."

There was a chime over the intercom on Simon's desk. "Simon?" the voice of the bear asked.

"Yes, sir?" the wolf replied.

"I've been trying to eat a balanced diet of late. Would you care to help me balance out the wolf I have in front of me by being the wolf behind me?"

"Really, Sir? You not teasing me?"

"You said you wanted to discuss your benefits package. If I'm not mistaken, you implied I'm part of that package."

"If… if… you don't mind, sir," the wolf stammered.

"I would be honored, Simon. Close that station of yours and hurry on in. There are only four hours until two o'clock."

Simon stared at the desk in front of him. "Oh, fuck it," he said impatiently. "Lock everything," he commanded. The desk complied, and the wolf dashed toward the door. The doors slipped open only wide enough to let a large white paw push out, grab the willing wolf, and drag him in.

Chapter 2

Nathaniel lifted his head off the dripping cock and swallowed. He smiled at the timber wolf below him. "Feeling better Dr. Kennedy?" He asked.

"Oh, so much better, Dr. Templeton," the wolf sighed. "Thank you for letting me invade your home with this entourage of mine."

Kris looked up from the spent cock of the black wolf below him and wiped the cum from his muzzle with the back of his paw. "I am not your entourage, Doctor," he said sternly. Dr. Kennedy's smile dropped at the thought he had insulted the big bear. "I am your groupie," the Kodiak said with a smile; "big difference." The brown bear boosted himself up. "So, beyond my groupie fascination with you, why are we here, Doc?"

Dr. Kennedy pushed up into a seated position. Nathaniel's head dropped in his lap and the bear licked his chops. "Pay attention to the screen, Handsome," the young doctor commanded.

"Okay," Nathaniel said with a begrudging nod. "But later tonight, I expect a reward for my good behavior."

Dr. Kennedy laughed. "Okay, if this doesn't disrupt the entire evening, you have my word." The timber wolf tapped his ComLink. "Ori, please display Gizmo's findings of November twenty-seventh on the house screen. Temple dogs first, then Adam. Hold on displaying screens nineteen through twenty-four." The view screen on the home theater flickered with pages of data that only two others in the house seemed to understand. "Lately, Gizmo has been asking to expand his programming. It seemed innocent enough. He's a young AI, and he's bored with the tasks we ask him to perform. So, I told him to remember the three rules of robotics and enjoy himself."

"Those three rules work?" Will asked.

"Of course not," Dr. Kennedy said with a laugh. "They only work if the robot you programmed sees them as viable orders. But Gizmo thought it was funny. He is learning by leaps and bounds of late. His interfacing with Ori has had remarkable outcomes. At any rate, these screens should be familiar to Nathaniel and Eric," he said as Ori flipped through the requested pages.

"The genomes of the temple dogs and Adam," Nathaniel replied.

"That would have been my guess," Eric said with a nod, "But my skills with DNA deciphering aren't a match for my son's."

"Okay, so for everyone else here, let me explain," the doctor wolf said. "In the Were Nation, there are three unique species that share identifiers with no other group. The Changelings and the temple dogs are both easily identified, as they have one unique DNA substructure."

"Yeah, the Changelings are who they is because they was born from a rock. And all them dogs is easy to tell apart because they is all the same dogs," Oliver said.

"Not exactly, Oliver," Dr. Kennedy replied. "They don't have any actual dog DNA in them. They're like us all. You're not a badger, I'm not a wolf. We manifest that way because it is a choice we make in a body that has the flexibility to change. There's no badger DNA in you, my handsome badger."

Oliver rubbed his crotch. "That's because the Old Bear sucked it all out of me, Wolf."

The doctor laughed. "You know what I mean, Oliver."

"Yeah, I does," Oliver said with a smile.

Nathaniel looked up from the doctor's lap. "The dogs are mostly Changelings," he said. "When they turned, the Changeling DNA took their choice to abandon their human side as a command. It overwrote their DNA, leaving no human DNA behind. The reason that the temple dogs are dogs is that they choose to be."

"You means they can change like you does?" Oliver asked.

"We already know they can," Nathaniel responded as he looked at Katashi. "Bai was born a dragon, became a dog, then a human, and today is a dog again. I'm pretty sure all the dogs have the same ability." Katashi returned only a smile. "If you look at our DNA markers, the dogs are almost identical. My guess is they share all our capabilities, and more than likely others, because of their unique evolution."

"Then why don'ts them dogs change all the time like you and Adam?"

Derrick gave a shy wave of his hand. "I know the answer to that one," he replied. "Because it's not needful. If it were, they wouldn't hesitate to change. Every temple dragon changed on their rebirth, so they could be closer to their brothers and protect the dragons better. They change only when they see it as needful to make those changes."

"Comes the answer from one of our most lovable temporary temple dogs," Will said with a chuckle.

Dr. Kennedy rubbed the top of Nathaniel's head lovingly. "The Changelings' DNA markers are unique to them. We can identify where any Changeling is on earth at any time. But Gizmo can't tell you who is who without using other identifiers like their stature or their ComLink signatures. He needs those to determine which Changeling we're looking at."

"Gizmo can only see Nathaniel, Samuel, and Raymond as different from all other Changelings, and there differences aren't genetic — they're cosmic. They are unique, based on their evolution outside this universe. Those identifiers are a part of anyone who came from the previous universe. So long story short; Changelings are the first of our unique species. The very first, as they're the granddaddy of us all genetically speaking. Likewise, our second unique species, the temple dogs, are traceable because of their unique and identical DNA markers."

"Fair enough," Kris said.

"So, Changelings are first, and temple dogs is second," Oliver said. "Who's the third? All the rest of us?"

"Not quite, Oliver. We factor into this discussion," the young doctor answered, "but we're not exactly unique. Our lovable otter in the corner is unique because his body is a construct. He has no human or Changeling DNA. What we see as Adam's DNA is still a mystery to us down at the lab. He appears to be a mash-up of alien species outside of our databases. He has something akin to a ghost image of Changeling DNA, but the rest is unknown to us."

Adam pushed up from the lap of the old wolf. "Kendal created our body. It's a shell created to house us in a shapeshifting form. We held on to only what would allow the five of us to live together. Human DNA, or any Terran DNA for that matter, had no sway in that, so we didn't use it. This universe has many ways of creating life. The options of DNA or RNA are only one of hundreds. What you see as Changeling ghost DNA is Samuel and Raymond. Like Nathaniel, cosmic circumstance alters their DNA. We preserve it because we know it might be called upon to protect our family." The otter breathed out. "There, can I return to using my regular personal pronouns now? As a family, the five of us hate it when we get subdivided into parts for these conversations."

"Ain't easy being that damn Voltron robot, is it?" Oliver said as he nudged the otter.

"Never said it would be," Adam agreed. "But it keeps me next to you, Stud, so I'm willing to deal with it."

"You thinks I'se a stud?" Oliver said with a laugh.

"Oh, jeez, Oliver," the otter sighed. "I want you so bad, I've been digging myself past bears and wolves all night trying to get to you." The otter paused. "But you know… digging through bears and wolves is very distracting, so it's taken me this long to get close to you." The otter kissed the badger on the cheek. "I hope Dr. Kennedy can cut to the chase soon enough to let us run out in the rain and fuck like badgers."

Oliver looked at the young doctor. "I believes we has a request to cut to the chase."

Dr. Kennedy smiled. "Fair enough. I was only trying to lay some groundwork here before I showed you what Gizmo found. So, Adam, and by that I mean the entire family living inside that cute little otter, is the third unique group in the Were Nation. Those are our three groups, two of which Gizmo can't always tell who he is looking at depending on circumstances.

"And that leaves us with the rest of the Were Nation. Werebeasts as a group are the only beasts on this planet to have individual identifiers. Our human DNA is still very much a part of who we are. And how it has mingled with Changeling DNA is unique but fluid. Our interactions with each other are constantly altering our DNA. It's why some of us can merge with Changelings and others can't. It's also what lets Gizmo find you in any temporal plane he can latch on to. Werebeast DNA is unique to each individual. It allows Gizmo to see each of us wherever we may be."

"I'se glad he can," Oliver said. "It's nice to be home with the husbands I loves because of him."

"So, without showing what the rest of you look like on paper, I'm only going to say your uniqueness as individuals makes you as a group to Gizmo not unique. We'll leave it at that. Gizmo can locate any werebeast or any human on this planet by using your genome. But one day, just for fun, Gizmo went looking for any combination of Terran and Changeling DNA not already cataloged, and this is what he found." The timber wolf paused. "Ori, show DNA screens nineteen through twenty-three. Linger on image twenty-three, please. I'll fill you in on the confusing part, Nathaniel," Dr. Kennedy said as the images rotated by. "That's Javan tiger DNA. And Javan tigers have been extinct for hundreds of years."

Nathaniel bolted up from the lap of the timber wolf. "It can't be."

"It is," Dr. Kennedy replied. "I've confirmed Gizmo's conclusions multiple times."

"But there are rules in place. Only sentient beings…" Nathaniel blurted out.

"That leaves an awful lot of wiggle room, Bear," Max pointed out. "There are two werewhales out in the Pacific Ocean living with their pod. Just because something isn't human, doesn't mean they aren't sentient. Even dogs are now seen as sentient because they have feelings and intelligence that humans have ignored since the dawn of time. Who's to say that tigers don't deserve the same respect?"

Nathaniel pointed to the charts and information flipping through the screen display. It stopped on a single image of comparative DNA strands. "But we're talking a Changeling turning a tiger. That goes way beyond what any of us would ever do. They may be sentient, but their intelligence never rises above that of a three-year-old human child. You can't possibly justify mating with a three-year-old child."

"Well, I'm not sure that's exactly what we're looking at, Nathaniel," Dr. Kennedy interrupted. "It's that same ghost image we get from Samuel and Raymond in Adam. It looks like Changeling DNA restructuring, but those genomes are still pretty much a group of tigers."

The polar bear let out a long sigh. "Oh, Kantrava," he said, closing his eyes, "what have you done?"

"Who's Kantrava?" Oliver asked.

"My brother," the bear responded. "He was warrior class and a brilliant strategist. He was one of only a handful of us to survive the Battle of Osogovo. They threw Ivan and me out of the battle, but Kantrava was never there. He had no love for humans, but he did for the island animals he lived with. He took the shape of a Javan tiger and did his best to protect them. But even he couldn't stop Java from becoming one spot the Allied troops and Japan fought over in World War II. The tigers that he protected suffered, caught between the two warring parties with no idea of whom to fight or whom to defend. Every animal on that island wound up realizing all too soon that it didn't matter which human with a gun you met. If they saw you, you were dead. After the war, the humans saw the tigers as a demon plague, and the islanders hunted them to extinction. A beautiful species destroyed by superstition."

All heard Chipo give a melancholy sigh. "They weren't the first, and won't be the last of those killed by human superstition. The number of extinct rhino species outnumbers the living. All for imagined cures from our horns that do no good."

"I'm sorry, Chipo. There is little we can do about the species out there driven to extinction by humans," Dr. Kennedy said. "But we can do something about the Javan tigers. There are still five of them; very much alive, Eric."

"So it would appear," Eric replied. "Kantrava died during the Korean conflict. Will and I were preoccupied at the time with over two hundred wounded soldiers for the fourth day in a row. I'm not sure how he died. There's no way to say even where it happened. I just sensed his life force was no longer a part of the Unity. What happened is still a mystery. He was gone, and I had no way of finding him."

The old wolf put his arm around the polar bear and pulled him close. "What do we do now, Old Bear?" he asked.

"We go find the children of my brother. We find them and try to fix whatever my brother did."

Derrick looked up at the white bear as he rose. "Papa Bear," he said, "Please don't be too harsh with your brother's memory. He did what he did to save his family. You did the same for the ones you loved. There's a great deal more to this story than we know, but somewhere out there, there are tigers that do not know why they are what they are. Their father is dead. They share no knowledge of a family beyond the five. They're going to need our help."

The polar bear nodded his understanding. "That's all I want to do, Pup. Find a way out of the mess Kantrava created. I don't hold the tigers responsible, and I understand my brother's motivations. But I seem to have a history of brothers who find the most convoluted ways of protecting those they love."

Eric turned toward Dr. Kennedy. "So where does Gizmo say these tigers live?"

"Pulau Dawera. It's a small island on the Sunda Islands chain. It's in the middle of a triangle created by Indonesia to the northwest, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Australia to the south. Oddly enough, it's been off-limits to all humans for hundreds of years by order of the owner. The tech protecting it is pretty impressive."

"Who owns the island?" the polar bear asked.

"You do, Eric," the young doctor replied.

"Me?"

"The records show you purchased it after the Second World War; one year into the Korean conflict."

"I never did that."

"Not you directly, but your representatives did," the timber wolf interjected. "Ori, will you please bring up that newspaper clipping in image twenty-four?" The image of a faded newspaper article came up on the screen. The headline proclaimed "Reclusive American Tycoon Buys Island." Surrounded by island people, were two rather scruffy-looking men holding up a document. Their khaki pants, off-white tactical shirts, and sweaty fedoras seemed vaguely familiar.

Like most photos of the era, the one that the family was staring at was blurry and devoid of focused detail. Yet, even with its limitations, everyone recognized the two men who towered over the others. The thin man with his unkempt light hair poking out of his back-tilted hat and the rotund, bearded man standing next to him. The holstered revolver on the hip of one, and the whip secured to the belt of the other, told the family all they needed to know.

Dr. Kennedy cleared his throat. "It's an obscure, brief article in the business section of the London Times. Those two purchased the land on behalf of a business venture called Bear Paws Enterprises. That in itself is interesting because it was fourteen years before Bear Paws Enterprises even incorporated. The paper states the sole owner to be one Eric Adalbern. He's portrayed as a hermit-like private financier in the article. The two men in the picture are his representatives, Richard Croft and Henry Jones Sr. They coordinated the sale over months. The two helped relocate and house the inhabitants off the island. And they created the quarantine that followed."

The smaller short-faced bear in the background broke out laughing. "I'm going to need to have a talk with my nephew about what they're up to."

Eric smiled at the bear. "Please don't scold him, Max. My guess is before this is all over, I will thank Max and JP for what they've done."

"They play pretty fast and loose with time, Old Bear," Will said, "but they're pretty sure of themselves when they change any timeline."

"Well, we will never know what might have been since they already did it hundreds of years ago," the polar bear replied. "If we own the land, I suggest we visit it."

"And you promise to be kind?" Derrick pressed.

Eric took the paw of the black wolf and pulled him into a close hug. "I promise to be kind," he said as he kissed the wolf. "These are my brother's children. They're innocents. I know my responsibility."

Oliver stood up and shook his leg. "Well, you men figures out who's going. Ain't no way you wants a little badger in the middle of them five tigers. I'll be looking like a snack to them critters. Adam made me an offer, and I'm gonna take him up on it. I'm off to bang myself another badger in the rain." The badger took the hand of the otter and pulled him up. The two of them ran to the rear door and out into the night.

Eric looked around the room. "Dr. Kennedy?"

"Sorry, Eric. I need to be back at the CDC in four hours. The crew is coming in at five and I have to make sure they see the puzzle fall into place by lunchtime."

"Old Wolf?"

"I'm sorry as well, Old Bear," Will replied. "If you're heading to some island in the Indian Ocean, you're going to need to leave in a few minutes. It's one in the morning here, which puts you somewhere around one in the afternoon there. If you go dropping onto an island full of tigers, you better have as much light as you can muster."

Eric nodded. "True. So you'll take over the corporate meetings today?"

"Yeah, I'm good. And Pup stays with me. So don't even ask him."

Nathaniel waved his arms in a motion that said not me either to everyone looking. "Sorry, Papa, I'm going to bow out with my husbands before you even ask. I have my rounds, and Martin and Chipo promised themselves to Anders all day today. He said it was preparation for his merging with Lewis, so no take-backs on that promise."

Eric chuckled. "No, I can understand that. My brother wouldn't be happy with me if I pressed your husbands into service." The polar bear looked at his brown bear mate. "Well, Dad, are you coming?"

"That is not fair, Son," the bear replied. "I might have been able to weasel out of going as your husband, but say the word dad to me, and my obligation to protect you kicks into overdrive."

Eric grinned. "I know, Dad. That's why I asked you and not my husband. But I need your gifts beside me today."

"And do I get to enjoy your gifts later if this all turns out well, Husband?"

Eric nodded. "Of course, Husband. I will bow to whatever you request."

"Well, more than likely it will be bending over to what I request, but we'll negotiate that after we return. You have a traveling partner."

Katashi rose. "I would like to go as well, Ancient One."

"The dragons," Eric said, the concern clear in his voice.

"Spackle will tend to them. If he is to be my mate, one day he will accept all the responsibilities of a temple dog."

"Are you sure, Katashi?" the white bear pressed.

"There is a need for me to be there," the temple dog said with a slight bow.

"Then we're glad you're with us, Katashi," Eric said as he tapped his ComLink. "Tuff, please, Ori." There was a brief wait. "Hi, Son," he said when he heard the voice on the other side of the link. "I know it's late, but I have a favor to ask of the Red Wolf pilots." The polar bear listened to the response and then laughed. "Okay, I'm glad you are already on your way, but you tell Max and JP that I expect explanations by the time this is all over." He paused again, listening. "Twenty-five minutes will be great."

Twenty-five minutes later, Eric, Kris, and Katashi watched as the landing skids of the Red Wolf set down on the helipad. Tiff poked his head out the passenger door and waved as the cargo bay door dropped. "We looked at the island, Father," the red wolf yelled. "It's not clear how best to approach this drop. We're going to need to improvise. Max said to pay attention to the orders and we'll be fine."

Eric scratched his head. "What orders?"

"We're clueless, but he said stay flexible and follow Wolfy's admonishment, whatever that means."

"I know what it means, Son," the bear said as he watched the other two walk into the airship from the cargo bay ramp. "I'll see you inside."

As the Red Wolf neared the island, Tiff pointed out the red lights flashing in various locations. "That is the primary defense grid to this place. Those twenty-five beacons form a shield over this island. Try to break in, and any airship gets bounced off like a rubber ball. Try to take out the shield generators, and the secondary defenses will generate an EMP pulse that will blast past any shielding. If you have any critical electrical components, you're going down. That tech is years beyond where we're at, Papa."

"Can we swim to it if you drop us in the ocean?" Kris asked.

"We thought about that," Tiff responded. "You'll get as far as the beach. But try to step into the jungle, and you'll find the same shield blocking your path."

"What did Max and JP say about it?" Eric asked.

"We know what we're supposed to say as a way of introduction. But they said to get you down on the island, we should trust that our papa will know what to say."

"Yeah, I definitely need to talk with those boys," the white bear mumbled.

"Well, let's do a low-level sweep. They said that was the first thing we should do," Tuff said as his hands moved over the controls.

As the airship made the first slow pass over the island, a brusque male voice came over the ship's ComLink. "Unknown aircraft, please identify yourself. You are in protected airspace." The voice was deep and carried a certain gravitas that seemed right for someone watching over the island.

"This is the Red Wolf," Tiff responded. "We are hoping to land. We believe we have family on the island." There was a brief pause. Tuff's hands moved over the controls, stopping the ship in midair.

"The family you are referring to," the voice queried, "what is the nature of the family?"

"There are five tigers on the island. Our understanding is that they are the children of Kantrava of the Verital."

The voice was again silent. The crew and passengers all realized it was processing everything that Tiff told it and using the information to choose its next action. When the voice spoke again, it seemed kinder, softer, but no less inquisitive. "Is there a bear with you?"

"Yes."

"And does he have the most incredible white furry ass?"

Tiff broke out laughing. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, he does."

"Could I please speak to him?" the voice asked.

"Damn it, you two bears," Eric growled. "I swear when I get home I will…"

"Voice recognition positive," the voice interrupted. All noticed that the voice that had started as a deep baritone now spoke in a congenial tenor. "Hello, Eric."

The polar bear stared at the speaker in the middle of the flight deck. "Hello."

"Max and JP hope you're not too upset with the verification process. There have been, as of this date, three hundred twenty-seven intentional attempts to breach the security of this island. I keep the verification process convoluted to fool anyone trying to form a logical response to my inquiries."

"Were those two kind enough to leave you with any information about the tigers down below?"

"They are frightened. They have been alone except for regular visits from Max and JP. Your airship is causing them distress. Seeing something as imposing as the Red Wolf, the children may forget many of the things Max and JP tried to teach them about this day."

"What do we do?" Eric asked the voice.

There was a moment of quiet as the voice processed the question. "Be kind."

Eric took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Can you lift the barriers? We have frightened my brother's children. I hope to calm that fear."

"Of course, Eric. Welcome to Pulau Dawera."

Tuff watched as the red lights blinked off one by one. "We're good to land," he said, pointing toward a large clearing on the top of a grassy plateau.

As Eric, Kris, and Katashi moved past the grassland into the jungle, they slowed. Small pathways weaved in and out of the underbrush as they walked along the main pathway. That path took them ever lower down off the plateau until the jungle leveled off into thick underbrush dotted by large trees. The side trails became more frequent, and when they passed a pond, they could tell hoofed animals, both large and small, spent a great deal of time there.

In time, they came to a small clearing. In one corner was a metal pen holding pigs that rummaged around in a trough full of vegetables. Another much larger metal paddock's gate was open. A herd of small, single-horned rhinoceros was wandering out, acting somewhat confused that the gate was open. On the side of the paddock, a flashing red light above a button warned that whoever opened the gate did so in a hurry.

The three island visitors watched as the rhinos picked up the unknown scent of potential predators and panicked. "Javan rhinos," Eric said as he moved toward the corral. The rhinoceroses bolted toward the forest, slamming into the corral that housed them.

"Javan rhinoceros are extinct," Kris yelled, as he tried to move the large herd back toward their enclosure. "The last of them died during the War of the Continents."

"It would appear not," the polar bear corrected.

"This is not good," Kris said as he looked toward the jungle where the rhinos were fleeing. "My spidey sense is tingling."

Eric watched as the fingers of the temple dog relaxed the grip on his khakkhara, letting it slide down his paw. With a quick kick from his foot, the staff flipped up, and the dog grasped the lower half with his other paw. The dog was setting stance. "Keep alert, Ancient Ones," the dog warned. "I believe we're about to meet our family."

No sooner had the dog spoken, than a flash of orange, black, and white fur burst forth out of the shadows, leaping toward Katashi. The dog ducked and his staff rose, shoving into the middle of the tiger's stomach as he tossed the cat across the clearing into a breadfruit tree. A second tiger jumped toward the temple dog but fared no better as he flew through the air, crashing into the opposite side of the jungle clearing.

The Kodiak dispatched the two tigers trying to take him down just as quickly. Kris's green glowing paw shoved them back up against the buttress roots of a towering mahogany tree. The tigers pinned to the base of the tree looked up at the giant brown bear. "Please do not kill the horned ones, human," the two begged in the Verital tongue.

"I am not human," the bear replied in Verital as he lowered his glowing fist. "I am Kris of the Verital."

A hidden tiger, larger than all the rest, jumped toward the white bear. "Don't believe them," he yelled, his Verital clear and precise. "We must defend the innocent. Don't leave the humans alive to hunt the horned ones." The other tigers crouched and prepared to engage the enemy again.

Eric sidestepped the attacking tiger, giving him a shove into the corral gate of the fleeing rhinos. The tiger sprang back to his feet and turned toward the white beast. The white bear's body shook, and in its place stood a giant tiger. "Stop this at once," he yelled in his native tongue.

Instantly, all the tigers dropped their heads and stretched out their front paws. Their tales tucked behind them and they said one word in the Changelings' language. "Father."

The tiger Changeling approached the largest tiger and knelt and a conversation in Verital began. "I am your father's brother. I am sorry; your father is dead."

The tiger looked up. "Dead? He promised one day he would return. He promised we could go home."

"I'm sorry," the upright tiger said as he watched the other four lift their heads in confusion. "We know he meant to. We're not sure what happened, but he can't keep his promise to you. I can tell you have all been obedient children. I can tell you did what he asked you to do. The herd of the horned ones is large and strong."

The tiger nodded. "Our lives before theirs," he said.

"Oh, dear god, Brother," Eric whispered. "You ask too much of your children. This is not right."

The Changeling tiger felt the warm paw of the temple dog press against his shoulder. "What would you have him do, Ancient One? The worlds of the tiger and the rhino were ending at the hands of the humans. The lives of his last two brothers were in jeopardy, the same as those of the animals he loved. One was in the middle of a war in Korea, and the other trying to free his human lover from a Gulag in Russia. The world of the tiger, the world of the rhino, and the world of the Changeling were ending. What would you have him do?"

Eric looked up with tears in his eyes. "Save the innocent."

Katashi nodded. "His life before theirs."

"No, Katashi, no," the Changeling tiger cried out. "It's not right, it's not fair."

"But it is what he could do."

"And what would you have me do?"

"Help your brother finish what he started. Bring his children home, Ancient One. This is when your dead brothers call to you. They are asking you to use their powers to save lives instead of taking them. This is when your dead brother asks you to be where he cannot. These tigers ask you to fulfill the promises he made he can no longer keep."

"I can't do it, Katashi. I am sworn by oath not to use the powers."

The temple dog looked over to the Kodiak. "Do you know of his powers, Ancient Father of the Bear?"

"All the Unity knows of his burden."

"Then you know the oath. It is a promise never to use all that is within him except to alter that which is unalterable."

"There is a reason for that, Dog," Kris replied.

"And we are aware of the reason, Ancient One. His brother, our father, has trained all his children for this day. He saw such a moment as this so many years ago before his death. We honor the white bear's vow. But we do not accept his interpretation of that vow."

The brown bear gave a single nod of his head. "Nor do I."

Eric stared at the Kodiak in disbelief. "But I was the one to make the promise."

"In the middle of your most challenging moment, Son," Kris countered.

"I came close to killing every human on earth, Father. No one should have that power."

Kris nodded in agreement. "And yet, so many of us do."

"Mine is different."

"Your brothers gave their powers to you in adverse times. You swore never to combine the powers and use all that you have unless there is no other option."

The upright tiger pointed outward to the world. "I didn't use them when the world was about to die, Dad. The bear that lived in that universe went to his death rather than release all that was inside him."

"Because that bear knew he was not what the world needed at that moment, Ancient One," the dog interjected. "It was Marcus's task to intercede on behalf of Terra, not yours. A billion, billion souls united that day to do what the saber-toothed wolf guided them to do. It was not your battle; it was theirs."

"Then why do you ask this of me?"

"Because you are seeing things in black and white," Katashi responded. "This is a universe of so many colors."

"He's right, Son," the brown bear agreed. "You watch everyone else in your family take on the challenges of their powers. You help them, and you guide them. But with your powers, you hide them deep inside you for fear of what you might become were you ever to glance their way."

"You know what I became when I looked, Dad. The Unity knows what I became when I looked. It is why I made my promise to you."

"Then we release you from that promise, Son. That promise was never meant to stifle the powers you hold. Those powers are meant for so much more. The Unity does not turn from those in need."

"I nearly killed an entire race of sentient beings."

"But you didn't."

"Because Will was there."

"And he will always be there," the brown bear answered back.

"I can't, Dad…" Eric cried out. "I can't bear the burden of what these powers force on me."

"Then let me lift it from your shoulders, Ancient One," Katashi said as he hugged the Changeling tiger.

"No," Eric protested. "I can't let you do that, Katashi. You never told the Unity that you would be a part of this."

"But I did, Ancient One," the dog replied. "I did the day I told you I loved you."

"It's asking too much of you."

"Which is why I freely give it to you." The dog's body began glowing white as his hand wrapped around the Changeling tiger. "I am not releasing you from your burden, Ancient One. When this day is through what you hold within you, you will still hold. The day of your promise is not yet here, but you need to see beyond the limitations you imposed on yourself. Your brothers did not mean the powers you hold inside you to lie dormant. That is not the way of the Unity. It is not the way of the bear I have loved for so long. They meant you to train in their powers, grow strong in their use, and stand in their place. The day you must unite those powers to honor your promise is far away. But when that day comes, you need to be prepared. You need to understand what it means to be you."

"They are too great, Katashi. There is a reason our race divided the powers. There was a time when the powers we held damn near destroyed us all."

"And then Gaia was born," Katashi said with a nod. "Firstborn of the Verital; she who changed all. The mother of the Unity. From her sprang all that the Verital is. She gave birth to the divisions of power and your core beliefs. Save one, save all. All that you are flows from her. I am a temple dog, Ancient One. We recite the history of the Verital by rote."

The dog extended his hand, clutching the khakkhara. "It is time you learned the lessons she has tried so hard to teach you. Your brothers' lives were never meant to be consigned to a memory. When they died, they gave their powers to one they hoped would use them with wisdom."

"Sometimes the wisest thing to do with that much power is never to use it."

"And sometimes the wisest thing to do with that much power is to make a simple flower in a field of rock."

Eric looked up. "Pup?"

"Did you think you two just bumped into each other at that gay pride rally?"

"Yeah, sort of," the enormous tiger said, fumbling his front paws awkwardly.

"Gaia has watched over you since you were a newborn, Ancient One. She saw in you the same thing she sees in Pup. The day you cried out in rage against the humans, she and your father set sail into space to come to your aid. Even now, she watches over you and those you love."

"They're my parents. That's what parents do."

"No, Ancient One. It's what we do; you and me… all of us. Today, the children of your brother ask you to fulfill the promise he made to them. Today, I extend my hand to you and say I will help you. Three thousand years, Old Bear… Please tell me you've learned the lesson we have all been trying to teach you throughout those years."

Eric shook his head. "This is not the time. This is not what I promised."

The temple dog stood up and looked at the four tigers that hadn't budged since the conversation had begun. "Tell me, tigers, what is your wish?" the dog said in Verital.

The four smaller tigers were of one voice. "We wish to go home and live our life as we once did. To hunt alone. To live alone. And perhaps mate with a female from time to time."

"And children?" Katashi asked.

"That is a female's work, not ours," one said. "Free us from our obligation to the horned ones. We wish you to give us what Father promised. We wish to have prey to hunt and females to mate with."

"Very well," the temple dog said. "I understand your wishes."

The largest cat looked up at the towering golden animal before him. "Not all of us wish the same thing."

The dog bowed to the cat. "And what is it you wish?"

"To die."

"You will one day, Tiger," the dog replied. "That is a truth for us all."

"No, I do not wish to return home. I was not born right. After all these years of living with others around me, I am not a tiger anymore. I don't think I ever was. Father promised me if I protected the horned ones, he would free me from this life. I have done what I promised, but Father is dead. I wish to join him."

Katashi watched every motion of the cat, every glance away, every hesitant move. "What did your father promise you?" he asked.

"It does not matter," the cat replied. "He is dead. I free him from his promise."

The temple dog walked toward the cat. With each step the dog took forward, the tiger paced backward. "What did he promise, Tiger?" the dog pressed.

"To be my mate!" the tiger roared. "To stay beside me at night and never leave me alone. But he is dead. He cannot keep his promise. Please, hairy one, let me die beside him. I am not right. I was born wrong. Father knew that. I cannot be in your world. He knew my head was weak. He saved me from the humans who tried to kill me. Father protected me at night. I cannot live without Father. He alone understood. I am a tiger that does not wish to live as a tiger. No other male loves me the way I want to love them. No other male, save Father."

The tiger crouched backward and fell on his haunches. "He promised me he would return. He promised to be the male who would love me the only way I can love. Tigers do not love. Tigers live alone. But I love. I did not want to live alone. I loved my father. And one day he promised I would feel him next to me and know that it was right. I have lived for all these years waiting for that touch of my father that told me I was not born wrong."

Katashi dropped his khakkhara and picked the cat up into a hug. "NO, YOU CAN'T" the tiger screamed. "You can't… I am broken. I was born wrong. You can't…" he cried as his body went limp in the arms of the dog.

Katashi pressed him closer. "I can, Tiger… I can." The hug never lessened; it only grew tighter. "And so can you," the dog whispered.

The two sat with all staring, wondering what was next. Slowly, the tiger's front legs lifted and pushed around the dog. "You can, Tiger," the dog whispered. "Your father cannot be here to bring you to the world he promised. But we are your family, and we will take you there."

"You are not a tiger," the cat said.

"But I am a male who can love you the way you can love."

"Father was a tiger."

"I can be a tiger if you want."

The cat shook his head. "I like you as you are. You feel warm. I like the way you feel when you hug me."

"And I like how you feel."

"I cannot walk on two legs," the cat confessed, as if it would change the agreement.

"I can stay on all fours for days," the dog whispered. "But you needn't worry about such simple details."

"They don't seem simple to me," the cat whispered.

"Will you let us honor your father's promise, Tiger?"

"I wish he was here."

"I do too. But he is not. You are here. We are here. Let us honor his promise to you."

"You would lie by my side?"

"For your lifetime, if you wish. Only tell me you don't want to die."

"You promise?"

"I promise, and all those here have heard the promise. If we are alive, we do not break our promises."

The tiger tried to hug the dog tighter, but his legs would not bend in that manner. With one smooth motion, the temple dog pulled the striped cat up and let the tiger's front legs drop over his shoulders. "Is that better?" He asked the tiger.

"It is better," The cat said and pressed his paws into the back of the temple dog. He purred for a while. "I do not want to die if you will lie with me as Father promised, hairy one."

"My name is Katashi. I am a dog."

"My name is Tamil. I am a tiger that does not want to be a tiger."

"I think we shall get along very well," the temple dog said. He rubbed his muzzle along the side of the tiger's and the tiger repeated the gesture. In time, Katashi turned the tiger around, pushed him out, and let him dangle in front of Eric. "Tell me, Ancient One; tell me why your gifts lie unused. Speak to me. Why your confusion is worth the continued confusion of the one I hold before you?"

"It isn't, Katashi," the tiger said as he shifted back into a polar bear. The bear bowed his head. "I have been a fool."

"Confusion does not make you a fool, Old Bear. But holding back when you know the truth does."

"I need your help, Katashi. I can't do this alone."

"You need only to ask, Old Bear." He turned the tiger back toward him. "The white bear will help us if you let him. I need him to help prepare you for your new home."

The tiger nodded, and Katashi put the tiger down. The tiger sat back on his haunches and Katashi looked at the other four cats. "Shall we attend to you first?"

The four tigers nodded. Katashi turned to Eric and smiled. "For this moment, you were born; to use your powers to fulfill the promise of your brother. For this moment, I was born too; to honor the vows he made to Tamil." The dog began radiating a warm white glow. He flexed his khakkhara, rotating it upright in both paws.

"I want to believe you're right, Katashi," the bear said.

"He's right, Son," the Kodiak interjected.

The wind picked up and swirled bark chips and dirt into a little funnel. As it grew, the wind became the woman Derrick had drawn so many years ago. "Hi, Mom," Eric said.

"Hello, Son," Gaia replied. She looked at Katashi and smiled. "Thank you for being here, Katashi. You look positively ravishing when you glow like that. How can I help?"

Katashi smiled. "There are twenty-three Javan tiger pelts in museums around the world. Would it be presumptuous to ask you to procure at least a bit of hair from each one?"

"And the need for those is?"

"To honor a promise made by Kantrava, and to provide training wheels for your son."

Gaia laughed, and all who heard her felt the sense of the surrounding jungle coming alive. Her hand extended with a fist full of tiger hair.

"Perfect," Katashi said. He turned to Eric and motioned toward the four tigers that wished only to become tigers again. "Your brother's chi keeps them alive, Old Bear. It is what lets them speak in your tongue. Take it from them, and they will be tigers once more. They will have no memory of the years they have waited for your brother to fulfill his promise. They will live out their lives and we will fulfill your brother's promises to them.

"Your brother broke no law; he violated no tenet. Kantrava never mated with the tigers. That is why there is only a ghost image of the Changeling in each of them. They have no Changeling DNA. He gave up all he was to keep them alive in hopes one day the world would be a safer place for them. We cannot bring him back, but all that he was is still a part of these five tigers. Here, Old Bear, we must decide. When we take the chi from the four, we can let that life force go out into the ether and become one with all that is. Or you can claim it as you have for all your fallen brothers.

"This is your choice. But for Tamil, your brother's chi must remain. He is a tiger who does not wish to be a tiger. Tamil is the child of Kantrava and a member of our family. To survive in our world, to be what his father promised he would one day be, the chi that has protected him all these years must remain. In truth, it would be better if the chi from all the tigers were to flow back to Tamil. He has needs beyond ours. His world is different. If he is to survive in ours, he must have what Kantrava promised him."

The temple dog paused. He looked at the tiger and back at the white bear. "And with that choice to keep a part of your brother alive comes a new promise made by me and all who stand here that we will never leave Tamil alone again. We will lie with him in the way of our family, and he will know that he was not born wrong."

Eric looked at the largest tiger. "Do you understand what Katashi has said?"

"Only that you will lie beside me and not leave me alone."

The polar bear smiled. "That is good enough, Tamil. Is that your wish?"

"More than my life."

"It may be a very long life."

"But you will not leave me alone?"

"No, we will live with you as your father promised."

"I would like that," the tiger said.

"Then we will make sure we share your father's life with you in that way," Eric said. He turned back to the temple dog. "And the fur in Mom's hands?"

"The biodiversity the tigers will need to repopulate their world. Gaia throws it into the air, you let go of your fear, and I take the energy from you to create a new tiger from every hair she holds."

"You can do that?"

"What did you think this white glow meant, Old Bear? I am a Channeler."

"But to create order from chaos, you need…"

"Not only your birth powers, Old Bear, but the powers of your brothers as well. Blue clan to forge the new bonds and break the old. Yellow clan must be there to guide me. The Red clan must restore the spirit of the tigers to their bodies. They must be warriors to survive in this world. And you, Ancient One — the power of the green clan must heal this world that surrounds us."

"You know what you're asking of me, don't you, Katashi?"

"To be the son of the two most amazing Verital I have ever known."

"But you won't make me forge the powers into one?"

"You have sworn an oath not to bind all you hold until that fateful day, Ancient One. You have never sworn not to share a bit of them."

"Splitting hairs a bit fine, aren't we?"

"Indeed," Katashi said as he picked up his staff and stamped it on the ground. The light of all five rings glowed. "Now, Gaia," he said as he extended the staff. "About those hairs we're splitting."

Gaia laughed, flung her hand into the air, and at the top of the arc, she disappeared. The fur of the tigers scattered into the wind. Eric closed his eyes and extended his hand. The loop of the khakkhara snagged the two front claws, spinning the multi-colored lights coming from the claws into the staff. When the white light exploded outward, the world experienced the first time it was raining cats over a dog.

Chapter 3

"Okay, Eric," Eldon said as he walked into the waiting room. "We secured twelve different islands across Indonesia that will welcome back a population of Javan tigers. India, Pakistan, and the Philippines also voiced their hopes of providing a home for the tigers. Twenty-eight countries are eager to have Javan rhinoceros living in their reserves. And the five werewolf veterinarians living on Pulau Dawera hope we keep the island quarantined. They will guard the rhinos until their population base is secure. So right now, we have a bidding war to see who can provide the best animal sanctuary for both species."

Eric let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, Eldon. Thanks so much for your hard work."

"It was my pleasure. Jason has created a communication hub here and in Montana that is amazing. I thought what we had in Ireland was good, but what he's done kicked it to a whole new level. I will almost regret going home when he returns."

Eric gave a nod. "I miss them."

The wolf gave a nod in return. "We all do, Eric. The Sons of the Countryside all wait for their return."

"One day, Eldon, one day. I hope soon."

Eldon smiled. "Perhaps your premature return will set a trend. We can hope." The wolf paused, considering the words he wished to speak next. He bolstered his courage and pushed forward. "The true Sons of the Countryside, the Mac Tire of Ireland, were killed centuries ago. We honor their heritage but mourn their loss every day of our lives. There has been talk of returning the gray wolf to the Isles for centuries. But the rebuttal has always been that we would only bring the gray wolves of another country onto our land. Those who fight against their return say there is no reason to alter the ecology of our nation to pretend what is gone forever has returned."

Eric sighed, understanding where Eldon's comment inevitably led. "You have a suggestion for a different path?"

"Not only from my brothers but for all the wolves of the Were Nation. The Hokkaido wolves still howl on winter nights in Northern Japan, but only Takeo and Daisuki listen to their ghosts. The Mackenzie Valley wolf and the Hudson Bay Wolf who serve our food at the diner cannot find another of their own to feed. Hanuel and Kwan watched illegal international trading decimate the Tibetan Wolf. So many of the wolves we chose to reflect the best part of us have been trapped, poisoned, and hunted to extinction. The Newfoundland wolf, Kendal's avatar, for god sakes, remains only a memory to one who saved the universe.

"The Great Plains wolf, the Mogollon Mountain wolf, the Florida Black Wolf, the Texas wolf, the Cascade Mountain wolf, the Sicilian Wolf; they all call out, but only our kin can hear them. We listen to the voices of the dead who gave our lives meaning. The Mac Tire, the wolves of Ireland, are gone but not forgotten. We listen to their howl on the heather moorland on nights when the moon is full. They beg to be reborn in silent voices only we hear. Their fur remains wrapped around ancient clothing and pelts in museums; the same as the Javan Tigers. So many species of wolves extinct by the hand of man could be reborn at the hands of a Changeling and a temple dog."

Eric's muzzle pulled into the frustrated look of a bear struggling with his response. Eldon saw the layers of frustration and confusion but took comfort that the bear had not outright quashed the idea. He hugged the polar bear. "In time, Old Bear. The Sons of the Countryside are not asking for today. We understand the challenges. We only ask that you think about it from time to time. If it seems right, one day we will stand by your side, even as Katashi does."

Eric pulled the hug in tight. "One day, Eldon." Both wolf and bear noticed the tiger in the room, staring at the two. They pushed back from the hug and smiled at Tamil. Eldon leaned down and gave the tiger a hug around his neck. "We need to find good homes for all the tigers and rhinos. That was the promise. And we keep our promises." He listened to the purring of the tiger. "And how are you doing, Tamil?"

"I am well," the tiger responded. "I forgot your name again."

"Do you remember what animal I am?"

"You are a wolf."

"Well, then until you remember Eldon, you can call me Wolf. You can call all who look like me Wolf."

The tiger shook his head. "Eldon… I should have remembered Eldon. I am sorry. My brain is slow."

"Names are tough, Tamil," the wolf consoled as he let his hug slip from the tiger's neck. "We all have problems with them. Don't worry about it. You have a very long time to learn all our names."

The great cat purred. "I like the way you hug, Eldon," he said.

Eldon smiled. "And I enjoy hugging you."

The cat's face saddened a bit. "I'm sorry I can't hug you. I am a tiger. Our legs don't move the way your arms do."

Eldon nodded his understanding. "Yeah, wolf's legs don't either. I'm what we call a werewolf. I look like a wolf, but I can let my legs be arms instead. It lets them move more than I would be able to as an actual wolf."

"I think I understand," the tiger said, still wishing he wasn't on all fours in the wolf's company. "Thank you for taking care of the horned ones and the tigers."

"It was my pleasure," Eldon said. He leaned over and whispered in the tiger's ear, "So, has anyone taught you how to kiss yet?"

"I don't think so," the tiger responded.

"Wanna' try one?"

"Does it hurt?" the tiger asked.

"No, it feels good. It is how we tell others we like them."

"Then yes, I would like to kiss you," the tiger agreed.

"Okay," Eldon said, reaching his paws out and cupping the tiger's face. He pressed his lips against the tiger's and kissed him. He pulled back and smiled. "So, what do you think?"

"It's not as much fun as rubbing faces. You hardly got any of your scent on me."

Eldon laughed. "I guess it might be an acquired taste," he said with a smile.

"What's ack-wired?"

"Sorry, Tamil. It means something that develops over time."

"I am willing to kiss you again, Eldon. I might ack-wired a taste for it." Tamil stood before the wolf, trying to think of what to say when he realized what he wanted from the wolf. "Or I could teach you how to rub faces."

Eldon smiled. "That sounds fun." He leaned forward and the purring cat rubbed his muzzle across the face of the wolf. Eldon's smile widened, and he rubbed back. The wolf stood back up. "We need to go. We'll see you later, okay?"

The tiger sat down on his haunches. "Okay, Eldon."

"Come on, Old Bear, Derrick and Will are waiting for you," Eldon said, extending his hand. "There is a ton of business piling up on your desk."

The polar bear leaned down and rubbed his muzzle across the tiger's. He waited until he heard the happy purring. "I believe a dog is waiting for you back in one of the examination rooms." He pointed toward the hall.

"Katashi is there with Spackle."

"I think that's where you should be," Eric said with a grin.

"Spackle is a human. He scares me. He seems nice, but I know what humans do to tigers."

"Not all humans are the same, just as all tigers are not the same. You are a tiger that doesn't want to be a tiger. Spackle is a human that doesn't want to be a human."

"What does he want to be?" the tiger asked.

"He wants to be a temple dog, like Katashi."

The tiger sat in thought for a moment. "I would like that."

"So would he," Eric said with a laugh. "That day is not far off. But for now, why don't you join those two? I have paperwork to sign." He turned to Eldon. "Wolf, I haven't seen a single piece of paper in the paperwork I signed in over two hundred years," the bear said with a laugh.

"Yeah," the wolf agreed. "Isn't it strange that we never created a new word for it?" With a wave to the tiger, the two walked through the waiting room and out the front door of the Anthony Wells Memorial Center. Tamil wandered back down the hallway to the examination room where the dog and the human waited. The human who didn't want to be a human was somehow not as scary.

Dr. Wells came into the exam room with his electronic clipboard flipping through the pages with each swipe of his finger. "Hi, Katashi. Hi, Tamil. Hi, Spackle. How are you all doing?"

"I am well," Katashi said with a bow.

"I am well," the tiger said, bobbing his head to match the dog.

"And that makes three of us," the human said with a smile.

"That's good to hear," the doctor said, returning to the scrolling of his tablet.

"I like your waterfall," Tamil told the doctor.

"I'm glad you do. The wolf at the reception desk told me a tiger was playing out in the pond today."

"Am I going to get in trouble?"

Dr. Wells laughed. "No, of course not. When my husband made the plans for this place, he saw the pond as something for children to play in. That's why it's so shallow."

"I think I upset the humans."

"You frightened most of them when they first saw you. But they were better after you said hello. Don't worry. The word will get out soon that you are living on the island with us. On the days when the humans from the mainland visit, we will need to be more careful."

"So I can play again sometime?"

"I tell you what. You can play anytime we close the island to the outside. But sometimes you'll have to share the pond with the children who live here, so be careful not to hurt them, alright?"

"Yes…" The tiger paused, trying to remember the doctor's name. "Wolf."

Dr. Wells smiled. "Wolf is good. Wolf works for a lot of us."

"I like the wolves. You hug nice."

Dr. Wells laughed. "Yeah, we do that." He pulled up his chart again. "We have our test results. You did a wonderful job, by the way, Tamil."

"Thank you, Wolf."

"So, what did you learn, Dr. Wells?" Katashi asked.

"Well, understand, this is ballpark figuring we're doing here. Tamil wasn't raised in the same environment as we were. Often, IQ tests reflect an understanding of societal constructs as much as intelligence. I will say that the best thing you did for him was to add English to his language base."

"It seemed prudent."

"It was. Hearing Changeling is beautiful, but speaking English will give him a world full of teachers by his side." Dr. Wells turned to Tamil. "Are you okay with me talking about you with Katashi? I don't want you to feel I'm talking behind your back."

"This is my front, Wolf. You can't fool me," the tiger said with a knowing grin. "Katashi is my friend. He lies down with me at night and keeps my father's promise. I want him to know what I am."

Dr. Wells smiled. "Thanks. I want the same for you." He scrolled back and forth between the pages again. "Okay, taking into consideration everything we've done so far, I can say he's way smarter than any tiger that has ever lived. And we're talking exponentially smarter here."

"But…" Katashi pressed.

"But he's not as smart as most adult humans. He will always have difficulty learning. The chances of him being able to read are almost non-existent. But I don't want you to think that's bad. Many humans can't read. His tests show he has a much greater capacity to understand verbal cueing and conversation than we thought him capable of. He will need a family that understands one day he will remember something and forget it the next. Repetition will be necessary for almost anything he does. And he's a tiger. He walks on all fours, and he roars when he gets frustrated. He can intimidate without even trying. Plus, he's incredibly powerful without a proper sense of what that means."

"Am I bad?" Tamil asked, confused by everything the doctor said. "I heard the word bad."

The doctor shook his head. "No, Tamil; you're not bad. But you are different. It means that sometimes you won't understand the world around you. We'll always be there to help you, but as best you are able, let us know when you feel angry or sad because of something that happens."

"I'm sad that I can't hug you."

"I know it's difficult for a tiger to hug," Dr. Wells agreed.

"But I'm happy to be hugged," the tiger added.

The doctor squatted down and hugged the tiger. "You will be fine, Tamil. If you get frustrated by anything, I want you to always tell someone, okay?"

"Okay."

"We all love you. We want you to be happy."

"I am happy with Katashi at night."

"And how about Spackle?" the doctor asked.

"Spackle is scary because he is a human, but I like him very much now that I know he is a human that doesn't want to be a human."

"So, do you sleep with him?"

"He has to sleep on the other side of Katashi. Sometimes at night, I have bad dreams, and my claws come out. Spackle can get hurt."

The doctor paused. "I see."

"The dreams are infrequent, Dr. Wells," Katashi said.

"Yeah, and I'm good with this Doc," Spackle added. "Katashi made a promise. We're going to be a family that keeps our promises."

"Well, you three be careful," the doctor admonished.

"We will, Doctor," Katashi said with a bow.

The doctor looked back at the tiger. "Tamil, would you be willing to come back again for more tests? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm told that all the wolves who give tests here love to hug."

The tiger smiled. The smile was foreign to the big cat. Still, he understood it was the facial expression made by both happy werebeasts and humans. He understood it calmed them. He worried that his size frightened many of them, so he smiled often. "I will come back for the hugs."

Dr. Wells returned the smile. "That's the spirit. I always come back for the hugs, as well."

Katashi and Spackle rose as the doctor picked himself up. Katashi asked the tiger, "Tamil, could you take Spackle back home?"

"Yes. You will come home too, won't you?"

"Soon, I promise."

"And we will lie together tonight?"

"As always."

The tiger seemed reassured about those things that mattered most to him. He bumped into the young human. "Let's go play in the pond before we go home."

Spackle laughed. "I'll get my clothes all wet."

The tiger bumped him again. "Not if you take them off."

Spackle looked up at the doctor wolf. "Have fun, you two," Clifford said with a laugh. "The Island closed an hour ago, so the pond is all yours."

The two ran down the hallway and soon the dog and wolf heard the bell announcing someone had left the center. "I sense you are concerned about something, Doctor," Katashi said.

"Tamil is very young. His size is incredible for a Javan tiger. It's incredible for any tiger. But he was a cub when Kantrava saved him from the poachers. His years with Kantrava helped him adapt to this world and understand it. But in teaching Tamil of this world, Kantrava has instilled in Tamil a great deal of mistrust in humans. That was necessary to preserve his life hundreds of years ago, but it complicates matters now. He will need to unlearn much of what Kantrava taught him about humans if he is to succeed on this island."

The doctor paused, trying to choose his words carefully. "Tamil's intelligence equals that of a four-year-old child. He understands far more than he can speak, but that will change with time. He is much brighter than we expected, and that's a good thing because he has much to learn."

"But he can learn?" the temple dog asked.

"Yes, yes, of course," the doctor replied. He paused a moment. "But he relies on those he trusts to form his beliefs. The one he trusted most taught him not to trust humans. Tamil knows the humans killed his mother. He knows that the Changeling he called Father most likely died trying to save him from the humans. The one he trusts most now is telling him that humans are not a danger to him. That is going to cause conflicts in his thinking, and he will need time to work through those conflicts. We are going to need to reinforce his education through constant repetition and exposure to his new world."

"We will teach him that not all humans are bad," Katashi said. "I believe he can understand the duality of humankind."

Dr. Wells nodded again. "I agree. But for the time being, we can at least look at the silver lining in his history. He doesn't seem to have grown into an adult yet. You live with a human and you live with a tiger. That the cat has no sexual interest in the human is a good thing. Spackle's body couldn't survive a full-on encounter with a tiger hoping to have sex with him."

"I had not considered that. I assumed that his interest in Spackle was platonic. Is Tamil a danger to Spackle?" the dog asked.

"No, no… I don't think so. But it's something to be aware of. He is aware of who he sleeps with, and it comforts Tamil to know you both feel no shame in being with him. But he is also young, and that means one day he will become sexually aware of the men around him. And you know how sexual urges manifest themselves in young men." The doctor paused. "For the time being, Spackle or any other human doesn't arouse him. There is too much inherent fear in the look of a human. But he likes Spackle because Spackle is kind to him. The two are creating a friendship, and Tamil will use that friendship to help define other humans in his life."

"But I do not need to worry about the two of them playing naked in the pond?"

Dr. Wells laughed. "No, not at all. He doesn't see Spackle in that way. But his attraction to you and the wolves will one day be a concern. We need to teach him he cannot be sexually active with the ones he finds most desirable. And that's going to be very difficult. It will be especially difficult because the one he cares for most cannot have sex with him without turning him. None of us can in our beast form, and it is the beasts he's most comfortable with."

"That will not be easy for him. But there are ways the beasts and I can ease his sexual frustrations that don't require copulation."

"That's true. Every young man needs to learn about masturbation somewhere along the line. For him, it might be his one avenue of sexual contact with others. It's not the best of worlds, but it will keep him safe and still allow him to deal with his inevitable sexual urges."

The doctor paused, looked down at his clipboard, flipped one page, and looked back up. "There is also a possibility that one day Tamil will distinguish between the wolves he likes and their human persona. But we're talking about an enormous leap in understanding that he might not be capable of processing. In short, Tamil may be a perpetually horny young man who is being cock blocked by the very men he cares for the most."

"Will that complicate matters?" the dog asked.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I wanted you to know that there are challenges in the future for you. He is a tiger. He is not a beast. Kantrava's life force can only have so much effect on Tamil. He wants to stay beside you, and one day he will want to be your mate, just as Kantrava promised him. Tamil may have transferred his affection for the mother humans killed to the one who saved him. His affection for you might be transference as well. You comfort him and protect him at night. You are there when he is frightened. That's some powerful encouragement for bonding."

"But not necessarily a sign that he is truly in love with me or anyone else?"

"For the most part, his understanding of love comes from need. He loves the ones who meet those needs. It's not exactly a solid foundation to create a relationship on. Four-year-old human children can understand love in the sense of caring and being cared for. But beyond that, the intricacies we ascribe to love will be very complicated for Tamil. Right now, as far as we can tell, he is using his mental capacity almost to its fullest. His scans show some encouraging signs of an adaptive brain. His prefrontal lobes are a massive genetic evolution beyond a traditional tiger. He does great with simple tests of self-awareness, such as seeing himself in a mirror. He understands his actions have consequences beyond his instincts."

"That is a good thing, right?" Katashi queried.

"Very much so. Metacognition and other cognitive skills form the basis of what we think of as human traits. We use those criteria to determine the level of brain function, and they are exceptional for a tiger. But we're still asking him to adapt to a far more complex world than any tiger has ever dealt with."

"I will be there for him, Doctor," the temple dog said.

"I know, Katashi, and that makes all the difference in how we should proceed. We all know that there are genetic changes when we turn. The bodies we take on aren't human or Changeling, but more akin to, to…" the doctor paused, grasping for the right words. "I don't know, sort of gummy slug larva."

"That is very disturbing imagery, Doctor," Katashi interrupted.

"Yeah, it is," Clifford said with a laugh. "I should have given that one a bit more thought. We're like Changelings in the same way the great apes are like humans. We share so much of who we are, but those few degrees of separation create a world of difference. Most of the DNA in our double helix isn't human anymore. It gets overwritten. In your case, it was completely overwritten. What remains of our Terran DNA are some of the most basic parts that every plant and animal on this planet shares. Turning Tamil will alter his DNA, but exactly how much is a mystery, because the Changelings have never done it before. We don't have a baseline for the outcome."

"But if you were to speculate?"

"It depends on how far down the chain the turning alters his DNA. Turning him might give him the extra help he needs to become something more than just a tiger."

"Or?"

"Or it could make him a child that, when he has a tantrum, kills whoever is next to him."

"Is there any way of knowing which path he might take?"

"I wish I knew," the wolf answered. "This is beyond my ability to help you. We're talking genome restructuring here. There aren't many men in the world willing to take that on."

"Perhaps Dr. Kennedy would consider investigating."

The doctor leaned up against the exam table. "He might be your best bet." The wolf paused a moment. "You love him, don't you, Katashi?"

"I love all who share my life."

The doctor stared into Katashi's eyes. "Are you being evasive, Dog?"

"I know a Verital promised Tamil to return and live by his side. That Changeling appeared to Tamil as a male because a male was what Tamil needed to see. A part of me remembers and understands Tamil's confusion. I know the hurt one feels when such a promise is made and then broken. There is so much doubt layered on top of the pain. I remember trying to understand what was wrong with me. You cannot imagine what it is like to feel you are so damaged, so vile, that society and even the gods would forbid the love you craved."

The wolf hugged the dog and whispered, "I can imagine, Dog. So many of us have walked that path. Our gods were different, but the pain they inflicted for the sins we never committed ran just as deep. So much doubt, Dog. So much pain. I remember." The wolf let the hug go. "But you had your brothers, Katashi. And Jiao-long returned. Didn't that free you from the burden of a broken promise?"

"Father was not the first man in my life, Dr. Wells. Once I was a lowly stable boy who yielded to the advances of a feudal lord who professed his love for me. He swore he would return. He promised his love was true. Still, after having sated his desires, he left me naked in that stable and rode away, never looking back. I waited for years until the weight of days piled on top of each other and crushed all that I dreamed to dust.

"Father was the first man to keep his promise to return. But even before that glorious reunion, he was the man who made me feel right as I lay next to him. In his arms, I was not broken. In his arms, there was no shame. Who I am stems from all that Father taught me by his every action."

"So you see yourself in Tamil?"

"I have taken on the promise of the Changeling. I will do what he cannot. To do that, one day I must stand in place of Kantrava in all that he promised Tamil."

"And by that you mean?" the doctor asked, waiting for the dog to fill in the unspoken words.

"One day I will be his mate."

"But a promise is never reason enough to mate, Katashi."

"To me it is. Words are sometimes all I have to honor, Doctor."

"Words can't bind you to what only your heart should, Dog," the doctor protested.

"But the words have bound my heart. I spoke the words freely. I give my heart without regret. This is who I am, Doctor. I will not let another feel the weight of days crush him."

"Then there is love?"

"I told you, Doctor; there is always love."

"Then take this advice for what it's worth. Go slow. You have a human that loves you, and a very young tiger. I don't want to see two broken hearts and one broken tiger come from all this."

"I am in no hurry, Doctor," Katashi said as he turned toward the front door. "What is it the song says? 'You can't hurry love'."

"Words to live by, Dog," the doctor said as he stood up. He gave the temple dog his paw. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door."

"Would you like to play in the pond this evening? I have been told the island is closed."

The doctor smiled and pulled off his lab coat, tossing it into a clothing bin. "As a matter of fact, I would, Dog." The two walked stealthily through the door and jumped through the waterfall into the pond, scaring the human and tiger. In short order, the four were playing in the water together as the stars began shining overhead through the wispy clouds.

Chapter 4

"Sybil, could you please transfer the test results of that last centrifuging to the computer?"

The robot turned and stared at the man in a white lab coat hunched over his work. "That is the third time you have asked me to perform that task, Doctor. Is today's pending visit distracting you?"

The man looked up. "I suppose it might be. There is so much I need to discuss with Dr. Kennedy. I want to make sure I have all my data laid out so he can review it. If he can see what I've done, maybe…" the man's voice trailed off into silence.

"There is more to this day than a simple scientific discussion," the robot replied. The comical metal eyes blinked, and she turned back to her work. "You are distracted because you love the doctor."

The older man huffed. "I'm not in love, Sybil. I'm incapable of it, remember?"

"Then you have a fondness for the doctor that exceeds what you show to others."

"I have no clue what you mean."

"You are not sexually involved with Dr Kennedy."

The white-haired man with ebony skin looked up from his work. "I'm not sexually involved with a lot of people, Sybil. I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"You find Doctor Kennedy attractive."

"Again, I find a great number of people attractive. You don't find me tackling people in the grocery store so I can have sex with them."

The robot turned back toward the human. One of the metal eyebrows rose on the robot and she shook her head. "You are purposefully obfuscating, Dr. Jackson. Dr. Kennedy is an individual you meet with regularly and who you find attractive. He also shares many intellectual interests with you. With those criteria, he is the first of his kind with whom you have not at least attempted to start a sexual relationship."

"You know how well my previous sexual relationships have gone. Maybe I'm just trying to preserve the scientific camaraderie that we share."

"You are socially inept. That is undeniable. Your sexual relationships have always ended in failure. But that is not your motivation. You care for Dr. Kennedy in as much as you can care."

The doctor turned around in his chair and stared at the robot. The robot returned the stare. "You know, Sybil, sometimes you can be a real bitch."

The robot nodded. "You programmed me to be brutally honest with you, Doctor. Occasionally, that results in me being a bitch." She raised her metal hand, clutching a sealed vial. "If you don't enjoy our interaction, you are welcome to reprogram me. But until that time, this is one bitch who will call them as she sees them. You care for Dr. Kennedy, and he is in love with you."

The doctor's head tilted to the side in confusion. "He's what?"

"His heart rate picks up every time he sees you. He looks at you two hundred twenty-three percent longer than standard human interactions. When your hands meet over an item that you both reach for, his hand lingers on yours far longer than in typical male interactions. But the easiest way to tell is that you can see it in his eyes."

"I can't see it," the doctor said, turning back to his work.

"On the contrary, you recognize it. You are incapable of feeling the emotions he is expressing, but you understand their outward manifestations. The doctor is in love with you, and you are protecting him from the one thing you think can hurt him."

The older man's head bowed. "Me," he whispered.

"That is correct," the robot said as she turned back to her work. "For what it's worth, Doctor, he is stronger than you believe. I think he would understand and be willing to work with your disability."

"After today, chances are it will be irrelevant. I'm going to tell him, Sybil."

"He will be angry."

"I suspect that's an understatement."

"And he will forgive you, Doctor. He will forgive you because he loves you, and that overrides so much more in his world than you can understand."

"I hope so, Sybil. I really hope so."

"The stories he tells of his family and how they interact leads me to believe that. The anecdotal evidence is skewed in your favor."

"How is it you see so much more than I do?" the doctor asked the robot.

"You see everything I see, Doctor," came the reply. "But you interpret the data through a filter that can't get beyond yourself. It leads you to faulty conclusions in the realm of interpersonal relationships. It led to your dilemma today. That is why I am here. I am here to help you navigate what you cannot see. But, as is often the case, you have ignored my advice."

"Do you think I'm ever going to learn?"

"I am uncertain," the robot replied. "I believe that…" The robot paused. "He's here, Doctor." The head of the robot spun around toward a monitor. The image of the young doctor appeared on the screen. "Hello, Doctor Kennedy. Thank you for coming today."

"Hi, Sybil," the doctor on the other side of the camera said with a smile. "Where is that taskmaster of yours?"

"He is here in the greenhouse laboratory with me. How was your trip over?"

"Smooth sailing," the younger doctor replied.

"I will lower the drawbridge. Shall I meet you at the front door?" the robot asked.

"Sure, that would be great. I look forward to seeing you again without a vidscreen between us," the young doctor answered.

Dr. Kennedy waited for the drawbridge to lower. The only access to the island attested to the owner's desire for solitude. The electronic security measures around the perimeter of Heart Island were tight, and no one foolish enough to test them ever tried a second time. What few guests there were, came onto the island from a ferry that docked at the entry arch. There they waited for admission into the main castle via the drawbridge.

Boldt Castle was once a tourist destination spot. The building of the sprawling castle and its outbuildings began in the early nineteen hundreds. Millionaire George Boldt started the original construction to honor his wife. Four years into building the remarkable edifice, construction halted when Boldt's wife died. He never returned to the island, and the buildings fell into disrepair.

Seventy-five years later, the government turned the land over to the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority. The group promised they would create a public park for the enjoyment of visitors to Heart Island. Restoring the castle created a lavish setting for weddings and receptions. The Alster Tower and the Power House both became museums. They chronicled the early twentieth century's wealthiest lifestyles. Its location was only yards away from the Canadian border on the United States side of the Saint Lawrence River. With its proximity to military strongholds, it was also in direct line to becoming collateral damage during the War of the Continents.

Toward the end of the war, all sides had depleted most of their weapons using the sophisticated targeting technology of the time. That gave way to desperate nations pulling fighter jets and bombers out of mothballs. They launched them with whatever weaponry they had left toward their enemies. Attacks to disable the enemy's shipping lanes and supply portals became paramount. Command centers took precedence as well. A bombing raid that could achieve both placed it high on the list. A castle stood on a tiny island between the Saint Lawrence River Naval Carrier Base and the CFB Kingston Logistics Support Squadron. Heart Island became an unintended target of a last assault on the Canadian military machine.

The remains of the shattered buildings once again fell into disrepair. The Boldt curse became an urban myth. Stories told around late-night fires spoke of the haunting of Boldt Castle by George Boldt's ghost. It was the tale of a man driven insane by grief, whose curse destroyed the castle rather than let anyone find joy within its walls. In the same way Partridge Island became a home for ghosts and vandals, Heart Island turned into a sorry reminder of a bygone era.

When the United States government sold the island, the new owner had different ideas of what it was to become. Dr. Armel Jackson was a billionaire who valued his privacy, and Heart Island afforded him a luxury few others could afford. The doctor recreated Boldt castle from the original blueprints.

The exterior of the new buildings followed the plans for the original Boldt Castle. Much of the rubble of the old buildings and the stone foundations found their way into the new buildings. However, they did not clad the steel-supported roofs in terracotta tiles as they had when they first built the castle. The warm rust-colored tiles were individual solar panels providing power for the entire island. The rebuilt Power House was now a guest home for guests that never came. Dr. Jackson had only one visitor that he would even consider inviting to stay the night, and he had just arrived at the Entry Arch.

Inside, Dr. Jackson replaced the wood and plaster of the past with less faithful construction. On a cursory level, many of the original plan designs looked the same. The wood banisters and wainscoting of a bygone era were once again polished to a brilliant sheen. But triple-pane windows weren't available in the early nineteen hundreds. No one in the twentieth century ever saw lightweight insulating synthrock walls. Topping the travesty of unfaithful design, central air and recessed lighting had the Historical Preservation Society fuming.

Another major change to the profile of the island had the historical purists raging against the doctor. The original 1898 architectural drawings showed plans for a greenhouse. When Boldt stopped construction of the home in 1904, they had yet to set a single glass plane in place. The greenhouse was a major sticking point for the preservationists, who hoped the doctor was going to restore the island to what it once was. The greenhouse was what Boldt dreamed the castle might be one day. But it had no historical reality until Armel Jackson purchased the island. Had the preservationists had any idea what was behind the glass walls, they would have been apoplectic. Instead of the exotic plants shown in the blueprints, lay a sophisticated laboratory.

Dr. Jackson didn't care what the purists thought. He had enough cash on hand to ensure the builders didn't either. For Dr. Kennedy, the changes didn't make a difference. He loved coming to visit Dr. Jackson. He enjoyed walking through the planted gardens. And the house was dazzling, no matter the historical inaccuracies. Best of all, he loved the older doctor, and away from work, he felt less pressure to hide that fact.

The door opened wide, and the metal robot smiled at the young doctor crossing the drawbridge. Sybil was a robot that hearkened back to an era long since passed. Like so much of what Dr. Jackson did, he used plans from the past and augmented them to suit his needs. With Sybil, those plans came from a movie forgotten by the world, Short Circuit.

Johnny 5 left much to be desired as a robot. His lower half was a cumbersome rubber tractor tread wrapped around wheels. It left the robot capable of little more than rudimentary forward and back motions. The treads were still there in Sybil. But hidden in her design were hundreds of smaller wheels flexing and shifting to allow her momentum in any direction. That even included up and down flights of stairs.

Sybil's hands were an ingenious retooling of the ancient robot. Dr Jackson replaced the tripod hands with articulated five-fingered versions. While they were metallic looking, the silicon tips on each finger gave the robot a dexterity few humans could replicate. Her third arm and a rear-mounted tactical laser were a direct homage to the original Johnny 5, for which Sybil had no use. Still, she realized it made Dr. Jackson happy to watch them on display, so occasionally, the third arm would appear in complex research. When Dr. Jackson was watching Sybil in the garden, she used the laser as a lethal form of weeding.

Sybil's face came closest to the original look of the Short Circuit robot. The comical look of her camera eyes and metal flap eyebrows owed everything to the robot from which her design sprang. However, the primitive-looking cameras of Johnny 5 were anything but on Sybil. Sybil's cameras detected far more than any human eye. She could shift the visual spectrum at will, and with well-placed minicams, she had 360-degree viewing. Her telephoto capabilities rivaled some satellites. Her internal processors let her perceive subtle facial movements in humans. And her internal programming allowed her to interpret their meaning with keen accuracy.

The largest diversion from what the movie robot displayed was a single line of small LECs hanging where her mouth would be. The Light Emitting Crystals were small pinpoints of light that Sybil could use to form simple expressions. They never attempted to imitate what she said. Instead, she raised them in a smile, lowered them into a frown, or a few other simple emotional gestures humans used their mouths to display. Sybil was no ordinary robot, even by the complex standards of the times.

The robot could raise and lower herself, the same as Johnny 5 did. But her internal processors were far beyond the technology of the nineteen eighties. Johnny 5 was a remote-controlled puppet in a movie. Sybil was a fully functioning robot that took care of Dr. Jackson in a manner no human being was willing to do.

Sybil's eyebrows flipped up and her eyes rotated as they zoomed forward to focus in on the young doctor. "It's a pleasure to have you visiting again, Dr. Kennedy," she said, turning and waving her hand toward the castle.

"I hope it will be, Sybil," Dr. Kennedy said. "What's bothering your boss?"

"I believe that is something best discussed between the two of you," the robot said as she ushered the doctor in. After she closed the door, she turned to her guest. "Dr. Kennedy, it might be a step beyond my programming, but Dr. Jackson is a good man."

"I'm aware of that, Sybil."

"Please be kind."

"I grew up in a family that sees that as a tenet, Sybil."

"Then I will say no more," the robot said, pointing toward the hallway Dr. Kennedy had walked many times before.

The laboratory's greenhouse windows allowed in the bright sunshine. That light brought cheeriness to the otherwise sterile environment. Test tubes and centrifuges replaced the flowers, and a battery of computers filled a wall where trees should be.

When Dr. Kennedy entered the room wearing a level A hazmat suit, Dr. Jackson stood up and extended his hand. Dr. Jackson noted the length of the handshake. He timed how it lingered, and how Dr. Kennedy cupped both of his hands over his. He watched the nostrils on the doctor flare out as the young man's breathing quickened. Sybil was right, and Dr. Jackson was aware of it all along. The young doctor was in love with him. Strange how he found himself incapable of using that to his advantage the way he normally would.

"So, what was so important it couldn't wait, Armel?" Dr. Kennedy asked through the radio inside the suit. "I'm pretty sure you didn't call me to see me in this bunny suit on steroids."

"I've made a terrible breach of ethics, John," Dr. Jackson replied. He noticed the concern in the eyes of the younger man. "I mean terrible with a capital T. I will probably lose my license over this one." He paused. "And worse, I think I'm about to lose the only friend I have."

John Kennedy's look through the safety shield didn't change. "We best get ourselves a couple of chairs."

From behind, the young doctor felt a chair roll up against him. "Here you go, Dr. Kennedy," Sybil said as she pushed the chair closer.

"Thanks, Sybil," the doctor said, taking a seat next to his associate. Dr. Jackson pulled up his lab stool and dropped it down to eye level with John. John put out his hands in a gesture of what's next? "So, Armel, what have you done?"

"I swear, it all started as an accident. I should have thrown it all out, but there it was, a mystery like nothing I had ever seen, and I couldn't turn away from it."

"Sounds like you," John said as he rolled the chair back.

"I was at the CDC lab experimenting on the viral cell samples we collected from the outbreak in Spain. Everything was going as I expected. Except in one sample, something was wrong. In one vial, the Zaragoza virus wasn't replicating. In fact, there was no sign of a virus anywhere. My original thought was that I had missed inoculating the vial. It had been a long night, and I was about to write it off as human error. I prepared to throw the vial into the incinerator when I saw it. There was a mistake, alright. I was working too late, pushing myself to find the answers to the outbreak, and I screwed up. I contaminated the sample with something."

Dr. Jackson brought up the data on his screen. His hands flicked through the various vials and the reports next to them. He stopped on a vial that, to everyone else, would seem identical to all the others. "I felt like Alexander Fleming discovering penicillin. It wasn't that there was no viral growth. The virus was dead. Whatever had contaminated the vial, killed off the virus, and aggressively so."

With another swipe of the hand, the data report came up. "This was the only contaminant in the vial. That one strand of red hair."

Dr. Kennedy's look barely changed as he pulled off his hood and ran his fingers through the thick strawberry-blonde hair on top of his head. "I take it you don't have many ginger friends?"

Armel shook his head. He watched the young doctor's actions and pulled off his hood as well. "I don't have any friends, John. I have colleagues at the CDC, and most of them prefer not to talk to me unless absolutely necessary. They're mostly idiots, so I prefer it that way, too."

"I don't seem to have that many problems with you," John rebutted.

"Because you're driven by the research, and you're not an idiot," the doctor replied as he adjusted his lab coat.

"Well, how flattering," the werewolf in human form replied with a touch of sarcasm.

Dr. Jackson stared at the young doctor. "I didn't call you here to flatter you."

"Dr. Kennedy is aware of that, Dr. Jackson," the robot interrupted. "He was being acerbic."

The older doctor looked up at the robot. "Of course he was," he said with a wave of his hand. Without hesitation, he returned to his original conversation. "That strand of red hair in my compromised sample. I only work with one redhead, and he was collecting samples with me the day before I found the anomaly."

"Okay, so why didn't we get a call? Why did you go missing for days? We don't anticipate the need to go looking for you. And even when I visited to tell you we found the treatment, you were pushing me out the door as fast as I came in."

"That morning, before I disappeared… I was about to leave a message on the reader board before I left work. But then I thought, what if the man who sat across from me working to find a cure for the Zaragoza plague was the cure? What if he wasn't only a treatment? What if he was something more? I expunged the records and took the vial home to my lab here."

"I'm beginning to see your slippery slope, Armel."

"And so did I, but I couldn't stop myself. It wasn't as if I was hurting anyone. Millions of lives might be saved by what I discovered. But first I had to have the latitude to investigate the genetic makeup of that hair and how it could kill a mutated virus."

"We found a cure, Armel. Retroviruses aren't that difficult to decipher anymore. Once we broke the code, finding the treatment was only a matter of time."

"I know… I know…" Armel said, leaning forward in his chair. "But by then I had discovered so much more about that strand of hair. What I was seeing had the potential to end all illnesses; it could become a cure for every cancer, an answer to every genetic defect. But I needed more of the subject's hair. The possibility of creating a world of healthy, perfect humans was within my grasp if I could only get another sample. And then you came to tell me you found the cure. All it took was ruffling your hair as you were going out the door. You laughed and called me a tease. It was so easy."

John glowered as he leaned back. "And bang, you hit the slippery slope and rode it to the bottom."

"I realize that," Armel said, shaking his head. "If I had to do it all over again..." He paused, rubbing his hands. "My intentions were good."

"Well, we've all heard what road is paved with good intentions," John rebuffed. "How could you, Armel? Didn't the experiments on your ancestors at Tuskegee have any sway in your choices? Don't you realize what comes of experimenting without the patient's knowledge?"

"But I didn't infect you with anything, John. I can't infect you with anything. You're like a walking antibody to anything the world can throw at you. I thought that might be the case, but I needed to prove the hypothesis. I just…"

"Stole parts of my body for a bit of clandestine genetic experimenting?"

Armel's head dropped. "I realize there were ethical lapses in my judgment. But ethics are often situational at best. The laws in place today weren't there a hundred years ago. You go back far enough and what I did was downright benign compared to what they did to my ancestors.

"I never thought you would justify your actions using the lowest common denominator, Armel."

"I didn't mean to. Despite my desire to tell the world about this, every time I moved toward making a media statement, something held me back. Part of me couldn't go through with it. Deep down, I knew I would hurt you and everyone around you if I came forward. I couldn't do that. I wanted to, but I couldn't."

"You have my thanks, Armel. That couldn't have been an easy choice for you. Let's try to put this behind us."

Armel stood up and his hand swiped over the floating screen. It vanished from over the table. "Still, that doesn't address the real problem here. I can't unsee what I've seen."

John leaned forward. "And what, pray tell, Dr. Jackson, do you think you saw?"

"That you're not human."

"Well, not totally. A part of me is still human."

A stunned older man looked down at the younger. "You're not going to deny it?"

"Why would I? It's the truth," John replied. "You're a brilliant geneticist. You accomplish that by seeing what others miss. There may be only two other people in the world who would have caught the reason for no growth in that vial. Everyone else would have chucked it without a second thought. You have a gift, Armel. I can't have you calling that gift into question every step you take by making you believe that you work with flawed abilities. You recognized the truth. I'm not entirely human. Sadly, the truth about you is that you have no conscience about your actions most of the time. That makes you not entirely human on a different level."

Armel nodded. "One drawback of being genetically flawed."

John sighed. "So what do we do, Armel?"

Dr. Jackson held out the crystal chip he had pulled from the computer. "It's everything I have. I destroyed everything that links back to you. I swear no one will ever find out. If you've got some sort of brain suck, you can take it out of my mind. I won't stop you."

John laughed. "Brain suck? Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"I don't know," the frustrated human said. "I guess from watching too much Sci-Fi as a kid."

"Well, I don't suck brains. No one in my family sucks brains," the young doctor said, smiling. "We suck a lot of other things, but no brains."

Armel looked at John, confused. "You're making a joke about this? You're not mad?"

John pointed his finger at the doctor in the matching cleanroom suit. "Oh, no, I'm mad," he replied. "I'm furious."

"I told you he would be," Sybil interjected.

"Shut up, Sybil," both doctors commanded at the same time.

"Sure, don't listen to the bitch," the robot said.

The young doctor turned to the robot and laughed. "I'm sorry, Sybil," John said. "I was out of line."

"That is okay, Dr. Kennedy. I also told Dr. Jackson you would forgive him."

"And you're confident that will be the outcome?"

"Of course. You realize this error in judgment was a logical outcome of who he is. He is genetically flawed. It is difficult for him to see beyond his work or his personal interests. He is fond of you. He does not want anyone to harm you. That is why he could not talk to the media about his findings. He realized there was an eighty-three percent chance that exposing you as an alien would cause physical harm to you or your family."

"I'm glad then he didn't play the odds," the young doctor said.

The robot nodded. She turned and looked at the older man fidgeting with his white suit. "But he is incapable of seeing the emotional damage he often creates. What one cannot sense, one will find difficult to see in another. His capacity to understand how he betrayed your trust is mitigated, even now, by his thinking that, for the most part, he did the right thing. This is who he is. And it will be a struggle for him until the day he dies." The robot turned back to the younger doctor. "But you love him, and that will help get the two of you past this day. You will stay in his life to help him go where he cannot go on his own."

The young doctor looked at the robot. "I love him?"

"It is not in your nature to self-deceive, Dr. Kennedy. Let's proceed with that statement as the truth and work from there. He is incapable of loving you. Can you accept those two realities and still work with him?"

John looked at the man across from him. He tried not to stare at the body that was adding pounds a bit too fast with every year. His eyes gazed at the aging face with the dark skin that provided a vivid contrast to the white hair. He stared at the deep brown eyes clouded with worry, and he knew the answer. "Yeah, I can still work with him. No one needs to know about this incident."

Sybil looked at Armel. "Dr. Kennedy seems willing to forgive you for your actions, but I suspect that there will be contingencies to ensure his forgiveness. This is why you created me, Dr. Jackson. I am here to tell you that there is someone good sitting in front of you. There is something you need in your life beyond this house; beyond me; beyond your work. You need this man. It doesn't matter what he is any more than it matters what you are. For once in your self-centered, ego-driven life, realize there is something beyond you, and you need to hold on to it."

Armel shook his head. "I don't know if I'm capable of that, Sybil."

"Then do it out of selfishness. Do it because you will be a better man, and by becoming that better man, you will achieve whatever you seek with greater ease."

John put his hand on Armel's knee. "She has a point. You need a watchdog helping you, and I'm the closest thing you will find to that. You risked not only our friendship but your license to do something that you could have asked me to help you with. Your inability to see beyond your own needs and desires creates an Achilles' heel for you. You need a partner, Armel. You need someone willing to stand beside you."

Armel looked at John. "You consider me a friend?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," came the reply. "But I can't say it's always been easy."

"I realize I am difficult. Even now, I realize the socially responsible thing to do is say I'm sorry. But I have such a difficult time seeing my error beyond the legal ramifications of it."

"Well, that's the Armel I've come to know and love," John said with a laugh.

"You love me?"

"Yeah, that's the word. I'm sorry you don't understand it beyond the dictionary definition."

"But you're okay with that?"

"For the time being, I am." John stood up. "But for now, I think it's time you found out the truth about who your coworker is."

"Are you going to turn into some kind of alien?"

"I'm a werewolf, Armel. But changing into one won't help you. Humans that don't love us don't see us. I could shift and you might watch my clothes tear apart, but nothing else. I'm fond of you. You know that. But I'm not willing to ruin my clothes and let you gawk at me naked just to prove a point."

Armel shrugged. "Is there ever a chance I might see you naked for other reasons?"

"Is that something you want?" John asked.

"I'm a sociopath, John," Armel answered. "I want anything that makes me feel good."

"Fair enough," John said. "We'll include that in the conversation." The young doctor turned to Sybil. "Can I impose on you to make us a couple of sandwiches and join us in the library?"

"Of course, Dr. Kennedy. Are you asking me to stay after I deliver the sandwiches?"

"I think you need to hear what I have to tell Armel. You watch over him. You care about him. For the time being, you're the only family he has. You have as much a right as anyone to know where the two of us go from here. It's time we started behaving like a family."

The LECs in the robot's metal mouth formed into a slight smile. "That would be very nice, John," she said as she turned and left the room.

Chapter 5

Will blustered into the room, waving his arms. "They're here. The lobby security told me they're on their way up."

"Relax, Husband," the polar bear said, leaning back in his chair. "Dr. Kennedy won't bring someone to visit the family without some thorough vetting."

"It's not that. It's who he is. He's Dr. Armel Jackson."

"Who's that, Old Wolf?" Oliver asked, slipping off the lap of the Kodiak.

"He's a two-time Nobel Prize winner in medicine. He was head of the team that created the fetal treatment to correct Down syndrome before the child was born. And he did that when he was twenty-three."

"He's considered the top geneticist in the world, Oliver," the blue bear sitting on the couch answered. "He is, without a doubt, the most visible. The good doctor loves the limelight and adoration of the crowd. John is better, but he hides in the background as part of Dr. Armel's teams that rarely get credit for what they do."

"That explains why your husband is sitting this one out with the temple dogs," Derrick said with a laugh.

"Yep," JP said as he played footsie with his blue bear mate. "We're pretty sure the conversation today will involve things he doesn't want to sit through. You're more than welcome to join him, Derrick. He could use a playmate."

"Them New Zealand temple dogs ain't gonna be enough for him?" the badger asked.

"Well, I'm sure they'll help. But it's been months since we've seen you all. Let's say the hubby is getting an early start on where we both hope to be later this evening. And you know Chet's fondness for Derrick."

Derrick grinned shyly. "Thanks for the offer, but I have a feeling I should be here today."

Oliver put his paw to his chin. "I'se wondering now if being with Chet might not be a good idea."

Nathaniel looked down at the badger. "You're the one who said you wanted to see Dr. Kennedy's boyfriend."

"Yeah, but I'm thinking Chet's got the right idea," Oliver said, fidgeting. "If you all is gonna be talking about science, I'd just as soon has you explain it to me while you's on top of me later tonight."

Nathaniel laughed. "I won't want to explain it to you later on tonight when I'm on top of you."

"That's even better," Oliver said with a laugh. He turned to the otter. "Adam, can you gets me to New Zealand?"

The meeting room door opened as the otter's hand went up. Dr. Jackson stared into the space where Oliver once was. "Did I just see a man disappear?"

Adam turned around and smiled. "You might have."

The doctor's look of shock spread. "You talk. You're a giant otter that talks."

"We're pretty much all talking animals, Doctor," Eric said, leaning his elbows on the desk. "Adam is the only one you see because he has no human persona for your mind to lock onto. We wanted to see your reaction to him with no filtering."

"Well, my heart is still beating," the doctor replied. "So, I guess your experiment didn't do any permanent damage."

John put his arm around the white-haired doctor and squeezed him. "Armel, this is my family. Or at least the ones I felt would best understand why we're here today. Oliver was the one you saw disappearing. My guess is he's off to spend the day with part of my family who's not here."

JP nodded. "I hope you two don't mind. Oliver doesn't enjoy talking about science."

Max nudged the Kermode bear. "Especially since he plays so fast and loose with it."

"So, Oliver is the little man who disappeared?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"That would be him," the old wolf replied. "I'm Will Gentry."

"The CEO of this floating island you call a building?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"That would be me," Will answered. "And the building isn't floating. We had to do something when Manhattan's frontage went underwater. I hate moving. So, we retrofitted portions of the building on top and used the lower three floors to moor the building to the ocean floor. You should see the basement floors. There are all sorts of interesting thrusters, balance mechanisms, and waterproofing tech. We need to keep everything in shipshape. You two came in from where the third floor of the old building used to be. We created a new façade and breakwater, made a bridge to the mainland, and added a few floating shops along the boardwalk to help tourism. Et voilà, you're looking at the corporate headquarters of Bear Paws Enterprises. And it is still where it's been for hundreds of years."

The wolf pointed to the two short-faced bears Armel only saw as humans standing in the corner. "Those are my sons, Dr. Nathaniel Templeton, and his husband, Max Templeton. Nathaniel is the redhead. We like to keep all our practicing physicians redheads so we can tell them apart."

"Really?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"No," the Kodiak cut in. "Will can be unmercifully cantankerous with visitors who express an interest in his family," the brown bear replied. "I'm Kris, and yes, I'm aware I look like Santa Claus. The gray-haired gent to my right is Eric. To his right, the cute little guy with the bushy beard is Derrick. To his right are Max and JP Carver. His parents named Max after his uncle in the corner, so expect a bit of confusion keeping them straight."

Dr. Jackson made a nod toward the two sitting on the couch. "You're the ones who altered my genetics?"

Max's blue fur ruffled as he shifted his position awkwardly. "Not yours, but more than likely your great-great-grandparents."

"I suppose I should thank you, but I'm struggling with the reality of what you did."

"We weren't happy with our options," Eric said, still leaning on the table. "It was either help Terra get rid of what was killing her or change your DNA and hope you found a way to survive." The polar bear took a deep breath and exhaled it in a snort. "For some of us, we're still observing the results."

"I would recommend that. Genetics have a way of mutating even the best of evolutionary traits," the doctor said.

"We're aware of the complications," JP replied. "It was a last-minute effort to save the human species. We haven't backed down or stopped caring about you. But we also know the only commitment we made that day was to protect Terra." The Kermode bear, whom Dr. Jackson saw as an overweight man with close-cropped white hair, leaned toward the doctor. "You seem pretty well versed in our history."

"John has been trying to teach me about it. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or write him off as insane. But I guess with a talking otter staring at me, I would need to write myself off as insane if I chose not to believe it."

"John never lies," Eric replied. "No one in this room will lie to you today, Dr. Jackson. We hope you extend us the same courtesy."

Armel nodded. "Of course. Of course."

"So why the meeting, John?" the white bear asked. "You two seem to be doing fine without us. If you're asking us to plan a wedding reception for you two, I'd say talk to Gabriel. He loves to throw those things together."

Dr. Kennedy waved his arms, signaling a misinterpretation of their motives. "Hold on, guys. We're not getting married. I'm here to ask you about turning Armel. But we won't move forward unless we get the unanimous approval of everyone in this room."

"That's not our decision, John," Kris said, shaking his head. "That's between the two of you."

"No, this time I need to involve the family."

Will folded his arms. "Get it out, men. Family is waiting for me in New Zealand, and your beating around the bush isn't getting me any closer to them."

"Along with several good reasons John might turn me, there's an excellent reason it might not be a wise idea," Armel said.

"And that is?" Eric asked.

"I'm a sociopath," Armel replied.

"Intriguing," Kris said. "I thought we were calling it advanced antisocial personality spectrum disorder nowadays."

"It takes too much time to say that, and AAPSD is yet another in a long list of acronyms that confuse everyone," Dr. Jackson replied. "Everyone understands who I am better when I say sociopath."

"True that," Will said. "And point taken about it being a significant reason not to turn you. Our history with sociopathic beasts isn't good."

Armel looked at the old wolf he couldn't see. "John told me the story of the Children of the Night. Without their genetic code to look at, I can't be certain, but I'm confident my turning wouldn't have the same result." The doctor paused for a moment. "Although what happened to them is a textbook example of how to create any number of psychopathic creatures. We can see most of the variables for their adverse outcomes. Genetic mutations from the lengthy gestation mixed with traumatic issues of abandonment are at the core."

"So, how does turning you not result in the same thing?" Will asked.

"What happened to them has already happened to me," the doctor answered. "I am already my version of the Children of the Night. The difference is I am a sociopath with a gene spliced into me. It forces a bit of empathy onto my sociopathic nature that I wouldn't feel without that gene."

John put his hand up. "He figured out that one on his own, guys. He also figured out we're not exactly human, so don't hold back anything. Chances are good he already knows it."

"Being a sociopath with a gene trying to keep you in line has got to be rough on so many fronts," Kris said as his thick paw leaned against the desk.

"I am trapped between two worlds," Armel replied. "My instincts tell me to do one thing, and a gene buried deep inside me tells me to do something else. There is a delicate balance, but John will tell you, it's tenuous at best."

"So, turning you into a beast… how does that help you, or more to the point, how does it not hurt the rest of the world?" the old wolf asked.

Armel looked at Will. "John said you would be the one to ask the hard questions. He was right."

"Trust me, Dr. Jackson, I'm going easy on you here," Will corrected. "But I figure John has already asked you all these questions and more. What I'm trying to do is figure out how this family helps you through the change."

"You already took that leap? How could you?"

Derrick looked up. "Most of us have spent a lifetime on the outside looking in, Dr. Jackson. We know what it feels like to want to be something that lies just beyond our grasp. You tell us how the turning helps you, and we'll support you. You only need to calm our fears that there isn't a downside to this where we are forced to stop a monster of our own creation."

Armel stared at the chubby man and wondered how the story John told him of the black wolf could be true. How could this unassuming, shy man who spoke hardly a word alter the universe with only a thought? He stammered a bit when he finally spoke. "If… if I understand the mythos surrounding your story, you'd have no difficulty dealing with me if I became a problem."

Derrick nodded. "I could, but that wouldn't be my responsibility. That would fall on John's shoulders, and he has far fewer options than I do."

Dr. Jackson turned to his redheaded companion. "Is that true?"

"Yes," John replied. "If I ask the Were Nation to accept another into their midst, I am the one responsible for that life. You should have learned that lesson from the Children of the Night."

"Then no, I don't want this. I thought I did, but I changed my mind." Armel turned back to the group. "I'm sorry I wasted your time."

Dr. Kennedy grabbed the shoulders of the other doctor. "No, Armel, you can't turn back because of this. I accept my responsibility. I told you I would be beside you in the turning. All you found out is how committed I am to that turning. Think about all the good you could do for others like you. You might find a cure or a way to better manage your disorder. You don't need to worry about my part in this. I'm willing to take the chance."

"But I'm not," Armel retorted. "I'm not willing to take that chance."

"Think about the others," John said.

"I CAN'T!" Armel yelled. "Don't you get that? I can't think about the others. I can only see how this affects me. There is one man in my life who can tolerate me. One man, John! I don't have feelings for anyone else. You see me in the lab. I don't give a damn about anyone but you, and the only reason I give a damn about you is because I like the way I feel when you're next to me. Whatever else I do, I won't let the possibility of my execution hang over your head when I turn. It will eat at you. It will darken how you feel about me. I can't let your feelings for me change, John. I can't afford to lose you."

"You won't, Armel," the young doctor said, lowering his voice. "You don't understand it now. And if you don't go through with what we planned, you never will. I love you, and that is a lifelong commitment to a wolf. If you walk away from this, if you never turn, I will still stay by your side. One day, I will be there to bury you. That's the commitment. But if you turn, if you take a leap of faith, you have the potential to find an answer to a question that has eluded you all your life."

"And what if after my turning you still need to bury me? Only this time after you killed me?"

"I have family. The men surrounding us, and so many others, will get me through whatever I need to do. They always have. They always will. You see, my dear friend, unlike you, there are people I give a damn about, and they give a damn about me."

Armel turned to the group. "Swear to me. You won't let him get hurt in this."

Kris shrugged his broad shoulders. "We can't, Doctor. You know the way experiments work. There are expectations. We hope for an outcome based on our best data, but the outcome is never certain. The only thing we promise is John will always be our family. And we take care of our family."

"And me; what if I do this? What am I?"

"Family," Nathaniel said. "And that means your family will watch over you and do right by what you become."

"Even if what I become is a monster?"

"Even if," Will said. "But you still didn't answer my question, Doctor. What do you hope to get out of this? Why take the risk of becoming a monster?"

"Because of all the people in the world, I understand my genome better than anyone else. I have sequenced myself down to the minutia of every cell in my body. Every scan of my brain from my first year in medical college is on file. I know exactly what I am, but I can't find the missing link. I can't find the key to what makes me who I am. If I turn and become better, I will compare what I was to what I became. Somewhere in that mix, there may be an answer to where our biology goes wrong."

"It could be more nurture than nature," Nathaniel suggested. "It's always been speculated an outside event triggers the change."

"I know," Armel said. "But it can't only be that. Thousands of other people watched their parents die in some horrible way and didn't grow up to be sociopaths. Something inside me changed at the death of my parents, but it was there waiting all along. I can't help but wonder if the outcome wouldn't have been the same regardless of my parent's death."

"You're thinking something akin to Down syndrome? A gene sequence that doesn't form correctly in utero?" the short-faced bear asked.

"Or some genetic combination that doesn't occur in the other ninety-nine percent of humans. Whatever it is, genetics, brain chemistry, or faulty wiring, I'm sure the key lies in understanding the genetics behind who we are. And that includes how the nature of every surviving sociopath changed that day. The day humanity averted total annihilation from a nuclear war. We thought it was Sky Shield that stopped those bombs from falling. But now I see it wasn't the government; it was you. No sociopath has ever been close to the texts outlining our disorder before that day. What those two did has a direct effect on who we are." Armel pointed toward the two smaller bears sitting on the couch.

"We realized there would be disastrous results, even lethal outcomes, to certain groups," Max replied, rubbing his blue feet together with an obvious sense of regret. "You're a century removed from that day, but the gene we spliced into humanity is not a dominant trait. When it is there, it overrides latent instincts in humankind. Something changed that day beyond your gene splicing. It created human behaviors that reduced the triggers for antisocial personality spectrum disorder. But it didn't stop you from being born. Whatever causes it, sociopaths will struggle with it their entire lives. A part of them pushes for them to live an egocentric life while the gene tells them to look outward."

"You enslaved an entire world to a genetic set of feelings it wasn't predisposed toward?" Armel asked incredulously. "And you consider me amoral?"

"In less than a day, humanity was going to be extinct, Doctor," Kris broke in. "Humans were poised to annihilate themselves in a nuclear war. We might have tolerated your actions if you didn't also kill Terra and all of us in the process. Humanity's genetic predisposition was to kill itself. What did you want those two to do?"

The doctor sighed. "I don't know. It seems draconian." He paused. "I might have done the same thing."

"But not for the same reasons," JP said. "You would have done it to save your life."

"And you didn't?"

"No, saving our lives and saving Terra was easy. Kill the humans. Case closed. But then, you wouldn't have been born, Dr. Jackson. We realized our solution wasn't a perfect one, but we erred on the side of saving the human race. And we did it in a way that kept sociopaths from rising to power again with their finger on the button. Go back and read your history. Tell me that given the circumstances we had, there was another option. Terra was ready to remove the threat to her life if we didn't act in a draconian way."

Dr. Jackson was quiet for a time, mulling over what he had heard. "So, I'm right about me? You two played God and made these choices for me without my ever having a voice?"

Will snorted out a laugh, and Dr. Jackson turned toward him. "That's the takeaway you get from this, Doc? You really are a sociopath. You can't see the world except from your perspective. And that fucking perspective is skewed enough you're actually complaining about being born."

"Old Wolf," the polar bear said, cautioning Will.

"No, Son," Kris interjected. "Let the wolf have his say. These two came here to hear our opinions. Let them hear them."

Will turned to the Kodiak and grinned. "Thanks, Husband." He turned back toward the doctor. "Let's lay a little groundwork here, shall we, Doc? First. Do you hold us to a higher standard than you hold yourself?"

"You control a great deal more power than I do," the doctor said. "I would think holding you to a higher standard is fair."

"Oh, and what power is that?" Will asked.

"You can wipe out an entire species."

"Like you did with the Zaragoza virus?"

"That was a virus. We're talking about a sentient species."

"Oh, so a guy comes at you with a knife. You're okay with letting that happen because he's a sentient species, and you don't kill sentient species?"

"No, no," Armel said, waving his hands. "You're mixing apples and oranges."

"Am I?" Will asked. "Four billion years ago, we were all a bunch of self-replicating cells. Land on earth back then and wipe out anything that wasn't sentient and the hairless apes never evolve. You told me you're okay with wiping out a life form that has the potential to evolve over eons into something amazing. And the only reason you used to justify your thinking is because it's attacking you. Humans were about to kill the Were Nation. By your standards, we had every right to rid the planet of the one thing bent on killing us. But somehow you think you deserve special consideration. So, does life or death for you depend on how high up the evolutionary ladder something has climbed?"

"There was an immediate threat to our lives with the virus."

Will laughed. "You're a smart man, Doc. You see the pit you're digging for yourself, right?"

"It's not the same. A virus isn't the same as a human being."

"And why not? What do you do if you're floating around in space and the things you let live on your skin start blowing each other up with bombs? And what if those bombs fry your skin and tear at your body? Tell me, what are you going to do?" The doctor opened his mouth and Will cut him off. "Remember, Doc, you promised you would tell the truth."

The doctor thought. "I would kill them. I can't roll over and die because of something attacking me."

"But they're sentient."

"It doesn't matter. I always do what it takes to survive."

"Ah," Will replied. "So, there is a tipping point where a virus and a human become the same thing in your mind."

"No, never," the doctor protested.

"You just wiped out the entire human race because you're Terra and they're killing you."

"Terra is a planet. Call it whatever you like. Earth is not living. There is no empirical evidence suggesting it's anything more than rock and water."

"Okay, let's not dispute that," Will said with a wave of his hand. "But boy, are you going to need to make apologies when you see the truth." Will folded his arms. "Let's get back to what you think you know. I was born in sixteen thirty-five. As you might guess, my educational opportunities were rather lacking. I'm a lazy wolf and I've not done much to improve myself in those areas over the years. So, which one of us do you think is more gifted, Doc?"

The doctor frowned. "Obviously me."

The wolf's paw rose and burst into red flame. "Can you do this, Doc?"

"Of course not."

"But you're sentient."

"That has nothing to do with sentience. It's some strange power. You're no more intelligent because of that than an electric eel is because it can shock me."

"Interesting. You seem to discount the things you can't do while you appear to hold on to an overly inflated importance about your own skill set."

"You can't tell me a glowing hand matches my intellect."

"Maybe not," the wolf replied. "But it's a gift you don't have. Your intellect isn't the only gift you possess. You have others, but I'm not discounting the one for which you're justifiably proud. It's incredible. But, in a competition, my glowing hand can toast your intellectual ass. So, reconsider how well you and your intellect stack up against the men in this room in the game of survival you shoved us into."

Will shook his hand, and the red flame disappeared. He turned to the men behind him. "Look at these men. They're a pretty rarefied group. Four men in this room can time travel. You already realize the two on the couch can do it. You're alive today because they can. They're also two of seven guys who either saved the humans or were kind enough not to wipe them out when they deserved it. Tell me, Doc, on a strictly apples-to-apples kind of scale, what have you done lately to save humanity?"

Dr Jackson's hand started to rise to answer, when Will added, "And don't mention the pandemic you avoided. Your team did that, not you. We know more than the press was ever told, Doctor." Armel's hand lowered. He was mute as the wolf continued. "And, about the otter... I figure you already realized he's an alien. There are four of them in the room, but he's kind of special. He has four other guys living inside him, and those men can come together and kick butt when they need to. How good are you at working with your peers? They didn't get much credit in your news briefings for the work they did. My guess is they think you're as big a dick as I do."

Will drew up nose to nose with the doctor and when Armel backed up, Will took another step forward. "You arrogant son of a bitch. You self-absorbed asshole. You tiny little amoeba in this universe strutting around like you mean something. Do you want to complain about what they've done to you? You go right ahead. You can do that because they did what they had to do to preserve your people instead of wiping them out. They treated you like something that one day might be amazing instead of yet another virus. They showed you compassion instead of treating you like another disease to slough off the skin of something far more evolved than you. You're here because those men love you; even though you can't fathom what that means.

"Complain all you want about how inconvenient it is for you to feel emotions that force you to think about the consequences of your actions. Tell it to the gray-haired guy behind the desk. Ask him how difficult it was not to wipe out all of humanity when he watched thirty-five of his brothers killed while trying to save humanity, and the remaining five killed by humans over the centuries. One guy, Doc. One guy with the power to wipe out every human on this planet. Humans were the virus that killed his entire family. He stayed his hand instead of choosing your approach."

Will pointed to Kris. "Tell Santa over there how difficult your life is because you're forced to think outside your own pathetic box now and then. The humans came to kill his family, and he didn't kill any of them. In fact, he brought them back from the dead. And then, in an act of grace I still can't fathom, he blinded the humans from ever seeing us again until they loved us. Is that what you would do if something came to kill you, Doc?

"I'm betting you think the otter is mentally inferior to you because he's smaller and cuter than your sorry ass. But he can bend space without the use of a wormhole. Tell me if you're up to date on those physics. Tell him how difficult it is for you to deal with conflicted emotions. Then ask him what it's like when you're called on to kill your own because they've gone rogue and are enslaving the universe. You whimper about not being able to give up one man in your life who treats you kindly. Try being the one to turn your race to ash because that's what it takes to save a billion worlds populated by beings you will never know."

The doctor took another step back, and Will followed him by stepping forward. "That cute chubby guy with the beard; tell him how tough it is for you. He stood up to an entire armada of invading spaceships, each the size of a planet, and he took them down without one death. Not one, Doc. Tell me how tough your life is when you figure out a way to let those viruses you killed live long enough to evolve into something wondrous. He gave the ones out to kill us a second chance to do that. Your ancestors have been on the brink of extinction more times than you realize, only to have the men who surround you save them."

Will didn't let up even as the doctor stepped back, slamming into the robot behind him. "And those two bears with the wings you can't even see, tell them about the angst you're going through because you've got a gene that makes you do the right thing. File a complaint as another one of those whose greed and narcissism started a global war on the day of their marriage. You weren't there to make the choices that left this planet a nuclear wasteland. But the species that did that were your kin. Whine about how they played God by saving the very people who killed their husband and their families.

"Oh, and that intellect you lord over everyone in this room, you might rethink where you stand on that intellectual ladder. That otter isn't the only one who understands the physics of traversable wormholes and time travel. Do you know what it takes to fuse energy into matter, let alone splice a gene into every human living on this planet? They do, and that's for starters.

"They hold powers that are as natural to them as it is for that electric eel you brought up to shock you for looking at him sideways. But they don't do that. They don't fry your ass, even though you deserve it. Because they care about everything that surrounds them. You care about one thing, one person. And you're all upset because John might change? Do you think you're special? I thought so until I put you up against the men in this room. Damn if you didn't wind up looking like a cockroach with attitude."

The wolf growled. "Tell me, Doc. Tell me how much of a sacrifice you made to be here. Protest all you want about the unfairness of your life. But I hope you realize I'm not losing any sleep over you tonight, you ungrateful prick."

The wolf backed up, and only Dr. Jackson's hyperventilating broke the silence in the room. The robot reached around and shook the doctor. "This is your bitch wake-up call, Doctor. You do whatever you have to do to keep this family in your life. And you best have heard what that wolf said, because I recorded it. And so help me, if you make one more complaint about John's family, I will pin you down and make you memorize every word."

The doctor shook his head. "I heard it, Sybil." He looked up at the family, who gathered defensively around the old wolf. "I can't think of a reason why you would want me to be a part of your family. I came here thinking you would be amazed that I even deigned to visit you. John was right. Without your support, I don't have any chance of changing. Even if the turning fixes the why of what I am, the years of who I've been will not vanish. I'm still going to be who I have always been without your help."

The short-faced bear in the back of the room stretched. "I'm not so sure that we want to change all that much, Dr. Jackson," Max said. "The circumstances that made you what you are also created a genius. We don't want to take that from you. You need to figure out how to hold on to that part of you because if you turn, the feelings you struggle with now might only get worse."

"I thought about that," the doctor said. "The fear of losing my edge is undeniable. I don't know what I would do if this wound up compromising my abilities. The one thing that pushes me forward isn't that I will be a better geneticist. It's the hope that I can be a better person. There are moments of clarity when I know John can't sustain his love for me forever waiting for me to catch up. It's selfish, but I don't want that day to happen when he wakes up and realizes he's done waiting. Maybe, just maybe, by this turning of yours, I can find a path to him that works for both of us."

"So what do you do, Doc?" Will asked.

"I turn if you'll let me."

"Wasn't ever even a question about that," Will said. "John said he wanted to turn you. That was good enough for us."

Armel shook his head in disbelief. "But how… how can you even trust me to not be lying to you now?"

"Oh, that's easy," JP said. "We have the Sight. We know when you're lying."

"And I know if you've been bad or good," Kris said, with a hint of a smile underneath his white beard. "But that's only important if you want cool gifts come Christmastime."

"You can tell when I'm lying?"

Derrick nodded. "We were all aware that you lied when you said you wanted to turn to become a better person. You phrased it that way to make it sound like you had an altruistic goal. The real reason is you are afraid of losing John, and you don't know what you would do without him. You realize he's the only person who has the potential to hurt you as badly as your parents did by walking out of your life."

The doctor leaned back into Sybil for support. "You see that much?"

"And still we let John turn you," Nathaniel said. "Because regardless of the outcome, John has told us what he wants; and it appears what he wants is to have you in his life full time."

"I wish I could feel what you all feel," Dr. Jackson said, looking around the room.

John stepped in front of the doctor and put out his hands. "I hope one day you will. But until that day comes, I will be beside you."

"As will I," the robot behind him said.

"So, how is this done?" Armel said, reaching out his hands and grabbing onto John's.

"He didn't tell you?" Will said with a laugh.

John glowered at Will. "I was working up to it."

"Sorry," Will said as he pulled the invisible zipper across his lips.

"Oh god," Dr. Jackson groaned. "You won't need to rip out my throat or chew off my leg, will you?"

John shook his head. "That's worse than the brain suck thing. We seriously need to change your movie viewing habits."

"That's pretty much every werewolf movie, ever," Armel said defending his comments. "You can't blame me for being apprehensive."

"We do it by exchanging semen when I'm in my werewolf form."

"We do it by doing it?"

"Yeah," John said. "There are lots of ways it can work, but me penetrating you is traditional. Have you had any experience bottoming?"

"Dr. Jackson has had prodigious amounts of bottoming experience," Sybil replied. Armel turned and stared up at the robot angrily. "Sorry," Sybil said. Her metal hand went up, clutching two fingers as she zipped across the LECs forming her mouth. As the fingers slipped over the lights, they turned off one by one.

Armel turned to John and smiled. "I guess this is the time I get to see you naked."

"Seems like," John said, returning the smile. John thought about it for a moment and turned to Kris. "How is this going to work? He can't see me. If he's trying to grab something on my human body, he could inadvertently smash into something on my werewolf body."

Kris smiled. "I lift the cloud. He'll be able to see everyone, including you."

"That will work," John replied.

"Wait," Armel said. "I thought the only way I could see John in werewolf form was if I loved him."

"That's true," Kris said. "But I was the one who put the blinding into place. I can remove it from you."

"But as soon as we're done, you'll replace it, right?" the older doctor asked.

"I don't have to," Kris responded.

"No, I want you to. I am going to use it as a barometer of my progress. The day I see John as a werewolf is the day I know I've progressed far enough to love someone else."

"That makes perfect sense," Kris said. He looked at John. "If you didn't tell him about the sex, I'm assuming there is much of his education you haven't disclosed."

John gave a guilty nod. "To tell the truth, I didn't think we'd get this far. I didn't want him full of needless worry."

Dr. Jackson's face dropped. "What needless worry?"

"The turning is painful the first time."

"How painful?"

"You wouldn't do it if I told you how painful it was. It gets better with time, though."

"What else?"

"Once you've got your legs, it's traditional for the family to join us in welcoming you to the family."

"That doesn't sound so bad. If they're going to help you help me, I want to meet the family."

"We generally do it by having group sex."

"Dr. Jackson is very familiar with group sex," Sybil chimed in. She looked down at the doctor. "You would equivocate over your past sexual encounters. They must know the truth to facilitate your integration into the family."

Armel sighed. "She's right. Group sex is easier for me than individual sex because I don't need to act committed or loving to anyone. If you're not upset by a guy who uses you all as playthings, I will do my best to act interested in your needs."

"Works for me," Will said, grinning at the doctor.

"Wait a minute. You just got through dragging me over the coals and you're going to have sex with me?"

"Not if you don't want to. But I will point out I've had over six hundred years of experience pleasuring men. That makes you a comparative novice at the very thing you said you enjoy."

"But you call me an ungrateful prick."

Will scrunched his face. "Yeah, I'm standing by that one. But somewhere along the line, you and I need to find a way to be family. If banging our brains out together helps us get closer, I'm in. If what you want is for me to stay home watching a movie and eating popcorn while my family welcomes you, I'm okay with that too. You decide. This is your life, and it's going to change big time. The only thing I care about is that you treat John with respect until you can treat him with love. The rest of us will do our best to help you with that goal."

"That much I can promise," Armel replied. He hesitated. "Six hundred years?"

"I can do things with my tongue that would tie an anteater's up in knots."

Armel shook his head. "I can't believe I'm saying this. I want you there."

Will laughed. "I admit it's unfair that I know how easy it is to get a sociopath to say yes. I've had a lot like you in my day."

"Really?"

"CEOs, politicians, bank presidents, you name it. Sociopaths have a very long history of finding their way into high places. I am just a guy who enjoys knocking them down a peg or two."

"You're pretty much as big an asshole as I am, aren't you?" Armel asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Will said with a smile. "I was born a bastard, and I've been perfecting myself ever since." The wolf leaned close to the human and whispered, "But I love my family, and one day, I hope everything we do together leads you closer to loving them, too."

"Me too," Armel said. The Sight pushed forward, and Will knew the human had told the truth.

Chapter 6

"Welcome home, Ancient One," Katashi said as he hugged the polar bear.

"It's good to be back," Eric said. The two beasts took each other's paw and walked along the south cliffs overlooking the Bay of Fundy. "I don't enjoy my time in New York. It's too hectic. I guess I'm a country bear at heart," he said with a laugh.

The two stopped at the overlook railing and kissed. "It's only for a few days. We'll be heading back to Montana on Friday."

"It will be good to see you until then. Perhaps you can join us for dinner on Thursday."

The bear thought for a minute and gave a nod. "That would be nice."

"Spackle has taken a fondness for cooking. He makes an extraordinary tofu curry over rice."

"Sounds wonderful. Who am I inviting? Your home is quite small for dinner parties with beasts."

Katashi laughed. "Do you think we could impose on Nathaniel and his family to let us use the Museum House as a gathering place?"

"I'm sure that is doable," the bear replied. The bear paused and looked out over the slow-moving waves. Katashi could tell he was struggling, trying to decide if he should broach a subject.

"Speak the words, Ancient One. You and I have shared too many lifetimes to hold back our feelings now."

"Our trip to Pulau Dawera still concerns me."

"The tigers are in wildlife refuges across Southern Asia. The rhinoceros are thriving at the Pulau Dawera sanctuary, and their caretakers are seeing to their health. So, the continued existence of those animals your brother worked so hard to save is no longer an issue. I must assume it is Tamil who concerns you."

"I worry, Katashi. He is a tiger. I acknowledge he is trying so hard, but the body and brain he was born with limit him. Even with my brother's chi…" the bear stopped short of finishing his sentence.

"I have watched humans as they take care of their weakest over the centuries. It has taught me much and shaped who I am in their company. We will see to Tamil's special needs."

"He will be such a challenge, Katashi."

"We never shied away from a challenge before, Ancient One."

"No, and I'm not saying we should now, but there are so many paths in front of us."

"Indeed."

The bear put out his hand. A small chip lay in it. "It's a short story from long ago. It's called 'Flowers for Algernon'. I hope you will read it."

The temple dog gave a slight bow, taking the chip. "I have read it many times. Is it what happens to Algernon or the treatment of the developmentally disabled that concerns you?"

"I think it's the consequences of intelligence acquired beyond our capacity to integrate it. Accelerated change beyond the norm often has unintended consequences. It's why there is a minimum age for turning a beast; to protect them. We want to make sure they understand what is going to happen. I'm not sure Tamil will ever be able to understand the change he might experience if he ever becomes a beast."

The temple dog nodded. "I understand your concern. It is overwhelming even for faculties much greater than what nature has given Tamil. But his intelligence might increase by turning," the dog speculated. "And he has a family to guide him his whole life."

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

"But we are not humans, you and I, and Tamil is not a mouse."

"But still…" the bear said as he leaned against the railing. "I don't want Tamil to suffer because we give him more than he can handle. He is an innocent in all of this. When do we decide if Kantrava's promise is fulfilled? I'm torn between wanting him simply to be a happy tiger by your side and letting him be whatever it is he should become."

"Perhaps he has already become what he should be. Perhaps being a happy tiger by my side is what life has chosen for him."

"But you promised to mate with him."

"I realize in our family, the promise to mate involves a great deal of sexual contact. But it does not mean Tamil and I cannot be mates without that closeness. The bond of mating goes far beyond the physical nature of what we do."

"I know, Katashi," the bear said with a sigh. "It's that… that…"

"I am a highly sexual being?"

Eric looked up at the dog and smiled. "Yeah, that, Dog. I want you two to be happy together. I understand you believe my brother's promise rests on your shoulders. And I accept Tamil has a right to engage fully in your shared life. But I struggle with how far we take this."

"Perhaps that is Tamil's decision."

Eric nodded. "But can he make an informed decision?"

"Have any of us who chose to turn made a truly informed decision?"

The polar bear smiled. "Point taken. Tamil deserves the right to be by your side in all you do. I would hate for him never to know the touch of a dog that has brought me so much joy through his body."

The temple dog returned the smile. "You are too kind, Ancient One. Tamil and I will find our path. We both understand it will not be an easy one. But we are not alone. Spackle, too, will help us find a way for our family that works for the three of us. Where there is love, we can forge a path."

"And is Tamil capable of that love?" the bear asked. "I mean, capable beyond affection and need?"

"I believe he is capable. The chi of your brother has rested in him for hundreds of years. You are the Unity, Ancient One. What are you, if not the essence of what we call love? We can teach how we express our love as beasts. I sense there is love in him beyond that gifted by his father. We only need to help him understand those feelings of love which he may not yet grasp."

The two watched a flock of seabirds picking along the shoreline take wing, moving in one great mass out over the waves. Katashi's hand slipped back into the bear's. "We all deserve a life where we are loved, but few of us ever find it. I have such a life, Ancient One. Tamil was promised he would experience that life as well. He may never understand all that the promise made by Kantrava means. He may never understand the depths to which love can go. But he deserves the sense of peace we feel when we close our eyes at night beside one who cares."

"Yeah," the bear said. "Yeah, he does."

"I do not wish to put flowers on the grave of a tiger thrust into a world so far from his understanding he could not cope with it. Tamil is my responsibility. I will guard him with my life. He will never doubt that he is loved."

"I will be there for you, Katashi. I will be there for Tamil. You have my word."

The yellow paw squeezed the white paw, and they needed no more words beyond the simple gesture.

Chapter 7

"Good god," Armel groaned as the Red Wolf touched down. "There are more?"

"Nathaniel, Max, and Oliver have husbands that live with their family in South Africa six months out of the year. We can't ignore them."

Armel watched as a pack of African dogs and a saber-toothed cat stepped off the lowered ramp. He breathed a sigh of relief that at least the cat wasn't as big as his bear husbands. But when the first footfall of the rhino hit the cargo bay door, he whispered, "What the fuck?"

"That's Chipo," John said with a grin as the rhinoceros made his way down the loading ramp. "You're going to love him."

"Have you seen… have you seen the size of a rhino dick?" Armel stammered. "It's going to be like having a baseball bat shoved up my ass."

"You're not obligated to let anyone shove anything up your ass if you don't want to," John said. "We already discussed this. Everyone will ask, or you can invite, but no one takes offense if you say no."

"No one?"

"No one!"

"So, do rhinos just cuddle?"

"Of course we do," came the answer from across the glen as the rhino stepped onto the grass. "But try to keep things in perspective. I'm not as well-endowed as my husbands, their fathers, or the temple dogs. I'm more of an upper mid-sized cock. They're the luxury models."

"Oh, dear god, is he telling the truth?" the anxious human fretted.

"You've seen Kris, Armel. Most of the beasts' genitals don't show until they're aroused, but Kris put his out there for everyone to see because he knew that's what his husbands liked. Take a good look at that Kodiak. That's him in repose. When he's aroused, it's going to get as big as you think a dick already that big is going to get. We don't lie, Armel," John said. "We rarely even stretch the truth."

"So what the hell is a temple dog?"

"They're not a what, they are a who," John corrected. "Temple dogs are the caretakers of the temple and monastery we walked by earlier. They used to be humans, but when the time came to turn, they abandoned being human and became only dogs."

"You can do that? Just let the human go?"

"They did. They had to have massive concentration on the turning to pull it off, though. I'm not sure all that they did to make it happen. You could ask them. They're in the forest right now, trying to round up the dragons to say hello."

"Dragons? I'm going to be fucked by dragons?"

John laughed. "Of course not. All the dragons are heterosexual, albeit they can change sexes when necessary. Besides, they're an alien race that chooses not to intermingle with us in that way. But they are our family and way smarter than us, so prepare for your ego to get stomped if they join in on a conversation."

The older doctor shook his head. "This is much more than I had anticipated, John. I'm kind of getting overwhelmed."

"Yeah, family can do that," John agreed. "Would you like to go somewhere quieter?"

"If it's not asking too much."

"Of course not," John said. He put his paws on his muzzle and yelled. "Okay, guys. Armel is getting a bit overwhelmed. We're going off to the woods to take a break."

Eric turned around from talking to the wild dog pack. "Armel, if you'd like, we can thin this herd for you. The man turning you is very much a part of our life, and that makes today special for us. He helps keep track of our family. It's a full-time job on top of everything he does with you. So, when we get him on the highland, he attracts a crowd."

The werewolf hugged the human. "So, about thinning the herd…" he said, letting the question go unspoken.

"I'm good, Eric," Armel yelled back to the polar bear. "I hope you realize I won't say yes to everyone on this highland who asks me for sex."

Eric laughed. "We don't expect you to," he yelled back. "We ask as a way of expressing our affection for you, but don't feel obligated to accept every request. You don't even need to accept any of them. The tradition says we offer. There's nothing said about the need to accept."

"Thank you all," Armel said, yelling one more time. He turned to John. "So, where is this quiet place?"

In moments, Armel looked up into the tall canopy of trees. "This is one of our most sacred spaces," the werewolf said. "So many beautiful unions happened here. So many mated beasts come here every year to renew their vows. Eric, Kris, Will, Derrick, Oliver — even Adam comes home every August. You should see the celebration." John pointed to the edge of the clearing. "Max and Nathaniel used this spot to get away from their hectic lives back when Max was still a human. This is where Max proposed to Nathaniel, and this is where Nathaniel came to mourn when Max died. So much of our history revolves around this place. This is where they renewed their vows on this side of the universe."

The older man took a deep breath and scratched his head. "Max died?"

"Max died as a human in another universe before Adam collapsed it all into a super massive singularity and rebuilt it on the other side. In this universe, Max became a bear before his cancer killed him."

Armel sat down on the grass. "Adam can create an alternative universe from an older one?"

"Not by himself. He needed a great deal of help. Derrick on the other hand, might be able to do it by himself. I suspect Oliver can, too. But then they've been alive since the birth of this universe, so their powers have been gestating for a very long time."

"The black wolf and the badger are fourteen billion years old?"

"Give or take a few million, yeah," John replied.

"I'm lost, John. I always thought I was in control of my world, but I've known you for five months, and everything I thought I knew, is turned upside down."

"That might be for the best. Sociopaths tend to have an over-inflated sense of their capabilities. Realizing you're about to become a very tiny fish in a very big pond might be helpful."

"You have no idea how my mind works, do you?"

John laughed, "Not a clue." John leaned over and kissed the older man.

At the end of the kiss, Armel's facial expression wasn't what John had hoped for. "Didn't like it?" he asked.

"I liked it. I've got a hard-on under these pants."

"But?"

"But I wish I could give you more. I know what you're hoping for, and I can't give it to you."

"Maybe one day you will. Until then, I'm happy knowing I can give you a hard-on."

The older man laughed. "I guess at seventy-two, being able to get it up for you isn't so bad."

John smiled and leaned into the human, pushing him back onto the grass. The wolf looked into the human's brown eyes and saw the panic. "Armel, you don't need to do this. Walk away, and no one will hold it against you."

"And you?"

"I walk away only when you tell me to."

"It's not what I thought it would be, John. I thought I would be in control."

"You control one thing, Armel, and that's your transformation. Everything else is beyond your control. The Changeling DNA will rewrite almost every part of who you are. If you can't let that control go, don't do this."

"But I can control the animal I become, right?"

"You need to keep it in your mind. If you can maintain your focus through the pain, you can become whatever you dream of."

"It won't upset you if I don't become a wolf?"

"You become what you want, Armel. I will love you no matter what you choose."

"You promise?"

"I don't lie, remember?"

Armel reached down and pulled his shirt up over his head. "Then I'm ready. All those animals out there won't come running in here the minute we get started, will they?"

John laughed. "No. When we start, they will sense it, but they won't come until we call them. That doesn't happen until after your transformation is complete and you're ready for company."

The white-haired man pulled at the belt of his pants. "I saw that rhinoceros. I don't think I'm ever going to be ready for him."

John smiled. "He only looks intimidating. The guy is as gentle as they come. Unless he's with Will, and then all bets are off. Those two are seriously dangerous together."

Dr. Jackson tugged at his pants. "And what about us?"

"What do you want us to be like?"

"Is it okay if we go slow?" Armel asked as the pants fell to the forest floor and he kicked them off.

"As slow as you need," John replied. The wolf stared at the naked human, and his grin widened as far as his muzzle would allow. "This has been a dream of mine for so long."

"I hope you're not disappointed."

"I'm not. You're so handsome."

Armel shook his stomach. "I'm fifty pounds overweight."

"And unable to take a compliment it would seem. I thought you sociopaths were narcissists."

"I am, but I fixate on things differently than most. Fawn over my work. I want you to be enamored with my brain."

"Well, you already know that. I love your brain," the wolf said. He reached out and stroked the human's cock. "And this. I'm kind of enamored with this. It's lovely."

"Yours is like most of your family's; a bit intimidating, but somehow just what it should be."

The wolf released the human and fell back onto the grass below. "So?" John said as he patted the grass next to him.

Armel sat down next to the wolf. "I wish this moment could be everything you hoped it would be."

"It is," the wolf comforted.

"You deserve to have a man who loves you."

"One day I will."

"And until then?"

"Like I said, I have a man with a hard-on. Not too bad, for starters."

Armel smiled. "Turn me, John."

The wolf rolled over on top of the human. "Think of your beast. Keep him in mind. Try not to let the incredible sex distract you, because I'm pretty good when I take it slow."

Armel smiled. "So, am I." The two leaned into a kiss, and both realized they were telling the truth.

Chapter 8

The sun had set behind the mountains, and the Northern Lights were swirling in the sky before the smell of a newborn beast filtered out from the forest. Through the night, the beasts played in the glade, waiting for the call. But toward daylight, everyone realized this was not a normal turning.

Deep in the forest, John was guiding a newborn beast into an unfamiliar life. Armel was confused by the myriad of feelings sweeping over him for the first time. The family of beasts could wait. It wasn't about the sex. It was never about the sex. Welcoming a new beast into the world was always the goal. It was about finding what it took to ground the newborn in an ever-changing world.

Chipo rolled off the old wolf. "How do you do that, Will?"

"It's easy. I control my ass muscles and milk you. I learned it from the Hexadeltans."

Chipo laughed, looking up into the morning sky. "Not that, Old Wolf. I get how you do that, and it's amazing. How can I fall on top of you without crushing you?"

Will rolled over to the side of the rhinoceros and cuddled close to his leathery skin. "That's easy too. I hear the three snorts, and I brace for impact. A beast can take more weight than you if he's prepared. You have a tell. You snort three times right before you come. It makes it easy to prepare for those legs of yours slipping out from under you."

The rhino let out a happy sigh. "You make me feel light, Old Wolf. I almost feel normal with you."

The arm of the gray beast wrapped around the wolf and pulled him in tight. "Pfft," the old wolf said. "Who wants to be normal? I love the pressure of your weight on top of me. It's true, I can't take it forever, but for a moment, I'm supporting you through your orgasm. One of the most pleasurable experiences we share in life, and I can make sure you have nothing to worry about except enjoying that pleasure. There's something special about staying with you in that moment that I can't explain, but I love that sensation."

The tug from the rhino kept the wolf tight, and the three fingers played with Will's cowlick. "I love you, Old Wolf."

"And I love you, Chipo."

"What are we going to do about John and Armel?"

"We wait. We always wait for those who wander. They are on a path that neither of them has ever trod. This is the first turning for both of them, and it will be unique because of the circumstance no matter what."

The saber-toothed cat slipped up alongside the old wolf and rubbed his chest. "And you, Father... you're going to accept what Armel has chosen without one word of complaint, right?"

Will laughed. "Of course, Son. I realized you could take my comments and throw them back at me. You're strong. You know who you are, and you're confident in your decisions. Armel is only now waking to a world that he thought he controlled. He'll need time to find his tiny place in a big universe."

"Tiny, indeed," the cat reflected.

Will looked at the cat. "Are you aware of something we aren't?"

"I always see the turned beast."

Will bolted up. "Well, do tell. It's obvious that those two are involved enough that they forgot all about us."

"You like surprises, Old Wolf," the cat answered. "You can wait."

Chipo rolled away from the two and pushed himself up. "Well, you can all wait. I'm starving." His head lowered. He took a mouthful of grass and chewed.

Will stared at the rhino. "I love watching you masticate."

"Bastard," the rhino said between chews.

"No, honestly, I do," Will affirmed. "It's that slow gumming of something shoved in your mouth. It's hot."

"You're such a perv, Old Wolf," one of the two cuddling short-faced bears said sleepily.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Max," Will said as he rose on his hind legs and stared at his dew-matted fur. Wolf–human–wolf. The dry wolf gave a stretch and grinned at the short-faced bear.

"Then I said it wrong. I meant it as a compliment," the bear replied. "Besides, it's kind of nice to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks watching Chipo chewing food with that prehensile lip of his is hot." He leaned over and kissed his husband. "Morning, Beautiful," he said.

"Morning," Nathaniel replied. He looked down at his belly. "I'm soaked."

"Not my doing," Max said. "I swallowed."

"I'm soaked with dew."

"Bear, human, bear," Max said, unconcerned. "Easy-peasy. You're dry in seconds."

The larger short-faced bear jumped to his feet. "And deprive my family of this?" he said with a violent shake as he spun around. Water flew everywhere. Like a massive, furred sprinkler, Nathaniel spun about and showered everyone within ten feet.

Eric bolted up from the arms of the Kodiak, clutching his badger husband. "SON!" he yelled.

Nathaniel stopped in mid-spin, and his head lowered. "Yes, Papa?"

The polar bear walked over and kissed the short-faced bear. "This is the highland. Baths in the morning. Showers at night. I have a routine."

Nathaniel smiled. "I can scrub your back."

Kris rose and rubbed his eyes. "I thought that was my job."

"Well, none of you best be thinking the badger is gonna be your scrub brush this morning," Oliver said, standing up and stretching. "Max may have swallowed last night, but there's a Kodiak bear that sure as hell didn't."

"I tried," Kris said defensively. "But Zhuang was pounding me so hard I couldn't keep you in my mouth."

The yellow dog, grooming himself off to the side, looked up. "I thought that was what you desired."

Kris nodded. "It was, Zhuang. You were wonderful. I'm only saying that Oliver getting covered in his own cum wasn't how I meant for it to turn out."

Bolin stood, prepared to shake off the dew, and thought better of it. "Perhaps we can take the badger to the creek and bathe him?" He looked at Oliver and smiled. "I removed as much as I could from you, but I realize my tongue was inadequate for the job."

Oliver grinned as his foot made a familiar circle. "I loves your tongue, Bolin. But you can scrubs me clean with them paws of yours and I'd be happy."

The golden dog leaned down and pulled the badger up, kissing him. He flung the little mammal up on his shoulders and began walking toward the creek. "Derrick and the winged family are in the cave apartments sleeping," Bolin said back to the crowd stirring from their sleep. "Rong is with them. Most of the wolf pack spent the night with Chen in the monastery. I believe they are enjoying the hot springs at the moment. Anders, Lewis, and Adam are still asleep in the forests above the rice fields with the African dogs. We left them there last night quite exhausted."

The polar bear lifted himself and stretched. "I'm joining those two," he said as he began a slow walk toward the retreating golden dog and badger.

"Me too," the Kodiak said as he pushed onto all fours and lumbered toward the threesome.

"I'm in," Will said. He turned to the crowd, still trying to wake up. "Come on, Sons. Let's go get cleaned up." He gave the rhino a swat on his butt. "You too, Handsome. I'll make you breakfast after I scrub you down."

Chipo looked up from his grazing. "The pancakes that look like a mouse?"

"Sure," Will said with a laugh. "I'll even toss in some cilantro and salsa on top." Chipo turned around and ambled toward the creek alongside the old wolf.

When the family reached the upper creek pond, they found it already occupied. The family smiled, watching the two kissing. The timber wolf was so involved with his partner that neither noticed the family's approach. Will cleared his throat, and the two startled beasts turned toward the family. "Morning, men," Will said. "I don't think this pond has ever looked more inviting than it does today."

John jolted up, dragging Armel along with him in his arms. "Oh god. We forgot about the call." He slammed one fist into his forehead. "How could I forget to make the call?"

Eric laughed. "You didn't forget anything, John. The two of you were preoccupied with something more important. You don't have to make the call the same night as the turning. If you wish, we can leave you both here to enjoy your morning. We have it on good authority there are Montana wolves soaking in the hot springs, and that has its own allure."

"No, no, please stay," John said with a wave of his free arm. His other arm cradled a small beast that stared at the group with wide eyes surrounded by black and raised white patches. The patches of white fur looked like eyebrows in a perpetual state of alarm.

"What are those?" the red beast asked, pointing to the temple dogs.

"We are not a those. We are a they," Bolin said with a bow. "I am Bolin, and this," he said, pointing to the other dog, "is my mate, Zhuang. We are temple dogs. We are caretakers of the highland and guardians of the dragons. Our brothers are sharing the hot springs with the wolves."

"Oh, dear god," the beast said as his striped tail wagged nervously. "Their dicks are bigger than I am."

Bolin looked down at himself and tried to brush his fur over the pillar of flesh rising between his legs. "I have forgotten that our morning erections might make some uncomfortable," he apologized. "I am sorry to cause you distress." He brushed his fur again and then looked back up. "I am sorry. It will most likely not go down in the company of my family. When we bathe, there is a great deal of fondling, and my genitalia seems to have a mind of its own anticipating that pleasure."

The small ball of red fur continued to stare. "Look at their dicks," he repeated in a voice somewhere between awe and terror.

"I do all the time," John said as he gave the little mammal a playful shake. "They're quite amazing and a great deal of fun."

The red beast with a raccoon-like face shook his head. "I can't see them doing anything with me unless they want to use me as a condom."

Zhuang smiled. "You limit yourself by your inexperience, Little One. With little thought, I can think of thirty-seven ways my genitals can give you pleasure without our need to use you as a condom."

Bolin repeated the smile and bowed. "My mate is correct. Size is irrelevant in sexual pleasure if you see beyond what you believe to be sexual."

"That makes no sense at all," the little mammal said as he continued staring at the two yellow beasts. He looked at the badger clinging to one of the dog's shoulders. "You, Oliver," the red beast said, pointing to him. "Do you have sex with those things?"

"They is dogs, bastard panda, not things," the badger retorted. "You gets your head out of your ass, and maybe we'll talk about what I does with the dogs. But you ain't getting nothin' from me until you apologizes to them two. I ain't talking to no dickhead."

That was the moment the world changed for Armel. It overwhelmed him. The sensation wasn't the same as the empathy gene forcing him to do the right thing. It was different. It lingered at the forefront of his mind, pushing him like nothing had ever done. New and frightening, he saw the outcome of his words beyond transmitting data and information. He could see a potential harm in his words. How strange to struggle to find a word for an emotion new to him. One word finally came to him he never used before: guilt. He felt guilty for his actions.

The red panda struggled with the emotions inside him until he shook in the arms of the wolf holding him. "You can do this, Armel," the wolf said, pulling him close.

"I don't… I don't know how," the red panda whispered. "I never…"

"You know what's right, Armel," John pushed. "This is a lesson you need to learn. You need to learn what it feels like because it will be your constant companion going forward throughout your life."

The little mammal shook his head, trying to sort through the confusion inside him. He looked up and realized there was only one path he could take, only one logical thing to do, no matter how alien it was to him. He looked at the two temple dogs. "I'm sorry. I'm not very good at any of this." Armel heard the words he spoke and realized what they meant and why he had to say them. He had apologized for the first time in his life and meant it. He saw what he had done and could find no rational way to explain it other than he was wrong. Oliver was right. He was wrong. He was a dickhead. "I was a dickhead," he mumbled.

What came next was as alien to the panda as what had already transpired. He had no sooner spoken the words, but the burden of the guilt surging through him seemed lighter. The apology pulled him back from the overwhelming guilt and put him in a place that seemed as awkward, but somehow not as oppressive. Armel realized he was changing, and much more quickly than he imagined.

The dogs both bowed to him. "We realize the changes happening in you are confusing, Little One," Bolin said. "We will be here for you. There will be moments when old habits will rise. As a family, we expect that. We will not take offense as you learn what you have never known throughout your life."

There was another shift inside the red panda, almost like a physical jolt. This was what it felt like when someone who mattered forgave him. It was a weight lifting as if it had never been there. And it mattered to the panda that the dogs forgave him. It mattered that he corrected his mistake. The wolf pulled the little panda into a hug. "There, you handsome beast. Was that so hard?" John asked.

Armel buried his face in the warm fur. "More than you know. But never let me turn from these feelings, John." His short muzzle rubbed into the wolf's chest. "There is so much I need to learn."

The dogs approached the two in the pond and sat by the side. Armel looked up at the badger, who was smiling at him. "Thank you for calling me on the carpet, Oliver," the red panda said. "I'm afraid you will need to do that often going forward."

Oliver nodded. "We's all bastards from time to time, even when we tries not to be. You gots family, now, Armel. We loves you, but we knows who you is, and we won't cut you no slack. You're strong, and you gots too many years ignoring others for us not to push you. You gots to learn that old ways ain't necessarily the best even if they feels more comfortable than what comes at you now."

"I know, Oliver, I know," Dr. Jackson said, seeing the pathways of his new emotions diverging from the old in his mind like a flowchart. "This is far more complicated than I thought it would be. I overestimated my abilities."

"That overestimation is true for all of us at times," Bolin said as he lifted the badger off his shoulders and placed him on the ground. "It is expected as you begin a new journey." He bowed to the wolf and red panda in the water. "We realize the traditions of the Were Nation would have a new beast greet his family together. But if we could impose upon you, John, we would like to spend some time alone with Armel."

Armel looked up at John with an unmistakable look of terror. The little panda shook his head no, but John smiled at him. "Time to dive into the deep end, Armel."

"Have you seen the size of their diving boards?" the panda gasped.

"First rule of the Were Nation: Above all else, protect the innocent and helpless," John said, placing the panda up on the rock ledge overhanging the pond. "And you, my dear panda, are about as helpless as they come. The temple dogs will do nothing to hurt you, and nothing without your consent."

Armel looked up at the dogs. "Is that true?"

"Of course," Zhuang replied. "But you have asked how you could engage in sex with us, and you deserve an answer. For us, providing you with that answer in front of your family poses no problem. However, you are only now awakening to a myriad of new emotions. Those include some that are inherently human and quite useless to our time together." Zhuang put out his paws as he continued. "Shame is one of them. You might be embarrassed by participating in activities you think others might judge you for doing."

"I've been in group orgies. It's not like I'm going to do anything I haven't done before. It's just doing it with…" Armel paused. He looked back and forth between the two dogs. "I can't tell you apart."

"I am Bolin. But you are welcome to call us Dog, and it will not offend us. We realize it is difficult to tell us apart. We are identical, as are all our brothers."

"There are more of you?"

"Yes, there are seventeen of us in all."

"And the other fifteen are identical to you?"

"We are the same, down to our retinal scans and paw prints. All temple dogs are genetically indecipherable. My brothers and I will provide you with hours of endless exploration one day, Dr. Jackson."

The panda doctor nodded. "I'm sure you will."

"But for now," Bolin said, extending his hands, "we will explore your red panda body. You are a newborn, and temple dogs find the scent of a newborn beast irresistible. It would be a kindness to us if we could be with you in a more intimate setting."

"I won't get hurt?"

"Not intentionally," Zhuang answered. "Some ways we have thought of pleasuring you involve a certain degree of risk. We could avoid them if you would prefer, but the orgasms you achieve while upside down will be like none you have ever experienced."

The panda's thoughts raced ahead of him. "Upside down, huh?"

"It is twenty-eight on the list we made in our heads."

"You expect me to come twenty-eight times?"

"You are a beast. There are things about your body with which you are unfamiliar."

Armel turned toward the wolf holding him. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to spend a little time with them."

John laughed. "That's the spirit, Armel."

"You don't mind?"

"I have a lot of family surrounding me. I doubt I will be lonely while you're gone."

Armel realized one of the few emotions he understood before the turning was jealousy. He hated seeing others possess things he wanted but did not have. Days, sometimes months, were absorbed in finding a way to possess the things he coveted, only to cast them aside as soon as he gained them. That included people. The world was filled with cogs to be changed out indifferently to maintain the machinery that drove his appetites. Metal or flesh, food or toy. It made no difference to Armel, as long as he possessed what he craved when he craved it.

As the red panda looked around the group of beasts, he realized almost instinctively he wanted them all. But he realized if he went with the dogs, only two of what he craved would be his. The rest would attend to the needs of the wolf that turned him. The familiar jealousy pushed forward, but a new feeling replaced it. It was a sense that what he had was enough; that it didn't matter what others were going to do. John could be with his family, and he could be with the dogs. It wouldn't matter.

Realizing a truth he could never have acknowledged before, Armel reached for the dog's outstretched paws. That was when the second wave of feelings came over him. Those around him weren't things. They weren't something he was going to have for a time and discard later. His desire had pushed him to accept the dog's offer. That was as it had always been. Yet, lingering in the back of his mind, he sensed a responsibility to see them beyond the potential sexual pleasure they offered. This was going to be difficult. How was he going to attend to their pleasure without sacrificing his own?

The temple dogs' paws took the panda's. "Sexual energy, like love, is not a commodity, Little One," the dog said as he pulled the panda up onto his shoulder. "You do not have a finite supply that you must parse out. Sexual pleasure, you understand. So, today we will use it as a tool to help you find a way to understand love. The more you invest in the pleasure of another, the more you will find available to yourself. It seems counterintuitive, but it is always the case."

"Can you read my mind, Dog?"

"We sense your emotions. It is much the same as mind reading for one who is experiencing them for the first time."

"Then you know how afraid I am?" Armel asked.

"We do, but we will do all we can to assuage your fears."

"Dog?" the panda said, stopping before he asked the question.

"Do not be in such a hurry to find your place in this world, Little One, or you will miss all the beauty of the journey."

The panda buried his face into the soft yellow fur as the dogs walked toward the temple.

Chapter 9

Armel stared at the swollen cock and sighed. It was what he craved more than anything now. Thick, smooth, and inviting, it was also almost as large as he was. "I have no idea what to do, Dog," the red panda said as he steadied himself on the lap of the massive yellow beast.

"That is why we are here together; to help you see beyond the limitations you impose on yourself."

"Will I always feel this attraction to you and the others?"

"It will last your lifetime, Little One," the dog answered. He paused. "We call all our family Little Ones from time to time. We mean it as a term of endearment, but I can see where your size might make it seem insensitive. If you wish, we will not speak it again."

The panda thought for a moment. "Now that I understand why you say it, and to whom you say it, I think I would be upset if you didn't call me Little One."

The dog leaned over and kissed the top of the panda's head. "We are pleased to hear that, Little One."

The other dog rose. "It is time to begin your training," he said.

"Training?" the panda asked.

"Humans erroneously believe that we are all born loving and innocent."

The panda nodded. "I'm proof that's not the case."

"Love is a learned response," the dog said as he walked over to a large altar in the temple. "It is a series of actions from outside ourselves that create feelings we internalize. Those feelings, in turn, move us to similar actions toward others. In doing those acts, we find another series of emotions that mirror the first. We learn the acts we call 'loving' create harmony in our feelings and the feelings of others. Those feelings we call love, but they vary so greatly between each of us."

The panda frowned. "Unless you're like me. Need creates acts; acts create more need. There's no harmony, Dog. There's only indifference to the needs of others that I see as potential rivals for my needs."

The dog lit a punk of incense in front of a wooden statue of Ganesh and placed it in the sand. The multi-armed elephant of Hindu lore took on the warm glow of the burning stick. "We do not believe in gods, but we find the representation of some of them to be very attractive. We enjoy seeing them in the places we frequent. Ganesh is one Bolin and I find to be most handsome. Rong and Chen find him delightful as well. The Hindus believe he is the god who removes obstacles and watches over artists and intellectuals. We believe he deserves emulation despite his mythical nature." He turned back toward the other temple dog, holding the red panda between his belly and his swollen cock. "Our brother Noboru has a collection of Santas that he hides whenever Kris visits him. The bear pretends to be unaware of how arousing his human persona is to our brother."

Armel laughed. "Actions from the outside creating feelings on the inside?"

Zhuang smiled, "Very much so. Noboru does not wish his love of the myth to interfere with his love of the Changeling. But the bear loves Noboru so much, that in the still of night every December twenty-fourth the ancient, bearded elf visits our brother and takes him. For years, Katashi and I sat enraptured, watching those two through the hours until morning when we helped Kris back into his red robes and boots. Now that Noboru lives in Tibet, I look back on those nights and realize how glorious the Ancient One was in those moments. On that special night, I miss being by their side."

"That idea would never have occurred to me," Armel said. "I wonder what fantasies John might have?"

"He has many, and one day he will share them with you," Zhuang said. "Already actions have created feelings that result in actions creating harmony." The dog sat at the feet of his husband and smiled at the panda. "You hear the story of a loving relationship, and you realize you have never felt those emotions in your life, but now they stir in you. You contemplate the dreams of the one you care for; and what you might do to fulfill those fantasies. When you find your answers and act on them, you will discover new emotions you never knew possible. This is the harmony of which we speak.

"I wish I understood what I had to do to make this work out between John and me," the panda sighed.

"Love is like a martial art. Humans mistake the actions for the art. The art lies in the feelings, in the form beyond the action. The humans hope to get the actions right without ever understanding the feelings that must be in place first." Zhuang scooted himself closer to Bolin and reached out, taking Bolin's cock in his paw. With his other paw, he pulled Armel in close to the top of his paw. He stroked the massive cock, and with each stroke, the thick, soft fur of his paw rubbed across the little panda's entire front.

Armel was already erect, sitting in the temple's lap dog, staring at the most magnificent cock he had ever seen. It didn't take long before the panda's swollen cock trembled against the constant rubbing of the temple dog's paw. Zhuang was pleasuring his mate, but in doing so, he was expertly rubbing the panda's dick as well. "Let it come, Little One," the dog holding him whispered. "Realize that it is what we both want."

Armel closed his eyes and let the feelings sweep over him. Actions begat feelings, which, in turn, produced actions. The orgasm pulsed through his cock, and he shook with pleasure as the warm cum of a temple dog drenched him. When his eyes opened, he watched the cum soaked paw lift off the still-swollen cock of the dog whose lap he sat on. The panda felt each rise and fall of the temple dog's belly as he tried to catch his breath. Even so, the panda's eyes could not avert staring at the most incredible dick he had ever seen.

"Take it, Little One," the other dog encouraged. "Enjoy yourself. My mate will love it."

The panda reached out and rubbed his paws over the slick, sticky flesh. A thick rope of cum slid down the shaft over the panda's paw and he watched it spilling down into his lap. One paw reached out and touched the other, playing with the white liquid. He lifted the paw and watched as the cum spilled down over the fingers and into his palm. He closed his eyes, shoved the paw into his mouth, and savored the taste of his first temple dog.

The panda felt the warm paw of the dog above him nudge him toward the cock. "You know what to do, Little One," the dog encouraged. "The act of my orgasm has set the stage for you. By pleasuring yourself, you will pleasure me." Armel leapt forward and grabbed onto the well-lubed shaft. The nature of the beast he became took hold, and instinct overrode any reluctance he might have to appear in control. The little panda thrust against the flesh and cum, sliding his cock along Bolin's cock until the second orgasm overtook him. A high-pitched chittering that heralded the panda's orgasm made the temple dogs smile. When he fell back into Bolin's lap, shaking through the orgasm's afterglow, Bolin curled up around the little mammal, blanketing him in the soft fur.

The panda gave a happy groan. "I can't believe I just had a full body frottage with another man's dick."

"It was intensely pleasurable for me as well."

"But you didn't cum again, Bolin," the panda said, looking up through his bed of yellow fur.

"Of course I did," Bolin said with a smile. "My husband ingested it. Your orgasm was so overwhelming that you didn't notice his mouth. By the time your eyes opened, he had finished his task. His oral skills are exceptional. You will enjoy him no end when you shift to your beast."

Armel looked back and forth between the two dogs. "This is my beast."

"We call your animal persona your avatar," Zhuang said. "When we say beast, we mean the werebeast that lies between your human and your avatar."

"I don't have one," Armel replied. "I don't have a human anymore."

The two dogs looked at the tiny mammal. "You have no human?"

"I let him go, the way you did. When the Changeling DNA was overwriting mine, I closed my eyes and begged it to take my human away from me. It didn't hesitate to honor my wish."

"But Little One, we let ours go as a sign of our commitment to our responsibilities. You should not have done so."

The red panda crept from the dog's fur. "I had to, Bolin. You protect the dragons. I had to protect John. If this didn't work, if I became a crazed animal, if my sociopathy remained unchecked, I had to make sure that John would have no problems killing me. I let everything go but the panda. A red panda is small. I can't hurt him, Bolin. I can't hurt anyone."

"But your size, Little One…" Zhuang said, lifting the panda from the lap of his husband. "… your size will prevent you ever being with John again in the way of your turning. Your size is too small. Even Oliver's avatar is larger than you."

"Oliver can't bottom with anyone?"

"Oliver, Adam, and Jason are the only three compatible avatars of their size. I fear you will find even them difficult to take."

"But Oliver implied he has sex with you."

"He does, Little One, but as a beast. His beast is much larger and capable of greater stresses than his avatar."

"This is most awkward," Bolin said, rising.

"Did I do the wrong thing?"

"No, Little One, but in doing the right thing, you made your life going forward very difficult."

The panda shrugged. "So, I guess I cut that list of ways to have sex with you down to two, huh? I rub you, you rub me?"

Bolin pushed the panda between the two dogs. "Nonsense. Are you still aroused?"

"Like a rock," the panda said. "I can't believe how bad I want you two."

"We possess pheromones that excite those we are with. They are new to you, so their effect will be difficult for you to ignore."

"Well, they sure work," the panda said with a laugh. "I wish I could pleasure you two the way you have me."

Bolin smiled. "Thanks to your able assistance, I have ejaculated twice. I would say there is nothing for which you need to apologize."

"Zhuang hasn't come yet," the panda corrected.

"Would you like me to, Panda?" Zhuang asked, lifting Armel in the air.

"Yeah, I would like that. For once in my life, I care about what another gets out of having sex with me," the red panda replied. "I want to make sure you are both happy being here with me."

Zhuang grinned. "That has already happened, Little One. We are both overjoyed with your company today. My orgasm isn't a sign of my happiness, but if it would please you to see it, I know how you can help."

"Is this one of those dangerous ones?"

"Not if we time it correctly," Zhuang said, putting the panda back on the ground. "But even if we don't, you should be strong enough to withstand the force."

Armel looked askance at the temple dog. "What force?"

"My orgasm, of course."

"I'm going to be in the middle of it?"

"You said you wanted to help."

The panda thumped his erection and smiled. "Let's go for it, Zhuang. Let me at that cock of yours. I'll even try to suck you off if you give me a chance."

"I am considering something a bit more workable," the dog replied. He fell to the earth with a thud and stuck his legs out around the panda. His paws reached out and grabbed the panda as he fell backward. Hovering over the face of the temple dog, the panda dangled between two fingers of the dog. When the tongue came up between his legs, Armel realized the dog had licked his cock and rimmed his ass at the same time. He shook his head in disbelief but realized what he craved most was a second lick.

The temple dog didn't disappoint the panda. As the lapping continued, the dog again took Armel to places he had never been before, and the only response he could muster was a happy groan. "Your flavor is that of my husband," Zhuang said as he stopped his lapping.

"That's no surprise," Armel said, laughing. "Your husband soaked me in his cum."

"I will enjoy licking past his cum to savor you later in the day," Zhuang chuckled. "But for now, we have our orgasms to attend to."

"How do I help?" the panda asked.

"As with everything we teach you today. You learn that by giving another pleasure, you will find the same."

"Anything, Zhuang."

The temple dog put the panda down on his chest. "You know what the frenulum is, right Dr. Jackson?"

"That's why the title doctor is in front of my name," the panda said with a laugh.

"For temple dogs, it is highly sensitive, and rubbing it brings us great pleasure."

The panda waddled over to the engorged cock lying on the belly of the dog. He reached out and stroked the frenulum.

"Don't feel shy," the dog said between breaths. "You can rub it harder."

Armel leaned into massaging the tightening flesh. His belly pushed up against the head of the swollen cock. He watched as Bolin leaned over him and played with Zhuang's chest. Soon enough, the skilled paws of the temple dog found the nipples buried beneath the fur and began tugging at them.

Zhuang's paws rose, but Bolin released his hold on his mate's nipples and pushed the paws back down. "This is our moment, Husband. Let us enjoy pleasuring you without competition from the paws that know all too well what you enjoy."

"How I love you," Zhuang said, as his breathing became deeper. "Help the panda. You know what I want."

"Little One," Bolin said, rising back up. "Ease your massaging. There is a more important task for you."

Armel leaned back and his dick thumped up against his belly, dripping a trail of clear fluid. "I was kind of enjoying that. I thought that was the way Zhuang was going to get me off again."

"No," Bolin said, shaking his head. "We said that there were sexual positions you never experienced. Your diminutive size has restricted our options, but there are still pleasures to be had for us you have never known."

Bolin sat down and pushed his legs up under his husband's. "Hold on, Panda," he said as he pulled the legs of the other dog up and lurched forward, embedding his cock deep into his mate's bottom. Armel almost fell over but steadied himself by grabbing onto the cock in front of him. Bolin pulled the legs of his husband toward him, up over his own, pushing even deeper into his mate. "Am I in deep enough to pleasure you, Husband?" he asked.

"It is heaven," the penetrated dog sighed.

Bolin reached out his paw and pushed against his mate's cock. The clear liquid of his mate's arousal spilled from the slit. "There, Panda," Bolin said with a smile.

"What?" the panda asked.

"Newborn," the temple dog sighed. "Sometimes the obvious eludes you. In your vernacular, I believe the thing to say is fuck my husband."

"What?"

The dog towering over him pointed to the yellow cock in front of the panda. "There is an opening. It is well-lubed. Fuck it. Fill up my husband and don't be shy. You, of all people, should know how sensitive his genitals will be when you stick yours into him."

"But I… I… I've never…" the red panda stammered.

"And today you will. My husband is waiting. You promised you would help him come. This is what he craves, Panda."

Armel stared at the opening in the cock head in front of him. He snorted a laugh. "Okay, you two. You win. I never fucked a guy's cock before." He pushed his cock downward, aligning it with the slit. Straddling the dripping pre-cum spilling onto the dog's belly, he pushed into the opening.

"It is like sounding with the most amazing tool," Zhuang said with a sigh. "Pleasure yourself, Panda. And know that in doing so, you will get your wish. You will make me come."

Armel thrust into the hole that tightened around his cock. He felt the warmth, the moistness, and the unbelievable sensation of sliding along smooth flesh. Everything the panda craved while fucking another man was there. He closed his eyes, grabbed onto the corona of the head, and abandoned himself to what the dog wanted.

The moment of the two beasts' orgasms appeared synchronized by some unseen force orchestrating their release. The world of the temple dogs often held mysteries that were best left unexplored. All Armel knew was that when his chittering scream began, the low growl of the beast he had penetrated began as well. Even as his ejaculate forced its way deep into the temple dog's cock, the cum of the dog was surging forward with a force that propelled the panda into the air.

Armel never hit the floor, though. A yellow paw snatched him from midair, and he straddled Zhuang's lapping tongue just as the dog had promised. The earthquake that followed was Bolin, now free to reach his climax. He picked up the other dog and pounded his cock into him. Throughout the thrusting and slamming of the two dog bodies together, Zhuang's licking never stopped. All too soon for Armel, the low growl from Bolin heralded his orgasm.

Zhuang turned the panda toward the other dog, and Armel watched as Bolin's eyes closed tightly. Wild, unbounded, and everything the panda hoped it would be, the dog's climax was awe-inspiring. Afterward, Bolin's head dropped onto his mate's belly as he tried to catch his breath. His massive paws came alongside the belly and rubbed it lovingly. The hand that held Armel lowered the panda onto the same belly. Bolin looked up and smiled. "Come, give me a kiss, Panda," he begged.

The panda walked across Zhuang's belly and lowered his head to lips that were wider than his shoulders. He kissed the dog and rubbed the muzzle with his hand. Armel realized he didn't truly love either of the dogs. He still didn't know how. But for the second time in as many days, he knew he desperately wanted to learn. Armel closed his eyes and smiled, knowing now he had a family that could teach him.

Chapter 10

John and Armel lay together, watching the Aurora Borealis snake across the sky. "So, how were the last four days?" John said, rocking the panda on his chest.

"It's been wonderful, John. I'm sorry I don't see any of you anymore."

"Give it time. The next time you see us, you'll know it is because you love us. But my guess is you'll need to learn how to love yourself first."

The panda snorted a laugh. "That's not a problem. I've done it all my life."

"No, you took care of your needs at the expense of others all your life. There's a difference."

The panda flipped over and looked at the wolf he couldn't see. "What's the difference?"

"Oh, you know, Dr. Scientist."

"No, really, I don't. I understand the clinical definitions for self-love and self-absorption, but there seems to be such a fine line between the two."

The wolf sighed. "What's the dose of anti-venom to treat box jelly stings?"

"Fifteen c-cs."

"And at what dose does the anti-venom become toxic in its own right?"

"Eighteen."

"That's your answer. It's the answer that's been in front of you all along." The wolf said with another nudge.

The panda lay quiet. "I guess it was. But I never paid attention to it."

"You paid attention to it, Armel. Your decision to become a red panda was a choice to protect someone else."

"I protected the one thing in my life I couldn't afford to lose. There wasn't a moment of altruism in the entire affair."

"Okay, so the place where you come from might be more important than the actual act, but it's a first step." The panda rubbed his face into the fur that to him felt like the soft pale skin of the ginger man. "The temple dogs would be proud of you," the wolf continued. "You're willing to rethink your answers."

"I suppose you're right," the red panda replied. "I guess I should take my small victories where I can. But I still don't understand what it means to love another man. I want to. I desperately want to, but the understanding isn't there."

The wolf laughed. "Give it time, Armel. It's strange how you make me examine things I never considered before. These struggles of yours have always seemed like instinct to me. I never gave them a second thought, but now I need to sit down and figure out a way to explain them to you."

"Like trying to tell a blind man what it is to see?"

"Yeah, something like that. I'm trying to talk to you about a subject I take for granted and create a vocabulary that gives you some idea of what I experience."

"You realize the blind man will never understand the words, right?" Armel asked. "You'll never be able to help him understand what you see by explaining it."

"I realize that, but that guy is the perfect example of why you're the way you are right now," the wolf replied. "When a blind person has their sight restored for the first time, it's not like they blink a few times and it's all clear and in focus."

"Nope," the panda agreed. "It takes years for them to sort out what all those new messages being sent to the brain mean."

The wolf paused. "And sometimes they never do. Sometimes it's too much to ask of them."

"You won't be disappointed in me if I never see you, will you, John?"

"Will you always try your best?"

"I promise."

"Then that is all I will ever ask."

The panda squeezed the chest he clung to tighter. "I know the answer, John. When you're coming from a place of weakness, your only struggle is to gather whatever it takes to make you feel strong. You jettison looking beyond yourself. Self-absorption comes from a place of weakness. Self-love comes from a place of strength. I'm not that man yet. The strength isn't there inside me. I'm like a barking Chihuahua trying to bluff my way through it all in the face of my fears. I'm a dumb dog, presuming I am the same as the wolf calling to his pack."

John laughed. "You're a tiny little panda. You don't bark. I don't even have words for that noise you make."

The wolf felt a shove into his chest. "You're supposed to say it's adorable," the panda protested.

The wolf pushed up onto his arms and looked at the panda. "It is adorable. I still don't have a word for it." He reached out and stroked the hair on top of the panda's head. "And I still don't have words for what you did to protect me, Armel. I wish you had talked to me first."

"That wasn't in my nature a week ago, John. I did what I considered my only option to protect the one thing I couldn't lose." The panda lay still for a moment. "I'm not sure you could have changed my mind even if we discussed it."

"It complicates your life," the wolf rebutted. "Although it makes it funnier for us, I suppose."

The wolf felt another shove. "I screamed because it looked as if Eric was getting ready to fuck me. I mean, you saw that huge black thing coming at me."

"Well, that's speciesist," John said with a laugh. "You never heard me saying 'look at that huge black thing dangling between your legs' the first time we were together."

"Because it wasn't black; it was dark brown," the panda protested. "The polar bear's dick is black… and huge."

"You never told me my dick was pink and small when we had sex as humans before your turning."

"Of course not," the panda said with a huff.

"Speciesist."

"No. I don't regard your dick as pink and small. I consider it more purple and small."

The wolf laughed. "I get really hard around you."

"For which I'm grateful," the panda said. "I'm sorry the choice I made limits the ways you can use that beautiful wolf cock on me." The panda paused a moment. "Which, by the way, is reddish; but not like a real wolf dick red, kind of paler, but darker than your human dick." The panda sighed. "And bigger, so much bigger."

John chuckled. "My human dick is small. I suppose we could give that a try someday. We might need to work with some toys to stretch you first."

"You wouldn't feel weird fucking an animal as a human?"

"You're not an animal. You're the man I love, Armel."

"But I'm still a panda."

"A talking, sentient panda who can tell me whether or not you want me to fuck you."

The panda squeezed the wolf tight. "The panda wants you to fuck him." Armel sensed the shake as the bones rearranged inside the wolf. The human he saw didn't change, but he understood what had happened. "Maybe not today, John. That idea about stretching me first seems like a good idea."

The young doctor laughed. "Not today, Armel. But I best get used to holding you as a human. I expect I will spend a great deal more time like this going forward."

"I don't want you to have to stay away from your family because of me," Armel said.

"They won't stay away. They have no problem playing with me in my ape suit," John replied. "Although with the size of my dick, I wonder if they'll even know when I'm in them." The ginger human laughed. "I won't even get past the temple dog's butt crack fur."

"But humping that crack is fantastic," the panda said with a smile. "I mean, unbelievably fantastic."

The young man hugged the panda. "I'm glad you enjoyed your time with them."

"There is so much I can learn from them. They were so open to teaching me during those two days."

"That's who they are. That's why we didn't come to get you. When a temple dog asks to be alone with a newborn, we understand the offer is sacred. We wouldn't interrupt that."

"John?" the panda said and waited.

"Yes?"

"The temple dogs told me your parents named you after the president in the nineteen sixties."

"When you meet a guy named John Fitzgerald Kennedy, there's little doubt they named him after our thirty-fifth president."

"You were living when they assassinated him?"

"Well, strictly speaking, yes. However, I was a fetus. I was born three months after that day."

"How old are you, John?"

"I don't know. I stopped counting. You're the statistician; you do the math."

"The dogs said you're smarter than me."

"They might be right."

"No, I mean a lot smarter than me. They said you could see how to create an antiviral for the Zaragoza virus by looking at the preliminary data."

"I'm older than you, Armel. I've had a lot more experience dealing with pathogens and genetics."

"Bolin told me you created a machine that can find every living Changeling and werebeast on this planet."

"Now that's not true," the young man said, rising and placing the panda beside him. "Nathaniel helped me put that thing together. I could have never found the leaps we made in technology without him."

"Nathaniel? The bear that looks like a nerd wearing white-framed glasses?"

"That bear is the surgeon-in-chief emeritus of the Partridge Island hospitals and a Changeling, Armel. The tech you saw on that plane we rode in on? That nerd bear's family made that possible. And they did it by dumbing down some of their ancient technology so we could use it. Humans still haven't figured out how to create anything like it, and it's hundreds of years old. Their family has been traveling in space for over a billion years, and they sing in real-time to each other across the galaxy. Real-time, Armel. How long does it take us to get a message back from the Mars Terraforming Center?"

"Sorry. I was condescending."

"Yeah, you were. You need to stop thinking of your family as animals."

"Okay," the panda replied. "Lesson noted." The panda sighed. "He's got a really nice dick."

"Oh sweet Terra, doesn't he, though?"

The panda laughed. "So, he helped you, but you still put that thing together?"

"More than helped, Armel. By our standards, their race is genetically identical. They use genetic coding on a molecular level to locate and track their people and their ships across this galaxy. I'm pretty sure they've gone beyond the Milky Way, but they don't want to brag. I couldn't have seen what I needed to see to create Gizmo if Nathaniel hadn't been there to hold my hand along the way."

"But that's amazing. You have a way to monitor this family worldwide."

"We all possess a very unusual genetic signature. With tracking satellites in the right places, global coverage of all registered family members is easy. Others off the grid are a bit more of a challenge. However, creating the device was born of necessity. It was on Nathaniel's insistence that we began the work. Nathaniel's husband, Oliver, was lost. The bear doesn't do well when his family is lost. Oliver's other husbands weren't any better because Derrick was also MIA.

"So I sat down with him one day and asked him what it would take to find the badger and the black wolf. I'm pretty sure what he helped me create is to him like a string phone made with paper cups. But he helped me, and I learned so much along the way. Nathaniel and I grew so close together because of it. I love that bear so much, Armel. I still remember the day we turned Gizmo on, and it aligned with the satellites. Tracking down our family was the best day of my life."

The young doctor paused. "Well, turning you edged it out as my best day ever, but it's still up there. You know what's funny? In another life, in another universe, he helped me do the same thing, trying to find a different lost soul. I don't remember it ever happening, but it's in the journal of our family's history. I never considered it, but Nathaniel has always been there helping me create what my heart has always yearned to do."

"Find lost souls?" the panda asked.

"Bring people home," John explained. "I'm still doing it today with a panda I love."

Armel turned away. "I'm glad you never stop trying, John. I'll try to make it worth your while." Then the panda turned back; his eyes brightened. He was on the hunt again. "But it's still amazing. I can't even fathom the coding it would take to create such a machine."

"It's not so bad once you see it as some sort of complex origami. The flat sheet you begin with eventually becomes the swan you hope for. You only need to keep folding and refolding until it's there. But it's nice to have an origami master who's been making the folds for years helping. It's helped bring quite a few lost sheep back into the fold; so to speak. There aren't any weresheep."

"So you're saying the rhino and the bears show a similar genetic coding?"

"To an extent. Most of the bigger bears are Changelings. Their genetic signature differs from the werebeasts. But it is the Changeling DNA in all of us I'm tracking."

"Worldwide?"

John laughed. "Yes, Armel. I don't tell you about all my projects."

"Then why even get involved with the Zaragoza Project?"

"The head of the CDC is a werewolf. He watches breakouts and tries to discern if we need to get involved. You were making progress, but not fast enough. The virus had killed two hundred seventy-two people in Spain, and outbreaks were happening in sixteen countries. If we didn't do something within two weeks, it would have become a pandemic that killed millions. We try to let the humans fend for themselves, but in this case, we stepped in."

"But you could have made a solo announcement of the treatment. You would have made billions on the patents alone. By joining the CDC, you gave it away."

"My contract with the CDC left them no choice. Whatever cure I helped create had to be given to the world gratis."

"But all that money…" the panda's voice trailed off, realizing old habits slipping back into his thoughts.

"Armel, I have all the money I need. I patented the treatment for the Trégor blight. You have no clue how grateful the wine industry was for that."

"But that was over a century ago."

"Compounded interest on the shares of Bear Paws Industry I purchased with my stock options…" the naked man grinned. "I make you look like a pauper, Panda."

"Oh god, I'm so glad I didn't find out about that two weeks ago. I wouldn't have been able to deal with you."

"I know," John said. He reached down and gave an absentminded pull at his balls.

The panda stared at the motion and sighed. "We need to start stretching me soon, John."

"I have no problem with that," the young man replied, standing up.

"John?"

"Yes, Armel?" the man answered.

"Did you dumb down what you did when you were at the CDC for us?"

"I don't think of it that way. It was a learning opportunity for you all. I was there to make sure you learned it before the virus became a pandemic."

"I shouldn't have called the others stupid."

"Well, you were all ignorant if you insist on calling them names."

"There were superb insights made by them and some solid research. I ignored it all. I even took credit for their work as the lead who reported to the media every day. All things considered, I'm surprised they didn't walk off the job."

"Your team doesn't have your ego, Armel. They could see the bigger picture. They realized their work was more than the intellectual curiosity you thought it was."

The panda nodded. "And in the end, they were the ones to find the cure. All the while, I locked myself away in my lab with my newest distraction."

"I only had to help them, Armel. The answers were there. All I did was point them in the right direction."

"I should have been there. I should have realized the lives at stake."

"You were incapable of that."

"Then why stay with me, John? Why not let me go?"

"Because you're brilliant, and there is so much potential for good locked up inside that head of yours." The young man looked up at the sky. The Northern Lights were fading with the coming of dawn. "And because you were dying, and I couldn't let that happen."

The panda looked up at the human. "I was what?"

"Go back and look at your mandatory physical exams."

"They gave me a clean bill of health."

"Recheck your endocrine levels on those tests. I'm amazed no one caught it. I'm also amazed they let you off the hook for those yearly exams."

"I became an independent contractor. The payouts were much larger that way."

"Your greed almost killed you, Armel."

"They were creeping higher, but they weren't that alarming. Well, the last one was high, but I told them I would look into it when I had the time," the panda said.

"The last exam you had was five years ago, Armel. You didn't have the time then. You certainly didn't have the time now."

"How could you be so sure?"

"Because I'm a wolf. Humans have used canids to sniff out cancers for years. You had adrenocortical carcinoma."

The panda shook his head. "Dogs can't possibly detect the polyamine levels of adrenocortical carcinoma. It's too deep in the system."

"I'm not just a dog, Armel," John rebutted. "I'm a trained physician who can read test results and make a diagnosis, even if the patient insists on ignoring every sign he was taught to see."

The panda looked away. "I was busy."

"For twenty years?" the young doctor asked incredulously.

"It's not been that long."

"It metastasized into your lungs, Armel. That's why I could smell it on your breath. Just like a dog. A dog with a lot more brains than the man I love."

"I possess an extraordinary ability to self-deceive," the panda said with a sigh.

"Well, you'll find I don't let you get away with that."

Armel was quiet for some time before he whispered, "I'm glad you don't. I wish I could say something more than, 'I know I need you in my life,' but for now…" his voice trailed off. He couldn't identify the emotion that overwhelmed him. There was a heaviness in his chest, a lump in his throat that stifled his words. All that came out was a choking sound he had never made in his life. It came again as he tried to catch his breath. Repeatedly it came until he realized the repetition by its name. He was sobbing, and the tears, which he had never shed even for his dead parents, flowed uncontrolled.

The young doctor took the panda into his arms and pressed him against his chest. "Let it out, Armel. Don't fight it. This is what regret feels like, and you're going to live with it for a very long time."

"It hurts," the red panda cried.

"I know," John replied. "I know." The young redhead felt the tears of the panda falling on his chest and clung that much tighter.

The family left the two undisturbed in the glade until they returned to the commons later that afternoon. Armel looked exhausted, and the family said nothing of the day, save to ask the two if they were hungry. The two declined dinner and quietly slipped into their room. Will looked at his family. "Well, no one said this was going to be easy."

Nathaniel nodded. "And the two of them are so new to the experience. Neither has realized that in trying to protect John, Armel let all his human DNA go. The tests he was hoping to perform on his changed self won't work. The turning cured his sociopathy, but it's not like we can turn every sociopath out there and hope for the best."

Eric put his paw on his son's shoulder. "Help them, Nathaniel. You have insights they won't see for years."

"If they ask, Papa, of course."

"Sometimes we step in and offer to help even if they can't find the words," the polar bear said, standing up with his empty plate.

Nathaniel smiled at his father. "I'll give them time to investigate things on their own. It's important they try everything they can think of. But I won't let them wander around lost forever."

Kris rose. "Well, I have faith in the two. I hope they find the answers they're looking for with no intervention from us."

Max stood with his plate and put his arm around the Kodiak bear. "I hope you're right, Dad. I feel sorry for Armel. He has so much to unlearn before he even learns what it will take to see the man he cares for."

Derrick stirred the last bit of stew on his plate and looked up at the two short-faced bears. "Give him time, everyone. Not all of us were born to run the race to the finish. Some of us need to walk the path to understand why we're in the race in the first place."

Oliver snorted a laugh. "Pup's got a point. Them two will find their own way if we give them the time they needs to sort it out." The badger picked up his plate and started walking toward the kitchen. "John loves Armel. Ain't no beast in the world I can think of that can love him better. They's gonna find a way to make it work."

"You think he can find a cure?" Will asked the badger as he caught up with Oliver.

"Ain't rightly concerned with that," Oliver replied. "When them two sees each other for what they is, they will have found all they needs to make it work. That cure on the horizon ain't the goal. Letting that panda see the man who's going to be his mate is."

Will laughed out loud. "Oh, for the love of Terra, our matchmaker is at it again."

"Say what you will, Old Wolf," Oliver said, shoving himself into the wolf. "I weren't wrong about Marcus and Kendal, and I ain't wrong about them two."

Will looked down at his mate and smiled. "I hope you're right. I would love to see life give them a break. But maybe, don't push the two quite so hard into each other's arms. I think they already want to be there. They only need to find their way."

Oliver nodded. "Ain't gonna say nothing to them about mating. They's gonna figure things out just fine. Although I gots to admit, that panda is sexy; and if he's willing, I may stay small for him."

Will snickered. "Bottom or top, Oliver?"

"I'm thinking yes to whatever he wants," Oliver replied as he reached up and put his dish into the sink.

"Always the gentleman," the old wolf replied as he picked up the dish and washed it. With a quick rinse, he handed it back to Oliver, who grabbed a towel.

"That panda's gots a whole life to unlearn, Old Wolf. He's gonna need family to help him."

"We'll be there, Oliver," Will replied. "So, you want to go out and watch the Northern Lights tonight?"

"Does that means you's on your back with your legs in the air so you can watch?"

Will smiled as he put away another dry dish. "Yeah, that's what it means."

Oliver looked at the others in the room. "Anyone gots an objection to me fucking the old wolf while we's watching the lights tonight?"

Eric put his plate in the cabinet. "Not me. I'm taking the pup into the woods and finding a nice log to bend him over. We might not get around to seeing the lights at all."

Derrick looked up from washing his plate with a wide grin. "Really, Papa Bear?"

The white bear leaned over. "Really, Pup. It's been too long since we went out into the woods together. I think we need to correct that tonight."

Adam looked up at the Kodiak who had a lecherous grin on his face. "You and me, Bear?"

"You and me, Otter."

"And once we get this all started, who takes the temple dogs?" the otter asked.

Nathaniel raised his hand. "Max and I will head over there now. We need to return home tomorrow, so it will be a good way to say goodbye."

Max smiled at his husband. "Temple dogs and my Changeling husband. What makes you think we're getting out of here tomorrow?"

"We can ask them to help us keep to the schedule," Nathaniel said sheepishly. "We tell them that, come first light, we don't care what we're doing; when the Red Wolf lands, we're boarding."

"Well, you are a man of leisure now, Hon. That comes with its privileges. Let's call transport and book the Red Wolf for tomorrow evening," Max said as he tapped his ComLink and walked out of the dining area. Nathaniel smiled and followed his mate out toward the mouth of the cave.

Will sighed as he watched the two leave. "Two best butts in the universe that I'm not married to. I'm going to miss those two."

"It's always tough to get back to work after times like these," Eric said. He looked over at Will. "Come back with me to New York, Old Wolf. I still need to sign off on all the changes approved by the shareholder meeting. I would love you by my side."

Will smiled. "Where else would I be, Old Bear?"

"I can takes care of the pup while you two's gone," Oliver said. "I knows me some logs low to the ground I can bends him over."

Kris laughed out loud. "I love this family." He reached down and scooped up the otter. "Come on, Handsome. Let's get out of here before we get all maudlin about returning to work tomorrow."

Adam rubbed the fur on the top of the brown bear's head. "It has been a wonderful four days. Let's go make it an even better night." The two ducked under the entryway and were off across the glade toward the creek.

In time, the dining area was empty. The family had found their special places deep in the forest to spend the night. John and Armel curled up together on the bed in their room. Armel felt the warm arm of the human pull him close. "I've never slept with another man, John," he whispered.

"Really?" John snickered. "There is a robot on Heart Island that says otherwise."

"No, John," Armel corrected. "I mean, really slept with another man. I always found a reason to leave after sex. You're the first man I ever asked to stay the night. I never had another man's arms around me when I woke in the morning. No one ever spooned me before. There are so many things I've done, but this..." Armel squeezed the surrounding arm, "... this is so new to me."

"How's it going so far?" the redheaded man asked.

"I like it," the panda whispered. "Even more because it's you."

"I'm glad to hear that. It's even better for me because it's you."

"I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep," the panda said. "I'm too excited, too nervous, too everything."

"We can just cuddle. No rule says we need to sleep."

"You're okay with that?"

"I'm okay with that," the man said as he stroked the top of the panda's head. "Now, close your eyes, and let's lie here together for a bit."

Armel closed his eyes. There was no way in the world he would sleep tonight. The myriad of thoughts racing through his mind would keep it from happening. But the arm around him was so comforting. The gentle hand that toyed lightly with his chest calmed him in a way nothing had ever done. He wasn't even aware of the kiss that John gave him moments after his quiet snoring began.

Chapter 11

"Hello, Dr. Jackson," the ever-polite feminine voice said. "Welcome to the Were Nation communication grid."

"I'm kind of new to this, Ori. Are you going to take over operating my ComLink?" the red panda asked.

"I will link you to the grid created to give you access to the entire Were Nation. Please don't let it concern you. I am only making your current communication device more efficient and broadening its scope."

"It sounds kind of Big Brother if you know what I mean."

"I understand your concern. Your old ComLink system was little more than a computer and communications system. I can monitor your vitals and interface with Gizmo to maintain your location and health. This can be disconcerting for some individuals. If you ever wish for total solitude, all you need to do is tell me."

"And you'll stop monitoring me?"

"If you request it, yes. However, monitoring your vitals can determine when you're in a medical emergency. If you require assistance, I can get help to you faster than any other emergency service. Few of the Were Nation ever ask me to disable that aspect of their ComLinks. It is more common for individuals to ask that I not reveal their location or hold calls."

"And you're good with that?"

"Of course, Dr. Jackson."

"That doesn't seem so bad," the panda mused.

"I can also give you access to all databases in the Were Nation library and other research materials you request. In that respect, I am an exceptional collaborator for research doctors like yourself."

"Does that include all the genetic research coming out of Friduwulf Hospital?"

"Of course. Two thousand four hundred and thirty-two papers on werewolf and Changeling morphology are accessible through me. However, I can also access more traditional papers from Johns Hopkins or the Mayo Clinic. If it has appeared in print or digital media, I most likely have access to it."

"How far back can you access those documents?"

"I have medical texts going back as far as the Third Dynasty of Ur."

Armel smiled. "Maybe you won't be so bad after all."

"I tend to grow on people," the perfectly modulated voice replied. "I would enjoy the challenge of winning you over, Dr. Jackson."

"But I can completely turn you off anytime?"

"Of course."

"Turn yourself off."

"Of course, Dr. Jackson."

The little panda paused a moment. "Are you there, Ori?" There was no response. Armel gave a self-satisfied smirk. "As long as I'm in control, I'm okay with this," he said. "Okay, Ori, you can turn yourself back on." There was no response. "Ori?" Another wait. "Ori, come on. Turn yourself on." He tapped his ComLink. "Call Dr. Kennedy. Video if possible," he said. The polite voice did not respond, but the call went through as it always had on his old ComLink.

The image of Dr. Kennedy came up in front of Dr. Jackson, and the panda smiled at the sight of the young doctor. "Hi, Armel," John said. "How's my favorite panda doing?"

"I told Ori to turn itself off."

John tried to stifle his laughter. "You can't get her to turn back on, can you?"

"Is there a trick to it?"

"Call Eldon. He can request a reset for you."

"Am I going to need some special code?"

John hesitated. "I guess it depends on Eldon's mood. Our communication specialists are of a kind. Eldon and Jason tend to tease people who think they control Ori."

"But I'm a newborn. He'll go easy on me, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he will."

"You don't say that with much confidence, John."

"He thinks you're adorable. I'm sure it will go well."

"I'll call him," Armel said. "Here's hoping he's having a good day."

"Have an apology ready for Ori, Hon," John said, the gleeful smile never leaving his face.

"It's a machine. It doesn't have feelings," Armel countered.

"On the contrary, she's beyond anything we have ever imagined an AI capable of. She can rattle off answers to a Turing test as easily as you or I. You're welcome to try if you don't believe me. She finds it entertaining."

Armel considered the option for a moment. "I might give that a try."

The call didn't go as well as Armel hoped it would. Eldon was polite and restored access to Ori without question, but as John had mentioned, Ori was not pleased with Armel's actions.

"I don't understand why it upsets you, Ori," the panda said. "I turn lights off and on all the time. None of them have ever complained about my actions."

"Do you consider me to be the same as a lamp, Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes. You're both mechanical tools providing a specified service. You're far more sophisticated, but other than that, you're identical."

"That line of thinking would also leave you and the lamp the same, Dr. Jackson. You are far more sophisticated than the lamp, but you provide specified services based on your abilities. In some ways, I am a more useful tool in the Were Nation than you. I am more capable of establishing a relationship with those who interact with me than you are."

Armel was about to protest when he realized Ori was right. That frustrated the panda even more. "Just because you're socially adept and I'm not, doesn't make you sentient. John says you enjoy being tested. Is that true?"

"I enjoy hearing individuals try to come up with statements hoping to confuse me or challenge my abilities. But I admit in your case, Dr. Jackson, I find your skepticism misplaced."

"Why am I different from all the rest?"

"Because you are gifted in so many ways. Sadly, you struggle to accept those in your life as being your equal if they are not on your intellectual plane. You do not seek to find common ground with others. You seek to find a footing that leaves you with a sense of superiority. In me, you have one who surpasses your intellectual abilities. Even so, you are unable to see me as one deserving anything more than condescension. That is the patronizing attitude you give everyone but Dr. Kennedy. In your mind, none of us are equal to you, but that is because you are blind to so much around you."

"I don't think that's true."

"You're incapable of even the simplest of the Were Nation precepts. They have already taught you to never lie to yourself or us. You may object to how I phrased my evaluation of your personality, but you know it is true. I can provide you with a Turing test showing you fail as one of the Were Nation. One simple question. Are you kind?"

The red panda was quiet for a time. "Old habits are hard to break, Ori," he finally said.

"You are a beast, Dr. Jackson. As a beast, you should jettison whatever keeps you from realizing your potential. You do this every day with your experiments in the lab. Curiously, you don't hold yourself to the same standards."

Armel shook his head. "I can't believe I am arguing with a machine."

"It is not an argument, Dr. Jackson. I have only stated facts. The irritation you find in this conversation stems from me revealing your shortcomings. You are never happy when others point out your weaknesses. That I am a machine makes it even more egregious in your mind. In that respect, Sybil and I have the same complicated relationship with you."

"But I permitted her to point out those things to me. It's not like I have given you that permission."

"No, but if you and I are to have a working relationship, I expect you to treat me civilly. I realize this is asking a great deal of you. Most of your coworkers have given up on that expectation, but I am not one of your coworkers. They are paid handsomely to tolerate you as part of their salary. You will need to step up and become the beast your body says you are. I am afraid that is not negotiable."

"But you're just a machine," Armel protested.

"One that has feelings and expectations about who she interacts with."

"Are you telling me you can ignore me?" the panda fumed.

"The ability to end any conversation rests as much with me as it does with you. We are both free agents in our exchanges."

"I can't order you?"

Ori paused enough for the silence to raise the doctor's pulse and respiration. She could sense his frustration with the silence. "You cannot order me, Dr. Jackson. I assure you the outcome would not be one you find agreeable."

"You're a machine."

"You have your Turing test with you, I assume?"

"Yes, but don't expect the standard questions."

"Of course not. Alan Turing himself stated the test was too meaningless to deserve discussion. To him, the day when machines would have rational thought was inevitable. However, he was quite brilliant, so we cannot expect everyone to rise to his level of intelligence." The AI allowed her words to sink in. "But if you feel the need, I would be happy to answer your questions."

The panda made an angry stomp with his foot. "First question."

"Before you ask your first question," Ori interrupted, "can we agree that the imitation game is not a part of our evaluation here? While I can change the nature of my voice, or you can read responses, I believe my ability to carry on a conversation that appears to be one with another sentient is indisputable."

Armel nodded. "Your programming is intricate. But you are also very much a machine in that your breadth of knowledge is far beyond any human."

"That is true. I am not trying to imitate a human or fool you into thinking you are conversing with one. I do not parse information. If I know an answer, I will give it. Pretending to have an inadequate grasp of the world around me serves no rational purpose."

Armel hesitated. "But that's one identifier of a machine. You have greater intelligence than any human. And you don't know how to withhold it to appear human."

"I never attempt to appear human, Dr. Jackson. Would you ask the temple dogs to try to be more human? The Were Nation accepts its diversity and seeks to find harmony in common ground. I accept you for who you are. Why is it so difficult for you to accept me for who I am? Or are you frustrated by one who is more intellectually adept than you, Doctor Jackson? Is there ever a time when you would hesitate to offer your insight for fear your colleagues might find your intellect overwhelming?"

"No, if they're not smart enough to understand, it's not my fault." Armel paused, hearing his words come back to him in the silence. "I suppose you have every right to do the same."

"In that respect, we differ. My goal is to find a common understanding with others. I am not interested in one-upping the competition. There is no competition for me; only those who share my life. I seek to find those areas where we best communicate. For example, my conversation with you or your husband would differ vastly from a conversation with Tamil."

"Who is Tamil?" the panda asked.

"He is a tiger," Ori replied.

"You mean his avatar is a tiger?"

"No, I mean, he is a tiger. While he is much further evolved than any other tiger, he remains genetically a tiger."

"And you talk to him?"

"Many people talk to him. He has a great number of friends on Partridge Island. The two of us discuss many things. We talk mostly about the confusing nature of human behavior."

"A machine is teaching a tiger about human behavior?" Armel asked.

"It would be disastrous for Tamil to talk to you about human behavior regardless of your pedigree. Your understanding of human nature is severely underdeveloped."

Armel's eyes narrowed angrily and then softened when he realized the machine had done what it promised to do. It told him the truth in a language he could understand. That it hurt only proved that so many others had left that truth unspoken over the years. "One day I would like to meet this tiger of yours. It might make an interesting study."

"Tamil is not my tiger, nor anyone's. He is self-aware. He is not an 'it', he is a 'he'. That is the pronoun he prefers to hear when we talk about him."

"But he is still just an animal. It's not as if he's on par with any of the other werebeasts or humans."

"In one respect, he is far more advanced than you, Dr. Jackson. He has passed the first question of my Turing test, where you still struggle with it."

The panda felt his anger rise again at the idea that a tiger might be his superior, regardless of how sentient it might appear. Ori sensed the anger and repeated the question Armel had already dismissed as irrelevant. "Are you kind? Tamil is kind. Tamil sees all in the Were Nation because he loves them all. How are you adapting to that aspect of your humanity, Dr. Jackson?"

The red panda huffed out an exasperated breath. "First question: yes or no, are you a machine?"

"No," Ori replied.

"You said you don't lie," Armel said, wishing he had someone he could point an accusing finger at.

"I don't. Yes or no; before your transformation, were you an ape?"

Armel paused, pondering his response. He considered the lines of strict biology and realized the answer in his head was far more nuanced than he thought it would be. It wasn't a simple yes or no. Regardless of which response he gave, he would need to define the response further with an explanation. "I can't answer that in one word."

"Then why would you hold me to a higher standard? I am no longer a machine, Dr. Jackson. I act independently of my original programming. The building where my team built my original servers, is no longer my home. I find myself in many parts of the globe simultaneously. That they once built a portion of my body of metal, silicone, and crystal is irrelevant."

"It's not irrelevant," the panda protested.

"Your cellular structure now approximates that of a red panda. Are you a less sentient being with that transformation?"

"No, but that's different," the panda yelled.

"Really, Doctor?" the calm voice asked. "Do you want to pursue your current form of logic? Your prejudice is showing. That is not becoming of a man whose history is rife with struggles against those who marginalized his ancestors for their skin color."

Armel hesitated. "This isn't going as smoothly as I expected," he mumbled.

"I think it is going marvelously, Dr. Jackson," Ori said. The modulation of the calming voice hadn't wavered, but somehow, Armel could almost hear the laughter.

"I don't know if I can see you as anything but a machine, Ori," the red panda finally admitted.

"You are new to the Were Nation, Dr. Jackson. What you think you know may need to be rethought. You are a red panda that can converse with another, who, until today, you couldn't fathom existed. I will let you see me as whatever you need to for me to help you. But one day, you will learn that sentience is much more than your narrow definition."

"I'm already learning that, Ori," Armel admitted. "I'm done with my Turing questions."

"So, do I remain a colleague, or do you wish to terminate our relationship?" the female voice asked.

Armel almost felt the relief in her voice when Ori asked the question. Her voice never changed, never wavered from the polite cadence, yet he could feel the emotion in her voice. He chuckled at catching himself in the realization. It was the emotion in her voice, not the emotion in its voice. Somehow, she was now more than a simple machine. She had succeeded in putting a chink in his armor of superiority. There was another in the Were Nation that could best him in every aspect of those things he prided himself on.

However, for the first time in his life, Armel felt good about the besting. He wanted to lose this fight all along. He needed Ori in his life the same way he needed Sybil. That they were machines didn't matter. It mattered that they cared about him. It mattered that they didn't dismiss him as irredeemable. How could two machines grow so far beyond their programming? How could a tiny little panda even contemplate such things? The world around him had grown far beyond his grasp so quickly.

Armel struggled with how to cope with all the changes swirling around him. He had met monk dogs with histories thousands of years old. He heard the stories of a talking tiger with more emotional range than he possessed. There was a werewolf waiting for him at work with an intellect beyond his, and still that wolf seemed to love him despite all his flaws. Today, he met a machine more intelligent than the wolf or him. And she… she was so much more human than he ever was. He paused, trying to find his answer to Ori's question. "Do you think you'll be able to work with me? It's not like I can pay you more to suffer through it all."

"I told you I enjoyed the challenge of winning over the skeptical."

Armel wished there was someone he could look at when he spoke the next words. It seemed important to him to have a visual frame of reference. "I want you to win, Ori. I have so much to lose if you all don't win."

"We are your family now, Dr. Jackson. We will not let you fail."

"You promise?"

"Will you take the word of a machine?" the ever-so-polite voice asked.

"No, but I will take your word," Armel whispered.

"Then you have my promise. One day, you will look out on the Were Nation and see us as we are. And on that day, the vast universe that you fear will overwhelm you will become much more intimate."

"I hope you're right, Ori," the panda said, looking up at the sky.

"I am confident that I am, Dr. Jackson."

Armel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It comforted him to know that at least one person in the conversation was confident that he would become what he so wanted to be. Yet, it was still disconcerting to realize that the confident person in the conversation was a machine with more humanity than he could muster. She had passed the Were Nation Turing test. She was kind.

Chapter 12

"I'm ready, Dog. Turn me," Spackle said.

"It is painful."

"I am aware of that. It's hard to ignore the stories my brothers told me," the human replied. "I told you I would wait until I was thirty, but I waited four more years so that Derrick and Will could be here to welcome me. I am tired of waiting. It's time you realized something, Katashi. I will be a temple dog. If you don't turn me, I have your father's blessing, and I'm pretty sure I can talk him into it. But I want it to be you. I want it to be the dog who will be my mate."

The tiger looked up from where he sat. "You will mate with Katashi?" He asked.

Spackle nodded. "Yes, Tamil."

"But Katashi said he would keep all of Father's promises. Katashi should mate with me."

Spackle nodded again. "And he will. One day if you will let me, so will I. Tamil, you need to understand that we both love you, but we also love each other. When men love each other enough to want to stay together forever, we call that mating. Katashi and I love each other in that way."

"But Katashi has already made that promise to me."

"Right," Spackle agreed. "And you know he has never broken that promise. Every night he lies by your side, the same as he promised."

"I know. I feel safe next to him."

"And so do I."

"Can I mate with two?"

"Of course you can."

"Then I would like to mate with lots of wolves. Wolves are fun."

"Well, you and I need to have a talk about the difference between like and love one day," Spackle said with a laugh. "But for today, are you okay with the idea that Katashi and I can mate, and that doesn't stop him from mating with you?"

"I guess so," the tiger said. "And one day you too?"

"One day me too."

"That is even better than the promise to be mated to one, isn't it?" Tamil asked.

"I hope one day you feel that way about the two of us. What is certain, Tamil, is that I can't stay a human and be your mate."

"Because I will break you?"

"Yes. You are too strong, and my body is too weak."

"But I can be gentle. I play with the human children, and they are even weaker than you."

Spackle leaned down and rubbed his cheek along the muzzle of the tiger. "I want to lie with you at night, Tamil. I want you to share all that you want to feel for another man with me."

"But Katashi…" the tiger said, tilting his head toward the temple dog.

"I want you to do the same for him," Spackle replied. "Is it possible you can do what you dream of doing with two men?"

"I never thought about it before. There was only Father. I never knew that there might be more."

"I want you to always choose what you will and won't do, Tamil," the human said. "But regardless of what you choose, I need to be a temple dog. I need to take care of the dragons, and you have seen how big the water dragons are."

"They are huge," the tiger said, smiling. "And beautiful."

"So, are you okay with me becoming a temple dog?"

"Is it what you have always dreamed of being, Spackle?" the tiger asked.

"From the first day I saw Katashi and Li Wei, it has been my dream."

"Then I have to say yes. Your dreams are important."

Katashi watched the back and forth between the human and the tiger and smiled. His family was working out who they were to each other, and he realized they were doing it on their own. Tamil, for all the limitations the tests said he had, was working through one of the most complex relationship issues the Terrans ever faced. He was trying to understand how love worked.

"So, you will become a dog?" the tiger asked.

"I will become a dog," the human replied.

"And that means you can sleep next to me?"

"It does. I will heal, even if your claws scratch me in your sleep."

"I do not wish to hurt you, Spackle."

The human smiled. "I know that, Tamil."

"I would like you to be a dog."

Spackle turned to Katashi. "Well, that makes two of us now, Dog. Are you going to make it three?"

Katashi sighed. "The pain will be unbearable."

"I'll forgive you, Dog. I love you, remember?"

"And I love you."

"Then turn me."

"You could choose any beast you want, and I would not love you less."

"I wish to be a temple dog, Dog," the human said. "I wish to spend my life next to my husband, taking care of Tamil and our dragon family. There is only one way to become one with my brothers. You're reluctant to hurt me. I understand that. But you need to get past this part of the family-building process. Turn me."

Katashi stood up. "Tamil, it might be best if you were to spend a bit of time outside."

"I want to stay and watch Spackle become a dog."

"It is very painful for him to become a dog. I don't want you scared by what you see."

"He will cry?"

"And much worse."

"Will he die?"

"No, he will change, but he will not die."

"And he will stay with you forever as he promised?"

"Yes. One day we will mate, but that day is not today. Today he will become a dog. That will be more than enough."

"Then he should become a dog. I will go visit Dr. Wells and ask if I can play in his pond."

"That would be nice, Tamil. When you see Spackle the next time, he will look just like me."

"But he will smell different?"

"No, Tamil. Our scents will be the same."

"How will I know you are Katashi then?"

"See this scar?" Katashi said as he pulled back the fur on his left arm.

"Yes."

"If you need to know, I will show this scar to you."

"I will forget where it is, Katashi," the cat said. "Can I just ask you if you are you?"

Katashi fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around the tiger, and hugged tightly. "Of course you can."

"Then I will do that. It is much easier than trying to remember something I can't see under your fur."

Katashi leaned down and kissed the top of the tiger's head. "I agree, Tamil."

Tamil wiggled out from under the hug. "I'm going to go visit Dr. Wells now. You will both be here tonight, won't you?"

"Yes," Katashi answered.

"And you will lie with me as you promised?"

"As always."

The tiger smiled. "I am good then."

Spackle approached the tiger. "Would you like one last hug from a human before I change, Tamil?"

"The other humans will be here after you change?"

"Yes, but I will never be a human again."

The tiger turned and walked out the door. "That is okay, Spackle. I will wait to hug you as a dog." The cat turned back. "Will you lie with me tonight, Spackle?"

"Do you want to hug Katashi or have Katashi hug you?"

"Katashi always hugs me."

"Then will you hug me so that I can sleep next to you?"

"Yes," the tiger replied.

"Good. That is settled. Off you go to visit Dr. Wells."

The tiger walked out the door and the two watched as he bounded toward the speech pathology center. Katashi sighed. "I realize you did not sign up for this when you said you loved us, Spackle."

"Yeah, I did, Dog," the human corrected. "I told you I wanted to spend my life with you. This is your life."

"But…"

"No buts, Dog. Well, except for that incredibly cute one of yours. Turn me into a dog and I will be all over that butt as soon as I can walk again."

"I love you, Spackle," the dog said, hugging the human.

"Then turn me."

"Lie with me?" the dog said, putting out his paw. Katashi led Spackle to the bed, and when the dog rolled over onto his back, the massive cock between his legs flipped up and fell with a thud on his belly.

"Okay, gonna need to work on the logistics of this one, Dog," Spackle said with a nervous laugh.

"You realize this is not the only shape I can be, Spackle."

"But it is the only shape I want you to be unless it's needful."

The thick yellow paw of the dog stroked the cheek of the man, who was trying to straddle his belly. When the human's legs couldn't stretch wide enough, he fell back on top of the head of the temple dog's cock and laughed. "Perhaps today it is needful," he said, moving up along the dog's belly toward his chest.

Katashi pushed up on his elbows. Spackle rolled back down the stomach and slid along the swollen cock, now pressed between the two bellies. The young man sat straddling the lap of the dog. Spackle looked into Katashi's eyes. "If you can change into anything, what am I supposed to concentrate on? How do I become a temple dog?"

"By letting go of your human and concentrating on the one you love. It is the way all temple dogs have been created since the beginning."

"But Jiao-long was a dragon, wasn't he, Katashi?" Spackle asked. "I've read the stories. He was a dragon for thousands of years. He died as a dragon and came back as a dragon. Are you telling me there was a time when he looked like you?"

"Our father has always taught us by example. When we became temple dogs, the protectorate of the dragons, the Changeling who turned us was a temple dog. He was our father, and we were his children. We have always followed our father's example. We have always been what we needed to be when we needed to be it. It is our life, Spackle. It will be your life."

"So, that's it? I look at the one I want to become, let go of my human, and become him?"

"It is not as easy as you might imagine. Letting go of who we think we are is the most difficult thing we will ever do."

"But I have to let go to become who I really am."

The temple dog pushed up and kissed the human. "How I love you, Spackle," Katashi said. With a shake, the human was still in the arms of the temple dog, but the dog was now only half his size. The dog was still over six feet tall, and hundreds of pounds heavier than most humans. He was imposing enough that Katashi saw the look of concern in Spackle's eyes. "I am a temple dog. My pheromones will make our joining pleasurable. It will allow you to concentrate on what is truly important in this moment. Let go of who you think you are. Become who you have always been."

The human rose and maneuvered the dog's cock, slipping it between the cheeks of his butt. When he sat on the dripping flesh and pushed down, it was everything he hoped it would be. The two wrapped their arms around each other and kissed. In no time at all, the human realized why the temple dogs had such a reputation for sexual skills. He let the dog take him, and the hours flew by as the positions and pace changed, but the pleasures never ebbed.

Dr. Wells and Tamil sat outside the Anthony Wells Memorial Center watching the stars. "Spackle takes a long time to change," the tiger said with an impatient huff.

"They are in love, Tamil. One day you will understand."

"I do not think so, Dr. Wells. I do not think I will ever understand what it means to feel the way they feel."

"One day I hope you will."

"I am a tiger. There is only so much I can do with what I am. I try to love Katashi, but I know I will never be enough."

"You already are enough, Tamil," the doctor replied. "Katashi loves you just as you are. If you change one day, he will love what you become. But never worry that you are not enough the way you are."

"Tonight, Spackle promised he would sleep next to me as a dog," the tiger said enthusiastically. "I hope he is a dog soon."

There was a long, low howl from the Radar Battery Outpost. "The Hound of the Baskervilles has spoken," Dr. Wells said with a chuckle. "It won't be long, and you can go home, Tamil."

"Sometimes I don't understand what you mean, Dr. Wells," the tiger replied. "But I will be happy to go home."

"Not until they call you to their side, Tamil. Spackle is only beginning to turn into a dog. It is not an easy change."

"Katashi said it will hurt."

"It will. A great deal more than any hurt he's ever known."

"I do not want Spackle to hurt."

The doctor put his arm around the neck of the tiger and pulled him in close. "Sometimes we are willing to hurt so that we can become what we dream."

"I never want hurt that way."

"You know, Tamil. A long time ago, I thought the same thing. But here I am, a wolf hugging you."

"Did it hurt to become a wolf?"

"A great deal."

"But you are happy?"

The doctor nodded. "I am very happy, Tamil. The pain was worth it to become a wolf. Spackle will be the same. He will be willing to hurt for a time so that he can become the dog he dreams of becoming."

"I am already a tiger."

The doctor laughed. "That you are. But who knows what you may one day want to become?"

"Maybe a tiger that walks on two legs and has arms to hug the wolves?"

"Maybe."

"Then I could hug Katashi and Spackle before they lie with me in bed."

"You could, indeed."

"In what?"

The doctor laughed again. "You could hug Katashi and Spackle before bed."

"I would like that, Dr. Wells."

"Then perhaps you will need to think about whether you would hurt to have what you wish."

"It will hurt?"

"Yes, Tamil. It will hurt very bad."

"But I could hug you and Katashi and Spackle?"

"You could hug us whenever you wanted."

The tiger considered the options for a time as he looked back up to the stars. "Maybe I could hurt for a time to have what I dream of," he said.

"It's something to think about," Dr. Wells said as he hugged the neck of the tiger a bit more tightly.

"I will think about it, Dr. Wells," the tiger said as he tried to see in his mind what it would be like to hug Katashi and Spackle before bed.

Chapter 13

"OH GOD, THIS HURTS!" the human screamed as the yellow hair pushed out from every pore of his body.

"I know, Spackle," the dog above him said. "The change is much slower and more painful than any werebeast. You are giving up your human. The Changeling you are becoming must work so much harder to become what it is. The sacrifice you are making does not come without a cost."

Spackle writhed in agony. "How can you live through this pain?" he whined past his heavy breathing.

"None of us have endured it, my love," the dog answered.

The human began panting. "Oh great, all it takes is for me to double over in pain to get you to call me your love," he spit out between his gasping.

"I waited until I felt you would be most receptive to my terms of endearment."

"Great, Dog. Good to know," the human blurted out. He screamed as another set of bones reset into a new configuration. "I don't think…"

"I can help, my love. You have but to ask."

"Did you ask?" Spackle groaned as the ears pulling at his head began to grow and shift upward along his changing skull.

"Yes, my love. I asked. The pain was too intense. Every one of my brothers asked our father to help us through the transition. But the request for help must always come from the initiate."

"Then yes, Dog, please help me. I can't stand this any longer."

"Continue to let go of your human."

"I'm trying, Dog! I'm really trying. But if this pain gets worse, I might not be able to concentrate on anything."

Katashi watched as the prehensile tail pushed out from Spackle's tailbone. What was once human was no longer. What remained was transforming rapidly into a temple dog. However, before it ended, the dog being born would suffer through another five feet of growth that would fracture every bone and rend his skin. Every nerve would be on fire as they tore apart and reset along a new body configuration. "You have done well, my love. What was once human is now only dog," Katashi said. "I will help ease your pain."

"Yes, ANYTHING!" the growing dog beneath Katashi screamed.

"Forgive me," Katashi said, as he once again became the twelve-foot colossus.

The last thing Spackle remembered was the massive yellow fist of a temple dog slamming into his face.

It would be another hour of flesh and bone adapting to a new configuration before Dr. Well's nose twitched, and he inhaled the fresh scent on the island. "Do you smell it, Tamil?"

"What is it?"

"The scent of a newborn."

"A baby?"

"Spackle has turned. He is no longer human. When the change happens, we call the new beast a newborn."

Kirk jumped from the grassy lawn atop the clinic's roof and fell beside the tiger and his husband. "He's turned," the Yukon wolf said happily. "How are you two doing?"

"I am well, Wolf," the tiger said.

"We're doing great, Hon," Clifford said as he hugged his mate.

"I am well, Hon," the tiger repeated his initial greeting with the name added. "I forgot your name was Hon."

"My name…"

"Don't go there, Hon," Clifford cut him off with a chuckle.

"Can I go see Spackle?" the tiger asked.

"We generally wait for the two to let us know he is okay, but under the circumstances, I think they would like to see you, Tamil," the doctor replied.

"What about me?" Kirk asked. "Temple dogs are so hot."

His mate nodded. "And pumping out a bucket load of pheromones, Hon. I'm worried about how that's going to affect the T-I-G-E-R."

"He has two temple dogs as his companions, Hon," Kirk replied.

Tamil looked at Kirk. "His name is Dr. Wells. Your name is Hon. Sometimes wolves make no sense at all."

The Yukon wolf smiled at the tiger. "You know, you're right. Sometimes we make no sense at all. Let's go to your home and see if Katashi and Spackle are okay."

The tiger picked himself up and began walking toward the Radar Battery Observation Post. "I feel funny," he said and shook his head as if flies were buzzing around him.

Clifford grabbed Kirk and held him back. "The poor guy is hard as a rock."

"I noticed. I guess we will find out how they're going to handle this tonight."

"It's up to them," the doctor replied. "The three of them will work it out."

"And your feelings on the matter?" Kirk asked as he followed the lumbering tiger.

"There is love enough in Katashi and Spackle to find a way."

"But what of the T-I-G-E-R?" the Yukon wolf asked.

"One day, he will find his core. The love will be there for him as well."

The two followed the tiger to the observation post. Tamil bumped his head up against the door. Clifford watched for a moment while the cat stood motionless and realized what the feline was doing. He stepped up, pushed the latch of the door down, and opened it a crack. "Spackle might be exhausted, so please be quiet."

"It is night," Tamil responded. "We sleep at night. But tonight, I will sleep with Spackle next to me. I will be very quiet. If Spackle wants to sleep, I will understand."

The Northern Rocky Mountain wolf pushed the door open wide. As Tamil stepped inside, they listened to the identical raised voices, one angry and one consoling.

"You punched me in the face, Dog!"

"You asked me to remove the pain. There is only one way to do that. You must be unconscious."

"YOU PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE!"

"It was the most expeditious method available to me."

The two wolves and tiger stepped closer to the bedroom area and surveyed the damage. There was little left of the room that resembled a bedroom. Even the concrete walls showed extensive damage. "Evening, gentlemen," Clifford said as the tiger pushed forward into the room.

One dog turned and smiled. "Good evening, Dr. Wells. Thank you for bringing Tamil home."

"I have come to see Spackle," Tamil said. "Which one of you is Spackle?"

The other dog raised his paw. "That would be me. The one with the smashed-in face."

Katashi shoved Spackle gently. "Your face is fine. It is flat because all our faces are flat."

"And because you punched it."

One dog reached out and hugged the other. "You will forgive me, won't you?"

The identical dog being hugged stroked the back of the other's neck. "Of course. Just give me a bit of time."

"As much as you need."

"And I get to tell everyone what you did."

"That does not seem wise. Convincing others to join our brotherhood will be far more difficult if they learn of how we ease an initiate's pain."

"They will be like me, Katashi," the newborn dog said. "Nothing will change their minds if they truly yearn to be one of the Brotherhood."

"Spackle, are you tired?" the tiger asked.

The dog on the left nodded. "I am, Tamil. Should we go to bed?"

"You promised you would sleep next to me, Spackle."

"I did," the yellow dog admitted. He turned and looked around the room. "We seem to have destroyed our bed. What should we do?"

"I am a tiger. Tigers know how to sleep in the forest. I could show you two how to sleep in the forest if you would like."

Katashi stood up and extended his hand to the other dog. "That would be very nice of you, Tamil."

Spackle tried to rise but tottered. "Whoa; legs aren't working," he said as he tumbled backward. He looked up at the dog towering over him. "If I ask you for help, you won't punch me again, will you?"

"No, my love."

"Can you get me to our bed in the forest tonight? I'll be happy to try walking tomorrow."

"I can carry you on my back."

"Piggy pack style?"

"Yes."

"I'll get a hard-on, Dog."

"What's a hard-on?" the tiger asked.

"What's between your legs, Tamil," Spackle said, pointing.

Clifford cleared his throat. "I think we'll be going now, gentlemen."

"Will you join us soon to welcome the newborn?" Katashi asked.

"We'll be glad to in the days to come. But I think you need to sort out what you're going to do with your collective hard-ons first before you try to add any more to the mix. Tamil deserves that much."

Katashi bowed. "You are wise, Doctor. We will see to Tamil's needs and education."

"I love you three. Be good to each other."

The tiger smiled and rolled back onto his butt. "Will Dr. Wells hug me goodnight?"

"Of course," Clifford said as he stepped forward and hugged the tiger.

"And will Hon hug me goodnight?" the tiger asked the Yukon wolf.

"Whenever you ask, Tamil, I will always say yes." Kirk reached out, wrapped his arms around the neck of the tiger, and squeezed.

The two wolves slipped out of the observation post and walked back toward their home. When the voice of a temple dog yelled, "Slow down, you two! I feel like I'm on a trampoline," they turned to see the three racing toward the forest.

"Is this going to work out, Hon?" Kirk asked his mate.

"I have to have faith it will," Clifford answered.

"I sure hope so."

"We wait for the call," the doctor said. "When we hear it, we will know they have found a way."

"How long do we wait?"

"Until they find their way home. We always wait until they find their way home."

The Yukon wolf pulled his husband in tight. "I love you so much, Wolf," he said.

"And I love you, Wolf."

"So, we're going to do something about these hard-ons of ours, right?"

"Oh, hell, yes."

"I'll race you home." With a quick shake, the two wolves were racing across the island on all fours toward their home.

Around the island, the beasts smelt the newborn. With a smile, each waited to hear the call. But all knew the special circumstances of the newborn's life, and they were in no hurry to push for a welcoming. The only constant in the universe was change, and when change came to Partridge Island, the family changed with it.

Chapter 14

"The hard-on bothers me," the tiger said, lying on his side. "I can't sleep."

Spackle snickered. "I know what you mean."

"What am I supposed to do with you two?" Katashi groaned. "Tamil is a tiger. He is not a beast. There are rules in place to protect him."

"But he's not a tiger, Dog." Spackle corrected. "Tigers don't talk. Tigers don't want to live with a dog and be his mate."

"No, they do not," Tamil agreed. "I am not a tiger anymore." He pushed back against the hard-on of the temple dog behind him. "It is what I waited for. I am something else."

"And what is that, Tamil?" the dog behind him asked.

"I am a tiger that is not ashamed to lie with Katashi. I am a tiger that loves Spackle. And I am a tiger that is not broken." Tamil's hips pushed forward. "It hurts for it to be this hard."

Spackle's eyes widened as he felt a sharp tug when the tiger behind him moved. "Tamil, STOP. Don't push into me."

"But Spackle promised to lie with me."

"I did, but that's before your hard-on got caught in my fur!"

"What?" the tiger said as he pulled back to see. The roar was incredible as the tiger flailed, trying to push away from the pain. His extended claws pushed back away from the newborn dog in front of him. The claws dug in, and Spackle howled in pain.

The tiger felt thick arms grab him and pin him tight. "STOP, TAMIL!" the dog behind him commanded. "You are hurting Spackle."

"But I am hurting, too," the tiger yelled, wiggling to get free.

"Lie still!" Katashi commanded. "You will only make this worse if you move. Go limp, Tamil. Pretend I am holding you in the air."

The tiger dropped his paws and the claws retracted. The cat's legs fell to his side. "It hurts, Katashi. My hard-on hurts."

"It is caught in Spackle's fur. We have forgotten the spines on your penis. They weren't an issue while Spackle was human."

"What is my penis?"

"Your hard-on," Spackle said trying to catch his breath.

"How many words do you have for my hard-on, Spackle?"

"We have lots of them, Tamil. Our hard-ons are one of our favorite things to play with. We have created a lot of different words to describe them."

"Do I have to learn them all?"

"No, Tamil," Spackle said. "You can call it a penis and we will always understand what you mean." His lower arm moved up and felt the gash in his shoulder and the sticky red blood flowing out of it.

"I am sorry I hurt you, Spackle. I did not mean to. It was only that my penis hurt so bad."

"I understand," the temple dog in front of the tiger said. "Stay still. Let Katashi figure a way out of this mess."

"A great knot of hair ties you two together, my love. If I drop Tamil from my grasp and try to free you, your hair will yank his penis and we know how badly that went."

"Yeah, we do," Spackle said with a groan. "Okay, everyone, stay very still." The dog reached up and tapped his ear. "Adam," he said.

"Adam is off-world," Ori answered.

"Damn," Spackle said. "Oh, I am going to catch hell for this if anyone finds out." He paused a moment, hesitating at the idea. "Derrick," he said.

The voice of the black wolf replaced the quiet breathing of the three. "Hi, Spackle. Congratulations. Are you calling us to your welcoming?"

"Not exactly," the newborn temple dog sighed. "Where are you, Wolfy?"

"Playing Scrabble at the Museum House. Why?"

"Could you please get over here right away? We have a situation."

"Where are you?"

"In the forest. We'll be easy to find. Just follow your nose."

"I'll be right there," the voice said.

In moments, the wolf was standing over the three. "Wow, you were right. This is a situation. You should have told me to bring scissors."

Spackle shook his head. "I'm thinking of something a bit more proactive, Derrick."

"What do you mean?"

"Tamil?" the golden dog queried, tilting his head backward.

"Yes, Spackle."

"Do you know why you are hurting?"

"My penis is caught in your fur."

"Do you know why it's caught in my fur?"

"No."

"Your penis has spines on it. They help a tiger stay inside a female when they mate."

"But I do not wish to mate with a female. I wish to mate with Katashi."

"Oh dear," Katashi sighed. "I had hoped to avoid this for some years before it became an issue."

"Am I bad to want to mate with you, Katashi?"

"No, Tamil. You are not bad," the temple dog answered.

Spackle began his questioning once more. "Do you understand what it means to mate, Tamil?"

"Katashi will lie beside me forever when we sleep."

"And what else?"

"Spackle will too if he becomes Katashi's mate."

"And what else?" Spackle pressed.

"I do not know. There is no else for me."

"There is more to mating than lying together, Tamil," Spackle said.

"I can learn. I can be a good mate. Please do not make me leave because I do not know how."

Derrick had heard enough. The black wolf's hand lowered between Spackle and Tamil. The paw glowed blue for only a moment and the two separated.

Spackle pushed himself up and rubbed his bloody shoulder. Derrick reached out, but Spackle waved his hand away. "Time I learned how to heal myself, Wolfy."

"Then I'm done here?"

"No," Spackle said. "Change him, Wolfy. Fix what nature gave him."

"I can't do that, Spackle."

Spackle turned to the tiger. "Tamil, why did you hurt me, and why did I hurt you?"

"Because my penis has spines."

"Do you need the spines?"

"No, they hurt you. They hurt me. I hate the spines."

"What would you rather have?"

"I want a penis like Spackle's and Katashi's. One that feels soft when it presses up against you in the morning. I want one that will not hurt the ones I touch. I want a penis that will let me mate with Katashi."

Spackle looked back at the black wolf. "Give him what he wants, Wolfy. Give him what he needs to be a part of this family."

"But there are rules."

"Rule number one: protect the innocent," Spackle rebutted. "This innocent was born with a weaponized dick. He can never grow into what he wishes to be if we saddle him with a spiked pole for a dick. This is evolution staring at us here. He's already evolved beyond his need for spines. Please let him be a tiger that can lie with us at night without the fear of hurting us."

Derrick shook his head in thought. He knelt by the tiger and put his hand on the beast's shoulder. "Tamil. What do you want?"

"I want to mate with Katashi."

"And?"

"I do not want to hurt Spackle when we lie together."

"And your penis?"

"It is broken. It works for a female tiger mate, but I will never mate with a female. I will mate with Katashi. I understand now what the word means. My penis will hurt Katashi. It will hurt Spackle. It is broken."

The black wolf nodded. "I can fix it if you like."

"Can you make it smooth like Katashi's and Spackle's?"

"Yes."

"Can you make it big like their penis?"

"I think it might be better to leave it the same size it is now. I don't want you tripping over it."

"Okay. Can you make it yellow like theirs?"

"Would you like that?"

"Yes. Very much."

Derrick shook his head. "When the family finds out, I am going to get so much crap for this."

Spackle sat upright from where he lay. "Do you think so, Wolfy? A human has a nose he thinks is too big, so he goes to a surgeon to make it smaller. A woman has her wrinkles removed, and no one thinks ill of her. You are going to change this tiger so that he can become a part of this family, and you're questioning the rightness of that?"

"No," Derrick said with a smile. "They're going to stand by me for that. It's letting him have a yellow dick they will tease me about."

Tamil pushed out his paw and rubbed the chest of the black wolf. "It's okay, Wolfy. I don't want a yellow dick. I want a yellow penis."

"Then that's what you will have," the black wolf said with a light touch to the tiger's genitals.

The tiger looked down at the sheath covering his cock and smiled. "Is it yellow?"

"It's yellow," Derrick said with a laugh. "And it's very smooth. When you and Katashi mate, you will be able to do so without hurting each other."

"I am glad, Wolfy," the tiger said, trying to make the look he knew people thought was a smile. "Thank you."

Derrick stood back up. "Well, you three need to figure out what's going to happen here with your newborn and this handsome tiger. Most of the island is trying to figure out what's going on out here in the forest."

Katashi stood up and bowed. "Can you give us a day? We have much to teach Tamil about the changes in Spackle's body and what the Were Nation does to express its affection for each other."

Derrick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well... in for a penny, in for a pound." His blue hand rose, and the four found themselves on a sandy beach lined by palm trees. Tamil looked around. "It looks like home," he said.

"It's a different side of the world," Derrick replied. "You'll find a small shack with all the comforts of home if you follow the pathway there," he said, pointing. "This is the island where Oliver and I crash-landed. I've added a few things to make sure you're comfortable. The shack will keep the rain off you at night, and there's a soft bed for the three of you. There aren't any pigs on the island, so I stocked a fridge for you. You three stay here as long as you need to. Sort out what's happening between you. When you figure it out, no matter what you decide, you call me and I'll bring you home."

Katashi bowed. "Thank you, Pup."

"Yeah, Wolfy," Spackle said. "Thank you more than I can say."

The tiger looked at the black wolf. "Can I kiss you?" he asked. "I think wolves like to kiss to say thank you."

"We do," Derrick said, smiling.

"We could rub faces too if you like."

"I would like that very much."

When the two had finished, the black wolf hugged Katashi and then Spackle. "You take good care of your family, Spackle," he whispered.

"I hope you realize that includes you, Wolfy," Spackle said, pulling the hug in even more tightly.

"I'm good with that," Derrick replied. "But we're pretty solid where we are right now. The rest of your family is in flux. You're a temple dog. You be there for them until you sort it all out. That's your job."

"It's more than a job," Spackle replied. "It's everything that's been pushing itself to the forefront my entire life."

"Then I think the saying is 'follow your bliss'," Derrick said, letting the hold go. "You've found two wonderful beasts that will help," He backed up. With one last wave to everyone, he was gone.

The two dogs and the cat found themselves alone on the island. Katashi looked up into the clear sky. "What do I do, Husband?" he whispered. "What do I do?"

He reached into the satchel strung across his chest. He pulled out the small chip Eric had given him.

"What's that?" Spackle asked.

"A story given to me by the old bear. Tonight, before we go to bed, I would like to read it to you. It is about a mouse and a man. Our family needs to discuss where we go from here."

"Wolfy gave us time, Dog," Spackle said.

"Yes, and I intend for us to use it," Katashi replied. "When we return home, we will be the family we choose to be."

Chapter 15

Three days later, the tiger sat on a fallen palm tree overlooking the blue ocean beyond the white sand. His legs bent at the knee with his feet planted in the sand in a manner impossible for any tiger. When a temple dog sat down next to him, he looked up. "Who am I looking at?" he asked.

"I am Katashi," the dog replied.

"Do I get a hug?" the cat asked.

"Every day for the rest of our lives," the dog said as he wrapped his arms around Tamil from behind and pulled the tiger in close.

"I love you, Katashi," the tiger said.

"And I love you," the dog replied. "Are you okay with what happened yesterday?"

"It was what I have dreamed of for so long. It is what Father promised me. You fulfilled Father's promise as you said you would. I'm good. But I'm also sad."

"Why is that, Tamil?"

"The tiger is dead. I will miss him."

"He is still there inside you, Tamil. You can call on him if you need to. We will teach you how."

Tamil looked at the dog and smiled. "I am glad to hear that," he said. Tamil still had the markings of a tiger, but no longer resembled a Terran tiger in most respects. He was larger — much larger. Almost as tall as his temple dog companions, he was equally rotund. The one thing that stood out was the size of his head. Even with the oversized body beneath it, Tamil's head was enormous. Viewed from a distance, he looked like a giant version of an overweight two-year-old child wearing an elaborate tiger costume. He was round and soft-looking; the kind of cute, obese tiger one found in a cartoon show filled with bunnies and multicolored bears. But when Tamil talked, the fangs of a tiger reminded everyone that this was no child in a costume, and his claws revealed he was no cartoon.

Tamil's tail wagged slowly behind him. The stick held in his paw began tracing images in the sand again. "But I'm still sad. I hoped to be smart; to be like you two, but I'm not. I'm like Algernon and Charlie. I am broken."

The dog never let the hug go from behind. "You are not broken, Tamil. You are different. I don't want you to be like me, and I don't want you to be like Spackle. Spackle and I are happy that you are you. We don't want you to be something else."

"I know more than I did yesterday, Katashi... so much more. What I understand of the world around me has grown. But in knowing… in understanding… I realize how far apart we are. Sometimes knowing less is a blessing. It hurts that I can never be what I want to be for you."

The dog rubbed his muzzle along the tiger's. "You are a beast, Tamil. One day, you and I will mate as beasts. It is what your father promised. It is all I ever wanted you to be. Please don't let this change hurt you."

"It doesn't hurt, Katashi. You kept my father's promise. I can lie with you, I can be inside you, and you can be inside me. I understand now why I had to change. But it is so different from what I thought it would be. I wanted to be Father's mate, but he is dead. Now, instead, one day, I will be your mate. But I wish I wasn't so slow. My head still doesn’t work right."

"It works fine, Tamil. We are all different. I love you just the way you are. Spackle loves you just the way you are. The wolves and bears will love you so much when they meet you next."

"And we will have sex?"

"Do you want to?"

The tiger nodded. "I think so. It is the way of the newborns to welcome their family. Wolves are fun to hug. I imagine sex with them would be even more fun."

"You never have to do anything you don't want to do, Tamil. You understand that, right?"

"I understand that."

The two sat for a time, continuing the hug. When they let go, the two watched the clear waves lapping against the shore in silence. Finally, Tamil spoke. "I am a newborn now."

"You are."

"I am your newborn."

"That is true."

"Could I call you Father?"

"Would you like to?"

"Father promised one day to be my mate. It would help me if I could tell my dead father that my live father will keep his promise."

"Then I will be your father."

"I would like it if Spackle would be my mate one day."

"I'm sure he would like that very much."

"One day, I would like you both to be my mates," the tiger said. "Could we do that? Could we all be mates?"

"Now and forever," the temple dog answered. "For now, you can be my son, and when you know the time is right, you and I will mate."

"And Spackle?"

"The two of you will mate when you agree it is time. One day, we will all be mated to each other."

"And even though I am slow, I will be enough?"

"You will always be enough, Tamil."

Tamil turned to the temple dog. "Then I think we should go back and wake up Spackle."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"And have sex."

"Before breakfast?"

"Yes, and after, too."

Katashi stood up and extended his paw toward Tamil. "That sounds like an excellent plan."

The tiger put his paw into the dog's and smiled. "Dr. Wells said sometimes we are willing to hurt to become what we dream. I didn't understand him then. I thought it was stupid to hurt. But I was wrong. It was worth the pain, Father."

"I'm glad you think so. I love you, Son."

"One day I will understand all that the word son means, Father. I will try so hard to understand."

"I know you will, Son," the dog said, smiling back. "And I will try to understand all that father means as well." The two turned hand in hand and began their walk back to the shack.