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Loud huffs alternating with asthmatic wheezes accompanied JJ's mad dash across the university campus. Christened Josiah Jackson by his parents, he despised his real name and discouraged its use with the same fervor he usually applied to avoiding exercise. Taxing his out of shape, nerd body to its limits, he weaved through the university campus crowds of ambling smart phone distracted students. He careened and stumbled with all the shambling grace of a fast zombie, an animated scarecrow, or some long distance runner exhibiting early stage muscular dystrophy, but he managed to avoid any serious collisions.

Slowing only to open the door to the anthropology building and pass inside, he accelerated again towards the stairwell. His dark, chocolate colored hand slid along the inside metal railing, a tenuous safeguard against a horrific fall as he descended the starkly utilitarian concrete steps two at a time. Once safely at the bottom, he paused before the entrance to Doctor Waikenda's lab gulping air in deep breaths and hoping to slow the pounding of his heart.

Running late was a noteworthy anomaly for this young man who regulated his life with steady, dull, clockwork precision born of a compulsive need for planning and order, but his last engineering final of spring quarter had been brutal. He needed every minute of the allotted exam time to complete the arduous test. Afterward, a brief discussion of the questions with his peers, compounded by an irritating conspiracy of scheduling and geography, left him scant minutes to cross the distance fate had placed between him and his work-study position.

Lacking athletic prowess, JJ was just a geeky, exercise-avoiding, twenty-one year old undergrad, but he managed to cover the uphill, half mile journey in under five minutes. For him, it was an extraordinary feat made possible by two strong incentives to retain his job.

Waiting beyond the plain metal door was the first. An aloof, statuesque, red haired graduate student named Julie Frisk also worked in the lab. Despite a seven year age difference and her outward indifference towards him, JJ held an irrational affection towards her equivalent to a teenage crush.

The second reason explaining his haste was his desire not to disappoint his generous employer, who had helped JJ overcome numerous obstacles to break into the high competition college of engineering. Though no one ever actively discouraged him, engineering was a field with few students of color unless you counted the plethora of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Americans and their foreign counterparts. Even high performing white chicks were conspicuously absent from this bastion of white male dominance.

JJ's educational goals had seemed daunting even with his excellent math and science skills, but a high school mentorship program had fortuitously paired him with Doctor Waikenda, who encouraged JJ to follow his dream. The Kenyan expatriate even provided a part time job to assist JJ with defraying the costs of tuition. By living at home with his parents, he avoided loans and crushing debt.

Of course, money was the logical reason to preserve his position, but the truly tantalizing perk was working with Julie. Ms. Frisk, as the taciturn and reticent Swede preferred to be addressed, was a standoffish, bookish PhD student nearly ten years his senior. Why he found her so compelling was a mystery even to him. They had little in common other than she was equally tall, nearly matching his six foot three. Though that was a welcome characteristic making him feel less awkward in her presence than with most women, nothing else about her was remarkable physically. She made no effort to enhance her appearance. JJ had never seen the pale skinned Scandinavian in anything but her ill fitting white lab coat with her fiery hair tied up in a poorly braided bun. Despite her drab exterior, he was infatuated and obsessed with trying to arrange a date.

Julie, unfortunately, exhibited no similar interest in him. Pursuing her research with single-minded intensity, science might as well have been the only worthy goal in her existence. Romance found no comfort in her presence. Developing new techniques for age dating bones and geologic strata was definitely of more interest to her than an undergrad from another field of study. Dr. Waikenda's center for examining, classifying, and age dating fossils from Homo sapiens' recent and distant primate ancestors might as well have been her home considering the preponderance of her time she spent there.

It was a stretch to see how a mechanical/electrical engineer fit in the lab's mission, but that didn't stop JJ from contributing. On the rare occasions he managed to trouble shoot or repair a vital component of the lab's equipment, even that failed to impress either his mentor or the reserved object of his affection.

JJ desperately wanted Julie to go out with him, but she was glacier cold and all business, immersing herself completely in her research and the added burden of work she shouldered to gain access to Dr. Waikenda's lab. Until tonight, JJ had been too intimidated to ask her out, never able to find the right moment, but he had promised himself to make the attempt and was resolved to persevere.

Pushing the door slightly open and peeking inside, he saw his heartthrob was hard at work. Nothing new there. JJ surveyed the rest of the lab. Dr. Waikenda was nowhere in sight, a positive. The professor was pretty easy going in most regards, but his obsession with punctuality exceeded JJ's. Already in the doghouse for being late just once before, JJ feared any chance of losing this job. Today he was only thirty seconds late according the digital, atomic-synced chronometer glaring accusingly at him from across the room, but half a minute was an egregious eternity of wasted time in his employer's eye.

As long as JJ got right to work and Julie didn't rat on him, he would be fine. Slipping unnoticed inside, he quietly crossed the windowless room taking his seat at his workstation behind Julie hoping she would think he had been there for a while.

"Your late," Julie declared without looking at him or the clock to verify the time.

JJ groaned.

"Gods! Not you, too. It's only thirty seconds."

"I don't make the rules."

"You just enforce them?"

"No. I just don't want you to get fired."

Hope that she actually had some reciprocal feelings for him flared briefly.

"Really?"

"Ja."

Though her Swedish accent was barely discernible most of the time, she rarely used the English "yes," and when she became stressed or flustered, "ch" became "sh" and the hard "j" sound became a "y_"as in "_yawn" betraying her country of origin. JJ found being called "Yay-Yay" particularly amusing.

"You work when you're here and actually get things done unlike most undergrads who goof off or study instead."

"Oh," responded JJ disappointed that it was only his work ethic she admired.

"You're in luck today. Dr. Waikenda got a call from a construction site on the other side of the state where they uncovered a Paleolithic stash of bones, so I'm in charge until he gets back."

The good news buoyed JJ's spirits and encouraged him tentatively to consider this as his best opportunity to ask for a date, but his enthusiasm was immediately dampened by her ruthless efficiency.

"A crate arrived this morning with something for the prof to identify. Do the usual prep on whatever is inside, and I'll forget about your tardiness."

Hard work was the only thing Julie seemed to value above science, so JJ sullenly dedicated himself to executing his task diligently hoping to impress her. Still, with the professor away, his romantic prospects were the best they would ever be. Gritting his teeth, he decided to take the plunge.

"How about a deal instead?" he asked.

His unusual question was enough to gain Julie's full attention. A raised eyebrow formed a skeptical arc of scarlet on her pale brow. Nervous, but determined, JJ forged ahead with his quest.

"How about I unpack, prep, and scan the contents in record time, then help you with whatever you have to do? We get done early, maybe even do more than is expected, then go grab a drink or two at the brew pub on 15th? What d'ya say?"

Scaling the mountain of trepidation between his desire and its open expression left his mouth dry and his heart beating faster than his sprint across campus. The dread of being toppled from his perilous perch by the winds of her rejection gripped him as he weathered her neutral stare. Partially hidden behind glasses set upon a heavily freckled nose, her icy blue eyes were unreadable but infinitely intimidating. Mortified he had moved to fast and was about to experience a devastating rebuff, JJ was on the verge of pretending he had been kidding. She stunned him by smiling instead.

"Did Doc Waikenda tell you it was my birthday?"

For a moment, JJ was too baffled by her question to respond, but his anxious libido was ahead of his rational mind and capitalized upon the fortuitousness of his timing. Eagerly, he hopped aboard this new conversational train.

"Well, you know, a birthday should be celebrated," he improvised. "The drinks are on me, of course. Free beer and my hard work helping you tonight are my presents."

"That's so sweet. Thanks. Even my parents forgot to send me birthday greetings today. I'm in. Let's get whatever we can done by seven and then close up the lab."

"Deal."

Adrenaline and hormones surging through his body erased the trauma of his finals and the lingering fatigue of his mad sprint. JJ tore at the wooden box with gusto eager to please Julie and to hasten away the hours until seven o'clock.

Using a cordless drill, he backed out the screws securing the crate's lid. Inside was a sea of straw and packing peanuts obscuring whatever object or objects were lurking at its depths. Floating on top of it all was a manila envelope with no markings or writing. Assuming instructions were inside, JJ tore it open and realized with dismay the letter inside was written in a foreign language.

Retrieving the discarded lid to discover the address of origin, the shipping sticker revealed the box had come from the University of Nairobi, Kenya Institute of Anthropology. It was probably no coincidence that Waikenda had once worked there.

"This must be Swahili," muttered JJ as he fished his phone from his pocket.

"What's that?" asked Julie without looking up from her work.

"The instructions are in Swahili, I think. I'm taking a picture of it to have Google Translate tell me what this guy wants us to do with his bones."

"Might not be bones; could be tools or bits of charcoal from a Paleolithic campfire."

JJ ignored her correction. They were all the same to him, and he was too busy trying to make sense of Google's interpretation of the handwritten note. The algorithm nailed the language, but clearly had trouble with the syntax and some unfamiliar or illegible words. The good news was he could decipher enough to get the information he needed for the database.

"It's bones alright. This guy...gal? Dr. Juma Kamau, writes about two unusual human...uh...something about wolves or maybe wild dogs...no...definitely something about them being a kind of human...Translate is fucking it up. Probably some missing letters. They're skulls at any rate, and he wants them authenticated."

"Maybe he found some previously undiscovered human ancestor. You could be about to handle the century's most important discovery. Don't drop it, and wear nitrile gloves."

Whether joking or serious, Julie was so consistently deadpan that JJ couldn't tell. Figuring he'd find out eventually and caring more about completing the task, he ignored the rest of the weird bits of the note where Kamau rambled on about the unusual nature of the find including some poorly defined hazard or danger.

After inputting what data he thought made sense, he began removing packing material until he discovered two melon sized objects covered with foam and heavy strapping tape. A razor knife made short work of the final covering.

The first skull turned out to be upside down and missing the lower jaw. He flipped it over and stared at it in confusion. Appearing recent, not ancient, the specimen was like no hominid or primate skull he had ever seen. Possessing a large rounded cranium, all similarities to humans ended there. An elongated snout and sharp, dagger-like teeth made it look like some kind of space-alien hybrid or horror movie prop.

Curious if both were identical, he exposed the second object and confirmed his suspicion. Something about the specimens struck him as wrong, but he didn't know enough about paleo-anatomy or any kind of anatomy to know what, so he carried the second skull over to Julie's workstation and set it next to her.

"What do you make of this?"

Intent on prepping a sample of bone for analysis, she said nothing for a few seconds as she meticulously ground a tiny portion of it to powder. Finished, she glanced at the bizarre object.

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Me? No way. This came from Kenya."

"For real? You're not teasing me are you?"

"Honest. There're two of 'em."

"Kenya? Must be one of Doc's buddies from the old country playing a joke on him."

"You don't think they're real then?"

"Are you kidding? It's a jackalope, Ja?"

"Jack-a-what?"

"Jackalope. I discovered that bit of weird Americana while traveling out West. People put antelope antlers on a stuffed jackrabbit, call it a jackalope, and sell them to tourists. This is the same damn thing, a mishmash of human and animal features that don't exist anywhere in nature. It's a fake, a clever fake like the Piltdown Man, but a fake nonetheless. If that thing were real, it would blow our understanding of evolution wide open, and I'm not feeling like I'm standing on the edge of a tectonic shift in biology."

"Fakes? This is a weird joke. I guess I don't get anthropology humor. What should I do with them? Do I complete the scanning and imaging?"

"You could do that if you want Doc W laughing at you for being a sucker and then yelling at you for wasting time and valuable resources."

"You sure? I'd hate to get in trouble for not processing 'em."

"Do whatever you want. I have real work to finish here before you buy me those birthday drinks. Now take this stupid thing away."

Annoyed by the ridiculous hoax, Julie shoved it across the counter towards JJ.

"Ow!" she yelled while yanking her hand back. Blood oozed from a deep cut on her finger.

"What happened?" asked JJ concerned.

"That damn thing bit me!"

"Bit you? It's pretty dead. I think it's beyond that kind of behavior."

"Smart ass. It might as vell have. Look at this cut."

Removing her rubber glove, she held her finger in front of JJ's face for his inspection. It was a very clean incision across the upper digit of her forefinger. Though deep, bleeding freely, and no doubt painful, it certainly wasn't life threatening.

"So? Put a band-aid on it. What's the big deal?"

"Band-aid? I need to clean this out. God knows vhat germs are on that stupid skull. Probably Ebola. Vorse, I'm risking contaminating my own sample. This is all your fault for bringing this stupid prank over here."

"Hey. I'm just doing my job."

"Vell do it over there where you belong," she said as she used her foot to push him towards his worktable. She must have pushed harder than she thought, because JJ pitched backward off balance until he collided rear end first against the other skull.

Screaming in pain, he lurched forward as if propelled by a spring. His hands clutched his right buttock as if to somehow contain the searing agony.

"Goddammit. The other motherfucker just bit me."

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to push you so hard."

JJ let go of his ass with one hand and brought it up in front of his face. Blood dripped from his fingertips.

"Shit. Now I'm bleeding too."

"What? Where?"

JJ gave her a look that said, "Are you kidding?"

"Turn around, and let me see," she said giggling.

"So you can laugh at me some more?"

"Sorry about that, but, well...it is funny, and if your puncture is as bad as this laceration, I'll need to clean and dress the wound."

She handed him gauze from a first aid kit.

"Apply pressure with this. I need to take care of my finger first."

Reaching down the back of his jeans and inside his briefs to where he thought the hole in his flesh was located, JJ held the gauze against the sore spot tightly and waited as Julie washed her finger, rubbed it with an alcohol swab, applied antibacterial ointment, then wrapped it in a bandage. When she was done, she made a twirling gesture with her mended finger.

"Turn around and bend over the table."

With a sigh of resignation, JJ did as she asked.

"Pull your pants down...or I can do it for you if you want."

"What guy doesn't want a chick to say that to him? If only it was for a better reason," JJ complained as he fumbled with his free hand to unbutton and unzip his pants.

"Just don't get any ideas, perv," warned Julie.

Impatient, with JJ's struggles to lower his trousers one handed, Julie grabbed the waistband and yanked them down to his ankles in one smooth motion exposing his snug, red briefs.

"Nice butt, by the way, and good choice of underwear color. It matches the blood."

"Hey! Who's the perv now? You didn't have to pull them all the way down. You only need to see the part that's bleeding."

"Oh, hush. It's easier this way. I promise not to stare at whatever you have stowed in the front, but I do have to lower your panties, too in order to clean the wound. I promise to expose only what I have to."

"Girls wear panties. These are briefs."

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes. It does, but go ahead. Just get it over quickly."

JJ crossed his arms on the stainless steel tabletop and rested his chin on his forearm while Julie gingerly tucked the waistband of his briefs under the curve of his buttocks. Admitting to herself that he really did have a beautifully shaped ass, Julie kept that observation quiet and doctored his wound.

Cringing from the sting of the alcohol, JJ squirmed a bit but otherwise remained still until his nurse finished by carefully raising his briefs back up over the bandage. She patted his uninjured butt cheek.

"You're all done now, but I think you should wash the blood off the back of your pants before we go out. I'm ready for a drink."

After kicking off his sneakers and stepping out of his jeans, JJ held them in front of his groin.

"You want to go now? What about work?"

"Screw work. It's my birthday, my sample is ruined, and I want to get out before one of us really gets hurt."

Joyous despite the awkwardness of being half-naked in front of a girl he had hoped to impress, JJ took his pants to the sink and scrubbed at the bloodstain with soap and water until only a small hole and a wet patch remained. He poked his pinky finger through the opening.

"How do I fix this?"

"Don't bother. Those pants are way to new and clean. You always dress too neatly. Does your mom iron your shirts, and your jeans?"

"No," he answered defensively. "I just hang them in the closet."

"Then you definitely need a change. The distressed look is in. You'll be accidentally sexy and cool."

_"Sexy?"_he wondered. Did she really think that, or was she playing with him? Despite his slightly sore butt, he reaped a propitious feeling towards the rest of the evening.

At the pub, his good fortune seemed destined to hold. They snagged the last available table. It was small and badly placed by the hallway to the kitchen and restrooms, but a local band that was beginning to get national attention was performing and had drawn an unusually large crowd. The upside was they both liked the music, the barbecue chicken wings were tasty, and the beer was excellent.

After two drinks each, JJ had a nice, light buzz and felt extraordinarily relaxed. Julie also had tossed aside her unapproachable scientist persona and talked enthusiastically about herself and her interests. She had never opened up and revealed much about her personal life to him before. He learned she was an only child and her parents, also scientists, lived in Sweden still.

With confidence high and inhibitions low, JJ was preparing to suggest a second date next weekend until fate abandoned him. Julie began to fan herself with the pub grub menu and complained of nausea. Hastily excusing herself, she bolted for the lady's room.

Cursing his shifty luck, JJ braced himself for a crappy ending to the evening after all. While he moped over his third pint of beer, his own stomach flopped violently, and the room began to spin.

"What the fuck?" he wondered aloud.

Two and a half beers had never hit him this hard before. Sure he was on the lightly built side, but it normally took at least four or five to get him really drunk. Besides, the symptoms he experienced, including the overwhelming urge to curl up on the floor, vomit, void his bowels, and turn inside out, felt more like food poisoning.

Suspecting the chicken wings, he clutched his stomach and rushed to the john. By a miracle, it was unoccupied. That was fortunate because it was a tiny space with only one toilet and a urinal with no dividers between. He threw the dead bolt, and experienced a brief moment of indecision as to whether to sit or kneel, unsure what might come out first. The sink was conveniently placed directly in front of the toilet to catch his puke, so he opted for the former.

With his eyes firmly shut and his hands clasped behind his neck, several minutes of utter disorientation passed accompanied by feelings that his body was engulfed in flames and flying apart before coming rudely back together again in an unfamiliar configuration. After the sickening fit had passed, he was relieved everything had stayed inside of him except the sweat that soaked through his short fur. Releasing his interlocked fingers, he sensed the sweat beads on the leathery pads on his paws.

"Paws? Fur?" he whispered aloud wondering where those thoughts had originated.

Opening his eyes, he beheld the grimy mirror above the sink. The frightened face staring back in confusion was not his. Unable to reconcile the reflection with his concept of self and body, he tried to deny the short, calico patterned fur covering a human-dog hybrid face out of a fairy tale nightmare. Rebelling at the incongruity, his mind rejected the image in lieu of a picture, but the face moved in step with his like the classic comic mirror routine.

Glancing elsewhere for corroboration, he eventually looked down and saw that his body also defied reality. He was still human at the gross anatomical level, but more than a covering of brown, white, black and orange fur had altered his appearance. His legs were subtly wrong, digitigrade like a dog's. All of his musculature was bulkier and much better defined, which was a plus, but panic threatened to unhinge him when he discovered that his familiar smooth brown penis with its neatly circumcised head was gone, replaced by a furry, black, sausage-shaped sheath. To disturbingly alien to reconcile, he was reluctant to verify its existence by touching it.

"This has to be an hallucination. Some asshole has slipped me some psychedelic shit," he cursed. "But why?" he wondered.

Holding his hand-like paws with their thick, convex black nails and leathery palm pads in front of his snout, he flexed his fingers watching the dim bathroom light play off his onyx colored claws. Placing one open paw against the wood paneling adjacent the toilet, he raked downward leaving deep grooves behind, an impossible feat for human fingernails.

JJ observed himself in the mirror again. A eureka moment struck him when he remembered the crate from Kenya. Strip away the fur, flesh and muscle beneath his new face, and the improbable truth was inescapable. He was a werewolf infected by a bite to his butt.

"Bit on the ass by a fossil. What a fucked up, humiliating way to become the wolf-man," he sighed.

Accepting the truth reduced his hysteria sufficiently that he became aware of a flood of information from his transformation-altered senses. Vying for his attention, smell dominated as the most prominent and disorienting.

"God," he thought. Even clean bathrooms had an underlying stench, but now every odor was magnified one hundred fold. Not only could he detect the faintest trace of human waste products, his mind was sorting them by type and the individuals who had made them. Tracking each scent to their sources would be no challenge if he bothered to try.

Semen was a singularly potent aroma that jostled to the front of his attention queue causing the hackles on his neck and back to rise in response to the interpreted territorial threat. A potent desire to find and guard his mate made him snarl and tense his body for a fight. Attempting to reign in the information overload and curtail undesirable automatic responses, he clamped his fingers over his nostrils.

Gradually, his brain came to terms with his enhanced olfactory ability, and he learned to subdue it and focus on other input such as the cold, damp feeling of his tail. Understanding that his new rear end addition was swimming in a public toilet made the fastidious young man jump to his hind paws.

It was a clumsy mistake; his mind was unready for the odd new shape of his legs. His tail slapped against his back leaving a large wet stain of nasty toilet water on his shirt.

Tottering, he steadied himself with his forepaws on the rim of the sink. His shoes were hopelessly over-sized considering he now stood upon his toes instead of his heel, but he kept them on as best he could not wanting to have his paws touch the filthy floor. After pulling up his briefs, he found that his tail was awkwardly placed relative to the hem preventing the back from rising as high on his waist as it should. His pants fit no better, so to hold them up, he rinsed and dried his tail with paper towels before sliding it under his belt.

"Well," he said to the furry face looking back at him, "at least I didn't rip my clothes apart like in the movies."

His attempt to find the humor in his predicament failed. Tears formed at the rims of his eyes.

"I wonder if Julie is having the same problem," he mumbled while wiping snot from the tip of his damp nose.

Concern for his date helped him move past despair. Tentatively sliding back the bolt, he cracked open the door and peered out into the hallway. No one waited or approached. The band was conveniently pounding out the rhythm of their best hit tune keeping the other patrons in their seats. Familiar with the song, JJ knew it would end soon, and people needing to make room for more beer would flood his way to unleash miniature floods of their own.

Taking advantage of the momentary solitude, he crossed the hall to the lady's room and placed his head against the door. A high pitched whine like that made by a lonesome dog was easily detected by his large, oval ears. Gently, he rapped on the door.

"Julie, are you in there?"

Hearing the band's signature crescendo chords presaging the song's thunderous conclusion, JJ glanced nervously around worrying that he only had a few seconds before he was discovered. Distracted with anxiety, he didn't notice the door open until a paw attached to a muscular arm covered in a similarly pattered pelt as his grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him inside before slamming and locking the door again.

It was disturbing, but surprisingly not frightening, to see a near twin of his new self standing in front of him. Twin was a poor descriptor, though, because there were noticeable differences besides the obvious sexual ones. The pattern of her fur was unique, and so were the subtle shapes of her ears, cheeks, and snout. A prominent black line ran down her forehead to bisect her snout. A bright white mask surrounded by black and orange fur highlighted her russet eyes.

Her appearance, though, was not was fascinated him most. More immediate was the seductive allure of her scent, striking him like a hammer to a gong. His senses rang in response, consuming so much of his mental run time that he was only dimly aware his were-twin was speaking to him. All audio input was subsumed by a rich feast of pheromones. Julie had to pull and twist one of his fuzzy ears painfully to break the spell and acquire his attention.

"Hey, Yay-Yay! Are you listening to anything I've been saying?"

"Yeah. Sure...I mean...no. What?"

"I said look at me. This is insane. It can't be happening. I'm a damn dog, and so are you!"

"That's what I thought until I remembered the cuts we got from the skulls. We're not just dogs; we're werewolves now."

"Get fucking real. There's no such thing as verevolves."

"Then how do you explain all this?"

JJ spread his furry arms to encompass them both.

"I can't," Julie conceded. "But we're not volves," she corrected. "Based on our fur patterns and other features, I would say African vild dogs."

"The skulls came from Kenya, so that makes sense."

"None of this makes sense."

Julie looked at herself in the mirror while poking and prodding at her new face as if she could shape it like modeling clay back to her original features.

"I'm hideous," she sobbed. "They don't call ugly vomen 'dogs' for nothing. Fuck!"

Regressing in her use of English to the point of using v'_s for _w's was extremely rare for Julie, and only happened when she was upset. The mistake was a blatant indication of her state of distress. JJ wanted to tell her that he thought she was hotter looking than ever, but she didn't give him the opportunity. She kept gabbing at full speed instead.

"This defies everything ve know about physics, chemistry, biology..."

A jiggling of the door handle followed by a knocking ended Julie's hysterical diatribe.

"Is someone in there?" asked a feminine voice clearly impatient but feigning politeness.

"Occupied," JJ shouted.

Julie clamped her paws over his snout.

"Quiet, dolt," she hissed in his ear. "This is a vomen's bathroom.

"What's going on in there? Is that a guy in there?" demanded the voice.

"They're probably having sex," added a second patron.

An insistent pounding on the door followed.

"Hey! Go get a room, assholes! People out here gotta pee. I'm getting the manager."

"Ve have to get out of here," urged Julie.

JJ tried to protest that the door was the only exit, but Julie's paws had a death grip over his snout reducing his words to garbled mumbling.

"Up there," she pointed indicating a window above one of the two stalls.

Long, narrow, and almost out of reach, it would take strength, agility, an acrobat's skill, and a host of other physical powers he didn't possess to get through it.

"I don't think..." he began, but Julie nimbly climbed atop the toilet, opened the window, hauled herself through it in one fluid motion, and disappeared outside.

"Fuck me," he exclaimed with unabashed admiration. "She's a goddamned gymnast. I'll never repeat that."

A single pull-up was a supreme challenge on JJ's best day. A jingling of keys in the door lock propelled him to copy Julie's stunt despite his misgivings. Surprised by the effortlessness of lifting his new body, he indulged in a dozen quick chin-ups before Julie called after him.

"Vhat the hell are you doing in there; playing vith yourself?"

In a sense, he was; playing with his new found strength was captivating. Curious how many more he could do, he passed twenty with no fatigue before the deadbolt clicked open. With grace equal to his were-mate, he slid through the window, rotated his body in air like an Olympian, and nailed his landing next to Julie on the metal grating of the fire escape. A dimly lit alley full of dumpsters, pallets, and other detritus of city commerce littered the pavement fifteen feet beneath their paws.

"Ve can't let anyone see us," urged Julie while looking around nervously. "Ve need a safe place to hide until this vears off or ve can figure out how to undo it."

With her pheromones diluted in the open air, JJ found it easier to pay attention and agreed. The cold of bare iron beneath his paws made him aware that he had lost his shoes. A downward glance confirmed Julie was likewise unshod.

"We left our shoes and socks in the bathroom. Should I go back and get them?"

Julie tweaked the tip of his moist nose painfully with her claws.

"No, dummy. The bathroom's occupied now. You vant to create a panic? Besides no shoes are going to fit these feet. They'd only slow us down. Come on. Let's go."

"Where?"

Unsure, Julie paused to think and to calm herself with several deep breaths. Logical thinking was akin to meditation for her.

"My place."

"Don't you have a roommate?"

"Yeah, but she won't see or bother us as long as we stay in my room."

No longer bungling her w's, Julie's panic had evidently passed. Her tranquility helped JJ relax, but her invitation agitated deeper emotions.

"Us? You want me to spend the night in your...bedroom?"

"Where else? You live way out south of town, and I guarantee a major freak-out if you try to get on the bus."

"Who needs a bus? I bet I could run home in an hour with this body. I feel incredible. Have you noticed how strong and agile we are now?"

Julie hadn't, but thinking back to her escape through the window made her reassess what had previously seemed so repulsive.

"Yeah. You're right. My muscle to mass ratio is sick, and my endurance is probably just as amazing, but I'm not just talking about the distance. What if you are seen on the way?"

"Elaborate cosplay?"

"Don't be stupid. You look way too real, and how are you going to explain yourself to your parents and siblings?"

JJ had no answer.

"My roommate likes to stay out late on the weekend, and it's only a half mile to my apartment. Even so, we'll have to take a roundabout path using alleys, greenbelts, and whatever dark disused paths we can find."

"Okay. You lead. I'll follow."

Eager to get home to safety, but tempted astray by a surge of adventure induced adrenaline, Julie fearlessly hopped up onto the precarious perch of the metal handrail.

"Let's see what these freaky bodies can do," she proffered with a toothy smile.

Shocking JJ nearly out of his pants, she leapt into the air, completed a somersault, and landed on the metal lid of the dumpster with a clang crouching like the sleekest jungle predator. Inspired, he attempted to mimic her stunt. Not nearly as graceful, he managed to escape injury and even planted a decent hero's landing.

"Show off," she growled, but rewarded him with a rumbling purr and affectionate rubbing of her shoulder against his.

"Try and catch me," she challenged.

Pure exuberance followed. Stealth, speed, and stamina in abundance transformed running the urban gauntlet into a playful gambol through alleys, along trails, over fences, through culverts, and across rooftops. Destination became an abstraction subsumed by the euphoria of cavorting free like a wild animal with only one simple social obligation - stay by your mate.

Cats, raccoon, possum, rats, bats, and other nocturnal urban denizens scurried out of their way in terror. If any humans noted the were-pair's passing, they rationalized the fleeting shapes to have been stray dogs or a figment of their late night imagination. JJ and Julie were effectively invisible to the human world.

Their greatest challenge was the bridge over the canal. A constant flow of traffic made a clandestine crossing at the road deck impossible. Swinging from and hopping among the under girders, the two monkeys defied the urban rain forest to reach the other side.

At the end of their courtship romp, one final leap from a neighboring building placed them unseen and unnoticed upon the roof of Julie's apartment. Crouching side by side while clutching the gutter where the eave overhung Julie's bedroom window, they were unfazed by the three story drop.

"That was in-fucking-credible," panted JJ with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. "I'm not tired at all. Don't you want to just run all night?"

"Hell ja," answered were-Julie genuinely eager to continue their primal romp, but her rational, human self intruded reminding her of the danger. "We've got to focus on the important goals, though. Shelter. Concealment. A frickin' plan to get back to normal. Remember?"

It was a logical statement giving the illusion that human-Julie was in control, but the lustful beast sharing her mind was playing her higher self for a fool. Scheming to consummate the evening with feral sex, the veneer of logic gave legitimacy to a course of action that would lure her companion into her private den.

Ignorant of her intentions, except at the most primitive level, JJ continued exulting in the wonders of his new body.

"I'm not so sure I want to be normal again. This body kicks ass. Believe in werewolves now?"

"Just follow me, or I'll kick your ass," she growled before sliding over the edge to hang by her forepaws while using her hindpaws to slide open the window.

"It's a good thing I never bother to lock this. Being on the third floor, who'd have thought it necessary? Maybe now that I know creatures like us exist, I will."

She swung her body back and forth until she had enough momentum to glide through the opening. Landing in her room with a tuck and roll, she rose with liquid grace. Unable to endure being separated, JJ followed a few seconds later.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"I don't know. We shouldn't go anywhere looking like this."

"Do you think we'll turn human again at sunrise, or is this permanent?"

Julie shrugged her shoulders.

"No fucking idea. We have to get in touch with that guy who sent the skulls. Maybe he knows something. If only we had the paperwork from the lab."

"Hey! I took a picture to translate it remember. It's still in my phone."

Fishing in his pants pocket, JJ retrieved the document.

"Ha! His phone number is on the letter. Should I call or text him?"

"Start with a text. Let's find out what he knows before we speak to him and risk freaking him out. Our voices are the weirdest mix of human speech, growling, snarling, and purring."

"I know. It's uber sexy."

She swiped her paw across his ears.

"Focus, pervert."

"Okay. Okay. Don't get all mad. That was a compliment."

Responding involuntarily, she purred.

"Fine. Thank you. You're super sexy, too, but we can't be distracted, so keep the message vague just in case the wrong eyes see it...but obvious to anyone who knows about this shape-shifting shit."

JJ tapped away with his claw-like nails enjoying the precision of their narrow tips.

"How does this sound? Dr. Kamau, the skulls that you sent had some interesting characteristics that defy understanding. They have had a transformative influence on myself and Doc Waikenda's other assistant that we hope is a temporary aberration. We wish to return to our previous state of enlightenment. Please advise. How's that?"

"Clever. Hopefully not too clever for someone who may or may not have mastery of English. Send it, and let's see what happens."

"Done. Now what?"

"I guess we hang here until he responds. Don't leave this room except through the window. My roommate may be home, which reminds me..."

Julie dug around in a dresser drawer until she found a large, pink bandanna. Slowly cracking the door, she peeked around the hallway, tied the cloth to the doorknob, then shut and locked the door again.

"I never thought I would need that."

"What's that all about?" wondered JJ.

"It's a prearranged signal we have to indicate there's a 'guest' in my room."

"Oh. So you have guys over a lot?"

"Me? Are you kidding? My social life is...well, that's none of your business. It's her...my roommate that is. She's a nympho. I got sick of her half, or totally naked, boyfriends wandering about in search of the toilet or food in the middle of the night. We agreed on using this signal mostly so I have some warning at least."

"Was there something pink on her door?"

"No, but she might not be home either. It's Friday night. She could be anywhere, with anyone."

"Nympho, huh? Do you think she likes the strong, furry type?"

"Hey! You're mine, pervert!"

A flick of her wrist sent a pillow at his snout. His own reflexes were surprisingly quick, and he snatched it out of the air just before impact even though she had thrown it with great speed.

"Where did that come from?" wondered Julie at the overwhelming possessiveness that gripped her.

JJ's inner were-dog exulted over her accidental declaration of love and her playful attack with the pillow. Delight accompanied every word she said, and each sinuous movement of her body made resisting ogling her impossible. Misinterpreting his lustful canine expression for disgust, Julie turned away from him in shame.

"Stop staring. I know I'm hideous. Gods! A dog. What's worse than that?"

"Are you kidding?" blurted JJ shocked by her misplaced self-loathing. "You look beautiful, fantastic, like an Egyptian goddess! I mean, I know calling a chick a dog is typically an insult, but you are totally something else."

"Really?"

Having never thought of herself as anything but large, clumsy, and plain, to hear another say she was beautiful was difficult to accept.

"You mean that for real?"

"Fuck yeah. I've seen furry porn on the internet and thought, yeah that's kind of hot, but you, here in person like this...you're a wet dream come to life in three-D."

Conflicted emotions tightly enmeshed with her lingering poor body image were hard to dispel so casually.

"You're not just trying to be a gentleman and make me feel better?"

"Shit! This is God's honest truth. I'll swear on a stack of bibles, my grandparent's graves, or whatever you find convincing. What's that old rhyme? 'Stick a needle in my eye or hope to die' or something; I'm mangling it for sure, but you get the point, right?"

Convinced of his sincerity, Julie posed before a full-length mirror mounted on her closet door. After considering her reflection for a minute, she unabashedly removed her blouse. A tuft of white fur filled the cleavage between her round yellow and black colored breasts. With a delightful wiggling of her curvy ass and wagging of her tail she shimmied out of her jeans.

With only her matching set of black panties and bra between JJ's eyes and heaven, his mouth watered uncontrollably. Glistening drops of saliva spilled past the edges of his trembling lips. There was nothing Victoria's Secret about her underclothes, but on her were-body, even cheap, discount rack items seemed exclusive.

"I do look pretty good," Julie admitted unaware of the impact her posturing had on her mate. "Definitely worth a picture."

After snapping a quick selfie, her paws glided over the taught curves and muscular lines of her new body. JJ experienced a pleasant, but uncontrollable reaction in his loins. Reminded of the totality of his transformation, he attempted to hide his rising excitement with his paws.

"Consider yourself lucky," he sighed bemoaning what he considered an unfortunate side effect; his tail unconsciously tucked between his legs. "You got just the good parts. I'm all dog...at least where it matters."

With ears swiveling in confusion, Julie resisted the tug of Sisyphus and dragged her eyes away from her reflection to examine JJ more closely. Nothing about him seemed significantly different from her except he lacked breasts, was a bit wider in the chest, and narrower of hip.

"You look fine to me. You filled out with muscle quite nicely."

"Yeah. Thanks, but when I say I'm a dog, I mean all dog."

"All dog? You're no more canine than me, and you said you like this look, so what's the problem?"

Jabbing downward, he pointed at his crotch.

"What I mean is that this is one hundred percent canine."

Understanding at last, Julie gasped in surprise and placed her paws over her mouth.

"Fuck no! Ja? Really? Let me see."

"What? No way."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing."

"Oh, come on. You're covered in fur, a tail is sticking out your backside, your ears are on the top of your head, and you're worried about how your prick looks?"

"Hey. It's kind of important to me. I'm a guy. It's not like I care about my ears or my ass."

"Well women tend to fixate on their whole bodies, so I'll share my shame first."

To JJ's shock and simultaneous delight, Julie brazenly removed the rest of her clothes. When the bra went into the growing pile of garments on the floor, his jaw dropped open, and he began to pant. He had never seen such perfectly proportioned orbs before, at least not in the flesh, or in this case, the pelt.

Black and hard like tiny mountains protruding from a sea of fur, her nipples begged to be suckled. JJ's paws levitated toward them of their own accord. A conscious effort was required to return his errant appendages to cover his groin, where he tried to restrain them, but the spell cast by her scent and erotic movements drew them away again as if an invisible puppeteer dictated his movements.

Easing her panties down her thighs in a continuance of her lissome dance, her underwear rolled into a tight band of fabric. One hindpaw at a time, she stepped out of the inconsequential band of fabric and casually tossed it over her shoulder. JJ reacted unconsciously to catch it and brought the aromatic garment to his snout to savor, but his eyes never strayed from the glories below her flat stomach. A second mound of white fur, twin to the one between her breasts, adorned the top of her sex.

All of JJ's being focused upon that snowy tuft and the pale exposed folds of flesh beneath it. Julie, meanwhile, finished her self-appraisal and asked him to ditch his clothes for her perusal. Though her mouth moved and sounds accompanied the motion, he heard nothing; he was deaf to the world. Blind even to her paw waving in front of his face, his vision had narrowed to see only what his nose had been directing him towards all evening.

A sharp rap from her paw on the sensitive tip of his snout broke the trance.

"Hey! JJ," she urged in a jesting voice. "Snap out of it. You're drooling."

Slowly emerging from his lust induced torpor, he self-consciously wiped the sides of his mouth with the back of his paw. The small trace of humanity clinging to consciousness contemplated what had come over him. All his inhibitions had run scared like rabbits to their warren as if startled by a hungry predator. Struggling to retake control, his human side concentrated on her voice.

"I take it you like what you see," she said completing a full turn with her tail brushing provocatively against his groin.

Her lascivious display did little to tame this inner beast. Like a barometer after the passing of a storm, the front of his pants rose, unambiguously proclaiming which direction the weather had turned. His errant paws began moving towards her again of their own accord.

"Duh," he managed to reply remembering his own embarrassment, "but I doubt you'll say the same when I'm naked."

"Let me be the judge," she purred as she took advantage of his befuddlement.

Her paws began to unfasten the unprotected button and zipper of his pants. JJ couldn't decide whether to intervene or relinquish all control. Temptation waged all out war against trepidation. Victory went to the most basic and primal urge to mate. His pants slid down his legs to become a wrinkled tube of denim on the floor. Mesmerized by the olfactory manifestation of her desire, his briefs joined his pants without a struggle.

"Oh, look," she exclaimed with obvious pleasure. "It's so cute."

Few words had the power to break the ensorcellment holding him fast, but "cute" was one. JJ tried pulling his briefs back up, but she fought against him. The fabric ripped apart in their struggle.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Covering the cute. What the hell kind of thing is that to say to a guy? I mean 'cute?' Really?"

"What's wrong with cute? Look at that little red tip peeking out of its snug, furry sheath."

"Little!? Argh. You don't tell a guy his dick is little or cute. Those are like...like baby characteristics. Shit!"

"Sorry. Let me make it up to you."

Dropping to her knees, a quick, downward tug on the snug covering of skin exposed more of his veiny, ruby colored cock. When her long tongue began caressing the glistening shaft, it grew in ecstatic pleasure. A few licks and appreciative murrs were enough to assuage his ego, kick his libido into high gear, and inflate his doggy-dick to a full erection.

"Fuck...fuck...shit...that's good," he panted.

Julie admitted that the word 'little' was clearly a premature and erroneous descriptor as she marveled at the result of her handiwork. With both paws grasping the fully engorged member, she failed to contain its length.

"It looks plenty big now. That should make you happy."

"It still looks weird, but yeah, the size is an improvement, and it feels really good when you do that."

"Do what?"

"Uh, you know."

"Know what?"

Vexed by her mock, quizzical puppy expression, JJ sighed.

"Are you going to make me say it?"

Julie wiggled her ears mischievously while nodding.

"Fine. I want you to suck my dick more please."

"Oh! Who would have thought? Like this?"

A gooey tendril of pre cum hung from its chisel-shaped tip. Julie licked it clean with a single swipe of her tongue, but more seeped out to replace it. Additional attempts resulted in more leakage. Teasing the sensitive tip, she created a nearly continuous stream, and was content to play with her new toy, but JJ placed his paws on her head pushing her snout and tongue down just out of reach of his quivering cock.

"Hold. Stop, unless you want a mouth full of the real thing."

Julie halted as requested, but held her tongue out to catch the continuing, slow, viscous flow.

"That doesn't sound so bad. This stuff doesn't taste like anything. I heard jizz tastes salty."

"I wouldn't know, but that's not jizz. It's just the prelude."

"Well? What's wrong? I'm game to give it a try. I can always spit it out."

"Nothing's wrong. You're tongue is magical, but I feel like you're doing all the work, and I'm having all the fun. What can I do for you?"

"Wow. A handsome stud and a gentleman. I'm a lucky girl to have such a considerate mate."

JJ wondered fleetingly about the significance of the term 'mate,' but Julie was eager to proceed leaving him no time to consider such weighty concepts. Without releasing her grip, she led him by his cock, as she had effectively been doing since they left the bar, steering him to the bed where she pushed him backwards upon it with his legs hanging over the side.

"Let's see if your tongue is as magical as mine."

Clambering on top, she straddled him with her head over his groin and her pelvis over his snout. Lowering her hips, she felt the cool tip of his nose beneath her tail and the warmth of his breath against her exposed, pink flesh.

All vestiges of JJ's restraint and inhibition were smothered in the enveloping fog of her intoxicating scent. With feral gusto, he wrapped his arms around her hips, pulled her closer, and devoured her sex. Clamping her legs against his head, she ground her most sensitive zones against his mouth in tempo with each deep delving of his tongue.

Attempting to exceed her lover's enthusiasm, Julie slathered his staff with enthusiastic oral affection. She was surprised to find her gag reflex disabled and took every inch into her mouth until the tip of her snout buried itself in his thick, black patch of pubic fur. Twisting her head back and forth with her tongue wrapped lovingly around the thick shaft, only the need to breathe forced her to withdraw. The sensitive tip was held twitching between her pursed lips as she sucked air in at the corners of her mouth before repeating the sword-swallowing act in a cyclic rhythm.

Taste, texture, heat, and vigorous friction soon delivered both to a simultaneous climax. Like a mighty ocean wave, the phenomenon rolled over their bodies. Shuddering ecstasy crested with breathtaking splendor before crashing against the shore of their senses.

The rush of fluid squirting down Julie's throat seemed as infinite as the sea. Gasping for air, she lost her battle to swallow it all. JJ's shiny cock slipped from her mouth accompanied by a surge of cream that bathed her breasts and sprayed its final bursts across the top of her snout.

Mouth agape in a silent howl of pleasure, she reveled in the impulses radiating from her over stimulated pussy until she could bear no more, and collapsed onto her side.

Freed from the smothering embrace of her thighs, JJ coughed and gulped the deep breaths of an almost drowned man having narrowly escaped the deadly embrace of the sea. His snout was coated in the clear, sticky fluid of her arousal. Slowly, with languid pleasure, Julie re-positioned herself atop her lover facing him muzzle to muzzle. They licked each other's faces clean in blissful contentment.

Proclaiming the lateness of the hour by casting its pale illumination upon their huddled forms, the alarm clock's warning was spurned. Neither cared how long they lay together in silence. Time was a trivial abstraction.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," purred Julie. "Muy magical. I waited too long for that."

"First time?"

"Yep," she growled while chewing playfully at his neck. "Certainly you've done that before to some other girl. You were really good."

"Nope. I think enthusiasm triumphs experience for both of us."

"Ja? Wow. Two virgins doing it as were-dogs. This is way different than I imagined for my first time."

"Yeah. I thought this was going to be weird, but it beats every fantasy I ever had, and I had some pretty imaginative ones."

Julie's relaxed expression hardened into a predatory grin.

"Let's try another fantasy."

"Already? It usually takes a while to come back..."

"Are you kidding? I can still feel you hard as a steel beam under my stomach."

Redirecting his befuddled senses downward, he confirmed her observation.

"Dang! After cumming, it usually goes down and stays down for at least a little while."

"Just another delightful attribute of these furry bodies. Since I'm already in position, how about girl on top? Ja?"

"Cowgirl or reverse cowgirl?"

"The virgin knows his positions. Do you have a preference?"

"Tough choice. Forward gives me a fabulous view of your bouncy tits. Backwards lets me admire your fine ass. Either way, I get a great show."

"Perv!" she said pinning his arms to the bed. "I should banish your naughty mouth to the couch for the rest of the night."

Contrary to her own threat, she stretched her supple torso upright with her chest out to showcase her furry breasts. Performing a delightful tease, she slowly scooted forward letting his rigid cock slip with agonizing ecstasy between her slick labia and along her taint until the tip was wedged against the puckered orifice at the base of her tail. Bending forward to nuzzle his neck, her butt wiggled seductively leaving him anxious as to what might follow.

"That is a most intriguing tickle," she whispered in his ear. "Maybe we'll get to that later, but your bad little...I mean...big...huge, red doggy is going down a different hole."

Reversing her motion, she used her rear end like a dozer pushing over a tree. His cock was forced towards his toes. Bare flesh caressed bare flesh again with slippery delight as her hips passed over his groin. When her buttocks reached his knees, his unconstrained tool became a spring loaded switchblade snapping forward to slap against his taught stomach.

Gripping the bright red blade in one paw like the stick-shift of a race car, Julie brought it upright between her thighs. JJ swooned with gratitude for the stamina of his ever turgid new penis upon which she began impaling herself. With voyeuristic pleasure he drank in the liquid grace of her sensuous pole dance.

Each descent along his slippery shaft ended with a grinding motion of pubis on pubis before she rose again in a deceptively lazy rhythm calculated to delay his second ejaculation and induce within herself a perpetual orgasm. Like successive peals of a vast and violent thunderstorm, energy arced and sparked along her nerves saturating her senses with electric ecstasy. At the apex of each ascent, she rose a hair's breadth above the tip of his quivering organ while grasping the base briefly with her paw until the intensity of her convulsions waned enough to glide back down and recharge for the next thunderbolt.

Distracted by her performance, JJ was unaware of the gradual swelling at the base of his cock limiting each of her successive descending strokes. Julie discovered the phenomenon when the bulb became so large she could no longer wrap the fingers of her paw around it.

"Whoa! What's your dick doing now?" she asked looking with wonder upon her toy's latest surprise. "Is that supposed to fit in me?"

Rudely disconnected from the sublime, JJ followed her gaze to gape with momentary disbelief at the latest bizarre manifestation of his inhuman organ.

"Christ! I forgot about that. Uh, it's called a knot, and yeah, it all goes inside."

"Bullshit! Right? The tip of this thing is already banging at the gates of my uterus. I feel like an overnight bag packed for a month long vacation."

"Well you're on top, so you decide. I don't think I'm gonna cum again unless you do, though."

Deep within her co-joined canine-human brain the feral creature lurking in her hypothalamus balked at his threat. Instinctual need for his seed was the ammunition her baser self used to hijack control of her libido in a bid to consummate their love.

Clenching her teeth and huffing in short staccato breaths, were-Julie pushed downward with raw determination. Parting at first with reluctance, then greedily opening to envelop its girth, her silky gates yawned wide. A sodden, audible pop signaled her abrupt acceptance of every bit of him except for a slender red inch hidden within his wrinkled sheath.

The most devastating and long lasting synaptic explosion of the evening reduced her consciousness to an infinitely dense singularity of pleasure. Mouth agape in a silent scream and her eyes clamped shut, her claws dug into his thighs.

Milked by the rhythmic squeezing of her vagina and its noose-like tightening at the base of his knot, JJ similarly abandoned every thought and feeling except the disorienting shuddering in his loins. His orgasm pumped copious ejaculate, convulsing until her womb was full and long after nothing remained to discharge.

Unable to endure the splendor an instant longer, Julie collapsed upon JJ's chest. Equally spent, he was capable of nothing more than to place his arms upon her back in a weak but affectionate hug. Focusing on the rapid drumbeat of their synchronous hearts transitioning from Allegro to Largo, he purred an accompanying chorus of contentment.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," muttered Julie through labored breaths. "That was the craziest experience ever. Is normal human sex like that?"

JJ shrugged.

"Oh, right. You are...were a virgin."

"It was way better than fapping off. That's for sure," he added.

"Agreed," she chuckled thinking of past lonely nights with only a dildo for a companion. "I wish to remain just like this forever..."

"Me too."

"...but I'm a bit uncomfortably full right now. You are freaking huge, and there's gotta be a quart of your cum inside fighting my bladder for space. I'm pulling off."

Sensitized beyond endurance, JJ braced himself for the stimulating shock of what he thought was to be the final slide along her velvety canal. Instead, he experienced a gentle and then insistent tugging at his groin.

"Vhat the hell?" Julie exclaimed worried enough to resume mispronouncing her_w_'s.

Several frustrated attempts to free herself failed, and she panicked.

"It's stuck!" she wailed. "How the fuck does it get stuck?"

"Pull harder," suggested JJ regretting his words when Julie squirmed frantically backward and slid off the bed, taking him with her to the floor.

On top, JJ tried pulling out to calm her, but they remained firmly joined at the crotch despite his best efforts. Impatient, Julie rolled him over and desperately attempted to stand. JJ grabbed her waist to stop her.

"Wait! Force won't work. I just remembered. We're tied."

"Tied? Vhat? Is this some bondage thing?"

"No. It means your cunt has a death grip on my knot, and we just gotta be calm and wait for you to let go and for me to deflate."

"How long?"

"I don't know, ten...twenty minutes?"

"I can't vait. I have to pee."

Rummaging under her bed, she retrieved a ratty old blanket, bunched it into a crumpled wad, and shoved it under JJ's butt.

"I was going to throw this out anyway," she said before sighing and closing her eyes.

JJ's puzzlement was evident from his twitching ears and creased forehead until liquid warmth began spreading over his thighs and groin.

"Oh my God! Are you pissing on me?"

"Uh huh," she murmured in relief.

Julie hadn't exaggerated her need. The dirty deed seemed to last a full minute. Disgusted at first, a kinky delight crept upon JJ. When she was empty, Julie huffed in relief.

"Sorry to do that on you."

"It's okay. In a weird way, I enjoyed it."

"Really? Me too. We are so fucked up. Part of my brain was screaming 'He's mine!' the whole time. I guess you are officially marked."

"Happily so. All of my brain was saying 'I want to be hers.'"

Rewarding him with a passionate kiss, her long tongue intertwined with his like mating snakes.

"Whoa! Whoa!" he said disengaging. "If you want this knot to go down, that ain't helping."

"Maybe I don't want it out now. We fit nicely together. I'm comfortable."

"Well, I'm on a wet blanket on a hard, wooden floor. Can we at least get back on the bed where it's dry and soft?"

"Sure, stud."

Sanding was a clumsy endeavor, but they managed it after much tugging, cursing, and repositioning of their bodies. Experimenting with different poses, they found it best to stand butt to butt.

You sure this is working for you?" she asked worried about the stress on his cock.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I think it's supposed to twist around backward. Don't dogs fuck this way?"

"I don't know. I never watched them do it."

The unsaturated portions of the blanket were used to dry their fur before the ruined covering went out the window.

"There's gonna be a pack of stray dogs all over that by morning," observed JJ, "wondering where the bitch in heat is hiding."

"Let 'em hump it 'til their balls are dry."

Laughing at her own rude humor, Julie lifted one leg, pirouetted on the other until she faced her mate again, and licked lovingly at the base of his ear.

"I have the only mutt I want right here."

They flopped sideways onto the bed, shimmied towards the center, and lay on their backs still joined at the crotch.

"I have never been more tired in my life," yawned JJ as he closed his eyes.

At Julie's insistence, JJ reluctantly opened them again and checked for a reply from Dr. Kamau, but the only message waiting for him was from his mom wondering why he was so late coming home. He replied with a lie explaining he had to stay with friends over the weekend to finish a project critical for his final grade. A text came back in less than a minute indicating she understood and for him to be a good houseguest for his friends. Setting his phone aside, JJ threw his forearm over his brow and sighed.

"If my parents had any idea their son was half dog and having sex with an older were-creature, they would freak the fuck out. Man, if I wasn't so tired, I'd be freaking out."

"I'm way past losing my shit," said Julie unable to stifle a yawn of her own. "This has got to be the weirdest birthday of my life." It was the last thing she managed to say before her and JJ, locked in their post coital embrace, drifted off to the deeper unreality of dreams.

Well after dawn, but sometime before noon judging by the blades of sunlight thrust like shining swords through the gaps at the edges of her window blind, Julie returned to the conscious world reflexively wondering at the time. Her alarm clock resting on the nightstand next to her head possessed the answer, but she lacked the strength to turn over and query its glowing numbers. Simply opening her eyes had been a monumental effort. An intense numbness of body and tiredness of spirit possessed her as if she had completed a triathlon during the night, so she lay immobile processing what she could remember of the previous evening.

Parsing dream from reality proved problematic. Some memories were compatible with her understanding of the workings of the physical universe, and others were....there was no other way to categorize them than as absurd fantasy. Where the two parted company was unclear requiring concentrated effort to discover.

Ignoring the post transformation were-dog delusion that was front and center in her consciousness, she examined what she could remember of the evening's real events. At the lab, JJ had asked her out for her birthday. Up to that point everything seemed normal, but then there were the weird skulls, their wounds, and the subsequent transformation. Was all of that part of a dream or was it a blend of both? Julie could not decide, and abandoned the effort when an intense, gut squeezing hunger seized her with a ferocity implying she hadn't eaten in days.

The overwhelming craving for food overrode her lethargy, giving her impetus to move. Clumsy and trapped by her bed coverings, she thrashed about and soon discovered she had company. It was JJ. Asleep, the deep brown skin of his backside proved he was human, but images of fur, huge, round ears, a tail, and less savory bits of canine anatomy rudely filled her mind forcing her to reevaluate what had been dream and what had not. Too rational to believe in the impossibility of shape shifting, a logical compromise presented itself. Rage towards her bedtime companion accompanied her deduction.

"You asshole!" she snarled as she slapped him on the back.

Startled by the rude awakening, he instinctively rolled away from the source of pain. The top of his body slid off the bed, and his head would have thumped hard against the floor if his pillow was not already waiting to break the fall. Entangled in the sheet, his legs remained on the bed putting him in the awkward position of facing upward with much of his weight upon his shoulders. The bizarre tableau of the previous evening returned to him as Julie's human face surrounded by a tangled halo of red hair peered accusingly over the edge of the bed.

"So that all happened," he managed to say misinterpreting the source of her ire.

"Ja, and just as you planned, you goddamned motherfucker!"

Her hostility was a mystery to JJ.

"What? Planned? I have no idea what..."

"Don't play innocent, rapist. You slipped me some kind of date rape drug so you could get me in bed. Fuck! I oughta cut your balls off for that."

Fearful that she was serious, JJ desperately reached up with one hand to protect his privates while failing miserably to pull himself up with the other.

"No! Wait! That's not true. I'm a victim. Whatever affected you, got me too."

"Really?" Disbelief stared back at him menacingly, but she made no further move to emasculate him. "Prove it."

"Help me up first, please."

"No. You stay right there until I decide whether or not to hurt you."

"Fuck. Okay. Look. Something bizarre happened last night, and you think it was an hallucination. If it was all just in your head, there's no way I could possibly know the details of what you hallucinated, right?"

Her steady gaze rendered no encouragement.

"Okay. Here goes," he began.

Sparing no detail, JJ recounted everything he could remember from his transformation in the pub bathroom to just before he fell asleep including every sordid detail of their tryst. During his narration, emotions ranging from shock through disgust back to cold anger ran a leapfrog relay over her face.

"How do I know you didn't just plant those thoughts in my mind with clever suggestion while I was sedated?"

"Are you kidding? What do you think I am, a professional hypnotist? Give me a break for Christ's sake."

"I'll break something all right."

Her fist rose above her head as though she was going to bring it down like a hammer between his legs.

"Hold it! Your phone! Check your phone," he shrieked. "You took a selfie last night while posing in the mirror. Remember?"

Julie did, and the sword of Damocles shifted its focus from his most precious assets to the nightstand, where Julie retrieved her phone and was shocked to see indisputable evidence of the truth of everything he had said.

"Damn! I...I don't vant to believe any of this," she said, her voice trembling.

"But you believe me, right? I didn't drug you."

"No, you didn't," she admitted.

"Help me up?"

Julie gave him an arm and pulled him back up onto the bed. JJ's struggles to keep himself modestly covered reminded her of her own nudity. She nabbed a pillow to hold over her freckled breasts clutching it tightly like a shield.

"We're cool then?" he asked hoping but harboring no conviction.

"Are you kidding? No!"

"Why not?"

"Because you had sex with me, that's vhy."

"Oh, yeah...well you kind of instigated that..."

"Doesn't matter. I vasn't in my right mind."

"Neither was I."

"But we had no protection and you came in me like a fire hose...and stayed in me...all locked...oh fuck."

Julie grimaced and touched the residual sticky mess between her thighs. Holding up her fingers, she inspected the gooey tendrils between her fingers with disgust.

"Is this dog or human cum?"

"Sorry."

It was a lame apology, but JJ was sincere. He just couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Apology accepted, but it doesn't solve my problem."

"What problem?"

"Pregnancy, idiot! I've got to get to the pharmacy for some morning after pills. I am not having your baby...puppy...puppies?...oh, that is too gross to think about."

"Ah. Okay. I can go with you if you want. I'll pay for the prescription."

Much of Julie's ire drained away. She gazed at him with renewed admiration.

"You really are the sweet little gentleman, aren't you?"

"I just want to help and...I don't know...," stammered JJ not really sure what he should say or even exactly what he felt about their altered relationship. Were they lovers now, mates, or did she hate him? He was afraid to ask.

"Wow," she purred. "I fell for those big puppy dog eyes last night, and now I see you still got 'em even when you're human."

Reminded of being canine, JJ quickly peeked under the sheets. His junk was human again.

"Phew. I'm glad it's just the eyes."

Julie rolled hers in response.

"Men. You can only ever think of one damn thing."

Lacking his were-form reflexes, the pillow that had hidden her nudity struck him across the face. Before he could remove it, his pants, underwear, and shirt followed. She was already half dressed by the time he extricated himself and began putting on his clothes. They smelled from the night before, and he wished for fresh garments.

"If you really want to help," she said, "make me some breakfast. I'm starving like...well, I've never been this hungry before."

The reference to food made JJ's empty stomach grumble audibly.

"Oh, man, now that you mention it, I feel famished."

Sharing a mutual gluttonous lust, they rushed to the kitchen and began devouring whatever they could find. Julie stuffed a bagel in her mouth to chew while slicing another for the toaster. Half a block of cream cheese became the filling between the toasted halves. JJ ate three bananas and was half way through a box of crackers when Julie handed him a carton of eggs and a half-gallon jug of milk.

"Scramble 'em," she ordered.

"How many?"

"All of them."

JJ hoped she was planning to share as he turned on the range, whipped up the eggs, added seasoning and milk, and dumped it onto the heated pan. While the gooey concoction was sizzling and curdling, Julie drained the last of the milk carton. Several single serving yogurts followed. Two of those she gave to JJ including half the cooked eggs that they ate from a shared plate using their fingers.

They were busy heating some microwave meals and devouring a bag of pretzels when Julie's roommate made an appearance in a form fitting T-shirt and men's boxers. With hair black as shoe polish and a short, athletic physique, she was the physical opposite of Julie. The bevy of intriguing piercings in her ears, nose, chin, and lips complemented by elaborate tattoos on her bare arms and legs, when all combined by the dark scowl on her face, lent her a forbidding, bad girl appearance.

JJ instinctively moved closer to his mate, but his eyes inevitably roamed to the intruder's chest where, under then thin cotton of her shirt, the circular shape of hoop rings visibly intersected the nubs of her nipples. Little deductive reasoning was required to assume there were similar ornaments hidden from sight under the looser clothing below.

"Well," she began, "I could hardly believe it when I saw the pink sash on the doorknob last night, but look what we have here, an actual man...or more like a boy. You're a cradle robber, Julie."

The Raven tressed woman brazenly scanned JJ's body from his toes to the frizzy hair on his head as if she were appraising a slave on an auction block. If she noticed his coincident appraisal of her, she gave no indication. Unimpressed with what she saw, she soon lost interest.

"This is Gun," said Julie around a mouthful of food. "Gun, this is JJ."

"Hi, Gun," said JJ meekly.

Gun shook her head.

"I thought it was a mistake until I was rudely awoken by you two fighting this morning. Over your lover's spat now are you?"

"That wasn't a spat, just a misunderstanding," protested JJ.

Gun didn't seem to care. Surveying the mess of crumbs, utensils, and empty packaging on the counter, she became more interested in what remained to eat.

"Shit! You guys ate all that? Blazing before breakfast does bring on serious munchies. Sex and weed. I'm impressed. When you go off the deep end, Julie, you really go all the way."

"Shut up, Gun," demanded Julie after swallowing a mouth full of frozen waffle. "We haven't been smoking pot. We just got really hungry, that's all."

"Smoking pot? Nobody who lights up says that, so, yeah, I believe that part. You didn't deny the sex, though."

Julie stuck out her tongue.

"You can be the nastiest bitch in the world when you want to."

"Yeah. Yeah. Life's tough like that. As long as you left me some coffee, I can be reasonable."

Watching their exchange with fascination while sucking on spoonfuls of peanut butter, JJ let loose an errant chuckle. It earned him a hostile glare from Gun as she fussed with the coffee maker.

"What are you laughing at, nerd?"

"Nuffing..." he mumbled, the peanut butter sticking to the back of his tongue.

"His name's JJ, not nerd," interjected Julie. "Leave him alone."

Indifferent to Julie's rebuke, Gun shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever. Just make sure you and the nerd restock the fridge. It doesn't look like you left anything for me, and I'll be hungry once I wake up."

"Don't worry. We're going out to the store right now. We'll clean up when we get back, right JJ?"

"You're the boss."

"You might want to shower first," suggested Gun pinching her fingers to her nose. "It's just a suggestion, but you guys reek of sex and...hell, I don't know...wet dogs?"

Eager to escape her roommate's nosy questioning, Julie dragged her lover into the shower where they scrubbed each other clean. Involuntarily aroused, JJ weathered Julie's scornful stare in embarrassed silence and tried to think of boner killing thoughts, an impossibility under the circumstances. He was relieved when they were finished, grabbed some shopping bags, and hustled out the door.

"My shoes are in the girls bathroom at the pub," complained JJ as he gingerly walked barefoot down the sidewalk towards the drugstore.

"Mine too."

"But you're wearing a spare."

"You can buy a pair while I get my pills. We're not going back for our shoes. I don't want to explain that anymore than I want to talk to Gun about you and our relationship."

Once again, he wondered exactly what their relationship was, but didn't have the balls to inquire.

"Gun? What kind of name is that?" he asked instead.

"Her real name is Guinevere, but don't ever call her that. She's grumpy enough, and that really sets her off."

"So?"

"Don't be fooled by her size. She's a martial arts expert. She'd take you down in a second and laugh as you writhed in pain."

"Not if I was in my were-dog form, she wouldn't. Man, was I fast and strong."

"You sound like you want to change back."

"Maybe...Yeah. I guess I do."

"Well I don't. Way too many weird, animal thoughts went through my head. That was crazy out of control. What if we had killed someone?"

"I didn't have any urge to kill anyone. That must be a myth. Did you hunger for human flesh?"

"No."

"What's your worry then?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

"Oh my God, you mean the sex, don't you?"

"Shut up!"

"No. Hear me out. I know what you mean. I had no control either. I would have followed you wherever you led and done whatever you wanted. You were totally irresistible."

Julie stared into his eyes as he pled his case. Her expression softened.

"Yeah. That's what I felt all right. You were all I could think about, and I wanted nothing more than for you to catch me and...ugh! Don't you get it? That's the problem. Am I going to be running to the pharmacy every morning for the rest of my life?"

"Maybe it was a one time thing like a cold or the flu, or maybe it just happens on a full moon like last night?"

"A cold? That's too stupid to even consider, and once a month is twelve times a year too many. We have to find a cure for this. Hey! Did that lunatic from Kenya get back to you yet?"

"Oh fuck. I forgot about him I was so hungry. Let me check."

JJ fished his phone out of his pocket and spent a minute reading.

"Yeah. He did...but you won't like his response."

"Why?"

"I think you're right about him being a nut case. He says not to contact him again at this number. It's being monitored by the...Owindaji?...and we are now in great danger. He won't answer from this account again."

"Owindaji? What does that mean?"

"It translates as 'hunter' from Swahili."

"Fantastic. Ambiguous threats and then he goes silent. Completely unhelpful."

"No wait. There's another message here. It's from a different account, but it's him alright. It's a lot longer and gives more details."

JJ paused to read it through before giving Julie the condensed version.

"Wow. I'm not sure how much of this to believe, but he says he also got cut by a skull and has been what he calls an ilimu for over a month now. He sent the two skulls to engage Dr. Waikenda in helping discover their origin and unlock the mystery of shape shifting. He apologizes for getting us infected and also for inadvertently leading to us being exposed to the Owindaji. They have agents everywhere and will come to kill us. They will steal our skulls if they can and use them to track us, so we must protect them right away or keep running and stay nowhere longer than twenty-four hours."

"Is that it?"

"He just adds that he's on the run, has poor cell reception, and will be in touch when he can."

"That's convenient."

"He seems to know what he's talking about."

"I have little faith in the reality of that paranoid rant."

"Maybe we should go get the skulls now. Dr. Kamau thinks it's a big deal."

"Men! It must be great to fuck whomever you want and then just walk away as if there were no consequences. Have you forgotten already where we're going and why?"

"No...yes...but this sounds important."

"Me not getting pregnant is important. Pharmacy first then we can go to the lab, and while I'm shelling out bucks for Plan B, ask Mr. Ilimu if two were-dogs mating can conceive."

Knowing he would not win this argument, JJ dutifully relayed her question while tagging along behind wondering what strange twist their relationship was taking and where it might go. Several times while waiting at the drug store and then while shopping for groceries he was tempted to split company and head home, but the mutually binding connection of their plight kept him protectively at her side. He felt at least partly responsible, and unlike her, his nervousness brought about by the Kenyan professor's warnings refused to abate.

Unable to allay his anxiety, he finally confronted Julie in the checkout line while the clerk rang up their food items. There was much rolling of her eyes, but she finally surrendered to his earnest pleas and agreed he could pay a little extra to have the groceries delivered so they could head straight to the lab.

Of course, she teased him mercilessly the entire walk, but was forced to eat crow instead of the sweet desert of "I told you so" when they found the lab in shambles and the skulls missing. Accidentally magnanimous in victory, JJ was too stunned to demand an apology or strut his righteousness.

"Shit!" exclaimed Julie. "This situation is spiraling out of control."

"We should call the police," offered JJ. "Dangerous people are after us. We need protection."

"And tell them what, that we're some kind of were-dogs and that sinister agents of evil are after us? I know this is real, but that doesn't mean it won't sound insane to everyone else. We have no proof."

"What about the photo of you."

"Easily shopped."

"The emails?"

"Anyone could send that. The only possible proof, the skulls, are now gone."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," sighed JJ.

"Well, I'm not staying around here. It's probably not safe. I'm going home."

"You can't do that either. Whoever hit the lab could easily have figured out who we are and where we live. Dr. Waikenda is old school and keeps paper records of our employment in his office in unlocked drawers. The Owindaji probably went to your apartment next. Dr. Kamau said they won't stop until they find us, and they have the skulls."

"You're paranoid."

"I am not. I'm being careful. I think we should listen to Dr. K. We need to stay away from our families and keep moving around. I don't like putting anyone in danger, but I have a buddy who lives south of the city who has lots of room. We could stay there at least one night until we figure out something better."

"Is this some kind of weird way to trick me into sleeping with you again, because if it is..."

No. It's nothing like that. Look. If you think I'm crazy, call your roommate, and check with her to see if everything is all right at your place."

"Is it safe to use my phone, Mr. Conspiracy Theory?"

"You're mocking me. I see that, but yes, I think you need government access to track phones like that. If these people are that powerful, we're royally fucked, and it doesn't matter what we do. Go ahead."

"Fine. I'll put it on speaker so you can catch her abuse too."

After two rings, they heard a "Hey, Julie! Where are you? At the lab? You won't believe what happened here. A dude and some chick dressed like ninjas broke into our apartment and attacked me when I came home."

"What?" Julie was shocked. JJ smiled in triumph. "Are you alright?"

"No lie, and yeah, I'm fine. You know I can defend myself, and I went out to fetch a pastry and ran into two friends from the football team, both totally buff and used to knocking other people around. The ninjas attacked us, but I know how to improvise a fight, and a couple of linebackers chucking chairs and tables is kind of hard to defend against especially when you're outnumbered."

"Who were these guys?"

"Got no idea."

"Did the police catch them?"

"Nope. They got away. One went out the front door and the other out the window like an acrobat."

"Did they steal anything?"

"I don't think so. There's just lots of broken furniture. Sorry about that. Cops took the report, obviously thought we were high, and split."

"When did all this happen?"

"Less than half hour ago. I cleaned up what I could. My companions have been a big help. They really deserve a reward for their heroism, and I'm gonna give 'em something special. Gotta go. See you later. Bye."

The call ended.

"Reward?" pondered JJ. "Is she gonna do two guys at once? That's so hot."

"Get your mind out of the gutter. This is serious."

"That's what I've been saying all day."

"Fine. You're right. I get it. We got trouble and need help. Check with our were-mentor in Kenya. Did he reply?"

JJ checked his phone.

"Yeah. He says that whatever we do, don't have sex in our were-form. That, apparently, is the only way to make more were-creatures and why the Owindaji are working so hard to catch and kill us."

"Great. Morning after pill, you'd better do the trick."

JJ wanted to reassure her, but other details of the message made him doubtful.

"I'm not sure it will. He says in here that our immune and reproductive systems are super strong now and will counter any contraceptives."

"Fucking great. You better hope it works, because if you knocked me up, JJ, I'm gonna murder you."

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

"Lots. I'll let you know when to stop."

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. How's that?"

"Good start, smart ass. I'll let you know when it's enough."

Bereft of options, the two fugitives hopped a bus out to the suburbs to seek refuge with JJ's friend. The modest, split-level home on a hill overlooking a large lake was out of proportion with Julie's expectation of what a college student could afford even outside the city limits. Expressing her wonder aloud prompted a quick explanation of JJ's history with their host, Eric Nguyen, who, like JJ, still lived with his parents. Owners of a business dealing in Korean imports, they led a better than modest, upper-middle class existence.

"Do all you undergrads live at home?"

"Tuition is expensive. Who can afford room and board on top of that? Maybe it's different in Sweden, but the tight ass government here in the US don't help much with higher ed."

"It just seems kind of weird, that's all. I mean, are his parents going to freak out when we show up?"

"No. They're in Korea drumming up business."

"That's a relief. How long have you and Eric been friends?"

"Since middle school. We gamed a lot together. Still do."

"That's the basis of your friendship?"

"No. There's more. He's incredibly creative and loves to write and does theater stuff. He got me into drama club in high school. I mostly worked on sets, lighting, audio, and that kind of stuff. It's a lot of fun. I still help him sometimes. He's majoring in drama and even puts on professional productions on and off campus. Maybe we can go see one together sometime?"

"After my last date with you?"

Julie's undiminished skepticism for any future with her were-mate was shoved aside when the front door opened. A diminutive Korean male with glasses under a mane of spiky black hair dyed red at the tips threw open the door and enveloped his much taller friend with a hug.

JJ cringed in mild embarrassment that turned to amusement when Julie became the victim of the same affectionate welcome. There was no pause to dwell upon Eric's overly friendly manner as they were ushered enthusiastically up a half flight of stairs to the living room.

Like a mini whirlwind, Eric flitted between serving them refreshments and making dinner in the kitchen, which was open to the living room; a fortunate juxtaposition given that he continuously peppered them with questions and in turn talked about himself the whole time.

It was thus that Julie learned that Eric was an accomplished screenwriter, and she remembered seeing fliers around campus for at least one of his plays. Eric even told the story of how he had conned JJ to dress in drag for a comedy about infidelity and mixed up gender roles. JJ squirmed a bit suffering a good ribbing from Julie and fought to turn the conversation elsewhere.

"Eric really is a great director, costumer, and makeup artist in addition to his other talents like cooking."

It was a timely segue as Eric was just serving them dinner.

"Amen to that," said Julie. "This smells incredible. And tastes even better," she added after her first bite. "Chicken Parmesan is not what I was expecting. I figured it would be something with long noodles. No offense."

"None, taken," laughed Eric with sincere disregard for any potential slight. "I may look Korean, and my parents may follow the old ways, but I like new things and experiences. If you believe my parents, I lead a rebellious alternate existence that can only lead to trouble."

"Yet they let you stay here while they're away?"

"Sure. I know how to compromise. I have my own dreams of a career as a playwright and director, and they would rather I study business, engineering, or some other practical field like JJ here does. Those goals are mutually incompatible, so we have an agreement that they pay for my college as long as I help the family business and manage it whenever they are away."

"Sounds like a sweet deal."

"It's tons of work. Trust me. I'm earning my keep while they're gone, and when they decide to retire, there will be intense pressure for me to continue the business unless I do make it in show business. Until then, theater takes the backseat as a part time thing and favorite hobby."

Several minutes of silence passed as the trio ate in the rapturous contentment that good food brings. A bit of the morning's leftover hunger gripped JJ and Julie, enhancing their appetites. It was Eric, of course, who assumed the burden of continuing the conversation.

"So, I don't think you guys ever told me why you wanted to hang here tonight. You were kind of vague about that, JJ."

Exchanging a quick, anxious glance with her companion, Julie's expression made no secret it was JJ's job to lie to his friend, not hers.

"Well...It's kind of complicated. You see, Julie and I got in a situation that prevents either of us from going home right now..."

Stumbling for a convincing explanation that didn't reveal the truth, but fell short of an outright lie, JJ was saved by Julie suddenly gasping and pushing away from the table.

"Oh mother, not again," she exclaimed while wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Eric's concern was genuine. "My god. Don't tell me there's something wrong with the food."

"It's not that. It's me."

Panicked, Julie glared knowingly at JJ.

"Just like last night."

JJ choked in mid drink spewing wine onto the table.

"Seriously?"

"Why would I joke about it?"

Eric was confused.

"Do you need to get to a doctor or something?"

"No. Thank you. I just need to lie down and get some rest. I'll be fine in the morning. Didn't you say earlier that you have plenty of spare bedrooms?"

"Yeah. They're down the hall. Take either you want on the left."

"Thanks," said Julie as she stumbled away from the table.

Worried, Eric began to rise.

"Maybe I should go help her."

"No! Don't," commanded JJ a bit too abruptly. "She gets really grumpy when she's like this."

"Is it something serious?"

JJ tried to laugh it off as though it were nothing at all.

"Ha. Ha. It's just a spell she has been going through the last couple of days..."

"Spell...Whoa. Wait! Not morning sickness...or evening sickness right now I guess? Is that why you guys can't go home?"

"Pregnant? What? You think she's...No...I mean, I hope not."

"Hope not? So you two are screwing each other?"

"Uh...I'm not sure how to answer that. It's complicated..."

"Complicated sounds interesting. Tell me."

"Maybe another time. I need to check on Julie and get to bed myself. Great dinner by the way. Thanks for that and taking us into your house."

JJ wasn't being rude intentionally. Intense pre-transformation nausea identical to the previous evening in the bar gripped him.

"No problem. We can talk in the morning. I'll make waffles," shouted Eric after his friend's retreating form.

"Fantastic! 'Night, Eric."

Cognizant that he was being a poor guest, JJ nevertheless didn't want to risk turning into a dog in front of his friend. Having waited too long already, the dizzying sensation grew worse with each passing second. A hallway full of closed doors challenged his wildly spinning mind. His muddled brain forgot Eric's instructions about which rooms were available, so he knocked at each in turn until he reached the last door on the right. After a brief pause, the door opened into a darkened room, a familiar multicolored furry arm grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him inside. A paw pressed over his mouth. It was becoming a depressing ritual.

"What took you so long, idiot?"

He was unable to respond with his mouth covered. Because of the massive disorientation induced by the accelerating transformation, he began to slump to the floor. Julie caught him with her powerful arms and carried him to the king sized bed in the middle of the large room.

At first, JJ could make out little in the dark, but his night vision sharpened with each moment his hybrid form evolved. The size of the room with its open door walk-in closet and private bathroom were telltales that they were in the master suite. A dim warning light flickered in the back of his mind, but it faded far into obscurity behind the lighthouse brightness of Julie's dominating scent.

She stripped him of his socks and pants as he morphed before her eyes. Fascinated, she paused to observe. No disgusting twitching, bulging, or cracking of bone accompanied the change like in those horrible were-wolf movies. Instead, a quiet remolding and rearrangement of features and sprouting of fur spread over his body. Rather than repulse, her arousal grew as JJ became her opposite sex twin. Inhaling his musky aroma added a powerful addictive impetus to her need, and her eyes were irresistibly drawn along with her nose to the thin barrier of cotton that hid the source of her desire.

Tossing JJ's briefs aside, she witnessed his private humanity turn canine. Chocolate brown became a ruby red that was soon swallowed by its growing outer skin. Her tongue slid along the rim of her open, panting mouth in anticipation, and her paw was in motion toward her favorite new toy when JJ recovered and sat up abruptly.

"Oh, fuck! That feels so weird."

Noticing his nakedness, JJ shouted "Hey! What happened to my clothes?"

In answer, Julie climbed atop him with a feral, hungry expression broadcasting her lust.

"They just get in the way of play time."

Confronted with her aromatic heat, JJ swallowed hard, knowing the beast inside his head was rising in dominance. The receding vestiges of his human self made an insincere protest.

"What about getting pregnant? Aren't you worried?"

"We just have to stick with oral, right? Now surrender to the inevitable."

Eager to relive the feel of his tongue against her most sensitive receptors, she straddled him, merging their bodies into a chartreuse yin yang. She might as well have fired the starting gun before an Olympic sprinter. Needing no further encouragement to obey her command, he yielded to the touch of fur and flesh. A deep, booming growl of delight rumbled forth from the depth of her chest in response to the way he nudged, rubbed, and poked like an aggressive masseuse before the snake in his mouth slithered deep inside as if in search of burrowing prey.

Not to be surpassed, she worked his thickening organ with equal fervor until they both tiptoed at the apex of sticky, creamy release. It was at that penultimate moment that the door opened and they were bathed in light. Eric stood outlined by the door open mouthed in a mutant mixture of horror and curious surprise. Terror won the brief battle for his emotions, and he ran.

Julie was first off the bed in pursuit. Her initial leap put her at the door, and she easily caught Eric after just four bounding steps.

Also phenomenally fast, JJ was close behind, but he wasn't hustling to help his mate. She didn't need any. The sliver of human that shared his quasi-canine consciousness wanted to ensure were-Julie didn't hurt his friend on purpose or by accident.

His concern was unfounded. Effortlessly, she swooped the puny screenwriter in her arms and held him immobile nose to snout.

"Not so fast. Where are you going, Eric?"

His struggles ceased, but his entire body still shook with fear. Confused by the vague familiarity of her voice juxtaposed with the enigmatic, black, liquid void of her eyes, he hesitated before speaking.

"Julie? Is...is that you?"

"Yes," answered JJ for his mate, who had begun to lick Eric's cheek as if tasting him.

Moving from behind Julie so Eric could see him, JJ put a comforting paw on his friend's shoulder.

"And it's me, JJ. Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you."

"What the heck is going on? I mean, how..."

"Enough questions. We can explain later," said Julie. "You interrupted something I want to finish, and we can't let you go, so now we make this a threesome."

"Threesome? Wait! Are you taking me to bed with you?"

Tossing him over her shoulder, Julie replied with a simple "Ja," and carried him back to her new den.

Eric's eyes pleaded with the trailing JJ, who shrugged his broad, muscular shoulders helplessly.

"Best go with it, buddy. She's irresistible when she gets like this."

Eric tried to break free of her iron grip, but an obstinate child struggling against his mother to avoid a bath would have stood better odds of escaping his fate. Julie dumped her diminutive victim on the bed, stripped him naked, and immobilized him with the weight of her body. While grinding her pelvis against his, she let her paws glide over the sides of his stomach and chest.

"You're pretty white for being Korean, kind of a dark peach but without the fuzz. Do you shave yourself?"

"What? No. Why?"

"Because your skin is so smooth and hairless; like a baby's butt."

"Please, there's something you need to..."

More powerful than a vise, her velvety paw smothered his words preventing him from making any sound other than an anxious whine.

"Hush. No more questions. Do I have to gag you?"

Eric shook his head.

"Good boy."

Eric's body went rigid but not the part she was interested in as she went down on him like an animal. Moving stealthily behind her delightfully exposed backside, JJ positioned his cock at the opening to her sex, but when he placed his paws upon the gorgeous curves of her hips, her happily wagging tail slapped him across the snout before tucking between her legs.

"No way you're putting your dick in me again, not with your super were-dog sperm. Remember what Dr. K said?"

"What am I supposed to do, then?" huffed JJ. "How about anal instead?"

"I've got an idea..." began Eric, but Julie cut him off.

"I said no doggy dick in me. Now, leave me alone and go suck your own cock for all I care. I got this little Korean boy full of harmless human sperm to play with."

"Is that possible?" JJ wondered before jumping on the bed, curling inward on his back, and with his chin against his belly discovered the previously impossible was not only achievable, it was fantastically pleasurable.

"I'll be damned. I'm super flexible."

Wrapping his lips over the end of his cock, JJ gurgled contentedly like a baby with a pacifier.

"Don't worry about me, guys," he mumbled. "I can take care of myself."

Eric's cock stiffened slightly in Julie's paw.

"Finally," she exclaimed. "I was wondering if you'd ever start to see past the fur and understand the possibilities of...wait a minute!"

Julie paused realizing that Eric's gaze was focused not on her but upon JJ and his auto-erotic performance. Realizing she was not the only possible source of Eric's arousal, a suspicion formed in her mind. Perhaps she was an undesirable opening act in a greater show. Julie grabbed Eric's chin and turned his head so she could look directly into his brown eyes.

"Tell me the truth. Are you turned on by me or JJ?"

Still frightened by her strength and unpredictable moodiness, Eric swallowed what little saliva remained in his desert dry mouth. In ironic contrast, abundant moisture beaded on his forehead.

"You won't be mad and kill me will you? I really don't want to die."

Uncontrollably trembling beneath her, his fear was a manifest expression of an unavoidable truth that Julie soon discovered.

"Oh my God! You're gay aren't you?"

Julie didn't need his timid nod to confirm what now seemed so obvious, but Eric tipped his head weakly anyway.

"Fuck! I am so sorry. I assumed...JJ, why didn't you tell me?"

Slurping and sucking sounds were his reply. Eric's eyes tracked with Julie's until they were both staring at the blissfully oblivious JJ contentedly mouthing himself. Lost in oral Nirvana, several seconds passed before he became cognizant of their combined stare and tardily processed the content of their recent discussion. Slow mental calculus led to a dawning understanding. The glistening red organ slipped from his mouth as his lips formed a silent "Oh."

"Gay?" asked JJ his ears swiveling about in confusion. "You're gay, Eric?" Embarrassed, JJ's ears flattened against his head. "I guess I should have seen that train coming, huh? Kind of complicates things doesn't it?"

"You think?" mocked Julie as she sat back on her haunches with her arms folded over her beautifully round breasts. "Now I'm the odd one out. He doesn't want me, and you I can't have. My cunt's on fire with no one to put it out. This sucks."

Both Julie and Eric looked so downcast and disappointed, JJ was compelled by his empathetic conscience to make the situation right.

"Uh..." he began tentatively, "...how about a compromise?"

"What?" inquired Julie and Eric in synchronous puzzlement.

"I'm willing to try something new. How about you each get one end of me? I lie on my back, Julie gets my tongue, and Eric gets my dick."

"Do you mean Eric gives you head...or something else?"

"Yeah. What are you offering, JJ?" wondered Eric with breathless anticipation and a stiffening of his erection.

"Whatever you want, bro. Her pheromones are like the ultimate un-inhibiting drug. When she smothers my senses with the warm embrace of her thighs, I'm not going to give a damn what you do. Just promise to keep things clean if you can, if you know what I mean."

Eric wiggled to escape from beneath Julie. She let him escape. Flipping over onto all fours, he bounced up and down with joy oblivious to the coming desecration of his parent's bed.

"God! I've dreamed of this moment since we were kids wondering where you fit on the spectrum between hetero and homo. It never occurred to me that if we did get it on, you'd be a super hot furry guy. Don't worry about getting shit dick. I'll go prep myself. Be right back."

Eric hopped off the bed and disappeared into the master bathroom. JJ's ears swiveled and his head cocked to one side.

"What's he doing?"

Julie snorted a derisive laugh.

"He's gonna douche his asshole, stupid."

JJ's canine face became a study in the conflicting emotions of curiosity and disgust. Julie found his bemusement endearing.

"You are so naive and oblivious to so many things. I think that's what I like about you; young and innocent. God. Listen to me. Not only am I half bitch, now I'm all cougar," she growled.

Pushing him down on the bed, she climbed on top again making sure his glistening prick was behind her slick pussy even as her tail caressed and teased him.

"I think that makes you a predator..." he began.

"Even more dangerous," she interrupted while pinning his shoulders to the mattress and digging her claws into his biceps. "I could wrestle a mountain lion to the ground. It really does feel good to be so strong."

"I can relate to that," agreed JJ placing his paws against the front of her shoulders and pushing upward.

"Up on all fours, and I'll help you into place," he offered as he curled his legs towards his chest, pressed his hindpaws against her belly, and lifted her into the air with ease. Julie spread her arms and legs like she was flying.

"This is fun."

"Since you don't want my dick, let me get you oriented to experience my snout."

With ease, JJ spun her around in circles several times making sure that when he stopped she was the six to his nine. Flexing his toes towards his shins, she slid down slowly astride his face with her tail between his ears. Her eager sex embraced the end of his snout like the lips of lovers long estranged. His tongue snaked out desperate to explore every fold, each ridge, the nubile bud, and the velvety canyon that was the fount of scent driving him wild with passion.

JJ's hindpaws dropped to the bed, and he slipped into euphoric insensibility listening to her gravelly purr rising in volume whenever he found a particularly pleasurable spot. Occasionally emitting a sharp yip or a gasp, her droning rumble became the sole focus of his existence. Sounds of running water from the bathroom, incidental to Eric's preparations, were a distant abstraction.

With slow, twisting tugs, Julie massaged JJ's gleaming red cock to maintain his erection not caring that the effort was unnecessary. She persisted more out of curiosity, exploring the oddly shaped organ. A single digit of her paw-like hand wormed its way inside the scrunched up tube of his protective sheath. Not yet begun to expand, the base was barely thicker than the rest of the shaft. Circumnavigating in slow but deliberate circles soon initiated the bulbous swelling that had tied them the night before. Growing larger, it eventually displaced her claw from the tight pocket. The horny bitch sharing her mind longed to take it inside again, but was content to abstain having no more immediate need for JJ's seed.

Originating from the twitching tip of his quivering penis, a sticky puddle of clear fluid formed on the fur above his belly button. The sight and smell of his potent ejaculate pushed Julie into a violent orgasm. After it subsided and she opened her eyes, Eric was standing before her.

Julie wanted to smile and invite him to join her, but her lustful were-beast alter ego growled when the perceived rival clambered on the bed to straddle JJ's fur covered legs. Surprised by her toothsome threat, Eric recoiled and waved his arms frantically to keep his balance and prevent himself from falling to the floor. Julie caught his wrist and pulled him forward until their noses touched. Baring her teeth, her feral snarl rekindled all of Eric's previous fear.

"Whoa! It's me, Eric. Don't hurt me," he begged.

The initial menace behind her eyes was real, but her glare softened a detectable fraction.

"I know who you are, and I won't hurt you on purpose, but if you want to fuck with were-dogs you need to take some risks. Is it worth it? Are you up to the challenge?"

With one hand protectively holding his undiminished erection and the other unconsciously joining Julie's paw to stroke JJ's proud staff, Eric shuddered with eager anticipation.

"Yes," he gasped through parched lips. "Sex and danger are a personal turn on."

"You are a good little human," she said licking her lips and grunting from JJ's ongoing attention, "even if you prefer other boys. Having you as the third wheel of our sexercycle could become my personal turn on, but I advise you to ask permission before you touch my mate, understood?"

Aware that his hand was lovingly stroking JJ, he pulled it away guiltily.

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry ma'am."

"Remind me later to get you a leash and a collar. You will make an excellent pet."

Her dominance triggered a submissive squeal of pleasure from Eric, and paradoxically emboldened him to ask for the ultimate prize he sought.

"May I ride cowboy on your mate?"

Again, the internal struggle between her animal desire to keep that pleasure for herself and the intense curiosity of her rational mind to observe two men going at it waged war. Human-Julie finally triumphed. She bent forward teasingly and licked Eric's neck from the top of his shoulder to his ear, where she paused and whispered, "Yes."

Eager to fill his backside with the glorious red rod, Eric shuffled forward. Reluctantly, Julie released her hold on her mate's wonder wand to watch befuddled by regret and suspense as it slid under the human's balls to disappear from her view.

The two romantic rivals faced each other, his bare chest against her fuzzy breasts. The heat of her breath was a warm fog upon Eric's face steaming his glasses. Her body was a furry furnace inducing him to sweat until his skin glistened like wet shower tiles. Musk saturated his senses, but divining the source, be it Julie or JJ, was both impossible and irrelevant. It was enough that his libido was tickled.

As part of his preparations, Eric had liberally lathered his asshole with lube, and he was appreciative of his own forethought. Having never attempted anything as thick and long as JJ's were-dog tool, the slick gel eased the parting of his puckered portal, sliding inside with only a few brief pauses until the globular knot wedged snugly between his buttocks. The stretching of his sphincter and the displacement of his insides was an excruciating euphoria expanding his awareness as if his body's outer shell was but a diaphanous boundary easily penetrated allowing passage to new realms beyond.

Rubbing against the soft fur of Julie's stomach, Eric's dick left trails of clear mucus like the remnants of the early morning passing of snails in a garden. Julie was oblivious to the mess. JJ's clitoral stimulation and her own attempts to observe JJ's canine cock vanishing up Eric's rear end preoccupied her senses. Leaning over Eric's shoulder for a better view, saliva ran from her dangling tongue to join with Eric's sweat, trickling down the smooth skin of his back, following the crest of his spine until it slipped between his buttocks to coat JJ's knot.

Eric slid up and down upon the shaft groaning in well-stretched pleasure. Each plunge ended upon the spherical obstruction.

Enjoying the hypnotic show, Julie teetered at the brink of her final orgasm and desired to share the pleasure with her mate and her new pet. She allowed Eric a few more moments of self-control before she grabbed his hips with her paws and began pressing down with unstoppable force.

"Ahhhhhhhh!' gasped Eric with his head thrown back.

Stretched wide by the baseball sized obstruction, he was certain he would be torn asunder. Helpless against her herculean strength, he gripped her biceps, squeezing in a futile attempt to transfer the pain. Julie's freely flowing spittle helped grease the way, allowing the young man's fleshy portal to encircle the globe's equator, spending an agonizing eternity at the edge of endurance before being sucked inside.

Surging fluids filled Eric's guts exceeding the force and volume of his enema. Orgasm exploded, unstoppable. Globs of Eric's creamy spooge drenched Julie's defenseless belly. In the throes of her own climax, her jaws clamped at the base of Eric's neck. Fear that she would crush his throat drove his passion beyond the limits of any previous experience setting fire to every nerve in his body, but her bite was for play only, and none of her teeth pierced his fragile skin.

Sex's pleasant aftermath was enjoyed lying in a triangle of bodies only one of which was human. JJ's slow steady breathing indicated he had fallen asleep.

"That was beyond the most incredible thing imaginable," whispered Eric to Julie. "You two are so sexy."

"Thank you, but you don't have be polite by calling me sexy. I'm cool with your disinterest in women."

"You may not excite me in the way that JJ does, but you are still obviously sexy."

His hand reached out to caress JJ's abdomen. "You're both perfectly proportioned and sculpted of fur and muscle."

Julie flexed her biceps.

"That's definitely true. In this form, I could curl a hundred pound dumbbell," she bragged.

"Man, you'd better get yourself to a vet," said Eric wrinkling his brow as if seriously concerned.

Thinking there was something wrong with her pelt, Julie carefully looked at her arms.

"What? Why? Have I got mange or something?"

"Ha! No. It's just that you need to get those pythons to a vet. They're sick."

"Clever and funny," purred Julie mildly amused by his joke, but really just too tired to laugh. She yawned exposing her fangs and flesh-tearing teeth.

"Now be quiet and go to sleep."

"When are you guys going to clue me in as to what's going on?" Eric persisted.

"In the morning," said Julie closing her eyes and placing a paw over his chest. Whether she did it as an affectionate gesture or to keep him from escaping, Eric couldn't say.

Sunrise brought with it hunger again beyond any natural appetite. Julie and JJ raced each other to the kitchen where they began noisily rummaging in cupboards and the refrigerator. Awoken by the ruckus, Eric staggered into their feeding frenzy rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning.

"Morning, guys. Need some breakfast?" he asked as if the previous night had been nothing unusual.

Embarrassed at being caught raiding her host's pantry and mortified by her behavior during the night, Julie was profusely apologetic. She considered Eric a victim of her insatiable were-lust. Eric couldn't fathom the reason for her remorse.

"I'm not hurt or sorry because of it, so why should you be? I got something I always wanted...," Eric paused while considering JJ's nervous eye avoidance. "...but I wonder if I'm the one who should be apologizing instead. Are you okay with what happened last night, JJ?"

Running his spindly fingers through his short, kinky hair, JJ swallowed his fourth pop tart, and scratched distractedly at the back of his head before answering.

"I'm not sure," he said at last.

Eric frowned, clearly disappointed. He had hoped his long time friendship had magically become something more.

"So, you didn't like it after all?"

"Well, that's the weird bit. I remember enjoying the hell out of it at the time, but I am not gay, nor bisexual, and don't feel attracted to guys at all. I would not do...that...what we did last night, right now."

"I don't understand," complained Eric. "What's so different now?"

At a loss for words, JJ shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"I don't know. It's like being two different people at once. I'm fucking confused by it myself."

"Maybe I can help," offered Julie. "When we go were, we do more than change our physical form, it also changes our personalities. Look at me. I'm almost thirty and never had sex before Friday night and wasn't even thinking about a relationship, but after I change, I'm like a dog in heat. You saw how I was last night. That's not me. All my sexual inhibitions went out the window. I think the same thing happens to JJ. As were-dogs, we both do things we might never do as humans."

"Oh, wow. I think I understand. I guess I do owe you an apology, old friend. I feel like a creep who takes advantage of someone when he's drunk. So not cool."

"Forget it. You had no way of knowing, and at the time I was happy to do it just to keep Julie happy. When I'm were, she occupies all my senses. I can't think of much else but wanting and pleasing her. There's nothing I wouldn't do to have a chance to make love to her."

"Ja?" asked Julie fondly. "I'm your whole were-world?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"That is so adorable."

Julie leaned forward giving JJ a chaste peck on the cheek. Wanting more, she then locked her lips with his losing herself in the unusual experience of human intimacy until Eric coughed nervously.

"Ahem, guys? I'm starting to feel three's a crowd."

"What? No," JJ reassured him, reluctantly breaking away from Julie. "This is your house, and we're shitty guests. Us being here puts you in danger. I shouldn't have come without explaining the risks."

"Risks? Do you mean your aggressive behavior when you turn anthro? 'Cause I can totally handle that. If you two want to do that again, I'm game for another..."

"No. It's more complicated."

"How about I make you guys a real breakfast while you explain, or did you spoil your appetites already?"

The resultant laughter from his friends confused Eric.

"Just prepare enough for a dozen, and we'll be fine," said Julie. "I can explain our out sized hunger and everything else while you cook."

The first round of eats was ready by the time she had finished. Rather than express concern over their plight, Eric's excitement became palpable with the deepening intrigue. He delivered a plate of sizzling bacon and waffles to the breakfast table with astounded delight.

"Wow! Super-speed. Super-strength. Super-scent. Healing factor. You guys are like mutant superheroes now."

"I guess we are," agreed JJ, infected with his friend's enthusiasm. "How cool is that?"

"Not cool, at all," protested Julie distraught that they welcomed adventure where she saw only danger. "We aren't super heroes. We're super freaks."

"Oh, I don't know," countered JJ. "When I'm were, I can outrun and outfight anyone, even Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, or any of those martial arts dudes. I bet I could destroy a pack of evil ninjas. That's what superheroes do right, take out the bad guys?"

"Ja?" questioned Julie. "Bad guys? You sound like some of the idiot politicians in this country." Her disdain was a cold splash of water in his face. "Who are the bad guys? Are they running around in black capes cackling like deranged lunatics? Where are they right now?"

"Uh. I don't know," admitted JJ sheepishly.

"Exactly. This is real life, not the comic books. How often have either of you run into a "bad guy" needing a good beating?"

Eric and JJ exchanged humbled glances. They could think of none outside of school bullies of their youth and terrorists in far off lands.

"So what are you gonna do, go looking for trouble in places with ethnic cleansing wars or some Latin American drug lord's hangout? Wake up. Those guys have machine guns and grenades. We are not immune to bullets. Let the cops and the army do their jobs. We need to worry about ourselves."

"Exactly my point," declared JJ triumphantly. "We're in danger. What about the guys Dr. K said are hunting us? The Owindaji? They're bad guys."

"Alright you two. Back to your corners," said Eric with equal parts concern for his friends' relationship and delight to be part of what was clearly evolving into an epic adventure. "It doesn't matter who is right or wrong about evil. There's an immediate threat, so tell me all you know about it, and maybe I can help."

"We don't know much for certain," admitted JJ. "Look. I'm sorry we caught you up in all of this. We should go before the Owindaji find out we were here."

"JJ's right. You're a great friend. We don't want you hurt. We'll leave now."

"No. Wait!" protested Eric. "Let me help if I can. I've got some ideas already, but need to know more. JJ, convince her."

JJ looked to Julie for her approval. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and said, "Fine. I'll listen, I but don't promise to agree."

JJ explained what little he and Julie knew of the Owindaji, the power of the skulls, and their need to get them back.

"Super villains. Awesome. Those are the bad guys alright, and I have a solid plan to take them down. Don't mock the comics, Julie. 'Life imitates art far more often than art imitates life.' Oscar Wilde said that. Now tell me about the mysterious benefactor who, I understand, is also a were-creature."

To prevent Julie from arguing anew, JJ concisely divulged what they knew about the Kenyan professor.

"This Dr. K, you can communicate with him?"

"Yeah. On my phone."

"Well, first thing you need to do is talk to your were-mentor and find out the limits of your superpowers, your enemies' abilities, their super-villain mastermind..."

"How many times do I have to say," interjected Julie, "...nobody's super anything, and the explanation was not an invitation for you to get more deeply involved? This is crazy weird shit and you are making it ten times weirder."

Eric and JJ exchanged conspiratorial glances.

"You talk sense into her," pleaded Eric.

JJ agreed with his friend but wanted everybody on the same side.

"Julie, you are right in that there is nothing normal or rational about this situation, but we can't face this alone. If Eric can help us by using his imagination, or any other way, we should accept, gratefully. If he tends to think artistically rather than scientifically or like an engineer, then maybe he will think of something we haven't."

Outnumbered and exhausted by nearly two days of Alice-in-Wonderland nonsense, Julie conceded.

"Alright. Alright. I'm listening."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Eric gleeful over being accepted into their confidence and intrigue. "Team Were-Dog just got a new member."

Silence greeted his improvised moniker. JJ and Julie stared at him as if he just ripped an especially fragrant raspberry.

"Don't like that name? Too Twilight? How about_Werevengers_?...Tansforminals?...Yeah. Okay. Those all suck. We'll think of a better name for ourselves later. Right now, knowledge is power, and our nemesis has the upper hand. We need to get smart fast, so let's send our secret friend in Africa some questions."

Producing his phone, JJ readied himself with his thumbs poised to type.

"What do you want me to ask?"

"As much as we can, but let's start with the basics: Do you have special immunities and vulnerabilities? Can you control when you transform? Any other powers besides that like turning others into were-creatures? What powers do our enemies have, who are they, and how do we recognize them?"

"Hold it a second," begged JJ. "I can only type so fast."

"When you're done with the action adventure movie quiz," interjected Julie, "ask him again about getting pregnant and whether Plan B works against were-babies, because I should be having some cramps and discharge after taking that shit, and so far, nothing."

"Okay...done and sent," said JJ. "I have no idea when he'll get back to us, though, if ever."

"You can stay here a while still. You said they need twenty-four hours to track you, and that's still about eight hours away. We can do some planning and thinking while we wait. Go ahead and eat until you're full."

No additional prompting was required to stuff their bottomless bellies. JJ and Julie wolfed down plates of bacon, eggs, and pancakes as Eric served the last of their post transformation banquet.

Unlike previous messages, their wait for their mentor's response was short, interrupting their feast with a startling vibration of JJ's phone. Eager, JJ dropped his fork and read it aloud.

"Dear JJ, please forgive my previous tardiness in responding to your inquiries. I have been traveling to escape capture from our mutual persecutors and have only just recently recovered my skull and reached a place of temporary safety. I can't remain here long, though, before moving again. The Owindaji have powerful friends and allies high in the Kenyan government and in many nearby African governments. I will be leaving the continent soon to a place I dare not reveal for fear that these messages might be intercepted."

"Maybe he has a secret lair under a castle or on a tropical island," mused Eric.

"Good God," exclaimed Julie.

"Y_ou have many excellent questions that I shall try to answer_," read JJ continuing the narration. "Since I mentioned the Owindaji already, let me start with them. Much of what I know is based on legend, stories, and oral traditions I collected over the years as I probed this anthropological mystery. It was a part time hobby, not to be considered anything other than myth, until my own unfortunate encounter with the skull that made me an ilimu-lion..."

"Lion?" gasped Eric. "I so want to meet this guy. You think he's gay?"

"Keep your dick in your pants, furry boy, and focus," reprimanded Julie.

JJ shook his head in bewilderment at his friend's infatuation and continued reading.

"I will try to indicate what is fact and what is supposition. Fact. The Owindaji are an ancient quasi-religious organization that believes in the divine purity of Homo sapiens. To them, ilimu are a demonic perversion of the sacred human form."

"What's an ilimu?" asked Eric.

"I looked that up. It's a legendary shape-shifting creature of Kenyan folklore. Not quite the same as our werewolf legend, but close enough I suppose."

Julie's impatience exceeded her hunger.

"Read on, JJ, and stop interrupting, Eric."

"Their goal is to eliminate what they see as an evil recurring scourge (i.e., what we have become). They know much about our capabilities and weaknesses and train the most adept and dedicated of their members from a young age as elite hunters capable of fighting and killing us..."

"The ninjas in your apartment," said Eric to Julie, who glared at his continued disruption of JJ's narrative.

Eric persisted.

"Bad guys are after you."

Julie shrugged as if unconcerned, but unable to dismiss the obvious connection between the Kenyan's assertions and the attack on Gun, she nodded solemnly and turned her attention back to JJ.

"Fact. You can learn to change in and out of your ilimu-form at will..."

"That's good news," muttered Julie.

"...except for the three nights bracketing each full moon when you must become ilimu."

"Never mind," she added.

"...Supposition. The Owindaji have been around for thousands of years as a secret cabal like the fabled Illuminati, Knights Templar, or Masons of your Western folklore. They hold sway at the highest levels in my country's government and other local East and Central African governments likely because something scientists like myself have justifiably considered myths have always been real to minds dominated by superstition. Though they have agents in your country, I don't think they have easy access to communication tracking and the cooperation of law enforcement like they do here..."

"That's certainly a relief," said JJ as he took a break to drink some coffee and slam several more pancakes. The impatient glares from his friends forced him to swallow much of it unchewed.

"...Fact. The Owindaji are adept, well equipped, ruthless, and just as knowledgeable of our capabilities as we are. They know that we see better in the dark, are strong, fast, agile, possess enhanced sense of smell, and have the ability to heal quickly. These are great assets, but the Owindaji will use them against you if they can. I know this from personal experience. You must not let ilimu-instinct guide your actions no matter how tempting or effective that course of action seems. Be unpredictable when you fight them, and fight them you must. Recovering your skulls is your only hope for peace and security.

"Supposition. Once you have your skulls, you should be able to disappear and start a new life. I don't know if they have other means of finding us, but aside from normal detective work, I don't think they can..."

"What about other special powers?" wondered Eric. "Are you immune to normal bullets? Can only silver weapons kill you?"

"Forget that crap," demanded Julie. "Skip to whatever he has to say about contraception."

JJ mumbled to himself while scanning the rest of the message.

"Well, it looks like he kind of answers both questions together, so I'm just going to read it as is. ...Regarding your questions about the changes to your biology, here are facts. The western myth of invulnerability to all but silver weapons is false..."

"Crap," said Eric.

"...Normal weapons can kill us, but we are tougher, harder to slay, and heal faster. I'm a fat old man with asthma in my human form, but I've been kicked, punched, stabbed, and shot while ilimu and am still alive with no scars to show for it. It's exhilarating to be ilimu, and tempting to stay in that form all the time, but there is a price to pay as I am sure you are aware. It consumes much energy requiring a huge calorie intake, especially protein. Do not let yourselves go too long as ilimu without changing back and recovering, or your hunger may drive you to indiscriminate feasting on whatever source of protein is handy including other humans..."

Eric looked nervously from Julie to JJ before quickly scraping heaps of bacon, sausage, and eggs onto their plates.

"Thanks," said Julie sensing his nervousness, "but I promise not to eat you even if I'm starving."

"...Onto speculation again. I suspect drugs like plan B will be ineffective on you because your body's immune system will reject them. If you have conceived, you will likely have an ilimu child. Fact: that possibility will make the Owindaji even more eager to catch you. They will not want you breeding a race of ilimu. I suspect now that part of the reason I have evaded them for so long is because I am the only one of my kind here. They may not have worried so much about me knowing that I can't turn others into ilimu except by yielding my state to another. You two on the other hand can bring forth ilimu-children..."

Tears began to stream down Julie's cheeks as she dropped her fork and pushed away her plate.

"Shit! Goddamn it," she sobbed. "I'm not ready to have shildren."

"Is this a bad time to say you should keep up your strength because you are eating for two?" asked Eric hoping to introduce some levity.

"I changed my mind," growled Julie, "I am going to eat you."

JJ ignored them and finished the rest of the message.

"He goes on a bunch about the Owindaji and their fanatical creed, but I don't need to read all that. It's enough to know they're a bunch of dangerous zealots."

"Maybe they know how to stop this pregnancy and could help, us," suggested Julie desperate for a solution.

"Why would they do that?" asked JJ. "They want us dead."

"I don't know. Don't criticize my ideas. I'm having a major freak out, and you're not the one growing a vere-baby, so start being supportive."

"Hey! It's only been a little more than a day. You don't know for certain you're pregnant."

"Trust me. I know. I'm not sure vhy or how, but I know, so start living up to your future responsibilities, daddy."

"Responsibility? Me? A dad? I just wanted to go out on a date or two...maybe get lucky and get laid...not to have a kid and get married."

"Don't even think of valking out on me, you bastard..."

"Guys! Guys!" shouted Eric. "I can't believe you criticize me for thinking this is a comic book adventure. The emotional drama here is more intense than the most over the top soap opera. Believe it or not, you've got bigger problems than being parents. Fight each other later. Fight the villains now. We need a plan to get your skulls back."

"I don't see any hope," grumbled the morose JJ. "These Owindaji sound like professionals, whereas we're just a couple of students. We should go to the police."

"No vay," said Julie.

JJ gaped at her in surprise.

"Huh? I expected Eric to say let's fight 'em, but not you."

"I'm not sure about the fighting part, but I'm not going to the cops or anyone who might expose us to public scrutiny."

"Why not? How can these Owindaji come after us if everyone learns we exist? There would be no more secret to keep, and they would be exposed, too."

"Yeah, vell, that is probably true, but so? Vhat about us? Ve become freaks under the microscope. Ve aren't humans anymore. Do ve have rights? Do ve keep our freedom, or do ve become zoo animals or lab rats for the government?"

"That seems kind of paranoid."

"Is it? Ve are physically superior now to the rest of the human race. If I'm pregnant, are ve the beginning of a new branch on the tree of human evolution? Do ve eventually replace Homo sapiens? Is that vhat drives the Owindaji bonkers? How vill the rest of humanity react vhen they realize the threat?"

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"I'm not villing to risk my shild...my God. Just listen to me. I'm the protective mother already. Shit."

"Okay. No police," agreed JJ. "I don't want to be the center of a worldwide crisis either. I like anonymity."

"Good," added Eric. "We must be united on remaining incognito. We share this with no one besides ourselves and Dr. K without consulting the others first. Agreed?"

Julie and JJ nodded their assent. Eric tried not to smirk too much and reveal how ecstatic he felt about their tacit acceptance of him as a partner and their willingness to listen to his ideas.

"We have one primary short term goal - retrieve your skulls. Nothing else matters. Forget about being pregnant, forget about your relationship, forget about school. Forget all of that. Do you agree?"

Julie chewed her lip, uncertain. JJ was afraid to contradict her, and Eric understood who was in charge.

"I have a plan, Julie. It's your best chance, but it's dangerous. You'll need to be committed to it one hundred percent for it to have any hope of success. No half measures. Commit or keep running the rest of your lives."

With her pale, freckled arms crossed over her chest, Julie stared at the ceiling. After several deep breaths, she threw her hands in the air exasperated.

"Ja. Vhat fucking choice do I have? Sure. I am in all the vay vith vhatever crazy action-adventure scenario you can concoct."

"JJ?"

"Of course. What's your plan?"

"It's a trap!" he blurted impersonating Admiral Akbar.

JJ chuckled, but Julie stared back at him uncomprehending.

"Why the weird voice?"

"It's a Star Wars meme...from Episode VI...the fish headed alien..."

"I don't have time to watch that crap, or read comic books, or play video games, or any of that adolescent nonsense."

Astonished, Eric was speechless that she was so clueless of popular culture, but JJ was just happy Julie was pronouncing her w's correctly again; a good sign she was calm.

"It doesn't matter guys. Eric, explain your plan without cultural references."

"Why does someone with no soul and no sense of adventure or drama get a cool power?" he mumbled, then in a louder voice said, "I shall build a trap for our Owindaji mice. You two are the bait but also the cats that pounce."

"What kind of trap?" asked Julie skeptically.

"I'm not going to divulge the details, and before you accuse me of a tawdry plot device, hear me out. The Owindaji must not suspect the trap. They have to believe you guys have fucked up, and they have caught up to you. We can't risk you accidentally letting any details slip out during your conversations with yourselves or Dr. K. What if one of you is captured and interrogated? We have to minimize the risk, and this is the best way to do it."

"Fine. What do we do then?"

"Two things. First, you need to not get caught. That means you stay somewhere different every night and no place that can be traced to you in any way, so no going home to family or friends. No exceptions."

"That could be expensive, staying in hotels that is."

"Whatever it takes JJ. Just don't tell me. I could get captured, too, and I don't want to be the one to get you caught. You need to avenge your brilliant sidekick's death if that happens."

"Sidekick? Seriously?" mumbled Julie regretting her acquiescence. "What's the second thing?"

"You need to train your bodies, marrying your strength and agility to the martial arts. Become the ultimate fighting machines."

"Fight!?" blurted JJ and Julie together.

"I have never hit anyone in my life," protested Julie.

JJ was even less comfortable with the idea.

"I'm a complete pacifist, man, you know that. I couldn't hurt anyone. I mean, I may have bragged about being able to fight as a were-dog, but I don't know anything about judo, kick boxing, or any of that shit."

"I got that," said Eric, "and that's why you're the good guys, the heroes. You fight reluctantly to defend yourselves and innocent bystanders like me. As to fighting skill, from what I have learned about your abilities, you are the top athletes on the planet now. Last night, Julie caught me even with my head start. Then she picked me up and tossed me about like I was a feather pillow. I'm not a big guy, but how many people can fling a hundred and twenty pounds of squirming human around like that?"

"He's right," said JJ.

Julie shrugged.

"Okay. We're really buff as were-dogs," she admitted, "But combat skills? I don't have any either. I'm a scientist."

"All you guys need is some instruction and confidence. You're superheroes. You can do this if you put your will and energy into it."

"Who is going to teach us all that in time to do any good?" snapped Julie feeling defensive and uncooperative again.

"Didn't you say your roommate is into Karate, Krav Maga, and all that? Have her teach you to fight, and get Dr. K to teach you how to change form at will, then you will be ready for the epic showdown with your nemesis for which I will set the stage and choreograph the action."

"He's right about Gun," said JJ.

"Ja," admitted Julie. "That's not so stupid after all. Gun has been after me since we became roomates to come to her classes to learn self-defense. She thinks I'm gonna get raped or something."

"Gun?" blurted Eric. "That's your roommate's name?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Gun and Dr. K, those are awesome names for senseis. This is great fun isn't it?"

JJ nodded mutely while pondering where Julie and he would stay for the next week. Julie crammed some more food in her mouth before pushing away from the table with her head shaking. Eric and JJ both thought she she had changed her mind again and was walking away from the plan, but she surprised them.

"Come on JJ. I hate to admit it, but Eric's right."

Dancing around the kitchen unable to control his excitement, Eric shouted, "Yes!"

"I don't know which is worse," confided Julie to JJ, "being pregnant or having to live his adolescent graphic novel fantasy."

Disappearing for two weeks was certain to upset JJ's family, and Julie wasn't immune to scrutiny either. A cover story was needed to avoid becoming the target of a police missing person's manhunt. The plausible lie Eric concocted involved JJ and Julie falling in love and sharing a twenty day road trip together. Facebook posts with shopped photos depicting them at a series of tourist destinations lent credibility to what would otherwise be viewed by their friends and families to be an extreme, out of character, and impulsive act.

With their sudden absence explained, staying on the move, hidden, and finding a new place to sleep every night became their biggest challenges with the latter the most problematic. Hotels were plentiful, but their funds were limited, and after two nights, a more frugal option was needed.

The answer came on the third day when Dr. K broke his silence. Learning of his fellow were-creature's plan to develop personal combat skills to recover their skulls and of their temporary exile from their homes, he expressed contrition over having involved JJ and Julie in his cauldron of intrigue and danger. Eager to make amends, he imparted the secret of transforming at will.

Within their brains, he advised, lurked two versions of themselves. One was familiar. Dr. K called it their "human self." The second was wilder, bolder, and sexually aggressive. Not a parasite or alien invader, this "beast self," as the Kenyan professor named it, was more akin to what their human personality could become under the influence of altered brain chemistry as with drugs or alcohol. When were, Julie was still Julie and JJ was still JJ, but far less inhibited.

Meditation was necessary to establish controlled communication between the two different mental states. Once both halves became comfortable with each other, re-assigning control was as simple as the self in charge summoning a pre-determined image and name of the other self as a triggering mechanism. Physical transformation followed automatically and with less disorientation than the compulsory changes they had experienced thus far.

Quickly mastering the technique, the two were-dogs used their enhanced senses to find lodging by reconnoitering neighborhoods to locate vacant houses. Strength and agility allowed them to force stealthy entries. Stealing nothing other than food from the absent owners, they were careful to do no damage and tidied up after each of their surreptitious stays. Having solved the problem of nightly accommodations, their were-forms provided an additional, equally important benefit, one that manifested when they practiced, in private, the skills taught to them by Gun.

Unaware of their newfound abilities, Julie's roommate was amused by the athletically inept pair's interest in self-defense. Gun nevertheless accepted the challenge of turning two cream puffs into lean beef.

"You aren't the most pathetic students I've had, but you're near the bottom," she said without exaggeration. "Since you are both out of shape, and for some bizarre, super secret reason that I am to share with no one else, we have to meet at a different place every day for a period of no more than two weeks, Krav Maga will be the principle style I'll teach."

Neither Julie nor JJ understood one martial art from another.

"Why Krav?" asked Gun rhetorically to their stupefied silence. "Because it's relatively easy to learn, allows you to combat armed opponents, and is not necessarily lethal as per your requirements. You'll also get some Brazilian Jui Jitsu and Muay Thai if we have time and show enough coordination. Brazilian Jui Jitsu will teach you how to fight on the ground and Muay Thai gives you a full body style of fighting that works for almost any threat."

Her reasoning sounded fine to them, so Julie and JJ nodded their heads in agreement.

"Good. Now prepare to suffer, and try not to cry like little girls."

Without further preliminaries, Gun began testing their limits. She didn't have to probe too deep. Lacking aptitude, strength, and endurance, their first session was as painful and awkward to JJ and Julie as Gun promised. Their sadistic sensei was ruthless, and the two neophytes ended the first two hour session in exhausted agony. Gun figured they wouldn't return but promised to keep their next evening's appointment for the laughs if they did.

With little but eating and sleeping to occupy the rest of their time, they practiced slipping into their were-forms. They quickly discovered that the moves Gun tortured into their muscle memory were much easier to master as were-dogs and translated back to improved performance in their human form.

Returning the second night, their advancement was far beyond what Gun thought possible. Intrigued by their unexpected competence, she upped the pace with new moves introduced as fast as they could learn them. They left each session beaten and dispirited, but determined to persevere.

The grueling schedule of physical activity wore them down and eventually made them careless. At the end of the first week, they were tired of searching for a new place to sleep each evening and returned to the abandoned retail space where they had slept the previous night.

Julie's habit of rising early and JJ's compulsive planning worked together to save them. Awake in time to hear the subtle creek of a shoe upon a warped floorboard, Julie spied two furtive shapes moving around below their sleeping perch. JJ had chosen to bed down on a landing at the top of a ladder near an access hatch to the roof as part of his security obsession.

Waking JJ with one digit of her paw over her lips, he got the hint that they were in danger, transformed to match her, and the two bolted through the hatch. Silenced pistol shots trailed them, but speed and familiarity with the neighborhood allowed them to ditch their pursuers. The narrow escape was an important lesson, and they made it to the end of their final session with Gun without a repeat incident. The implacable and stern martial arts expert was ready to freely admit her admiration.

"I've never seen anyone get so proficient at this so fast. You've impressed me, and that is an accomplishment in itself. Are you sure you wouldn't like to keep going? With just a few months more training, you could be masters and compete professionally."

"Maybe later," said Julie. "We've got some things to do first."

"Is that your super secret business you can't even tell your roommate?"

"Yeah. That. We appreciate your help with perpetuating our cover story."

"If you're looking for a fight, I could help a lot more with that."

"I'm afraid this is something we have to do ourselves, and it's time for us go," answered Julie as she and JJ departed leaving her puzzled roommate to wonder about her sanity.

Just that morning, Eric had texted the single word "Showtime" along with an address south of the city. That was the prearranged signal that it was indeed time for them to confront their adversaries.

Fit, trained, and fully capable of morphing between forms at will but still lacking the killer instinct needed to confront an enemy with deadly force, they reluctantly rode the bus to the rendezvous, which transpired to be a public library.

"Your trap is here?" asked Julie when Eric met them in the science fiction section.

"No," said Eric. "It's elsewhere, but I didn't want to text that location just in case."

"I guess a little paranoia can't hurt," added JJ.

"Nor can a lot of paranoia," agreed Eric. "Follow me."

The trio walked several blocks to a strip mall where they entered a pizza restaurant. Bypassing the counter, they took a hallway leading towards the restrooms. Without stopping they exited through the back door. Eric's car was parked in the alley, and he drove away via a back street.

"So," began their self anointed sidekick as they cruised to an unknown destination, "how went the training? Are you now the masters? Do your senseis bow to you with respect?"

"I wouldn't say that," mumbled JJ sheepishly. "We can become were-dogs at will and execute the moves Gun taught us like no one on earth, but I'm not sure I can hurt another person let alone kill them."

"Ja," added Julie with more conviction. "Killing is out. I think we should run away and stay hidden."

"Killing? Who said anything about killing? No one has to die unless we seriously fuck up."

"That's a relief," sighed Julie heavily. "What's the plan then?"

"I have laid a clever trap, or did you forget that?"

"We didn't forget. We just want more details."

"To learn that," answered Eric with a smug grin, "you need to see it for yourselves."

Refusing to tell them anything else about where they were going or what they would find there, Julie and JJ were cajoled instead by Eric to explain what Gun and Dr. K had taught them.

"Where is Dr. K now?" asked Eric when they had finished.

"I have no idea. We haven't heard anything in over a week."

JJ held up his phone to emphasize the lack of messages.

"I hope he didn't get caught," pined Eric. "I really want to meet him and see him in his lion form. No offense, but cats are even sexier than dogs."

"I'm offended," said Julie, her response so deadpan, Eric was unsure if she was serious or joking.

They left the hills and drove south along a broad, flat valley with steep ridges bounding it to the east and west.

It transpired that their destination, a plain, prefab concrete walled, mostly windowless building with a shallow pitched, steepled roof, stood by itself as if ostracized by other nearby warehouses for its shabbiness. A river, constrained by levees, wrapped sinuously around one side of the property. Fields of cabbage, where county ordinances mandated land remain open for agriculture, and a wooded wildlife sanctuary dominated the rest. If lonely was the goal, then this was the place.

"What's so special about here?" wondered Julie looking upon the unremarkable facility with its spalling concrete and large, rusting loading bays. "It's a dump."

"Exactly," exclaimed Eric with enthusiasm. "Just the kind of place where a couple of fugitives would hide. I rented it under a false company name using my parents' money, so you owe them when this is over. You can also thank them for having a son who is a creative genius capable of transforming this inauspicious structure into an amazingly creative trap."

Eager to display his handiwork, Eric led them into the building through a graffiti marred metal door at its north end. Grimy light fixtures, most of which contained empty sockets or broken bulbs cast their feeble florescent light downward revealing an interior no more impressive than the exterior. Rows of metal and timber shelving held a few empty wooden crates and rotting cardboard boxes. Eric bypassed them dismissing the storage space with an energetic wave of his arm.

"Ignore all of this. The only place that matters is this way."

At the south end of the building stood a grimy wall with peeling paint, windows on an upper and lower level, and a single door that led to empty rooms.

"Behold my genius," exclaimed Eric proudly pointing to the ordinary looking office frontage.

After dutifully examining the structure and discovering nothing unusual about it, JJ and Julie exchanged quizzical stares.

"What are we supposed see?" asked JJ. "It's office space. So what?"

"Though you don't realize it, you just paid my handiwork the highest possible compliment. Over the last two weeks, with the help of my theater friends, I have converted what was once a mostly empty space piled with odds and ends and a small dingy, single floor office into a mostly empty space piled with odds and ends and a much larger, dingy, two story office."

Julie afforded it another look.

"It does look like a dilapidated pile of shit like the rest of this place, but like JJ said, so what?"

"Come inside and you shall see."

Eric gave them a tour of his creation proudly showing off secret doors leading to false floor crawl spaces, narrow passages between walls, and hidden ladders between floors. Strategically placed mirrors gave one room and a passageway a false impression of depth confusing the senses. Trapdoors and nets could be remotely operated and a few doors could be similarly locked or unlocked from a hidden control room. Carefully concealed cameras displayed their views to a bank of monitors.

"From in here," explained Eric showing them where he planned to hide and direct his drama, "I will be undetected and can help you funnel them to the traps, where we capture them, and then make them return your skulls. I shall be the master of illusion and confusion. Smoke and mirrors. The great and powerful Oz. Ignore the man behind the curtain and all that."

"Wow," said JJ with obvious admiration. "You made all this in two weeks?"

"Not by myself. I convinced my theater friends that I'm filming something special...which, by the way, I'd like to do to help recover some of the costs. I took the liberty of crowd sourcing my idea to raise funds and pay people for their efforts."

"What?" Julie and JJ were equally aghast.

"You can't film us!" protested Julie. "Post this on the web, and everyone will know our secret."

"Yeah," added JJ. "No way."

"Listen, guys. That's not how it's going down. It's all going to be grainy, Blair Witch style stuff using other actors to play your human selves. When it's done, no one will be able to connect this to you.

"What about you?" wondered JJ. "If you publish this, the Owindaji will learn of your involvement, and you're a link with us."

"That's a risk, sure, but we've gotta pay for all of this somehow. How about we just table that and decide later. I give you guys full veto power over uploading the video when this is over. Deal?"

"Deal," agreed JJ, but Julie shook her head.

"I can guarantee my veto."

"Don't be so sure," said Eric defensively. "Even you'll be impressed by the final product. Now let me show you your super-suits."

"Elaborate mechanical traps and now costumes? This is worse than comics," groaned Julie. "I'm trapped in a Scooby Doo cartoon, and Scooby here..." she said while poking Eric's chest, "is going to push the wrong lever, and we end up trapped in our own net."

Crushed by her sarcasm, Eric turned abruptly away and sniffed while wiping his sleeve under his nose.

"Well, I did my best to give you guys a chance," sulked Eric choking back a sob. "I thought you'd at least appreciate what I did and keep an open mind."

JJ gave his mate a reproachful stare before putting his arm around Eric's shoulder.

"It's great, buddy. Impressive. We love it, don't we Julie?"

Julie felt like a heel. Selfless, enterprising, and inventive, Eric had done fabulous work out of simple kindness and friendship. Her negative reaction was self-defense grounded in anxious fear, but nevertheless uncivil. Eric was risking his life alongside theirs. He deserved acknowledgment for that. Julie put a comforting arm on his other shoulder.

"It really is fantastic, Eric. Thank you for your efforts. I am grateful, but...I don't know. This is all really scary. Vhat guarantee do we have that your trap vill vork? Maybe ve should keep running."

Eric rubbed tears from his watery eyes and brightened noticeably.

"There are no guarantees. This is improv, but the secret of making improv work is preparation and limiting variables. We have time to work through and practice some scenarios in a known environment we control. It's the best chance you have. If you go on running, you will eventually screw up and get caught. Prey always does. You guys are predators and need to act like it. Turn the tables on these hunters."

"He's right," declared JJ. "They almost nabbed us last week."

"They found you?" blurted Eric.

Julie nodded.

"Ja. Ve vere stupid just like you said."

"How many were there?"

"Two."

"Are you sure?"

"Ve didn't see or smell any more."

"Same as the two at your apartment. Maybe they only hunt in pairs. Let's hope so. Scratch out one more variable. I have striven to eliminate a lot more. Most important is that they have to come to us. There are only a few ways to access this building. I have hidden cameras covering everywhere inside and out. We can confirm their numbers before they gain access."

"What if they cut the power?" asked JJ.

"Thought of that. Don't worry about them messing with my electronics, because everything I need is wired to an independent power source hijacked from a neighboring building. If they vandalize the main breaker panel box outside, so what? They can sabotage it all they want. We want it dark. Darkness is our friend. I have night vision software, and you two can see with the ambient outside light that will enter through the windows and skylights. You also have your sensitive noses."

"The pair of Owindaji that almost got us had guns with laser sights. They also were wearing some kind of helmet and goggles that had to be night vision."

"I have also anticipated that. You will stay in the office complex. It is full of short halls, small rooms and hiding holes. There are no places to pick you off with a long distance shot."

"Still. They have guns, knives, and other weapons we don't."

"You said you didn't want to kill anyone. You start firing guns, and someone is gonna die."

JJ's shoulders drooped.

"Can't argue with that. Julie? You game for this?"

Tense seconds passed. Julie closed her eyes and chewed her lower lip.

"Ja," she answered with an unexpected smile.

Grabbing Eric by his shirt, she dragged him away from JJ and into a hug.

"You are a little genius, and I trust you. Let's do this. Together. Oz and his were-dogs."

"Nice" beamed Eric. "We're, getting close to a cool team handle, but cooler still are your outfits. You'll love these."

From within an inconspicuous crate, he extracted two garments resembling padded scuba diver wetsuits. Made of an elastic, dull, matte black material, plates of Kevlar had been sewn into the fabric everywhere but the joints, waist, and neck.

"Like Batman," marveled JJ.

Julie held hers in front of her body to assess the fit.

"My favorite costume designer made these," explained Eric. "They look all high tech, but it's just a heavy duty breathable mix of nylon and spandex with thin Kevlar plates surrounded by extra fabric and reinforced stitching. They won't survive long with hard use, but should provide extra protection against bullets and blades."

"Bullets? Maybe we should go get some police armor like the SWAT teams use."

"Too bulky and restrictive of your movement, Julie. Speed and agility are your strengths. These suits give you freedom to move in addition to a bit of armor. They might save your lives. Try them on tell me how they fit."

"Ja," she agreed, and JJ could tell the thought of goons with weapons scared her as much as it did him.

To reassure her, he took her hand in his and then grabbed Eric's hand to place it over the top of theirs.

"You said 'together', Julie. We can do this as a team. All for one, and one for all?" he proposed.

Eric reached for Julie's other hand. She took it.

"All for one, and one for all," she repeated with Eric.

"This gets better all the time. Now come with me," Eric beckoned with renewed enthusiasm. "You need to try on these outfits, and I have just the place for that."

Upstairs in a small back room, Julie glared with suspicion upon an old mattress and two sleeping bags in the middle of the floor.

"What's this?"

Eric threw himself backwards upon the makeshift bed.

"This is where we put the bait. They are tracking you and will know your location if you stay two nights in the same place, so this is your home until the Owindaji arrive. I brought plenty of food. Go ahead and make the change so you can test the fit of those suits."

"Right here? In front of you?"

"Why not? I've already seen you two naked and...well...you know. What secrets do we have left?"

"None," said JJ stripping off his shirt while kicking off his shoes.

He left his underwear on. Julie did the same, and they morphed into their canine forms. Eric watched with amazement having never witnessed the change before.

Silky, motley colored fur spread over their bodies in waves accompanied by sinuously shifting muscle and bone in a seamless transition to tail, snout, and huge oval ears atop their heads. Eric's gaze lingered longest upon JJ's tight furry abs and ass. That's when he noticed the awkward imposition of JJ's tail above the waistband of his briefs.

"I can't believe I forgot about underwear to accommodate your tails. That goes to the top of my must do list when this is over. For you, JJ, I'll make a super sexy pair. I can't wait to see you in them."

Embarrassed to be his old friend's object of desire, JJ blushed. Julie's laughter made it worth it, though, if it helped her to forget about the danger. Inserting hindpaws into the legs, they pulled the form fitting fabric up and poked their tails through a flap in the back. The upper half clung to their arms and torso like a coating of paint. A hood with a molded helmet inside and holes for their ears fit snugly over their heads to partially cover their cheeks. A zipper with a velcro cover flap ran from their left thigh up their side to their neck.

"Do they fit?"

"Ja. Surprisingly well. Your seamstress is amazing. How did she get the sizes right? It fits my hips and boobs perfectly."

"I've got an eye for that kind of thing. For example, I noticed the night at my place, that as were-dogs, you guys are shorter and broader in the shoulders not to mention the odd way you stand on your toes.

"You got all that in one night including my cup size?"

"Hey. That encounter left a strong impression on me. Strong enough that I have been dreaming of repeating it again. We got the place and plenty of time. I even brought a collar and leash to be your pet," he added holding up the leather loop with its silver buckle and linked chain leash.

Julie was aghast.

"You expect us to have sex with you again just like that?"

"Why not?" wondered Eric. "What else is there to do? Besides to complete the illusion, this room should smell like you guys. What better way to break it in than an energetic little three way?"

"Sounds logical to me," grinned JJ scraping his claws across the backside of Julie's armored suit. "It's been nearly two weeks since we made love, and I'm horny as a...well...as a dog whose bitch is in heat."

Cringing at his own crude simile, JJ prepared himself for Julie's hostile reaction. Before becoming a were-dog he would never have dared be so bold. Similarly, Julie likely would have slapped his vulgar mouth for a much less offensive remark, but the old rules of their previous lives no longer applied. Hormones and pheromones surged in their blood whenever fur covered their skin. Thoughts, emotions, and sex drives altered with their appearance.

Unmistakable feral lust gleamed in Julie's eyes as she admired JJ's lean frame covered in form fitting armor. The warrior before her was a fitting mate worthy of her attention. She would enjoy peeling back the rubbery suit to find his red, swollen member with its bulbous knot.

"Ja. Okay."

Eric's grin was wicked with triumph.

"There's just one more thing, though. I'm filming this part, too."

"Why?" asked JJ.

"Easiest way to get funding was to advertise as a fetish film with actors as realistic anthros. No one will see your faces, but when they see your bodies in action, they are gonna flip their shit thinking we've got the best CG in the business."

"Don't care," said JJ. "Cameras are a boner killer, dude. I'm not a porn star."

With her heat rapidly rising to an unbearable fire within her blood, Julie surrendered to her primal hormonal needs and abandoned all discretion.

"Sure you can, stud. You just need the right stimulus."

Drawing her zipper back down to her thigh, she opened the front exposing her charms. A gentle tug of JJ's ears brought him to his knees with his snout hovering before her crotch. Immediately, her scent hijacked his brain igniting chemical and physical responses throughout his body including within the Kevlar cup protecting his groin. Expanding flesh trapped in an inadequately sized high tensile strength plastic prison made JJ grimace as his prick bent like a party balloon animal.

Wearing loose khakis, Eric's distended arousal suffered no such constraint, easily stretching the pliable fabric into an impressive tent. Eric kicked off his shoes and stretched his toes to caress JJ's calf. Julie caught the playful, beckoning gesture and his prominent bulge.

"Not so fast, little man. My rules tonight. JJ's snout and dick belong to me exclusively, knot and all and not after he's been in your butt."

Eric pouted, but then considered what regions of his best friend had not been declared off limits. Holding his tongue, he opted to keep quiet and approach his goal incrementally.

Extracting his nose from her exquisite perfume, JJ shook his head to clear away the sensuous fog obscuring his reason. Hanging limp from his mouth, his tongue trailed saliva, but focusing on the consequences of Julie's desire curbed his delirium.

"But what about getting pregnant?" protested JJ. "If I tie with you..."

"Too late, daddy. That ship has already sailed."

"Wait? What? How do you know? It hasn't even been a month. Don't you have to miss your period or something?"

"Trust me. I know, especially in this form. I can sense the life growing in my womb. I can't get any more knocked up, so let's enjoy it. Now."

Impatient to begin, Julie used a single claw to sever the waistband of her panties. Extending the cut through the thin cotton down to one thigh then to the other she pulled at the remaining diamond shaped flap of fabric covering her sex, slowly dragging the garment between her slick labia. When the back panel of her underwear emerged, she draped the scent soaked garment over her lover's snout, wrapped it once around, and tied it into a loose bow.

More potent and faster acting than any drug, her fragrant siren's song seized his consciousness with the promise of lust well satisfied. All his inhibitions dissolved faster than sugar in hot water. JJ's pupils widened until they were black mirrors reflecting were-Julie's voluptuous form.

Using his huge ears has handles, she guided him back to her crotch to feast upon the velvety lusciousness. Greedily devouring her, JJ forgot Eric, who began undressing behind him. Julie was equally distracted, paying her pet no heed. Throwing her head back, she growled her pleasure while peeling off the rest of her suit.

Naked except for the black leather band around his neck, and impassioned by the sight of JJ's svelte backside, Eric dared to approach and lightly stroke his friend's tail. Receiving no reaction, he let his hand wander to caress his muscular buttocks.

Encouraged by JJ's lack of growling, Eric was emboldened to probe the region below his friend's tail, where the flap designed for just this moment stretched wider to accommodate more than JJ's furry rear appendage. Eric was rewarded with a view of bare, puckered flesh surrounded by dark fur. Whether were-JJ was oblivious, did not care, or welcomed this exploration, Eric was unsure, but each possibility was acceptable to him.

With cock hard and quivering with eagerness to break through that shuttered portal, Eric willed himself to be patient. Oozing dribble from his own turgid member betrayed his desire to discharge his load in JJ's furry butt. That moment would come eventually, he hoped.

Julie continued to moan and pant as JJ slurped and chewed. Tentatively, Eric dared place a forefinger against JJ's tailhole. The muscular iris tightened in response, JJ shuddered, his ears swiveled backwards in alarm, and his tail drooped to cover Eric's hand. Eric feared he had moved to fast, but the tail rose again slowly inviting him to proceed.

Fingering the soft tissue loosened the muscles, but attempts to gently insert a digit still met resistance. Applying his tongue relaxed it further and elicited a purr from his preoccupied partner. That sound was the approval Eric sought. So pleased was Eric, if his body possessed the ability, he would have copied the sound. The deeply male, musky aroma surrounding JJ's taint captured his senses as surely as Julie's had engulfed her mate.

It was during this interval of rapturous contentment that Julie's legs began to shake. A groan rose in volume transitioning through a howl to end in a primal scream followed by ragged gasps for air. She held JJ's head against her belly and stroked his cheeks and neck until the quaking euphoria passed and she became aware that Eric was exploring her mate's backside.

"What are you doing back there?" she asked of Eric, smiling at the black leather loop handle of his restraint he held out towards her.

"Just getting JJ ready, ma'am. With your permission, of course. I would love to have a little bum fun with him."

"You have earned your reward, little pet. You may proceed as soon as he and I are in place."

Squatting before her kneeling mate, she held his mesmerized eyes with hers.

"You are also a good boy. Do you want to mount me?"

"Mount?" wondered JJ. "Like...like...in what position?"

"Doggy-style of course, silly. That's what we are, right? Dogs."

"Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. Yes. I want to do that."

Julie took the handle of Eric's leash, winked at him, and turned onto all fours. Her tail brushed provocatively against JJ's snout before lifting in the air to curl upon her back. Accepting her invitation, JJ crawled into position guiding his prick to her glistening cave. Julie tugged on the leash forcing Eric to hug JJ's backside.

Intent upon merging with Julie, JJ paid no heed to Eric's sybaritic enthusiasm to form a train composed of a furry engine, furry tender, and fleshy caboose. Both of their tumescent couplings struck their target with unerring precision linking the trio. Synchronous gasps from all three initiated a congruence of thought, awareness, and motion. When JJ thrust, Eric thrust with him. When JJ withdrew, Eric copied. Leisurely begun, and slowly growing with protracted acceleration, a steady state motion arose. Julie held her back rigid, letting JJ do the work. Her cheek rested on the bedding, and she murred with delight, huffing in anticipation each time the expanding base of JJ's cock, threatening to pass her trembling constriction, opened her infinitesimally wider.

Stimulated both inside by the ram plunging under his tail and the wet grip of his mate's muscular vagina, JJ achieved a new sensual apogee. Absorbed in a pre-orgasmic trance, he incrementally rotated forward a few degrees with each thrust until his chest contacted Julie's back and his forearms rested aside hers. JJ's final position created a fortuitous parting of his buttocks granting Eric deeper access.

Combined with Julie's insistent tugging upon his leash, hilting his pal became inevitable. Once their balls pressed together, the soft brush of silky fur on bare skin was stimulus as potent as the tight walls of JJ's colon. Eric's attempts to delay his incipient discharge were futile. Gripping JJ's soft pelt in his fists, he surrendered to the inevitable.

Pulsing against JJ's taint, Eric's ejaculation was a throbbing drumbeat urging JJ to tie with his mate. Driving downward, JJ's fleshy globe broke through to plunge inside Julie forming a lock stronger than a banker's vault. No conscious effort was capable of forestalling JJ's resultant hot spray of seed. Julie tightened her grip on the handle of her pet's leash to keep him, willing or not, from pulling out until the tie concluded.

Tiny liquid diamonds from the evening's light drizzle collected on the hunter's water repellent hood. Twinkling in the harsh glare of the lone vapor lamp, the glittering gems did little to betray his identity crouched as he was immobile beside a rusting utility box near the front of the dilapidated warehouse. From across the twenty yards separating him from the building, he was just another shadow easily mistaken for a shrub or more of the debris that littered the untidy property. Up close, his identity was equally vague. Black paint and the cowl covering his head rendered the lurking intruder's face a featureless void.

Tens of minutes passed without sound or movement until a second specter, similarly draped in form-fitting midnight, separated from the shadows opposite his position to speed like a bat across bare asphalt to where she was reabsorbed by the near total darkness between the building and its attendant dumpster. Stillness returned, but the night's damp tranquility belied the presence of murderous intent. Having failed once already to nab their prey, the bitter taste of disappointment and shame was fresh and uncomfortable. Previous mistakes would not be repeated, and this opportunity would not be squandered. The skulls, now hidden nearby, had unerringly led them here. The quarries were inside, possibly expecting them. Stealthy reconnaissance, contingency planning, and a coordinated attack would ensure success.

Briefly connecting his phone to a small device with six stubby antennae, he scanned for Bluetooth signals. Two appeared; one named 'DoubleJ' and another labeled 'SwedeGirl.' Unaware they were broadcasting their presence to anyone clever enough to look, the prey had sealed their fate. Using a very low frequency radio signal, he sent a short series of tones to his sister's earbud instructing her to proceed.

Though his fellow hunter was indeed a sister in the spiritual sense that they shared a mutual bond of devotion for their cause, they were also fraternal twins whose mother, unable to care for her newborn offspring, relinquished them for adoption and unknowingly into indoctrination by the Owindaji. Trained to hunt and to kill since the day they learned to walk, well-honed skills manifested as the young woman ascended the refuse bin, tested the stability of a drainpipe, then used it to scramble to the roof. The most nimble monkey could not have accomplished the feat with greater speed or agility.

Her brother observed her until she reached the access hatch. The prey would not escape that way again. Duplicating her stealthy approach to the building, he found a drainpipe of his own. Having booby-trapped the front and rear doors with trip wire and stun grenades, he ignored those obvious entrances, ascended to a height six feet below the roof line to grasp a narrow lip of metal running beneath a bank of high windows. With the ease of an elite rock climber, he shimmied along the precarious hold using only his fingertips until he reached an opening where panes had been broken by teenage miscreants throwing stones.

Hauling himself up to peer cautiously inside, he activated his night vision goggles. Set for thermal imaging, he swept every visible square inch of the interior searching for the bright tell tale of exothermic creatures. If either of the hunted were in their were-form, they would be impossible to miss due to reckless burning of calories to maintain their energy intensive shape.

Detecting only a few rodents and the otherwise flat thermal gradient expected in an unoccupied building, he switched the specialized headset to night vision light enhancing mode. Normal color vanished to be replaced by shades of green. The feeble light entering through the grimy windows from the outside vapor lamp provided ample visibility. Satisfied that nothing but mice were moving about the open space below, he deduced the quarry were in the offices. After slithering through the broken window, he repeated the ledge walking feat using only his hands and arrived at a ladder that hung from beneath the access hatch where his sister waited above. Silicone lubricant freed the rusty hinges before he retracted the locking bolt and pushed the cover silently open.

No further earbud tones were exchanged after they were inside. They remained silent during their invasion, possessing an uncanny sense of synchronous movement.

With hands and feet pressed against the side rails of the ladder, the male hunter slid to the floor, drew a pistol from a hidden holster, and trained it on the office door. His sister stayed high, deftly maneuvering along and leaping between ceiling joists until she was above the office front. A rope looped over the support beam allowed her to lower herself until she was even with an upper story window. It was unlocked and opened outward. She slipped through the window into the empty room, drew her gun, and began searching the upstairs knowing her brother was mimicking her actions throughout the lower level.

She found only one closed door. A concise search of the open rooms revealed no recent occupation, so she waited for her accomplice. He was soon at her side testing the air to capture the musky, animal odor that was strongest here. Pressing his cheek to the floor, he glimpsed under the door. Heat radiating from inside created a lurid thermal glow confirming the presence of their targets. Rising he nodded to his sister who held two pistols now, one loaded to sedate, the other loaded to kill.

Capturing the abominations alive was the preference of the elders. It was possible these two could lead them to the professor that had eluded their compatriots in Kenya, so their first choice was the target pistols loaded with tranquilizer darts. Bullets served as a backup in case the darts proved ineffective against heightened immune systems.

The doorknob turned silently in his grip, but the hinges were on the inside preventing him from applying lubricant. Inhaling he pushed. The instant the rusty metal began to squeak, his speed increased exponentially in an explosion of motion. Using his left hand, he forced the door against the wall with a bang, entered the room moving right to afford his sister a clear field of fire, dropped to one knee, took aim, and placed three darts in each of the two sleeping forms upon the mattress. Trained to be wary, his sister swept the rest of the room for auxiliary threats.

Something was amiss. The brother noticed it first. Not only hadn't the sleeping victims flinched when struck by the drug laden needles, the thermal signatures were wrong for a human body. Too much heat was centered on the torso and too little at the extremities. They were nothing more than mannequins with heating pads wrapped around their midsections. Before he could warn his sister, an explosion of activity obviated the need.

The prey was providing ample proof that they were cunning and more dangerous than the hunters had envisioned. A false panel in the wall to the male hunter's right swung outward revealing a hidden space between the walls. A fur covered humanoid moving with inhuman speed emerged. Swinging his weapon towards the attacking blur, the barrel of the hunter's gun was grabbed by the were-beast's paw. In a well-executed move, JJ twisted the weapon away and downward, delivered several rapid punches to his opponent's throat that, though protected by a guard, nearly snapped his neck, before gripping the handle of the pistol with both paws to wrench it free and toss it across the room towards the pile of decoys.

Though surprised, the hunter recovered quickly, butting the were-creature's snout with his armored skullcap. Cartilage snapped from the impact. An ordinary human would have been stunned or possibly killed by such an attack, but the were-beast only grunted and staggered back a step. A follow on kick made a loud cracking sound as a steel-toed boot met the kevlar cup protecting JJ's well armored groin. Though the move did the creature no harm, it gave the hunter enough time to draw his second pistol.

Again, the creature's speed thwarted his aim. Ducking beneath the weapon, the man-dog grappled with his wrist and was strong enough to force his arm upward where the gun discharged uselessly at the ceiling. Charging forward, the prey pushed him out into the hall to impact with bone cracking force against the opposite wall driving the air from his lungs.

If JJ had been alone, the hunter sister would have capitalized on her brother as a distraction and taken him down, but one of Eric's clever ceiling trapdoors allowed were-Julie to drop on the huntress from above. Using a move similar to what JJ had employed, Julie captured and tossed the sister's lethal gun away, but the huntress, with cool precision, let her take it and placed several darts in Julie's torso with the other weapon. None penetrated the vevlar, and Julie batted the dart gun away. Thinking her opponent was disarmed, Julie moved to grapple her. A knife, produced seemingly from nowhere, plunged into her vulnerable underarm. Howling in pain, Julie exposed herself to a roundhouse kick that sent her staggering backwards to crash atop the department store mannequins on the makeshift bed.

Nearly as fleet of foot as her were-opponent, the huntress sprinted towards her weapon, slid like a runner at second base, reacquired the weapon, tucked and rolled to one knee, and began firing at the bed just as Eric released the mechanism that opened the floor. Julie and the dummies fell out of sight. The briefest flicker of indecision passed as the huntress decided whether to pursue Julie or assist her brother. Seeing that her brother was wrestling in the hall with the male were-dog and calculating that Julie's wound would keep her out of the fight for a while, she strode calmly towards JJ taking several shots whenever his position offered a clear field of fire.

JJ heard the pops of the pistol and felt the impacts on his armor. It was only a matter of time before one of the bullets found a gap. His wrestling opponent was weaker but more skilled. If given enough time, JJ would wear him down and immobilize him. As it was, the hunter managed to counter most of the techniques Gun had taught JJ. Desperate, he wrapped his arms around his opponent in a hug, rolled over onto his back, executed a kip-up without the use of his forepaws, and held his pinned opponent in front as a shield.

The maneuver worked to foil the huntress, but the brother was not defenseless. He attempted a reverse headbutt to strike JJ's injured snout. Unprepared, but possessing lightning fast automatic reflexes, he dodged the blow and clamped his jaws around the back of the hunter's neck between his skullcap and neck armor. All JJ had to do was bite hard, and he would sever his victim's spine. It seemed the male hunter realized this because he stopped squirming. It was a feint, though, as he activated a hidden blade within his boot, brought it back between JJ's legs and jabbed it behind his knee.

Like Julie, JJ was tough, but not immune to injury or pain. Throwing his captive at his accomplish, JJ raced down the hall to escape. The sister dodged the flying body of her brother to pursue. Several wild shots ricocheted off JJ's armor, making him stagger as he ran. A more carefully aimed shot was poised to enter the vulnerable opening for his tail at the base of his spine, when an apparently dead light fixture flashed on with a violently bright strobe effect. Momentarily blinded by her own goggles, she emptied the rest of her clip wildly, and JJ escaped around a corner. The brother shot out the lamp and came to her side, whispering.

"Can you see?"

"No, but give me a few moments."

"Should I pursue?"

"No. These tricks and traps are acting too precisely. There is someone else controlling the mechanisms."

"Where?"

"In the room behind us. The space between the walls of this trap room and its neighbor is at least five feet thick. He must be in there."

"Do you think the beasts have fled?"

"Unlikely. They're making a stand and won't abandon their comrade. Quick! Come with me."

With military precision, they shot out the remaining light fixtures and moved into the neighboring room, placed charges against the suspected false wall, tripped the timed fuse, and retreated to the hall. Within his hidey-hole Eric observed their act of sabotage on his monitors. Horrified, he clambered up to his escape hatch in the ceiling and was on the false office roof when the charges detonated. Thrown violently through the air, he landed on a pile of old cardboard boxes on the floor of the warehouse, un-moving and unconscious.

Hurrying to escape and to be reunited with Julie, JJ stumbled downstairs on his injured leg where he found his mate tangled in the netting that was designed to catch the Owindaji. She had chewed through much of the rope already, and JJ used his sharp claws to help. The explosion rocked them just as she stepped free.

"What the fuck was that?" wondered JJ.

"Eric!" exclaimed Julie with distress as she bolted for the stairs.

JJ tried to follow, but his leg gave out, and he barely made it to the hallway before he collapsed. Julie was already out of site. Two soft thumps behind him betrayed the descent of his tormentors through the trapdoor. Afraid to be caught alone in the open, he scrambled out of their line of site seeking refuge in the nearest room.

Eric had rigged it as a maze of thin plywood walls covered in mirrors oriented to disorient anyone unfamiliar with the room's layout. Having memorized its passages, JJ closed his eyes and crawled through as fast as he could towards the hidden exit.

The hunters entered immediately behind and seeing him, opened fire on his retreating form, but their bullets only punched holes through his reflection. Precious seconds were lost colliding with walls and searching for openings before they understood the nature of the illusion. Each produced two black metal cylinders, pulled the pins, tossed them around the nearest corner, covered their ears, and ducked back out into the hall. The concussion from the stun grenades shattered most of the glass and knocked JJ to the floor. The accompanying flash dazzled his night sensitive eyes. For long seconds he could neither see nor hear, and was only dimly aware of his surroundings. Walls collapsed around him as the Owindaji kicked the flimsy barriers down to reveal where he lay shaking from the visual and auditory trauma.

The brother rapidly bound JJ's wrists and ankles with plastic zip ties, rolled him on his stomach, and put the barrel of his gun to the back of JJ's neck. His sister cleared her throat and shouted.

"We have your mate! We'll kill him if you don't surrender by the count of ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two..."

Julie appeared at the door with her forepaws raised.

"Wise choice," said the sister. "Face first on the floor with your paws behind your back."

Obeying, Julie dropped to her knees and then her belly avoiding the regions covered with broken glass as best she could. The huntress approached her carefully, knelt with one knee in the small of Julie's back, placed the barrel of her gun at the base of Julie's skull, and used one hand to cuff her.

"Ouch!" wailed the huntress pulling her hand back. "Watch your claws, bitch! Try something like that again, and you'll be...you'll be... sor...so...slorry...storry..."

Her speech slurred and she pushed back her goggles to rub at her blurry eyes with the back of her hand. Rising, she swayed on her feet.

"Are you all right?" asked her brother.

"I...I don't...I don't know..." she said before slumping to the floor unconscious.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" shouted the brother as he moved away from the securely bound JJ to inspect his sister.

Julie wiggled her ears and made quick kicking motions with her hindpaws at JJ, hoping he understood what she wanted. JJ responded by spinning his body violently, sweeping the hunter off his feet. Since the assassin still held his pistol, JJ couldn't image how having him on the floor helped, but it was indeed what Julie wanted. Her hindpaw slammed down upon the wrist of his gun hand forcing his palm open. She kicked the deadly piece of hardware away. Being unbound, the hunter had the freedom of movement to retrieve his gun and kill them both, but disarming him was not Julie's primary goal. A tranquilizer dart protruded from his wrist.

Yanking it out, the hunter gazed at the bloody tipped needle before tossing it aside and scrambling towards his pistol. Doing her best to trip him up and slow him down, Julie clambered to her hindpaws. Hindered by her wrist restraint, the assassin delivered several vicious jump kicks that put her down. JJ wanted to help his mate but could do little more than squirm like a worm on the sidewalk.

The hunter retrieved his pistol, swung it towards Julie, and attempted to aim, but there were two of her, then three, then four. He did not know which to shoot, and his extremities grew weak and unresponsive. Trying uselessly to command his finger to pull the trigger, he watched instead as the weapon fell out of his useless hand. Limp and weak as strands of cooked spaghetti, his legs folded, and he fell atop his twin sister.

Using a large piece of broken glass, Julie cut her wrist bonds and then freed JJ.

"That was incredible, Julie. Thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome, lover," she said with a kiss. "I lost you on the stairs and didn't notice you missing until I was at the wreckage of Eric's control room."

"That explosion! Is Eric okay?"

"I think he got out. There was no sign of him."

"We'd better look."

JJ stood, winced from the pain in his injured leg.

"You're hurt!"

Julie inspected the wound behind his knee sniffing it and licking it clean.

"It doesn't look too bad, and the bleeding has mostly stopped. I got a similar stab in my armpit. Can you walk?"

"Yeah. It's sore, but getting better. First let's see if these creeps have any more of these plastic cuffs. I won't feel safe until we've trussed 'em up good."

Julie agreed, and they dragged the pair of Owindaji out of the office, stripped them of their body armor, most of their clothes, all their weapons, and bound them separately to steel support columns.

The search for Eric didn't take long. Julie turned on the overhead lights, but JJ found his friend by scent and nearly cried when he saw Eric's twisted back, broken limbs, and the bloody foam leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Julie!" he howled not knowing what else to do.

She gasped when she saw Eric and did her best to assess his injuries, but all she could tell was they were extremely grave.

"He's alive. Barely. We've got to call an ambulance," she said.

"Our phones were in the control room."

"Fuck! Those aren't gonna work."

"I'll run and get help. You stay here and do what you can."

JJ sprinted for the exit. Barely halfway across the warehouse floor, he skidded to a halt, his claws scraping shallow furrows in the concrete. A huge new adversary had leapt from the dark recesses of a nearby pallet rack to land crouching in the dim interior illumination between JJ and the exit, frustrating his departure. Rising on its hind legs, the creature was massive and obviously were.

Ochre fur covered a mostly human body bulging with sinew and muscle evincing immense power and brawn. Crowned by an impressive dark chocolate colored mane, luminous, golden eyes stared back from above a cat-like muzzle shorter and broader than JJ's canine snout. Swishing cautiously from side to side, its slender tail ended with a fluff of fur matching its hair.

It wore only a pair of baggy trousers and in one paw clutched a military style duffel bag. Suspicious that it was a cache of Owindaji weapons, JJ growled and readied himself to attack and disarm the beast if necessary. Stalking among the shelves with her hackles high, Julie supported her mate by flanking their new opponent.

In defiance of their aggressive demeanor, the newcomer relaxed his body noticeable and briefly closed his eyes. A light frost sublimating in the morning sun could not have vanished with more rapidity or aesthetic grace than the creature's fur. Ebony skin covering a tall, heavy-set, and distinctly human frame remained in the wake of his vanishing animal characteristics. Perhaps sixty years old, his wrinkled face was partially hidden by a mop of silver dreadlocks. When his eyes reopened, they were fully human, amber of hue and sparkling with friendly intent dispelling all vestiges of the two were-dogs' apprehension.

"I am Juma Kamau," he announced with a British accent at odds with his ethnicity. As he spoke, he retrieved a loose, multicolored shirt from inside his satchel and draped it over his chubby, torso. "I presume you two are my fellow ilimu, and the two tied to the columns are Owindaji. I found your skulls hidden outside."

He tossed the sack to slide to a stop at JJ's hindpaws. Dazed by the unexpected appearance of their mystery mentor, Julie and JJ stared stupidly between him and the camouflaged nylon bag before grasping that the battle was over. Simultaneously, they returned to their human form. Encased within their protective suits, the transformation was muted, but Dr. K applauded the ease with which they accomplished the feat.

"Well done, Julie and JJ. You demonstrate excellent control."

"Wait. How do you know our names?" asked Julie. "We never revealed them to you."

"Your friend Eric did. I contacted you when I landed at the airport about thirty minutes ago. He told me your names and your plans for tonight to confront the Owindaji. I came as fast as I could to help. Where is Eric, by the way? He seems like a very friendly chap. I would dearly like to meet him."

JJ choked back a sob, and Julie took the Kenyan professor's meaty hand to lead him to where Eric lay. Despite the wizened archaeologist's bulk and thick sausage like fingers, he was gentle and dexterously probed at Eric with the skill of a practiced physician.

"JJ was just going to get help," said Julie.

"Don't bother," said Dr. Kamau with a sigh.

"Oh my god?" gasped Julie. "He is dead, Ja?"

"No. Not yet, but no medical care can save him."

"How do you know?" accused JJ hoping their benefactor's opinion was based on little more than supposition.

"I was in medical school before I switched to archaeology. He will die soon unless he becomes ilimu."

"Ilimu? You mean were like us? How do we do that? Help us heal him. Tell us," pleaded JJ.

The professor stood up to his full height looming several inches taller than JJ, his kindly face pensive.

"There are mysteries surrounding our condition that I have yet to explain, but which you must know before we proceed along such a drastic course of action. Since time is against us, let me enlighten you as succinctly as possible. There are two ways your friend can become ilimu. The most obvious is to find a skull like the ones that infected you and cut him with its teeth. The second is for you to bite him yourself. Not just any bite, but one bordering on a mortal wound is needed to release whatever causes this malady."

"I'll bite him then," offered Julie. "Anything to save him. He sacrificed his life for ours."

"Not so fast," warned the doctor. "That bite is not just an infection, it is a transference. If he becomes ilimu from you, then you become a normal human, forever losing the ability to transform."

"One less were-creature in the world," said Julie. "That's a good thing I suppose."

"Most likely true," agreed Juma. "But whichever way the deed is accomplished, it's potentially a nasty thing to do to another person especially without their consent. Eric is in no condition to tell us his preferences, so we must decide for him if remaining alive as a monster is better than the peace of death."

"I can't let him die," said JJ kneeling beside his friend. "He can hate me forever if he wants, but I'll give him my power. It's the least I can do."

"JJ, no," protested Julie. "Let me. You are more comfortable with this crazy shit than I am."

"Uh, uh. We can't risk what that might do to our child. Will it stay were? Will your body abort it? We don't know, I won't risk that."

"Our baby? You mean you're committed to raising this child with me?"

"Hell yeah. Be it human or were. I don't care."

Julie knelt beside JJ and hugged him fiercely.

"That is the most romantic and adult thing I have ever heard from you. I love you."

Though they had made love together, been inseparable since Julie's birthday, and fought side by side against trained assassins, a nagging doubt had plagued JJ until now. Worry that she would rather be anywhere else than with him had forbade hope that she might actually love him. Now that she had spoken those three words aloud, all of his uncertainty vanished as if it had never existed.

"I love you too," he said complementing the sentiment with a brief but intimate kiss. "I guess I've grown up a lot in the past couple of weeks. Surrendering these cool powers for Eric feels right even if I'll no longer be able to enjoy you the way I do when we're were-dogs."

Touched by the tenderness of their mutual affection and the obvious love they had for their injured friend, Dr. Kamau wiped away a tear.

"I am heartened to be a fellow ilimu with such noble and loving people as you. I can only assume Eric is your equal in those qualities."

"He is," said JJ. "That's why I'm gonna do this."

JJ spread his jaws wide at Eric's neck.

"Wait!" urged the doctor. "Perhaps I was too brief with my explanation. Julie, be so kind as to bring the satchel, please."

She did, and Juma retrieved three wrapped objects from inside. Two were in plain brown towels. The third was wrapped with colorful cloths, and that was the one he exposed. Morphologically different from their skulls, it was nevertheless a were-beast.

"Is that your skull?" asked Julie.

"No, Miss Julie, I destroyed mine as I advise you destroy yours. They can only serve as a tool for the Owindaji to pursue you now."

"Whose is that then?"

"No one's. During my escape, I considered my options and obligations. I have a competitor in this field of study. He is a very powerful man in the Republic of Congo, a nasty warlord enriching himself upon the misery of ethnic strife and that country's abundant mineral wealth. Fortunately, he was ignorant of the skull's true power. I stole it thinking the world would be better off if a fiend like him didn't obtain powers like ours."

"We can use it on Eric then?"

"I don't see why not. It is his only hope now. Here."

Juma placed the skull into JJ's trembling hands.

"He is your friend, not mine, not yet. You must decide his fate."

Unhesitating, JJ immediately pricked one of Eric's pale fingers with an upper canine. The lack of blood flowing from the wound was a worrisome sign.

"What now?"

"We wait and hope. Pray if you like. I'm not religious myself, but the world is clearly more mysterious than I once thought. If skin can become fur, then maybe well wishes can heal."

Julie and JJ hovered over Eric anxious for any sign of improvement. Dr. Kamau suspected the cure, if it worked, might take some time, so he distracted his disciples by leading them towards the twin hunters.

"What of them? What is their fate? Do they live or die?"

"I should kill them both for what they did to Eric," growled JJ.

"They are murderers," agreed Julie with equal ferocity, but neither made a move towards enforcing the death sentence.'

"You know," admitted JJ, his voice weary from exertion and the unpleasant burden a judge bears when determining a prisoner's fate. "I always thought in the movies that it was so stupid when the good guys didn't just kill the bad guys, but now that we're in the same position...fuck! I can't do it even though they deserve to die."

Dr. Kamau studied his new friend's faces and postures before speaking calmly as a father would when imparting wisdom to his children.

"I dare say they do. They would certainly show you no mercy if they were conscious and free. Dispatching them to protect yourselves, Eric, and your unborn child would be justified, but I suspect that the true nature of your hearts lies elsewhere. The fact that you chose to secure them rather than simply killing them outright, which you easily could have done, tells me that you have already decided upon a more virtuous course."

"I guess you're right, Dr. Kamau. We just don't have the killer instinct."

The rotund Kenyan wrapped his arms around the pair.

"Call me Juma, please. There is no need for formality. I would like to become your friend if you'll have me in that role."

"Ja. We can be friends. Right, JJ?"

"Sure. You've helped us a lot already. We're eternally grateful."

"Jolly good. Our enemies are quick to kill to satisfy petty emotions and dubious ideals. I find their kind to be the scariest and most horrible people of all. You two are noble of spirit and deserving of the powers you have been granted. Perhaps together we can bring a little goodness and light to this corrupt world."

The two young adults were cheered by his effusive friendliness, but began glancing back to where Eric lay. Concerned they would return to morosely lingering at their friend's side, Dr. Kamau deftly maneuvered their thoughts in another direction.

"It is not easy defeating the Owindaji. Those two you captured are professional assassins. Tell me how you bested them."

Eager to praise Eric, JJ explained his friend's role in convincing Julie and him to learn fighting skills. With pride, he bragged about Eric's elaborate trap and how they used it to lure in the hunters. Halting his narrative when he got to the part with the stun grenades, he let Julie relate the tale's finale. He was still ignorant of how Julie had managed to take down their attackers.

"I didn't discover JJ wasn't following me," she explained, "until I was upstairs and saw the control room destroyed. I was so angry, I would have killed both of the hunters in that moment, but then I noticed a dart was stuck in my suit. Immediately, I realized it was a tranquilizer like the kind used to sedate wild animals. I knew her pistol fell through the floor with the bedding, so I jumped down to the first floor, on the heels of the hunters as it turned out, and found two unused darts in the magazine. I can't shoot worth shit, but I was going to try anyway until the second explosion and then that nasty cunt threatening to kill my mate...I mean JJ...and sorry if my foul language offends you."

"Not at all, my dear. Not at all. You have been through a terrible ordeal, and JJ is your mate. You should be proud to call him that. I wish that I was so fortunate. It is a terrible thing to be the only one of a kind like me. You two are lucky in that you are inextricably bound together in ways no ordinary humans can experience."

JJ snickered thinking of Julie's aromatic heat and about his knot.

"You're dead right about that, but let's get back to the story. Julie, how did you do it?"

"Simple, Ja? I had one dart in my palm and the other clutched with my toes hidden under my foot. When the huntress was binding my wrists, I stabbed her with the one in my paw. She thought I used my claws. After you tripped the guy, I pricked his wrist with the other."

"Well done," said Dr. K with sincere praise. "Using their own weapons against them and other unexpected tricks instead of animal instinct is how you defeat the Owindaji."

"Well, we only just beat them," argued JJ, "and the cost of victory was too high. Poor Eric..."

As if in response to his name, their injured friend groaned. Julie and JJ were instantly crouched at his side. Juma approached slowly to stand behind them. As if blurred by a heat mirage, his skin appeared to tremble, waver and fade, subtly changing its texture and color. Patches of fur grew then vanished only to reappear elsewhere always returning to peach colored skin. His limbs jerked and spasmed, and after each twitch, they were less deformed and more hale in appearance.

Several minutes of similar tremors passed before Eric lay still again. Julie checked his breathing, heart rate, and temperature with the back of her hand against his sweaty forehead.

"He seems stable, almost as if he were sleeping."

"He is ilimu now," concluded the Kenyan professor. "Injuries that would kill an ordinary human are survivable by us. This is a good sign..."

Eric's eyes fluttered open. Julie's hope-filled face filled his view.

"You're human again," he observed. "We must have beat them, huh?"

Laughing, Julie hugged him.

"Because of you we did."

"Glad to have helped even if I seemed to have missed the best part. What happened after I went down? I don't remember anything after a big boom."

Julie recounted her and JJ's actions up to finding Eric broken and dying.

"Whoa. I was dying? Other than a bit sore and bruised, I feel okay."

Eric moved his arms, then legs, and began to sit up.

"Everything seems to be working, you must have been mistaken..."

Observing the stranger for the first time, Eric intuitively deduced his identity.

"...Are you Dr. K?"

"I am, and trust me young man, you were in dire health before your friends saved you."

"Really? Well, I guess I've got no reason to doubt you."

Assessing the blown out upper story office wall and its partially collapsed roof, Eric shook his head.

"Now that I think on it, It's kind of hard to believe I was thrown down here by that blast and get to walk away with nothing more than cuts, bruises, and achy muscles. Whatever you did worked. I love having you guys for friends."

A loud purr expressing his affection and happiness resounded in his chest.

"Was that me?" he asked surprised. "I've never done that before."

His brow furrowed in suspicion.

"What did you guys do to me exactly?"

Eric's three companions looked to each other. Julie and Juma settled their gazes upon JJ.

"It's like this, buddy," began JJ unsure exactly how his friend my react. "We had to make you were. It was either that or death. I hope you're okay with that."

"Wait a minute. Seriously? One of you bit me?"

"No," interjected Dr. Kamau. "I brought a fourth skull."

"Oh fuck!"

JJ was prepared to apologize for their drastic action.

"Eric...I'm sorry if this..."

"Sorry?! You're sorry?!" he shouted.

Julie cringed, expecting his outrage, but instead, Eric laughed and clenched his fist in victory.

"Yes! This is the most wonderful thing...ever...in my whole life!"

Jumping to his feet, he danced about like a twelve year old on his first trip to Disneyland, then dragged Julie and JJ up with him to envelop them in a fierce hug.

"You guys are the greatest friends ever. I love you both."

JJ and Julie breathed a sigh of relief, returned the hug, and offered similar sentiments of affection. Eventually releasing them with tears of joy streaming down his face, Eric held his hand out to Dr. Kamau.

"Thank you, sir, for making this all possible. I hope it's appropriate for me to hug you, because I don't think I can hold myself back."

Juma coughed nervously.

"I suppose..."

Eric was instantly embedded against the professor's ample belly. Whether naturally reserved or for some other reason, Juma seemed apprehensive at first, but eventually smiled and put his arms around Eric's back.

"What kind of were-beast am I?" asked Eric, suddenly disengaging.

"Oh...uh....a lion, just like me."

"Yes. Yes. Yes," repeated Eric as he performed another victory dance. "Optimal outcome. Can I do the change right now? Huh? Please?"

"You'll transform automatically at the next full moon. Right now, you're reserves are probably depleted..."

"Just a quick change. I won't stay were long."

"Most of the energy requirements are in the change not the duration..."

"Please? Please? Pretty please?"

The young man's frantic and earnest insistence made Juma laugh. His booming baritone echoed off the bare concrete walls.

"We can try, but it requires an initial deep meditative state, and you are clearly too excited..."

"Nonsense," declared Eric suddenly becoming very still and closing his eyes. "I have been practicing meditation for years. I'm heading to a place of internal calm right now. Just tell me what to do."

Dr. Kamau explained the process as he had to JJ and Julie. Silent during the lecture, Eric's continued unresponsiveness after he had finished gave Juma pause.

"Eric, can you hear...," Juma began, but his pupil interrupted as if talking to someone no one else could see. His voice was low and distant, and his eyes remained shut.

"There you are. It is a pleasure to meet you. Wanna take this body for a spin? It's all yours, buddy."

Not as rapid as Juma's well-practiced transformation, Eric was an anthropomorphic lion in a respectable first attempt time of less than twenty seconds. Like JJ and Julie, he lost some height, now barely five feet tall, but bulked up noticeably, a miniaturized version of Juma's were-form.

His eyes popped open and immediately crossed as he tried to focus on his new snout. His paws automatically reached up to touch it but froze in front of his wondering eyes, where the remarkable appendages rotated slowly for his inspection. Startling himself, his claws shot forth from their sheaths when he clenched his paws as if to make a fist.

"Oh sweet! They're like built in switch blades."

Eric examined the rest of his body, but his clothes hid most from view. Unconcerned for his own modesty, he stripped off his shirt and dropped his pants. Pausing to admire his newly freed tail saved the others from the awkwardness of him removing his underwear.

"Look at that!" he shouted to JJ and Julie while wiggling his butt as he attempted to learn to control the novel appendage.

Quickly mastering it, his focus shifted to the one unexplored region still hidden within his briefs. Pulling the band forward, he glanced inside.

"No way!"

"Eric!" reprimanded Julie as JJ cringed and Dr. Kamau looked away in what appeared to be embarrassment.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, but...um there's just something I have to know, and I think Dr. K knows the answer," said Eric with a sly look at the mortified professor.

"Well, yes, but that's a delicate matter not fit for discussion with a lady present..."

"Fine," said Eric while tugging on the tall Kenyan's shirt so he would bend down to receive Eric's whispered inquiry.

Wincing, then nodding, Juma returned his private response into Eric's fuzzy ear. The young man's golden eyes widened.

"Spines? Really? Amazing," mused Eric. "I'll have to explore that later."

Another burning question had Eric whispering once again in his new friend's ear. A vast range of conflicting emotions played across the professor's face, but the answer Eric received was the one he most wanted to hear.

"Yes," Juma exclaimed aloud. "I have no need to keep it secret any longer. In America, I understand such things are not illegal as they are in my home country. I am gay."

"Now I'm convinced I did in fact die and have ascended to heaven," said Eric. "Only one thing remains to make this day perfect."

"What is that, young man?"

"May I see you in your were-form?"

"But I already did the transformation once tonight."

"Please?"

"I'm a tired old man..."

"Come on. Just this once?"

"I'm not certain it would be appropriate. The, um, libido becomes severely enhanced. Your friends...compounded by the presence of another ilimu, you might..."

"Unlike Julie, I have self restraint," declared Eric.

"Hey now..." protested Julie, but Eric wasn't finished.

"I promise not to do anything inappropriate or overtly sexual. Look, I'm pulling my pants back up. There."

"You are a difficult little fellow to dissuade."

"I've learned that the hard way," added JJ. "You might as well give in."

Juma sighed and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Unlike you three, I have a lot more body fat in my human form that transforms into denser bone and muscle, changing my physical proportions dramatically," he explained. "My shirts tend to come apart across the shoulders and chest."

Eric held Juma's shirt.

"Thank you."

Inhaling slowly, Juma activated his mental trigger. In the span of three heartbeats he became the equivalent of a feline version of a world class body builder.

"Dang!" exclaimed Eric. "You are magnificent. Do I look that good?"

"I think so," said Juma holding out his paws for Eric to hold. "It's pleasant to no longer be the only ilimu-lion. I fondly wish to come to know you better and share this experience with you."

"Who's being the naughty one now, you dirty old man?" teased Eric, but Juma missed the joke, becoming discouraged.

"I was hoping you could see past the age difference."

"Bah!" dismissed Eric. "I was just kidding. You are super sexy, and older men are hot anyway, but I want to see us together. Come on. Let's check if any of the mirrors survived the stun grenades."

Eric led Juma into the wreckage where one large, mostly intact mirror gave them a full body reflection. While admiring himself, Eric snuggled shamelessly against his new found mate. JJ whispered to Julie.

"They look like anthro versions of Mufasa and a young Simba."

Understanding the reference, Julie giggled.

"I heard that," said Eric rotating his ears backwards. "And I love it. How about you, Mufasa?"

"I dare say that I have no idea what you are talking about, but you can explain it to me later. We have to go, leave town, leave this state and maybe the country before these two Owindaji are missed and others come to find them."

"Us? Go? With you? We barely know you," protested Julie.

Equally disturbed by Juma's proposition, JJ nodded in agreement with Julie and scowled at the old man with his arms crossed.

"My apologies. I must seem very forward and pushy for a stranger, but we are in terrible danger here."

Eric was the lone member of the troop willing to listen to Dr. Kamau's plans.

"Where do you intend we go?"

"I have some ideas regarding a final destination, but we should get to safety far from here first. Then we can discuss possibilities and settle on a mutually agreeable place to relocate under new identities."

"Whoa. New identities," said Julie. "That means abandoning all my research and starting over from scratch."

"Yes. It will be difficult. You all have to find new pursuits, because the Owindaji will be watching for you to resurface elsewhere doing the same things you were doing before."

"I have put way too much of my life into what I do to just give it up," complained Julie.

"Yeah," added JJ. I'm almost finished with my degree, and what about my family? They'll be heartbroken if I run away, and besides, I need to protect them from the Owindaji."

"No. You don't," answered Juma. "And before you protest, listen to me. Your family is only in danger if you are near them. The Owindaji hold human life as sacred, and would only harm another human out of the direst need such as that human is harboring a non-human like yourselves. Rational or not, that is the bright line of their morality. The best thing you can do for the ones you love is stay far away and out of contact."

"Shit!" exclaimed JJ. "This if fucking unfair as hell."

"I know," consoled the aged professor, "but I promise that as the cause of your suffering, I will do everything in my power to make it right. We will hide at first, establish a safe refuge, and grow strong. From there we strike back at our oppressors until one day, we will put an end to their organization or at least win acceptance and freedom for ourselves among the rest of humanity."

"How long will that take?" wondered Julie.

"I don't know," Dr. Kamau answered truthfully. "I am sorry. I truly am."

"Hey," said Eric, "Don't beat yourself up. We don't blame you. It sucks that we have to run away and hide, but..."

"We?" interrupted JJ. "You don't have to hide, Eric. The Owindaji have no idea who you are. There is only the most tenuous link between us, and you even rented this warehouse anonymously. Don't let our ruined lives destroy your future."

"Destroy? Are you kidding? This is my destiny. I'll be living my dream not running from it."

"What about your family?"

"It'll be tough, but I'm going to disappoint them no matter what anyway, so why not do it in style?"

"I think I may be changing my mind and favor killing these two hunters now then go after the rest to end this quickly and avoid becoming fugitives," argued JJ halfheartedly.

"The Owindaji are well organized, well dispersed around the world, and they know who we are. It will take years to find them all if we ever can. Do you think luck will protect us that long?"

Juma's argument to flee was unassailable, but Julie saw at least one fatal flaw with living on the run.

"What about money for food, shelter, forged identity documents and all that? I got news for you. All three of us are broke, and if we run away, we lose our jobs and what little income we have."

"That will not be a problem. Remember the Congolese warlord from who I acquired the skull?"

JJ and Julie nodded their heads. Eric, having been unconscious when that was discussed, shook his.

"While I was stealing the skull, I relieved him of these."

Producing a small pouch from a zippered pocket on his pants, Juma poured the contents into Eric's cupped paws creating a pile of uncut diamonds.

"All are gem quality. I estimate these are worth somewhere between five hundred thousand and one million US dollars."

The three students gasped in astonishment.

"That settles that," said Eric as Julie and JJ gazed at the small fortune in wonder, "Any further objections?"

"One for every karat," replied Julie sardonically, "but none that can stop this runaway train. I'm enough of a scientist to know when my arguments are weak and without substance. Let's go before I regain my sanity."

"JJ, Julie, look on the bright side," urged Eric. "We're a family now, right? The four of us. A family of were-creatures that will be five soon enough. The Furry Five," he mused_. "There's a great name by the way. I mean C_anine Crusaders is out for obvious reasons. I was also considering variants of Wildwere,Werewild, Wyrewylde or even WereDevils..."

"We don't need a freaking name," countered Julie, "because no one is going to know about us. We are not going to be crime fighting superheroes. I'm going to find a cure for this, and then we all go back to living normal lives."

The African scholar seemed perplexed by their arguments. JJ took him aside as they headed for the door.

"Dr. Kamau, now that we're family, you'll need to understand what you're dealing with. I can explain American culture and why these two fight so much, but first, is anyone else as hungry as me?"

[End of Story]