FSE

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Chapter 3

Zack arose around noon the next day, grumbling sleepily. He rustled and rose up in his bed, half covered by his blanket, eyes still closed. Ignoring the morning wood throbbing for his attention, he planted his feet on the floor and got fully out of bed, stretching out with his arms reaching up towards the ceiling.

"Hmm Tarn was right." A now familiar voice spoke out in front of Zack, "You are a big boy."

The wolf's eyes flew open to see Luran sitting in the middle of his room like a giant feral wolf, sitting on his haunches with his forpaws between his hind ones and staring pointedly at Zack's full eleven inch erection.

Zack instantly grabbed his blanket, covering himself, "What the heck! You just let yourself in here?"

"Of course." Luran responded, grinning, "If anyone saw me would they stop me?" He joked, but followed that up, "Not that anyone did anyway. It's a good thing your room is on the top floor, avoids prying eyes."

The normal wolf in the room huffed, now wide awake. Holding his blanket still he asked, "What are you here for now?"

"I wanted to talk again, wondered if perhaps after a day of being a werewolf you wanted to know more by now." Luran said, tilting his head, "Notice strange things over the day? Sudden bursts of unknown strength?"

Zack narrowed his eyes as he stared at the silver furred werewolf. "Maybe..." He sighed, closing his eyes a moment before he opened to them back up, "It's been an interesting day, not just because of that, but I don't think I'm willing to just accept it all yet."

Luran nodded, "Understandable, but you'll find that your new werewolf self, especially the mind of an Alpha werewolf, can come with many other factors."

"Like being able to read someone's mind?" Zack asked before he could stop himself.

"Well, yes, if their thoughts are projected so thoroughly by their body language and scent. Did you have that happen?" Luran wagged his tail a bit, apparently pleased.

"Yeah...just once, some jackass giving me scowling looks and I heard him call me a punk, but his mouth didn't' move at all."

"Sounds like how it works. It works entirely different on a werewolf than on a fur. Our scents will tell you more than body language and it transmits to you like that. I don't think you could tell anything from me, since we a both Alphas."

"You keep calling me an Alpha." Zack said and he let the blanket fall, his wolfhood had retreated, mostly, leaving only the tip peeking from his sheath as he showed his body. "Look at me, I haven't even figured out how, if I can at all, to turn into one of you."

"You've felt a shift in your body though yes?" Luran pressed, "Your muscles expanding suddenly, even if for a moment. That's the change, your body reacting to its needs. You'll learn how to control it eventually. I could help you in that." Luran stood up, bringing himself up to Zack's height, hunched over slightly to remain as such.

"My companions and I have found a hiding spot in the forests at the base of the mountains to the west, outside the city. Come with me and I can train you."

Zack thought about it a moment, but he shook his head, "I can't, not right now. I have my own life to live, and a date tonight too."

"A date?" Luran tilted his head, and his green eyes glowed while staring into Zack's own, quickly stopping as Luran nodded, "I see, a meeting with a potential mate."

Zack stammered "N-not really, just seeing what they are like." He grimaced, "And I do wish you'd stop doing that."

Luran chuckled, "Sorry, it is something that sometimes happens on its own, to be honest. But despite that meeting, you may still need to come to train, soon." Luran stared again into his eyes, "Something is happening, the Dollmomin have not found us, but they are scattered throughout this city. Be careful."

Zack nodded, he submitted to that advice, "All right, I'll try to find some time soon."

Luran left through the window once again, leaving Zack alone to get dressed. Zack opened up his laptop and checked his messages. On Burythebone Kyle had sent him a new message telling him they were still going to be meeting at seven at Rettles, the name of the diner he worked at.

Zack felt a small nervous twinge in his stomach, and wondered why the heck he was having it. This was no different than a normal hook up he'd done in the past, just with a dinner before anything happened. At least, he believed he'd be getting something in return from Kyle by the end of the night. He felt his sheath thicken a bit at the thought, but still, his stomach fluttered.

It wasn't just a hook up, he realized while he walked down the halls to the showers on his floor, towel and fur shampoo cradled in one arm. It was a date, an actual date, and the reason he was feeling that twinge was because he did like Kyle. He didn't want it to just be a one night stand, this could be a chance for a real relationship, something he'd sworn off ever since that lion in high school. He had to make sure he looked nice and everything. His parents had just given him his bi-weekly allowance, perhaps he should go buy a new set of nice clothes.

The showers were all empty, Zack choose the one he typically would take if it was available and closed the curtain, leaving his towel and shampoo just outside it, and began cleaning himself, sighing in the warm water and he blushed a bit as he wondered what tonight was going to be like.

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The rest of the day past by normally. After his shower, Zack went out to a clothing store and he bought new clothing, just a nice white shirt and black jeans. He didn't think he had to wear a suit or anything. He then spent the rest of his time in his room watching videos and playing a favorite RTS game of his. Around six, he left the dorm and made his way to the strip mall, arriving with just five minutes let to spare before seven.

Making his way across the mall, with several other people walking around him, he could see Kyle waiting for him. The dalmatian was looking at the ground, nervously tapping his foot. Zack immediately felt like a fool. Kyle was wearing a white button up dress shirt and black dress pants, and sleek looking black dress shoes.

He cursed in his mind about his casual attire. He wasn't even wearing shoes, he never had in his life. He walked barepawed for everything, even sports. But it was too late to go and try to change anything.

Zack approached the other canine slowly, until he was close enough that Kyle looked up and noticed him, and a bright smile came across his face. Zack smiled as well, felt his chest tightened and he continued towards him until he was standing just a few feet away.

"Hey." Zack started, "You look...really nice."

"Much different than a dirty apron and uniform huh?" Kyle chuckled back, grinning. "You look nice too."

Zack shook his head, "I just bought these today, I didn't think to wear something as nice as you though."

Kyle tilted his head, "Hmm, well, it suits you better, I don't think you're the kind of person that would feel comfortable in these things. They're stuffy." The dalmatian chuckled and turned. He walked towards the door to Rettles with Zack following, his eyes watching that whiplike tail as it swayed and he wondered what Kyle's ass might look and feel like. a He was torn out of those dirty thoughts when they sat down at a table for two and Zack was again staring instead into the canine's blue eyes. Kyle caught his look as he was settling in his chair and blushed, looking away. The wolf grinned as he busied himself in looking at the menu. There was a simple selection, normal diner fare. Burgers and fried things mostly. He was trying to think of what he'd want when a motion caught his eye and he peeked over Kyle's shoulder.

Beyond him, and across the diner, was one of the black demons that had attacked him at the warehouse. A Dollmomin. It was hovering over a group of people, its reptilian head twitching left and right between different members of the family. Zack straightened up in his chair, averting his eyes. What the heck was that thing doing here? Why wasn't anyone else noticing it? Could they not see it?

Apparently not, as the demon skittered down along the wall and hissed right in the face of a small wolf child, who continued to chatter away with their family, unaware of the Dollmomin in front of them.

"Zack?" Kyle asked, worry in his voice, "You okay?"

Zack refocused his attention onto Kyle in front of him, as the Dollmomin in the background phased through the table and vanished from sight. Zack's fur stood on end, but he managed to speak and smile at Kyle, "Yeah, I'm fine. This place has a good atmosphere."

The younger male smiled, "Yeah. Have you decided what you wanted yet?"

The wolf hadn't yet, but he didn't want to make Kyle more worried or wait longer to order. "I'll just have the normal burger meal I think, with some fries."

Kyle giggled, "I thought so, you do like simple things."

Zack grinned and gave a playful growl, the demon leaving his mind. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well. I asked the coach about you a bit more in the locker room yesterday." Kyle began, "He told me he didn't know much about what you did after graduating from high school except that you didn't go to college for five years after. Why was that? I mean, the only reason I could think was that you just didn't feel like going yet."

"Well, that's mostly true. Some part of the reason was because I was also avoiding those I graduated with."

The dog tilted his head, "Oh? Who?"

Zack shook his head, "Just a jackass lion who's long gone by now, it doesn't matter."

The conversation moved towards what Zack wanted to do after college, which of course, he had no idea, and then Kyle saying that he wanted to leave the city and join a pro baseball team somewhere else. They were momentarily paused by their waiter, a calico cat, coming by to get their order, they talked to Kyle in a friendly manner a moment about the goings on in the diner, winked at Zack, and moved along. Their drinks arrived shortly after, but their conversation was brought to a stop by a sudden amount of shouting coming from the other side of the building.

They both watched the family across the restaurant as it appeared that suddenly, the children were throwing a huge fit over something about their food. Zack wondered what the heck had happened, remembering the Dollmomin and that they were the family it had been hovering over just a moment ago.

The family was causing such an upset though, the kids had begun crying loudly and now most of the diner was watching. The mother and father were yelling at each other, it didn't even sound like they were upset about the food anymore. They had begun cursing at each other about how they lived their lives, the husband accusing the wife for cheating at one point.

The manager came out from the kitchen and began trying to calm them, several minutes went by with them arguing before they were escorted from the building by the manager and a few cooks, crying children in tow.

Kyle made a face when the family was forced out, "So strange..."

"What's strange?" Zack asked, mind still on the demon.

"That's the second family to get kicked out that this month, they suddenly start arguing with each other." Kyle shrugged.

The two of them began trying to restart their conversation, but shortly after their food arrived, brought by a new waiter, a young female cheetah. As Zack looked at her and thanked her he gazed behind her and froze. Behind the waiter was another three Dollmomin, this time all gathered around a single person sitting in the corner of the building. Whoever it was, they were wearing a coat hiding most of their features but Zack guessed it was a very large buck because of the large antlers coming up out of the hood of the coat. They were staring at the back of their new waiter intently.

Zack stared at the person for several seconds. The Dollmomin were hissing at the fur and skittering around him, along the table and walls and floor. The wolf barely registered Kyle speaking to him, when Zack's head suddenly throbbed. His vision blurred, as in his ears he heard the voices of several people screaming, a vision of blood on the ground which he noticed was the carpet of the diner. Someone shouted something about calling an ambulance, and he felt an extreme violent intent, anger and spite.

"Zack!" Kyle's voice pulled him back from the vision. The wolf was panting heavily and his eyes were wide. The three Dollmomin were now all staring directly at Zack from the table, frozen in place as they as they looked at him, but he ripped his gaze away to Kyle, who was reaching across the table at him, "What's wrong?"

Zack looked back at the individual in the corner. The demons had vanished. A sudden sense of foreboding came over Zack. He had to leave. They had seen him, seen that he could see them.

"I..." Zack started, "I uh...I think I should go..." He said slowly. He had to somehow get into contact with Luran. He had said they found a cave in the mountains in the west.

"What?" Kyle asked, his voice sounding very hurt, "Why?"

Zack felt a pang in his chest at the tone of his friend's voice, "I...remembered something..." Zack remembered the vision, the blood on the floor. Something was about to happen.

He stood, holding out his paw, "Come with me."

"What?" Kyle asked again, "But our food just arrived..."

"Kyle I can't really explain it, but please, come with me." Zack pleaded, staring into Kyle's blue eyes as intently as possible, holding his paw out more insistently towards him again.

The dalmatian stared into his eyes for several seconds before he carefully spoke, "Ok Zack..." And he reached out and took hold of the wolf's paw and stood. "They at least know I'll be back to pay..."

Zack didn't wait longer after he had the dog's paw in his own. He took a tight hold and turned, leading him out of the diner into the evening air. Zack only believed they needed to get away from the demons as fast as possible.

Quickly, he tried to think, he had to say something to Kyle, "Um, did you want to stay at my place for the night?"

Kyle was nonpulsed, still stunned at the suddenness and strangeness of his date's behaviour. "Oh, um, I'm not sure? I should probably just go home."

Zack felt a pang of sadness in his heart, he wasn't surprised that Kyle thought this was weird, but as long as Kyle was safe he was sure he could make it up to him another day. "All right, where's your car? I'll walk you there." The streets had mostly emptied, as people were starting to return home and the sun was beginning to set behind the top of the mountains.

"It's across the street." Kyle answered. There was a parking lot for the strip mall on the other side.

The wolf continued to pull Kyle along by the paw, the dalmatian walking steadily behind him. Zack could feel him resisting his pull slightly, even though Zack was trying to make him walk faster, but he didn't continue to pull harder as he noticed the resistance, he didn't want Kyle to freak out.

"Zack?" Kyle began as they started to cross the street, "Seriously, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Zack quickly answered, "Of course not...I uh...I can't really explain it..."

They were approaching the rows of cars as Kyle continued, "Okay...but it isn't me?"

Before Zack could answer this time, several loud shrieks came from across the street behind him. Zack turned his head, looking beyond Kyle and his eyes widened again. There were over two dozen Dollmomin skittering towards them, shuffling around unknowing pedestrians that were walking along the street.

Kyle started to look behind himself but Zack suddenly pulled him into a run, dashing across the parking lot.

"Whoa! Wait!" Kyle shouted, stumbling at first at the sudden rush, "My car is over there!"

Zack didn't listen, instead running through the entire lot, ignoring another call to stop from Kyle. He could feel the dalmatian trying to resist again, but he tightened the grip of his paw as he pulled the dog into an alleyway. They ran through that and onto the next street. Zack stopped, looking left and right. On lookers gave him looks as Kyle continued to protest.

"Zack seriously?!" The dog was trying to free his paw, the free one gripping his and trying to pry it open. "Let go, your grip is so tight!" Zack wasn't aware of it, but his paw had grown with muscle, nearly crushing Kyle's own.

Zack heard another loud shriek behind them and he began to run to the right again, pulling Kyle with him still. His ears could pick up the skittering movements of the Dollmomin chasing them. Zack turned down another alleyway, trying to lose the demons. He knocked over a trash can with his paw as they ran by it. He started to take random turns. He continued to ignore Kyle's shouts as they ran. Zack felt his legs were thickening in the new pants he was wearing, stretching out the fabric, and his shirt was starting to feel incredibly tight on his body. He realized he was slowly changing, shifting into the werewolf form. His legs started to hurt, making him stumble, the bones inside them were shifting, trying to go from his plantigrade stance to digitigrade. No no! He couldn't stop running now. He growled loudly as he tried to drown out everything else but his running and keeping his legs from shifting any further.

Zack's ears picked up a new sound after they ran between a set of apartment buildings, a loud thud and growl of anger, his nose picked up the scent in the air. It was Luran. He was intercepting the Dollmomin. Zack heard the loud hisses and screeches once more behind them, but Zack kept on running, pulling Kyle with him, as the sounds of a battle began to sound in the distance alley.

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Zack didn't stop for ten minutes, now that he knew Luran had intercepted the demons, he didn't feel them chasing anymore, and instead ran along straight streets to put as much distance between them as possible. His mind raced, until finally, Kyle's voice again shouted at him, this time coming through the vial of Zack's worry.

"Zack! Would you fucking stop!" The dalmatian shouted loudly, and Zack did, still holding the other's paw. There was no one around them, they had entered a suburban area of the city, surrounded by houses.

Kyle leaned over, panting heavily a moment but soon picked his head up and glared at the wolf, who was also panting. "What the hell is your problem?" He tried to pull his paw free again and this time Zack let go. Zack stared at the dog as Kyle continued, waving his arm back behind him. "What the heck was all that?"

Zack realized again, Kyle couldn't see the Dollmomin, couldn't hear them even. He rubbed his paws together, "Kyle, I-" He paused, trying to think of something.

"Don't give me any excuses Zack!" Kyle shouted, hurt in his voice once more, and he began to rub his own paws together, but not for the reason Zack was. The one Zack had had been holding felt sore, crushed by his strong grip. "I don't know why you just dragged me across nearly half the city, but if you didn't want to stay to finish eating then that was fine, you didn't have to pull me with you!"

"Kyle that's not it!" Zack shouted back.

"Then what Zack?" Kyle demanded, "What? Why did you suddenly have to leave, why did you just pull me through a mad dash through the city?"

Zack tried to think, what could he say? There were demons chasing us? I'm a werewolf? Kyle would think he was insane. The dalmatian's eyes widened as Zack stayed silent, a grimace forming on his muzzle, "I see, are you actually a rapist? Were you dragging me to some run down building complex to hide me?"

Zack scoffed "No!" but the scoff, being such a change in attitude from the wolf's earlier urgency and hesitation, seemed to only push the dalmatian towards that conclusion anyway. The younger male took a few steps back.

"I don't think so...maybe it's something even worse...maybe you're just crazy" Kyle growled, ears folding back. "Goodbye Zack." And the dog turned away and started to speed walk back the way they came.

"Kyle! Wait!" Zack called, but the canine ignored him.

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Zack tried to retrace his mad rush through the city to see if Luran was still there, but he either took a wrong turn, or the werewolf and demons were gone.

He turned towards a trashcan and kicked it in anger, spilling its trash all over the ground and nearly crushing the can in half. What the hell just happened? Why had those things suddenly been so focused on him? It wasn't like they could hurt him right? Why was he so scared?

The wolf leaned against a wall, eyes closing as he growled. No, they could hurt him. Every fiber of his being told him they could. He could see them, he could hear them, he could just as easily touch them, and they could touch him in turn...they faded through objects but not other people it seemed. They avoided touching anyone to avoid alerting them to their presence. They would've torn him and Kyle apart if they had caught up.

Zack thought about the vision he had, the way the family had acted, and the individual in the corner of the diner. What were they doing? The family had been talking so pleasantly, and minutes after one of them had been near the demon they were suddenly yelling and at each other's throats. What had they been doing to the buck before they noticed him and apparently went to call several more of their brothers to attack him?

And now Kyle thought he was crazy, or a rapist, or both. Zack growled again, baring his teeth and he punched the brick wall he was leaning against with one paw. The wall buckled, bending in on itself where he punched it, several bricks falling to the ground around his feet. Zack pulled away from the wall in surprise, staring at his arm. His muscles were still bulging, straining against the shirt he was wearing, his legs doing the same to the pants. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, taking a deep breath and holding it for several seconds before releasing it.

He did this about five times, feeling his arms and legs shrinking slightly each time, until he felt like he was back to normal did he open his eyes and turn away from the wall and start walking his way home.

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Zack arrived at the campus at around nine pm, the street lights had long since turned on and the sky was black and dark with the still mostly full moon shining in it. He paid it no attention, lost in his thoughts about the demons, his changing, and Kyle.

Closing the door to his room, he collapsed in his chair and stared at the ceiling, just like he had last night, but now for a much different reason. He brought his paws over his eyes and rubbed them, sighing loudly before he sat up and opened his laptop. Zack opened up Burythebone, and pulled up Kyle's profile, hovering his mouse over the send message command.

What the hell would he even say here that he hadn't been able to say to Kyle's face? Absolutely nothing. He growled in annoyance and closed his laptop roughly, standing up and walked to his bed and let himself fall onto it. He kept his head buried in the sheets for several minutes before a gentle clawing at his window told him Luran was entering. Without even lifting his head, Zack groaned.

"You okay?" Luran asked worriedly.

"No." Zack sighed, turning his head to look at the werewolf, his eyes widening and he sat up quickly. Luran was covered in bloody scratches, and one of his ears looked like it had nearly been chewed off. He otherwise didn't seem too injured, but still Zack held out a paw, "What about you? Have you seen yourself?"

Luran looked down at his own body, "I've been worse...I already had enough scolding from Urie so please don't worry about me."

Zack sighed again and he smiled slightly, "It was a good thing you were there..."

The werewolf nodded, "Yes, that was quite a pack you had chasing you. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Zack said defensively, and he began to explain how his date with Kyle had went rapidly to the werewolf, who listened silently until the point that Kyle had stormed away and left Zack alone.

"The regular furs can't see or hear the Dollmomin, but they can be touched by them. He could see me, but of course he didn't. It's not surprising he reacted like that. It is good you got Kyle out of there and away from them though, if you had left him there and he became sad, they may have been attracted to them."

"Are the Dollmomin attracted to negative emotion?" Zack asked.

"They are, but...the family though, I am not too sure about, and why they were around the buck in the corner." The werewolf was mostly talking to himself. "But they had noticed you could see them and called more of themselves to attack you. This confirms it to me. Whoever is controlling them is trying to find you..."

"Has someone controlled the Dollmomin in the past?" Zack asked more, he has so many questions after today.

Luran shook his head, "Never, it's only become apparent to us because they had started to suddenly break off attacks for no reason and they seemed more coordinated. The large number of them in this city as well. I've never faced a pack as large as the one today."

Zack opened his muzzle to ask more, but Luran held up his paw, "There's not much more I can tell you about them, I do not know myself what the situation with them is. If your questions are about your transformations, that is something we can go over in more detail when you do come with me to our cave."

The wolf made a face and opened his muzzle again, but again Luran cut him off, "If the question is about what you could do about Kyle, my only response would be to assert your dominance to him, but something tells me that doesn't work between normal furs."

Zack huffed "You're so helpful." He growled jokingly.

Luran grinned. "I try." The silver werewolf began to make his way over the bed and through the window. "I need to get back to the cave, I'll be back another time, stay safe and if you see the demons again, just pretend to ignore them. If they don't think you can see them, they should mostly leave you alone."

And with that Luran dropped down from the window. Zack didn't even hear him touch the ground, but he didn't bother to go to the window to see where he went. He just sighed and flopped back along his bed and stared at the ceiling. Well, with that told to him he still had no idea what to do about Kyle.

Kyle thought Zack was crazy now, what could he possibly do to try and regain some trust? Zack needed advice, and if a werewolf couldn't give it, then he needed another fur, but who could he trust? Mr Harris? No, the bulldog would probably notice a huge shift in Kyle's attitude come tomorrow and throttle Zack instead of give advice. He would prefer not to come out to his parents too. He rattled his brain for an answer, when one suddenly came to him.

Zack couldn't believe what he was about to do as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began thumbing through his contacts.