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Chapter 18

"I don't care what the hell your policy is, officer. From what I understand, your hands are full of unaccountable deaths as it is. We will take care of our own. We filed the paperwork with you as a courtesy."

There was a pause while the white bear listened. "No, there will be no autopsies on any of the six. READ THEIR FUCKING DEATH CERTIFICATES! If you have questions, feel free and try to make it to the island in all the turmoil out there. Just don't expect us to provide you with transport. We are in mourning here. Our traditions allow no one but our families on the island during times like these."

There was another silence. "You do what you feel you must, officer. We will do the same. I will say good day to you, but only because my upbringing has left me with an inability to say, 'KEEP YOUR FUCKING NOSE OUT OF OUR LIVES, AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, BECAUSE I WILL COME DOWN ON YOU LIKE A RABID POLAR BEAR IF YOU CROSS ME!'"

The bear, finding no way to slam down a receiver on a ComLink, threw it across the room, shattering it into tiny metallic bits. The bear's head dropped on the desk and he sobbed. "Oh god, Will, what am I going to do without you to take these calls?"

Eric felt Kris's warm paw rub his shoulder. "Who do you need me to be, Old Bear? Father? Husband?"

The polar bear looked up. "I am so lost, Father. How can you cope? How can you even reach out to another without the pain silencing every comforting word you try to speak?"

"Because I have two sons who are hurting beyond endurance and I need to be there for them. One day, when their pain softens a bit, I will fall apart and rely on them to pick up the pieces."

The white bear reached out and hugged the Kodiak. "One day, I will be there for you. But for now, it will be all I can do to be a father to our child."

"Then tonight be my husband. Be the father of our child and let us grieve his loss. Let us help him find a way to endure the unendurable. He will never be our child again after this night. Life has taken too much from him ever to see this world again through the eyes of a child."

"The death of our husbands, two children lost, and every joy in our son's life shattered. Was it worth it, Father?"

"Our husbands thought so. They didn't hesitate to do what they did. Time will tell what comes of these last few days, but I will honor them by never questioning if their sacrifice was worth it. I couldn't take another breath if I doubted for a moment that what they did was best for our family and Terra."

"I wish I had your faith and vision, Father. One day when I am a few thousand years older, perhaps I will understand the rightness of all this. But for now, I only feel our loss."

The brown bear lifted the polar bear up. "For now, that may be all any of are able to feel. Come, Son. The candle ceremony will start in a few hours. Our son needs to be there. We need to help him prepare the badger's body."

"It's too soon, Husband. Can't we give him a few days more? Can't you give me a few days more?"

"We set the timelines because they force us to face the deaths. We let their bodies go because they keep us from binding our hearts to their spirits."

"I know the practices and rituals of the Terrans and Changelings. It might surprise you I don't give a damn about them when it comes to my family, Father, who is my husband."

Kris laughed. "How can I not love the husband who makes his father laugh at such a sad time?" The brown bear rubbed the top of the white bear's head. "We will make it through this together, Husband. Are you ready to help our son?"

Eric looked up and sighed. "I will never be ready to say goodbye to these men, but I will go to help my son."

The knock on the museum door went unanswered, so the father bears put their paw on the print reader and the garage door opened. Inside, they found their son kneeling next to the body of his husband, struggling with the shroud as he wrapped it around the tiny body.

Nathaniel looked up. He held the lifeless body in his arms out to his fathers. "There's nothing left in me to heal him. It's all gone. I keep telling him to wake up. He has to be sleeping. There's not a bruise on his body. Please, Fathers, wake him up. Don't make me do this." A painful wail filled the museum's lower floor and pushed out onto the island.

Anders turned from the top of the lighthouse and looked down at the red building. His husband put his arm around him and pulled him close. "I spent so many years as the companion of death. Couldn't he just once pass over my family? Must we always be the ones to save the humans at such a cost to those we love?" The bear roared out his pain and the island werewolves joined in the agonized howl of a loss so great that words no longer expressed their feelings.

Sarah looked up from the kitchen table listening to the dirge sung by her family. Her husband stood by, unable to find the words to stem the tide of tears his family had shed. "My baby... my baby boy," she cried. Kristopher, Jessica, and Billy stood beside their parents. They tried to understand what they one day would realize was never understood. For now, they only knew the bear who was their brother was gone.

Tyler and Michael sat across the table from the Carvers, doing their best to control their grief. Tyler looked up. "No... this isn't right... this isn't fair." He stood up and flung the table across the room. "My baby can't be dead." He bolted toward the door and Michael followed as the door flew off its hinges and the howl of the fathers pierced the fog.

The carillon bells rang, calling the family to the candlelight ceremony. Paul pulled Sarah up. She looked him in the eyes. "There's not even a body to say goodbye to. He's just gone."

"I know, Babe," Paul said. "I keep thinking we have it easy because we can lie to ourselves and say he's out there somewhere. We can tell ourselves that he's fine and happy." His voice choked. "We paid too high a price to save our kind. God help them if my son's sacrifice doesn't turn the tide, because I will see them all in hell before another child in this family dies for their sins."

He reached over and grabbed the children's coats from off the coat rack. "Come on, children. We have family to say goodbye to." The children put on their coats and stepped out into the night.

Even the island was in mourning. The evening fog lay over the land like a shroud over the corpse of a loved one now gone. Path lights gave a faint glow as the fog obscured even the pathways on the island. The Carver and Durand family began their walk to the vigil, leaning on each other to move forward with each painful step.

As the two families walked out onto the large east-side field, they watched the father bears with their son. Eric led with Derrick in his arms and laid him down on top of the wood frame. He leaned over and kissed the black wolf wrapped in cloth and backed away.

Kris stepped forward and placed the old wolf next to the pup. His thick claw tore into the wrappings around both wolves until he freed their hands. With reverence, he placed the two paws together. "Go together wherever you go, noble wolves. I will miss..." The Kodiak bear choked on his words and he let his tears tell the wolves the rest.

Nathaniel moved up from behind the Kodiak and placed the little badger between the two wolves. "Now you're a family," he said as he touched the badger's lips. "When this is over, I will take you all home to be with Max. You should spend eternity with someone as special as him. I wish I knew what happened to Martin. I hope the cat and the sloth are happy wherever they meet." Nathaniel leaned over and kissed Oliver.

Tyler and Michael carried their son together on a stretcher made of birch wood and elm bark. They laid him next to the three husbands and rubbed the cream-colored fur on his head one last time. "Four years is too soon to say goodbye, Son. Use your wings to fly back home. We will be here. We will wait for you forever," Tyler said.

Michael leaned over and kissed the Kermode bear. "Soyez heureux, mon fils."

The wolves stepped back and the Carver family laid a flower bouquet with the bodies. Paul did his best not to choke through his words. "Our feelings are the same as the Durand family, Max. Fly back to us. Don't make us live without the bear we love so much in our life. We will wait here on the island. Come home. You know where we live."

Across the island, the old Carver home stood invisible to the eye. As it had done for so many nights before, a beam of yellow light shot up into the sky, spread out across the darkness, and disappeared. Chipo looked up at the beam with a sudden flash of recognition. He looked over the crowd, searching for Anders. When he made eye contact, he motioned him over toward the west.

"Did you notice the flash of yellow light?"

Anders shook his head. "No, not tonight. I've seen them before. What do they mean?"

"I think it might mean that Martin isn't dead. Possibly Max as well."

"What? How?"

Chipo pointed toward the invisible house. "We need to head over to the Hargrove House." The black rhino began walking quickly and the grolar bear followed. "Max moves through dimensions, Anders. Space, time, worlds... he plays in them the way we run along a forest trail. We veer off the trail from time to time, but we come back. No big deal. We don't mess up the world. But his steps off the trail have consequences."

"Sure, got that idea under the belt, but what does that have to do with the yellow light?"

"Let's say Max gets lost. We know it can happen. We saw it just days ago. He split across timelines. Martin brought the boy and the bear across two timelines and merged them back together."

The bear nodded. "Right. Are you saying Max got lost again?"

"Maybe not lost; maybe more like blown off course. Think about the power he was working with. What if the cost of what he did was being kicked out into a part of this altered universe he doesn't know how to return from?"

"It would be a good idea to take along a homing pigeon... or, in Max's case, a homing cat," Anders said thoughtfully.

"Exactly. But what if the cat is trying to find not only the doorway back but the right time to return as well? If you're swimming in time, jumping out onto the shore at the right time is as important as where on the shore you jump." Chipo shook his head. "Okay, I'm mixing up the metaphors, but you get my point."

"I think so. The lights appear months ahead of the event because Martin is trying to find his way back, both in space and time."

"Right. Max could be hurt, or he might have done what the rest of the Changelings did with their powers. If he used them up, Max might be powerless to help Martin locate where he is, or how to bring them both back. Martin might be flying blind. He might be sending out signals in the dark, hoping someone answers."

"But because he started sending out signals in a timeline months before he got lost, we never tied together what it might mean. He's found the location, he's trying to find the right time." Anders shook his head in disbelief. "It's hard to tie my head around the idea that he's been trying to find a way back before he even got lost."

The rhino filled in the rest of the thought. "Even Martin didn't understand what he was looking at," Chipo said as he stopped short in front of the house. "He's out there in time. He wants to avoid coming back when his saber-tooth cat fits the landscape. Or worse, the two get eaten by a dinosaur."

"Then we can help Martin. We can form the triad. We send him a signal and he triangulates and moves toward us. He comes through in a time when we are both alive and so is he."

"It's worth a try, but it also means if they both return, they do it on the night their husbands are being laid to rest."

"Oh, dear god. We need to get them back right away," Anders said frantically. "But what if Martin doesn't light it up for another week? His husband will be long since gone to the highland."

"We do exactly what he has been doing," Chipo said, rubbing the back of his thick gray neck. "We shoot into the dark and hope that he sees it. He has been looking for an answer all along, and we need to trust that he will be better at finding it than we have been. The two stood in front of the house that wasn't there. Chipo pushed open the door he couldn't see and headed into the house where the dark pit lay. "I believe that we're looking at the center of Martin trying to find his way home."

"Then let's get to work. The eulogies won't last forever." The bear brought his paw up and it glowed yellow. He thrust his hand downward and a bolt of yellow light sped into the darkness.

The rhino's hand rose and flamed yellow as well. "Come on Martin. Find us. You don't have time to dawdle. Come home, Cat. Come home to say goodbye to your family before they're no longer here." The rhino pointed his hand down and fired repeated bolts of light into the pit. The darkness absorbed the light.

The grolar bear walked to the other side and fired the light into the same space. The two began walking around the pit, firing into the center, where they watched the light disappear into the void. "Equidistant apart, Anders. If this is to work, he has to have a bit of reference to head toward."

"I agree. Don't stop, Chipo. You have no idea what a good man Martin is. We can't afford to lose one of our own."

Chipo looked up and smiled. "I agree. He seems to be a remarkably friendly feline."

"He is that," Anders said, smiling back as another volley of yellow light sped from his hand. "But he is more than a companion to play with. He is a finder of lost souls and a restorer of lost dreams."

"Then let's hope he can flip his talents to bring himself back." Another blast of light sped into the darkness, but this time, there was a response. Up from the center shot another beam of yellow light.

Anders cheered. "Go, Martin. You find your way back. You snatch your life back from death. Kick his ass and don't look back." The bear and rhino began firing beam after beam of light into the pit.

"Okay gentlemen, you can tone it down," the rhino and bear heard from the pit. "We're coming up. No need to take off our fur in the process." The two looked into the darkness and saw nothing.

"Max, you need to open up a portal here. You're on the other side of your home. You need to see the portal," Martin's disembodied voice said.

"I can't see, Uncle Martin."

"You're blind, Max. That doesn't mean you have no senses. Use them. Feel your way through the void. It's like stumbling around in the house with the lights off. Remember what it looked like before you lost your sight. It's there. Touch it, feel it, and then reach out and open a portal to it. Bring us home, Max. You can do this."

Anders yelled out. "Max, you need to do it. You need to do it now. Bring yourselves home. There is something you have to do on this side and it's urgent. You can't wait. Listen to my voice. Find me in your mind. See the doorway and come through."

The darkness of the pit rippled like a black pool of oil and a blue-furred fist broke through. "Grab him, Chipo," Martin yelled, "but be careful. He's got a broken wing, and he's blind."

"I have him, Cat," the rhino said as he reached down and pulled the glacier bear out of the pit.

"Come on, Cat. Reach up. I'll bring you home," Anders said happily. "I've needed to cheat death for so many, many years."

Martin laughed. "You didn't cheat him, Anders. He was never involved with us." A spotted paw shoved through the rippling void, and Anders pulled the cat back into his world.

Max smiled. "Are we really back, Uncle Martin?"

"I told you we would find a way back, Max. There's always a way back."

"I'm sorry for both of you," Anders said, "but your husbands didn't survive what happened that day. You have only a few moments before the candle ceremony is over. If you want to say goodbye, you will want to..."

Martin interrupted the grolar bear. "No, what day is it? How long have we been gone?"

"It's Fourth Night."

Martin looked panicked. "Chipo, shift to rhino. We'll put Max on your back. You run back there faster than any rhino has ever run and you stop the ceremony. Don't let it happen!"

"It's okay, Uncle Martin. It's only a candlelight vigil. We'll be okay. They have those all the time on the mainland."

"Max, didn't you ever read the stories of the Changelings?"

"I was ten when Li Wei wanted me to read those. I sort of forgot to get around to them."

Martin threw the bear up on top of the black rhino. "Changelings don't have candlelight vigils. They have candle ceremonies. After everyone has said their goodbyes to the deceased, they set their candles on the funeral pyre and burn their bodies."

"No," the bear screamed. "Chipo, you need to get me there. Please, I have to be there now."

"Hold on Bear," Chipo yelled. The rhino leapt forward. There was a thunderous crash as the rhino's body smashed through the house that wasn't there.

Martin turned to Anders. "How fast can a rhino run?"

"That one is fast. He will be there before we even start running."

Martin looked off to the east and watched the light of the fire glowing brighter. "Oh, please, let it be enough." He hit the ground as the saber-tooth cat and ran toward the light. "Gaia, Terra, do something. Those men saved our lives. Don't let this happen."

There was a clap of thunder and the skies opened up. The deluge of rain pummeled the crowd at the candle ceremony as they looked up into the water pouring from the darkness. It splashed over the logs on which the four bodies lay. Despite the rain, the fires continued to leap upward, protected in part by the very bodies the flames were about to consume.

"Stop," Max yelled. The crowd turned to see a rhinoceros barreling toward the group with a winged bear on his back. The bear's left wing dangled limply to the side, but there was determination in both their faces. "Don't let them burn, Chipo. Whatever you do, don't let them burn."

"Out of my way!" the rhino roared. The crowd in front of the beast leaped to the sides as he slammed into the burning pyre. The bodies slid off along a slide of cascading logs into the rain and onto the muddy soil below.

Sarah screamed with joy and rushed to her son. She hugged and kissed him. "Not now, Mom," the bear yelled. "I can't see. Where is Jean Pierre? I have to get to Jean Pierre."

Max's mom dragged him to the wrapped body and put the bear's hands on the shroud. "No," Max cried out. "We have to get whatever they're wrapped in off of them. I can't help them if I can't touch them."

Kris looked at Nathaniel. "Don't ask questions. You get Oliver, we'll get the old wolf and Pup."

Max looked up with clouded white eyes. "Mom, I need your help. I'm blind. Help me get this stuff off before it's too late."

Max heard the cat purring. "Out of the way, Niece. This requires something you don't have." Sharp claws sprang from the cat's paws and he tore past the cloth. "He's clear, Max, and he's as beautiful as the day you left. Bring him home."

Max leaned into the Kermode bear and kissed him. His body fell on top of the lifeless bear below. He stopped the kiss and said, "Find it, JP. It's right there in front of you. See your body, JP. Run to it, and when you're right on top of it, you don't slow down. You run right into that wall of bear and become one with it."

There was a gasp of breath from the bear, and his chest heaved up from the ground. The bear below smiled at the one above. "I have the most outrageous hard-on."

"Yeah, me too," Max said.

"It's Fourth Night," Martin said. "No time for extended hellos. We have our family to bring home."

Max gave Jean Pierre a quick kiss. "You keep that thought... you know... outrageous hard-on... I promise I'll get back to you about it." Max stood up, his arms flailing. "Bring them to me. Bring me my uncles."

Nathaniel ran up to the blue bear and handed Oliver to him. "It's the badger. It's Uncle Oliver."

Max squeezed the little mammal tightly. "Come on, Uncle Oliver, you know what to do. Run to the badger. Run!" The bear paused. "Damn it, Uncle Oliver, we don't have time for this." Another pause. "Okay, but if you mess up the others getting back, so help me." The bear pulled up the badger from his hug and kissed the badger deeply until the badger was gasping for breath.

"It was worth it, Bear," Oliver said as Max placed him down on the muddy ground.

"Give me Uncle Will. Where's Uncle Will?" the blue bear called out, grabbing at air.

"Here he is, son," the polar bear said, handing him the limp body of the Iberian wolf.

Max fell onto the mud below and ground his body into the wolf. "I know you, Uncle. You won't make this any easier than Uncle Oliver did." He kissed him, slipped his paw up along the crotch of the wolf, and pulled the sheath back to expose the wolf's cock. He rubbed it while kissing the old wolf until, with a loud gasp for air, the wolf reclaimed his life. "Well done, Kid," the wolf said. "Now go save my husband. I've already been dead before. This is old hat for me."

The muddy bear reached up his hands, and the Kodiak lowered the black wolf into his paws. "That's Wolfy, Max," Kris said.

Max felt the face of the lifeless wolf. He pulled him into a close hug. "Come back to me, Wolfy. You can't turn a boy and not let him grow up beside you." He leaned in and kissed the wolf. "See the black wolf with blue highlights. Find the father of the blue bear. Run to him, Wolfy. Run to the wolf you have always been." The lips returned to the kiss, but there was no movement. The bear continued to hug the lifeless body, but still no gasp of breath, no twitch of muscle.

Max looked at the wolf. "You don't get to do this, Wolfy. I can't spend eternity with you in my head." The bear began CPR, his thick paws pressing into the rib cage of the black wolf.

Will watched the bear's efforts. "You should be pounding him from the other end, Max. Pup is lost inside that brain of yours. Give him a reason to find his way back to his body."

Max rolled the wolf over. The bear lifted himself enough to move his one-working wing outward. He grabbed the other, trying to hide what was about to happen from the crowd. The glacier bear lurched forward. The fully erect cock of the bear plunged into the black, furry butt of the beast below. "Come on, Uncle. Find that body of yours. Don't waste time wandering around. It's Fourth Night. I don't know what the hell that means, but I bet you do."

Derrick gasped for breath and sputtered with his mouth sloshing around in the mud puddle below him. "Fourth Night." He mumbled. "The last night the Changelings believe the souls of werebeasts can return to their bodies. We were on a deadline, Nephew. You might point that out to my husbands the next time they want to slow things down just to get a kiss from you."

"I knew it," Max said with a touch of anger in his voice. He looked at the badger. "I told you. You almost locked your husband inside my brain forever."

"Sorry," the badger said. "I'se glad you could bring him back. I just wanted a kiss like Jean Pierre gots."

"Uncle, all you need to do is ask. I won't ever say no." The bear pulled back slightly from the pup.

"Nope," the black wolf objected as he pinned the bear's paws to the mud. "You don't leave until you finish what you started."

Oliver and Will sat watching the bear take their husband. Oliver tugged at Will's arm. "We should'a held out."

Will nodded in agreement as the rain poured over his muddy body. "Yeah, you might be right. Well, except I love Pup, and I would hate for us to lose him over trying to get our butts plowed."

"Yeah, there is that, I guess," Oliver said with a sigh. "Still, the bear knows what he's doing, that's for sure."

"Yeah, he does," the old wolf said, turning toward the badger. He looked at the little mammal's matted, muddy fur. "You look so beautiful, Oliver."

Oliver laughed. "I'se a mess, Old Wolf."

"I don't care," the old wolf said as he fell backward toward the ground, pulling the badger with him. He kissed the badger. "I'm going to fuck you now, Oliver. If the pup gets to get plowed tonight, so do you. We can't be having favorites in this family."

Oliver laughed. "They's got kids here, Old Wolf, and you ain't got wings to hide it."

"They're all home," the wolf said with confidence. "It's pouring rain."

"No we're not, Uncle Will," the wolf heard Alejandro say. "We're all..." there was the noise of a sharp tug and bodies being scooted along. "But, Dad," Alejandro protested. "It's like a biology class in 3-D."

"We're leaving now, Kids," the Padre said forcefully. "Your Uncles need some alone time." The collective sigh of disappointment from the foster children made the uncles laugh. They now waited patiently for the children to be escorted away from the field. "It's good to see you, men," Pastor Jim said over the rain. "Prepare to get your asses kicked tomorrow for what you put my family through." He leaned over and kissed the muddy Iberian wolf. "But for now, I'm glad you're home, old friend."

Hanuel and Kwan pushed the crowd of children toward the pathways leading to their home. "The Padre is right," Kwan said in his most commanding voice. "Time for little wet ones to get inside and dry off. Our family has come home from where no one ever returns, and that is a cause for celebration. Tomorrow we plan a grand party in honor of their return."

As the children cheered, the Padre looked at the two and raised an eyebrow.

"A party that will be three days from now when they come up for air," Hanuel added. "With lots of cake for the old wolf." The children cheered even more loudly and moved toward the Marine Officer's Hospital.

Paul leaned over his son, the blue bear. "You know your Mom is beyond happy to see you when she lets you get away with mounting a wolf who's not even your husband. She hasn't said a word. I can't think of a single complaint myself. Welcome back, Son. You boys come home to visit tomorrow, okay?"

"Will do, Dad," the glacier bear said with a smile. He smelt the proximity of his mother and heard her footfalls. Max began pulling out from the wolf, preparing to stand.

"UH unh. You stay right where you are, Maxwell Carver," Sarah said. "I am not having the sight of my son's bare bear genitals flopping around in my brain forever. Don't budge. I'll come kiss you goodnight." She walked over and kissed her son on the cheek as the bear took his wings and covered his body and the wolf's below. "Good night, Derrick," she said to the wolf under her son.

"Good night, Dr. Carver. Sorry about this," he said apologetically. He paused. "Well, sort of. It is nice to be home, and I genuinely love your son."

Sarah laughed. "I know, boys. Have a wonderful night. And for god's sake, make sure you sleep in a room that has showers tonight."

"Yes, Ma'am," she heard six voices reply.

The Carver family turned and, as they walked away, Kristopher said with a smug attitude, "I told you they were going to do it."

"I don't care what they do, Son," Paul said without looking back. "My boy is home and my family is okay. Let them have their night together."

"Yes, sir," Kristopher said, happy to agree.

Nathaniel looked at his fathers. "Oliver seems preoccupied with his husband, but my cat is back. You know how sex relaxes me after a trying day, right?"

The polar bear laughed. "Go, Son. How could I deny you that reunion?" The short-faced bear took two leaps and was on top of the cat, rolling in the mud while kissing him. The polar bear laughed. "Well, that was a quick conversation." He looked at his brown bear mate. "We best call the ranch. It will thrill the pack to hear this news. I doubt they can break away from the turmoil out in Montana, but at least they will know that when they next see their pack brothers, it won't be at their graves."

With the good news passed along to those at the ranch, the two father bears looked at each other in the pouring rain. "Well, we're already wet," the Kodiak said, smiling.

"True," the polar bear replied. He leaned in and kissed the Kodiak. He rubbed the brown bear's nipples with his paws, and the Kodiak's paws went instinctively toward the polar bear's swelling cock.

There was a cough from in front of the two bears. They looked down at the Kermode bear. "I'm kind of missing my regular dance partner," Jean Pierre said shyly. He stood in front of the two bears, his erection bobbing uncomfortably hard and his wings outstretched.

Eric smiled. "Chet is on his way. As soon as I told the Montana group what had happened, there was nothing but swirling wings and he was gone."

"I know. We both do. Will has been teaching both of us to use the Sight to sense our family. It's the only reason we're kind of randy around everyone tonight. Max knows he can be with Wolfy tonight because Chet is already on his way."

Kris nodded his head. "Well, Pup is a pleasant distraction, to be sure. I suppose we could do our part to distract you until Chet's arrival tomorrow."

"You can wait until tomorrow to be back with Chet, Son," Tyler said. Jean Pierre looked at his father with a disappointed frown.

Anders reached over and hugged Tyler. "They're young, wolf. You remember those days, don't you?"

"But the bears. You know they're going to do what they do, and the temple dogs are standing over there and they're going to smell the Changelings, and..."

Anders leaned in and kissed Tyler. The Changeling bear's hands roamed over the werewolf. "I give up," Tyler sighed. "Come on Michael. The lighthouse floor needs cleaning."

Michael laughed. "And our backs are the perfect mops for the job," he said, grabbing Lewis and walking toward the lighthouse.

Jean Pierre looked at his father. "So, Dad?"

"Have fun, Son. But could you please not gauge what the rest of the world's genitals should look like based on those two bears and the temple dogs?"

"Sure, Dad," the Kermode bear replied. He waved as his fathers walked off with Lewis and Anders. He looked at the two father bears shyly. "I'm still kind of new to this. I've only been with Max and Chet."

The polar bear smiled. "And we're new to winged bears. I guess we're all in for a learning experience tonight."

The bear smiled, his wings still sprawled out behind his back. He kicked the muddy ground, watching the water splash. "I'm sorry about the wings. That happens when I get excited."

Kris smiled. "I think they're very attractive."

"Really?"

"Really," the bear said as he leaned in for a kiss that the Kermode bear willingly returned.

The polar bear slipped up alongside the winged bear and kissed his neck. He looked up and his nostrils flared. "Temple dogs, men. They're already aroused. What say we take this to the south side of the island while we still can?"

The beasts looked up and nodded their muddy heads. Nathaniel looked at Martin. "I'm going to be late for work tomorrow, aren't I?"

Martin smiled. "I doubt work for either of us was even on the roster, Hon. And no one is going to persuade me to clock in for at least the next few days. You can't imagine how far I came back to be with you tonight."

Nathaniel reached out and touched the cat's face. "Please don't die on me again, Martin. I really have a hard time with it."

"I've always come back."

"I don't care. A doctor can only fix a broken heart so many times."

"I promise I'll do my best," the cat said. "Until then, let's not lose a moment of our lives worrying about the last four days. Time enough tomorrow for explanations."

Nathaniel hugged the cat. He felt a tug on his left leg. Looking back, he saw Oliver smiling a muddy grin. "Hi, Bear."

"Hi, Badger," the short-faced bear said.

The badger grinned. "Wants to fuck a little mammal in the butt?"

Nathaniel grabbed Oliver and began kissing him ceaselessly.

The badger laughed out loud when the kisses spread across his belly. "You's tickling me, Bear."

Nathaniel pulled Oliver into a tight hug, glad of the rain so the badger couldn't see the tears.

"You crying bear?"

"Of course," Nathaniel replied.

"Is they happy tears?"

"Yeah, the happiest I've ever had."

"That's good. My happy tears are the best, too." Oliver squeezed in closer to the wet bear and shifted into the werebadger. He sighed when the cat drew close. "We's the most fucked up family in the universe."

Martin laughed. "Probably so."

Nathaniel pulled both beasts in closer. "Just lucky, I guess."

The saber-toothed cat and the badger nodded, and the three rose. The bear slung the werebadger up onto his shoulders and wrapped the legs around his neck. As they crested the hill, the bear reached out and grabbed one of the temple dogs, pulling him back toward the south side of the island.

Chapter 19

The previous night's deluge had tapered off to a fine morning mist that fell over the island. The Padre's lips slipped off Will's cock. He squeezed the last bit of cum from it and lapped at the still-stiff flesh. Will smiled. "Thanks for pounding my ass instead of kicking it, Padre."

"Will," Jim said with an exasperated sigh. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to lose your best friend right before your eyes?"

"I had a lover and a husband turn into a rock for forty years. Does that count?"

The Padre smiled at the effort. "No, not really. It's hard to grasp how much this island hurt on that day or all the days that followed." Jim paused and slid up alongside the old wolf. "You don't know how much I hurt."

"I'm sorry, Padre. We didn't have a choice. Max needed us all, but there wasn't enough energy to take our bodies along and return them safely. So he took us without the extra baggage."

"I guess I understand that. Still..." the timber wolf's voice trailed off.

Will pulled the Padre's face close and kissed it. "I'm sorry, Jim. I'm so sorry for the pain I put you through."

The Padre smiled at Will. "You called me Jim. How many years and you finally called me Jim?"

The old wolf shrugged. "I guess it's time." Will kissed the timber wolf again. "So, can we keep kissing the hurt until it's all better?"

Jim smiled. "That's going to take a lot of kissing, Old Wolf."

"I've got quite a stockpile of kisses, Jim."

Jim leaned in and kissed Will. "Call me Padre. I like it when you speak Spanish to me."

"Cómo se dice 'will you fuck me again', Padre?"

The smiling timber wolf ran his paw up alongside Will and gently shoved him onto his belly. "I think you said that just fine." Will gave out a joyful bark as the wolf above entered him.

Oliver looked up when he heard the bark. "The old wolf is sure happy."

Nathaniel looked at the little badger on his chest as he rose and fell with each breath. "I doubt there's anyone on this island today that isn't happy." He looked around. "We seem to have lost Martin."

Oliver snickered. "Chipo grabbed him last night. Seems the rhino has a soft spot for his clan."

Nathaniel laughed. "Crazy world." His paw reached out and touched the badger's face. "Sometimes it seems too difficult to live this life. The ups and downs."

"Yeah, but them ins and outs kind of make up for it," the badger said, cuddling up closer to the bear's neck.

The short-faced bear laughed. "I suppose so." He hugged the badger, and the minutes slipped by with both content to feel each other breathing. After a time Nathaniel whispered, "Please never die on me again, Oliver."

"I didn't die on you, Bear. I only went away for a bit without my body."

"It felt like you died."

"I'se so sorry for that, Bear. We didn'ts have no time to tell you what was happenin'."

"I think a part of my heart tore apart by what happened that day. I can't seem to shake the dread I fear every time you move away from me."

"It's gonna be hard for you, Husband. I knows what it feels like to always have a part of your heart that don't heal." The badger sighed. "I gots scars for every one of them red wolves. I hopes they forgives me. Everyone that lived through that day tells me they forgives me. But the pain still stays there floating around, waiting for a bad day to shows itself again."

"What do you do, Oliver? How do you live with it?"

"I hurts for a bit and then I moves on." The badger rubbed the chest of the bulky bear. "I'se so sorry I'se one of those scars for you. I don't never want to hurt you."

"Maybe right now it's an open wound, but one day it will heal without a scar."

"That would be nice," the badger said. He thought about it for a moment. "Nots that I wants you to have open wounds, Husband. I means it would be nice if you healed one day, and what we hads to do wouldn't hurt you no more."

Nathaniel laughed. "I know what you meant, Husband." The bear closed his eyes and felt the weight of the badger on his chest. "I love you, Oliver. I love you so much."

"I loves you too, Bear. I thinks we's been together too long for us not to hurt when we's apart."

The bear lifted his head. "What are you saying, Oliver?"

"That I'se scared of what happened the same as you, Bear. That I'se not so sure I wants to leave your side for fear I might not find my way back to you." The badger was quiet for a while listening to the bear's breath. "I'se seriously fucked up, Bear."

"Welcome to my world," the bear sighed.

The badger pushed up on the bear's chest. "Let's be fucked up together, Bear."

Nathaniel looked confused. "How do we do that?"

"We stays together for a time. Don't need to be forever, but we stays together for now."

"That could be very difficult, Oliver. We have very busy lives full of obligations. We can't walk away from them."

"Maybe we could always be together when we's having sex. You know, when we's at our closest to each other."

Nathaniel laughed. "So what you're saying is that you aren't asking for monogamy, but you want us to play together whenever we play?"

"Sounds about right."

"What about our other husbands?"

"Well, they does pose a problem don'ts they?"

"I'm thinking, yeah."

"They gots to always plays with us if they don'ts want to."

"Well, that's a given. I'm not forcing anyone to have sex with me who doesn't want to do it," Nathaniel agreed. "But there are times when Will and Derrick have every right to have you to themselves."

"I suppose. It's that I wants you by my side. I'se like you, Bear. In the back of my mind I'se afraid of losing you."

"And I want you here, Badger. I'm afraid too," Nathaniel said.

A shadow swooped down and snatched the badger off the bear's chest. Nathaniel looked up to see Will walking away with his husband. "Father," Nathaniel called out, upset. "We were having a conversation."

Will turned around. "I know," he replied. "I'm stopping it now."

Oliver punched the wolf in the chest. "You gots no right."

"I have plenty of rights. You two seem to be forgetting them."

"I brought that up," the bear protested.

"Okay," Will said, returning the badger to the chest of the bear. He looked down and stared at Nathaniel's crotch. "Damn, Son, that is such a nice cock." He shook his head. "Sidetracked there for a minute. I really didn't want to leave the Padre for this. But you two are rattling around in my brain, and I can't let this conversation of yours go on. Listen up, you two; rules of living as a beast from one who's been doing it a lot longer than you two."

Will sat beside the bear. "What happened to our family is horrible. It's frightening, and it leaves us all unsure. It makes us afraid. We realize how quickly everything we love can be taken from us. Then we decide what we need to make that fear go away is to hold on to those we love even tighter. Soon we're not taking any chances. It is too scary for us to go outside, so we stay at home. We think that staying glued to each other will somehow make all that fear go away. As long as we can see the one we're afraid of losing, everything will be fine. We pull each other in so close we suffocate from our grasping."

"But we can't become those people." Will rubbed the chest of the bear. "Look, you boys want to play together as a couple, Derrick and I will play along. I enjoy getting fucked by a hot short-faced bear as much as the next guy; probably more. I'm sure Martin will do his part. And yeah, I like me some hot cat tongue on my ass more than most, as well. So, there's no problem with that."

The wolf leaned over and kissed the badger. "What I have a problem with is living in fear. Letting it eat you up inside so that you make choices not because they improve your life, but to try and make it less fearful. Oliver, I love you, but sometimes for all you see, you don't see how you let fear block your path. You hesitated to do what you felt was right during a battle. You feared turning against what human conventions taught you about right and wrong. That moment in time has haunted you ever since. You ran from me because you were afraid of what I might be feeling about the badger you became. Fear kept you from seeing all I ever felt was a love for you that never wavered. You and Max stayed silent about the way you felt for each other because of fear, and you missed out on so much you could have offered each other."

The badger frowned at Will forcing him to think about his most difficult times. Will rubbed the little mammal's chest. "The only times in your life where you can truly say you have no regrets aren't those times when you played it safe. They're when you dove into life and grabbed for all you could. Your moments of greatest happiness were when you cast that fear aside and risked everything. You are surrounded by the most beautiful husbands in the world." He paused. "And me... I'm okay, but not nearly as hot as Nathaniel and Derrick. And well, Martin, the boy's got that soft fur and that tongue; you know that's going to jack up the awesome factor by leaps and bounds.

"Oliver, you can't let fear keep you by the bear's side. Be there because you love him. Be there because he's got an incredible dick and about the hottest ass on the planet..." Will said as his voice trailed off in thought. "And a furry chest to die for." The wolf stopped, adjusted his swelling cock, and proceeded. "Okay, got sidetracked for a minute there. Be there beside the bear because he has a soul that is even more incredible than that body. Oliver, there is so much in front of you. Never stop taking it all because you want to hold on to just one slice for fear of losing it."

The wolf turned to the Bear. "And you, Nathaniel, you let the loss of those you love overwhelm you. We all need to grieve. But we don't die when our loved ones do. We live on, and we learn how to carry the pain of our loss with us. We live with that pain, and we don't turn from it. You are the Unity. You're a part of the Were Nation. We don't deal with pain by curling up into ourselves, but by reaching out to others who can help us through those dark times. The most amazing family surrounds you. If you grieve, never do it alone. Grieve in your own way and your own time, but never forget the love that surrounds you.

"Trust me, I'm a sympathetic soul. I used to be the poster boy of inertia when it came to love. I loved your Papa for three hundred years without showing him how much. Fear kept me from doing what I wanted to do for centuries. He should have felt my teeth marks on the back of his neck so much earlier. I lived in fear that telling him what I felt would scare him away. It took Derrick... the shyest guy I know... to kick my ass and make the first move. But not anymore. I won't live my life that way anymore, because I've been dead once, and lost in some limbo world inside Max's brain. That's enough for it to soak in for me.

"We get one shot at this life. It's scary, and it's horrible, and it's the most amazing thing we will ever know. We have to embrace it all. There's no cherry-picking here. Nathaniel, Oliver, if I die tomorrow, no one will question your right to grieve. I hope I've lived a life worthy of you missing me. But I never... never... want you to stop realizing no matter how bad you feel, there are others out there who love you. Oliver, Son, there is always life beyond death. There is always life beyond fear. We need to embrace it. Be a part of life. Don't sit there on the sidelines, afraid you'll stub your toe instead of dancing to the music that the world never stops playing."

Oliver looked at the old wolf. "So, you's done?"

"Yeah, I'm done."

"You's gonna lets me talk now?"

The wolf shrugged. "Sure."

"You wants to fuck a little mammal in the butt?"

Will grabbed the badger and spun him around into a kiss. "God, how I love you, Oliver. Yeah, I want to fuck a little mammal in the butt."

Nathaniel pushed up and smiled. "So do I."

Oliver looked at the bear, and then the wolf, and back to the bear. The fur on the back of the werebadger bristled in gleeful anticipation. "Double penetration," he said with a grin. "I think's this day is just gonna get better and better."

Chapter 20

The sun was climbing toward midmorning as the two bears helped the Kermode straighten out his wings. Three temple dogs lumbered toward them and waved hello. "How are you today, Winged One?" Noboru asked.

Jean Pierre smiled. "I'm great. Really, really, great."

Noboru nodded. "The ancient ones affect us in the same way."

"And how was your night, gentlemen?" Kris asked.

"We also had a really, really great night."

"Ah... did you spend the night with Will?"

"No, with your husband, Pup, and the winged blue bear."

Eric grinned. "Well, that is a bit of a surprise."

"The two are most..." Katashi paused. "... energetic." The temple dog looked to the left and then the right. "I'm afraid the wall between gunnery apartments four and five will need repairing. There is a sizable hole." He paused. "Actually, there is no wall."

Kris's laugh filled the forest. "So you had fun?"

"Oh yes," Zhuang said with a grin. His brow furrowed a bit. "Although we have decided it might be time to let go of our scars. Being with the old wolf and the pup could very well leave us all scars and no fur."

"You'll at least have your memories."

Katashi nodded in agreement. "And they are happy ones indeed." He turned to the Kermode bear and bowed. "We are grateful for the loan of your husband last night. He is a remarkable beast. Oh, and his sight is returning. When his wing heals, he will be a most difficult beast in the most wonderful ways."

Jean Pierre bowed back. "My thanks for giving him such an auspicious night while I was indisposed," he replied, trying to sound as formal as the dogs.

Derrick came up along the pathway and crossed toward the forest that lay the island's leeward side. He waved to Kris and Eric. "Hi, husbands."

"Where are you headed in such a hurry?" Eric asked.

"Will left his ComLink turned on. Oliver said something about double penetration. I'm going to check it out," the black wolf said with a smile. "You know... husbandly duties and all."

Jean Pierre looked at the two husband bears. "Can they actually do that?"

"Will certainly can. He's done it before," the polar bear answered. "I'm afraid if Oliver is asking Will and anyone else to take him, he might have difficulty."

"But Will can... well, he can..."

"Take two men up his butt?" Kris said bluntly. "Yeah, he can do it and get another man off by going down on him at the same time. And that's not considering what he can do with his hands and feet at the same time. The wolf has skills."

Jean Pierre's wings flashed out. "Oh, crap," he said, the frustration in his voice noticeable. He reached up and tried to pull the wings back into place, but they were having none of it.

"Don't worry, Jean Pierre. You'll get used to controlling them with time. Try to relax for now and realize we think you're beautiful no matter how your wings are configured." Kris leaned over and tapped the bear's erection. "This might have something to do with your wings."

Jean Pierre sighed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does."

Martin came rushing by, dragging Chipo with him. "Good morning, men. Can't talk. See you later."

Kris laughed. "You hear Will's open ComLink, too?"

"No," the cat replied. He pointed to his eyes. "The Sight, remember. When Will and Oliver get together, there's no way I can ignore it. I never imagined that Oliver could..." The cat looked over at the Kermode bear with erect wings and genitalia. "Well, later... we'll talk about it later."

"What?" Jean Pierre asked. "You can tell me. I'm already hard, and it's not going down anytime soon."

Martin leaned over and put his paw on the bear's head. They closed their eyes for only a moment when Jean Pierre's startled eyes opened wide. "Oh, you can't do that, can you?"

"Oliver can." The cat waved again. "Gotta scoot, guys. Nathaniel isn't paired up yet."

Kris smiled and began a familiar, anxious rocking. Eric looked at him. "Well, go... they won't wait for you, Husband."

Kris rose and kissed the polar bear. "Thanks, Hon. I'd stay and be sociable and all, but it's... you heard them... double penetration. Watching that is like a double matinee with extra butter on the popcorn."

"So it would seem," the white bear said, waving the brown bear off with a smile. "You have fun. Try not to break any body parts."

The three temple dogs' noses twitched in unison. Eric shook his head. "Yeah, I'm aware, gentlemen. Kris has no control over his pheromones. You go too. Have fun. Say Hi to Li Wei for me."

The three bowed deeply. "Thank you, Ancient One. We're sorry to leave you this way... but... but..."

"I know," the bear interjected. "Double penetration."

"We are most grateful," Noboru said as he pushed the other two toward the forest. Within two steps, the dogs were on all fours, racing toward the scent of the brown bear.

Eric leaned back. "I'd tell you to go watch, Jean Pierre, but you have a visit with your parents at ten if you recall."

"Oh, crap," Jean Pierre said. "That's right." He tugged at his wings, but they wouldn't budge.

"Why don't you go down to the gunnery tunnels and see if Max is still there getting cleaned up?" Eric suggested. "He should be in room four or five. I bet he'll help you get those wings down."

"That's a good idea," the Kermode bear agreed. "You said we have, like, an hour?"

"Yeah... shoot for ten o'clock."

Jean Pierre leaned over and kissed Eric. "I feel kind of awkward now calling you Uncle Eric."

"Our names will change many times throughout our lives. I'm not calling you Little Jean anymore, right? You don't need to call me Uncle. You can call me Eric, or Old Bear. I answer to both. The twins call me Notaku from time to time if you like that one. Chet calls me Klicktakuwa when he doesn't call me Father."

"What do they mean?" Jean Pierre asked.

"Well, Eric means I hated my given name Lee so much that I took a name I found while looking in a census ledger. Old Bear pretty much means I'm an old bear."

Jean Pierre laughed. "No, I mean Notaku and Click-a-whatever it was."

"Klicktakuwa. It means ghost bear in his native tongue."

"That's cool."

"He and I are the last to speak the language of the Mutwajigwa. They are all dead. Even history has forgotten them. But Chetanluta remembers. It sometimes makes him sad to speak the name. So, you won't hear it very often."

"Oh, I guess I won't call you that." Jean Pierre said with a frown. "I realize it's kind of dumb that Max and I gave ourselves wings because we didn't want him to be the last of the winged beasts. It's not like we can fly or anything. But we love him. We didn't want him to feel so alone."

"That's a very kind gesture, Jean Pierre," Eric said. He pointed behind the bear. "Your wings are getting soft."

Jean Pierre flexed, and the wings slipped back into hiding. "Not the best reason for them going down. I feel bad for Chet. He's such a good man. He shouldn't have to live alone."

The polar bear stood up. "I agree. Where is my son this morning?"

Jean Pierre closed his eyes. "Over Michigan. He'll be here later today."

"Really?" the bear asked. "That boy of mine needs to understand the benefits of using the Red Wolf."

Jean Pierre laughed. "He has a lot to think through. He's comfortable in the air. We will wait for him. We will always wait for him."

The bear smiled. "Let him catch up to you two. He will be worth the wait."

"We already know that, Eric," Jean Pierre said. He shook his head. "Calling you Eric still sounds so bizarre coming from my mouth."

"Remember, Jean Pierre, you don't need to change right away. Take things at your own pace."

"Call me JP. I know Jean Pierre is what you call one of your oldest friends."

"And one of my newest. I don't have a problem with that, Jean Pierre."

Jean Pierre smiled. "Then Jean Pierre it is."

The polar bear pushed up on his forearms and kissed the Kermode. "Now off you go. If you hurry, you'll have enough time to get a shower in with your husband before heading out to your folks."

The wings flashed out again. "Oh, crap," the blond bear said, as he turned and walked toward the gunnery tunnels.

The polar bear watched until he saw the Kermode walk down the steps to the Gun Shelter. "Well, I guess I might as well join the family." He smiled. "After all, it is double penetration."

The bear had taken only a few steps when he saw Donovan approaching. The two waved. "I'm on my way to join the family in some serious group rowdiness," the bear said. "Care to join me?"

The Armbruster's wolf grabbed the bear and kissed him. When they finally let their tongues slip back into their mouths, the bear inhaled deeply. "Or we could do some serious one-on-one rowdiness right here," he said, rubbing his paw across the wolf's chest.

"Old Bear, we need to talk."

"About you calling me your love in the middle of Armageddon?"

"Yes."

"I realize it's traditional not to hold a man to his words in the middle of a crisis," the bear said, "but those words framed everything I did from that moment on."

The Armbruster's wolf stared into the black eyes of the polar bear. "I stand by my words. Especially those two, my love."

"Then I can hold you to the words?"

"If you will have me."

"And what of my husbands?"

"The wolves pose a problem. They have so many husbands to look after already."

The polar bear smiled. "Our family juggles many responsibilities in the name of love, Donovan."

"They would not mind another?"

"We can ask."

"You said 'we'," the wolf said.

"Of course. If you are to be my mate, I would be there to support you."

The Kodiak came trudging back from the forest with his head held low. "Martin, Oliver, and Will just shoved me out of the fun. They said I needed to come back here. I swear, when the three of them get together, the Sight becomes a pain in the ass," he said, staring at the ground dejectedly. "And not the good kind, if you know what I mean."

The brown bear looked up with a frown that turned immediately into a smile. "Donovan. I didn't see you."

"I am sorry they kicked you from your play," the wolf said, reaching out to hug the bear. The two kissed, and Kris's passions found a new partner in Donovan's arms. Donovan pushed back gently and stared at the dripping cock of the bear. "But not too sorry. I can help with your frustrations, Bear."

Kris smiled and rubbed the wolf's straining cock. "And what of yours?"

"I am trying to settle that right now. For centuries, I was the Changeling who took no partner. My calling left little doubt that I would one day fall in battle, and I had no desire to inflict that pain on a mate."

Kris rubbed his paw on Donovan's chest. "And now?"

"I still have no desire to. But I am working up the courage to ask your son to be my mate."

Kris's smile broadened. "That's wonderful. I am glad you choose to no longer wait." He turned to the polar bear and smiled. "He is a wonderful creature, Donovan. Find all the courage you need to finish your proposal."

"I would be braver if the Kodiak bear I loved was beside me to help."

Kris turned his gaze back to the wolf. "You would need to ask the Kodiak bear to be your mate first."

"I am asking, Kris," Donovan said. "But I'm not very good at it."

"It's easy. Three words, Donovan. Be my mate."

Donovan stared into the eyes of the Kodiak. "Be my mate."

Kris smiled. "For me, it's even easier. One word: Yes." The two embraced in a kiss that sealed the pact. When the wolf felt the paw of another bear on his shoulder, he turned to the polar bear.

"I will make this easy for you, Wolf. I will take care of the three words, leaving you with only one more word to say. Be my mate," the polar bear begged.

The wolf raised his paw and rubbed the cheek of the bear. "Yes," he said as he leaned in to seal the pact. When he felt the brown bear toying with his erection, he pushed back. "And what of you, Bear? Such a sad face on you moments ago."

"Double penetration, Donovan. I mean, it was all fun, but someone was going to get banged like you wouldn't believe."

"There is an old bear and an even older wolf at your side that love you, Bear. I see no reason you can't be that one."

Kris's smile widened. "Really?"

"It will get very messy," Eric said, pointing over Kris's shoulder. The wolf and brown bear turned. Four temple dogs were rocking anxiously. "They follow the pheromones, Wolf. Three Changelings about to take each other is more than they can cope with."

"Nonsense," Donovan said. "They will cope just fine." He turned to the dogs. "Gentlemen, we require witnesses to the double penetration of the Kodiak bear and the day four temple dogs mounted him in succession. His legendary skills must never be called into question. Join us, please."

The dogs leaned forward and leapt toward the wolf and bears.

Chapter 21

The two winged bears fumbled awkwardly inside the shower. "Jean Pierre, you need to get your wings down," a frustrated glacier bear said. "They're just a blur to me. I can't figure out where they are."

"I'm trying, Max," the Kermode whined. "They won't go down when I'm excited." He flexed, and the wings slammed into the shower enclosure, smashing the glass door out onto the floor. "Oh, crap."

Max laughed. "Oh well, at least we have more room now." He leaned in and kissed his husband. "I love you JP. Be my mate," Max said with a smile.

"I already am."

"I know. I just like hearing you say that you will be again."

"Yes, I will be your mate."

The two kissed again. Max kissed Jean Pierre's neck, his chest, the rounded belly, and finally, he took the Kermode's thick cock into his mouth. The wings spanned out even tighter. "Oh, crap."

Max looked up. "It's okay, Hon. I can fix that." His head bobbed back down on his mate's dick and he began sucking again.

"Oh, that's not helping at all, Bear," Jean Pierre groaned.

"Give me time. This should work," Max mumbled with a mouth full of cock. "I have the Sight, remember?" The blue bear giggled past his fellatio. "I can't see worth a damn, but I've got the Sight."

Later, as the two soaped up their furry bodies, Jean Pierre flexed his wings, moving them back and forth in a flapping motion. He smiled. "It worked," he said happily.

"Yeah, so we know now that if you cum at least three times, you get control back."

The Kermode bear looked away shyly. "I'm sorry. It's embarrassing. I have erectile wing dysfunction."

Max laughed. "I love you, Bear. I don't care. We're new to our bodies. This will all work out with time." He took the shower wand and started rinsing off the blond bear's body.

"Max, I'm not twenty-eight."

Max smiled. "I know. I'm not thirty-five."

"What?"

"We're sixteen, Jean Pierre," the glacier bear said as he stepped out of the shower.

"But why?" the Kermode said, following his mate.

"Because I want my life with you to have a time when we were kids."

"You can't just do that, can you?" the blond bear asked, rubbing his towel along the backside of the blue.

Max nodded. "Yeah, I can. Well, I guess I should say, yeah, the thirty-five-year-old me can. I haven't got a clue how he did it." The blue bear turned, leaned in, and kissed the blond bear. "After what we've been through, we deserve to be kids for a while. Everyone deserves a childhood. Look at Oliver and Will. They never had a childhood. They lived through the awful from such an early age. Now, they're trying to make up for lost time. They play like the kids they always wanted to be. I'm taking care of that for us."

Max rubbed his towel on Jean Pierre's chest. "I used to love the way you and I would be together when we were young. I didn't want to lose it. We're going to grow older, Jean Pierre. And when we reach an age where we decide we're comfortable being who we are, I'll stop the aging."

Jean Pierre laughed. "Well, that explains why my wings and other things keep popping up at the most inopportune times."

Max laughed. "Yeah, for me too. You can thank my broken wing, or I probably would have put out someone's eye in the shower today."

"But our bodies..."

"They're a constant. These are the bodies we'll have forever. I hope you're okay with yours. Your dads wanted you to lose weight, but your human body is what you had after the turn. I didn't go changing that."

Jean Pierre looked down at his overweight bear gut. "Yeah, I'm good with both my bodies."

"You are beautiful, you know," Max said consolingly.

"I'm working on that idea," Jean Pierre said with a shy grin. With a shake, he became a tall, overweight human. "I hoped to lose the weight my dads always wanted me to, but truthfully, I'm okay with who I am."

"Well, I think you're gorgeous, and husbands are never wrong about such things," Max said with a smile. "And I can see you better. At least I can see you're not a bear. Maybe we can play a bit with our ape suits for a few hours."

Jean Pierre's eyes widened. "Oh, crap," he yelled. "We're supposed to be meeting up with our families at the Hospital Steward's Home. What time is it?"

"It's a quarter to noon."

"Oh, crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap." The baldheaded man said frantically. "We were supposed to be there at ten."

"Oh, crap," the blue bear said as he ran out the bathroom door, through the hallways, and out into the cloudy day. He looked frantically about, straining to see the stairs. His mate was right behind. "Shift to bear," Max said. "Bears can run fast."

JP gave a shake, and the werebear returned. "Unless we can run faster than the speed of light, we're going to be way late no matter what, Hon."

The blue bear stopped and turned back, looking at the blond bear. "Hon... you called me Hon." He kissed the Kermode and grinned. "I am so going to love my life with you," Max said. "I still can't see well enough to make it on my own, Hon, Let me piggyback on you. You can carry me easily."

Jean Pierre shifted from werebeast to bear. "Climb on, Husband," he said. Max climbed on top of the Kermode. The flash of Jean Pierre's wings sent the blue bear tumbling out onto the grass. "Oh crap," the frustrated blond bear sighed.

"It's okay, Hon," Max said, shaking himself as he rose back onto his feet. "You can walk me there. I enjoy holding your hand."

The two bears arrived in short order and used the knocker. Jean Pierre tried to retract his wings but settled for them waving lazily toward the back. Sarah opened the door. "Hello boys, she said with a smile."

"Sorry we're late, Mom," both bears said at the same time.

"No, you're right on time," Sarah replied. "I told your Uncle Eric that we would expect you at noon for lunch. I figured after last night, you might want to sleep in late."

Jean Pierre grinned. "We didn't sleep."

Sarah plugged her ears. "Na-na-na-na-na-na," she yelled. "Don't want to hear it. You're talking to your mother, boys."

"Yes, ma'am," Jean Pierre said, his grin still there. He turned to Max. "We need to thank Eric for fudging the hour we were supposed to be here. If he had said noon, you know we'd have still been two hours late."

"Yeah, we would have." Max's nose sniffed the air. "Is that strawberry rhubarb pie I smell?"

His mother laughed. "Yes, it is. I guess I better get used to a keener nose in the house." She looked up at the swirling gray clouds. "Well, come on in. Mother Nature is about to make up for last week's sunshine."

There was a distant rumble of thunder. Out in the forest, the beasts' ears perked up. The wolves sniffed the air. "Rain coming," Will said.

"Yep," the badger agreed, never slowing his fellating of the Iberian wolf.

"Don't care," Chipo said as he pushed himself deeper onto the cocks of the cat and bear. "You wolves aren't the only ones going for double penetration today." The rhinoceros grimaced for a bit as he worked the cocks into himself. "I need stories to tell my pack when they arrive here in two days." He paused for a moment, easing himself ever lower until the fur of the beasts' groins met his leathery skin. "Yeah, that's where they need to be," he sighed. He looked at the wolves and badger. "My hide is thick. No reason to stop because of a little rain."

The beasts all nodded their agreement and continued their play, grateful for their warm fur and thick hides.

Chapter 22

Donovan stood on the knoll beside Kris and Eric, watching the beasts at play. "How I envy them," he sighed. "I have never known what it feels like to abandon myself to the best of who we are. My defenses are always up, even when we are at our most intimate."

Eric rubbed the shoulders of the wolf. "As are theirs, Donovan. What you haven't learned yet is how to keep your defenses up while letting your job go."

"And you can do that, Old Bear?"

"It is easier for me. I know that being a healer rarely requires me to make the choices you have had to make."

Kris reached out and held the paw of the Armbruster's wolf. "This is a new world, Donovan. You may yet find a place here where you can rest. Look at the little badger. See how lost he is in the moment? But threaten that moment, and he is as fierce a warrior as you have ever known."

"Agreed."

"He knows how to unhook from his job, Wolf."

"Perhaps I should talk to him. He told me once that I could, but I have been a lone wolf for so long. Embracing another doesn't come easily."

Kris laughed. "You seem to be just fine with the two of us and four temple dogs."

Donovan returned the laugh. "You two drag me into places I have never dreamed I could go. Is it any wonder I want you as mates? I'm just not sure that will be enough to make the warrior in me stand down."

"Try not to force him to," the polar bear said. "Ask him to share his life with that part of you that isn't a warrior. Ask the warrior to become one with the part of you that left four temple dogs bowing in gratitude today. It doesn't have to be a change overnight. Just don't let the warrior fight embracing the peace because he knows only war."

"Tough suggestion."

"You're a warrior. You're supposed to be tough," Kris said without a hint of humor.

"That is true," the Armbruster's wolf responded. "Perhaps this warrior needs to train for a different battle. The one where he can commit all he is to the ones he loves on the field of play."

"I'm willing to help you train," the Kodiak said, this time with a wide smile.

"As am I, Wolf," the polar bear added. "We had a good workout today. Let's say we keep up our training. There are two werewolves down there who I am sure will help."

"I am afraid for them, my loves," the wolf said quietly. "You are both Changelings. I know my limits with you. But the wolves. They are different."

"They are that. But don't let that frighten you off."

From the field below, Will looked up and saw the three standing. After giving Oliver a quick kiss, he shifted and bounded up toward the three as a wolf. "Good afternoon, men," he said as he shifted back to his werewolf form steps away from the three.

"Good afternoon, Husband," Kris said. "We didn't mean to pull you away from such important activities."

Will laughed. "That's all right." He reached out and let the polar bear take him in his arms. The two kissed, letting their lips say what their words never could. When they broke, the wolf touched the muzzle of the bear. "I'm sorry, Old Bear. I'm sorry for the pain I put you through."

"Circumstances dictated actions I know were beyond your control. I am glad you're home. Nothing else matters."

Will smiled. "Then all is forgiven?"

"There was nothing to forgive, Old Wolf. But if you want to feel guilty about it and restitution involves multiple hours of sex, I can try to act wounded."

"I too can act upset if you'd like, Old Wolf," Kris said as he wrapped his arms around the wolf from the back.

"You, Bear, I do owe an apology to," Will said, turning to Kris. "I don't know why the three of us would kick you out of what was happening this morning."

"Because you all have the Sight," Donovan said. "I'm thinking it's for the same reason you're up here now."

"True," Will replied, staring at the three. "Well, come on guys... tell me all about it before the temple dogs do."

Donovan looked away shyly. "I asked your husbands to be my mates."

Will stared at the other wolf. He smiled. "Wonderful choices. I bet it's going to involve some serious damage to one of our buildings soon."

"You don't object?"

"No, not at all."

"And the pup?"

"Ask him yourself. I'm pretty sure he's coming up here soon. His Sight is still young. When he's distracted, he doesn't notice things as quickly. But you just told me, and that means Martin..." Will's voice trailed off as he looked back at the happy gathering of beasts. Martin was tapping Derrick on the shoulder. When the black wolf looked up, the cat pointed toward the four on the knoll. In an instant, the black wolf came bounding up the hill.

"I'm sorry," Derrick said. "I was preoccupied. This is family business, I assume?"

"I hope so," Donovan said. "I have asked your husbands to marry me."

"All three?" Derrick asked.

"No, I'm sorry. Just the bears."

"Oh well, that's a good start," Derrick said with a smile.

"I would feel remiss if I were not to..."

Will cut Donovan off. "No, Wolf, don't propose to us. Not yet."

"But to share your husbands' affections in front of you, to share your bed..."

"We're fine with that, right, Pup?"

"No problem. As long as we get to watch." The black wolf looked at the confused Armbruster's wolf. "Just kidding... sort of... unless you kind of like having someone watch... then I probably would..." He paused. "I ramble when I get excited."

Will grabbed the pup into a sideways hug. "We might jump in now and then if you three start-up around us, but nothing too pushy, mind you."

Donovan stared at the two. "I don't understand."

Will smiled. "You're new to this world, Donovan. Eric and Kris are familiar. They're home."

"As much as we hate to call them this," Derrick added, "They're baby steps for another Changeling."

Kris looked at Derrick. "I think I should be offended."

Derrick shook his head. "No, not at all. We're talking oh baby kind of baby steps, but this is a bold and frightening move for Donovan to take. Let him ease into this world before we ask him to dive into the deep end."

"I had no problem with you two," Kris rebutted.

"I know, Husband," Will replied, "and we're grateful. But you're not a warrior. And you don't hold that responsibility of being a Channeler dropped on your shoulders by the universe. Donovan does."

The Armbruster's wolf looked at Will. "You understand?"

Derrick reached out and touched Donovan's paw. "We both do. Don't burden yourself with two more challenges. Let your warrior stand down in his own time. For now, your heart tells you to love these two. Let that be enough."

Donovan shook his head. "I can't believe... it's just that... I..."

"What?" Will asked incredulously. "You didn't think we would get it?"

Donovan looked at the two bears sheepishly. "They don't"

Will and Derrick both laughed aloud. "But what they understand of you, Donovan, will lead you to the place you've always dreamed of," Will said. "Trust us. We have the Sight."

"I know. We gave it to you."

"We know," Derrick said. "And you're bastards just like Oliver told you. You're lucky wolves don't hold grudges or this conversation would have gone a lot worse for you."

"I'm grateful that you are both so understanding."

"Think nothing of it, Wolf," Will said. He leaned in. "So, did they explain what the family gets to do after you've mated?"

"I don't believe so."

Will's smile widened into a lecherous grin. He reached out and grabbed the arm of the Armbruster's wolf. "Come on, Wolf. You, me, and the pup need to go for a walk." He tugged at the wolf, pulling him away from the bears.

"Old Wolf," the polar bear said with an air of concern.

"I know, Papa Bear. I'm either a part of the solution, or I'm part of the problem."

"Don't forget it."

Will grinned at the polar bear and then gave a quick kiss to both bears. He put his hand into Donovan's, and Derrick took the other paw. "I never do, Old Bear. I never do."

The two bears watched as the wolves retreated to the forest. "He's going to have Donovan so confused by the end of today," Kris sighed.

"Yeah," Eric said with a laugh. "And Will's kind of confusion is just what Donovan needs."

Kris nodded. "I suppose you're right." He looked down at the frolic still going on below. "Seems they're two men short."

"I noticed that."

"It would be rude not to pitch in and help."

"You want the badger or the cat?"

"I think I'll see what the rhino is up to," Kris said as he began walking toward the group, rubbing his furry butt. "Have to maintain good international relations after all."

From below, Oliver looked up and smiled. "We gots bears," he yelled. The group looked up and shifted for the new arrivals.

Chapter 23

Inside the house, the family sat around the kitchen table. One leg of the table was hastily duct-taped together with a few screws inserted to hold it together. Tyler had already promised to replace the table and fix the wall into which he threw it. He was best friends with Greg, so he assured everyone that the head of the Island's construction would move the repairs to the top of his list.

The family sat quietly eating while some calming New Age music played in the background. Michael cleared his throat. "I have three things to say. First: Carver family, thank you for such a wonderful lunch. Second: I am glad that our sons are home safe, and except for a broken wing we all know will heal, they seem to be in good health." The Carver parents politely nodded their agreement.

"And third: I am a Labrador wolf. Like most wolves, we are nervous in the company of humans. Human predation has left my Avatar extinct. Please understand that I am not blaming your family at all. I am only saying there is an instinct that runs deep in my kind. So, I am polite and defer to what humans want." He was quiet for a moment, letting his thoughts sort. "But I am also French Canadian and, Mon Dieu, I don't know how you humans can sit across the table from a son who you thought dead and not need to hold him forever."

Sarah looked up. "We were trying our best to be reserved in front of you two."

Tyler's yellow eyes widened. "Are you saying we are sitting here not hugging the stuffing out of these two because we're all trying to be polite?"

Paul reached over and grabbed the blue bear in a tight hug. "Not anymore."

The two wolves grabbed their Kermode bear son, hugging his chubby body and kissing his cheeks. Jean Pierre wiggled uncomfortably. "Dads, don't forget the two of us should have a say in this."

"No! You have no say at all," Michael countered. "If you let us think you are dead instead of taking care of your job, this is the price you pay for that oversight."

Max laughed. "Let them be, JP. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of good with this," he said as his mother kissed him on his cheeks.

The Kermode bear thought a moment and then grabbed his fathers, hugging back, "Yeah, me too."

When at last the hugs ended and the tears dried, the family sat back down to their lunch. Paul looked at his son. "It will take a bit of getting used to having a son who will always have more hair on his head than I do. Historically, the Carver family goes bald in their twenties."

Max smiled. "You're okay with a bear for a son?"

"My Uncle is a bear. His fathers are bears. I'm getting pretty used to that part." Paul put his hand on his son's paw. "I always told you it didn't matter to us who you were or what you became, as long as you were happy."

Max nodded. "But learning your son was gay since he was three, that he travels through time to return as a thirty-five-year-old man who turns into a bear with wings, and then mates with his childhood friend who is also a bear with wings... that, Dad, is a bit extreme."

Paul laughed. "No, that is a lot extreme."

Sarah put her hand on her son's other paw. "You're home and you're safe. You have a beautiful husband who loves you. All the rest we adjust to in time."

"As can we, Son," Michael said to Jean Pierre.

"Thanks, Papa."

"What about the elephant in the room?" Tyler asked.

"What?" the two bears said, confused.

"It means what do we do about the question no one is asking?" Tyler responded. "What happened when you left this world, and what's going on out there in that world right now?"

"We're supposed to have a party to celebrate our return, right?" Max asked.

Michael nodded. "That's true. The whole of the Island, The Montana pack, and more than a few of the Were Nation will be here to celebrate the day after tomorrow. Chipo's pack will be here for sure."

"Do you think we can all wait until then for a Q&A?"

Sarah and Paul looked at each other. "I suppose," Paul answered. "You have more important things to attend to than answers, don't you?"

"He's coming for us, Dad," Max said. "He's been flying since he heard the news last night."

Tyler looked at the blue bear and then back to his blond bear son. "I didn't think I'd ever say this after all we've been through, but you both need to get out of here." He stood, pulling his son up with him. "Go. Get ready so you can be with the man you love."

An hour later, the red-tailed hawk spiraled out of the sky. A moment before the hawk touched the earth, he became the dark angel. Chet looked up and smiled at the two bears. "How are my two favorite winged bears in the world?" Chet said as he jumped toward them into a hug.

"We're doing good, but we're sorry about what happened. Everyone has been hurting so much since that day."

"I stopped hurting the moment I heard you were alive. I don't look back, Jefes. A hawk's eyes see most of what's behind them by looking forward. I try to live my life that way. I attend to what is behind me to make sure I don't repeat mistakes and stay safe. But I look forward. Now that you are back with me, I will not lose a minute of my life to the pain I felt before."

Chet took a deep breath. "So what say we find a place in the woods and see if we can ruffle a few feathers?"

Jean Pierre's wings flashed out, extending fully. "Oh crap," he sighed.

The hawk-man stared at the bear. "Retract your wings, Jean Pierre," he ordered.

Jean Pierre grabbed one wing with both paws and tugged at it. "I can't, Chet, I'm sorry."

Chet's eyes narrowed. "How old are you, Jean Pierre?"

"Old enough to love you," the Kermode bear responded shyly.

"HOW OLD?"

"Sixteen."

"I knew it," the angel fumed. "Only one who hasn't fledged would have such weak control of his wings."

"They get better after I've come a few times," the blond bear said, trying to see the bright side.

Chet turned to the blue bear. "And you, Max. How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen too," Max said. He paused. "I can explain."

"Explain what? That two sixteen-year-old boys almost let me have sex with them because I didn't have a clue how old they were?"

"COMING THROUGH!" the baritone voice of the badger yelled out. "Oh hi, boys," Oliver said as he passed the two bears. "I loves what you's done with the wings, JP. Most folks ain't willing to make that bold a statement." He pushed past the two and grabbed Chet's hand. "Hope you boys don't minds if I borrow your friend here. We gots some things we needs to talks about."

Chet looked down at the badger, pulling on his arm. "Oliver, we're in the middle of a discussion here."

"And you will be again," the badger said. "But for now, you's coming with me."

"No, Oliver. This is an important conversation."

The badger looked up. His hand fluoresced red. "This is warrior class, Hawk. You can come with me as my friend, or I can knock you clear across this island and talks with you then. I knows what I wants, but you's coming with me now."

Chet looked angrily at the two bears. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

The winged man followed the badger as he led him toward the gunnery. "Down here," Oliver said, pointing to the steps. Chet walked down, and Oliver followed. The badger led him through the hallways to an apartment. He pushed open a door. "The temple dogs and Max sort of messed things up here, so mind yourself around the broken wall."

The winged man ducked under the broken doorjamb and entered the room. "What's this all about, Oliver?"

"This is about me keeping you from fucking-up your life," the badger answered. "You knows I loves you, right?"

"Of course," Chet answered, the irritation clear in his voice.

"Then understand that's the place I'se coming from today." Oliver jumped up and sat on the bed. "Grab a seat, or a perch, whatever you likes. We's gonna talk about how you's about to make the biggest mistake of your life."

"I may have already made that," Chet said as he shook into his Mutwajigwan form, still standing. "Oliver, why?"

"Why what, Chet?"

"Why did you need me to change in front of the family? You said it was for something bigger than all of us. That I had to do it. You made it sound important. All it's done is cause me to let down my guard, and the result is nothing but pain."

"I saids you was gonna be asked to be a part of somethin' bigger than all of us," Oliver replied.

"Right, that's exactly what you said."

"Love is bigger than all of us, Chet. Love can makes a badger whole when he was dying inside. It can makes two little boys remember a man who was good to them when they was growing up. And it can change them so much thats they wanted to become like him. Love can take men and make them bears with wings. Love does that, Chet. It's bigger than any of us."

"That's what you meant?"

"It's what I means now. Back then, all I knew is that you had to let yourself free. I didn't have no clue why it was so important until now. Those two bears loves you, Chet. Them two changed their world to be like you. They weren't never bears with wings in the before time. They was only bears. Simple, ordinary, black bears."

Oliver patted the bed beside him and Chet sat down. "What they is now is 'cause of you, Chet. Your love gave them wings. Loving you let them see colors in their lives they never saw before and they turned them colors into the fur they wear. They shows their pride in their family, in their powers, in their clans, and mostly they shows their pride in loving you. They did that all because of how they felt growing up besides you in both worlds. What you done for them two is bigger than all of us. I didn't lie."

Chet sat silent for a moment. "I never realized that."

"We never knows, Chet. I didn't know when I told you. I only sees it now looking back after being in Max's head for so long. But none of us ever knows what lives we's gonna touch by our kindness. Or who we's gonna love one day. What I knows now is that them bears love you."

"Do you understand what they are now?"

"That they's still little ones?"

"Yes," the winged man said.

"Yeah, I knows. Age is a strange thing, Chet. I see them growing older every day. I thinks one day Max will make it stop and they'll be like us. They's gonna live forever, but they wants to do it with you." The badger took a deep breath. "Chet, you's fightin' this idea 'cause you don'ts see the big picture. I keeps trying not to show it to you. But you gots to understand them boys. They ain't got a crush on you cause you're cute and nice to them. This goes deeper."

"How could it, Oliver? You said it yourself. They're kids."

"They is now, but they weren't the day they died. They was adults, with adult feelings, and adult loves. Them boys was old enough to turn, and they was old enough to love you."

"I... I don't understand," Chet stammered.

Oliver's brow furrowed. "What the hell is it with Changelings and beasts? Can't you never take nothin' on trust?" The badger's paw shoved up against Chet's chest and glowed bright yellow. "See's it, Hawk. See's them boys' last day on earth."

Chet was suddenly in a whirlwind of chaos. Ash and smoke were everywhere. The bodies of the dead lay burnt on the ground, their flesh and fur peeling away from their skin. Buildings were now mere rubble and fire. And in the middle of it all, was the man with graying hair cradling a bald, overweight man who only moments before became his husband. He was crying out, but Chet couldn't hear the words over the din of a world in its death throes.

"Look at them, Hawk. Sees them."

Chet's voice boomed out over the calamity. "I see them. JP is dead. Max is dying. He's crying out for something, but I can't hear it."

"It don't matter what he's saying, Hawk. Looks at Jean Pierre. See's what he's holding."

Chet strained to see what the badger could see that he could not. The bald man slumped over in Max's lap, his arms folded tightly against his chest. If he was holding something, all the smoke and ash obscured it. Then Max let go of his tight hug around Jean Pierre. He raised his clenched fists toward the sky and screamed. The dead body in his arms shifted. Jean Pierre's left arm slid away and fell limp at his side. The torn, burnt wing of a red-tailed hawk slipped out from below the locked right arm that still hugged the rest of the bird. As quickly as it had begun, the vision was gone.

Chet fell off the bed to his knees. "I was... I was dead."

"We all was," Oliver added. "But only one of us was in them boy's arms when the world died. Max loved only two beasts in the world enough to come all this way back to save them. One he dragged back with him 'cause without him, he couldn't save the other."

The badger gently slapped Chet upside his head. "Why's you think they's got wings? It weren't so they could fly. It was so Max woulds never forgot why he came back. Every time he seen them wings, he would remember why he sacrificed everything. Them boys came back in time to save the red-tailed hawk they loved. They came back to save their husband."

Chet looked confused. "Their husband?"

"Yeah, their husband. It weren't just the boys that was married that day. You gots a love story that will be sung by werebeasts and Changelings for all time. Them boys came back from hell to save you. They stopped the end of the world to be by your side."

The badger pointed his finger at Chet. "So, you gots one more thing to do that's bigger than all of us. You's gots to love those boys when they's growing up, and you gots to help them become the men you's gonna share your bed with. 'Cause that's what they wants and needs from the man they love." The badger paused for a moment. "And you's gots to get yourself a bed, 'cause them boys ain't sleeping on that damn perch."

"But it's like being a father and a lover at the same time."

"Well, that's just sick," Oliver grumbled. "You'd expect that kind of thing from Changelings, 'cause they's always fucking everybody. A father who marries his son, and bangs his own boy now and then. Can'ts go having that. That damn polar bear seeds himself a little man who becomes a bird and then spends thousands of years banging him because they loves each other. Of course, they never gets married 'cause the little man calls the bear father. Can't go having that kind of weirdness going on. But then them Changelings are all a billion-zillion years old, so maybe that's not so bad."

Chet shook his head in disbelief. Oliver pressed on. "Look ats your family, Chet. We plays fast and loose with titles in this family in the name of love. It all comes down to what's it gotta take to keep us together?" Oliver moved to the broken window and looked out on the concrete hallway. "Does you think Max pulled sixteen years out of the hat?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Those two loved you right up until the day they died. They was twenty-eight and thirty-five the day we all died. When we returned that night with Max, he changed them two bears' ages. He didn't change their hearts. They loves you likes a twenty-eight and thirty-five-year-old man. They loves you like the bears you made love to on the highland a few weeks ago. But he trapped that love inside sixteen-year-old souls so they can be kids for a few years."

Oliver turned back toward the angel. "Them boys sacrificed so much to save this world. Max wanted them to have a normal childhood -- even if only for a moment. He wanted them to know what it's like to live a year a day at a time instead of one every week. So he gave themselves as much of a childhood as he could gives them without them ever forgettin' how much they loves you. Sixteen is the legal age of consent in Canada. Max knows what he did.

"He ain't worried about you getting in trouble with the law. He knowed no ones gonna think twice about them two in their older bodies. But he picked an age where they coulds be kids for a time. But more important to him, he chose his age so you woulds understand no matter what happened, they was old enough to know what they wants. And what they wants is to be with you."

Oliver jumped off the bed and hugged the angel. "Wait for them if you gots to, Chet. They's in no hurry. Them boy's got the Sight. They knows what they's waiting for, and it's you. We don'ts live in a normal world, Hawk. Max had to make choices. He tried to find the middle ground between them being the boys they never was and being the men who died loving you.

"Don'ts leave them wondering, Chet. You tells them you loves them and then you figures it all out. This ain't no fantasy world where everything works out in half an hour. This could take years, but you gots years to take. You gots to look at the big picture and like I tolds you, that picture includes somethin' that's bigger than all of us. It includes love."

Chet reached down, pulled the badger up, and kissed him. "Thank you, Oliver."

"You's welcome, Chet. But if you picks out a bed anytime soon, coulds you make sure it's got space to fits an extra badger alongs with all them bears?"

Chet held out the badger and smiled.

"Just saying. 'Cause I knows a badger with the Sight and he says angels is about the hottest thing ever."

"Why don't we go looking for one tomorrow in Billings?" Chet asked. "I'm sure Max and JP will be more than happy to help us look."

"That sounds fun. The news says people needs to get back to their normal lives to keeps the economy from collapsing. Buying a bed right now would almost be patriotic. Do you thinks they woulds let us test them?"

"Not the way you're thinking, Badger."

"Damn."

"Would you excuse me, please, Oliver?" Chet asked.

"Of course, you go find them boys."

Chet sighed. "I hope I didn't mess this up beyond repair."

"They's waiting for you, Chet. They's been waiting for longer than you realize. Don'ts make them wait no longer."

Chet pulled the door open and watched it as it fell off its hinges. "Max and the temple dogs did this?"

"Derrick helped."

"Son of a gun," Chet said with a laugh.

Chet found the two bears looking forlorn by the breakwater. He cleared his throat and when they turned; he smiled at them. "I'm sorry, boys, I was out of line. You, Max, brought that on yourself, and I will not apologize for my confusion. I am in love with a thirty-five-year-old man one day and then he's sixteen a few days later. That is an awful lot to ask of any man."

"I know," Max whispered. "Chet, I wanted us to have a childhood. I wanted to remember what it was like to fall in love with you all over again."

Chet knelt beside the two. "And I can't blame you for wanting that. But it comes with a price. I cannot mate with children. I am very old school. As in a twelve-thousand-year-old kind of old school. If you love me, I need you to help me cope with the choices you've made."

"What do we do?"

Chet sighed as he thought. "First, we need to have a level playing field for our expectations. The two of you and I have a date for mating, and I don't intend to postpone it any longer than we must. Spend this time as children. I will enjoy the time with you growing up."

The hawk-man pushed the two bears gently apart and sat between them. He kissed Max and playfully nudged him. Watching the kiss resulted in Jean Pierre's wings spreading out behind the threesome. "One day you will be men and on that day, I will give myself to the most beautiful bears I have ever known." He leaned into Jean Pierre and kissed him as well. "And I have known the polar bear far more times than you JP, so accept the compliment without commenting about your weight."

Jean Pierre looked at Chet. "Known, like Biblical known?"

"Yes, that known."

"So you know about... about... the two of us... and..."

"I know, JP. And the three of us will discuss the nature of deception one day very soon, won't we?"

"Yes, Sir."

"That's good to hear," Chet said with a stern voice. He paused a moment. "So what did you do?" he asked with a grin.

Jean Pierre shyly took his thumb and forefinger and put them into a circle. Using his other hand, he shoved the forefinger in and out of the hole rapidly.

Chet's laugh had a hint of the cry of a red-winged hawk in it. "Right? Doesn't he have the best dick in the world for that?"

Jean Pierre waved his hands and jumped up from the bench. "He really does. And he's like the best cocksucker I've ever been with." Jean Pierre suddenly realized what he said and turned to Max. "I'm sorry Max, you're incredible, too."

Max looked at him with a face that said JP's words hurt him to the quick. "How could you say he was the best?"

Jean Pierre frowned. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"It's okay. I realize you didn't mean to tear out my heart and stomp it into the ground," Max moaned with an over-the-top melodramatic sigh. He paused. "Besides, the best cocksuckers are the temple dogs," he said, as his grin spread wider with each word.

"What?"

"They are."

"You let me believe I hurt your feelings?" the Kermode said as he ran toward the glacier bear and knocked him over the bench. He leaned forward and bit his ear.

"Noooo... not the ears... not the ears..." the blue bear screamed with laughter.

Chet watched the bears as they roughhoused. He stood up laughing at how quickly they became children, and he thought about his early years. "How I envy you two," he said under his breath.

The two bears became a rolling ball of fur and wing moving toward Chet. He was about to step out of their way when both a blond and blue paw reached out from the fracas and grabbed the angel. The call of the red-tailed hawk screamed as he toppled into the fray. There, defenseless, two bears attacked him with the knowledge of his most ticklish spots thanks to the Sight.

The battle was short-lived for the bears, though. They soon found themselves suspended upside down in the air, ten feet above the ground; each held aloft by the extended hands of the angel. "Now, gentlemen, this ends here."

"Yes, Sir," both obediently said.

"Let's get one thing straight," Chet said in a commanding voice. "I am the best cocksucker you will ever know."

Jean Pierre dangled, his wings fully extended. "Prove it!" he yelled as he laughed.

"Fold the wings and I will," Chet said. "Until then, you're not even a fledgling and I don't play with baby birds."

"Oh, crap."

"Jean Pierre, fold your wings," Max begged. "We've got him. He never lies."

"I'm trying, damn it."

"No swearing, boys. It's not my fault you can't fold those wings, baby bear." The angel tossed both of the bears into the air and caught them by the scruff of their necks as they somersaulted down. He lowered them to the ground.

Chet turned to the pair. "Okay, I'm going to admit I'm skittish about your current ages, but I am also aware that you love me. And I know I love you both." The angel took a deep breath. "One day, I'm going to ask you to mate with me. I guess Oliver is right. I always realized that was where I was heading all along."

The two bears had wide grins of anticipation on their faces. "Don't get too eager," Chet said. "When we mate, it's going to be in the traditions of winged creatures, not some 'bite your neck' bear thing. I'm fine with you biting my neck because you're bears. I will honor your traditions as much as I want you to honor mine. But you are winged beasts, and I'm going to insist that we observe our traditions as well. This is non-negotiable."

"Sure, whatever it takes," Max said. Jean Pierre nodded in agreement.

"It will take much more training than you realize," Chet added. The angel thought for a moment. "Since I am currently the adult in this relationship, here are the ground rules. First: You two aren't the only ones to miss out on your childhood. You have family and parents who missed it all. You are moving back in with your families. They will get the time with you they deserve for the sacrifices they have made. There is no need to tell them your ages, but if it comes up, you never, and I repeat never, lie. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Sir," the two said in unison.

"Second: You will spend your weekends with me. My home will have one bed, and we will share it. We will sleep together, Bears, and by that, I mean we sleep. The day you can fold those wings in my presence, JP, is the day we do more than sleep in that bed. In the interim, I will train you in the ways of winged beasts. We wait until your twenty-fifth birthday to mate, but what we do before then is entirely up to you both becoming adults in my eyes." The angel looked at the two bears. "Are we clear about that?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Third: I suspect I am aware of what being a werebeast means more than the two of you. I know how much our physical contact with each other helps maintain our equilibrium. You boys may possess the souls of sixteen-year-olds, but you returned in much older bodies, and they are no longer human. You are werebeasts, and with that comes a host of needs that all beasts know exceed those of humans."

"You said you could go for months between your visits with Derrick," Max said, with a question implied.

"I did. But that came at a cost that I am unwilling to let anyone I love have to pay. It's a cost I am no longer willing to accept even for myself. We are creatures that need to touch, who need to feel present with those we love. We take that away, and a part of us dies. Or in your case, as newly turned beasts, it never fully develops."

Chet waved his hands outward to the land behind him. "Look at this island. Watch your brothers. They welcome strangers with a hug and a kiss. They touch each other constantly. Affection for them isn't as casual as a human would think. It's as essential as the food we eat, the air we breathe." Chet laughed, shaking his head. "You want to know the difference between the humans and the werebeasts? Humans built their civilization on top of their dead bodies stacked on top of each other in a grave of conquest and subjugation. We built the Were Nation on bodies stacked on top of each other as well. Only we are all fucking each other with smiles on our faces for all that we share."

The two bears laughed and Chet's wings pulled them in close and he hugged their necks. "These are our people. You were born into a new family by becoming werebeasts. Turn from it even for a moment and you will suffer." The angel flexed his wings outward, flapping once before folding backward. "I am what happens when you turn from your family. See what I sacrificed for fear of humankind. Understand what I left hidden for so many thousands of years. I will not let you become creatures that hide in the shadows."

Chet held the bears tightly. "You want to know what Derrick is in my life? Do you want to know what my father is to me, or the pack and their affections? They have been life support for one that has been slowly dying all these years. They were sustaining me until two bears from another time returned to save me."

The tears welled up in the hawk-man's eyes. "There are those who say I am responsible for you having those wings on your back. I say they miss the fact that you gave me mine back." He turned and kissed Max. When he kissed Jean Pierre, he did not stop until the young bear's wings were straining tight.

He let the embrace go and smiled at Jean Pierre. "One day, your youth and inexperience will not encumber us. I will train you to be winged beasts. But, I will leave your training to become werebears to the loving experts who even now are educating me. We will grow up to be werebeasts together."

"Look at your uncles, boys. Those men have seen the worst of this world and turned away from what it would do to any mortal man because of who they are. They are love personified into animals known for their ferocity. They are dangerous creatures who would never hurt another soul except in defense of an innocent. Every one of them has wound up in bed from a single kiss because it felt right. Let the world call them whatever names they choose for their behavior, but I know who stood by your side and sacrificed all to save this world. They are the powerful men I want you to become."

Max tilted his head, trying to understand the words he was hearing. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Chet nodded, pointing behind him. "There are acres of protected forests out there on this island, not for the sake of any historical accuracy. They are there because our people need a place where they can be together outdoors. There are buildings with more soundproofing than any code requires. That is to protect humans from hearing our family's copulations at all hours of the day and night. This is the world of the beasts. This is our world. It is full of passion and love. It is full of lust for each other and our lives together. We learn to never turn away from each other by embracing all that we are."

Max stared at the angel. "You're saying you won't fuck us, but you don't care who else does?"

Chet shrugged. "Well, that takes all the poetry out of it, but yes; that's what I'm saying."

Jean Pierre smiled. "But one day... when I can fold these," he said, yanking at the wings, "you'll be there fucking us too, right?"

"Of course, and let no one try to stop me." He was quiet for a bit. "And besides, I can show you a few spots on Derrick that drive him crazy that only I know about."

The three laughed together as they hugged. "We will talk to our family," Chet finally said as their laughter ended. "They will understand why we must do what we do, and why we must live the way we do for the days to come."

"And they're going to be okay with our ages?"

"Not all of them, but most of them will understand better than this old hawk you wish to marry."

Max hugged Chet. "We'll wait for you the same as you wait for us. When we bite your neck, and make no mistake, we will bite your neck, none of us will have doubts about the rightness of our union."

Chet hugged back and then felt the blond bear push up from behind into the hug. He sighed happily as he felt the swollen cock of the bear push into his tail feathers. "Wait for me, Jefes. I promise to make it worth your patience."

Jean Pierre kissed the back of the hawk-man. "Wait for us, Chet. We promise the same."

The quiet of the hug lasted until the two bears heard the angel take a deep breath and push out from the two. "And so now you know of my non-negotiable requirements for this triad to form."

"Yes, Sir," the two bears answered happily.

"And what are yours?"

"What?"

"What do you require of me to become your mate? What must I realize is non-negotiable for both of you?"

The two looked confused. "I don't think we've given it much thought," Max said looking at his mate. "Can we think about it for a bit?"

Jean Pierre smiled and nodded in agreement. "We're still kids, Chet. Long-term planning isn't a big thing for us yet." He paused. "But you remember us when we were kids, right? We weren't normal kids. That hasn't changed."

"I remember," Chet replied with a smile. "I'm aware that your maturity is far beyond your age."

"And so does, I, Hawk," Oliver's voice said as the little badger waddled up to the two bears and grabbed a paw from each. "Kiss the angel goodbye, boys," he commanded.

"Oliver!"

"Times speeding by, Hawk," the badger said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Kiss him, boys." The boys complied, and Oliver grabbed the bears' paws again and tugged at them. "These two has got studying to do, and we's starting tonight."

"But... but..." the hawk-man stammered.

"Yep, that's one thing we's studying. And if you wants to knows what you's missing by not being in class tonight, you watch them butts while we's walking away. 'Cause, Hawk, you has got some fine butts in your life that we ain't letting go to waste while you catches up with the rest of your family." The badger stopped, turned, and looked back at Chet. "Lessin' you gots some dumb-ass rule about them not getting their butts pounded by anyone but you first."

Chet laughed and waved the badger off. "No, no, Oliver. I have no rules about their butts." He looked at the bears. "And I have only one rule for the two of you. Never say no to any suggestions until you've tried them at least twice. The first time to decide if you like the activity and the second time to make sure you were right the first time."

The two bears grinned. "Really, Chet?"

"Really."

"As for you, Hawk," Oliver said as he tugged the boys back into their walk. "I suggest you head back to Montana and fix up that place of yours. The boys and me are coming there tomorrow bright and early to pick out a bed that will fit the four of us. We only gots one day before we gots to be back here for the party."

Jean Pierre looked down at the badger. "The four of us?"

"Well, you needs a bed big enough so family can visits you from time to time, right?"

The two bears thought about it for a moment. "Right!" they agreed as they began walking away from Chet and toward their family.

"See you tomorrow, Hawk," Oliver said as the three crested the hill and were gone.

Chet tapped his ComLink. "Tiff," he said and waited. "Hi Tiff," he said to the voice on the other side. "I'm a bit too pressed for time to fly home on my own. Do you think you could drop by and pick me up?" He listened for a moment. "Yes, that's true. My home will always be by their side, but for tonight, there's a little bungalow down in Montana that needs making into more of a home for the three of us."

Chet quietly listened. He gave out a boisterous laugh. "I have no problem with you showing them any of the things you've learned over the years. Just understand in the beginning I might not be there to use as a visual aid." Chet listened again. "I will explain it all to you on the way home." He was quiet again, listening when the first chirp of a summer cricket began its call, looking for a mate. "Thanks, Tiff. I'll see you soon." The cricket called out again and began its staccato melody. The angel smiled, listening to both the wolf on the ComLink and the cricket. "I love you too, Tiff."

Chet tapped his ComLink, breaking the signal. He sat down on the bench and looked out at the breakwater as the waves rushed in. He sighed heavily. "Hawk," he said aloud to himself. "Do right by these boys. Do right by the men they will become."

He felt the warm paws of the black wolf press into his shoulders. "You will be fine, Chet," Derrick said comfortingly.

Chet looked back. "You think so?"

The wolf smiled. "I know so. Let's head back to the helipad. Your future husbands will have their hands full for the night. Perhaps you would like a bit of company this evening to take the edge off when they come to visit tomorrow. Sated beasts deal better when they're visited by the ones they want, but promised not to have."

"There is no bed at my place, Pup."

"Has that ever been a problem before?"

"No."

"Well then, shall we head over to the helipad?"

"I would like that," Chet said, pushing up from the bench. He hugged the black wolf. "Thank you for all our years together. I love you, Pup."

"And I love you, Chet," the wolf said. They hugged quietly for a moment. "It will all work out, Chet. We have time to make it all work out. They came back to give you that time. Don't be afraid to use it."

The wings folded around the black wolf, and the hug continued. Chet's ComLink toned the Red Wolf's arrival before the two broke their hug and ran toward the helipad.

Chapter 24

The weather was more than cooperative as the promised party began with games for the island children. The favorite was easily jousting with pool noodles on the backs of temple dogs. Even the oldest children, who felt they had outgrown most of the games, had no problem letting the temple dogs throw them onto their backs. With a firm grip on the harness wrapped around the chest of the beasts, they rode toward each other brandishing cardboard shields and tubes of brightly colored foam.

Sharing in activities that let them interact with their recently returned family provided the adults with the entertainment they sought. Will cooperated as the smaller children tied him up before the cutting of the cake. He surprised the children when he easily broke his bonds and ran off with the cake. At first, the children were crestfallen at the turn of events. However, the youngest children rallied with a rowdy cheer when Hanuel and Kwan brought out even larger cakes to replace the one stolen. The foster parents sacrificed the first cake, knowing that the old wolf deserved his own for all he had done to protect his family.

As the day progressed, questions asked by the adults about what had transpired found answers, even if the answers led to more confusion. Some accepted they would never understand the events of that fateful day. It was simply the day when two bears, their uncles, and the Hargrove house all returned as if nothing had ever happened. Except for the Hargrove house's missing roof, and a rhino-shaped hole through the side of the home, all seemed as it was before.

In mid-afternoon, Oliver began gathering the Changelings and select werebeasts away from the general crowd. He also invited the parents of the two bears to attend the impromptu meeting. But it was with an understanding that while they could advise the youths, they would need to let them both make their own choices and honor them.

"What do you mean by 'make their own choices?'" Michael asked the badger.

"And what do you mean by 'youths'?" Paul said, pushing the other point.

The badger answered both. "There is something that needs doing, and today is the day it gets done. Your babies is a part of that, but they ain't babies no more. You gets to be the parents you never gots to be, but you've gots to be the ones who help them boys become men. You gots to understand their lives ain't never gonna be normal, but the love you gots for them always will be. Let them become men today. Let them become what they needs to be."

Paul shook his head. "That's all we ever wanted, Uncle Oliver. Are you telling us they're not men?"

"They's not yet by many people's thinking. But they is turning into such wonderful men. You gots to let their lives unfold in ways you might never understand."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Uncle Oliver, the truth. Not in clouded words. The whole truth. Who is sleeping in our homes at night?"

"Your babies, Sarah. They is your boys. Max made them sixteen years old again so that they can lives out a life with as much of a childhood as they can have in this world."

Paul's eyes tightened as he frowned. "You're out there with our sixteen-year-old boys, Oliver? You're telling me those nights out in the forest are with sixteen-year-old boys? And what of Chet? He's been with those boys all this time?"

Oliver shook his head. "No... no... When your boys came back the first time, they was just as they said they was. When they walked into the forest with Chet, they was twenty-six and thirty-three. But when they come back this time, they was younger again. So much younger. Chet won't lay a hand on them boys because he believes that they's too young to mate. He is waiting for them to fledge, whatever that means."

"And you, Badger. What of you?" Paul pressed.

"You don'ts got no right to judge what you don'ts understand," Oliver said.

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT," Paul yelled.

"No, Paul, you don't," he heard the voice from behind him. He turned and saw Chet dressed in his work clothes. "You know nothing of this world that surrounds you. You dabbled your feet on the shoreline of our reality and think you understand the ocean."

"Max is my son," Paul said defiantly.

"And he will one day be my mate. Do we need a contest of who loves the boy the most, or can we agree our love is not in dispute?"

Paul's face calmed. "I'm sorry, Chet. This isn't a challenge of who loves our son more. I am challenging your actions." Paul paused and waved toward where the Changelings gathered. "And not even yours. It seems you're waiting for my son to mature enough to take on the responsibilities I thought a thirty-five-year-old man would understand. But not so with the other beasts and my sixteen-year-old boy."

"Do you have any idea who lives under your roof, Human?" Chet asked with indignation. "You see your son in the eyes of the glacier bear. I am glad you do. Too many humans turn away from their children when they display a difference from the norm."

"I am not that father, Chet," Paul protested.

"Are you so sure, Human?"

"Stop calling me human," Paul yelled.

"Then stop acting like one," Chet retorted back. Paul was huffing as he stared angrily at Chet. Chet pointed toward the blue bear. "Look at him, Paul. Look at your son. And then stop judging his behavior or ours by your standards."

"There are laws of..."

"And your son made sure we met those human laws," Chet interrupted. "They are sixteen by their own words. I trust them never to lie to me. I hope you do the same."

"Of course," Paul retorted.

"And the age of consent in Canada, lawyer?"

Paul looked down at his feet. "Sixteen."

"And what of the laws of the werebeasts?"

"You don't have any laws."

There was a sudden murmur in the crowd that had gathered. "Chet," the white bear interrupted.

Chet shook his head. "No, Father; let him say his piece. Let him tell me how many years he's studied the laws of the Were Nation. What does he know of our biology, of our history, or of our sacrifice so that humans can live? Is he ready to speak to those? Let him tell me the day he stopped being our family and started being our judge."

Paul looked up with a look of horror on his face. "Oh god, Chet," he stammered. "Oh god, I am so sorry. I only meant to protect our child."

"And you think we would be any less diligent in that pursuit?" Chet asked. Paul stood mute.

"No, Chet, you never would be," Sarah said. She looked up at Tyler and Michael as they clung to their son. "This fight stops now. You teach us what we can't see. You tell us what we don't understand." She looked at the two fathers. "You tell me how you let your son go out into those woods without a single regret."

Tyler pulled his son in even more tightly. "Because my son is a werebeast. We have the blood of humans running through our veins. A paltry few million years of evolution compared to the billions of years that became a part of us the day we were reborn as werebeasts. You possess one gene in your body that tells you to protect and defend, to love and care for all. Can you see how it makes you defend what you feel is best for your son? What do you think happens to your soul when it links to one hundred thirty-eight genes driving you to protect and be one with your own?"

Paul and Sarah both shook their head acknowledging they didn't know.

"Everyone, stop this," the voice of the blue bear said. He looked at his parents. "Mom, Dad, your family doesn't deserve this. This was my choice. I was the one to bring JP and me back to these bodies. If we made a mistake, it was mine, not those around us. I realize this is difficult, but don't chastise your family for trying their best to help the two of us through a very difficult circumstance of my making."

"I'm sorry, Son," Paul said, "but what difference does it make if you're a bear or a human if what we're talking about is you being a boy and not yet a man?"

"Because a human needs so much less than a Changeling in the way of contact to grow up strong. Who I am inside is your sixteen your old son, but this..." the blue bear said thumping his chest, "This is a werebeast, and there is so much I didn't realize going into this that I overlooked.

"This body was born of the Unity. Think of what it means to be a species so bonded that they never refer to themselves as individuals. They are simply the Unity. When they step away from that unity as they have done to be with us, it does not come without a cost. The Children of the Night did not go insane because of some missing gene that didn't attach itself to their DNA. What turned them into insane creatures lashing out at the world around them was loneliness and abandonment. Nine months alone, lost in a hell where they cried out to be one with their own, but hearing nothing, they slowly went insane. Do you have any idea what it feels like? Ask Eric. Ask him what it felt like to live alone in his chrysalis."

"They needn't ask, Max," the polar bear said uncomfortably. "I will not tell them of so personal a pain."

Max stepped away from his parents and toward the beasts behind him. "I didn't realize what these bodies of ours need to maintain our connection to this world. I figured we were just humans with fur, but I was wrong. The ninth law of the Were Nation is that no one is turned before the age of twenty-five. The needs of a werebeast are so complex that one needs to understand them on a visceral level. Every member of the Were Nation wants the newborns to understand the commitment they make, not only to themselves but to the nation. My lack of understanding and experience with this body led me to make a choice that complicated everything."

"In over twelve thousand years, only once was that rule broken. To save the life of a boy." Max turned to Jason as the fox clung to his husband, Jean Pierre. "Please, Jason, let the tale be told. Let them see what their son has become a part of."

Jason looked up at his mate. "Tell them," he whispered.

The French wolf took a step forward, but his hand never left the young fox's. "This is a story that few know beyond our pack. It is one that I share only now with great reluctance. But if it opens the eyes of our human family to what is at stake in this conversation, I will abide by my husband's wishes. But recognize that this is sacred to me and painful to my mate. What we speak now we never repeat without the permission of the fox that stands before you." There was a nod throughout the crowd.

"It was nineteen forty-two. World War 2 had enveloped the globe. Tiff and Tuff were part of the British Army Air Corps. The white bear and the old wolf had stepped into the fray to save the injured. I had returned to my place of birth in a much more clandestine attempt to save my brothers. I was a part of the French resistance. You hear the horror stories of what the Nazis did to the Jews. Rarely is the sacrifice that the French made to provide safe passage for those hunted by the Nazis ever mentioned. To be a part of the resistance was to place a death sentence on your head, the heads of your family, and any of those even remotely thought to support you."

"I was outside Drancy, a suburb of Paris, preparing to meet with contacts that were helping me transport werewolves to safety. To the resistance, they were refugees from the Nazis; homosexuals who were fleeing the country when they had the chance. Jews, Poles, Gypsies, communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and so many others; the Nazis hated us all with equal fervor. Before my brothers realized what was happening, they took them to concentration camps. There, the Nazis exterminated them arm in arm with all those who died in the Holocaust. Our affection for each other was our undoing. The holding cell for so many before their transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau was an internment camp in Drancy."

"A few miles from the camp, I saw a body face down in the mud along the side of the road. I rushed to help but realized there was little that I could do when I saw the bullet holes in his body. Two had shattered his kneecaps. Whoever had shot the lad was toying with him before they fired the shots to kill him. They left him to bleed to death in the rain because it amused them."

The wolf's eyes glowed bright yellow with the fire of recalled memories. "I knelt beside him and turned him over, hoping that I could ease the pain of his last moments on earth. And then I saw the pink triangle sewn onto his coat. He was a child, a young lad; and yet marked for death for loving another man." Jean Pierre's voice choked, and the little fox's hand squeezed him more tightly. "I couldn't... I couldn't let this happen again. We had all seen too much death. The blood of the Were Nation flowed alongside so many of the persecuted. I couldn't let the lad, who never even tasted life, lose his to the surrounding horror."

"I told him who I was... and what I was. I told him I could save his life but at a cost. He would never be human again. He looked into my eyes and told me he had never been human, that he was a freak of nature cast out by everyone. Even his parents turned him over the Nazi occupation. I told him that if he said yes, he would never be alone again."

Jason spoke, "He told me I would become a mix of man and wolf and I told him I wanted to become a pink wolf so that everyone would witness who I was. The mark the Nazi gave to shame me would become my badge of honor." Jason shook his head, remembering the day. "Poor Jean Pierre, trying to convince a dying boy that wolves don't come in pink. I was so headstrong, so angry at the world determined to kill me. I am a fox because as hard as I tried to become a pink wolf, when the pain of my transformation came, all I could think of was the most brightly colored canid I knew."

Jean Pierre leaned down and kissed the fox. He looked up. "And so I turned him. I broke every law I had ever learned, and I turned him. I wouldn't let them win. This child wouldn't slip into oblivion, a cipher to the world that gave him birth."

Jason tugged at the wolf's hand. "I was born into the world of the werebeasts. And with my birth, a second beast was born in opposition to everything he hoped to be." Jason looked at Oliver and smiled. "We are the two smallest of our kind, and the only two born into this world harboring a secret desire that no one else knew of."

Oliver stepped closer to Jason. "We was bound and determined to kill as many humans as we coulds before they killt us. We was all rage and anger against what we seen as the disease that killt everything that was ever good."

Jason reached over and put his free hand into the badger's paw. "I wanted to become a pink wolf so that as a human I could rise in the ranks of the Hitler Youth as their poster child of Aryan greatness. The day I stood before Hitler, I would turn and rip out his throat as a pink wolf screaming, 'liberté pour les homosexuels.' Jean Pierre gave me the perfect path to the fall of the Third Reich's leader. I would die, but I would take so many with me before I fell. But the turning is more than only our desire, it seems. Instead of a wolf of terror and revenge, I became a little fox, still too weak to do anything but depend on the wolf that changed me to nurse me back to health."

"And me," Oliver added, "I was gonna become the werewolf that was gonna save the Were Nation by killing every gun totin' human that lay in my path. Insteads, I become a tiny badger. And then to make matters worser, I turned from the wolf that loved me and ran out into the world on my own."

"This is why we are telling you my story, Dr. and Mr. Carver," Jason said. "So you understand what happens to a newborn beast raised in the Were Nation."

"And a beast that ain't," Oliver added.

Jason continued the story. "Every day, I watched the wolf as he tended not only to me but the other werewolves in his charge. I watched as he gave aid and comfort to strangers, both beast and human alike. It never mattered to him who or what was before him. If they needed his help, he gave it to them.

"At the end of every day, he lay down with me in that tiny bed and we touched. He taught me how to love through his every act. He stayed by my side not merely because he turned me, but because I was his family. I needed what his body offered me so far beyond the physical acts you are afraid your sons are engaging in out in those forests.

"Werebeasts are creatures that need the touch of their fellow beasts. It isn't only affection. Despite what some looking from the outside might think, it certainly isn't just sex. It is a union that transfers to each participant a part of who we are, and what we stand for, every time we interact."

"A beast that turns from that," Oliver interrupted, "ain't got no guide. He ain't got no one to teach him to be what he should be. And worst of all, he is alone when no beast should ever be alone. You gots no idea the hell we go through when we is alone with no other beast to calm the storm insides our heads."

Jason nodded. "By the end of the first week, the rage inside me started fading along with the scars of the bullet holes. I saw the work that Jean Pierre did, and I realized that there was grace and dignity in him. There was something different about the man that held me in his arms each night. I couldn't understand what it was. I couldn't see past my anger, but there was something that drew me to him nonetheless. And yes, there was sex. There was always sex. And it was the first time in my life that I felt I belonged to something greater than myself. It was the first time that I felt a part of a family."

Oliver sighed. "The old wolf would have done the same for me if I hadn't ran away. He would have taught me the ways of the beast and taught me how to love." Oliver's head bowed. "But I'se a badger and I can dig into hell faster than any critter alive. I can digs so fast you ain't never gonna find me."

"I met Will three weeks later at the border of France and Switzerland," Jason continued. "What a whirlwind of passion all rolled up into a body that lives for the contact of another."

Will smiled. "I might put that on my resume, Fox," he said.

Jason laughed. "And thus began my socialization into the Were Nation. Jean Pierre told me that his work had to continue, but that my family needed to protect me. He entrusted Will with my safekeeping. Will became my guardian, and when I reached out to him as I had to Jean Pierre, he never balked; he never turned away. He showed me the same love and affection I needed to heal. When he introduced me to the white bear, I found another who never held back his affections. Never in my life had I known a love offered without expectations. In my second month by the side of the bear and wolf, Eric told me that Tiff and Tuff would transport me to Britain. From there, I flew to the Americas to live in a place called Montana."

The fox looked at the Carvers. "Somewhere along the line, my goal to rip out the throat of Hitler faded as the actions of the werebeasts that surrounded me taught me another path. And the morning that Tiff and Tuff arrived, I lay in Will's arms after a night of exactly what upsets you so greatly. He brushed back the hair from my brow and smiled at me. 'I love you,' he said, and I understood beyond knowing that was the truth. He looked into my eyes. I felt like he saw that darkest part of my soul when he said, 'Don't kill, Fox. Don't ever kill. Don't make Jean Pierre ever regret giving you back your life. Make him proud. Make us all proud. But mostly, do it to save yourself and to become the beast you are meant to be.'"

"I took his words, and they framed my life from then on," the fox said quietly. "I love the old wolf and my passion for him has never waned."

"Mine ain't neither," Oliver said. "But you knows my path, Carver family. You knows what it took for me to find my way back. I missed out on so much from the path I took. I ain't sorry I is who I is, but I has my nights when I wonder how life might have been if I had bit the neck of that wolf instead of running from him. Jason and I is the paths your sons can take. Werebeasts ain't got no middle ground that's worth a damn."

Chet cleared his throat. "I can attest to that," he said. "You've seen what hiding ourselves does to us. It keeps us from becoming a part of our family. We hang onto life without ever living it. It cuts away at our souls until it takes a major intervention to pull us back from the brink. Forgive us if we won't subject your son to that for the sake of conforming to human social norms."

"I love your son, and I love JP," Chet added. "I will let nothing stand in the way of the day I ask them to be my mates. And I will make sure on that day they are proud, loving, winged beasts. I will teach them the ways of the winged beasts, but I rely on my family to keep them safe and their needs met as they grow into their new bodies. I am doing exactly what I promised you I would do so many months ago, Paul."

The fox shook himself into his human form. Small, gaunt, and so frail; the Carvers stared at the youth, realizing they had never seen Jason as anything but the little fox. "Your boys are as young as I was the day I was turned, but I have never grown a day older from that moment. My human body is still sixteen and always will be. For the sake of my husband and the rules, I have always pretended to be older, but we've never fooled the Were Nation with our subterfuge. They simply look the other way, knowing that there were greater rules in play that day than rule nine.

"Your son's soul is young, but his body is not. Werebeasts are ancient from the moment they are born. The blood that moves through our veins drives us toward each other. To turn from that comes at a cost your son should never have to pay." The lad shifted and once more was a fox.

"Mom, Dad," Max interjected. "The nature of these bodies requires the contact you acknowledge for years happens all around you. We need it to thrive. We're not just horny animals out trying to rut. We're maintaining our ties to the Unity that we are slowly becoming. Thousands of years from now, the differences between the Were Nation and the Terran Changelings will disappear. Humans might even follow someday. One day JP and I will catch up with our older human bodies. But until that day, you need to understand that our werebeasts are already older than even the humans we appear to be inside your homes. We returned as sixteen because I hoped we could be children for a time. But we are older, so much older in these bodies of fur and claw than you will ever know."

The Kermode bear pushed gently away from his father and stood by Max's side. "We love you and understand your frustration. But please understand ours. We want to be your children. We will always be your children. But we are also the children of the Were Nation, and they are making sure we grow up strong. They are seeing to our needs the same as you. Please don't let this be an issue between families that have shared so much love over the years."

Chet reached out and hugged Paul. "I am sorry for my defensiveness. I am still struggling with many of the same feelings that you do. This is not a simple time for any of us. But you must trust us that nothing is more important to us than the care of your child. And nothing is more important to us than the care of the beast he became before he ever backtracked his age. Months ago, Jefe, you told me you relied on your family to make sure your child became a good gay man. We have never once turned from your goal. But you need to know that goal is so much different from what you think it is now that he is a beast. There is so much more to becoming a good gay man than there ever was before he turned. Trust us to see what you cannot."

Paul's eyes were brimming with tears. He kissed the side of Chet's neck. "Do you ever tire of me sticking my foot in my mouth?" he asked.

"Not me," Will said. "I kind of like it. Sort of makes you... well... human."

"I'm sorry," Paul said. "My personal bias kept me from seeing what I should have known. For that, I am truly sorry. I should never have doubted that my family would always... always take care of my child."

"I shoulds have thought of a better way to tell you," Oliver admitted. "Sometimes what we does makes no sense to humans. Don't mean we is wrong. Don't mean you can'ts understand. But it does mean I shoulds have done better by explaining it to you. I'se sorry Carver clan. I tooks it for granted that you'd understand without no explanation."

"We should have known better as well," Sarah said. "We should have asked for explanations instead of jumping in to judge. There are some delicate issues here, and I know we all want what's best for our children. They were born into two different worlds at two different times in their life. It's not up to them to find common ground between those worlds. That's our responsibility. We're going to need to learn what's best for them instead of straining our relationships arguing."

Paul continued to hug Chet. "I think in the future, you might save us from these moments. You are so much a part of our lives, we forget sometimes that you are another species and culture. Please be gentle when you're breaking such life-altering news. You're not the only ones that have special needs in order to thrive."

Chet let the hug go. "I promise we will do our best. I am truly sorry for today. Max and JP being sixteen came as a bit of a shock to us as well. We're trying to keep a balance here."

The polar bear came up and hugged Sarah. "We all have challenges to meet as your children grow. As best you can, let us take care of the beasts. The children that are growing older by the day will be a handful that your skills will need to deal with, as you would have always done."

"Eric is right, Mom," Max said. "JP and I were going at it pretty hot and heavy by the time we were sixteen in our other life. So this isn't all that big a change in routine except that we have a lot more fur and social options."

Sarah plugged her ears. "Na na na na na..." she said with a laugh. "I don't want to hear that, Maxwell Carver."

The blue bear leaned in and hugged his mother. He kissed her on the cheek. "Understood, Mom. Just realize I will always be your son."

"Are you going to let us have a wedding when you mate with Chet and JP?"

Max looked up at the two, who smiled back at him. "Sure, why not? Before or after the actual mating?"

"After, I think. It's time we honor the traditions of the Were Nation if we can find a tutor to teach us about them."

"And the laws and rules," Paul interjected. "It might be easier on the human lawyer if he learned those, you know."

Derrick smiled. "I would be happy to teach your family all about the world your son has been born into."

"That would be nice," Sarah said.

"And perhaps when today is done, we might extend our focus beyond this island and figure out how we can help the rest of the world right itself," Paul said.

The collective snort from the beasts as they exhaled in frustration told Paul he had done it again. Will reached out, grabbed the human, and hugged him. With a gentle kiss on the cheek, he said, "I love what you've done with that foot in your mouth, Nephew. It absolutely screams YOU."

Paul sighed. "I know. Time to educate the human again, uncles."

Eric laughed. "We are here today to celebrate the return of our sons and lovers. That would be law number three, in case you're interested. First law: Above all else, protect the innocent. Second law: Your family is all. Guard. Guide. Give. Third law: Never let the moment pass when love can be shared."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Okay, dumb human here, but I am honestly trying not to let the moment pass."

Eric smiled. "And you're doing fine, Nephew. You're not dumb. But sometimes you don't realize what is going on all around you. Jean Pierre, Jason, and Lothair are coordinating most of the relief efforts out of Montana."

"The Were Nation is tightly knit, Paul," the French Wolf said. "We are coordinating relief efforts on all seven continents, even as we speak. Today we're taking a break to be with our family. We are obeying rules number two and three. The European contingent is covering for us out of Ireland."

"All seven continents?" Paul asked. "Do you have some sort of penguin rescue going on?"

"The penguins are doing fine at the moment. The multi-national research teams lost their supply delivery when the governments fell into turmoil. We've dropped by to provide them with food and new generators. The wind generators we installed will fare better than the old system they were using. We also replaced their old solar generators with newer ones. They have a battery storage system that's a little beyond current technology. We're hoping that they don't figure that out too quickly. But they are scientists, and it gets boring down there, so they might start tinkering."

"Here on this continent, you might remember the announcement made by the President of the United States concerning the missile launches."

"Yeah, I remember," Paul said with a frown. "The government taking claim for something they didn't do. The same thing that happened the day Gaia twisted those guns into knots."

"Not exactly, Paul," the French wolf said. "The world saw the horror they barely escaped. They saw it exploding over their heads. They watched as every light in their countries faded. A frightened world begged for an explanation. The answer came from a suggestion by a US senator. Tell the people that all those years of working on the space station was a cooperative effort of the world's superpowers to set into place a grid that would protect them were they ever to face nuclear annihilation by a terrorist launch of missiles."

"It was a lie," Paul said.

"It was." the polar bear interjected. "But it helped calm a world spiraling out of control. People needed to feel that there was some sort of redemption for what they had become. This one lie let them feel there might be a way back. Whatever happened; the people of earth needed to believe that they had a part in their own salvation." The polar bear smiled. "So Senator Tyrell approached the President with the idea. A lie, as you say, but one created not for political gain, but a love of his people. The history books will never acknowledge the contribution of Senator Jean-Batiste Tyrell to this world. But the Were Nation recognizes one of their own for what he's done."

Paul stared at the white bear. "The Speaker of the Senate is a werewolf?"

Will laughed. "And sooooo fucking hot."

"I imagine you telling me what's happening elsewhere is only going to make me feel even worse," Paul said, shaking his head.

"I imagine so," Jean Pierre said with a grin. "But understand that we are not waiting for the humans to figure out all that is happening to them. Despite the number of governments that have fallen overnight, the people are struggling to find balance. No country has started a war, and no military coup has attempted to take advantage of the confusion right now. That's a good sign."

The Eurasian wolf walked over to Paul and hugged him. "If you would like to be involved in the relief efforts, we could use your help. We would have asked earlier, but we felt you needed time with your family. That whole law number two is what it is, you know."

"I do now, Jean Pierre," Paul said. "An apology isn't much in the way of compensation for my ignorance, but if you can forgive me, I promise I will be there by your side. I can't offer much more than a willing attitude, my abilities as a lawyer, and arms ready to accept as many hugs as you're willing to offer me."

"You can gets those anytime you wants, Human," Oliver said. Paul looked at the badger with his wide grin. Somehow, the word human didn't carry the sting it had earlier. Oliver's playful smile widened. "Probably gonna needs some myself later today if you ain't busy."

Sarah took a deep breath. "So, Uncle Oliver, how about we let the other shoe drop now? You said there was something you had to do."

Oliver nodded. "Seems like as good a time as any." Oliver waved the Changelings closer. "We's only a few days from when all hell broke loose, and I wish I coulds let things rest for a bit, but I'se gots a favor to ask of all of you."

The Changelings nodded. "Whatever you need, Oliver," Kris said.

"Before the change, I heard the Old Bear yell, 'all in.'" Oliver said. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

"It does," Eric said.

"Then we gots some discussing to do," Oliver said. "First," he said, looking at Nathaniel, "Husband, can I gets a hug?"

Nathaniel smiled. "Of course." He reached down and grabbed the badger, pulling him in close. There was a bright green flash of light and Nathaniel pushed back, covered in a green glow. "Oliver?"

"You needs it, Bear," Oliver said. "Green clan all needs it. You's healers. World's gonna need healers now more than ever."

Nathaniel smiled. "Thank you, Oliver. I was missing it."

Oliver looked outward. "Come on, Green clan, we ain't got all day. Ivan, Kris, Old Bear, you alls getting your power back. Ain't gonna be as strong as before, of course, but it will grow back like it always does."

Ivan and Kris both stepped forward and hugged the badger as he transferred the power. He looked at Eric, who held back. "Come on, Old Bear," he ordered.

The polar bear stood back. "Oliver, can I decline?"

"Why woulds you?"

"Because I have lived too long with the powers you know I possess. I'm ready to let others deal with them. I promise I will still be a healer, but you realize how the power of the Unity manifests in me. You see what the others don't."

Oliver smiled. "I does that, Old Bear. But you's strong for a reason. Ain't right for you to walk away from what you is. And, we both knows that what you is, is more than what you was born."

Eric smiled. "I love you, Oliver. You're right. But, let's make a deal. I will take back the power the next time we are alone together."

"We hardly gets no time alone, Old Bear. You knows that. We's been knowing each other for what, nearly two hundred years? And in all that time, we's never been alone but once."

"That seems about right. It gives me time to adjust a bit before accepting the responsibility."

Oliver frowned. "And you wants me to hold onto it until then? Bastard Bear, I don'ts like it anymore than you do. You ain't just green, Bear. Ain't easy holding on to what you is."

"Then I will promise not to let another two hundred years pass by before we're alone together."

The badger smiled. "I guess I can holds it for awhile, Old Bear. You's always been worth waiting for."

Paul shook his head. "They're right. I am ill-informed about the ways of werebeasts. It sounds like you two are negotiating to have sex."

Oliver looked up at Paul. "That's because we is. The Old Bear is really good at it. I'se got to give him back a power he don't wants. Might as well make it as pleasant for him as I can."

"And he's holding it for me until I can adjust to accepting it back," Eric said. "Might as well try to thank him for his kindness."

Paul laughed. "Well, I hope you're not asking us to accept the Blue clan power back."

"Nah, ain't gonna ask you to do that," Oliver said, shaking his head. "You's humans. You weren't never meant to hold onto the power for long. It was Max that the Changeling wanted to give the power to. But he was human, so he had to divide it up so it wouldn't kill him."

Oliver approached the oversized young man who had stood next to Padre Fitzgerald. "You comes to see me when you turn, Diego. There's some of the healer in me that's meant for you."

"I'm not turning, Oliver," Diego said with a smile. "I'm going to grow up and marry the guy next to me."

Oliver looked at Billy and smiled. "Yeah, I knows. You both come and sees me."

Oliver turned toward Derrick. "You gonna be okay with it, Pup? You knows the power was meant for you. We's gonna need builders now, too. This world is seriously broke."

Derrick shook his head. "You know I don't want it, Husband." His paw flared blue. "But here it is. I figured there was a reason that Max took us all with him. He was keeping us from going all in, wasn't he?"

Max's wing fluttered as he nodded. "I'm sorry, Wolfy. I had to preserve the powers of the Changelings. You were the ones I had nearest to me. I am asking you to hold the power as its guardian. I won't force it on you. You can decline the same as Eric did at first and for the same legitimate reasons. But I hope eventually you make the same choice that he did. I would love the wolf that turned me to still be a part of my clan."

"Well, I'll keep it, but can I hold out to get something like the deal Papa Bear got? You know, something special from my clanmate to make it easier on me."

Max nodded. "Holding onto the power won't ever be easy, Wolfy, but I will make sure you're more than aware of my gratitude."

The black wolf smiled. "Then we have a deal."

Oliver grinned. "I was hopin' you'd say that." He looked at the blue bear. "You gots some serious convincing to do there, Bear. None of us wants what we has to take on, but you can make it easier for us to say yes."

Will sighed. "You're going to ask me to hold on to this, aren't you, Oliver?" the old wolf said as his paw flared red.

"You's a part of the Red clan, Old Wolf. They's like all the others. Gots to be three. Francisco and Lothair are two. You gots what they needs to become what they was. Like Max said, you all can say no to it; but if you don'ts take it, it will seek out someone else and gives it to them. You's really too nice to let someone else deal with that, and you knows it."

"I'm a bastard, Oliver. You know that."

"Yeah, you is. But you has never lets that stop you from being kind. You is the one that needs to give that power back to the Changelings."

Will looked at his glowing paw. He looked up at Lothair and Francisco. "Okay, can I flip the deal Derrick and the old bear have? I give your powers back to you, and you make the giving easier on me?"

Lothair laughed. "Old Wolf, it would honor me to take back my powers at your hand. Let's leave the scars so we remember what we do this day." Francisco nodded his agreement.

Will smiled and nodded his consent. Oliver giggled slightly at the thought of what was being planned for the day. "Sure. We can has a group grope kind of thing. It will be fun. Ain't none of us going to be too happy with the outcome, but at least we's all gonna hate our powers together. That's why we's family."

Kris looked at the badger. "You could have done it that way, Badger? You could have given it back to me while we were having sex?"

"I suspect I could have."

"Well, then I'm rightly upset now," the brown bear said.

"I can makes it up to you. I gots ways," the badger said with a smile.

Paul laughed aloud, and Sarah followed. "I don't get how you even keep these negotiations straight."

Oliver looked at Paul. "None of us is straight. We don't gots to keep nothing' straight."

Paul waved his hand. "Okay, Uncle Oliver. On with your chores."

Oliver stood momentarily, figuring in his head. "Green clan, check. Blue clan, check. Although they's gonna have to find a third one day, that ain't my problem."

"We already have a third, Oliver," Max interrupted. "Gaia is Blue clan. She is the third of the builder clan."

"But she's a spaceship," Oliver said, shaking his head in confusion.

Kris smiled. "And she is my companion. You forget that our corporeal bodies aren't always anthropomorphic." He smiled, giving some thought to his comment. "We don't always look like upright animals, Oliver."

Oliver looked at the grass below him, and he knelt down, running his paws through the green. "Thank you, Gaia. Wishes I could gives you something nice for holding onto your power, but there ain't much we got that you needs. Still, you knows we loves you." A small flower popped up between the badger's fingers and he smiled. "Red clan, check. Yellow clan, they ain't never lost their power, so they's a check." He looked up. "I'se all done." Oliver looked at Donovan. "I wish I could take it from you, Donovan. I wish we both could turn it off, but you knows it ain't going away."

"I'm aware, Badger," Donovan said with a sigh. "I had hoped it would be gone after all that happened, but our lot in life isn't that easy."

"We gots each other and JP makes three. The universe should be happy. We ain't like the other clans. We don't need no special number, but let's hope we ain't got to have no more of us."

"You already do," Max interjected. The blue bear extended his paw and a small orb of white light spun in its center.

Oliver looked up. "But you's Blue Clan."

"And a Channeler," Max replied. "I wasn't willing to give up my links to the Blue clan because the universe tried to foist something else on me. I knew that understanding how to make order out of chaos was essential to becoming what I am. But I accepted the powers of a Channeler because that too was essential. How do you think I could take all the power from you three and make it into something else? The Blue clan can't do something that big without a help. There had to be a buffer."

Oliver thought for a moment. "Didn't think about it at all. Well, you gots a family of Channelers. You and JP can learn to use it together."

"We have lots of things to learn in the coming years," the Kermode bear said with a frown as he rubbed his wing. "I guess we add that to the list."

"Learning to be winged beasts takes precedence," Chet said with a smile. "We need to have priorities, and our future family is top on that list."

Max and JP nodded. "That was never in question," Max responded. "We know where our priorities are, and they have never veered from you."

Oliver grinned happily. "Well, that's all I had, folks. We can all goes back to the party now. I'se drained off most of what I hoped to get rids of, so I'm happy."

Chet looked at the badger. "What if some of us were hoping to drain you of other things?"

Oliver's face brightened. "Really?"

"Well, I can't share my affections with the bears until they've fledged. It would be nice to have someone I know who finds me attractive to share my time with."

Sarah poked Paul. "I think this is the place where we walk back to the party. Their couplings are too confusing. If Damien and Darius can't even figure it out, I see no reason to try."

Paul nodded. "I agree." He looked at the beasts that stood staring at the two. "Oh, you gentlemen go right on ahead. We'll see you later. You take care of your family. You won't find us standing in your way anymore."

Oliver looked up at Paul. "Well, you kind of is right now. We's gonna try to be polite and wait for you to be gone before we do anything too serious."

"Really?" Sarah asked.

"Unless you're willing to throw your husband to the wolves," Will said with a smile.

"OH NO, Old Wolf," Sarah said with a laugh. "We're gone. Try to make it for Evening Song later tonight." The two humans turned and walked back to the east fields where the party was catching its second wind. The jousting of the temple dogs had entered the tournament rounds.

Chapter 25

As the sun lowered in the west, Oliver and Chet slipped quietly out of the gunnery tunnels, trying to be inconspicuous. As they reached the top of the stairs, Will sat on the base of one of the knotted battery guns. "Hey, men," he said with a smile.

A startled badger jumped backward. "Damn, Old Wolf. Can'ts a badger have a little quality time with an angel without you hovering over him?"

"Sure you can. And from the way your fur looks, I'd say you had it."

Oliver looked down at his belly. "What's wrong with my fur? We both swallowed, so I knows we ain't all messy."

The Iberian wolf jumped off the battery deck. "I'm just teasing you, Oliver." He looked at the winged man. "And you, too Chet. I hope you don't mind. I rarely get to tease you about my other husband."

Chet looked away shyly. "Derrick warms my heart. But Oliver is a charming companion in his own right."

"You hears that, bastard wolf? I'se charmin'."

"I always thought so, Oliver. You two found time to be together and I am happy about that. I'm not here to make you feel bad about something that should make you feel good. I'm here to invite you to the family's evening songfest. The dragons made a special request. We're rounding up the wayward members of our family." The wolf reached out and hugged his husband. "You men are in good company. I dropped by the museum to roust my bear husbands and Donovan. I don't know where Derrick is, but I'm pretty sure if I find Chipo and his pack, I'll find him."

Will extended his arms toward the angel. "Do I get a hug, Chet?"

Chet grabbed the wolf and hugged him tightly. "One of these days, Old Wolf, I would like it if you and I were to do more than just hug."

"I thought you were fonder of Derrick, so I never pushed that idea."

"I am very fond of Derrick; that is true. But it is time I learned to behave like one of the family and show my affection for all the beasts I love."

"Whenever you're comfortable, Chet," the wolf said, letting go of the hug. "Oliver, Chet, would you two like to help me find our favorite black wolf?"

Both the badger and the angel nodded yes.

"We can't get sidetracked no matter what Chipo and his pack are doing with the pup. You understand that, right?"

Oliver looked at the wolf. "Well, then why's we even going huntin'?"

Will reached down and grabbed the little badger, pulling him up over his head and placing him on his shoulders. "Because we're singing tonight with our husband, Love of My Life."

Oliver smiled. "You gonna sing tonight, Old Wolf?"

"I always sing with you, Husband. Don't act so shocked."

"Singing makes you horny," the badger said, his eyes gleaming in the light of the setting sun.

"Life with you makes me horny, Oliver. I don't need music. It's sitting next to you and Derrick that makes me horny."

"Oh? I thoughts it was the singing."

"Nope. It's you two."

"Well then, let's go finds us a husband," the badger said with a laugh. He looked at Chet. "And let's go find the ones you's gonna marry. The sooner you start spending time together, the sooner you all figures a way to stay together."

Chet smiled and patted the badger's butt as it spread out over the wolf's shoulders. "I would hate to disappoint you on that front, Badger."

"Ain't never disappointed by anything you's ever done, Hawk," the badger replied. He paused. "'Cepting maybe that pat on my butt. You gots hands. Grope them cheeks."

"I'm supposed to be an angel."

The badger laughed. "Yeah, I knows. You sure feels like heaven to me." Chet's hand reached up and played with Oliver's butt for a moment and then the three were off in search of Derrick.

As the three headed toward the forest, Li Wei came running from the south cliffs. He bowed to the winged man. "Good evening, gentlemen. I hate to disturb your activities, Tenshi," Li Wei said with a smile, "but I have some good friends who would like to talk with you before we sing."

Chet smiled. "And who would that be, Tanuki?"

Li Wei laughed. "I am not a tanuki."

"And I am not an angel," Chet replied.

"Then I apologize for the title, Chetanluta."

Chet nodded. "And I am sorry for changing the rules on you. For so many years, I was happy to be called Tenshi. But I am trying to rid myself of a reputation that often comes with the title of an angel. I do not want my family to see me as a man who stands apart from the world reigning judgment down on those he lives above."

"Interesting thought, Chet," Will said. "That is a common mythos."

Li Wei nodded. "I can see how that definition would make life more difficult. Is Winged One an acceptable moniker? That is what I call your future husbands. I would call you Chet, but it seems so far removed from the beauty I see before me."

"Of course. Winged One is fine."

"Well then, Winged One, There is a lovely couple that would like to meet you," Li Wei said with a smile. He grabbed the winged man's hand and pulled him toward the western cliffs. "But you have me thinking about the title Tanuki now. I might enjoy you calling me that when you say hello. There is something to be said for having a reputation of always being horny and possessing incredibly large testicles."

"Well, Tanuki," Will said with a laugh, "we need to find a husband. If you will excuse us." Will bobbed his head instead of a full bow to avoid upsetting Oliver's balance, and they turned back toward the forest.

Chet laughed. "Those two. I missed out on too much of our lives together. Li Wei, I will call you whatever you wish. But who are these people you wish me to meet?"

"They're not exactly people. The fenghuang and Dá Lóng have a favor to ask of you."

"Will you interpret for me? My telepathy is very rusty."

"There will be no need. The fenghuang is gifted at talking with those she loves."

"I haven't seen her in hundreds of years. I'm sure she and Dá Lóng would fare better if you talked to them."

"No, my beautiful friend. I will ask instead that you abandon your reluctance to engage your family in conversation. I would not want one to mistake you for an angel. You know how aloof they can be." Li Wei's big grin immediately diffused Chet's desire to retort.

Li Wei led Chet down the winding ramp toward the beach. "Aren't these wonderful?" the temple dog asked. "Greg and his crew made them so that we can visit with Dá Lóng and his sons. They could never make it up the cliff the way the ladies can. But now we can visit them, and if they so choose, the young ones can even crawl up the ramp to visit."

As Li Wei and Chet stepped off the ramp and onto the sand, Dá Lóng and his sons breached out over the bay and began swimming toward the two. "They are as beautiful as ever," Chet said with a smile. "It is nice to see his children doing so well."

"Indeed, and that is where the request comes in."

The sound of rushing wind overhead made Chet look up. He smiled as the fenghuang landed next to him. He bowed reverently. "It has been too long, Sister," He said as he reached out his hand and placed it on the head of the fenghuang. There was a quiet as Chet's head leaned toward his left shoulder. "No, I never knew," he said. "But surely, you are best qualified to teach them."

There was silence again, and then Chet spoke. "But that was thousands of years ago. They laughed at my efforts to teach them. They already knew so much more of flight than I will ever be capable of." Another pause. "I'm glad they enjoyed the lessons, but they did so to humor me. They were such gentle souls. They never had the heart to tell me I was a kid with finger paints trying to teach Michelangelo how to be an artist."

Chet listened and then nodded with a smile. "I am struggling even now to teach my future husbands to fly. But yes, I will visit. I suspect I will be there only to help your children laugh, but I will not turn down such a wonderful invitation. This is such marvelous news." Chet ran across the beach toward Dá Lóng and hugged the massive beast, paying no mind to the drenching he received from the water dragon. "I am so happy for you, Dá Lóng. I am so happy for your family."

Chet glanced back at Li Wei's confused look. "Do you know about the children?"

"I know only that they wished to talk to you about them," Li Wei responded

"Their children are about to go through their first molt. They're going to take on their secondary sex characteristics."

Li Wei smiled. "That is indeed good news."

"I didn't realize that the dragons we know aren't various species. They are one."

"That is true," Li Wei replied with a nod toward the two dragons. "Is there something we dogs overlooked that the dragons did not tell us?"

"In many species, an animal can grow up to be something entirely different from what it started as based on environmental pressures. Common reed frogs change sex spontaneously when there are too few males. Schools of clownfish have a hierarchy with a female at the top. If she dies, the dominant male becomes a female to maintain order in the school."

"What does that have to do with the dragons?"

"Everything, Li Wei. Everything." Chet started pacing in thought. His wings flared out and flapped. "Li Wei, how many types of dragons were there?"

"I can think of four physical types that once lived on Earth. The winged fliers, the forest dwellers, the wingless fliers, and the water dragons." Li Wei thought for a moment. "There are whisperings of the tortoise dragons, but I have never seen one. I have only heard the legends. All the other aspects of dragon lore are pretty much about cosmetic physical differences. Scales instead of feathers, horns or antlers, claws for digging... that kind of thing."

"So, how many have you actually seen?"

"All four at one time or another, but the forest dragons and Western fliers that lived at the temple died in the war. The wingless air dragons you knew were all werebeasts. Today, only the fenghuang, an Eastern winged flyer, and Dá Lóng, a water dragon, remain."

"And until Dá Lóng and the fenghuang, have you ever known a water dragon to mate with a winged flier?" Chet asked.

"No, their union is unique."

"And that is why I am so excited," Chet replied. "Dá Lóng and the fenghuang are the last of their kind. There is a reason they appear together only late in Chinese mythology; they are not supposed to be a mated pair. The fenghuang is a winged dragon. Dá Lóng is a water dragon. They came together only as a last resort to save their species. It's not unlike polar bears mating with grizzly bears."

"Like Anders, the grolar bear," Li Wei said, thinking it through.

"Right, in the real world, that's how his avatar is born. Environmental stresses created the grolar bear. A grizzly and a polar bear can mate because they're genetically both subspecies of the same species, Ursus arctos. But it never happened until human interference forced them into the same environmental niche. The desire to survive, to have offspring, is a part of us; but even more so in the dragons. They understood they were the last of their kind. When the world left them no choice, they mated and created offspring.

"Look, it would be naïve to attempt classifying them using the standard scientific nomenclature. But if we did, they would come down to the same species, but Dá Lóng and the fenghuang would be subspecies. They can breed together, but they never do except in crises, because they fill different environmental niches. In normal life, they wouldn't even cross paths. But you gathered them together to protect them from extinction. So, like the grolar bear, the environment forced Dá Lóng and the fenghuang to mate. And here is where it turns interesting; their offspring are born to restore balance to the species."

"Like the frogs changing sex?"

"Only even more elaborate. Dá Lóng's sons will molt for the first time and become either water dragons or wingless air dragons; the two large serpentine dragons. The fenghuang's daughters will become the winged dragons and the forest dragons. Forest dragons lose their wings in the molt and develop characteristics that adapt them to terrestrial life. There's even a chance a Western flier will come from the molt. And like the frogs, the children will become whatever sex they need to be to further their family line."

Chet pointed to the children of Dá Lóng and the fenghuang. "Each new generation will help restore the dragons that are now extinct. It will take hundreds... no... thousands of years to happen. But thanks to Oliver's encouragement, we might see all the dragon offspring mating much faster than every eight hundred years."

"That is wonderful news," Li Wei said, smiling. "Perhaps with humanity changing, a world where the dragons once more roam freely will be born." Li Wei looked back at the dragons. "And how do you fit into this wonderful news?"

"Dá Lóng and the fenghuang asked me to teach their wingless dragons how to fly."

"You can do that?"

"I love two bears who even now think they can't fly regardless of their wings. I need to teach them. Perhaps between the dragons and the bears, I will find my family."

Li Wei reached out and hugged the winged man. "You have always had family, Winged One. Don't let flight be a condition for that title. Take joy in their flight, but don't leave your earthbound family to spend even a day without your love because we cannot soar beside you."

Chet squeezed the temple dog. "I won't, Li Wei. I promise. Forgive me. In my excitement at having beasts with a shared passion, I forgot how many passions we all share that I've overlooked." He lifted his head and kissed the temple dog.

Their embrace lasted until, with a gentle rubbing of Chet's chest feathers, the temple dog let him go. Li Wei took a deep breath. "I am glad we share so many of those passions together. One of which is to sing tonight with our family." The temple dog reached down and rearranged his fur up and over his erection. "I do not know how you will hide yours, but perhaps the trip back up the ramp will help."

Chet smiled. "Perhaps. I had forgotten how well you kiss. As for the singing; you have listened to me sing. It's not the most pleasant of things."

"I disagree. I have said before that you must trust your sensei is right in such things. Would you like to head upstairs?"

"After you, Sensei," Chet said with a smile.

"No, please, you go first," Li Wei said, extending his paw toward the ramps. "I'm an old man and I am slow making the walk."

Chet bowed, "As you wish." He began climbing the ramp.

"Well, that, and you have the most incredible buttocks, Winged One. It would be a shame not to watch them as you move up the ramp."

Chet laughed as he folded his tail feathers tight. "I love you, Li Wei."

"And I love you, Winged One," the temple dog said as he, too, started his climb up the ramp.

Halfway up the ramp, Chet stopped. "Sensei?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"I am thinking Tenshi is not so bad a name after all. Perhaps it would be good to remind me that I should be a winged creature that loves all his family unconditionally."

"That is true. There are many definitions of what makes an angel. Choose the ones you like best and honor them."

"I would like to be worthy of that definition as it pertains to my family."

"Then, Tenshi, it is up to you to do whatever you feel is necessary to make that happen."

"Tonight, perhaps all it will take is for me to sing with my family."

"The winged bears will love it," the temple dog said, giving the hawk-man a gentle shove to get him moving again.

"Perhaps. But I will be singing to all my family."

"And we will all be grateful to hear you," the temple dog said as he took the last step off the ramp and back onto the island.

Chet looked out across the gathering throng of people and beasts, searching for the winged bears. He was still looking when, from behind, he felt the large furry paws grab his hands. They dragged him toward where the temple dogs, Kris, Donovan, and Eric had gathered.

Max and Jean Pierre pulled Chet to the ground as they sat on the damp grass and placed the winged man between them. "Sing with us tonight, Chet," JP said, leaning into the angel beside him.

"Have you two been talking to Li Wei?" Chet asked the Kermode bear.

"No, why?"

"No reason. He seems to be of a similar mind that I should sing."

The polar bear came up from behind. "I agree with the temple dog. You have another vote that you should sing as well." Eric waved his hands to attract the attention of the milling crowd. "Who thinks we should ask my son to sing for the first time with his family as the beast he was born?"

Chet looked up to the milling crowd. All eyes were on him. Those that didn't raise their hand nodded their agreement with a smile.

Chet's wings folded around the bears he loved and pulled them close. His hands lovingly rubbed their short, extended legs. "This hawk has always cried out through the centuries for his loss. The call of the red-tailed hawk has always been one of longing. I have been alone for so long. My people, dead, my flying brothers, killed. There are those who care for me deeply, but I have always felt on the edge of my family. I soared high above them, never able to touch their world, but for brief moments until these last few months."

The family of Weres listened to the quiet voice of their eldest brother. "I am blessed that two bears of the earth grew wings to be by my side. In their wings, I am brought safely to earth, to find my people who were here all along. For a bird with such keen sight, I have been blind for too many years to what lay beyond my longing.

"From the moment my father took me into his arms twelve thousand years ago, I had a family that I never wholly embraced. All because I was searching for a family that no longer existed. We do not make our family up of 'our kind'. Wings do not define my family. My people of birth do not define my family." The angel looked at the great white bear and the temple dogs that stood behind him. "Forgive me for looking so hard for my family that I never saw you standing beside me all along."

The bear smiled his silly grin, and the dogs matched him in kind. "There is nothing to forgive, Tenshi," Noboru said. "You have always been there by our side. Only you struggled with your right to be there. Sing with us tonight, Tenshi. Let your family listen to the voice beyond your lonely cry."

The angel lowered his head and gathered himself. He raised his head and, as the plaintive call of the red-tailed hawk spread out across the island, the melody began. Somewhere from deep in his throat came a sound as warm and deep as that of the badger. At first, it vibrated and resonated on two separate levels. There was a deep bass note that modulated and flowed while another higher melody line became a recognizable tune as the words of his song.

The song was reminiscent of the overtone singing of the Mongolian people. However, it carried one more melody line that at first seemed to be the sound of leaves moving in the wind or rain on ancient desert sands. Then the crowd realized what it was. It was the sound of feathers ruffling in the air. Chet's feathers were now a part of the song melded with his voice.

Chet knew his words were unknown to all but the white bear. As the words flowed, everyone understood he sang in the language of his long-dead people. He sang of Klicktakuwa, the great ghost bear that found his body frozen and warmed it. He sang of Max and Jean Pierre, who found his frozen heart and warmed it. It was a song of all the bears that saved his life.

As they listened to his song, the young bears closed their eyes and raised their voices to join in singing with the one they loved. For a moment, the overtone singing of the angel stopped as he heard the words of the Mutwajigwa spoken by another. The bears looked at him and smiled. Their voices, higher and younger, still held the second lower bass tonality. The words flowed like the summer winds across the grassy forests of Arizona twelve thousand years ago. They sang of Chetanluta, the red-tailed hawk that gave them their wings and the courage to face the challenges that they could not face alone. The two sang of their love. They sang of three who would never be alone again.

The polar bear closed his eyes and listened. He watched the three singing and listened to their songs of all that they had lost and all that they had found. The words of the one who he had hoped for so many thousands of years would find a people he could call his own flowed over the bear. Chet had found a people that would let his wings spread wide, and his heart open up to the warmth of a love hotter than the Arizona sun he was born under.

The polar bear sat behind the angel, pushed his arms up under Chet's wings, and hugged him tightly. "Welcome home, Son," he whispered with a smile. "I told you one day you would find your people again, and Changelings never lie." The bear shrugged with a laugh. "It may take us a few thousand years to get to the truth, but we never lie." His paws reached out and touched the young bears' shoulders. "Welcome home, you sons of Partridge Island, you kings of New Brunswick. Take good care of my boy."

Chapter 26

Chet looked out over the butte. Two silent bears stood with him.

"We start by making large, interwoven circles in the air which grow increasingly smaller and closer as we fly higher into the sky. When we are at the top of our arc in the air, we lock bodies and fold our wings around each other. Of course, we plummet to the earth with our wings intertwined. But just before we hit the earth, we release and repeat the process, rising into the circles that represent the eternal nature of our bonds. When our bodies become so aroused by our contact in free fall that we can no longer control our passion, we land and mate. Both parties take the other, and when we are spent, our mating is complete."

"Whooaa," the two bears said in disbelief. "Can you even do that?"

Chet removed his shirt. He removed his boots, and with a quick tug, his pants dropped to the ground. Jean Pierre's wings leapt out. "Oh, crap," he sighed.

Chet flexed and his wings burst from his back as feathers spread over his body. He crouched down and gathered himself. With a push upward and the flash of wings, he was airborne and climbing into the sky. The large, lazy circles of the angel became tighter as he climbed until the two could barely see his body in the air. At that point, they saw the wings fold and Chet dropped toward the earth. Only feet from the ground, the wings flared out, and the angel was heading back into the sky.

At the point where the plummeting hawk-man was about to hit the earth for the second time, his wings flapped outward and he stood beside the two bears. He smiled. "This is where I would take you. I'm afraid I will most likely be first, as your exhaustion will make you too weak for the first advance. But I will be gentle and after I have had you, I will be the most accommodating of partners when you take me."

He leaned in and kissed both boys. Jean Pierre's wings, which were only then bending, spread out again. "Oh crap," he said, disappointed that even his most valiant effort could not sway his body from responding to the winged man in front of him.

Chet smiled. "No recriminations, JP. I am always flattered."

"What if I never stop getting hard in front of you, Chet?"

"Well, then when you reach your twenty-fifth birthday, we will need to seek other options. I suspect you already figured out how many times you need to come before you gain control."

"Yeah, three times in as many hours seems to work," Jean Pierre said, tugging at his wing. "At least for another hour."

"Then that would be our first act, even before beginning our flight. I am sure by your twenty-fifth birthday, you will have even learned the best way for Max to get you to that place."

Max looked at Chet with disappointment in his eyes. "Chet, we don't fly. Our wings are decorative. They're a sign of our love for you, but we're bears. I'm four hundred and twenty pounds and Jean Pierre is six hundred and change. There's no way we're getting airborne."

"Nonsense," Chet said with disapproval. "You two are telling me you're universal physics nerds? How do you explain the temple dragons who weighed over a ton taking flight with the temple dogs on their backs? And with nothing but the most vestigial of wings?"

"I don't know. I guess we assumed we could never take off with a quarter ton of bear butt holding us down."

Chet laughed. "And that is why bumblebees fly and you don't."

Jean Pierre raised his hand. "We kind of understand how they fly. That has to do with their wing rotation and fluid dynamics."

Chet smiled. "And there you have it. They take what humans have long thought impossible and found a way around the physics humans think they see. You young men fly. You simply haven't convinced yourself yet that you can. The bee never wonders why it can fly. It simply does. Bind yourself to this world and your known science, and you will remain earthbound forever."

Chet waved his arms over his body. "I weigh more pounds than I care to admit. The old bear has a thing for chubby men, and I certainly met his criteria when he took me in. My bone density allows me to smash through walls, and yet, I fly. Because I don't let what I don't understand stop me from doing what I have always dreamed of doing. And until you figure out what I mean by that, it will lock you to this earth as if the universe clamped shackles around your ankles."

Chet's wings flapped outward. "And as landlocked bears, you will pass up copulating with one of the best free-flight sex experiences you'll ever meet." He chortled slightly. "Well, the only free-flight sex experience you'll meet for the time being. We're pretty much it on this planet."

Jean Pierre tugged at his wings, but they refused to budge from their unfurled state. "Chet, that's not fair. I'm in my sexual prime, and you're teasing me about postponing everything until I get it under control."

"JP, you are a werebeast. You are always going to be in your sexual prime. That's one joy of being a beast. But I am going to hold fast to my ground rules. You control the wings; I will lose control with the two of you. I want you as my mates, not as frisky playthings."

"Can we be both?" Max asked with a grin.

"I hope so one day," Chet smiled back. "I will wait for that day. And you?"

"I'm good." Jean Pierre said, tugging at his wings. "Frustrated, but good,"

"Me too," Max said. He paused and flexed his wings. The left wing rotated a bit as he tried to sense if it had healed completely. "So, shall we start the lessons? The sooner we learn to fly, the sooner we get to practice our mating rituals."

"We are here today. The sun is warm on our backs. I have two bears that need training in the ways of the winged beasts. I say we start today."

Jean Pierre looked back at his wings in frustration. "I guess Max goes first. These aren't going down for a while."

Chet leaned in and kissed the Kermode. "Max first, then. But you train regardless if your wings fold or not. And now begins the training." He grabbed Max and sped off into the air.

Thousands of feet up, the winged man stopped and hung in the air, flapping his wings as he held the bear in place.

Chet looked into Max's wide eyes and saw the fear. "We are about twelve thousand feet in the air, Max. That gives you a little over a minute of free fall to figure out how to fly before you hit the ground. Good luck." The angel let the bear slip from his fingers and the bear hurtled downward. Max was a blur of flapping wings as he tried, without success, to right himself and fly.

From the ground, Jean Pierre watched the blue bear plummeting toward him. "Nooooo," he screamed as he realized the bear had no control over his descent. JP could hear the doomed bear's scream as he approached the ground. When the blue bear was only feet from the earth, a shadow of brown and black flew in front of the blond bear, and Max was gone. The blue bear rose with tears in his eyes. Above the Cumulonimbus clouds, the angel stopped and held the bear tightly. "Two things you learned today. One is that you are clueless about how to fly. It isn't as easy as flapping your wings."

He leaned in and kissed the shaking bear. "The second is that I will never let you fall without being there to catch you. No matter the terror you feel, never doubt that I will be there. Red-tailed hawks mate for life. If this is what you truly want, there is a commitment to me and to who we become that no sixteen-year-old boy will understand."

"I won't be sixteen forever, Chet."

"But I will wait for you forever if that's what it takes."

"Teach me to fly. Teach us both to fly," Max begged. "We can learn. We have a reason to learn. He's holding me in mid-air right now."

Max smiled. "But not for long." He held the bear out.

Max waved his paws. "No, no, no. No more 'toss the fledgling kid out of the nest to see him fly' crap, Chet. Teach me."

"First, before you fly, learn to glide. Extend your wings and feel the air beneath them. Atune yourself to the way it buffers underneath you and let it guide you to the ground. No flying; soar on the thermals and let them take you back to earth."

The bear felt the hands of the hawk-man release and he extended his wings. In a matter of seconds, he was plummeting to the earth again. He closed his eyes at the approaching ground and trusted in the only thing he could believe in... that the man he loved would catch him. Only a moment later, the hands of the angel grabbed him and lowered him carefully to the ground.

"This is not going too well, is it?" Max sighed, his wings flapping as they folded up against his back.

"It is going well, Jefe," Chet said with a smile. "What you are learning is that the learning of your past is inadequate for the task ahead. There is a great deal you need to unlearn."

"What is he doing wrong?" Jean Pierre asked.

"Why don't I take you up and show you?" Chet said. He grabbed the Kermode and shot up into the sky.

"Please, please, don't drop me, Chet," Jean Pierre begged.

"The two of you are seeing flight all wrong, Jefe," Chet said. His wings gently moved back and forth as he leaned in and kissed the young bear. Whatever flexibility the wings had vanished when the kiss ended. "There," Chet said with a smile. "You're ready to glide."

"I'm like a six hundred pound paper airplane, Chet," Jean Pierre protested. "Fat bears don't glide. We crash."

"Because you believe you understand the universe that surrounds you."

"I don't?"

"No, but you will soon understand a part of it you didn't before." The winged man rotated their two bodies so that he was below the bear, their bodies parallel to the horizon. "Think of the great whales, JP," Chet encouraged. "Their bodies are massive, and yet they don't sink. They would if they stopped moving, but in the water, they maintain their buoyancy by what are often simple, gentle movements of their bodies."

"I learned that much in school, Chet," Jean Pierre said. "Lift and forward momentum keeps them afloat."

"Or magic."

Jean Pierre laughed. "There's no such thing."

"True, but we use the word for things we don't understand yet. Have you heard others say that penguins fly through the water?"

"Sure."

"Well, the dragons and werebeasts swim through the air."

"But that's not scientifically possible."

"Nor is a cute little bear with wings whose hard-on is pressing up against my belly in a most distracting fashion."

Jean Pierre stammered, and he tried to adjust himself on top of the man below. "I'm sorry, Chet," he apologized.

"I'm not," Chet said with a smile. "I will never chastise you for having a hard-on in my presence. That is too wonderful a gift for me to make you ever believe it's a burden or inconvenience for me."

"But you won't help me with getting rid of it," Jean Pierre said dejectedly.

"For the time being, no. I am very much a man of tradition. I have lived by them for over twelve thousand years. Would you ask me to change?"

"No," Jean Pierre replied. "As long as you're willing to kiss me and hold me, I'm good with only being close to you. I guess Max will reap the benefits of my horniness instead of you."

Chet laughed at the thought. "Speaking of holding," the angel said, "Ever since you adjusted yourself, I've not been holding you aloft."

"WHAT?" Jean Pierre yelled, immediately falling on top of the winged man below. Chet wrapped his arms around the bear.

"You were so busy worrying about your hard-on pressing into me, you forgot to worry about plummeting to the earth." He kissed the bear until he sensed the fears subside and the swelling of the Kermode's cock press back into his feathers. "Now, Jefe, let go of me and float in the air the way you would in the ocean. Let the wind catch your wings and use them only to steer yourself like flippers on a whale."

"I'll fall."

"I will catch you."

The bear pushed back from the winged man. He sat motionless in the air for a moment and then fell back into the angel below him. "Let go of your beliefs, Jefe," the angel encouraged. "Embrace a new reality. You could become a bear with wings because you believed you could. Now believe the bear can fly. There is nothing in this universe to hold you back, save your own beliefs."

"You will be there, just in case?"

"Throughout your entire life. It is the way of the red-tailed hawk. It is the way of the man that loves you."

The bear pushed back again and let his paws dangle inches above the winged man below him. He rocked uncomfortably in the air. "Close your eyes," the angel ordered. Jean Pierre closed his eyes. "Enjoy the sensation of being airborne. Sense the weightlessness of a body freed from the earth. Keep your thoughts in the pleasure of that moment. There is nothing in this world that feels quite the same." Jean Pierre's rocking steadied. "Good boy," Chet said proudly. "You are doing great."

"I still have wings that won't bend."

"And you still have a lovely hard-on. I'm willing to accept the one in return for the other," Chet replied with a laugh.

"Can I really do more than float?" Jean Pierre asked, his eyes still closed.

"Of course, but for today, let's consider that good enough."

"You're right about it feeling wonderful."

"We will have a lifetime together of wonderful feelings, JP," Chet said as he reached up and pulled the bear back into his embrace. "For now, let me take you back to earth. Eyes open."

Jean Pierre opened his eyes and stared into the copper-colored eyes of the man before him. "I have you, you will not fall, Jefe," the angel said with a pause afterward. "Look down. Begin letting your fear go. Embrace the beauty of soaring above the land. I'm going to flip us now, so you can see below without me blocking the view. But stay confident that I will not let you fall. Do your best to stay aloft, but if you waver, I will pull you back to me. I will always pull you back before you even realize you are faltering."

"I trust you, Chet," JP said. "I've always trusted you. Now I just need to let go of my own fears."

"We have a lifetime to work on that," Chet said with a smile. "I'm turning you now. No surprises for you two anymore. We work on this together." With a gentle spin, Jean Pierre stared at the ground below. He felt a tug on his rib cage and realized he was falling in his mind, but the arms of the angel held him fast. The young bear concentrated on floating. He tried to let the buoyancy of the air become water in his mind. And when he sensed himself floating, there was a gentle nudge from the man above him pushing the two back toward the earth.

"Is that your hard-on pushing up against my back?" Jean Pierre asked.

"Of course," Chet replied. "I'm on top of a bear I love. What did you expect?"

"A hard-on pressing up against my back," Jean Pierre said with a laugh. "I'm just glad it's there."

"It will always be there."

"It is beautiful up here if I don't look straight down," Jean Pierre said.

"Those who fly learn to look toward the horizon and lower their gaze only when needed. Think of it like riding a bicycle. You don't stare at the ground below the bike. You look at where you are heading."

The two soared over the Montana grassland below. Twice before they neared the plateau, the bear felt the firm arms of the angel wrap around him and pull him close. "Notice when you falter, Jefe," Chet said. "It's not when you're looking at the world around you. It's when you start ruminating about how you fly. The day you learn to let go of the need to understand is the day you will never need me to fly beside you. On that day, we will fly together because we want to."

"I get it, Chet," Jean Pierre said. "I have a lot to unlearn."

Chet chortled a laugh that sounded almost like a bird warbling. "Time to learn about landings, Jefe."

Jean Pierre felt the gentle tug of the angel. He realized he was falling when he dwelt on Chet's words. "It isn't anything to worry about, JP. You're fifty feet above the ground and going lower with every moment. When I let you go, it will be up to you to decide if you float down or fall, but neither option will hurt you. This is the one time you get to think about that lovely big bear butt of yours. Let its weight right your decent so you land upright on your feet. But even if you can't do any of that, your fall to earth will hurt nothing but your pride."

"I'm not worried about that, Chet," Jean Pierre said. "I just want to make you proud."

"I have always been proud of you, Jefe," Chet replied. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Jean Pierre said with a push away from the winged man above him. His outstretched wings held him aloft momentarily as he glided toward the earth. When his brain began thinking about the logistics of an overweight bear flying, he plummeted the last thirty feet. His body instinctively righted itself to gravity, and he landed with a thud on the grass on all fours.

Jean Pierre shifted his position back to his upright stature and dusted himself off. An elated Max came bounding toward him. "You were beautiful, JP," he gushed.

Chet's legs touched the earth, and he hugged the Kermode bear. "Not bad at all for your first landing."

"I've never seen anything as beautiful as you two flying," Max exclaimed.

Chet smiled. "Tomorrow, you join us, Max. But for tonight, let's say we get dinner and spend the night together.

Jean Pierre's wings flared out, and both his companions laughed. "Oh crap," he said sadly.

Chet leaned over and kissed the Kermode. "All in good time, Jefe. I love you. We will have a long time together to make up for what you see as lost time. Nothing is ever lost between two who love." The angel paused for a moment. "Or three."

Max smiled. "Or three," he agreed. Jean Pierre pulled at his wings, ignoring the bulging flesh between his legs, and nodded.

Chapter 27

Chet sighed. "I don't get it. You two splice the genes of Changelings into billions of humans with a thought. Max, you wander through time as if it's something we do every day. You see things in your mind and they become reality. What can I do to help you realize you can fly? We've gone over this stuff repeatedly. You're smarter than I am. You're able to see things and do things I will never be capable of doing. And yet, you balk at the idea of flying when it's far simpler than anything you've done."

Max looked up with a frown on his face. "I'm sorry, Chet. I realize the distinction is difficult to understand, but I'm not the Max who knows how to make changes by seeing them change in my mind. That other Max can travel in time. I see it all in front of me. I sort of move through it, but I'm not at the point where I can interact with it." The blue bear paused. "I will one day. But right now, I'm a nineteen-year-old kid who's been trying for three years to learn how to fly. There is nothing in my life more important to me than being able to fly by the man I love, but that doesn't seem to change anything right now."

Jean Pierre nodded in agreement. "We aren't the men who changed this world, Chet. We will be one day, but that's years in the future. There will be a day when we can look at what you're trying to teach us and we'll laugh at how easy it all is. But for right now, it's the greatest frustration in our lives because we can't seem to let go the way you want us to. We feel like idiots because we still haven't learned to fly without training wheels."

Chet looked at the two frowning bears. "I'm sorry. This is only me whining a bit. You both fly well, all things considered. Last week was a personal best for both of you. Three minutes airborne for you, JP, and a takeoff from the butte's cliff with no help from me, Max."

"I fell a minute later."

"True, but what a beautiful sixty seconds it was."

"You taught the air dragons how to fly and they don't even have wings."

"Well, that's true," Chet responded. "But they also have centuries of instinct that tell them they can fly. You have a lifetime of being human telling you that you can't."

"I won't ever stop trying," Jean Pierre said.

"I won't either," Max said, trying to sound positive.

Chet reached out and hugged the bears. "We will work on it together."

Chet leaned over and kissed Jean Pierre. Jean Pierre's wings flashed out. "Oh crap," he said dejectedly.

"In time, Jefe. In time," Chet whispered. "Fold the wings, JP."

"I'm trying. Even more than flying, I want to be with you."

"Then we will continue to work on both. How goes your training with the family?"

The two laughed. "Oh, that goes fine. We're nineteen years old. We don't have problems studying that," Max said with a laugh. He paused, but his smile still lingered. "They're also teaching us the lessons of why we do what we do. There is so much we're learning beyond the acts. They are loving, patient, and kind. We're learning to be the same."

"I am glad to hear that," Chet said. "My time spent with the family is helping me with the same lessons as well. And I now understand why Will is so popular among the beasts."

Jean Pierre grinned, "I know, right?"

Chet nodded, "Beyond what you're thinking, JP. I realize why he has the respect of all. He has waited for me for centuries; never pushing me to be a part of his life in that way. I never felt pressured by him. Encouraged... decidedly encouraged... but never pressured. And when he saw my attraction to Derrick and his for me, he stepped aside and let the two of us become what we are today. There has never been jealousy, never a need to control the way Pup expresses his love."

The dark angel's wings gently flapped. "When the old wolf took me, I didn't feel like another one of his conquests. When I looked into his eyes, I saw there was no one else; there was no other time than that moment. He wasn't adding a notch to his bedpost. He was welcoming a friend into the most sacred part of his world."

Max stretched out his wings. "And one day, you will take what you learned from him and teach us, Chet."

"You two have already learned that lesson, Jefe," Chet said with a smile. His hand reached out and squeezed the paw of the blue bear.

"Master Li Wei has taught us we always repeat the important lessons throughout our lives," Jean Pierre said. "The same as we go through the motions of tai chi every day, the lessons of life become a part of our core by repetition. Will taught me how to let go of what I can't control and embrace the moment with what I can. Derrick has taught me that there is strength in even the shyest and most submissive of us all." Jean Pierre sighed. "And Eric has taught me that polar bear dick is really, really fun."

The three laughed as Jean Pierre reached up and pulled at his wings. "Well, that, and how to never let our outside responsibilities push their way into our play. He can disconnect from his work and job responsibilities better than anyone I've met."

"That is because, to him, our play is his greatest responsibility," Chet said as grabbed the blond bear and kissed him. Jean Pierre's wings flashed outward, and then as the kiss lingered between the two, they slowly folded around the winged man.

Max stood and watched as the revelation went unheralded by the two. When they finally broke, both were erect as they always were after such a kiss, but Jean Pierre's wings moved back and forth gently. Chet pushed him back. "My love has finally fledged. This is indeed a special day."

Jean Pierre smiled. "I have been waiting for this day for two lifetimes, Chet." He reached out and stroked the cock of the bird-man before him. He knelt down, opening his mouth as he leaned in.

"I really hate to do this," Max said. The two looked at him. "But JP, I think we should wait."

Jean Pierre pointed back to his wings and flapped them. "I have been waiting. We've both been waiting. All three of us have been waiting for this," he said, pointing to the wings as they folded into his back.

"He's right, Jefe," Chet grinned. "This was the day I promised I would see you both as men, not boys."

"I realize that," Max said defensively. "But there are other things in play here." Max went over and reached down, helping Jean Pierre up from his knees. "We can't fly. We promised each other that the day we mated, it would be as beasts. Our promise to each other was that we were saving these bodies for the angel we loved and the day we could tell him so by becoming his mate."

Chet nodded. "There is that, Jefe. But then again, there is scarcely little you can do with those bodies for the first time anymore. Life unfolded differently than we all expected."

Max nodded. "It has. But everything we've ever done in this timeline, we've not done with you. We are still virgins when it comes to you. I know that sounds stupid..."

"Not at all," Chet interrupted. "It sounds romantic. And as beasts, our first time with anyone is always a fresh experience to cherish."

"I want you so bad, Chet," Max groaned. "You know I want to be inside you, to feel you, to taste every bit of you. I dream of going all night with you and waking up with feathers in my mouth, and then starting it all over again." Max looked at JP. "And I want you to be there on that day. I want you like nothing I've ever wanted because I still have a memory of what you both mean to me when nothing comes between us. But we made promises, and we layered them on top of the traditions of the Were Nation. You met one of those goals, JP. And you are beautiful. But we still can't fly, and we're still not twenty-five."

"But... but..." Jean Pierre said, pointing to his back. "All folded up... all nice and tidy."

"Still nineteen," Max said, shaking his head.

"You can change that," Jean Pierre said, pleading. "You made us sixteen three years ago. Make us twenty-five today. No one is going to complain. Just another freaky day for the winged bears."

"I can't because I don't know how. I sense that day isn't far off, but it's not now. Regardless, JP, I don't think that I want to change our ages."

"Why not?" Jean Pierre whimpered. "Look at him, Max. He's the most beautiful thing we have ever seen. We are what we are today because of the way we feel when we look at him. Today is the day he said we could be with him the way we always dreamed of being with him."

"I get that. Honestly, I do. But these last three years have been the best of my life."

"And the most frustrating on about every level."

"Yeah, I realize that. That's what Master Li Wei has been trying to teach us. The things we value most in life will be the things we earn. They may come easily, or they may be hard, but when we earn them, we appreciate them."

Jean Pierre shook his head. "Well, part of what I value in life is really, really hard, and I was thinking I was going to get to use it today with our future husband."

Max laughed. "I realize that. I am so there with you. But what we promised ourselves and what we promised the Were Nation by becoming beasts hasn't come to pass. There are still obligations to what we promised each other we would become. If I could change our ages today, I wouldn't. The path we are walking now is the one we said we would walk. No shortcuts, no other path."

Jean Pierre's head dropped. "I guess you're right." He looked at the blue bear. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Squaring the hips," Max said.

Jean Pierre grinned. "Okay, I don't like that either."

"But it's essential to proper form in tai chi. Fail to set stance properly, and all that follows will suffer."

"Twenty-five, huh?"

Chet laughed. "It is the way of the Were Nation."

"Then it is our way, too," Jean Pierre said with a sigh.

Max looked at the two and smiled. "You said you were going to insist that we honor the traditions of the winged beasts, Chet. We have yet to fly. We have yet to practice our mating rituals. If we are not ready to mate, then those things we promised to hold back until we can mate can't be in play, even if JP's wings bend."

Chet looked at Jean Pierre and shrugged. "What do you say, Jefe?"

"Damn it," Jean Pierre groused. "I say he's right. As best we're able, we should honor all the werebeast rules and traditions."

Chet looked thoughtfully at the two. "Your namesake, Jean Pierre, is the alpha of his pack. He, above all others, should live by the rules. He has a husband who he turned at sixteen. I see little reason to hold on to some traditions when we play so fast and loose. with others."

"I agree," Jean Pierre said, brightening up at the thought a loophole in the plan might exist. "The deal was that I get control of my wings and Chet would lose control with the two of us."

"I realize what we agreed to," Max said almost apologetically. "But it's important to me to hold on to a few traditions if we can. In our first life, we obeyed all the rules of the Were Nation. Even when they were difficult. Whenever we broke the rules this time around, it was because we didn't think we were going to survive long enough to live the traditions. This time around the block, we're sure we have the time. I want us to make it to our twenty-fifth year."

Max paced thoughtfully, his hands in motion as he tried to explain himself. "The rule says no turning a beast before the age of twenty-five. Jean Pierre broke that rule with Jason, and that reasoning sounds defensible. But Jean Pierre and Jason's circumstances were far different from ours. They broke the law to live a higher ideal. And when we thought we might fail, we vowed to be with the man we loved at least once before we risked everything. That was our higher ideal. I made a mistake returning us as sixteen-year-olds inside these bear bodies, but I did what I thought was right at the time. I wanted JP and I to be best friends because we lived our childhood together. And I wanted to grow up beside you, Chet."

"And I'm grateful for that, Jefe," Chet said, smiling.

"So, we can't live true to that law that says we can't turn until we're twenty-five, because we're already beasts. But despite what we are, if we were in any other situation, that would also mean no beast would ever mate with us before the age of twenty-five. It's only a few years away, but it would mean so much if we lived by the traditions we can now. We agreed, JP, that when Chet took us as bears for the first time, it would be at our mating. That is more than the traditions. That has everything to do with who we are."

Chet shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Jean Pierre. "He has a point. There are traditions in the werebeast community as well as laws. Circumstances might force our hand, but for now, there is time to live true to most of those traditions. It would do us good to honor them and set a good example to future generations of werebeasts." He reached over and pulled Jean Pierre into a hug. "And I will not have you violate the promises you made to each other as bears for the sake of sex, no matter how that might pain the three of us at this moment."

"But... but..." Jean Pierre stammered. He pointed to his back, and his wings flapped forward despite his obvious erection.

Chet laughed. His wings folded. With a crisp snap of his shoulders and a shake that moved down to his feet, he looked into the eyes of the Kermode as a Mutwajigwan. "Change, JP."

"Why?"

"Because the red-tailed hawk will wait until our mating day to have sex with the bear he loves. The hawk has promised and the bears have promised. Those promises we cannot break because we swear to live by them as beasts. But humans are notorious for having premarital sex, and I'm pretty sure neither of you will wait for such traditions as humans. I certainly won't as a Mutwajigwan."

Jean Pierre shook and became the bulky, bearded, bald man with a grin that stretched wide. Chet looked at the blue bear. "Well, don't just stand there, Max. Change. The three of us will honor all our traditions as werebeasts, but as humans, I'm about to introduce you men to the best cocksucker you will ever meet."

Max smiled, and with a shake, became human.

Chapter 28

Max fumbled with JP's tie. "I can't believe this day is finally here."

"Nor can I," Chet said as he looped his tie over and around. "Although the ties seem oddly out of place on three topless beasts."

"Mom asked that we wear at least something traditional. Dad's ties are something borrowed and something blue. Mom made our pants from an old bolt of fabric she bought on sale, thinking she would use it one day. Hoarding fabric seems genetically encoded into women who sew."

JP looked in the mirror. "They make us look a bit like Smokey Bear."

"Well, I'm not wearing a campaign hat to complete the ensemble," Max said with a laugh.

The ties adjusted, Chet tapped his ComLink. "We're ready, Padre."

The three heard the music begin and walked hand in hand out into the main hall of the Montana Ranch. The crowd of beasts and humans took Chet aback for a moment as he stopped and looked at the filled hall. He freed his hand from Max and wiped it across his eyes. "I never knew how much I missed until I see it here surrounding me."

JP smiled. "Yeah, family... it's the best."

The Padre waved the three forward, and the three began their walk anew. When they stood in front of the Padre, he extended his arms outward to the crowd. "We come here today to affirm the mating of these three in the eyes of the state of Montana in the country of the United States. The law doesn't permit such marriages. So, we filled out three separate marriage certificates to thumb our noses at them." The gathering laughed, and the Padre continued. "More importantly, this is a gift to the mother who has waited for this day to come by letting go of so many traditions and beliefs humanity holds dear."

He motioned to Sarah, who clung to her husband, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Mother, we acknowledge the sacrifices you have made. We rejoice in your happiness this day as your son bonds himself forever to the two that stand by his side." He looked at Tyler and Michael sitting next to the Carvers. "Fathers, we share your pride as your son today steps onto the path of so many that have come before him. We share your joy in the marriage of three such remarkable beasts."

The Padre's paw shifted, extending toward Eric. "Father of the first son. We share our history with you, and the path that you have so gently put us on. Your son. The last of his kind, and the first of us. We have no words to describe the love we see in your eyes, but we share in the bliss that comes full circle."

The Padre adjusted his vestments and looked back at Sarah. "I know there are words you expect to hear today, and I will speak them." He looked to the father wolves and polar bear. "But all traditions are born with first times. Today, your sons have created their own vows that honor the Mutwajigwan, who cannot be here to see their son married to the men he loves. There are no rings to exchange. Something far deeper will come from the traditions of those not with us today."

The Padre reached out and took one hand from each of the three before him and placed them together. Never letting go, he said, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join Chetanluta, Max Carver, and Jean-Pierre Durand in holy matrimony. There are vows most couples make before they exchange rings. We call them the declaration of intent. We have them speak sacred words, affirming their love and their fidelity. Today we leave behind the words written in a book in favor of those written on the hearts of these three."

The three let go of the Padre's hand, turned, and looked out over the crowd. "So many years ago, my people lived on this land," Chet began. "They built homes, gathered food, and raised children. To many, they would have appeared primitive. But they were unlike the humans that followed in one respect. They mated for life. There was no divorce because the entire tribe held those bonds together when the two joined faltered. There was nothing more sacred than two becoming one."

"When two made that commitment, it was in front of all in the community. They would take a knife and cut into their palms a line across their skin. They would place together their bloody palms and, in doing so, become mates for life. In that cut, they acknowledged they were wounded, imperfect creatures. By placing their hands together, they shared the pain of being less than perfect in the company of the one for whom they wished to be perfect. And as their blood mingled, they swore never to let the other feel again that they were alone in that struggle to be better, to form that more perfect union."

Max watched the eyes of the crowd, sensing the discomfort of the three about to cut into themselves. "We have no intention of putting you through that. But we have found another way to share in those vows the Mutwajigwan made so many thousands of years ago." With Chet standing between them, Max and JP reached out to Chet's wings. As Maxed touched Chet's wing, a small grouping of feathers turned blue. JP touched Chet's wing on the other side, and the same grouping of feathers turned blond. The three repeated the process until each stood with wings that held small patches of the other two's colors.

JP rubbed the changed feathers. "Biologists call these tufts the alula feathers," JP said, looking out to the parents in the front row. "Despite their size, they are essential for flight. They lift winged creatures so far above where they ever imagined. They help us keep from falling. Today, we admit we are not perfect. Like the scars made by the Mutwajigwan cuts, these colorful imperfections will stay with us for our entire lives. We are flawed, but in what others see as flaws lay our strengths. We are three who share a part of who we are with each other. In doing so, we become more than what we were. When the Mutwajigwan clasped hands, their blood mingled. They acknowledged they would never be the same, but that they would always share a part of themselves with the other. With these color changes, we choose to be one in all things, even as we affirm our individuality to make our own choices."

Max gave a nod to the other two. "We will never change these promises made of feathers. They will remain with us for life. And all who see us will know that we differ from what we were before because we chose to be."

Chet smiled as the three folded their wings back into themselves. "Mother, fathers," he said, looking at the front row of beasts and humans. "I have spent the last week in some very intense mating rituals with these two." The entire room gave a knowing chuckle. "What we share here today might seem so much easier than those days. But you know it's not. Life will throw challenges and struggles at us, as it always has. But from this day forward, we will not face them alone. I promise you, I will honor and protect the ones who today promise to honor and protect me."

"What he said," Max said with a smile.

"What they said," JP added.

"And so, with that," the Padre interrupted, "wipe your tears and prepare to welcome a new triad into the Were Nation. By the authority vested in me by the state of Montana and the Were Nation, I now pronounce you three husbands. Gentlemen, you may kiss your spouses."

The three looked at each other and leaned into a three-way kiss. JP's wings suddenly flashed out. "Oh, crap."

Chapter 29

"Oh hell, no, Old Bear," Will yelled loud enough for the entire island to hear. He slammed his fist against the garage door control, waiting until it had closed, blocking the sound from the rest of the inhabitants of Partridge Island. "You don't go doing this to me again," the old wolf growled. Derrick stumbled backward, still in shock.

"I'm sorry, Old Wolf," Eric said as he stood by Donovan. "This isn't a choice so much as a biological imperative. We both thought we could postpone the merging, but that's not the case."

"I am sorry as well, Old Wolf," Donovan said. "When I returned to this world, it was in crisis. The primary drive of the Changelings is first to protect. It has been three years, and humankind is finding its way back to a new normal. There hasn't been a war in all those years, not even a scuffle. Not one murder, not one act of gang violence, nothing. What Max did is holding. The humans are finally beginning to care for each other instead of taking care of themselves."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Will groused.

"We are a couple chosen at birth," the polar bear replied. "Take care of our primary drive, and our other drives push to the front. We should have merged centuries ago, and now our bodies are pushing us toward that obligation to our species. I realize it's difficult for you to understand, but our commitment to the Unity overrides everything for this. If you're going to love Changelings, this is part of what you will deal with throughout your life."

"Fucking Changelings. Make us fall in love with you and then turn into rocks."

Kris looked up from his seat at the kitchen table. "There will still be one fucking Changeling here. And I assure you, I will do my best to take good care of you."

Derrick looked over at the Kodiak. "I have no doubt you will, Husband. But Donovan has barely returned, and already he's leaving again." He sighed. "And he's taking Papa Bear with him."

"You, Wolf," Will growled, "This is your doing."

Donovan stepped backward. "I am sorry, Old Wolf. I truly am. This is biology. You know I would never come between you and your mate if this was a choice."

"Not good enough," the old wolf said, the guttural growl flowing through the words. "Not good enough by half."

"What would you have me do?" Donovan asked.

"Bite my neck, Wolf," Will answered. Derrick looked up, surprised at his mate's words, thought for a moment, and smiled.

"What?" the Armbruster's wolf asked.

"Bite my neck," the old wolf repeated. "I can't forgive another wolf for taking my mate from me, but I can forgive a husband."

Derrick's grin widened. "That works for me as well. If you want to find a way through this mess, Donovan, you better try after you can plead for husbandly clemency."

Donovan stared at the two. "Are you serious?"

"Completely," the old wolf replied. "You share our bed every night we're together. You share our affections, for which I am always grateful. This family can never have too many tops. There are plenty of reasons worthy of our mating, but mostly, marry us because we love you. We want you to understand that we're waiting for you to return as desperately as we are for Eric. It's time, Wolf. It's time to become a family."

Kris looked at Will. "Not that I don't agree, but don't you think this is a bit like extortion, Old Wolf? You placed him between that rock and a hard-on you're always talking about. He has to merge, and now you're telling him the only way he can is to marry you. Isn't that unfair?"

Donovan was quick to speak. "No, Kris, it isn't unfair. The old wolf is right. For three years, I have been more than happy to share all the joy and affection these two wolves give me. They have been my lovers, my friends, and my mentors for life in this world. They are, in every sense, the very definition of what a husband is. I am the one derelict in asking them to share the title that long ago they deserved."

Donovan knelt on one knee and looked at the two wolves. "I have never asked because I have never had the courage. It is not easy for wolves to risk so much."

Will smiled. "We get that. We're wolves, remember? Both of us were willing to wait for you. We realized you would figure it out by yourself, and one day we would feel your teeth deep in our necks."

Derrick nodded. "But you forced our hand. You can't wait, and now neither can we. We will wait for you regardless of what you choose today, but the Old Wolf is right. We would rather wait as your husbands."

The Armbruster's wolf smiled. "I would rather that be the case as well. Marry me, wolves. Be my mates. Let me feel your teeth on my neck and the taste of your nape on my tongue."

"One stipulation, Wolf," Will said.

"Anything," Donovan answered.

"Don't hold back. Mate with us as a Changeling."

"You will regret that, Old Wolf," Donovan said. "If I don't hold back, if I mate with you full on, I will taste more than the nape of your neck. Bones will break, and blood will spill before it is all done."

"We have seen the mating of Changelings, Wolf," Derrick interrupted. "Once, when Eric and Kris mated, and another time when you three joined. We're aware of what we are asking. While surviving the bears coming at us unchained is risky, you're a wolf. We will survive. But more important to the two of us, we will be sure that the wolf we love is totally and completely committed to this idea. That he is holding nothing back."

Kris laughed. "Do it, Donovan. They will win this one, and frankly, I agree with them. If you're going to make them wait for decades before they can be with you again, at least let them carry the scars of your lovemaking with them. They will heal enough to get along fine. When you return, they can exchange their scars for the pleasure of you on their backs."

Donovan looked at Eric. The polar bear smiled. "I'm all for it. We probably should do it in Montana, where we won't drive the temple dogs crazy by what you three put off." He thought for a moment. "And you probably should be a day's ride from the ranch. You don't want to deal with two bear husbands who will lose most of their inhibitions once you three start."

Will looked at the polar bear and smiled. "Would that be such a bad thing?"

"Until you've had a week to heal, I'm going to say yes. And that's the doctor in me speaking. You're lucky there will be a healer husband on call should things get out of hand. I can stitch you back up if necessary, but Kris can put the organs back where they belong and in one piece."

Donovan looked at the two wolves. "Are you sure about this? I will do whatever you need me to do to make our mating true and earn your trust. But please understand that once we start the mating, if you ask me to mate with you holding nothing back, I will honor that request."

"Has a Terran Changeling ever killed his mate in the ritual?"

"Of course not. You know of every mating on this planet."

"Ever permanently damaged his mate?"

"Obviously, no."

"Ever left his mate questioning the rightness of their union?"

Donovan paused. "No." He paused again. "And I will not be the first." The wolf leapt at Will and pushed him to the ground. He flipped him over and, without a moment's hesitation, mounted the flailing Iberian wolf. "You better take your best shot at my neck while I'm distracted, Pup," the Armbruster's wolf snarled. "It won't be any easier than now."

"Take him, Pup," Will growled as Donvan's fangs bite into his neck, breaking the old wolf's flesh with his canines. "Teach this wolf who he's marrying."

The Armbruster's wolf howled when the black wolf's teeth clamp into his neck. He tried to shake the pup off, but the young wolf's legs grabbed the elder's into a vice-like grip. The pup's jaws clamped even tighter, and the head shook, setting the teeth deep. When the ancient wolf sensed his warm blood trickling down his neck, he smiled and shook his head, resetting his jaw even more firmly into the wolf below. Donovan realized this was going to be a mating he would never forget. That was the way Will and Derrick wanted it. Donovan's back arched as the black wolf penetrated him. Donovan's tail tucked to the side, and his ears pinned back as he yielded himself to the new alpha in his life.

The bears watched the mating in disbelief. But there was admiration for their husbands as well. The three were not waiting for their mating to be convenient. They weren't waiting for anything. "We need to go," Eric groaned. "This is going to get very heated, very quickly."

"Too late," Kris said. "It's already there. I can hear Li Wei clawing at the door. Let's grab him and run."

"What are we going to do?" the polar bear asked desperately.

"Pretty much fuck the poor dog's brains out," the Kodiak growled back. "We're losing it, and he's in the line of fire."

The garage door rolled up, and the temple dog saw the two bears hurtling out of the lower room toward him with lust in their eyes. He smiled and stretched out his arms, waiting for the impact that threw him back off his feet as the two bears dragged him off towards the south woods.

From atop the lighthouse, Anders and Lewis smiled. "One of us should go down and close that door before that cyclone of wolf fur rolls out into the street," Lewis said with a laugh.

"Well, don't ask the Changeling to do it," Ander's said. "You've already seen what it does to us."

Lewis smiled. "I'm counting on it, Love. I'll go close the door. You head off to the woods, and I'll catch up with you."

"You realize it's going to get rough, right?"

"I'm counting on that, too," the white wolf said as he leapt from the top of the lighthouse and raced to the door. Anders shook his head and jumped off the gallery. By the time he hit the ground, he was a grolar bear. He followed the scent of the temple dog and bears toward what he knew would leave him sore but happy for days to come.

Chapter 30

Donovan felt the old wolf's body pressing up against his back and the arm draped over his chest. He watched the rise and fall of the young wolf's body in front of him and his paw reached out tracing the bare flesh across the black wolf's shoulder.

"I'm awake, Husband," Derrick said.

"Let it heal, Pup," the Armbruster's wolf said as he kissed the exposed flesh.

"I will," the young wolf replied. "When you return. Until then, I will wear it as a mark of my commitment to the one I wait for."

"I could buy you a ring."

"I already have two of those wrapped around my cock. Add another and it will cut off my blood supply to the thing."

Will growled. "And I don't want that happening," he said as he pulled Donovan in tight to his chest. "I like the way blood pumps through Pup's cock."

"Your scars are worse, Old Wolf," Donovan said.

"You shouldn't have yelled 'I'll make you my bitch,'" Will said with a laugh. "Your wounds outnumber ours combined."

"Kris once said that you suggested 'make me your bitch, stud,' was an appropriately loving Terran entreaty for one who wished to mate with you."

"Context, Donovan," the old wolf replied. "'Make me your bitch, stud', is a request. 'I'll make you my bitch,' is coercion by force. We werebeasts never do that. You triggered a natural response."

"I was trying to be romantic. You know that. I seriously hate your language. There are too many variables."

"I was trying to make our mating a learning experience for you as well," the old wolf said with a chuckle. "There are no regrets for me from any part of yesterday. I have a new wolf mate I love. Nothing else matters."

"I'm never going to say that term again, you know."

"Nor am I, Husband. Some jokes have outlived their days of being funny."

"I like the word husband. Will you be my husband, Old Wolf?"

"I thought that was what yesterday was all about."

"It was, but I used the wrong words. Today, I want to use the right ones."

"Yes, Donovan. Yes, I will be your husband." The old wolf groaned as the pain in his shoulder pushed forward beyond the other pains. "But if you want to bite my neck again, I will have to ask you to wait a few days."

"No, your words are all I need today," The Armbruster's wolf replied. He pulled the young wolf closer to him. "And maybe we could try sex again if you're up for it."

Derrick giggled. "We're bottoms, Husband. You're the one who's going to need to be up for it."

"I really hate this language," the ancient wolf sighed.

"You get used to it," the polar bear said as he and the Kodiak stood over the three. Eric extended a tray. "I made you three breakfast. You enjoy this, and then I'm gone. I have obligations to the rest of the family. Mating rituals, you know. Kris will stay here to attend to your wounds."

Will looked up at the bear. "Those rituals say the three of us are the ones to accommodate the rest of the family. Not our husbands."

The bear nodded. "That's true, but the rituals don't take into consideration that the mating was as strenuous as yours was. We can fudge a bit to adjust to the current circumstances."

"Is Li Wei doing okay?"

"He's been hard as a rock all night, but he has three Changelings attending to his needs and he's more than willing to accommodate ours."

"Three Changelings?" Derrick asked.

"Anders and Lewis are with us. Tyler has been good enough to close off the woods for the day from the tourists. Greg has a work crew making a great deal of noise to drown us out. I'm not sure it's doing all that good a job. Three reports were made of wild animal noises at the information desk."

Will laughed. "Damn, why do we even try to cover this stuff up? We totally suck at it."

"Because the humans need this place now more than ever. They need places that remind them of their past and help them build a better future. The park will close soon enough and we'll have the island to ourselves for the night."

Derrick pushed up onto his forearms. He groaned painfully as he tried to find a position that didn't hurt. "Papa Bear, please bring our family here. You all had a good night. But there are traditions whenever there are matings. There is love here. It's as old as the millions of years you have walked this earth. There are traditions. We celebrate the mating of not only the three of us but of all our families."

Eric nodded his head. "That is the tradition. But two of my husbands mated with a Changeling yesterday. I still see the blood on their necks and the scars on their bodies. My Changeling mate certainly looks as if you ran him through the wringer. I doubt any of you are up for the level of intimacy your family might crave."

Derrick moved to stand up. "Oh, bad idea," he said, falling backward onto Donovan, who yelped in pain. "Sorry, Husband. I haven't had balance this bad since Will turned me."

Kris sat next to the black wolf and his paw extended, glowing a warm green. He rubbed the bandaged leg. "It's still broken, Pup," he said.

"Yeah, that's right. Sorry about that last night, Donovan. I didn't mean to kick you off, but you know... Will's ass. I kind of get territorial when I'm pounding it." Derrick looked up at the Kodiak. "Nothing can make your husband lose his hard-on faster than having to shove a bone back into a leg and set it in a hurry."

Donovan leaned toward the black wolf and kissed him. "And nothing brings a hard-on back faster than seeing your smiling face in the morning."

Will laughed. "He's quite the romantic for a warrior," he said to the white bear.

"I agree," Eric replied with a nod. "We have an extraordinary family. Warriors with hearts that are gentler than any I have ever known. A shy little wolf with a courage that never ceases to amaze me."

"And a white bear who ties us all together," the old wolf interjected.

Eric laughed. "I don't hold you together. I am grateful you let me stay by your side and share my life with you."

"And today, part of that sharing is to ask our family to our side, as we've done for thousands of years."

"We can wait. This room puts us right in the middle of the tourists."

"That's what the soundproofing is for, Old Bear," Will replied. "Get Greg and his crew over here. Have them put up some scaffolding and a sign saying they are working on the interiors. Warn the visitors that there might be some shaking going on if they visit the museum. They'll be none the wiser."

"Besides, we're spent," Derrick said. "And I imagine most of you are as well. It will be gentler and less noisy this time around. You can treat us gently while we heal over the next few days. But Will is right. We need to be with our family. This is the way it has been for centuries. We three started this by mating. It is our obligation and our right to sustain that love. Let us be with our family."

"Traditions, Old Bear. We honor traditions," Will said.

Donovan smiled. "Traditions."

Kris grinned. "Traditions, Husband."

Eric put the tray down in front of the three. "Eat your eggs before they grow cold. I will get the family. Eat everything on your plate, men. You'll need your strength."

Will grinned. "Really?"

"Nathaniel, Martin, and Oliver are out there with us. The pack is arriving in an hour. Chet and the boys have been in the air since yesterday. They insisted on making the trip under their own power. That should exhaust at least a few of the family enough to think a bit of cuddling will be more than adequate."

Derrick laughed. "Well, we all realized this would happen with a big family."

Donovan pushed up and grabbed a plate. "I am ready to meet my family, Husband." The plate of food tilted into the wolf's mouth. "We will be here until all who wish to be with us have done so." His two wolf mates nodded their agreement.

"Okay," the bear said as he walked toward the door. "Don't start without us." He turned, paused, and then grinned. "Just kidding. I know you won't wait. We'll be back soon. Do your best to heal the major stuff, Husband. I'll send up Nathaniel first. He can help in the healing. An hour later, you men be ready for your family to visit," the bear said, looking at the group. With that, he turned toward the door. "I love you all."

The four sighed as the bear's rump flexed. "We love you too," Will said as a mouthpiece for all who watched as the bear walked through the door.

Three days later, Donovan leaned back into the belly of the saber-toothed cat. "I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am this morning. I love you, Husbands."

"We love you too," came the chorus of three of his four husbands.

"And I love you, family," the Armbruster's wolf yelled happily. "Whichever of you happens to still be here."

"We love you, too," came the chorus of beasts.

Nathaniel's lips slipped off the cock of the winged blue bear. "We're all pretty much here, Donovan. Some of us couldn't talk with our mouths full."

Will looked up. "Where are Eric and Oliver? I don't think I've bumped into them the entire time."

"They're out in the forest," Nathaniel said with a chuckle. "Father decided it was time to let Oliver give back his powers. The two of them figured with everyone distracted, the transfer might be more enjoyable."

Will laughed. "You know, Oliver, he loves himself some quality time with that bear."

The side door creaked open and a polar bear with a badger on his shoulders stooped under the door and entered the room.

"Speak of the devils," Will said as he jumped up and ran toward the two new housemates. He grabbed the badger off the polar bear's shoulders and kissed him. "Mmmmm... spermy," he sighed. "I love your morning breath, Oliver. Smells like husband. Not your husband, mind you, but definitely our husband."

Oliver laughed. "I was helping you out by getting your husband ready for his merging. He's gots to take his powers back to merge. I'se trying to keep my family together."

"Indeed you are," the old wolf agreed. He watched as Donovan moved off Martin's stomach and reached up to the polar bear. The bear lifted the Armbruster's wolf up and hugged him.

"Thank you for giving me this time, my love," Donovan said as he kissed the white bear. "I now understand why this has been a tradition for so many centuries."

"It was my pleasure, Husband," Eric replied. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"And you?" the Armbruster's wolf asked.

"Never has reacquiring my powers been so pleasurable." The bear looked at the badger and smiled as Oliver smiled back.

"How much time do we have, husbands?" Will asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Eric replied. He pulled up his paw that clung to Donovan's. Will saw the faint green glow shared between the two as the definition between the two paws started slowly fading. "The merging has already begun. The ties will become obvious within the hour. I postponed it as long as I could by staying away with Oliver, but you see what happens when we touch now. Our biology will win out."

Jean Pierre, the alpha of his pack, pulled the Kermode up off his fox husband and kissed the grinning bear. "I hate to interrupt my husband being pawed by my namesake, but it is time my pack rousted themselves from this revelry. Tiff... Tuff... Get to your ships. Tiff, the five Changelings should all be there for the merging. Ivan is in Paris at the Templeton Memorial Hospital. Francisco is a part of the polar ice restoration team up north in Greenland. Track him with his ComLink. I'll inform them both that you're coming to get them."

The French wolf looked at Tiff's twin. "Tuff, you take the Gray Wolf and get this family to the highland. Take as many as you can, but the two Changelings come first. Make sure they're on the ground and in their resting spot before anything else."

"Takeo," Tuff called out.

"Over here, Sir," a thin brown wolf called out as he rose from behind the Kodiak.

"Grab Daisuki and head on over to the ships. Get them online. Today, you two are piloting."

"Sir?"

"You joined the team to fly, right?"

"Yes sir, but today of all days?"

"What better day than the day we take our family home for their merging?"

"Yes, sir," the Hokkaido wolf agreed. "I'll get Daisuki. I don't think he and the Green family ever made it back from the woods. Bear bodies are very distracting to those of us raised on the idea that Sumo wrestlers are practically gods."

Kris laughed out loud. "So that explains the last three days."

Takeo leaned over and kissed the bear. "You, Sir... you are a god in your own right."

Kris smiled as he watched the werewolf shift to wolf and dash through the side door that Tiff had opened.

Tuff waved his arm around his head. "Come on, men. We can get you there within half an hour if we get it together."

Tuff looked at Damien. "You want to tag along, Husband?"

"Of course," the red wolf said, jumping up from his embrace with Lothair.

"Take me with you, Husband," Darius said as he pulled Lothair up from the floor. "If we take Li Wei with us, it will free up more room on the Gray Wolf, and we can enjoy seeing the Paris skyline from the hospital helipad."

"It will be good to see my brothers again," Lothair said with a smile. "I'm sure the five of us won't have time for much more than goodbyes when we reach the highland."

"Let's move then. The Red Wolf is already warming up." Tiff said. "We need to be out of here now if we're going to be on the highland in an hour." The party of four raced out from beneath the garage door before it was even halfway up.

Chet gave one last kiss to the black wolf and stood up. "Husbands, time to gather our family together. There are wolves at work that need to know what is happening."

The blue bear walked to his side as his wings folded. The blond bear tucked his wings into his back. "Let's split up and we'll cover more ground," he said.

"Go, Son," the polar bear said with a smile. Promise me you three will not try to fly there on your own."

Chet laughed. "You haven't seen bears fly. Unless you promise not to merge for two days, we will use the Gray Wolf." With a quick kiss from the polar bear and the wolf, they were out the garage door and headed toward the hospital.

Derrick walked to the side of the polar bear and the Armbruster's wolf. "Come, you two. Lean on us and let's get you to the Gray Wolf."

Eric smiled. "Thanks for remembering, Pup. It's already locking up our muscles."

Will shifted his legs and pushed his arm underneath Donovan's. "Come, Husband. This is all new to you, but it is familiar territory to us. Our Changeling husbands taught us well. You are in excellent hands."

"I actually kind of relish the thought that for the next forty years, not one thing in the universe can ask me to use my powers."

"Oh, that's not true, Wolf," Will said. "I will insist on a goodbye kiss that lasts me until your return. That will require quite some power."

"I love you, Old Wolf. I'm not sure there is a power in the universe that strong. But I will do my best."

The Iberian wolf gently turned the conjoined bear and wolf toward the open garage door. Kris came from behind and steadied the faltering couple. "Shoulds we help them?" Oliver asked Martin.

"No, Badger," the cat replied. "This is a journey the five of them alone can share. We go to be there when the three leave the cave."

By the time the Red Wolf flew in from Greenland, the couple was awash in the green and white glow of their merging. Hasty goodbyes made, the family moved outside, giving the five husbands their last moments together for decades to come.

Donovan's power surged through the polar bear, making it difficult for the bear to breathe. Kris stood by the couple in the main hall of the cave. "Okay, Donovan," the Kodiak said, "I need you to dial back. This is a part of the merging where you need to concentrate. I know you think that you're going to give the bear all that you are, but if you do that, you will kill him. He's already holding back to save your life. Hold on to yourself, hold on to your power. Share yourself the way you would with a lover on a summer afternoon down by the creek. Seduce your mate, tease him with only a taste of who you are. Leave him wanting more."

The brown bear wiped the brow of the Armbruster's wolf. "You don't throw yourself at him full force. You'll crush him. This isn't a mating, it's a merging. We slowly become a part of the whole. See it in your head. Don't rush it."

Donovan's eyes opened. "I'm so unsure," he said.

Will snorted. "Virgins. Gotta love them." The wolf knelt in front of the glowing white wolf. "There is a most remarkable man next to you trying to merge, Donovan. Stop being the warrior trying to control this. Let him in. Let him guide you."

Donovan looked at the old wolf. "You will be here when I come back?"

Will smiled. "Of course, we will. Where else would we be?"

"I'm afraid."

"I understand that feeling. Let him in, let him lay beside you. Let him be your husband. Stand down, Warrior. Embrace the peace."

Donovan trembled as the crystalline matrix crept up his arm. Then it happened. The Armbruster's wolf's eyes closed. "I love you, Old Bear," he whispered as the green light flowed into him.

"I love you, Wolf," the bear responded as the white light moved through him. The trailing gossamer threads wrapped themselves around the two. The three husbands watched until the two were no more. The crystal rock, so familiar in the main hall of the cave, stood pulsing its cool white-green glow to the heartbeat of what had become one.

"Damn," Will said. "I never get to say goodbye to them the way I want."

Derrick slipped up beside his mate. "But at least we get to say hello the way we want."

"True that, Pup. You ready for another forty years?" the old wolf said as he walked out into the darkness of the glade.

"Yeah. It's like coming home, Old Wolf. We mated with three Changelings. We best get used to this."

Kris pulled the two in close and pointed to the family sitting out in the grass, looking up at the stars. "It will be fun, wolves. Like a camp-out. We can eat roasted marshmallows by the fire... tell ghost stories..."

"And wieners... lots and lots of wieners..." Oliver said, moving closer to the saber-toothed cat and patting the space next to him. "Mostly down my throat, but a few up my ass now and then won't be so bad."

"Wieners, Oliver?" Will asked. "Really?"

"Sure, Old Wolf. And we can has hot dogs every now-and-thens if you want them too. Don't rightly care what we has to eat as long as we gots plenty of wieners to play with."

"I love you, Oliver," the old wolf said with a smile as he sat down next to the little mammal.

"Me too," Derrick chimed in, finding himself a seat in the grass.

"I loves you both, too," Oliver said happily. "And you, Bear. I'm right fond of you."

Kris sighed. "This will be an unusual wait, won't it?"

"Why's that?" Oliver asked.

"Because I think by the time my husbands come home, I might have another one."

"You gots the Sight, Bear?"

"No, Badger, I've got you. And I can't help but want to bite your neck every time I see you."

"I coulds live with that, Bear."

"It would certainly make for an interesting set of relationships you'll have," Will said with a laugh. "Married to a bear and his father."

"Yeah, we does some weird stuff in the name of love, don'ts we? I'll be just like you and the Pup. Married to a Papa and his boy."

Will laughed. "It never seemed all that weird to me. Now three temple dogs, a gallon of brownie batter, and forty feet of steel cable... that can get you some pretty weird love if you know what you're doing."

"Does I marry the bear, Husbands?"

Derrick rubbed the badger's head. "Are you asking us because we have the Sight, or are you asking for the opinions of your husbands?"

"Either seems fine."

"Marry him," Derrick said without hesitation. "He's like me. He won't hold back if you're his husband."

Oliver laughed. "Then I'se a dead badger for sure the day he bites my neck."

"But what a way to go, Badger," Derrick said.

"I'll asks my island husbands. I thinks they has a say in this."

The massive head of the short-faced bear fell in front of the badger, looking up at his face with the silly family grin. "Marry him, Badger."

The cat lay down in front of the group and rolled over onto his back. "I agree. I'm tired of my tongue being the kinkiest topic of conversation with this family. Now there will be a father and son that merge and give birth to a child that becomes the badger's husband. Then the badger mates with the child's father. Now that is kinky."

"In this family, marrying a father and his son is downright vanilla, Cat," the old wolf said with a chuckle. "Now three temple dogs, a pillowcase filled with turkey stuffing, an electric auto buffer, and a diving board over Jell-O -- that's kinky."

"I didn't think so," Noboru said as he sat down.

"Nor I," Katashi agreed.

"In my opinion, it was kinky," Zhuang replied. "But then, I am not fond of lime Jell-O. If it had been black cherry Jell-O, I might feel differently." The dog paused. "Although I suspect the staining of our fur would have been even more pronounced than the lime Jell-O."

Martin looked at the three temple dogs, who shared a common grin. "Are you three pulling our legs?"

Katashi smiled. "No. For that, we would need a gallon of whipped cream, an artist's easel, twenty-three feet of eight thousand pound test bungee cord, an oak tree at least eighty years old, and Li Wei."

Martin smiled. "I see. There are layers to you temple dogs I hope one day to understand."

"We will be glad to help, Cat," Zhuang said. "We will be here until the bear and wolf's return. That should give us time. Come, plant rice with us in the spring, and we will sing of our adventures with the old wolf. We are still recovering from our adventures with Pup, but I imagine in time, they, too, will become legends."

Martin laughed. "So, Oliver, back to your question. I say marry the bear. You've wanted to since the first day he made you his snack all those years ago on the gunnery landing site."

Oliver sighed. "I really, really hates the Sight, you know."

"Yeah, I know," the saber-toothed cat replied. "But the cat with the Sight loves you."

"And the black wolf with the Sight loves you, too," Derrick added

"And the Iberian wolf."

"I guess it's a fair trade, then. I loves all of them," Oliver said with a sigh.

"So?" Kris asked.

"Yeah, Bear. I will marrys you if you promise to come visits me on the island from time to time. That goes for you two wolves as well."

"You're always welcome here, Oliver," Will invited. "You know how these vigils work."

"I does," the badger replied. "And you knows that we has ourselves a whole new set of young ones moving in."

Derrick leaned back into the belly of the Kodiak bear. "We can always rotate a bit I suppose. I'm sure that our hibernating husbands would understand."

"You have a deal, Badger," Kris said.

Oliver stood up. "Okay then, Bear, let's get this started."

"Now?" Kris asked.

Oliver nodded. "I figure that the group we gots here is about as small a family gathering as I'm gonna get. Half the pack is back on the island taking care of the hospital or the children. Li Wei is teaching tai chi classes to the little ones. That means I'se only got three dogs looking to pound my ass when we's mated."

Noboru shook his head. "You will be fine, Oliver. It's the bear's ass we're going to go after as soon as you're finished with it. He's a Changeling after all."

Oliver laughed. "Well, that makes me rest easier, but it's still as small a gathering as we's going to get, so I say we goes for it."

Kris rose, and leaning over, scooped up the little mammal and placed him on his shoulders. "Oliver, I love you. Be my mate."

"Now ands forever, Bear. Make me your husband." He looked at the other animals staring at him. "Go on, beasts. Back to the cave to waits. This is our moment. You's way too close not to get all hot and bothered and get in our way."

The crowd smiled and walked back toward the glowing mouth of the cave.

Once he saw all the family inside the cave, the bear grabbed Oliver off his shoulders and threw him into the air. As he fell toward the earth, Oliver shifted into the werebadger, and the bear caught the beast in his teeth. The bear's jaws tightened as he bit into Oliver's neck. "You tell me if this hurts too much," the bear said as he pushed the badger into the grass and mounted him.

"Nots hardly, Bear. You wants to hear me scream, you makes it from pleasuring me," Oliver growled. The bear bit deeper and the thrusting of the bruin began. Inside the cave, the temple dogs rocked anxiously.

An hour later, shortly after the roar of the bear's orgasm had faded and the night became quiet, the Kodiak bear cried out, "Holy fucking mackerel, Badger. Where did you learn to do that?"

"Be my mate, Bear," the badger yelled through clenched teeth. "Be my mate, and I won't stop until I'se spent."

"Now and forever, Badger," the bear bellowed.

When the badger screamed his way through his orgasm, the temple dog's nostrils flared. Derrick's black ears pinned back. The old wolf's cock pushed out from his sheath. Martin's purr turned to a hiss as the saber-toothed cat's back arched. The short-faced bear rolled forward onto all fours from his rocking. The pack and Changelings all stared at the entrance to the cave, waiting for the call.

The old wolf looked at the crowd as they heard the beasts roaring. "Men, I believe there are two husbands ready for us," Will said happily. As one unified body, the beasts rushed to the cave's opening and out onto the grassy field.

Chapter 31

The four husbands stood by the glowing rock, each with one paw touching the stone. "Happy anniversary, husbands," Kris said lovingly. "We all decided it was best for everyone to choose one common day to celebrate. The middle of August seemed right. No one has a holiday in the middle of summer. So, now we have a reason for our family to get together. It's been twenty-eight years since Oliver and I mated. Can you believe it? All I know is I am one very happy, grateful bear."

Oliver looked up at the bear, and then his gaze returned to the crystal. "And I'se one very happy badger. I loves him so much, Old Bear. I loves him, Wolf. You gots my promise I ain't never gonna get between you and him unless it's so you can pounds my butt while I pounds his."

Kris laughed. "You understand how this goes, husbands. We make family. You're making a new addition even as we speak. Oliver and I only closed the circle on a love that begged acknowledgment for far too long."

Derrick rubbed the glowing stone. "They make such a beautiful pair, husbands. Come back to us. Let us show you how beautiful they are."

Will knelt down. "It's been over a quarter of a century, husbands. You know how I am. I miss you. I want to feel you both when I wake up in the morning. Ivan and Francisco merged last week. That's where we've been. Have to say goodbye to the family before they merge. You fucking Changelings; always rolling up into a rock and making us wait for you. We tried to convince them to come here, but you know those two. Their husbands are Parisians. They weren't about to spend forty years waiting for their husbands in a cave. Besides, Templeton Memorial Hospital is their shared passion. Where else would they go to merge? The two of them are resting in room C-244. When you come back, we can go to France and visit them together."

Derrick put his arm on Will's shoulder. "The island children have all grown up. Most of them are married with children of their own now. We seem to have found peace with what our world has become. What Max did is holding. The Terrans still don't realize what happened that day other than they avoided a nuclear disaster. They have no clue of the changes deep within their DNA."

"But they's doing fine," Oliver said to the glowing rock. "them Terrans humans is finally taking care of their own; even all of them driven crazy by the change. They's gots homes where others care for them. They gots their fellow humans and the werebeasts they ain't never going to see looking out for them."

Kris rubbed the stone again, as he always did right before he spoke. "The governments are pretty much back in place again. I sometimes think they're there more for a sense of nostalgia and a way of defining geographical areas. As individuals learned to share their lives, the governments followed suit. We don't hear the word refugee very often outside of history classes."

The Kodiak leaned over and kissed the glowing crystal. "It hasn't always been a calm peace between nations, but there's never been a war; not even a border skirmish. A lot of very intense negotiations, but they're learning to yield more quickly to that underlying reality that we're all in this together."

"God, how we miss you two," Will said. "Please come back. We have a field full of family out there, so eager to see you as something more than a rock."

Derrick touched the crystal one last time. "We have to go now. That family is getting ready for the night. Our daylong celebration is ending, and the pack is eager to run. We love you, Papa Bear. We love you, Wolf. Be happy."

Oliver gave the stone a swift kick. "Come back, bastard Changelings. You gots family to take care of. And looks what you done to the old wolf. He ain't even got the heart to kick you no more." The badger kissed the stone. "I misses you. Happy anniversary, Old Bear. Happy anniversary, Wolf. Come back and makes me your mate."

Oliver, Will, and Derrick turned toward the cave door. "A moment more for me," Kris said waving the three toward the door.

"Sure, Husband," Derrick said. "We'll see you out on the glade."

In the cool glow of the crystal, Kris sat down on the ground and dropped his head onto the stone. "I realize this is who we are, husbands. But we make them wait for so long. Ivan and Francisco's husbands wait. I wait, and now I understand what it feels like to want to be a part of you again. I am the first Changeling to wait. You have no idea how much we miss you. I don't want you to feel guilty for doing what we do. Still, I want you to know how deep the longing goes for those who wait. Almost as deep as the love that makes this all possible."

The bear rose and wiped his eyes with his paw. "We wait. We will always wait. Come home, husbands. Bring your child with you."

Jean Pierre, the alpha wolf, rose from the table and looked across the glade. The artificial torchlights cast a warm glow over the party. "Such a beautiful night. Even the moon is full. Who is up for a run?" His mates smiled and the little fox wagged his red tail. The pack, which contained both werebeast and Changeling, gathered. They shook into wolves and the bear they let slip into the pack on the technicality that he was once a wolf. The company beside the pack included bears, temple dogs, a saber-toothed cat, and a badger. Tonight, it also included a visiting rhino, who grinned at the thought of another run next to his Yellow clan.

Jean Pierre pressed the ComLink on his chest. "How long before you boys are here?"

"A few more minutes," Chet responded. "We will greet our human family tomorrow if they wish to go to bed now. Bears don't fly fast and I have no intention of leaving their side."

Jean Pierre laughed. "I would expect nothing less of a good husband. We will wait for you if you wish."

"No, Gray One. Run with your family. We love watching you run from above. We will join you when we get there." There was a pause. "Is Pup there?"

"I'm here," Derrick said, his grin widening.

"Just curious," Chet said with a cheerful voice. "We look forward to seeing you all tonight."

"Only some of us more than others, Pup," Will laughed as he hugged the black wolf. "Don't forget the deal."

Derrick kissed the old wolf. "I get touched by an angel, and I'll have the devil to pay."

"And old yellow eyes wants what he wants," Will said with a leering grin as he stood up and stepped away from the table, and shook into his wolf form.

"Top or bottom?" the black werewolf asked as he too stepped out into the field and became a wolf.

"Really, Pup? You need to ask?" the Iberian wolf said, bumping into him playfully.

"God, you two," Sarah groaned as she maneuvered slowly out from the picnic table. "Do you two ever take a breath for anything other than heavy breathing?"

Will smiled at his niece. "Wolves are creatures of habit. We'd try something different, but this seems to work out so well."

Jean Pierre looked at the aged couple. "And what of you two? Sarah, Paul, would you or the family like to run with us tonight?"

Paul laughed. "I'm eighty-five years old, Jean Pierre. I didn't jog when we first met. What makes you think I would start running now?"

"Because there's a first time for everything, and it involves a lot of kissing by furry animals?"

Paul thought a moment before his wife punched his arm playfully. "Sorry, boys. As pleasant as that offer might be, I'll pass on it tonight."

"I don't know," Kristopher said playing with what little hair remained on the side of his head. "Might be kind of entertaining to see what bears really do in the woods."

Jenny bumped her husband. "You have four children who expect a story from their father tonight, pajamas to put on, far too many cups of water to fill, and a charming wife to satisfy in bed. I would say your night is full."

Kristopher looked down and saw his children nodding their agreement. He grabbed the youngest, pulling her up from the picnic table and onto his shoulders. "Well, then... come little children, and I will tell you the story of a boy whose brother became a flying bear."

The oldest son rolled his eyes. "We've heard that one about a thousand times."

Kristopher thought. "The human that married a bear?"

"Yep, done that one."

"The bear and the badger who loved a sloth that became a cat?"

The fifteen-year-old gave an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, Dad. All been done."

"The teenage boy mauled and eaten by his irate uncles who wanted to run, but knew they couldn't until their human family was inside the cave fast asleep?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Yeah, don't think I've heard that one." He paused in thought. "How about the badger and the bear that loved the sloth that became a cat? That's my favorite."

"Kids?" Kristopher asked. The remaining siblings cheered. "How about your kids, Jessica?"

Jessica looked at her husband. "I just got them both to sleep. It's up to you, Babe," he said.

"We'll walk back with you, but we might pass on the story tonight," she said with a smile.

Jessica and her husband put the twins into their papooses and slipped them over their shoulders. The Carver family grabbed their empty plates and helped their grandfather up from the table. They brushed themselves off and went through the long line of beasts. They kissed each one goodnight and headed back to the rock face of the cliff and their beds.

When he saw the last of the humans slipping through the opening in the crag, Oliver looked up to the sky and began singing. The warm tones of the badger spread out across the glade. Changeling sounded beautiful no matter who spoke it, but Oliver's lower register made the song warm and inviting.

Kristopher's son stood inside the opening of the cavern and looked back. "Now that, Dad... I never tire of that."

"Come on kids," Kristopher said. "Open up your ears and we'll be fine listening to him sing inside."

The short-faced bear leaned into his badger husband and kissed his cheek. He raised his head and joined melody. The old wolf held the badger from behind, his legs wrapping around the tiny body. He kissed the top of the badger's head and lifted his voice in song. The saber-toothed cat and the pup smiled from beside the badger and they, too, sang. With a thud that shook the ground, the Kodiak dropped, wrapped his arms around his family, hugged them tightly, and lifted his voice in song.

One by one, the great beasts joined the chorus, helping guide their flying brothers to the highland. Inside the cave, Sarah and Paul kissed their grandchildren goodnight. They smiled and sat down on the couch. "We'll just stay here and listen for a bit," Sarah said.

Kristopher smiled. "I don't blame you. It's hard to go to sleep when they're singing."

Kristopher's youngest looked up at her father. "Can we sing with them?"

"Of course you can, but we can't stay up too late," her father answered. "Remember, Uncles Tiff and Tuff promised to take us in the Red Wolf to visit Uncle Billy and Uncle Diego tomorrow."

"Okay," the kids said in unison.

Kristopher smiled at Jenny. "Want to join them?"

Jenny kissed her husband. "When could I ever say no to singing with my family?"

The family closed their eyes and let the music flow through them. Except for a young straggler, the family sang in one voice. The fifteen-year-old struggled with what to do. It was okay to listen, but really, singing with the family? Definitely not cool.

And so the lad listened. He listened to his family of beasts and humans as they sang of all that they had lost and all that they had found. The words of love, friendship, sacrifice, and redemption filled the glade with their melody. He smiled at the story of how Santa turned into a Kodiak, blinded the humans, and saved the wolves he loved. His head tilted as he listened closely to a new song on the highland. It was the story of his family and the love they had for a fifteen-year-old boy with way, way too much attitude. As the flying bears and their angel mate spiraled out of the air and onto the field, the young boy laughed, raised his head, and began to sing.