FSE

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Chapter 16

The five were watching the stars slowly light up the evening sky when Will's ComLink vibrated. He tapped his ear. "Hey, Handsome, we're heading home soon," he said.

"Better sooner than later, Husband," Kris said on the other side of the call. "Our husbands may be coming home."

Before anyone spoke another word, Chet tapped his ComLink. "Red Wolf, priority one; prepare for departure," he said, pushing up off the ground.

Will and Derrick both bolted up out of the arms of the bears. "It's finally happening?" Derrick asked, overjoyed.

"Oliver kicked the stone, and it's leaking. There's a lot of motion going on inside. I think it's time. If nothing else, get home because our badger is having a panic attack. He thinks he might have hurt them, and he's inconsolable. He could use you by his side, Will. You know what it feels like to be where he is right now."

Will laughed. "I do that. Grab some duct tape and let Oliver have at the rock. It won't change a thing, but it might help calm him down. We'll see you soon, Husband."

Will closed the call with a tap and looked up at the group. Chet smiled. "Congratulations, you two. We have Tiff and Tuff already headed to the Red Wolf." Chet put his hand on Derrick's shoulder. "I know your feelings on the matter, but if you let us fly you to the Red Wolf, you'll be there much faster than trying to get there by truck."

Derrick shook his head. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but take me, Chet. I want to be by their side when they return."

Chet smiled and wrapped his arms around the black wolf. "I already took you, Pup. But for now, let's get you home. Close your eyes, Jefe," he said as the dark wings flapped outward.

Derrick pushed his face into the feathered chest and closed his eyes tightly. He felt Chet pull him tight. With scarcely any other motion, Derrick felt the cool wind blow over his fur and knew he was airborne.

When the Red Wolf landed on the highland, the temple dogs were there to greet the returning family. Noboru looked up at the number of beasts spilling out after Derrick and Will had bounded past them on their way to the cave. "You are all most welcome," the temple dog said. "This is a joyous night, and your company is much appreciated."

Chet bowed to the three dogs. "It thrills us to be here, Sensei. What can we do?"

"I believe it is the custom of Westerners to boil water at the birth of a baby," Noboru responded. "Although I can find no record of our family doing so at the birth of Nathaniel. I am at a loss for what we should do other than be there beside the ones we love."

Chet grabbed the paw of the dog and pulled him along as he ran toward the cave. "Then let us be there as quickly as possible."

Max grabbed Katashi's paw, and JP grabbed Zhuang's. Together, the six raced toward the glowing maw of the cavern.

Jean Pierre looked at the red wolves. "Go, Sons," he ordered. "There's hardly enough room in that cave, but the Old Bear will be happy to see his sons waiting for him when he returns."

Tiff and Tuff fell onto all fours and raced across the field toward the cave that was growing brighter from the inside. Jean Pierre smiled at Damien and Darius. "Could I interest you two in a nice, leisurely walk to the cave with my husbands and me?" The two red wolves smiled back, and with a nod, the rest of the Montana family was walking across the field.

"I've never been to an emerging of Changelings from their chrysalis," Damien said to Jean Pierre.

Jean Pierre nodded. "Nor have any of us, Damien. Tonight will be the first time that anyone but Derrick and Will have watched their husbands return."

Jason looked up at his husband. "Do you think that's the way it should be tonight? Only the three husbands?"

"I would if it were not for the insistence of those husbands to have their family by their side. We are here by invitation. My guess is that the two wolves see something in the return of their husbands that will be better with our family here."

The fox nodded. "But not the entire pack?"

Jean Pierre laughed. "We have to draw the line somewhere, my love. This seems as good a place as any. Come, let's not dawdle. The light from the cave is already the color of the old bear's power. He is guiding his family back home. They are returning."

The last of the Montana family slipped through the cavern's mouth. They hurried through the antechamber into the cave's main hall. There they saw the two rising green blobs of wet goo taking shape. The two were almost instantly recognizable by their size and shape. The two were returning as they had left; an Armbruster's wolf and a polar bear. Jason smiled and squeezed both his husband's paws. "It's nice to see them return as someone I recognize."

Will turned, grinning. "They say they return as what makes them happiest. That means they're coming back as your family and as our husbands."

Lothair smiled back at the Iberian wolf. "That was a given Old Wolf. Who would ever leave you for even a moment without yearning to be back by your side?" He nodded toward the Kodiak bear and the black wolf. "And I mean that to include all their husbands, of course."

Derrick and Kris nodded back to the Changeling wolf. "Of course," Kris said with a smile. "Now we see what comes of waiting forty-two years for our hibernating husbands to return."

"Is it only the two?" Darius asked.

"No, there's a son in all that melting rock," Oliver answered. "They's gots an order to this. The fathers come first, and then they brings their baby into the world."

Kris laughed. "You seem well versed in something you've never seen before, Badger."

"I'se got the Sight, Husband. As soon as you handed me that duct tape and I touched the stone, I calmed down enough for it to tell me to stop being afraid of what was coming."

"Hmmm..." Kris said, looking at the green beasts forming from the liquid that surrounded them. "Do you know what their son is going to be?"

"Nope," Oliver said, shaking his head. "All I knows is I ain't got a clue. I ain't sayin' he's blocking me or anything, but whatever their boy's got in mind, it ain't making no sense to me."

"I like surprises," Will said. "It's good to let him figure it out on his own. He has his fathers to help him. Kris and Eric did a wonderful job with Nathaniel. I'm sure that Donovan and Eric will do fine."

"Speaking of Nathaniel," Oliver interjected. "He and Martin knows what's going on, but they's gonna stay mum until we call them in a few days so this reunion don't get out of hand. The birth of a Changeling is big news in the Were Nation."

"That's true," Derrick agreed. "Nathaniel was born in the middle of a war, so the Were Nation had little chance to get out to see the newborn. But we're at peace now. They'll have ample opportunity to meet this child."

"Well, for now, let's let him deal with this smaller crowd," Kris said. "He'll get to meet his extended family soon enough."

While the family talked, the two shapes continued to coalesce into the shape of the bear and wolf. The limbs sprouted fur, and the green glow softened. While obviously preoccupied with their regeneration, after a time, the two heads seemed to turn back and forth toward whoever was talking.

"We are honored to be among that family present to welcome this son to his new home," Noboru said with a bow toward the Kodiak bear.

"And we are honored to have you," Kris said with a bow in return. "None have been by his side more faithfully than the three of you. The boy should know from the first how many loving fathers he has."

"No, we are not fathers," Noboru protested. "We are merely here on the highland watching over the two and their child."

"And what would you have us call one who watches over a child but a father?" Kris asked. "The boy needs to know his life with us will be far different from the world around us. He needs to know how many fathers he has. He needs to know how many wonderful men will stand by his side to teach and train him in the ways of the Were Nation."

Noboru bowed again. "I defer to your wisdom, Ancient One. We are grateful to be called father should he so choose." Zhuang and Katashi nodded their agreement as they, too, bowed.

"And I defer to your wisdom as well," said the green, glowing polar bear as his muzzle took shape. "Our son has never thought of those who waited for him to be born as anything but his fathers. He understands biology, but he also understands the love of those surrounding him."

Jean Pierre's eyes clouded with tears at the sound of the polar bear's voice. "Welcome back, Old Bear. I have missed you."

"And I you, Gray One," the bear responded. The bear turned toward Will. "And you, Old Wolf. I am so sorry for the delay."

Will rubbed his eyes. "It's okay, Old Bear. You should have married a more patient wolf."

"He did," Derrick interjected. "He married me. I'm a much more patient wolf than you, Husband."

The green bear nodded in agreement. "You are, Pup. But I have missed you all so much. It has been too long, and were it not for the joy of bringing our son into this life, I would have never left any of you."

"Nor would I," the green Armbruster's wolf added as his muzzle formed and his jaw opened. "It has been too long, family. I have missed your touch. But I thank you all for the years when I heard your voices in the darkness. I am so glad to be home." The wolf shook one of his paws, and the green fur became the mottled fur of the Armbruster's wolf. The green fur on his back took on the dark spots, and a lighter beige spread over his belly.

"Well, hurry your asses up and get's your bodies back," Oliver said impatiently. "You'se been gone too long and your husbands ain't gonna give me a hello until they's had you and renewed their vows, so don't keep them waiting no more. Shake off that green goo and bed your husbands."

The green polar bear shook, and the fur shifted toward white along his belly and arms. He closed his eyes in concentration and, with a shake of his head, the white fur and black nose of the polar bear returned. "We are both going as fast as we can," Eric said with a laugh. "My god, Badger, you're impatient enough to be one of our husbands."

"Ain't saying I won't say yes to that idea one day, Old Bear," Oliver said with a grin. "But for now, you've got some husbands who need some serious sexing for all them missed years."

"And what of our son?" the Armbruster's wolf questioned.

"He's got himself temple dogs if he wants to follow in his father's footsteps. And there's a whole pack of wolves here to take care of him while he waits for you two to do your husbandly duties," the badger replied. "By the way, where is the boy?"

"He's coming. I think he's going to be another shy one, like Nathaniel," the white bear replied. He hesitated a moment. "Or Derrick," he added, smiling at the black wolf.

"You got to watch out for those shy ones," Will said with a snicker. "They're the ones who sneak up on you and ask you to marry them when you least expect it." Derrick gave a shove to the old wolf, and Will turned and smiled at his mate. "And I am so glad you did. Now and forever, Pup."

Derrick smiled. "Now and forever, Old Wolf. I'm glad you said yes."

There was movement in the middle between the polar bear and Armbruster's wolf. "There he is," Jason blurted out as he pointed. He looked at everyone around. "Sorry, outside voice. But this is very exciting for a little fox."

Kris smiled at the red canid. "It's exciting for everyone here, Jason. All you did was say what the rest of us were thinking."

The shape in the middle grew, and the height rivaled that of the polar bear, but the shape of the muzzle seemed more akin to Donovan's wolf. When the shoulders went broader than either the bear or the wolf, it was clear whatever the beast was; it was the first of its kind.

"What the hell is he?" Oliver asked. "He gonna be a Sasquatch?"

"He's going to be what his heart tells him to be, Oliver," Eric said with a frown on his face.

"I'se sorry Old Bear," Oliver said, recanting his comment. "I didn't mean to disrespect his choice. He's gonna be something we all love, but he's turning out to be as broad in the shoulders as Nathaniel. But he's got a build more like Donovan."

"You go for what you dreamed of being," Donovan said to the green animal beside him. The Armbruster's wolf shook his feet free from the green liquid. A faint green glow still seemed to cover the returning wolf's body, but it was fading quickly. Donovan rubbed the glowing green shape next to him lovingly. "Oliver is simply confused by what you are becoming."

The glowing creature nodded his understanding and shook. A wolf's head took shape, with a flatter muzzle and rounded ears. The wolf's muzzle separated into an upper and lower jaw. When the beast tried to talk, only a gurgling noise slipped from the mouth that still dripped the green liquid.

The arms of the beast were thick and bulky, like the polar bear beside him. His massive chest didn't drop over the characteristic gut of the bears, though. It took on the tighter, defined torso that was common among werewolves. The leg's musculature lacked the canine hocks of a wolf and they were far stouter than a werewolf's. With another shake, the beast's fur showed white with a tan spotting along the back.

The crowd looked on, trying to figure out what they were watching being born. None had quite figured it out until a young man's voice struggled past the now-furred muzzle and told them, "I'm a bear-wolf."

"Ain't no such thing," Oliver said.

"Is now," the bear-wolf said defiantly.

Oliver smiled. "Well then, I guess there is. You's a handsome one, whatever you wants us to call you," Oliver said.

"I'd like you to call me Colton," the bear-wolf replied. "That's my name."

"Right purty name," Oliver said. "You gonna suck up the rest of that juice and gives you some feet so I can hug you?"

Colton smiled. "Yeah, I'm working on it."

"Take your time, Son," Eric said. "Oliver is always impatient. Don't let him rush you."

"But Will is impatient too," the bear-wolf said. "I heard him every day for the last twenty-eight years."

Will groaned. "Okay, Son," he said with a sigh. "I missed your fathers. I'm not a patient man. Neither is Oliver. That's who we are. We like to be close to the ones we love."

Colton grinned. "Me too." He lifted his left leg and the thick foot of a bear shook, turning from green fur to white.

The temple dogs looked on as the last of the bear-wolf took shape. "You are quite the unique beast," Zhuang said.

Colton nodded with a grin. "Yeah, I am. I wanted to be both my fathers, so I picked something between them. You can understand that, right? You dogs are a sort of cross between the temple dragons and something smaller and more nimble."

"Indeed," Katashi said. "We are like you. The world had never seen a temple dog before us. It does not disturb us to be unique. It should not disturb you."

"Well, I think he's beautiful," Derrick said.

"And I think you're beautiful," Colton replied, looking at the black wolf. "Are you going to have sex with my fathers soon?"

Derrick chuckled. "Yes, Colton. I'm going to have sex with your fathers as soon as we welcome you to our world."

"Does that involve sex? I am pretty eager to try all the things my fathers have missed the most."

Derrick's chuckle became a laugh. "It can involve sex if you would like it to. But for now, how about a hug and a kiss?" The black wolf extended his arms, and the massive white and tan beast grabbed him into a hug. The kiss lasted as long as one would expect a kiss between Derrick and another beast to last. It was longer than expected and explored more than anticipated. When the two finally separated, they were both erect.

"Well, Old Bear, I will say your son has a fondness for Pup the same as you," Will said, grinning.

Colton turned toward Will. "Wait until I show you how fond I am of you, Father," the bear-wolf said, grinning. "Your arm and leg don't look nearly as bad as you told us. You are still beautiful."

"Well, thank you, Son," Will said. "I'll look forward to letting you get familiar with the metal parts of me and all the rest, but for now, how about we keep it to a hug, okay? I have been waiting for forty-two years for my husbands to return, and I don't want to wait any longer."

Colton's face scrunched up in thought. "Of course, Father. I'm sorry to keep you from your husbands." His thick arms extended. "Give me a hug. I can wait for the kiss. I'm afraid those are too much fun."

Will stared at the bear-wolf's thick erection. "Yeah, I can see that. You're gonna be a head turner, Son." The old wolf reached out and hugged the newborn. Kris followed; and with an apology, he too expressed his desire to be with his husbands.

Oliver reached up toward the bear-wolf. "Come on, Colton," he said. "Picks me up. You, me, and the temple dogs is going for a walk. Let's let the husbands be for a while." He looked toward the Montana pack. "You wolves best tag along. I gots a feeling this boy has no control over his pheromones."

The three temple dogs nodded. "We can attest to that, Oliver," Noboru said. "Between him and the Kodiak, this room is growing increasingly claustrophobic."

"You gots some trees you wants to show us, Dog?" Oliver said with a grin.

"Could we, Oliver?" Noboru asked eagerly.

Jean Pierre waved his hand outward toward the mouth of the cave. "Men, the dogs appear to have the urge to show this young man how to climb a tree." He looked at Colton. "Provide you're up for it, young man."

Colton gave an eager nod. "Oh, yes, I'm already up for it." He thumped his erection. "Papa taught me all about innuendo."

"Then good," Jean Pierre said. He took the hand of Noboru. "Come, Dog, teach this old wolf some new tricks."

"I would be honored," Noboru said with a bow.

Colton reached out and took Katashi's hand. "And you can teach a new bear-wolf some old tricks," the beast said with a smile.

Katashi smiled. "I too will be honored," he replied with a bow.

Zhuang smiled at Oliver with a lecherous grin. "I believe that leaves me to attend to your needs, Oliver."

The four red wolves looked at the badger and dog. "And who is going to attend to our needs?" they chimed in together.

"Oh, that's an easy one," Oliver said. "You gives me time, and I'll make sure you all's properly done."

"I will also assist Oliver in such a noble cause," Zhuang said with a bow.

Lothair waved toward the door. "Go, Sons. If you make it to the forest unattached, Jason and I will make sure you're attached to something in short order."

"Then we're out the door," the four said, dropping onto all fours and rushing out toward the mouth of the cave. The three winged beasts spread their wings and followed after the wolves.

Lothair looked back toward the five husbands. "Welcome back, brothers," he said. "We leave you in the most capable hands I can think of."

Jason nodded in agreement. "But we wait for your call after your mating," the little fox added.

Lothair looked down at the fox. He scooped up his tiny husband and threw him onto his shoulders as he turned to walk toward the antechamber. "You may wait, Fox, but I have a craving for a bit of fox tail before this night is over, and I'm about to claim husbandly privilege to satisfy that craving."

Jason laughed. "I love you, Husband," he said in his outside voice as the two ducked and headed out of the cavern.

The five husbands stood as the last of the faint green glow left the two Changelings. "Welcome, home husbands," Kris said, reaching out to the two. The three entered an embrace, followed by the two husband wolves grabbing the group from behind.

"I know we promised to mate upon our return," Donovan said, "but I would so like to make love to you before our mating. Something more akin to cuddling, perhaps?"

"Works for me," Derrick said, smiling. "I like to cuddle."

Donovan turned, and his paw reached around the back of the black wolf. He felt the raised flesh of the young wolf's scar on his shoulder. "Let it heal now, Pup. I've come home as I promised. Now you heal as you promised." The Armbruster's wolf felt the thick scar tissue fade away and the furriness of the black wolf's shoulder return. He leaned in and kissed the young wolf.

Eric looked at Will. "You, too, Old Wolf. Heal those scars. We can make new ones soon enough if keeping your mating history on your hide is that important to you."

Will shook his head as the scars faded from his body. "No, Old Bear. They're not important. The ones who gave them to me are important, but they're all home now. It's time to let the reminders go and embrace my reasons for having them in the first place. Hug me, Old Bear, and take me. It's been too long without you inside me."

With a gentle tug, the white bear pulled the wolf down toward the dirt floor of the cave. "Husbands," Kris said. "We have a bed in the master bedroom made for our family. It's way more comfortable and much easier on the knees than the dirt here. What say we retire to our bed? It doesn't matter to me what happens this night, save my husbands knowing how happy I am to have them home."

"Do we have a timeline for this mating of ours?" Donovan asked.

"I don't see why we should," Kris replied. "The dogs have the rest of the family. So there's certainly no rush."

"It seems strange that after forty-two years of sleeping, to think it would be nice to sleep again. But tonight, after we renew our acquaintances with these bodies, sleeping with you would be a pleasure I have dreamed of."

"That also works for me," Derrick said as he took the Armbruster's wolf's paw. The two walked out toward the antechamber. A quick jag led them into the master bedroom off to the side. The others followed, looking forward to their chance to sleep together once again. But with the first of the kisses goodnight they all realized that sleep would have to wait. All understood the newly returned husbands' welcome home was only now beginning.

It would be four days before the call went out to Nathaniel and Martin to announce the birth of the new Changeling. Soon enough, the Were Nation began making their way out to the highland. The Gray Wolf touched down on the landing rock and lowered the boarding ramp. Two Hokkaido wolves ushered their passengers out onto the highland. The family in the field prepared themselves for visitors.

The Black Rhino lifted off from its base in Africa, filled with the wild dog family and Kabelo's Rhino son. A brief stop in Paris claimed several more European werebeasts and Changelings eager to meet the newest son in the family.

Around the world, other groups of beasts heard the news. They sent either greetings or a request for travel to the highland. The pilots pressed the three airships into service more than any time they could remember. To a crewmember, it thrilled them to be involved in their tasks. Colton was equally thrilled to hear the news that he was soon to meet even more of his family. With each arrival of the airships, his fathers smiled as they watched the all too familiar rocking of Colton's eager anticipation dance.

Chapter 17

Colton waved as the last of the three airships lifted off the highland and sped upward. "The humans were much smaller than I had thought they would be from their histories," he said as he stared into the empty sky.

"They have always had an opinion of themselves not warranted by their stature," Will replied.

"But they are very nice," Colton added to his thought.

"They is that," Oliver agreed. "They weren't always, but they's changing, and it's a good thing."

Colton continued to stare into the sky. "Maybe I should make myself smaller so I don't intimidate them."

Nathaniel shook his head. "No, don't do that. They love all the big beasts in their family. One more won't change that for them."

Colton looked back down from the sky and stared at the badger. "And what of Oliver?"

Nathaniel bumped the badger with his foot lovingly. "They love him all the more. This is our family. We come in all shapes and sizes. We come from all species and races. There is only one rule. We look first with our hearts and then with our eyes. What we love, we always see as beautiful."

"Even if we looks like a skunk bear," Oliver said with a laugh.

"I like the way you look, Oliver," Colton said.

Oliver grinned. "I ain't unhappy with the way I looks, neither," he said, rubbing his belly. "I gots a family that makes me happy to be who I is."

"So, what do I do now?" Colton asked.

"That's a good question," Eric replied. "We all have jobs we need to return to. Will and I have a trip to France in three days. You're welcome to join us. But it's up to you. For the time being, you're a free agent."

"You could stay here and work the fields with us for a time," Noboru said, pointing toward the terraced mountainside.

"That is true. Do you think the five of you will get any work done, though?" Kris said with a chuckle.

Li Wei bowed. "I am returning to Partridge Island and my charges. The dragons are eager to see me again. Kendal informed me that while his visits with Dá Lóng and the fenghuang are pleasant, they miss their routines with me."

"I would love to meet them and their children one day," Colton said with a smile.

"And one day you shall, but for now, there is an invitation from my brothers to consider," the golden dog replied.

"We would love your company, Colton," Noboru said. "As for our work, the caretaking of the highland will fill our days. Our nights alone we will save for play."

"And sleep?" the brown bear asked.

"Highly overrated," the temple dog said with a smile.

"You promise to make sure he gets his sleep?" Eric said with a voice that made the question sound very close to a command.

The three dogs bowed in unison. "We promise," Noboru replied.

"And you, Son?"

"I like the idea of staying here, Papa," Colton answered. "And I promise to get enough sleep."

"Your new body requires more rest than the temple dogs," Will said with the same voice of authority the polar bear had used.

"Yes, Father," Colton replied. "I promise. No drowsy days for me because of my time with the temple dogs."

"And trees?" Donovan's fatherly voice questioned.

"No trees until I make sure I finish my chores," Colton said, crossing his heart.

Noboru nodded in agreement. "No trees until we have finished all our work," he said as his paw formed the same cross over his heart.

"Well then, that is decided for a time," Eric said with a smile. "Let's say our goodbyes and get everyone back to where they need to be." He looked at his short-faced bear son. "I'm sure everyone at the hospital is eager for your return, Son."

Nathaniel nodded. "I'm sure they are. But then again, I noticed more than a fair share of them off and on throughout the last week, so I'm pretty sure we're well covered." He took a step forward toward the bear-wolf. "But it will be nice to be back at work. I could use the break." He laughed and hugged the newborn family member. "Welcome to Terra, Brother."

Colton gave the short-faced bear a tight hug. "Thank you, Brother," he said, letting the feelings of the hug sweep over him.

"Red Wolf returning to pick up the last of the Montana pack," Derrick said, pointing up toward the empty sky. In moments, the silver ship appeared, coasting in near the horizon.

"That's just weird," Colton said with a smile toward the black wolf.

"I seem to have a gift for it," Derrick said, nodding in agreement. "Will taught it to me, and now it seems second nature."

"We all have gifts," Eric said as he hugged the bear-wolf. "One day you'll find where yours are strongest." He pushed back gently from the hug. "One of your skills is playing with your family. You're a quick learner and not afraid to try new things. That will always serve you well. But you're like Pup. You're a shy one. You're going to discover gifts that few in the Were Nation share because of that. In time, you'll find other gifts beyond those shared over the last few weeks."

Colton reached out and grabbed his polar bear father. "I will do my best to find those gifts."

"In time, Son," the white bear advised. "Don't feel compelled to discover them all right away. Pup has grown so much over the last few hundred years. I never expected him to be who he is today." Derrick's head tilted to the side in confusion that the polar bear recognized. "That's a good thing, Pup. You're amazing."

Derrick reached out and hugged the bear-wolf. "You be you, Colton. We're like water. Given time, we all find the level where we belong. I never thought I would marry five men when I met your father so many years ago. But I've never been happier that my life has gone so far afield from what I thought it would be."

"I will be patient," Colton said as he transferred the hug to the Kodiak bear.

"Patience is good," Kris said with a squeeze. "We could use a few more patient men in our family."

Donovan took up the hug. "I think it's given too much credit as a virtue," the Armbruster's wolf said with a chuckle. "But in our family, a bit more might not be a bad idea."

"Ain't never done me no good," Oliver said as the bear-wolf reached down to hug him. "Excepting maybe I should have been a bit more patient to see how things turnt out the first time with the old wolf. Might have been better to be patient then." Oliver looked up at Will and smiled. He turned back to Colton. "Ignore me, Kid," he said with a change of heart. "Patience is a good thing. You learn it from them temple dogs. They's got all manner of patience for us, and I loves them to pieces."

Colton hugged Li Wei and followed with hugs for the two Montana wolves and their fox husband. Two red wolves walked up to the gathering. "Goodbyes all done, family?" Tuff asked.

"I'm good," Colton said with a smile.

"Okay then," Tiff said. "Where are we taking you, Colton?"

"I'm staying here for a time," Colton replied.

"Great idea," the two red wolves said in unison.

"But the rest of us could use a ride to other homes," Eric said.

"Okay," Tuff replied. "We know Martin and Nathaniel are heading back to Partridge Island. Where is everyone else going?"

"Montana," the black wolf replied, waving his paw upright.

"Montana for us, of course," Jean Pierre said, holding on to his two husbands.

"New York for Donovan, Will, and me. We'll stay at the corporate apartments for a few days while we get ready for the trip to France," Eric said with a sigh. "I need to get back to helping Will with the corporate side of our lives. We're turning the Bord du Lac deed back to its people on Saturday. Legal needs to look over all of that, and they expect us there. Our lawyers always seem to find something for us to worry about."

Will rubbed the shoulders of the white bear. "It will go fine, Husband. They never once complained that you left them."

"But it has been so many years. Milo's son is all grown up, and I wasn't there for him."

"We were all there, Papa Bear," Derrick said. "When Milo asked you to be his son's godfather, he never knew that the boy would have so many godfathers."

"But it was me that promised."

The Kodiak reached out and took the paw of the polar bear. "Sometimes life keeps us from honoring our promises the way we hoped. You sent us in your stead. The boy is happy. He is waiting for you to return. The whole town is waiting. This is a celebratory time for them. Don't let your disappointment in missing out on their lives dampen their happiness to see you return."

Eric smiled. "You're right. Still, I haven't been with them in forty-two years. A moment in time for me is half their lifetimes. There is so much time to make up for."

"And you will, Old Bear," Will said, still rubbing his shoulders. "Stop worrying. Saturday will be fine. What we need to worry about is exactly where a cute little furball wants to go."

All eyes turned to Oliver, the one beast who was watching his husbands heading off in three different directions. "I guess I'se going to go to Partridge Island. Seems most everyone is going to Montana. Can't go leaving my two husbands alone."

Eric cleared his throat and turned toward the short-faced bear and saber-toothed cat. "I know this is asking a lot, but could Oliver stay a few days with us? Donovan and I would like to talk to him."

Nathaniel grinned widely. "Are you finally going to ask him to be your husband, Papa?" he asked.

"Perhaps not right away," the polar bear replied. "We've disrupted the Were Nation enough over the last two weeks." Eric knelt in front of the badger. "But I think it's time we started thinking about it, don't you, Oliver?"

Oliver's right foot made a small circle in the grass. "I'se only got to hear it from your lips, Old Bear. You gave me sanctuary, and you gave me back my life. I has wanted to be your mate for longer than I'se willing to say." The badger looked up at the Armbruster's wolf. "And you, Wolf. You's plain beautiful, and we's clan, so you knows I wants you."

Donovan squatted next to his polar bear husband in front of the badger. "Then, Oliver, let me ask this of you so that you can return with your husbands to Partridge Island today." The wolf rocked forward on his haunches. "Oliver, be my mate. There are a thousand reasons I can tell you why you should say no, and only one why you should say yes. I love you, Badger. I loved you since the night you took my hand and pulled me back to your mating ceremony. You dragged me into this family and never let me turn from it. You showed me where my place was in this life."

The Armbruster's wolf paused. His head lowered, averting the eyes of the badger before him. "I owe you my life... literally. You brought me back to this world with the words you spoke in Verital. At the edge of nothingness, you held me fast to this world. There is no other way for me to tell you how much you mean to me than to ask you to be my mate... to be the closest thing I can be to you in this world."

Oliver looked at the wolf and then the polar bear. The bear nodded. "Be my mate, Oliver. Our history together that's been a tough one, but you know now that I never felt anything but love for you. Let's agree to let the past be past. But let's also agree to let the love go forward."

Oliver put his paw to his chin. "This is gonna complicate matters, ain't it? I ain't never knowed a man with seven husbands."

"Mormons used to do it all the time," Derrick said with a chuckle. "Only with wives. You're never marrying a woman, so think of this as bringing balance to the universe. Finally, husbands get to be on the flip side of polygamy."

Nathaniel and Martin both squatted down as Oliver turned to them. "Do what your heart tells you to do, Badger," Martin said. "The world always gives us so many paths to choose at a time like this. But you already know what you want to say. You only need the courage to say it."

Oliver reached out and hugged the cat. "Thank you, Husband," he said as he kissed the whiskered cheek of the cat. Oliver turned back to the newly returned Changelings. He nodded. "Yes, I will be your husband. And no, I ain't gonna bite your necks right now, 'cause truth is my ass is pretty damn sore after a week of temple dogs and Colton going at it."

The group laughed. "We can wait, Badger," Donovan replied. "All we wanted to hear was that you would say yes."

"Don't know why you thoughts that would take a couple of days to wrangle out of me," Oliver said, looking askance at the Armbruster's wolf.

"Because we're a complicated family with complicated histories," the wolf replied. "We've had forty-two years to discuss it between ourselves. We thought you deserved a bit of time to think it over."

"What did you think I was doing for forty-two years, Wolf?" Oliver asked. "I kicked you every day, asking you to come back to your family." Oliver looked down as he made the circle with his foot. "I was hoping you might make me a part of that family."

Eric reached out and hugged the badger. "You've always been a part of our family, Oliver."

"Yeah, but you knows what I means. I has always wanted you to be husbands next to me when I crawls into your bed. Now, I can have you that way."

"Then, if we're in agreement over this," Donovan said, standing back up, "I say Oliver returns to Partridge Island." Donovan turned to Eric and Will. "And it gives me a chance to beg off the trip to New York. Honestly, you two. I love you both, but that place will never feel like home."

"Agreed," Kris said, leaning back and stretching. "Which is why you should return to Montana. Oliver has two husbands. It's only fair that I should, too."

Donovan smiled. "I'd like that, Bear," he said.

The Kodiak reached down and scooped up the badger, giving him a kiss. "Then we're all sorted out," Kris stated as he looked toward the red wolves. "Tiff, Tuff, you have your work cut out for you. Can we all get a lift home?"

"You need only ask," the two said in unison.

"Consider yourselves asked," the bear said as he grabbed Derrick's hand and walked by, giving each red wolf a quick kiss on the cheek. "Pup and I are walking here."

The group watched the two as they ambled toward the Red Wolf shining in the afternoon sun. With a collective grin, as they saw the black wolf's paw rub the rump of the brown bear, they too were walking.

Chapter 18

Milo wrapped his arm around his wife, Louane, and looked out onto the fields of grapes glowing green in the sunshine. "I wonder what they're talking about," he said as he observed the two walking between the rows.

His wife laughed. "Well, we know it's not about winemaking."

"I'm serious, darling," Milo pressed.

"Does it matter?" Louane replied. "Look how happy they are together. It's as if those years have melted away and they're back together."

"I realize that. I am happy for them, but it's a confusing time for me," the husband said with a sigh.

"Your son is who he is," his wife said. "Don't you go trying to put that whole 'we need grandchildren' on his shoulders again. Your daughter and your other two sons are doing quite well supplying you with grandchildren."

"But his would be so special," Milo protested. "They would be gifted, artistic, and beautiful."

Milo felt a sharp shove against his shoulder. "And if our other children ever hear you say that, I will give them my blessing to kick your butt."

Milo waved his hands. "Non... non... I don't mean it that way. All our children are special. I want who they are to go on forever."

"We all do, my dear," his wife agreed. "Each of our grandchildren is so unique that one wonders sometimes where their personalities came from. They are like none of our children. But they are all beautiful. There will never be another in the world like each of our children or their children." She paused, staring at the two out in the vineyard as they hugged. "And in our youngest son, we have a boy who brings us nothing but happiness."

Milo nodded. "You know who he reminds me of?"

"Uncle Tiago?"

Milo mused for a moment. "A bit... but more like Derrick."

"Eric's young husband?" Louane thought and nodded her head. "You're right," she said, pulling Milo into her sideways hug even more tightly. "They are both shy, deferential men whose heads are always in the clouds dreaming. There are far worse things to be."

"I agree. Derrick is a loving man. He made a good godfather."

"They all did," Louane said, smiling. "And now, the godfather he has missed for so long has returned. And their relationship is the same as it has always been." The two smiled when their son give Eric a playful shove as they resumed their walk. "You chose wisely," she added.

"It was Eric who made the first choice to involve himself with our town. We owe him so much."

"And tomorrow the whole town will turn out to say thank you."

"He dreads the whole day," Milo said. "He hates being fawned over."

"I realize that. But we will get him through it. It is our turn to help him accept our love gracefully."

"Do you see him?" Milo asked.

"You mean the bear?"

"Yes, the bear."

"I see him. From the moment he stepped off the plane."

"It was a helicopter."

"No, dear, it was a plane; an enormous silver plane with wolves flying it."

Milo looked at his wife. "You see so much more than I ever do."

Louane looked at him and grinned. "And it has only taken you seventy-two years to figure that out." She nudged him toward the vineyards. "Go, ask Éric to help Will and me in the kitchen. You and Eric need to talk."

Milo nodded. "Will... is he a bear?"

"No, dear," his wife replied. "He and Derrick are wolves. Kris is a big brown bear. Oliver might be a badger. I had to look him up at the library. He's nothing like our blaireau. Our badgers are much more kempt. I think he's an American badger. But he's still very cute and very loving."

"How? How could you possibly..."

"I have seen them for years. Not at first, but as they played with our child when they visited, I realized how much he loved them and how much they cared for him. One day, they were there. Will made me promise to never tell another because it was important for each of us to see them in our own time."

Milo shook his head. He leaned in and kissed his wife. "There is still so much about you I am learning." He stepped through the arched gateway and headed toward the vineyards.

As Milo and Eric walked along the rows between the grapevines, he finally spoke. "How long have you been a bear, Eric?"

"How long as a bear? It's been about twenty or thirty thousand years. Me, I'm a little over three million six hundred and twenty thousand years old. I have changed the shape of my body quite a few times over the years."

"I will take that to mean you're not human."

Eric laughed. "That would be true."

"Louane says William and Derrick are Loup Garou."

"They are."

"No wonder my late-night horror tales only made my son laugh."

"They are wonderful men, Milo. Nothing has changed except an outward appearance."

"For me, even that remains the same. Except for you, Eric. You are a polar bear."

"In time, you will see them. My father blinded the humans from seeing us as we truly are until the day that they love us."

"Your father?"

"Kris."

"But isn't Kris your husband?"

"Yes, he is that, too. But the night he blinded the humans to protect the beasts, he was my father."

"Mon Dieu," Milo said, shaking his head. "You make the French look like novices when it comes to complex relationships. We thought having presidents with wives and mistresses was avant-garde."

"We aren't like humans. Our interpersonal relationships are based on the way we see our bonds. For us, having a husband who is also our father is not a conflict. One is genetics, the other expresses who we are to each other."

Milo shrugged. "I guess it doesn't seem that strange if I think about it. So, are you all aliens?"

"No, Kris and I are aliens. Derrick, Will, and Oliver are humans that became werebeasts."

"And my son?"

"We don't turn children," Eric said defensively.

"My son is forty-eight years old."

"That's a child to me."

Milo frowned. "I am serious, Eric. I never realized naming my child Éric was giving a thankful nod to a polar bear."

"You didn't, Milo. You gave a nod to me. I am not what you see now. I am not what you will ever see. But I thought our friendship went deeper than this," the bear said, rubbing his furry chest.

Milo looked down, embarrassed. "You are right, Eric. I apologize. It's that we worry about our children."

"I understand. I'm a father, too."

"Really?"

"Two beautiful boys."

"Congratulations. I never knew."

"One's a bear. The other is a hybrid between a bear and a wolf."

Milo laughed. "I don't know why I am shocked by that."

"Your wife wouldn't be."

"Non... she seems to have loved you for so many years. But then she is an extraordinary mother."

"She is that."

"And Éric?"

"An extraordinary son."

"But not a werewolf?"

"No. He asked to be turned into a beast when he was in his thirties, but William insisted his parents see us first. While his choice to join us is entirely his own, we would like it to be made with his family's blessing. Families are important to us. We do our best to keep them together."

"So all these years, you waited for me?"

"Of course," the bear said. "What would you have us do?"

Milo smiled. "I am glad you waited. My son... will he live hundreds of thousands of years like you?"

"Barring an accident; he will, as far as we know. The oldest werebeast is only about twelve thousand years old, but he is very healthy and shows no signs of aging."

"I told my wife today I hoped Éric would have children so that the gentle soul he has would live forever. It seems his godfather has found another way to make that happen."

"It was never our intention. Éric is a gentle soul, but I think you'll agree, exceedingly headstrong." The bear looked at Milo, who nodded. "We never raised the idea of his changing. That was him. But if your family agrees, we would love him to join our family as well."

"Has Louane heard about this idea?"

"My guess is that she and your son are talking about it now," the bear replied. "We were hoping to bring up the subject at dinner tonight with you and your wife's approval."

"Then why are we out here in a vineyard and not home with my family?"

The bear nodded as he turned. "That was going to be my next question."

The conversations that evening over the dinner table bounced back and forth between questions thrown at the beasts. The beasts tried to answer them one at a time so that all heard.

"So you're saying that my brother is going to outlive me and my children and their children?"

The polar bear nodded. "More than likely. On the plus side, it's like having an uncle who never gets too old to show up to birthday parties with exceptional gifts."

But what does he do? Doesn't he grow tired of life? How do you survive if we ever go to war again? What will happen to his human family? Will he find someone to love him? Can he get canine distemper or rabies? How many men did you say Oliver has married? So many questions, all carefully answered by the beasts that most of the family couldn't even see. The world of the family of man and the family of beasts was taking another step closer as the children peeked around the doorway to the dining room. They stared as their parents interacted with animals sitting in chairs. They had seen Éric's godfathers for years. But the new one's size and color fascinated them.

"I realize this is challenging," Will said to the Fabron family. "But we love Éric, and we will always make sure he's looked after with the same affection as you do."

"I'm not leaving you guys," Éric said to his family. "I'm just becoming something that I dreamed about since I was a little kid."

"Well, perhaps that's because you had a polar bear for a godfather since you were born," Milo said, questioning the dream.

"Okay, that's true. I've seen him since before I can remember, but it's not that, Father," the already graying youngest son protested. "All my life, I wanted to dedicate myself to creating a community of artisans and craftspeople that thrived in our town. I don't want to leave my home, but you know I'm not a vintner. I'm not a shopkeeper. I'm an artist forced from the place I love to sell my paintings in the galleries up north in Paris. The Inn brings tourists and visitors. They sample our wines and enjoy our scenery. But we could do so much more. Bord du Lac could become a place where our local artists find a venue for their work.

"There are already a handful of artists that find this area inspires them. What if, instead of visiting, they made Bord du Lac their home? What if we fostered a community of extraordinary artisans that rivals the extraordinary wine we produce? My dream is to create a special school to train young people to view the arts as an indispensable part of life. Art does more than give you something to hang on a blank wall. It teaches you to embrace the unknown, the unseen, and the beauty that lies beneath the surface. It teaches us to love the ones who sit around this table that most of you can't even see."

Éric sighed. "Look, I've even been mayor of our town for three terms, trying to convince the people of this town to dedicate more resources to the idea of a school. But it's tough to budget for a special school when you're struggling to get your kids properly educated with the tight budgets we have. We are a small town, with a small town budget. Keeping our social services and fire departments funded seems more important than attracting young people from around the world to study here. We're a small town, and I don't think we want that to change."

Éric's brother lifted a hand. "And how does turning into an animal help build your school?"

Éric smiled. "It gives me time."

"And it gives him resources," Éric's godfather added.

"We cannot always look to you to come to our aide, mon ami," Milo said.

"We don't make our offers at random, Milo," the polar bear said. "Bear Paws Enterprises has deep pockets, but they are not unlimited. Sometimes, we need to choose where those funds will go."

"So, fifty years ago, when our vineyards suffered through the Trégor blight?"

"Most of France and the world suffered from the same disaster. Thousands upon thousands of grapevines died. It devastated entire communities that relied on the wine trade."

"Then why would you step in to help us? Éric wasn't even born."

"No, but Luca Morel was your largest vineyard owner."

"Are you saying Luca Morel was a..."

"Loup Garou," the polar bear said in a scary voice as his hands waved.

"So, you came to a brother's aid all those years ago?"

"Yes, and because he felt this town was his family, we tried to help you out as well."

"But why the Inn? Why build all the shops and make so many town improvements?"

"It was a diversion away from our involvement with Luca. You were so busy trying to figure out what Bear Paws was going to do after they bought your town, you missed that we were working on the cure for the blight with some very sophisticated equipment that didn't exist anywhere on this planet. By the time we found a cure, the method of finding that cure was back under lock and key. We kept it hidden away from the people that might recognize it couldn't exist with human technology."

Milo frowned at the bear. "We were a smoke screen?"

The bear shrugged his apology. "Yes, and no. Yes, we needed you actively watching what was going on in town, and we needed the media to be doing the same. And, no, what we did was for your well-being as much as for Luca's. We keep an eye on this town. You can think of Luca as your guardian angel; a very large, very hairy guardian angel."

"So Bear Paws buys a town to keep all of France and the world scrutinizing what a mega-corporation was doing to the town instead of Luca's winery?" Milo asked. "You give our town a different economy to tide us over until the treatment for the virus is in place and the grapevines begin their recovery. You save our vineyards and let us return to the work we love. All at the request of a brother wolf? We owe you so much. Why did you create a deed to this town that returns everything to us now?"

Eric pushed the documents forward. "We needed time. It was important for the world to view a gigantic business buying out the little farmers. We wanted them to watch the building and the changes like a hawk. But we had no interest in owning the town. So, we waited until the town of Bord du Lac was no longer news, and France forgot the memory of how this town had changed. Fifty years seemed a reasonable time frame for that to happen. And now we return the city to the people it rightfully belongs to."

"And you made a naïve mayor too young for the job keep that a secret. You truly stressed my life by asking me to never tell another you would return the land to us, Eric."

"I'm sorry Milo. It had to be done. You held up your part of the contract. The interest in your town faded and allowed you to reclaim your quiet village. That wouldn't have happened if anyone was aware of the codicil to return the land. The town is yours again. I hope you realize that in our mind we never took it from you."

"And you will be okay with our celebration tomorrow?"

"You didn't notify the press?"

"Non, we are a town that understands our part in this. We simply want to say thank you for returning our town to us."

Will looked up. "It involves lots of cheeses and cakes, right?"

The daughter laughed. "We made pastries that you only dream might exist, Will. We had half a century to learn your weaknesses, and tomorrow we will test your limits."

Will smiled. "Thank you, Margaux," he said as he turned back to Éric's brother. "Now, back to your question. Why should your brother become one of us?"

Rayan shook his head. "I am not trying to make this an 'us versus you' discussion, Will. That you are beasts is not the issue. I am trying to understand how this change will help him with his dream."

Éric reached over to his brother's hand and took it. "I need time to do what I hope to do, Rayan. You don't see them. They are the most beautiful creatures. You sit in front of them and you don't even see them."

"I will one day, Éric. I promise I will."

"There are thousands of beasts in our midst. One of them is our neighbor, for god's sake. How many years has Luca been by our sides lighting the torches to keep the new buds from freezing? How often did Eric's husbands visit us to keep the Old Bear's promise to be a good godfather to me? How many years have you and your children played with them? Despite that, most of my family doesn't even see them."

Margaux shook her head. "One day we will," she said. "We are learning what we thought we understood is not the truth. We will find a way to see what you do."

"And that is why I want the school," Éric pressed. "I saw the bear because I have always seen life differently than those around me. There are more like me out there. I am trying to bring them here, let them learn a new truth, and return to their homes and families as their teachers. It is time we humans know the ones that walk beside us as our protectors."

"That is a colossal task, Son," Milo said.

"Yes, it is. And it will take generations. This is a dream I will not live to see if I stay human. This is something I want to be a part of. I want to be there when our people and theirs walk side by side."

Éric smiled as his family nodded in agreement. "There aren't only thousands of beasts out there that we don't see," Éric continued. "There are thousands of humans who see them. For centuries, the family of beasts has taken in orphaned children and raised them as their own. They see their family as they are. They go out into the world and teach the families they create to love and appreciate the beasts living among us. I hope to do the same. I live in a town I believe can become the first town to view our benefactors for what and who they are instead of the illusion a bear has put into our heads."

"You are trying to change the whole town?" Éric's other brother asked.

"Yes. Haven't you ever wondered why so many of the guests at the inn are gay? Do you realize how much we owe to the Were Nation for keeping this town afloat? Isn't it time we saw our benefactors the way they see themselves? As our family?"

Théo nodded. "More than high time, I would say. Not that it matters, Brother, but you have my support."

"It matters to me more than I can say."

Milo put his hand in Louane's. "Our blessings go with you as well, Son. We will do all that we can to help." He turned to the wolf. "And now I understand why my son was never terrified by my tales of the Loup Garou. A werewolf with a weakness for cake softens the edges a bit."

Will smiled. "We all have our weaknesses, Milo. You're only aware of one of mine."

Milo laughed. "I suspect that knowing a man with five husbands tells me another of his weaknesses."

Louane's hand pressed tight into her husband's calloused hands. "There are children here, Dear." Milo looked at her, confused. She pointed to the doorway, and the family turned in time to spy the grandchildren scurry back into their hiding places. "Come out, children," Louane said. "You have been staring at them all night. You might as well say hello."

One by one, the youngsters crept out, the youngest first, followed by the older. "Bonsoir, Monsieur Ours, Monsieur Loup," a five-year-old said, smiling.

"Je m'appelle Eric," the bear said, returning the smile. He pointed to the wolf. "Tu connais déjà Will."

Éric smiled as he leaned forward, watching the children. His dream was even now unfolding as he saw it in his mind; a day when everyone would see what the children had no difficulty seeing at all.

Chapter 19

Oliver watched the Red Wolf as it faded from sight. He turned back to the polar bear and the Armbruster's wolf. Behind them, a narrow sandy beach stretched out until it met the ocean as the small island curved. "What is we doing here?" Oliver asked. "You knows that beasts fucking and sand ain't never gone well together."

Eric laughed. "That's true, Oliver. But this isn't only a beach. Come with us." The bear extended his paw, and Oliver took it. There was a pause, and the bear smiled at the badger. "Holding hands or on my shoulders, Oliver?" the bear asked.

Oliver smiled. "I'se so glad you asked, Old Bear." The badger's other hand reached out to the wolf. "Today, I'd like it to be holding hands with both my husbands to be."

Donovan squeezed Oliver's paw in his. "I'm glad that's your answer, Badger," he replied.

The three pushed into the jungle of palm trees and lower vegetation along a cleared path. When they rounded a corner, Oliver saw a small house made of wood and palm fronds. He giggled. "Ain't never gonna hold up to the three of us," he said, shaking his head.

"No, it's not," the polar bear agreed. "But it's going to keep the sand out of our mouths and asses long enough for us to mate."

Oliver stared at the shack. "But why here, Old Bear? Why not on the highland or Montana?"

The Armbruster's wolf squatted down by the badger. He looked the little mammal square in the eye. "Badger, we're going to honor your request to mate full-on. We realize you won't have it any other way."

"I ain't gonna die, am I?" the badger asked.

Eric squatted next to the wolf. "No, Oliver," he answered. "But you might wish you were dead by the time this is over. We could change our plan. We could mate as we have always mated with humans and beasts. Our love is no less committed. But after we mate, you would be able walk in a few hours."

Oliver shook his head no. "I wants to know I is yours now and forever. You back down and I don't know for sure. You's gots to come at me full on."

"The only thing that will keep you alive is the first law of the Were Nation. You understand that, right?" the bear said, voicing his concern.

"I knows, Old Bear."

"Please, Oliver," Donovan said, still holding the badger's paw in his. "Please let us go easy on you. Our love for you won't ever waver. It never has. It never will."

"And I'se gonna be headstrong no matter what you sez," the badger replied. "Ain't never been nothin' but bullheaded. Ain't never will be nothin' but bullheaded. You makes me your beast the way you made each other. You don't short me none."

The polar bear and wolf both sighed in their uncomfortable agreement. "Then that is why we are here, Badger," Donovan said. "We will mate with you. And when our mating is done, we will take you to a hospital we have set up a few hundred yards away. We will be with you until you heal. There will be no calling of the family after we mate this time, Badger. There will only be two men that love you trying to keep you alive."

Oliver looked at the two, concerned. "Ain't thought much about what I'se asking of you. I wants this to be a happy time for us. I don't wants you to hate me because I'se asking you to come at me full-on."

"We won't hate you, Oliver," the bear answered. "But you need to realize that only we will be by your side for weeks while you heal instead of your family playing with you in the fields."

"Is I wrong to want this, Old Bear?"

"No, Oliver. There's no wrong or right here. We are to be your mates. For us, that is as crystal clear as the ocean that surrounds us. Whatever it takes to make sure you believe it too; that's what we will do."

Oliver looked at the two. "I comes from a momma and daddy who done nothing but fight from the day I was born. Maybe they loved each other one time, but by the time I was there, all that love was gone. And before long so was my daddy. I has always seen what we do when we mate as the exact opposite of them. We sorta fights for a single day in our lives, and then never again. It means a lot to me that I knows you will never hurt me after this day. This one time we show that nothin' will stop our love, and the marks on the back of my neck that I wear forever is a sign that my husbands will never hurt me again."

Eric's lip curled. "I broke your arm last week when I fell on top of you."

Oliver stared at the bear. "I'se talking symbolism here, Old Bear. See what you made me do? I had to use fancy words just to get a point across."

The polar bear reached down and brought the badger to his chest. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I understood what you meant. But both of us want to ask one last time if you can't think of another less damaging symbol for how much we love you."

"I can't think of none," Oliver replied.

"Then change, Badger," Donovan said. "We mate today, and for as long as you take to heal, we will be by your side. There will be no doubt in your mind."

"Then we does this," Oliver said steadfastly as he shifted into the werebadger. "I only ask you to gives me enough of a break so that I can bites your necks and fucks you later. Ain't no way with you as tall as you is that I can do both at the same time."

"We yield to that request, but no other, Oliver," Eric replied. "Any other changes to this mating and we insist you yield to our request to go easy on you."

"How does we start?" Oliver asked the bear.

With a roar, the bear bent down, grabbed the badger in his jaws, and threw him into the air. Helplessly airborne for only a moment, the badger plummeted straight into the open jaws of the wolf. He sensed the wolf shift his body, and the jaws released their clamp for a moment to reset into Oliver's neck. The badger felt the teeth pierce his skin and sink deep. The pain was unbelievable. When the bear mounted him from behind, the little mammal realized he had made a grave error in his approach to mating.

As the sun set over the far side of the island, Oliver couldn't recall how many hours had passed. His spent and bloodied body hurt everywhere. He remembered mounting both the bear and the wolf, but there was no pleasure in that knowledge. It had come at a cost that pushed his body beyond its limits, and the badger knew it. Huddled against a palm tree where the wolf had thrown him, Oliver saw the two approaching him on all fours. His one good eye, not beaten shut by the mating, saw their bloodied jaws open and shut as they tried to catch their breath. Oliver groaned. It wasn't over yet.

Eric was the first to push his paw up against the badger's chin and stare into his eyes. "Be our mate, Oliver," the bear growled. The bloodied werebadger could barely lift his head to nod his consent. "Not good enough," the bear said. He pulled the werebadger to his feet. "Be our mate, Oliver," the bear roared.

The hapless mammal nodded. "Now and forever," he whispered as the blood dripped from his mouth.

"Better, Badger. Finish this," Donovan demanded.

The werebadger looked up through his one working eye at the blurry beasts in front of him. "Be my mate, Donovan. Be my mate, Eric."

The two leaned down so that Oliver could stare into their eyes. "Now and forever, Oliver," they said together. He saw the beasts move into position and lowered his head. He felt the jaws bite into either side of his neck. This time, both bites were gentle. This was only an affirmation of what had gone before.

The tiny badger, long since returning to his diminutive stature, felt the bear release his hold on the neck. When he noticed a tug, Oliver realized he was being picked up by the scruff of his neck like a wolf pup in the mouth of the Armbruster's wolf. The arms of the bear came up under the limp badger and cradled him. "We are mated, Oliver. Now and forever," the bear said.

"You both done good," Oliver said. "I ain't got no doubts." He paused. "I ain't got no feeling in my legs, neither, but I gots no doubts you's my husbands."

Donovan walked up the steps of the makeshift hospital and released his hold of the badger, dropping him onto a bed. The white bear leaned down and kissed the bloody cheek of the badger. "We broke your back, Oliver. It will take a while before the nerves heal. Take my suggestion. Stop trying to stay with us here. Go ahead and pass out. We will be here when you return."

"You don'ts mind, Old Bear?"

"I don't mind, Husband," the bear replied.

"Nor I, Husband," the wolf said. "You were extraordinary. Sleep. Let your body heal."

Oliver looked up into the bloodied faces of the beasts he would forever call husbands and smiled. His head nodded as he fell into the dark of being unconscious.

Chapter 20

Oliver blinked back the sunlight filtering through the palm leaves overhead. "I seriously underestimated what you two was gonna do to me," he said as the two beasts stood over him.

"And we seriously underestimated you as well," Donovan said with a smile. "It has been nice to have the last three days to heal."

"I'se been out for three days?"

"You have," the bear replied. "We missed you, Oliver."

Oliver looked at his body, groaning as he tried lifting it up to see what condition he was in. Unable to right himself, he dropped back onto the soft bedding. "I'se human," he said with an unmistakable sadness. "Did you kill my badger?"

"No, your badger is fine. Your body has been shifting back and forth between all three of your incarnations. I suspect it's making sure all of you heal properly. Today you're human. When you feel up to it, we can see how well you shift to werebeast and badger."

Oliver pushed up again and stared at his body. "I'se also glowing green. Is that your doing, Old Bear?"

"It is. And no complaints. You asked us to come at you full-on so that you would know of our commitment. Now I'm asking you to let me help you heal; to show me you will not stand in my way of doing what I feel a husband does for his injured mate."

Oliver shook his head. "I ain't gonna complain, Old Bear. It hurts too much to tell you to stop. And you knows I feels the same as you does in this matter, anyway. I couldn't let my husband die at them temple dog's home in Tibet." Oliver looked at the bear, who remained still waiting for the badger to ask. "You didn't give it all to me, did you, Old Bear? You held some back so it can grow in you, right?"

The polar bear leaned over and kissed the small human. "Of course, my love. I don't want to incur your wrath."

"Fancy words," Oliver groaned as he leaned back down on the soft bedding.

"I didn't want you pissed off at me, Oliver," the bear said with a smile. "It all regenerated when Donovan and I merged. I was hoping it wouldn't, but it's all back in place."

Oliver frowned. "I'se sorry, Old Bear. Wish it weren't the way it is with us, but we can'ts go wishing for things we know ain't gonna happen."

Eric gave a agreeing nod. He put his thick paw on the human's foot. "Wiggle your toes, Oliver," he ordered. The human complied, trying to wiggle his toes. "That's good," the bear said. "It looks like your back is healing itself. You should be up and moving around in short order."

"I loves you both, you knows that, right?" Oliver asked.

"We know," Donovan replied. "Is there a reason for this question?"

"I ain't gonna be able to stay with you very long. I'se ready to pass out again."

"And we will be here when you wake."

"Next to me, Old Bear?"

The white bear shook and became his human avatar. "I'm I big spoon or little?" He asked.

"You'se big spoon," Oliver replied. "And Donovan is little spoon."

Donovan smiled as he shook into his human form. "Then little spoon it shall be. Roll onto your side, Badger. If I'm going to be the little spoon, I want to feel that cock of yours up against my butt."

"I don't think you's gonna feel anything from my pecker for a while, Wolf," the small human said. "I hurt too much to get a boner, even with something as fine as your ass pushing up against me."

Donovan reached out and helped Oliver to his side. He slipped in front of the hairy, short man and wiggled into his front. Oliver felt Eric slip up behind him. He sighed when he felt the gray-haired human's cock press against his butt. "You has got such a fine pecker no matter what you is, Old Bear."

Eric chuckled. "Well, thank you, Oliver. Be aware that as my husband, I find rubbing up against you highly arousing, so what you feel is what you better get used to when we sleep together."

"I'se looking forward to it," Oliver said with a slight nod of his head and he dozed for a moment. He put his free arm around Donovan and rubbed the well-muscled rib cage.

"Badger?" Donovan queried with a snicker.

"I guess I was wrong about that boner of mine," Oliver said with a gentle squeeze. "I hope you gets used to it."

Donovan pushed back against the shaft. "I already am, Badger. Let's get some sleep." Oliver closed his eyes and soon was lightly snoring.

Without disturbing the little man between them, Eric reached out and touched Donovan on the shoulder. "We should call Nathaniel tomorrow."

"Oh?" Donovan asked; a longer question implied.

"We damaged his body more than I realized, Husband," Eric answered. "I can only do so much. For now, Nathaniel is the strongest of the healers. We can tell Oliver that he gets to have visitors now that he's getting better."

"It's not like you to use subterfuge, my love."

"It's not totally a lie. Oliver is healing, but he's also headstrong. I know he doesn't like it when we use our powers to help him get better. But I don't think we can wait for his body to heal without worrying the entire family. I promised Oliver I wouldn't give all I had to him, and Oliver understands what giving him my all actually means. Nathaniel is our best option."

Donovan sighed. "His toes didn't move, did they?"

"No."

"This isn't permanent, is it, Husband?"

"No. He will get better. But with Nathaniel by his side, it will be weeks instead of months. And with far less physical therapy to bring him back to his old self."

"Did we do the right thing?" Donovan asked. "Perhaps we should have held back. He is a werebeast, after all; not a Changeling. He's not meant to mate the way we do."

"We promised him, Donovan. I have never lied to Oliver. The one moment we were closer than we have ever been couldn't be founded on a lie."

The little human between the two stirred. "Then don't you go telling me that Nathaniel is here for a visit, Old Bear. You tells me I is fucked up and I need help," he mumbled.

"You're fucked up, Oliver, and you need more help than I can provide," Eric said.

"You knows, I ain't never gonna ask you to come at me full-on ever again, right? Don't matter how many times you turn into a rock. This mating has done me in good. I won't never need you to prove yourselves to me again."

"That would make us both extremely happy, Badger," Donovan replied.

"But I'se never gonna back down from you two no matter how many times we renews our vows. You two gots to know how much I love you."

"That would make us very happy, as well, Oliver," Eric said, kissing the little man's neck. "Now, could you please go to sleep and stay asleep?"

"You two quit talkin', and I might be able to."

"Point taken, Husband," Eric replied. "Good night, Oliver. We'll call your husbands tomorrow."

"That would be nice," Oliver said as he closed his eyes again.

When Oliver woke the next time, it surprised him to be resting in his bed on Partridge Island. His short-faced bear husband hovered over him. As soon as the badger's eyes opened, Nathaniel pulled his glowing paw away. "Don't mind you helping out, Bear," Oliver said with a smile.

Nathaniel smiled back. "You don't have a choice in the matter, Badger. But I remembered you didn't like the light shining in your face."

"How's I doing, Husband?" Oliver said as he wiggled, trying to get comfortable. "And no hiding the truth from me like your Papa."

"Your husband was simply trying to keep things optimistic," Nathaniel objected. "Under the circumstances, I would have done the same." His paw reached back. "Wiggle your toes, Badger."

Oliver closed his eyes and tried to wiggle his toes. "Did it work?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"You did very well, Oliver."

"They wiggled?"

"They wiggled," the bear replied as he leaned over and kissed the badger.

"I don'ts feel much down there 'cepting pain."

"That's to be expected. Your nerves and spinal column are regenerating. Think of it like your first time turning, only in slow motion. Your body is rewriting itself back to original factory specs."

"That makes sense," Oliver said. "Does I get to see all my husbands soon? I miss them."

"Father and Papa Wolfy will come to visit this weekend. They said maybe by then they will greet your newest husbands without throttling them for what they did to you."

Oliver groaned. "It weren't them that did it. I made them promise. It were my fault, not theirs."

"Regardless of whose fault it is, you have a whole family of husbands who are currently upset with those two. You barely get your badger body back and they broke it into pieces. You're lucky you're married to them, or there would be some serious kickback from all of us."

"Please, Bear, don't be mad at them."

"I'm not mad anymore, Badger. But I'm still disappointed that you three needed to go to those extremes to prove your love for each other. It's not meant to be a contest of strength and will. It's meant to show your commitment. You could have done that without breaking your back and tearing up your insides."

"I knows that now, Husband," Oliver said, nodding in agreement. "It's that the old bear and me has so much history, so much pain between us. I hads to know he loved me full-on."

"Do you know how to tell my Papa loves you full-on, Badger?"

Oliver shook his head no, waiting for the answer.

"You ask him," the bear fumed. "He doesn't lie, Badger. He never lies."

"Guess that would have been easier," Oliver gave as a shy reply.

"Damn right it would have been, Badger," Nathaniel replied angrily. "We have a family of men who keep pushing in the wrong direction to prove their love for each other. It's about time we realized we can't go ripping our bodies apart to prove a point. We adopted our mating behaviors from our animal avatars, but we're not animals, Oliver; we're beasts. It's time we realized that and started acting accordingly."

"You ain't never gonna bite my neck again?" a concerned badger asked.

"No, I'm going to bite your neck again, but I won't draw blood. I'm not chewing holes into your neck to prove how much I love you. Never again, Oliver. You need to learn to trust me when I tell you I love you now and forever. If those words don't sink in, it won't matter how deep my teeth sink in, you will have missed the entire point."

Oliver nodded his understanding. "I won'ts make the same mistake again, Bear. I promises."

"Nor will we, Son," the polar bear said as he stood in the doorway. "Some traditions deserve to be let go. You make a valid point for our mating behaviors to find a better way of expressing themselves."

"Look, Papa," Nathaniel said, turning to the white bear. "It's not that I want to end our traditions. I love feeling the teeth of my husbands on the back of my neck as much as anyone. But those traditions started with the Changelings, and they never changed to accommodate the fact that we are Terrans now. We are Terrans who mate with a species far weaker than us."

"That's true," the bear agreed. "And somehow we all cling to the idea that coming at each other full-on implies a greater love than if we hold back."

"I'se willing to change my mind on that idea," Oliver said as he shook his head. "I learnt my lesson. If I gots a husband who says he loves me, I'se gonna believe it. He don't gots to practically kill me to prove it."

"Well, then I say we call a family meeting of all the husbands to make some changes in the way we approach each other," Nathaniel said.

"Agreed," the polar bear said. "But that family meeting has already been called. Your Dad has called our family together. And a rather interesting configuration of our family, to say the least."

"What do you mean, Papa?" Nathaniel asked

"All the husbands, and all the sons and their spouses. Tiff and Tuff, Damien and Darius, and Chet and the boys were all asked to attend."

"And do we get around to talking about how we mate with our spouses?"

"Well, let's see how this family meeting goes. Maybe we can bring it up as part of the business at hand if your dad doesn't object."

"That would be nice."

"So, the question now is, how soon can we move Oliver?"

"We can move him now if he doesn't object to a wheelchair. It's going to be weeks before he's able to walk again."

"I don'ts care. We need to get our family back together and loving each other. It's time we don't got no bad feelings for each other."

Nathaniel tapped his ComLink. "Tyler, could you get an orderly to bring us a badger-sized wheelchair?" He nodded, listening. "Thanks, Tyler." He turned to the badger and polar bear. "Tyler said the Red Wolf is already setting down. Time we make our way to the highland. The family is there waiting for the four of us."

Chapter 21

The family sat around the table eating dinner inside the cave. Will swallowed a mouthful of food and looked at Kris. "So, why did we call a family meeting here, Husband?"

"It's not enough that I wanted to see you? You and Derrick have been in Montana for weeks."

Will pointed his paw out toward the cave entrance. "Red Wolf, Husband. You call, tell us you miss us, and we're here. You called a family meeting. Big difference."

Oliver chewed his food. "Old Wolf is right. We bounces around everywhere to be together. A big difference between that and a family meeting."

Kris nodded. "That is true. I have something important to ask of the family, and it requires us to all be here."

Derrick pushed his plate back. "Okay, Husband. Let's hear the reason."

Kris cleared his throat. "In a million years, our people and yours will be so similar that any race from the outside won't be able to tell us apart. As Changelings, we will always be children of the Unity, but they know we are now on a different evolutionary path."

Will smiled at Kris. "Well, I hope we're more like you than you're like us."

"You already are, Old Wolf."

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment."

"If you like. I was being quite literal," the Kodiak bear said.

"Well, I guess that's true of most werebeasts," Will said, reflecting on the words.

"To a degree, but for our family in particular."

Oliver looked up. "Why's that, Bear?"

"Because our family has shared our genetic code for hundreds of years and never given it a second thought beyond the pure pleasure it gave us to share it."

Derrick snickered. "Well, it tastes good. But I suspect you mean something far more significant than the fact we swallow."

Kris nodded. "Indeed. In all the Were Nation, there have never been two quite like you and Will, Derrick."

Will looked up. "Okay, I will admit our appetites are rather pronounced, but we're not the only power bottoms in the Were Nation."

"But you are the only power bottoms in the Were Nation married to three Changelings and fraternizing with four others. Even Martin and Oliver don't come close to matching that."

Oliver looked up as he chewed on his food. "Not for lack of trying, Bear. You's just too busy to fucks me as much as I wants you to."

Kris smiled. "I'm sorry, Badger. I'll try to be better in the future."

"That's okay, Bear. I loves you. No need to go changing." Oliver looked over at Eric. "But you, Old Bear. You can change. I'd like it if we was together more often. You was given a body far too beautiful nots to be playing more often with your family. Ain't sayin' it's got to be with me, but I sure wouldn't complains if it was me, now that you's my husband."

Eric laughed. "I would like that too, Oliver. It would be nice to do something with you that doesn't leave my whole family glaring at me for you being in a wheelchair."

"Well, they can get over it. I asked you to do it. You did it. We ain't never gonna do it ever again. But you is gonna do me lots in the future if I gets my way." The badger grinned at the white bear, who returned the smile.

Kris stood up and stretched. "I am about to propose an idea that may facilitate that," he said, as his paws pushed up against the top of the cave ceiling.

Derrick grinned. "More sex with Papa Bear and Oliver? I'm in."

Kris shook his head. "Maybe not, Pup. This idea comes with a cost that we as a family need to consider."

Nathaniel and Colton both looked up from their dinner plates. The others put down their forks.

Will was the first to speak. "What are we talking about here, Bear?"

Kris knelt next to the old wolf, picked up his prosthetic arm, and kissed it. "You know I love you, Old Wolf. It doesn't matter to me one bit how you come to me. I want you in my life. New arm, new leg, new eye. It doesn't matter to me."

"I know, Husband," the old wolf replied. "It only matters to me. But like you, I will give up almost anything to have you by my side."

"What if you didn't have to give up anything?"

"I can't heal what isn't there, Kris. This is the best I can be, given the circumstances."

"Merge with me."

Will's eyes widened, but it was all those around the table who spoke in unison. "What?"

Kris looked at his family and cleared his throat. "I believe I was talking to my husband. While you are welcome to listen, I would ask you to hold your questions until after he has answered me."

Will laughed. "You're kidding, right? Even if I could, do you really think I want to be a rock for forty years?"

"I was hoping you might."

"I'm not a Changeling, Husband."

"You're close enough. Merge with me, Old Wolf. I can guide us through the regeneration together."

"Regeneration?" Will asked. "As in..."

"Become renewed. Your cells and mine intermingle, and in time, they reform back to who we have been all along."

"I get my arm and leg back?"

"And your eye and jaw."

"But I don't get screwed for forty years?"

"There's always a downside to most things."

Will took a bite of food. "Pass."

Kris laughed. "Old Wolf, it doesn't feel like forty years to us. It's more like hibernation inside each other's souls."

"Let's say I say yes to this. We gonna be making a kid?"

"Yes."

"He's gonna be like me and you?"

"No. He's going to be like him. If he even chooses to be a him. One can choose from so many other options out there. That's not up to us. Ask Nathaniel or Colton."

Nathaniel nodded. "He's right. Papa and Dad had an influence on me, but I'm my own bear."

"Likewise," Colton responded. "You would make a wonderful father, Will. You already are to me. Don't let another child scare you away from this."

Will smiled. "I'm not worried about being a dad again, Colton. I'm worried about missing out on my life here. There's Pup and Oliver to consider, not to mention Eric and Donovan, who just returned. My life is here by their sides."

Derrick looked across the table at Will. "Old Wolf, we have waited decades for our husbands to return. Did you think I wouldn't gladly do so for the first husband in my life?"

"I can't ask that much of you," the old wolf said, pushing his hand toward the black wolf.

"Then don't. I give that time to you freely." Derrick's paw covered the old wolf's.

"I don'ts," Oliver said, never looking up from his food. "You's gonna have to give me some serious sexing before you goes turning into a rock." He looked up and smiled. "If you can be with the bear and become you again, be with the bear. He loves you, and he's gots to merge anyway. He can't stop that. Be the one to lie beside him. He ain't only asking to fix you, Old Wolf. He's asking you to spend the dark time with him so he won't be alone."

Will looked up at the bear. "Is that true?"

"I suppose that's a part of it."

"You have to merge? But why? You did that with Eric not that long ago."

"That merge was by necessity to save my son. If anything, it pushed up my biological need to merge by a few hundred years."

"But you can choose anyone, Bear," Will protested. "Any Changeling would be thrilled to merge with you."

"What if I asked the one I want to merge with me already? Maybe it's an old wolf that I love."

"Why, Kris? Why me?"

"Because you need to heal, not only in body but in spirit. This world takes too much from us, Old Wolf. It's taken too much from you. Rest with me. Let me sing to you of a love that was born on this highland so many years ago when I stepped out and saw you two." The brown bear looked at the young wolf. "I would take you both if I could, but one has to stay behind. The merging is limited to two."

"I'm not so sure that's accurate, Bear," Donovan said as he made circles in his food with his fork.

"The Unity has never merged over two souls at a time."

"True, but as you pointed out; we are not the Unity. Your biological imperative proves that. The Unity wouldn't be in the state you're in right now. Besides, you know that over the years, millions of our unions have fused in the nurseries."

Eric nodded. "He's right there. The closeness of the chrysalises has often led to two or more of them merging during their gestation. No bad has come of those unions." The polar bear tapped the table with one finger of his paw. "While it's not the way we ever started our mergings, there is a history of that being the way they've wound up."

Donovan continued his thought. "You're asking a werebeast to be your partner in a venture no beast has ever done. It might actually be helpful if Pup was by his side. The dark time is only possible with one by your side. As much as he loves you, both his first husbands beside him might better serve the old wolf. You have enough experience in merging to guide both through the change."

"But that's so much information to sort out."

"It ain't like it's math, Bear," Oliver said. "You's gots three bodies you slams together all the time and you ain't never had a problem getting them separated yet."

Kris shook his head. "You know it's not that easy, Oliver."

"No, it's not," Martin said. "But you have family to help. And you have the yellow clan by your side. We can talk to you, Kris. We can guide you. I know Anders and Chipo would agree."

"And if you promises to fuck me as soon as you comes back, I'll drop by from time to time," Oliver said casually. He took a bite of his food and chewed. "I guess if I'se got to live with the Sight no matter how hards I tries to gets rid of it, I might as well make sure you three is safe."

Derrick shook his head. "No, I know why Will might say yes to this, but why would I want to turn into a rock for forty years?"

Kris looked at the black wolf. "Because your husbands are going to?"

"Oh, that's not fair," Derrick said despondently.

Will's paw touched the young wolf's. "No, it's not. But if you said yes, I would too. I can go anywhere if you're beside me."

"We would go too, were it not so soon," Donovan said. "There is nothing to say we can't form some daisy chain of regeneration one day, but for us, our bodies are too new, and we have a son who needs our guidance."

Colton smiled. "He's right about that. I will miss all my fathers who go, but I will have to insist you leave at least a few behind. My education is far from over."

Will laughed. "Son, you'll be teaching us before this century is out. But I agree. You need fathers beside you."

"There is also the promise that Papa made to Éric," Colton said. "Either way, I say my fathers stay behind."

"I agree with Colton," Nathaniel said. "Papa has taken on obligations he cannot walk away from, including a son and a young man he has promised to turn. We all need family, and Papa has two families who need him here." Nathaniel leaned back in his chair. "However, I am concerned that Oliver is getting the short straw on this plan."

"I'se gonna be fine, Bear. I gots you and the cat to be with me at night. And Kris is right. Without them three around, my new husbands will be looking fine. The Old Bear is gonna need something more than a wolf to get him through the winters. I'se thinking it will be right pleasant."

"No, that's not quite right," Martin interjected. "I am all for making people feel good about their choices, but you, Badger, are not telling the truth."

"Is so."

"Are not," Will said.

"Is so, bastard wolf."

Derrick shook his head. "You are not, Oliver. You have a room full of men with the Sight who love you. Do you think you can fool us?"

"I can tries," Oliver said defiantly. "Old Wolf, you gots to go. And if the pup has to go with you, then he goes. I can waits for you three to come home."

Nathaniel reached over and grabbed Oliver's paw. "Or you can go with them."

Kris raised his hands, waving them in objection. "He's not got the same genetic code wired into him, Nathaniel. And I'm already struggling with the idea of tending to two werebeasts."

"That's fine," Nathaniel said. "He merges with me, and I merge with you, Dad. We form the daisy chain Donovan was talking about. Oliver gets to be with his husbands through me. Don't leave Oliver away from his husbands. He already sacrifices too much being separated from them as it is."

"Ain't gonna work, Bear," Oliver objected. "I'd just miss the cat. Can't go living without none of my husbands without feeling the lonely."

"I have to agree with the badger there," Martin chimed in. "You're suggesting taking both my husbands away to entertain a rock already filled with folks."

"Actually, I'm suggesting taking you too," Nathaniel said, looking at the saber-toothed cat.

"What?" came the collective question.

"Look, we're a unique family. We always have been. In the centuries to come, the Changeling in us will feel the need to merge many times. Even now, the change is manifesting itself in the way werebeasts interact. Why do you think your need for physical contact is so much greater than humans? One day you will feel it the same as we do. For now, it's a stronger push to be with the other beasts. It will only get stronger the closer you come to a day when your Changeling genes want to merge with another's."

"Okay, how am I going to tell that's happening?" Will asked. "There's never a time when I don't feel that way."

"Me either," Derrick agreed.

"Same here," Martin added.

The group turned to Oliver. "What?" he yelled. "I'se a badger. You thinks I'se ever gonna say no to you wanting to touch me? Ain't never happened, damn it."

"I rest my case," Nathaniel said. "We've been together as a family for longer than any of us care to count. All along we've been moving toward a day where our new biology and our old merge into one." Nathaniel stood up. "I am not now, nor have I ever truly been one of the Unity. The day I took on this corporeal form, I become something else. The day my husbands became werebeasts, they did the same. They were no longer human. Our genetics are rooted in our species, but we are no longer those species."

Kris nodded. "He's right there."

Donovan leaned back. "Agreed." His polar bear mate nodded. The rest of the family seemed content to watch the husbands talk, unsure of what they could add to the discussion.

"Our urge to bond and create a new life is within us all," Nathaniel continued. "It is the way we procreate, and it is the way we solidify our unions. We aren't the Unity anymore; we are Terrans. And more critically for this conversation, we are family. We need to seek out a new life and new ways of expressing ourselves."

Derrick laughed. "To boldly go where no beast has gone before."

Nathaniel grinned. "Yes, exactly. We need to give it all she's got, Captain," he agreed in a Scottish brogue. "This is a part of who we are. Changelings merge. Everyone in this room will feel that need. Beasts, you have always felt the need so strongly you can't remember a time when you didn't feel it. Changelings, that need grows in us every two or three hundred years. That's way faster than anyone on our home planet."

"So what are you suggesting?" Martin asked.

"That we honor what we are becoming instead of trying to hold on to what we once were."

Colton nodded his head. "I agree with my brother. We are something vastly different from what we started out as. Maybe it's time you embraced the change coming inside you."

"Ain't change I want's coming inside me," the badger groused. "Don't likes change. Loves my husbands though. They can come inside me all they wants."

Nathaniel rubbed the top of Oliver's head. "And I love them too, Badger. We are on a cusp here. Another one of those points where we have to say, do we make the leap or do we stay? I say make the leap. Husbands, merge with me. Merge with me for all the reasons you said yes when I asked you to mate. And Oliver, merge with your husbands through me. They need you by their side through this. If it's going to work, we have to do this as a family."

Oliver looked up at the short-faced bear towering over him. "Suppose it might be good to has a badger along in the dark time. I spent more years in the dark than any of you. I can help you through it. Wouldn't be so lonely that way."

"And you can heal right alongside your husband as he heals."

Oliver pushed his plate away. "That's true. Would like a body that works again."

"Cats have excellent night vision. We always find our way in the dark," Martin added.

Kris looked at his family. "Are you sure about this? There are a lot of variables we're probably not considering between our genetic makeup. I was confident about Will and Derrick, but I'm not so sure about Oliver and Martin."

"Well, Max?" Nathaniel said, looking at the blue bear. "You and JP have studied our physiology through two timelines. What do you think? Do we go ahead or wait?"

Max smiled. "We were wondering how long it would take you to figure this one out."

"What?" Eric asked. "You've known about this all along?"

"Not exactly," Max said. "We thought about it when we read the history of Kris's and your merging. You had a Changeling who wouldn't survive the alone time without someone beside him. But more to the point, you was a novice. There were nuances you didn't understand that Kris taught you when you merged. Can you recall a merging in the Verital where you allowed two Changelings to form the bond without one having done so before?"

Donovan looked at Eric. Eric shook his head in doubt. "The Unity was adamant about leaving behind one who had merged to guide the first gestation," Eric replied. "But we were insistent that we could do it on our own. After all, we held the collective consciousness of the Unity inside us. We didn't need an adult to hold our hand on something that was there as instinct."

"They finally left us behind to fend for ourselves," Donovan added. "But only with our agreement to leave the marker here in the cave. It would activate when it was time to return for the merging."

Kris looked at the Armbruster's wolf. "What we didn't tell you was that once it identified your return, it was to launch a new program internally. It held the voice of our people teaching you what you were too arrogant to realize was essential to merge successfully."

Donovan sighed. "We were so sure of ourselves. Youth in both our cultures would seem to be myopic about the strength of their elders."

Kris nodded. "But that program never activated because only one of you returned. Without the hormones of merging Changelings to cue its launch, the program never activated. The marker shut down after the first half of the program was complete."

"Which is why you and Gaia began your return the moment you heard the Old Bear screaming out his rage at the death of the last of his brothers," Derrick said, putting the pieces together.

"Yes, Pup," Kris concurred. "We knew his biology would force him to enter the dark alone. We couldn't leave him there to die, or worse yet, become another Child of the Night."

"And so you merged with Eric," JP said. "You took a novice who knew nothing of the merge, who was biologically compatible with the process, but needed a guide through the dark time."

Kris nodded. "There are parts of the dark time one can't learn except through experience."

JP's paw reached out to the Kodiak. "Without your guidance, Eric wouldn't be here today."

The Kodiak's other paw reached out across the table and pressed against the polar bear's. "I couldn't let that happen, Son."

Eric smiled. "Now and forever, Dad," he said, flipping his paw upright and holding the brown one tight. The polar bear looked at the two winged bears. "But how does this lead you to believe we can merge with the beasts?"

"The logistics seem simple enough if there is a strong Changeling to guide the werebeasts. It would need to be someone who knew the path through the dark time. Beyond that, as long as the genetics are sound, a novice should be able to regenerate beside his mate regardless of who or what he is. Both Nathaniel and Colton seem to point to the possibility of a Changeling and beast merger."

"Me?" Colton questioned.

"You're the second of your kind to be born on this planet. And you're the first of your kind to be a hybrid species that can't possibly exist on this or any other planet. You took a form that never existed in the history of Terra. Your body's genetics have shown up only once before in the history of the Unity."

JP pointed to the short-faced bear. "Like Nathaniel, you were born with a Terran body. If there weren't genetic changes happening, Changelings mating with Changelings should create a child of the Unity. You both should be colorful blobs of liquid that, somewhere down the line, choose to become something else. You should have never made that transition to beast as a part of your birth. Except that those changes were already there in your fathers. They had already changed from what they were born as millions of years ago."

Max nodded his head. "Everything about your genetics tells us you are no longer a solid link back to the Unity. If you were, your bodies at birth would have been glowing... well, for a lack of a better term, gummy slugs."

"Ewe," Oliver blurted out. "Just, ewe. That boy's too cute to be a gummy slug."

"Exactly," JP agreed. "He made a choice to be more Terran than Verital from the start. Nathaniel and Colton are both proof that the Changelings born on Terra are choosing to become something other than the Unity. As Kris said, the differences between us are becoming increasingly narrower. You two children show us that. And Colton shows us that the link to Terra is growing increasingly stronger and more flexible.

"Most changes in evolution are subtle. Minor changes happen between parent and child. The ones that work, survive. Those that don't... well, that's what extinction is all about. Nothing on earth has ever intentionally thought, 'Oh, I want to be a bird instead of a dinosaur,' or 'Hey, there's no grass on this planet; I think I'll become grass.' It's always driven by outside forces pushing mutations in the genome to adapt to this changing world."

"Even I knows, that, JP," Oliver said. "What's that got to do with me living in a rock for forty years?"

JP laughed. "You, Oliver, aren't evolution on a normal scale. You're a quantum leap beyond normal. In creating you, Will didn't know what you would become. I don't even think you did. I know the story well enough to know you're not the wolf you wanted to become."

"Changed my mind about that. Kinda happy now with who I is."

"As am I. I love you just the way you are," JP said.

"As do all our family," Chet interjected with a smile.

"Thanks, Chet. I loves you just the way you is, too."

"So, loving you the way you are, Oliver, there is still who and what you are in play here," Max continued. "You inherited a lot of genetic information the day Will turned you. You also inherited a bunch of code that further altered your genome when Donovan gave you the Sight. Will is one source of your genetic code, but Donovan is another. There's a reason Oliver is a Channeler beyond that whole 'gift of the universe' mysticism, and that reason is the wolf next to me," Max said. Donovan looked away, embarrassed.

"It's a good thing, Donovan," Max added. "Without your gift, this world wouldn't exist. I know it wasn't intentional, but it worked out for the best. And it's that way for our entire family. Our interactions with the Changelings subjected the beasts in this family to dramatic changes. It's the same way humans altered the Canidae family for centuries."

"Huh?" Oliver asked.

"Look at your husbands. They are both prime examples of what I'm talking about if we think of them as their avatars," Max answered. "Will is a gray wolf. An Iberian wolf, to be exact. That's one of many subspecies of gray wolf out there. And, of course, the gray wolf is only one of many wolves that evolved along concurrent paths. All in all, they're not that different from Donovan's Armbruster's wolf. But almost every change you see is from some minute mutation. Those mutations allowed the gray wolves to survive better in their world than the Armbruster's wolf did."

"I'm a gray wolf, too; aren't I?" Derrick asked.

"No, not exactly. If we were talking wolf biology here, the black color of your fur wouldn't be from the wolf side of your family. In our turnings, it is our thoughts that move and shape the change, but the genetics of the black wolf actually harken back to human intervention. When scientists studied black wolves years ago, they found that their black coat came from a mutated variant of a gene in dogs known as the K locus. Like most genes, the transfer to wolves was through mating. But not with other wolves. The wolves mated with black-furred dogs that had been living with Native Americans for years. Humans artificially selected the black fur, and then in a very rare take on biology, domesticated dogs and wolves mating introduced it back into the wild."

"I'm a hybrid?" Derrick asked.

"Aren't we all?" JP said with a laugh.

"Look," Max answered, "we're not a gene-for-gene match to our animal counterparts, but their history informs us. It helps us realize potentialities that might exist as we go forward in our mating. One of those is that some of the Were Nation can breed with Changelings. Not every one of us, but some of us."

"And the key to that possibility?" Kris asked.

"Like everything to do with us, gene compatibility," Max answered.

"So, I understand why Jean Pierre and Lewis might be compatible because Changelings turned them," Will said. "But I turned Derrick and another beast turned me. How does that work?"

"You mate with Changelings, and that genetic exchange is ongoing, Will," JP replied. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, Changelings. Changeling genetics pushes everyone who comes into intimate contact with it toward becoming the Unity from which you were born."

The five Changelings looked at each other and nodded. "That is true," Eric replied. "It's why our first mating so radically shifts their genome. We never thought that continued mating might continue the process even further."

JP smiled. "Ah, but it does. It's the same way your own genetic restructuring is an effort of your Terran bodies to find harmony with your mates. The Unity you were born into pressures you to find balance, right down to your genetic coding. That goes for all the once-human husbands here tonight. Your genes are closer to the Changelings than any other on this planet. Likewise, Eric and Nathaniel's unique histories with humans push their genetic makeup closer to humans."

Nathaniel looked at the Kermode bear and raised his eyebrow. The bear shook his paws. "Not a bad thing, Nathaniel. Just a thing. And the thing that actually brings you closer to your husbands than the other way around. Derrick and Will are closer to the Changelings because they mate with Changelings. Nathaniel is closer to humans because he has had an ongoing sexual relationship with a human. His father was also sexually active with humans. Which means if you six want to merge, you are uniquely positioned to do so by your genetic makeup being so similar after all these years."

"And our offspring?" Kris asked.

"Also totally unique."

"Not like in 'Childrens of the Night' unique, right?" Oliver asked, the concern in his voice obvious.

"No, not like that," Max answered. "Your child will gestate and be born beside you, the same as all Changeling babies are born. Whatever happens, they will never be alone. In fact, they will have more fathers than any other Changeling yet born. You may even have multiple children gestating because of the number of fathers involved. Whatever child is born of your union will be even closer to the middle ground between Changeling and werebeast. However, that distance is so small for you six already, there won't be any noticeable difference." Max paused. "Unless they choose to be born with wings... which, of course, you might suggest because we're so much fun to play with."

Will laughed out loud. "You are that, boys." He looked at the group. "Speaking of which, I don't know if any of the rest of you noticed it, but Chet's eyes glazed over a long time ago. Now he's staring at Derrick's crotch like a starving man looking at dinner."

Chet's attention suddenly snapped back to the conversation. "Oh... I'm listening..." he paused. "No, not really. As soon as I heard Max say you could do it, I didn't care about how or why. I started thinking about forty years without Pup beside me."

Derrick nodded. "I understand, Chet. I feel the same way about you and everyone around this table tonight. It's a big decision. We shouldn't make it alone. What say we ask Jean Pierre to gather the pack together a bit early this month?"

"That would seem in order," Chet said. "If this is your choice, let us say goodbye in the only way that will convince us to forgive you for leaving us for so long."

Chapter 22

Two days later, the highland was full of mingling beasts. The news of Kris and Nathaniel's impending merging with their husbands was a monumental announcement. The family was gathering from around the globe to say their goodbyes and offer their support. In the middle of it all, one confused human stood watching everything. "How are you holding up, Éric?" came a voice from behind the Frenchman.

Éric turned to see another human. "I thought I was the only human on the highland today."

The other graying human smiled and extended his hand. "I'm Simon Kellogg. I married that sexy little number over there," he said, pointing to a dog that looked much like a mastiff with his flat snout. But unlike a mastiff, there were no jowls around his jaw. The muzzle was thick and muscled, and inside the mouth were teeth that looked formidable. The ears weren't floppy like a mastiff's. Instead, they stood perked up and rounded at the top. His look was more akin to a bear with a wagging tail of a dog. While upright in the manner of a werebeast, it was easy to see that his canine avatar was larger than even a mastiff. The thick muscles that covered his body were far different from most of the wolves and other Canidae walking around the area. The golden yellow fur streaked with reddish-brown stripes made him look a bit like the love child of the red Chow, Dr. Kong, and a temple dog.

Éric shook Simon's hand while trying to figure out what kind of dog he was looking at.

"He's an Epicyon," the human answered. "He's Kurt Carver. His uncle Max is the blue-winged bear you were talking to earlier. Max told Kurt to become whatever his heart desired when he turned. You do not tell that to one of the leading authorities on adaptive genetic science without getting something unique. He picked an extinct species from a subfamily of North American canids known as the bone-crushing dogs."

Éric laughed. "There are so many different beasts. I have lost count."

"It can be daunting, that's for sure," the other human agreed. "I'm human, in case you were wondering if your abilities were failing to see me as I am."

"Good to know," Éric said. "I was thinking I might have perception issues."

"Nope, I'm staying human. I know it will be hard for Kurt when I die, but I'm not wired for eternal life."

"I've wondered about it myself. There are a few hundred years of work I know I want to do, but Chet is twelve thousand years old. I'm not sure I've got what it takes to hang in there that long."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm an artist. I mainly paint and sculpt, but I dabble in other areas from time to time."

Simon grinned. "You'll be fine. Artists never find the end to what they're doing. You see another horizon when we all think it's all been done."

Éric smiled. "Thanks. I don't think we've met before. But you seem to know my name."

Simon grinned back at the middle-aged man. "We all do, Éric. You're quite the celebrity here. You're turning today at the hand of one of our legends."

Éric shook his head in disbelief. "I've always thought of him as my godfather. The rest of his history is something I'm still catching up on. "

"Well, Eric has a lot of history under his belt. Not that he wears one," the human said, laughing. "But he loves you. No one better could turn you, but be ready for some serious genetic mixing up. Your godfather is a Changeling. I'm thinking that drinking from the source might be substantially different from a beast turning you."

Simon felt a huge paw rest on his shoulder. "I wouldn't go giving him anything to worry about if I were you, Simon," he heard the bear behind him say.

Simon turned and looked up at the polar bear. "I wasn't trying to scare him, Old Bear. I was trying to let him know how special a beast he will become."

"You're all special to me," the bear said.

Simon nodded. "I know." He turned to Éric and smiled. "But you're still going to be something unbelievable."

The white bear picked up Simon and spun him around, giving him a kiss. "As is our only human son," the bear replied. "Now if I could please get you to head over to your husband, Éric and I have a date."

"Are you sure about this?" Simon asked. "You've got every temple dog here and a field full of over two hundred other beasts. Is this the best time to turn a novitiate?"

"We're up against the wall on this one, Simon. His godfathers wanted to see him before they go, and he understands what might come of a change during this time."

"It's going to be overwhelming."

"We're family; not animals. You make it sound like we have no control."

Simon grinned. "You do? You mean you intentionally do all those things we do on a run?"

The bear glowered at the human. "Yes, Simon, I intentionally do all those things, and the temple dogs intentionally do all the things they do. No one on this highland will do anything they don't want to do this week, except those who leave early because they have to return to work. I expected more of you in the company of other humans unfamiliar with our ways."

Simon looked down. "Sorry, Eric. I was trying to be funny, but you're right. Éric has never been with this many beasts or at such a turning point in his life. I was out of line."

The bear extended his arms. "Come, give me a hug, Simon. I know your husband. I have a feeling that I won't see you for quite a few days unless I cross paths with the African dogs."

Simon smiled. "No hard feelings?"

"Hug me long enough, and I'm sure one of us will feel hard." The bear gave the human a wide grin. "Now, see? That's funny."

Simon shook his head and dove into the hug. "I love you, Old Bear," he said.

"And I love you, Simon."

Simon let the hug go and turned to his fellow human. "I know this will sound strange coming from a guy who won't do it, but you stay close to this family and you will never regret the choice you're making today."

Éric smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."

Simon put his hand on the other human's shoulder. "Become what you've always dreamed of becoming."

"My family took a vote. Turning into a bear won hands down."

"Then become the bear you've always dreamed of becoming," Simon laughed.

Éric looked up at the white bear standing over him. "Will it upset you if it's not a polar bear?"

Eric chuckled. "I'm married to a Kodiak. My second son is a short-faced bear. My oldest son married two beautiful bears with wings, and my brother is a grolar bear. Frankly, if you become a polar bear, I will wonder if you didn't take the time to think your choices through."

Éric smiled shyly. "You're my godfather. There is respect that I should show."

"Then show me that respect by honoring my wish that you become what you want, not what you believe you owe me by some ancient tradition. I assure you, I am much older than that tradition, and I want a son who is happy with his choice."

"It's strange to think you will be my father," the human said.

"We don't have to think of it that way if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Actually, no, I like the feeling."

"Then should we go tend to your turning?"

Éric nodded. "Is it going to happen in front of everyone?"

"What would you prefer?"

"Something a bit more intimate."

"Only the two of us?"

"That would be nice."

"It sometimes helps to have others to hold you down when the turning begins. Words can't describe the pain, and you're choosing to become an animal that is larger than most. Your godfathers could help if you wish, but it's up to you."

"Can you do it on your own?"

The bear put his paw on the human's shoulder and rubbed it. "Of course."

"I'd like that."

The bear smiled. "Come with me. I have somewhere special I'd like to show you." The bear paused. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"Not particularly. What are we talking about?"

"A path along a rather steep ravine. It's wide, but the view down might give some men vertigo."

"I should be fine."

The polar bear extended his paw, and the human took it in his hand. The two walked away from the gathering along the far side of the glade. As they neared the creek, the polar bear took a turn away from the forest and toward the grassy edge of the cliff. "It's here," he said, pointing over the edge.

"What's here?" Éric asked.

"The path down off the highland, or the path to it, depending on which direction you come from."

The bear leaned down on all fours and flipped over the side. His arms rose above the cliff's edge. "Come on, Éric. I will help you down."

Éric leaned over into the thick paws and was lifted over the head of the bear and then gently back down again. "This is the way Derrick and I first came to the highland. I remember the pathway so clearly. Gaia has been altering the highland over the centuries, but she knows there is a curve on this pathway that is very important to Derrick and me."

The two walked along the path and when they came to the waterfall, the bear covered the human as he plunged into the cascade and out through the other side. "That's the only time we cross the waterfall," the bear said. "We go down from here."

As they rounded a corner, Éric saw the pathway go straight for a distance and end in a large flat widening of the path. Fine grass and thick moss covered the area. Ferns grew along the crag that framed the wide ledge. Off from the far side, Éric finally saw the path on the other side leading downhill from the terrace. "It's beautiful," he said.

"Gaia takes care of it," the bear said as he stepped onto the mossy floor. "When I thought I was going to die, this is where Derrick and I made love for what I thought was our last time. This is a sacred spot for me. It's grown over the years. Erosion and Gaia never see eye to eye, it seems. She turned it from a widening in the path to a place where Derrick and I come every year to bite each other's necks."

"Derrick is a lucky wolf."

"No, I am a lucky bear," the white bear replied as he sat down on the mossy floor and patted the spot next to him. "Come have a seat. We can discuss what you hope to walk away with from this moment."

The human sat next to the bear. "There are so many thoughts running through my head. I'm not sure I can express them all."

"And about the method of transformation?"

"Will explained the birds and the bees to me pretty well," Éric said with a laugh. "But I noticed you're rather sizable as both a man and a beast. I'm not inexperienced, but I think you'll admit there aren't many out there that can provide the experience you're offering."

Eric nodded. "When Changelings become aroused, they give off pheromones. They're sex hormones we use as markers... identifiers of our readiness for mating. Here, they seem to drive men crazy. The downside of that is it makes it difficult for us to know if those pheromones unduly influence our partners. We want to have sex with them because that's their desire, not because the pheromones are keeping them off kilter."

The human smiled. "Don't worry about that today. I'm here because I want to be."

The bear returned the smile. "Then, for you, on the plus side, our pheromones will relax you and make it easier for you to accommodate sizes you would find painful. And they heighten your pleasure sensors. If we take this slow so that my pheromones build, and you inhale them, no matter what we choose to do, it should be pleasant."

"That's comforting to hear. I have to admit that a polar bear taking me has been one of my worries."

"We have other options. This is a transfer of genetic material. The most direct link is topping you, but that doesn't mean you can't ingest that same material."

Éric looked at the bear. "Are you saying that you can turn me if I swallow your cum?"

"Will didn't tell you that?"

"No... no he didn't."

"God, that wolf is such a bottom," the bear groaned. "Our genetic code is quite aggressive when it comes to changing yours. I suspect if I came all over you and you rubbed it into your skin, it would find a way to take hold of your cellular structure and change it."

"That sounds sort of sad," the human said. "I was kind of hoping we would be more... what's the word I'm looking for here... romantic? You know, something I hold on to for a lifetime. I don't want someone to ask what was it like to become a beast and I say, 'Oh, the guy came all over me and that's pretty much it.'"

The polar bear laughed. "I'm only giving you options. I know what I would do if I had my way."

"What would you do, Godfather?"

The bear leaned in and nuzzled the human back onto the mossy ground. "First, I would kiss you," he said as his lips pressed against the human's. Éric soon realized what the bear meant by the effect of the pheromones on this body. The first kiss was like kissing a man with a thick three-day growth of beard. The sensation, while not entirely unpleasant, was stubbly and coarse. But as the large lips continued to rub against his, the sensation became one he enjoyed.

When the kissing stopped for a moment, Éric had a sense of loss. "Because I'm a bear..." Eric whispered as his paws moved up under Éric's shirt and rubbed along the gray-haired man's chest, "... I would be awkward trying to remove your clothes." The bear paused, pushing against the shirt that trapped his paw. With a forceful jerk that shocked Éric more than hurt him, the buttons tore from the shirt and left his chest exposed. "So, to keep me from getting frustrated, I would simply sacrifice your clothes to the passion you bring out in me."

They spoke no other words as the bear's claws tore away the clothes of the human, and the kissing began exploring deeper. With a tongue larger than the human's mouth, there was no playful tonguing while they kissed. But when Éric felt the tongue run along the side of his neck, his eyes closed as a shiver swept over his body.

Both men's hands reached for the other. The thick, leathery pads of the bear's paws seemed warm against his skin, and when the claws raked over his back, Éric groaned in pleasure. Less than an hour into their lovemaking, the human wanted nothing more than for the beast to be inside him. Exploring past the white fur and tonguing his black nipples, Éric realized how everything on the bear was the same as every man he had ever been with. Yet, because of their size and texture, everything was new to him.

Éric leaned over and tried to fellate the bear. Despite the size, he enjoyed the warmth of a cock that held all the magic, excitement, and trepidation of the first time he took another man's cock into his mouth. He explored the slick skin and tasted the dripping pre-cum; salty yet sweet at the same time. It was as intoxicating as the finest wines any of the vintners of Bord du Lac had ever created, and just as dizzying. Too large to swallow whole, the human contented himself by sliding his lips up and down over the sides of the shaft. With both hands, he rubbed around the fullness of the bear.

The first time Éric came, it caught him by surprise. It was the same as the pleasures that were a part of his first ejaculation as a boy masturbating. The feelings were so new, so overwhelming, that his cum was shooting from his cock before he even realized it was happening. All the human had time to do was to let the sensations sweep him away in a body-shaking orgasm. The bear was not fondling him. Éric was simply letting his body slip along the white fur of the bear's belly, and he was flooding the bear below with white liquid to match his fur. Éric's body shook with that kind of tremor only the best orgasms bring to a man, and it lasted long past any previous ejaculation. Helplessly immobile for a time, the human relaxed into the bear, holding him as he sensed the bear's chest and belly rise and fall with each breath.

Eventually, Éric found the strength to push up from the bear below. As he did so, the head of the bear's cock pressed against his crack, and he realized again how much he wanted the bear in a way he was fearful of only hours ago. There was something beyond erotic watching the polar bear draw his paw along his fur, sniff the white liquid, and shove his cum soaked claws into his mouth. Éric laughed. The bear was teasing him, sampling the human's cum like a fine wine that excited all the senses. How easily he accepted the bear loved every moment of his tasting.

When the bear finally rolled the human over onto his side and lifted his leg, Éric whispered his first word between the two since they had begun. He looked back into the eyes of the bear and said, "Yes." The polar bear moved slowly forward and penetrated the human in a slow, gentle push. The bear waited for the pheromones to take full effect and ease the human into accepting the thick cock. Deep inside the human, the bear began his thrusting. "And that is what I would do," the bear said as he leaned into the human and kissed his cheek.

"It's exactly what I wanted you to do," Éric replied. He pushed his pelvis back and up into the bear's groin. "Turn me, Eric. I'm ready." The bear obliged the human and increased his thrusting. Within the hour, the nostrils of over two hundred beasts flared, and heads turned toward the glade's edge. There was a newborn on the highland.

Chapter 23

Eight days later, Will stumbled out of the woods. His cock was dripping with the last of his ejaculate, and he was smiling. "Oh, gawd, Chipo," he laughed. "I love how you pound the cum out of me."

Chipo pushed his way through the trees. "And I love helping you maintain your reputation, Old Wolf." He reached out and grabbed the wolf with his three-fingered hands and pulled him in tight. When their kiss ended, the rhino sighed. "I will miss you, Old Wolf. Your reputation will suffer from forty years of being away. Come back soon, so we can restore you to your rightful place in our history."

"I will try," Will said, pressing his muzzle alongside Chipo's cheek. The wolf adjusted the patch over his missing eye when it shifted against the rhino's leathery skin. "Strange to miss something that wasn't even a part of me," he said.

Jason walked out of the forest holding hands with Jean Pierre and Lothair. "We will look forward to all your delightful body parts being back where they belong when you return, Old Wolf," the fox said. Will smiled and hugged the fox and his Eurasian wolf husbands.

The winged-beast family and Derrick came from the far left of the forest near the rice patties and waved to the growing crowd in the distance. "And we will wait for the pup to return, Old Wolf!" Chet yelled. "We will miss you all, but Pup needs to know that there are those who wait for him as eagerly as the rhino does for you and the cat."

Martin looked up from licking his paws clean and smiled. "I am grateful for my clan. I know I have a family to return home to until the rest of my family returns."

Anders smiled. "Indeed, you do," he said, holding Lewis tightly. "We will both wait for you, Martin. There will always be a spot on the lighthouse catwalk for you."

Kendal smiled as he passed by. "We'll keep the light on, Martin. You hurry home," he said as he rubbed the cat's fur in the wrong direction. Martin laughed, licked his paw, and preened the hair back into place.

Birds suddenly flew out from the underbrush as a calamity of noise and laughter came from back in the forest. Oliver came out, happily bouncing in midair in front of the brown bear. What appeared to be the levitation of a badger that could not walk soon became clear. The bear steadied the badger with his thick paws, but the badger was bouncing up and down as he sat on the bear's erection. "And I will have you by my side for all those years, Badger. What more could I ask for?" Kris exclaimed. Oliver's laughter was his only response to the question.

As the family filtered out into the sunshine, Jean Pierre took on the mantle of the alpha. "Time to get cleaned up, men. Our human families will be here within hours if I can extricate Tiff and Tuff from whatever and whomever they are doing with their husbands. They can gather up the airship crews and start shuttling the humans to the highland."

"The creek will have not seen this many beasts bathing in it for some time," Eric said with a grin, pushing his way through the bushes. Donovan exited the forest behind the polar bear with four grinning temple dogs by his side.

The dogs walked up to Will and bowed. "Come home soon, Old Wolf," Li Wei said. "And bring Pup safely home with you."

Will put his hands up to the temple dog's face and they kissed. "I promise."

"By the time you return, we will have a new temple and monastery built in Tibet," Zhuang said as he rubbed the shoulders of the Iberian wolf. "There will be a new bell pagoda waiting for you to help us topple."

Will grinned and turned to kiss the temple dog. "Build it strong, Zhuang. We need to hang from those rafters for much longer than we did the last time."

"I promise," the temple dog said with a smile.

"As do I, Old Wolf," Greg said as he passed by. "We will build the temple and monastery to a very rigid code. It will withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. And more importantly, the affections of a certain pair of wolves toward the temple dogs who live there."

Eric and Donovan hugged their son Colton, and the three looked out over the highland full of beasts interacting. Eric chuckled to himself when he saw three exiting the forest together. Kurt, Simon, and Éric were together. Simon leaned into the cave bear and kissed him. "I was right, you are extraordinary."

Éric blushed a warm reddish color beneath his fur. "Thank you, Simon."

"No, thank you," the human responded. "I felt like a total dick for my comments. Seeing you come up from your turning and walk by all those men to be with me meant more to me than I can tell you. Welcome to our world, Éric. You will be such a remarkable beast."

"I learned of intention, Simon. I wanted you to know that I intentionally did everything I did this week. There has not been a moment of regret, not a second of doubt, since the bear took me in his arms. This is who I am meant to be. These are the people who I will share my life with forever."

Simon looked away sheepishly. "I learned of intention too, Éric. I was a fool for ever thinking that we were only animals in heat. What we do, we always do, understanding the love behind our actions. And in that understanding, everything... everything changes."

There was a flash of blue light and the three watched the Red Wolf and the Gray Wolf both rising toward the sky. They laughed as the two airships spun circles around each other and then, in an instant, were gone.

From across the glade, Oliver and Kris watched the two airships disappear into the sky. "I will miss this," Kris said with a certain melancholy in his voice as he placed Oliver up on his shoulder.

"And we will miss you, Husband," Donovan said as he approached the two.

Eric sighed. "I suppose it is time I waited for the ones who have waited so long for me." He reached out and hugged Kris. "I will wait for as long as it takes, Husband. Don't either of you hurry this on our behalf. I am not the old wolf. I will not be kicking you daily."

Oliver laughed. "You mights give us a kick every now and then. I figure the old wolf would like it."

"I will kick you," Donovan said. "It's what we wolves do. We're an impatient lot. But Eric is right. Take the time you need. We will be here when you return."

Kris looked down and rubbed his chest of matted fur. "I'm not sure; is any of this cum yours?"

Donovan laughed. "Not that I know of. It's been a long week, though."

Kris grinned. "Can I interest you men in a bath together? I'm thinking of using the badger as a scrub brush." The bear felt Oliver smack him upside his head and laughed.

Donovan grabbed the Kodiak and pulled him toward the creek. "A splendid idea. If we do this right, before you're cleaned up, I can promise some of that cum on your chest will be mine."

Chapter 24

As the last of the human families began disembarking from the Gray Wolf, the werebeasts gathered to welcome them. Some of the family came from great distances, having long ago moved back into the human world where they raised their own families. Will grabbed Alejandro, gave him a tight hug, and then pushing him back, looked at him. "Don't you look the distinguished gentleman? The gray hair suits you."

Alejandro laughed. "Thanks. It's funny. I have to introduce Dad as my younger brother now to avoid confusion. It won't be too many years before he's my nephew." Alejandro looked around. "Where is he?"

"Phillip and he were the last of the pack to leave the forest. The two are getting spruced up a bit before seeing you and your family." The old wolf looked at the middle-aged woman next to Alejandro. "And how is my favorite goddaughter?"

"I am fine, Uncle Will," she said as she reached out and hugged the werewolf. "The kids have run off to look for crayfish in the creek."

Will's eyes widened, but before he could even move, Derrick shifted onto all fours. "On it," the wolf said as he bounded out across the glade toward the creek.

"Is there a problem?"

"Their granddads are getting cleaned up after a run."

"Oh dear," Victoria said with a look of concern. "Derrick can run fast, right?"

"Extremely fast," Will replied. "He'll catch them, but your fathers both have incredible hearing. They will hear the children laughing long before the boys reach the creek."

"Then I should have no concerns?"

"Of course not," Will said, trying to sound confident. He looked up and saw his mate escorting three teenage boys back across the glade. "See?" he said, pointing. "They're already on their way back."

Derrick and the three boys walked by. With a casual wave, Derrick said, "Catch you all later. We're on our way to the cave to look for bats."

Victoria laughed. "Oh, bats... that's so much better than crayfish, Uncle."

"There aren't any bats in the cave," Will whispered. "Besides, it's way better than children bumping into wolves down by the creek."

Victoria shrugged. "You have a point there." She looked at her husband. "¿Usted piensa que sus padres podrían comportarse?"

Alejandro cocked his head and looked at her. "Do you really want them to behave?"

Victoria thought for a moment. "I suppose not. Every so often, I have a moment where I wonder what it would be like to have a normal family."

"And what do you decide?" Will asked.

Victoria reached out and hugged the wolf. "I decide that I have a wonderfully normal family."

Two wolves came running toward the three, shaking water off themselves as they ran. Only feet from the humans, they shifted into their werewolf forms. Victoria smiled and extended her arms. "How are you, fathers?"

The padre smiled. "We are wonderful, Daughter. And so much better now that we see you."

"All I can say is I'm glad that we are the first family members to see you," she said with a slight motherly air.

The timber wolf smiled repentantly. "Me too." He turned to Will. "It's hard for this wolf to say goodbye to one of his oldest friends."

"Then don't say it, Padre," Will said. "Say, hasta luego."

Jim shook his head. "It will not make it any easier, my friend."

"I will be back."

"I will hold you to that," the padre said. He squeezed the paw of the wolf next to him. "And now, if you will excuse us, we both wish to say goodbye to Oliver and Derrick."

"Derrick is hunting bats in the cave with your grandkids. If you find Kris, you'll find Oliver," Will said.

"Thank you, old friend," the padre said as he leaned in and kissed the old wolf. The kiss lasted. And went on. When at last they separated, they smiled at their family, who waited patiently for their goodbye to end.

Out on the glade near the airships, Éric hugged his parents, who were crying over the change in their son. Not sure if they were happy tears or sad, the bear clung awkwardly to them. "I hope you're happy with what I've done here," he said solicitously.

His mother looked up at the bear. "It seemed so much different when we took a vote on it. A bear didn't seem so large on a little strip of paper." Louane wiped the tears from her eyes and pushed the bear back, looking at him carefully. "You are beautiful, but I miss my boy."

The bear smiled. "I will always be your boy, Momma. Nothing has changed save a bit of flesh and fur. When I come home, my human side will be more than happy to visit with you. But for today, a bear with no clothes is so much more comfortable for me than a man without clothes. Bear or human, my heart will always be yours."

Milo looked at his bear son. "And ours will always be with you, Son. Give us a bit of time to adjust to this change. I'm sorry it came on top of such a sad announcement for our family. We are losing so many of your godfathers."

"They will be back, Poppa," the bear said.

"Yes, but if I understand this merging that they are doing, we will not be here to welcome them home."

The bear nodded. "I know. I'm sorry that this is a goodbye we need to make as a family much too soon. But I will be here when they return, and I will give them your love."

The father of the bear smiled. "We will hold you to that. You do not want us haunting that school you're going to build."

The bear reached out and hugged the two again. "I love you both so much," he whispered.

"We love you, Son," the two replied. When they separated, the three went to say their goodbyes to the godfathers that soon would be stone.

Inside the cave, Matthew was hugging the wheelchair-bound badger. "I will miss you, Oliver," the human said as he let the badger loose and stared at him. "I probably won't be alive when you return."

"Turn, Matthew. Be here when I comes back."

"I'm straight, Oliver. I have a beautiful wife and a daughter. Growing old and having grandkids are things I am looking forward to. You know, that whole human experience. What would I do for eternity, sitting around with a bunch of gay guys?"

"You might gets used to us after a while. You could be bi, you know."

Matthew laughed. "And you, Oliver, could you be bi?"

"No," the badger said, shaking his head.

"And you expect me to change? How?"

Oliver frowned. "I don'ts, Matthew. I just knows I will miss you."

"I will miss you too, Oliver. But I was born human. I made my mistakes as a human. I've lived my life trying to make up for them as a human. This is who I am. But I will never forget you and everyone on Partridge Island for helping me make peace with who I am in this life."

"You goes on and has a good life, Matthew. Be happy. You deserves that much."

"I will, Oliver," Matthew said as he reached out and hugged the little mammal once more. "You don't forget me. Leave me there on the fringes of your memory, and now and then, when you smile, you say, 'that's for you, Matthew', and you know wherever I am, I will hear you."

"I promises I will do that," Oliver said, clinging to the boy who became a man.

Matthew stepped away, and Oliver caught the eye of Damien and Tuff and motioned to them. "What's up, Oliver?" Damien asked.

"You knows Matthew, right?"

"The human you were talking to?" Damien asked. Oliver nodded.

Tuff watched the human walking away. "We said hello to him on the flight."

Damien nodded. "I remember him from the meeting we had the night before the Day of Transformation. But I'm afraid he's a bit of Partridge Island history that we weren't a part of."

"Damien, coulds you do me a big favor?"

"Of course, Oliver. What do you need?"

"Finds out about a little boy who killed himself years ago named Anthony. I don'ts know his last name, but I bet Dr. Kong does. You gots to learn his history. Finds out why he's dead. Matthew thinks he was a part of the bullies that led him to killing himself."

"And you want us to find out what, Oliver?"

"If Matthew is right. Or if there's more to this than we's seeing. I'd do it myself, but he's probably gonna be dead by the time I comes back. Whatever it is we gots to do for that boy gots to be done by you. You finds out the truth, good or bad, and you sits on it until the day you needs it."

Damien knelt down to the badger. "We'll find out what we can, Oliver. Do you know when we'll need this?"

"It's something coming. I wish I knowed what and when. I ain't got a clue. It's too far away for me to see it clearly. But our family is linked to that boy, and he's holding a hurt that never healed since he was a tiny one."

Tuff looked at the man with the thinning hair across the room. "He's no boy anymore, Oliver. I hope we can dig up whatever it is you think is buried."

"He's always gonna be a little boy to me. He's a good man, and he says he's happy. But I can't help but think somewhere along the line I wasn't there for him when I shoulds have been. It's the boy I can't seems to let go of."

Tuff picked up the badger from the wheelchair and hugged him. "You rest well, Oliver. Sleep next to your husbands and be at peace. We will find what you are searching for."

"And bring him home if he gets lost."

Tiff passed the badger to Damien. "We promise, Oliver."

The mingling and goodbyes lasted for hours as humans and beasts said their goodbyes to the family. Kristopher and his family said their goodbyes to Nathaniel and his family. After a tearful set of hugs, Kristopher took Oliver aside. "I'm going to ask you to do what my great uncle asked of you." He stuck out his hand and a small crystal chip lay in the middle.

"I'm going to give this to Max. The chances are very good we won't be alive when you return, Oliver. Jenny and I can't say goodbye to you the way we would like. So, you gather all our uncles together and watch this when you come back, okay?"

"Okay, Kristopher," Oliver said sadly.

"I have been such a lucky man to be born into this family. My brother is a bear with wings, I live with a family of animals for uncles, and I have never, never felt so proud to be a human as when I am with you. You be well," Kristopher said to the badger. He looked up into the immense belly of the short-faced bear. He looked further up into the deep brown eyes. "You all be well."

The sound of temple bells tolling in the distance reminded everyone of the time they hoped would never come. Will grabbed Damien and Darius, pulling them aside. "Did you find Marcus?"

"I'm sorry, Old Wolf," Darius said. "We've tried everything. Wherever he is, he doesn't want us to find him."

"But he promised to come back."

"That was six years ago, Father," Tiff said as he walked up and took the paw of his mate.

"He's lost, boys. He just needs some help to find his way home."

"We will do what we can to find him, Old Wolf," Darius said. "You promised to be here. You will honor your promise. We will be here to bring him home if he honors his."

"Don't hold it against him that it took him longer than he thought."

Tiff smiled. "Why would we do that, Father? We all have our paths home. Sometimes we don't realize it will take us longer than we expect. We will never stop looking for him."

"I wish I could say goodbye to him," Will said sadly.

Derrick's arm wrapped around the old wolf. "You will be here to say hello if he so chooses. You two love each other. Trust that love to survive this bump in the road."

"This is a hell of a bump, Pup."

"That's true. But he's a good man, and the temple dogs and our husbands will be here to explain. Don't go into this merging with regret. Be confident that you two will find your way back together. Learn the lesson that a little badger has tried to teach you for centuries."

Will felt a tug at his waist. "Yeah, Old Wolf. We ones that runs away deep down inside wants to come back. Marcus will come back. And he is gonna wait for you."

"The Sight tells you that, Oliver?" the old wolf asked as he put his paws on the arms of the wheelchair.

"No, my heart tells me that. Which one would you rather believe?"

Will picked the badger up, kissing him on the lips. "Your heart, Oliver. I will always trust your heart."

"Then gets me to my bear and cat husbands, and let's get this merging over as quick as we cans. The sooner we starts, the sooner we comes home." Will threw the badger onto his shoulders and, ducking down, he entered the main chamber of the cave.

Kris saw his husbands enter the cave and motioned to his son. Nathaniel took Martin's hand and walked toward the cave's main hall. Only Eric and Donovan entered the cave with them. They gave their hugs and kisses. The family's paws caressed each other lovingly one last time, and their mates returned the affection.

"I don't suppose there's any way you could shove your cock into me so that when I'm a rock, at least you're in me for forty years?" Will asked Kris inquisitively.

"Not without a certain black wolf never forgiving me or you for doing so," Kris said as he shook his head.

"Then shove it in him. I like to watch."

"No, Old Wolf," the Kodiak sighed. "You two hold on to me. I hold on to Nathaniel and his husbands hold on to him."

"Seems a shame no one's getting poked in the butt," Oliver said.

Nathaniel laughed. "We need to have some reason to come back, don't we?"

Oliver smiled. "Yeah, I guess we does. Dibs on the bottom bunk when we comes home." He stared at Will. "There, bastard wolf. You don't gets to say it."

Will lifted Oliver up over his shoulders and took the badger into one last hug. "Oliver, when I come back, I promise the first place my dick is going is up your butt."

Oliver smiled. "You says the sweetest things, Old Wolf. I loves you now and forever."

Will kissed the badger. "And I love you now and forever, Oliver."

Nathaniel lay on the ground and reached out for Oliver. "Little spoon?" he asked.

Oliver slipped from Will's hands into Nathaniel's. "Little spoon," Oliver said, pushing up against the short-faced bear. He felt the large arm encircle him. "When we wakes up, Bear, you gots to wait until after the old wolf has had me before you takes me. After forty years, I'se gonna be pretty tight. Don't want you tearing me up, Bear."

Nathaniel laughed. "I will be as gentle as the first day we were together."

Oliver smiled. "I'se gonna get tore up, everyone. Just so you knows."

Kris laughed as he lay down in front of the Badger. "I'm a healer, Badger. I can fix that for you." He looked back behind him. "Pup?"

Derrick slipped in front of the bear and wiggled himself back into the thick fur and belly. "Little spoon, Husband," he whispered.

Will knelt behind the Kodiak. "Big spoon, Husband. But only on the condition you reverse that position when we come home."

"Gladly, Husband," the bear replied as he felt the wolf press up against him.

"Damn," the old wolf said as he shifted position. "Almost forgot." He looked back at the polar bear and the Armbruster's wolf. "Husbands, a little help with my prosthetics, please?" The wolf stared at his metal arm and rotated it. "Well, at least now we know why Martin insisted on these older units."

The wolf rolled over on his side and looked up into the face of the white bear. "From the moment I saw you, Old Bear, I was yours. I never for a moment doubted we belong together, even if it took me forever to say it."

"And I you, Old Wolf," the bear responded as he pressed the unlocking clamp of the leg. He lifted the leg and handed it to Donovan. "Now the arm."

Will heard Oliver clear his throat. "DON'T SAY IT, OLIVER!" Will barked. "Or so help me, I will rescind my promise to fuck you."

"FORM FEET AND LEGS!" Derrick yelled out.

"FORM ARMS AND TORSO!" Kris chimed in.

"Damn it, men," Will said, the frustration clear in his voice. "Bear, can you remove the jaw for me?"

The polar bear's paw glowed bright green as he reached into the wolf's mouth and pulled the plastic jaw out. He handed the jaw back to Donovan, who took it and placed it next to the leg on the ground. Eric knelt before the old wolf.

"One last touch before I let it go," Will said, mumbling through a mouth that no longer held its shape. The prosthetic arm lifted with his other, and the wolf held the face of the polar bear. "Goodbye, Old Bear. Wait for me."

"For as long as it takes, Old Wolf," the bear replied as he reached out and uncoupled the prosthetic arm. "AND I GIVE YOU HEAD!" he yelled. He looked at the frowning face of the Iberian wolf and smiled. "We have traditions, Old Wolf. Don't deny us our memories." He gently rolled the wolf over onto where his missing limbs would have been and helped the wolf secure his arm around the Kodiak.

Will felt the polar bear kiss him goodbye on the neck. And then he felt the teeth of the wolf pressing deep into his flesh. "I am mated to you, Old Wolf," Donovan said. "And wolves mate for life. Bring your life back to me soon, and I will make sure you never doubt that."

"I will," the old wolf said in a whisper.

Donovan stepped around the Kodiak and leaned over, kissing the black wolf. "And you, Pup. Come back and you will find I have learned how to treat a submissive appropriately to his needs."

"Your training should start now, Husband," the wolf said as he lowered his neck. He sighed when he felt the jaws clamp down, pushing the teeth past his fur and deep into the skin of his neck. Pain... pleasure... love.

When the ancient wolf let go of his grip, he looked into the eyes of the badger. "We barely had time to say hello as husbands. What do I do to say goodbye, my love?"

"You's already said it. Gives me a kiss goodbye and I will promise to come back for a kiss hello as soon as I can."

"No broken bones upon our return?" Donovan asked with a smile.

"Maybe one or two, but nothing too serious," Oliver replied, returning the smile. He pushed up toward the wolf, and their lips met. The two kissed and sealed the pact. The wolf rose, and after a kiss goodbye to the Kodiak bear that set their promise to meet again, he stepped back from the six.

The polar bear had been moving around the group, saying his goodbyes to husbands and sons. He stopped last of all next to the Kodiak. "Father, you gave me life twice. Once when I was born into this world, and once when I was lost trying to find my way back. I love you beyond words, but now I have to find a way to say goodbye and wish you safe journeys back to us one day."

"The only honor greater than being your father is to be your husband, Son," the brown bear said. "Give me a kiss goodbye and know your husband will return to be by your side."

The two leaned into their kiss over the top of Derrick's head. The black wolf lifted his eyes and watched the father and son kissing as husbands. He realized for the first time in his life their relationship didn't confuse him. It was as right as any he had ever seen in his hundreds of years of living. He smiled to himself, realizing that time was his greatest teacher of what was worth holding on to. The teachings of his childhood as a human slipped away as he embraced the truths of being in love with Changelings.

When the polar bear stood up and stepped back, the Kodiak closed his eyes, and the green glow spread across his body. Nathaniel followed. The glow spread out and onto the others, casting all in a warm glow. When the light enveloped all six, the Changeling bears opened their eyes and stared at each other. Kris's paw reached out over the top of Derrick's head toward Nathaniel. The short-faced bear reached over the badger and clasped his father's hand. "Now and forever, Dad." He said.

"Now and forever, Son," the Kodiak responded. "Stay close beside me in the dark time. I will guide you, and you will guide your husbands."

The paws that were once two melded into one as the fur of all the beasts elongated and spiraled around their bodies. Will's fur was a bright, glowing red, Derrick's blue, Martin's yellow, and Oliver's white. Donovan and Eric watched as the transformation progressed as it had for billions of years, and they smiled. Holding onto each other, they watched until the beasts were no more. All that lay before them were two crystalline rocks with a bridge of stone between them.

"Forty years, huh?" Donovan sighed.

"We took forty-two," his polar bear mate replied.

"That's quite the wait."

"Yep."

"I guess we could ask the temple dogs to stay for a while until they get back."

"I'm sure their temple will take some time to build. They need someplace to stay until then."

"Probably won't take forty years."

"No, probably won't," came the polar bear's disappointed response.

"I'm glad you're here with me, Old Bear."

"And I'm glad I'm here with you, Wolf."

The wolf looked up into the eyes of the bear. "Be my mate?"

"Was there ever a doubt?" the bear said, grabbing the wolf and kissing him.

Outside the cave, the family watched the glow spill out from inside. Like the union inside, the light fluoresced with all the colors of the beasts within. But soon enough, the green glow took over as the two Changelings brought their husbands into their new world.

Jean Pierre rose. "And so it begins again, family. We wait. We wait as we will always wait for our family to come home. Come, let us leave the Old Bear and his mate to their vigil. Soon enough, we will return."

Katashi moved toward the mouth of the cave. "We will remain for a time, Gray One."

Noboru nodded. "These transitions are difficult, and we would not have our brothers suffer from so distant a location."

Jean Pierre smiled. "You are noble and wise. We will return soon to aid you in your chosen calling."

A low laugh moved through the humans. "Really?" Kristopher said as he wrapped his arm around his bear brother. "You can't just say you're going to make sure they get shagged regularly, because that's what you do?"

"Not with humans around," Zhuang said with a grin. "We want it to sound more... more... virtuous."

Kristopher laughed again. "It is virtuous, Zhuang. For thousands of years, you kept the peace where we failed, and you have done so while banging your brains out. One day, we should be so lucky."

The temple dog bowed. "Perhaps one day."

"Until that day," Alejandro said, "I have children who need to be in bed soon, so if we can get a ride from one of our pilots, we would appreciate it."

"Come with us, families of man," Tiff said as he waved toward the Red Wolf. "We will escort you home."

Jean Pierre watched as the crowd of humans moved toward the airships. Lothair came up beside him. "You know one day it will be Jason and you beside me inside that rock, don't you?"

"I expect as much."

"We will, of course, need to exchange massive amounts of DNA to safeguard the merging."

"Of course."

Jason looked at the two. "You're still doing it, you know."

Jean Pierre smiled. "I know, my love. Old habits are hard to break." He took the hand of the little fox. "Beasts of Montana. Do we have anything pressing on the docket for the next few days?"

Damien looked at his calendar. "Not that I can see," he replied.

"The ranch will be fine," Chet added. "There are hands in place to take care of the herds and crops."

"Good then," Jean Pierre said. "We will stay here for a few days with the temple dogs to help Eric and Donovan settle in."

Chet laughed. "I'm sure Father would appreciate that."

"I would think so," Jean Pierre said authoritatively. He watched as the Red Wolf and Gray Wolf rose into the sky and disappeared. He turned and grinned at the gathering beasts. "Besides, I have a craving to shag me some polar bear butt." The alpha shook the hand of the little fox playfully, turned, and walked into the cave with his husbands in hand. With their smiles widening, the pack followed.

Chapter 25

Greg sighed as the older man pointed to the steel girders jutting from the ground. He tapped the ComLink on his chest to help in translating, and the old man did the same. "I assure you, Mr. Beauchat, the school will look exactly like the pictures you all approved. The steel structure you see us building is to make sure the school is earthquake-proof. Terra has a way of stretching now and then in this area, and that can make a mess of things. We're preparing for those contingencies."

"But it looks like you're building some damn skyscraper."

"It's only four stories tall, but I know how imposing that can look out here surrounded by fields. You have to trust us that this is a necessary step. It won't always look this way. We're trying to get past this part as quickly as we are able. Concrete foam doesn't set any faster than it sets. If we try to push the curing process, it won't provide the protection the school needs. The base isolation techniques we're using are pretty sophisticated. We need to put them in place very carefully. You want this school to be as safe for your visitors as the school for the town children, don't you?"

The old man stared at the beams. "I suppose," he mumbled. "How much longer?"

Éric approached the two, smiling. "Eber, leave the nice man alone and let him do his work."

The old man pointed to the steel structure. "His work is an eyesore, Éric. How long do we have to look at such hideous pieces of metal?"

Éric tapped his ComLink. "Visual," he said. He stood beside the old man. "What is this?" He said pointing to the image that appeared in front of them.

"A mess of paint splattered all over a sheet," the old man grumbled.

"Now watch," Éric said. "No tricks here, Eber. You can tell that's a younger me," he said. A man with paintbrushes and buckets moved about at increased speed, placing layer upon layer of paint over the mess. The artist was using the mess as a guide to something far different from what appeared to be only blobs of color on an enormous canvas. Slowly, an image appeared of the town with its quaint buildings and people shopping from the vegetable carts.

Eber recognized the mural that everyone saw in the main lobby of the train station. "I see your point," Eber said. "The men cannot make a beautiful building until they put a foundation in place. What I see now I will no longer see by the time they finish."

"Exactly."

"Still looks like Hell."

"Doesn't it though? I sometimes wonder how Greg creates what he does. But you saw the drawings and the models. It will be beautiful; like an old villa amongst the trees. People who visit will never know that it hasn't been a part of this town for centuries."

Eber looked at the wolf he couldn't see and stared into the wolf's chest where he thought the eyes of a man would be. "I am sorry for my impatience."

Greg smiled. "It's okay, Mr. Beauchat. I'm an impatient man, too. The sooner I finish my work here, the sooner I get to return home to my family. I assure you, the steel monstrosity you hate will no longer be visible by the end of this week; Sunday at the latest."

"Very well. I will hold you to that promise. If it is gone by Monday, I will make you and your husband a dinner that you won't soon forget."

Greg put out his paw and shook Eber's hand. "Then I have all the more reason to make sure we finish on schedule."

The old man turned and began his walk back toward the town. Éric put out his paws and Greg entered the hug. He sighed as he pushed his muzzle up against Éric's chest. "Why did you have to be a bear, Éric? Do you have any idea how distracting you are?"

"My family voted on what they wanted me to be. Getting them to see me was much easier when they knew what I was going to become."

Greg pushed back and nodded. "And you became something adorable. I'm sorry to complain when everything about you is totally what my husband and I enjoy."

Éric smiled widely. "Then finish hiding those steel girders by Monday, and I will have you and your husband over for snacks. You'll be my snack, and I'll be yours."

Greg grinned back at the brown bear. "You have a deal. Mike will be thrilled to hear it. It's not easy having a long-distance relationship with him. Visiting on the weekends isn't cutting it for either of us."

"Couldn't you have let a local contractor build this?"

"Not really. Like your town, there are parts of this building that humankind has yet to figure out. We'll introduce a couple of them when this building goes public. It's where the cutting edge will be in about three years, so Bear Paws is going to let it go mainstream a bit early."

"But not all of what is happening is for human view?"

"Your townspeople and the media are going to see a facade of wood and stucco going up over the metal shell. A few of the materials we're using aren't what they appear to be. The perks of being a beast, I guess. You get all the protection we can give you and your future students."

"I heard about the electrical system from Mike."

"Well, the unveiling of metal-free flex-wiring was years ago. There will be people who have never heard of it. Even so, it's standard now in any large-scale building needing an earthquake-resistant structure."

Éric reached out and gave the wolf a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Greg. Thank you all."

"We're family, Éric. This is what we do."

The two sat for a time, watching the workers as they moved stabilizers into place. A cloud of dust caught their eye as a paneled van made its way up the dirt road. It pulled to a stop in front of the two beasts, and Margaux stepped out. "I have brought you all lunch," she said, throwing the back door of the van open.

Greg stared at the food inside. "You really shouldn't do this, Margaux. We love what you make, but the time involved in doing this every day has to cut into your life."

"My family is my life, Greg," the middle-aged woman replied. "Éric is my brother, and you are his. I believe that makes you at the very least a stepbrother. Besides, in France, it is rude not to accept a luncheon invitation. Come. Call your men together, and you can all tell me about how the building is progressing. It is certainly looking awful enough to have the whole town talking about it."

Greg shook his head. "Yeah, so I've heard," he said, taking the sandwich and soda.

"Croque-Monsieur," Margaux said, pointing to the hot sandwich. "It's what a grilled ham and cheese should be."

Greg took a bite and smiled. "It's delicious," he said. "Almost makes me glad to be working on the school."

"It will be fine, Greg," Margaux said with a laugh as she began to hand out lunches to the work team. "Few remember the first buildings added to our town fifty years ago. They looked much like the school. They were all metal and rollers and weird bearings on plates. I was too young to remember anything but the building of the school, but Poppa would tell us stories about the shops that were made before the school."

"Mr. Beauchat is certainly old enough to remember."

"He moved here after they built the town shops. He never saw the buildings being made. But his restaurant has two Michelin stars. Pretty good for a quiet little provincial town, wouldn't you say?"

"Your people have always amazed me, Margaux."

Margaux looked confused. Greg smiled. "Bonjour, petite fille. Je m'appelle Jean Claude Devereux."

"Wait... you were Jean Claude?"

"Our people live a very long time. We often trade names and personas so that we can work with humans over centuries. You know Luca's son who runs the Cadeau de Printemps winery now?"

"Of course."

"That's Luca."

"No," Margaux said disbelievingly. "He's so much younger than Luca."

"Have you seen Luca since Victor took over?"

"No, they say he retired to Spain. That's a fairly popular thing to do for tax reasons."

"Luca will never leave his vineyards willingly, Margaux. He loves this area, and he loves the town." The wolf took another bite of his sandwich. "We change our names. We tell you we are different people. We let you create a new image of who we are from the information we give you."

"Then you don't look like Jean Claude when you're human?"

"Probably not. I imagine you remember someone exactly the age you all expected a contractor to be. My human persona stopped aging at twenty-eight."

"No, you were much older," Margaux said as she handed a dessert to a worker. "You make a beautiful wolf, though."

Greg smiled. "I'm glad you see me, Margaux."

"But your husband; oh mon Dieu. Now he is something too hot for words."

Greg laughed, choking on his drink. "I agree, but now I have soda up my nose."

As Margaux laughed along with the wolf, Éric sat quietly and watched the interplay between his two families. He knew one day all his family would see the beasts the way his parents, Margaux, and the children did. But he was in no hurry. Time was on his side.

Chapter 26

A cold April wind blew through the skyscrapers of Toronto like winds down a gorge. Marcus watched the wind pummel the new leaves on the plaza trees. He braced himself before he exited the building and stepped out into the urban canyon. He crossed the wide expanse of the plaza. As he neared the street, he saw a homeless man with his hat out.

The homeless rate had fallen dramatically over the years. Still, there were always those living their lives independently of the world around them. The reasons for their homelessness varied as much as the individuals asking for money to tide them over. Marcus reached into his pocket for his wallet. "Hey, buddy," the balding man with wispy white hair said, "you got twenty-eight years to spare?"

Marcus's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"I said, have you got some change to spare? I could use a meal."

"It's kind of cold out here. Can I buy you a cup of coffee and that meal? There's a diner around the corner."

"Maxi's?" the old man asked.

"Yeah, do you go there?"

"Best coffee on the planet," the old man said. "Sometimes my benders go a little long. They're always kind to me there."

"Well, then what say you and I go there?"

"Don't you need to be somewhere else?" the old man asked. "Someone has been waiting for you for a very long time."

Marcus looked at the old man. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I meant I don't want you to miss a meeting or anything if you need to be somewhere else." The old man fumbled to get his backpack as he tried to stand. He fell backward and landed on his butt. "Sometimes I say things that people hear different from what I'm saying. I don't mean any harm by it."

Marcus looked at the white-haired man. "Is that the drinking or are you ignoring your meds?"

The old man laughed. "Damn, am I that bad now?" He nodded his head. "I used to take the meds, but they don't stop the voices. They just jumble them up so I can't make sense of them. After a while, I realized that was even worse."

Marcus put his gloved hand out, and the man grabbed it. With a tug, he was upright. "Do you need someone to lean on?"

"Used to have a badger for that," the man said.

"I'm sorry? Come again?"

"I usually rely on the badges for that. You know, the police. They're pretty decent around here. They realize I'm harmless, so they help me out when I get lost. It's not easy being lost. Sometimes it gets so bad, I don't think I'll ever find my way home again."

Marcus heard the words, but let them go unchallenged. Somehow, what the old man said this time made perfect sense to him. The two made their way to the diner, and Marcus pushed the door open for the old man.

As soon as the two walked in, the young lady at the counter looked up and smiled. "Hey, there Matthew. Hi Marcus. I didn't realize you two knew each other."

Marcus smiled. "Hi, Lindsay. We met today for the first time. I've invited Matthew to lunch."

The young lady reached over and grabbed the coffeepot. "Coffee Matthew? I just brewed it."

The old man nodded. "That would be great, ma'am."

"How many years have I tried to get you to call me Lindsay?" the young woman said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry, Lindsay," the old man said. "I forget so much."

Lindsay put down a cup and poured the coffee. "Don't worry, Matthew. One day you'll remember."

The young woman looked at Marcus. "You want coffee today, Marcus?"

"No thanks. Maybe a glass of milk with lunch, please."

"You've got it." She looked at the two. "I'd bring you menus, but what's the use? A hamburger with everything on it but onions for you, Matthew. And the chicken fried steak for you, Marcus. The only thing we need to figure out is fries or potato salad, Matthew?"

"Fries today would be nice," the old man said with a smile. "One day I might surprise you and order something different."

"Maybe, but not today," Lindsay said with a wave of her hand. "Today is Thursday. Hamburger for you, and chicken fried steak for Marcus. Like clockwork for the last three years." She looked at the two. "You know, that's strange. You both started coming here right around the same time. It's funny you never met before."

"He hasn't seen the light," the old man replied. "He's making the biggest mistake of his life, but it's not what he thinks it is."

Marcus turned to challenge the old man, but Lindsay spoke before he could. "You're right. He doesn't come in at night. Marcus always comes in during the day for lunch. You're sort of like two men on different shifts."

Marcus shook his head, trying to pull it back to a conversation that was increasingly deviating from what he heard. "Are we really that predictable?" Marcus asked.

"Yep. Both of you. Same meals every day when you walk in. If it's Tuesday, it's the BLT with extra lettuce for you, Matthew; and the hot turkey sandwich for you, Marcus. I can tell what day it is by what you two order."

Marcus looked down at the table. "I've become myself again. Only in a different city."

"My turn to ask, 'come again?'" Matthew said.

Marcus looked up. "Oh, I was ruminating on how life takes us down paths we don't expect to go. Paths that take us so far away from where we dreamed we would be."

"You should have gone home a long time ago," the old man said.

Marcus decided not to even ask what Matthew actually said.

"Why do you wear those gloves?" Matthew asked, pointing to the white gloves on Marcus's hands.

"I have a disease. It causes incredible pain when I touch others skin-to-skin."

"You mean if you touch me, I'm going to get sick?"

"No, it's only me. It doesn't affect anyone else."

"Wow, and I thought my voices were bad," Matthew said. "I'm sorry for you, Mister. No one deserves that life."

"Self-inflicted wounds," Marcus said as he rubbed his hands.

Matthew's eyes widened listening to the response. "We're two of a kind. Only I try to drown my voices in alcohol and you fence yourself off with a pair of gloves."

"Did I hear you correctly this time?" Marcus asked.

"You probably did," Matthew said. "I have what others call the Sight. I see things that others don't and hear voices that no one else hears. It should have been gone forever, but it came back three years ago when I moved to this town. I don't know why I haven't moved out of this hell, but something keeps me here."

Marcus looked at the old man. "The Sight. I haven't heard that spoken of in nearly thirty years."

Matthew stared into the short man's eyes. "Who are you? How do you know about the Sight?"

Marcus shook his head, trying to hold back the flood of memories. When he placed his hand back on the table, Matthew grabbed it. "Tell me what you know about the Sight," he demanded.

And then the wave of memories broke through both men as Matthew's hand touched the skin of Marcus's arm between the long sleeve shirt and the gloves. For a moment, Matthew swore he was looking at himself. Instantly, both pushed away from each other, but the images swirling in their heads lingered.

Matthew glared at Marcus. "You... you're the reason. Oliver took it away, but you're the reason it came back. August eighteenth. That's the day you arrived here, isn't it? That's the day it all came back with a vengeance. The visions, the voices... this unrelenting hell of sight and noise. Who are you? What have I ever done to you that you would hate me so?"

Marcus backed his chair away from the table. "You're Matthew Kingston. You were part of the bully brigade."

"I know who I am. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm nobody. A man fell in love with a wolf. I swear I never meant to hurt anyone."

"You're Marcus," the old man said, realizing who was across the table from him. "Why did you lie? Why did you let him believe you were coming back? He waited, Marcus. He waited for so many years." Matthew's eyes grew dark with anger. "And now he can't... he can't... You son of a bitch. He waited right up until the end. He was so sure you were going to come back. But you lied."

Marcus grabbed Matthew's arm with his gloved hand. "What happened to William? What end?"

Matthew pushed the hand away. "You have no right to ask. You lost your right to care about that family twenty-eight years ago when you walked off the highland and never looked back."

"I never meant to. I always thought I would return, but life was so much different from what I thought it would be."

"Life is never what we think it will be," the old man said as he stood up. He looked over at the counter. "Hey, Lindsay. I've got to run," he yelled. "Can you make my order to-go?"

"Sure, Matthew. Give me a second. Gus was just plating it."

"Thanks," the old man said. He turned to Marcus. "Three years, you son of a bitch. Three years with this hell inside my head. And for what? So I could tell you what a total fuck-up you are? You didn't figure that out years ago?"

"Yes," Marcus confessed. "Yes, I've figured that out. Please, I didn't realize this would happen to you."

"But you realized you were going to break the old wolf's heart. Oliver warned you. You understood that, and you still went right ahead and did it. He gave you everything, and you yanked it all out from under him. What kind of monster are you?"

Marcus began shaking. "The worst kind. The kind that can't die."

Matthew glared at Marcus. "Oh, you can die. You've already done that. Only your body hasn't caught up with your soul. It's probably not news to you, but I was a rotten kid. And then, I spent one summer with that family and they changed my life. It was actually a pretty good run until three years ago. How could you turn your back on them?"

Marcus couldn't find words to respond to the question he had asked himself so many times before. Matthew slammed his fist onto the table. "Do you have any idea how many nights in my life I cried because I wanted to be their son so badly? You were the lucky one. You were born gay. I'm straight. I can't turn. Who I am would jeopardize their entire civilization. I know what happens to straight men who turn. I know all about the Children of the Night. But you... they gave you the gift I always dreamed of and you've wasted it. You threw it all away. You're nothing but a human. And not even a decent one at that. At least I tried to make up for the damage I did. You, you're a disaster speeding along at full speed, mowing down the lives of people like me who you don't even know."

Matthew walked up to the counter and took the cardboard lunch box from Lindsay. "Thanks, Lindsay," he said. As he walked by Marcus, he said, "I'm taking this. I might as well make you pay for something in my life. You've fucked it up bad enough to owe me a whole lot more." He pushed past Marcus, through the door, and headed out into the cold.

Lindsay came over to the table with the chicken fried steak. She looked at Marcus. "Is there something wrong, Marcus?" she asked.

"Yes, there's something terribly, terribly wrong," Marcus replied. "And I've got to try and do something about it." He put a wad of money on the table. "Keep the change. I'm sorry for everything."

Lindsay put her hand on Marcus's shoulder. "I don't know what happened between you two, but you're both good men. Find a way to fix this, Marcus. That man has been hurting for so many years."

Marcus stepped toward the door and looked back at the young lady as he pushed the door open. "I know. We both have. I have to catch up to him."

Marcus found Matthew in an alleyway inside an abandoned building's doorway. He had wrapped himself in a blanket and was eating his hamburger. He looked up when he saw Marcus entering the alley. "Get the hell away from me, Marcus," he lashed out.

"Not before we talk," Marcus said. "You're right about everything."

"Well, that's a comfort," Matthew said sarcastically as he reached over and grabbed a paper-bagged bottle and took a drink from it. "I'm so thrilled to find out my Sight is totally functional and not just screaming voices in my head."

"Matthew, I'm sorry. I tried to live a decent life. All my adult life I've worked with orphaned children trying to find them homes."

Matthew looked up as he shoved fries into his mouth. "Well, at least you're not a total asshole. Thanks for telling me. I can inform the screaming voices when we chat next."

"One thing I've learned to recognize is an orphan. There's a look about them. You have that look."

Matthew ate some more fries. "Good eye, Marcus. Everyone in my life is dead. My wife, my daughter, my daughter's husband, and three grandkids; all of them are dead. The whole family was out shopping. They came home for Christmas. A drunk driver, Marcus. There still out there, you know. Even after all that Max and his crew did to save the world; we still kill each other. I suppose I should be grateful that it wasn't malicious, but you know, I'm not. Still, I see some irony in it all. I thought it was the accident that brought back the Sight. It drives you mad, you know. So, I drank to help silence the noise and stop the visions. I got pretty good at stopping the visions, but the voices... they never stop, Marcus. So I'm left here alone. A drunk made from another drunk... sitting here eating food from a guy I hate. I don't drive, though. I'm at least going to drink myself to death without taking anyone else with me."

"I don't want you to die, Matthew."

The old man laughed, and he took another swig from the bottle. "Oliver asked me to turn. He was so insistent that I be there when he came home. I walked away from that goodbye, thinking I would make him proud. But as you said, life didn't turn out the way I planned. Losing my family, losing my mind, losing everything. It takes its toll, Marcus. There's a point where a man can't rebound."

"Let me take you home," Marcus begged.

"This is my home," Matthew said, waving around himself.

"No, this isn't your home. Life robbed you of one home. I robbed you of your ability to build a new one. Let me take you to the one that has always been there."

The old man looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Partridge Island."

"They're gone, Marcus. Nathaniel, Oliver, Martin, they're all gone. Everyone I loved on that island is now a rock inside a cave in British Columbia. Every dream I have ever had. Everything is gone."

"Not everything," Marcus said. "Not everyone."

Matthew shook his head. "It's too late for me, Marcus. And too late for you. I doubt they'll welcome you on the island. I doubt you'll be welcome anywhere there are werebeasts, for that matter. You lied to the best-known family in the Were Nation, and you snubbed a wolf loved by everyone. You're lucky they don't kill because if they did, you wouldn't step foot on that island in one piece."

"I don't care about the fallout for me. Please, Matthew, let me take you home. Let me help you find your family. They can help quiet the voices in your head. If it's my fault the Sight returned, there is no way I can ever make amends for that. But there is a family that loves you, and I can get you back to them."

"It's a long drive, and I throw up a lot in cars when I drink."

"Then don't drink."

"It's even worse, then."

Marcus shook his head disbelievingly. "Okay, Matthew. We find another way, but in the end, please don't say no." Marcus thought for a moment. "I have an idea where we don't need to drive you far. I only need to get you to the airport."

"What are we going to do there?"

"I'll call Montana and ask for the twins to come and pick you up."

"They'll be pissed," the old man said.

"Not at you," Marcus countered.

"Are you coming?"

"If they'll let me, yes," Marcus replied. "I want to make sure you're well taken care of."

"Would it hurt your feelings if I say I hope they kick your ass?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then I hope they do," the old man said. He paused. "Fuck this gene-splicing nonsense," he said, shaking his head. "I hope they take you back, Marcus. No one deserves to suffer in this world because of something I wish on them. You've suffered enough by your own hand."

"Self-inflicted wounds," Marcus said.

"They always cut the deepest," the white-haired man agreed. "Go... make your call; for all the good it will do us."

Marcus stepped back and tapped his ComLink. "William Gentry, code 744685 dash 323, priority 1. Hey, hey, do the Macarena," he sang off key.

Matthew looked up. "Well, at least the Old Wolf made you look like an ass in front of someone who can appreciate it."

A single tone rang like a temple bell, followed by the voice of the young fox. "Greetings, Marcus," he said.

"H-h-hello," a confused Marcus stammered. "How did you know it was me?" Marcus asked the unfamiliar voice.

"We change all access codes weekly. They're on rotating algorithms; nothing like the one the old wolf gave you. He made me promise to leave this line open."

"I'm glad you did."

"It would have been much easier if you had kept your promise, Marcus," the fox said dispassionately.

"I am truly sorry..." Marcus tried to pull a name from memory based on the stories he heard. "Is this Jason?"

"Yep. And now for the validation codes that you and the old wolf agreed upon."

Marcus groaned. "Is this absolutely necessary, Jason? You know who I am."

"Video on," Jason said. "Most of these validation codes require some kind of video response, so you better turn yours on, Marcus."

"We were playing, Jason. We were being silly."

"Let me make one thing very clear, Marcus. When Will was on the highland, he made nearly everyone in the Were Nation promise to treat you kindly if you ever returned. To a man, they all swore they would do so. But the old wolf looked at the little fox and thought to himself, 'he's always so kind, he's always so loving. Surely, I don't need to ask him to treat Marcus kindly.' So, he never asked, and I never promised."

Marcus's head bowed. "I understand. If I was in your shoes, I would try to make my life as difficult as possible."

"No, I would never do that, Marcus. That would violate the trust the old wolf has put in me to treat all callers civilly. I have never violated the trust of the old wolf. It would be nice if all those he loved were as true to the trust he gave them."

The red fox watched as Marcus's video came online. "I am only going to ask you to repeat your agreed-upon validation codes to the letter. I believe you have a photographic memory, so let's put it to good use."

Matthew laughed in the background. "Now this guy I like."

"Oh," Jason said when he heard the voice. "Even better. There's an audience. Any chance I can get you to move to a bar or a busy street, Marcus?"

"No," Marcus said flatly. "Can we get this over with?"

"Certainly," Jason said. "First question. Will's family is out on an exploratory mission to Alpha Centauri in the Jupiter 2 when suddenly a meteor storm comes hurtling toward them. What is the proper response?"

Marcus sighed. He pulled his coat up onto his head and flailed his arms about. "Warning, Warning," He yelled. "Danger, Derrick Robnton, Danger!"

"Okay, that seems in order," the fox said with a snicker.

Matthew started laughing out loud. "Yeah, I really like this guy."

"Next question," the fox said unsympathetically. "What's your favorite kind of pie?"

"Really, Jason?" Marcus asked.

"You made the questions and their method of confirmation."

Marcus leaned over and, for a chubby man, did what most would consider impossible. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the ground. With a kick, he was balancing on them as his legs waved wildly in the air, trying to maintain balance. When he had settled, he carefully lifted his left hand into the air. Balancing on only one hand, he answered, "3.14159265358979323". Marcus's handstand faltered a bit, and he worked to regain control by bouncing up and down on the hand until he found his balance once more. "8462643383279502884197169... William's favorite number... 39937510582097494... Please, Jason..."

"Just nine more, Marcus. Hang in there."

"459230781." Marcus rolled back onto his feet and dusted his hands.

"Not bad," Jason said. "Per your agreement, your favorite pie is pi carried to the sixty-ninth digit. And why is that?"

"Because everyone's pie hole is happier when it's sixty-nining," Marcus said. He turned and watched Matthew's enthusiastic laugh.

Jason looked at the paper before him. "There are a lot of questions here, Marcus. We could be here quite a while. But I'm feeling generous today. You can continue to answer the agreed-upon questions or just two from me of my choosing. You're choice."

Marcus's eyes narrowed. "Am I going to hate your questions?"

"Oh, hell, yes," the fox replied.

"How many more questions are on the paper?"

"Thirteen, and the answer to one of them involves mooning a nun if I'm not mistaken."

Marcus huffed angrily. "Your questions, Jason."

"Why and When?"

"Why what?"

"You're a smart man, Marcus. I need an answer."

"I screwed up, Jason. I fucked up my life and I hurt the man I loved. The why of it isn't really important, is it? Not compared to the outcome. There is no answer to why that will ever justify what I've done."

"Okay, I'm good with that answer. Next answer, please."

"I don't understand what you mean by 'When?'."

"Sure you do, Marcus. You've always known the answer."

"Four years."

"Sorry, Marcus. That's the wrong answer. It's been twenty-eight years," Jason said, nonplussed. "But that's not the question I'm asking you. You're aware of that."

Marcus put his face in his hands. "Now, Jason. I want to come home now." The pudgy man looked up at the fox with tears in his eyes. "Please, Jason, do whatever you want to make me suffer. I will take it all. But I am trying to get Matthew Kingston home. He has the Sight, and it's killing him. Come get him, and I promise I will call you every day so that you can torture me."

"You're not very good at keeping promises, Marcus," Jason said. His hands moved up, and a map appeared in front of him. "But Matthew shouldn't suffer because you're the one who called." He looked over Marcus's shoulder. "I hate to point this out, Matthew, but you look pretty wasted. Have you been drinking?"

"Yeah, Devil's Spring Vodka."

"Interesting choice," Jason said. "How's your liver?"

"I doubt it's in good shape, Jason. I've been drinking pretty heavily for three years."

Jason nodded. "Let's get you home to Partridge Island, shall we? The hospitals you remember are still there."

Matthew looked at the fox. "I'm really okay, Jason. You don't need to do this."

Jason nodded. "Of course, I don't. You didn't answer any of the validation questions. But let us bring you home anyway, okay? We've missed you, Matthew. There's a big yellow dog on Partridge Island who is waiting for you."

Matthew looked up at the video of the fox. "Li Wei?"

"Yeah, glad you remember him. He misses you, Matthew. Come home."

"I'm sick, Jason. I can't be of any help to you. Just let me live out my life here."

"Nope," Jason replied matter-of-factly. "We don't let family die of alcohol poisoning on our watch. You come home. If, after twenty years, you're not happy, you can head back to Toronto."

"I'll be dead in twenty years, Jason."

"Well, that's going to mess up everything, isn't it?" Jason said with a smile. "I guess you'll have to take up residence. There's room for one more human, I'm sure."

Matthew shook his head in disbelief. "Why are you doing this, Jason? Why do you even care?"

"Because Oliver cared, and that means we all care," the fox answered. "Matthew, there are things you don't know, and you need to be home and sober to learn them. I'm teasing you a bit because I love you and I don't want this to be difficult, but please come home. That's where you need to be."

Matthew shook his head again. "I can't believe I'm going to say yes."

"Can you bring that prodigal son of ours home with you?"

"Marcus?"

"Yeah, him," the fox said with a smile.

"I really hate him, you know."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that would be the case. So, what should we do with him? Stomp him into the ground or forgive him and help him find his way back."

"You're asking me?"

"Sure, you're pretty heavily vested in this."

"Kick his..." the old man paused. His head bowed. "Let him come home, Jason. How could I not want him to find his way back when that's all I dreamed of for three years?"

"Then that's what we'll do." Jason's hands flashed over the map, shifting lines and grids. "Okay, Marcus, we need to get you two to the airport."

"Sure, I'll get us a cab."

"That won't be necessary. You're about forty-five minutes away from the airport. No heading back to your apartment. Don't pack, don't change your mind, simply walk out of that alley. There's a limo waiting for you on the corner."

The two humans looked down the alley and watched as a black limo pulled up. A tall wolf rose out of the driver's side. "Come on, men. Don't keep the Red Wolf waiting," he said. He shook and became a shorter human. The two watched as the driver slipped into a pair of coveralls and pulled up the zipper. He stared at the two with their glazed looks. "What? You're both grown boys. You know what a werewolf looks like, and I'm sure you didn't see anything while I got dressed here. So, let's shake a leg, shall we?"

Marcus reached down and helped Matthew up. "Thank you, Jason," he said gratefully to the video. "I own you one."

"No, you owe the old wolf one," Jason corrected. "But until he's home, you can pay me back by treating his family better than you've treated him."

"I will, Jason," Marcus said, carefully avoiding the use of the word promise.

The ride to the airport was a wild one. As the limousine weaved in and out of traffic, Matthew started to wretch. "Whoa there, Cowboy," the driver said. "I don't want to have to clean this rig. You're not even paying me." He slowed down and pulled over. He looked back at the pale-faced human. "Sorry, Matthew. I didn't realize how bad off you were." The driver extended his hand with a small vial. "Drink this. It will help for about an hour."

Matthew stared at the blue liquid, and realizing nothing could make him feel worse, he drank it. Almost immediately, his nausea calmed. He looked at the empty vial. "What's in this stuff?"

"It's our answer to airsickness bags. Fix the problem instead of dealing with the results." The driver stuck his hand back toward the rear seat.

Matthew handed the empty vial back to the driver. "Thanks. That's about the smartest idea I've ever heard of."

"We're always about trying to keep disasters from happening, Matthew. You learned that as a kid."

Matthew looked down at his shaking hands. "I know. Somewhere along the line, I forgot."

The limo pulled up to the drop-off area of the airport. "Here you go, gentlemen," the driver said. "Toronto Pearson International Airport. You head in. To your right, you'll see a little check-in counter for Northern Bear Airways. They'll take care of you."

Inside the airport, Marcus and Matthew made their way to the counter of Northern Bear Airways. A young man looked up from behind the counter. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said.

"The limo driver told us to come here."

"Well, let's see if there is any standby available." The ticket agent pretended to work on the semitransparent screen in front of him. "Looks like we have an immediate opening for two." He looked at the two in front of him and smiled. "It's good to see you, Matthew."

Matthew looked at the man. "I'm sorry. I don't remember you."

"No, you and I tend to meet when you're not at your best."

"I'm sorry then that you meet me so frequently."

The ticket agent smiled. "It's okay, Matthew. Things work out in time. I'm sorry that it has taken so long for us to bring you home. I'm aware that certain things had to be in place, but to be honest, I don't know all the details. Marcus appears to have pushed the timeline forward."

"He's not been the happiest meeting for me."

The uniformed man on the other side of the counter nodded in agreement. "Don't be too hard on him, Matthew. You're both struggling here. And in his defense, he risked everything to make sure you found your way here. He is none too happy with us finding him because of that. I suspect he's part badger the way he dug himself a hole to hide in." Marcus remained mute. The agent handed the two boarding passes. "We need to make this all look official for the tracking cams." The agent pointed toward a concourse. "You're going to take the first right turn and go to gate C-12. Tiff and Tuff are waiting for you both. Have a pleasant flight, gentlemen. Safe travels."

The two walked down the corridor, silently trying to bridge the awkwardness. When they saw Tuff standing by the gate, they both breathed a sigh of relief, happy that there was someone else to talk to. But the flight to the island, even though only forty-five minutes long, seemed like an eternity of unspoken longing and grief. Tiff and Tuff both remained mute except to announce take-off and landing. They left the two in silence, leaving the humans with nothing to do but ponder how they found themselves in this situation.

As the boarding ramp rolled out into place, the two humans looked out over the island. For the white-haired old man, it was a familiar landscape. It seemed somehow untouched by time, except for the addition of new buildings that dotted the island. His memories flowed back to his childhood when he looked out and saw the temple dog standing below. The dog's arms extended and Matthew ran to him.

For the other human watching the reunion, it was his first visit to a place he knew by heart. Every adventure, every love of the old wolf poured out in a story that Marcus could recite word for word. Marcus felt the paw of a red wolf push on his shoulder. "Come on, Marcus. It's time for us to leave," Tiff said quietly. "This is Matthew's homecoming, not yours."

Marcus looked back at the wolf. "Couldn't I stay for a moment to make sure he'll be okay?"

"Look at him Marcus," Tiff said, pointing to the man hugging the temple dog. "You know he will be fine. For now, our family has to make sure you keep your word. What you do from there will be up to you. But you're going home. The old wolf is waiting for you."

"I don't think I can do this, Tiff," Marcus said.

"You should have stayed, Marcus," the red wolf said as he led the human to his seat. "Oliver would have told you the futility of running from your fears. If not today, one day you will have to face the choices you made. I suggest you choose wisely while your family extends our hands to help you."

"You're still willing to help?"

"First rule of being a part of the old wolf's family, Marcus: We never stop loving. We never stop trying. When we stop trying, we stop being family."

"I guess that's why I wondered," Marcus said. "Somewhere along the line, I stopped trying. I stopped being family to you all."

"We don't give up, Marcus. If you forgot that lesson, best learn it again." Tiff said. "Shuck the clothes, Human. Your family expects to see a wolf."

"I can't stay human?"

"I think that was where you made your first mistake, Marcus. Are you sure you want to repeat it?"

Marcus began unbuttoning his shirt. "No, I want to come home." He pulled off his shirt and yanked at his belt buckle.

Tiff reached out his paws. "Let me help you with the pants."

"I can do it myself, Tiff," Marcus said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I get that. But I love helping men out of their pants."

Marcus sighed and let the werewolf pull off his pants. "I never realized how much I've missed this."

"We missed you, too, Marcus," Tuff said from the cockpit. His paws moved over the console, and there was a slight sense of motion as the boarding ramp pulled up and locked into place.

"William, I heard he's..."

Tiff stood up with the pants and put his finger to his lips. "All in good time, Marcus. You've been away for twenty-eight years. You can wait a bit longer to get answers. We're your transportation. The answers you're looking for are back on the highland. Wait until you're home before asking those questions."

Marcus nodded his understanding. "But I will get answers?" he asked.

"There are always answers to be had, Marcus," Tuff said, looking back. "But understand that after twenty-eight years, they may not be the ones you hoped for."

"I realize that," Marcus said as he pulled off the last sock and stood naked before the red wolves.

Tiff smiled. "Still an adorable human. Go on, Marcus, shift."

"I'm out of practice."

"Well, if you're at all skittish, you'll only have to deal with the two of us, and we've seen a lot of humans shift to wolves in our day."

Marcus leaned against his chair, trying to gather his memory of shifting back. The corpulent man closed his eyes in concentration and shook. His bones didn't yield easily, but they responded as they once did. The new wolf stood in front of Tiff. Tiff smiled and shook his head in disbelief. "Well, I have to give you credit, Marcus," the red wolf said as he took his seat in the copilot's chair. "You know how to make an entrance. Buckle up. We're headed to the highland in T-Minus ten seconds... nine... eight... seven... six..."

Outside the temple dog watched the Red Wolf tilt upright and launch into the sky. He continued to hug the human, who was crying into his fur. "I've missed you, Matthew," he said, rubbing the top of the human's head.

Matthew looked up. "I've missed you, too, Li Wei." He shook his head. "So many wrong turns. So many dead ends. I'm so lost."

"And that is why you needed to meet Marcus today," Li Wei said.

"Him? That bastard gave me the Sight back," Matthew said, wiping his running nose with his sleeve.

"That's not quite right, Matthew," Li Wei corrected. "You gave yourself the Sight. Marcus was only the means by which the Sight brought you home. You should not be so hard on him. Without his knowing, he was your protector, the one the Sight guided you to."

Matthew looked up at the twelve-foot dog. "Are you saying he wasn't responsible for the Sight returning? He moved into town the same day it returned. All my drinking, all the voices, all that started when he moved to Toronto."

Li Wei shook his head. "Not the drinking, Matthew. That started the day your family died. If we are going to understand the nature of what is happening, you need to be truthful with yourself and with me."

Matthew let his hug go and turned away from the temple dog. "I might have a slightly skewed idea of when things started. All I remember is that a few months after my family died, I moved to Toronto, and the voices and the visions started."

"Do you understand the nature of the Sight, Matthew?"

"Not really. Oliver explained it a bit, but he told me he could make it go dormant if I didn't want it. So, I turned it down."

"It is a power flowing from the deceased Changelings out into the world. It finds those whose lives need to see more than others. But it has always had one goal, and only one goal, no matter how misguided the end results might be."

"To screw up our lives?"

Li Wei laughed and put his hands on the shoulders of the human. "Certainly that has been an unintended consequence. But no, the goal was to protect the ones they gave it to. Oliver quieted your visions and your voices, but he couldn't remove the Sight from you. Once given, it is always there."

"Then why did it come back? Why didn't it come back before my wife and my family died? Why didn't it warn me?"

"Because it was dormant until the one they gifted it to chose to commit suicide. When it realized the goal of your drinking, it stepped in to protect you."

"By creating a hell that I can't break free from?"

"Actually, yes."

"That is one screwed-up protector, Li Wei," the human said, turning to look at him once more.

"It kept you from drinking yourself to death, Matthew. Why do you think you have so many blackouts? Why do you think you wake up days after you've done everything you can conceive of to end your life through a bottle?"

"I don't know. I don't think about it too much. Mostly, I just start drinking again."

"And that is why the Sight returned. And why you and Marcus met on the street today. The Sight finally found a protector to bring you home. It has been looking for one for three years, knowing he was nearby, but never finding a way to bring you together because you weren't looking for him. Marcus had to find you."

"But the guy at the ticket counter said he knew me. It sounded like he got me into a shelter bed on the nights I can't remember how I got there. Why didn't he bring me back here?"

"Because it had to be your choice, Matthew. Your return had to be your decision, not us forcing it on you. Rules of engagement with the human race, I'm afraid."

"Those rules are pretty lame," Matthew said.

"I can't say I don't agree. Interventions have their place, but not so much with us. We take a very long-term view of this world. But you're home, Matthew. What do we do now?"

Matthew looked into the dog's eyes. "Help me, Li Wei. I don't know how to take the first step."

Li Wei smiled. "You already have Matthew. Come, let's get you to the hospital. I have a feeling that the next few weeks will find you needing medical care as much as the comfort of your family."

"I'm going into detox?"

"Do you have a different path you wish to choose?"

"No, no," Matthew said shaking his head. "I'm good with that path." The human paused. "You realize I won't remember a lot of this, right, Li Wei?"

"I am aware of that. There will be time to review all this again as you return to us."

The human grabbed the temple dog in a tight hug. "Please, Li Wei... please don't let me fall."

"You have already fallen, Little One," the golden dog replied. "We are here to help you pick yourself back up."

The human's face went as white as his hair. "I think I'm going to be sick," Matthew gagged. He leaned over and vomited. Li Wei held Matthew until the retching finally subsided. "Oh god," Matthew said. "I am so far gone. I might not be worth the effort, Li Wei."

Li Wei gently picked the human up from his knees. "You are not the first to suffer from delirium tremens. You will not be the last. At least on this island, seeing pink elephants won't be out of the norm."

Matthew looked up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Dog, your sense of humor leaves a lot to be desired."

"So, I have been told," Li Wei said with a smile. "Let's go get you cleaned up, shall we?" Matthew nodded in agreement, and Li Wei tapped his ComLink. "Tyler," he said. There was a pause. "Hello, Tyler. Matthew has made a request for help. I believe that frees us to do so, does it not?" He paused, listening. "Yes, a bed would be nice. And some new clothes while we clean the ones he has." He looked at the human. "You don't want one of those nasty hospital gowns that leave your butt exposed, do you?"

Matthew shook his head. "No, please, anything but that."

"No, Tyler," Li Wei responded to his ComLink. "He would like something a tad less traditional." Li Wei bowed, "Thank you, Tyler." The temple dog paused for a moment. "Oh, and could you get a janitorial crew out on the helipad lower tier?" Li Wei bowed again to the voice on the line that could not see the bow. "Thank you again, Tyler. We'll see you soon."

Matthew took a step and faltered. "I'm crashing, Li Wei. I don't think I can make it to the hospital."

"Can I carry you?" Li Wei asked.

"I'll probably puke all over you, you know."

"Well, others have told me I clean up rather nicely."

Matthew smiled. "Thank you, Li Wei. Thank you for everything."

"Let's get you to the hospital," Li Wei said, as he picked up the human and placed him over his shoulder. "Deep breaths, Matthew. Let's keep whatever is left inside you there, shall we?"

"I'll do my best, Li Wei," the human replied.

"That is all we ever ask of you, Matthew."

The temple dog began his lumbering walk to the hospital. The human closed his eyes, feeling the warm fur and the comfort of being home.

Chapter 27

The temple dogs were in the rice fields planting when Katashi's ComLink chimed. He looked at his muddy paw and thought better of tapping the device. "Audio only," he commanded. "Hello, Tiff," he said. "To what do we owe this pleasure? Eric and Donovan will not return for another week."

"We thought we'd give you a heads-up, Katashi. We're flying in. The Red Wolf has a passenger who's coming to visit."

"Family?"

"Most decidedly. But beyond that, let's let the three of you and your soon-to-be guest sort things out. If you're planting, hit the showers. We'll be there in ten minutes."

By the time the Red Wolf landed, the three temple dogs were standing at the base of the landing pad. Their golden fur fluffed, it blew in the wind like a commercial for some exotic hair shampoo. The boarding plank lowered, and an Iberian wolf stepped out into the sunshine. "Oh, my," Noboru said as he watched the wolf walk down the steps onto the glade.

"Indeed," Zhuang said, rubbing his eyes.

The wolf waved hello. "Tiff and Tuff told me I could find William Gentry here," he said.

"You can," Katashi replied. "Were it not for the fact I know where he is at this moment, I would swear he is standing before me."

"I am mistaken for him frequently," the wolf replied.

"Welcome home, Marcus," Noboru said. "We are happy to see you return, but saddened that it has come at such a time."

Marcus's face took on a look of concern. "What has happened?"

"Do you know of the merging that happens with Changelings?"

"Yes," Marcus replied. "I have been doing a great deal of study on our kind over the last two decades."

"William has merged with his husbands."

"All five?"

"No, Donovan and Eric could not do so again so soon after their own merger."

"But Kris, Derrick, and Oliver?"

"All merged; as have Oliver's husbands, Nathaniel and Martin."

"Can I see them?"

"Of course," Katashi said, pointing toward the crag in the distance. "We will take you there." The temple dog extended his hand and the Iberian wolf took it. Katashi watched as the yellow fur moved up the wolf's arm and expanded across the growing body. In moments, another temple dog stood holding his hand. "An interesting gift, Marcus," he said.

"You're not afraid?"

"Should we be?"

"I seem to disturb most."

"Then how fortunate we are not most," Katashi smiled. "Come, temple dog, let us go visit the one you love."

Inside the main hall, Marcus watched the light glowing to the beat of so many hearts. He reached out his hand, hovering over the stone. He let Katashi's hand go, and in seconds, the gray wolf stood over the stone. "I'm so sorry, William. I promised you I would come back, but I didn't know there was a time when it would be too late."

"William has told us that there is never a time when it is too late for you to return, Marcus," Noboru said. "He is there. He hears you. You will brighten his day no end."

"I didn't know he would ever merge with the Changelings. I didn't even think that was possible."

"It was a surprise to us all," Noboru affirmed. "One day, he will return. Do not concern yourself over missing his presence today. He will be back in your arms in the future."

"You seem to remember my affection for William."

"We are aware of his affection for you as well. Will told us you might return one day. The old wolf asked us to offer whatever hospitality was possible. Our homes and our affections are yours. It saddened Will that he could not say goodbye in person," Noboru said. "We tried to find you before his merging, but regrettably, we were unsuccessful."

"That was my doing," Marcus replied. "I had fallen back into old ways. I am shy by nature. As I moved out into the world, I found what you call my gift made others uncomfortable enough that I retreated back to what I knew. Books and research have become my companions instead of life."

"It can happen to us all, Marcus. Do not let your choice dispirit you any longer. You are here, as is William. This is the nature of our world. We wait for those we love to return when they leave us. But this is the family of Weres. If we are alive, we always return."

"When will he return?"

"We don't like to pressure him by trying to determine that day. He has work that needs doing. He will return as soon as he completes it. The old wolf has many outside his chrysalis that he loves. He will not stay away from them any longer than he must."

Marcus let his hand rest on the glowing stone. The temple dogs watched as the one standing before them became a shifting creature. One moment a saber-toothed cat, then a badger, and then a Kodiak bear. The shifting continued as wolves that changed colors and then into a towering short-faced bear. When they saw the bear's hand become green crystal, Zhuang leapt forward.

Marcus woke up seconds later with his large golden body pushed tightly against the cavern wall. "I am sorry for this," Zhuang said apologetically, lying on top of him. "You were turning to stone. We had to separate you from your contact with the group."

"Thank you," Marcus said. "I don't have control over what happens when I touch another." He shook his head, trying to regain composure. "Is that your hard-on pressing into me?" he asked.

"I apologize for that as well. My name is Zhuang. I am the youngest of the temple dogs, and easily excitable. This is a most pleasant position, despite the reason for us being this way."

Marcus smiled. "It is that, isn't it?"

"You will find that becoming me is not unlike becoming William in that respect."

"I was noticing my hard-on is now pressing into you," the newly formed temple dog said, grinning.

"We are well endowed. It makes our arousal quite obvious when we press ourselves so closely together."

"What do we do about this?" Marcus said, looking downward to where their two bellies met.

"We can, of course, copulate; which would be my preference. Or we can separate and hope that returning you to your werewolf body would help the two of us regain some composure."

"I doubt returning to William's body with an erection would help in any manner."

"Nor, I," Zhuang said, smiling. "But I should warn you that temple dogs often lose their normal inhibitions around other temple dogs copulating. You may find yourself participating in activities that are foreign to you."

"Are you saying..."

"That there is a high likelihood that if you do not tell us otherwise, all inside this cave currently not stone will mount you repeatedly."

"It's been a while since I have had such a pleasant offer, Zhuang."

"And you will need to return the favor," Zhuang added. "Oh, and we like to hang from things while having sex. Sometimes we swing into each other and it can get somewhat... boisterous."

Marcus wiggled his feet. "Are my toes prehensile?"

"Yes, as is your tail. You also effectively have five thumbs on your front paws that can move and rotate independently of each other. Being all thumbs is actually far more dexterous than the cliché implies."

"You said that you don't know when William will return. So, can we go at this slowly for the novice in your midst?"

"I said William's return is quite some time away. But his husbands Eric and Donovan will return sooner. Their child came to visit us and they took him back home to his family in Montana. The bear and wolf's stay will end in five days. So if we are choosing to copulate, we best start before we run out of time."

"Five days?"

"It is why we live in separate quarters during planting season. Your arrival will cause a great deal of adjustment to our routines."

Marcus became aware of the warm glow of temple dog blood flowing through his body. He shook his head happily and grabbed the dog above him into a tight hug and kissed the lips of his twin.

The other two temple dogs rocked quietly for a moment before they, too, jumped into the fray.

Chapter 28

The four temple dogs heard the low hum of the Red Wolf as it broke through the cloudy sky. "They're here," Noboru said as he lifted his head off Zhuang's spent cock and wiped his mouth with a sticky paw.

"I told you we should have hurried; we have no time at all for bathing," Zhuang said. He stared at the cock in front of him. "But maybe enough time to..." he said as his head bobbed forward onto the thick flesh.

Marcus pushed gently back. "Perhaps later, Zhuang," he suggested, trying his best to regain his own sense of identity. "It's best to have a welcoming committee at the landing site, don't you think?" He pushed himself up, kissing the temple dog. When the kiss ended, Zhuang's face showed his frustration; but he nodded in agreement.

"Come, brothers," Katashi said. "Marcus is right. Focus on the task ahead. We have our family to welcome home." The four stumbled to their feet and raced toward the landing aircraft. Before they were halfway there, three temple dogs were running alongside the Iberian wolf.

Eric and Donovan had stepped off the Red Wolf and were watching the four running toward them. "Will!" both happily yelled in unison. The Armbruster's wolf was faster jumping from the landing rock, but the polar bear outdistanced him with his massive strides. The three temple dogs pulled up short. "Oh dear," Katashi said. "Marcus, don't fight this," he yelled to the wolf. "Let your body go limp. It will do far less damage."

Marcus stopped running, and as he stood up in werewolf form, the polar bear slammed into him. His time in mid-air was actually somewhere between pleasant and confusing as the polar bear, who had once been on top of him, pivoted both bodies in flight. By the time they fell to earth, the polar bear had locked him in a passionate embrace. With a thud, the overgrown white body of the bear was below, and Marcus was on top, shifting into a bear himself.

Eric opened his eyes to see the polar bear he was kissing. Marcus rose to back away, but the bear held him. It wasn't as if the newly formed bear struggled. The gentle pull back toward the old bear was enough for Marcus to yield. Eric's head tilted a bit. "I'm really sorry about the cock up your ass," he said with a look of concern.

Marcus tried to regain his senses and realized he was sitting on top of the bear with his butt firmly planted on the bear's groin. "Actually, it's kind of pleasant. Is it always this hard?"

"I thought you were Will. It's always this hard when I touch him after an absence," the white bear answered. "But under the circumstances, I'm going to guess you are Marcus."

"I am."

The polar bear below adjusted himself slightly. His paws reached up and adjusted the body on top of him. Still, there was no effort to remove the thick cock from the bear above him. "You seem equally hard."

"I mirror the men I touch. You're hard, I'm hard."

"I'm also Eric. My wolf husband is Donovan. Will told us you might come to visit one day. Had we known you were coming, we would have brought Colton back with us. He lives with the Montana family. At any rate, Will asked us to welcome you unconditionally."

"You're doing a wonderful job of that," Marcus answered. He realized he was actually moving his body to fit the cock into places that brought him the greatest pleasure. When he felt the paw of the Armbruster's wolf on his shoulder, the change began. He shook his head. "Please, Donovan, two beasts can't touch me at the same time. It's painfully confusing."

Donovan let Marcus go and watched him return as a polar bear. "I am sorry, Marcus. I have never met another quite like you before. Will told us of your changing, but I have to admit, this is quite spectacular for a werebeast."

"I seem to have what the temple dogs call a gift, although I don't think of it as one."

Eric looked up at his doppelgänger. "And what is it to you?"

Marcus frowned. "A curse. Will brought me into a world that I couldn't believe existed and let me feel in ways I had never felt before. At first, I was eager to go out into the world and experience it all. I promised I would come back to him in four years. I was so excited by the possibilities out there. But that world turned on me so quickly."

The Changeling polar bear looked at the one still resting on his lap. "What's gone wrong? Are you saying the Were Nation hasn't welcomed you?"

"I have had little experience. But to be honest, other than your family, the temple dogs are the only other werebeasts not repulsed by me."

Donovan shook his head. "I can't believe that's the case, Marcus. You are unique, and to be honest, a bit of a shock initially, but you are far from repulsive."

Eric rubbed his paw in the center of the other polar bear's chest. "Tell us exactly what happened, Marcus."

"I will admit it only happened three times, but after that, I never tried again. I don't know how to handle rejection other than to avoid it in the first place. I have lived most of my life as a single man in an uptown Montreal apartment. After the rejections, it was easy to find a new apartment and a new job. I became fixated on the study of the Were Nation, trying to find a cure for what I had."

"You are unique in the Were Nation, Marcus," Eric said. "You won't find any texts about you."

"I know that now. That's why I was willing to return. I was hoping Will would help me, that he could change me back, that he could take away the curse." Marcus turned his face and wiped the tears from his eyes. "To let me be blind again to a world that would rather not see me."

Eric lifted onto his elbows. He motioned to the temple dogs that stood nearby, trying not to interfere. They crept up slowly and stood by the three. "Tell us, Marcus. Tell us exactly what happened."

"The story was always the same. I met a werewolf and we would talk. I'm too shy to ask another to spend time with me, so it was always the other wolf that asked me to bed. But when they reached out and touched me, I could see the shock in their eyes. I would back away and they, in turn, would say that it was okay, that we didn't have to do anything. The moment I changed, they withdrew the invitation to be with them. I ran from all of them and never looked back."

"And this happened three times?" the Armbruster's wolf asked.

"Yes, Donovan," Marcus responded.

"And after that, you never tried again?" Eric pressed.

"Three times seemed to be enough. It was an identical outcome from three very different wolves."

Eric reached up and pulled on the shoulders of the other polar bear. "Ohhhh," the other polar bear sighed. "You're still inside me. How do you do that?"

"You're kind of fun to be inside. I have never been with another polar bear."

"But we're talking about such serious..." Marcus's eyes rolled back and shut. A wave of pleasure moved through him with the first thrust of the polar bear below him. "Oh god, Eric, please don't stop."

The bear obeyed the request. As Eric's thrusting became more heated, Donovan shifted, becoming a polar bear. His paw reached out and touched Marcus. "Does this hurt?" he said, rubbing the polar bear's back.

"No," Marcus said with a sigh. "It feels good."

"And this?" the standing bear said as he pushed his paw onto Marcus's swollen cock.

Marcus took a deep breath as the pleasure of being with another beast flowed through him. "It's heaven," he moaned.

"Then this should be equally pleasant," Donovan said. He lowered his head and let the thick purple and black mottled tongue slide over the other polar bear's erection. Marcus closed his eyes, and when Eric shoved his cock deep into him, Marcus abandoned himself to the sensations.

When Eric had finished with the bear above, Donovan was there to take him again. Marcus willingly shared himself with the two, even mounting one; although he never could figure out which. When they finally slowed late in the evening, Marcus sat apart from the group, crying. "This is what I dreamed it would be like. How is it you can see me in a way that the rest of the world can't?"

Noboru came up and put his arm on the gray wolf's shoulder. He waited until the wolf became a dog and leaned in, kissing the dog's lips. "How is it you cannot see the world around you as it really is? You should not have left, Little One. You have much to learn in a world you do not understand. Your greatest mistake was in thinking you understood the Were Nation by seeing it through the eyes of your human upbringing."

"I told you, the Were Nation turned me down once they saw what I was."

"No, Marcus," Eric rebutted. "The wolves you met honored the laws of the Were Nation. The Nation forbids coercion. No one will ever force an act of love on another. To do so would make it become an act of violence, and that is against all that we are. When presented with one who has doubts about any activity, we retreat rather than risk the pain of another's regret for what they did. If someone was to back away from me, the first thing I would tell them is that they needn't feel compelled to be with me. I would give them a way out."

Marcus looked at the bear, confused. "You're saying they weren't turning away from me?"

"I am saying exactly that."

"But you never... I mean you..."

"I took you because I thought you were Will. The old wolf and I had an understanding. What I did, I promised I would do to my husband upon his return," the polar bear said. "I said I was sorry, but after that, you seemed as happy to stay as I was to have you remain. We spoke the words. You gave your acceptance. There is only gratitude that you said yes."

The newly formed temple dog turned away shyly. "I feel the same way, Eric."

"I will admit to more than gratitude," Donovan said, smiling. "Wolves love sex. Bears do too, but often they make it seem too pristine and loving. I enjoy letting the fur fly. You, Marcus, make that fur practically smoke. Today, being a bear was most enjoyable."

Marcus laughed. "I said I mirror the men I touch. You are lucky you're still walking, Donovan. Like you, I was holding back."

Donovan leered at Marcus as he shifted back to the Armbruster's wolf. "Then the next time, I will not hold back."

Marcus looked at him with an air of disbelief as he reverted into Will's wolfen twin. "There will be a next time?"

"I certainly hope so," Donovan said. Marcus smiled, and the Armbruster's wolf saw the toothy grin of his husband now encased in rock. "It's tough to see you and not see my husband. I hope you realize that to me, your changing is a gift. I loved our time together. And I loved it even more because I did not have to look into the eyes of the husband I miss so much."

Marcus thought about the words. "I guess I never thought that the way I look might hurt you two."

"It is a longing more than a pain," Donovan said. "It will pass, and one day he will be back in my arms."

"And as for you, Marcus, it is time for us to prove our words," the bear said, rising off the grass.

"Excuse me?"

"We have told you that the Were Nation would never turn from you. Now we prove that."

"How?"

The polar bear tapped his ComLink. "Tiff." There was a pause. "Hi Tiff, sorry to interrupt your dinner hour. Could I impose on you to make a pick-up?" The crowd waited as the bear listened. "You know, I'm not sure. We'll have an answer by the time you get here. See you soon, Son. Thanks. I love you."

The bear looked down at Marcus. "Okay, Marcus. Pick any city in the world you want. That way, you know that we have nothing to do with the werebeasts you might meet. If there is a werebeast in that city, we will go there to meet him."

"Partridge Island."

"Really?" the white bear asked.

"You regret giving me too much latitude?"

"No, not at all," the bear said with a grin. "I was hoping for more of a challenge. Partridge Island has so many werebeasts, it doesn't seem fair."

"And what are we doing?"

"It's what you're going to do."

"Me?"

"We're going to ask you to give the Were Nation another chance. You have new information... an alternative explanation for what happened. This time we go to Partridge Island and you point out the first werebeast you find attractive."

"I have never met a werebeast I didn't find attractive," Marcus said shyly.

"Then shall we raise the stakes a bit? We introduce you to the first werebeast we meet as soon as we step off the Red Wolf."

"And? You're certainly not going to ask me to hit on him, are you?"

"No, you are a shy one. We leave that to the one we meet."

"Okay, then what?"

"If he makes an offer, you will take his hand."

"But he will turn away when I change."

"He will be surprised. You wait until he makes the next move. You don't recoil at his initial response, no matter what it may be."

"But what if I do? I'm not sure I won't recoil if I see him react first."

"Then you make me this promise. When he defers to you, releasing you from the obligation of being with him, you tell him four words."

"What four words?" the Iberian wolf asked.

"Please, stay with me," the polar bear answered. "You level the playing field. You tell him what you want instead of assuming what he feels."

The blue lights of the Red Wolf flashed downward, catching the attention of the group. "Time to go, men," the polar bear said.

As Marcus turned to go, two sets of paws held him in place. He watched as his fur turned yellow and he grew to meet the faces of Noboru, Zhuang, and Katashi. "How is it you don't hurt?" Marcus asked. "I understand the wolf's change to bear, but you are all individuals."

"We are all the same, Marcus. When we took our vows, turning from humanity, we became the same beast. Over the years, as new initiates came to the temple, they became like us. There are only four of us now, but when one touches you, all do. There is no difference between us and, so, there is no conflict in you to change to another when more than one of us touches you."

"Other than William, being held by you three has been the single-most incredible experience of my life."

"We are honored, Marcus. As well as extremely happy you joined us," Noboru said. He leaned in and kissed the just-changed temple dog. "One day, you will find that we are all alike. Everyone in the Were Nation is your brother. We all look upon you with a love that does not turn away. Let go of your fear. Embrace who you are and let them in. The day you realize your relationship to all of us will be the day you can control what and who you are."

"I will try," Marcus said.

"Do, or do not. There is no try," Zhuang said, smiling. "Yoda knew what he was talking about."

"Who?"

"Oh bother, I really hate how old that makes me feel," Zhuang said, shaking his head. "You are special, Marcus. Let the Were Nation help you learn just how special."

"Come on, Marcus. We're four hours behind Partridge Island," Eric said, extending his hand. "Let's get there before everyone is asleep."

The three ran up the boarding ramp. The temple dogs barely had time to wave before the Red Wolf sped upward into the afternoon sky as the sun slipped behind the coast range.

Chapter 29

Anders and Lewis stood on the Partridge Island lighthouse gallery. They watched the werewolf below working on the lighthouse's outside light controls. He would shift from beast to human, choosing whatever reach or grip seemed most advantageous. "Would you like some help, Kendal?" Lewis asked with a smile.

The werewolf looked up at the two. "No, Sir," he replied. "I'm almost finished here. The relays are gummed up. It's the salt air. It's brutal on things like these. I can sense the two of you want a bit of alone time. I'll get this done, and you're on your own."

"You're welcome to join us, Kendal. We can share our alone time with you."

The werewolf grinned. "Thanks for the offer. Perhaps another night?"

"You have something special tonight, Kendal?"

"Not really. I'm going to go for a walk. Some nights, I'm in the mood to go walking." The werewolf tossed the screwdriver back into his toolbox and closed the lid of the electrical box until it clicked and he heard the mechanical voice say, "The box is secure. The lock is set."

"Let's try it, shall we?" he said, yelling up to his audience. The two stepped back, and Kendal spoke to the box. "System link 51868 Activate." There was a moment of concern between the two when the lights didn't come on. "Don't worry," the young werewolf said. "I've added something new. It's booting up." The lights suddenly turned on and the lighthouse was awash in blue light.

"Blue," Anders said happily. "I like it." The lighthouse color shifted in a smooth blend to violet. Anders looked at it. "Purple. I like it," he repeated with a laugh. There was another shift of color. "Red, I like it." Color by color, the lighthouse slowly moved through all the hues of the rainbow. With each, Ander's laughter grew louder as he said the color followed by "I like it." When the blue returned, he shook his head. "Thank god there are only six colors in that rainbow," he said, still laughing.

"I figured everyone who comes here during the day sees the murals of graffiti on the outside of the lighthouse. Every few years they change, but they're always amazing. The lighthouse is colorful during the day, but at night you can't see anything from the mainland. The paintings wash out under the white light. This..." the wolf said, pointing to the lights, "This they will see." He scratched his head. "You don't think it's too gay, do you?"

"Don't ask us," Lewis said with a laugh. "We have no clue what too gay is. We suck dick, remember?"

Kendal smiled. "And very well, as I recall."

"You're still welcome to join us, Son," Anders yelled.

"No, really... I'm good. I promise another night."

"Thank you again, Kendal. I appreciate all you do for the lighthouse," Lewis said. "One day you'll make a great keeper."

"I enjoy being your assistant. No need to rush me off the island in search of a different lighthouse."

"You're welcome here for as long as the lighthouse stands," Lewis said.

The wolf picked up his toolbox and shoved it into the locker next to the control panel. "If you miss doing the work, I could back off. There's always plenty for me to do on this island."

"And miss your company?" Lewis said, shaking his head. "I won't do that. Please understand this gallery will always have room for you, Kendal."

"I know that, Sir, and I'm grateful."

The landing lights of the helipad suddenly lit up. Looking east into the clear, dark sky, the three waited for what they knew was coming next. The Red Wolf's landing lights turned on, guiding it toward the helipad. "I guess we have company coming," Kendal said, staring at the fast-approaching airship. "Maybe my walk will be to take a look at who's arriving tonight. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Kendal," the wolf and bear said.

"Goodnight, Lewis. Goodnight Anders."

The wolf jumped over the railing of the road that passed by the lighthouse and dropped the twenty feet to the helipad. As the Red Wolf set down its landing gear, Kendal walked up to the hatch and waited for the boarding ramp to drop. He watched the bear lower his head and duck under the door and laughed. "A nine-foot-high, four-foot-wide door, and there are still some who find it easier to walk down the cargo bay ramp."

Eric looked down at the wolf. "While that is true, Kendal, it's best not to mention it to the ones who usually use the cargo bay ramp."

"I'm sorry, Eric," the werewolf replied. "It was meant as a compliment. You know I'm fond of big beasts. You all seem to carry yourselves so well..." Kendal stopped talking as the next occupant stepped from the aircraft. "Oh my god," he yelled. "Will! Welcome back! It is so good to see you. Where are your husbands?"

Donovan waited for Marcus to be halfway down the boarding ramp before he began his descent. "This is not Will," the Armbruster's wolf said. "Will is still on the highland."

Eric stepped off the boarding ramp. "Kendal, this is Marcus Sarraf, a good friend of Will's from Toronto."

Kendal smiled. "Welcome, Marcus. You will have quite the visit, I'm afraid. Will is a very popular wolf on this island. I act as an Island representative in asking you to forgive us in advance for any wolf who might tackle you in a hug."

Marcus laughed. "Perhaps I need a name tag or something. Do wolves read name tags before they tackle?"

"Probably not when it's someone who could be Will's twin."

Marcus stepped down on the helipad. "I'll try to stay alert."

"On the plus side, a wolf tackling you in a hug on this island is kind of fun," Kendal said as he put out his arms. "Do you hug?"

"Not so much."

Kendal looked surprised. "Oh, okay. Must be a Toronto thing. How about shaking hands?"

"I prefer not to."

"Fist bump?"

Marcus laughed uncomfortably. "I've not yet grown accustomed to the Were Nation's..." he paused, "friendliness."

Kendal nodded. "I understand. If there is anything we can do to help you grow accustomed, please let us know. You are a handsome wolf, and we are a very..." he paused, thinking through his options, "friendly group."

Marcus smiled. "I'm shy. I hope you don't expect significant changes anytime soon."

"Of course not. Take things at your own pace, Marcus. Being shy makes it tough for any werebeast in a nation full of outgoing beasts."

Marcus nodded his head in agreement. "I'm trying to adjust."

"I wish Derrick was here. He's the best at helping our newest and most shy."

"I had the pleasure of meeting him; or at least a passing acquaintance with him and his husbands a few years back on the highland. I went there today, hoping to visit with Will."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Marcus. He will return one day. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you."

"Thanks," Marcus said.

Kendal looked at Eric and Donovan. "Do you two have anything special planned for Marcus tonight?"

"Not us," Donovan said, shaking his head. "We're just dropping him off. We're headed back to the highland."

Kendal turned to Marcus. "I was about to go for a walk. Would you like to join me?"

"Perhaps another evening," Marcus replied.

"I promise I won't try to hug you. It would be nice to have someone to chat with while I'm walking. I can give you a tour of the island if you like. We light all the pathways. The memorials are beautiful at night. And it rains here so often that you should take advantage of a clear night like tonight."

Marcus laughed. "Am I that bad?"

"No, you're that good," Kendal answered. "Somewhere along the line, all werebeasts learn we need to be near our people. I understand your shyness. But it's not good for you to be alone. It's not good for me either, no matter how often I tell myself it's okay."

"Only a walk?"

"Not even a fist bump between us," Kendal said, crossing his paw over his chest.

Marcus smiled. "Thank you. That actually sounds pleasant. Perhaps it's time for some baby steps."

Kendal pointed toward the stairway off the helipad. "After you, Marcus. The pathway to the right will take us to some of my favorite parts of the island. Well, the lighthouse above us is the highlight for me, but that's because I love lighthouses."

Marcus looked up at the lighthouse. "I love the lights. They look colorful."

"They're not too gay?"

Marcus shook his head. "Not at all. As you might have already noticed, I can be conservative about such things. I think they're beautiful." Kendal grinned happily as the Iberian wolf walked to the stairs. Keeping a safe distance, the young wolf followed.

Kendal pointed over to the lit pathway. "That way to the bay overlook. It's quite beautiful at night."

"Lead on Macduff," Marcus said with a nod toward the path.

"Actually, it's 'lay on Macduff'... as in jump into the battle and hold no quarter," Kendal corrected. "It's Macbeth, Act Five; Scene Eight."

Marcus laughed. "I know. I don't know of many others that do."

"I love Shakespeare," Kendal replied. His hand went up, swinging a sword that wasn't there. "'Before my body, I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough!'"

Kendal put down his imaginary sword, and his eyes glowed with memory in the night. "That was my battle cry on The Day of Transformation. 'I will not yield and damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough.'" The wolf grew quiet for a moment. "I realize it's tough to take someone as wrong-headed and murderous as Macbeth and find something good about him, but at that moment, he voiced who I was.

"I was there on the field when I heard Donovan yell, 'I will stand fast, but I won't stand down.' That wolf taught me so much about what it meant to be brave, and what it meant to be heroic. If Shakespeare had been there that day, I swear he would have written a play to give those noble lines to an Armbruster's wolf rather than Macbeth."

Marcus nodded. "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

Kendal looked at the wolf that was Will's twin. "Oh, Marcus, I so regret that you do not hug." He pointed toward the pathway and their walk resumed with Kendal scrutinizing his every step.

Three hours later, the two sat laughing over shared stories while they sat on the gunnery emergency landing pad. "So, the next morning, the government tried to explain how their guns became rusted pieces of metal tied into knots," Kendal said, laughing. "With the whole of Canada's media calling it bold and visionary, those officials were climbing all over each other to take credit. It was insane. It made the news everywhere, but not a single Mainlander has ever found out who did it."

Marcus laughed so hard that he lurched forward, losing his balance on the roof. Kendal's hand reached out instinctively to steady the Iberian wolf. In an instant, he was holding onto himself. Kendal jumped back at the change.

Marcus struggled backward, pushing himself away from the look on Kendal's face. Kendal's hand reached out and grabbed the wolf as he reverted to an Iberian wolf. In moments, he was Kendal's twin again. "Please, don't go, Marcus," Kendal begged.

Marcus looked at him, confused. Kendal let the arm go and watched the wolf shift yet again. "I understand why you didn't want me to touch you now. I'm really sorry. But it doesn't make a difference. It shocked me. It's not often that I see myself without a mirror."

Marcus stood up. "I really should be going."

"Please don't let my momentary confusion upset you, Marcus. We were having such a good time." Kendal put his arms by his side. "See? They're all put away. Don't let my momentary effort to keep you from falling be the end of our evening." Marcus looked down at the werewolf looking up at him. Kendal put out his paw. "Please, stay with me," he begged.

Marcus heard the words and remembered the white bear. "I was supposed to ask you that," Marcus said.

"Excuse me?" Kendal asked.

"Oh, nothing," Marcus said, sitting back down. "I'm sorry. I'm kind of defensive about..." he waved his hand over his body, "...this."

Kendal put out his paw near Marcus's. "May I hold your paw, Marcus?"

Marcus put his hand on the concrete roof. Kendal's hand slipped over it, and Marcus felt the change move through him. "Do you know why it happens?" Kendal asked.

"No, I've tried to find some sort of answer, but nothing," Marcus answered.

"I don't think it would be so difficult if you told us beforehand."

"It's been very difficult to do that."

Kendal nodded. "I can't imagine how tough it is. But you jumped that hurdle tonight, right?"

Marcus smiled. "I suppose so."

"So, you hold hands now, it seems," Kendal said. "Do you kiss now?"

Marcus laughed. "I suppose so."

The two kissed, and when they backed away to catch their breath, Kendal laughed. "It appears we both have something else in common."

Marcus looked down at both of their swollen cocks. "I take on so much of the men I touch. Right down to the way they respond to a kiss."

Kendal sighed. "Oh, so that's more me than you?"

Marcus waved his hands. "No... no... please. I said that all wrong. I would be hard, with or without your body's encouragement. That much of my turning has been like everyone else. But I hope one day to know it's me responding to another man's touch more than what I have turned into."

"I would be happy to help with your efforts."

Marcus grinned. "That's very kind of you."

"And I can introduce you to more than a few friends and family who would help as well."

Marcus shook his head. "These are baby steps, remember?"

Kendal laughed. "I'm sorry. I forgot. Can I take you back to the hospital? Their canteen is open all night. I'll buy you a coffee."

Marcus smiled. "Thanks. But maybe we can try kissing again instead."

"Well," Kendal grinned. "That will probably keep both of us up longer than the coffee." The werewolf leaned in and kissed the lips that matched his perfectly. "I wouldn't mind if we decide to do more than a kiss," Kendal said when their lips parted.

Marcus nodded. "Let's just see how things go."

"Of course," Kendal said as he leaned in, and the third kiss of the night began.

Chapter 30

As the morning sun shone through the gunnery tunnel apartment, the Iberian wolf rolled over in the bed, smiling at the Newfoundland wolf next to him. He leaned over and kissed the wolf. The moment his lips touched the Newfoundland wolf's cheek, he stirred, and the Iberian wolf became a Newfoundland wolf as well.

Kendal rolled over. "Morning, Handsome."

Marcus laughed. "Now you're just teasing me."

"We have to, Marcus. Our lives are so different from what we grew up thinking they would be. Sometimes we just gotta sit back and laugh."

"I get what you mean. There is so much for me to learn," Marcus said as he wrapped his arms around Kendal and pulled him close. "This helps."

"Yeah, it does," Kendal agreed, pushing back gently. "Did you want to talk about last night?"

"It happened once before when I was with Eric."

"Same color?"

"No, green," Marcus said, recalling the day. "He told me not to let it worry me. He said that it happened to lots of werebeasts."

"Well, he is sort of right," Kendal said. "It happens to a lot of his family. Most of the Were Nation doesn't have the gift."

"Why does everyone call these things gifts when no one wants them?"

"We could be white elephant beasts. You know, we get gifts nobody wants, but we can't seem to get rid of," Kendal said with a snicker. "Mine came along when Max decided it was best if we had a builder on the island full-time." He waved his hand, and it glowed blue. "Blue clan members are builders. Everything the Changelings gave us... our new lives, our new powers, our new loves... they all can be a gift or a curse. It's all in how we use them."

"You sound like the temple dogs."

Kendal leaned over and kissed Marcus again. "And despite my selfish interests, they are who you should be with."

"What?"

"Please know that I hope one day to pursue where we went these last two days."

Marcus sighed. "I hear a 'but' coming here."

"Yeah," Kendal said with a nod. "But you possess powers that only a few have ever shown. Eric is a healer. He's Green clan. As far as I know, the clan powers don't mix except for those who channel all powers. Right now, JP, Max, and Donovan are the only ones out there with that power. Oliver is busy being a rock, so he's sort of out of the picture. Donovan lives on the highland waiting for his husbands to return. He can teach you about the power you seem to have. The temple dogs choose to stay by his side until the return of his mates. For thousands of years, they have helped the Were Nation be at peace with who they are. If you think about it, you know where you need to be."

"You can't be there with me?"

Kendal smiled. "Look around you. This is where I'm needed. This is where I belong."

"And I belong back on the highland?"

"Yes. With the temple dogs, with Donovan, and next to Will."

"William?"

"Yeah." Kendal pushed Marcus away, and as soon as they separated, Marcus became Will's double. "That, Marcus, is one seriously blatant way your heart is trying to tell you something you keep ignoring. No, not ignoring. You've been fighting it."

"He's married, Kendal. He's married to five other guys and they're all amazing, wonderful, and so much better than me."

"They are wonderful, but they're not better than you. The only man better than you is the one you become by following your heart."

"Again, with the temple dog philosophy," Marcus said sarcastically.

Kendal frowned. He rolled over away from Marcus and stood up off the bed. "Again, with the denial. You are your own worst enemy, Marcus. Choose what you want to be. But for now, I won't be a part of it. When you can be truthful with yourself, then we can talk. I won't be the one you use to avoid seeing what you should see." He walked over to the front door. "I have a job to do. If you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to do yours."

With a turn, Kendal was out the door. Marcus sighed. "Well, that went well, Marcus," he said to himself. "You have a knack for being even blinder with your eyes working than when they didn't."

He got up and walked to the bathroom. He looked at the gray wolf looking at him in the mirror and he shifted into his human form. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" he said, staring at the human in front of him. "Kendal is right. You love William. You always will. He might be a rock right now, but maybe you need to be next to him. You might need to be with the temple dogs even if they are too free with the truth. Platitudes or Asian pseudo-wisdom never offended you before. But perhaps the truth does upset you. You're afraid they're telling you the same truth Oliver did." Marcus laughed to himself. "You's one seriously fucked up human."

An hour later, Marcus looked up the tall flight of spiraling stairs. Anders put his hand on the werewolf's shoulders and watched him turn into a grolar bear. "That is an interesting turn," Ander's said. "I had thought only we Changelings could do that. I imagine it's quite the..."

"Please, don't say gift, Anders," the bear said, looking back at him.

"I was going to say pain in the butt, but gift might work. I guess it depends on how you deal with it. But I can tell my body when to change. It can't be easy having one that does it when you don't want it to."

"You don't know the half of it," Marcus said as he looked at the bulky bear and smiled. "Thank you for everything, Anders."

"I only told you where he is, Marcus. Lewis and I think of him as a son. Please don't make me regret telling you he's up there. He's hurting. And he's hurt so much these last few years. Don't be a part of that."

"I don't understand," Marcus said.

"Then don't judge the boy until you do," Anders said. "Promise me that."

Marcus stared into the eyes of the bear. "I promise." The bear lifted his paw, and Marcus became the wolf again. Marcus shifted to human and began climbing the stairs. At the top, he saw Kendal looking out over the bay from the gallery. Marcus put his arm around the Newfoundland wolf and became his twin. "I'm sorry, Kendal. I'm so confused by everything and everyone. My life was so much simpler when I lived alone."

Kendal looked at his twin. "Was it better?"

"No," Marcus said, shaking his head. "No, it wasn't better. For all my confusion, I feel so alive again. After so many years of feeling dead inside, it feels good." His paw reached up and rubbed Kendal's neck. "But for all the rest of this tidal wave of emotions pouring in on me, I can only see the hurt I caused by what I said to you."

Kendal remained silent. Marcus took a deep breath. "I should be thanking you for telling me the truth. Instead, I mocked you for it. Please, Kendal. Please forgive me."

Kendal looked at the Newfoundland wolf next to him and smiled. "Generally, when werebeasts forgive each other, it involves a great deal of kissing and makeup sex."

Marcus laughed. "You forgive that easily?"

"Why would I hold a grudge against someone that I care so much about?"

"That easily, Kendal?"

"That easily, Marcus." Kendal pointed out to the bay. "I remember one day Lewis and I were up here after my husband died..."

"Your husband died?" Marcus interrupted.

The Newfoundland wolf nodded. "An accident. The Lawrence Cavalier."

"The cargo ship that ran aground here? I remember all the news reports."

"That's the one. They ruled it a pilot error. Too many hours trying to do too many things," Kendal said. He shook his head as it bowed. "Steve was working down on the docks with the other longshoremen when it happened. Damn fools. They threw an anchor chain around the moorings and pulled from the other side. We're strong, but we're not that strong. Eventually, the ship shattered the moorings and dragged Steve, Kevin, Wallace, and Joe under it. It crushed them up against the docks. They saved one hundred seventy-two lives by slowing the ship enough that it only shattered the outer wall of the convention center.

"They called it a miracle. Even with the engines in full reverse, the voyage data recorder showed no explanation for a decrease in speed able to stop the ship. The ship should have taken out the entire building. Everything in the VDR said the wreck of the Lawrence Cavalier should have been the greatest disaster in St John's history. Only the Were Nation knows why it wasn't. We pulled their bodies out from under the ship before anyone realized what had happened. Everyone was thanking God for a miracle. No one but us knew who deserved the thanks."

"I'm sorry, Kendal."

Kendal looked up with tears in his eyes. "Yeah, me too."

The two were quiet; content for a time to listen to the waves below them. Marcus waited until the Newfoundland wolf spoke again. "I didn't take it well," the wolf said. "It's been what; fourteen years? I'm still not taking it well most days. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him. But there is a family out there that cares for me. Everyone on the island knows I'm not the same wolf they remember. But I remember who I once was, and I miss that wolf as much as anyone else. One day I'll find him again.

Anders and Lewis took me under their wing from the first day. They invite me over to stay with them all the time. They realize it's not good for me to be alone. I love their company and their touch. But Lewis is special. He shares a bond with the ocean in ways that few understand. I've seen some surfers like him, and of course, other free divers like me. We all seem wired with a need to return to the ocean. We all find peace in the liquid that birthed us all. Lewis doesn't dive into it, though. From up here, he watches and listens to it. And he has seen more and heard more than any of us will ever know."

Kendal sighed. "One day, Lewis and I were standing right where we are today. I was having a hard day. He was holding me, and I was crying. God, I was such a mess, Marcus. And he leaned over and kissed my snotty muzzle like it didn't even matter. And that's when he pointed out to the bay and reminded me of the lesson this ocean has been trying to teach me my entire life.

"Marcus, the ocean is never still. It moves through tides, rising and falling, just like our lives. It can be a cataclysmic storm one moment... angry... violent... destructive. And by dawn, it is calm again. But what we see on the surface is only the world acting on the ocean. It cannot help being buffeted by the wind and surging with the tides."

Kendal shook his head. "But that's not the ocean. There is so much life in the ocean because no matter what the surface might do, below is calm. Dive deep enough and you will find peace. You asked me how I can so easily forgive you for what you said. It's because Lewis reminded me of what's out there," the wolf said, pointing out toward the bay. "We need to look beyond the surface to find what is really there.

"I see your anger toward me, Marcus, and I understand that's only the surface. You're reacting to the forces of the world around you. But even amid all that turmoil, I can still see the calm below. I simply need to get out of your way long enough for the storm to pass and for the calm to return. It returned. I don't fear the storm when the storm is not there."

"But I'm not like the ocean, Kendal," Marcus protested.

"No, you choose to let the storms come. You let the bitterness and anger grow. You allow destruction to follow in your wake. That is who we are as humans. But you are more than that now, Marcus. You're a werebeast. The human is in your control. You need to learn to let the calm below guide the course of your actions. Go back to the highland. Learn from the temple dogs. Let the Changelings teach you of your new powers... whatever they may be. Let them teach you to become the wolf you were meant to be, not the one you're touching at the moment."

"I will miss you."

"And I will miss you, Marcus. But I get two days off a week. I can spend those days with you from time to time. There's nothing in the rule book that says we can't try to make a budding friendship work long distance."

"No, I suppose not. Especially with the Red Wolf making so many trips back and forth between the two coasts."

"And you will come home one day. We always come home. But remember of all the many homes you will discover in your life, one is here on Partridge Island." Kendal reached out and held the hand of the werewolf beside him. "Be happy, Marcus. Love like you have never loved before, and live so you never glance back in regret."

"I will do my best, Kendal," Marcus promised. "The twins will come for me tomorrow at ten."

Kendal looked into the eyes of the wolf and grinned. "Then I suggest you take me now, or you will always regret you wasted this day."

The werewolf leaned in and kissed the other. As their bodies rolled onto the gallery floor, one could not tell which was which.