{"sf1_id":754642,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Leader of the Pack","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":1708,"posted_at":"2014-09-09T03:17:00.000Z","tags":["Desertion","Feral","Human","Transformation","Werewolf","Wolf","Wolf pack","sadness"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/754642-the-leader-of-the-pack","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/754642","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=754642\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#24 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                Edward woke up to a tongue slathering his face with\naffection. He pushed the silly girl away. \"Stop it Maggie!\" Then he stopped. He\nwas blinking up at a blue sky. The sun was shining through the overhead canopy.\nHe sensed movement and sat up. It wasn't Maggie. And this wasn't Central Park. He\ncould smell water nearby, but that didn't help him orient to his surroundings.\n                The\nfemale licking his face was a wolf, a bone fide, as-natural-as-they-come wolf.\nAnd she wasn't alone. As they noticed him waking up, they congregated like a\nswarm of mosquitoes. Happy yapping and licking ensued until he was forced back\nto the ground.\n                The\nones that weren't swarming him were the males. They stood back at a respectful\ndistance. Sometime during the early morning hours there had been a struggle for\ndominance, and he had obviously won. The problem was, he couldn't remember it.\nHe had a hazy memory of the church, and of Fish crumbling to dust. And he\nremembered sadness. But past that, his mind was fairly blank over the past\ntwenty four hours.\n                The\nbitches in his new pack had no such lapses. Apparently they had taken an\ninstant liking to him, and he wasn't sure how he liked that in return. He\nremembered his daydream and suddenly wondered what he had done during the\nnight. \n                \"Uhhh,\nhello ladies! Nice to meet you!\" he called out cautiously.  He was flooded with attention again. It was like\ndealing with an enormous litter of puppies. He was pretty certain this wasn't\ntheir normal reaction to humans. Then again, where did they come from? He\nlooked around and counted over forty. They seemed to be two different types,\nbut he was hardly a naturalist. \n                He was\nbrought out of his ponderings by a vigorous licking in his crotch. \"Whoa now!\nNone of that!\" But at the same time, he had to wonder what, if anything, he had\ndone with them during the night. His mind was trying to reboot, but while he\ncould clearly recall everything from before this transformation, everything\nfrom the battle on was blurry.\n                He\nfought his way to a standing position only to be bore back down by the press of\nfurry bodies. He shuddered from all of the lapping at his cock. He concentrated\nand tried to will himself to be more human. He felt human, but he remembered how Verona could control her pheromones.\nMaybe he could do the same. After a few minutes the bitches settled down. However,\nhe as now left stiff as a board and wanting to satisfy the need to breed.\n                He drew\nin a deep breath and suppressed the urge. Now that he had his chance of\nscrewing a wolf, he found he didn't really want to. What he did last night was a\nwhole other thing, assuming he had done anything at all. But something told him\nthat he hadn't ranged all the way to Yellowstone. And unless he encountered a\nfence close by, he may have done something stupid.\n                He\ndecided to check around. Of course, what was he going to do if he encountered\npeople? A naked man would attract the police and unwanted attention. Of course,\nthat would be far better than being a werewolf. That would attract even more.\n                He\ndecided to try being something halfway. Maggie did it all the time. She could\nlook like a large shaggy dog/wolf. He only wished he knew how to do it. Heck,\nhe wasn't even certain how to be a full werewolf right now. Last night's\ntransformation must have been triggered by being confronted with so much\nsensory overload. He grunted in frustration and dropped back to the ground. He\nlost his concentration, allowing his scent to be released. He was flooded with\nimmediate affection. \n                \"God\ndamn it girls! What kind of party did we have last night?\" He fought his way\nupright, and in a fit of anger tried to morph into his scariest form. He felt\nhis hands tingle and change. That was good! He tried to imagine what it would\nbe like to be a wolf, and his nails thickened and narrowed. He closed his eyes\nand allowed his imagination to guide him. He became disoriented but when he\nopened his eyes again, he was standing on all fours. As far as he could tell he\nwas a wolf. \n                But if\nthat was so, why was he so much taller than the others? He was easily as high\nas he was before. He was huge! He tried to shrink his size to no avail. Worse,\nhis head was getting fuzzy. No, not like that. Yes his skull was covered in\nfur; it was his mind that was beginning to swim. He lurched forward and pushed\nthe pack aside. He needed to get away from their scent. It was almost as strong\nas Verona's!\n                He\nfound a trail and followed it for about a mile. He heard voices and radios from\nahead, and staying in the shadows, listened to what they had to say. If he\ncould have slapped himself he would have. It didn't take too long to figure out\nthat he had let loose an entire refuge worth of endangered animals. The cops\nwere being told that they could shoot the animals only as a last resort, and\nthere was much grumbling about that.\n                Great! He\nthought. I'm going to get these poor dumb beasts killed. He wandered back and\nstood among them. They looked to him like he was some sort of god. \"What the\nhell did I do last night?\" He said it out loud, and to no one in particular.\nWhat he failed to recognize was that it was no longer in a speech understood by\nhumans. But it was understood by the pack.\n                \"You do\nnot remember?\"\n                He\nwhirled on the voice. \"Who said that?\"\n                \"I, Aryan\nof the Confined.\"\n                He\nlooked down at the lovely wolf. \"Did you just speak?\"\n                She rolled\non her back and exposed her belly to him. \"Yes, but I can stop if you wish.\"\n                \"Can\nyou all speak?\"\n                To a\nhuman observer it would have sounded like nothing more than quiet yipping and\nhowling. \n                \"Yes!\"\n                Edward\nsat down. This was too much for him. He was going mad, completely insane. \"Alright,\nthen tell me this. From where did I set you free?\"\n                \"The\ncage,\" said Aryan.\n                \"A\nforest with a fence around it?\"\n                \"Yes!\"\nShe yipped.\n                \"I need\nto get you back there and pronto.\" \n                \"But we\nlike it here. We are your pack now. Lead us!\"\n                \"Yes,\nlead us!\" came the chorus.\n                \"Fine!\nThen you will follow me back to the cage. If you stay out here, some of you may\nget killed. Besides, there is food and safety in the cage.\"\n                Aryan\nwas still on her back. \"Yes, but what is safety? The pack keeps keen with\nhunting and killing. Can we not hunt the humans?\"\n                \"No! Aren't\nthe humans your friends? Don't they feed you and care for you?\"\n                \"Yes.\nBut it never feels natural. We should be free.\"\n                He\nsighed. He was arguing with wolves. It was amazing enough that they understood\nhim, even more so that he understood them. But regardless of his feelings, they\ncouldn't stay where they were.\n                \"You\nwill follow. You will not attack or show any threats towards any humans. You must\ngo back to the cage for now. I was not in my right mind last night when I\nreleased you. I know today the danger you are in.\"\n                \"If you\nlead, we will follow.\"\n                He took\na deep breath and headed into the woods. He soon had a conga line of wolves\nmarching towards where he assumed the preserve was. His nose was full of she-wolf\nscent and he was stepping faster to keep upwind. They came out on a road and\nsaw several police cars, a few jeeps from the local dog catcher, and a group of\naround twenty people. Biting the bullet, he stepped out of the woods and walked\ntowards the wildlife refuge. Jaws dropped as the animals marched their way in\nsingle file.\n                One man\nraised his gun, but another told him to stop. A tranq rifle or two made an\nappearance as the pack closed in. Edward had no idea how disproportionate he\nlooked. No one was paying a bit of attention to the other wolfs. Suddenly they\nlooked like mere mongrels.\n                He\nwalked up to the main gate. Someone got smart and opened it, and the line\nheaded in. Edward heard someone say, \"Well I'll be damned!\"\n                Enclosures\nwere opened and shut again as the wolves found their normal spots. By the time\norder was restored to the facility, every animal was back in its place. There\nwas a lot of head scratching going on. Even more enigmatic was the big black\nwolf. Try as they might, no one could find a trace of the beast. And in their\namazement, no one had thought to have a camera out. The whole incident had to\nbe taken on word alone, and after all that had happened in the city, no one\nbelieved them\n                Attention seekers they were called. \n                Edward\nknew better. But now that he had corrected his mistake, he had nowhere to be,\nand nothing to live for. Maggie was dead, and he had no desire to see Verona or\nher parents. He wanted to be alone, and so breaking into a house he stole some\nill-fitting clothing and headed down the road. He felt bad for being a thief,\nbut he was sure they would get over the loss.\n                He\nheaded out on the road, his thumb in the air, until a passing pickup truck\nstopped and offered him a lift. \"Where are you going son?\"\n                \"Doesn't\nmatter. As far as you want to take me. As far as the road will lead me.\""}