In the Shadow of Mount Marshall
#4 of Nine Stories
An ursine hybrid gets away from the laboratory that created him. In the wild, he comes to grips with his changes.
STORY FOUR
In The Shadow of Mount Marshall
October 28th, 2015
Subject Seven ran. He kept his eyes fixed on the line of trees ahead. He'd been planning his escape all morning. It looked like there was a path through the woods ahead, maybe a maintenance trail. It could lead out to the main road. It could loop around and lead him back to where he started. It could twist and turn, and then end, leaving him lost. He didn't care if he got lost, he thought. He was pretty sure he could survive out in the elements now, even out here. Autumn in the Adirondacks got cold but a little snow wouldn't hurt.
It was hard to keep running, his body was bigger and heavier than it used to be. His blood ran hot since he stopped sweating. He used to be able to run for miles. Now his knees ached. He felt dizzy and nauseated. He needed to stop soon.
The treadmill beeped, indicating the start of his cool down cycle. The belt under Seven's feet slowed. He transitioned to a walk. He looked away from the window and down at the harsh red display. One point six miles, it read.
"One point-" his voice was muffled, almost inaudible. He pulled the tight plastic mask off his muzzle and started again.
"One point six, Rich" he growled into the intercom to his right. "I'm getting worse." His nausea faded rapidly.
"You're not getting worse," crackled the speaker. "You're still expending more energy each day. You just redlined at 30 MET and kept it there for 15 minutes. That's really exciting, a 40% improvement over two months ago."
Seven was not excited by the data. It would undoubtably get recorded on some spreadsheet in his file, but it didn't change the fact that six months ago he could run five miles easily. Today? He looked back at the treadmill readout. It ticked up. Today he only ran one point seven and he was wiped.
The door opened behind him. Rich walked in to continue their conversation. It was important to him that the subjects never felt isolated. He looked up at the back of the beast pacing on the belt. Rounded ears turned outward as he started to speak.
"You've got to stop beating yourself up over these losses you think you're seeing. You're changing. It's going to take a long time before everything balances out." said the scientist.
The giant bear stopped walking and turned around. The treadmill slid him toward the center of the exercise room. Toward the human. His feet rolled off the end of the belt and hit the floor with a thud. The front of the treadmill bounced into the air and crashed to the ground.
Subject Seven was a nearly complete ursine shift. The pride of the Mount Marshall Genetic Research Institute. His mental acuity and self control tested almost perfectly. Both had been chronic problems with past subjects.
He stood seven feet tall and about 450 pounds. His body was covered in coarse, blonde fur. It grew thicker around his neck, giving the appearance of a mane.
His legs were short and stocky but allowed for a human gait. His torso and arms were long and powerful, built-up with muscle but also covered in a healthy layer of fat. He ate himself sick at every meal to keep that padding. The scientists insisted it was important. He wasn't getting as sick lately though.
His head was broad and round with a long muzzle, set atop an neck that seemed to start at his cheeks and slope down and outward. His shoulders slumped forward, leaving his hand paws to rest naturally on his belly. His brown eyes were intelligent, but sad even when he smiled.
"Come on, careful with that equipment!" shouted Rich. "We have to buy a new one for you every month as it is. And get back on there to finish your cool down."
Seven lifted up his massive claws in a defensive gesture and stepped up on to the machine. He walked backwards, facing the scientist. Rich rolled his eyes and moved to the side of the treadmill.
"Give me your hand." he said. A large paw lowered to the human's chest, moving up and down as the bear walked. Rich took it in both hands and checked its flexibility.
"Make a fist" he said. The thick paw digits curled over, long claws dug into the palm, preventing it from closing entirely.
"Now touch each finger to your thumb." the scientist instructed.
Seven tapped his pads together one at a time. The first three were easy. He had to strain to get his pinkie to touch. It did eventually.
"Good" said Rich. You're not losing any more flexibility. I need you to stretch your hands every day, make sure you don't lose that movement. Let me know if there's any change."
"Yeah, yeah" said Seven, both impatient with and comforted by the routine. "How much longer until I can run like I used to? I thought the changes were supposed to be complete after a year. It's been 14 months."
"We told you the program lasted 24 months when you signed up. You aren't behind on any schedule. And technically, the changes will continue for the rest of your life. We don't have complete control over the gene expression."
"I understand that, but those are small changes. Coat thickness, eye color. What about my endurance? When will I get it back?"
"Probably never" said the scientist, well rehearsed from having this conversation twice a week for several months. "You're not strictly human anymore. Humans are endurance specialists. Your ursine modifications were designed to deliver speed, strength, and protection from the elements."
Seven's thin black lips pulled back in resignation. He wasn't really upset. He knew all this already, but he liked to hear it from Rich every once in a while. The man continued.
"Once your internal changes catch up, and that'll start happening any day now, you should have the metabolic output to run farther. But I'm not making any promises on distance."
The treadmill slowed to a stop and clicked off. The bear stepped down, removed the heart-rate monitor around his wrist, and tossed it to Rich. He rubbed at the small patch of shaved skin that allowed the sensor to make contact.
"Thanks for the checkup, doc.", he said, walking towards the door.
"I'm not a medical doctor." said Rich, irritated. Seven stepped into the hallway. "Wait, we're supposed to check your strength too!" The bear kept walking. His strength was fine, he thought. "I'll see you at dinner!", Rich called down the hall. He saw the bear lift an arm, middle finger raised in acknowledgment. The scientist sighed and walked off to fabricate a set of strength test results.
Seven pushed open a set of double doors, exiting the medical wing. He had a big grin on his face. He loved to hassle Rich and, after blowing off a few pointless tests, he had the rest of the day free to do anything he wanted. He had a few things in mind.
He walked into his room and instinctually sniffed the air. It was sour and ripe. It smelled like a human lived there.
"What are you looking so happy about?", asked the human living there. He sat on his bed, poking at a tablet. "And shouldn't you still be in the medical wing?"
Seven's roommate was another ursine shift, but he was new, had only been around for two weeks. The blonde bear still wasn't used to having someone around when he came back. His smile faded to a grimace.
"You're making that face again! I'm sorry you think I smell like... what did you say to me last week? 'A gallon of milk left out in the sun'? But, who are you to talk?", said the human. He gestured to Seven's unmade bed. Stray hairs stuck out from the wrinkled sheets.
"No one's gonna be making a perfume based on your bouquet. I doubt 'essence of wet dog' would be a big seller." he added.
"Sorry you can't appreciate this quite yet, subject nine." Seven snapped his athletic shorts, shooting out a puff of musky air, wafting it upward. His brown eyes sparkled wickedly.
"I have no idea why you insist on calling yourself by your subject number, but my name is Paul", said Paul. "And you're disgusting." He turned back to his game.
Seven's smile returned. He grabbed his backpack and said, "Alright, I'm headed out into the woods. I should be back before dinner."
"You better be", said Paul. "I'm not lying for you again."
The blonde bear left his room and walked for a few minutes though winding corridors. He signed out a mandatory GPS unit from Sarah, the woman who ran the equipment desk, and clipped it to his bag. He stepped outside into the midday sun.
It was wonderful to be outdoors, away from the smell of mold and drywall and linoleum and the endless crowd of noisy humans. He pointed his nose in the air and filled it with the crisp scents of autumn: drying leaves, sleeping grass, the light sweetness of maple and apples. He set out walking around the building. He found the window of the exercise room, stood in front of it, and faced the woods. The sun was higher in the sky, making it harder to see breaks in the trees. Eventually he spotted it, about half a mile away to the right, a small shadow marking the entrance to a trail he hadn't seen before. He walked slowly and savored the day.
The trail was small and narrow, probably used only by wildlife. He walked a few paces into the woods and stood, letting his eyes adjust. It would do nicely, he thought. He pulled down his shorts, stepped out, and draped them over a tree branch. He unclipped the GPS transponder from his backpack and used it to secure the shorts.
Embarrassing himself, he gave the crotch a light sniff. Then, without thinking, pressed his nose to the fabric for a much deeper pull. His cock stirred. Even his own scent was setting him off now. He needed this badly. He began to walk into the forest.
It had been 4 days since he'd been truly alone. That meant four days since his last release. Seven reflected on that thought sadly. The past 14 months had been exciting in a lot of ways. Lots of the scientists on the campus were genuine friends, almost family. The daily progression of his shift was exciting to watch. He loved everything about the animal he had become.
And yet, they'd also been the loneliest 14 months of his life too. When he signed up, he didn't realize how much his changes would cut him off from humanity. Things smelled different to him, tasted different, looked different. He was exiled from shared experience. Even if he had known it would happen, there would have been no way to prepare. The biggest blow came two months in, when he stopped feeling any arousal around humans and they weren't aroused by him either. He lost his status as a sexual being. It hurt more than he let on.
Seven came to a small stream. He stepped though the cold water. It rushed over his hind paws and between his toes, soothing them. Small rocks massaged his pads. He stopped and closed his eyes.
A year ago, when the former-man had just signed on with the institute, the national forest around the campus felt like a barrier. Little more than a wall of trees, intended to isolate scientist and subject alike from the outside world. When he'd hike the trails around the mountain as a man, nature was pleasant and peaceful but ultimately barren.
He stepped out of the steam and continued walking. His ears picked up the rustle of a bobcat nearby. The scent of a raccoon hung in the air, leading toward an outcropping of rocks. An unseen porcupine snacked on the bark of a tree. There were dozens of animals all around him, eating, playing, and mating. He passed a tree marked by a buck. The buck huffed, about half a mile off, in acknowledgment. Seven blew out a breath through his teeth to respond. This was his world.
The trail met with a dry riverbed and began ascending the mountain. The bear climbed. He walked along ridges for an hour until he heard water in the distance. He smelled a light mist in the air. He broke from the ridge and followed the sound.
The bear wandered down a ravine and into a clearing. A stream from higher on the mountain poured off a rocky ledge, down 20 feet into a sparkling pool of water. Sheets of mist rippled off the waterfall, scattering iridescent reds and blues over the surrounding pine trees. A doe stood across the pond, drinking. She looked up at the bear, then placed her nose back to the surface of the water. He walked to the edge of the pond and set down his bag.
Seven sat on his rear, feet in the pond, his back to a boulder. He opened his bag and pulled out a sketchbook. He flipped past several pages: the campus as seen from the top of a nearby the mountain, a leonine hybrid who had left a year earlier, a drawing of Rich as a mole. He hadn't shown anyone his sketchbook, or mentioned to the scientists that he started drawing a month after his first treatment. He found a mostly blank page, erased a small bear dick near the center, and began drawing the scene around him.
Half an hour later, he had things mostly blocked out: the jagged outline of the pond, the cliff above, the mountain beyond that. He roughed in trees to his left. He began to add detail to the surface of the water. His pencil skipped over a rut in the paper where the dick had been. He could see it lightly through the sketch.
The bear speared his white plastic eraser with a claw and cleared the shading in the pond around the cock. He drew a pair of legs attached to it, ankles in the water. A torso. Arms. A head. Round ears on top. He realized he was drawing himself. He refined his lines, erased the construction marks, fixed the perspective on the cock. Three times. It looked ok, kind of sexy.
He felt his member bump the back of the book. Seven remembered his main agenda and tossed the pencil and eraser into his bag. He set the sketchbook on the boulder behind his back. His cock stood fully erect. He wasn't sure if its 11 inch length was a coincidence or a gift, but either way the scientists paid it little attention. It was fat and pink, slightly flared at the tip, growing from a small furry sheath. A ponderous set of nuts hung below, covered in short blond fur.
He raked a claw gently down the fur of his chest, scratching at his skin, teasing. His pulse quickened. The bear wrapped his large hand paw around his cock and stroked. He shut his eyes, relishing the feeling. A more primitive section of his brain awoke. It whispered to him of his own strength and power. His virility. It was good to breed, it said wordlessly. It was good to fuck. It oozed pleasure. With no one around to judge or measure or evaluate his self control, he invited the primal force in his mind run wild.
His eyes shut as he stroked himself. He grunted freely. His mouth hung open. The smell of his sex, his musk was in the air and growing. The bear sniffed at it and whined. He needed more. He leaned forward, inching his muzzle toward his crotch. The air grew thicker, his mind grew foggier. His mouth watered. Drool rolled off his tongue and on to his member. He stopped stroking and used both paws to push against the rock. His legs splayed and his face lowered.
His lips pressed against the head of his cock. He ran his tongue around the tip. Hot, ragged breaths teased his member. He pushed harder with his arms. The tip popped into his mouth. It was hot, tasted so good. It pulsed, dribbling salty pre. He drank greedily, then craned his neck forward, taking inch after inch.
He buried his nose into fur on his sack and inhaled. The source, or close to it, he thought. The scent was earthy, wet, and intoxicating. His head swam in it until there were no thoughts left at all. Nothing but the primal drive for pleasure. He licked and sucked on the rod in his mouth.
He moved one paw to his balls. He cupped them, squeezed them, pulled them. His paw worked the base of his cock as him mouth worked tip. He felt his member push on the back of his tongue. He pressed harder into his own crotch. He felt his cock slide into his throat. It was tight. The sensation made him shudder and growl. The growling vibrated his member, enhancing the feeling. He couldn't stop. His hips bucked at his muzzle. He slid his tongue up and down, pressed with his lips.
He sped up. The bear needed release badly. He needed to taste himself. It was all he could think about. His huge balls tingled. He thrust a final time, hard, and tensed in anticipation. Pulse after pulse of seed erupted from his cock, filling his mouth, spilling down his shaft. He swallowed what he could. It trickled to his balls, mixing with his scent, searing into his mind the potent smell of sex.
The pulses trailed off. His member grew sensitive. He let it slide out of his mouth and slap his thigh. He fell to his side, panting, spent. He shut his eyes and savored the waves of relaxation and well-being. He'd never felt so good before, he kept still, hoping it would last forever. The bear drifted into a light nap.
The sun was low in the sky, touching the mountain. Shadow spread slowly across the pond, turning water to ink. Seven awoke to the sound of his sketchbook sliding off the boulder and falling to the ground. It fell open to the scene he had drawn earlier. He saw his self portrait in the center of the page. The bear pulled the book to himself.
Eyes glazed, peaceful and unencumbered, he fished his pencil from his bag and began to lightly block out more poses. The poses became figures. The figures became bears, like him. One playfully kicked at at the pool of water. One swam under the falls. Two held each other in a tight embrace by a tree. One stood in the shallows, in front of them all, smiling at the viewer.
The bear stared at his own sketch for several minutes, impassive. His eyes flicked from one rough figure to the next. When the mountain's cool shadow crept up his left foot, he carefully tore the page out of his sketchbook, set the scrap of paper on the ground, and walked away.
January 23rd, 2016
Subject Seven ran. The treadmill strained under his bulk. He glanced out the window into the woods briefly, then back down to the red display. A huge grin spread across his face. Speed: 18mph. Distance: 7.9 miles.
"Incredible. Absolutely incredible, bud. Holding steady at 34 MET. I think it's safe to say your internal changes have caught up", Rich's excited voice crackled over the intercom.
The bear laughed inside his mask. The laugh broke up the rhythm of his breathing. He stumbled and grabbed the handrails. His feet dragged on the speeding belt. He pressed power button on the treadmill and pulled off his mask. He tried to stand. His legs were gone. He held himself up with his arms.
"H- and- only- three", the bear didn't have a chance at forming a coherent sentence. He tried again. "Three- months- since- you-"
Rich stepped though the door. "Yes, I know, I know, three months since I said 'any day now'. So I was off a little."
"I'm just glad- I got it back" said Seven, catching his breath.
He was excited as he left the exercise lab. He felt whole again, empowered. He was warned he might lose any number of things in the shift: strength, intelligence, self-control, endurance, visual acuity, libido. Libido. He frowned. He hadn't lost that. He didn't dare to hope he'd emerge completely unscathed, but it looked like it might actually happen.
Seven opened the door to his room and walked in. He sniffed the air. The room smelled alright. Paul was out, probably in an eval, he thought. His roommate had been busy the past week and hadn't spent much time in the room. Seven scheduled evaluation after evaluation for himself too. The scientists had regular evals, of course, but they were limited to a fixed number of hours per week. Voluntary tests didn't count toward this limit, and he wanted to be sure his latest changes were properly documented. That they were permanent. Any free time outside of that he spent outdoors, acclimating to the cold of winter and strength training. He wasn't sure where he'd go when he left the campus yet, but with his abilities, a great number of options were open. He was partial to mountain search and rescue.
His legs were still wobbly as he walked to the bathroom. He took off his shorts and began cleaning himself up for dinner. If he took a shower, he'd take on a pungent smell for days. Out of consideration, chose a dry shampoo Rich had given him, and brushed it though his fur. It had a light detergent smell, but he could deal with it. It left his fur soft and dulled his scent without masking it. It was also the only hygiene product he had that didn't remind him of an industrial spill in a flower shop when opened.
Paul threw open the door to the room and walked in, head down, sullen. He was adorable, mid-shift like this, thought Seven. A fine, black undercoat had grown across his skin, with human hair still standing out on the top of his head and around his jaw. His nose was flatter and dark, the hint of a muzzle pushing out from his face. He had grown 5 or 6 inches taller and put on a hundred pounds at least. His arms were big and muscular, belly round but firm, storing energy for the changes to come. His hands and feet were almost full-size already, pads starting to harden. He had on blue athletic shorts and a white tee, but no other clothing. He'd stopped wearing shoes, not that any existed in his size. A waft of air made its way to Seven. Paul's scent was rich, woody, and raw. Any sour, human notes remaining were faint, adding only complexity to the aroma. The blonde bear felt himself relax, his surprise at the intrusion soften. He realized the bathroom door was open, he was nude, and staring at his roommate.
Paul sat down on his bed. He noticed the open bathroom door.
"I uh... sorry I'm-" said Seven.
Paul looked up at his roommate. "It's alright" he said. He sighed and looked back at the floor.
Seven looked at the sad, black bear Paul had become and felt a twinge of regret. He hadn't been a very good roommate. There was plenty of room in the institute for them to live separately. The whole point of living together was to ease Paul's transition. Instead, he had been too caught up on himself to take a real interest. Stealing off into woods almost every day, leaving Paul to change alone. The two had barely spoken in months. The blonde bear set his brush on the sink, walked over to his roommate's bed, and sat down.
"I'm sorry" he said to Paul.
"It's alright, I know you don't like wearing clothes. I've seen you take off your shorts before walking into the woods. I'm not going to make you wear them in here." said the small black bear.
"No, no, not about that", Seven said, wondering, embarrassed, who else had seen his routine. "I'm sorry I've been so selfish. I should have been helping you through the first few months of your shift. I haven't been around much to talk."
"Talk? About what? The aches and pains of growing six inches in a month? The best way to itch these damned pads? I'm managing." Paul sighed. He was still processing the way he felt. It was too fresh to put into words. Seven helped him.
"I suppose I could tell you I spent a day pacing on the concrete walkway outside building three to desensitize my paws. But that's not what I mean. How are you holding up? Emotionally."
"Alright." said Paul. He paused.
"You don't look alright"
"I'm really tired all the time, I guess. And I feel different. Not in a specific way, just lonely. Lonely but I want to be alone too. I'm lonely and all I want to do is hide. It doesn't make sense."
"It makes perfect sense to me." said Seven, softly. "You are different. Being with them, the humans, it takes something from you now. It drains until you don't have anything left and you retreat."
Paul blinked a few times. "They don't know how loud they are. They're so... brash."
"You'll get used it," assured Seven. "You'll get stronger the longer you stay here. It won't be natural like it was before, but they'll grow on you again. They won't drain you as quickly."
Paul was apprehensive. "Sarah, the girl at the equipment desk? She used to flirt with me when I'd check out a fishing pole or a tracker. She'd wink or make a joke. She said some day she wanted me to teach her how to fish."
"And now she ignores you?"
"No, she still smiles but she doesn't wink anymore. I can tell she doesn't like me the same way she did. I took her out fishing two days ago."
"How was it?"
"It was fine. I taught her how to fish." said Paul, flatly.
Seven's heart sank.
"I'm sorry," he said. "that's... I can't offer any advice. I just want you to know that I understand." He put his arm around his roommate and squeezed. Paul felt some of the weight lift from his chest. He looked up into Seven's sad brown eyes. They looked at each other, noses close.
Seven smelled Paul's sweet breath. He gave the little bear's nose a lick. Paul moved closer and parted his lips. They kissed for the first time, their shared loneliness evaporating into the air. Paul's hands explored the body in front him. He felt around the larger bear's waist and pulled their chests together. They fell over on to the bed, bodies entwined.
Seven hooked a leg around Paul. He felt Paul's erection rub at his thigh. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. He smelled the latex paint on the walls. He heard the sterile buzz of the fluorescent light overhead.
"Wait" said the blonde bear. "Not here."
"Where?" said Paul, impatiently.
Seven smiled.
Seven put on his shorts and waited for his erection fade. Paul did the same. They left their room and walked to the equipment desk.
"Hey Sarah, we're headed out for a hike before dinner. Can we get two trackers?" ask Paul. The young woman looked up.
"I don't think I've ever seen the two of you together before! Where are you going?
"It's bear stuff, very important, you wouldn't understand", teased Seven. Paul laughed. Sarah looked confused.
She placed two GPS trackers on the counter. "It's January, guys. Pretty cold out there. I know you're fine mister big bear" she said, pointing to Seven, "but you need a coat, Paul." She pushed an oversized parka toward him. He took it and slid it on over his tee.
"Thanks, Sarah" said Paul, winking.
"Take care." she said back with a bemused smile.
The two bears left the building and stepped outside. The whole campus was white. The trees of the forest were frosted in a thick, smooth coating of snow. It was cold, about 5 degrees below freezing.
Paul felt a draft cut at his legs, but his undercoat and the parka trapped enough heat to stop him from shivering. Seven stood taller and puffed out his chest. He was in his element now. Ribbons of steam poured off his body. Blasts of hot breath turned to puffs of cloud on each side of of his mouth. Paul envied his poise, and grew excited for the months to come.
They walked in silence around the building. A set of old paw prints, obscured by snowfall, marked their path. They walked into the woods. Seven removed his shorts, cleared a tree branch, and folded them over it. He clipped the GPS tracker to the waistband. Paul clipped his tracker to the shorts on the tree too but kept his his own clothes on.
The trail was impossible to follow in the winter, but larger bear knew the way. He was sure-footed in the ice and snow, moving almost soundlessly, claws always finding purchase. Paul was clumsier but capable of following his lead. They ascended the mountain along a frozen brook and walked up a ridge. The blonde bear stopped and looked around. He nodded and turned left, moving downhill.
They came to a clearing with a glistening frozen pond at the center. On the far side, a pillar of ice climbed 20 feet into the sky before meeting with a cliff above. The sun sat just above the cliff, shining though the ice, scattering breathtaking crystalline pattens in every direction.
"Here." said the massive bear, his smoking form silhouetted by shafts of light.
Paul stepped next to his roommate and said, amazed, "Is this the place you've been going almost every day? It's stunning."
"I've explored almost all of the forest surrounding Mount Marshall now," said Seven. "There are a lot of places that I go, some of them just as beautiful, but this is my favorite." He surveyed the area proudly. A beam of light caught his eyes and they flared a fierce mahogany.
Paul followed the blonde bear out on to the ice. He ran a paw up Seven's back.
"Thank you" said Paul, "For being there today. For showing me this."
Seven closed his eyes and nodded. He turned to the smaller black bear and nuzzled his neck. Paul felt a rumble like an engine rise and sustain in his chest. They embraced. He needed to be closer. He let go and began to disrobe. He threw his parka and t-shirt off into the snow. He pulled down his shorts, revealing a steaming erection. He lifted one leg to step out when his paws lost purchase. He slipped and fell.
Seven reacted quickly, dropping to one knee and catching Paul before he hit the ground. He set the black bear down on the ice gently, then slid to his side. Paul smelled something irresistible coming from body in front of him. The musk awoke a primal urge in him. It prodded tentatively at his mind. It wanted to take control, it wanted to breed. It whispered to him, wordlessly filling his mind with confidence, pride, and sex. A look of discomfort washed across Paul's face. He pulled away.
The urge was too powerful. Just thinking about giving in to it rewarded him with a tingle of pleasure. He wanted to, but he was afraid. He couldn't lose himself. The scientists had warned him. His self control results were weak already.
Seven studied the black bear. He recognized the feelings Paul was wrestling with.
"Let it in" he rasped quietly, encouraging. "I know you can feel it. I feel it too, in myself. The urge that presses at you, deep down. It's only here for a visit. Tell yourself that. Don't let it force its way in. Invite it, and you'll always be you."
Paul's fear faded. He let go. Lust surged through him as the primal forces took control. He hungrily grabbed at the larger bear and pushed him over. The ice was cold, his partner was hot. He climbed atop and kissed him again and again. He buried his face in the blonde chest and inhaled. The musky scent was mild but intoxicating. He began to explore the massive form, pressing his nose into the thick fur, sniffing and licking, searching.
Seven arched his back as the smaller male worshipped his body. Claws raked his skin. Tongue probing, licking. His erection grew to its full 11 inches. His breath was erratic.
Paul's search ended with his nose planted firmly in the larger male's fuzzy scrotum. He kneeled on the ice. His mouth hung slack. He began to lick the fur, to taste the essence. His eyes drank in the pink shaft above. He needed it. He needed both.
The black bear stood up, turned, and sat down backwards. His hand paws pressed against the Seven' giant thighs. He opened his mouth and took the long member inside. He relaxed as it pushed into his throat. He took it all. His nose met with the musky pouch below. Salty pre rolled down his tongue and throat. He licked and bobbed his head to coax out more. His own cock was painfully erect. It pressed into the blonde bear's neck.
Seven's eyes opened. He gasped at the feeling of Paul's mouth on his member, milking him. A black, fuzzy crotch hung just over his face. Swollen nuts swayed and brushed at his snout. The smell of another male at full arousal drove him wild. He ran his tongue along the cock bobbing just above his mouth. Paul's sack pulled away, then relaxed back down, resting warmly on his face. He lifted the black bear's legs easily and slipped the leaking cock into his mouth.
The sun set as they sucked and thrusted into each other's muzzles, drunk on pheromones, driven mad by primal instinct. In the shadow of the mountain, they gave themselves completely to each other.
The black bear's balls retracted. For a moment, he was blind and deaf from pleasure, his only tether to the world his grip on the mass of hot fur and muscle beneath him. His legs tensed, lifting his hips, popping his cock out of the larger bear's suckling mouth. He toppled over the edge. Spurt after spurt of hot ursine seed spilled on to the blonde chest. As he came, Paul sucked harder on the rod in his mouth.
Seven panted as he felt the cum hit his chest. He was close too. He buried his nose the the fuzzy black crotch again, letting the scent daze him. He stroked Paul's sides and ass. The soft fur felt exquisite. Pressure built inside him. He couldn't hold back any longer. He grunted loudly as his manhood locked in the throes of orgasm. He came.
Paul swallowed what he could but there was too much, it dripped from his mouth and down the blonde sack. He lapped desperately at pulse after pulse of seed. The flow slowed to a trickle. His arms grew weak. The black bear collapsed on top of his partner, then rolled off on to the ice.
Their bodies body dumped heat from the excitement of sex, but Paul quickly grew cold. He turned around, bent his neck, pressed his forehead to Seven's chest, snuggling against his warm body. The large bear embraced him, and held him away from the ice. They enjoyed each other's company in silence.
After seventeen of the longest months in his life, subject Seven wasn't alone anymore.
Long after dinner had ended but before a search party would have been dispatched to find their trackers, the two bears got up, collected Paul's clothes, and walked back to the campus together.
September 14th, 2017
Paul lay in his room, alone. The lights were off, he was trying to sleep. Tomorrow would mark the start of his last month on the research campus. It had been a quiet year since Seven left.
His shift was all but complete now. He never grew a layer of coarse guard hair, like the scientists thought he would. Instead, his coat was a single layer of soft, silky down fur. Inky black. It grew in wild, wavy locks that he needed to brush daily and cut every few weeks. It was well worth the hassle, he thought.
He didn't grow quite as big and strong as Seven had either. But he was more nimble, better at climbing up rock faces and trees. The two of them would make be a brilliant search and rescue team, he thought. He'd already contacted Seven and secured the position. The black bear sighed. It would be a long month.
He stared at the ceiling for a while. Restless, the bear got up and switched on a lamp. He walked over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and searched inside. His paws pushed aside stacks of socks and underwear. He heard a light crinkle and pulled out a dirty scrap of paper, water-stained, wrinkled, and bleached by the sun. On it was a faint sketch of a pool in the woods, fed by a waterfall. Round-eared figures played in the water and embraced by the trees. A large bear, more detailed than the rest, stood nude in the foreground, water up to his ankles, smiling.
Paul smiled back.