{"sf1_id":814062,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Pair Reunited","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2044,"posted_at":"2015-02-01T18:53:00.000Z","tags":["Feral","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Transformation","Werewolf","Wolf","Wolf pack","Wolves","reunion"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/814062-the-pair-reunited","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/814062","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=814062\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#91 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nJust so everyone isn't hanging on the edge of their chair, cutting off the circulation to their legs...","content":"            One of the wolves leaned over and\nspoke to the human girl.\"Was your mate not to follow you\nafter your clever ploy?\"\"No, he was not supposed to follow\nme. And he didn't. I watched them get into the cars and drive off, just like\nthey were supposed to.\"Edward was listening, but none of\nthis made an impression on him. His ability to comprehend was very low right\nnow. He was running on fumes, so to speak, in the intelligence category. His\npool of functioning, thought-producing brain cells was somewhere in the lowest\nfour percentile at the moment. But what he did know, he knew without a doubt.\"Mate!\"He pounced on Maggie and began\nlicking her face. The other wolves were happy to see him too, maybe even more\nso than she was. She was still genuinely angry at him, but after a minute or\ntwo of persistent licking, she pushed him away with a laugh.\"You big fucking idiot! What are\nyou doing here?\"He said nothing. He had said the\nonly important thing in his head. He wasn't requesting an action, but declaring\nthat he had found his match. In his head, he knew that something had happened\nto her, so his joy was reflected in his whole body. Nothing looked quite so\nincongruous than a giant feral werewolf wagging his tail and licking a young\ngirl.\"Edward?\" She was trying to get him\nto revert to being human.He pounced around like a puppy\nlooking for a toy to play with. He had been consumed with the irrational need\nto do battle, and it had been siphoned away in one happy moment. Now his feral\nmadness had been abruptly switched to play mode. He pounced on some of the\nnormal wolves, who were of course on their way back to the sanctuary. They\nhappily engaged in play with him, knowing full well in their limited intellect that\nhe was the greatest of the great when it came to lupine kind. And here he was acting like a cub.Maggie tried to get his attention\nto no avail. He had a harem of females presently paying attention to him, and\nwhile he knew she was his chief mate, he also knew that mating in general could\nbe done with any female.When he continued to ignore her she\nkicked him in the balls.He hardly noticed. But he did turn\nand glare at her for a moment. \"Mate!\"\"Yes Edward, mate. What the hell\nhappened to you?\"He paused and dug into his brain.\"Death.\"She was suddenly concerned that someone\nclose to her had died in the battle and that she had somehow not noticed. \"Who died?\"                That\nstumped him for another moment. \"You did.\"                She\nfell to the ground. \"Of course I died you idiot. How else do you think my\nfather; my real father was ever going to let go of me?\"                \"You\ndead?\"                She made\na face. \"God you can be really stupid when you bulk up like this. What happened\nto your real mind?\"                He just\nsat there with a blank look on his face.                \"Look\nEdward, I made it look as if I died to throw everyone off. It had to be believable\njust like back in Wisconsin at the farmhouse. Only this time, I had to make it\nlook especially real. Do you understand?\"                \"Mate!\"                She\nsighed. \"I can't believe you. Is that all you can think of right now?\"                \"Mate is\nalive!\"                \"Yes, I'm\nalive you towering piece of moronic masculinity. But now, you either need to\nchange back to being human, or you need to assume your smallest form. I can't travel\nwith you looking like this!\"                \"Danger?\"                \"Yes,\nbut only from being seen with you. What did you do this time to fry your brain?\"                \"Brain?\"\nhe asked, tilting his head to stare at her quizzically.                \"Yes brain.\nThe stuff inside your head.\"                He\nshrugged. \"Not know brain. Why mate want smaller form?\"                \"Because\nthen you'll blend in with the rest of us. I promised to see these fine cousins\nof ours back to the sanctuary.\"                \"Sanc-tu-ary?\nCubs?\"                Maggie\nfrowned. \"Yes, as a matter of fact, you may have cubs there. For Christ's sake,\nI think you might have cubs all over the place now. I can't keep track of what\nthe hell you're fucking from one day to the next.\"                \"Mating!\"                \"Yes,\nmating. There is something to be said for your ignorant, stupid forms, but\nright now I need Edward with a brain. Or else I need you to look like a normal wolf.\"                \"Brain?\nNo brain. Smaller?\"                \"Yes, like\nyou've done in the past.\"                In his\neffort to please her, he seemed to dimly catch on to what she wanted. His\ndarkness changed, and his size decreased until he was still the largest one there,\nbut only marginally so.                \"That's\na good boy. Now keep close and don't get distracted.\"                Maggie reverted\nto her feral wolf form and headed off, aware that the rain had subsided and\nthat their time was running out. The pack made good time, finding that the rain\nhad headed north, and that they were soon back into it. Maggie thought this was\na good sign, for it might keep the humans inside a little longer than normal.\nShe really didn't want a repeat of the last time.                As luck\nwould have it, they got to the sanctuary while it was still unattended. In\nsingle file they made their way inside until they were all in, and that's when\nthey realized that Edward didn't have a clue and was sniffing from cub to cub,\nwagging his tail and yipping like an idiot. His colors weren't so unobtrusive\nas to blend in with the others, and he and Maggie increased the total body\ncount by two. One way or another they were going to be discovered, and while\nMaggie might be able to fool the human caretakers, Edward was likely to muck\nthe whole thing up.                \"We\nhave to go!\"                \"Go?\"                \"Yes go.\nThey will be fine here, but you and I must leave. If they find us, they'll\nbegin to get suspicious about all the strange happenings here.\"                Edward\nthought about that. He remembered this place. He remembered it was fun. Why did\nshe wasn't to go? It must be danger. There must be some danger lurking in the\narea.                \"Protect!\"                \"No.\nThe only danger I'm in is of getting completely pissed off at you and just\nleaving you here. The only reason I won't do that is because you'll likely kill\na bunch of innocent people because your brain has turned to mush!\"                \"Brain?\"                \"Oh God!\nDon't start that again. Look, if we're mates, that means you'll do whatever I\ntell you, right?\"                \"Yes!\"                \"Good.\nFollow me. I promise you we'll come back to visit and see if any of these cubs\nare yours, but for the moment, we really need to leave.\"                He\nstared at her and at the rest of the wolves, and something clicked in his head.\nHe headed for the way they had gotten in and went through first, waiting for\nher to follow. She sighed and clambered under the fence, taking the time to\nhide the depression with leaves and debris. Only then did she look at him.                \"I was\ngoing to stay here for a while you jerk. I figured I'd let matters calm down,\nbut no, you had to be all smart-like and find me.\"                \"Leave?\"                \"Yes,\nin a way I was going to leave. But not for good. I wanted everyone to think I\nwas dead so that no one would come looking for me ever again. But somehow you\nfigured it out. I don't know how, but you did.\"                \"No.\"                \"No\nwhat?\"                \"Avenge!\"                That\nwas a big word for his brain, but he remembered that he was going to kill\nsomeone or something.                \"Shit!\nYou were coming back to do battle again, weren't you? Why would you do that?\"He had no answer. In his present\nform he couldn't express feelings like love and dedication. They were mates and\nthat's all that mattered.\"Alright Edward, first things\nfirst. We have to vacate this area as soon as possible. I don't want to risk\nbeing seen. Second of all, we need to get you back in your right mind. You getting\nall feral and stupid on me just isn't going to cut it.\" \"Brain?\"\"Yes, that would help a lot.\"Sadly, he had no idea how to\nreactivate his brain. A smart person might be able to act dumb, but a dumb\nperson definitely cannot act smart. Nor could they automatically correct a\nproblem that was like the default setting on a computer. This was how his brain\nwanted to be, free from worries and with all the crap cut back to the mere basics.\nHe knew about food, mating and battling. What more did he need to remember?Since he was keeping to his smaller\nself, she figured they would make their way back to Pittsburgh on foot. They\nhad been heading away from it to get the wolves back to where they belonged,\nbut now they reversed course and headed west and south through the wooded\nareas, avoiding as best they were able the most heavily populated zones.She had to think of some way of\njogging him out of his present state. She could see where his famous ncestor\nwould have been difficult to restraint or control. His mind was running on a\nshoestring and a rubber band right now. As some might say, the hamster on the wheel\nhad gone and died. The lights were on but no one was home.She was feeling less angry with\nhim, for she was beginning to see that despite his apparent stupidity, he was\nas well meaning as ever. She had been pretty hard on him at the end, just\nbefore she made her dramatic exit. Poor Billie too; he didn't have any idea why\nshe had wanted the things she had asked for. Thankfully, Leonardo had helped\nwith her plan, though she figured he might crack under pressure and tell\neveryone what he had done.The chemical combination placed at\nthe bottom of the ravine was the same one they used in those silly firework\nsnakes you can get around Independence Day. All she had to do was set it aflame\nand hightail it out of the area. Blinding the two males had been to make sure\nno one caught on to her plan. She almost hated to do it, but as she knew they\nshould both recover, it wasn't such a difficult choice to make.After that she was going to sit\ntight for a while. Yes, her apparent death would cause grief, but then, people\nhad the habit of doing the same shit to her. Let them stew. Let them wonder. Only\nLeo had a notion of what she was doing, and with any luck he was already on his\nway back to the Vatican.They stopped to rest for a bit,\nchoosing the shelter house of a small park. It wasn't dry inside, but it was\nless damp than the ground. Maggie saw the area was deserted, so she morphed into\nher human self and sat on the sea of a picnic table, scratching Edward behind\nthe ears. He eventually rolled over and begged for a tummy rub, which she got\ndown and gave him, finding a smile on her face.She was going to have to learn to\nlive with his faults, because there were times when he was too damn cute for\nwords. This was one of those times. If only she had a way of getting through to\nhim. She needed a direct line. To his brain...She did! She nearly forgot she\ncould keep track of his whereabouts with it. She tapped into his mind, finding\nthe conscious and mentally active part hidden away in a dusty corner. It was\nseemingly intact, just put to pasture until his body needed it again. As his\nferal self, that was a need that would be long in coming. She touched it with a\nlittle mental smile.\"Edward?\"There was nothing.She tried again, \"Edward, it's me,\nMaggie.\"There was the faintest of responses,\na bare shaky, tenuous thread between her mind and his.\"Mags?\""}