Chapter 30

_ _

"Quiet, Keith; he might wake up," Jesse whispered, placing a finger over his mouth as a cue for me to stop talking.

‘Is this what you call our home?’ I asked silently again.

‘Well, many of the members refer to it that way. They want to work the land above ground,’ Omega replied, trying to avoid provoking my irritation.

‘Alright, we’ll wait. If he agrees, we’ll take him with us.’ Omega transformed into five spirits, who then manifested as five figures standing around Joshua’s bed.

As the sun set, Joshua awakened. Confronted by five enormous, animal-like figures, he screamed but quickly stopped himself. "Who are you?" he asked, trying to sound calm.

"Do you not remember?" Ursus inquired.

"I... I... yes. Is this my dream? Am I still asleep? Blimey, I’ve never had a dream like this before." Joshua seemed either to be babbling or struggling to make sense of what was happening.

"You are not dreaming now. Touch us, or pinch yourself—whatever you need to do to prove you are awake," Ursus told him.

Jesse seeing that there was a glass of water on his nightstand. ‘Leo, pour the water over his head.’

"What the strewth? Get away from me!" Joshua exclaimed.

"Are you asleep now?" Leo asked.

"No, no! I’m definitely not asleep after getting so wet. So, my dream isn’t a dream?" Joshua wondered.

"You were dreaming, but now you’re awake. You dreamed of what we are and what you can become. It’s all real. We are from another world, and we are now part of this man and his mate." Ursus stepped aside to reveal Jesse and me. "We chose you because you are like them. You long for a man’s touch; you have feelings for men only. Is this not correct?" Ursus asked.

"Yes, that’s correct. But how did you know? I’ve never uncovered my feelings to another man. Look at me—I’d be beaten to a pulp. I’m everything another man would stay far away from. No one wants to be seen with me."

"Remember your dream; we offer everything you saw. The price is great, but the rewards are greater," Ursus explained. "Do you accept? If you do, pick one of us. You join the den by mating with the one you choose; he will be your leader. Leaders in the pack follow this man. Our Master is Keith, and the one next to him is Jesse, his mate. We may give you an order, but Keith’s words come above even ours. Do you accept? Choose now." Ursus paused for a moment.

"I accept, but look at me—I couldn’t mate with any of you. Just the fat on my belly alone would make it impossible."

"I will ensure that won’t be a problem. Just tell me which one you chose, and I’ll make it so you can mate. It will be a brief mating, as we need to return home," I asked Joshua.

The five figures struck poses as Joshua looked at each one. They introduced themselves. "Ursus, Cetus, Leo, Cobra, Fenrir. You will be bound to the one you choose. Choose now."

"I choose Fenrir." As Joshua decided, the other four faded away.

"You have chosen well. We don’t have time right now, but later we can get to know each other. For now, we must mate," Fenrir stated.

Joshua looked at me. "What now?"

"Focus on the body you most desire and feel it becoming real. Joshua, become the body you envision in your mind," I instructed.

Before our eyes, Joshua transformed into a more masculine figure; his belly shrank while his muscles swelled. Hair vanished in some places and multiplied in others. His arms slowly grew, bulging with muscle as the veins running through them became more pronounced.

When it was over, Joshua stood and gazed into the mirror at the end of his bedroom. He flexed his chest, then his stomach. His abs appeared defined as he flexed, forming a crisp six-pack. "I just wanted to make sure it’s muscle and not fat," Joshua said with a grin, flexing his biceps. As he examined them, they nearly doubled in size, one arm at a time. Joshua smiled broadly at his reflection. "This is what I’ve always wanted. Thank you, Master. You’ve fulfilled my wildest dream."

"Please don’t call me Master. Call me Keith, Boss, or Sir, but never Master."

Joshua looked confused but replied, "Alright, mate, I’ll call you sir."

"We’ll be outside. You have until sunset to mate," I said as Jesse and I left to wait where we first arrived.

*****

Fen and Joshua appeared before us just as the sun was fading below the horizon. "We’re going to take you to our den/pack. I refer to our home this way because men who identify as bears in the gay bear community often call it their den, viewing it as their cave. However, others prefer to call our community the pack. But I’m digressing; back to the subject. You’ll be away from here for a few weeks. The information we have shows you work from home. Can you handle your work from anywhere?" I asked.

"Yes, as long as there’s internet access and I have a computer. I just finished my weekly inputs, so I can wait a few days before I need to log back online," Joshua replied, revealing little about his job.

"Good. If you were to leave your job, would that be an issue?" I probed, hoping to encourage him to share more about his work and whether he enjoyed it.

"Why do you ask? Do you want me to change jobs?"

"Yes and no. If you like your job, you can continue doing it, especially since you mentioned you can work from anywhere with internet access. However, if you want to change jobs, that would be beneficial for both of us. Fen will explain why we recruited you back at the ‘den,’ since you seem to align with the bear community." I gestured toward him, spreading my arms.

"Okay, yes, I want to keep this muscle bear body."

Fen transformed into his spirit form just as the four others appeared, and together they shifted into Omega. Joshua was taken aback by Omega’s form, but he quickly regained his composure. "I guess Dragons are real in the spirit world," he remarked.

Omega filled Joshua’s backyard as he became corporeal, coiling around the trees and shrubs. "Hop on my back, and we can leave," Omega instructed.

Joshua was looking dumfounded, "Dragons are real? Isn’t he going to be seen by my neighbors?" Joshua asked, pointing at Omega’s head..

"No, only we can see him; the normal world does not," Jesse explained. "If you’re worried about them seeing us, don’t be. We won’t be flying. Just hop on, and you’ll see."

In an instant, we went from Joshua’s backyard to our cave. "Wow, that was a quick ride! It felt like I just got on, and now we’re already here. You said this is a mine? I have to agree with the bears; it looks more like a cave."

"Well, it is a cave—Jesse and my cave. Don’t worry; Fen will sort that out, too. Fen, you can take one of the guest rooms until Joshua is caught up on everything."

"Yes, Master. I will do my best to prepare him as quickly as possible. Come, Joshua," Fen commanded more than asked.

Omega transported us to the East Coast. I had forgotten we had a candidate in South Carolina—or was it North Carolina...?

‘South Carolina,’ Jesse clarified in thought.

*****

Fen had Joshua settled and up to speed within a few days. Joshua revealed he was an accountant who disliked his current job, yet found satisfaction in the work. We reached a compromise: he would leave his job to travel to Australia, opening portals and doing the same on the surrounding islands. If he didn’t enjoy traveling, after participating in one candidate’s joining of the den/pack, he could work for us as our accountant.

Fen informed him of the perks of being a recruiter. First, he could come and go from the den to his home whenever he wanted. Second, the interior of his home would adapt to accommodate the recruits. Joshua was fully on board once he learned that traveling to the den would involve a portal created inside his house.

The other four recruits accepted our offer. While their countries outwardly tolerated men like them, the reality was far different.

We had successfully established portals across most of Asia, as well as in America, Canada, and Central America. Jose focused on populating South America, but given the vast area he needed to cover, he was not a recruiter. Billy would be the recruiter, of all places, to find a man fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, even the lesser-known dialects of South America and the island in the Caribbean. Billy was the guy from South Carolina. The guy had a strong southern accent, was a true red neck, but when he spoke in Spanish and Portuguese, I could not hear a hint of it. I took Jose’s word that Billy was indeed speaking Spanish, because I did not know the language at all.

We could find a few more men among the miners who wanted to become recruiters. However, they did not speak fluent Spanish, Portuguese, or even French. Ursus confirmed it would be possible to train them to speak any language using the new servers and dream training.