It had been a wild night.
Seems like Syd can’t catch a break from wild nights lately.
After Lexi passed out, shifting back to her human form in her sleep, Syd had shifted back as well and had radioed a message to Audrey with her communicator. Syd had thrown her clothes back on and kept Lexi in a recovery position until Audrey arrived a few minutes later. Together, her and Audrey both carefully loaded Lexi into the van, grabbed her clothes and the duffel bag, and high-tailed it back to their den.
Now it was Sunday, the day after the full moon. Syd had skipped her morning workout and hardly touched her breakfast, which was unusual for her. She was just so fucking worried.
After waiting in the living room of her den for what seemed like forever, Meg and Sabrina finally entered from down the hallway. Syd stood up quickly, almost knocking the chair over in her haste.
“How is she doing?” Syd asked.
“She’s gonna be jus’ fine,” Meg reassured the wolf woman with a smile. “She’s a bit tuckered out, but she’s finally up an’ talkin’, so you can go on in whenever yer ready.”
Syd exhaled slowly and returned the smile. Thank Goddess that Lexi’s okay.
“Honestly,” Sabrina said, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead with a pink towel, “she took to the wild magic waaay better than I thought! She was just exhausted and passed out, that’s all. The anesthetic was, like, just a precaution while I added her ovary implant. Good thinking from her to ask us to put it in today—the timing worked out perfectly.”
For such a ditzy girl, Syd sometimes forgot that Sabrina was one of the best medics in Abraxas. Along with Meg’s skill as a magitech mechanic, Lexi was in capable hands. Paws? Whatever.
Syd gathered herself and gave Meg and Sabrina a big hug each, before heading down the hallway into one of the house’s extensions on the ground floor.
The room was minimal yet cozy. Diffused sunlight poured in through curtains drawn over a large window on the far end. Cabinets and cupboards lined one wall, with medical supplies scattered across the counter, along with a stretcher on wheels and a few magitech machines that Syd didn’t recognize. On the opposite wall, closer to the window and laying in a small bed smiling and waving at Syd, was—
“Lexi!” Syd cried out, rushing over to hug her as gently as possible.
They stayed hugging for a solid couple of minutes, a few tears falling down their faces in gratitude. Once they broke their embrace and wiped their tears away, Syd carefully sat down on the end of the bed to get a better look at Lexi.
The bedsheet went up to her waist and she was wearing one of Meg’s old plain white T-shirts as a makeshift hospital gown. Aside from some scrapes and bruises on her body, she seemed to be in good shape and on the road to recovery, if a little bit tired. Any trace of stubble on her face was completely gone, and with her short hair—well, short-ish now, which meant that just like the other beastesses with short hair, Lexi would need more frequent haircuts—it gave her a slightly boyish appearance.
And her eyes! Syd was glad they had gotten contact lenses for her, because Lexi’s eyes had changed from brown to golden yellow. Just like Syd’s, she thought as her stomach fluttered in admiration.
Despite how much the T-shirt hung loosely off of Lexi’s comparatively smaller frame, Syd could still notice that her physique was … different. Very different from the Lexi of a few days ago.
“Looks like you kept some of the muscle, pup,” Syd said.
“Yeah!” Lexi said as excitedly as she could manage. “Check this out!” She flexed one bicep, and damn, she had put some meat on her bones! It wasn’t bodybuilder levels, of course, but Lexi definitely looked more athletic overall. Syd couldn’t wait to train with her at their home gym sometime soon to test her strength.
It was hard to tell because she was lying in bed, but was Lexi also a bit … taller? And under the T-shirt, poking up under the fabric … yeah. They were small, for now, but they were unmistakably tits.
Hiding her changing appearance at the academy was going to be difficult, to say the least.
“Impressive!” Syd said, nodding. “Are you recovering well from the implant?”
“Yup. Sabrina said that with the beastess healing factor I have now, the surgery scar should be barely visible in a couple of days.”
“And you feel good? Do you feel the effects of the hormones yet?”
“Oh, absolutely!” Lexi’s golden eyes lit up. Syd swore she saw them sparkle for a second. “I thought the wild magic alone was enough to wake up my senses, but with this ovary implant …” She paused for a second, gathering her thoughts. “… I immediately feel more … real. I feel like I’m more myself, more present, y’know? Not just drifting by through life, but actually here!” Lexi slapped the top of the bedsheet for emphasis.
“I totally get what you mean.” Syd smiled. “That’s how I felt too.”
“And last night … last night! Holy FUCK, Syd!” Lexi started giggling, but winced and clutched her side, squeezing her eyes shut in pain.
“Easy, girl,” Syd said, reaching one hand out to steady the coyote beastess. “Your body just went through a shitload of strain in the past twenty-four hours, and you need to rest up.”
Lexi nodded, then ran her fingers gently over the side of her abdomen where her implant bandage was, contemplating something. Although beastesses could communicate with their minds, they weren’t necessarily mind readers, so Syd couldn’t tell what Lexi was thinking. Much like using one’s vocal cords, in most cases it had to be a deliberate action to broadcast one’s thoughts using mind speech.
“What’s on your mind?” Syd asked, tilting her head.
Lexi took a moment before responding, “Syd, do you think I could ask Sabrina for another implant?”
“Of course, I’m sure she’d be happy to help. Which one?”
“I, uh … I-I know it’s a big decision, and it doesn’t have to be right away, but, um … I t-think I’d like to get a magitech vulva. Like yours.” Lexi blushed and looked away at the curtains.
Taking one of Lexi’s hands, Syd said warmly, “Absolutely. We’ll get one for you and schedule the surgery together.”
Lexi looked back at Syd in astonishment, her golden eyes glistening. Goddess above, Syd thought, she’s such a cute pup.
“R-really?”
“Yes, really.” Syd ruffled Lexi’s hair. “But that’s gonna have to wait until after the Harvest Moon Tournament. There’s no way I want you to miss that!”
“Hey, you never explained what that was when I asked!” Lexi said. She crossed her arms and pretended to act indignant.
“Right, my bad,” Syd said. “So you know how we have ceremonial fights every so often, right?”
“Yeah. To pay tribute to the Goddess of the Hunt.”
“Yup! But we do them for more than just spiritual reasons. Beastesses have hunting instincts, but unlike our ancestors who lived on the outskirts of society in more rural areas, we can’t just go hunting whenever we want. Abraxas is huge! We’re surrounded by flatlands, and even those take a while to travel to. If we’re gonna live in this big megacity, we need some sort of release valve for the urge to hunt that builds up, and that’s where fights like the one you saw at Club Demiurge come in. If we don’t release that pent-up energy safely and properly, you get beastesses resorting to drastic measures or unethical shit, like that fucking templar in the photo.”
Syd tried not to think about what she would do to that templar beastess if she ever got her claws on her.
“Okay, I see,” Lexi said. “So this Harvest Moon Tournament is just a bigger version of that?”
“Exactly! Yes, it’s the biggest ceremonial fight of the year. Rather than fighting just your pack-mates—which, while fun, can just feel like sparring after a while, and doesn’t really do much to scratch that itch to hunt in the long-run—the Harvest Moon Tournament is between all of the Four Packs of Abraxas. A little competition keeps it spicy, and short of serious injury or death, having no-holds-barred fights feels so fuckin’ satisfying for our kind.” Syd shuddered and closed her eyes. “I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.”
“Where is it being held?”
“Well, we try to move it around every year. Sometimes we hold it in the old train station, and we also found an abandoned hangar that we’ve used a couple of times. Indoor venues are practical but kinda boring, in my opinion. Last year we managed to strike a deal with a big junkyard, but everyone complained about the smell. So this year … well, take a guess.”
“… No way. The stadium?”
“Yeah, the stadium! We’ve been eyeing that place for years now, but the old security company guarding it wouldn’t take a bribe. Luckily for us, last year the owners switched over to a much cheaper security firm to save money, and well … let’s just say their palms are much easier to grease.”
“Is that why we didn’t get caught last night?”
“You’re one smart cookie, pup!” Syd gently punched Lexi in the shoulder, who winced a bit and laughed. “Oh shit, sorry!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lexi said, waving her hand dismissively.
“Oh, uh,” Syd said, “there’s one more thing you should know about the tournament—”
“Knock, knock!” said a sultry sing-song voice that came from behind Syd, who gave two knocks on the door in sync with their words.
Syd and Lexi both turned to the entrance of the room just in time to see an eight-foot tall lioness woman duck under the doorframe.
“Good afternoon, Alpha,” Syd said, immediately standing up off of the bed and standing at attention to look up at her feline superior.
“Hi there, Alpha,” Lexi said, leaning over and waving. Syd looked back at her briefly—Lexi was smiling, but it looked forced. She was nervous. Syd couldn’t blame the coyote girl, really, given that she hadn’t seen Alpha since the night she was bitten. And that was an intense introduction to a very intense person.
“Hello, you two!” Alpha Lea replied warmly. She was dressed immaculately in a black blazer, gray vest, white blouse with the top few buttons undone, and matching black trousers—all custom-tailored for her massive anthro form. Even her black open-toe heels showed off the trim & tidy claws of her feet paws. Whether she was Miss Genevieve Andromeda, CEO of Gnosis Industries, or the leader of an underground organization of beastesses casually visiting her pack-mates, Alpha always radiated raw power.
What a woman.
Unconsciously, one of Syd’s hands fidgeted with the crescent moon dog tag of her spiked collar to make sure it lay against her chest just right. Noticing this immediately, Alpha Lea strode right up to Syd and hooked one claw around the D-ring of the collar to pull her beta in closer to her muzzle.
Without breaking eye contact, the lioness purred, “Feeling nervous, beta?”
“Y-yes, Alpha,” Syd answered honestly.
“What’s got you all flustered? Didn’t expect your alpha to come in and check up on how her big guard dog is doing?”
“No, Alpha. But also … I failed you. The other day. I let Lexi out of my protection, and I’m so sorry, and I promise it won’t happen again, and—”
“Shhh, shh, shh,” Alpha said. Syd went silent immediately. “It’s all right. Roxy told me all about it. It was an accident, that’s all. I forgive you, and I trust you’ll learn from it going forward, my beta.”
Syd was relieved. A huge weight left her shoulders, which relaxed as she smiled up at her alpha.
“Thank you, Alpha,” she said. “I’m so grateful to hear that. I’ll always do my best to please you, I promise!”
“Good girl,” Alpha said with a smile, gently caressing Syd’s cheek with the paw not holding onto her collar. The feeling was sublime. Syd closed her eyes and felt her knees buckle in adoration. “Such a pretty puppy …”
“Hey,” Lexi chimed in, “I, uh, don’t mean to interject, but is this usually how alphas and betas interact? My studies in intra-pack dynamics were usually conjectural, so I—”
“No,” Alpha Lea interrupted. “Syd and I have a rather … unique relationship, for an alpha and a beta. And before you ask—no, we aren’t dating. It’s a bit different than that. Lexi, do you remember, when we first met, how I said that the reason the High Beastess of a pack rises to the top is a matter of dominance?”
Lexi nodded. “Yeah, I remember.” She quickly added after Alpha Lea raised one eyebrow, “I remember, Alpha.”
“Well, I simply take that principle one extra step in a more playful direction. In addition to our instinctive drives for dominance and submission as beastesses, Syd and I both found that our tastes align when we apply that power dynamic to a rather kinky context too.” Alpha Lea tugged Syd’s neck down towards Lexi, causing Syd to bow. “Do you see this collar around her neck? Read the tag out loud to me.”
“‘Alpha’s Guard Dog,’” Lexi read from the crescent moon dog tag.
Pulling Syd back upright, Alpha Lea said, “Syd and I have a very specific, consensual, negotiated relationship based on a simple power dynamic—I am not only her Alpha, but also her Owner, and she is not only my beta, she is my puppy, my big strong guard dog. She can use a safe word to bow out any time. Isn’t that right, puppy?”
“Of course, Alpha,” Syd said, smiling up at her Owner.
“I … I think I understand,” Lexi said. Her expression turned a little sullen, and she looked away.
Syd frowned, and looked at Alpha Lea with pleading eyes. Alpha nodded, releasing Syd so she could sit down next to Lexi.
“Hey, pup, listen …” she said. “… Alpha’s right. It’s not a romantic thing, and she’s not my girlfriend or anything like that. What I feel with her and what I feel with you are two completely different things.” Searching for the right words, Syd paused for a moment. “Every relationship serves different needs. Mac is my beta, and she’s like my big sister. Alpha helps me relax and let go of my worries, and I enjoy serving her as both a submissive and as her beta in the pack. With you, I … I feel things I’ve never felt about anyone else before.”
Lexi looked up at Syd, who grabbed both of Lexi’s hands in her own and kissed each of them.
“I think you’re so fucking cute,” Syd said. “Ever since the moment I first saw you in that nightclub, I thought, ‘I’ve gotta talk to this cutie.’ Which I guess says something about my intuition for hot girls, because I’m gay as fuck, and I had never found a ‘guy’ attractive before.” Syd made air quotes with one hand for emphasis, as Lexi tried (but failed) to hide her growing smile.
“The more I’ve gotten to know you these past few days,” she continued, “the more I’ve come to appreciate you as a whole person. You’re smart as hell, witty, kind, and when you push your comfort zone your confidence and inner strength shine through like a blazing fire. You’ve always been this way deep down, and I’m so glad that I could help you come out of your shell and become the incredibly sexy beastess you were always destined to be. I really, really want this to work, Lexi. I wanna see if this spark between us turns into something more. I may be Alpha’s sub, but I want to date you, and only you, my sweet pup.”
A pause. Lexi and Syd remained still, golden eyes gazing into golden eyes.
Lexi removed her hands from Syd’s, brought them up to the sides of the wolf woman’s face, and kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her.
She tasted sweeter than any treat Syd had ever eaten.
“I wanna date you too, big wolf,” Lexi finally said, when she removed her lips from Syd’s. The wolf beastess’ heart leapt in joy at her response. “And I’m sorry, Alpha,” Lexi said to Alpha Lea, “I let my jealousy take over for a bit and ruin the mood.”
“Oh please, Lexi,” Alpha dismissed with a chuckle, “I don’t mind at all. Do you think I would be where I am today if I let a little bit of jealousy rattle me? Besides, as part of my pack, your happiness and well-being is my responsibility.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” Lexi said, “I appreciate that. All of these, well, queer things … they’re so new to me. So please, uh, forgive me if it takes me a while to process them.”
“We all have our own unique needs—you, me, and my puppy—and I think it’s an amazing thing to have so many different types of relationships with people, don’t you? To not have to put the burden of fulfilling all of those needs on one person and their limited energy or comfort level … it’s simply wonderful. I know you both have a fondness for each other, and I thoroughly encourage you both to explore your own relationship together. Just know that Syd and I have this established dynamic as well, and because I trust you as my pack-mate, you deserve to know the full, honest extent of it.” Alpha gently ran her claws down Syd’s back. A whine escaped Syd’s throat involuntarily. “Sometimes a cat just needs a good scratching post, that’s all.”
Lexi gave a knowing smirk at Syd, who grinned back and responded with, “Don’t even think about it, pup. Try to domme me and you’ll end up flat on your back again.” That made her blush.
“I’m glad we could clear the air on that,” Alpha Lea said, taking her paw away from Syd’s back and gently rubbing the side of Lexi’s arm in a motherly way. “How are you holding up after your first transformation, Lexi, my dear?”
“Good! I’m a bit tired, honestly, and it was way more painful than I thought … but it was everything I ever dreamed of, and more!”
“I’m so glad to hear that, darling! It will get less and less painful each time, and soon you will learn how to control your transformations. You’ll be able to half-shift like Syd here, or even shift into an anthro form like me with enough practice.” Alpha Lea gestured to her massive lioness body. Syd noticed that Lexi’s eyes lingered a bit too long on Alpha’s … generous assets. Alpha definitely noticed too, and popped her hips a little to properly pose for Lexi. With a small tap from Syd on her hands, Lexi regained her composure.
“So, uh, Alpha,” Lexi said hastily, “when I go back to the academy after I rest up, what exactly do you need me to do? When we first met, you said if I accepted your offer to betray the paladins and help you find Mac, you would explain why you needed my help, and how you knew that the APA was connected to Mac’s disappearance.”
“Right, I did say that …” Alpha Lea mused. “Very well, I’ll tell you everything. So long as you promise to keep it between the three of us in this room.”
“As long as you keep your promise to not hurt Sophie,” Lexi said sternly, “my lips are sealed, Alpha.”
“I admire your confidence, you wily coyote,” Alpha Lea said. Almost with a hint of pride in her voice, Syd noted.
And so, Alpha Lea told Lexi everything she had shared with Syd—all the details they knew about Mac’s disappearance, the exact words Archbishop Steele had said to her at that one dinner, how she found out that Abraxas Paladin Academy is implicated in this, and even Alpha Lea’s true identity as CEO Genevieve Andromeda.
“I knew it!” Lexi said when Alpha got to that last part. “That explains so much—the expensive magitech, the connections to higher-ups, the funding for security and fights, the ability to keep this pack a secret, why you only show up in anthro form … it all makes so much sense now, Alpha. But why not tell your other pack-mates?”
“Perhaps one day. I trust them, but it’s a simple numbers game—the fewer beastesses who know who I truly am, the better I can remain hidden in plain sight. Only my beta and my acting beta need to know who I really am, and you are a special case because you are going to help us rescue Mac.”
There was such a certainty in Alpha’s demeanor, a belief in Lexi’s potential to help them, that further solidified to Syd that she had made the right choice in suggesting her plan for Lexi to join their pack.
When she had finished explaining the background information Lexi needed to know for her mission, Alpha Lea switched the conversation to the actual logistics of Lexi’s mission, which boiled down to a few basic objectives—remain in disguise as ‘Cadet Alexander Carpenter’ at all times, gather as much information as possible about where they might be keeping Mac, ideally figure out what they are doing to her there, and report back with any flaws with their security that the pack can exploit to plan a rescue mission.
“After that, leave the rescue plan to us,” Alpha said. “Syd, your pack-mates, and I will help and protect you in any way we can, but often you will be on your own, especially in your day-to-day life as ‘Alex’. The changes to your body will be more and more difficult to hide now that you’ve had your first transformation, so our time window to gather information is limited. Understand?”
Lexi nodded, sat up straight, saluted her Alpha, and said, “Understood, Alpha. You can trust me. I won’t let you down.”
Goddess above. She’s gotten so much stronger already, not just physically but mentally as well—and that’s so fucking sexy. It took all of Syd’s focus not to swoon over her on the spot.
“Speaking of being in disguise as ‘Cadet Alexander Carpenter’,” Lexi said, “if I’m getting rid of my old first name and changing my identity and appearance anyway, I was thinking … maybe I should change my last name too? Give myself a completely fresh start, and all that.”
“What do you want to change it to, pup?” Syd asked.
“I have a last name in mind, but I dunno … maybe it’s too corny.” Lexi laughed nervously.
“Well, don’t leave us hanging, dear!” Alpha Lea said. “Spit it out!”
After a pause, Lexi stuttered, “I-I think I want to be called ‘Lexi Hunter’.”
Syd gave Lexi a big hug, squeezing the coyote girl as tight as she could without hurting her. But just tight enough to elicit a little squeak out of her.
“I think that suits you perfectly, Lexi Hunter,” Syd whispered in her ear. She could feel Lexi shudder in her embrace and slowly return it, snuggling her head into the wolf beastess’ chest.
“Well, Lexi Hunter,” Alpha Lea said when Syd and Lexi finally stopped hugging, “rest up well, and we’ll chat again soon. After all, now that you’re part of the Pack of Abraxas West, you’ve going to have more duties now than just helping rescue Mac.”
“What do you mean, Alpha?” Lexi asked.
“Well, think about it—you worship and serve the Goddess of the Hunt now, as a beastess within her celestial pack. However, how can you call yourself a true servant of Mother Moon when you haven’t even been on your first hunt yet?”
“My … my first hunt?”
“That’s right. We have a big heist coming up, and I’m assigning you onto the team.”
“A heist? But isn’t it against the law to—”
“I thought you weren’t a paladin anymore, dear! Well, don’t worry. I’ll give you the details later, and when I do, I think you’ll come to agree that this fucker deserves what’s coming to them. In fact, while the rest of the team pulls off the heist itself, you and Syd will be the muscle. You haven’t learned to half-shift yet anyway, and she can help guide you for your first hunt. You will both also be the designated hunters on the squad—your job will be to hunt down your prey, subdue them, and make sure they learn their fucking lesson.”
Syd saw a flicker of excitement across Lexi’s face. Any trace of doubt she had about breaking the law was gone, replaced with a certainty, a golden spark in her eyes, igniting like a firework.
Good. She’s feeling the urge to hunt. And she is learning to trust her High Beastess and the Goddess’ gift of intuition, helping her develop an internal sense of right from wrong. As her beta, Syd vowed to do her best to help her cultivate and control those instincts.
“I’ll see you both very soon,” Alpha Lea said as she left the room. “Ta-ta, darlings!”
So there they were, Syd and Lexi, alone again in the makeshift medical room in Syd’s den. They sat for a while together silently, processing the whole conversation that had just occurred and occasionally smiling up at each other.
After a minute or two, Lexi suddenly looked up and said, “Wait, Syd! You said earlier you were going to tell me one more thing about the Harvest Moon Tournament.”
“Right! I almost forgot!” Syd said. “We’re gonna have to start your training as soon as possible.”
“… Wh-what?” Lexi gulped and the color drained from her face. “Wait, are you saying …?”
“That’s right, pup. One of the rules of the Harvest Moon Tournament is that if it’s your first harvest moon since joining one of the Four Packs … you have to fight.”
“Goddess above,” Lexi said, putting her head in her hands, “what have I gotten myself into by joining this pack?”
Syd laughed out loud and kissed Lexi’s forehead, who took her head out of her hands and grinned back at Syd.
“I’ll tell you exactly what you got yourself into, pup—a hell of a fun time, that’s what!”
It had been a wild night, all right.
And as long as she’s with Lexi Hunter for the rest of them, Sydney Beaumont can’t wait for all of the wild nights to come.