It took what seemed like an eternity compressed into a single moment for Alex to gather his composure once again.
“Hhh … ah, um …”
Words were very difficult to form right now.
“A-A-Alex is fine.”
“Are you sure?” the lioness woman purred. “You look more like a ‘Lexi’ to me. Well, we’ll see how you feel after my offer.”
… Offer?
What offer?
Seeing the dumbfounded look on his face, the big cat beastess placed one paw the size of a dinner plate up to her muzzle and gave a gasp in mock surprise.
“Oh! My apologies, darling, how rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself properly yet.”
The large lioness lady sauntered down the marble staircase and across the floor towards Alex, her side-split black dress showing her legs covered in a creamy yellow fur. She wasn’t wearing heels, or shoes of any kind really, but the movement of her digitigrade legs created a hypnotic motion in her wide hips, swaying back and forth, accompanied perfectly by the swishing of her tufted tail behind her.
The lights on the staircase turned off again with another press of a button on the remote held by Syd, who walked behind the lioness and stood at attention to one side of her when they both finally reached the rest of the group. Syd pressed another button, and the neon lights closest to Alex and the beastesses changed to an off-white sodium orange color. In this light, Alex could now properly see what she looked like.
And what she looked like was … terrifying.
The lioness was easily eight feet tall—even taller than Syd, which Alex could now confirm by seeing the two beastesses standing side-by-side. Her black dress was asymmetrical, ending at her thigh on one side and her calf on the other, with a plunging neckline showing off her generous cleavage. A necklace with a golden crescent moon hung around her neck just above her breasts, heaving up and down with each breath, some breaths deeper than others as she took in his scent.
Her body was a mix and match of human and animal features—a lioness head, a human torso, feline legs and paws, opposable thumbs on her hand paws, and a long prehensile lion tail behind her. Underneath her yellow fur, Alex could see she had powerful muscles, causing her fur to ripple like a field of grain in the wind as she moved gracefully in front of him. She was observing him … and as her whiskers twitched and her muzzle curled with delight, it was evident that she was quite pleased with what she had captured.
He was nothing more than a mouse caught in a trap, at the mercy of this gigantic cat.
“I am Alpha Lea, High Beastess of the Pack of Abraxas West,” she said, retracting her claws to gently tilt his head up with one finger of her paw, so he was looking directly into her amber eyes.
“Charmed, I’m sure.”
The leaders of the Four Packs of Abraxas—the High Beastesses, each one referred to by their pack members as their ‘alpha’—were a mystery to the paladins, save their pseudonyms. Normally, the alphas ran their criminal syndicates from the shadows. On the very rare occasions where they made a physical appearance, such as a particularly important ceremonial fight, they only appeared while shifted into their so-called ‘anthro’ forms—an intermediary state between their human and beast selves.
No one save their closest subordinates knew the true identities or faces of the alphas. Although they didn’t control the underground completely, they were highly respected within it, while being utterly feared by both the paladins and the general public alike. The alphas were indisputably some of the most powerful, influential, and dangerous people in all of Abraxas. Alex couldn’t decide if meeting an alpha in-person like this made him the luckiest or unluckiest paladin in the city.
“Aren’t you … supposed to be a wolf or something?” he said.
Lea took away her paw from his chin and threw back her head in roaring laughter.
“Aren’t you supposed to be the beastess expert? No, my dear. Any type of beastess may become the High Beastess of her pack, if she rises through the ranks.” Lea gave him a knowing sideways glance. “It is simply a matter of … dominance, little church mouse.”
Alex shuddered.
… Not entirely out of fear, he was ashamed to admit to himself.
“Do you like our little set-up here?” She gestured towards the neon lights and curtains in the abandoned building. “These aren’t all for you, of course—we also hold ceremonial fights here, occasionally.”
“However,” the lioness continued, “the robes, the table, the restraints, and your … lack of attire?” She jerked a thumb to one side of her and smirked. “All Syd’s idea.”
Syd shrugged and said, “I just wanted to give you a good scare!”
All right. Enough with the games.
“Could someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Alex yelled. “Why am I still alive? What do you heathens want from me!?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted his outburst.
Syd was on him in a flash. She moved like lightning, faster than her massive physique would suggest.
Her upper lip curled into a snarl.
Her eyes stared daggers into Alex.
Her hand wrapped around his entire throat and clenched.
“You do not talk to Alpha Lea that way!” Syd growled.
Alex panicked in his restraints, wheezing as he tried in vain to take a breath.
He could feel her claws sharpening against the flesh his neck.
“What did I tell you about speaking out of turn?”
The edges of his vision tunneled.
Everything started going dark …
“Easy, Syd,” the lioness purred. “Down, girl. We need our prey alive.”
Syd released his throat immediately as commanded.
“Yes, Alpha.” She backed down and resumed standing in her spot to one side of Lea.
Alex coughed profusely as his lungs gratefully took in as much air as he could. He looked over at Syd, expecting her to be scowling at him, but instead her expression was … docile. Obedient, even. She wasn’t even looking at him—she was watching her alpha.
In fact, as he looked around … all of the hooded beastesses were staring directly at Lea.
Loyalty runs deep in this pack of sinners. Honor among thieves, perhaps?
With a sigh—the sigh of a big cat reluctant to stop toying with her captured prey—Lea said, “I suppose we should inform you why you’re here.”
Lea frowned. Placing her hand paws behind her back, the muscular monolith of feline femininity spread her legs apart into a power stance. Her ears flattened against her skull and her tail twitched behind her. She narrowed her amber eyes as she coldly regarded Alex.
“And why we haven’t killed you instead.”
The lioness looked over at Syd and flicked her tail, gesturing her to step forward. Syd complied, being careful to keep her distance this time.
“The second-in-command of our pack—our beta—went missing about a year ago, and we suspect the academy has something to do with it.” Syd cleared her throat. “Audrey, could you … pull up a picture of her?”
“Of course, Sydney,” Audrey said. She stepped to the other side of Lea and projected a holographic green-framed picture from her eyes into the air.
Everything about the woman in the picture screamed ‘don’t fuck with me’. To Alex, she looked about the same age as Sophie, maybe older, but it was hard to tell. Scarred, tattooed, and pierced, the butch woman had a history painted all over her sinewy powerful body—a history of survival and fierce resistance to a world that did its best to stomp her down. Her short chestnut-brown hair was shaved into a fade on all sides and combed neatly into a no-nonsense spiky faux-hawk. She had her square jaw set in determination and was giving a stone-cold stare into the camera that gave Alex the shivers.
She was exactly the kind of pagan that the Supreme Church had taught Alex to hate. Although lately it was getting harder and harder to find a reason to do so.
“Her name is Mackenzie Fiero—Mac for short. We call her Beta. She’s Alpha’s most trusted associate and advisor within the Pack of Abraxas West. And we want to find her … hopefully alive.” Syd ran a hand through her hair, parting the purple locks with her fingers. “You know how special your templar friend is to you?”
“Y-yeah?” Alex answered.
“Well …” Syd looked down at the ground, lost in thought. “… Beta’s like that to me. Mac has been my mentor ever since I joined this pack, and Alpha has appointed me as our pack’s acting beta until we find her. I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for her.” She rubbed at her eyes, which had grown slightly wet as she spoke.
This was a new side to Syd. Something tender. Wounded.
As guarded as Alex was—she was still his kidnapper, after all—he couldn’t help but feel a pang of empathy for the beastess. If he ever lost Sophie, well …
His mind turned to static. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself.
… Wait, did that also mean that Syd was around the same age as Alex?
Lea spoke up, sensing her acting beta’s reluctance to speak further. The large lioness lady paced as she spoke.
“There have been rumors in the underground in the past few years that the archbishop of Abraxas is hiding some nasty secrets, which he would very much prefer didn’t get out,” the lioness said. “Initially I didn’t pay much attention to them beyond the occasional gossip, but I came to learn about a year ago that these secrets had something to do with beastesses—with our kind. So I asked Mac to investigate Archbishop Steele.”
She stopped pacing.
“Two weeks later, she disappeared.”
Lea tapped the bottom of her muzzle with the finger of one hand paw.
“Now, I don’t think they killed her. Trust me—the Church would definitely have let us know if they did. They wouldn’t be able to resist sending a message like that to us. My suspicions were confirmed when I met with the archbishop—”
“Wait, you met Archbishop Steele?” Alex asked.
Syd was about to chastise Alex again for interrupting, but Lea smiled and winked at Syd, which seemed to calm her down.
“I do have a day job, you know,” Lea replied. “A very well-connected one.”
Ah. That would explain the expensive magitech in Club Demiurge, Alex thought.
“Anyway, the archbishop got a bit too drunk at dinner, and in confidence he made some strange comments that inadvertently gave me a lead in finding my beta.”
The lioness crossed her arms and popped one hip to the side, the fabric of her black dress perfectly accentuating her figure.
“Everything he said pointed squarely at Abraxas Paladin Academy. Which is why we need you. You’re not at liberty to know exactly how or why yet …”
Lea looked aside at Syd, gently fidgeting with the crescent moon necklace around her neck, before looking back at Alex.
“… Unless you accept our offer.”
There was that word again.
Offer.
“Wh-what is your offer?” Alex asked.
Lea placed her paws on her hips.
“It’s simple, really. Betray the paladins,” she said, “and help us find our beta.”
… Betray them and help us.
Betray them and help us … OR …
The unspoken implications of her words took a second or two to sink in before he replied.
“… Or what?”
Lea approached Alex until she was face to face with him. Her hot breath on his chest gave him goosebumps.
“Or we’ll find that templar friend of yours, slit her throat with our claws, and make you watch before we do the same to you.”
… No.
No!
“S-She’s t-t-too strong! You could never … She would fight back! She would protect me!”
“Oh really?” Lea raised one eyebrow.
Alex laughed defiantly.
“Really! She would kill all of you before you ever had a chance to—”
Lea curled her muzzle into a snarl and roared. A deep, guttural, primal sound of thunder from within.
A sound older than humanity itself.
“Try us, little church mouse.”
The lioness unsheathed her claws and slashed them across Alex’s exposed chest.
Alex gasped.
A sharp sting radiated out from his chest, down the nerves of his arms and shoulders, in waves over and over again.
It wasn’t deep enough to kill, but the blood ran down his body from the claw marks in small bright red rivers.
His nostrils filled with the smell of copper.
“FUCK! Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK …”
No thoughts of confession to ask for forgiveness later. No thoughts of the sin of his vulgar words.
Only pain—hot as a branding iron.
“Make a decision, Alexander.”
“G-Give me a moment, please!”
It took all of his concentration, but eventually his fear overrode his pain, and he could actually stop to think for a moment.
A beastess—no, a High Beastess—was threatening both his life and the life of his only friend, unless he betrayed everything he believed to help these pagans—betrayed the Supreme Church, betrayed the academy, betrayed Bishop Ironside …
Betrayed Sophie.
Alex would rather die than undermine the trust of his only friend. But he couldn’t let her die either! Fuck, why was he so bad at resolving paradoxes? Stupid idiot! He felt so defeated, so frustrated, so hopeless—
Wait.
A fragment of a memory shimmered into the forefront of his mind, clear as a shard of crystal.
An apologetics lesson from last year. He had been late to class that day due to some … ‘light hazing’, as Bishop Ironside called it, from a couple of his more frequent bullies among his classmates. Luckily he had learned long ago to bring a spare cadet uniform in his bag to change into, just in case his first one got stained by, in this day’s case, a plate of spaghetti dumped on his lap ‘accidentally’ at lunch.
He had just sat down, cheeks burning from embarrassment, and winced as the teacher’s scolding and his bullies’ snickering washed over him in a wave of humiliation. In his seat he had retreated away from the situation mentally, which always came so easily to him in times like these. Retreating from reality always helped when things got too complicated to handle.
Numbing always helped whenever he felt weak and powerless.
He had cracked open his textbook robotically and was flipping to the page for that day’s lesson, when a pull quote on one page caught his eye and branded itself into his brain like magic runes into iron.
It read, “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”
Maybe if the problem made him feel so hopeless … the solution to that problem was simply that he had to hope he would be able to resolve the paradox. A belief in himself.
And what would that hope give him?
Anger.
Anger at what?
Anger at these pagans for putting him in this position?
No.
Speak the truth, he told himself.
Anger at God for putting him there. Anger at God for creating Alex to be so weak that he could do nothing to stop the beastesses from capturing him. Anger at God for never answering his prayers.
Anger at God for forsaking him.
Then, courage.
Courage to do what?
Courage to listen to a group on the margins of society, sinners even, who through his studies he knew were treated like dirt by the paladins, by his Church. Courage to grant forgiveness to sinners, for they know not what they do. Courage to help someone in need, to help a woman find her best friend again.
Courage to protect his own best friend.
… Even if she hated him forever.
Alex looked up with a determined expression, making direct eye contact with the expectant faces of Lea, of Syd, and of all the other beastesses gathered around him.
The claw marks still stung, but he was alive. Which meant that he still had agency, a future, an opportunity.
Which meant that he could choose to do the hard thing. Because he believed in himself. Because he had hope he could.
… Which meant that he had strength.
“To find your beta … how can I help?”
Lea raised her eyebrows, then smirked. She seemed very pleased by the confidence of his answer.
The feline lady stepped closer to Alex, directly meeting his courageous gaze with her piercing amber eyes. Her lips curled away from her muzzle into a wide hungry smile, showing off all of her gleaming, glittering, razor-sharp teeth.
“That part is also simple, little church mouse.”
In that moment, that massive lioness woman in a gorgeous black dress might as well have been an avatar of the Goddess of the Hunt herself—answering not his prayers, but his desires, and extending to Alex a divine invitation:
“Join us.”
Alex blinked. Huh?
“What do you—like, you wanna hire me as a spy?”
Syd stepped forward next to her alpha, even closer to Alex than the lioness.
“Sort of … but I think you’re misunderstanding what Alpha is saying, Lexi,” Syd said with that wolfish grin again. “We want you to join us …”
Syd slammed her hand into the platform right next to Alex’s head …
… leaned in close …
… and softly growled into his ear the five hottest words he had ever heard in his life.
“By becoming a beastess yourself.”