Beset by fragments of dream, the wolfgirl dragged along the asphalt and cold metal, textures and sensations overlapping with an undeniable feeling of movement. Somewhere far away like television static in a distant room, voices constructed meaningless sounds of consternation. Rolled and pitched through the darkness, she accepted the blurry-eyed sleep of outside intoxication.
Hours later Callie awoke in a cage.
A terrifying situation, it was manageable for two reasons: one, it was an exceedingly large cage with a ceiling high enough that she could almost stand and stretch to her full height; two, the room around her was filled with similar kennels of furry, four-legged occupants.
Naked as she was, she shivered against the cool interior, clutching at her arms as she curled into a tight ball. Perhaps it would’ve been better to simply become a wolf again, but given her current location she assumed that she might either be destined for euthanasia or release into the wild, and neither option appealed to her ⸻ not that sitting in her birthday suit and waiting for someone to notice was especially preferable, but captured wolves couldn’t be choosers.
Examining herself for signs of lasting damage, internal or otherwise, she was both pleased and worried to find evidence of defensive marks only on her arms and sides where the bullets had cut her flesh. Scabbed-over lines and a handful of dents, they were already on their way to healing, though not as quickly as the other time she’d been shot; perhaps her human form was absent the regenerative qualities of her wolven alternate, or maybe it was an issue of lacking enough mana or some other necessary internal resource.
Left with nothing but time to think, she lost herself in the solitary frustration of her internal monologue. Eventually her patience was mercifully rewarded as the lights came up in the room, the sounds of a veterinary tech shuffling about her daily rounds interrupted by a sharp cry of surprise as she discovered Callie.
“I know you puppygirls can be very serious about your roleplay,” the tech told her later, once she’d retrieved the amazon from the cage and found her some ill-fitting scrubs to wear, “but you have to set a limit somewhere, okay?”
Humbled as she was by the experience, the wolfgirl managed an abashed nod.
“Was it Jenna that put you up to this?” she continued, prying into the strange circumstance. “She always gives off that kind of vibe, but I didn’t think she’d be into girls who are so … young. I mean, no offense, obviously.”
“None taken,” Callie sighed, letting her feet dangle over the examination table she was sitting on.
“I’m not well-versed in the rules of these sorts of games,” she nattered on, perhaps attempting to comfort the amazon with conversation or otherwise calm herself, “but aren’t you supposed to have a collar, too? With identification tags.”
“It’s more of a ‘taming an unleashed, wild beast’ sort of scenario,” she replied wryly, humouring the other girl.
“Is that so?” she chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief. “I know some friends who’ve fooled around in a few inappropriate locations before, but this takes the cake. Still, it’s a good thing you two weren’t in here when John came by last night; apparently they caught something big after it had a run-in with a pickup truck.”
“Something ‘big’?” Callie echoed, assuming she was the subject of the story.
“A massive wolf or small bear or some other predator,” the tech explained. “Whatever it was, it had to be twelve, maybe thirteen hands at the shoulder.”
“So like, bigger than a pony?” she asked, hiding her amusement in her slight half-smile.
“Almost the size of a grown horse,” she agreed. “Beautiful coat too, apparently, but they mucked up the documentation somehow and all the photos of it are too dark and blurry to see anything.”
“That’s a shame,” Callie replied, more for the sake of it than anything else.
“In more ways than one,” the other woman grumbled, the corners of her mouth turning down into a slight frown. “John was saying the PD called him up right after he’d brought it in. I guess that’s probably why it’s not here now, since allegedly it attacked some officers.”
“And so they killed it?” she ‘wondered,’ encouraging the tech to come to a desirable and obfuscatory explanation.
“Must’ve put it down shortly afterwards,” she nodded, thinking along the same lines. “Probably the body either went into the furnace, or will soon. That kind of aggression is usually a symptom of a disease or something like that ⸻ rabies and the like.”
Eventually Genie and Kelly arrived to rescue the wolf, creating further misunderstandings about ‘Jenna’ and her alleged paramours. All three ultimately had to endure a lecture that demanded they be more ‘circumspect’ about work-related play, and while the tech promised not to say anything about the incident she nevertheless strongly encouraged them to purchase ‘appropriate props and equipment’ for home use and keep their activities out of the office.
Thoroughly apologetic, all three women thanked her profusely for her willingness to give them a pass and promised not to do anything like it again.
Back home, Jersey was overjoyed to see the wolf returned safe, the sweet girl clinging to Callie’s waist in a tight hug.
“I was so worried that something dreadful had happened to you,” she murmured, an audible relief suffusing her soft soprano.
“Nothing that bad,” Callie insisted, gently returning the hug. “I fucked up the front of somebody’s truck and then had a nice nap down at Animal Control.”
“Still,” Jersey continued with a lingering concern, “why didn’t you leave when you were supposed to?”
“I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the cult mages,” she explained guiltily, far too conscious of the sad consternation in the other girl’s big cow eyes.
“You mean you were hoping to fight them,” Genie accused, having read the measure of the wolf so well that she didn’t even need to skim her surface thoughts.
“... Maybe,” Callie allowed. “I wouldn’t have shied away if they started something, but I did genuinely try to make a break for it once I saw all the cops.”
“But not before ‘eliminating’ a few,” Kelly countered, entering the conversation with a stern expression and crossed arms.
“They got in my way,” the wolfgirl grumbled. “What was I supposed to do? The guy that’d been after Jersey was there and he recognized me. I didn’t have a choice.”
“That’s disconcerting,” Genie agreed, her face a determined mask as she considered the complications her answer presented. “I would’ve expected the Veil to conceal you better, especially outside of your ‘beast mode’.”
“Maybe they have a method of piercing her protection,” Kelly offered as an explanation. “A revealing enchantment or something like that.”
“I doubt their magical acumen goes that far,” the djinn replied easily, dismissing the possibility. “Interfering with the Veil is much too difficult for the calibre of sorcerer responsible for such crude spells as we’ve seen; even I would struggle to weave an enchantment of the level required to fool such an ancient force.”
“But what about the messenger app?” Callie argued. “That goes right through the Veil.”
“It goes around it,” Genie corrected. “And I have almost nothing to do with that. The messenger only functions as it does thanks to Candi’s cleverness.”
“She must be like, hella smart, then,” the wolfgirl returned, impressed with anyone who could design a mobile program that somehow outdid an experienced practitioner of wish magic.
“You wouldn’t think it just from looking at her,” Kelly smiled at Genie, sharing in a private jest. “She’s an even bigger bimbo than I am.”
“So?” Callie huffed petulantly. “Jersey’s one of the most intelligent people I know, and she looks like a ⸻ … uh, like ….”
“... Like a daft cow?” the younger sister smirked.
“I wasn’t going to put it like that,” the wolfgirl muttered, “but it’s close-enough.”
“Moo!” Jersey giggled, teasing the taller girl.
“She still has a long way to go before she’s as big of a cow as Candi,” Genie chuckled, clearly not viewing the comparison as any sort of insult, “but it does seem like she’s headed in that direction.”
“Because of her wish?” Callie asked, skeptical of the possibility.
“That’s part of it,” the djinn acknowledged, avoiding the specifics of the magic, “but that’s as much our fault as it is her own preferences.”
The wolfish amazon made to argue, but stopped her reflexive antagonism before it reached her tongue. While she might’ve preferred to lay blame at Genie’s feet, Jersey’s insistence that her wish had been more broadly-worded was both undeniable and also somewhat desirable; it did make Callie happy to believe that the shorter girl had been thinking of her when she’d stated her request, and it was impossible to deny that the other girl’s curvy form was exactly her type.
To be perfectly honest, Jersey was the hottest girl she’d ever seen in her life. And besides, who was she to complain anyway? If being a tiny, blonde cow was what the other girl’s heart desired, then Callie wanted to support her decision and aspirations.
Plus, well, Jersey’s entrancing and widening silhouette forced her to consider a different kind of ‘support’ altogether. Whenever she saw the smaller girl waddling about the neighbourhood with big belly and a big dog, Xena escorting the very pregnant bimbo on a walk, it stoked that possessive and protective fire in her chest. Given her own lupine form it was difficult not to see the parallel in the imagery, and when she inhabited her wolfier body the feral snarl of her inner monologue was certainly quite telling. When she thought of her ‘den,’ the bestial creature didn’t associate that feeling with any particular place, but rather something else entirely.
To her canid form, the little cow herself was ‘home.’ The source of this chapter is g.com.
Even as she had the thought a great stone of guilt sank into the pit of her stomach, chastising herself for viewing the other girl as both ‘prey’ and ‘mate.’ Sure, they’d been friends for almost a decade, and while she didn’t doubt that Jersey found Callie’s new body quite attractive the same could also be said of the little cow’s view of Genie or perhaps even Kelly. Clearly the other girl wasn’t put off by casual sex with the wolf, but Callie hadn’t been directly in control of herself at the time and the smaller girl had been just as willing to allow Genie to sire the offspring she was carrying. There was no special bond there, and Jersey didn’t harbour a place in her heart for the wolfgirl as anything other than a good friend.
Maybe she could still feature somehow in the lives of the expectant little cow and her children, but ‘Aunt Callie’ was the limit of what she could hope to be.
“So what became of your phone?” Kelly asked, her mum drawing the wolfgirl out of her thoughts.
“I’m … not sure,” Callie admitted, regretting that she hadn’t planned better to avoid discarding it. “It’s possible the police picked it up.”
Which of course means I’m absolutely fucked, she sighed to herself. Between her shredded clothing (which did unfortunately include one of her very expensive and very pretty new bras) and the loss of her phone, the cult would likely prove capable of putting two and two together and discovering the identity of the werewolf.
“Fortunately, I don’t believe that to be the case,” Genie rejoined, leaving Callie grateful for the chance to hear good news. “In fact, the loss of her device might actually prove useful.”
Describing a process of sympathetic magic, the djinn related that the strong connection between one’s digital presence and the instrument of its access meant that Callie’s phone counted as ‘her’ in much the same way as a lock of hair or some other bit might. Given that the wolfgirl had already been drawn into Genie’s magic, the device worked well-enough as a periscope for observing the area around it.
Apparently the dark-haired woman had already begun using it as such and discovered a number of interesting details, chief among which was that wherever the phone was that morning it was in close proximity to at least one of the cult’s mages. Attempting to narrow it down further than the rough geographic location proved quite difficult, but at the very least the group learned who had recovered her smart device to begin with, and could work outwards from there.
Stretched out on her bed, Callie was dutifully working her way through the literature reading she’d been assigned when Jersey found her, the shorter girl ferrying in a tray with a number of goodies piled onto it.
“And what’s all this?” the taller girl inquired as she slipped her bookmark between the pages, sitting up to allow her sister some room.
“You’re always complaining about your appetite,” Jersey explained as she set out the snacks between them, “so I thought I might do something about it while we had the day off.”
“Did you make all of it?” the wolfgirl asked as she picked over the plate, stealing a thick slice of bread that looked deliciously fresh.
“Just finished baking, in fact,” the other girl beamed, happy to find her gift well-received. “Normally I’d let it cool a bit longer before slicing it, but I assumed you wouldn’t want to wait that long.”
Callie fixed her with a knowing smirk as she swallowed. “I didn’t even know it existed until now,” she laughed softly, motioning for Jersey to dig in now that she’d taken the first bite. “I think you’re just as snacky as I am.”
“Can you blame me?” the younger sister giggled. “I’ve got to eat for the three of us after all.”
“Yeah, Kelly was telling me you’re pretty far along,” the amazon agreed, eyeing the swell of Jersey’s tummy appreciatively, “so I figured you’d probably be ⸻ … wait, what?”
“I said, ‘the three of us’,” the shorter girl grinned, gently patting her stomach. “I was going to let you know earlier, but you’ve been a little busy.”
“Not too busy for this,” Callie insisted, her expression relaxing into a crooked smile. “Twins, huh? That’s … wow. That’s awesome.”
“Awesome like a hot dog?” Jersey teased.
“Like ten-thousand hot dogs,” the wolfgirl answered earnestly.
“Kelly advised me that sorceresses tend to have large families,” she explained, “so twins is something of a new normal for me, I expect.”
“That’s incredible,” Callie chuckled, returning her enthusiastic smile. “Now you can easily have as many kids as you’d like.”
Seized by a momentary fancy, she held out a hand and reached across the slight divider presented by the tray, reflexively trying for the other girl’s belly; realizing her mistake embarrassingly late, she snatched it back awkwardly, too mortified with herself to even try to play it off like she’d been aiming for a snack.
The fuck is wrong with me? she seethed, berating her sudden behaviour. I’m supposed to be happy for her and congratulate her, not make her uncomfortable. And she had to feel discomforted by Callie’s impropriety, didn’t she? Anyone would be grossed-out by the grasping claws of a monster.
“Hopefully it’ll be more than just me,” Jersey said cautiously, noticing the amazon’s hesitation. “It’s hardly a family with just the one mum.”
“I’m sure Genie won’t be a completely-absent sire,” Callie suggested, pointedly ignoring her own presumptuous motion.
“I don’t know that the Veil will let her stay,” the other girl replied, frowning. “From what I gathered from Kelly, the situation with Genie and her sister is rather unique.”
“Sure,” the older girl allowed, “but the two of us are caught up in that now, right? Since Kelly’s our legal guardian and everything. Surely Genie can be allowed to visit her daughters if you stay with the Andersens.”
“And is that what I should do?” Jersey asked, her tone implying that while she was looking for the other girl’s opinion, there was perhaps a ‘correct choice’ she already had in mind.
“Why not?” Callie answered, affecting neutrality. “They seem like nice-enough people, and Kelly and Genie could probably teach you a lot about being a sorceress.”
“While I agree that’s very likely true,” the younger girl hedged, holding the wolfgirl’s gaze like she was searching the ruby-red pools for some specific emotion, “I have to wonder what will become of my familiar.”
“Surely you won’t still need me when you’ll have a djinn around to protect you,” the wolf smiled placidly, burying her feelings.
“I don’t think it’s a question of ‘need’...” Jersey began, then stopped as if considering something. “... But perhaps you’d fancy being ‘Auntie Callie’? Along with however many other women you end up collecting.”
“I ... might like that, yes,” she admitted, frustrated with being offered a position so close to and yet so far away from what she truly desired.
As much as she fancied the other girl, Callie knew Jersey wouldn’t have even considered her as a romantic candidate. It was all there in the other girl’s words: calling her ‘Auntie Callie,’ speaking about ‘collecting women’ ⸻ it was obvious that at least one of the wolf’s demerits was her unconventional tastes. Not that it surprised her, of course; her outlook on love was part of what had deteriorated her relationship with her ex, after all. It had proved to be the undoing of all of her fantasies surrounding Jersey as her bestie had always referred to herself as ‘very monogamous’. The amazon’s polyromantic sensibilities were the antithesis of what everyone else wanted out of a ‘committed’ partner, and so she didn’t even make it to the consideration phase.
Sure, Callie would never say ‘no’ to taking another lover if she happened upon an especially agreeable girl, but she would only make that consideration after she was entirely certain she had the energy and ability to see to all of Jersey’s needs and wants. The mother of her children would always be her first priority in anything, and especially romantic partners.
I keep doing it, she hissed to herself, furious with the depth of her avarice. The twins are Genie’s, and Jersey doesn’t need to throw her life away for the sake of making some disgusting beast happy. I shouldn’t wish that curse on her.
As stubbornly morose as she was, the whisper inside her core pushed back.
You’re a beautiful creature, it reminded her, the gently feminine voice both patient and endlessly caring. Anyone would long to be wrapped in the protective arms of such a loving wolf.
Stop! she snapped back. This isn’t me! I know what I’m like ⸻ I know what kind of grasping predator I am.
A kind and sweet ‘monster,’ the voice insisted. One who cares deeply about her mate and offspring.
“They’re not even mine,” the wolfgirl growled in an angry whisper, her thoughts escaping into words.
“Callie?” Jersey replied softly.
“It’s nothing,” she said, waving away the other girl’s concern.
“Perhaps it would be best if you told me anyway,” the younger sister offered, her big cow eyes full of concern.
“Leftover depression or whatever,” the amazon shrugged, deflecting. “Doesn’t really matter.”
“That’s … strange,” the other girl murmured, studying the taller girl’s expression. “Or not ‘strange’ so much as it is disappointing. Genie told me that my wish was supposed to provide you with some amount of relief.” New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
“... I see,” Callie returned, having a better idea of why the voice in her head felt so familiar. “It’s not not doing that, I guess.”
“Are you worried about something else?” Jersey tried, searching for the cause of her bestie’s distress.
“I suppose that’s one way of putting it,” the wolfgirl hedged, cautious of oversharing.
Callie would’ve been happy to leave it at that, but the younger girl wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. Still concerned for the taller girl’s wellbeing, the little cow pulled at the thread.
“Well,” she began again, “I’m going to do a thing I don’t like when it’s someone else doing it, but ... am I the cause of what’s bothering you?”
“You’re not a bother to me,” the wolfgirl answered easily, lying by omission.
“That’s not what I asked,” Jersey insisted, prying further. “Are you upset because of something I’m doing? Or perhaps something I’m neglecting to do?”
“No,” Callie said truthfully, skirting the issue yet again. “I’m stressing over something that’s an overall issue, and it’s my fault anyway.”
“Ah,” Jersey smiled, believing she understood. “So it’s a romantic problem.”
Heart hammering in her chest, the wolfgirl inclined her head slightly, finding her mouth suddenly too dry to properly form words. Clenching her fingers into anxious fists, she sat for an awkward moment, building up her courage.
“It is, yes,” she admitted, hating herself for dumping her idiotic concerns onto the person she cared about most in the world. “There’s … someone I’d like to be closer to, but things between us are kind of complicated.” Holding Jersey’s gaze, she struggled to let her true self show. “I don’t know if we’d be a good fit for each other, and I don’t think she’s seeing me for what I really am ⸻ or even what I want to be. I believe she has this … mistaken impression of me and I have no idea how to overcome that misunderstanding, so I’m struggling with my feelings for her because of all that.”
It was a close-enough admission of the truth, buried in thick layers of vagueries designed to allow the other girl to retreat from the wolf. As much as Callie would be thrilled by a reciprocal romantic interest between herself and Jersey, she didn’t want to feel like she was forcing her desires onto the other girl. If the little cow truly had zero desire to be anything other than friends with the occasional feral obligation, the wolfish amazon knew she wouldn’t be able to stomach the damage to their camaraderie that her discomforting confession would cause.
Leaving the other girl an out, Callie held herself back.
“I think I understand what you’re getting at,” Jersey replied with a slight awkwardness simmering in her tone.
“... Yeah?”
“You’re worried about Megan, aren’t you?” the little cow posited, mistaking the source of the other girl’s apprehension. “That’s what you mean about romantic insecurity, correct? She’s fumbling around about acknowledging your gender, and you’re feeling guilty over it because you fancy her.”
“That’s ... not quite it,” Callie mumbled, a different source of guilt masking her face.
“You don’t need to hold back for my sake, sweet,” Jersey smiled encouragingly. “She’s quite attractive and very much your ‘type,’ her ingrained religiosity notwithstanding, and so you’ve been needling yourself over her inability to accept you qua a woman versus qua a romantic partner, the latter of which she’s been trained to believe must be expressly masculine to avoid agitating her internalised homophobia.”
“Sure,” the taller girl agreed, “there’s a measure of that which has been upsetting me in regards to her latent misogyny, but it’s a background thing ⸻ I don’t really think of Megan like that.”
“I’m not going to be upset if my familiar wants to start building her collection,” the other girl grinned, believing she’d uncovered the wolfgirl’s discomfort. “There’s no reason to deny it, either. I know what you got up to at the party.”
“How?” Callie returned skeptically, a cantankerous note to her timbre.
“We’ve been over this before,” the little cow giggled. “I can tell when my wolf’s ‘hungry,’ if you will, even at a distance.”
“Is that why you always come to find me at night?” she wondered aloud, suppressing her desire to preen over the other girl calling the amazon ‘her wolf.’
“I go looking for you because I’m concerned about you,” Jersey corrected. “But the contract does make you much easier to locate, yes.”
An adorable consequence of their magical bond, Callie would’ve been lying if she said she didn’t appreciate that expression of care; still, it exacerbated her sense of guilt, perceiving herself as a greedy predator taking advantage of her mistress’s generosity.
“That’s cute and very sweet,” the wolf replied, “but it seems a little one-sided. I mean, like, I’ve never ‘sensed’ any of your ‘needs,’ or whatever.”
“Haven’t you?” Jersey murmured abashedly, her cheeks taking on a fetching pink colouration. “You’ve ... appeared when I’ve needed you before, let’s say.”
Now it was Callie’s turn to blush, as she realised she could in fact recall the times she’d arrived to satisfy the other girl, though her altered perception prevented her from remembering the precise details.
“Well, I’m happy to help,” the reddened wolfgirl mumbled.
“The feeling’s mutual,” the minicow grinned. Despite her cheerful attitude, however, there was a melancholy hidden just behind it, the sentiment leaking out as Jersey set a hand against the enormous arc of her belly. “In fact, I almost wish….”
“Wish what?” Callie prompted, incredibly curious.
“It’s silly,” the other girl assured her, “and I shouldn’t be throwing the ‘W’ word around so casually anyway, not while I have one or two left.”
“I still want to hear it,” the amazon persisted. “You’re incredibly important to me.”
“Well,” Jersey continued hesitantly, “I was going to say that I wish you were my girls’ sire.”
The wolfgirl’s heart leapt into her throat, a queer tension radiating from her chest and spreading out into her limbs. Presenting a measured reaction on the mask of her face, the taller girl did her best to keep her desires in check, restraining the feral longing that lurked within her.
“You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean,” Callie told her with a crooked smile, bottling up her profound heartache.
“I do mean it,” the other girl countered. “You’ve wanted to be a mum for just as long as I have, and I thought that it might be nice if I could be the one to fulfill that wish for you.”
“Jersey,” the taller girl returned reproachfully, her admonishment in conflict with the yearning that lingered in her eyes.
“I know,” she sighed, her gaze falling into her lap, “it’s a selfish fantasy, isn’t it? Stealing all of your wishes and making them mine. I should know better, and yet I can’t help but want to be the one to give you the things you’ve long desired, like they were always mine to hand out in the first place.”
“That’s not it,” Callie replied gently, reaching across to take one of Jersey’s hands in her own, squeezing it with a comforting affection. “I’m flattered, honestly, and … a part of me does wish they were mine, too ⸻ but that’s not what we are to each other.” Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pushed down on her own selfishness. “They’re Genie’s twins, and that’s fine. We’re not a couple, not like that; I can respect the mistress-familiar relationship.”
“But don’t you want to be a couple?” Jersey asked with sincerity. “I mean, wouldn’t you fancy being co-parents together? ‘Mum’ and ‘Mummy,’ or whatever you’d prefer.”
“... No,” the wolfgirl answered honestly. I want to be much, much more than just that, but I can’t let you shackle yourself to a monster out of obligation. Taking a deep breath before she continued, she forced herself to project a sense of calm, concealing her true self beneath it. “It’s very sweet of you to offer, but if I were going to have children then I would want to do so with my partners, not someone who’s just a playmate.”
The other girl turned her eyeline back to the amazon, her big cow eyes damp with an emotion she didn’t understand. “And that’s what we are? ‘Playmates’?”
“Aren’t we?” Callie returned with a melancholy half-smile, absolving her sister of any mistaken responsibility. “The sex doesn’t mean anything else, right? It’s just like with Genie and Kelly.”
Though the wolfgirl had intended her words to be reassuring, they curiously appeared to have the opposite effect. If anything, the smaller girl seemed quite disconcerted as if she’d been hoping for some other answer, but Callie refused to let herself project her own interpretations onto the other girl; she knew she was only seeing what she wanted to be there, as hopelessly smitten as she was with her sister. It would be cruel to pursue her under false pretenses and demand more than the other girl was willing to give. The twins already had a wonderful sire in Genie and an amazing mum in Jersey; there was no need for Callie to involve herself and muck everything up.
“I see,” Jersey finally said. “Well, I’m glad we cleared that up before I tried to push you any further.” Thumbing at the corners of her eyes, she stood up suddenly, fussing over the tray. “I suppose I should let you get back to reading.”
As an awkward silence began to build between the two, Callie struggled to find the will to break it. Instead she simply watched as Jersey cleared away the plate and then unceremoniously waddled out of the room, the little cow fixated on what was in front of her.
Feeling like she’d somehow ruined everything despite her best efforts to the contrary, Callie laid back down on the mattress, setting her hand where Jersey had been; mired in her own thoughts, she felt the warmth slowly fade away, hating herself for not having done anything to stop it.