Ursanthropy

Jack

We stood at the border of the pack, all ready to set our plan in motion. One more look towards the cats next to me, and when the lead warrior nodded, I knew that Maxwell had given off his signal, for me to be able to get through the back door of the packhouse.

I didn’t shift into my bear, as it would have been too big to silently walk through the forest. So I just kept low, walked carefully, and after about half an hour I reached the back of the house. It worried me though, that there was no single warrior to guard the house at this time. Are they all inside?

But there was no time to think about that now. I climbed up the single metal stairs that lead to the backdoor of the kitchen and I slowly opened the door. I ended up in the pantry, where boxes filled with supplies and ingredients were stacked up and I quickly hid behind them as I saw someone walking inside on the other side of the room.

Shit! That wasn’t the girl that I needed here now! I waited for several more minutes as the woman had left, and then I moved myself a bit more to the front of the room. I peeked through the gap of the door and noticed the red haired girl, which was supposed to be Cindy, wash the dishes. But she wasn’t alone in the kitchen, as there were several people getting plates ready to be served out into the dining room.

So, I waited a little longer, for them to start the next course, so that the redhead would be alone. But I couldn’t just walk in and start talking to her, I needed her here in this room with me. I looked around and saw some new pots and pans stacked upon each other and I pushed them over to make some noise, at which I jumped behind a crate to see if she would come in.

“Hello?” I heard her ask into the pantry, but I didn’t reply. She slowly walked in further and when she was close to the crate I was hiding behind, I grabbed her by her waist and put my hand over her mouth, to stop her from screaming.

“Shh! Cindy, don’t worry, it’s me, Jack!” I said as I kept holding her, because she was still squirming, aching to be released from me.

For fuck sakes, if she is going to trust me, than I have to say those words that Bertha has told me!

“Shhh! I know who you are, and that you have worked for Bertha! I’m here to claim back my title!” I tried, whispering her in an angry tone. But she wouldn’t have any off it, and I sighed.

“Don’t get angry with me, but I know that you have… pleasured yourself… while looking at me when I was taking a shower in the packhouse, after training.” I whispered and instantly her body stopped moving and her temperature rose a few degrees.

I let go of her, and she turned around and slapped me across the face! Just like I had predicted she would… “She promised me she would never tell a soul!” She yelled at me angrily.

“I know! But it was the only thing that I could say, to make you believe me! And you are the only one that can help me right now!” I said to her, and she looked rather confused, before I started to tell her my plan.

“So, are you with me?” I asked her, as soon as I heard the kitchen staff coming back into the kitchen.

“Yes, I guess. But only because I trust Bertha!” She said, and even though I didn’t like that statement, as I wanted her to be able to trust me, I was still happy that she was going to do as I had asked.

One by one, all of the other kitchen staff came into the room and I explained them my plan and what had happened in the barn. Not exactly telling them about Doreen going berserk, but about the parts where Dennis had deceived me and their future Luna.

So, now I had a bunch of inside people that could inform me by all the things that were happening around here. To figure out where Dennis had been planning the gathering and where he would want to rile up all the Alpha’s, to lure out the hunter King.

Doreen

I totally understand why Jack wouldn’t want me inside the packhouse, as that is much too dangerous now. But even so, I felt rather useless. I am supposed to be a Queen, so I have to be able to lead, fight and rule, wasn’t I?

So, I nodded to Vic to get a move on, at which in her turn she pulled her new mate with her. He was looking rather confused, but he wasn’t stupid enough to contradict any of his mate’s movements.

“Where are we going?” He started asking Vic, but she shushed him and we kept on moving North.

I wanted to go to the barn, where I had gone frantic, not that long time ago. Not to be all melancholic about the things I had done in there, but to be able to freely talk with each other and maybe come up with another plan. I had actually been thinking to point all the people that we could save, towards that barn, so they would at least be covered and we could protect them more easily.

As we neared the edge of the forest, there where I had been pinned against a tree by two of my father’s hunters, right before I went haywire, I thought that no one would be here. I mean, Dennis had been pulling away every other perimeter guards, so why were a few of them here?

I looked around and started to count how many of them there were. At least four groups of three warriors were stationed close to each corner of the barn, as if they were guarding something that was inside. But Dennis wouldn’t be stupid enough to only keep guards on the outside, so they must be inside as well. So, twelve bears outside and an unknown amount inside. Shit!

“How are we going to get them away from the barn, without getting them hurt?” Vic asked me, but I was a step ahead of her. A good one, I hope.

“Oh, no you don’t!” She whisper shouted, but I was doing this. I have to.

I undressed myself, and nearly chuckled when Vic shoved Thor aside, for him to not be able to look at my naked body. I was grateful for it as well, but if my plan would work out, then more people are going to see me naked, so, I figured to just take a few deep breaths and finally embrace my title.

My mind drifted off towards my feelings and happy experiences that I have had, ever since this all happened. And when I was calm on the inside, I let myself shift into my bear.

I felt my hands break on several places, my snout was appearing as I could see my nose shift forward, my body became heavier and furry, and finally I was shaking my body to feel the fur dance on my back. I sighed inwardly, not wanting to make any sounds, before I stepped out of the treeline.

Immediately, the first group of Jack’s former warriors noticed me walking towards the barn and came running towards me.

“Who are you!” One of them shouted.

“Shift back to human!” Another one said.

I growled, trying to get more attention, also from the other groups of guards, before I would shift back. The lead warrior, as I noticed him coming my way, tried to use his command to overrule me. I felt a little urge to listen to him, as he wanted me to shift back too. But if it were up to me, I could overrule him with ease. It was fun to realize that I am way stronger than they are now. I never could have guessed that a few years ago, I would find myself in this spot, where I would be able to fight off an actual bear!

Not that I was going to do that now, but still…

When all of the outer guards were surrounding me, I was ready to get into the next step. I used my human senses to shift back, right in front of them, and when they realized who I was, they all gasped. And they didn’t gasp because I was their former Luna, but because I was a female shifter.

“But, but…” The warriors stammered and pointed at me in disbelief, as they couldn’t comprehend what just happened.

I was butt-naked, but there was no time for getting ashamed of myself now.

“Please, don’t link Dennis about me. Please, let me explain.” I started, hoping that Dennis wasn’t aware of my presence yet. “I know that you might think of me being a traitor, but I assure you that I never contacted my father in any way. I would never think of hurting you. Dennis had been the one that-

“It took you long enough though.” The lead warrior interrupted me, seemingly getting back to his senses as he listened to what I was trying to explain. He took his shirt off and gave it to me, to put it on. “But I guess that you had your reasons, my Queen.” He said with a smile and bowed gently.

The lead warrior is a bit older than any other warrior that now stood in front of me, so he must know about the fact that only royal females could shift. But the other warriors, who were perhaps too young to know of this, or they maybe knew of it but never suspected it to be real, just looked stunned at their leader and didn’t know what to say.

And what he did to me, to bow to me, was rather strange to see and experience. And at first I wanted to object to it, but decided against it eventually.

“Really? You aren’t angry?” I asked him.

“Well, I’m a little disappointed that Alpha Jack hadn’t interrupted Dennis’ actions earlier, but that doesn’t make him a bad Alpha per say, and you were just Jack’s mate for several weeks but you never showed me any bad intent. So, when Dennis had taken over without fighting Alpha Jack, I knew something was wrong.” He explained, and I could somehow relate to what he had said. But decisions were made and I hadn’t been encouraging Jack either to take it up with Dennis, when we were still in this pack.

“Thank you for your loyalty then.” I nodded to him, nearly bowing myself but that would have been really strange. “And thank you for being so straight with me. I’ve had my reasons to stay away for a while indeed, but Jack and I are determined to get back to our rightful place.” I replied, rather happily at the fact that we didn’t have to persuade these people with a battle.

“Good, because Dennis isn’t a very organized Alpha, to say the least.” He clearly undervalued the status of their new Alpha as he nearly huffed by saying those words, and the other warriors growled agreeingly to that statement.

I waved for Vic and Thor to get to me, as it was safe to come out. The men looked happy to see Vic again, and they even shared a few greetings.

“So, what are you guarding inside there?” I asked and I could see that the leading warrior was sighing displeasingly, as if he had hoped for me to not have asked that. “That’s Dennis’ new type of ‘income’.” He grunted. “Know that we didn’t agree to this at all, but we just didn’t have a single choice.” He said.

“Show me.”

“I’d rather not disturb you with anything like this, my Queen. We shall get them to safety, but please let us do it.” He begged me.

“Them? Who are you keeping inside here?!” I started to get angry and walked my way past him.

“Queen, please.” He reached out his arm, grabbing mine, but regretted doing that the moment I looked up at him in his eyes.

“I know I’m not a Queen officially yet, but you’d better be completely aware of your place now!” I growled and instantly he let go of my arm.

I shifted my hand into my claws and ripped the lock off the door’s handles in one go. Then I pulled the door towards me and when I looked inside I couldn’t understand what was going on. Everywhere I looked, there were women! Some were flimsily dressed, others completely naked. They looked frightened, dirty, wounded and malnourished!

“What has Dennis done to them?!” I yelled towards the lead warrior.

“He has been selling them off.” He whispered.

“He is trafficking women?!” I roared and I could feel fur sprout out of my neck.