[b][u][center]The Feline Failsafe For Rayoelgatubelo By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b] There was a reason that most Weres didn’t get attached to a human, at least ones that they didn’t plan to turn at some point. While the resilience of a specific Were varied from species to species, they were all mostly immune to the various ailments that afflicted humanity as a general rule. They almost never got sick, they could recover from dangerous injuries with ease, and most of them were damn-near immortal. It meant that humans could seldom be more than playthings if you left them the way that they were born. Of course, most Weres were fine with that. They were happy to use humans as sex toys, as meals, and then move on. Ray had been doing that for a long time himself, but when he had met this girl… He looked over his shoulder, shaking his head at the sleeping, too-skinny human in the backseat. Lacey barely fit into her clothes these days, and not for the sexy reasons that so many Weres kept changing theirs. She’d lost over thirty kilos in less than a year, and the results were horrifying, even to someone like him. [i]Nnngh…[/i] He growled in his throat as he turned his attention back to the road, turning off the highway towards Shenandoah National Park. As the road went from smooth to bumpy, he fought the temptation to slow to a crawl, not daring to take it too slow at this point. After all, the heart monitor that he had in the passenger seat was showing Lacey’s heartbeat spiking and falling by turns. He didn’t know how much longer she had. Hell, he might have wasted too much time as it was. [i]I hate this,[/i] he thought, shaking his head. [i]I waited…and waited…[/i] If his mother had still been around, if Xu’maneem had seen him hesitating over this one little human… He shook his head. The jaguar queen was long gone, and there was nothing that she could have said to make him feel better or worse about this, anyway. What mattered was that he was doing this now. What mattered was that he might still be able to save her, now that she’d finally given her permission for him to try. They kept to the backroads of the national park, avoiding the different ranger stations. When the road got too narrow for him to drive, he pulled the car off to the side, making sure that the trees were between him and the road, and put it in park. “Looks like we’re walking from here…” “Nnnngh…” Whether that was a groan to tell him that she understood or just a sleeping groan of pain, he didn’t know. It didn’t matter, either; if they weren’t further in the forest, away from anyone that might see them, then this whole thing would get them both in trouble. Hell, he was pushing his luck, anyway. Ray got out of the car, sandals catching on a few bits of greenery before he kicked them off. They’d only get in the way. His button-up shirt was already wet with sweat, and his sweats were swampy on the inside from a nervous sweat. Everything felt too warm, and his heart was beating like it was going to pound a rhythm right out of his chest. He opened the back doors, and shook his head. Lacey was not in a good way, though she still had bits of her old beauty left. Pale skin, brown hair, soft eyes that were still warm despite her obvious pain. She looked back at him with the same smile that he remembered from the first time that they’d met, back when she was still thinking of becoming a vet. He’d helped her with that. Or at least, helped her decide that was what she wanted. [i]Playing doctor all the way back then…[/i] He shook his head, hooking his hands under her arms and pulling her free from the car. Even for him, even with all the strength that he usually kept hidden, she was painfully light. He had carried loads of groceries that weighed more than she did right then, and the dress she wore hung loose on her. Too loose. “I hope this isn’t too late…” Holding her to his chest, he carried her into the woods. Her legs bobbed up and down as he held her tight, the little pawprint tattoos on the tops of her feet catching his eye now and then. He remembered how she had screamed when the needle had gone in to get those, but she hadn’t moved a muscle, even when she wanted to punch his lights out for suggesting it. It was a good memory, if a bit of a sad one. That particular tattoo artist had been an ass, but he’d done the job well. Further and further into the national park they went, and he could feel the darkness rising behind them. The sun had been well on its way to setting on the road, and it was almost down, now. The light was fading, the many shadows of the trees cutting what was left and leaving them in dimness, darkness, and shadow. He picked up the pace, fighting the urge to transform. The Were in him wanted this done, to finally change his human over to a new life, one where she didn’t have to worry about this pain. He wanted to give her this…this… Nobody in the Were community could agree on whether the change was a gift or a curse. There were the old-new priests who said that it was a gift of Bast, for those that turned into felines, and he’d heard of quasi-religious orders that continued to maintain that their other shape was a curse from hell itself. There were too many split opinions on the matter for anyone to agree on where it came from or what it meant, but they were able to agree that it was a net boost to what they could do. [i]Nnnngh…why did you make me wait this long…[/i] Ray looked down at the unconscious human in his arms. They’d been together for years, now, years longer than it should have been legal. Few people knew how far they’d gone in their different kinks over the years… But not once had he actually finished inside of her. Not once had they risked her being transformed, becoming like him, in the world that they lived in. It would be too dangerous…and besides, she didn’t want it. It was the first time in a long time that he had cared about what someone wanted. Ever since the old times, Ray had never thought to check what the other person had wanted. It had always been whether it was safe to turn her or not, whether it was something that would get back to him and get him in trouble. If it was safe, he turned them. If not, he had his fun in other ways. Not so with Lacey…and that softness had made them wait, and wait, and wait, until it might be too late. [i]She’s so weak. What if the transformation kills her?[/i] It wouldn’t be the first time. He knew the stories. Back in the middle ages, all the way up to the AIDS crisis, there had been Weres that made money off of selling their transformative natures as a cure to people that were deathly ill. If they were able to make the transformation, then there was no choice but to give up the price. If they did not, then there was no reason for anyone to come looking. Ray came to a river in the depths of the woods, pausing at the edge of the flowing water. He looked down at the human in his arms again, shaking his head. [i]You’ll live. You’ll fucking live.[/i] He jumped over the river, following old, forgotten paths. There used to be other Weres that called these woods home before they’d been driven out in the old days. They had used it as their secret place, changing others and taking them through sexual rituals that were long-since forgotten, even by those that were descended from them. But they were still private. They were still hidden. And that was good enough for him. Eventually, Ray came to one of the clearings that were deep in the woods, well past the patrol paths of the rangers, and outside of any of the hiking trails. He paused, panting for breath as he took it in. It wasn’t much. The clearing had a ring of trees around it, the roots of which had been raised from the earth over many years. They looked like cages, or dens, giving space for those that lived beneath the trees. No simple den for animals, but rather for the Weres that had lived here. The roots circled around the place, forming a crater that led down to the tree that had been chopped down centuries ago, its trunk polished and smoothed to make for an altar in the middle of the woods. It was there that he laid Lacey, spreading her out with her head at one end, her legs slightly spread at the other. She groaned again as he positioned her, wincing every time that she had to touch something new. He shook his head, kneeling down by her. She slowly turned her head to face him, and their eyes met. “It’s…it’s time?” she asked, her voice less than a whisper. He nodded. “It’s going…to hurt…” He nodded again. “Quick?” “…Maybe.” She nodded, letting out a crackle of a breath as she leaned her head back on the log. She stared up at the heavens through the gaps in the wood above them, her eyes reflecting the moon before she closed them. Ray shook his head. He needed to be quick, even if the transformation wasn’t. He reached up to the buttons on his shirt, pulling them loose as he let the beast out. Crack, crack, crack, crack! The rapid shattering sound of bones moving out of alignment filled the air as his fingers started to bloat and grow, pushing forward, then clicking back into place. His hands swelled beneath them, his dexterity already on the wane as he pushed the transformation, pulling at it, making it go faster than it was supposed to. As his hands cracked and snapped, his fingers popping more than a kid that just learned the trick would do, he could feel the fur coming with it. Black strands were already growing out of the backs of his hands, rushing up his arms like a cheap CGI effect, the heat coming with them and burning under his skin as all the warmth of his body was sudden trapped inside. A hot sweat followed, dripping from his forehead as the fur sprouted along the back of his neck and started working its way up. He huffed and puffed as he leaned forward, sinking his fingers and his growing claws into the wooden stump. He growled under his breath, his jaws aching as he felt the pressure growing behind his skin. [i]Faster…faster![/i] He curled his toes in the soft earth, feeling the cracks spreading along the top of his foot and near his arch. Sitting on the balls of his feet made the shift easier, not so much of a crack as it lifted up, not so harsh, but the stretching of his lower limbs… Ray leaned forward, his face twisting into the usual snarl of pain and pleasure that followed the transformation. His teeth shined in the moonlight, each one slowly twisting, curling back, forming fangs rather than the blunt things that humans settled for. He panted, his breath getting hotter, wetter as his nose and lips started to pull forward, pushed out, his muzzle taking form. The black fur spread down his back and across his shoulders, his sun-darkened skin fading beneath the fur. He leaned in, huffing, sniffing, taking in the scent of the sick woman as his senses grew stronger. As he took in the scent of her sickness, it was everything he could do not to howl, not to scream as a cat would do in distress. There was a wasting smell, a rotting smell, and it was a horrible thing. Just as horrible as it had been the first time he smelled it on her, not knowing what it was. [i]It dies. It dies tonight.[/i] One way or another, her sickness would be done. Either the transformation would cure her, burning it out of her body, or she would be another casualty to the transformation of the Were, the curse that had burned through too many. He growled under his breath as his transformation continued, the prickling heat of the fur popping out of his skin continuing across his face, covering his growing muzzle, running up along his ears as they dragged themselves up from the side of his face to the top of his head. The more he changed, the more he grew. The human surged upward, passing the six-foot mark in short order, and then growing taller, taller, and taller still. His shoulders shook as they expanded, and his limbs ached as they dropped, expanded, grew, stretched to keep up with him. His hands clenched into tight fists, claws raking across his palm and then healing a second later. [i]Mine…she is not…going to be…lost…[/i] He struggled to hold onto that thought amidst the rage that came from the Were’s bestial side. It wanted to cut and destroy, to ravage the disease in whatever way it could. It wanted to hunt and stalk and kill it the way that it would its prey, even though it knew that was completely impossible. No, even though Ray knew that it was completely impossible. He had to fight himself, and harder than usual. He didn’t have this problem when he was in Were form, usually. It was…it was hard to hold it together when someone that he cared about was right in front of him. He cleared the seven-foot ceiling, panting hard as his tail finally ripped through his flesh, pushing out and whipping madly behind him. The black-furred Were-jaguar was almost complete, the fur spreading down his back, running over his hips and coming down his front. His pants, long since stretched to their limits, threatened to break. He pulled them down, knowing that he’d need them on the way out of the park. His cock, already bright pink in the fashion of a feline, was starting to push up and out, growing longer, thicker, harder. He ran his hand along it slowly, unable to resist the pleasures that came with the transformation as well as the discomfort. The more he touched it, the bigger it got, and not merely in the way of an erection. He growled under his breath, almost angrily stroking himself as he looked down at Lacey. He could feel the barbs growing under his fingers, the throbbing that came from their sensitive nature making him all the harder, all the hornier as his cock lengthened and expanded in his grip. [i]More…more…[/i] He hunched forward, fighting the urge to rut his own hand with the arousal that always came from the transformation. He was panting hard, his breath coming hotter, faster, and his need growing with it as his balls grew, fur covering them and dragging them down to the right, proper Were size. His eyes were bulging in their sockets, his breath coming faster, faster as he got hornier, hotter, bigger, more powerful. Finally, Ray managed to drag his hand from his cock as his sheath started to grow around the base. He walked around his human, his Lacey, looking down at her as he stood between her legs. She managed to open her eyes again, looking up at him. She hesitated, huffing, puffing, then tried to reach out for him. She could barely lift her hand from the stump, and it fell back down after a second or two of trying. She cried. “I…I can’t…” “I can.” He laid over her, forcing himself to be as gentle as he possibly could. The rougher that he was – and his Were form wanted to be rough, as it always did – the worse her chances of getting through this alive were. He had to be slow. Careful. He hated it, but not as much as he loved her. Ray leaned down, his teeth shining in the moonlight. This was the moment of truth. One bite, one little nip, and she would be on her way to feline-hood. She’d never be able to be a pure human again, and she’d be changed to something that…well, he didn’t know if she’d be able to control it. That was why they were so far away from other humans. Not just for reasons of secrecy, but in case things got out of control. Theoretically, he should have some power over her due to being the one that turned her, but that didn’t mean that it would be complete, or foolproof, or that she’d listen right off the bat. And that was if she lived through it in the first place. [i]Don’t think about that. Just…turn her. The longer you wait, the worse it’s gonna be.[/i] He looked down at her again, his naked body pressed against her dress, barely putting any weight on her at all. She looked back up at him, her cheeks so sunken in that he could see the bones through her skin. “Do it,” she whispered. He nodded, and leaned down, biting her shoulder. There was no eroticism to the bite, no sudden gasp of pleasure the way that the movies showed it when the vampires did it. The bite of a Were was pain and fire, burning through the host, and Lacey gasped, clenching her teeth and barely holding back her screams as soon as his teeth punctured her skin. She slammed her fist down against the stump, her legs kicking, her heels thumping against the wood. He held the bite, and more importantly, held her. She could break something if she started flailing. Not that the change wouldn’t fix that, but what if the recovery took up more of her life than she had left? No, he couldn’t risk that. He held the bite until he felt the heat under her skin, until he smelled the soft scent that meant that it had taken hold. As Ray pulled his teeth back, he saw the first little rosette pattern taking form, the beginning of her fur spreading out from the bite. [i]Full moon…happening now…[/i] Lacey screamed again, throwing her head back and shrieking to the heavens. She slammed her head back against the stump, and if she had been herself, that would have knocked her out from how hard she hit it. It was amazing she didn’t knock herself out now, for that matter. Ray braced himself, and just in time as she started thrashing around. The fur spread along her shoulders, and she screamed as they started expanding, the crick-cracking sound of bone breaking and then pushing out, healing and snapping again, making it louder and louder. It was so hard, so strong, he could hear it over her screaming. “It hurts! It hurts!” He didn’t say anything, just pushed down harder, trying to keep her pinned in place. It was more of a struggle than he expected, particularly for someone that hadn’t even gained – “AAAAAAAAAGH!” She screamed, pulling one arm back so fast that he didn’t have a chance to stop it. Her hand flailed about, growing, thickening, her fingertips – Ray ducked just in time as the new claws swept over his head, straining to grab her and shove her hand back down. The claws sunk into the stump, driving deep and grabbing the old, polished wood. She had almost caught him with that, and if she had… The idea of scars across his face had appealed to him as a kid, but not as an adult. He didn’t want to carry those for the rest of his life, and a Were doing that was one of the few ways to make it permanent. She was getting stronger and stronger, which was a good sign. It meant that the transformation wasn’t ripping her apart, but it meant that it was getting harder to hold her down. He grunted as he pushed down on her shoulders, trying not to crush her but trying not to let her get loose, either. Lacey suddenly roared from the back of her throat, arching her back off the stump. The sudden bump nearly knocked him off her, and it made him take a look at her, too. Her dress was ripping as her body got bigger and bigger, taller and sleeker and stronger by the second. Already, her neckline had plunged down to her belly button, showing off thickening muscles in her core as well as the beginnings of growth in her chest. Looking back up, her face was twisting, her lips stretching, her nose darkening. Everything was going according to plan. She was changing, and she was becoming – “MRRRRRRRRRRROWL!” She hissed and kicked, and managed to catch him right in the upper thigh. Not in his balls, thankfully, but close enough to them that he rolled right off of her, clutching at his crotch and hissing himself. Ray rolled to the side, hitting the ground and struggling to get back up. His human had already changed massively, her hands no more than paws, her fingers longer and thicker than they had been. Her ears were halfway up the side of her head, and her muzzle was more than half grown in. Her legs stuck out of the bottom of her dress, stretching out, her toes pointed and her tattoos on the top of her feet fading as yellow and brown fur spread out to cover them. Her ankle pulled up high as her feet stretched into proper feline paws, and she screamed again and again as her bones cracked and her body reshaped itself. As she arched her back again, her breasts swelled, growing out, getting bigger and heavier than they had ever been as a human. It wasn’t surprising; the curse could hit some females harder than the males, exaggerating them in different ways. Some gained insane amounts of muscle, some gained greater height, some… Well, some became sexier. His cock throbbed as he watched her breasts fill out, growing out one cup size, then another, bubbling free of the gap in her dress. Her hips filled out, too, becoming wide and easy to grip, he imagined. The Were-jaguar smirked a bit at the thought – “RAAAAAOOOOOOOWR!” She roared as her muzzle came in fully, her tail whipping free from under her dress. Lacey pulled one arm up, ripping it free of the grip of the stump, and when she swung it around, a chunk of wood the size of his head came flying at him. He didn’t duck in time, either – THUNK! Ray flew head over heels from the bruising experience, and he slammed down hard, clutching the side of his head. [i]Starting to see why thralls are a bad idea…[/i] Groaning, he pulled himself upright, blinking away the dizzy daze that the impact had left him with. He got his balance back just in time to see Lacey rip her other hand free, finally managing to get off the wooden altar. “…Shit.” With another yowling roar, she ripped her dress off, throwing the fragments of the white cloth to the earth. She was completely naked, now, her eyes wild, her body that of a wild hunter that stood head and shoulders over any human that he knew. She looked at him, growling deep in her throat. [i]…Shit. She’s wild…[/i] The Were-jaguar leaped for him, her claws outstretched, and Ray did the only thing that he could think to do. He fell. He landed on his back, bringing his own paws up. They hit her right in the stomach, lifted her up in her pounce, and threw her overhead. She yowled in surprise, going flying right into one of the trees, slamming into it so hard that the old wood cracked from the impact. Ray was already back on his feet, running for her as she struggled to recover. The black-furred jaguar leaped through the air, grabbing her claws as they came up, and he shoved her back against the tree. “Down…down!” She hissed in his face, lost in the grip of her new instincts. She even lunged forward, trying to bite him, and only the fact that he was more experienced than she was kept the bite from landing. Lacey was strong. Painfully strong. And he needed to finish this before she learned how to use her new body properly. With a grunt, he reached for her hair and grabbed it, pulling it into a loop around his hand before using it to pull her head back. She growled and clicked her teeth in anger, but he managed to hold it as a leash and turn her around, slamming her back against the tree. “You’ll thank me…for this…” Using every bit of leverage he could get, he held her pinned as he forced her tail up. Despite her rage, she was dripping wet, her body burning up. Her pheromones hit him, and if he hadn’t been ready for it, he would have been foggy-headed almost immediately, lost to the scent and eager for more. Instead, he held her tight, his throbbing dick sliding along her thigh as he got into position. She growled, trying to kick, but jaguars were not made to kick backwards. They could do it very well forward, or down, but not backwards. With a half-thought of admiration for her bigger curves, he lined his cock up and plunged into her. It was so hot, so wet, and so much [i]better[/i] than triple-wrapping himself in a condom to slide into her pussy had ever been. He leaned forward, growling in her ear in a mix of need and domination, holding her down as he filled her to the base. She stiffened under him, still growling back, but not nearly so loudly, not nearly so forcefully. She needed it, alright. She needed him to take her, she just didn’t know that she needed it. Ray pulled back slowly, savoring the feeling of hot flesh against his barbs for the first time in far too long. The way that she clung to him, the way that her pussy squeezed down, meant that he could feel everything with her for the first time…well, ever. In, out, in, out, his thrusts slow, but steady. He took his time, building it up, making sure to savor it. He knew that she would need more than one, but at the same time, he knew that he needed to give himself the time to adapt. Too long since he had someone like this. Too long since he could really feel flesh on flesh. Fur on fur. [i]She’ll live…she’ll be okay…[/i] In and out, in and out, picking up speed so that his balls started swinging forward. Black fur against tawny and rosetted fur. Male on top of female. Rutting. Fucking. Smack, smack, smack, went their hips as they came together. She stopped growling, her sounds turning to a soft mewl instead. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing. He needed her. Needed to feel her against him. In and out, in and out, each thrust bottoming out inside of her, the barbs raking against her inner flesh. She was gripping the tree now instead of trying to fight, her claws dragging lines down the old bark. He pushed her forward, and she moaned against it, panting hard. Her pussy dripped around him, soaking his shaft, his sack. [i]A little more…a little more…[/i] The Were-jaguar grunted under his breath, his cock throbbing, oozing, twitching. He hadn’t been so hard in a long while, and he loved it. The way that she was starting to push back, the way that she was clinging to him, the way that she CLAMPED and squeezed, trying to keep him inside of her. It was just what he needed. Just what he had always wanted. And now, he could have it anytime. Now, it was safe. In and out, in and out, his breath puffing past her ears, his teeth raking along her neck and shoulders in bite after bite, instinct pushing him to keep her pinned in place so that she couldn’t get away from the breeding thrusts. He couldn’t stop himself. He needed to. Kittens as a possibility or not, he [i]needed[/i] this. With one final yowl, he rammed himself in up to the hilt, holding himself there as his balls pulled up. He felt her clench one more time – And he went over the edge. Biting down on the scruff of her neck, he held her there as he filled her to the brim, feeling and savoring every single twitch and pump of his cock. He could feel every rope of cum that came free, shooting into her depths. No condom to catch it, this time. No diaphragm, no spermicides. Nothing but raw, bareback pleasure. He could feel the gooey mess inside, felt the slippery slime that collected around his cock. It didn’t matter. He needed it. He needed her. And she needed this. Even when his orgasm came to an end, he held himself there, huffing and puffing as he felt his seed still inside of her. They had avoided this for years, but now…now they could be as open as they liked, as long as they didn’t show their forms to other people. Slowly, Ray pulled himself out, taking his time so that he didn’t drag everything out with it. Some cum came free, obviously, but not all of it. Not nearly all of it. Just enough to leave a silvery white trail coming from her pussy at the end of it, a few globs hanging down in silvery ropes that led to the ground. He smiled at that, knowing that he had marked her as well as he could have. “Lacey.” “Nnngh…” “Lacey, you’re safe. You’re fine now.” “Mmmph…” “…Lacey?” His smile faded slightly, and he turned her around. She looked back at him, and…and there was something off. She still had the eyes of the woman that he’d been with for years, but something was off. She was…dull. Not as bright, not as quick as she had looked just an hour ago. The jaguar stared at him, struggling with her mouth. “Nnngh…not…n-not…” “Not what?” “Nnnnot…working…right…” She shouldn’t be having this much trouble trying to talk, he realized. It wasn’t instinct as an issue, either, nor an incompatibility. Most people were able to talk as soon as the first feral rage was gone, and some of them were able to talk during that time, too, depending on how much they had been able to retain during the transformation. The thought that the transformation might have saved Lacey’s life, but not her mind, left him shivering. [i]Fuck, fuck, please get back to normal when this is over. Please, fucking please, don’t do this to me…[/i] He took her hand, squeezing it gently, and she stumbled into him. Her claws were rough, scraping him, though they stopped short of the point of cutting through his skin. She leaned into his chest and lowered her head. “Wwwha…whhha…” “I don’t know.” “Nnnngh…” “I don’t know…” “Nnnnngah…ah…ah…” She was crying, he realized, and he clenched his teeth to keep from doing the same thing. [b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]