Simon flexed in the mirror and grinned to himself. He was still getting used to seeing that wolf-man in the mirror, but he was definitely something Simon was tiring of. His fur was a tawnier color than most of the wolves he had seen. Most people would say that he was a pale brown at first glance, but there was a bit of grey mixed in that made the exact color hard to pin down. Though he wasn't tawny all over. His chest, hands, and the tip of his tail were white his ears and the top part of his muzzle were black. And of course, he still had his sandy blonde hair. In a way, it made him look a little bit like a German Shepherd. It's not impossible to suggest that the DNA spliced with him was from a German Shepherd/wolf mix instead of a pure wolf. Simon hadn't been able to learn much about who his donor was. But Simon didn't mind if he had a big of dog in him. It wouldn't have made him sterile.
What really mattered to Simon right now was how healthy he was. Because of his diabetes, keeping a healthy weight was a bit of a struggle. His diet had to be carefully monitored to make sure he didn't take in too much sugar. He had long gotten used to the usual insulin injections so he didn't flinch when the scientists injected the modified Animalia virus into him. Sure, he may be a completely different species, but he was a very fit example of a wolf-man. The white fur on his chest was thin enough to see the heavily-sculpted physique of his muscles. He could see his pecs and abs rippled under his skin. His arms and legs were heavily toned as well, each limb probably being at least twice as thick as what it had been before. His body was mostly on display as he was only wearing a pair of briefs, which didn't need any modifications to accommodate his tail.
Just then, there was a knocking at the door and a female voice said, "Simon, you're going to be late for school if you don't hurry."
Simon sighed and said, "Coming, Mom." He put on a dark green shirt and jeans, part of his new refitted wardrobe. He could hardly wear his old clothes without ripping them to shreds. Though Simon had fantasized of prowling around on a full moon in tatters. Probably not a good idea to do so now when Animalia relations with the rest of the country were too thin for comfort.
As soon as Simon was dressed, he walked out of his room and nearly bumped into his mom. It was still rather weird for Simon to tower over his mom, not to mention having twice her weight in muscles. However, his mom got a little teary-eyed and said, "Oh, my little boy's ready for her first day at high school."
Simon rolled his eyes and said, "Mom, it's hardly my first day."
"But it'll be your first day with all that fur," said his mom, brushing the fur on his arm, "You did brush it, right?"
Simon suppressed a groan of annoyance. Mom had always been a little overprotective of him because of his diabetes. The recent death of her brother only increased her concern about his safety. But it was really silly for her to be doting over a muscular anthro wolf like this. "I brushed it like you said," he said, "It's not that bad."
"You're going to be growing your winter coat and you'll need plenty of brushing," said his mother.
"Mom, I'm not gonna have time to apply at the police station if we don't move," said Simon.
"You don't have to be a policeman," said his mother with worry.
"But I want to be one," said Simon, "Uncle Doug was a great man and I wanted to be like him. Now that he's gone, I feel like I need to take up the mantle. Becoming a wolf will just make the job easier for me. Besides, I won't be doing anything dangerous yet. At most, I'd be an intern."
Simon's mom sighed and said, "I know, it's just hard to say my baby grown up so quickly."
"I'm still me, Mom," said Simon, "And I need to be heading out now. I'll bring back some chocolate donuts to celebrate later."
"Ah, ah, ah, no chocolate donuts," said his mom sharply.
"What? But my diabetes is cured! They checked my white blood cells and they're all normal!" complained Simon.
"This isn't about your diabetes, this is about your new species. Dogs can't eat chocolate and a wolf is just an old breed of undomesticated dog. The sugar might not kill you, but the theobromine will," said his mom.
Simon groaned and said, "I'm not pure wolf, you know. The Animalian virus might not have allowed animals to change their diet much, but I'm pretty sure we can still metabolize stuff better like humans. I mean, cats aren't supposed to able to taste sweetness but I'm pretty sure Karen's still eating gummy bears. Even though I couldn't go vegan if I wanted, I'm pretty sure Animalians can't poison themselves as easily as normal animals."
"Nevertheless, you're not eating one piece of chocolate until I hear it from your doctors that you can," said Simon's mom with finality. Simon whined and lowered his ears in sadness. "Don't you try using those puppy eyes at me," said his mom, "You can bring home donuts, but not chocolate donuts. Get the sugar glazed kind."
Simon groaned and said, "Fine, I don't have time to argue with you about this." He grabbed his backpack and hurried for the door. He was so looking forward to eating some chocolate donuts to celebrate his good health. Well, if that's the worse that could happen today, he'd still be satisfied.
++++++++++
The Animalia Police Headquarters had expanded a bit since it was first built. There were plenty of uplifted wolves and dogs that had wanted to join and quite a few converted humans like Simon. The anthro canines filled up the ranks of both Animalia and Lyre's police forces, though the wolves were mostly centered in Animalia. While the wolves were not aggressive towards humans, the uplifted dogs, having been around humans before they were changed, were a lot more adept at understanding human issues. Not that there wasn't the occasional German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, or Doberman to been seen at the APH.
Right now, Simon was sitting in a chair that allowed for his tail to swing freely. In front of him, Officer Shelly sat at her desk, looking over his paperwork. Her fur was tawny like Simon's, but the lack of long hair on her head told him she was born a wolf, not a human. Still, Simon wasn't discouraged. His new instincts were telling him that Shelly would be a proper mate, whether she was uplifted or converted. Though Simon had to put some effort into avoiding that kind of thinking. Since his conversion, his libido had spiked quite a bit, which was very normal for an Animlian. This meant he often had to spend quite a bit of time in the bathroom before he could get soft again.
Thankfully, Shelly broke Simon's line of thought before saying, "Well, everything appears to be in order. You've already reached your majority and your doctors gave you a clean bill of health. At this point, I'd give an invitation to join the academy, but you haven't graduated yet, have you?"
"I'm in my last year," said Simon.
"Well, don't drop out just to join us," said Shelly, "We might not have as high standards as other states, but we require at least a high school diploma before you can join the academy. But, I think we can offer an internship here. It's not much, mostly working files, getting coffee and donuts, but it'll put some spending money in your pocket."
"That sounds great," said Simon, his tail wagging.
"Don't get too excited. There are plenty of people applying for internship. But you might have a good chance if you do well in school," said Shelly.
"Ok. Speaking of school, I need to be heading there," said Simon as he stood up.
"You're going to Lyre High School, right?" asked Shelly.
"Well, yeah," said Simon.
Shelly smirked and said, "Watch out for Malice."
"I thought bullying wasn't allowed at Lyre High," said Simon.
Shelly gave him a wolfish (pardon the pun) grin and said, "You'll see what I mean."
++++++++++
Animalians were hardly a rare sight at Lyre High at this point. As a matter of fact, the school was starting to become a bit crowded with all the uplifted trying to get a diploma here. There was a lot of talk about building a second high school, but budgets had to be balanced, more teachers with an unbiased view need to be found, it probably wouldn't be even close to being done by the end of the school year.
Simon hadn't been a very popular guy before. His poor physical condition made him ineligible to play sports. Not to say that he was one of those really unpopular people. He was in the middle rank, not too great, not too little. Of course, things could change a lot now that he was a muscular wolf. Gym was certainly going to be a big change now that he'll be able to keep up with the class and easily surpass the human kids.
Simon was at his locker, getting the books he need for class when he smelled something. Well, it was really hard NOT to smell something with his new nose, but this particular scent was close and quite enticing. He looked around his locker to see a husky girl. Not 'husky' as she was a little on the chubby side. Indeed, this anthro dog didn't have any fat clinging to her amazonian body. Well, maybe her large breasts that were wrapped tightly by her tank top and her large hips and ass that looked slightly too big for the jean shorts she was wearing. It didn't take a genius to see she was a double-dosed. Her lack of tresses showed she was an uplifted, but she seem more than intelligent enough to Simon.
"Hey, you're the new wolf in town," she said in a coy tone.
"I'm hardly the only one," said Simon.
"I saw you at the ATE. It took quite a bit of nerve to go to Project Phoenix to get your diabetes cured," said the husky, "And you became a wolf so you can be a cop someday. That earns you a lot of points in my book."
"Uh, thanks," said Simon, starting to feel a little unnerved. Girls had never paid THIS much attention to him before. Was his wolf musk really that strong?"
The husky smiled widely and said, "I've been wanting to be a cop myself. I always did have a thing for a man in uniform."
If Simon's face wasn't covered in fur, it would be bright red. Do uplifted normally come on THIS strongly. "Well, er, I have to be..." he stammered.
"The bell's not gonna ring for a while. We've got time," purred the husky, walking up to him, almost pressing her bust into his chest.
Simon struggled to think of a coherent sentence when a voice snapped, "Mary Alice, what do you think you're doing?!" Another husky girl walked over at that. She was a lot like the first, but dressed more modestly with a t-shirt and skirt. Unlike the first one, she had black hair and brown eyes instead of the first one's icy blues. Walking behind her was a Dalmation uplifted wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts. His expression was one of slight annoyance, as of someone who's seen this situation happen before. The converted husky glared at the uplifted husky and said, "What were you thinking? Were you really going to seduce him on his first day back at school?"
The uplifted husky gave the converted husky an annoyed look and said, "I was just trying to be friendly."
"Yeah, 'friendly' was the right term," said the converted husky sarcastically, "You were gonna scare him off with all that. Humans aren't that forward with each other, especially not in high schools."
"Oh, lighten up, Sarah. You needed a big push to get into Travis's arms," said the uplifted husky.
"Wait, Sarah? Sarah Wesley from the Animalia Ambassadoria webshow?" asked Simon.
Sarah gave him an apologetic smile and said, "Yeah, that's me. Sorry about my sister. Malice is a little cop-crazy and she still hasn't developed much of a sense of modesty."
Malice. Suddenly Officer Shelly's warning made a lot more sense to Simon. Clearly, she knew about Malice's tendencies. The she-wolf was probably laughing it up with the other officers right now.
"Us dogs might live with humans, but we take a while to learn how to live like them," said the Dalmatian apologetically.
"You're doing a good job, Travis," said Sarah, kissing him on the cheek.
"Oh, so you're allowed to kiss your boyfriend in public but I can't flirt with mine?" growled Malice.
"He isn't your boyfriend yet," said Sarah, "He used to be human. He's not gonna be as easy to convince."
"Are you saying I'm easy?" asked Malice.
"That's not what I'm saying," said Sarah.
"It kind sounds that way," said Travis.
"You're not part of this discussion," said Sarah to Travis. Then she turned to Simon, "Again, sorry about Malice. I'll be sure that when she next talks to you, she won't be throwing herself at you."
"I was not!" snapped Malice.
"Not literally," muttered Travis as he followed the two husky sisters who were bickering quite a bit about the appropriate way to get a guy's attention.
Simon blinked, a bit bewildered by what just happened. Though he had to say that Malice was pretty cute, if a little on the forceful side. Maybe becoming an Animalian will improve his love life a bit. Though right now, he ought to head to class.