"What's next is being careful," Rich said carefully, "particularly as we're now on the north side of Main Street."
"Main Street?" Karen said slowly as she turned back to the other two weretigers that were giving her the proverbial "tour" of the woods on the outskirts of Moon Lake, and outside where her family's home in Moon Lake was.
"The street that runs east and west through the middle of town," Olivia answered, "Surely you remember crossing the road at full speed?"
Karen paused for a moment and thought back on her path down the slope from Officer Tara Strange's cabin to the lake that the town she'd move to got its name from. She'd felt so excited, exhilarated, and strong that she'd been in a rather big rush and moved to a point that she didn't care all that much on the direction or many other details with regard to the journey. She wasn't quite ready to go back in the cabin, yet, and she could slowly feel all the instinctual knowledge of being a weretiger entering her mind, and that had left her with going to the lake to see the new her. Feeling strong and confident, she'd gone at a run, enjoying how easy it was for her to dodge trees, hurdle bushes and fallen logs, the fact that the pads on her feet weren't bothered by small rocks and fallen leaves or sticks as she ran, and even the ability to see so well in the darkness.
In town there were some street lights in places and she supposed that was for traffic and basic city management, as not every citizen in Moon Lake was a were, and thus they would need some illumination at night. Though, the lights that they had weren't the same as what she remembered from cities and suburbs around places the Charlestons had lived before, as New York City and Chicago both had a lot of light pollution. She'd commented on that to Peter when they first looked out at the stars during the family's first night in Moon Lake. Outside the town's city limits, Karen found that the area had even less light and she knew it, but her eyes could still see clearly, as if it was still daytime. And as she thought back, she thought she remembered a flash of black pavement and the feel of either concrete or asphalt against her paws as she ran toward the lake, but her mind had been so focused that she didn't pay it any mind at the time.
"Maybe... though I must admit... I think I've been on a bit of a high since transforming," Karen admitted, "I want to experience everything and see what I can do..."
"Which is understandable," Rich commented, "even natural born weres get a kick and rush of euphoria after their first transformation. In many ways... we know we're weres before that point, but we can't access all the abilities that go with it. In some ways you could even say we're jealous of our parents getting to enjoy all those benefits, but because we hadn't turned fourteen yet... we couldn't enjoy the same benefits."
Karen slowly nodded as Rich continued.
"However, that really shouldn't be used an excuse for going against Moon Lake's rules, much of which are designed and intended to protect the were secret and Moon Lake's normal population," Rich continued, "It's why we can't be transformed on private property without permission from the owner and in some public areas that are likely to see more traffic than others. It's not something to oppress you... it's to make sure that someone driving through Moon Lake on their way to Seattle or some place else doesn't see you and report it. Years ago... I can't remember for sure how far back, supposedly a trucker came across a were that was transformed for an odd reason on the side of the road outside of town and reported the sighting. He couldn't prove it and didn't have any images... and the incident was written off as "seeing things" at night. Had that occurred now with smart phones and digital cameras all that sort of stuff, that incident might have lead to the exposure of weres. And while Moon Lake has the benefit that the mountains do interfere with some cellphone signals... there are some companies that have either strong enough signals or towers that are close by that that isn't an issue..."
"So... I broke the law coming to the lake when I crossed the street?" Karen asked.
"In a sense... yes," Oliva said slowly, "technically you could say you were outside the city limits and thus the restrictions wouldn't fully apply... but even there, Moon Lake's police and justice system could still issue a proverbial slap on the wrist for just running and risking being spotted."
"Thankfully no one was coming," Rich said slowly.
Karen looked down to her feet for a moment, as she felt a bit embarrassed at the moment. Particularly at letting her excitement get the better of her. She loved the strength and power she could feel in her muscles and the flexing of the tendons that allowed her to extend and retract her claws, but she did recognize that she'd joined a community that had dedicated itself to staying hidden. The "being hidden" part was something that she was fairly sure her parents disapproved of, even now as they rethought things with regard to whether or not they became weres and what kind of weres they'd be, but it was still there and based on Mrs. Twist's explanation of the Mandatory Were Law, not agreeing with idea didn't remove it.
"Sorry," Karen managed weakly as she looked back to the other two weretigers and began to follow them back toward the road at a slower and alert pace. They mostly also did their best to keep trees and bushes placed to obscure any line of sight on them.
"It's okay," Rich assured her, "as I said... a were's first transformation, be it with a natural born were like me, or a transformed former normal like you and Olivia, can trigger a great deal of euphoria post transformation. In that your excitement is understandable. Olivia and I are just here to help you adapt and get used to things. Though first we'll head back toward the general area around the Tara Strange's cabin. It'll be closer to where my folks live and Olivia will have an easier direct route to where she lives in town."
Karen nodded and they continued on their way back toward Tara Strange's cabin and the main road that was now between them. She silently observed at the slope and the rose up ahead of them that was one of the peaks that surrounded Moon Lake. It was dark and woody and outside the city limits there were more coniferous trees that according some tourist guidebooks were native to Washington State, something very different from the planted forest that was in between the roes of houses in Moon Lake's wagon wheel layout, as those planted forests seemed to have trees from throughout the northern hemisphere. In a strange way all of it seemed to feel more like "home" now. Karen wasn't sure if that was because of her new status as a were or more that she'd been adapting more the town where her family had come to live in ways that being a were didn't relate to.
After a few moments, Karen could see the road approaching again and watched as both Rich and Olivia dropped down onto all fours and moved with the same precision and grace that they could on two feet. Their arms and legs were the same length, even with their feet much longer than before while transformed, which kept their spine straight and allowed them to keep their coordination. It was at this point where they paused and Rich turned Karen and lifted one hand slightly to then slowly shake it up and down, urging Karen to assume the same posture. She did so and fell to all fours with no pain and finding the position rather comfortable.
"I don't see anyone coming..." Rich said slowly, "but it'd be best to cross on all fours. That way if someone does see... we'd be more likely to be mistaken for an ordinary Mountain Lion or at worst an escaped pet Tiger."
"And once safely back in the woods on the other side and closer to safer hunting grounds... we can practice that, if you want," Olivia added.
"I'd rather not hunt right now," Karen said slowly. She remembered her talk with Mrs. Saxon that predatory weres did often hunt when they could, and a part of her was still nervous over the fact that the adult weretigress had also stated that mundane animals also seemed to fight back harder against weres than they might against a normal predator. While she did feel stronger and that part of her surprisingly had some interest in the concept growing, she didn't want to get hurt and figured challenging a deer in the fall on her first night as a were wasn't the smartest thing to do.
Rich and Olivia slowly nodded and then lead the way across the road with no lights or sounds as they crossed. Karen was amazed at how well she'd found she could move on all fours, as it seemed to be almost second nature to her now, but that was likely more weretiger instincts and knowledge filling her mind as more time passed. The pads on her hands weren't bothered by the grass and foliage and while the road was hard, it gave her no pain either. The group crossed the road with ease and quickly moved into the trees on the other side and began ascending the hill, roughly following the same path that Karen had run on earlier toward the lake. Karen even confirmed this when she caught traces of her own scent and knew it was HER scent as she'd brushed past trees and bushes earlier. Rich and Olivia said nothing more on that for the moment and that as they made their way through the woods, eventually switching back to a bipedal stance and pace. That left Karen pondering over some things particularly Olivia's use of the words "safe hunting grounds."
"Though I do have a question..." Karen said slowly.
"Ask away," Rich answered.
"You mention "safe hunting grounds," what does that mean?" Karen asked.
"Mostly a relation to local regulations on hunting and providing protection for deer and various weres that might not be predatory or do work with livestock," Rich answered, "a fair number of herbivorous weres... werehorses and werecattle have some farms and ranches in areas around the town. Some are fairly modest in size and some are bigger, and they will often raise horses or cattle... though usually dairy cattle for either milk or providing simple riding horses to larger farms, ranches, or equestrian trainers."
"You hunt horses and cows?" Karen asked, her eyes a bit wide. While she had never been a vegetarian or anything like that, she wasn't exactly all that into actually killing what she ate. And while some new predatory instincts were now within her, she really didn't want to be a hunter and killing a cow or horse really didn't sound attractive to her.
"Not the horses and cattle," Olivia answered, "deer. The prime animal raised on these farms is deer to provide animals that Moon Lake's predatory weres have animals they can hunt without negatively affecting the wild population... though some of them do wander into town too. The groups raising them have to fill out a lot of paperwork to keep the operations legal, but it's something that's worked..."
"But it's also something that requires some degree of safety," Rich added, "while domestic livestock, like horses, cattle, dogs, cats, and other typical pets do fairly well around weres, the deer that are raised can still be very skittish around the herbivorous weres and will fight the predatory ones. And while the other livestock animals might not be targets of were hunting, they might still spook if a predatory were startles them. The last thing you want is to have a 1,000 pound animal panic and run. Thus the land around those ranches will have some fairly firm restrictions for predatory weres in particular... werehorses and werecattle won't have them, but since werehorses and werecattle will stay in human form when they eat any meat product they won't be perceived as a threat the way a weretiger or werewolf WOULD..."
"So thus the safe zones around these farms and ranches?" Karen asked.
"Precisely," Olivia nodded.
"Interesting... though... I'm still not super keen on hunting right now," Karen answered.
"There are always other things to do," Olivia commented, "we could track down that weremountainlion and you could have some fun with him..."
A part of her was surprising open to the idea, but she shook her head "no." She knew what sex was and wasn't necessarily some prude that felt that sex should only occur after eighteen and only with one's husband, but after everything that the Gambonis had put her through, she wasn't going to just go looking for sex. Even if weres had higher libidos than normal humans and more open to those things, she couldn't hold that as an excuse to just go and engage in it. A real part of her still seriously regretted the moment of "rebellion" as it were that lead to her transformation, and some of that might just be because she knew what it was and had been leaning toward being a weretiger anyway. But the more she'd thought about it and her promises to her parents and her talks with Peter Brooks, the more she seemed to felt a bit ashamed at letting things progress the way she did. That showed some control, and Karen hoped to keep it that way.
She didn't regret becoming a weretiger, or that she'd had to be with Rich to do so, but if she was to engage in anything of that nature, it would be consensual and for reasons that went beyond being aroused.