Nate Anderson awoke right where he wanted to be, in the furry arms of his lover and now fiance, fellow werewolf Alex Ramsey.
After their mutual proposal and joint "howl", the two of them had a night of celebrating before retiring to the basement of the Ramsey family home before dawn so neither would be in violation of any of Moon Lake's public display laws concerning weres.
"Hello Handsome."
"Good morning Stud," they said, exchanging pleasantries before kissing.
"I smell bacon," commented Nate, sniffing the air.
"Mom must be cooking breakfast," realized Alex, unaware of what time it actually was.
"Should we tell them?" wondered his fiance.
"That we're engaged? In time, but not right this moment. They do know how much we love each other, and have long accepted my homosexuality, but right now I want you all to myself for awhile before we have to let others in on this," replied Alex, snuggling up against his future mate. "Besides, knowing my mom, she'll start planning everything the moment she hears the news, and while I do want a ceremony, the last thing either of us need is a full blown extravaganza."
"Yeah," agreed Nate. "My parents have accepted my choices, let alone us too, but I have absolutely no idea how they'll react once they find out we're engaged."
"You're not saying they'd be against us getting married, are you?" asked a worried Alex.
"Hell no," Nate quickly answered to disarm his fears. "I just don't know how gaga my mom will be about wanting to help plan our wedding, let alone the fact that I certainly don't want a clash between her and my future mother-in-law over it."
"Then let's just stay mum about it for now and simply snuggle until my mom announces breakfast is ready my future Mister Anderson-Ramsey," said Alex, while holding Nate closer.
"Whatever you say Mister Ramsey-Anderson," replied Nate, laying his head upon Alex's furry shoulder.
MEANWHILE...
Frances Twist awoke with a long stretch of her feline body.
The happily married werecat looked over at her wife.
Samantha Twist was slightly purring as she slept happily against her mate.
A happy smile crossed Frances' muzzle before she kissed the tip of Samantha's nose, then she got out of their king sized bed as quietly as a werecat could and answered nature's call.
Coming out of the master bedroom's bathroom, Frances leaned against the door frame and stared at her wife, her tail slightly twitching in happy contentment.
All these years together, and every moment with you is still as exciting and wonderful as the first time I ever saw you Samantha, she thought.
With that, she left the bedroom with thoughts of fixing a breakfast for two.
Or will it be three? she wondered, noticing their son's bedroom door was open.
Frances padded quietly over and looked inside.
As usual, Ben Twist's bed was made. The room neat and tidy, but there was no sign of their adopted werewolf son.
Puzzled, but not worried (yet), Frances walked through the rest of their one story house.
The tour ended in the kitchen.
The werecat could still smell his unique scent, but there was no sign of him.
She was about to go back and waken Samantha, worried about where he might be or what could have happened to him...
...when the backdoor opened and Ben walked in.
He was in his human form and dressed for the day.
"Hi mom," he casually said, while taking off a pair of work gloves. "Good–", and then he paused to look at the kitchen wall clock before saying, "afternoon to you too," since it was a little after 12, before putting the gloves down on the counter by the backdoor.
"Can I ask..." began Frances, wondering how to properly phrase her question so she didn't appear as worried as she was starting to get.
"I let you two sleep in and have been doing some yard work," Ben replied. "Not much in fallen leaves yet, but there's still weeding and getting what we have for a garden ready for the coming winter."
"Oh. Have you eaten?" wondered his mom.
"A little. But I will definitely join you two for brunch," Ben said happily.
"Okay. Care to lend a paw?" asked Frances, as she started searching the fridge for what she was going to fix.
"Certainly," he replied, not letting on how happy he was that his ruse worked!
Ben had been out most of the night with his girlfriend, the werepanthress Kenya Adaeze, and technically did not make it home until after the dawn curfew that all weres had to respect and obey in regards to not being out in public displaying their fursonas during the day took effect.
Thankfully, cutting through the woods had kept anyone from spotting a stray werewolf out and about, but the sun was starting to rise above the treeline as he entered the Twist house.
I wonder how that rule will change once this big reveal of the Town Council happens, provided the world is ready to accept that weres exist and that we're not the mindless horrors of legend.
A quick nap, a shower in the hall bathroom, a snack, and then outside for yard work between the fact it needed to be done and to cover how little time he had actually been home so far today.
My tail will be dragging by nightfall, but it was SO worth it. Kenya is quite a woman, and I cannot wait for the day I can propose and make her my Mrs. Twist, thought Ben, happily contemplating his future with her.
ELSEWHERE...
"Marco..." called out were-mermaid Julie Stovall, underwater in her family's fresh water swimming pool. With the high privacy fence of the backyard and her present location, someone would have to be directly above to notice anything amiss.
"Polo," answered her boyfriend/fiance/soulmate were-merman Eric Anderson.
He's close, she realized, since part of the game was to keep your eyes closed while attempting to find the other the best you could using your other senses.
"Marco..." she said again, since were-mers could speak as easily underwater as they can on dry land.
"Polo," said Eric happily, before he kissed her.
Another advantage were-mers enjoyed was, having an "alternate" method for breathing available, they could kiss for a mighty long time without having to part and breathe like a normal person.
Julie relished the thought of being next to him. Being only in their Stage 1 forms just displaying the webbing between their fingers and toes, she missed the thrill of the scales of their respective mer-tails brushing against each other.
But still, they were together, and that made her heart sing!
When their lips finally parted, her deep blue eyes stared at his as she said, "How am I supposed to find you if you keep sneaking up on me?"
"Because I'm always wanting to be found, since I always want to be with you my Jewel," said Eric happily, using his pet name for her.
"Oh, my..." and then Julie got frustrated with herself, because she still had yet to come up with an appropriate name for him.
"I love you. Now and forever, my future Mrs. Anderson," said Eric, holding her close.
"And I you darling," replied Julie, before laying her head on his shoulder, her blonde hair fanning out in the water around them.
Here's hoping that whenever that big reveal happens, it doesn't blow up in everyone's face, thought Eric, holding her even closer.
The town council wasn't scheduled to start developing a plan until Tuesday morning.
How long it would take to come up with one, let alone put it into effect afterward, was anybody's guess at the moment.
All Eric Anderson knew for sure in the bottom of the Stovall's pool at that moment was that, whether it was the one he was born into or the one he would someday marry into, there was no way he would ever let anyone harm his family.