It was as if he'd woken from a strange dream that had gone on for almost two weeks. One minute he was in a barn, mounting a bitch, and the instant he was able to unknot himself it was as if something inside him shifted. A couple steps away, he began to pant heavily as inside his mind thoughts started to develop. An understanding came to him and suddenly things clicked in place and the words his aunt Patty had been telling him started to make sense as he reared up onto his back legs. With a painful crack, his posture re-aligned to that of a bipedal and scared, Lee gazed around the barn he now knew belonged to his aunt as the fur on his body regressed.
Memories of the near fortnight came to him as he remembered being a dog, of the simplicity of only caring about eating, sleeping, fucking, dominating, and being loved by his owner, and he shivered, but not just because he was naked and standing in a barn in the early morning.
It had felt so, right being a dog and Lee was sorry he wasn't one any longer. His height and weight increased and banishing this thought as he felt the canine in him threatening to take control, he took a couple deep breaths and looked about. The bitch he'd mounted the only other dog in the barn with him at the moment, but he knew that his aunt Patty had five other dogs, one or two of them like him. A couple more steps across the barn and he opened a small door in the wall and stepped outside. As he stared at the country side, his thoughts drifted to his aunt and he found with his capacity for higher thinking he understood a tad better what she'd been trying to get to undertand. A step away from the barn and he guessed that most important thing she'd pressed upon him was how that only when he realised he wasn't a dog, that he didn't want to be one, then he would take the first step in learning control over the curse.
Unsure how much control he had, as he could still feel the dog trying to take over, and could recall how great, how simple, it had felt being a canine, Lee reminded himself, "I am not a dog. I am an eleven year old boy," and glancing in the direction of his aunt's house, he decided that what he wanted right now was actual food, not the mixture of dry and wet dog food he'd been eating.
On the porch, he stopped and stared at the back door. He wasn't sure if he should walk in or knock and after a bit of hesitation, he was about to do exactly that, but never got the chance as the door opened and he found himself looking at his aunt Patty. Self-conscious that he was naked, he struggled to find the right thing to say. Before he could, his aunt nodded and said, "I see you have finally decided to rejoin the human race. Suppose you want breakfast?" before wrinkling her nose and telling him, "But first, you need a shower. You smell like a dog, and you are positively filthy."
"I didn't bring any clothes," Lee immediately replied the instant he figured out what to say.
"Not a problem," he aunt responded. "Your mom and dad sent a bag with, for when you stopped being a dog," and moving out of the way to let him in, she explained, "It's in the room at the top of the stairs. Upstairs bathroom is at the end of the hall. I'll have something for you when you're cleaned and dressed."
A nod and Lee stepped inside the house and started through the kitchen and towards the stairs. The instant he heard the door close, he froze and for a minute considered how wrong it was that he was indoors. But then it passed and after he'd taken a deep breath, he headed upstairs. There, he found the room his aunt had provided him, got himself a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom. Inside, he climbed inside the shower and for the first time in almost two weeks, scrubbed himself clean, amazed at the amount of dirt and grime that came off his skin, how it almost turned the sides and bottom of the tub black, and terrified when, for a brief moment when he started to wash his dick and nuts, they morphed into a dog's privates. Forcing himself to calm down and not give into the hysteria that threatened to over take him as he felt the canine part of him, more persistent and threatening to overtake him, Lee was glad when his package reverted back.
When he'd finished, had dressed, and cleaned out the tub as best as he could, Lee headed back downstairs. There, he found his aunt had made him pancakes, offered him real maple syrup to go over them, and cooked a type of sausage he couldn't place the taste until Patty told him they were venison.
After breakfast, he helped his aunt wash up, as she insisted he do so. When they'd finished, she sat him down when he asked her, "So, now what happens."
"Well," his aunt hedged, "that all depends on you. You have already taken the first step in taking control. But that doesn't mean much, as you will surely slip up. However. If I deem you capable of keeping those slips to yourself, and you feel comfortable with how things sit, I foresee that, in about a weeks time, you will go back to live with your mom and dad. It was their hope you could, as they were worried you might miss the start of the school year."
Having completely forgotten that August was almost over and that he would soon begin sixth grade, Lee sighed. Looking at his aunt, he quietly explained, "I can still feel the dog in me. He tries to take control. Especially when I dwell on how good, how right, it felt being an animal. And in the shower, I started to change back."
"You can expect this to happen quite a bit," aunt Patty told him. "But know this. Out family, whilst not the only one, has been learning to cope for several generations. I will do what I can to help you. In addition, after you go home, I ask that you call me the instant things become difficult or a part of you changes and you cannot change back. Also, I am going to suggest that you come live with me during the school holidays and next summer."
Lee thought about this and after a bit nodded and said, "Okay," before he added, "Thank you."
The matter settled, aunt Patty stood and told him, "Good. Now. You need to get started. I shan't promise it will be easy, nor that there shan't be set backs. But, if you are diligent, you should go home within the week with a better set of control. In the meantime, for today, we have a full day in front of us."
His mind raced as he stood and as he followed his aunt, listening as she explained how the curse, for his family, had originally been one that couldn't be controlled, that that had come a couple generations later, and that the curse had afflicted one member or another of the family for close to seven hundred years. When he sensed a pause, he asked, "Um, what happens if we have sex in out animal form? Does it create a dog that has the family's curse?" a question that had started to bother him as he thought back to the moment he had turned back into a human.
"No," aunt Patty told him as she led him into a room with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. After a quick scan of the titles, she took a couple thick volumes down. As she handed them to him, she explained, "As a dog, you can't pass the curse. Nobody has been able to figure out why. Only that it follows the human line, usually skipping a generation or two," and indicating the books, she told him, "I want you to read these."
A edge in her tone told him she didn't want an arguement on the subject Lee inwardly sighed as he was directed back to the kitchen table. And as he sat down and opened the first book, he aunt said, "I'll check on you in a bit to see how you are doing," before she left him. Alone, though he could still feel the canine striving to come forward, Lee glanced down at the book he'd flipped open. Seeing that it was a book on his family history, he shifted in his seat and resigned himself to getting through the book. A turn of the page and he saw neat, tiny, spidery writing and knowing the book wouldn't be easy to read, he balked, almost closed it and was tempted to reach for one of the others aunt Patty had charged him with getting through.
But then he told himself, "One way or another, I'll have to read it," and with a huff, he leaned forward and started to slowly read, stopping every so often when he felt the dog part of him surge forward, or when he found something odd in the book, such as mention to something called the Amulet of Zulo and speculations to a possible connection to the origins of the curse.