"Ugh, not this again," said the were-otter. The were-lion slipped over to the door to shut it, then he roared to scare the burglar into jumping toward the middle of the room. The animals gathered round him. Blaze stayed back a bit, curious about what was going to happen to the man.
"P-please, I don't know what you all are, b-but I d-d-don't want any trouble, I just--"
"You just stumbled onto a secret meeting of were-beasts, and we can't let you just walk outta here and share our secret with the world. We're gonna hafta cast a spell on you!"
"You -- you mean you're gonna turn me into an animal or something, like you guys?" the man wondered.
"Well, that's one option," said the tiger. "If we turn you into one of us, you can try to living outside with the curse (or the gift as we call it), or you can agree to stay here and be a zoo animal and live by our rules. That's not the only possibility, though, because we can just cast a spell that will turn you into a were-animal if you try to talk about us. (Think of it as a sort of magical NDA.) The last option is that we could just turn you into a regular animal with no shape-shifting abilities to permanently live out your life here at the zoo."
The man shivered -- "You turn people into ... complete animals here? Steal away their humanity entirely? Just to k-keep y-your secret?"
"Well, normally we don't," said the lion behind him, causing him to jump, "but I remember one woman choosing to do that during my first year here. She decided if she couldn't stay entirely human, then she wouldn't stay human at all. Something about not wanting to remember what she'd lost. I'm not sure if the transformation affects your memories or not, but she seems to be a very happy lizard. She always looks comfortable enough under her heat lamp, at least."
"I used to be a staff member here," said the were-zebra. "Stayed after hours in secret one day to try to sneak out some equipment on the sly. Told 'em I'd stay and be an animal with 'em if they'd let me change forms. Ain't never gone back since! I don't think you'll mind it, if ya give it a chance." She winked at him.
"No, no, come on guys ya gotta let me go," he said, stepping back. "I promise I won't say anything, just don't change me into anything like ... whatever this is. I just wanted some stuff to buy drugs, I don't rat no one out..."
"Way too late for that, bro," said tiger. "Tell us what yer willin' ta be, or we'll choose for ya."