The phone displayed that Jacob had been messaged multiple times from someone named Jadon Wolfe.
Jadon Wolfe? Who was that? Just off the surname alone, Jacob knew it had to be someone related to him, but he didn’t remember having anyone in his life with the name Jadon. Maybe it was one of his distant cousins? Regardless, even if it WAS one of his relatives, why were they texting him so much?
Jacob tried to read the texts Jadon sent him but quickly found that his phone had its SMS preview disabled. This was very unlike him. Jacob didn’t have a lot of contacts—only his immediate family, girlfriend, and a few friends— and he never found a reason to hide the text messages he received from them. Yet clearly, he now did.
Feeling a bit annoyed at having to do extra work for something he wouldn’t have had to do before, Jacob tried unlocking his phone with his password but found his large fingers kept hitting the wrong digits, which meant he would often have to start over. After a few incorrect attempts his phone displayed text on the screen that stated: Phone is disabled. Try again in 1 minute.
“FUCK!” Jacob exclaimed in frustration, putting a paw to his face as he squeezed his eyes shut. Everything was so fucking difficult now! He was still too unaccustomed to the hulking wolf he had become, making tasks he had previously accomplished with ease more of a struggle. Not to mention, his personality seemed to have shifted slightly, giving him a short temper that only made things worse.
Jacob could feel the anger coursing through his body as he tried to keep himself from growling, something he found both bizarre and unsettling. Odd from how much of a wolflike nature he now had and unnerving from how upset he was getting over from just being locked out of his phone. He didn’t remember being this quick to anger before nor his anger being this vehement.
On top of all that, his intelligence was doing him no favors. Jacob wouldn’t flat out say he was dumb, but he definitely wasn’t as smart as before. His thought process now moved a lot slower which was causing him to recklessly act before he thought things through. Likewise, it also made thinking about everything that was happening more strenuous, giving him a mild headache.
Jacob placed his arms against his body, clenching his hands into fists, and took a few deep breaths. His newfound irrationality was contributing to his frustration and only adding to the list of problems he was facing. However, it was one of the few that he was actually able to solve. So, from here on out, Jacob was going to try to control his emotions better so that they didn’t control him.
Feeling somewhat calm, Jacob opened his eyes and glanced back at the phone in his hand to see that the message was gone. It appeared that he had been granted another attempt at unlocking his phone. Jacob eagerly began to put his password back in but hesitated before he put the last digit in.
Hovering his index finger over the screen, Jacob realized if he messed up again now, he was going to get locked out of his phone for an hour. There was no way Jacob could risk that! With all the rapid changes occurring around him, an hour would be WAY too long to not have his phone—the one device that could help him manage and track his new reality.
“What’s wrong, bro?” Aiden asked. The snow leopard had been standing next to Jacob, watching him erroneously unlock his phone and rapidly changing emotions from anger to tranquillity. Jacob didn’t bother to respond, he was still too preoccupied on whether he should input his password or not.
However, from everything Aiden observed, it appeared that the feline had pieced everything together. Or, at the very least, a logical reasoning for Jacob’s behavior and its relation to his phone. Grabbing the phone out of Jacob’s hand, he cleared Jacob’s password attempt and typed in another combination of numbers.
In spite of what Jacob had decided earlier, he was ready to pummel the snow leopard for what he had just done. But, surprisingly, Jacob’s phone unlocked and presented his home screen.
“It’s ok to ask for help, y’know,” Aiden said before placing the phone back in Jacob’s hand. Jacob didn’t say anything, at a loss for words. “I bet Jadon’s super pissed off at you right now, huh?”
Jacob was about to question Aiden on how he knew his password, something he never shared with anyone in his life, and on who Jadon was, but an incoming phone call prevented him from doing so.
It was Jadon.
Raising the phone to his right ear, Jacob hit answer and was greeted to a furious voice. “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?!? YOUR BREAK ENDED 10 MINUTES AGO!!!”
Jacob winced and jerked the phone away from his ear. The damn thing had been on speaker! However, despite the sudden shouting hitting his eardrum and the shock at some unknown person yelling at him over something he had no knowledge of, Jacob responded, “Break? What are you talking about?”
“Your lunch break, dumbass! You said you were going to get lunch and hang out with Aiden at the burger joint a few blocks from the gym.”
Jacob had no idea what this Jadon guy was telling him, but it sounded like the explanation for his new self being in the restaurant that he had only called his workplace minutes ago.
“I should’ve known something was up when you insisted on going alone. But I guess it’s my fault for trusting a horny mutt like you,” Jadon said with an exasperated sigh. “Could you not think with your dick for once and focus on our family’s business?”
“Family business?”
Jadon ignored him and only said, “You better get your ass here as soon as possible or I’ll personally put you in charge of scrubbing the whole gym tonight—alone and by hand.”
The call instantly ended, giving Jacob no time to come up with a reply or, in the case of his last two exchanges, a stupid question.
Aiden immediately started to laugh, causing Jacob to cock his head and give the big cat a confused expression. “Jadon must think we’ve been fucking this whole time. And for once, it’s not even true.”
As Jacob watched the snow leopard laugh, he had to reflect on the new information he had just gained. Silvermoon Gym, the place where he supposedly worked, was his family’s business!? But… neither of his parents owned a gym. His dad was an engineer and his mom was a teacher. And from what he remembered, none of his other relatives owned a gym either. This was clearly the work of the furry phenomenon.
Furry phenomenon? Jacob frowned. There had to be a better way to label the reality cascade that was happening. Regardless, that didn’t matter compared to what he still didn’t know.
Jacob narrowed his eyes and made a stop motion with his hand. “Hey, would you quit the laughing and tell me who Jadon is.”
That seemed to set Aiden off even more as he began to laugh even harder, tears beginning to form in his eyes from the apparent humorous statement Jacob had just made.
Jacob gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows as anger began to creep back into him. Clenching his hands into fists, the wolf stood tall and yelled, “Hey! I asked you something!”
The snow leopard instantly lost his jovial mood as the wolf in front of him glared at him, Jacob’s intimidating body and stance adding to his threatening aura.
“J-J-Jadon’s your older brother, sir,” Aiden quickly answered.
Older brother!? Jacob’s eyes widened as he took in what Aiden said. Jacob didn’t have any brothers; to be more precise, he didn’t have any siblings at all—he was an only child!
“I have a brother?” Jacob asked in a small voice, the information making him feel a myriad of confusing emotions.
“You have four.”
Well… that didn’t help.
Jacob let out a sigh and put his hands to his face. This was too much. Not only a new body and a new identity, but new family members. How was that even possible. Better yet, what should he do now?