John’s eyes frantically scanned the room, while Hugo intensified his olfactory investigation. Hugo was getting really confused, as he tried to reason it out in his head, “John smell like John scent … but John smell not is John scent.”
John skirted around Hugo, over to where the remains of the nightstand lay, noting the deepening furrow of Hugo’s brow. As John knelt down and started rummaging through the debris on the floor, he felt Hugo rise up and approach from behind, hearing Hugo’s sniffing increasing in frequency and depth.
Hugo’s animal instincts continued to contend with his human reasoning to resolve this conflict in his head, “If John smell part John scent, what is John? John be John … or John be part John, but how break John? John no break. John no smell John scent, John NOT John. Is John ‘poster?”
Lifting up the shade from his bedside lamp, John found the unharmed bottle of Alpha scent at the same time he felt some deep breaths from Hugo on his butt cheeks. Snatching the bottle up John did a quick spray down the top of his shirt covering his neck and chest and another shot down the front of his pants. Hugo did a quick snort, followed by a quick sneeze as John’s scent and the Alpha scent co-mingled in Hugo’s nose.
John expected Hugo to back off now that he smelled like the Alpha again, but was startled by gentle nudges in-between his legs and ass cheeks. John jumped up tickled by a soggy slurp across the crotch of his pants. John was reminded of the behavior of dogs he saw at parks that were begging for reassurance and forgiveness when scolded as he turned and his gaze fell upon the cowering whimpering Hugo.
Not having a chance to be angry, John’s heart melted at the pitiful sight, asking “What’s the matter?”
“Hugo goin’ hurt John. Hugo dun bad.”
“Almost, but you didn’t hurt me did you?”
“No. Hugo cunfused.”
John knelt down and looked straight into Hugo’s downcast eyes. “You didn’t recognize my scent, did you?”
“John no smell John scent. John no be John. Now John smell John scent. John be John.”
Recalling his white lie earlier, John guided the conversation to add some precautions for the future. “Then you really didn’t do anything bad, because you didn’t know that I could smell different when I got dirty right?”
Hugo’s face started to lighten as he realized he was no longer in trouble, “Hugo no dun bad?”
“That’s right, Hugo, you didn’t do anything wrong, you just made a mistake. Now, I want you to do something for me to help you learn from your mistake. I want you to remember how I smelled when I was dirty, so that in the future you will know to trust and listen to ‘Dirty’ John as well as ‘Clean’ John, okay?”
“Okay. Hugo r’mber. Hugo need clean?”
“No, you are not dirty, yet. When you get dirty, I will arrange for a bath for you if you want, but you and the other betas are not to use my Alpha cleaner nor,” John reached into his backpack and pulled out the red capped vial, “should you open this Alpha vial. These are for me only. I, being the Alpha, need the special cleaner to gather our pack and once the pack is assembled I will use to vial so that I will never need the special cleaner again.”
Hugo's brutish face contorted, "Alpha?"
"We're part of the same tribe now. Like a family or a brotherhood. I am the Alpha or leader of the tribe. You are my first beta. You belong to me and my pack now."
"Hugo luv Alpha John" Hugo said with a big slobbery lick. “Hugo thank Alpha John for make Hugo First beta.” *see note below
John leaned toward an anticipatory Hugo and began to deep French kiss his massive maw. “You’re welcome. Alpha John loves First beta Hugo too.” John then stood up and hid the Alpha scent fragrance and the red capped Alpha vial in the corner of the top shelf of his closet and grabbed a clean pair of pants that didn’t have a soaked crotch, while Hugo attentively watched and listened. “I suppose you will be getting hungry soon and considering your size I don’t believe I have enough food in the fridge right now to satisfy your appetite, not to mention your new brother slash pack mate, Alex, who is sleeping in the living room.”
“Hugo smell whelp when Alpha John open door. Pup smell family. Hugo glad have pup brother Alex.”
“Good boy. Alex is my Second beta. You being First beta, Alex will look up to you and do what you say. You will have to set an example for him and help me guide him. I am going to go out to get some food for the three of us. While I am gone I want you to guard the apartment, especially my Alpha cleaner and vial and your brother Alex.”
“Hugo luv pup Alex. Hugo no let hurt on brother beta or Alpha.”
John headed for the front door with Hugo following on all fours. Noting the 4:17 AM readout on the microwave in the kitchen, John grabbed his backpack containing the three remaining sub vials, keys, and wallet. “I hope to be back before Alex wakes up. If he does wake up, I am sure that his sense of smell is as good as yours and he will trust you. Introduce yourself, try to keep him calm, and teach him about his new family and the rules about the Alpha cleaner and vial.” Before completely shutting the front door, John peered through the crack to watch Hugo tentatively approach the slumbering Alex while taking in his scent and then gently kiss and lick Alex’s cheek.
Walking across the apartment complex, John considered how Hugo referred to Alex as a whelp or pup, having been worried about Alex’s apparent lack of certain bestial features during his transformation. Now he realized that the lack of a full fur pelt and bestial facial features could be underdevelopment due to youth, Alex being only nineteen, instead of something going wrong with the way he had administered the contents of the sub vial. Of course there still existed the possibility that the differences were due to Alex’s individuality as mentioned in the Beast Seed directions.
John’s train of thought was interrupted as he noticed down the block an African American man jogging through the brisk pre-dawn air. The man passed by just as John reached his car. Getting in John prepared to head off to the grocery store when he noticed the jogger slow, stop, and then turn around.
Could this be John’s Third beta?
*I wish to credit Ox for these few lines of dialogue. They are slightly modified from their original form in a chapter titled Milking the Alpha from an alternate branch of this story. I just had to make sure that the feelings expressed there made it into this branch of the story since I find the tender and submissive sentiments so enthralling. Ox, if you are reading this, your Dragon Men kick ass!