I didn't stand up until the cars had disappeared from sight, and I was surprised at just how sharp my eyesight was, even in the low light. Some of it I already suspected. Tigers, like many predators, had excellent night vision, marked by a specialized lens that reflected extra light and made it look like their eye was glowing in the dark. Just about every animal had this lens, including humans. However, the lens is not strong in every animal. In tigers, that lens is strong and can be noticed in low light. In humans, however, the lens can only be made visible through flash photography.
But what surprised me about all of this was that I had no corresponding loss in seeing color. Animals, as far as I knew couldn't do that, yet despite this... I could still see in color, and Molly had never complained of seeing things in black and white.
"You okay?" Molly asked me as I looked down our long driveway.
"I'm wondering what we tell my folks," I said weakly looking over to her, now finding it odd that we were more or less on equal footing.
I had gotten used to looking up to Molly. She could still stand fully erect while keeping her ears slightly lowered. I was now in a semi hunched over position because I had become even larger in my own transformation, but then, the male is larger then the female in many animal species.
Molly only moved to hug me. As she came closer I caught the arousing scent she was giving off. I didn't know if she knew it, and consciously, it wasn't at the front of my mind. Unfortunately, my body and my mind didn't seem to be communicating all that closely.
"I don't think you need to worry about being too small anymore," Molly quipped with some humor and arousal in her voice.
I looked down to see the now larger pink member rising up and out from its sheath, seemingly stimulated by Molly's scent. I tried to move to cover myself with the blanket.
"Sorry," I said weakly.
"You don't need to be sorry about that, big guy," Molly said playfully and rubbed her head to mine, "or maybe I should say, tiger."
I slowly nuzzled her back.
"You smell nice," I commented, not really knowing what to say.
"Thank you," Molly answered, "now, let's go deal with that..."
I looked down at the fully erect member between my legs.
"But..." I gasped.
"George," Molly answered, "it IS my wedding night... it is OUR wedding night. We are GOING to have a good time."
"Yes, dear," I answered, getting the sense that I was whipped, already.
++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the night went well, and both Molly and I did ultimately get a good night's sleep, though our bedroom looked like a hurricane went through. A part of my mind still wondered how I would inform my parents about what had happened. However, as I began to wake up, I soon found out that that wasn't entirely necessary.
"And this happened last night?" I heard a male voice say faintly as I started to wake up.
"Yes," Molly said in an embarrassed voice, "neither George or I can picture what caused the transformation."
"You don't know?" I heard my mother's voice.
That woke me up completely, and I rolled over to find Molly nervously talking with both of my folks. I was thankful that the bed sheets were over me and preventing my mother from seeing pieces of my anatomy that I didn't want her to see.
"I'm not a geneticist," Molly answered, "I don't know how I could have done this... and I never bit or scratched him, so don't go crazy with some sort of "were-tiger" theory."
"We're not blaming you or George, dear," my father spoke, "more then likely this is something that was part of what that freak show did to you that was missed in the initial analysis since George took you home rather then to a hospital."
My mother then noticed I was awake.
"George are you alright?" she spoke as she rushed forward.
She had me in a firm hug before anything could be done. According to the clock by me, it was nine thirty in the morning.
"I'm fine, mom," I said weakly.
"They arrived about ten minutes ago, George," Molly spoke, "I figured it would be something more believable seen then just told..."
"I didn't have any gentle way to explain it," I half shrugged.
"There has to be an explanation for this," my father commented.
"I'm sure," I said weakly, "but Molly and I don't have it... and the police will want an answer as well."
"Someone heard us last night and called the police," Molly sighed.
"We'll need to go down to the station today, dad," I said weakly, "and preferably soon... if there is someway I could get something to wear... and shower..."
"Your mom and I will give you the space, George," Molly spoke, and went over to the dresser and pulled out a sewing repair kit that we had kept in case one of Molly's outfits needed fixing and then went closet and pulled a set of extra sheets down, "and we'll get to work on sewing a pair of makeshift shorts for you."
"You're sure you can?" I asked.
"I can try," Molly answered, "you did it for me. Now, I guess, it's my turn to do it for you."
"Thank you, Molly," I said to her.
Molly and my mother then left the room.
"I'll see what I can do about a breakfast," my father spoke, "take your time."
He then left, and I could hear him going downstairs. It was then that I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom that was to be shared by all who lived there. I turned on the bath part of the shower, but kept the drain open while I got other things ready. Molly had two bottles of a "liquid" body-wash and conditioner in there along with normal shampoo. I sighed as I looked at it. It would probably be the only way I could really shower now, since normal bar soap wouldn't lather on fur.
Showering was fairly difficult, though mostly because of how much I had to hunch over just to fit in it. I enjoyed the feeling of the water running through my fur, and a good part of me just wanted to lounge in it, but I knew I couldn't stay there. I would have to get out eventually. The next difficulty came in drying off. That took longer then before, but I managed to endure.
When I was sure I was dry, I heard a knock at the door. It was Molly carrying a crude looking pair of shorts.
"And now you smell good," Molly quipped, "a nice lavender scent."
She then laughed a little bit.
"I suppose we'll have to get you a body-wash with a more masculine scent now, I suppose," Molly chuckled.
"I suppose," I responded, "Are you sure these will fit?"
I then examined the shorts that Molly and my mother had made. It had a crude "fly" which I assume was more for dealing with my tail then anything else.
"Pretty sure," Molly said as I began to pull them on.
They did fit fairly well, though, without elastic or a drawstring, the hole for my tail actually did the most to insure that my shorts stayed on.
+++++++++++++++++++++
After breakfast my father and I headed out. Unfortunately for me, because of my larger size, I had to lay across the backseat, the way Molly had had to. I wanted to try sit up, but figured that even if I put the seat all the way back, I would still be in a fairly uncomfortable position. So I sighed and accepted my fate. We then began the ride into town, and I gave my dad turn by turn directions to the station.
Once we arrived, we found a stunned and surprised audience of officers looking up from their tasks.
"Uh... hello," I managed politely, "Is Officer Howard in?"
A desk officer rushed back to Officer Howard's office. A few moments later Officer Howard came out. He then motioned for me and my father to come into his office. We quietly followed him.
"Chief, this is my father Jacob Wayne," I introduced my father to my boss, "Chief of Police in Peoria."
"Thank you for taking my son in, sir," my father, Jacob answered.
"It is no problem," Officer Howard told him, "he reminds me of someone I know... although that isn't important right now."
"Indeed," Jacob nodded.
"Right now, the problem is, regrettably your son and daughter in-law's condition," Officer Howard signed, "you were the one who busted Eugene Changes... surely you must know something. Is this communicable? Reversible?"
"The transformation is irreversible," Jacob sighed, "One of the freak show's first victims, Leona, was a geneticist looking to create a retrovirus that could give humans certain DNA characteristics of animals with which to fight cancer and other diseases. From what she told me, is that Eugene Changes upset with the costs of the research bullied her into using it on humans before it was ready to go that far... which he then used to create his freak show..."
"Yes, I saw a lot of that on the news," Officer Howard nodded, "the Leona woman plead guilty to minor related charges..."
"Yes, and has been working on trying to devise a cure, but she's said that considering certain aspects of her research, reversing the transformation is impossible," Jacob told him, "As for how my son was transformed... I don't really know. A lot of the science that went into Change's freak show goes right over my head."
"And mine as well," Officer Howard agreed, "but I will be expected to do something. When people find out about this, they'll think Molly's condition is contagious and I'll have a panic on my hands... not to mention the fact that George is now a bit too big for a squad car."
"I'm not going to tell you how to run your unit," Jacob spoke, "but I don't think Molly and George's condition is contagious. If it was, we'd have a lot more tiger people running around by now... and philosophically speaking, are we really to decide that's a "bad thing" because Molly and George aren't human anymore?"
"Fearful people won't care about philosophy, and Beauregard's already got a good portion of the town up in arms over Molly being here," Officer Howard replied, "I need some explanation as to why this happened. Something that will calm the people down."
"That may take time," Jacob sighed, "I can call Leona and ask her to come out here with a small portion of her lab. She might be able to get you the explanation, but I really don't know for sure."
"Do that," Officer Howard answered, "the city council will expect answers from me when they learn of this. And from my experience they tend to go nuts when they think something is worthy of panic."
My dad nodded and then proceeded to make the call. Officer Howard then slowly approached me with a long strand of measuring tape in one hand and an order form in the other, with a piece of scrap paper on the order form.
"In the meantime, George," Officer Howard spoke, "we're going to need to take some new measurements. It'll delay the date you go on duty, but we can't have you going around in shorts."
I nodded and allowed my measurements to be taken and were written down twice. While this was done, I listened to my dad ask Leona to come out and give her the address. Hopefully, she would have some answers.