I sat there quietly for a few moments. The morning was rather warm, and the sun was only just rising over the eastern horizon while I had been talking with Night. Much of it was new and interesting, but some of the mentions of Devon's activity made me even more nervous. His daughter apparently had a boyfriend that was a pack member as did another pack member, but both had disappeared. It could mean anything, but given things, the image of massive male werewolf killing two rivals flashed through my mind. And as much as my instincts had been fighting to keep Terri for me, that image made me nervous.
The rest of it only served to raise my curiosity.
"You said werewolves have a heat cycle?" I asked Night again.
"Yes," Night nodded, not repeating all of the information she'd just told me.
"But even during this cycle, a female werewolf isn't likely to get pregnant?" I asked.
"Yes," Night nodded again, "the virus that causes lycanthropy seems to reduce the ability of even two werewolves to achieve pregnancy, though Terri and I couldn't tell you why. But, since getting us pregnant is not entirely impossible, it also means that any child born to werewolves will carry the virus within them when born and will thus be born as werewolves themselves. Which, as I said is probably why Devon is gathering as a harem and why he's likely so against you being around."
"What about your idea to leave?" I asked.
Night shook her head to that, "that largely depends on him ACCEPTING Terri and I leaving and accepting the fact that there is a different pack in the same area. Since he spied on you and Terri two nights ago, probably through a new girl, he won't likely accept that if we propose it. He might not even accept it if you propose it at the moment, because you aren't big enough muscle-wise to challenge him. Even in your wolf form... which was marvelous by the way."
"And so we're stuck with getting beat up tonight?" I grumbled.
"It's a possibility," Night nodded, "but that'd just be to assert his dominance. The real punishment you'll likely face is that he won't let you mate with Terri ever again, and he'll make sure of it. Terri and I will likely have to be with him when we next come into heat."
"When is that?" I wondered.
"Once a year during the moon's New Moon phase, though it varies from year to year, and wolf to wolf," Terri spoke as she came up toward the jacuzzi we were in.
I looked over my shoulder to see Terri approaching, carrying a large tray with plates of eggs and fried ham, piled in mountains. I could also see that Terri had not put any clothes on while she was cooking, though the food largely obscured her breasts based how she was holding the tray.
"I went into heat this past January," Terri then finished.
"And I haven't gone into heat yet this year," Night nodded, "though we're in the full moon phase at the moment, so don't worry."
"I'm more worried about what this Devon will do," I admitted as Terri set the tray down and then climbed into the jacuzzi on the other side of me.
"I've been seeing a guy outside of the full moons recently too," Night nodded, "but generally you wouldn't need to worry even if I wasn't. Our libido is consistently high enough, even outside of that period, that many things like fidelity goes out the window. We NEED it that bad. If we were together at that time, Terri wouldn't mind..."
"If we were all together, I'd enjoy the threesome with the both of you," Terri gave a smile, "just as I enjoyed it last night."
I found myself blushing, even though I couldn't remember all of last night. It only got me a giggle from Terri and Night as we all began eating, though very carefully so not to spill any food into Terri's dad's jacuzzi.
"Also, John, it's about six O three right now, I trust you got out of your job for the full moon cycle?" Terri then asked.
That snapped my mind back to other problems. I had called in sick the previous day while recovering from Terri's bite, but it had only been for that day.
"Oh shit..." I blurted.
"I'd take that as a no then," Night commented.
"You'll need to call again, John," Terri spoke, "Your job does commonly let you go for the day before sunset and you don't start till eight... but Devon will probably expect us to be early before he dishes out what he suspects to be the "appropriate" punishment..."
"Or will hunt us down if we don't show," Night added.
"I can't," I said nervously, "I called my boss, yesterday, and he did give me yesterday off under the lie that I was sick... but he also said I had to be early today, and by early, one hour early."
I began to eat quicker, as I knew I'd need to be dried, dressed, and gone within an hour.
"Couldn't you just play hookie for a day?" Night asked.
"Not if I want to keep my job," I sighed nervously, "You remember Fred Jones, right Terri?"
"That guy who was the head of your personnel department?" Terri asked.
I nodded.
"What happened with him?" Night wondered.
"This all happened before the divorce, but Fred Jone's wife came down with some kind of cancer that hit her suddenly and hit her hard," I explained, "Fred had been married to her for about twelve years and loved her dearly. When it got bad enough that she had to go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment, he became a bit of a nervous wreck. He went to the hospital with her, worried that he'd lose her and ended up missing about a week of work. He called on the first day to say that his wife was ill and he was attending to personal business. And what I heard through the grapevine was that my boss accepted it for one day. When Fred came back a week later, after surgery had successfully removed the main tumor and a chemotherapy program was put in place to kill what was left of the tumor, he found out that he'd been fired on the second day, despite the fact that Fred had supposedly told the boss it wasn't likely he'd be back in until his wife was doing better."
"How'd you end up with such a douche for a boss?" Night wondered.
"He had money and I needed a job," I sighed, "and outside of his policies on "attendance" he's actually been a fairly good boss. I'm paid fairly well and I have good benefits... and in some things, I suppose you just have to put up with these sorts of people."
That made both Night and Terri give a nervous sight.
"Be careful," Terri said after a few moments, "you're just starting your "training" as a werewolf and we can't have you wolfing out at work or not getting enough meat. There's a Steak Etc in town. Order from them and have them deliver to you for lunch. If you can get some jerky, snack on that from time to time. And above all, don't do anything that will arouse you... sexually speaking and try not to get too stressed. You won't have all the control yet, and it could result in you starting to transform."
"And once it starts, it's tough to stop," Night added.
You could only give a nervous gulp.