In this chapter, Jessica and Sahar go for a run in Central Park, running into a couple of muggers who wish they hadn't bothered. Jessica and Gretchen hold their first press conference and hold lengthier interviews with some of the press. This chapter is relatively light on sex, although it does contain lesbian and oral sex. My thanks to Johnny Galt for his help in editing my work. This is a copyrighted work, and not to be altered, edited, or published anywhere, including in alternative forms such as audio, without the author's written consent. © Copyright, 2025.
Wedded to the Pack, Ch 2
Media Circus
Gretchen and I had sex after Beth left the room and again in the morning before taking a shower and addressing other morning needs before dressing. We went to the cafeteria and had lots of bacon, eggs and sausage. We returned to Beth's office after eating and she gave us the iPads and we continued our testing. There weren't nearly as many armed or dangerous looking men as there had been yesterday, although there were a few.
Sahar was in the room with her, although she wasn't nearly as alert as yesterday. She slouched on the couch in the office, half lying down. Apparently, if we hadn't done more than eat out her wife the night before, she was willing to accept we weren't a danger to Beth now.
Beth still had to leave at various and sundry times during the morning due to other duties and responsibilities. Sahar always went with her now, figuring if Beth faced danger, it wasn't from us. When they were gone, another young woman was usually in the room, ensuring we weren't prying into confidential material. We broke for lunch again, eating raw hamburger again. Beth and Sahar were at our table and so were a couple of young women with their children. One looked to be in her late twenties, and she had a ten year old son and eight year old daughter. The other one looked like she was in her late teens and was breast feeding an infant.
The two older kids were fascinated that we were eating raw meat.
"Why isn't your food cooked?" a ten year old asked.
"It's too much trouble, and I like it better this way." Gretchen said.
"I like it better cooked," he said.
"Most people do," Gretchen replied. "I used to like mine cooked more than this, but I'm used to this now."
"Won't you get enfermo if you eat carne crudo?" the mother asked. Her English wasn't very good. I recognized the Spanish word for carne, but not the rest.
"I don't understand?" Gretchen said.
"Don't you get sick if you eat raw meat?" the boy asked.
"I don't get sick," Gretchen said.
"Ella no se enferma," the boy told his mother. So enferma or enfermo was sick. Kind of like infirm, so I could make the connection.
"You never get sick?" the boy asked after explaining to his mother.
"Not anymore," Gretchen said.
"Do you have any kids?" the boy asked.
"I do, but they were born in Wisconsin, and may be in hiding now. I don't know where they are," Gretchen said.
"Hiding from the slavers?" he asked.
"No, my problem is different than yours. They hide for another reason. I'm trying to change the reason they hide, so I can see them again when I want to."
I still hadn't heard back from Melinda, so didn't know what was going on in Wisconsin. We finished lunch and went back to our testing, finishing up around three.
Beth went over all of our tests and said, "There's nothing in here to suggest you're anything other than human."
"We were both human until our thirties, and I don't think differently than I used to," I said, "so I'm not surprised. I wasn't raised a wolf, which might cause different results."
"Do you know of any other wolves I can do testing on?"
"They may all be in hiding now, so I'm not sure. Probably won't be any living in the city, although they might have worked here. Wolves like wooded areas, so the Eastern New York pack operated out of the Catskills and had members in western Connecticut. There was another pack in western New York. The New England pack covered the New England states except for Western Connecticut. They aren't really bound by state lines. There might have been some shifting loyalties along the edges of pack boundaries based upon the pack alphas at the time. Wolves tended to migrate towards strong leaders who could protect the pack."
"What was the last test we took?" Gretchen asked. "It had a lot of really sexual questions in it?"
"That was my own test I developed as part of my doctoral thesis. It measures Dominance and submission in adults. I was studying submission for my doctorate."
"What am I?" Gretchen said.
"Neutral, with a slight bias towards submission."
"Would that be because of my obeisance to senior wolves?"
"I doubt it. Most women in the US tend to be in that category, and they don't offer obeisance to anyone. Jessica is submissive, but as she was submissive to both her human husband, Sean, and her wolf mate, Quinn, I would expect that too. I would love to give wolves the same tests. Would I find them all with more submissive tendencies since they all submit to senior wolves, or some new category I don't even know about? I'd be fascinated to study it."
"Most wolves aspire to rise in the ranks of wolves, becoming alphas themselves. They might have to fight for it, but most don't want to remain as beta or omega wolves. Wouldn't they be more like switches in D/s terms, demanding submission from lower ranking wolves and submitting to higher?" I said.
"That's a very good point. You may be right. Without testing lifelong wolves, I may never know. I'd love to run all of these tests on a wolf population."
I turned to Sahar. "Do you want to practice some more? I've got nothing better to do until supper. Any kind of exercise really, Do you like to run?"
"Sure. Central Park?"
"Wherever," I said. "I'm unfamiliar with the area. I'll run where you run."
"Are you any good, or will I have to slow down for you?" Sahar asked.
"Wolves need to run. I've always been a runner, even pre-wolf. Maybe some of that was my wolf genes. As a human, I often ran ten miles. As a wolf, it's two or three times that."
"It could be fun. Beth, you should go, you lazy slug."
"I've got another group. I'll hit the treadmill later, I promise."
"If you don't, I'll have Joshua spank your lazy ass."
"Gretchen?" I asked. "Are you in?"
"I'd like to do some sketching. Maybe some of the children will pose for me."
"You should show Sahar some of your sketches later," Beth said. "She's an amateur artist. She needed to do something besides commit mayhem on slavers."
"I'd love to share with a fellow artist."
"How long do you need to get ready?" Sahar asked me.
