Were in the City

Jacob stood at the back window watching Jessie dig up the grass to start her kitchen garden plots. He knew she was fighting the disintegration of her world by creating something she could hope was permanent, something she might see blossom and grow.

In the past week Jessie Taylor had disappeared. She had resigned from her job, saying she needed to start a new life somewhere else after the traumas she'd experienced in the last months. She'd sold her car, cancelled her driver's license, received her house insurance settlement and then cleared out her bank accounts. A lawyer was looking after the sale of the lot where her family home had been. There was no longer any credit card, debit card, or online account in her name. She was no longer a tenant at Connor and Don Elliott's house - her new contact address was a P.O. Box.

Liz Fielding was now living indefinitely with her cousins Connor and Don, who conveniently had a guest suite for her in their home. She had a small hybrid vehicle and was between jobs at the moment. Liz found it easier to have a P.O. Box as an address as well. Jessie had shoulder length dark hair; Liz had short blond hair and glasses. Liz Fielding was also ready to run at a moment's notice - she had go-bags at her front door and in her car at all times, she carried her phone with her everywhere she went. She had almost nothing she couldn't leave behind.

Jacob knew they were taking a chance by staying put for now. The neighbourhood knew who Jessie was, as did her friends (none of whom she could see any longer), and the police officers, ambulance personnel and hospital staff Jessie had interacted with in the past few months. Helen's group had extensively researched all who knew her looking for anyone who might have reason to see the search request and betray her, finding nothing now that Darren was dead. Helen hoped that by restricting her to the neighbourhood, avoiding any trouble that would bring in the authorities, erasing her paper trail, and removing photographs of her from everywhere they could, that anyone with that dash cam image from the search request would have little chance of finding her.

The remains of Darren's van had been found after the industrial building fire was extinguished and his disappearance, assumed death, had been blamed on his gang ties. A black truck had been seen entering and leaving the area but could not be traced. The investigation had stalled, and Helen made sure it stayed that way. Liam had taken the cover off the back of their truck, changed the license plates, added some pinstripes to the body, patched the bullet holes, and had a discrete repair done on the windshield by someone Helen had recommended. The brothers were back in business, though taking on just one renovation contract at a time for a while.

So now they waited and watched, living careful, restricted lives. Jessie's emotions were swinging wildly and she was beginning to feel the restrictions smothering her. Jacob and Liam understood and tried to keep her busy, focused on things she could do. Jessie didn't want to lose the family photos and documents in her second bedroom if they had to run, so they were setting up a space in the garage where she could air them out and digitize them. Uploading them to cloud storage, they would be accessible no matter where she was. Helen had put them in phone contact with one of her group who was walking Jessie through the current names and locations of werewolf packs in North America, discussing other kinds of Were she might encounter, and educating her on safe ways to travel and find shelter if she needed to.

Jacob and Liam were trying to help Jessie shift into her other half, walking her through how to think about doing it every night, but nothing was working - not one part of her changed. It seemed she couldn't feel her other half like the brothers could feel their coywolf part. Jessie couldn't draw forward something she couldn't find.

It

, whatever

it

was, was buried deep inside her.

Jacob walked out of the house to where Jessie was digging. Picking up a spare shovel, he asked "Can I help?"

Jessie looked over at him. "You can go to work ... help Liam ... you don't have to stay with me. It's like having a jailer, one of you hovering all the time."

Jacob sighed. "I know, I'm sorry, but for now it's better if one of us is here with you."

Jessie rolled her eyes, "Better for me? Or better for you? You are both obsessively protective right now. I am not going to spontaneously combust or get dragged off again. I'm not trying to change on my own. I'm jumping at every sound - nobody is going to sneak up on me."

Jacob started turning over shovel-fulls of sod and chopping them into small pieces. "Have patience, it's going to take a few weeks to be confident that we've done the right things. Keep learning, take time to absorb it all. Think of it as being on a professional development sabbatical, without all the report writing and presentations at the end."

Jessie groaned. "Or a job at the end ... I have a small amount of savings and the money from the house but that won't support me for the rest of my life, especially if I'm going to live longer than normal. Will I ever be able to go back to doing what I trained to do, work that I enjoyed? ... I can't use my former employers as references when I no longer have my real name."

Jacob stabbed his shovel into the ground and leaned on it, looking at her. "You will never have to worry about having enough money to live on, Liam and I are seeing to that. We are having Helen set up a trust account for you, which you can draw on as you need to. This is probably the time to tell you that we work because we like to build and create things, not because we have to work. We keep busy with the construction business, it gives us connections in the community, and it makes a decent profit, but we can abandon it and move on at a moment's notice without any financial hardship at all."

"Why would you do that for me?" Jessie looked surprised and puzzled.

Jacob smiled, "You are family now. It's the three of us. Share and share alike. You share our dangers, we share our resources."

Jessie sighed, looking worried. "What does it mean to be "family" for us, really? What if this bond-thing we have now disappears? There are different kinds of bonds I think and what if you both find someone else you'd rather be with? You could both leave any time ... Jacob, I've been frightened for weeks that I might be pregnant and alone!" Jacob looked startled. "Don't worry, I'm not pregnant ... at least that's what the test said ... but being alone, that could happen any time. I'm obviously not a werewolf, I'm something else - why would you both want to be with someone who isn't the same as you?"

"Jessie, I've had a lot more experience being Were than you yet, so trust me when I say that the bond we three have is not going to go away. Yes, other things might happen to all three of us - you might find a mate bond, who knows - but whatever happens it will add to what we have, not take anything away from it. And believe me, Liam and I will not willingly leave you alone. We would be foolish not to plan for and train for all eventualities, but we will not leave you alone if we can help it. So take the trust account and trust us, please."

"I guess 100 plus years of savings would add up to something useful 'eh? Time and compound interest working in your favour?" Jessie laughed.

"Yes, and other things" Jacob said, looking serious. "Our real job pays a great deal more than the construction business and we are very good at what we do. We are just taking a well-deserved break right now. We had hoped it would be calm and uneventful, but it isn't turning out that way ..." He saw Jessie frown and quickly added "not that either Liam or I are complaining ... a challenging life is the best kind, really." Jacob started turning sod again.

Jessie leaned on her shovel, watching him. "What's your real job?"

Jacob sighed, continuing to work. "We are part of Helen's network. We do things for her, for her clients which include the established werewolf packs as well as unaligned groups or individuals. For example, plausible deniability is necessary when an alpha wants something done that can't come back at them - rogues can do things pack-wolfs can't or won't do. We are under no alpha command, we don't owe loyalty to any pack. We help people escape from difficult situations, we hide and support people who need it, we transport things that need to move in hidden ways, we undermine the actions of some and support the actions of others. Don't worry, there are plenty of things we won't do ... we are not assassins and we wouldn't help a Were like Jacques Richard or his sons with anything. Helen would disown us if we stepped outside her rules, and we wouldn't want to anyway."

Jessie smiled, "I'd love to meet Helen in person one day. Do you think that will ever be possible?"

Jacob shrugged. "I don't know. Liam and I have not seen her in person for more than 20 years. She is, as you might expect, someone who has to be careful and protected."

Jacob worked with Jessie for almost 2 hours, breaking out all the ground for 4 long garden beds. She showed him how poor the underlying soil was and explained why she wanted to get loads of garden soil and well-rotted compost delivered to enrich the beds and make them ready for planting. He agreed to the deliveries as long as he phoned in the orders and she stayed hidden in the house when the trucks arrived. She also asked about building an edge around each bed - Jacob got into that part, a construction task.

As Jacob happily took measurements and started to work out how to make raised beds, Jessie felt he might be willing to agree to another request.

"Jacob, can I please start going for walks again? I really can't stand being stuck here." Jacob frowned and started to reply. Jessie cut him off, "One of you can come with me ... or I can walk in the evenings when you are running, you'd be around me then. Please, I need to walk as much as you need to run ..."

He shook his head. "No. It's not a good idea yet. Be patient."

Jessie felt like her head was going to explode. "I'm not a child. I'm not going to go back to what it was like growing up! I will not be trapped here. I can do what I wish ... you can either come with me or stay here but I am going to walk!" She dragged the shovels to the garden shed and threw them inside. As she went to slam the door she felt Jacob's hand on her arm and turned towards him, hissing "Get your hand off me!"

Jacob found himself staring into a set of shifting eyes, with large pupils and golden irises. A 4-toed hand with sharp talons extended wrapped around his throat and her body shoved him against the side of the shed. He could hear the talons of her other hand drumming against the siding as Jessie put her mouth to his ear, whispering fiercely "You are MINE. You do not control me!"

He knew if he resisted right now those talons would be slicing him up in a second. So, he did the next best thing ... he turned his head and kissed her. Their skin touching he could feel her anger, her frustration, her loneliness, her surprise. He kept his lips on hers, nibbling gently on her lower lip as she stared at him, breathing heavily. Slowly his hands moved around her waist and up her back, keeping her body against his. He knew she was very aware of how aroused he was - would she take it farther? He so very much wanted her to. He took a chance, pushing himself away from the wall and turning them both, grabbing both her scaly arms and pinning them above her head as he pushed her back to the shed. He leaned in and said softly "I submit to no one ... but I don't mind sharing who's on top ... we should shower first, we are both covered in dirt ... join me, I'll wash every inch of you clean and then I'll make you all sweaty again ..." He gave her a hard long kiss, then let her go and walked off into the house. He didn't look back.

Jacob didn't go to the downstairs bathroom shower, he went upstairs to the ensuite in his bedroom. All or nothing, no misunderstanding of what he wanted. Her choice. He stripped, and stepped into the shower turning on the water. He loved tankless water heaters, there was endless hot water - the modern world definitely had its perks along with its problems. He rinsed off and was reaching for the body wash when he heard the shower door open. He didn't turn around. Jessie's now human-looking arms wrapped themselves around his chest, her naked body pressed against his back. He felt a rush of heat run up his spine, felt her need, her excitement. He was sure he'd never been so hard in all his life.

Jacob twisted so the hot water was now running liberally over both of them. He felt Jessie's body stretch and flex, enjoying the warmth. He chuckled, finally turning to face her, his lips finding hers. They spent long minutes kissing and groping each other, discovering how they fit together, before he finally reached for the body wash and they began lathering each other up. Jessie started laughing, reading the name on the bottle. "

Sneakers and Cookies

scented ... really?!" Jacob sighed, "It smells great to me, what can I say". Jessie intoned "such a big baaaaaaad wolf" and kept laughing until he finally shut her up with more kisses, moving a hand down between her legs, his fingers stroking ... probing. Soon she was breathing heavily and moaning softly.

Through their bond Jacob found he could sense how close she was to release (how useful!) and stopped just before she got there (how mean!). He handed her a wash cloth, said "scrub my back for me?", and turned around. He heard her whisper something - he couldn't make out the words but the tone told him she was plenty frustrated, in every sense of the word. He grinned to himself, knowing he was playing with fire, unable to resist it. Scrubbing soon became caressing. Her hands reached around to stroke his shaft and balls as she kissed and nipped at sensitive places from his shoulders to his knees. So close ... and then she stopped. Two could play the frustration game. She handed him the cloth, smiling so sweetly with an evil glint in her eyes, and said "scrub my back for me?" She turned, placing her hands on the wall.

Jacob's patience lasted all of three passes of the cloth over her back. He couldn't wait any longer, pushing her down with her hands braced lower on the shower bench, and entered her from behind in one long deep thrust. Jessie moaned, panting as he gripped her hips and began to move fast and hard, over and over. He moved one hand around to press against her clit, fingers stoking her folds. She fell off the cliff first, crying out as her whole body shook. As everything she was feeling flowed through the bond and her pussy squeezed him tight, Jacob came - the pleasure on the very edge of pain, more intense than he'd ever felt in his life.

Legs wobbly, they both sat down on the shower floor for a few minutes, Jessie's back against Jacob's chest. Once they were able to, they rinsed and dried off, moving to his bed. For the next hour their mouths and hands explored each other whenever they were not napping, wrapped around each other, their heartbeats and breathing in sync as the bond worked its magic.

At 6pm Jessie leaned over for a last long kiss and got up. "Should we have a quick shower? Then we have to get dinner ready ..." As she turned to walk to the ensuite bathroom there was a growl from the doorway. Liam was standing there, still looking somewhat human but his hands were now paws with claws extended and his face was shifting slowly into a coywolf, his eyes wild and red. She gasped and said firmly, "NO! ... STOP!" She backed up so she could see both of them, now staring angrily at each other, Jacob's hands also shifting. "Look at me, both of you. LOOK AT ME!"

It took them long seconds to obey, but finally both of them were looking at her and not at each other. "Listen to me carefully ... I am NOT choosing one of you over the other. You are BOTH MINE. I can see that your coywolves want exclusivity with me but that is not going to happen, so snap out of this! It is strange for me too. I can't believe I'm saying this, but inside me I can feel something has chosen you BOTH and somehow I'm ok with it ... so you two figure out how to deal with it. No more of this "fighting over the woman" crap."

Jacob and Liam just continued to stare at her. Jessie sighed, "I'm leaving now, going back to my suite downstairs. I'll make my own dinner tonight. You two figure out how to talk about this, how to accept it. There's no other option, believe me, I can feel that. I may not be able to turn into my other half, but it is most definitely telling me this is what you are to me. She frowned, concentrating on something, and stuttered "You are ... you are ... my ... my ... treasures ... yes ... you are both MINE."

Jessie walked to the door, gesturing for Liam to move out of the way. As she walked by him he heard her mumble to herself "I sure hope, whoever you are inside there, that you are not building some kind of weird harem ..."

*****************

The next day Jessie let the brothers leave for work before coming out of her suite (avoiding instead of confronting - always a healthy, mature option right?) She decided to start working with the boxes rescued from her family home, hoping maybe there would be some clue there to help figure out what was going on with her. A big bench had been set up in the garage for her to unload the contents wrapped in garbage bags and air out the materials inside. Whatever she wanted to save she could digitize by scanning or photographing, and then repack the originals to put into long-term storage somewhere other than the house.

Jessie's father had packed most of the boxes after her mother had died; she had done a little more packing after her father had passed. She hadn't seen most of the material in at least 10 years, some things much longer than that. It felt a bit like a treasure hunt, at times painful as she looked at family photos with everyone smiling or laughing. There were so many questions she wished she could ask her parents now, many things she knew she would never get answers to. She stared intently at every picture of her mother, looking for anything unusual or exotic about her but saw nothing but the normal human woman Jessie had always thought she was. Jessie was thankful her father had written notes on the back of photos identifying people, places and dates - she remembered how he would rant in frustration at all the unidentified photos and artifacts he came across in his research - he had done for his small family archive what others had not bothered to do with historical materials of much greater significance.

Jessie sorted everything into three groups: "our family", "father and father's family" and "mother and mother's family". The first two groups took up 95% of the bench, the last group was only a bit more than one box of content. She focused all her attention on her mother's things. There were a couple of her sketch books, a few gardening books and notes, a box of recipe index cards, her large wooden jewellery box. For some reason her father had packed 2 pairs of her glasses and her watch. So very little, so much hidden.

It had taken Jessie most of the day to get everything sorted. She looked at the clock on her phone and figured she had a bit more time before she should go clean up and start making dinner for everyone. She traced the design on the top of her mother's jewellery box with a finger, realizing it was an intricate inlay depicting different kinds of birds. It was beautiful. Was it significant given what her arms had shifted into or not?

She opened the box and the memories started to flood in. She had loved dressing up and playing with every one of the pieces in that box. She'd layer them all on - every necklace, broach and bracelet - no matter how much the colours clashed. Her mother had pierced her ears when she was young, so she was able try on different earrings. She would sometimes connect all the earrings together to make a belt. There was even a miniature tiara attached to a comb that she could push into her hair. She would dash around the house and the garden pretending she was a princess. Her mother would laugh and curtsy, calling Jessie "Your Highness" and telling her she was wearing all the priceless treasures in the kingdom.