Marcus took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down and relax. He was safe now, he didn’t have to worry about the virus getting him, but the next question was what were the two of them supposed to do now?

“So now what?” Marcus asked.

“Now? Well, I suppose we’re stuck in here fer the moment, until the computer recognizes that we’re both clean, ‘n lets us out. But I’m sure a little time alone wouldn’t do us any harm, boy.”

Boy. Jack had called him boy? Marcus knew he should have been grossly offended, but all he felt was…a shiver. A shiver running through his cock. He wanted to hear that again, hear Jack call him that again. “What…what did you call me?” Marcus asked.

“Huh?” Jack said, getting up from the table and walking around to where Marcus was standing, “Well, I called ya ‘boy.’ Did that make ya feel funny? Maybe make you feel a little…nice?”

He was so big. Marcus had never realized before just how damn big Jack was. He bet that for a guy that size, he didn’t have to worry about anything, he could probably protect someone from anything too. Yeah, wrapped up in those big, musky arms, Marcus would feel so safe and secure, and…and with that big cock of his, Jack could…could… “What…what is this? What did you do to me? That wasn’t…wasn’t a fucking antidote at all, what was that?”

“What the hell are you talking about boy? You’re talking crazy.”

Boy. There it was again, he loved being called that, he loved it when his daddy called him that. Daddy, yeah, Jack was big enough, strong enough to be a daddy, wasn’t he? To be his daddy…He looked over in the mirror, looking to see if something had changed, but Marcus couldn’t see anything different. He was short, sure, and a bit on the chubby side. His clothes didn’t really seem to fit all that well, in fact, the uniform shirt wasn’t hugging him right, and his kilt seemed too long. Hell, why was he wearing stuff like this anyway? He should be wearing stuff like his daddy was wearing, yeah, that’s what a boy should wear. As though they were responding to his thoughts, the clothes began to shimmer and squirm in the reflection, and a second later, Marcus saw he was dressed in a pair of grimy overalls and a flannel vest over them, and that looked right. That looked like something Daddy Jack would give him to wear. The bigger man pulled Marcus close then and the cub let off a sigh of relief. He felt so much better in his daddy’s arms, like all of his cares could just melt away. He just didn’t need to fight anymore, it was such a relief.

“Yeah, that’s it boy. We’re gonna be one big happy family, you, me and you’re nasty Uncle Grant.”

No…there was still something…Marcus knew something was wrong. He should just relax, should just let all of his cares melt away, but he knew…knew that he had to hold on, that something about all of this just wasn’t right, that Jack…Jack was his daddy, but he’d tricked him, done something to him. He pushed himself away from Jack and backed up, trying to find some remnant of himself, something about to be burned away, something to tell him what to do. He couldn’t trust him, he couldn’t trust him at all, and that was the truth. He couldn’t even trust himself right now…but there was something he could do, something he could do to make sure they could trust one another. “Computer,” Marcus said, “run program K9 conversion mental program on interrogation subject.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Jack said, “Boy quit fucking around and–” Jack started to say, but the panel in the wall slid open, revealing the glass pod, the metal tendrils snaking their way out and wrapping their way around Jack’s limbs. “Goddamn, you’re gonna fuckin’ get it! Fuckin’ tell it to stop, tell it to fuckin’ stop, boy!” The big redneck fought as well as he could, but the technology was stronger, yanking him back inch by inch into the pod, and he let out a holler of rage as the tendril found it’s way into his ass, allowing the other to insert itself into his mouth and down his throat, silencing him, and Marcus came closer.

“I’m sorry daddy, I’m so sorry, but I just…I just can’t trust you, daddy. But when you’re my dog, I’ll be able to trust you, I know I will, so don’t worry daddy, you’ll be a good doggy for your boy, and then we can go find Uncle Grant and we’ll all be happy together, right?”

The look of rage on Jack’s face didn’t release even after the computer started releasing the sedative into the system. Even after the helmet descended onto his head and the pod closed, Jack still struggled, though his fight was obviously lost, and even he knew it, as the helmet began programming him, warping his mind into that of a complete leather pup slave, utterly devoted to his boy, to protecting and serving him. Marcus pressed himself up against the glass, hugging it, hoping his daddy pup wouldn’t take too long to accept his programming. Still, he would probably be locked away at least for a night or two–maybe more, but then they would be together, and then Marcus would be able to trust him. He’d finally have someone devoted to him, who wouldn’t betray him, who he could love forever and ever, and who would love him back just as much, and his daddy wouldn’t be angry when he came out. He would be happy with Marcus–they would be so happy together.

As Marcus clung to the glass pod, as close to his daddy as he could get, he didn’t see the face in the small window in the door looking in at them. Matt looked at the young, redneck cub hugging the glass and decided he probably didn’t want to find out what had happened in there. In the next room over, however, he found what he was looking for–Terry–except he was also trapped inside one of those glass pods, and the door was sealed shut. He tried everything he could to get it open, but nothing would make it budge, until he heard a strange voice resound through the facility, “Quarantine lifted–scan complete, no viral outbreak detected.”

The door clicked, and Matt rushed inside, taking the chair and smashing it into the control panel on the side of the pod, the glass door opening and the tendrils retracting, Terry slumping out of the pod and into Matt’s waiting arms, and as fast as he could, he hauled the unconscious cub out of the building before any of the guards, quarantined by the system, could emerge from their quarters in the complex. Outside again, and now a fugitive on campus, Matt had no idea where to go. He needed to find Erikson, and quickly–he figured that the week on loan to him was going to disappear quicker than he might imagine. He thought, searching his own memories as well as those of his new body and history, and realized that the best place to go might be to where he worked as a bouncer–the Daddy’s Den. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was somewhere, and that would have to do. He hefted Terry up and started his trek across town, wondering if this nightmare would ever be over.

End: City of Bears 3: Arc 2 – Change or Be Changed

Next: City of Bears 3: Arc 3 – The Hunt for Erikson

He left the interrogation room to go see what required his attention. The communal cells were used for light security purposes–students who got a bit too drunk on campus, or for fights than might break out in the baths or in the tavern, but since it was the middle of the day, none of them should be in use at the moment. An unease was growing in Marcus’ gut as the day wore on–he was sensing that things were spiralling out of his control. Last night, leaving Clark and Doug together, he had felt confident that he had things under control, and now that he had a member of the resistance, he’d imagined things would be easy, but now he was beginning to feel his doubts and paranoia creep back in. He arrived at the cell and found two of his guards standing outside, looking a bit uneasy. “Alright, so what’s the problem?” Marcus asked.

“Sir,” the guard said, snapping to attention, “Officers 58 and 102, tasked with arresting Jack Wolfson, have returned Sir…unsuccessful. But…well, we had to…well, maybe you should just see for yourself Sir.”

Marcus walked past the guard, saw what was going on in the cell, and gasped. The two guards in the cell…well, he wasn’t even sure they were his guards anymore. He could tell that they had been his guards at one point, that was for sure, but it was only small details on each that remained the same, the high ‘n tight on one, the leather uniform stretched across the fat frame of them other one. However, neither of them seemed all that interested in what was going on, they were a bit too focused on each other. The first one, 58, had his arm lifted up over his head, and the second’s face was buried in his armpit, slurping away. Even outside the cell, Marcus could smell their combined musk, and it was making his stomach turn. “58 and 102, attention!” he barked.

The two guards reluctantly broke away and sluggishly came to attention, but it was obviously hard for them to maintain their focus on Marcus. “Yes Sir?” 102 asked in a husky voice.

Marcus took a moment to survey the damage. Both of his guards were now well into obesity, and it was clear that on his return trip 58 had simply burst out of his uniform, and 102 was well on his way to a similar fate. Both were covered in body hair and stank to high heaven, and Marcus knew it had to be the slob wave. “Report. Tell me what happened. How did you two change?”

The two guards looked at each other, “Changed…Sir?” 102 said, “We haven’t changed. We went to Jack Wolfson’s trailer with a warrant for his arrest, and we returned to report that he wasn’t there, in order to…to…” 102’s eyes rolled back, and it took Marcus a second to realize what was happening. He smelled it first–the stench of piss, and 58, eyes glazing over with lust, fell to his knees in front of 102, ripped open his pants and started lapping up the urine wherever he could find it.

“Attention,” Marcus said, but they didn’t even notice, “I said attention!” he shouted, but again, the two guards didn’t even bother, too lost in their filthy, sexual haze. He turned to the guards outside the cell and said, “I want the two of them reconditioned immediately.”

“That’s, well Sir, that’s part of the problem,” the guard said. “When they arrived back here, Sir, the computer recommended reconditioning. They were a mess Sir…and this, well, this is them, reconditioned. It had a minimal effect Sir, and they’re already, well…regressing.”

Marcus looked back at the two slobs in the cell, and saw that the guard was right. 58’s high ‘n tight was already growing out into a thick mane, and he looked the be even fatter than before, and the last glimmer of intellect was disappearing from 102’s eyes, as he snorted and grunted, little more than a pig, as he shot a load of sour smelling cum all over 58’s beard. The smells…Marcus couldn’t take it anymore, it was just overwhelming. “Alright, stay here, keep them under guard, until I can figure out what’s going on here.”

Marcus headed out of the communal cell block and back towards his control room. He needed an analysis of the footage of his officers as they crossed campus. Unfortunately, the trustees had denied his request to install cameras in all of the dorms and living areas on campus, but maybe he would be able to discern something about what had happened to 58 and 102, or at least know when it happened. That smell, he still couldn’t get it out of his nose, if felt like he was going to be carrying it around with him for hours. He needed a god damn shower, just being that close to those filthy fucks. Jack had to have something to do with all of this, he just had to, but what? He’d seen him slob Grant a few days ago, but that had been with some kind of raygun, and he hadn’t seen Jack use the device since, so it couldn’t be him doing all of this. Then again, if Jack wasn’t at his trailer, then where was he? That was his last recorded location, and the computer had been keeping tabs on him the entire time–where had he disappeared to? Marcus felt theory upon theory start piling up in his head, each more wild and crazy than the next, but his head was running wild. He had to know who was doing this. He had to know why. Was it Jack? Or was it the resistance making it look like Jack, to frame him? Or was it the trustees?

Back in the control room, he analyzed the footage and discovered a strange hole in his coverage on campus, as his officers walked down towards the trailer housing on campus, there was a gap of three seconds between one camera and the next, and it was in that gap–that single gap, that something happened…on the way to the trailer. He could see the changes start then, progress as the officers arrived at Jack’s trailer, searched the premises, and then returned to base, growing filthier and slobbier the entire way back, until they were unrecognizable, coming up the steps into the security building. A gap. One fucking gap that he didn’t know about, but someone else did. What happened in those three seconds? What could have done this?

“Sir, new location registered for wanted individual, Jack Wolfson,” the computer said suddenly, “Location, mobile, forecasting direction, approaching security services.”

“On screen,” Marcus said, and sure enough, there the fucking redneck was, hurrying towards the security building. Now what was he planning, and why in the hell had all of this caught Marcus by surprise? He was the one who was supposed to know what was going on here, he was supposed to be one step ahead, and here he was, playing catch up. “Have four guards intercept him. If he resists, subdue him. Take him to interrogation room four.”

“Understood, issuing orders now.”

Marcus watched on screen as a collection of guards hurried out of the building and approached Jack. To his surprise, Jack seemed to expect this and allowed them to take him into custody, following them handcuffed into the building. Marcus gave them a few minutes as he tried, hopelessly, to put all of this together in a cohesive picture. A resistance member, looking for information on Erikson and Tristan from the board of trustees. Did they have some plan, now that the campus was essentially headless? The defacto head of the board informing on the resistance at the cost of Clark’s life. He was obviously looking for power, was he planning all of this behind the scenes? Jack, the only other master left, now. He seemed like the most obvious culprit, but Marcus had no evidence that he was behind this, even if he was the greatest suspect, and if he was the culprit, why waltz right up here and surrender? Marcus hung his head in his hands, frustrated beyond belief, and that fucking smell! He still couldn’t get it out of his nose, it felt like it was stuck there somehow, and it kept breaking his concentration. On the screen, he saw that Jack had been escorted to the interrogation room. He must know something, and whether it was a trap or not, he needed to talk to him, and Marcus got up and returned to the interrogation bloc, letting himself into the room where Jack was waiting.

“Quite the welcome ya had ready fer me here,” Jack said, when Marcus came in, “Feelin’ a bit paranoid?”

“I don’t know,” Marcus said, “Should I be feeling paranoid? Considering the way the master’s students have been dropping like flies, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to be too careful.”

“Ha, well, by my count, I took out one, ‘n ya took out two. If anyone should be worried, I think it should be me. Look, Marcus, I ain’t here tah hurt ya, there’s somethin’ goin’ round campus, I know ya noticed it too. Ya notice everythin’ that goes on ‘round here.”

“Oh?” Marcus said, feigning ignorance, “And what might that be?”

“There’s somethin’ happenin’ tah everyone. They’re turnin’ intah fuckin’ slobs. I mean, I don’t really object, given some a mah inclinations, but well, there was somethin’ crazy about it, so I went diggin’ in some of Erikson’s old files–”

“Don’t bullshit me, the labs are locked down–you know that. No one has been able to get in or out without Erikson to open them up.”

“Yeah, but his office just has a plain old key, ‘n I can pick those,” Jack said, and for emphasis, released his hands from the cuffs the guards had put on him. They might be big, but they sure are nimble when I need ‘em tah be.” He grinned a bit wolfishly, and Marcus was beginning to worry that this could indeed be a trap. He needed to be more careful than ever before. “What I found was, well, turns out one a Erikson’s little pet projects might’ve had a bit of an accident.” Jack threw down a file folder onto the table he pulled from the back of his pants, and Marcus gingerly opened it up, revealing a collection of files about something called ‘Virus SL004.’

“Just give me the rundown. What’s it do.”

“It’s a slob virus, man. It turns guys into filthy pigs. Again, I’m not really complaining, but that’s my schtick,” he said with a laugh, “Turns out there’s an antidote that was accessible in the upper labs, before getting down into The Depths that are still locked off,” Jack said, and pulled out a small phial and set it on the table, “I already took mine, and I figured you might like one for yourself.”

“Oh no fucking way, how stupid do I look?” Marcus said, “This is all you’re goddamn doing. You released the virus, and now you want me to take an antidote?”

“I’m serious man, this is the only way you’ll be safe.”

“Bullshit. Why in the hell should I take your word in any of this?”

“Well, what other fucking explanation have you got?” Jack said, then stared at Marcus…are you…you know, you look a little…you haven’t been around one of the infected have you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You can smell it, can;t you? That’s the first sign, you can’t get their fucking stink out of your nose, and then you keep thinking about it, and then you start changing. You need to take this now, or it’ll be no help at all.”

Marcus felt like Jack had just read his mind into his deepest fears. He had been around 58 and 102…could it really be a virus? There was that three second gap, could they have encountered someone infected with the virus? No, there wasn’t even any evidence that this virus existed beyond Jack’s claims. Marcus had to get out of here, he had to. He walked to the door to leave and think, but as soon as he pulled on the door, he heard it lock down.

“Computer…computer open the goddamn door.”

“Due to evidence of a possible viral outbreak, this facility will enter quarantine level three until threat is confirmed or denied. All those possibly exposed are asked to remain calm and report any possible signs of illness to central command.”

“God fucking damn it,” Marcus said, “There’s no fucking outbreak!”

“There damn well is, and you fucking know it,” Jack said, “and if you’ve been exposed, this is you’re only fucking chance man. Once the changes start, there’s nothing you can do, and trust me, as much as I’d like to see you as a fucking slob, I’m doing you a favor here. We gotta stick together man, we goota, we’re the only ones left who can lead this fuckin’ campus anymore.”

“No, this can’t be fucking happening,” Marcus said, and looked at himself in the room’s one way mirror. He looked the same, didn’t he? He couldn’t really still smell the officers, it was just his imagination, or was it? His imagination and terror was running wild now, barely kept in check by the high tension nerves running through him. He looked at the phial, then at Jack, then at the door. Did this make sense? Was it really the most likely solution?

“How do I know you aren’t the one behind this?” Marcus asked, trying not to betray his panic, “How do I know you aren’t setting me up?”

“I suppose you don’t,” Jack said, leaning back, “But I don’t have to worry, I have my antidote. I guess the question is–are you going to trust someone for once in your life? Or are you really going to let your fuckin’ paranoia be the end of you? I’m tryin’ tah help ya Marcus, can’t ya see that? Why in the hell would I a come if all I had tah do is let ya get infected?”

It made sense, didn’t it? Marcus felt the terror rise in him. The smell was stronger now, he could almost taste it, or was it just Jack’s musk? He didn’t know anymore, he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to be a fucking slob like 58 or 102, he didn’t. But what could he do? He didn’t have time, if he waited, he’d be a slob in no time. He had to be infected, how could he not be? And if Jack was responsible for this, he wouldn’t have come, he would have just waited it out, waited until the entire security force was too far gone to do anything and then swept in to take control. He had to trust him, he had to, as terrifying as that was. He hurried over to the table, and with shaking hands, took the top off the phial and downed the contents in a few gulps, Jack just sitting there–grinning.

(Note: I had to change the mechanics of Matt and Max’s deal at the end of chapter 6, so I included the revised section here.)

Max came back in, carrying a tray laden with a collection of metal rings and studs. He started with Matt’s face, giving him small gauges in his ears, a bar in one of his eyebrows and a thick horseshoe through his septum, and then worked his way down, putting two rings in his thick nipples, and then found himself up against the jock. “Do me a favor,” Max said, “think about your cub for me, think about how much you want to fuck him.”

“”Ha, that’s a easy one,” Matt said, “Terry’s got such a fine fuckin’ ass, I could just plow that thing all day long, I tell ya what, fuck–gettin’ me horny just thinkin’ ‘bout it…” he said, and felt his cock start to swell against the chainmail pouch of the jock, the metal links pulling apart and stretching as his cock hardened, until it actually popped out between the links, the thick meat rigid and leaking a little precum, and with one smooth motion, Max slid a massive PA though the head of his cock, before it slipped back into the pouch. “Alright man, we finished here yet?”

“Almost,” Max said, “Just one last thing. Do you still remember? Do you still know who you were?”

Matt was a bit taken aback by the question. He’d been hoping he could just pretend it wasn’t real, but if this guy was actually asking about it…then how could it not be real? “Yeah…it’s…it’s kind of fuzzy, but I remember most of it.”

“Good, because I want to make you a deal,” Max said, “I need to find someone, and I have a feeling you might be just the man for the job.”

Matt just stared him down. “Why in the world would I do anything for you?”

“Well, I was hoping you would do it because you’re a nice guy. How about you at least hear me out? After all, giving you this sexy new look was a pretty big favor–I think you might owe me back at least a little.”

There was probably a catch. Everything in Matt was telling him to turn and run, but what harm was there in hearing him out? “I suppose so. What do you need?”

“I need you to help me find someone. A professor at the college, a man named Erikson. I think…I just need to find him. I don’t want to say why.”

“Why can’t you find him yourself?”

“I..well, there are, shall we say, some obstacles for me that I can’t surmount, eh? Still, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find him, and bring him here.”

Erikson. There was no way Matt was ever going to put himself in the same room as him, no fucking way at all. “Look, I can’t do that–no way, no how. He’s the guy in charge of hunting me down, and you want me to find him? Besides, he’s gone missing–no one knows where he is. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go,” Matt said, and left the changing room, but as soon as he tried to pass the threshold and into the mall, Max called out to him. “You know, you can’t leave yet. You haven’t paid for your purchase yet, and trust me, you don’t want to know what this store does to thieves.”

Matt looked over his shoulder at him, scowling a bit. “Great, and what do I owe you, exactly?”

Max grinned, “How about those pretty little memories of yours? In fact, how about all that bright, young intellect? I think that ought to settle us up nicely. After all, a bouncer like you, used to fighting in the streets–hell, he wouldn’t be very smart, now would he?” Matt said, and held up a crystal necklace. Before Matt could react, a beam of light shot out of the prism and struck Matt in the forehead, and he could feel the beam sucking his mind to pieces, pulling out all of his memories of his prior lives, leaving him with the life, and knowledge, of an old, battlewise bouncer named Matt. A bouncer who could barely write his name, let alone much else. A bouncer far more accustomed to solving his problems with his fists, than his head.

“What..No, I need those…” he said, his words coming to his tongue so slowly, wading through the muck of his head, “Don’t…don’t make me’s fight ya for ‘em,” Matt said, and put up his fists.

“Trust me daddy–you try and fight me? You’ll lose against an alpha every time. No, I have a better idea. I’ll give this to you on a short term loan. One week. You have that week to find Erikson for me. When that week’s up, then if you’ve fulfilled the bargain, the memories are yours to keep. If you fail…well, then they return to me, and the deals off. How does that sound?”

Matt didn’t really know what Max was talking about, but he knew he needed that crystal–even if he was having a hard time remembering why exactly–so he nodded and Max handed him the necklace, and when Matt put it back on, everything was back, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Remember though, the memories aren’t yours–they’re still in that necklace. Don’t take it off, or you might not even remember to put it back on again.”

“You’re an asshole,” Matt said, “Don’t think this is fucking over.”

“I wouldn’t dare. Now get going daddy–you have a cub to tend to, and a man to find for me.”

Matt scowled, and then tromped out onto the mall, just daring any man he passed by to give him a wrong look. He was aching for a fight now, after that little bit of humiliation. He pulled out another cigar and lit up, the nicotine rush calming his wrath a bit and letting him get out without incident, and he walked back to campus and his room with Terry. Terry would make him feel better, and then he’d work on finding Erikson–even though he had no idea where to start his search. However, when he got to the dorm, and down into the basement, he saw that something was definitely wrong. The door to his room was open, and two campus security guards were standing outside the door. Like all the other guards, they were nearly identical in physique, with high ‘n tight haircuts, mustaches and the same muscle hugging leather uniforms. “What’s going on here?” Matt asked as he came close, “Where’s Terry?”

The two men turned towards him, “Sir, is your name Matt?”

“What if it is?”

“Sir, a warrant has been issued for your detainment. Come with us peacefully, or we’re going to have to use force.”

“Ha, you and what army?” Matt asked.

The two officers pulled their batons, but Matt was quicker, slamming one’s head into the wall, knocking him out with a single blow, grabbing his baton as he fell and slamming it into the other’s kneecap so hard that he heard the snap of bone, the guard screaming as he crumped to the ground.

“Shut the fuck up,” Matt screamed in his face, silencing him, and then he dragged both of the officers into his room and shut the door, throwing the conscious one up onto the bed and hauling down his pants. “Now, I can’t fuck ya, but trust me, if I could, I would. So this baton is gonna have to be my dick for the moment. Now, you’re gonna tell me where my Terry is, or this thing is going so far up your ass it ain’t gonna see the light of day for a year,” Matt said, slamming the first few inches of the baton up the man’s hole for emphasis, “Now start talking, and this fuck won’t get too rough.”

In between begging for mercy and cries of pain, Matt was able to work out the details of what had happened. Someone had put in a tip that Terry was a member of the resistance, and they’d issued a warrant for Matt as well, given their romantic connection. He left both of the security guards tied up there when he was through with them, his cock achingly hard against the chainmail which refused to budge and open for his lust at the moment, and that just made him long for Terry more. Those fuckers at security had made a big mistake, Matt thought as he crossed campus. He’d been too late to save someone he cared about once before–too late to save James, but never again. He was never again going to lose someone he loved, and if that meant wading into the hornet’s nest, then so be it.

Chapter 7

Marcus sat in the control room of the security building, trying to understand the hidden threads running across campus. Could all of this be connected? The work of Jack? The work of the resistance? Something else? His security forces had uncovered something strange sweeping across campus over the past couple of days–there were a disturbing number of students walking around campus with a decided lack of hygiene than there had been before. This slob wave, as he had started calling it in his head, didn’t seem to have a particular cause–he’d searched for one–and considering his computer’s access to the network of cameras across campus, and it’s heavy processing power, he was having a hard time understanding why he didn’t know what was going on. He hated not knowing. Still, he’d figure it out soon enough–he’d finally gotten his hands on one of the members of the damn resistance, waiting for him in interrogation room two, and he’d issued an arrest warrant for Jack–meaning he’d be in soon enough with some answers of his own. Still, Marcus couldn’t wait–he needed to act now, before this whole slob wave grew into something he couldn’t contain.

“Computer, initiate program quarantine, direct security forces to detain and hold for examination and compliance training any individuals who appear to be affected with this slob wave.”

“Confirmed, analyzing and initializing program. Program execution beginning in approximately three hours.”

His computer was as meticulous a planner as Marcus was–taking time to analyze and determine the best way to execute Marcus orders before carrying them out. On the few occasions Marcus was in a light enough mood to joke, which wasn’t often, he often remarked that the computer could probably run the entire campus without him needing to lift a finger, but Marcus was nothing if not a micromanager. He could let the computer be for a little while though–he had a captive waiting for interrogation, and he’d see if he could tell him anything about what was going on here.

He made his way through the maze of hallways to the interrogation center, passing his security personnel as he went, all of them near identical clones of one another. Culled from the students who had found it difficult adjusting to the rules on campus, Marcus had employed a variety of mental and physical conditioning equipment developed under the direction of Professor Erikson to train them into exactly what they ought to be–good, law abiding campus citizens, and who better to enforce the rules than those he’d trained to follow them to the letter? As he passed, they all gave a curt salute, acknowledging his authority before continuing about their assigned tasks, given to them directly from the central computer through the microchip implanted in each of them. They would all respond to his orders as well, as well as anyone the computer recognized as holding sufficient authority–though no one held more than Marcus. Deep in the complex, which he called campus jail, there were countless pods holding various prisoners, all being conditioned in various ways. Some would emerge as new security personnel, some simply as newly compliant members of the campus community, and still others were being given experimental programs designed for any number of purposes. His personal slave from the master’s program was the warden–in charge of overseeing the prisoners and their conditioning.

Still, that was all in his captive’s future. First, he would need to give Marcus all of the information he had about what the resistance was plotting on campus, and then he would find himself in one of the cells, though Marcus wasn’t sure what he would do with him. Well, probably condition him to be a spy–reporting on the resistance from the inside, provided they weren’t an immediate threat that needed to be neutralized immediately. He found his way to interrogation room number two, where Terry sat at a table, battered and bruised from his encounter with Ken, the trustee who had been Marcus’ ‘anonymous’ informant. Apparently the young cub had started digging for information during their session, and Ken had caught on pretty quick that he was likely a member of the resistance, and Marcus was inclined to agree with that possibility. He entered the room and took a seat at the table across from Terry without saying a word.

“Alright Terry,” Marcus said, “I assume you know why you’re here?”

“Not really,” Terry said.

“Don’t play me for an idiot, you’ve been fingered as a member of the resistance. Do you deny that?”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

Marcus smiled a bit, figuring that the cub would deny involvement. “Look, Terry, I want to be honest with you. I don’t mean you any harm–I’m just here to make sure that business on campus is conducted smoothly. I don’t want anyone to suffer, I just want everyone to be happy and safe, does that make sense? But the resistance group, well, if I don’t know what you are doing, then how can I be sure you’re happy and safe?”

“Oh go to hell.”

“Look, Matt already told us some things, I just need you to fill in some of the gaps.” From the look on the cub’s face, Marcus’ slight gambit had struck a cord. He hadn’t expected him to drop Matt’s name. True, Marcus didn’t have Terry’s boyfriend in the complex yet, but like Jack, it was only a matter of time before he was.

“No, that’s a lie, Matt wouldn’t tell you anything.”

“Are you sure about that? I can be very persuasive, if need be, and just because I want everyone to be happy and safe doesn’t mean I’m not willing to cause a little suffering to bring about that end. Now you…you’ve obviously been through a lot lately, and I don’t see any reason to cause you any further pain, provided you simply cooperate with me, and answer my questions truthfully. Now, what is the resistance planning? What are your goals, and who are your members?”

“I’m not going to tell you any of that.”

“But you admit that you know it all.”

Terry was silent then, knowing he’d given up the game.

“Look, I know you’re plotting something just tell me what it is, and Matt doesn’t have to suffer anymore.”

“What are you doing to him,” Terry said, distressed, “Where is he?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to find out what we’re doing to him, but you’ll find out soon enough if you don’t start talking.”

Terry was obviously torn, and Marcus could see that he wanted to talk, for Matt’s supposed sake, the only question now was how long it would take him to break. Not long apparently. “Look, you don’t understand, we aren’t planning anything,” Terry said, “We just meet, and talk. We just…we just want to remember who we were, you know, before all the changes. That’s all, we just meet up and talk about what we remember and help each other remember what they might have forgotten, that’s all. We aren’t doing anything, I swear.”

It wasn’t the answer Marcus had been expecting–at all. An admission of guilt, maybe. A complete reveal of their plans, possibly, but this? What was the cub even talking about? Remembering who they were? What kind of nonsense…but now that it had been brought up, Marcus felt like he could remember something, something which had been buried well, but something large enough that it affected the topography of everything above it. It was unsettling, to say the least. Still, that couldn’t be what they were doing. They were the resistance, so they had to be resisting him. “You don’t actually expect me to believe that, do you? Are you honestly telling me you have nothing to do with the changes on campus?”

“Changes? What changes?”

“Don’t fucking play dumb with me.”

“I’m not–I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. We haven’t done anything, except meet, and talk–that’s it.”

Marcus sat for a moment, thinking through the possibilities. It could be that Terry was telling the truth, and the resistance really wasn’t doing anything. On the other hand, it could be that he was a member of the group kept outside of the decision making process, in which case, even if the resistance did have something to do with the slob wave, Terry wouldn’t know anything about it. Then again, the cub might simply be lying through his teeth, trying to give Marcus enough information to get him to leave Matt alone.

The speaker in the room suddenly crackled to life with the computer’s voice, “Sir, you’re attention is requested in communal cell four.”

Marcus didn’t have anyone housed in cell four–what was going on now? “Alright,” he said to Terry, “I’m going to go talk to Matt a bit more, and see what he has to say. Until then, why don’t we put you on ice for a bit? Computer, run isolation program on interrogation subject.”

A panel on the wall slid open behind Terry, and before he could turn around to see what was going on, long, mechanical tendrils shot out and wrapped their way around his limbs, pulling him back into a glass pod, the cub struggling as best he could as one wormed its way down his throat, the other into his ass, both injecting him with a powerful sedative, sending him into a deep sleep, a helmet dropping down onto his head, covering his eyes and ears. “In isolation, run compliance program one.” It wouldn’t do much, just make him more prone to trust Marcus and make him feel good when he told him the truth. Generally, it was enough to make sure his subjects were honest, but there were always more advanced programs. Still, Marcus didn’t want to destroy the cub’s mind just yet. He might prove useful as a double agent, provided he could be flipped easily, and quickly enough.

Apparently, part of what had taken so long earlier, when Max was in the store was that he’d pulled far more clothes from the racks than Matt could have ever hoped to have worn in one outfit. Instead, Max started holding up various looks, generally throwing them away after a few moments, unsatisfied with what possibilities they might hold. This gave Matt a moment or two to recover from the pain of his tattooing, and let him take a look at his now older physique. He wasn’t sure whether it was the dye or the tattoos, but his skin felt strange underneath his hands, rough and leathery and even a bit wrinkled. He did his best to try and calm down, but he could already feel panic rising. He’d felt like this before, he’d felt like this after he’d gotten transformed in the common room by Tom and company, and he bolted for the door, but Max grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back.

“Not so fast–we aren’t done here.”

“Please, please I don’t want to change anymore than this, I don’t want to be that much different.”

“You aren’t going to be different, you’re going to be better. Besides, don’t forget, you’re the one who asked for this. This is what you siad you wanted, so you’re gonna sleep in the bed you made whether or not I have to tie you down into it. And if you keep struggling, I might make a mistake…accidentally of course, and pick the wrong product…and then who knows what you might end up as?”

The threat was enough to heel Matt, and he settled down a bit, watching the clothes flash in the mirror next to him. A leather cop uniform was discarded, followed by some military gear which Max held up for a moment or two, apparently mulling it over, but that was cast aside too. “I like the military look, but hmm…it just doesn’t seem…ah, I know…” Max said, and dug around in the pile of clothes, “but before that, we’d have to…hmmm, yeah I think this just might work.”

“Alright, first things first, all knights need a codpiece–for protection of course,” Max said, “Here, put this on first.”

Max handed him a pile of chain, and at first he had no idea what to do with it, but as he turned it over in his older ahnds, the pattern fell out, and he saw that it was a jockstrap made of metal. The pouch was tightly woven chainmail, and the straps were chain link, and the entire thing was surprisingly heavy, and he wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to stay up if he pulled it on, but it was…kind of sexy, and at this point, he was stuck, so he might as well just go along with it. He pulled it on, and realized a second problem–there was no elastic in the chain, making the problem of it staying in place even more complicated. However, as soon as he pulled it up into place and had held it up for a few seconds, the solution revealed itself, as his ass filled out with muscle, pulling the chain tight, his waits growing to match to chain waist perfectly, and his cock and balls swelling to fill out the pouch. The chain was slightly permeable, allowing glimpses of his flesh, and he let go, the jock held in place…a little too well. He tried to take it off next, but realized that he had grown to fit it a little too perfectly. He couldn’t slide the waist down past his muscular ass. “How am I…Does this thing come off?”

“Now, what knight would be caught without their armor on?”

“I’m not kidding–how in the hell am I supposed to fuck with this thing on?” Matt said, trying to pull the pouch to the side and let his cock out, but again, it was held too well in place for his cock to slip out, “This isn’t funny–I’m not interested in a fucking chastity belt.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that–the jock is just there to make sure you keep you honest and true to that cub of yours–we can’t have you fucking around on him, can we?”

“What, I can’t even jack off?”

“Nope,” Max said, grinning, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it–and trust me–it does keep that junk of yours nice and safe. Now, these next–from our ‘Battleworn’ collection. I really want some camo on a grizzled warrior like yourself, but most everything I had was too clean and pristine. However, I bet these will be perfect.”

He handed Matt a pair of camo pants, socks and boots. Looking at the pants, Matt saw that they were heavily worn, with quite a few stains which he hoped were just mud, but which could very well have been something bloody, with the knees and crotch ripped open in quite a few places. They looked like they’d been in some rugged man’s wardrobe for most of his life–a treasured outfit worn as a badge of pride. The boots were similar, functional, but well worn, but Matt was still terrified to proceed. “If…If I put these on, am I going to forget who I am?”

“You’ll remember who you really are.”

“No, that’s not what I mean–and you know that. Will I still remember? Like I can now?”

Max shrugged, “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t know what makes one of you remember and the next one forget. But I’d say the same rule applies–do you want to remember?”

“Yes, of course I do.”

“”Then chances are you will. Now quit stalling and put those pants on–I don’t have all day.”

Matt pulled on the pants–and found them quite comfortable. In fact, they felt so comfortable Matt was suddenly convinced he must have worn them before, but where? He was still trying to remember as he pulled on some ragged wool socks and the combat boots before standing up and looking at himself in the mirror–and then he remembered–how could he have forgotten? He’d bought these pants ages ago from the army supply store, when he was just a young muscle cub. Hell, the first night he’d worn them he’d gotten into the barroom brawl which gave him the first scar across his face.

As soon as the memory crossed his mind, Matt watched the reflection in the mirror shimmer across his face, and an ugly, but well faded scar materialized, stretching from the base of his ear across his cheek, from where that biker had slashed him with a broken whisky bottle. Still, the fucker had had it coming to him, when Matt broke the pool cue over his head, trying to force that sexy barcub to come home with him on his cycle when it was pretty clear the cub had no interest in him at all. His chivalry had far too often been his undoing. Still, as the cub had cleaned the wound back in the stockroom, and then ridden Matt’s cock, it had all turned out for the best, right? Besides, he’d won plenty of other fights without getting wounded, he thought with a chuckle, his knuckles gathering all the small knicks and swells of a man accustomed to fighting with his bare hands, but he hadn’t gotten away scot free every time. Scars appeared all over him then, each one with a story–an entire military history of his life, catalogued across his body in wounds, not all of them victories, but all of them fought righteously.

Matt looked at his image, and what had once been alien to him seemed amazingly familiar, the hollowed, slightly sunken eyes, one of them slightly lazy after it didn’t quite recover from a rock flung into it, the hard lips pulled tight, the cheeks thick with white stubble. Why shouldn’t it be familiar to him? What was strange about that? He could feel something slipping away then, something he could sense that he needed to hold onto desperately, and he dug around his new history, looking for anything that didn’t belong. A young man named Matt, sequestered in a dorm room, terrified for his life. A day laborer trapped in an abusive relationship. These people, they couldn’t be him, could they? But there was Terry–he knew Terry. Terry was his cub…could he? Like a separate line unraveling behind him, he saw this other, second history, but the first, his life of battles, that couldn’t just be a lie, could it? He had all the wounds to prove it had happened, and yet he couldn’t deny the second either.

As he struggled with his mind, Max helped him into a chainmail vest, and as soon as the metal slid onto his shoulders, Matt saw his physique in the mirror begin to bulge, his muscles filling out and building on top of themselves over and over again like scar tissue, looking crude and uneven, their function being two–the first to provide him with raw power in a fight, and the second being pure intimidation. And sure enough, if Matt had seen someone like him walking in his direction looking angry, he would have turned around and walked in the other direction, well, he would have if he hadn’t always looked like this, but then again, he hadn’t always…right? His head hurt–it was so hard keeping track of everything that was changing around and within him. Terry–he had to hold onto Terry. That was why he was doing all of this, that was what he had to focus on. He had to protect him–he had to be his daddy–nothing else mattered–not really.

And that was the core of him, that underneath all of this rough skin, the hard muscle, the armor the battle, that at the very center of him pulsed this heart, and in the middle of that was love, justice and care and all towards Terry. He realized he didn’t need this chainmail jock to keep him devoted–he already was devoted, even more than he had been, and the thought of Terry lying alone in their room, injured and alone, it was breaking him apart. He needed to be there, nursing him back to health, making sure he stayed safe. “Look,” Matt said, his voice gruff and curt, “I have to fuckin’ go man, I have a cub back on campus, and he’s hurt, ‘n I gotta make sure he’s alright.”

“Now hold on daddy, we aren’t quite finished here. See, I’m really liking this metal motif of yours. Besides, you need a smoke before you go, to purge the rest of the asscub from your system, and I have just the smoke for you, while I go get a few more things,” Max said. He handed Matt a short, thick cigar, already cut, and lit it for Matt before he left. The smoke was very harsh, and Matt actually coughed on the first draw, feeling his nerves suddenly light up like he’d been given a shot of adrenaline. He felt so alive all of the sudden, and aware of everything around him. This hyperfocus slowly condensed within him into a small, tight ball of righteous anger, and his lip curled up around the cigar in a slight sneer. Yeah, so what if he had a bit of a mean streak? It was natural for someone who’d been in as many fights as he had to be a bit rough with people. It was part of why he’d become a bouncer–so he had an excuse to get into a big man’s face and fuck them up if he needed to. Sure, he might have goaded a few guys into a fight over the years, but he’d never lost a fight he’d picked. He was itching for one now, he wanted to feel his fist crush into some poor sucker’s face–he’d been out of the fight for too long if he couldn’t remember the last time he’d stood over some bitch’s bruised and crumpled body. That was why he needed the jock, he realized, so he could resist that urge to fuck the loser, because he’d made a promise to Terry, to be his, but god, sometimes he just wanted to feel a bloody mouth around his fat tool again. Maybe he’d feel that one more time before he died, god he loved that.

Max came back in, carrying a tray laden with a collection of metal rings and studs. He started with Matt’s face, giving him small gauges in his ears, a bar in one of his eyebrows and a thick horseshoe through his septum, and then worked his way down, putting two rings in his thick nipples, and then found himself up against the jock. “Do me a favor,” Max said, “think about your cub for me, think about how much you want to fuck him.”

“”Ha, that’s a easy one,” Matt said, “Terry’s got such a fine fuckin’ ass, I could just plow that thing all day long, I tell ya what, fuck–gettin’ me horny just thinkin’ ‘bout it…” he said, and felt his cock start to swell against the chainmail pouch of the jock, the metal links pulling apart and stretching as his cock hardened, until it actually popped out between the links, the thick meat rigid and leaking a little precum, and with one smooth motion, Max slid a massive PA though the head of his cock, before it slipped back into the pouch. “Alright man, we finished here yet?”

“Almost,” Max said, “Just one last thing. Do you still remember? Do you still know who you were?”

Matt was a bit taken aback by the question. He’d been hoping he could just pretend it wasn’t real, but if this guy was actually asking about it…then how could it not be real? “Yeah…it’s…it’s kind of fuzzy, but I remember most of it.”

“Good, because I’m going to have to hold onto that for a while,” Max said, and held up a small, clear crystal which emitted a stream of light and burrowed its way into Matt’s head, and a moment later, it was gone, but so were Matt’s pasts–both of them. Well, not all of it, he still knew he had a cub named Terry, and he had a job as a bouncer, but everything behind that, the entire context and history of his life had just vanished into this air, and saw a twinkle of light in the crystal Max held aloft..

“What…what did you just do to me?” Matt said, “I’ll fucking kill you asshole, I’ll fucking–” he said, and made to swing at the fat biker…but for some reason he couldn’t. That smell, the smell was back, that alpha smell, and Matt could feel it bending even his iron will around, keeping him locked in place.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” Max said, palming the crystal, “I need a favor. You see, I need to find someone, but the problem is, I can’t actually leave this store…for some peculiar reasons, so I need someone to find him for me. Professor Erikson–do you know him?”

Matt recognized the name as one of the professors on campus, and he knew it should have meant more to him, but there was this hole, a giant hole in his memory, and it was there in that crystal. He was in that crystal, and he needed that, he needed it back. “The name…the name sounds familiar, but I don’t know where he is…”

“Well no one does–that’s why I want you to find him. You find him, and bring him back here in one piece, and you can have your memories back. I’ll even throw in some bonus information, I’ll let you in on why Tristan is doing all of this, and how you might be able to stop him–how does that sound?”

“Tristan? I don’t…you…you took that too, why is that name familiar? What is going on?”

Max laughed and then said, “I guess you’ll have to find Erikson if you want to know. However, don’t you have a cub to worry about? It would sure be a shame if something happened to him in his weakened condition, unless you really care to pick a fight with an alpha. Trust me, I can have that jock releasing that cock of yours to my touch in a matter of minutes–you really want to be my thrall, tough guy?”

Matt was a fighter, but he also knew better than to pick ones he knew he would lose, but he’d get this fucker back, he knew that much. “Fine, but don’t think for a goddamn second this is at all over.”

“I wouldn’t dare. Now get going daddy–you have a cub to tend to, and a man to find for me.”

Matt scowled, and then pushed his way past Max and tromped out onto the mall, just daring any man he passed by to give him a wrong look. He was aching for a fight now, after that little bit of humiliation. He pulled out another cigar and lit up, the nicotine rush calming his wrath a bit and letting him get out without incident, and he walked back to campus and his room with Terry. Terry would make him feel better, and then he’d work on finding this stupid professor so he could get his goddamn memories back from that fuck at Bear Boutique, however, when he got to the dorm, and down into the basement, he saw that something was definitely wrong. The door to his room was open, and two campus security guards were standing outside the door. Like all the other guards, they were nearly identical in physique, with identical high ‘n tight haircuts, mustaches and the same muscle hugging leather uniforms. “What’s going on here?” Matt asked as he came close, “Where’s Terry?”

The two men turned towards him, “Sir, is your name Matt?”

“What if it is?”

“Sir, a warrant has been issued for your detainment. Come with us peacefully, or we’re going to have to use force.”

“Ha, you and what army?” Matt asked.

The two officers pulled their batons, but Matt was quicker, slamming one’s head into the wall, knocking him out with a single blow, grabbing his baton as he fell and slamming it into the other’s kneecap so hard that he heard the snap of bone, the guard screaming as he crumpled to the ground.

“Shut the fuck up,” Matt screamed in his face, silencing him, and then he dragged both of the officers into his room and shut the door, throwing the conscious one up onto the bed and hauling down his pants. “Now, I can’t fuck ya, but trust me, if I could, I would. So this baton is gonna have to be my dick for the moment. Now, your gonna tell me where my Terry is, or this thing is going so far up your ass it ain’t gonna see the light of day for a year,” Matt said, slamming the first few inches of the baton up the man’s hole for emphasis, “Now start talking, and this fuck won’t get too rough.”

In between begging for mercy and cries of pain, Matt was able to work out the details of what had happened. Someone had put in a tip that Terry was a member of the resistance, and they’d issued a warrant for Matt as well, given their romantic connection. Matt didn’t know anything about this so called resistance–or at least he didn’t anymore. He left both of the security guards tied up there when he was through with them, his cock achingly hard against the chainmail which refused to budge and open for his lust at the moment, and that just made him long for Terry more. Those fuckers at security had made a big mistake, Matt thought as he crossed campus. No one takes his cub and lives to tell anything but tales of horror about Matt’s vengeance.

Chapter 6

Max looked up at the clock again, like always, watching that little second hand click around that damn face, again, watching the minutes and hours slip away from him, over and over again, and thinking, again, about how much Tristan was going to regret crossing him when he finally got out of this trap for good. When that fucking biker had poked a hole in the mental wall which had locked him away, Maxwell had assumed all he would have had to do was wait. Sure enough, the wall came down, and Max came out–he remembered himself, all of it, but the trap was more complex than he’d thought. Even though he had his mind back, he still didn’t have his body–and it appeared that that was much more important to Tristan’s spell than locking his head away. In this disgusting, old form, Max couldn’t even cross the threshold of the boutique–he was stuck in here with these three other freaks who were slowly becoming aware that something was different. Last night, Brute had tried to reestablish his dominance, but Max wasn’t going to have anymore of that. He’d taken the muscled alpha (who might be thirty years younger and in much better shape, but who had none of Max’s anger and rage) and pinned him to the ground, fucking him in front of their two silent thralls for hours, until Brute had begged him to stop, and that seemed to have clarified a few things for all of them. These days, they largely kept themselves confined to the apartment in the back of the store, while Max manned the counter, still unable to resist the compulsion wrapped around this body to run the store for Tristan.

His initial plan was to simply wait until Tristan came for one of his periodic visits, however, he could sense that something was awry. When he’d, “devoured” Scuzz, he’d taken in bits and pieces of him, a few memories here and there, and he noticed that Tristan had apparently visited the store in the middle of hibernation, but he couldn’t recall what might have transpired between them. Still, it was reasonable to assume that Tristan knew Max was loose, and if he knew that, he wouldn’t be coming anywhere near him for the time being. He would have to find some other way out of this mess, and he had a feeling he might know who could help him with that.

Another person had paid Scuzz a visit recently–one of the professors from the college, some bear named Erikson. While Max couldn’t recall much of their encounter, there was…a lingering feeling there. Thinking about Erikson felt, good. Like they’d had a nice conversation and Max had felt really good about whatever they’d talked about, even if he couldn’t quite remember what it was. Regardless, if there was anyone who could help him out of this mess, he was certain Erikson would be the first place to look. Unfortunately, without any way of getting out of here, he wouldn’t be able to meet with him anytime soon, but he did have an idea. He didn’t know if it would play out how he expected it to or not, but one customer he’d had earlier today seemed just desperate enough to be a pawn in a scheme. However, if he didn’t come back, then there’d be no plan, but Max had a feeling he’d be back sooner than later. Until then, he was stuck with the clock, that tick, the moving, whirling, maddening hands, and all he wanted was to smell the pine of the forest one more time before he died looking like this in this hellhole of a dimension.

However, not one to disappoint, he saw his pawn coming now, own the mall, only with a quite stunning mane of fire red hair which he hadn’t had earlier. Still, he didn’t have much of a choice, now did he? In this new world, it seemed that the only hard and fast rule was change or be changed, and Maxwell wasn’t going to be changed ever again.

***

Matt did his best to calm down as he hurried down the mall back to Bear Boutique, but it was very difficult to stay focused when there all these bears around, with all of their cocks bulging in their pants and leathers, and it would be so easy to ask one of them, any of them, to go into the bathroom with him and fuck his brains out, but he knew that if he gave in once, even once, that he’d probably never be able to resist going full-asscub, as he now thought of it. Still, it wasn’t far now–he could see the sign up ahead and everything, and he drove onward, trying to keep his eyes on the ground in front of him, and his mind not focused on how great it felt walking around with an eight inch dildo planted in his ass.

He made it, though there was a close call with a big dicked daddy he nearly veered off course to proposition, but he did, finally, make it. He walked over to the big biker, once more seated behind the counter, and said, “Alright, I know what I want to be now. Will you help change me?”

“Well, I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” Max said, grinning, “but I can certainly change you–it’s my…job after all. So, apparently, there is something you’d like to be more than an asscub–what is it? Who do you want to be?”

Matt was quiet for a moment, trying to find the words to express what he was feeling, how he’d felt when he’d found Terry there in the bathroom, beaten and bleeding and broken, and how terrified and ashamed he’d been that he hadn’t been there. That he couldn’t save him, or protect him, or anything useful. “I…well, I’m dating this…cub, you see. And, well, I really love him, but I don’t know…I don’t know if I can really…really take care of him, you know? And, I just…I just want to be there for him, and I want to be able to protect him, and take care of him, like…like a proper daddy bear. I want to be his daddy, a good one, I want to keep him safe, and with me, always. That’s…that’s who I want to be.”

“Alright, I think I can handle all of that,” Max said, “now just wait here for a minute or two–I need to go find some products for you. Why don’t you go ahead and step into one of the changing rooms, strip down, and I’ll be right with you.”

Matt gulped, “Will…will I change again in there?” he asked, “Like last time?”

“Only if you let yourself change. This is all up to you. And just to let you know, these changes aren’t going to stick if you can’t push that cub persona back all on your own. You have to want this, or nothing will work, got it? Now get in there, strip, and practice being the daddy you want to be. How about that?”

Matt nodded, and as Max went around the front of the store, looking around at his products and putting a set together for his customer, Matt headed for the changing room again and stepped inside. He glanced in the mirror, and saw his normal reflection, or at least, his current normal. The fire red hair was still throwing him off, but it did make him look like a sexy firebrand, a bit. Of course, the beard needed to go, he thought, and a second later, the reflection shimmered, and sure enough, his beard had disappeared, leaving the cub’s thin goatee ringing his mouth and Matt closed his eyes and refocused his thoughts, feeling his bare cheeks with one hand and reminding himself of why he was here. He had to be there or Terry, he had to. There was no one else he could count on, and so far, Matt wasn’t being the man Terry needed. That was going to change. He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt his cub ever again. When he opened his eyes again, he felt more in control, and nothing else changed. Still, that was the easy part–now he needed to strip.

He peeled off his too tight clothes again, feeling better naked, and saw that the normal jock he’d put on back in the room had turned red again. It did look really good on him, and he didn’t really want to take it off. After all, it showed off his–

Before the thought could take hole, Matt yanked down the jock, revealing his now four inch cock framed by a thin bush of red pubes, and threw the jock over the changing room door and out into the store, lest he be tempted to put it back on, and then he yanked out the dildo he’d put in and threw it out there too, or else he might start fucking himself with it, and then who knew what he’d be. However, losing the dildo proved to be a near fatal error on his part. With nothing up his ass, the itch returned with a crushing vengeance, and it was all Matt could do, to just sit on the bench and not shove his finger, hell, his whole fist up his own hole just to quiet it down. The minutes and seconds passed so slowly–he had no idea what was taking Max so long with finding him a new look. A couple of times he wondered if he was testing Matt, to see if he’d break again. Maybe…maybe he was hoping Matt would break. Maybe this time the alpha would fuck him with his big cock, and maybe then he could be his property. A real alpha’s fuckhole cumdump cub. He told himself that was a horrible idea, but his tingling cock thought otherwise. It wouldn’t get hard without a full ass, but he was turned on by the idea all the same, and all he’d have to do is let go. Just let the changes happen, and then he could beg the alpha for his cock. Hell, Max had already fisted him–he wouldn’t be able to resist Matt for long. Matt refused to open his eyes now. He didn’t want to see himself, he didn’t want to see who he was. It was so difficult to sort out his thoughts. He couldn’t tell whether they were coming from two people or from one anymore. As he sat on the bench, he could almost feel his body changing, growing fatter, the itch in his ass growing even stronger, his body hair disappearing…

He heard the door open then, as Max came in, and set things down on the bench next to him. “You know, I can’t do anything if you keep your eyes closed like that.”

“I don’t want to look.”

“Why don’t you just take a few deep breaths, and then go ahead and open them when you’re ready–then we can go ahead and get started. I can’t do this if you’re going to be terrified of your own reflection.”

“What if I turn into the cub though?”

“Then you turn into the cub, and we go our separate ways.”

“But I don’t want to be the cub.”

“Then, when you open your eyes, you won’t be, unless you’re lying to yourself.”

That really was the problem, wasn’t it? Matt could tell himself all day that he didn’t want to be the cub, but in truth…he wasn’t sure if that was true. The mirror though, this mirror at least, it didn’t lie. It didn’t let him lie to himself, and he didn’t want to fail again. He wanted to be strong–stronger than the first time, when Tom, Leon, and Butch had fucked him over. And now they’d done it again, and if he couldn’t fight back, then maybe he deserved it. Maybe he deserved to be their bottom bitch, just a horny asscub begging for all of their cocks. There was only one way to find out. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, and saw himself.

He hadn’t changed at all, aside from the beard, and he out a little laugh of relief. “Oh thank god,” he said.

“Now, how about we go ahead and get started?” Max said, “If you want to be a good looking daddy, I think the first thing we need to do is getting you into the right age bracket.” Max pulled on some gloves before taking an aerosol can labeled “Daddy Dye,” turning it upside down, and spraying a white foam into his hand, which he then massaged into Matt’s hair. “A shame you lost that nice beard of yours. Still, we’ll see if we can grow you a new one here in a bit. Now tighten up that mouth–this stuff tastes awful,” he said, as he rubbed the foam into the small goatee Matt now had, before continuing down and foaming over his body hair and his bush. The foam tingled and burned a bit, and in the mirror, Matt could see the product in his hair seemed to be disappearing and sinking into his hair, leaving his hair and goatee a silvery grey, the same going for his body hair. In fact, he was kind of glad that he had less of it now, or else the whole dying process might have taken quite a bit of time. Max had him stand up and covered the rest of his hair in the product, even getting between his ass cheeks, and Matt caught himself wishing Max would just fist him again, but the thoughts were easier to hold at bay now. He didn’t look, or feel, much like a cub, all of the sudden. He was looking distinguished–and even a bit gentlemanly.

“Alright, it looks like that took pretty well,” Max said, “I think we’ll have you looking like a proper daddy in no time. Now, time for phase two, I think.”

“Wait, there’s more?” Matt asked, “But I feel better already. I think I can keep the cub away with just this.”

“What happened to being the great protector?” Max asked, “No, I picked out a very nice ensemble for you, and I think you’re going to put it all on, whether you want to or not. Now, how about some tattoos? I found a set that will be perfect for a protector like you. Afterall, how are you going to protect anyone without some armor of your own?”

“No, look, I think you’re taking this too far. I just want–”

“No, you’re the one not going far enough,” Max said, and slid his finger into Matt’s hole, making him moan and squirm in delight, his small cock instantly hardening. “How about this, for a deal. We keep going with this, or I go ahead and fist and fuck you to kingdom cub–how does that sound to you? I did so enjoy this hole of yours last time, and while I’m saving my load up for someone else, I’m sure you could convince me to add another thrall to my collection if this hole of yours was persuasive enough.”

The cub roared back to him then, pushing against every bit of will Matt had, trying to force words out of his mouth, trying to beg this alpha to take him and own him and use him day and night, but he held back, and as much as it pained him to do so, he grabbed Max’s hand and pulled his finger from his aching hole. “Fine…fine, let’s keep going.”

“That’s better,” Max said, and picked up the tattoo box he’d brought in, the and from the picture on the box, Matt could see that it was no small set of tattoos. The set, called ‘armored,’ was going to cover his whole body, from his feet all the way up onto his face, with both sides of his body bearing solid panels of black ink which did, actually, look like a suit of armor. Max opened up the box and pulled out the tattoo suit, letting it unfold, and then handing it to Matt. “Go ahead then, put it on, oh ‘great protector’,”

Matt did as he was told, sliding one foot and then the other into the legs of the suit, watching the tattoo take shape on his body the suit stuck to him. The legs had three panels on each leg, one running from the top of his feet up his shin, and then two long ones, one running up the inside of both thighs, meeting under his cock, and two on the outside of his legs, running up and curving onto his both ass cheeks. More panels of black wrapped around his torso and ran up his back, two panels outlined his chest, though they looked less than spectacular on his fat cubby tits, and the final panel ran across the top of his shoulders and down his arms to the back of the hands, as well as up the outside of his neck, and round his ears, and even connecting across his forehead and under his chin, giving the impression of a helmet. As soon as the entire clear and black skin was in place, he saw the panels heat up with a searing light in the mirror, and a moment later, the suit was gone, with all of the panels in place, and Matt nearly bent over after the pain ripped through him.

“Now be a tough little daddy for me, after all, we’re just getting started on you. How about we try some clothes on now?”