Gods and Ancients - 2. The Walls Have Ears

Supreme Alpha Taylor sat behind his desk in a video conference. The screen of his computer displayed Gunnar on one side and Thomas on the other, and the topic of discussion was the human bear kindred who was supposedly the descendant and heir of Odin. Whether or not that was true, the human did have the power to summon the hammer of Thor and transform into a massive Viking demigod. He had been under the watchful eyes of the bears at the Mount Savage Boys Academy for the last few years, with the Marine-turned-werebear Bill training him to use his powers with skill and control.

But now, things were escalating rapidly.

“I thought that I made myself clear,” the Supreme Alpha said to the two bears on his screen, “The boy was not to be turned without direct authorization from me.”

“Yeah,” Thomas said with a frown, “We tried that line of reasoning at the Academy following the successful completion of his training and it didn’t go over well.”

“The problem, Supreme Alpha,” Gunnar added, “Is that even though he lives within the Council jurisdiction, we don’t have any legal claim on him, or the right to prohibit him from being turned. Bears have been finding the kindred and turning them successfully for thousands of years without Council intervention. Just because this one human has additional god-like qualities doesn’t mean that we can prohibit the natural order of things when he and his Papa were ready for his change.”

Taylor sighed behind his desk and gazed at the two bears in despair.

“I know you’re right,” he replied, “But I’m still not used to having my wishes defied by you pesky bears! Are you sure the turning was successful?”

“Oh definitely,” Thomas answered. “There are three ways to confirm it. First, his scent had changed from the previous day. After a successful turning, a human’s kindred scent markers are gone, replaced by faint beginnings of werebear scent. Second, he was hungry enough at breakfast to eat enough for ten men. Werebears can eat enough for five normal humans at a sitting, but a cub in the process of his change can easily eat double or triple that amount. Third… he was… Gunnar how should I say this?”

“Supreme Alpha Taylor is a big boy, Thomas,” Gunnar replied, “You started this explanation, so go ahead and finish.”

“Ah, dammit,” Thomas said, “Supreme Alpha, when a cub is in the four-month process of changing, he’s horny as hell twenty-four hours a day. The only things that can distract him temporarily from the need for sex is vigorous muscle-building exercise and mealtimes. Once Bernie was finished with his breakfast of champions, he was sporting a pup tent in his pants big enough for a Cub Scout Jamboree. He practically dragged his mate Karhu back to his apartment for a post-breakfast romp, and they didn’t show up again until lunchtime.”

“Oh, Jupiter’s balls,” Taylor groaned, “I now officially know more about werebears than I ever wanted to hear. Listen you two, we must take control of this situation somehow. Until we know exactly what the boy is going to become after his first change, we can’t risk him changing around humans and exposing all our secrets to the world, not to mention the potential loss of life if he doesn’t have the complete control of his power that Bill thinks he does. The first change is an emotionally stressful time for a bear. We know that he can already emit a blast of energy capable of flattening everything within a hundred meters when he is overcome with anger; what other kind of emotional weapons may emerge once he comes into his full power?”

“Supreme Alpha,” Gunnar said, “I understand completely, but we’re in a moral pickle with this one. You must remember that this isn’t a ‘boy’ anymore, he’s a man, and as such the Council can’t appear to be trying to imprison him or usurp his rights in any way, or else we’ll have all the werebears in revolt. I think the best we can negotiate is that we allow him complete freedom during his four months of growth, and then politely request that he and his Papa and any other bears who wish to attend the event come to Calgary for his first change, where it can happen in the relative secrecy and safety of the Lycan Headquarters. Allow him to test his full powers surrounded by his fellow bears and wolves in an environment with no humans around, and once we have confirmed that he is not going to be a danger to himself or anyone else, give him the freedom to choose where he wishes to live with his Mate in peace.”

“Well, we can’t have the bears in revolt,” Taylor said with a sigh, “Axel is revolting enough already. Do you think you can successfully negotiate with the bears in Mount Savage to have the boy… the man… come here to Calgary for his first change?”

“Only if we open the invitation to all known bears across the continent to join in as witnesses,” Gunnar replied.

“How many bears do you think will come?”

“Oh, there’s the twenty or so in Mount Savage. The school will be on summer break, so if the wolf-lycans can have permission to return to their home packs for a couple of weeks, they can completely close the school so all can attend. There are about forty bears in Sturgeon Bay and another twenty-two or so in San Francisco. Siku was instrumental in Bernie’s rescue from the Tuath Dé, so he will want to be there along with his mate.”

“His mate is the tiger, correct?” Taylor asked.

“Yes,” Gunnar confirmed, “Which brings me to Atikokan, which currently has a population of approximately ninety bears and one tiger, the father of Siku’s mate, who himself is the mate of Nukilik, the leader of the polar bear tribe.”

“What is it with polar bears and tigers?” Taylor asked with a crooked grin. “Anyway, we’re talking about potentially a hundred and seventy bears wanting to be here for this first change?”

“That’s just counting the large communities,” Gunnar added. “If we factor in the rest of the known bears living in isolation and in smaller pockets across the US and in Canada who are always game for a gathering, let’s plan on an even two hundred.”

“Two hundred bears?” Taylor exclaimed. “We’ll have to triple the kitchen staff just to keep up with feeding them all!”

“It’s a small price to pay to have Bernie here safely in Calgary for his first change where we can all bear witness and lend a paw of assistance if anything goes awry.”

“And if things do go awry, we could potentially wipe out the entire North American population of werebears in one fell swoop!” Taylor moaned, “But if this is what you think is the best course of action, I’ll sanction it. I’ll assign a Project Manager to start planning now. When we’re talking about organizing a two-week gathering for two hundred bears, four months is going to be gone in the blink of an eye!”

“If he’s hiring a party planner already, Gunnar,” Thomas interjected, “Should we tell him what actually goes on when there’s a big group of bears witnessing a Cub’s first change?”

“Absolutely not!” Taylor replied quickly, “I think I’ve heard quite enough about the werebear transformation process for one day, thank you!”

The bears erupted in raucous laughter and Supreme Alpha Taylor clicked the icon on his screen to end the call. There were many times that he wished for the days before they had allowed bears on the Council, when the wolves automatically deferred to his authority as Supreme, but he had to admit that having the bears relentlessly challenging his ideas and decisions helped produce better outcomes in the end.

He rose from his seat behind his desk and left his office in search of his Beta, Chad. His subordinate was going to be handling a lot of the heavy lifting in making the preparations and knowing Chad’s… affinity for sexual escapades with werebears, he will probably jump for joy at the prospect of planning what will surely amount to a two-week long, two hundred bear orgy.

Taylor never noticed the small device attached to the underside of his desk. It had been there for well over a year, and it was constantly listening to every word spoken in the Supreme Alpha’s office.

Deep in the maintenance area of the basement, a thin and small wolf-lycan wearing the uniform of the janitorial staff sat in a utility closet with headphones and a small laptop. He had been listening in on Supreme Alpha Taylor’s conversation with the two werebear Councilmembers and was reviewing the recording. His benefactors would be very interested in today’s bit of classified intelligence and would pay him handsomely for the information.

Some wolves may have more loyalty to their pack government and hierarchy, but Curtis had always gotten the short end of the stick in his life. He was born the runt of the litter. He was practically considered the Omega of his home pack, little more than comic relief for the bigger, dominant wolves at the best of times, and their punching bag at the worst of times. He thought that taking a position with the NALC support staff would finally bring about a positive change to his life, but he once again found himself on the lowest rung of the organizational chart, relegated to cleaning the offices and bathrooms each evening after the important work was done for the day.

It was that access to the offices of the Councilmembers and even the Supreme Alpha that made Curtis such an attractive and useful tool for his benefactors. By simply placing their listening devices within each of the offices and conference rooms and recording each of the private conversations that took place within, he was paid an appropriate bounty for each NALC secret that he passed along. Since the devices could only possibly be seen and found by the wolf who did the cleaning, there was little to no chance that his scheme would ever be discovered.

He had passed along some juicy bits of intelligence over the course of the last eighteen months, and the benefactors weighed the value of each and provided him with a monetary reward equal to that value. Today’s news was sure to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, or at least make him pleasantly comfortable with his lot in life for a few years anyway. The benefactors knew about the bear kindred who possessed the supernatural powers and who claimed to be the human descendant of Thor and Odin. He was of particular interest to them, and anytime news of this human’s training and progress reached the waiting ears of his devices, he always received an impressive reward in exchange.

Today’s news, that the supposed demigod had begun the process to be turned into a werebear, was Curtis’s motherlode. His hands visibly shook as he clicked the controls on the audio recording, listening, and confirming that had indeed heard correctly, and his heart raced at the thought of what kind of payment was in store when he sent this to the benefactors.

His excitement was interrupted by a pounding on the door.

“Curtis! You better not be in there with that laptop watching porn and beating off again!” his manager yelled. “There’s work to do. Get off your lazy ass and get busy, or I’ll have you scraping chewing gum off the undersides of the seats in the main Gallery! Do you hear me in there?”

Curtis slammed his laptop shut and pulled the headphones out of his ears, stuffing them quickly into his shirt pocket. He jumped up from his chair and opened the door, looking up at his burly and annoyed manager’s face.

His manager saw the small laptop in his hands and rolled his eyes.

“Dammit, Curtis,” he said, “I don’t care what you do in your own time, but I can’t have you locking yourself in the utility closet yanking your pecker every day.”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis said, looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

“I don’t know what kind of porn you’re into, but you have to think about your co-workers and keep it to yourself at home, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis said again, baring his neck in submission to his superior.

The manager rolled his eyes again at Curtis’s submissive gesture and looked past him into the utility room.

“If you’ve made any kind of… mess in there, I want it cleaned up now, and then get your ass upstairs and start your rounds in the offices. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis said a third time, and his manager turned and stormed off to attend to his own tasks for the evening.

Curtis stared at his manager’s back as the big wolf strode away.

“Fuck you, Randall,” he thought to himself, “I hope I get enough money for this secret to quit this fucking job, just so I can tell you to shove it up your fucking ass. Maybe I’ll even jerk off on your desk as a going away present.”

He walked to his locker and stored his laptop. He would send his report to the benefactors after his shift tonight. The very thought cheered him up and put an extra spring in his step.

Halfway through the shift, Randall poked his head into the office that Curtis was currently working on cleaning to check up on him. The small wolf was so diligently busy with his work he never noticed his boss watching from the doorway. He went about his tasks with a smile on his face and was even humming a little tune to himself.

“If beating off in the utility room before his shift makes the little fucker this happy and relaxed, maybe I should just go ahead and let the perv do it,” Randall thought to himself before moving down the hallway to buff and polish the floors.

****

The staff of the Academy met in the Great Room again for a discussion and status meeting. Karhu was in attendance as well; the only ones missing were Rodney and Marcus who were keeping Bernie busy in the cafeteria, feeding him an entire pan of lasagna with two loaves of garlic bread on the side.

“I wanted to take this time,” Gary said, beginning the meeting, “To check in with Karhu to see how he is holding up after the first two weeks tending to a growing cub.”

“Brothers,” Karhu said with a weary grin, “I may have had a two-thousand-year dry spell when I was with the Tuath Dé, but I think I’ve reached the point where I’ve had enough sex to make up for it and then some! I’ll need to have the talk with the Cub first about friendly playtime among bears and what it means to make love with your mate versus bonding and playing with your friends and companions, but I’m ready for some assistance, and soon!”

The bears all laughed, and many uttered words of encouragement with offers to help pitch in.

“I suspected as much,” Gary said, still laughing. “Any bears who want to lend a paw, or… any other vital body parts, let Karhu know discreetly. The bond between this Papa and Cub is one of the strongest I’ve seen, and we don’t want to make him feel like his Papa is offering him up to the rest of us as a pass-around party toy or give him the impression that he’s expected to be the campus whore. Make sure if you spend time with the Cub that he understands the fraternal bonding that goes along with werebear playtime.”

There were nods of agreement and more chuckles among the group as Karhu breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now on to the next important news,” Gary continued. “I’ve spoken with Gunnar and Thomas by video conference today, who themselves spoke with the Supreme Alpha of the Lycan Council earlier this week…”

“I hope that they’ve made it clear to Mr. Supreme that our Cub is not Council property, and we aren’t his royal subjects to be ordered around,” one of the teachers said, interrupting the announcement.

“Yes,” Gary replied firmly. “I think we’ve reached a solution that makes the most sense for all of us that will benefit the entire werebear community and will ensure that all lycans and humans alike will be safe and protected during Bernie’s first shift on the off chance that things take a wrong turn and don’t go as well as we expect.”

The bears all leaned forward in anticipation.

“We are to have complete control and freedom with the Cub during the entire four months of growth and change. All they ask is that when the time grows close for the first shift to occur, we all travel with Bernie to Calgary so that his shift takes place in the relative safety of the NALC headquarters where it can occur far from human eyes and where we can be better prepared to respond to an emergency.”

The bears considered this silently for a moment.

“Papa,” Bill finally said, “When you say we ‘all’ travel with Bernie to Calgary, do you really mean the entire werebear staff of the school?”

“Yes,” Gary replied, “But not only the werebears at the school. They are opening the invitation to attend to all werebears living in North America. If we, the Cub’s guardians agree, they’re expecting around two hundred bears to be in attendance for the event. They want us all there about a week in advance of the expected first shift, and to remain for about a week after.”

“Do they know what they’re getting themselves into, offering up the Lycan Council Headquarters to two hundred bears for two weeks?” one of the staff asked with a touch of excitement in his voice.

“Gunnar and Thomas have been around the block a time or two,” Gary said. “I’m pretty sure they know exactly what the Council is signing up for here. The NALC complex has enough guest suites to accommodate all two hundred bears easily, and Gunnar has assured me that they’re going to be tripling the kitchen staff to keep up with the demands that go with the appetites of that many bears.”

“So, what you’re saying,” Bill interjected, “Is that they’re offering us a two-week all expenses paid bear gathering. The largest gathering that has likely occurred in the last thousand years at least. In exchange, we’re allowing the Council to have some degree of control and risk-management at the time of Bernie’s first shift, in case my assessment of his ability to control himself is wrong, and he goes off the rails when he gets hit with his full powers for the first time.”

“Well, yes,” Gary said, “But don’t take it personally, Cub. They still believe that you were the best candidate to handle Bernie’s training, and the best to determine when he was ready.”

“Oh, I’m not offended at all,” Bill replied, “In fact, I’m a bit relieved. More than anyone, I know what the potential consequences are if something goes wrong when he shifts that first time, and the weight of that has been hard to bear alone. Moving his first shift to the safety and security of Calgary is the most sensible solution, and a big load off my shoulders.”

“So, do we all agree that this is an acceptable course of action?” Gary asked.

The bears each nodded their heads in agreement.

“Then I will let the Councilmembers know to expect a crowd in three-and-a-half months’ time. Karhu, you have that talk with the Cub tonight, and we’ll start pitching in with helping you keep his sex-drive in check starting tomorrow. Dismissed.”

The staff and faculty began to disperse, breaking into small groups of two and three as they left, talking quietly about the future events.

“This is going to be the biggest, most epic, werebear party ever!” one bear said to his companion as they walked. “Can you imagine having friendly playtime with two hundred brother bears?”

“It sounds like it’s going to be quite an event,” the other bear replied, “As long as Bernie doesn’t go crazy when he shifts and murder the lot of us!”

“Not going to happen,” the first bear said, “I feel it in my bones.”

“I think you’re feeling it with the wrong bone,” his companion added, “But, I hope you’re right anyway.”