Gods and Ancients - 3. The Missing Piece

Graduation day at the Academy came and went just in time before Bernie’s physical changes became too noticeable. The students were saddened to learn that Assistant Coach Odinson would not be returning the following year, and they asked if they could throw a going-away party for him before the summer break, but Bill told them all that Bernie appreciated the thought, but he didn’t want any big fuss. The truth was, Bernie was nearly reaching the halfway point in his transformation, and they were actively trying to keep him away from the students as much as possible before things became too obvious to human eyes.

After most of the students were gone for the summer except for the wolf-lycan students who were essentially banned from their packs until they proved themselves by graduating, Bill and the rest of the staff were comfortable with having Bernie working out in the campus gym again, since hitting the weight room was going to be the most effective way to build muscle fast in the time they had remaining.

Today, Bill spotted Bernie on the squat rack at the end of a long and grueling workout, adding more weight to test out the cub’s growing strength.

“Bill,” Bernie said, in between sets, “I just wanted to say how I appreciate the other bears helping to… break me in, so to speak.”

“Break you in?” Bill asked with a chuckle, “You mean that they’re all pitching in to help keep that rollercoaster libido of yours in check.”

Bill added another twenty pounds to the bar and indicated for the Cub to perform another set.

Bernie positioned himself under the bar as instructed, and began a set of squats, the strain of the weight only slightly visible on his face. When he’d completed ten repetitions, Bill stopped him and allowed him to catch his breath a minute. That was the maximum weight that he’d been able to lift in one rep just a few days ago in their daily gym routine, and already he was lifting it as if it was far too easy.

Bill added another twenty pounds to the bar, satisfied that he should be hitting the Cub’s wall soon. If this didn’t do it, Bill would have to start borrowing weight plates from the racks on some of the other weight stations, as these were the last two on-hand.

“I mean, sir,” Bernie said as Bill tended to the weight, picking up the conversation where it left off, “I understand that bears get to enjoy playtime whenever they can, and up till now, the only man… or bear I’ve ever been with was my Papa, so learning how to play with others and just have good, fun bonding time has been a great experience for me.”

“Good, Cub,” Bill replied. “I’m glad you get it, and I’m sure the other bears are having a good time bonding with you too. I know that your Papa was getting a little worn out after the first couple of weeks, so they were glad to help.”

Bill, nodded to the bar with the increased weight again, and Bernie dutifully positioned himself beneath it again and began another set. The strain on his face was a little more visible this time, and he was beginning to show some tension as he completed his tenth rep. Bill helped guide the bar back to the cradle and allowed him to rest again while he went in search of more weight.

Bernie watched his mentor stride across the gym to another station and pick up an additional forty pounds of weights. Internally, he was a nervous mess. He had been bringing up the subject of the playtime bonding with the other bears in the hopes that Bill would ask him if he’d like to join him for some playtime of their own after the workout. It seemed that all the bears on campus had spent some individual time with Bernie in the last few weeks, and in the case of Rodney and Marcus, some three-way bonding time as well. All except for Bill.

He closed his eyes and remembered the day that he first met the burly Staff Sergeant. He was just a boy of seventeen and had been kicked out of his last foster home for causing too many problems. The Academy was his last chance, and he had arrived bitter and angry. But soon after meeting Gary he not only felt more at ease, but he even was also able to admit to the headmaster for the first time in his life that he was gay.

And then he met Gary’s husband. The Staff Sergeant. The ball-breaker in the skimpy short shorts. The Viking muscle sex fantasy. He remembered when Bill took him for his swimming test and stripped down to his skimpy shorts, and he was able to see how the elastic of Bill’s jockstrap hugged the curve of each of his rock-hard ass cheeks as he bent over to remove his boots and socks.

“Cub!” Bill shouted, snapping his fingers in front of Bernie’s face, brining him out of the fantasy of his memories. “Earth to Bernie! You still with me?”

Bernie’s eyes popped open and saw that the man he’d been dreaming about was eye-to-eye with him, looking exactly the same as the day they first met.

“Yeah, sorry,” Bernie replied, “I got kind of lost in my thoughts there for a minute.”

Bill had already loaded the additional weight onto the bar, adding forty more pounds. Bernie positioned himself under the bar again and picked up the weight onto his shoulders, the muscles and cords in his neck standing out with strain as he did so.

“Sir,” he said, “I think this is too much. I don’t know if I can do it.”

“You’ll never know till you try, Cub,” Bill replied. “I’m here to spot you. Go ahead and give it a shot.”

Slowly, Bernie lowered himself into the squat position, and with a great deal of strain, he pushed himself harder than he had ever pushed before and stood up straight once again. Bill caught the bar before the Cub could buckle under the immense weight and guided it back to the cradle.

Freed from the burden, Bernie fell onto his back on the thick gym mat, panting heavily.

“You increased your max single-rep weight by sixty pounds in just four days Cub,” Bill said, looming over him with a big grin on his face. “I’d say that’s a good enough workout for today. Why don’t we hit the showers before lunch?”

Bill offered his hand to the cub and pulled him back to an upright position in once smooth movement.

Still partially immersed in his memories, it reminded Bernie of his swimming test and how the Staff Sergeant had taken his hand to pull him out of the water onto the floating platform as if he weighed nothing more than a feather. Back then, Bill seemed so impossibly huge and tall. Now, as Bernie was pulled to stand once again, he realized that he was nearly as tall now.

They went into the locker room and Bill quickly stripped nude, tossing a towel over his shoulder, and heading for the showers, with the cub following closely behind.

As they stood under the steaming spray, Bill turned to his student.

“Bernie, you know that bears have super-sensitive noses, right?”

“Sure,” he replied. “I can’t wait to see what that’s like.”

“One of the things that means,” Bill continued, “Is that a person’s scent can change subtly along with their emotions. As such, I know what was on your mind during your workout today, as clearly as I knew what was on your mind the first day we met here at the Academy when you were just a boy.”

“I uh,” Bernie stammered, “Sir…”

“Cub,” Bill said, not letting him hang in the wind, “I know you’re wondering why all the other bears here on campus have had bonding time with you except for me. There’s a good reason why I was holding off on that, but I know now that I can’t put off talking to you about it.”

“Have I done something wrong, sir?” Bernie asked carefully. He didn’t want to do anything to upset his hero. Bill was the bear he most admired and quite frankly worshipped.

“No, no,” Bill replied quickly. “You’ve done everything just right. More than right. It’s just that I understand how you feel about me, and I don’t want those feelings to make you confused about how much you love your Papa. I think that when you and I do… make love… it will be more than just friendly playtime, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Bernie said, looking down at the floor, and watching the soap suds swirl the drain. Bill noticed this movement, as staring at the floor was something he Cub only did when he was terribly embarrassed.

“Don’t be sorry, Cub,” Bill replied. “I think the relationship that you and I have goes beyond brotherly bonding. There’s something in both of our lives that has been missing. For you, it has been missing since you graduated from the Academy and dedicated your life to training, and for me, it has been missing since I was discharged from the Marines and left my old life behind to be with my Papa. My Mate.”

“What is it, sir?” Bernie asked, looking up from the floor into Bill’s eyes. He had never seen the big man he idolized cry before, but it seemed that his hero was on the verge now.

“We’ve both needed a best friend,” Bill said. “Bernie, you’re going to live a long, long time. Your life with Karhu your Mate will be wonderful, but without a best friend, there will always be something missing.”

“You,” Bernie began cautiously, “You want to be my best friend? In the whole world?”

“I think we already are, Cub,” Bill said with a grin, “We just haven’t made it official.”

“What is it like for werebears to have a best friend?” the Cub asked. Tears began to run down his cheeks into his beard. Or maybe it was just the water from the shower.

“I don’t know,” Bill replied. “I haven’t had one. But I think it’s probably a lot like this…”

At that, Bill stepped over under Bernie’s showerhead and grabbed him into his arms, kissing him deeply.

Bernie was shocked only for a moment, and then wrapped his arms around Bill’s back, digging his fingers into the taut muscle.

Bill backed the cub up against the wall of the shower and broke their kiss, placing one hand firmly on Bernie’s chest to hold him in place as he sank to knees and engulfed the young man’s rigid cock down his throat.

Bernie cried out in surprise and reached over his head to grab the showerhead pipes sticking out of the tiled wall to support himself.

Bill began a slow, methodical movement with his head, bobbing up and down the hard shaft and using his tongue to lick the underside, pressing it against the roof of his mouth and flicking the tender frenulum as he reached the end, before plunging Bernie’s length back down his throat again. He felt the tension in Bernie’s trembling legs and grabbed the cub’s balls, pulling them down and away from his body, just as they began to pull up on their own in anticipation of his orgasm.

“Sir,” Bill gasped, “Bill! I’m going to come! Don’t stop! Oh!”

He released the shower pipes and grabbed Bill’s head of long blonde hair, holding it still as he began to pump his load of cream down his friend’s throat.

Bill swallowed all he was given until the cub’s cock began to soften, and then he stood, kissing Bernie deeply once again.

“Bill,” Bernie whispered as they broke their kiss, “I need you. Now. I need you inside me. I need you to fuck me. Please!”

Bill turned him around to face the shower wall, feeling the same sense of urgency. He bent the cub slightly forward and laid his wet, soapy chest against Bernie’s back and swiftly pressed his hard member into his tunnel, relishing the feeling of the tight velvety walls squeezing his cock as the warm water continued to pour down their bodies.

He pumped his hips, slowly at first until the cub began to push back against each of his thrusts, urging him to fuck him harder, faster.

The shower room echoed with the sound of Bill’s thighs slapping against the back of Bernie’s in a fast steady rhythm, punctuated by the grunts of the pair as they both neared release.

“Bill,” Bernie gasped, dropping one hand from where he was bracing himself against the tile to grasp his bobbing erection, “Don’t stop. You’re going to make me come again!”

“I’m close too,” Bill grunted in between thrusts. “Where do you want my load?”

“Shoot it in my ass,” Bernie growled, “I want my best friend’s seed inside me, like mine is inside him now.”

Bill gave a few final thrusts and slammed his hips against the cub one more time, emitting a primal grizzly roar as he came in Bernie’s ass. Bernie cried out with the sensation of Bill’s pulsing member inside of him and shot his second load against the shower wall.

They both panted, catching their breath as the waves of post-coital bliss washed over them like the warm water from the showerhead.

“Bill,” Bernie said finally after Bill had pulled himself from the cub’s backside and turned him around so that they could kiss once again, “Will you still be my best friend if I turn into some kind of monster after my first change?”

“Bernie,” Bill said, “Best friends are forever. Will you still be my best friend if you turn into an all-powerful god after your first change?”

“Always,” Bernie replied. “Forever.”

“Will our Papas be jealous of our special relationship?” Bernie asked, helping to rinse the sweat off Bill’s muscular body and cleaning his soft cock.

“Are Gunnar and Thomas jealous of Mike and Sam?” Bill asked. “Come to think of it, are Mike and Sam jealous of Gunnar and Thomas? They know that best friends are there for each other, to share company, and secrets. Sometimes, there are things that you have to talk about with your best friend first before you can talk about it with your Mate. That’s what you and I will have together, for as long as we both live.”

“Every day,” Bernie said, “As I get closer to my first change, I learn a little more about werebears, and the more I learn, the more I understand how fantastic and awesome my life is going to be!”

****

Half a world away from the private locker room in which the two cubs shared their mutual friendship but the same moment, a massive lion crouched in the tall grass carefully watching as a herd of wildebeest made its way across the wide plain, moving in unison as a single living mass. His eyes scanned the herd and one animal stood out from the rest. It was a bit undersized, and it was moving more slowly than the rest of the herd because of a heavy limp in its right back leg. The lion’s target had been acquired.

The predator began to creep forward out of the tall grass, remaining in a crouch and staying low. He was able to crawl within twenty meters of his quarry when one of the herd spotted him and let out a bellow, alerting the rest and starting a stampede.

The lion pounced and began to run directly for the lame wildebeest who hobbled along with the rest of its herd as fast as its legs could go…

Which was not nearly fast enough, as the lion quickly leapt upon the poor animal’s back, digging in with his claws until it went down to the ground, and then he clamped his jaws around the doomed beast’s throat, cutting off its air supply as it slowly stopped struggling.

Seeing that the lion had made his kill and that they were now relatively safe, the herd slowed their stampede and continued on their journey, giving the predator a wide berth as he crouched over their slain herd-mate.

Instead of beginning to feast upon his kill, the lion backed away several meters. He growled deep in his throat and with a roar, reared onto his hind legs as his fur receded and features shifted and contorted. In a matter of seconds, a large ebony-skinned man with a fine pattern of tattoos across his chest stood in the lion’s place. He hoisted the slain wildebeest over his shoulder and carried it across the tall grass.

After a hike of several kilometers bearing his heavy load, the man reached the top of a hill and gazed into the valley below at a massive structure. He enjoyed admiring the sprawling complex from this vantage point. It had a round central building with a soaring domed roof built entirely of local African stone. Radiating out in spirals from the central dome were an interconnected series of smaller buildings and rooms, similar in shape to the main building at the core, but progressively smaller the further along each spiral, laid out in the golden ratio which his people had been using in their architecture for millennia. Nine hundred years ago, an Italian mathematician traveling through the region on a tour of the Mediterranean coast happened upon one of the kingdoms within this realm and was taken here to be shown the wonder and beauty of the complex. That mathematician shared what he had learned about mathematics and architecture with the rest of the world, and he later became known to history as Fibonacci.

This complex, and all the lands surrounding it were the domain of the man who now stood naked atop the hill carrying a slain wildebeest upon his shoulders. This was the land of the werelions, and he was their Emperor.

As he strode into the valley, nearing the majestic complex, a trio of lionesses in their human forms ran to greet him and take the dead animal from his shoulders. His wives. They covered him with robes of purple and gold silk, and placed slippers upon his feet.

“Good hunting, your Highness!” they exclaimed, carrying the beast between them as their emperor continued his walk through the gardens surrounding the complex.

“Take it to the kitchens and have the chefs prepare it for tonight’s dinner. We are hosting the other Kings of the Council.”

“Will this be a formal or informal occasion with the Kings, your Majesty?”

“Informal,” the emperor replied. “Tonight, is business. I have received news from the mysterious unseen ones who call themselves The Benefactors regarding the Lycans in North America. We must discuss the potential threat that they pose.”

“Are the wolves up to no good, again, Sire?” one of the lionesses asked.

“This time,” the emperor replied, “It appears to be the bears who are overstepping their limitations.”

Later that evening, the emperor strode into the dining room that was reserved for informal, intimate business dinners with the Kings of the Council. It was not the grandest of the meeting spaces, but the purpose of this dinner wasn’t ceremony or pageantry. There was a potentially serious danger to be discussed and he did not want knowledge of it to extend beyond his Council.

As he entered the room, the ten lions seated at the round table stood in respect and deference to their emperor. These were the rulers of the ten realms of Africa, and his Council of Kings. This is as it has been for millennia on this continent, and he had fought each one of these kings to become the emperor over a thousand years ago, at the time of the death of the 3^rd Emperor, Harith.

“Hail, Emperor Kintu!” the ten kings shouted in unison at his appearance.

Per the custom, Kintu went around the table, touching his forehead against the forehead of each King in his presence with his hand placed gently on the back of their neck, saying their title and name in respect.

“Greetings!” Kintu said to all, before approaching the first. “King Shombay, King Basel, King Lencho, King Zidan, King Haidar, King Muruthi, King Kosey, King Adnan, King Tamur, and King Tau.”

Emperor Kintu sat in his place at the circular table, which was a thick slab cut from the trunk of a baobab tree, twenty meters in diameter, polished over the ages to a mirror shine, with legs made from hard and sturdy African blackwood.

As soon as the emperor was seated the ten kings of the Council sat as well, and two dozen male cheetah servants moved from their positions around the perimeter of the room to begin the finely practiced motions of laying linen napkins in each monarch’s lap, pouring wine, and serving bread, fruit, dates, and olives in preparation for the main meal to come following the discussion of business. Once the kings had all been attended and served, the cheetahs exited the room and sealed the doors so that the business could commence.

“Now that we have assembled,” King Tau said boldly, seated at Kintu’s right hand, “Can you tell us, emperor, what news you bear that is so secret it could only be revealed to all the Council in person?”

“I have called this assembly,” Kintu said, “Because I have received communication directly from The Benefactors.”

A hush fell across the room. The Benefactors had eyes and ears in all Lycan politics, and only chose to reveal their secrets to another faction when they felt it was of dire consequence. None outside of those present in the room even knew of the existence of The Benefactors in all of Africa with the exception of the emperor’s wives, with whom he had no secrets.

“What news do they bring, my emperor?” King Zidan asked, breaking the silence.

“The last news we received from The Benefactors regarding the lycans in North America was several years ago, when the Council of wolves chose to grant bears representation at their table, giving five bears Councilmember status alongside the eight wolves.”

“I still can scarcely believe that happened,” King Shombay interrupted. “Imagine if we were to grant the cheetahs seats alongside us at this very table!”

The kings all grumbled in agreement, until the emperor raised a hand, wordlessly requesting silence.

“Today’s news is much more disturbing, and potentially catastrophic for lycans everywhere,” he said, once he had the full attention of the room again. “As we all know, bears have no females with which to breed and produce cubs. They are all male and must breed with and bite a kindred human male in order to turn him and create a new bear. Amusingly, the bear that breeds and turns the human is then called the ‘Papa’ and the human-turned-bear is called the ‘Cub’ in a mockery of nature’s order.”

“That’s Odin’s doing, not Nature,” Shombay interrupted again. “It seems very short-sighted to me at the time of creation to force your animal-spirit protectors to all be filthy homosexuals!”

“Yes,” Kintu agreed, “And it is Odin who is the cause of the troubles now. It appears that millennia ago, his grand-daughter Thrud, daughter of Thor, chose to become mortal for one human lifetime before joining the ranks of the Valkyries. During this period, she mated with a human male and bore many daughters, each of those daughters carrying the genes of Odin himself!

“Now, these daughters and their subsequent offspring did not pose an imminent danger themselves, but Odin’s ultimate plan for his offspring is finally coming to fruition now. One of the female descendants of Thrud has mated with a male kindred. A direct descendant of Odin’s berserker bears. The result being a human male with both the genes of a god and the genes of a bear.”

The assembled Kings erupted in low grumbling again at this news, but Kintu did not bother quieting them again before continuing.

“At the present time, this male bear kindred has reached the age of twenty-two. He already has the power of a demigod. He can call upon the hammer of Thor, and transform into a mighty Viking warrior, capable of battling and defeating an entire army on his own. It is said that he defeated and killed the last of the Tuath Dé, the Serpent god, in single-combat battle four years ago, and since that time, he has been training as a warrior with the mightiest of bears in North America.

“As if this was not enough of a threat to lycans everywhere, he has now been bred and bitten by his Mate. His ‘Papa’ if you will. As strong as he already is, Odin has revealed to the bears that he will become even more powerful and an even greater force once he has completed his first change from man to bear.

“They do not know exactly what he will become when he undergoes that transformation, but what The Benefactors have informed me is that the North American Lycan Council has initiated steps to control and harness that power for their own benefit once the change is complete. This change will take place in approximately two months from now, and all bears in North America will be at the NALC headquarters Calgary to celebrate their ascendancy as the new super-power in the Lycan World.”

“So now, my brothers, I ask you… How should the African Lycan Council respond to the news that the wolves and bears have obtained possibly the greatest weapon in all of were-kind?”

“They must be stopped!” King Basel declared, “No one lycan force on Earth should have sole control of that amount of godlike power! What is stopping them from assembling an army led by this demigod bear and killing or enslaving were-creatures everywhere?”

“I don’t mean to play devil’s advocate here,” Tau said to the group carefully, “But aren’t the bears known to be protectors, not aggressors? Once this demigod human becomes a werebear, it seems that he may choose to become the protector of all, not the destroyer of the world!”

“That is a possibility,” Kintu acknowledged. “The question is, are we willing to take that risk? To hope that the demigod will choose to be a protector? No, my Council, the longer this being lives, the greater the chance his power can be used as a weapon against us.”

“Are you suggesting…” King Lencho began.

“You know exactly what I’m suggesting,” Kintu snapped. “We must take action and eliminate this threat. Proactively. Thanks to The Benefactors, we know exactly where he is going to be in two months, and we also know who is going to be with him. We have an opportunity to eliminate not only the threat that this demigod bear poses to our realm, but to strike a blow against the North American werebears and some of the wolves as well.”

“This will require much more discussion, my emperor,” Tau said, looking at the lion to his left with uncertainty.

“Indeed,” Kintu replied. “But for now, that discussion can wait. I have personally taken down a wildebeest today for this occasion and it is time to feast. Let no one outside of this room be privy to what we have spoken about today.”

The emperor picked up a wooden-handled mallet with a head of polished stone and struck a gong made from a large slab of rock that was suspended from the domed ceiling and hanging behind his seat. The vibrations from this rock echoed throughout the room, and immediately, the doors on the sides opened, and the cheetah servants streamed in, bearing the roasted wildebeest along with fresh vegetables and more wine.

The Kings feasted in relative silence, pondering their emperor’s plan to strike a blow against the North American bears and Odin’s heir. Tau in particular was most disturbed by this turn of events. Of all the old gods, Odin is the only one who has actively shown an interest in the lives of his lycan creations in the last several hundred years. Perhaps if Amun-Ra would make an appearance to speak to the Kings, the rulers of his lycan creations, and ensure them that he approves of their actions and will have his protection during this pre-emptive act of violence, he would have more confidence in interfering with Odin’s plans.

Tau sighed and chewed a mouthful of wildebeest meat. It was a bit tough and gamey. The emperor had obviously picked off one of the weak or lame members of the migrating herd rather than going to the trouble of chasing down a healthy animal, but none of the visiting Kings of the Council would dare to mention that fact.

The emperor always got his way.