Arctic Roots - 6. A Trip to Calgary

Adam and the rest of the cubs finished their education of the first two decades of the twenty-first century just in time for the spring thaws. To ensure that they were entirely acclimated to modern life, Jacob took the six oldest cubs through lessons in using laptop computers and introduced them to the Internet.

“Now you have all of the resources of the world at your fingertips,” Jacob told them after he was confident that they understood the basics. “You are free to continue to learn and grow as you see fit. Be careful, though. Many people who learn to use the Internet as adults find themselves staying up till all hours of the night, addicted to watching videos of things like dancing hamsters, cats playing the piano, or weekend warrior athletes getting hit in the nuts with baseballs.”

Jacob had the cubs do their web surfing together in the Common Building for the first couple of weeks until he was sure that they were savvy enough to understand the difference between facts and frauds and made sure that they did not fall for any scams.

“Jacob!” one of the cubs cried out shortly after logging on, “I don’t know what I clicked, but there’s suddenly a bunch of naked women on my screen!”

“Yeah,” Jacob replied, going to the cub’s laptop and clicking several pop-ups closed. “That’s internet porn. There’s a lot of that out there.”

“Probably just straight porn,” Adam replied, clicking around on his own laptop, “I’m sure that whoever’s in charge of the Internet is a straight guy who doesn’t want any gay porn on there.”

Jacob laughed loudly for several seconds and then clarified Adam’s statement.

“Well, first of all, there isn’t just one person or even one company who is in charge of the Internet. It is composed of everyone and every business in the free world. Second, as long as there is somebody in the world who wants to see something, you can be sure that there’s a website out there that gives them exactly what they want.

“Here, look…” Jacob continued, and typed on Adam’s computer for a few seconds, while the other cubs gathered around.

The group was instantly treated to a full-screen, high-definition video of two beefy and hairy men, engaged in some very rough intercourse. Adam gasped.

“Are you telling me that all this is out there for free for anyone who wants to see it?” he asked.

“Well, it isn’t all free, so watch out for any websites that ask you for a credit card. Ezekiel wouldn’t appreciate it very much if strange charges started showing up on the enclave’s credit accounts! But in general, if there’s something that secretly turns you on, no matter how weird or twisted it may be, there’s a porn of it somewhere online.”

“It must be exceedingly difficult to find this pornography,” one of the cubs replied, “Or else everyone would be watching it all the time.”

“Everyone is watching it. All the time. Well… all the men for sure, and at least half of the women in the world. I would say that it’s probably more difficult to search for something and not end up finding porn as a result. If I had to guess, I’d bet that half of all sites on the web are pornography.”

At that moment one of the other cubs called Jacob over to his own laptop.

“Jacob, sir, come here! Quickly! We’re rich!”

“Is that so?” Jacob asked strolling over.

“Yes! Look! I’ve received an email from a Prince in Nigeria! He has forty million dollars tied up in a bank in the US, and all he needs to get access to it is a mere ten thousand dollars for the transaction fees. If we can send that money to him in Nigeria, he will split the money with us fifty-fifty! That’s twenty million dollars!”

“Yeah, Cub,” Jacob said, “I hate to burst your bubble, but there is no Nigerian prince. This is what we call an email scam, and I’ll show you the tell-tale signs that it’s all a fake.”

After each class, Jacob spent extra time with Adam, sometimes until late in the evening, teaching him Office tools, typing skills, and general file management so he would be prepared for the Lycan Council’s Spring session coming up the following week in Calgary.

“Do you think I can do this?” Adam asked Jacob nervously.

“Of course you can,” Jacob replied. “You’re a pretty smart Cub. When we’re in the Council Chambers in Calgary, our Papas will be sitting on the main stage at the front of the auditorium, sitting with the Supreme Alpha and the other Councilmembers. We will be sitting off in the wings of the stage out of view to the audience with the rest of the Council Betas. Your Papa will have his own laptop at his seat, and your computer will be linked to his, so that if he needs to see any files, notes or documents pertaining to whatever it is they’re discussing, you can make it pop up on his laptop’s screen for him. Think of it as passing him notes during the meeting to make sure that he looks smart, but you’re doing it through the computer instead of writing it down on paper. Understand?”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, “I think I get the gist of it, but I’m worried that if I fuck up, it will make Papa look bad.”

“Trust me,” Jacob said, “If you Papa ends up looking like an ass in the Council meetings, it will be because of an angry curse-filled objection to whatever they’re discussing at the time, not because of anything that you do! Besides, they’re all pretty used to that from him by now.”

That night, as Axel prepared for bed, he peeked into the spare room that Adam had turned into an office. Adam sat in front of his laptop, typing away and downloading files from his email.

“You coming to bed, Cub?” Axel asked tentatively.

“Not yet, Papa,” Adam replied. “I’ve been getting emails from the other Council Betas all day with briefing notes for next week’s meeting agendas. I need to get these all read and filed and then tomorrow I’m going to have it all cataloged and summarized for you so that you’ll be ready for the Council sessions.”

“Cub,” Axel said softly, “This is just lycan politics. You don’t have to kill yourself on my behalf.”

“I know, Papa,” Adam said, “But it’s important to me that I be as prepared as possible for you. I know that you’d just prefer to bluster and argue your way through things, but whether you like it or not, you’re a leader, Papa. People listen to you, and if I have anything to say about it, you’re going to go into those Council sessions next week with all of your shit in order and surprise the fuck out of those stuffy old wolves.”

Axel thought about what his cub had just said, and it gave him a warm feeling that Adam had such confidence in him.

“Do you want to take a sex break?” Axel asked.

“Raincheck, Papa,” Adam said. “I’m going to be up pretty late with this stuff. You get a good night’s sleep, and we can fool around in the morning before breakfast.”

“Promise?” Axel asked.

“Cross my heart,” Adam replied.

****

The following week, Axel and Adam traveled with Ezekiel, Joel, and Jacob to the airport in Thunder Bay to fly to the North American Lycan Council’s headquarters in Calgary. As they checked their luggage and picked up their tickets, Adam seemed curious but distracted. Going through airport security, the other bears realized that Adam had no clue what was going on, and they prompted him on what do to. He was dumbfounded that he had to remove his shoes, belt and the contents of his pockets into a bin and send it down a conveyor belt ahead of him. He then had to be told to pull his laptop out of his carry-on bag and send that in a separate bin down the conveyor as well. Finally, after everything was scanned, and he passed through the metal detectors, he looked at his Papa.

“All this is because of what happened on the day everyone calls ‘9-11’, isn’t it?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s right, Cub,” Axel replied pulling his biker boots back onto his feet, and buckling his metal-studded belt, “Every time the bad guys find a new way of sneaking weapons or bombs aboard a plane, we end up having to get more undressed just to go through security.”

They reached their gate with plenty of time to spare, and Jacob pulled out his laptop to work.

“The other Betas sent us so much shit last week,” he said to Adam, “I’m still trying to sift through it all. Was there any part of it that you needed help with?”

“No,” Adam replied. “I actually stayed up late all week so I had time to read through everything. I wrote up a summary document of all of the topics for Papa to read through and cataloged all of the files into my document library so that I can pull up the relevant docs and notes for him quickly during the meeting.”

Jacob’s jaw dropped open and he stared at Adam.

“Are you the same guy who didn’t even know how to push the button to turn his laptop on two weeks ago?”

“I guess I’m a quick study,” Adam replied. “Do you want me to send you a copy of my summary document to give to Joel?”

“Fuck yes!” Jacob said. “Send it to Ezekiel as well. You don’t by any chance have links to your cataloged document library, do you?”

“It’s all on the cloud in my Google Docs. I’ll add the rest of you as guest users to my library and send you the index with all the links. I have each agenda topic for the week cross-referenced with the relevant library docs so that I can pull up the pertinent notes on Papa’s screen in real-time as the discussions take place.”

“Damn, dude,” Jacob replied, “You’re a natural. Keep this up and you’ll be teaching the class for all of the rest of the Betas on how to get the job done.”

Adam blushed and gazed down in embarrassment.

“I just want to make sure that when Papa speaks, he has all the facts right, so people will listen. He’s really a great leader, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Jacob said. “If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be on the Council in the first place. I’m glad he has you to push him to his full potential.”

****

Soon, it was time to board the plane, and once they were in their seats Adam turned to his Papa.

“Is this the right time to mention that I’ve never been on an airplane before?” he said.

“Shit,” Axel replied. “I guess air travel wasn’t exactly the norm back in the early 50s, was it?”

“No,” Adam said. “Only really rich people or VIPs were able to fly back then. Are we flying now because we’re important councilmembers?”

Axel chuckled.

“Nobody else on this plane besides us even knows that the Lycan Council exists, remember? To them we’re just a bunch of regular shmoes. We’re flying because its faster and easier. These days just about anybody can afford a plane ticket anywhere they want to go.”

“I guess that’s why nobody is dressed up in suits for the flight today,” Adam observed.

Axel laughed again.

“If I had to wear a suit to get on a plane, we’d be taking my motorcycle to Calgary instead.”

“I think I might have preferred that, actually,” Adam said nervously as the plane began to move. “What’s happening?”

“We’re taxiing to the end of the runway, Cub,” Axel said. “Chill out. Millions of people do this every day.”

“If you say so, Papa,” Adam replied, but he wasn’t convinced anymore that getting in this long metal tube with wings was that great of an idea.

The plane arrived at the end of the runway, and the usual high-pitched whine could be heard as the engines powered up for takeoff.

Adam grabbed Axel’s forearm sitting on the shared armrest and dug into it with his fingernails.

The plane began moving forward for takeoff and as he felt the acceleration, Adam’s fingernails shifted to bear claws that dug into his Papa’s flesh.

“Cub!” Axel whispered, “Chill out! Relax! This is all normal stuff!”

But Adam couldn’t relax, and as he felt the wheels leave the ground, his fur started to sprout and his face pushed out into a muzzle with sharp fangs.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Axel whispered as the seams of Adam’s clothing threatened to come apart from the panicked cub’s involuntary change.

Joel hears Axel’s soft cursing and glanced over from his seat across the aisle. He saw Adam in his half-changed form, in the midst of a panic attack from the takeoff and quickly tossed Axel an airline blanket from his seat pocket.

Axel grabbed the blanket from mid-air and tossed it over Adam’s head.

“Papa!” Adam mumbled through the thin blanket, his voice rumbling deep, on the verge of changing into the bear-language.

At that point, Axel could think of only one thing to completely calm his cub down and reverse the changing process…

With the blanket draped over Adam’s head, Axel punched him squarely in the face, knocking him out with one swift blow.

Adam’s body went limp and immediately his fur and claws receded. Axel pulled the blanket off his head and was relieved to see his cub’s handsome human face once again. The only thing wrong was that Adam’s nose was noticeably broken and bent to one side, and Axel quickly straightened it out so it could heal in the proper position.

Axel tucked the blanket around Adam’s body, so that when the plane leveled out and the flight attendants began their rounds in the aisle, it would simply look as if Adam was taking a peaceful nap.

Joel and Axel looked at each other across the aisle and heaved a big silent sigh together. Crisis averted, and the humans on the plane did not get to witness a panicked Kodiak bear on a rampage through the cabin.

****

“I’m really sorry everyone,” Adam said in the shuttle van from the airport to the Lycan Council headquarters, apologizing for the tenth time since they landed. “I just don’t know what came over me.”

“I know what came over you; you had a panic attack like a wee little girl,” Axel replied in a high-pitched voice, rubbing in the humiliation. “There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

“Good to know that your bouncer skills are still intact and that you can knock somebody out with a single punch.” Joel said with a smirk.

“How’s your nose, by the way?” Axel asked.

Adam wiggled his nose back and forth. It made a weird clicking noise.

“Still broken,” Adam replied. “I guess I deserved it. Sorry, everybody…”

“Aargh!” Jacob yelled. “Stop apologizing! We had to find out you were afraid of flying sooner or later. Now we know before we put you on another plane, we have to either get you really drunk or dope you up with the good stuff.”

The van erupted with laughter, and they all gave Adam a slap on the back to let him know that all was forgiven.

The shuttle dropped them off in front of the sprawling Lycan Council Headquarters complex, and a dozen porters and staff emerged from the building to take their luggage and whisk them inside.

“Now we get treated like VIPs, Cub,” Axel said to Adam as their bags went one way, and they were directed in another direction to join a small reception of councilmembers and their Betas that had assembled in the lounge.

Adam recognized the other bears at the gathering from attending the wedding of Gunnar and Mike a few months before. They were waved over to a table and joined their friends. Gunnar waved his hand at a bartender, and five beers were brought over for the new arrivals. A door opened in the side of the room and several wolf waiters bearing trays of appetizers entered the room and began offering the attendees things to nibble on.

A waiter came over to the bears’ table with a platter of rumaki, and Axel thanked him, taking the entire platter out of his hands and setting it down on the table.

“Um, bears… sirs, I…,” the waiter stammered, trying to come up with the words to tell the giant men that the rumaki was supposed to be for everyone, but Axel dismissed him with a wave of his hand, as the hungry bears began devouring the tasty bacon treats.

“Oh, Axel,” Gunnar said, “You haven’t changed a bit!”

Mike greeted Adam warmly, giving him a good looking-over.

“Wow!” Mike said, “I didn’t think there was room in this world for two Axels, but his cub here has proven me wrong!”

Adam blushed a bit and looked down.

“I’m just glad that I took after my Papa instead of Christopher.”

The bears nodded in agreement and Mike raised his glass in a toast in honor of the eight newest werebears in the world.

As the Papa bears began to mingle with their fellow councilmembers, the Cubs drifted over to greet the Betas. Adam was worried that they would look down their nose at the bears in general and especially at one who was here so soon after his first change, but Jacob reminded him that none of the Betas here had been in their positions longer than six months, since all their predecessors were now in prison.

The wolves greeted the bears with friendly handshakes and asked them if they had any trouble assimilating the mountain of data and notes that had been sent for the Spring council sessions.

“This guy here,” Jacob said, pointing at Adam, “Who has only been on the job for a few weeks, organized a cloud-based document library, with an index that’s cross-referenced against the week’s agenda and links to all of the related documents and notes. Then, he read everything, and wrote up a consolidated summary so that his Papa knows all the facts and can pull up the supporting documentation with a single mouse click.”

The Betas, along with Mike and Sam looked at Adam in amazement.

“You must have been a business professional before being turned into a bear,” one of the Betas remarked.

“Well, no,” Adam replied, careful not to let the secret slip out that he was actually one of the dababbi monsters that the Council forces had fought against the prior year. “I never even touched a computer before a couple weeks ago. Jacob here is a good teacher.”

“Please,” Jacob protested. “Anybody can learn to use a computer. Your skill at organizing and understanding all of the data is quite a feat.”

“Indeed,” the Supreme Alpha’s new Beta, Chad replied. “I’ll want to schedule some time with you this week to go over your document library system. We’re still trying to sort out the mess that our predecessor Betas left behind, and it sounds like something that we can utilize to speed up the efficiency of information distribution before the next full session.”

“Certainly, Beta,” Adam said, remembering the protocols when addressing the wolves, “It would be my pleasure. I’ll send you a link to my calendar, and you can schedule a time that works best for you.”

Chad nodded respectfully, and then turned to walk over to where the group of Alphas were gathered, the rest of the Betas following in his wake.

“Well, you just scored a bunch of brownie points for your Papa,” Sam remarked. “Good job, dude.”

“Do you think you can send Sam and I copies of all your stuff?” Mike asked, “To tell you the truth, it’s been a hell of a week at the restaurant, and I was trying to cram all that paperwork in on the plane here this morning.”

“He’d be happy to,” Jacob said before Adam could reply, “It’s a good thing this cub got all his homework done before the trip, because he sure didn’t get anything done on the plane!”

Adam blushed, but Jacob slapped him on the back and they both laughed and shared the story of his near-disastrous first takeoff a few hours earlier.

****

After the cocktail reception and dinner, Adam was relieved that they were finally able to go upstairs to their apartment. He looked around at the space in amazement. It was much fancier than their cottage back at home. The whole apartment was decorated in masculine dark tones, with brown leather furniture, industrial metal light fixtures and live edge wooden tables.

Two walls of the living room were floor-to-ceiling windows and Adam stood in the corner where these walls of glass met, looking at the majestic mountain range to his left, and the city lights of Calgary to the right.

“Do you like it, Cub?” Axel said, walking up from behind and wrapping his arms around him.

“It’s beautiful, Papa,” This is the fanciest place I’ve ever seen.

“Do you like it better than our cottage at home?” Axel asked. He wasn’t a city bear, but he had tried to furnish his apartment here in a manner that was comfortable and suited his personality. He worried a bit that his Cub would be so dazzled by the opulence at the Council Headquarters that he would want to stay.

“No,” Adam replied, much to his Papa’s relief. “This is all amazing, and it’s a fantastic place to stay when we need to come here for Council business, but I like our home in Atikokan the best. Besides, there’s no fireplace here! Getting all cozy and romantic in front of the fire before bed is sort of our thing!”

“Maybe when we’re here we can try a new thing…” Axel said as his slid his hands down his cub’s body, reaching his belt. He unbuckled Adam’s pants and swiftly pulled them down.

He pulled his cub’s shirt off next, and when Adam tried to turn to give his Papa a kiss, Axel forcefully kept him turned toward the corner window.

Adam was extremely aware that he was now standing naked in front of a wall of glass on the sixth floor of the building, but his Papa didn’t seem to care. Axel dropped to his knees and began to tongue his cub’s hole getting a taste of his puckered rosebud and making his entrance nice and slick.

Adam leaned forward and braced himself against the glass, closing his eyes and moaning as his Papa’s tongue invaded his hole. Axel quickly stood and pushed his thick tool inside his cub with one thrust. Adam roared and pressed his palms against the glass as his Papa wrapped his arms around his body and began thrusting into him hard and fast.

Adam opened his eyes and took in the view of the mountains and the city lights as he was lost in the pleasure being given by his Papa. If he had been less distracted, he would have noticed the lone wolf standing on a walking path in the Council Gardens below, looking up and watching the pair of mating bears. It was the Supreme Alpha’s Beta, Chad, out for a walk to clear his mind after the reception. As he watched the bears fucking roughly against the glass in their apartment, he found himself growing hard, and without even thinking he pulled out his own straining member and began to stroke himself.

As the Beta watched and pleasured himself, Axel let out a loud roar and thrust himself hard against his Cub’s ass one final time. Adam let out a similar roar and his massive cock erupted against the glass where a copious load splattered and ran down.

The Beta’s excitement at watching the bears’ mutual climax resulted in one of his own, and he muffled his cries as he shot volley after volley of his own semen onto the walking path. After he regained his composure, he looked back up to see the two big men embracing and kissing, and for the first time he felt embarrassed at having spied on their private time. He quickly zipped up his pants and hurried along the path before he was seen. He recalled his encounter with the Cub earlier that evening and made a mental note to schedule that private meeting with him as soon as possible. As much as he did want to hear about Adam’s filing system, he now had other ideas in mind for their private encounter.