Fur Fucks Sake

With a volcanic rage rising inside him Al watched his wife give John a kiss on the cheek and leave the room without a glance in his direction. If he'd had any doubt about her feelings before, he now had definite proof that his marriage was long over. She knew perfectly well what was going to happen to him, and she not only didn't care. She was part of it. Maybe even the instigator.

Al stared daggers at John, wondering why he didn't feel afraid at all. These two men were clearly preparing to torture and murder him, yet all he felt was a pounding rage. Not a hint of fear. Not a trace of apprehension. Only anger and a rising desire to tear them limb from limb in a bloody carnage.

"Ok," John declared. "Time to get this show on the road. Shoot out a kneecap Carson."

Without hesitation the bearded man lifted his gun and Al heard a loud crack followed by a flash of the most excruciating pain he had ever felt in his life. It was as if somebody had just crushed his knee with a mallet, which in a way wasn't far from the truth.

He screamed and screamed as his world slowly faded to gray.

It hurt so bad... more than anything he thought possible... not just the knee, but all over. Every cell in his body was on fire and the rage kept building and pushing to get out. He screamed again and again like a lost soul being dragged to Hell while getting pulled asunder and burned alive at the same time.

After what felt like an eternity he started to regain some of his awareness behind the red wall of pain. He was sitting on a chair in a room and there were voices.

"Motherfucker! What the fuck is happening to him? What is this slimy shit? What the hell did you do Carson?"

"Nothing boss. Just kneecapped the guy. I don't know why he's flipping out like that."

The pain gradually gave way to a sense of clarity. The seething rage remained, but Al felt his body and mind adapting to it somehow. Like a warm flood rushing through him and filling him up. It was an odd feeling, but somehow he had never felt better. Stronger. More powerful. Even his destroyed knee was no big deal anymore. Hardly worth noticing actually.

He looked down at his bulging furry arm and vaguely registered that he was strapped to a chair with zip-ties. Almost casually he broke free with a flex of the wrist and rose from the chair. Two men (who were they again?) were recoiling in terror. In the far end of the large room a female with a vaguely familiar scent came running through a side door and fell to her knees screaming hysterically when she saw him.

One of the men pointed a gun at him and fired. He felt the bullet hit, but somehow his body rejected it.

"Well, that was mildly annoying," Al thought to himself. "Shooting people is so rude."

Irritated he lashed out at the man and gutted him from groin to sternum with a clawed hand. With a gurgling cry the rude man collapsed in a bloody pile of his own intestine while the other fellow took off frantically running towards the main door. Al was conflicted. The corpse smelled delicious, but chasing the fleeing man could be fun too.

"Hungry," Al decided and turned towards the bloody remains of the dead man.

Just in that moment a skinny redheaded girl with a punkish hairdo came running in the same door that the fleeing man had just exited and grabbed on to him. He knew this girl. He liked her. She smelled like family. Like an ally. Like a mate. Her scent triggered a pleasant tingling sensation in his abdomen and between his legs.

"Get it together doc," Mei said firmly while holding on to his face and shaking it back and forth. "Control it. I know yer in there. Talk to me."

Somehow her words and the timbre of her voice cooled the fire a little, and Al began to regain his ability to think coherently. He was... Alcide McCurdy... retired physician and bar owner... this was his house.... his home... and that skinny lass in front of him was...

"Mei?" he groaned in a raspy voice.

"In the flesh doc. I'm so sorry bout this."

"What is this? I am... seriously... a... werewolf?"

"Really really sorry doc. Musta passed it on to ya. Didn't know I could."

Mei looked like she was about to cry, but Al gently placed a clawed hand on her shoulder

"Don't be sorry Mei. This is a very odd experience, but I actually feel great. For a sexually transmitted disease I'd say this is quite a rush."

He caught an unfamiliar scent and looked down.

"And there is a corpse right here on the floor... wait, did I do that?"

"Totally doc. Ya gutted the bastich right before I walked in. He tried to shoot ya though, so fuck him. By the way, if ya wanna go back to being human, ya gotta eat the suckers heart. Don't ask me why, but that's how it works."

The very thought of eating a person should have repulsed him no end, but somehow it didn't. With mild amusement Al realized that he could easily eat this guy and thoroughly enjoy the meal. Must be a werewolf thing, he decided. Maybe his brain had changed too.

"Ms Foghorn over there is yer wife?" Mei asked unimpressed in the direction of the hysterically sobbing Jessica.

Al nodded. "Yeah, that's Jess alright."

"My sympathies doc. So what's the plan? Let her go or?"

"Well, I do recall that Jess promised me her heart at the engagement," he mused.

"Ya planning a divorce by werewolf?"

Al's distorted face broke out in a vicious werewolfy grin.

"Probably cheapest that way."

"Yer call doc. While yer having yer wife keep ya company for dinner, I'll wolf-out too and take care of the fucker who ran away. Might as well clean the plate, right?"

She blew him a kiss and ran out the same way she had come in.

Al prowled calmly across the room towards the shaking form of Jessica, now the only living human left in the entire house, given the fact that he himself didn't quite qualify as human in his present form.

"So you were prepared to watch me die Jess?" he growled menacingly. "Having your fuckboy and his friend torture me to death for a bit of money? On top of betraying me for years, degrading me at every opportunity and playing me for a fool?"

She stared at the hulking horror that used to be her husband with panicked eyes, barely holding on to her sanity.

"No Al! I love you... only you. John forced me. I never meant to hurt you. Give me a chance. We can make it work."

Jessica's words triggered a deep resentment in Al, born from the years of anger and humiliation. It made the raging fire inside him flare up with renewed intensity like a white-hot explosion, and he felt his self control and humanity start to slip away.

He let it.

******

Al woke with his head in Mei's lap feeling a little sore in his muscles, but well rested.

"Rise'n shine," she purred. "A new day is ready to be seized."

Al sat up and shook the sleep out of his head.

"Oh, morning Mei," he greeted her and glanced down his own body. He was relieved to notice that everything looked perfectly human. He also ran a hand over his face and hair... yep, everything was back to normal.

"Interesting how the hair is perfectly restored," he mused. "You even got your femi-nazi hairstyle back. How on Earth does this work?"

"Hell if I know doc. Just does. Maybe magic or somethin... Hey! Who the fuck ya calling a femi-nazi? Ya need an ass kicking or what?"

Then Al's gaze fell on the half-eaten remains of Jessica, which immediately caused him to buckle over in a violent fit of vomiting.

"No way... I can't believe that I... oh God and Jesus in Heaven no..."

Al vomited some more, while Mei patted his back in sympathy.

"There, there. Ya'll get used to it doc."

"I sincerely doubt that," he answered in a choked voice desperately fighting his nausea.

"There are perks though," she pointed out cheerfully. "A turbo charged physique that'll take care of that beer-gut in no time for instance. Ya'll look and feel younger too with super strong health."

"Too bad the pain is absolutely excruciating," he countered weakly. "I don't know if I can endure that again Mei. Man it hurt."

"No worry Doc, cause ya won't need to. I already contacted my pack shaman. She'll get ya warded asap. Yer'll get better control and wolfing out wont hurt like shit no more."

"Warded? You mean the tattoos? Like the ones you have?"

Mei nodded.

"And regarding this pack-business. Am I joining some crazy werewolf cult or something?"

"Nah, don't worry doc. Not a cult or a club or anything like that. Pack's basically a network of the occasionally furry in this region. No obligations or rules, except ta help each other out in case of trouble."

Gradually Al started to recall more details from the night before.

"By the way, what about John? What happened to that asshole?"

Mei smiled demurely and burped. They both laughed.

"The other piece of shit has been wiped too by the way. I couldn't sleep, so I did some cleaning for ya. I'll get rid of yer marital leftovers too, no prob."

Al immediately started vomiting again.

"But I totally ain't cleaning up yer puke doc. Go get ya self a bucket or something. Jeez."

******

A few hours later the house looked as pristine as it had the day before, with the exception of one missing chair. More specifically the one that Al had exploded out of when he had his debut as werewolf. It was broken beyond repair, so they threw it out.

After a light lunch they relaxed on the couch with a cup of coffee. Al briefly considered the absurd idea of enjoying a coffee break in a room where two people had died violently only a few hours ago. But that thought immediately made his stomach churn, so he forced it out of his mind.

"So what ya gonna do now doc? Guess yer bar is saved, eh?"

He put down his cup.

"That depends on you Mei. Have you ever wanted to run a bar?"

Mei looked confused.

"Yer offering me a job?"

"No, a partnership. But not here. Not in the Boatsman. Now that Jess has mysteriously disappeared without a trace, I'm thinking about selling everything and starting a new business somewhere else. Somewhere tropical. Like Bermuda or Hawaii or something like that. I'm sick and tired of this city and the shitty weather. What do you say Mei?"

"Before I answer, I need ta ask ya a couple of important questions doc. Celine Dion or Death Metal?"

"Cel..." Al started, but Mei interrupted him.

"Don't say it! Moving on. Are ya familiar with Harleys?"

"The ex girlfriend of The Joker?" he offered.

"Jesus doc. What the hell have ya been doing with yer life? Do ya even have a license?"

"Of course. I'm qualified to practice medicine in two states," he bragged.

Mei looked like somebody at the end of her rope.

"I mean, a motorcycle license fur fucks sake!"

"Oh I see. No I've never actually driven one of those things," Al admitted

"That does it, doc!" Mei stated firmly and grabbed on to his arm. "From today I'm sticking to ya like glue. Ya got serious problems, and I've gotta fix ya."

******

The two women relaxed with a cold drink in the patio overlooking the beach. It was about that time where the day was on it's last leg with the sun lighting the ocean on fire in a breathtaking display of orange and yellow, and the tropical magic wasn't lost on them.

Their colorful robes and bathing suits clearly identified them as members of the transient tourist population of Wakaku Island.

"Ohh, I just looove this place!" the matronly brunette exclaimed with enthusiasm. "So authentic and picturesque. No big hotels and no noisy clubs. Only wooden cabins and endless gorgeous beaches. A true tropical paradise. It's like a miracle."

Her slimmer but equally touristy looking friend leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

"Actually it's because most of the land on Wakaku is natively owned. And they have stubbornly kept real estate developers from getting a foothold here. Apparently they have flatly rejected mass tourism in favor of retaining their traditional way of life."

"Really? How interesting," the brunette exclaimed.

"I know, right? That's why there are so few amenities on this island. People come here for the real tropical adventure and authenticism. Not big hotels with room service and night clubs. In fact, did you know that until about three years ago Wakaku didn't even have a medical facility. People had to travel all the way to the mainland, if they needed a doctor."

The pudgy brunette looked astonished.

"Really? But what about this place? The Medicine Shack?"

Her slim friend continued with enthusiasm, clearly enjoying the opportunity to flex her gossip muscles.

"It opened for the first time three years ago. The owners, a charming young couple, bought the old mission and turned it into this combined restaurant and medical clinic. It was a great idea. The place has become indispensable for both tourists and the locals."

"Oh I dare say!" the brunette exclaimed enthusiastically. "Just imagine if we'd had to travel to the mainland to get Dave's wound treated. Losing a big chunk of our vacation time just because he scraped his leg on a stupid reef. Not to make light of his injury of course, but it's really not major thing. A few stitches and some antibiotics at the most."

She paused and took a sip of her drink.

"Now that I think about it, he's been in there for a good long while, hasn't he? Wonder how long he'll be?"

"Excuse me miss!" she called out to a slim girl with bright red hair tied into a ponytail who was just passing their table with a tray.

"Certainly," the girl inquired with a radiant smile. "Can I help ya?"

The rotund homely brunette couldn't suppress a pang of envy over the girl's slender and youthful athletic body, prominently on display since she wore nothing besides a small bikini and an apron.

"Yes please. My husband is having a wound looked at. Dave Colson. Can you tell me how it's going and, if possible, how long he will be?"

"I'll go ask the doc for ya right away," the girl offered. "Just a sec."

"Such a sweet girl," she declared when Mei walked away from their table. "Pretty and sweet. What a blessed combination."

Her friend agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah, her and that handsome doctor McCurdy are a super cute couple. Did you notice that they even have matching tattoos? How romantic is that? Swoon!"

******

After finishing with the last patient of the day, Al sneaked into the kitchen where Mei stood by herself concentrating on arranging a large plate of fruit and local specialties. She knew that he was behind her of course, but she still yelped in surprise when he slapped her ass.

"Doc! What ya doing? I almost dropped the plate."

"I'm sorry," Al said insincerely and leaned over to bite her earlobe.

"Mmm... I forgive ya," she purred.

"Are you up for a romantic moonlight stroll tonight?"

"Anytime, anywhere, anyhow doc. Whaddaya have in mind?"

"Well, there is a rumor going around, that a city lawyer and his partner are in the process of conning a village out of a large piece of prime beach property. Apparently he bribed some local official or something. We should welcome them properly to the island by having them for dinner."

"Oh, that's so thoughtful of ya doc. What's on the menu?"

"I was thinking, hearts."

Mei giggled.

"Hey, do lawyers even have hearts?" she asked with a smirk.

"No idea," Al replied. "Lets find out..."