Shifter City: Werecat Workplace

Anne hurried to her desk. The office looked half empty. She hoped that the majority of the staff was occupied in a meeting or elsewhere. Or, if she were very lucky, they would all be running late as well. Nothing had gone right. The water in her new house ran ice cold, the traffic was heavier than she'd expected, and she'd gotten lost twice trying to find her way back to the building. New jobs filled her with anxiety even under the best of circumstances, but being late on her first full day almost invoked a panic attack. She slipped into her cubicle without attracting too much attention. The cubical walls provided a good deal more privacy than she expected. Her office mates heard her rushing footsteps, but didn't see who they belonged to. Nor did they care, as they all focused on swigging down enough coffee to stay conscious or surreptitiously browsing the Internet.

She took a long, slow breath. A weight lifted off of her. Anne hated the rush of mornings. From the moment she woke up, a constant build of urgency drove her on and on, like she'd been tossed into a pressure cooker with two hours to get out. Every morning, as long as she could remember, it felt the same. The pressure sets in the moment the alarm goes off as her mind struggles to analyze the value of a few more minutes of sleep weighted against the extra time to get dressed. With that battle out of the way, her body lurches up from the bed not too dissimilar from Frankenstein's monster rising to life. Spasms of aches and pains briefly visit her back and neck as she straightens up. She lingers on the bed another minute or two dreading the pressure to come.

The flurry of activity begins as she showers, does her makeup, and tries to find something to eat. She chastises herself along the way for oversleeping and staying up too late the night before, lectures which she has given almost every day of her life. With the deliberations of what to wear and whether or not she should cut her hair done, she enters the world alongside every other person who has just experienced the same hellish morning that she has. Their collective frustrations combine into a vortex of disconnected misery as they merge into traffic. Accidents, weather, forces of God, and other stupid people stand in her way as she treks a very short distance over a disproportionately long amount of time.

Here the pressure mounts to its peak. The only tools to cope with the rush were her immediate controls such as how long to spend in the shower and how many times to hit the snooze, but in traffic those are taken from her. She is left at the mercy of the unintentionally cruel world while she watches the clock tick forward. During this time, she comforts herself with excuses. "There was an accident" or "I got lost" or "the electricity was off and my alarm didn't sound." She ignores that modern technology has stripped these excuses bare. A phone with a standalone battery is her alarm. The same device can alert her to traffic patterns and guide her to her destination. Relief finally comes in the single breath after sitting in her chair. For a moment, peace washes over her. The race is done and she has survived another day. Unfortunately, her prize is being at work.

The breath slipped back out of her lips, and the subtle drone of the office greeted her. She sat up in her chair and straightened out her blouse. Anne rarely fussed over her looks, but she did want to have at least a week of good impressions with her new coworkers. She smoothed out a few stray hairs which had gone wiry in the commute and looked down to make sure her breasts were well contained in her shirt. As she pulled at her bra, she heard a soft tap against the cubical wall. She pulled her hands away from her chest and spun around. "Derrick!"

"Anne - no don't get up - I just wanted to check and see that you were settling in," her boss said as he stepped around the corner.

"Oh, yes, bit of a hectic morning, but I'm here and excited to get to work." She stood up anyway, and he grew suddenly stiff. Derrick had not been the one to hire her. He had been the one she made moon eyes at when she saw him in the hallway, and the one who looked far too young to be the head of the company. Through the whole interview, she kept one eye on him moving fluidly around the office, checking on his workers and giving out instructions. He wore close fitting suits that showed off his broad shoulders and sinewy body. His broad smile made Anne's stomach flutter. His sudden rigidity unnerved her.

"Great! Just wanted to stop by and make sure you were settling in." His voice was strained, and his right hand fidgeted. Anne also started to feel uneasy. She felt her heart quicken and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. A strange scent drifted through the air. She could not quite place it, nor concentrate on it while trying not to embarrass herself in front of her boss. Then she realized what was bothering her. She was getting wet. Worse, it was almost as though Derrick knew. "Anyway, I'll let you get to it." He flashed her the warm smile once again. Wait, what was that? A trick of the light. Surely, it was just that. She'd seen something in Derrick's eyes that shouldn't have been there. A golden gleam that flashed in the fluorescent lights right before he walked away.

With him went the delicious smell and the fluttering in Anne's stomach. Geez. Gonna have to get over that. Can't be overcome with wanting to jump my boss whenever he's around or I won't last long here. I mean, he's hot but... She considered the dampness in her underwear. After a nervous look around to see if anyone else had noticed the odd interaction, she turned to her desk and tried to put Derrick out of her mind.

***

Anne's morning went by without much more incident. A few times before lunch she felt a little hot, but nothing that the little fan under her desk couldn't address. Around noon, the office started to murmur as people left their work to go to lunch. Anne intended to eat her meager meal of a yogurt and a plastic bag of chex mix at her desk, but Vera, the hiring manager popped her head around the cubicle corner and invited her to the break room. "C'mon, fastest way to get over the first day jitters is to find out how much everyone else hates working here." Vera led the way. As she had during their interview, Anne felt a kindred spirit to the other woman. Vera walked with a graceful swaying of her full hips, her auburn hair swishing as she turned her head to say hello to the others. Vera exuded confidence and approachable, making her a perfect fit for her job. Anne felt comfortable around her and was quietly grateful for being rescued from a lonely lunch.

"Everyone, this is Anne. Anne's the new firecracker that we've hired. I'm sure she's excited to get to know everyone, but don't y'all clamber around her like kids at an ice cream truck. Anne, this is Gina. That's Marie. Over there are Jessica and Kelly. Then those two are Helen and Bobbi. Say hello everybody!" The room echoed back a polite hello. Several of the women waved cheerfully while others, specifically Helen and Bobbi, shrugged and returned to their lunches. "Come over here and sit down."

For the first time, Anne realized that she hadn't seen a single other man at the company other than Derrick. Though the whole staff was not in the break room, seven of them were and they were all women. Anne knew better than to draw too much attention to herself in a room of women who viewed her as an outsider. She followed Vera over to a table on the side and took a seat. "Everyone seems nice," she offered diplomatically.

Vera smiled. Her body shook with delight at even the smallest things. Unlike all the other women, including Anne, Vera was fuller of figure. Combined with her gravitas, it made her seem quite matronly in the room full of other twenty something, thin women. "Oh, they are. Even the ones who seem a little miffy at first will warm up to you. They always do. So how's your first day going?"

"Good. Well, ok, I guess. I thought I'd be able to get to work a lot faster, but I keep having to find paper clips and things like that."

"Has everyone been helpful? I saw Derrick drop by to greet you this morning, how did that go?"

"Everyone's been super helpful. Uh, Marie helped me with a few problems already."

"She's a lovely girl, one of the favorites. We're glad to have her." Vera hummed as she produced a bag which contained a sandwich, some pretzels, and a banana. "And Derrick, how'd it go?"

Anne had hoped to dodge the question, but Vera seemed keen on the subject. "It was fine. We didn't talk much. He said he was glad to have me aboard and, oh I've forgotten, but it was just a greeting."

Vera cocked her head to the side. Her eyes grew wider and she stared at Anne in silence until the younger woman shifted nervously. Vera blinked rapidly. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You've just moved here right? Oh gosh, that puts us in a pickle." Anne's anxiety returned. From the sound of Vera, she might have been given the job by mistake. She couldn't afford to move again. Losing the job would cause untold havoc for her life. All of her worries welled up inside of her and threatened to spill out in a torrent of word spaghetti but Vera continued, "I suppose everyone is new at some point. Lots of people anyway. Half of the girls here were new in town at one point. The city is doing a great job of attracting young talent. Of course, none of the girls were here...first. I'm sorry, but would you mind?"

Before Anne could respond, Vera leaned across the table and sniffed her. Anne jerked back and looked around the room to see if anyone else had noticed. Several of the women looked concerned, but not at Vera. They were watching Anne as though she were about to go crazy. "Why did you do that?"

Vera's decorum and good humor returned. "This morning when you saw Derrick, did you feel anything?"

"I don't think that's an appropriate question."

Vera ignored the protest. "It's confusing at first, but everything will be right as rain in the end. Oak Grove is a very special town. Everyone has secrets that everyone else knows. We don't talk about it, but all of these rooms are filled with elephants, so to speak. Maybe some of them literally." She roared with laughter and for a moment Anne thought she saw a massive tabby cat with glittering yellow eyes sitting across from her. "Don't worry dear. We knew you'd be a good fit. You're absolutely qualified for the job and you will mesh with our work environment perfectly. Everyone is a little skittish at the moment, but that's just their nature. Once they've warmed up to you, you'll all be like sisters."

Anne leaned forward, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Vera's eyes softened and she put a gentle hand on top of Anne's. She lowered her voice, "The change, dear. You've already started. Why I bet you started the second Derrick was within ten feet of you. It's nothing to be ashamed of. He does it to all of us. Something about his scent. He came in here to have lunch with us one time. Took forever to clean up the mess afterward."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. As she thought about it, she realized that her body felt like a coiled spring. She'd felt the same the day of the interview when she'd seen Derrick for the first time. Her anxiety from that morning had felt so potent because it ran with an undercurrent of tension about seeing him again. She fumbled for something else to explain herself, "He's handsome. That put me a little uneasy, I think, but other than that."

"Other than that, you feel like you could crawl out of your skin?" Vera nodded, patiently.

Anne realized that the whole room had their eyes on her. She felt hot and flustered and her chest had started to itch. "Um, would you excuse me?" Without waiting for a response, she left the table and walked out of the break room.

Away from the watchful eyes, she scratched at her chest. A spot between her breasts felt as though pins had been stuck in her skin. It didn't hurt, but every slight move of her blouse aggravated the feeling. The office had been voided for lunch, and she slipped into the restroom unseen. Once inside a stall, she took another calming breath and then pulled down her blouse to see what was the matter. Her stomach dropped at the sight. Between her breasts, a small patch of white hair stuck out from her skin. Eyes wide with shock, she touched it, as though it might brush off, but it was rooted firmly in her skin. Worse than that, it seemed to be spreading. Other parts of her body had the same irritated feeling, but most notably was the feeling of a hard knot at the base of her spine. "I'm having some kind of allergic reaction," she told herself. "I need to go home and then to a doctor. They'll understand. I'll pull Vera aside and all of this can be worked out."

Embarrassed, she buttoned up her blouse, ignoring the feeling of the fur spreading over her stomach, and headed to speak with Vera. She opened the bathroom door and turned the corner, running into Derrick. "Oh, I was just looking for you. You better come talk in my office."

***

Anne's head swirled with the scent of her boss. Unable to explain anything, she followed him down to his office, smiling like an idiot along the way. She couldn't think straight as she trained her eyes on his butt and started to wonder what he would look like naked. "I don't know, uh, Derrick. I'm not feeling well, I think I need to go home for the rest of the day. I hate to have to say that on my first day, but these things happen."

The door to his office opened and he stood aside gesturing for her to enter. The smell grew stronger and Anne almost floated towards it. "Everything will make sense shortly. After that, if you want to go home, you feel free and we can start fresh tomorrow." The office looked nothing like she suspected. On one half of the room, it looked like a normal office, not much different than her own cubicle, but on the other side of the room was a daybed and several other cushioned platforms. "Have a seat, I have something to show you." Anne sat down, glad to be off her feet. The itchy feeling had covered her entire torso. She was terrified of what waited underneath her blouse. She could feel it spreading down her legs as well and worried that it might peek out from her pant legs or sleeves. Derrick moved around in front of her and leaned against his desk. He looked in control and suave once more, but eager as well. He took off his jacket and tossed it on his chair. "The first time I changed was during high school football practice. We were running a new play on offense, and my linemen couldn't block for shit. So these two linebackers kept nailing me over and over again. We'd run it for an hour before I couldn't take it any more. The linebackers were good guys, but we'd never exactly got along and then I knew why. I felt this burning feeling across my chest and down my back. Before I knew it, I had hair all over me and I'd grown a foot taller. Coach intervened before it went any further. He couldn't save the ball though, my claws popped it."

These people are all crazy.

"The linebackers were wolves, you see. Once we knew that I was a werecat, all the tension between us made sense. Especially when we were out there sweating and knocking the shit out of each other. After that though, I knew what I was. The change got easier and I started to learn my place in the world. Fast forward fifteen years and now I have my own business. Generally we hire other werecats. It's not discrimination or anything. We don't do it intentionally, but it happens without fail. Best Vera can think of it's because we give off subliminal messages or scents or whatever. All of it sounds crazy, but it gets worse."

"No, this isn't crazy. You don't sound like a lunatic at all." Anne said with a giggle. Whatever was going on, she thought it best to agree with Derrick until she could find a way out.

"Usually this happens more delicately and at a younger age, but it's best to plunge in head first, I think. Here, look." He pulled open his shirt. Anne thought she might pounce on him in a lust driven frenzy. He had almond colored, smooth skin that rippled with muscle. Then, before her eyes, hair started to sprout out of no where. Dark brown fur rapidly covered his body, starting down the center of his chest and spreading outward to cover his muscles in a downy coat. But that wasn't all. His cheeks broadened and his nose flattened out as his human ears were lost behind a thin mane. Two pointed ears emerged from his scalp and she once again saw the gleaming eyes of a cat staring back at her. "Sorry, this part requires me to lose the pants." He unbuckled his slacks and kicked off his shoes. The pants dropped away, but he kept his boxers on. Anne felt a twinge of disappointment as she saw the bulge of his cock move underneath the thin fabric. He hooked his thicker, clawed fingers in the band of the boxers and pulled down the backside as a tail emerged over the fabric to swish behind him. He stepped forward and flexed, baring a set of fangs.

Anne tried to watch it all calmly, but two conflicting desires kept her from achieving any rational thought. First, she wanted to wake up from the fever dream where her boss just turned into a cat man and her own transformation was rapidly progressing. Secondly, she wanted to tear off her clothes, pin Derrick to his desk and shove his cock inside her aching pussy. He was trying to spare her the sight of his fully naked body, but the change had made him larger from head to toe, and he was clearly excited about having her in the room as well as his cock started to stiffen in his boxers. "My god," she muttered.

"Sorry, it can be a little overwhelming," he sounded a little gruffer, but still like Derrick. "Then we come to the other problem. You're in heat. It's in its early stages, but I smelled it on you this morning."

"I'm what? Like a panting, desperate for a fuck animal, in heat?"

Derrick shrugged, his muscular shoulders rippling. "Sounds worse if you put it that way. You're just really horny. Like, you're soaking wet right now, I can smell it. I'm guessing since this is your first change, it's also the first time you've been in heat. It can be rough. You'll go delirious if you're not, well, you know. Marie went through it for the first time with me. She could maybe coach you through it for the next three days or I can finish undressing and see where that goes."

Anne thought for a moment. The itchy feeling had spread over her whole body and started to creep up her neck. She brought her hands to take off her shirt and realized that her fingers had changed. They were like Derrick's, thicker with a heavy pad, like human paws. She fumbled to pull the shirt off. Derrick watched, his lithe body heaving with deep breaths as his tail flicked from side to side. Anne's bra pinched into her sides. With the blouse off she looked down to see her new furry body. She mewled as she unfastened the clasp and let her breasts swing free. She quickly felt for her nipples, pleased to find them nestled amongst the fur. Her nudity in front of Derrick didn't bother her. In fact, she felt more natural naked. He was right. The heat had been pulling at her mind all day and it had finally drove out her normal sensibilities. Her panties were soaked with arousal and she could feel her tail straining to be released. "So if I wanted to...you know, that wouldn't affect my job or anything?"

Derrick laughed. "Of course not."

"Ok then, let me see."

Derrick stepped closer and she could feel the heat coming from his body. The wonderful smell intensified. He pulled down the band of his boxers and his cock jutted out. Anne expected to see something unusual, but instead she was greeted by a long, thick human cock. The only surprising change was that the fleshy rod jutted out from a nest of white hair above furry balls. Her mouth watered at the sight and she felt the ache of emptiness grow twice as strong. The smell intoxicated her and she thought she might faint. Suddenly, Derrick's arms were wrapped around her. She nuzzled to his chest, amazed at the strength beneath the soft exterior. He guided her over to the daybed and helped remove her pants. She felt a rush of relief as her tail sprang free. Derrick rubbed his hands over her furry bottom, teasing her by digging his claws into her soft flesh. "Well?"