Being the Bear

A chill wind had kicked up while they had been talking. Rusty shivered. Mitch had grown indifferent to it, but the smaller man looked cold.

"Let's head on back, get you in front of a nice roaring fire." Mitch said.

"Mmmmm... and hot cocoa!" Rusty said and Mitch smiled down at his shorter companion.

They got up and headed back down the trail towards the cabin. As they walked, Rusty looked at the backs of his hands, examining them closely in the sun, seeing the brand new fine hairs on them glowing in the light. "Will I change much?"

"You mean as a bear, or as a human?"

"As a human." Rusty picked up a rock and threw it watching as it sailed out down the length of the trail. "I'm getting stronger, I know. Look how far I threw that. And I don't get nearly as out of breath walking. I can hike a lot further with you now, but what am I going to look like? Will I be... " He paused then said quietly, "...me?"

Mitch looked with affection at the short man beside him. When he first met Rusty, he struck Mitch as a little too prissy and refined. But the way Rusty behaved with Moose around, as well as his enthusiasm in bed, had changed that initial impression. In spite of some irritating habits, Rusty kind of grew on you, Mitch reflected. He was still a very 'proper' man, but he seemed more relaxed and not nearly as uptight.

"Coach says there really isn't any real way to tell ahead of time. But it's odd you mentioned that, I've been thinking about it. I'll bet that there is some way of knowing, at least generally. Knowing something of the genetic makeup of the potential were might give some pretty good clues. Maybe I could look into that. Anyway, in human form, you'll likely be a bit bigger, taller maybe and certainly hairier, too. Your face shouldn't change much, though."

Rusty looked up at Mitch. "I know I can see a difference in you from when I first saw you. It was obvious to me that you'd kept in decent shape as you got older, but you're taller and you filled out... you're bulkier." Rusty grinned. "From what Norman said, you were already pretty hairy. You don't seem to have as much gray in your beard now."

Mitch squeezed Rusty's shoulder. "I've got no other information. Remember, I'm kind of new at this, too. You might get a lot bigger and taller. You might look much the same. Does it make a difference? You know Moose won't care. Why the interest?"

"Well, there's my sister."

"Ah, that's right. I'd forgotten you have living relatives. Walt and I don't, and Coach says there is no one living who ever saw him before he changed ... well, other than Sam. Are you and your sis close?"

"Not really. I think the last time we saw each other in person was at dad's funeral." Rusty thought, then nodded. "Yes, that was it. We mail each other and call sometimes. Pictures at Christmas, that sort of thing. She might notice a change in me. How will I handle that?"

"Rusty, it all depends on how much you change in your human form. You may not change that much and that small change could be passed off as being the result of you hitting the gym with Moose, and the passage of time." Mitch paused. "You're lucky, you've retired, so there's no one who sees you regularly at work to worry about."

Rusty started. "Oh, my God! The neighbors! What are we going to do about the neighbors?" he blurted out. The sudden change in topic didn't phase Mitch.

"Oh, we'll have to kill them, of course. No choice there, I'm afraid." Mitch gave Rusty the most serious face he could muster.

The look of utter horror on Rusty's face told Mitch his joke had sailed way over the bear's head. Rusty's mouth dropped open, and his expression was too much for Mitch. He couldn't maintain his grim countenance a second longer. He burst out laughing.

Rusty quickly caught on and stood there glowering as Mitch laughed himself out and when he'd finished Rusty spoke, "I suppose you think that was funny?" he said with an icy, highly polished, tone.

"Relax, man, I was teasing." Mitch said, catching his breath. "You should have seen your face, though."

Rusty maintained his scowl a moment or two longer and then relented, smiling back at Mitch. "I must admit, you did that very well. You got me good."

Mitch grinned back. "Really, about your looks... one step at a time. You've got bigger things to think about now. Time enough for that later. Your neighbors know you guys went away for Christmas, right?"

"Yes. I told them that Norman and I were visiting relatives for the holidays, then going to Tahoe for skiing and a long vacation. Norman took vacation time owed him. They won't be expecting us back for a couple of months or so."

"Good. That gives you some time to work out a plan with Coach."

The pair continued walking, chatting away and soon found themselves at the base of the trail. They made the last turn and saw the cabin sitting at the end of the large clearing. It was clouding up again.

Mitch sniffed the air carefully. "Walt's better at this than I am, but I think I smell snow coming; a late last storm of the season. Seems that way, anyway... " Mitch dropped the pose of sniffing the air. "Well, that, and the weather on the radio this morning." He grinned at Rusty, who smiled back, a sign he was relaxing again.

"I hope Norman's made extra mac and cheese. I'm so hungry I could eat a bear." Rusty said over his shoulder, oblivious to the double meaning of his words as he picked up the pace and reached the steps to the cabin before Mitch. Mitch looked at the hungry bear's quick movements and thought to himself, 'He's showing more of the signs. He'll be changing soon. And he's not half-bad looking from behind!'

Mitch grinned, and followed Rusty up the steps.

Chapter 3

Trey and Ron came from around the corner of the old dilapidated barn and mounted the steps to the house. "Where'd you put him?" Sebastian asked.

"Down that old dry well out in back of the barn, along with the old coot of a farmer," Ron said. "With a shitload of rocks on top of him," Trey added. The two edged their way past Sebastian and went into the kitchen to clean up.

"Tell Jason to use some bleach on the floor and walls," Sebastian yelled after them, then muttered, "I have to think of EVERYthing."

Sebastian turned and looked appraisingly at Ron's ass as he passed, but gave no comment to show his approval. He didn't need Ron feeling too smug about his new body. It hadn't been long since Ron and Jason had made their first change. Sebastian had picked them up a week apart, and fucked them the first night he met them. Sebastian could really turn on the charm and any man who was willing to have man to man sex could easily fall for that charm... and Sebastian knew it.

Unexpectedly the two had both changed on the same night. Sebastian had jacked as he watched the fur crawl over Ron's changing body, obscuring his tattoos. He shot two or three huge loads on Ron's chest and belly. He moved around back and as soon as Ron's stubby tail had emerged, he'd jack hammered into that fine bear butt. Just as he and Ron were finishing up, Jason came barging in, crying out in pain. His body was morphing, the pawed hands on the sides of his head and tears streaming from his eyes indicating the obvious pain of his expanding skull. Sometimes the change was more painful, but Sebastian gave him a different pain to distract him from his change. Still in full bear form he wrestled Jason to the floor, positioned himself behind the changing man and hilted in his ass with his fully changed werebear cock. Jason howled at the new pain in his rear as the huge cock tore at him. Sebastian didn't care, he was claiming his right to first fuck as Jason's sire. Ron moved to Jason's front and massaged his head, wiping the tears from his increasingly furry cheeks. He cradled his head as Sebastian began pounding. When Jason had changed enough to accommodate Sebastian, pleasure over took and he began to suckle Ron's meat. When he finished, Sebastian wiped his dripping cock on Jason's furry ass, and gave it a slap. He'd left the two bears talking softly together as he stalked out of the room.

Sebastian leaned on the porch railing and massaged his hard-on, looking out over the yard area between the old house and the barn, as he thought about the pair. They were both as dumb as a sack of rocks, but they were great fucks. If it weren't for the fact that he liked to pound both Jason and Ron and that he needed the extra muscle, they'd probably go the way of Freddie. They were about as useless as that dead bear had been. At least they didn't whine. Sebastian hated whiners.

Rick let some of the tension out of his body and moved closer to Sebastian. He tentatively raised a hand to place on his lover's shoulder, and then thought better of it and dropped it to his side.

"What's the plan?" When Sebastian didn't reply, Rick added, "I mean, what do we do next? Where do you think we should go?"

Sebastian turned and looked at Rick. "Oh, I got a plan, don't you worry about that. Southwest. Arizona, maybe or California. Yeah, California. I got a buddy there, he got out a couple months before me. He used to sell some weed and other shit out there. Said he'd cut me into the action. But we got to get away from here, it ain't safe to stay. We'll clear out, lay low for a while to let things cool down, then head for the coast when we get some cash." Sebastian gazed off in the distance. "Why is there NEVER enough money?" He kicked the porch rail.

Rick abandoned his caution and put a hand on Sebastian's shoulder. When Sebastian didn't shrug it off, he squeezed. Sebastian nodded and gave Rick a small half smile. "Go tell those clowns in there to get their shit packed. We're gonna head out first light. And bring me a beer." Rick sighed and moved to do Sebastian's bidding. Sebastian continued to gaze off in the distance. Unnoticed by any of the others, he rubbed at one eye with the back of his hand, and then shook his head, turned, and walked inside.

- - - - - - -

Dinner that night in the cabin was noticeably more relaxed. Rusty seemed much more at ease, kidding and joking in the same way he had when Mitch had met him for the first time. He just seemed 'sunnier'. Moose was delighted with the change, and even Walt noticed.

At one point during the cleanup after the meal, Walt said quietly, "Hey... what did you do to Rusty?"

"Oh, we just talked. I think he was more worried about his first change than he was letting on to anyone. We talked a lot about that." Mitch carefully avoided betraying Rusty's trust and privately decided that it would be totally up to him if he wanted to give information about his heart issues or not.

"Well, whatever you did, it worked. He's a different person. I'd almost say it was a case of 'he finally got laid', but we all know THAT hasn't been a problem with Moose around. I swear, that bear was born with a constant hard-on."

Walt kissed his cub and went back to scraping off the oven-hardened remains of mac and cheese that Moose had made. "Maybe now he can teach Moose how to make more dinner items outside the dairy group."

"I heard that!" Moose bellowed from across the kitchen where he was unloading the dishwasher. "My bear did all the cooking at home. I admit, I got no talent for the fancy stuff, but if you don't like my mac and cheese, next time I think there's some kibbles and bits in the pantry for you." Moose's wide grin took the sting out of his comment.

Walt lobbed a soapy sponge at Moose and for a moment, it looked like a frat house tussle was about to break out.

"Easy, boys. Take it outside if you want, but don't trash my kitchen." Vic peered over the book he was thumbing through at the table.

After the kitchen was squared away, Moose and Walt wandered off to the living room. Rusty helped Mitch put the clean dishes away, and went to the living room, too. Shortly after, Mitch heard Moose, Walt and Rusty in the entryway and then the front door close . Mitch finished stacking the last of the plates in the cupboard and went to sit across from the coach. Vic smiled at Mitch.

"Whatever you said really did make a difference. That man was a jumpy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs. He was making me nervous." He held up a hairy paw. "No, I don't want details. You've got a knack, son; I've watched how you've handled both of them. You've done good." Mitch colored a bit.

"Nah, it's true. I think we would have had to tie Moose down if you hadn't been there when he changed." Vic looked carefully at Mitch. "I think it would be a good idea for you to be there when Rusty changes for the first time, too." Mitch started to object, but Vic stopped him. "Son, I know you're new to this, but Rusty and Moose like and respect you. Tell you the truth, I'm kind of worried about Moose. He still doesn't have good control of his bear when he changes and you know how horny he is. He's going to want to mate with Rusty as soon as he changes. If his bear gets away from him and Rusty doesn't have good control of his own bear, well..."

Mitch nodded. He could easily imagine what damage the huge Moose could do in full bear form, and Rusty had a temper... he might fight back with uncontrolled full bear strength.

"OK, I see that. But what should I do?" Mitch asked.

"What I'd really like for you to do is talk to Moose before Rusty changes. You remember what Walt an' I did when you changed for the first time. Talk to Moose about that, let him know what he'll need to do for Rusty. Let 'em know you'll be there. We'll be there, too, but I think I'm gonna let you take the lead here."

Vic leaned across the table and gave Mitch's shoulder a squeeze. "I don't think Rusty will have a problem, and you can kind of be Moose's coach. You'll know what to do when the time comes, and Walt will be right behind you."

"Well, OK. If you really think I should." Mitch was still uncertain.

"Yep. I do. Time for you to take some more responsibility as a werebear. It'll suit you. Besides, I can't do everything around here!" Vic grinned. "Now come here and give papa a hug and a grope."

Mitch rose and reached for his old high school coach. He'd grown very fond of this gruff older man, who was by turns stern, funny, cranky, gentle, cultured and earthy. Walt had told him stories of the coach's adventures and he'd heard a few from Vic's own lips. He'd watched the way Vic and Walt interacted, the proud father and the loving son. He hugged the old bear tight, then kissed him, tasting cigar and whiskey.

He surprised himself by responding to the coach's returned kiss with tongue. He felt thick growing bear cock pressing into his groin and the answering surge from his own now hefty meat.

Vic broke the kiss and laughed. "You know, I got a feeling those three are gonna be horny as hell when they get back in here from tusslin' outside. What say we get naked and build a fire and have the living room all ready for 'em?"

Mitch was more than willing. The two rapidly shed what little clothing they had on and made up a fire and lit the kindling. They had used a lot of the wood Walt and Mitch had chopped months earlier, but there was still a goodly amount left. The two looked at each other, the lust sparking in their eyes. Mitch took in how the older bear's long, thick body hair curled in thick swirls on his shoulders and belly and at the cleft of his butt, and how the leaping flames glinted on the blond fur on his arms. He reached for Vic. Suddenly, the eager randiness that had flowed through his veins went flat, and he hesitated.

Vic had always been an astute observer of others, and noticed immediately. He said softly. "What is it, son?"

"I don't know, I..." Mitch paused and sorted through conflicting emotions. "I just flashed on how you and Walt and me in bed felt while I was here, waiting for my first change; and then on high school, and how I was a little afraid of you, and how I felt when I saw you naked that day in the locker room, and how I wanted you and felt it was so wrong...."

Vic folded Mitch into his arms and kissed him on his bearded cheek. "Son, we left that world behind long ago. You aren't a kid, and I'm not your coach. Not any more, though I'm rather fond of you calling me that. We're both werebears; kin, like. Don't give it another thought. You aren't a perve, any more than I am. You're a bear. Just like me." Vic held Mitch out and looked straight into his eyes.

"Look. Weres are old school. I mean really old school. We don't look at relationships in the same way humans do now. Sex is great, it feels grand, and it's a wonderful thing to share with a buddy. It's how our kind show affection and love for each other and always have. I think many older civilizations used to regarded the fun aspects of sex with a different eye than they did mating and rearing of families; and family was a lot looser concept back then, anyway. But having a mate, like you and Walt; well, that's special, and it isn't based just on sex. It's a linking of spirits on a level that humankind just doesn't understand. You know, there's fucking for fun, and there's fucking for love. You and Walt could fuck every bear standing and it wouldn't touch what you two have." Vic chuckled and swatted Mitch's butt. "And in case you hadn't noticed, werebears are perpetually horny." They both laughed and Vic gave Mitch's thick erection a squeeze. Mitch moaned.

"See what I mean? Always listen to your body, son."

"I've been meaning to ask you something. I've asked Walt about it, but he didn't give too much detail." Mitch said.

"What's that, son?"

"How did you and Walt get together? He said it was in his freshman year in college and that you and he just did it... I kind of want to know how you two became a couple." Mitch felt he was skating around an issue.

Vic laughed, "He's been kind of stingy with details, eh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's understandable. See, your Papa kinda took advantage of your ol' grandpa. Not that I really blame him, he was overwhelmed by his senses and instinct and I was pretty tanked when it happened." Vic smiled.

"'Took advantage, how?"

"Well, he was going to Fresno State, athletic scholarship, football. I'm tellin' you he had one fine manly figure for a kid of only nineteen, some nice muscle and a good bit of fur on his chest, but a Coach doesn't sleep with his students... at least not for a couple of years after they've graduated."

He tussled Mitch's hair like Mitch was eight years old and continued with the story.

"He was on summer break and so was I. He came by my house and he had a case of beer with him. I'd had some bad news about one of my cubs back east. We're tough, but we can be killed; I'd heard that Silas was killed in an head-on collision. Poor Silas, he was my first cub, and I still miss him. Anyway, I had finished off a whole case of beer by myself and half a bottle of whiskey by the time your Papa got to my place. I answered the door half-naked, just a pair of shorts and sandals, hadn't been shaving because it was summer break. I must'a been a sight, and your Papa's eyes almost bulged out as far as his cock did lookin' at me. Somewhere it registered in my booze soaked brain that I could smell his desire, but the thought left as soon as it arrived. I was full of grief and feelin' pretty bad and tried to turn him away, but he insisted. I blurted out that I wanted to be left alone because my son had died,. He didn't even know I had a son, he said. He said he'd always considered me to be sort of his 'spiritual father'. He said he couldn't leave me alone, not like that. You're Papa is something special, you know."

Mitch squeezed Vic's shoulder and said, "I know."

"So, drunk as I was, I said 'what the hell' and invited him in. He sat and drank with me. I downed half his case and passed out on the couch. The next thing I know, I'm awake, really horny and just about to shoot. I'm still drunk off my butt and your Papa's got his mouth on my cock and his finger up my butt. He's drunk, I'm drunk, and I'm trying to push him away before I shoot. I guess I made him lose his balance. He was crouching, not kneeling, and I guess his socks on the hardwood floor lost traction. Anyway, he sorta fell forward onto the couch. My cock gets buried to the hilt in his throat, his fingers pull out, tickling my love nut and it's all over! I gush straight down this throat. He sucks down every drop he can get. A minute or two later, when I had a chance to process what had just happened and the implications of it I start bawling for him and what I'd done and thinking about Silas and all."