Chapter 21: Toby's Doggedness

Haley, Lilian, and a gray haired Native American man showed up at the scene, which they immediately rushed over to Olivia to assess her situation. Lilian pulled out her medical bag and pulled out a small dewar flask labeled, "nerve stem cells" as well as a syringe. She opened the flask and steam rose out as she pulled out a tray. Inside were frosted vials of samples, which she pulled one out and held it in her hand for several seconds. She looked towards the older man and pointed to her bag. "Hand me the defibrillator and a collar" she said before she looked up at the young man giving Olivia CPR. "Turn her over onto her stomach. We only got one shot at this!" she spoke gravely as she plunged the syringe into the vial.

The young man and another helped flip her over, which Kari were disturbed by how alien Olivia's head moved. Lilian stuck the syringe between her teeth as she reached down feeling along Olivia's spine. She then grabbed her head and lifted up making a gruesome pop, which Kari quickly started to dry heave and Clare turned away. Zoe watched the woman take the syringe and drove it into Olivia's neck just where the head connected to the skull. The older man quickly handed her a neck brace where she secured it around Olivia's neck, and she motioned for them to continue to flip her onto her back.

She stared at Zoe's concerned gaze before she smiled at her faintly. "Zoe, I'm going to need you to fetch me a stretcher in the closet under the stairway. Get moving!" she shouted.

Zoe nodded and bolted off into the trees before Toby started whimpering. Haley was busy assessing his wounds as Clare stood over him waiting for instructions. Lilian bit her lip and pointed to her bag. "Clare, in my bag there are patches and a case. Seal his puncture wound" she said before she looked at the others who were already giving Olivia CPR. "Keep that up for a while longer until the stem cells scaffold her brain stem back to her spinal cord" she said.

Clare's jaw dropped. "You mean you can survive decapitation?" she asked before she looked down at the blood on her hands.

Lilian looked up at her sternly. "Just because I reattach her head doesn't mean she'll be the same person. I don't know how long her brain has gone without oxygen, but there's going to be tissue damage. Sure the tissue will be repaired, but the memory is erased forever. Memory is essentially what the soul is, and when you lose those memories, you lose who you are" she said as she pulled her stethoscope from her bag and began to listen to her son's chest.

Haley smiled at her weakly. "That was a good heads-up decision you made" she said as she opened up her backpack, which she pulled out a bag of AB positive blood. "Hold this up!" she said as she quickly inserted the IV needle into his veins. She connected the transfusion up with the needle and the blood started flowing into his body. "Just keep it above his body...If your arm gets tired you can take turns with Kari. Just don't touch the bag with your other hand. Don't touch anything even your face alright?" she asked.

"I know..." Clare muttered before she looked towards Lilian who did her best to push back her emotions.

She frowned as she opened the case that Joseph brought out, and she pulled out a scalpel. She took a deep breath and felt between his ribs before she drove the blade in between his ribs releasing a rush of air. Toby screamed out in agony as she did the same to the other side with the same result. She cringed at his pain before she applied patches to the holes. "Don't move, Toby!" she spoke in a shaky but commanding tone.

Zoe came back with a stretcher, which she helped slide Olivia on. She looked up at Lilian and stared at her amazed at how she was able to move around after being shot and giving birth to premature pups. "I thought you would be in the hospital" she said.

Lilian pulled out the defibrillator and got it warmed up. "I'm a trauma surgeon, Zoe! I'm the best!" she said as she placed the defibrillator patches onto Olivia's chest and side before everyone let go of her as the box pulsed electricity through her body. Lilian placed her stethoscope against her chest before she pulled it away to push the button again. "She's breathing...don't have her heart working right just yet" she said.

Olivia's body tensed as the pulse surged through her body again, which Lilian finally got a pulse. She pulled out a flashlight and opened Olivia's eye lids. "Good, she's reacting to light" she said before she let out a heavy relieved sigh as she flipped her hair back. She looked over at Todd and quickly rushed over to check his injury.

"I can't feel my legs!" he told her, which she checked his eyes. "What about Ian and those other wolves?" he asked.

"Everything is going to be okay" she said calmly as she squeezed his hand before she looked over at her son trying to stand up with Haley trying her best to keep him down.

"Sasha! I got to!" he shouted which Zoe grabbed onto him.

"Stop it!" She shouted as she pinned him enough to place a sleeper hold on him. He roared out as he attempted to transform, but he passed out thankfully.

Lilian frowned as she felt Todd's back. "Tai has gone to intercept that wolf for questioning" she said. She looked towards the cloaked men treating the wounds of the thralls, which she let out a relieved sigh. "At least you're safe" she said.

Percy approached them and gulped hoping that he could help them out as well. "I can hack into Sasha's GPS tracking settings in her phone if you want, but she might not have her phone on her" he said pessimistically.

Zoe looked over at him slugging him in the shoulder, and she grew a big grin ear to ear. "Of course that'll work! They won't find where Sasha keeps her phone. Her jugs are like a storage facility" she said before she grabbed his hand. "Ian's fucked! Looks like his plan is falling apart!" she said.

He looked at her skeptically. "Well, that all depends on what he's planning. Obliviously he wants us to find her, but it could be for an ambush...right?" he asked.

Lilian nodded. "It could be, but if you hack her phone, we could catch him with his pants down" she said as she injected stem cells into Todd's spine. Todd screamed out in agony as his nerves felt like they were on fire. The worst part was that he could not move voluntarily. His feet and legs spasm as he tried to grab his legs only for her to restrain him.

"It burns!" Todd screamed trying to reach for his legs.

She sighed heavily. "It'll stop" she said before she looked over at Zoe and Percy. "Get started with your hack, I have everything that I need here. I trust in you Percy" she said.

Percy stared at her surprised before Zoe yanked him along. "Com'on! Let's go!" she shouted before she wrapped an arm around him and carried him off.

•••

Meanwhile Tai was on the insane werewolf's tail running through the town in his plain clothes. He reached up adjusting his mask and earpiece going full speed dodging traffic as he ran down the middle of the road causing cars to swerve and/or crash into each other in many situations.

"Tai, where is your location?" Bernie's voice crackled over the earpiece.

"I'm running northbound on 99W in Tigard!" Tai shouted before the insane wolf jumped off from the overpass onto a freeway, which more cars swerved and wrecked. "Shit! He's on I-5! Where's my back up!?" he shouted.

"Follow him!" Bernie demanded.

Tai watched below at the pile up, and he jumped down causing a second chain reaction. He took off after him, which he heard another crackle. "This is Sofia, I got ya covered! I'm on Capitol Highway flanking ya!" A young woman's voice sounded with a Hispanic accent.

"You alone?" Bernie asked.

"No, I'm the only one that brought a mic...my stupid brothers left theirs in their clothes, and my mom washed them" She said.

"Can you get the jump on this guy at Terwilliger? I don't want him getting away!" Tai shouted.

"Relax, I said we got ya covered!" she said irritated.

"Any of you got your gear on?" Bernie asked.

"No, I heard you guys were coming our way. You're lucky I had enough time to tell my brothers!" she said.

"Just be careful. We don't know if this guy has any weapons on him" Bernie said.

"Then why is he running!? I got this!" she said.

As they got to an underpass, three people jumped off from the road onto the freeway, and the insane wolf cut across already have seen them. He jumped over the Jersey barriers and ran down the steep embankment through the trees, which Tai growled. "You had to jump off the bridge!?" he shouted.

The twenty year old woman glared at him, and her teenage brothers remained quiet as they took through the overgrowth. "This sucks! How is he able to run through here!?" one complained as their ankles got raked and whipped by blackberry vines. They made it onto a street, which the insane wolf turned around to look back before got taken out by a garbage truck. He let out a loud yelp before the two brothers tackled him. "Got you!" one shouted.

The garbage man stepped out of the truck, which the insane wolf looked at him terrified. "Help me! They are trying to mug me!" he shouted.

The boys looked confused before the garbage man tried ripping one of them off. "Get off him!" the garbage man shouted.

"What the fuck is this!? We're the good guys!" the other brother shouted.

"What are you doing!? That man stole this woman's phone!" Tai shouted.

They all looked at him confused as the insane wolf got loose enough to pull out a tiny air horn and blasted it at the two boys, which they immediately covered their ears in pain as the insane wolf broke free. The garbage man grabbed him before he got hacked in the neck by the insane wolf's claws. The garbage man gurgled as he reached for gash in his neck and fell to the ground.

Tai looked back at Sofia and her brothers. "One of you stay here! Keep him alive!" he shouted before he took off. "Bernie, this guy licks his paws! He's already hacked a man! This is serious! Where is the help!?" he shouted.

"Where is this guy now!?" another man asked.

"SW Custer and Brier!" Tai said.

"Got ya, I'll intercept. By the way, whoever is listening get off your fucking asses! I know you got the same text from Bernie as I did!" the man said.

"Hurry!" Tai shouted. The insane wolf looked back at him and smirked before he hacked another woman in the neck, then proceeded to lick the blood from his paws. Tai's eyes widened in horror and gritted his teeth. "You better start getting body bags out here because he's hacking everyone he passes!" he shouted watching another man getting sliced in the side.

A man finally tackled the insane wolf into the side of a turning bus grabbing him by the neck. The man's fangs grew and snarled. "Got you, little bastard!" he shouted.

The insane wolf laughed. "Temper temper! We don't want people seeing a werewolf transform in the daytime! Wouldn't that be a jarring sight?" he asked as he tried to reach for the horn in his pocket. The man drove his fist into the insane wolf's chest as Tai grabbed the horn then put it straight into the wolf's ear and blasted it.

The wolf roared out in pain and grabbed his arm, which the man grabbed the other. "Thanks for the providing us a torture device for you!" The man said as he injected the wolf with a sedative. The wolf passed out before other members in cloaks arrived.

Tai panted heavily. "Thanks, Ulf!" he shouted.

Ulf ran his hand through his hair after removing his Portland Police hat. "Pretty dumb to be running over here" he said before he handcuffed the wolf and dragged him over to the curb. He waved the bus on after he searched the wolf for weapons. "I'll haul his ass back to the underground, I'm going to take good care of him" he said as he threw the wolf into the back of the police car. He stopped as his hand touched the front driver side door handle and stared at him before he opened it. "How many people did he infect?" he asked.

Tai held up four fingers, which Ulf closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I can't believe he got this far. Did anyone bother to pick up their radio?" he muttered.

"Sir, most of us are working...we were all sleeping when we got the text alert" one of the cloaked gammas said.

Tai shook his head and sighed. "This is what happens when Pete gets a handle on who gets gamma compensation. We have no daytime forces...he can just blow it off on his mansion and leave the rest of us out to fend for ourselves...then he'll just flip it around and blame the humans" he muttered as Ulf drove off.

•••

Meanwhile back in a shed, Sasha sat on the ground and reached into her cleavage to pull her cellphone out. She quickly put it in panic mode, which it shut off the volume. She started to text Zoe before she felt a slight twinge in her hand. "I don't know where I'm at! They got me locked up in a shed" she texted. She quickly stuffed her phone back as she heard some footsteps approaching. She felt her teeth with her tongue and gulped knowing she was already transforming.

Ian opened the door and grinned. "You're awake..." he said before he walked inside and grabbed her by the neck. "...You know...I could kill you right now" he said before he reached down to grab her hip to feel it up. "But, then again...it would be a shame to kill such beauty. That runt sure has a good taste in women...Plump and fertile" he said.

Her eyes widened in horror as he reached around to grab a hold of her rear, which she growled lowly. "If you're going to talk and gloat about your plans..." she said before trailing off as she kneed him in the crotch. She darted out the shed as Ian collapsed to the ground wriggling in pain. Some of his men looked up seeing her and gave chase, while others stared at him cringing sympathetically.

"Argh! That bitch!" Ian yelled hobbling out the door.

Sasha panted as she ran through a riparian forest, and she hid behind a tree briefly and texted on the phone. "I've escaped! I'm by some river" she texted. She cringed and looked at her muscles twinged.

"Good job! Hang in there girl!" Zoe replied.

"My body is starting to change! I can feel it" She texted.

"Try to find a safe place" Zoe answered back.

The werewolves ran past her, and she started running again. "I can do this!" she said to herself. Her muscles burned and kept seizing up, which she grabbed her leg. "Damn it! I hope they can find me...I can't hold off 30 werewolves on my own" she said before she looked up and found a barn surrounded my blackberry bushes. She jumped over the bush and kicked open the door shattering the rusty lock. She landed on her butt inside the barn, and she gasped. "Wow...I didn't think that would work" she muttered.

She looked around the barn, before she slowly closed the door. She pulled out her cellphone and pushed a flashlight app. Her phone lit up bright enough to illuminate the barn. It was abandoned with rusted equipment. "What are you doing here!? Turn out that light!" said a voice.

She gasped and panicked. "Who's here? Who said that!?" she asked before she pointed her light at a corner were a pair of silver eyes were looking at her. It was a coyote nursing four newborn pups. She blushed and turned off the app. "I'm sorry...I thought this place was empty" she said.

The coyote huffed. "It was empty 'til you showed up" she muttered. She sniffed the air, and then she gulped. "You're a...werewolf too?" she asked.

She nodded. "I guess I am...why?" she asked as she opened the google map app and waited for her GPS to ping her location. The location finally appeared on a very large river island twenty-five miles Northwest of Portland.

The coyote whimpered. "I've been stuck in here since the bad werewolves came here and gobbled up most of our food" she said.

She smirked feeling very clever. "I'm on the North end of Sauvie Island" she texted. She looked up at the coyote. "How long have they been here?" she asked.

The coyote sighed. "They have been coming off and on, but recently this bigger werewolf came and either killed or turned all the humans on this island into werewolves. I've been force to eat trash ever since then" she said.

Sasha smiled faintly. "I'm one of the good ones. My friends will take these guys out" she said before the coyote whimpered.

"Quiet...someone is coming" The coyote whimpered.

Sasha gulped as the bushes outside were being disturbed. Another coyote walked in from a hole. "Those werewolves are really worked up" he said.

"They are probably looking for me..." Sasha said lowly. She sat down in a fetal position doodling in the dirt with her claws. Her body felt like fire ants were crawling, biting, and stinging her all over.

The male coyote wagged his tail. "I heard..." he said before he sniffed her. "You do smell different from the other ones..." he said.

Sasha smiled faintly and forced herself to rub his head. "I know...my sire isn't any of the werewolves you met. He's much better looking transformed" she said before the male coyote snorted.

"No, you don't smell of human blood" he elaborated.

She frowned as she rubbed her leg that was tight and cramped up. She looked at the hole that the male coyote came in from. "Is there other ways in or out of this barn?" she asked.

The male wagged his tail. "Of course" he said.

Sasha sighed. "Can you warn me if they are coming close...I need to take a nap..." she said before she lay down on her side holding her stomach. "I feel like shit" she said before she closed her eyes.

"She's still changing isn't she?" The female asked.

The male nodded. "She is, but she's not changing into what you think she is. She's not on their side" he said.

She then wagged her tail cheerfully. "Then it's settled...we will help her" she said.

•••

For a couple more hours, Zoe checked in on Percy working diligently on his computer in Toby's home. She watched him intensely as she tapped her finger into the coffee table vigorously. Lilian poked her head out and motioned for Zoe to come into the kitchen. Zoe came over as Lilian gave her a cup of lavender tea. "Relax, I'm sure he knows what he's doing" she said.

Zoe gritted her teeth. "I just can't stay here...She stopped texting...I don't know if they got her or..." she said before Lilian smiled.

"You're tired. You know pushing yourself without a break isn't good for you. That's the Doctor's orders!" she said as she sat down taking another sip of her tea. Zoe grumbled to herself before Lilian cleared her throat hoping to change the subject. "So are you still thinking about getting those implants?" she asked lowly.

Zoe looked over at Percy who heard nothing before she looked back at her nodding. "Yea, I've thought about it for over a year now...I want to look more female, but I don't want the balloons to get in the way of my training. You know?" she said drifting her eyes back on Percy in deep thought.

Lilian smiled. "Well, I'll help you out with finding a good plastic surgeon. I did find out that you would not heal too fast for the procedure to be done, but since your muscles during transformations could crush the implant, she suggested going for a subfascial implant so that there would be some support" she said.

Zoe sighed heavily. "Well, I didn't know there were a third option, but as long as it doesn't slide around much I'm fine" she said before she grinned at Percy. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when I have a pair of double Ds" she said lowly. Percy looked up at them and rushed over showing them an application displaying Sasha's location.

"I found her, but it says here that she hasn't moved for a couple hours...well her phone hasn't" He said. He raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. "So what were you guys talking about?" he asked.

She placed a hand on her hip. "Boob implants" she said as she grabbed his phone. He stared at her shocked and confused as she took a screen cap and sent the image to her father. "Sasha's phone's last ping location" she put in her text.

He stared at her. "Implants? But why? You're perfect the way you are!" he said.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Cut the mushiness, the only thing that tells people I'm a girl is my hair. This is for me" she said before she let out a heavy sigh. "You might need your eyes checked dude" she said.

He frowned. "What about your hips? I thought they'd..." he said before she ruffled his hair.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't like a nice pair of tits in your face. I know you" she said as she poked him in the shoulder. "Besides, I've been thinking about this for a long time, nuff said" she said.

•••

Meanwhile Toby was in his room sleeping on his bed with white sterilized sheets. He had a patch over his chest, and a nearly empty IV bag feeding into his arm. In his head, images were replaying over and over again before a giant grotesque flea muppet appeared with googly eyes.

"Oh, looks like someone is having a bad dream..." he said in an obnoxious voice.

Toby stared at him in disgust as he pranced around about to sing a catchy musical number. "You seem to look to be rather mad. All because you lost your dad! Cheer up me bucko, all is not lost! You didn't pay the ultimate cost! Oh, no, that's not 'til later when you face a foe much greater" he sang.

Toby glared at him. "Stop rhyming!" he shouted.

The flea grinned evilly. "Now is the perfect timing to give you a lecture. Maybe now you can draw a conjecture. Something deep within is festering inside. All because you refuse to coincide!" he said before a shadowy arm reached in from the darkness behind him. The flea were grasped and squeezed to the point of his eyes exploded where streamers and confetti comically shot out as yellow eyes and white sharp teeth grinned through the darkness. "Oh my god! You stupid dog!" the flea shouted in pain.

The figure chuckled with a deep dark belly laugh. "Dog does not rhyme with god. I believe my other half can give a nod" he said.

Toby nodded. "He's right! You're not that bright! Now get out of my sight!" he said.

The figure laughed. "Into the shadows you go. Oh the horror's there is to show" he said before he retracted his arms into the shadows pulling the maimed flea with him.

"Whoa No! No, no, no! no! Stop! Please no!" the flea shouted before he vanished into the darkness. Yellow eyes shinned in like headlights and teeth appeared opening wide with steam pouring out from the immense entity's mouth. "Aaaaah! My legs! Not my arm! Ahh!" he screamed followed by deathly silence. The only sounds remaining were from Toby and the figure's heavy breathing. Every breath the beast took sent a hot moist draft into your face that reeked the scent familiar to that belonging to any canine.

They stared each other down before Toby looked around the dark void. "So, why are we separate?" he asked. This was not entirely new to him; however, the size and scale of the beast had grown exponentially.

The figure eyes narrowed upon him. "Your mother chained me up remember?" he said before he looked down at the chain on his neck. "Ever since your father died your mother has done anything to keep us from being natural, so here I wait" he said before he grinned. "As you can see I'm getting too big for them, and when I break them, they replacements seem to keep getting weaker" he said.

Toby stopped to think back on his reoccurring episodes of rage and blood lust before he approached him. "Then how about I do this for you, no more of this chain" he said as he reached his hand into the darkness. He felt the hot breath of the figure as his giant maw was inches from devouring him.

"What are you doing? Do you know what will happen once you free me?" he asked.

Toby continued to feel around the figure's fur before he found the chain tightly clinging to the flesh of this creature. "I need my strength wolf, and you're hogging all of it" he said as he started pulling apart the chain. The links started pulling apart causing his body to grow, and as the strain increased, the more his body progressed in growth. Once the chain exploded, the creature disappeared. He looked around confused, but he quickly felt the abundant power coursing through his veins and rage welling up in every muscle fiber of his body.

Steele appeared in Toby's dream except, he were now tiny like Toby was prior in relation to the creature. "Toby! Wake up! She needs you!" He yelled.

•••

Toby immediately woke up and gasped, and he was covered in sweat. He looked at his hairy arm indicating he had shifted into his anthro form. He pulled out the IV from his arm and got out of the bed. "Go to Sauvie Island...quickly...there's not much time! They are going to find her hiding spot" Steele said told him.

Toby opened the window, which the door immediately opened up, and Zoe looked at him annoyed as she saw him with his head sticking out the window. "Toby! What are you stupid!?" she shouted as she failed to grab him when he jumped out. She looked back at Lilian who was not too pleased with him either, but she had to turn back hearing Olivia's blood curdling screams coming from downstairs.

Percy immediately came in and gave her his phone, which shown Sasha's location in real time. "She's on the move again. Take my phone and sync it up with your mask" he told her as she received the phone.

She looked at the screen before she touched his shoulder. "Thanks" she said before she leaned down giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek. She ruffled his head knocking his glasses off the bridge of his nose. He adjusted his glasses just in time to catch her giving him a flirtatious wink as she left the room.

He got up and poked his head out around the door. "Get him!" he shouted.

She rushed down the stairs grabbing her mask off the coffee table and her cloak off the couch. She pressed a button on the inside of her mask, and it synchronized with Percy's phone. She fitted her mask on and strapped her cloak to her arms. Lilian entered the living room noticing the teenage shewolf with her hand on the doorknob. She gave her a nod of approval before she turned towards the stairs.

Percy rushed downstairs, and Lilian looked up at him sternly. "Can you stay here with my patients? Haley should be coming back" she said as she turned back to Zoe only to see that she had already left.

"But, Zoe took my phone!" he shouted before she threw a phone at him.

"Use Toby's" she said firmly.

•••

On his trek toward Sauvie Island, he transformed into his giant wolf form, and he followed Sasha's scent as the winds shifted in his favor. He felt the sharp pain in his side, which it made him slow down. He would have given up at this point, but he could hear Sasha screaming for him. He kept running harder and even through the pain. Zoe caught up to him being in her lycaon form as well, which he looked back at her annoyed. Her mask was on top of her head like a helmet and her cloak flapped in the drag wind like a cape.

Zoe said nothing but ran alongside him on all fours. Around her bicep was a stretchable strap with Percy's phone. Around her body was a spandex top and shorts, while Toby was completely nude. They jumped over creeks, streets and even the River to the north. He pushed things harder and jumped over a freeway. They had already ran for 20 miles without any breaks or slowing down, and once he heard Sasha's scream, it drove him to push himself beyond his limits. Zoe noticed his shortness of breath where he should not have been fatigued at this point. When he reached the top of the hill, he ran down the steep slope and jump onto a road, which crossed a small channel via a brown through arch bridge.

Zoe stopped on the hill reverting to her human form then she adjusted her mask before she pulled the phone from the strap to review Sasha's location. The marker on the map continued to move quickly, and she noted the winds were coming from the east, which she could smell her father nearby. She stuffed the phone back in the strap and transformed back into her giant wolf form. A car swerved and ran into the embankment as she jumped onto the road. She looked across the bridge as her father rushed up to her. "Zoe! The winds should be shifting soon. This island is larger than Manhattan, so there's a lot of ground to cover. Are you up for it?" he said. She looked towards the Northwest, and he stood next to her clearing his throat. "I would head in that direction, and use the wind in your favor. This island is shaped like a Rhombus. If you get far enough North, you can get a good idea where everyone is at when the wind shifts from the South. They won't smell you" he instructed her.

It was so cold that steam came off their breath and rose off the water from the marshland. She reverted to her human form and pulled out her phone, which she shown her father Sasha's location. She was eight miles North-Northeast on the East side of the island heading North, which it tapered off into an isthmus "Let's go get her then" she said before she took off with the phone. Bernie got into his car and drove up the road as Zoe ran across acres of frosty farmland and steaming marshes.

•••

Toby stopped in a muddy field and reverted to his anthro form as he panted heavily. He started to cough and ripped his face not noticing blood on the back of his hand. He ran through the field, and a male werewolf partly morphed between human and anthro form came up on him from behind a tree. Toby sidestepped and clothes-lined the werewolf in the chest extremely hard, which he yelped before he was knocked out once his head smashed into the icy ground. Toby looked around sniffing the air as it shifted, and he growled not happy with running down wind as it carried his sent along advertising his presence.

•••

Sasha ran as hard as she could through the forest and fields with Ian and his comrades several hundred yards away giving pursuit. "Help me!" she screamed. She grabbed onto her side feeling her ribs being stabbed repeatedly.

"There's no one to save you, bitch!" Ian yelled wielding a blade.

She was tiring, and she felt another searing pain in her leg, and it seized up on her. She grabbed onto it slowing down. She heard Ian behind her before she jumped to her side as a lawn mower blade drive into the ground in the path where she once was. She gulped and grabbed the blade throwing it with spin and managed to impale one of Ian's comrades in the chest.

The werewolf yelped, and Ian grabbed the blade yanking it out and watched her stand up and bolted off. "Why won't you let me help milord?" the beta asked sarcastically before he laughed sinisterly.

Ian growled. "She's mine, and mine to kill alone! I don't need help killing a lowly mutt of a thrall!" he said.

"Forgive me, milord" the beta said half mockingly before he looked off into the distance and scowled.

Ian ran off after her leaving the others behind. "You can make this easy on you and just give up! I have this place crawling with my army!" he yelled.

She fell to her knees and looked at the ground. "This place should be crawling with Bernie's men shouldn't it?" she muttered. She a familiar assortment of comforting scents entered her nostrils, which she looked towards the direction having her intuition reaffirmed, and one of them was Toby's. "No! I can do this!!" she muttered. She slammed her fist into the ground. She looked down at her hands and gasped noticing her transformation was beginning.

He laughed. "Got you, bitch! I have you cornered like a rat!" he said before holding the blade out like a club. She looked up and timed her jump up perfectly as she cleared the blade once it was swung. He looked at her in shock before he growled in frustration. "Damn, that runt!" he muttered watching her run off.

The beta walked up to Ian with his arms crossed. "Change your mind yet?" he said mockingly.

Ian backhanded the beta knocking him off his feet. "No...this just makes it more fun...Do not interfere!" he said before transforming into his anthro form. "I'm done playing with my prey" he said.

The beta growled standing back up after Ian left. "I'm not taking the blame for your incompetence...Scat for brains!" he muttered.

Another werewolf approached the Beta. "Garou...are you alright?" he asked.

Garou nodded. "Ian's still being stupid!" he said.

The other werewolf grinned. "Hey, he just got kicked in the nads...No one would think clearly after that" he said.

Garou sighed. "No, Gunter...He's stupid..." he said.

Gunter smirked. "You're just mad 'cause you got bitch slapped" he said before he looked up seeing Toby running through the brush. "Hey...isn't that the?" he asked.

Garou laughed. "Oh, this is going to be good!" he said before he and Gunter trailed behind Toby.

•••

Sasha kept running before another pain hit her, and she fell to her knees. "No...not now!" she yelled. She saw dark veins branching out under her skin, and her teeth sharpened and lengthened as orange and red hairs sprouted all over body.

She could not move as her body shifted into her anthro, but she stood up in a daze as the pain waned. "Sasha!!" Toby shouted, and she turned to look before he pushed her away. She watched Ian swung the blade down severing Toby's right arm above the elbow. She gasped in horror seeing his arm going a different direction than the rest of his body. Toby stared at his arm in shock, and he grabbed it. Blood began gushing out of his stub before he collapsed face first into the dirt.

He dropped his arm, and Sasha dropped to her knees ripping part of her tattered shirt to create a tourniquet. Ian laughed at them with glee. "How ironic...Biting her to give her a fighting chance wound up biting you in the ass" he said smirking.

Toby stood back up, and he swung the blade at him, which Toby stepped in and delivered a bone crushing palm strike to his chest. Ian grabbed the area over his heart and snarled before Zoe drove a vicious blow to the back of his head with a leaping roundhouse kick. He fell to the ground unconscious, and Zoe began to brutally pummel his head into the ground with her fist.

Garou and Gunter watched on and looked at each other. "Do you want to get her off?" Gunter asked.

Garou smirked sadistically. "Nah, he said he'd handle it" he said as he waited for nearly an entire minute before he shifted into his therian form. He charged out and grabbed Zoe by the face slamming the back of her head into the rudder of a beached and vandalized UFO boat. Gunter swooped in and picked up Ian whose face was swelling up to the point of it becoming unrecognizable. Bernie pulled up in his squad car as Gunter ran off with Ian's unconscious body.

Garou fled as Zoe sat on the ground in a daze. She looked up at her father who were beaming with pride, but he looked towards Toby as Sasha tried nuzzling and comforting him. Joseph and the other wolves showed up with their costumes on. "Bernie, they took off on a boat bound for St. Helens" one of them said.

Bernie looked over at them and he pulled his phone out to call the clan in that region, which there were no answer. He kept trying to get a hold of them, while Toby looked at his severed arm and grabbed onto it. He walked to the river, and Sasha went to Toby's side crying. "Toby...I...I thought you were dead!!" she said.

Toby cleaned his stump and put the log back into place using the cold river water to prolong the life of the tissue. "You know I've been through worse" he said as she buried her head into his neck and wrapped her arms around his trunk.

"It doesn't matter if it's worse or not. You aren't invincible" she said lowly.

He held his arm in place for about an hour before she frowned believing he was in denial. "Toby it's not growing back! Just forget it!" she whimpered.

Joseph and the others were keeping guard over him, while Bernie struggled to get a hold of the clans to their north. Toby removed the tourniquet, and he could feel the hot blood surge into the arm. He started to cringe as he felt it reach his fingertips, which it felt like thousands of pins were stabbing him. The feeling spread and grew in intensity exponentially, and he clenched his arm tighter screaming. Sasha removed Toby's hand away from his arm and gasped as it had partially reattached itself and dangled like a noodle. "Holy smokes! Toby how is he doing that" she muttered in complete shock.

He looked at her oddly. "Well the skin and what not is attached, hold on I think I can move my fingers" he said. His fingers started moving on his newly reattached arm, and he smirked. "Thank god...my regeneration has sped up" he said before he stuck his tongue out.

She stared at his noodle arm and groaned. "I don't think I feel so good" she said.

He laughed and rubbed her shoulder. "I need my bone to mesh together, and I should be good as new" he said.

Joseph grinned. "Good thing it was a clean cut" he said before he chuckled. "You'll learn many things about werewolves from Toby, Sasha. I learned many things about myself when I first met Steele" he said proudly.

She looked at her hand which had become claws, and her hair still grew on her body. She licked at her fangs before she felt her ears which were very pointy. "Toby...how do I look?" she asked feeling insecure about the aesthetics of her transformation.

He looked her over and smirked giving off a low murr. "You're still transforming, hun" he said.

She shook her head. "No, I know that, but...I mean, do I look okay to you so far?" she asked looking at her grotesque deadly claws.

He stared at her oblivious not sure what she thought she should look like. He looked into her yellow eyes and smiled putting his hand against her slowly distorting disfigured face. Her nose was enlarged, stretched, and black. "You look like an attractive werewolf girl...You fit my werewolf's tastes perfectly, so don't worry about what you look like between forms" he said before he coughed up more blood.

He looked down at his hand, which she saw the blood, and it were a lot of it. He stood up about to return to the river bank before he collapsed to face down in the water. She gasped pulling him out of the water and shook him, and he did not respond. Joseph put his hand on her shoulder to console her. She looked back at him upset. "You got to help him!" she muttered as tears came streaming down her cheeks.

"I've called Lilian, she got stuck in traffic, but she should be here any time" he said, and she stared at him nodding slowly. "Sasha...he's going to be okay...I believe he suppressed his healing in order to get her" he said.

She frowned. "What do you mean? Werewolves can suppress their healing intentionally? What advantage could that possibly have?" she asked.

He sighed heavily. "It means that Toby wasn't fully healed before he ran here. He allotted his energy for healing to transform into lycaon form to get himself here, and his wound inside reopened. lycaon form is the highest transformed state possible, and it's incredibly taxing on stamina. He's not gotten enough rest since he got shot. He's been pushing himself to exhaustion, and it's a wonder that he was able to transform to lycaon form at all. I can't say that it were fully intentional, but I know his father were able to pull that same trick" he said.

Zoe stared at him and frowned. "Jean taught us how to...Mean I couldn't stop him from doing it. He's trying to protect his mate, nuff said" she said as she looked towards the ground.

Sasha looked up at Zoe and sighed. "So will he be alright?" she asked.

Joseph nodded. "He should be...Passing out is a way to conserve energy for the healing process. It just looks worse than it is" he said before he looked towards the ground. "I don't know...I'm not a werewolf doctor" he said.

"I'm still here!" Toby muttered weakly.

Sasha let out a sigh of relief as he opened his eyes halfway to look up at her, and she hugged him tightly. "Ich liebe dich" she said into his ear. She picked him up and carried him onto the sandy shoreline, which Zoe approached her. "Don't worry...I got him" she said.

Zoe held her hands up and moved them defensively. "Whoa, whoa, I'm not here to steal your thunder. I'm just making sure you're okay" she said.

Sasha stared at her confused before Zoe leaned and held her hand up shielding their discussion. "You need to speak to Lilian as soon as possible. I can smell that bastard all over you, and you're bleeding" she spoke lowly and extremely aggravated.

Sasha's eyes widened in horror and stared into the trees vacantly, which Toby looked back at them intensely. His hairs stood up on end as he struggled to stand up. "What's going on? What do you mean?" he asked.

Zoe growled and gave him a very annoyed before Sasha interrupted. "Nothing happened...he only touched me nothing more" she said before she stared into the sand. "I'm sure of it" she finished.

There was a beam of headlights going down the road, and Bernie was on the road flagging the car down. The pair of headlights veered and focused onto him, and the car stopped on the side of the road. The electric car engine ceased, and the lights faded, before the door opened. Sasha carried Toby over to the car, and Lilian looked at her sternly. "How are you doing?" She asked.

Sasha frowned. "I'm fine, Toby is the one who's having the problem here" she said.

Bernie smiled. "He's banged up, but he is still alive" he said gratefully.

She looked away as she held Toby up for Lilian as she pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on. She focused the beam onto Toby as she looked for any new wounds. She looked at the patch on his chest. "The seal is broken..." she muttered. She pulled out her stethoscope and put it on his chest. "Well, at least it's only one of his lungs that have recollapsed" she said. She looked at his noodle arm, which she noticed the dried blood and scabbing. "How's he break his arm?" she asked.

Zoe sighed. "Ian chopped it off, but Toby got it reattached" she said.

Lilian grinned and ruffled her son's hair with pride. "What a clever pup you are" she said proudly. She shifted the beam towards Sasha examining her. "I didn't think you'd reach the break-in phase this early in waxing...must been the reaction to the stress you were under" she said.

Sasha looked down. "I'm not done transforming am I? I'm still hurting like hell" she said.

Lilian shook her head. "Not in the slightest...your voice hasn't changed much yet" she said before she let out a soft sigh as she put her stethoscope away. "Well...He's not out of the woods yet...if he loses too much energy he'll die" she said before she looked at Zoe. "Zoe, can you please help get Toby in the car and cover him up...I need to speak with Sasha" she said.

Sasha looked at her horrified not wanting to discuss her ordeal, but Lilian ushered her away as Zoe sat Toby in the front passenger before she retrieved a large towel from the trunk and covered him up. He looked at her sternly, and she looked back towards Lilian speaking to Sasha lowly. "Miscarriage?" she muttered before she looked back at him and sighed. "Must have been the transformation" she said.

Toby closed his eyes and frowned. "I doubt it" he muttered.

Zoe looked at the ground clenching her fist, and she ran off after transforming into her lycaon form. Bernie watched on helplessly, but he could not say anything to better the situation. Joseph approached Toby and frowned. "I'm sorry about your loss" he said. Toby turned to his side and stared out the driver side window. "Be strong for her" he said touching his shoulder.

Toby remained quiet as he felt the uncontrollable urge to kill and maim, but his injured and weakened state left him no outlet of pressure. Lilian brought Sasha back to the car, which she had more concern for her boyfriend than herself. She went to touch his side, which she gasped feeling not body heat coming off him. "Is it a normal for him to be cold" she asked.

Lilian reached over and felt his neck and immediately started the car, and she turned the knob to the heater up full blast. "He doesn't have energy to maintain his body temperature. We'll have to keep him warm for now, but I hope that the moon can recharge him...I hope, he'll have energy to digest food" she said before she sped off down the rural road.

•••

Thirty minutes into the return trip home, Toby began to stir, and Sasha rubbed his arm tenderly. "We're going to take good care of you" she said. He listened to the roaring of the road beneath them, and the whoosh of the wind running against the car, while his arm was stroked by his loving mate. He looked up at her weakly, and she smiled at down at him amiably. She bent down to kiss the side of his head. "I'm going to take very very good care of you, big bad" she whispered.

Toby touched Sasha's face rubbing her developing muzzle getting an idea of the final product of her transformation. "You look very beautiful" he said before he passed out again. He slept peacefully the rest of the way home although she expanded her rub down to his back and the side of his face. Her transformation continued slowly, but she her pain was comparable to what she experienced before.

•••

An hour later, he woke up in excruciating pain as a tube was reinserted into his chest. There was a new seal on his chest. He was breathing heavily as his lung reinflated, and it returned to normal after a while. He whimpered before He noticed his arm had been wrapped with four metal rods keeping his arm straight.

He felt extremely weak and drifted off into a deep sleep, which Lilian left him to knock on the door to the bathroom. "Are you alright in there?" she asked.

Sasha whimpered looking at herself in the shower. Her fur was a majestic beautiful red-orange color scheme, but she felt extremely small being able to fit in the shower in her therian form. "I'm fine, how's Toby?" she asked as she tried cleaning herself of every trace of Ian. Her voice had morphed only to sound slightly higher pitched than Zoe's was in base form.

Lilian sighed. "He's getting better...I'll make us something to eat. You just do what you need to do, okay hun?" she asked.

Sasha looked at her padded hands. "This is supposed to be a happy moment for me" she said as she whimpered to herself. "I had plans! I wanted to spoil Toby once I transformed. I've messed up" she said putting the blame onto herself.

Lilian sighed heavily. "You didn't mess up...you fought back! You can still spoil Toby. He's not one hundred percent broken..." she said before she smiled. "You kicked ass, even when you had a crutch you still managed" she said.

Sasha's tail wagged thinking about how she escaped Ian in the first place. "Yea...I did" she muttered.

"That'ta girl! You got this!" Lilian said before she wondered off humming to herself.

•••

After two hours of being in the shower, Zoe came in to help her dry off her fur. The scent of food filled the air, and Sasha's stomach growled. "Thanks for everything, Zoe" she said before she wrapped her arms around her.

Zoe reached around with one arm as she sat the blow dryer down. "Don't mention it...I got your back" she said.

Sasha smiled. "I'm going to go warm Toby up some" she said before she looked in the mirror. She stopped and felt her fur surprised. "Can werewolves get fat?" she asked.

Zoe looked at her oddly and smirked. "Of course they can...although you'd need a high caloric intake like in humans. That's why we refrain from eating people" she said before she slapped as Sasha's rear. "You look like a girl werewolf, Sasha. A little fat here and a little fat there won't hurt yea. I wish I didn't have problems putting on some fat, but I have to make do with what I inherited, nuff said" she said.

Sasha frowned. "So, I'm going to still have a tummy?" she asked.

Zoe shook her head. "Nah, you're probably going to lose it after a while. I've rarely seen a werewolf not get one during winter. If you not noticed, my dad's got a gut, nuff said" she said.

Sasha laughed before she left bursting with confidence. She entered Toby's room and crawled into his bed. She enveloped him with an arm and leg resting his head upon her furry breasts. In the middle of his rest, he felt something rather warm and furry wrapped around him. He woke up to find himself embraced by a giant red furred werewolf, but he turned to press his face into her lovely soft built-in pillows.

"Come and eat!" Lilian shouted.

Sasha quickly crawled out of bed and whipped Toby in the face with her tail. She looked back with her ears pointed off to the side as her tail tucked between her legs slightly. "I'm sorry! I don't have any control over my tail yet" she said embarrassed.

He sat up and gazed at her seductively. "You sure you weren't just flirting with me just now?" he asked.

She jumped and gave him a playful grin, while she looked at him with hungry eyes. "Maybe...I think I might have. This is all weird to me though" she said as her ears perked to him getting out of bed. She quickly reached out to bear his weight, and she whimpered. "Careful dear...you're still weak" she muttered, but she could hear his stomach growl. She hooked her hand around his hip and pulled him up against her warm furry body. "Come on, let's get ya fed. Then I'm going to spoil you rotten" she said.

He looked up at her oddly. "Are you doing this southern accent on purpose?" he asked.

She wagged her tail and giggled. "Do you like it?" she asked.

He laughed wrapping an arm around her giving her rump a good pat. "I can't wait for your werewolf southern hospitality" he said.