Nightshift
Weredog to Guard Dog.
*by Hector Scofield. * Edited and Corrected by Ben243
You may have heard about Werewolves. What if I told you they actually exist? Just not quite as you would expect it! You see, the ruthless monsters as you know them from the myths and legends, from fictional stories and action packed Movies, lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And like their more common cousins, the Wolves, they became more domesticated and settled, and turned into... well... Weredogs. That's the reason you don't hear about them very often. They're not hunting and rampaging anymore, they are actually quite nice people. The few left, hiding in-between the "normal" people anyway!
You see, it's not easy for someone with this kind of secret to find a partner willing to have children with them. Children who also become Weredogs. No holiday camps, no sleepover partys. It's hard to live that way, especially considered that only few people on earth know about them, and some of those who were in the know aren't that fond of supernatural beings at all.
For Alex the breeding thing wasn't all that important! He wasn't that big of a fan of kids and anyway more into men, but he also had the problem of finding a friend. These days most good-looking men were at their jobs, working the whole day and only at night had time for dating and hanky-panky! At those hours Alex was more concerned with fastening his collar around his neck, turning into a German Shepherd and running around in the neighborhood, meeting his friends Sammy and Riley. The specific Appearance of Weredogs depends on their personality. They can also turn whenever they want, but can't keep their human form at nighttime due to their feral instincts.
One day Alex had the luck to meet Ian, a more-to-love-sized guy who worked nightshifts as a Security Guard. They had so much in common. They both loved John Coltrane, adored David Tennant as Doctor Who and they favored Mexican over Italian Food. Plus: Alex always fancied men in Uniform. Ian had a similar problem to Alex: Of course he couldn't date at night, because of his work. His partners always complained that he could take a day off more often, but Ian took his job very seriously. He often regretted having been unable to join the Police Academy because of his weight. He tried diets and sports as much as it was possible for him, but he had no chance against his genes.
Alex had told him he was also working nightshifts in IT, although the truth was he worked from home and could work whenever he wanted. So they decided to date in the late afternoons, just before Ian's shift. Their relationship seemed to work out just fine. Alex couldn't believe the luck he just had. This was perfect! Not long and they had sex for the first time. Then not long after, the second and the third time. But in-between the eight and ninth time things got a little more complicated all of a sudden. Ian was ready to take the next step in their relationship and asked Alex to move in. Alex was baffled and unsure what to answer, but when he saw Ian's concerned look, unsure if this relationship was a good idea, he panicked and said yes.
Later at home Alex was starring into the mirror. What had he done? This made the whole thing unnecessary complicated. Or was it? Maybe it made things easier! Ian would go to his nightshift and Alex could pretend to work at home, in reality turning into a dog. But what if something happened? What if Ian came back home earlier and encountered that strange German Shepherd in his Apartment? It was clear, he had to make up his mind! Either he told Ian the truth, which could have dangerous consequences, or he could try to convince him that moving together was a bad idea, and end the relationship in the worst case. This thought devastated him. He really loved Ian and if he would have to leave him, it would probably brake his heart.
When night came, he turned into his Dog persona and went outside via the garden, over the bushes and out onto the streets, on his way to Riley, who would distract him from all of those depressing thoughts. He ran across the park to mark his favorite tree, passing the duck pond and the park bench where the old Hobo with the Hungarian accent was often sleeping, shortly after leaping in-between two loose fence boards, when all of the sudden he was caught in a wire, at the end of Dogcatcher's pole. Only now Alex did realize that with all his fretting about Ian, he had forgotten to wear his collar. In a panic he struggled and tried to escape, but all that got him was a tranquilizer dart shot at him and blurry emptiness embracing him.
When Alex woke up the next day he found himself in a kennel at the pound, imprisoned. In one corner of the room he saw a camera, so it wasn't safe for him to turn back yet. He was forced to wait, until he could find his way out of this or was rescued somehow. After he and the other Dogs got fed, he had an appointment with the vet Doctor Summers. He knew if he cooperated and played the role of the nice, obedient doggy, they would find him suitable for adoption and wouldn't put him down. The bad thing about it was, he would be vaccinated and neutered. In his case it wasn't that bad, because his body would regenerate within a month, but of course he wasn't very keen of being robbed of his manhood. To his misfortune though, he did not have much of a choice.
While recovering from the surgery, unhappy about the pain between his legs and the strange feeling of a lacking libido, they brought him to an Animal service center and put him up for adoption. He expected to be bought by a family or a cranky old man. Either way he would escape from them as soon as possible. Meanwhile he was bored and tried to distract himself by thinking about Ian. From Ian's point of view Alex would have simply vanished and he was most probably arguing with the police who wasn't able to find him. Ian wouldn't rest until he was found, Alex assumed. It would, unfortunately, be pretty useless.
A few days passed and Alex hadn't been adopted yet. Soon they would think about putting him down again, so he would have no choice other than transforming back into his human form and seeking a way to delete the video footage. In the worst case they had made an online backup and he would be forced to assume a new identity somewhere else. Then he had no chance seeing Ian ever again. That thought made him despondent.
All of a sudden the most unexpected thing happened: The door opened as it had so many times, the woman from the Animal Center entered, followed by a potential new owner. It had been this way so often and although he really tried so hard to get their attention, like every damn Dog in this room did, he was completely ignored. Not in this case! You see, Alex didn't believe in destiny. It was superstitious nonsense in his opinion. But when he saw the new visitor was Ian, his heart made a jungle drum. He had no idea what brought Ian in here, but he knew he didn't have any time to loose and began to bark and howl for his life. To his great pleasure Ian noticed him and began to ask questions where they had gathered such a beautiful German Shepherd. The lady from the center told him how they'd caught him as a stray in the park and that, although he was in a good shape, he had no collar or microchip implanted. Ian thought about it for a while and told her, he had to find an obedient Patrol dog, cause his boss had promised to give him a raise if he got one. He asked if the Shepherd could do some tricks and although Alex hated it to do that, he had no other choice than to play along.
Finally he convinced Ian and was released into his custody. But not without having him microchipped and Ian registered as his new owner. Ian chose to call him "Alonso", a reference Alex understood so well, he couldn't wait to hear the whole phrase. Ian fastened a collar around his neck, with all the tags needed already attached, took him on a leash and saying "Allons-y, Alonso!", led him outside on the way home.
The following days Alex had enough occasions to escape, but he enjoyed being reunited with Ian and wanted to stay with him for a while, even when it meant he had to play along as his Dog. He was glad though to be able turn back into his human form occasionally, when Ian was in the bath or sleeping. It seemed Ian hadn't realized his boyfriend was missing and instead just assumed, he had abandoned him after his proposal to move in. Alex had to sneak out in some of Ian's used clothes and call him from a phone at the Bus station. He told him he was sorry about not having called him, but there was an emergency with his family and he had simply no time to call. Ian was suspicious of course: He'd had more than a week to call him! Alex said he would return in a month and explain to him in detail what had happened. He figured that would give him time to think of a good story, and also to recover from his surgery in the pound. It was bad enough to think that he had failed Ian that badly, but if he came back and wasn't able to satisfy him properly, their relationship was as good as doomed.
"Alonso" had to be trained for his new Job by Ian's side, so they regularly visited the facilities owned by the security company where Ian was employed. Ian was attending classes to become a capable Dog handler and Alex had to do the usual training sessions: Obedience, attack, tracking, detecting dangerous substances, running parcours, learning commands and so on. Even for a Weredog it was unusual to be treated like this. There were some that had chosen the life of a mundane Dog, but to let themselves be "enslaved" was an absolute no-go. Alex on the other hand did it for Ian and given time was even enjoying it. He was proud when they finally handed him his Harness with the words SECURITY written on it in big yellow letters. He was registered as K9-080119 and from now the official partner of Ian, with whom he now was patrolling the Power station.
At his job Ian was an absolute professional and was respected by his colleagues. They all wore Black Uniforms with caps, black ties and patches. On their leather-belts they had tactical Gun holsters, magazine pouches, keys, handcuffs, pepper spray and walkie-talkies. It all had a certain military feeling, but there were also moments when they got a bit calmer and more relaxed. Alex aka Alonso wasn't the only Guard dog there. The others were Brutus, Ajax, Rex and Fox. It was easy for him to gather the role as the Alpha, because he still had a little bit of a Wolf inside him and the others could feel that.
After their shift they drove home, slept until early afternoon and spend a little quality time with each other. Going at the park, playing, eating and a bit TV. In-between Alex had the chance to return to his human form, slip out and call Ian from the Bus station. In the evening Ian once again slipped into his Uniform, fitted Alonso's Harness around his body and they both left the house for work.
Nearly a month had passed when Alex's Libido finally came back and he felt the urge to be with Ian as his boyfriend again. He called him from the bus station and asked him out for a date on Friday. When Ian asked if he could bring Alonso along with him, he told him there were no pets allowed where they were dining. So Alonso had to stay home. Shortly after Ian had left the house, Alex turned back to his human form to open the backdoor, slipped out, turned a dog again and ran as fast as he could to his Apartment. There he quickly prepared himself for the Date and left the House to meet up with Ian. The evening became quiet expensive for him, which also was an unavoidable problem due to his lacking job effort, but he had to make up for a month of absence and why he hadn't called Ian the first week.
He told him his brother got lost in the Canadian mountains and that he had to help search for him. It was a quite ridiculous story, but so ridiculous again, one could believe it was true. Ian told him about his new dog and at the beginning Alex felt flattered. After half an hour it became quiet annoying: Alonso did this, Alonso did that...! Alex had come with the intent of focusing on his sex life again, not to hear stories he already knew. Somehow he managed to turn the topic so they could bond once more and refresh their relationship. All went well, until Ian suggested they go to his place!
Alex wasn't prepared for this! He had thought they would go to Alex's Apartment, but Ian insisted it was to far away and he wanted him now. So they paid and went to Ian's place. That would be quite tricky, Alex thought. When they arrived Ian was calling for Alonso to introduce him. Alex excused himself, went to the bathroom, stripped as fast as he could his clothes off, fastened his collar around his neck, jumped out of the window and ran to Ian who was already searching for him in the garden. All that while transforming into his Dog form, much fasten than usual. Ian was about to bring him in to introduce him to his boyfriend. To distract him his master he began to bark at something behind him, what Ian supposed was a squirrel. As Ian looked, his dog ran back inside and closed the door behind him with the back of his rump. While Ian had to run to the other side of the house to ring, Alex had enough time to return to his human form. This time he simply took off his collar and, hiding it behind his back, opened Ian in a playful, sexy pose. Before Ian could ask where Alonso had gone, Alex gave him a hot kiss and they both went to the bedroom.
Another thing about Weredogs is, if they rush their transformations mistakes can happen. Alex had trouble differentiating between his Human and animal instincts, and was licking Ian's face. While that made Ian laugh, Alex became quite embarrassed. The next problem was that at one point his penis had changed its appearance for a while, which Alex hid by turning his friend around and massaging his neck. He had to concentrate really hard not to expose himself any further, but when he began growing some fur on his upper arms, he stopped and ran to the bathroom. Ian asked him if he was alright and he simply replied he wasn't feeling that good, maybe there was something wrong with their food.
Alex got himself dressed again, covering his hairy arms behind his pullover and left Ian with the excuse that he needed to go get some rest. They were both frustrated about what happened, but Alex actually had to stay and transform - this time slow and carefully - into his Dog persona. When he re-entered the house as Alonso he saw Ian sitting on his bed with a sad look in his face. He stroked him resignedly and told him, he was unhappy about the whole thing with Alex. He loved him, but wasn't sure if Alex felt the same way he did. Alex tried to cheer him up, but he knew it was right: This couldn't go on the way it did! He considered telling him the truth, to tell him he, Alex, was his dog all along. But how would he react about it? Especially after all that happened? There had been no other way: Alex decided to end their relationship, unsure if he would quit as his Dog too.
The same night, as their shift began Alex was still thinking about the whole thing, when something unexpected happened. They were at their routine patrol along the fences when all of a sudden the alarm went on. Ian spoke to his radio to get some info. There seemed to be an intruder in sector 4. Both Ian and Alex were nearby and ran to check the building for the intruder. They hadn't even found a trace of him when all of the sudden... BOOM!!!
As Alex woke up he found the whole building had collapsed on them. He was the lucky one, his body was small enough not to get smashed by the wreckage, yet Ian was seriously injured and unable to move. Alex was deeply concerned. As Alonso he had no chance to stop the bleeding, but it was still nighttime and he couldn't return to his human form. What if he bit him? No it would take to long for his body to adopt the Weredog genes. Alex didn't knew what to do and was about to see his love and master die. Then Ian said something to him, he hadn't expected: "Don't you worry, Alex! Help will come soon!"
Alex looked at him in disbelieve: Ian knew? Well, he knew it for quite a while:
Shortly after their second Date he traded a shift with a colleague for the first time, to surprise Alex on his Birthday. But when he arrived and was about to knock at his window he saw him changing into a German Shepherd. At first he was absolutely stunned about this, until he thought about it and realized, it changed nothing between them, he loved Alex anyway, whatever he was.
He was aware Alex wouldn't just tell him about it and he was afraid of what would happen if he told him that he knew. So he asked him about moving in together, to give him a little push. When Alex vanished, he was concerned and returned to Alex's Apartment to clear up things. But when he couldn't find him, and saw through his window that he had forgotten his collar, he knew something was up. In time he figured out what happened and went searching in all the local dog pounds for him, until he'd found him.
The problem was, how to explain why he was looking for him in his dog form. He made up the story about his boss, offering him a raise if he got himself a Guard Dog. Ian figured all Alex would have to do afterwards was to return to his human form and escape. But when he didn't Ian was forced to attend this training with him and to make him his Guard dog. Given time he grew fond of the idea, he also wondered how long Alex was able to keep up his charade. He pushed him a little further every day until this afternoon, when he finally went too far.
Ian asked Alex to forgive him and Alex was so touched, that he began to kiss him. Not licking, but really kissing. His human heart had overtaken his feral instincts and without noticing, he had returned to his human form. He quickly ripped off some of Ian's clothes and helped him to stop the bleeding. Then he returned to his canine form and climbed up the ruins to get him some proper help.
Two weeks after that, as Ian was finally leaving the hospital, Alonso was honored as a hero and the media made a big thing out of it. The intruder had been identified as part of a Terrorist cell, the rest of its members were caught within hours and were about to go to prison for a long time. Ian and Alex finally moved together and while they were a couple by day, they stayed partners in their job. The fact that Alonso wasn't a normal Dog but a Weredog they kept their own little secret, even as Ian made it, with a little help of Alex's new training plan, finally into the Police Academy and into the K9-Unit.