Were-Jock Tales: Confronting the Alpha
Dedicated to my rock, my valentine, my husband, my everything-- @mergeman.
The hulking brute remained utterly calm, despite everything we had done to him. "Come now, Dorian," he said. "I thought you wanted to talk." The were-jock glared at me from the other side of the metal cage, making unblinking eye contact as he spoke. I'm sure he hadn't expected to be overpowered during a full moon-- it had taken four guys to subdue him, and another two to get him safely bound like this. I had to call in a lot of favors with the football players that I tutor, and they probably thought I was into some seriously kinky shit now. But it was going to be worth it.
I smiled at him, leaning against the outer frame of his cage. "You wound me, Stephan. I do want to talk-- but I can't have you transforming me." He lunged forward, gnashing his teeth. He was probably trying to scare me, so I made sure to hold my ground and avoid flinching. He wasn't going anywhere, and we both knew it. The collar around his neck was chained to the center of his cage, and his ankles were cuffed and chained to the floor. The cuffs binding his wrists together were wholly unnecessary given that the cage was a six foot cube, but there was no point in being reckless when my intelligence was at stake. Without that... I was nothing.
"I've already seen what you did to Melvin. He came here on a full-ride academic scholarship, and now the man barely has enough mental fortitude to tie his shoes," I said, clenching my fist. "He was my best friend, until you changed him. You stole him from me, and replaced him with that... that meathead!"
Stephan smiled at me, as he lifted his arms to grab onto the roof of the cage. "I've helped so many weaker guys abandon their sad lives to embrace the brotherhood, I can't possibly remember all of them. Why do you care so much about him, anyway?" I took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. He wanted to me lose my cool, and I was not about to let him win.
"I'll just have to pull up his Instagram to remind you," I said, pulling out my phone. "I bet you're not used to your victims leaving evidence behind, are you?" I thrust my arm into the cage, showing him my phone as if he had any reason to care. It would give me closure, at least.
"Everything was completely normal. Selfies, photos of his research for one of our upcoming competitions... and then he meets you. He starts getting bigger, even if he doesn't notice the changes. And then we have a full moon." I select one of his most recent gym selfies and brandish at him as if it's a holy symbol. "Now his chest is twice as wide, and his muscles rival the football team's mass! Who paid you to do this to him? Who's trying to sabotage our debate team!?"
Stephan just laughed at me. "Sabotage? Do you hear yourself right now? No one gives a shit about your stupid debate team, Dorian. Did it ever occur to you that he reached out to me himself? You make it sound like I'm going around attacking men, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. He's the one who came to me, they all do. Melvin realized that making his personality all about being smarter than everyone else was also the very thing making him feel alone and isolated. He wanted community, friendship, brotherhood... he just wanted to belong, for once in his pathetic life. And now that he's part of my pack... he does!"
"I know you don't believe me," he added, seeing the expression on my face. "But that's fine. In another minute or two, you'll find out for yourself just how much better life in the brotherhood will be."
My phone clattered to the floor as I clutched my stomach in a panic. "You... you're lying," I said, feeling my breathing starting to quicken. My stomach had been rolling, but that was just my nerves, the stress of talking to such a fierce enemy... wasn't it? Now that I had lost my focus, I could feel it-- the worst nausea I'd ever had... or a sudden loss of abdominal fat? "This... this isn't a transformation, I'm just panicking," I said, looking up at him. "You can't... you've been caged this whole time. You can't even spit on me, let alone bite me!"
Stephan laughed. "Well now, those would all be really good safeguards if I was some sort of furry werewolf, huh? But I'm a were-jock. We work through sweat and pheromones." I look up at him-- the sweat is glistening off of his tattooed chest, and his arms are fully raised to make sure that his dank pits are unimpeded. This had been his plan from the beginning. "You really thought I couldn't overpower four normal humans? No, I just wanted unrestricted access to the guy who kept snooping around in my business. So thanks, Dorian! You couldn't have made it easier for me."
I tried to run away, but my vision was swimming-- would I still need glasses when this was over? No-- I had to stop this-- if it was scent based, all I had to do was flush my nasal cavities... somehow... dammit! I set up this cage so far away from prying eyes that I was also too far away from anything that could help me! I clutched my face as a stabbing headache dropped me back down to my knees. Someone was screaming-- was it me?-- and my vision faded to black as--
"I wasn't planning to press charges," I said, leaning against the railing as some random police officer tried to intimidate me. In retrospect, I probably should have expected this. A giant cage out in the middle of the woods was not exactly subtle, and it probably wasn't too hard for them to trace it back to the guys that Dorian had bribed to set it up. If anything, it was a miracle the cage had gone unquestioned as long as it had, given that they'd abandoned it in the brush behind the football stadium.
The last thing I needed was police officers swarming around me and my pack, getting suspicious about our actions. With luck, this was just a routine investigation and not a precursor to something annoying. "They let me out after a half hour, and it's not like they actually hurt me," I said, with a shrug. "It's no big deal. I just figured it was a fraternity hazing prank or something. I did plenty of dumb shit at that age, I'm no rat."
The officer stared at me before relenting. "Well, if you change your mind, stop by the station at any time," he said, handing me his business card. I waited for him to leave before ripping it to shreds. I knew I would win whatever showdown we might have, if it came down to it, but I also knew that fighting with the police would be more trouble than it was worth. There was no shame or weakness in laying low if it meant keeping our secrets.
I pulled out my phone to send Dorian a text. "Check in. Police snooping around. Be wary. Let me know if they grief you." Usually the men I converted were a lot less socially connected, but Dorian hadn't left me with much of a choice. I had to convert him before he made things any worse for me.
"Yes, sir. They haven't yet, you'll be the first to know if they do." Then he sent me his check in photo, with both him and Melvin. I just rolled my eyes. Sometimes Love is blind, while other times Love needs to lose 50 IQ points before it can finally stop overthinking and confess its true feelings for another man. As if someone as selfish as Dorian would have risked his life to confront me over someone who was just a platonic friend.
At least the two of them were happy now. They were idiots, but they were my idiots.