The Case of the Hound and the (Almost) Hyena
Posted on Sun Feb 18th, 2024 @ 6:54pm by Dominique LaFramboise
Edited on on Wed Feb 21st, 2024 @ 6:59pm
Mission:
Where We Came From
Location: Bay City, MI
Timeline: October 2018
It felt surreal to be walking into the hospital emergency room. While Nicki had been in the hospital her fair share of times as a kid and teenager, none of them had been in the emergency room. But, here she was.
A nurse at the reception desk- was it called reception?- asked if she needed help, so she walked over. “I’m Nicki,” she said. “I was called about a Hyena bite victim.”
”Ah, yes, the alpha,” said the nurse. “The doctor is expecting you. Come with me, please.”
Nicki followed the nurse through the swinging double doors and into the patient area. She had known about the Hyenas, but had opted to leave them alone as long as they kept to themselves. But, if they were going around biting people without permission, it appeared she would have to do something.
The nurse stopped before a door and knocked softly on it, waited for the all clear and then poked her head in. “The Hound Alpha is here,” she said.
”Oh, good!” came a male voice from inside the room, and then the face of a middle-aged man with a receding hairline appeared in the doorway. “Nicki,” he said, half as a question. ‘Thank you for coming. Please, come in.”
Nicki stepped through the door and saw another man seated on the exam table, shirtless, with a thick white gauze bandage around his torso. This man was younger and much better looking. She appreciated the view without looking as if she were appreciating the view.
”This is Ryan Thompson,” the doctor introduced. “Ryan, this is Nicki LaFromboise, the Hound Alpha.”
”Hi,” said Ryan, trying and exactly failing to sound cheerful.
”Hi,” replied Nicki, sympathetically.
”Do I need to stick around for this?” asked the doctor. “Do you need a witness?”
”Not necessarily,” answered Nicki. “As long as he signed the release form.”
”He did.”
”Then I think we’re okay,” said Nicki, knowing most doctors didn’t like watching a lycan bite someone.
“All right, then I’ll leave you to it,” said the Doctor. “Stop at admissions on the way out, Mr. Thompson.”
”All right,” answered Ryan, and the doctor slipped out the door.
”It’s important that I know the circumstances,” Nicki told him. “I need to make sure you didn’t just change your mind about becoming a lycan after being bitten. You won’t be in trouble if you did; that happens more frequently than you would think. But, I need the absolute truth. What happened?”
“It was at a football game,” he replied. “Over at All Saints High School. We heard the hyenas when they were still a ways off. One of the parents at the game is a Tiger and he immediately warned the faculty that that was an attack call. So we played it safe and started getting everybody inside. A couple of other lycans were there, too, so they were helping to get everyone inside. I was there when the attack started. The lycans tried to protect me, but there were too many of them. They did manage to chase them away, but only after I was bitten. They told me a Hound bite might prevent me from becoming a Hyena.”
”It can, yeah,” replied Nicki. “I have to warn you, though, that you might just become a Hound.”
”Well, that would be better than a Hyena,” he replied grimly.
”I happen to agree,” replied Nicki cheekily.
He gave her a lopsided grin that she found extremely adorable. “So what am I supposed to do?” he asked. “Are there certain words I have to use or no?”
Nicki shrugged. “Not really,” she said. “You just have to invite me to bite you.”
He gave her another lopsided grin. “Bite me,” he said, imitating her earlier cheeky tone.
She grinned. “That works, I suppose,” she said. “I have to change to do it. It’s a pretty cool process, if you want to watch. I don’t mind.”
”Uh,” he said nervously. “Maybe… maybe not.” And he looked away.
The process only took a few seconds and Nicki was in Hound form. Talking as a Hound was difficult, so she usually didn’t even try. Instead, she nudged his hand with her nose.
He looked back at her and started slightly. “Whoa,” he said. “I didn’t realize you’d be so beautiful.”
A yipping sort of laugh escaped Nicki’s throat.
”Not- not that- no, I mean-“ he stammered. “My brother’s a wolf. He’s nowhere near as gorgeous as you. I mean, in wolf form. I mean… are all Hounds- oh, never mind. Just bite me.” And he held out his arm and turned his head away.
Nicki gave another yipping laugh and then quickly sunk her teeth into his arm. He sucked in air quickly and tensed up, but otherwise did not move. She waited until she tasted blood, and then released his arm, giving it a couple of licks for good luck. Once she was done, she shifted back. “That should do it,” she told him.
”Do I need to bandage it?” he asked.
”No,” she replied. “It’s not deep enough for that. Just don’t get anything weird in it like raw chicken or something.”
”Raw chicken,” he said with a grin. “I’m not even sure how I would do that.”
She afforded him another grin. “I’ll need your address and phone number,” she said.
”Is that your idea of flirting?” he teased.
She actually laughed that time. “It’s so I can send someone to sit with you next full moon,” she told him. “We have almost three weeks, so the odds of you becoming a Hyena aren’t very high.”
“Well, that’s a plus,” he said, reaching into his back pocket and producing his phone. “If I’m giving you my address and phone number, I want yours, too.” And he handed his phone to her, opened to contacts.
”Is that your way of flirting?” she teased, but she also took out her own phone and opened the contacts.
They exchanged phones and entered their information, then traded back. “I’ll send Jaime on the full moon,” she said. “Despite the name, he is not Mexican, just so you’re not confused or think he’s lying about who he is. He’s Chinese. His parents just liked the name.”
”That’s so weird because I know a Mexican girl called Mei-Ling,” he replied.
Nicki blinked. “That- that is weird,” she said.”What are the odds?”
”Must be a sign,” he agreed with another lopsided-grin.
”That you’re going to be a Hound?” she said, half jokingly.
”I hope not,” he said. “But I don’t think I’d mind too much.”
”Well, I should probably let you get back to your life,” she told him. “I’ll have Jaime text you before he heads over. If anything weird happens with either wound, call me before you come to the hospital, okay?”
”Anything weird- like what?” he asked.
”I don’t like to say anything specific in case it ends up psychosomatic,” she said. “And it sometimes does. But anything other than healing normally- let me know.”
He nodded. “Okay,” he said, sliding off the exam table and reaching for his shirt which lay on a nearby chair- Nicki tried not to ogle his muscles. “I’m not sure there’s much point in putting this on,” he said, holding it up. It was, in fact, in tatters.
She shrugged. “It’s not much better than just walking out without one, is it?” she said. “I could give you my jacket. It’s not terribly warm outside and I do have a sweater on.”
He looked over the jacket she wore. “Normally, I wouldn’t dare take a woman’s jacket,” he said, “but under the circumstances…”
Nicki grinned and quickly took off her jacket, handing it to him. It was just a plain grey unisex jacket with no frills, so it wouldn’t look out of place on him. He took it and slipped it on, careful to not disturb the bandage. “That’s not fair,” commented Nicki.
”What’s that?” he asked.
”It looks better on you than it does on me,” she replied.
He chuckled, then groaned. “I don’t have any broken ribs, but damn if it doesn’t hurt like hell to laugh,” he said.
”I’ll try not to be funny, then,” she said as they left the exam room. “Do you need a ride home?”
”My brother’s waiting for me,” he said. “But thanks.”
”No problem,” she replied. “Let me know if there’s anything you need.”
”Are Hounds always this helpful?” he asked.
”Usually,” she replied with a grin. “It’s the curse of being a Hound.”
They made their way to the waiting room. As soon as they walked through the doors, Nicki recognized the Alpha Wolf by the name of Aiden Thompson, who stood and walked over to them. “Nicki,” he said cheerfully. “I didn’t know you knew my little brother.”
”I didn’t until just now,” she said. “He needed a Hound bite. He should be okay, but he’s got my number, just in case.”
”Getting girls’ numbers even in the hospital,” Aiden teased Ryan. “You dog!”
”Yeah, yeah,” Ryan said, waving his brother off. “I’m supposed to check out.”
Nicki grinned. “All right, I’ll get out of your hair,” she told them. “We’ll have to go after those Hyenas, Aiden.”
”We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” he agreed. “I’ll notify James and Rich.”
”I’ll talk to Whitney and Brian,” she replied. Those four represented the Alphas of the other four major lycan groups in the area- Bears, Tigers, Cheetahs, and Rats, respectively.
This was going to be a mess.
18 days later
The Hyenas had actually been far easier to convince to move on than anybody could have guessed. Even though they were outnumbered seven to one, Hyenas tended to be hard headed. These, however, took one look at the Hounds- who were twice their size and known for their ferocity while defending their cities- and decided to move along. Hopefully, wherever they went next wouldn’t have any problems from them.
Last night had been the full moon. It was pretty uneventful, at least for Nicki. Patrols usually were. But, she was curious to know how things had gone for Ryan. She had set Jaime to sit with him in case he became a Hound just like she had promised, but she hadn’t heard anything. She was about to call him when her doorbell rang.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and went to answer the door. As it turned out, she didn’t need to call Ryan after all because he stood on the opposite side of the door holding a pizza box now. “Hi,” she said, opening the door to admit him. “I was just about to call you. How was last night?”
“No fur,” he answered, holding up the pizza box. “I brought pizza as a thank you.”
“Just what every girl wants,” she said as he crossed into her apartment. “Thank you pizza.”
“I seem to know what girls want,” he answered slyly.
She cleared a place on the coffee table for the pizza and started towards the fridge. “You want a coke?” she asked. “I’d offer a beer, but I don’t have any. I’m not fond of the taste and hounds can’t get drunk anyway, so there’s no point.”
“Coke is fine,” he replied, so she brought two cokes with her. “Anything interesting happen last night?” he asked as she returned.
“Nah,” she answered, selecting a piece of pizza. “It was a quiet night. You?”
“You mean other than watching Jaime turn into a great white dog?” he asked with a grin. “Nah, not really.”
“It’s a fascinating process, though, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah, not what I expected,” he admitted. “I thought it would be more like a shift, but everything just folded out. It reminded me of those stuffed animals from the 90s that were one thing and then you unfold them into something different.”
“Oh yeah, I remember those,” she nodded. “I had one that was a rabbit one way and a cat the other. Yeah, it is kinda like that isn’t it?”
“What were those things even called?” he asked.
“I cannot remember,” she replied, taking another bite of pizza. “It wasn’t purrtenders, was it?”
“No, that was cats in costume,” he replied, quickly swallowing his own bite.
“Oh right,” she replied absently. “Hm. I just can’t remember what they were called.”
“I think it was something like spy pets or disguised or something,” he offered.
“That sounds familiar,” she said with a nod. “Petsguised?”
“Maybe.” Then he laughed. “We’re talking about toys from our childhood!” he said.
She grinned. “Yeah, that’s a weird conversation,” she agreed. “So what should we talk about?”
“You like Pretty Penny?” he asked.
“That folk rock group?” she replied. “I love them.”
“They’re playing in the park on Saturday,” he said. “Wanna go?”
Nicki blinked. There had been something in the way he said it that made her think he didn’t mean just two friend hanging out. Plus, she was a hound and could smell the slight nervousness on him. “Like… like a date?” she asked.
He frowned. “That was the idea,” he replied. “Unless you don’t want-“
“No!” she said quickly. “I mean yes. I mean, yes, a date. That’s… yeah.”
His face fell slightly. “You don’t really want to,” he said, tossing down the slice of half eaten pizza he was holding and standing. “I get it.”
“No!” She exclaimed, jumping up and following him to the door. “That’s not it! Wait, Ryan!”
“See ya ‘round, Nicki,” he said, throwing the door open and marching through it.
“Hey!” she said. She hesitated a second and then chased after him. “Hang on a second. Ryan, that’s not fair!”
“I can tell when a girl isn’t interested, Nicki,” he said irritably. “Your hesitation said it all.”
“No it didn’t!” she demanded hotly, stepping in front of him. “I was surprised, that’s all. I didn’t suppose a guy like you would be interested in someone like me.”
He looked at her as if she had grown two heads. “What?” he spat, blinking. “A girl who is kind hearted and independent and strong and pretty to boot? Yeah, why would a guy like me want that?”
“That’s not what I meant,” she defended.
“You mean because you’re a furry and I’m not?” he asked.
“You know we don’t like being called that,” she snapped, eyes blazing.
“Fine, lycan then,” he retorted. “You think that matters?”
“No!” she answered.
“Then what, Nicki?” he demanded. “What possible reason could I have for not being interested in you?”
“Because you’re… you‘re…” she stammered, trying and failing to think of a delicate way to put it. “Well, I’ll just say it. You’re hot. Like really hot. Like the blazing fires of hell and tarnation hot. And I’m… I’m just me.”
There was a pause in which she could only hear him breathing and then he took her face in his hands and kissed her. “Never say that again,” he demanded softly, leaning his forehead against hers. “Just because you don’t doll yourself up doesn’t mean you’re not pretty. You don’t need lipstick and false eyelashes to be beautiful.”
She would never have admitted it to anybody else, but that statement made her feel eight times better about herself. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I mean that. Thank you.”
He nodded and gave her a grin. “So,” he said, finally releasing her face and taking a step back. “Pretty Penny?”
She grinned. “Only if it’s with you,” she replied. “Come back and help me finish the pizza?”
“As if a hound needs any help,” he said with an adorable lopsided grin.
“True,” she replied. “But I’d still like you to come back.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”
