# How Not To Graduate 3: Realizations

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

Chapter 3: Realizations

Jack opened his eyes to a nice, cozy room with bits of sunlight flickering past the curtains.

Though it was a pleasant sight, as mornings went, from his very first moment of consciousness something felt like it was… missing. He shifted in bed, stretching a bit, and only when he noticed the absence of something soft and warm behind him did he realize what the room lacked.

Lifting his head from the pillow, he looked back at the empty spot on the mattress where Fiona had been. Feeling just a tad forlorn, Jack briefly wondered where she’d gone, but it didn’t take him long to notice a slight soggy dark spot on the pillow nearby, and the covers, and the mattress… and his hair. Reaching out, he pressed a few fingers into the bedding, and felt them come away with a distinctly familiar combination of wet and sticky.

Very quickly it all made sense: Fiona had gone out on a morning hunt.

Seeing as she’d already gotten a start on her day, he figured he should as well. Pulling himself out of bed, Jack found his things just where he’d left them the night before, picked out clothes for the day, made a pitstop in the bathroom to prepare himself, then quietly opened the door.

He stepped out into the hallway with a gingerness attained after many years of tip-toeing around hungry predators. He was pretty sure this house would be safe for him, and obviously Fiona had thought so too: she wouldn’t have left him sleeping alone if there were any danger. But they had both been wrong before -- Jack could still remember his first time meeting Fiona’s little sister…

But on this particular morning, as he came downstairs and curiously entered the kitchen, the only predator he came across was his host.

“Oh, hello Jack! How did you sleep?” Mira asked, finishing a sip from her morning coffee.

“Oh, I--” he tripped over himself ever so slightly as fresh memories of his night in bed with a werewolf flashed through his mind. A dreamy smile drifted onto his face. “I slept wonderful…”

“Fiona was just down here a couple minutes ago.” the vixen told him. “She’s gone off to grab breakfast, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon…”

“Oh yeah, she never takes long on her hunts,” he remarked, speaking from experience.

“Anyway, please join me!” Mira invited. “Are you hungry? I don’t know what your previous owners fed you, but I might have some of Jamie’s leftover breakfast in the fridge…”

Jack tensed -- wait, what did pet humans eat? …was he about to be served kibble?

But instead, Mira pulled out a totally, unexpectedly normal breakfast: fruit and eggs and orange juice. Jack nodded his thanks and dug in eagerly: he hadn’t eaten in far too long, though unlike Fiona, that sentence didn’t herald yet another human being converted into nutritious mush.

“So, Jack… I noticed you were a bit bothered by the mention of pets last night?” Mira said, after sitting back down. “Fiona seemed off-put too. Is something the matter, dear?”

Jack froze up a bit. He certainly had been ‘a bit’ bothered. He’d spent years trying not to be claimed by any predator… and this new label of ‘pet’ seemed only marginally better than the label of ‘food’. On the other hand, he didn’t want to seem rude to their very nice host, especially not while the fox had an empty belly! It wasn’t like she’d shown hunger toward him, but… if he’d learned anything as a human, it was always better safe than sorry if digestion was on the table.

Jack took a moment to choose his words carefully. “…I think I’m just having a bit of culture shock?” he finally said. “Back home, humans definitely aren’t called ‘pets’…”

“Well, there was a time when that was the case here as well,” Mira admitted. “We used to treat humans solely as food. But eventually we all realized that you guys can be so much more.” The vixen laughed. “Seems like you and Fiona figured out all that by yourself…”

Jack blinked. Wait, she… sounded approving? “What do you mean?”

“Well, from the rumors I’ve heard about your home, when your school sent one human student and one wolf, I kinda assumed you’d arrive as a half-melted bulge in Fiona’s abdomen,” Mira admitted. "But the second you got here, it was delightful seeing how comfortable you two are together! It’s like when we adopted Jamie as our pet -- he and Vicky just clicked.”

“B-but Fiona and I… we’re friends.” Jack blurted out. “She might be a man-eating predator, but… we’re still equals. She respects me. She would never call me her ‘pet’…” He didn’t want to be rude, but he couldn’t hide his confusion. How could Vicky and Jamie be so similar to him and Fiona, yet see their relationship in such a different light, with such different labels?

“Well, whatever you and Fiona call your relationship, it’s very cute,” Mira told him warmly.

Despite the rough edges of their chat, Jack couldn’t resist smiling. “I’ll admit, predators back home mostly just made snide comments about Fiona ‘playing with her food’…” It was a nice change to meet a supportive predator… even if Mrs. Rava still clearly had him mentally labeled as some kind of off-brand, collar-less pet. But… she clearly meant well, so…?

“There’s so much more to pet ownership than ‘playing with your food’!” the vixen said disapprovingly. “The predators where you’re from sound like assholes, if you don’t mind me saying so.” She paused. “Fiona excluded, of course! She seems like a sweetheart.”

“Well, they’re not… all assholes? But there was this one guy named Arthur. He…” Jack sighed. He didn’t like to think about that painful time period. “He tried to get Fiona to eat me.”

“Well that doesn’t seem so bad…” Mira admitted, looking a little puzzled. "You really do smell quite lovely, dear, you must have predators lining up and asking to eat you."

“Asking? There was no ‘asking’ involved.” Jack said quietly. “He… he just wanted me out of the way, so he could have Fiona to himself. And he tried to make Fiona do it herself.”

Mira’s face instantly darkened with… rage, Jack realized with a start. She was furious on his behalf. “Oh, I see.” the vixen said, suddenly frosty. “And what happened to this ‘Arthur’?”

“Oh, I punched him right in his smug muzzle,” Jack answered, looking rather smug himself.

“As you should have, dear. The nerve of that boy. If I were his mother…” Mira narrowed her eyes. “Suffice it to say that he never would have laid a paw on you like that.”

“…wait, back up. Predators ask here?” Jack said slowly.

Mira started to answer… but at that moment, Fiona burst through the door, in a hurry. Her belly was still round and full, but the human inside wasn’t struggling -- she must’ve been really hungry to snuff out her breakfast that fast. Wait, Jack realized. Did I have something to do with that?

Come to think of it, she looked really distracted, too. Which was odd, since normally Fi loved just relaxing to enjoy the sensation of a full, squirming belly while it lasted.

Fiona cleared her throat, looking a little awkward, and spoke up.

“So, Jack, there's something you might wanna know about this place.”

Jack nodded, inviting his girlfriend to keep talking -- but he doubted whatever new thing she’d discovered could possibly be weirder than the whole ‘pet’ situation he found himself in.

Or the idea of a (non-Fiona) predator instantly, instinctively jumping to… defending him.

“They… They have humans here, who want to get eaten,” the werewolf said slowly.

What?

What?

“W-WHAT???”

Jack looked at Fiona like she was crazy, trying to figure out how he’d possibly misheard her.

“It's true, Jack. That's why no one has a wand!” Fiona insisted.

"Fi, that… that's crazy! What human would WANT to get EATEN!?"

"This one!" She presented her plump belly and poked the bulge several times.

Jack started to say something, anything -- like asking Fiona if maybe she’d hit her head during her hunt -- but he was interrupted by… a voice? From his girlfriend’s stomach?

“Oh, um, hello! So, um, Mrs. Wolf Lady… I don’t want to be any trouble, but are you sure I can't get off in here? Just… just a little?"

Fiona did an exasperated little ‘see what I’m dealing with, I’m at the end of my rope’ gesture.

"For the third time, NO!!” Fiona growled. “Do it and I crush the life out of you, right now…".

Barely a second later, Fiona’s belly jerked as her breakfast let out a quiet, muffled moan.

Jack and Fiona both instantly turned red. He… he hadn’t… had he? Inside her??

“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to, but that was just so… hot…~” came a muffled, bashful voice.

Mingled fury and disgust flashed across Fiona’s face. The werewolf took a sharp breath then clenched every one of her abdominal muscles, all at once.

There was a wet squelch, as liquids shifted inside her, then…

CRUNCH!

Fiona huffed indignantly, then remembered Jack had been right in front of her. “Oh, um, sorry.”

“No, that was fair,” Jack reassured his girlfriend.

(A sudden clack came from the stairs above them, as Jamie’s morning coffee cup slipped from his hand. The other human in the house had been on his merry way downstairs, when he’d been unexpectedly treated to a front-row view of Fiona’s sudden, stunning display. Only half awake, Jamie found himself almost hypnotized at the sight, his face flushed and his eyes fixed on Fiona’s now morbidly-still belly. The morning sunlight shining in the wolf’s fur, the clench and squelch of her strong muscles, the confident and careless way her body handled her human breakfast… In that single frozen instant, every vivid detail seemed imprinted on Jamie’s mind -- that vision of Fiona squelching a human to mush, a momentary glimpse of predatory perfection.)

An instant later, their host broke the charged silence. “Pity. Seemed like your breakfast was having fun in there…” Mira idly said, nonchalantly sipping her coffee.

Fiona paused. “Wait, on second thought, did I… just give him exactly what he wanted?”

Mira looked surprised. “Is this really your first time having your breakfast cum inside you? I know it can be a bit of a surprise in the moment, but if it makes you feel better, semen is always a part of your male meals, whether it’s outside their body during digestion or not.”

Somehow, that did not appear to make Fiona feel better. Jack reached over and patted his queasy-looking werewolf girlfriend on the shoulder. “Um, did he… at least… taste good?” Jack asked, rather awkwardly, trying to make lemonade out of this… human-shaped lemon.

(A process which, much like Fiona’s stomach, also involved juicing via pressure.)

“No, see, that was the thing! He tasted amazing!” Fiona said irritably. Somehow that made it worse, that such a delicious meal would have defiled her stomach like that. “Almost as good as yo--” The werewolf visibly swallowed her words. “--you know, a marked human!”

“Well, this has been a fascinating soap opera, but are we headed to campus or not?” asked Vicky, impatiently sticking her head in the door. “Cuz I’m already peckish for brunch.”

“Good point, Vicky -- you two don’t want to be late for your first day!” Mira agreed. “Oh, and Fiona. Jack and I were talking about what your home is like, and…” The fox paused to choose her words. “Well, I know that first meal must have been a bit of a shock. But keep an open mind, dear: you might even come to enjoy a meal’s… enthusiasm some day!”

Fiona blinked. “Um, I… I will?” she said, unsure if she was expressing agreement or confusion. The bemused wolf let her vixen friend lead her out the door, her boyfriend tagging along close behind… leaving poor awestruck Jamie still staring dreamily after Fiona, from atop the stairs.

_________________________

A few minutes later, the three of them were walking past the entrance of Nomshire University. With a little help, Jack and Fiona found their classroom, hurried inside, and took their seats.

“Well, math class is still math class…” Fiona said, as they left two hours later. “It’s good to see that not everything is different here.”

“Except all the problems involved dividing up groups of humans as the main course at a predator’s dinner party…” Jack complained. “It’s anti-human bias, is what it is.”

“I dunno, I think it’s good if our classes focus on teaching useful skills!” Fiona insisted.

“Oh, Fiona, Jack, hi,” called a familiar voice, and a smiling Jamie appeared to meet them. “How was your first class?”

“Depends who you ask,” Jack replied. “But overall good, I think! Oh, um, the professor mentioned something about homework, but didn’t give us anything. What’s that about?”

“You just pull it up on the course website!” Jamie explained, which of course only provoked a confused sort of look from his tech-challenged new friend. “Here, let me show you.”

“Fiona! Jack! Hey!” Vicky called, bounding over as the pair left the lecture hall.

Fiona, much more interested in her approaching friend than another of those weird technology rectangles, took the initiative to reply while the boys were busy. “Hey, Vicky, how’s it going?” she asked, as Jack absentmindedly waved -- his attention still locked on Jamie’s phone.

“So Wolfy, I wanted to introduce you to a couple of my friends. Got a sec?” Vicky asked.

Vicky didn’t bother waiting for Fiona’s response, dragging the werewolf towards a pair of pellis: a lithe and well-toned raccoon, and a shy-looking painted dog girl in a skirt. “Oh-em-gee, guys…”

“Still don’t know what any of those words mean…” Fiona muttered under her breath, as she followed across the hallway. “Is that even English?”

She was nervous about leaving Jack alone in this new place, even if only for a second, but… wasn’t she helping protect him, if she went over, met these new predators, and told them that Jack was off limits? Besides, she wanted to meet more predators here in Nomshire, to find hunting buddies, to form a pack, and to ask them whether they’d feel weird about a human… the werewolf blushed. Doing things in their stomach. She’d been thinking about it all class.

“This is the Wolfy I was texting you all about! Say hi,” Vicky told her friends.

“Oh, wow!” said the painted dog eagerly. “I hear you’re blowing up on Preddit after what you did this morning, that was so cool… By the way, I’m Rowan!”

“I’m Connie,” the raccoon added with a smile. “Nice to meet you! I’m a big fan too…”

“…what I did this morning?” Fiona repeated, puzzled -- how did these two know about her?

“That video Vicky live-streamed!” Rowan enthused. "With you pinning that guy down in the park? There was so much predatory tension there that I could cut it with a knife.”

Fiona blinked. “You were recording my hunt, Vicky?” the werewolf put together slowly.

The vixen shrugged, looking completely and utterly unashamed. “Well at first I just wanted more material for my personal spank bank, but I then decided the world needed to see.” Vicky winked. “Besides, now you’re gonna be a celebrity here!”

Fiona cocked her head. These two other predators seemed well-fed, as well as interested in her hunting tactics, which meant… “So wait, are you guys all in the advanced hunting class?”

The raccoon blinked. “What class is that?”

“You know, uh…” Wait, right, Mira and Vicky had seemed confused by the terminology. They must use a different name here. “The class where you learn how to catch humans?”

“Oh, we don’t need a class for that! It’s the simplest thing in the world,” Rowan replied with a laugh. “Watch!” The painted dog waved at a nearby human, whose eyes widened. The human in question broke off his conversations with his friends and hurried over. “Hello there! Wanna get eaten?” Rowan asked enthusiastically. The human nodded, looking starstruck. “See?” the painted dog said, already opening her mouth.

Various happy gulping noises ensued, as the human disappeared. Fiona looked on in disbelief.

“But… but where’s the art?” Fiona finally protested. “True hunting is a battle of wills and skills between predator and prey, a chase where a single misstep spells the difference between a full belly and an evening of disappointment… It’s about respecting a human’s skills so much that a full belly becomes a trophy to overcoming that skill!”

“Well that sounds cool! Maybe you could teach us your style of… what did you call it? Hunting!” Connie suggested. “It seems like fun, and also good exercise.”

“Oh, and I could show it off on my stream!” Rowan added excitedly. “I bet my human fans would go wild for it, they’d love to see what ‘hunting’ looks like where you’re from…”

Fiona blinked. That wasn’t quite… the reaction she’d have expected from fellow predators or from humans, but she also hadn’t expected a human getting off in her stomach either, so…

“Wait, speaking of humans, um, going wild -- do they often… you know…” Fiona made an awkward ‘jacking off’ gesture with one paw. “…in your stomach?”

“Oh, for sure! It happens on most of my livestreams. It’s the absolute BEST sign you’re a fantastic predator…” Rowan reassured her. The painted dog paused, searching her mental thesaurus. “Or, in your case, um, huntress!”

“I think I would have cum too, if you’d pinned me down like that…” Connie admitted.

“Oh, I did~” Vicky added, waggling her eyebrows salaciously. “Seriously, Wolfy, my offer stands -- if you want to go on a date, my Friday’s open…~”

“I, uh… I’m dating Jack?” the flustered werewolf attempted.

“Oh, wonderful! I like Jack too. He can join us, and we’ll make a Wolfy sandwich~”

Fiona turned bright red, with a squeaking noise more reminiscent of a tea-kettle than a wolf.

“Oh! Speaking of Jack.” Vicky said. “You two help keep an eye out for him, okay? He’s very special to Wolfy: I don’t want anyone eating him except her.”

Connie squinted. “Which human is he? What does he look like?”

Fiona elected to ignore Vicky’s comment about anyone else eating Jack. “Oh! He’s got cute black hair, and a hoodie, he’s standing next to Jamie over across the hall, um…”

“Oh! The cute one over there? The one that husky is currently tasting?” Connie asked.

Fiona’s hackles instantly jumped up as she spun around, launching in a blur of motion.

Meanwhile, over across the hallway…

“So, wait, hold on -- what’s a ‘course website’?” Jack asked the only other human he knew.

Jamie pointed to a button on his phone. Jack squinted. “You just click there. Go on, try it!”

Jack took the phone gingerly, poking at it with one finger like a live animal that might bite him: he already had one mark, he didn’t need some kind of weird technological equivalent too. He carefully searched for each letter with slow deliberation, before carefully jabbing at them one-by-one with a straight index finger.

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “You’ve really never used a smart phone before?”

“We don’t really… have those back home.” Jack admitted, a little embarrassed.

“Oh, well, they’re not so hard to figure out.” Jamie told him. “Just be careful of the…”

Jack was looking intently at the phone, and nearly jumped out of his skin as an open maw suddenly appeared on the screen, bordered in flashing neon lights and cheerfully labeled “Hungry Predators in Your Area Want YOU in Their Bellies!”

“…pop-up ads…” Jamie finished, but the damage was done.

Jack, startled, dropped the phone… and stumbled into the walking path. The next thing he knew, his face was pressed firmly up against something warm and soft and… squishy?

“Oh! Aren’t you the cutest thing!” chirped a cheerful-sounding voice. Suddenly Jack found himself being picked up by both shoulders. He blinked, as a chubby, cream-furred husky-girl pulled him out from her cleavage where he’d planted his face, and got a better look at him.

Jack gulped, a very familiar weight sinking into his stomach. The sudden presence of clawed hands around his sides and a large, toothy muzzle in his face brought back a slew of unpleasant memories, like mental alarm bells. He was so startled and slowed by the situation and strange surroundings that he didn’t even react before that muzzle started to part. And a moment later, the husky’s mouth yawned over his widening eyes, and his heart skipped a beat as he got a blast of hot, humid, stomach-scented air right across his face. The thick slimy tongue stretched forward to fill his vision and slathered itself across his face, leaving his skin dripping with pre-digestive drool, and it was that sensation which finally spurred Jack to fumble through his pockets, looking for his wand. But with a sinking feeling, he knew he’d reacted too slowly. Fingers frantically flailing, he watched as the husky raised him towards her lips and…

“Hey, you’re pretty tasty too! Can I eat you?” asked that same excited, innocent voice.

Jack took literally five seconds to reply, processing the question with great difficulty. The husky patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts, tail still wagging cheerfully. “Um, n-no?”

The husky pouted. “Okay, but are you sure? I promise, my last boyfriend loved it insid--”

A deep snarl interrupted the husky’s bid for breakfast, and both human and predator turned to see a very angry looking werewolf, hackles fully raised, barreling toward them. Luckily, a quick orange-and-cream fox was just on her tail.

“Whoa, whoa, Wolfy!” Vicky called, jumping in front of Fiona. She managed to startle the angry wolf enough to get a few words in. “Breathe, girl, breathe! It’s alright, I’ll take care of this.”

The vixen promptly turned and walked over to the husky, who was still holding her prospective breakfast as she stared with visible concern at the crazy wolf-girl who'd almost charged her.

“I’ll take that,” Vicky told the husky, reaching up to gently but firmly pry Jack from the other canid’s grip. The fox leaned closer. “Wolfy here has an anxiety disorder, and Jack is sorta like her therapy human -- or, uh, emotional support boyfriend? She’s touchy about him!” Vicky shrugged. “Seriously though, Ashley, don’t startle Jack like that! He’s new here.”

Jack felt the second set of claws around him as he was passed over to the familiar vixen. To his shock, this husky -- Ashley? -- didn’t try to hold onto him, she just… released him into the vixen’s paws, giving up her potential meal without a fight. Vicky took on his weight for a moment, before calmly setting his feet back on the ground and… letting him go? In retrospect, that was probably unwise since Jack was still a little unsteady, but truthfully the reason he had to catch himself was because he hadn’t really been… expecting either predator to release him. Aside from Fiona, no other predator had ever just ‘let him go’ like that, let alone so promptly and gently.

“You alright, Tasty?” Vicky asked him, quiet enough that nobody else could hear.

“Um… yeah, thanks,” Jack replied with a grateful smile -- so grateful, in fact, that he was even willing to completely overlook the… rather unsettling nickname the vixen had chosen.

“Hold on, you’ve got a little something right here.” the vixen told him, before slowly and very gently reaching up to Jack’s face and wiping away the trail of husky-drool. “Better?” she asked.

Jack, still stunned, just nodded.

Fiona blinked at the scene, then blinked again, her fur gradually flattening out again as she watched the apparent danger defuse. Vicky had heroically rushed in to save Jack almost as fast as the werewolf herself, and she’d handled that hungry husky so easily. Fiona knew that very few predators would ever give up prey like Jack without a fight -- she certainly wouldn’t!

“Sorry about licking your boyfriend! I didn’t know he was yours. You know, my mother told me that it’s irresponsible to let your pet out of paw’s reach! Something might happen to them…” Ashley told Fiona brightly, trying to be helpful. Her tail, previously wagging, suddenly drooped. “Aw, but you’re so lucky -- why can’t I find a boyfriend that tasty?”

“Um, don’t… worry about it?” Fiona managed, still shocked. Feeling like she’d somehow overreacted, though she wasn’t sure how, she added, “Sorry for barking at you like that.”

“Please, we’re both dogs. A little barking is to be expected,” Ashley replied with a laugh.

Fiona flashed the bare minimum of a social smile to cap off their exchange, and offered a polite gesture with her ears as her thoughts quickly turned to her boyfriend’s wellbeing. Taking the last few steps over -- in a much calmer manner than her first few -- she walked up to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder. Seeing her face and feeling her familiar touch, he subconsciously leaned in toward her, and she ended up wrapping her arm around him and pulling him in for a hug.

“You alright?” the werewolf gently asked her human.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he reassured. Their embrace lasted for just another moment, until Fiona decided she wanted to see his face again and softly separated.

Fiona paused, waiting for Jack to speak.

“She… um…” Jack muttered, then trailed off. He took a second to gather his thoughts, trying to replay that extremely confusing interaction. “She… asked me… for permission…”

“…What?” Fiona asked, equally confused.

“That husky girl. She asked me if she could eat me, Fi. And when I said no, she… didn’t.”

“Well, yeah, of course not!” Vicky interjected -- for once, the vixen sounded outright offended. “Geeze, we may be foreigners to you, but we’re not animals!”

Meanwhile, Jamie meandered over, glancing back and forth between the still-drooling husky and his rather shocked, soggy human friend. “First time?” Jamie asked dryly (as opposed to wetly, which was Jack’s current state). “I see you met Ashley.”

Jack made a fragmented and incoherent “what the fuck” sort of noise.

Jamie laughed. “Take your time -- don’t worry, I’ve been there. Those big strong pred girls really do a number on ya, right? Barely enough blood in your brain for a single thought.”

Jack slowly, laboriously scraped said brain together, pushing past the potent cocktail of fear and relief and confusion. “It’s just… look, I know I already said this, but she asked to eat me!”

“Yup.”

“That’s just a thing here!?” Jack squeaked, shocked by Jamie’s nonchalant response.

“Yup.”

“So every single predator I run into is gonna start asking me to be their lunch?”

“Yup.”

“So I’ll have to talk to big hungry predators? As they’re drooling over me? Every day?”

“It’s hard to resist, I know!” Jamie said, a little undertone of longing suffusing his voice.

“Wait, and I actually get to say no?” said Jack incredulously, at the exact same second. He glanced over at Fiona, hoping she’d be able to make sense of the absolute nonsense that Jamie was saying, but his girlfriend seemed just as lost as he was.

Jamie, for his part, glanced over at Jack sympathetically. It was clear that the other human was feeling very overwhelmed by just how amazingly alluring the predators in Nomshire were. And Fiona, nice as she was, just didn’t understand the feeling of staring down a big, gurgly belly and hoping to slip inside. She couldn’t offer her emotional support boyfriend the support he needed.

“Hey, Jack, if you’re nervous talking to preds, I’d be happy to help you out,” Jamie offered.

The poor marked prey looked over at Jamie with some semblance of hope. “Yeah?”

“Sure! I mean, I’ve had a few years to get used to it. I could show you the ropes.”

Jack smiled for the first time since staring down the husky’s gullet. “Thanks, Jamie.”

Fiona smiled too, feeling some secondhand relief. Meanwhile, the other predators she’d just met giggled amongst themselves. “Aww, she wasn’t kidding, he’s so cute!” “Totes adorbs!”

“C’mon, Wolfy, we’d better hurry to history class or we’ll be late!” Vicky finally cut in, then paused as all her friends looked at her skeptically. “Look, guys, I take a bit of pride in being fashionably late, but I don’t want to be the reason she gets in trouble on day one. Besides, if I’m on time on the first day, they’ll expect it from me every day…!”

Fiona nodded. “Jack and I will follow you then!” she said. It would be nice to keep him safe with her for a bit. Sure, things turned out well with that husky, but… better to be careful, right?

Jack shook his head -- “My schedule says I have my writing course next. Jamie has that section too, though: I can stick with him?”

Fiona looked nervous. “Well, um, what if that husky comes back? Or someone worse?”

“I’ll keep a good eye on him, don’t worry!” Jamie promised her. “And Ashley is harmless.” He snorted. “Well, to everyone except her boyfriends. She went through four this week.”

“Good thing I’m dating Fiona, then.” Jack muttered. He didn’t want to become chow for some peckish canine girlfriend! Which was admittedly a concern he did have, once upon a time, but…

Fiona’s concern grew -- what could Jamie do to protect Jack, if another predator tried to get their hungry jaws on her boyfriend? But, the werewolf reminded herself, it wasn’t like she could be around Jack every second of every day (as lovely as such a thing sounded). She’d just have to trust that Jamie really did know what he was doing -- after all, he hadn’t been eaten so far.

“Anyway Fi, I’m sure we’ve both got nothing to worry about,” Jack said, offering Fiona a reassuring smile. “What are the odds someone’s gonna try and eat me again, anyway?”

That sort of thing only happened in, like, poorly plotted novels, Jack reassured himself.

Maybe everything was going to be fine.

Originally Published: 18-Aug-2024