The Lycanthrope Club - Indiscretion, Part IV (Patreon)

Sonia adjusted the bridge of her glasses before turning a page. The willowy young college student's hazel-green eyes flicked back and forth as she consumed the dense text. She shifted her weight on the faded grey futon couch, reached over for a steaming cup of tea sitting on the coffee table on a cork coaster and took a sip. Apart from the muted rumble of distant traffic, all was silent in the apartment.

An hour or so passed. Then, Sonia's ears twitched. She gazed over at the front door. She could hear a dull, rhythmic thumping coming from outside, soon followed by a series of soft, metallic clicks. Sonia sighed but kept reading.

The door swung open and a tall blond woman entered the apartment. She wore a bright pink sweatshirt emblazoned with a university seal along with a pair of tight-fitting black spandex pants and white tennis shoes. She carried a nylon duffel bag.

"Heya," said the blonde cheerfully as she passed Sonia.

"Hello, Cindy," said Sonia, not looking up.

Cindy made a beeline to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of Bai water. She twisted the cap off and downed a good half of it in a few gulps.

"How's it going, Sonia?" she asked, wiping her mouth.

"Fine."

Cindy walked back into the living room. She took another swig from her bottle.

"Whatcha reading?" asked Cindy.

"Mmm, nothing you'd be interested in," replied Sonia.

"Aw, don't be like that, girlfriend," said Cindy, wiping a trickle of sweat from her brow. She set her duffel bag on the floor. "Come on, what is it?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I am not trying to make conversation?" said Sonia in a monotone voice. "That I am, in fact, reading - an assigned text for a class."

"Charming, as ever, I see," said Cindy sardonically.

Sonia rolled her eyes.

"It's a treatise on post-Civil War southern agriculture," she said, putting her book on the coffee table after dog-earring her page. "Specifically, how the drop in demand for food postwar, coupled with the shift in wealth to larger farms and influx of northern capital, exacerbated the-"

"All right, all right, you got me," said Cindy, raising her hands in mock horror. "I don't care."

"What a surprise," sighed Sonia, rising from the couch. "I needed a break anyways." She paused and glanced back at her teacup, now empty. "I need something stronger," she murmured, more or less to herself.

"You should have come to the gym with me," said Cindy. "I read an article-"

"Reddit, Instagram, Vogue, or Cosmopolitan?" interrupted Sonia, walking past her.

"...An article my exercise physiology professor assigned us," continued Cindy with a tinge of genuine annoyance. "It went on about how, like, regular exercise improves memory and...cognition. And stuff."

"That's great," said Sonia, entering the kitchen. "But uh, I'll just stick with drinking an unhealthy quantity of caffeine to get by," she said, opening the fridge and reaching for a can of cold-brew coffee.

"Jeez, Sonia, why are so...

"Bitchy?" supplied dryly Sonia as she shut the fridge.

"I was going to say 'grumpy' but yeah, let's go with that," said Cindy.

"Because I am tired and hungry and distracted by an upcoming midterm that will determine my grade in a class," said Sonia. "And I already ordered out and the delivery guy is late, hence my bitchiness."

Sonia walked back into the living room and sat back down on the couch. She opened the can and poured its contents into her now nearly empty teacup. Cindy watched with mild disgust as her roommate drank the mixture of lukewarm tea and refrigerated cold brew.

"I'm going to take a shower and get changed," said Cindy, giving up. "My date is going to stopping by pretty soon, so could you let him in if I'm not ready for him?" She paused. "And try not to weird him out,"

"No promises," said Sonia.

Cindy turned and took a few steps and then stopped, turned, and gave Sonia an irritated look.

"So...no promises you won't weird him out or no promises you'll let him in?" she asked carefully.

"Yes," said Sonia.

Cindy's already red face turned even redder.

"Sonia, I'm really, really not in the mood for this shit right now, okay?" she said fiercely. "I've been feeling off this entire week. I barely got through my routine today and I'd rather spend the rest of the night in bed but I really like this guy and I don't want to stand him up. So can you please lose the April Ludgate impression and play nice?"

"Okay! Sorry," exclaimed Sonia, taken aback. "I'll let him in and keep my mouth shut."

"Good."

A long, awkward silence followed. Then, just as Cindy was about to head to her room, Sonia cleared her throat.

"Look, I gotta ask, Cindy," she said uneasily. "Weren't you seeing a guy you met over at that townie bar? Is this the same guy?"

"Huh?" said Cindy, distracted.

"That guy you were going on about," continued Sonia. "The country boy? Worked at a bike shop?"

"Oh, him," said Cindy. "Yeah, he was fun but uh, not serious boyfriend material. No, this is someone else - a cute guy from my aerobics class."

Sonia opened her mouth to say something sarcastic but shut it. Cindy possessed what convention and society held to be an ideal female physique - tall, but not towering, thin without being skinny, packed with tight, lean muscle, long blonde hair, blue eyes, pouty lips, heart-shaped face (and butt). Her breasts, while noticeable, weren't particularly prominent, but in all honesty it would have been somewhat obscene for the otherwise trim young woman to sport an oversized bosom. She was a self-admitted health-nut yet understood there was such a thing as too much exercise, so she was genuinely in shape. She never got winded or exhausted - fatigued at times, certainly, but never without energy. Until now, that is. Her eyes were sunken. Her posture, haggard. And her blushed skin had an unsettling febrile quality.

"Sonia?"

"Huh?" said Sonia, blinking.

"Is that it?" said Cindy impatiently.

"Uh, yeah," said Sonia. "Uh, what's the guy's name? Your date?"

"Brad."

"Brad, okay," said Sonia. "I'll let him in when he comes."

"Thanks."

With that, Cindy strode down the hallway. A minute or so later, a soft hiss issued from the bathroom as she turned on the shower. Sonia returned to her book.

Several minutes passed.

Sonia took a long sip of her coffee-tea blend. The taste was so bad that her tongue actually just sort of shut down after being exposed to it. She nevertheless swallowed the vile brew and continued reading.

A strange sound - faint, but loud enough to be heard over the shower - filled the living room. It took a few seconds for Sonia to register that it was a moan. She gazed over her shoulder down the unlit hallway at the bright outline of the bathroom door. Then, another groan - this one louder - came from the bathroom.

"Jeez, Cindy," said Sonia, rolling her eyes. "Keep it down if you're going to do that."

A thump followed the groan. Then, a loud crash and metallic clang.

"Cindy?" said Sonia, sitting up.

She heard Cindy scream.

Sonia threw her book on the table, half-leapt over the couch arm and hurried over to the bathroom. She banged on the door.

"Cindy? Do you need help?"

Several tense seconds ticked by. Sonia pressed her ear against the door. She could hear something - presumably Cindy - moving and gasping for air.

"I'm opening the door!" called Sonia, reaching for the knob.

It was locked.

"Shit!" hissed Sonia. She pounded on the door. "Cindy?"

A sound somewhere between a gasp and a growl - deep, bass, guttural, barely human - emanated from the bathroom. Sonia froze but then quickly recovered from the shock; Cindy was clearly in serious pain.

"I'm going to have to break down the door, aren't I?" murmured Sonia, shaking her head in disbelief.

Her gaze drifted down to the knob, noting the small aperture in its center. Her eyes widened. She ran back into the living room, where she yanked a thin knitting needle from a yarn-stuffed basket sitting in a corner. Needle in hand she ran back to the hall. Trying to ignore the disconcerting and, frankly, terrifying noises coming from behind the door, she slid the needle into the hole. She felt a tiny mechanism click inside as the latch popped back. Bracing herself for the worst, Sonia opened the door.

The shower rod had been pulled from the stall and its curtain lay strewn on the tile floor in a tangled mess. The shower was still running. Sonia saw no sign of Cindy. However, a massive, bipedal yellow-furred animal the size of a bear stood mere feet away, leaning on the counter.

Sonia just stood there for a few seconds, mouth agape, as her already panic-stricken brain tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

It couldn't be real. Though the thing appeared to be a wolf, no member Canis lupus grew this large. Or had fur that was practically blonde with russet highlights. Or stood on two legs, albeit digitigrade ones. Furthermore, given that the door she'd opened represented the sole egress into or out of the bathroom, there was no way the animal could have gotten inside without her noticing. Cindy was fucking with her. It was some kind of suit.  Maybe one of those hidden camera shows had set the whole thing up and were laughing at her from a van in the parking lot.

But Sonia had been in the bathroom before Cindy had returned that night. There was no way Cindy - or anyone else - could have hidden such an enormous and detailed costume in such a small space. That only left the disquieting possibility she was hallucinating.

The creature suddenly stood up and looked directly at her.

Sonia gave a startled cry. Though its visage could be described as wolf-like - sporting a triangular head covered in fuzzy yellow fur, a blunt muzzle ending in a leathery noise, and tufted, pointed ears - it was not the face of a wolf. The creature's forehead, for instance, was noticeably flat and its muzzle relatively stubby. Furthermore, its irises - both a fantastical, compelling cobalt blue - were smaller than those of a wolf, making its eyes appear almost human. On top of everything else, the curves, angles and proportions of its face were dimly familiar - a face Sonia swore she recognized.

As she stared at the beast, two additional things occurred to Sonia. First, it was two feet taller than her even while hunched. Second, the thing looked as frightened of her as she was of it. As her gaze drifted downward Sonia noticed something else - something she would have noticed much sooner had she not been so shocked. The creature was female - very female. As in, it had a pair of almost impossibly buoyant knockers each the size of her head.

The creature appeared to notice Sonia gawking at her chest. It quickly cupped its breasts with its giant paw-like hands and issued a high-pitched whine.

"Stop staring," it growled

Despite its deep, guttural undertones, Sonia immediately recognized the voice.

"Cindy?"

"Yeah, it's me," said Cindy with a strange mixture of shame, exasperation and fear, tail tucked between her legs.

"...The fuck happened to you?" breathed Sonia.

"I don't know..." said Cindy, shaking her furry head "Everything started hurting and then I started growing claws and hair and...I changed into this!" she cried, gesturing down at her titanic body.

Sonia swallowed. She took a few steps back.

"W-Wait!" protested Cindy, extending a paw.

"What?"

"Please, don't run..."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sonia," said Cindy, though she continued backing away. "I'm just trying to figure th-"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Both girls jumped and yelped.

"Oh no, Brad!" whined Cindy, covering her mouth.

"Brad?" said Sonia, looking back down the hall.

"You...You gotta let him in," said Cindy, stumbling out of the bathroom. She had to duck her head and barely squeezed through the doorframe, certain parts of her anatomy jiggling as she moved. Sonia backed away even further as she approached.

"What?" cried Sonia.

The doorbell rang again.

"Tell him...tell him I'm feeling a little sick but I should be ready soon!" said Cindy desperately. "I'll...hide in my room."

Sonia stared at Cindy.

"Cindy, you turned into a...a...Christ, a fucking werewolf and you're worried about ghosting your date?" she said, practically shrieking.

Cindy circled around Sonia, inadvertently swatting her in the face with her bushy tail as she passed. Sonia blinked and adjusted her glasses.

"Please!" pleaded Cindy as she reached her room at the end of the hall. She fumbled with the knob for a few seconds before opening the door. "I really like this guy, okay?" she said.

"This is insane, Cindy!" yelled Sonia. "We need to call the hospital or a scientist or an exorcist or something! You can't-"

Cindy squeezed into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her with some force.

"Shit," cursed Sonia, stomping her foot.

Panting, she glanced back at the living room. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she groaned. With that, she hurried to the front door, paused to take a deep breath, and then opened it.

An admittedly handsome and athletic twenty-something wearing a brown leather jacket over a designer white shirt stood at the threshold. He had dark hair, pouty lips and light-brown skin indicative of Middle Eastern heritage. He smiled, displaying two rows of perfect ivory teeth.

"Hello," he said in a pleasant tenor. "You must be Cindy's roommate. I'm Brad."

"Uh, yeah," said Sonia distractedly, glancing back at the hallway.

"Is...everything alright?" inquired Brad.

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," said Sonia, forcing herself to smile. She hesitated. "Actually, no. Cindy is a bit under the weather but, uh..."

"Oh, uh, sorry to hear that," said Brad, sounding disappointed.

"I mean, it's not that bad," said Sonia, wincing at the lie. "She's just...she's been resting a while but still wants to go out with you. But, uh..." she trailed off.

"...Well, can she?" said Brad.

"Uh, maybe?" said Sonia uncomfortably. "She asked if you could just, uh, stick around until she wakes up."

There was a pause.

"I guess I could hang here for a while," said Brad eventually.

"Oh, uh, great!" said Sonia, gesturing for him to enter.

Brad stepped inside. Sonia shut the door behind him. He strolled into the middle of the living room, looking around. Sonia nervously followed.

"Do you mind if I...?" said Brad, pointing at the couch.

"Go ahead," said Sonia.

As soon as the young man had taken a seat, a deep moan - muffled by distance and the intervening wall - filled the living room. Both Brad and Sonia stared down the hall.

"Um..." said Brad, looking expectantly up at Sonia. He grinned nervously.

"Oh, uh, probably the neighbors," said Sonia, meeting his grin with a wan smile. "They can be a little...noisy."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Yeah."

"..."

"So, how long have you and Cindy lived here?"

"Oh, about a-"

A weird, throaty rumble resonated throughout the apartment. If Sonia hadn't known any better, she would have assumed it was the pipes or a pneumatic motor on its last legs. Or possibly an elephant with indigestion.

"What was-"

"Refrigerator," said Sonia quickly. "Uh, neighbor's refrigerator. We asked about it and uh, they got a really old one that acts up sometimes."

"Okay," said Brad, bemused.

"Yeah, sooo..." said Sonia slowly.

A startlingly loud thump came from the hall, soon followed by a strange, low-pitched growl.

"That came from inside the apartment," said Brad, half-rising from the couch.

"Stay there," said Sonia, already hurrying towards Cindy's room.

Upon reaching the door, Sonia gingerly knocked on its wooden surface. "Uh...Cindy?" she said, raising her voice just loud enough to be heard through the door.

She waited a few seconds.

"Cindy?"

"I'm fine," Cindy snarled from behind the door.

"I'm dying out here," hissed Sonia. "And those noises you're making aren-"

"Is she awake?"

Sonia yelped and whirled around. Brad was standing a few yards away, looking at her curiously.

"Yeah, yeah," said Sonia, waving a hand. "I'll, uh, go check on her."

She gripped the knob and, to both her relief and annoyance, found that Cindy had neglected to lock her door. She opened the door and quickly slipped inside.

Cindy was sitting on her unmade bed, her mattress straining under her ponderous weight. A length of party lights hung above her suspended on ceiling hooks. A collection of colorful posters - mostly art prints and photos of rock bands - dotted the walls. A yoga ball, yoga mat, set of free weights and other home gym paraphernalia sat in one corner and a small desk with a laptop on top and a mirror just above it sat in another. A faint, floral scent wafted in the air - likely a product of the diffuser on her beside cabinet.

Sonia looked around; despite having lived with her for nearly two years, she'd only been in Cindy's room once or twice and very briefly at that.

"I tripped on my sheets and fell, alright?" growled Cindy, preempting Sonia's question.

"Forget that," said Sonia angrily. "What am I supposed to do with Brad?"

"Just tell him to wait!"

"Until what? You change back? How the hell do you know when - if! - that's going to happen?"

"I've been trying to change back," snapped Cindy defensively.

"How do you know that's even possible?"

"Don't say that!" snarled Cindy with a mixture of fear and anger, rising from her bed.

Sonia's eyes widened. She stepped back and raised her arms defensively. Cindy stood there for a few seconds, surprised by Sonia's reaction, and then, realizing, sat back down.

"...Sorry," she said softly, gazing down at her clawed feet.

"Jesus, Cindy, do you have any idea how scary you looked just now?" gulped Sonia, trying to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry, okay?" said Cindy.

A soft knock came from the door.

"Cindy?"

Both girls froze. It was Brad.

"Don't come in!" said Sonia quickly. "She, uh, she might be contagious."

"But...you're in there," observed Brad.

"I live with her. I'm already exposed either way."

"Hah, that's true," conceded Brad. "Cindy? Can you talk?"

Cindy looked up at the door. She swallowed.

"Uh...hey babe," she called cheerfully, attempting to hide her new, deeper voice by speaking in a weird pseudo-falsetto. "Sorry about this."

"No problem. Er, no offense Cindy, but you dosound sick."

"Yeah, just a little bug."

"Understatement of the fucking century," muttered Sonia under her breath.

"I guess we'll have to postpone our night out, huh?" said Brad.

Cindy opened her mouth, shut it, hung her head and finally spoke.

"Yeah, I guess we will," she said dejectedly. "I'm really, really sorry, babe. I would have texted you but it came on so quickly and I...I started napping and before I knew it-"

"It's okay," interrupted Brad. "Let me know when you're feeling better."

"Thanks, babe."

"I'll see you out," said Sonia.

She hurried over to the door, nudged it open just a crack and squeezed through. Fortunately, Brad made no attempt to peek inside.

When Sonia returned, she found Cindy staring at herself in the mirror. She was so tall that she had to lean forward, paws on the desk, to get a good look at her face. Sonia's face reddened. Cindy had always had a fairly impressive butt. Now, even taking into account her increased stature, her hips and ass were borderline cartoonish in terms of sheer volume and width relative to the rest of her body. Like twin fuzzy beach balls. Up until now her tail had distracted Sonia from noticing this astounding development. Sonia's gaze drifted down to the tiny wire frame desk and then at Cindy's enormous, furry yellow arms.

"Uh, careful," said Sonia eventually. "I'm not sure that desk can handle all that weight."

Cindy glanced over her shoulder to glower at Sonia, but then sighed and stood up.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd call that a fat joke," she said in an odd tone.

"No, I..." Sonia stopped and rolled her eyes "Yes, Cindy, you're really letting yourself go. Maybe lay off the potato chips."

Cindy stared at Sonia for a few seconds. Then, she started laughing. Sonia snorted. Then, she started laughing too - loudly, cathartically. Nearly a minute went by before their laughter finally faded.

"Speaking....speaking of food," said Cindy, carefully wiping her eyes with her clawed hands. "Any...any chance I could bum some of that Thai food from you?"

"The...the delivery guy still isn't here," said Sonia. "It's been over an-"

With almost suspicious timing, the doorbell rang once more.

"That's gotta be him," said Sonia. "Better late than never. I'll go grab it and then we can sit down and figure this out."

As she turned to leave, Cindy gave Sonia a plaintive look.

"Two tod muns," said Sonia firmly. "Maybe some of my rice if I'm not hungry."

* * *

Sonia glared at Cindy from across the coffee table. She meaningfully looked down at the empty, grease and sauce-smeared paper boxes and napkins, and then back up at Cindy's sheepish, lupine countenance. The college girl turned werewolf was sitting on the floor on the opposite side. She'd donned her bathrobe for modesty's sake, but the fluffy pink garment could barely contain, let alone conceal, her prodigious curves; it almost made her look more indecent than when she was naked.

"I said I was sorry," said Cindy, albeit with a degree of defiance.

"You ate everything but the rice side," said Sonia slowly. "And that's because I was holding it. I told you to stop and you didn't listen. You literally wolfed everything else down."

"I was...I'm still really, really hungry," said Cindy unhappily. "I couldn't stop!" She gestured at her massive body. "I'm a growing girl."

"You owe me $19.32. plus the tip."

"Sure! Whatever! Look, I'll order a pizza." Sonia paused. "I'll order two. One for me, one for you. Does, uh, Firehouse still sell that meatlover's pizza?"

Sonia sighed and leaned back on the couch.

"Fine," she said. "Afterwards, we're going to the hospital."

"No way," said Cindy firmly.

"This isn't some sitcom or bad urban fantasy, Cindy," exclaimed Sonia. "You need to see someone! We can't...you can't just hide this from the rest of the world and go on with your life like nothing has happened!"

* * *

Two Months Later

Sonia licked her finger and turned a page of her book. Upon feeling a tight pinch her neck, she rolled her shoulders and sat up slightly. She glanced up at a clock on the far wall, sighed irritably, but kept on reading.

A loud thump came from outside the apartment. Then a second, and a third and a fourth. Sonia put down her book stared at the door. Something very big and heavy was walking up the stairs to the apartment. She could feel the reverberation through the couch.

"Christ, Cindy, no..." groaned Sonia.

The front door swung open and Cindy - in her full lycanthropic glory - bounded inside.

"WOOO! That was awesome!" she cried, pumping her paw-like fists in the air.

"Keep it down!" protested Sonia. She scurried over and shut the door behind Cindy. "The neighbors in 132 lodged a complaint with the manager, remember?"

"Eh, they'll get over it," said Cindy dismissively.

Cindy wore a tight fitting blue spandex bra and pair of panties over her furry body; Sonia had insisted. Both were the largest size on the market yet Cindy had stretched them to their limit; the panties in particular now resembled a thong.

"What if someone saw you coming up here?" said Sonia angrily.

"So what?" laughed Cindy, striding towards the kitchen "Like anyone will believe they saw a blonde, super-stacked hottie of a werewolf strutting around the complex."

"They might if they keep seeing one over and over again!"

Tail wagging behind her, Cindy leaned down to open the refrigerator, which was now stuffed with lunch meat, rotisserie chickens, bacon, roasts and hot dogs.

"Lighten up, girlfriend," said Cindy. She tore open a package of hot dogs and popped them in her mouth one by one like as though they were bite-sized snacks. "Besides, *urp* it's not like I can change back out there. You want me to spend the night in the park and come back in the morning?"

"No, but I..." Sonia hesitated "I just really wish you would see a doctor or a biologist. Hell, we go to a university. We could approach one of the professors in private and-"

"Nope," said Cindy happily. "I love the new me and there's no way I'm spending the rest of my life getting poked and prodded in some goddamn lab."

"That wouldn't happen, Cindy."

"Well, remember, you tell anyone about this..."

"...You'll bite me and change me into a werewolf," said Sonia wearily. "Nice. Real nice. You know, we don't even know if it actually works that way."

"One way to find out," said Cindy mischievously.

"Thanks, but you're not my type."

Then, something inside Sonia's bra started vibrating. The she-wolf dipped a paw into her cleavage and pulled out a phone. It looked tiny in her giant, padded hands.

"You mind answering that?" said Cindy, waving the phone in the air. "It's a pain in the ass with these claws."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Sonia. She walked into the kitchen and accepted the still buzzing device. She tapped the green icon and lifted it to her ear.

"This is Cindy's phone," said Sonia. "Huh? Oh, she's, uh, unavailable right now and asked me to answer for her. Who is this?"

Cindy watched curiously as Sonia listened to the caller.

"Hey, do you know a Melinda Cooper?" inquired Sonia.