In the back room of a well appointed club for hunds of exceptional means, an argument was threatening to turn into a brawl.

"It's an outrage!" Barked the head of a major corporation. Dovem's family had made their fortune rebuilding Coven after the second continental war. "It goes against everything moral, everything we stand for!"

"What's done is done." Replied another titan of industry with a slightly cooler head. Astrid's family was in shipping and hauling. "We did what we could, we delayed it for as long as possible, but it is what it is. We lost."

"Surely the church…" Pressed Dovem.

"Has said their hands are tied. They will follow the rule of the land, even if it goes against scripture."

"It's that new High Shepherd. He's the one responsible. Too progressive, too weak, he just bends whichever way the wind blows." Dovem snarled.

"Weak is not a word I would use to describe his eminence Beethoven the third."

"Oh? What is it then?"

"Prudent." Replied Astrid. "The church is enjoying a surge in popularity, families are returning to the fold, money is flowing in. They're calling him a modern saint."

"A disgrace is what I'd call it." Dovem rumbled. "In my day we would have had him out on his ear! I won't stand for this… this… degeneracy! I am out!"

There was a hush of held breath from the table as the assorted titans and moguls realized one of their members had gone just a little bit too far. Every eye in the room was on Dovem.

A sweet silky female voice with a mild Döbian accent broke the silence. It was warm, inviting, rich and sultry. This was a voice that took its time and made you enjoy every delicious syllable as it dripped down your ears.

"In my day, dear Dovem, your grandfather begged on all fours like a dog. He promised he would do anything we wanted if we would just give him a few scraps of food… it was pathetic, but endearing… in a way."

Dovem looked to the doorway and his heart sped up with terror as he saw the familiar and beautiful silhouette of Edelweiss Braverhund. She filled the doorway at nearly two meters tall and her shoulders were broad. Her face was warm, inviting, almost loving. Soft curves covered in a long flowing green dress seemed like an invitation.

But it was all a lie, because beneath her buckwheat colored fur beat the cold metal reinforced heart of a panzerhund. This was Gershwin's heir and successor. This was the Howl's second in command and enforcer. This was the Golden Scythe.

To put things mildly, this was not someone Dovem wanted to see moments after he had just so publicly expressed his desire to leave.

"Good point!" Dovem nodded. "Considering our history, you can expect my continued full support!"

"Yes, I think that is best." Edelweiss said as she took her seat at the head of the table. "I don't mind a little outburst from time to time, it's only natural to be angry when you don't get your way. Just don't let it jeopardize your future."

Dovem nodded, his heart still racing. "Yes… of course."

"Now back to the trouble at hand." Edelweiss looked at her assorted cronies. "Some of the more passionate within our group have promised to beat to death any priest who performs a marriage ceremony under the new law. Meanwhile the Las Brujas have sworn that any Howler who dares to try will be slashed to ribbons. I see this as an opportunity to draw them out of hiding."

"You suggest we use our own people as bait?" Astrid asked.

"Las Brujas rely on stealth and trickery. An open field puts us at an advantage. And as you know, one should always attack from a place of power whenever possible. Once they reveal themselves we will strike, overwhelm, and then destroy them."

There were nods from around the table. They weren't soldiers themselves and none of them had led troops in battle, but it sounded right.

"The day of the wolf is fast approaching." Edelweiss said with a wide smile as she raised her glass. "I can feel it in my bones. Soon we will take our rightful place and guide this world to a place of prosperity, justice, and purity."

"To the wolf!" They echoed back, not understanding that there indeed would be someone leading the pack in this new world order, but it wouldn't be them.

*-----

The next day Simon watched in amusement from behind his sunglasses as a very drunk human flanked by the neon pink form of Springer and the hairless elegance of Genevieve Geneva approached him.

He had picked this spot in particular because it had a lovely view of the shit show that was about to unfold as the protesters and counter-protesters shouted for dominance in front of the church.

It was incredible to think that in another life he had been shoved in a concentration camp for getting caught making love to another male… and now same sex marriage had finally been legalized. Of course some people weren't happy about it, but he was happy to see that they were outnumbered.

The church was surrounded by barricades and a ring of hunds holding hands to prevent the screaming hateful horde from entering. The police were nowhere to be seen but Simon was sure that as soon as blood was spilled they would be there in full force to "keep the peace" and bash anyone stupid enough to stand in their way.

Speaking of shit shows, Nemeria wasn't doing too well either. She stumbled as she walked through the cemetery and her speech was slurred. "Hey… puppy." She said as she collapsed drunkenly onto the bench next to him and began snoring loudly.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Who's this?" He asked, eying the inebriated human. She was dressed well, if plainly. "She seems nice." He joked.

"Hah!" Springer laughed. "You fucking asshole! You were supposed to meet us at the shop last night. Of course when you didn't show we gave her some liquor to calm her down and… well… this happened."

"But who is she?" Simon asked. "And how much did she drink? She smells like a brewery caught fire!"

Genevieve Geneva propped up Nemeria and sat down on the bench next to her. "Let's see… we started with gin… then there was the katzenminze… then the whiskey… and she was bumming me out so I gave her some MDMA which seemed to help but then she got cuddly…"

"Heilige scheiße, GG!" Simon exclaimed. "How is she not in the hospital?"

Genevieve Geneva continued, "So this morning we made her some eggs, tempted her out of bed with a bottle of whiskey, then dragged her here because you wouldn't come to the shop."

"But who is she?" Simon asked as the drunken human crawled into his lap.

"Mmmm…soft..." Nemeria murmured happily as she drooled on Simon's coat.

WHAT THE FUCK! GET HER OFF OF ME! I AM DRY CLEAN ONLY. -COAT

Simon sighed and took one of Genevieve Geneva's many scarves, placing it gently between the drooling human and his coat before something nasty happened.

"For real, GG. What the hell is going on?" Simon whispered, too quietly for the human to hear him. "First someone steals my fucking ring, then they tell me that if I want it back I have to meet them in Coven, then I get here and find our that there's a tailor waiting with a boatload of hardware. And now this. What the actual fuck?"

The human rummaged around in her pockets and pulled out a small metal box. "Supposed… to give this to you… sweetie…"

Still annoyed Simon took the cigarette sized metal box, which popped open as soon as he touched it. He blinked in surprise as he saw not one, but two rings inside.

"How did you get this?" He demanded angrily, showing the contents of the metal box to the drunken human in his lap. "This is my wife's ring!"

Nemeria sat up and tried to steady herself. Her boosted metabolism was already burning through the drugs and alcohol. Soon she would be uncomfortably sober, and she didn't want to do this sober. She wasn't sure she could do this sober.

"You gave it to me… at the lake house… remember?" Nemeria swayed but caught herself. "Long… long time ago… in a galaxy far far away." She giggled, feeling the contraband meme slip from her lips. It didn't matter anymore, the damage was done. The katzen was already out of the bag.

"Did you miss me?" She asked.

Simon turned her face towards his, not daring to believe but hoping against hope that this was real. Then he remembered, she had called him puppy. Only one person had ever called him puppy. He felt his tail begin to wag with excitement.

"Corazon?" He asked, realizing that Gershwin had kept his word. He had really helped her change bodies. Didn't that beat all?

"Si, mi amor." Nemeria smiled. "It's me."

Simon felt something odd happen inside of him as he looked into her eyes and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was his wife, returned to him. He couldn't put a finger on how he knew, there was no logic to it. But he knew, as sure as he was breathing.

"I'd hate to interrupt this touching moment, but it looks like the howl just showed up." Springer pointed to a group of armed and armored hunds walking through the cemetery on their way towards the protest.

The largest was a mean looking Möhin bruiser with a wooden bat slung over his shoulder. The artificially enhanced musculature of his massive frame dwarfed the rest of the hunds in his little pack.

"It looks like they're going to make due on their promises." Genevieve Geneva hissed.

"What?" Nemeria blinked, trying to smooth back her hair and get it into some semblance of order. "What's going on?" She was sobering up now, very much against her will.

"The howl don't like the new marriage equality act." GG explained. "They have publicly threatened to kill any priest who dares to carry out same sex marriages under the new law."

"Oh fuck that." Nemeria said angrily as she stood up and started walking on an intercept course. Secretly she was happy for any distraction that would prevent the upcoming confrontation with Simon and the questions he would ask.

Springer thought about stopping her, but he had always hated the howlers and this seemed like as good a way as any for Nemeria to burn off some steam. He looked over to GG who shrugged and began following the drunken human. Springer nodded to himself and took up position behind her.

Simon looked down at the rings in the box, feeling the cold weight of Torheit on his arm. "Fuck it." He said, pocketing the box and standing up. "Wait for me."

"Hey fuck face!" Shouted Nemeria angrily as she walked up to the mountain of a hund leading the pack of howlers. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Wot?" The Möhin bruiser looked down at the human in front of him. "You lookin' to get ya head smashed in? Fuck off."

"Make me, you piece of shit." Nemeria taunted. "How about I shove that stick up your ass?"

The hund looked around in disbelief. "You have to be fucking mental. There's over a dozen of us and what…" He noticed Springer, Simon and GG. "Two poofs and a naked katzen that can't even grow fur." He laughed. "She looks like she's got fucking mange… if that's even a she."

He leaned in close until he was almost nose to nose with Nemeria. "How about I-"

But he never got to finish because Nemeria headbutted him with all the force her drunken body could muster. There was a loud crack of breaking bone followed by swearing and a surprising amount of blood as the howler fell back into his ass.

"Fun fact." Nemeria said as she wiped the blood off her face with the palm of her hand. "On my planet the first pride parade… was a riot."

The dozen howlers looked in shock at the small human that had just headbutted their boss. Which was not smart because Simon and Springer had used the distraction to circle around behind the pack and were about to release the ass whooping of the century on the howlers in the back.

Then there was Genevieve Geneva. She seemed to blur as the unholy fusion of Döbian wetware and katzen biomod came online inside of her. A howler in the front watched in horror as she accelerated toward him like a missile on all fours.

"Fu-" He managed to gasp out before she was on top of him, beating him into the ground with such force that his body started sinking into the grass.

Nemeria laughed and bull rushed the bruiser with a broken nose as he tried to get back on his feet. He flipped into the air as the surprisingly strong human threw him over her shoulder.

Meanwhile the two rasierhunds were beating the ever loving snot out of any unaugmented howlers stupid enough to get within their reach. It didn't matter that the howlers had body armor. It didn't matter that they had bats and clubs. They were getting their asses handed to them.

There was a snap of breaking wood and splinters as the bruiser broke his bat on the side of Nemeria's skull. He looked dumbly at what remained of his weapon as she slowly turned to face him.

"Oye, cabroncito." Nemeria snarled with menace. "Remember what I said I was going to do with that little stick of yours?"

He blinked, suddenly remembering her threat from earlier as he looked at the jagged and splintered end of the ruined bat. "Ah fuck…"

"Sí, pendejo." Nemeria smiled as she marched towards him. "Ya recuerdas. Te vas a ver como una paleta!"

"She said she's going to shove that stick up your ass and turn you into a popsicle!" GG shouted helpfully as she looked up from the howler she had just beaten into unconsciousness. By now there weren't many left standing. Most were crying softly into the grass of the cemetery or screaming as they cradled broken arms and legs.

The bruiser threw the bat aside and reached for his pistol. "Fuck you!" He shouted as he went to draw the weapon. But he froze when he felt the deathly chill of Torheit pressing against his throat.

"No, my friend." Simon said with a laugh. "Fuck you."