The Dehumanization of Ethan Brown

As Leslie drove her Ford truck, Ethan gave her directions to a small house with a kennel outside with Siberian Huskies. “Juan breeds dogs,” explained Ethan.

“A werewolf that breeds dogs,” said Leslie.

“They respect him as the alpha male.” Ethan rang the bell. A sturdy man, a little shorter than Ethan, answered the door and hugged him fiercely.

“It’s good to see you.” Juan was only wearing a red bathrobe. His legs were hairy in human form and he looked he didn’t shave for several days.

“Juan, it has been too long,” said Ethan. “You have to let me help guard our lands.”

“You need to come to our next pack meeting. I’ll schedule you to help guard our land from intruders. I’ve been worried because you\'re only half. I won’t let my wife guard our lands for the same reason. It isn’t worth risking your life.” After Juan had closed the door, the bathrobe was left on the sofa.

“I need to help,” Ethan said. “We can’t have rogue werewolves eating people in the park. That gets out to other packs and we’ll be targeted as weak.”

“We don’t have many males this generation,” Juan said. “I have three sons but they\'re all too young to add to the population. Camilla is pregnant with twins, her first litter.”

Camilla, wearing a button down housedress, came into the room followed by a naked three-year-old boy. “Would you gentlemen like tea and cookies?”

“That would be great.” Leslie sat on one of the cushion on the floor hoping that her wounded leg wouldn’t act up.

“Ethan has thin human blood. He is only warm with a thick coat of fur.” Juan took the tray of cookies from his wife as Camilla placed the pitcher and cups on counter between the kitchen and living room. The six-room two-story house looked larger from the outside. There was only a kitchen too small to eat-in, one bathroom, a living room and three rather small bedrooms. The living room and kitchen area could easily fit into the townhouse\'s living room.

“Is Sara Maria at school?” asked Ethan.

“Camilla only homeschools the younger ones. Ria insisted on going to high school. Her younger brother now wants to go to school with normal kids. The younger generation doesn’t understand that we educate our own,” Juan said, as he ate the hard shortbread cookies.

Leslie ate a hard flavorless cookie and washed it down with ice tea. The weak tea had too much sugar for her liking, but she assumed that werewolves needed more calories than normal people and sugar was a cheap source of calories. At least seven people lived in a space smaller than their townhouse. The floors were all a dingy gray tile and the house smelled strongly from animal waste. The furnishings were sparse and worn to the springs. She wasn’t about to look in the bedrooms but she doubted that the children had more than mattresses on the floor and tattered old dressers to put their clothes. However, poverty alone wasn’t child abuse and she couldn’t report the Lopezes to a child welfare department. Besides, what would the foster care system do with wolf-children? It was better for them to be raised by their own. She didn’t blame Juan; he was doing like his fathers before him.

“Sara Maria wants to move the wedding up. All those hormones have kicked in and she’s afraid human males are too weak.”

“She’s a nice girl, but it’ll look bad if I marry a high school student.”

“Detective.” Juan smiled. His teeth were a bit too white for Leslie. “It’s been a while since one of our own has been in the force.”

“I told Ria that I’d marry her a week after her eighteen birthday, but I’d rather wait until she’s twenty-one.”

“You aren’t sleeping with this human? She has your smell all over her.”

“Hell, no.” Ethan sat on a cushion on the floor in front of the sofa. “We share a house and cuddle.”

Leslie thought Ethan wanted to hug her so much was because his mother left him on his own so young and he saw a suitable substitute. She suspected his mother denied him affection. Leslie would rather go back to believing her misconceptions.

“Douglass,” Juan said in a soft voice. “Wolves mate for life.”

“And Bonnie and Ethan’s father?” The cushion Leslie was sitting on was covered with wolf hair and was causing her to itch through her clothes. Leslie sneezed abruptly. “Allergies. Dog hair. I’m surprised I didn’t start sneezing sooner.”

“A mistake,” said Juan. “A man has needs. The family has always greeted Ethan and Bonnie with open arms.”

“Bonnie liked living with the pack,” said Ethan. “She liked the clothing optional part the best.”

“She struck me as a closet nudist,” said Leslie.

Ethan took off his jacket and then his flannel shirt and white tee shirt. “Do you mind if I undress?”

“Don’t get furry on me.” Leslie got up and grabbed a couple more tasteless cookies and more overly sweet tea.

“I won’t.” Ethan removed all but his briefs then folded his clothes neatly. “Juan and I need to talk. Ria should be here.”

“She’s a straight A student,” said Juan.

“Intelligence runs in the family,” said Ethan. “Juan and I are cousins. Juan’s mother is Albert’s older sister. Juan is only seven years older than I.”

“Camilla was thirteen and I was fourteen when we married. We didn’t wait like the older generation,” Juan said.

“Ethan should have been married for at least a decade by now. Albert didn’t want him to marry because Ethan is a half-breed but I’m alpha now.”

“I had my studies.” Ethan didn\'t start the doctorial program after he survived three bullets to his chest on the campus property. He started at the police academy the fall after he received his masters in political science. Most cops weren\'t as well educated as Ethan but after the shooting, Ethan didn\'t feel up to continuing his life on campus and Leslie understood. There were plenty of cops with graduate degrees because they couldn\'t find work in their chosen field.

“I noticed the family resemble,” said Leslie.

After Ethan took off his briefs, he climbed onto the sofa next to Juan. Juan rubbed and sniffed Ethan’s hair. Ethan pressed his body against Juan seemingly unaware of Juan\'s erection. Leslie just stared; knowing better than yelling he’s mine to a werewolf.

“Your human is jealous,” said Juan.

Ethan leaned into Juan’s furry chest and licked his chest hair. “Leslie, join us on the sofa. Three bodies make a better dog pile.”

“I just learned that you’re a werewolf last night.” Leslie tried not to stare at the two grown men making out on the sofa. This was a little more than she could bare. He didn\'t do more than kiss her briefly, but could kiss and lick his male cousin in her company without shame. “I need time to adjust.”

“Your loss,” said Ethan. “We cuddle at home all the time.”

“With clothes on.\" Leslie felt like she was chocking on her words. Leslie was a police officer and a college graduate and she should have been able to handle this but she felt like she was at the human oddity tent at the circus. “Besides he’s your cousin.”

Ethan could to press his body into his cousin\'s body like it didn\'t matter that children or Juan\'s wife could walk into the room at any moment. It wasn\'t simple cuddling; they were both adult males and both obviously erect. “I’m engaged to Ria. It’s perfectly legal to marry your cousin once-removed in New York and several other states.”

Juan’s arms were wrapped around Ethan and his tongue was licking behind Ethan’s ear. Ethan snuggled into him like it was the most natural thing in the world to be making out with his male cousin. Leslie peeked to see if Juan was circumcised; she never looked at Ethan in the shower. Both of the naked men on the sofa were cut, how could that be? Cut flesh on a werewolf would grow back. The flesh must have been burnt off or did cutting it off with a silver knife prevent it from growing back, not that Leslie really wanted to know the details.

Ethan let out a little moan as Juan lightly nibbled on his neck. “Since Bonnie isn’t pack, I probably have less alleles in common with Ria than a full-blooded member of another pack.”


“You barely know the girl,” said Leslie. She had to say something. Leslie had never seen two men do it even on a video. She needed to draw her attention somewhere other than the show in front of her. She felt herself become aroused looking at it. It felt like looking at a car accident; you didn\'t want to look, but you didn\'t want to turn away.


“Ria and I talk on the Internet. We hunt together. I’ve always showed an interest in her studies.” Ethan nuzzled into Juan’s hairy chest and curled his legs up under him. “I’m twenty-six. She’s sixteen.” Ethan licked the chest hair and moved his hand over Juan\'s dark, sexy body.


“And you are going to marry her?” Leslie asked. In another situation, Leslie would find both men alarmingly sexy. Seeing them touch each other was so erotic that she want to undress and touch herself, but she was here on a police matter and needed to keep herself under control.


“I can’t marry a human being.\" Ethan turned so Leslie could no longer see his erection. He was probably rubbing it against Juan\'s thigh to get off. Ethan moaned lightly but didn\'t appear at all embarrassed about his sexually. This wasn\'t the same shy young man that lived with Leslie or was it. “I lack the control a full-blooded werewolf has. Once I change, I’m that way till morning. My hormones race and I end up spending half my life with four legs. Ria wants me because I’m the former alpha’s son. An alpha from another pack won’t take her because Camilla is half like I am.”

Leslie saw Ethan’s puppy dog eyes in a new light when she realized that he just got off on his cousin\'s thigh. “Let’s talk about the attack.”

“Ethan told you he wasn’t one of ours.” Juan snuggled into Ethan like he was his mate.

“The attacker was male?” asked Leslie.

“Couldn’t you smell it?” Ethan tossed his head back into the worn cushions of the sofa.

“Are you sure he isn’t yours?” Leslie asked.

“We have only twenty-two pack members. I know all their odors,” Ethan said.

“And are there other packs in the area?” Leslie asked.

“Not in our valley. We’ll take care of the rogue. Tell your captain it was an animal attack,” Juan said.

“That’s it?” Leslie said.

“Ethan, come over tonight without the human,” said Juan. “We have pack business.”

“Of course, cousin.” Ethan got off the sofa, took his clothes from the pile then started getting dressed.

“Leslie, are you ok with this?”

“It’s weird, but my male roommate of over two years not undressing me is weirder, now that I know it isn\'t the age thing.”

Ethan finished dressing. “You’re truly amazing.” Ethan gave Juan a good-bye hug and a brief kiss then followed Leslie to the truck and turned on the radio. “Wallace told us to take the rest of the day off. According to Cousin Juan, we have nothing more to tell him.”

“That’s it. What happened to serve and protect?”

“I know you want to help but I have to see the pack without you.”

“Ethan, where does this put you and me?”

“Nothing has changed.”

Leslie yelled over the morning chatter on the radio. “You’re a werewolf!”

“I’ve been one all my life. Carlos, Juan and Camilla’s three year old, is a werewolf. The babies in Camilla’s womb are werewolves. You don’t get it from a bite. Ethan Brown has brown curly hair, blue eyes and is a werewolf. Do you want me to move out?”

“No.” Leslie turned off the radio. This conversation was getting serious. “I never pressured you to have sex with me.”

“Why?” Ethan put a hand on Leslie’s shoulder.

“Because I moved in while getting over a divorce, but I couldn’t understand why, after the divorce was final and the paperwork signed, you never made a move on me. You kissed and hugged me. I’m a bit older than you, but I’m not your mother.” Leslie had always assumed that Ethan didn\'t make moves on her because she was over forty and he was in his twenties that was too much like sleeping with his mother. Bonnie was only two years older than Leslie. Leslie didn\'t make moves on Ethan because of the age difference herself. She had always hoped his lack of interest was due to the generation gap and nothing else.

“Leslie, you’re a beautiful woman. This is serious. I can kill you during sex.”

“You’re going to marry Ria?”

“You have been married before. You may marry, again. I’ll never have my father’s control. He was very gentle with Bonnie. You could end up like that dog owner in the park.”

“Ethan, you would never hurt me.” Leslie said, having lived with Ethan for two years and worked with him for one more. Well, the werewolf thing caught her by surprise, but Ethan was a gentle loving soul.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you’re willing to risk your life for a total stranger.”

“I wasn’t risking my life. Werewolves are hard to kill.”

“You’ve risked pain then. Your bones break the same as everyone else. You spend almost as much time in the emergency room as I do. Ethan Brown would never hurt me.”

“My body can twist and change. Do you want to be part of that puddle that formed on your carpet?”

“Do you want to leave me?”

“I don’t know. I’m the same person I was yesterday. I want you to continue to hug, cuddle and pet me.”

“You aren’t a dog.”

A tear rolled down Ethan’s cheek. “Sometimes, I’m more doglike than human. I would hate myself if in a moment of pain I dug my claws into your beautiful body.”

“We can do as little or as much as you\'re comfortable with.”

“Please, let me talk to Juan without you.”

“You’re the detective.” Leslie looked at the road and the passing trees. “Talk to your expert witnesses. You aren’t a rookie anymore. It’s your case.”