“I know you’re scared. I’m scared too, but I’m going to help each of you, and the CDC is going to help us, and I’m hoping Elise, Lorraine, and Betty will help us.”
“Only if Master promises to put a baby in me,” Betty said.
I covered my face with my hands. “One kid at a time, Betty.”
“This is so cool! I’m gonna have puppies!” Sonja cheered.
“So what do we do now?” Jenny asked.
“Now I take extra special care of you, my sweet little pets, and in nine months, our family will double.”
—————————————-
Two Years Later:
“Master, it’s almost time,” said Chloe, waking me up.
I opened my eyes and yawned, wishing I could have napped for a bit longer. These days, I had to sleep whenever I could. “Thanks, Chloe.”
I sat up in the bed, but slowly, since I was holding five infants. No, not the five I had expected when I first found out the girls were pregnant. Five babies, ha! More like each girl giving birth to five babies! I was the proud father of 25 kids, and with Betty demanding I get her pregnant, that number might increase. The babies I was currently holding were between me and Chloe. Like her, they were perfectly human, except for their mouse ears and tails, making them cuter than sin. The problem was that they were each the size of a baked potato. No, they were not premature; they were all perfectly healthy, they had just inherited their mother’s diminutive size. All five were wrapped up in wool socks, sleeping soundly and perfectly content. As we carried them back to their crib, one of them began to cry, giving a tiny rodent-like squeal.
I raised her up and kissed her forehead, my lips covering her entire scalp. “No, no, honey, it’s ok. I just need to take of business and then I’ll be right back. Shhhh, go back to sleep.”
I gave one of her ears a gentle rub, calming her down and putting her back to sleep.
“They are so cute!” Chloe chirped.
“Yet still not as cute as their mother,” I said, giving her a kiss of her own.
I then left the bedroom, walking down the hall with the walls lined with pictures from all of the zoo hybrids. Since leaving, they had all gone on to lead amazing lives, and every day, I’d get letters from them with updates as to what was going on. Many of them had started working in animal care and rescue centers, others in patient care at hospitals and nursing homes. Lola was the star of the retirement center she worked at, every tenant loving her. Almost all of them had found lovers and many were pregnant or already parents. None of them were married, but that was due to the law, though countless protest groups were fighting that.
I passed by a photo of Neija and her brother, the two of them standing in the Serengeti National Park in military uniforms. They were flanked on either side by fellow members of the Tanzanian army, all working together to fight poachers. She hadn’t yet picked a lover, but that was because she was happily married to her job. I had gone out to visit her before the girls gave birth and we had a romantic weekend.
I passed by the living room, where the news was showing a protest in the streets of DC. They were advocating for human-hybrid marriage, as well as equality and an end to discrimination. It was hard enough for animal-born hybrids to live happily, but for the 5% of the human population that had also turned, prejudice was a major problem. But in a way, remarkable progress had been made in a short time. Really, it was just religious and conservative groups that opposed hybrids. Most of the world had grown to accept them and they could be found in all forms of media and in countless homes with loving families. The fact that humans and hybrids could interbreed was one of the driving forces of the movement.
I stepped out into the front porch where Sonja, Chloe, Leah, and Jenny were playing with the rest of the children in the front yard. Believe me when I say, you don’t know the meaning of cute until you see a toddler with puppy ears and a fluffy tail, rolling around in the grass and laughing while chasing butterflies. Jenny’s babies would hop around on their short little bunny legs, long ears flopping. Nearby, Leah sat in a kiddy pool full of mud, playing with her children. Their black skin with yellow dots made them look like tiny aliens, but they had the cutest laughs.
“Master,” Momo said.
She was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch with our kittens. One of our sons was in her lap, snoozing. The rest were on pillows around her, relishing the warmth of the sun. I sat in the chair next to her and one of the babies woke up. She crawled from her pillow over to me and meowed for attention. She had messy black hair just like her mother and a round face with a string bean tail.
“Hey, Cecilia, how are you doing?”
I picked her up and held her in my lap, listening to her purr as I rubbed her ears and tickled her chin. She wormed and stretched as I tickled her belly, wiggling her little arms and legs. Ugh, I can’t even describe how adorable kitten babies are. When the kids got older, we’d probably have to move back to the mansion for the needed space, but for now, I loved our house out in the woods. Besides, I already spent enough time there as it was.
In the two years since I found out the girls were pregnant, I had gotten a degree in teaching and now worked in the mansion in the afternoons, helping homeless hybrids learn about the world and adapt to human customs. I did it both for them, and as a thanks to the CDC, or rather, the newly formed Department of Human-Hybrid Relations, for their continued support of our family. Lorraine worked there as well, at least, when she wasn’t on the farm. Elise, Betty, Lorraine, and the pillar men still labored taking care of the cows. On a positive note, the fact that the farm was run by hybrids put it on the map. They were the most popular non-commercial dairy producer in Maine.
Of course, I didn’t forget about my duties as Betty’s Master. I’d visit every few days and give her some good loving. Like Neija, Elise was married to her job, so she didn’t bother dating. She was simply the kind of girl who would rather stay single and surround herself with friends and family. Though, whenever she felt the need to scratch the old itch, I was happy to take her to pleasure town.
“Master, Mr. Jones said he’ll arrive in just a minute.”
The words came from a girl standing in the doorway with a phone in her hand. She was an adult hybrid like Momo and the others, a raccoon hybrid that had appeared in the fall, and the newest addition to our family. She had long, dark-gray hair, two cute round ears, a ridiculously fluffy ringed tail, and the skin around her eyes was darkened, like a mask. And of course, she filled out her top beautifully and had long tan legs that seemed to go on forever. All my girls were now on the pill, but in a few years, if she asked, I might not object to getting her pregnant.
“Thanks, Holly.” I picked up Cecilia and got to my feet. “Ok, everyone, time to move the kids!”
Working together, we all carried the children to the backyard to continue their playing. Sonja and I then returned to the front yard as a station wagon pulled up the driveway. A pudgy bearded man was driving, and in the backseat was a beautiful German Shephard. He came to a halt and I shook his hand when he got out.
“Hi, Thomas? Nice to meet you.”
He grabbed my hand with both of his. “No, it is an honor for me to meet you! I still can’t believe you’re real!”
“Sonja, this is Thomas. Thomas, this Sonja.”
“Hello!” Sonja said happily.
“She’s beautiful. You’re a lucky man. This here is Molly.”
“Thank you. Now, let’s talk on the porch. You can let your dog out, she and Sonja need to talk.” He and I went to the porch and sat down, Thomas sitting in the rocking chair Momo had occupied just a second ago. “So, why do you want me to turn your dog?”
“Because I love her and I feel like she’s the only one in the world who accepts me, so I want her to be a partner instead of a pet.”
“I’ve looked over your financials, you can definitely take of her. However, I need to know that you won’t simply use her for sex. How long have you had her?”
“Three years.”
He handed me a certificate of adoption from her breeder.
“And when did you decide that you wanted Molly turned?”
“About two months ago. Please understand, I’ve spent my whole life being rejected, and every relationship I’ve been in has ended up a disaster.”
“Now that scares me, because how do I know you aren’t the cause of the disaster? I need to know that I’m not putting your dog in danger by turning her.”
“My first real girlfriend cheated on me. The second thought I was cheating on her and dumped me. The third left me because she was bored. My last tried to run off with all my money. I just want to be able to come home to a girl who actually loves me and is happy to see me.”
“All right, then. Just let me see the custody certificate.” He handed me another piece of paper, one from the DHHR, labeling him as a caregiver of a hybrid. They had performed a background check and deemed him clean. “Perfect, then let’s do this. Hey Sonja, how are things on your end?”
In the front yard, Sonja was sitting on the grass with the German Shepherd, the two of them chatting. She was interviewing Molly to get an outside view of Thomas, see how he really acted. “She says he’s good!”
“Ok, bring her up here.”
Sonja pranced over with the dog following suit. They came up onto the porch, Sonja with a big smile on her face. “Molly thinks the world of you. I asked her and she said she really wants to be like me.”
Thomas patted her head. “Yeah, she and I have been through a lot together.”
“Ok, let’s get started.”
I focused on the dog, willing her to transform. ‘He’s your Master, not me. He’s your Master, not me.’ I said that in my mind over and over again. I had to do that, otherwise, the dog would call me her Master, and past customers had been greatly annoyed by that.
In happened in a second, the German Shephard transforming into a hybrid, a beautiful young woman with pointed canine ears and a fluffy tail. Seeing Thomas, a wide smile crossed her face.
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