Hunters moon

49: Tails Tale

He decided to keep his eyes off her as much as he could out of respect, looking around the kitchen at all the utensils, then a strange feeling came over him, he felt his skin crawl and his gut knot, looking down he saw his size also degrading 'I'm shifting back!? Here!?'

He looked up at Katja who cheerfully tossed the steaks in the pan, along with his return shift he felt his energy leave him as well, when it was done he felt ten years older, out of breath and trembling.

"Ok, not long now..." She turned to him but froze when she caught him naked in the middle of the kitchen floor, with a peep she turned around.

"Quintin!? What happened!?"

"I, don't know" He said breathless "I'm sorry, give me a second ok" He said turning to the door and slowly stumbled out like a drunkard, Katja already reverted her eyes and blushed looking at his well toned body from behind, but she slapped her own face 'Blyetski you utter stalker Katja!'

Ezbar came in moments after Quintin left "Something smells amazing in here!" He called.

"Prime Oryx steak, with seasoning, I didn't have much to work with so I hope it tastes good" She smiled at him.

"That sounds great, I couldn't remember the last time I had a proper steak" Ezbar saw her face "Are you ok? Your face is a little red?" He asked but then something swooshes behind her that made Ezbar stretch his neck to see behind the counter "Was that!?"

She looked at him confused "Oh, my face, no I'm ok, must be the heat of the stove"

Ezbar took his crutches and skiddled over to her, and he saw right.

"Katja! You have a tail!"

"I what!?" She looked behind her, it was a long black furred cat tail that swooshed seemingly beyond her control "Where did that come from?"

"Do you feel anything different?"

Katja lifted her head in thought but Ezbar saw the tail respond to her, it lifted and only the tip twitched left and right, as if it's working with her thoughts.

"No? Not really?" She said and the tail started swooshing happily again.

"Hmm, odd, odd indeed"

"Why?"

"I've never seen a half, or a bit of a transformation like this, something must have triggered it" Ezbar said sitting down again.

Katja who wasn't one to stay quiet over something small smiled with a blush "Could it be that I watched Quintin naked?"

"You what?"

"He shifted back into his human form here in the kitchen, but was butt naked"

Ezbar's eye twitched, then he lifted his head in thought "It, I don't know, maybe it was an emotional response"

"We're not in love, if that's what you're thinking, but I did grow quite fond of him" She said dishing the meat.

Quintin came back into the room only wearing sweatpants "I'm sorry about that" He blushed seeing Katja's red face.

"It's ok, guess I'm going to have to get used to that right?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry"

Katja gave a quick laugh "Stop apologizing so much, sit down and let's eat" She said placing the steaks down on the table.

"Holy crap this looks good" Quintin said almost storming the table.

"Quintin, why did you shift back?" Ezbar asked almost cutting into the meat with the same speed he did.

"Dunno doc, it caught me of guard that's for sure"

"Caught me off guard as well" Katja said smiling with that blushed face, but Quintin frowned when he saw the tall erect tail swooshing behind her.

"Uh... You..." He pointed and she looked back.

"Oh, yeah I didn't even notice this happened earlier"

"When?"

"Just after I... Saw you" He shyly said.

"Ahem!" Ezbar said breaking the building heat between the two "If you two would be so kind, I'd like to run tests on the both of you, both of you experienced new things tonight, and I need to get to the bottom of it before we run into a situation we're not prepared for"

They looked at him and nodded.

After the very satisfactory meal the three headed back to Ezbar's lab, he took a sample of their blood and ran the tests. Quintin was watching Katja's tail moving slowly left and right.

"It, looks like it has mind of it's own" He said and poked it making her jump.

"Hey!?"

"Sorry" Quintin laughed at her reaction "I guess now I can get some revenge right?"

"Revenge?'

"Yeah, for you scratching my ears like that"

She folded her arms "You enjoyed that"

"I know" He said walking closer to her "Now what would happen if I stroked your tail?"

Katja backed from him in a playful manner "You gotta catch me first"

Quintin saw the tail basically characterized how she felt, playful it would swing quickly left and right. Confused it would basically stand still, focusing made it stand erect and only the tip twitched left and right.

"Interesting, I never realised tails do that, does mine do that doc?" Quintin asked.

"Never really noticed" Ezbar said not looking up from his stethoscope.

He looked back at Katja who still stood ready for him, he smiled sheepishly "If you turn, that will give me instant access to that tail, you sure you want to run?"

She gave him the same smile back "I'm quite confident in my speed"

"You sure?" She stepped forward.

"Try me" She said stepping back.

"Hold on you two! Not so quick!" Ezbar said holding his hand up "It seems your tail sprouted due to a high level of hormones in your system"

"Hormones!?" She squeaked.

Ezbar chuckled "Koos told me long ago the 'wolf' would respond to the needs of the human, it generally meant if the life was in danger, but it seems there are still so much we need to discover, and this case is one of them, your interaction with Quintin's cat stirred the cat in you somewhat, I think if the two of you had any more time together we would have seen more changes"

Katja felt her face was so red it probably glowed, she looked over to Quintin who was more confused than anything else.

"But why would her hormones trigger it?" He asked and Katja felt she could pass out, she turned and ran out of the room. Ezbar looked at him with a blank stare.

"You're not very sharp are you Quintin?"

"I have hormones too right?"

Ezbar slapped his face "Oh yeah, you missed the last five years of school, you won't know anything about how the female body works"

Quintin suddenly felt his heart skip "Uh, no"

Ezbar drew a chair closer and tapped it "Sit down son, let this old scientist put on his daddy shoes, and teach you"

Quintin swallowed and sat down.

"As you know, at a certain age girls and boys start to notice each other..."