Chapter 1 - Prologue: the world as we know it...

Too bright fluorescent lighting hummed and buzzed, casting angry, jagged shadows on pure alabaster-white walls and floors. Two figures sat alone in a mostly empty room, only a small folding table between them. Both figures were female.

The first was a tall, slender, well-built girl with a pert, perky body clad in brilliant blue and gold silk, with a short skirt attached to her leotard, and a flowing train down her backside. Her shapely legs garbed in cream-coloured pantyhose fidgeted nervously as she adjusted her position on her seat.
Large, bright blue eyes hung half-lidded and tired as her wolfish tail flicked errantly, and her ears folded back. With her dainty hands folded in her lap, and short cream blond hair, she seemed so small, and fragile - huddled as she was; tired and scolded.

The second was a short, but still slender girl with a slightly plump frame. Her long brown hair was pulled up to an elegant bun, and her delicate brown eyes were framed by designer glasses.
She wasn't conventionally attractive, but there was a certain beauty to the dichotomy of her impish size and cutness, and the confidence she exuded. A white labcoat hung from her shoulders, over an elegant white blouse, and a fancy, tight skirt. She was a doctor, hired by an agency that handled adoptions of animal girls.

Decades ago, animal girls suddenly started appearing. No one knew how, or why. There were scientific inquiries, commissions and calls to action, and huge grants given out, but all of the testing turned up dead ends or raised only more questions.
Eventually the grants turned to pay-offs, and bribes, and history was rewritten. Suddenly nobody really asked why. They were just 'always there' became the excuse.
Not long after that, adoptions started. Young animal girls were put into the agency's system, and well-to-do people could pay a small fee to adopt an animal girl.
Eventually that too, changed, and people came to see animal girls as fancy pets for the affluent. Some groups appeared, decrying the process as racist, or discriminatory - as slavery - but most animal girls enjoyed being kept as pets, when asked.

Now it had just become normal... expected... an animal girl that didn't have an owner was a waste of space and effort...

Which is what led to the current situation of this beautiful, young wolf-girl being yelled at. For five years she had been here, and not once had anyone looking for a new pet given her a second look.
"I'm afraid we simply cannot keep you here any longer, Freija..." the doctor stated with a heavy sigh.
She flipped through the various papers on her clipboard and shook her head "I can swing a week... two at the most, but you'll be out every day for potential adopters, and we'll have to loosen the criteria." She added.

Freija tried to shrink more into herself and groaned. That meant that all the previous sickos and psychopaths that had applied to adopt her earlier would now get a pass. And she would probably wind up mutilated in a river somewhere in the city...
The wolf-girl shuddered as her stomach twisted. "Well, there's no point getting worked up over it now, I suppose." The doctor said and stood, walking to the door "go back to your room. Get some sleep..." she finished and swiped her keycard.
Freija stood as the lock clicked and she slowly walked through the door into the hall. Other girls were in the halls gossiping before curfew, but went dead silent as Freija walked past, her eyes narrowed, fists clenched and teeth bared as she fought back her tears.
Returning to her rather spartan room, the wolf-girl flopped onto her bed with a groan as her room door closed behind her, took her lumpy, malformed pillow between her arms, and loudy screamed as she tried to make sense of it all.
Groaning, the young girl rolled over onto her right side, staring at the wall, as if she could bore through it with her glare. After a few minutes of being angry, she rolled onto her back and began to cry.
A few minutes later she rolled onto her left side and was now angry again. Stressed, tired, and frustrated, Freija sighed and worked her way under the thin sheets of her bed and slowly ran her hands down her silk clad body. She had discovered how to pleasure herself a long time ago, and found that it helped her relax after these long, frustrating days.
Her slender fingers began to massage her groin, and she quickly became moist, before undressing and giving the rest of her night over to the throes of her self pleasure. She laid alone for three hours afterward, crying pitifully in the dark of her room...

***

Bright morning sunlight finally pierced the roiling grey clouds above, burning away the early autumn fog and filling the streets of the city with a golden luminance. The silence around the agency was quickly broken as a large black luxury sedan with tinted windows rolled to a stop in the parking-lot.
The back door opened and a pair of long, pale legs swung out. Black heels clicked against the asphalt as a tall, woman stepped out, her long golden blond hair catching the breeze and glittering in the sunlight as she swept her calm blue gaze across the empty lot.
A man with short-cropped black hair and a heavy, long peacoat stepped out of the passenger seat and took point, striding confidently across the asphalt, tailed by the woman. "Try to limit your time inside, lady Claire. We should leave before anyone else arrives." The man said and held open the door for the woman.

The woman nodded wordlessly as she stepped in, pulling off her heavy coat and handing it to the man as he came up behind her, revealing an exquisitely tailored red silk blouse trimmed with gold, and a tight pencil skirt.
She was certainly plump, if the width of her hips, and the size of her bust was any indication, but pleasingly so - she possessed a suave confidence, and primal, raw, beauty.

The only sound in the foyer was the clicking of heels across the floor as Claire approached the reception desk, the young boy sitting behind it speechless as he looked up from his computer. "Good morning..." Claire began with a warm smile - her voice was like cream-honey; smooth and and sweet.
"I understand your agency does private viewings of the current stock." She added as she leaned on the desk. The young man's mouth worked wordlessly as he tried to process the beauty before him.
Leaning closer, Claire smiled and whispered in the boy's ear "I'd very much like to see what you have here."

The boy gulped loudly and stood quickly "o-o-okay." He blurted out, blushing as he moved to the back wall, his hands fumbling for a set of keys on a rack. Claire smiled at the boy as he came around the corner, and opened the door to the residential section of the building.
"Usually we book these in advance so we can get the girls dolled up for inspections." He stammered out as he led the woman and her bodyguard through the sterile white halls. The three passed dozens of numbered rooms to the employee section.
A few people sat around tables, mostly site security and a few live-ins, but there were also a few day workers around the break-room, getting ready to start their day.

The receptionist took Claire past that to the director's office, and knocked on the door. "Come in." The director called through the door. The bodyguard was the first into the room, pulling a chair from the desk for his employer, and she gracefully lowered herself into the seat, folding her left leg over her right as she smiled at the director.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, lady Claire." The director, a large-bodied, slightly overweight balding man, asked as he looked over the woman.

Claire giggled and smiled "I'm in the market for a pet." She began and leaned back in her seat, as her bodyguard ushered the receptionist out. "You see; it gets so dreadfully lonely at home, with nothing but security and my father's toadies to talk to. And I figured; why not take another into my life that truly deserves it." She said.

"How magnanimous of you." The director interjected. Claire nodded and the man scoffed "the daughter of the founder of the Rayleonard Institute can't get friends of her own?" He asked.

Claire tilted her head and giggled "anyone can get friends and sycophants, director. I want someone to share in my love, and will always be there for me." She added. To wit, her bodyguard rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

The director groaned and pulled on a thin pair of reading glasses "I can book a private viewing for next week..." he said and shooed the woman off "We'll call you when the girls are ready." He added and began writing in his book.

"With all due respect director, I'd like to see the girls now, before they get done up." Claire responded, her voice calm, but her tone brooked no argument. The director looked up and began to speak, but Claire cut him off "I would like to see my new pet as she would most often look, rather than have false expectations tempered." She added.
The director stared at the woman and she sighed, placing a small stack of bills on the man's desk "if you would be so kind." She finished.

"You realize that bribing a government worker is a federal offence, right?" He stated, raising his left eyebrow.

"The thought never crossed my mind. I was merely making a donation to your wonderful organization." Claire said and feigned offense at the man's statement.

The director sighed, pocketed the money, and stood, gesturing for the two to follow.