Slipping Through

                                    

                                          
"We didn't really think about how we were going to get this collar on, did we?" Jamie mused as he held up the soft leather collar with a little bell in the middle that Jared had just driven two hours to get. 
                          
It was clear on his face that he couldn't fathom how a little herb in the bell actually had such a huge affect on pheromones, but the thing sure worked on Spots, so they weren't going to hesitate to use it. 
                          
"No, we didn't." Jared replied as he noted that Knight wasn't there, having likely been taken back to his room while he'd been gone. He walked over to the computer for the room and pulled up the video Jamie had paused for him. "Did he really shift?" He asked as he clicked play, already knowing that Jamie had confirmed that Palace had, indeed, transformed into his human form when they had spoken on the phone a little under an hour ago, but seeing it happen on the video made it feel a hell of a lot more real. 
                          
"Almost feels like a horror movie, doesn't it?" Jamie whispered as he appeared to Jared's left, his eyes on the screen, fascinated, even though he'd likely watched it a dozen times already. 
                          
Without really thinking, Jared nodded, his attention too focused on the video to figure out how to use words. It was seriously hard to believe what he was seeing. Palace had indeed shifted, but his movements were very awkward and unrealistic. Of course, he couldn't really blame him for not knowing how to use his human form after likely having been stuck as a wolf for so long, but watching him start hunched over in an awkward sitting position on the floor, then seeing a bony arm reach up toward the door, jerking as if it were weighed down by something invisible... 
                          
"Christ." He murmured as he made himself blink, his eyes stinging from being forced to stay open. 
                          
It took Palace nearly a minute fumbling with the lock before it turned. Another two minutes were spent on getting his other hand up to the doorknob, then using both of them, and a disturbing twist of his thin body, to make the heavy door slowly begin to creak open. 
                          
"Wish we could see his face." Jamie said as Palace slowly shifted back into his wolf form and began nudging the door open further before disappearing from that camera's view. 
                          
Jared leaned back, sighing as he ran his fingers through his previously-styled hair. "It was creepy as hell, but at least he can shift and is comfortable enough to do it now." 
                          
Jamie nodded slowly before heading toward the exit door. "I'm going to let Sherry know to double his food. He's definitely gaining weight, but I want to see him fat." He said, earning a rare chuckle from his brother. 
                          
"Yeah, get out of here. I'll watch him for a bit." Jared said as he dropped down into the chair Jamie had recently vacated. 
                          
Grinning, Jamie tossed him the collar and ducked out of the room, then hurried toward the kitchen. They had one full time employee that just made the animal diets and distributed medications that weren't required to be administered by a vet. 
                          
"Sherry!" He called as he stepped up into the bright room of stainless steel and large containers. 
                          
There was a walk in refrigerator and freezer to his left and rows of garbage cans full of different animal feeds lined up along the back wall. In the middle of the room was a shelving unit that held another fourteen or so smaller containers of food. Sherry appeared from behind that shelving island and grinned. She was around fifty and a little plump, but she refused to let her hair turn grey so she dyed it random colors every other month. This month it was a light brown with a few purple highlights mixed in. 
                          
"Well if it isn't the energetic brother." She said, tossing him an apple without even needing to be asked. 
                          
Jamie smirked and caught it, taking a bite, chewing, and swallowing before he walked around the steel table in front of him that had several of the animal's already-made diets on them, waiting to be picked up by those who handled those specific animals.