Oh boy...Yousef has really screwed things up now. Bill really should not have sent that shirt. Actually...why did Billy send that shirt despite lecturing Yousef on the scenting issues. Something tells me both of them are likely going to be combative to each other for a while- Yousef blaming himself and Bill for what happened to his dad. Larry is likely going to be getting the stink eye from Yosuef too.... I think the conversation between mahmood and Ray was very well done. Both individuals came through their own religious perspectives and tried to understand the other. Ray's fear of Yousef however also makes sense- Yousef may seem nice (and he is for the most part really- he's not inherently shady like some of the more dubious fellows we've seen), but he also sent Ray to check on Pete...and we all know how that went. Bill clearly is warning Yousef not to accidently scent things...but I'm afraid Yosuef has run out of luck yet again. First he lost Frank...now his family might wind up ripped apart. And those tags...oh I strongly suspect at worst Yousef is going to be living the male-only version of Oedipus's story and not in a good way. And I do think Yousef is going to really not like Larry for what he's likely going to do. Yousef wanted to keep his family away from this- now his own carelessness is about to make things very personal for him in a very bad way. Seeing a bit of Tom's backstory was also interesting...so it seems he used to go to hockey games with his family. And it looks like his daughter is making great strides and living her own life. He might not be able to be there with her, but he can lover her from afar. Then we have Ruiz thinking he can make a familiar out of Paul...who knows how that'll go. Yousef was careful enough not to go on a power trip on that...but who knows if Ruiz will be able to dodge that trap. And well...that all depends on if Paul wants to be one. Frank did (and unfortunately became collateral damage in the process)- but who knows what Paul's path is. And as for Father Ray....I do hope he gets his church back....and retains his ability to be a priest in some capacity. This chapter felt like Luna....or whatever that was...invaded and warped his church to fit their own designs- it had an oddly eerie feeling to it, and not in the good way- like somebody coming into somebody's refuge or home and making a mess of it. St.Francis of Assisi and St.William of Vercelli of course both have stories involving wolves- but in the end- the wolves come to become fond of the men- with the latter being the patron saint of wolves- yet still both loyal to God. Yet here, the men wind up turned away from what they are sworn to and instead wind up hypnotized by creatures who seem to really not care for them- it's in a way a distortion of the tales of these two saints into something that is not in their stories, which I suspect is Luna doing...whatever it is it's doing. Or is that perhaps what is being shown is more than just the most obvious meaning of interpretation- that of human or mondjugen submission to werewolves- something about their inner selves? St.Francis of Assisi also is famous for his canticle of the Sun- where the moon is referred to as sister- and also met with the Egyptian Sultan Malik al-Kamil, the interfaith discussion there eventually leading to a temporary truce in the Fifth Crusade, as well as his bearing of the stigmata. The better question is whether what Ray is seeing even real- or something his scent-addled head is constructing for him? And if that's what he was seeing, what on earth was Mahmood seeing? The same thing or something else? And then we have what was going on with Larry taking them away to who knows wear- that last image seen at the church doesn't bode well for them. That they will be "devoured" metaphorically by wolves. The scene of them growing in size and becoming more muscular was erotic mind you, but the the image shifts and the moonlight do leave me wondering what are the implications of such....what was that caused by? If it's Luna...to what end? More werewolves possibly? Likely. But there's likely more....after all- the lunarian orthodoxy likely knows more about such things. We know some werewolves are in the church....would Ray run into them? And are they true believers or merely in the Church to gain influence and power? It does seem that due to them being in a scent-induced daze, what they were seeing was not what was actually there. Though the question becomes what was the point of those visions. Ray probably knows that the stories of those saints have nothing to do with the picture's he's seeing...but he's probably too addled to put things together right now. Mahmood too. And the desolate nature of the church compared to how it was in the beginning where Ray was mostly put together...there's something somber and eerie about it all the same. Mahmood's love for Yousef is ever clear, but I can also see his genuine worry. Let's hope that parental bond doesn't wind up twisted into something tragic or terrible. Additionally, Ray seems to have been one who suffered from alcoholism, and this whole episode in hindsight is likely going to be terrifying for him. He has first hand experience and likely has seen what alcoholism does to people- temporary pleasure with numerous consequences, many negative. He likely will see what happened over that shirt as basically being that. Sure he had pleasure for a while- but now he's going to be roped into and around people he is utterly terrified of- and for good reason- Pete was terrifying to him in that meeting of theirs in the prison- him calling them demons isn't entirely outlandish when taking that into consideration. Mahmood as well- what good is feeling pleasure over a scent if now he might wind up tearing his family apart in the process by not being there? He clearly has seen how hard it was to keep family safe due to strife in Lebanon after all. I do think that if Mahmood ever winds up more involved with the pack due to circumstances, he is going to see in Mullins a warning of what not to become. He'd probably sympathize with Tom, but I do think he'd see in Mullins the dangers of embracing wolfhood too much- abandoning your own family even as a werewolf to him I think would be unthinkable. Unlike the others- they hadn't dealt with navigating through war and unrest that threatened one's family. Even as a werewolf, Mahmood is not going to give up on his family. Yousef I think is about to learn a hard lesson about how not telling people thing's and being careless will only get you in greater dilemmas. After what happened with Frank, I'm surprised he even got somewhat careless about the scenting- he knows firsthand how dangerous wolf stuff is. I guess he tried to put it out of his mind...only for this to happen. Overall though, despite the little scent-trip Mahmood and Ray experienced, I don't see either giving up their religious faith. Much like Yousef, I see them trying to uphold it as best as they can in these new circumstances. Unless of course they wind up derailed from becoming weres but....odds of that seem really low. Yousef's comment of them being of the same flesh or not (his father and him) is interesting- werewolves likely see themselves as being fundamentally different from humans. But in some muslim tellings and in some oral traditions, children of the jinn and men are common in some narratives- though more folklorish like tales at times- often said to be gifted individuals. Some religious scholars even wrote treatises debating the legality of a marriage to a jinn as well. In contrast, the werewolves we see here tend to couple amongst their own, or take on familiars at best. Weather Yousef sees his father as different for being a human or not, he still cares for him. Though weather or not Mahmood will remain human...and what that means for Yousef's family if he does not....is a whole other complicated question. While the jinn may be made of fire, and men of clay- in the end they are less alien to each other in totality but moreso kindreds- but with plenty of strange differences in between- in the islamic tradition. In that view, each race excels in some things over the other- a far cry from the normative werewolf position which holds were superiority in all things for the most part. Catholicism doesn't seem to have that in Father Ray's case- but there is the story of St.Anthony the Great of the Desert Fathers and his desert run ins with the supernatural I've mentioned before, and of course the stories of St.Francis and St.William. But why was Father Ray unable to look at them even before? What was he seeing before he smelled that shirt? Why did he look away from them? What was he concealing that has been revealed to him? I think for Ray the conflict over becoming an inhuman being will trouble him for some time. Unlike Yosuef who was able to kind of figure something out, he might feel self-hatred for himself for a bit. His entire thing was to keep to temperance to avoid the dangers of excess and it's consequences for himself and others- how that clashes with the wolves is a bit interesting in this case. Mahmood and his dynamic with Yousef going forward will also be something to examine in the future.

A spectacular chapter, well worth the unusual wait! Larry is needing discipline... Ranger Paul is getting Alpha Ruiz twitterpated.... two Mondjugen fathers, one of the cloth and one by blood, trying to come to terms with their new desires and suddenly scooped up by one of the pack... and an Alpha assassinated by his own pack. Can't wait to see what thrills and fun our wolves get up to next time!

@[Rock Creek Werewolf](/user/show/10002145) Honestly with Larry's comment and Yousef's resigned sadness I think it's pretty telling that is Al, as well as with who he's with- officers. It's also interesting to see how Yousef and Larry react to that. Larry sees no issue with that because well for him...Al was an threat who was weirdly obsessed with him. Yousef on the other hand lost Frank to that same same spell so he isn't as okay with what happened, though he has come to accept it had to be done to save them all. Problem is, Yousef is probably about to start having more trouble with his other relationships outside the pack...some of those tags do not bode well if what I think is going to happen will happen. As for Yousef, looking at Mahmood's confession to Ray...we really do see the other side of what happens when weres leave behind their families and it's realistically not pretty- though Tom also shows us the other side of that as well. Couple that with the fact that Yousef's family is naturally tight knit due to the struggles they faced, and it has a much more somber and dreadful affect overall. Yousef I'm afraid has badly miscalculated in his attempts to keep things secret- and is about to pay a terrible price I fear. Then again, while he may not have been subject to being a sacrifice- Yousef's curse seems to be that those around him wind up sacrificed. Seth is no longer around, Frank is now a dog, his faith is being scrutinized by some (though others are okay with it- as was the wolf king and his pack during his court session to a degree so it doesn't seem that much of an issue), Mahmood might wind up in the one thing Yousef wanted to keep his father away from, and his being a seer could get him involved in the deadly games of werewolf politics. If alphas can be killed by their own packs in coups- who is to say of what will befall seers? The wolf king declared Yousef protected, but are seers seen as valuable even without that protection inherently, or is Yosuef protected as long as the Wolf King is still in power?

the transfiguration of the leaded glass saints. score one for ecumenical outreach! when the Pack encountered the German Shepherd at the hockey game, I thought for a minute that Frank had a side gig! this story is tight as a drum, all the elements are moving like clockwork. flawless chapter, the canid highlight of this mutt's week. awoo!

Ooh Daddy Jon is powerful. Cant wait for part two, so its gonna be a hot threesome. Hoping for Travis to be sandwiched between the two while fucking.

so great, can’t wait for part 2 !

This story is so Hot

More Please! Agree with the earlier comment that this was a good chapter.

I love it sexy Man, thank you~!

please Sir, may I have more? :)