Text"Anon? Anon, what are you doing up there? You're going to be te!"Text"Anon? Anon, what are you doing up there? You're going to be te!"

  "Coming, Mom!" You yell, quickly shutting the photo album you'd been examining and tossing it onto your bookshelf. You grab your phone, take a quick look at your reflection, and head down the stairs two at a time. The delicious scent of a Southwestern-style omelet greets you as you reach the living room. Rounding the corner, you see your mother, Louisa Baldwin (aka Governess Baldwin), standing at the stovetop sliding a thick, stuffed omelet onto a pte. Seeing the tall, sharply-dressed tigress Anthro wearing an apron and cooking is an unusual sight; up until st year, your father had done all the housework, as was expected of males in the Anthrostate. After his death, you had taken up that responsibility. You were pretty good at it, too. Ever since you were old enough to use a stove and operate the washing machine, Jonathan Baldwin had taken advantage of every opportunity to teach you the art of being a homemaker.

  "Now, I know you're a progressive who wants to get a career and change the world and all that," he would say every time you rolled your eyes or sighed during one of his 'valuable lessons,' "but one day, you're going to be Assigned. Chances are, your wife will want you to be able to take care of the home front while she puts food on the table. When that happens, you'll need to be prepared. Trust me. When I was your age, my father didn't bother to teach me anything. I had to learn the hard way, through trial and error. If you can get the trialing and erring out of the way now, your marriage will be a lot easier and happier during the early days."

  He'd been right. Although it wasn't the retionship he'd been talking about, you'd been able to provide your mother with good food and a well-kept house during the grieving period, which had undoubtedly helped her cope. It had helped you as well. Using the skills Dad had taught you made you feel closer to him.

  Seeing your mother cooking was definitely something you hadn't gotten used to. You could on one hand the number of times you had seen Mom wearing and apron, and they were all invariably connected to a special occasion. One time had been for your father's 40th birthday; another was to celebrate your acceptance into the Blue Region's School for Exceptionally Gifted Students. Today, it was because you had officially been Pre-Assigned.

  "Morning, Mom," you say loudly. Louisa looks up at you and bears her teeth in a warm smile.

  "Hey, there," she said. "I was starting to worry about you. I thought maybe you had been kidnapped and I would have to sic your sister on the perpetrators."

  As if on cue, your sister strolls into view, buttoning her navy-blue uniform as she does so. Trisha Baldwin is a detective in the Male Recovery Division of the Valhal City Police Department. Her job was to locate and recover males who had been kidnapped, abused, or had tried to escape Assignment by running away.

  "Morning, little bro," she says. "Mom, I've got to get to work. See you ter. Anon, try not to get raped or kidnapped or murdered while I'm gone."

  "That's not funny!" you call after her retreating form. Her only response is a hearty ugh.

  You sit down at the table, and Louisa passes you the omelet. Your mouth starts watering immediately, and you grab a fork and tuck in.

  Louisa is taking off her apron. "Unfortunately, I've got to run, too. I have a meeting with the Governess of the Yellow Region. I wanted to take you to the Office of Assignment, but...well, maybe next time. Lacy will drop you off."

  You sigh. "Mom, why do I need a bodyguard for a twenty-minute drive?"

  "Because you're the human son of one of the most controversial, influential Anthros in the State," she says patiently, almost as though she hasn't said this a hundred times before. "Do you know how many males are kidnapped each year in this Region alone? Over a hundred. Now, add the incentive of extorting the Governess, and you become a very tempting target for the Red Cn or the Wildpack or even the Free Male Resistance."

  You shrug. "Where is Lacy, anyway?"

  "Probably doing a sweep of the grounds," Louisa replies carelessly.

  A hamster servant pokes her head in the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but you've got a call on line 3."

  "Who's calling the home phone?" Louisa asks, surprised. The servant shrugs apologetically.

  "I'm not sure, ma'am. She was referred by Secretary Langerman."

  "All right, Wanda, I'll take it." Louisa says. "Anon, I'll be right back."

  You raise your hand in acknowledgement and continue enjoying your breakfast. After a few minutes, your mother returns and begins collecting her purse and keys.

  "Duty calls, dear," she says. "Can I get a hug before I go?"

  You push your seat back and stand. Her warm, musky scent envelops you as she wraps her arms around you. Your head barely reaches her shoulders.

  "Just be yourself," she whispers into your ear. Her whiskers tickle your ear. ""No red-blooded Anthro could help but love you."

  You can't help chuckling. "Isn't that what all mothers say?"

  Her grip tightens a little. "I love you so much. I always will."

  Your throat constricts. "I love you, too."

  Louisa takes a deep breath, then releases you.

  "I'll see you tonight. Be prepared to tell me every little detail." And with that, she's out the door. You watch her chauffeur open the door for her, then return to your meal.

  Lacy arrives just as you finish washing the frying pan. Your bodyguard of the past 19 years is a hulking grizzly bear, easily eight and a half feet tall. Three-inch cws that could rip your head off with a single swipe jut from broad, powerful paws connected to muscur arms. She's undoubtedly a fearsome figure, but you don't see an intimidating warrior. You see someone who you know so well that you see her as part of the family."Ready to go?" she asks. You nod and follow her across the manicured wn to the extra-wide driveway, where a sleek bck Mercedes awaits. Lacy performs a bomb check, then ushers you into the bulletproof vehicle.

  You watch the scenery as Lacy makes her way out of the residential neighborhood and onto the intercity highway. Valhal is an upscale city, a perfect mix of urban and suburban. You watch kids pying basketball in their backyards, Anthros mowing the wn or washing cars. You see one dad pushing his young giraffe daughter, who was probably five or six years old and already half his size, on a tire swing. The idyllic scenes make you feel rexed, and your mind drifts towards the meeting ahead.Pre-Assignment was a unique experiment created by your mother, with no small amount of input on your part. After a long political battle, the Governess had managed to get the bill passed, and the first Pre-Assignment had been made a little over a year ago. The concept was simple enough. With a standard Assignment, a male was entered into the Assignment Portal on his 21st birthday. Any eligible Anthro who was interested would then submit an application. The Assignment Committee would view all applications, interview well-qualified candidates, and select the most suitable Anthro and Assign the male to her. As soon as she received the official Notice of Assignment Approval from the Office of Assignment, the Anthro could schedule a day to pick up her new partner, sign the requisite forms, and go home as a married woman. There was no input from the male. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in less-than-perfect success rates among newly married couples. Differences in temperament, conflicting religious or political beliefs, and career aspirations were just some of the reasons any given Assignment might not work out. The couple would then have to go through the long and arduous process of Re-Assignment, which sometimes sted years.Governess Baldwin, inspired by your college admissions essay on Anthro-Human marriage customs, had decided to try a new system. Pre-Assignment worked the same way regur Assignment did regarding initial applications and Committee reviews. However, instead of picking one applicant and automatically pairing her with a male, the Committee would select three Anthros and enter them into a pool. The male would then spend a total of 72 hours with each Anthro over the course of a month. Some of that time would be spent in private, but the majority would be under the supervision of a trained Assignment Officer. At the end of the month, the male would be allowed to rank the applicants. An Anthro had up to this point to drop out of the pool. The Committee would analyze the information gleaned from the 'dates' and make a decision. The male's preference was only taken into consideration in the event of a tie. As one Assignment Officer had anonymously told a journalist from the Valhal Times, "It's a token concession to progressives and the masculinist movement. At the end of the day, Anthros are better at picking mates than humans are."

  The system had rgely been viewed with annoyance and skepticism by the residents of Khan, the only city that had agreed to try the experiment (after the Governess had given them a million-dolr grant to fund the project). The majority of Anthros considered it an enormous waste of time and money and thought it was an attempt to secure the votes of the few eligible males in the Blue Region. The press had come after your mother hard, accusing her of being a closet masculinist who was on the Free Male Resistance's payroll. Rachel Wisdom, who had lost her position to your mother seven years ago and had been unable to recover it, had taken things further by telling the public that "if Louisa Baldwin is re-elected, she will completely do away with Assignment within two years."

  Louisa had absorbed the mudslinging with her usual mix of grace and tact.

  "I believe that this approach will benefit humans and Anthros," she would tell the reporters or civilians who would ask about the allegations. "My number one priority is to ensure that 100% of Assignments result in long, happy marriages. That isn't going to happen if we don't make some changes. I have been and will be working closely with the Office of Assignment to ensure that Pre-Assignment is as fair and effective as possible. And no, I have zero intention of abolishing Assignment. Until we solve the crime and fertility issues, that's something we can't even think about entertaining."

  You had not been immune to the pushback. Somebody at the Valhal School for Exceptionally Gifted Students - probably the organic chemistry instructor who had molested you on your first day - had leaked your admittance essay to the press. Although the media had left you alone because you were a male and because your mother had warned them that her family was off-limits, your Anthro cssmates were not as considerate.

  "What's the matter, humie? Not getting enough attention?"

  "Oh, look, here comes the real Governor."

  "Hey, Anon, gonna star in your own reality show - The Bachelor, Anthro edition?"

  "What a pompous little prick."

  "You need taming, human."

  This had gone on for about two months and intensified the day the first Pre-Assignment had been announced in the Assignment Portal. Instead of compining to the principal or your mom (as some of your Anthro cssmates had tauntingly suggested), you'd used the jibes as motivation to ace every subject. That year, you'd finished top of your css, which was the first time VSEGS had had a human earn the best grades. Although this didn't eliminate the insults, it had stopped the insinuations that you were just a troublemaker who was there because your mommy was the Governess.

  Despite the controversy and resistance, the experiment was proving to be a success. In the year Pre-Assignment had been in effect, 96% of marriages reported no serious issues, compared to the 72% average across the Blue Region. Several cities, including Valhal, had adopted the new policy, and prognosticators predicted that the whole Region would utilize it by the time elections rolled around. On top of that, the Governess of the Yellow Region had reached out to your mother to discuss incorporating Pre-Assignment into her own region.

  It wasn't just the Anthros who liked the new system. Your best friend, George Wellman, had been assigned a month ago and raved about the change.

  "It's incredible," he'd enthused during a pickup basketball game. "I used to have nightmares about being Assigned to an abusive jaguar or a cow with Henry the Eight syndrome. With this approach, you know what to expect. There are no unpleasant surprises, at least until you get in the sheets. All bets are off then. But seriously, these shrinks, I mean Assignment Officers, know what they're doing. You remember Paul from high school? He was Pre-Assigned to this clingy collie, and by clingy I mean freaking obsessed. She passed the background check and psychological evaluation no problem. But, when she was with Paul, she went all yandere. She wouldn't leave him alone for two seconds, wouldn't take her paws off him. When he was with another Anthro, she'd stalk them and leave him notes and the other Anthro threatening messages. Messed up, right? Well, with the old system, Paul would've been stuck with her. Even if the OA sent an officer to their house on a wellness check, she could pretend to be normal and convince them that Paul just hadn't settled in. Thanks to Pre-Assignment, the office stepped in and pulled her from the pool. She's had her Assignment privileges suspended for five years, and Paul ended up with a 300-pound hog who treats him like a king. And it's all because of you and your mom."

  And now it was your turn. You wonder what kind of Anthro is waiting for you. Would she be elegant and serene, like your grandmother? Or would she be pyful and feisty? Would she be dominant or favor equality (you had yet to meet a submissive Anthro).

  Lacy's voice breaks into your train of thought, shattering the reverie. "We're almost there, Anon. How are you doing?"

  You turn your head from the window to see her huge bck eyes peering at you from the rearview mirror.

  "Okay, I guess," you say with a shrug. "I'm not really ready to get married yet, but I understand that this is how life goes. I just hope whoever I end up with is supportive of me finishing my education."

  Lacy makes a left turn. "What kind of Anthro do you want as a wife?"

  The question takes you off guard. No one's ever asked you that before.

  "Do you mean appearance or personality?" you ask.

  Lacy makes another turn, this time onto a deserted side road. She always insisted on taking the most unconventional, unpredictable route possible. "Both."

  You pause, realizing you'd never given it much thought before. "I think I'd like-"

  BANG!

  The car jolts violently, skidding wildly as all four tires burst. You're thrown forward and then caught by the seatbelt as Lacy sms on the brakes. The car screeches to a halt, and for a second you think the vehicle will flip. It doesn't; the left side falls back to earth with a jarring thud.

  Lacy is already unbuckling herself and reaching for the emergency radio. "Anon, get-"

  She cuts off with a gurgle a millisecond after a bullet pierces the windshield. Blood sprays the leather seat and she slumps over. The radio falls from her paw and ctters to the floor.

  "Lacy!" With shaking hands you undo your own seatbelt and crawl forward, grabbing the bear's huge arm and searching for a pulse. You don't find one, but you can see her chest rising. You also see the wound on the side of her neck gushing blood. Tearing your eyes from your injured bodyguard, you reach for the radio.

  The sound of screaming metal makes you jump. To your utter astonishment and horror, you see a massive Anthro, dressed in bck combat fatigues and wearing a mask but unmistakably an elephant, ripping the passenger door off its hinges. A second Anthro reaches in and grabs your arms. She starts to drag you out, but you know you aren't being rescued. This is a kidnapping. You struggle, trying to shake loose from your captor's grip. As your feet clear the vehicle, you bring them in front of you and nd a well-pced double kick to the Anthro's midsection. She doesn't even flinch.

  "Stop struggling," the Anthro orders, her voice muffled by the ski mask. "This will be a lot less painful if you don't fight it."

  You feel a prick on the neck, then a burning pain as the contents of a hypodermic syringe are emptied into your bloodstream. Your head spins and your vision begins to cloud. Your body feels like it's turning to lead, and you sag into your captor's arms.

  The st thing you see before unconsciousness cims you is the elephant putting two bullets into Lacy's head.