Spy in Disguise by anonymous

The Human and Anthro kingdoms are at WAR!!!
And you've been assigned a very... unique position
The kingdom's sorcerer has been slaving away on creating a powerful artifact that, upon being worn, will place a glamor over your human body...
... to make you look like one of them!
And they're giving it to you to use it to infiltrate their ranks and spy on them
After putting it on, you wandered across the border and have been playing the role of a refugee escaping from a village destroyed by human forces to their capital
It's been two months and so far, so good, but there have been numerous close calls
Almost instantly you were reminded that anthros experience the world in a completely different way from humans, a way that's sometimes hard to fake and harder to keep your cover around
This was taught to you the hard way when, on your very first encounter with anthro-kind, they accused you of "smelling like a human"
You've had to cover your scent dutifully ever since, and you've made it a point to bathe alone
But while you can cover up your scent and mask your appearance, understanding their body language is much more difficult, and as your disguise was made by humans who didn't understand it either, it makes you seem off compared to the natives
Most have been willing to ascribe it to you being a traumatized victim of war, or having been too 'humanized' by living too close to the border (oh, if only they knew), so your cover has been kept intact, so far
But there's one anthro who you're worried about
He's a former soldier who had been fighting on the frontlines, unable to return due to injury
As such, he’s got a MASSIVE hate boner for humans
Which is very ironic as he's technically one of your closest 'friends' here, and has helped you get on your feet (or paws, you guess) here in the unfamiliar capital, and at least on the surface he's all smiles towards you
But lately he’s been much more interested you than normal
Even more so than prior, anyway…
It all started when he chanced on you very late one night in the streets when you were trying to dead drop information back to your Kingdom
You tried to make your excuses and get of there fast, but he noticed that you had a sealed letter in your hand, innocently but pointedly asking who it’s for and what’s in it, trying to swipe it from you
Completely in a panic, you resolutely refused, clutching it your chest
He cocked his head and eyebrow in suspicion and pointedly asked “you’re acting very strange, Anon… do you have something you need to tell me about? Regarding that letter…?”
Your mind going blank in terror, you blurted out the only thing you could think of
That it was a love letter
To your surprise this stunned him completely, leaving him speechless with a shocked and almost… angry expression
You took the chance to blurt out an apology and run as fast as you could away from him
But unfortunately, this has only made him tail you more
He’s kept up his friendly demeanor but there’s an intensity behind his actions and words that have you starting to fear him
He’s asked you straight to your snout-
Err, face, who’s the paramour you’re sending the letters to, and gets very irritated when you tell him you CAN’T tell him
You’re pretty sure he’s been stalking you constantly since then, and you haven’t been able to send any information for over a week as a result
And to your horror, even though you were sure you were covering your steps, he’s found out that you go alone to bathe in the communal bath at 2 AM
Your blood runs cold as he steps out (completely naked and aggressively eyeing you up) into the warm waters, saying what a coincidence it was to see you here at this hour
Thank the gods you’re still wearing the glamor, which is disguised as a simple pendant, but he instantly takes notice that it was the only thing you were wearing
Again innocently but pointedly, he took it into his paws and asked “it’s a nice pendant, Anon, but it’s a little strange to be wearing it here… what does it mean to you?”
Trying to stay calm, you responded that it was simply an important heirloom to you that you didn’t like to be without, and told him to please not touch it
Now almost offended, he refused to yield it to you and in a growling voice asked “Anon, it’s time to come clean with me. Ever since that evening with the letter I’ve been noticing something’s off about you”
Well, at least you now know that you weren’t being paranoid, but this is bad!
”The way you speak, the way you talk, even your scent sometimes, it’s just like… like THEM… like a HUMAN…”
Oh no…!
”And the metal work on this, I know human metallurgy when I see it! I know what it means, Anon! You can’t hide it from me any longer!”
Is… is this really it?!
”… you were in love with a human, weren’t you?! That’s who the letters are for, and that’s who the pendant is from!”
Wait, what…?
You desperately try to tell him that no, that’s not it at all, but he isn’t having any of it
”Don’t try to deny it, Anon! Listen, I’m not mad at you and I’m not going to turn you in, but we’re at war! Humans are our ENEMIES! You’re living here now, with us, your own kind! You have to leave your feelings for him in the past. I can’t let you keep sending those letters!”
Realizing that it’s better than being unmasked completely, you decide to cut your losses, and meekly agree to stop sending the letters, hoping he’ll leave it at that
But he doesn’t leave it at that
His demeanor softens a bit and he quietly whispers “thank you, Anon. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you by doing this…”
But his grip on the pendant doesn’t soften
In fact, you can feel the chain starting to tighten around the nape of your neck as he begins to pull it even further away from you
Your eyes go wide and you tell him to stop it, trying to get a grip on the chain, but he uses his free hand to swat your grasping attempts at reclaiming it at bay, all the while the tension in the string only getting stronger
”No, Anon! I told you, you need to let him go! Keeping this is only going to torment you!”
You plead and beg with him that he doesn’t understand, and that you NEED the pendant, but it falls on deaf ears
”Can’t you see?! I’m only doing this because I care about you! B-because I… because I LIKE you! I can take better care of you than a human ever could, and I’ll prove it…!”
And, with one final pull, the pendant’s string broke apart
A flash of light, perhaps your disguise dissolving into an aetherial non-substance, blinded you as the two of you fell backwards
You didn’t feel any different physically as your lower body hit the lukewarm water, but you knew that you were now fully, visibly, undeniably your regular, human self to anybody who could see you
And that it was all over for you
In typical anthro fashion, your “admirer” had recovered his vision faster than you
He was looking at you with an expression that was half horrified, half heartbroken with tears forming at the periphery of his eyes and getting lost in his soggy fur
”An…on… y-you’re… how can you be a… how could I have… this is insanity…!”
You broke eye contact to find that the pendant had fallen perfectly halfway between the two of you
The jig is up, for good this time, but…
If you could somehow grab it and lose him, then maybe, just maybe you could get out of here with your head still attached to your shoulders
He’s bigger and stronger than you, but ironically, his human-sourced injury causes him to walk with a limp, and you could probably out-speed him if you needed to
You didn’t have time for any more detailed thinking, so you immediately sprang into action
You first stood up slowly (covering your nethers, though modesty was no object at this point), and addressed him with genuine sorrow, telling him that you were one who was sorry, for deceiving him like this, and that he had been a truly great friend to you despite it all
He made a pathetic whimper like something had died in his throat on hearing you, closing his eyes and allowing the tears from the roiling emotions that were surely wracking him to fall
As he did this, you made your move, rushing forward and grabbing the pendant from between the underwater tiles
At first you didn’t hear any movement from his side of the pool as you rushed to make a desperate escape
You didn’t really have time to put your clothes back on, so you just grabbed a towel and wrapped it around your still dripping body, with your pendant clutched firmly and furtively over your chest
The pendant could disguise your form, but it couldn’t disguise the sound of your wet footsteps echoing off the cobblestone through the empty witching-hour streets
Unfortunately, just as you thought you were home free, a paw suddenly stuck out of an alleyway, clotheslining you and knocking you flat on your basically naked ass
Before you could regain your senses, the same paws were now pinning you down, and you could hear familiar sounding haggard breathing just above you
His breath was warm and fast, and his still soaking fur dripped body-temperature water onto your barely-covered skin
He had figured out where you were headed and had outmaneuvered you…!
”Hahhh… y-you… hrrrfff… traitorous, perfidious human…! Where do you… hufffff… think you’re going…?!”
His grip was like a vice, your right arm was going numb and you were pretty sure you were bleeding from his claws, fully extended and not even trying to be gentle
”I… demand an explanation… from you. You WILL tell me everything!”, he continued with unconcealed rage as he finally began to catch his breath
Even if you wanted to speak, the aching in the back of your head from the fall and the pain from his deathgrip prevented you from forming words
You now couldn’t feel your right arm at all, and with the loss of proprioception you had unintentionally dropped the pendant onto your chest
Before you could do anything, he lifted one paw and swatted it away before slamming it back down onto your chest
But he didn’t dig his claws into you this time, instead gazing at your re-revealed true form in silence
You could only meet his gaze briefly before shame made you avert your gaze, filled with guilt and regret
The silence continued for what felt like forever as he continued to hold you down, beholding your human body
You had never felt more naked
But finally, he broke the silence, breathless still and with an almost… hungry lilt to his voice:
”And… that’s not… the only thing that I demand… from you… Anon…”
You tried to meet to his gaze again to try to discern what he meant by that, only to feel his body lower onto yours, his whiskers tickle your cheek, and before you could react, his lips press against yours as his tongue roughly and insistently invaded your mouth
Every bone in your body hurt, you were naked, wet, and bleeding, and you were in mortal danger, but none of it mattered
Only a looming sense of uncertainty could penetrate past the burning in your cheeks and chest as the two of you lost yourselves in each other