Animal Behavior (14 page)

Her pack mates had taken it in stride, but Gwen had been
horrified. She knew that Dan Hunter’s life would be forever changed in ways he
couldn’t yet imagine. But the worst of it was that Gwen had been charged with
seeing him safely through to his new reality.

Alex hadn’t been much help. He and Jeremiah had given Dan a
thumbnail sketch of his predicament, fed him rare steaks and eggs over-easy and
handed him off to Gwen. “She’ll take real good care of you, son,” Jeremiah had
said.

Then they dropped Dan and Gwen off at Chaney Acres and made
a hasty exit. She’d thought that she was in real danger of passing out when she
slipped the amulet over her head and led him to the cave. It was only her sense
of responsibility to this poor, clueless guy that kept her from curling into a
ball and waiting for the whole thing to be over.

She’d lit the lanterns, just like the book had instructed,
then guided Dan Hunter into the cell. Centuries of notes from her ancestors
jumbled in her mind.

Gwen pulled the old rocking chair out of the shadows, well
out of reach of the bars, and settled in, pasted on her best confident face and
smiled at the fledgling.

The skinny young man behind the bars brushed his greasy
blond hair from his eyes and stared back at her.

“What’s going to happen to me?” he asked.

As soon as Dan uttered the question, it was as if a switch
had been flipped in Gwen’s psyche. Generations worth of journal entries had
recorded this question and supplied her with an answer. “You’re safe here, Dan.
I can’t explain what’s about to happen. You wouldn’t believe me even if I
could. But know this, nothing you can say or do will shock me. I won’t take any
of it personally. Don’t you worry. It’ll be over soon.”

Gwen had barely finished her scripted speech when the
overgrown skater boy began his transformation.

“Is it hot in here?” he asked before frantically ripping off
his clothes.

Dan paced the length of the cell, apparently unembarrassed
by his nakedness, then stopped as if hitting an invisible wall and stared up at
the skylight. Gwen leaned forward and followed his gaze. The edge of the
three-quarter moon had just breeched the opening.

The fledgling drew in an audible breath of awe, and turned
to Gwen. “Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?” he asked.

Gwen smiled back at him and silently scoffed at the
obviously exaggerated tales in her handbook. She sat back in the rocker and
crossed her arms under her breasts. Dan’s handsome features came into focus as
the moon slid across the sky. Gwen thought it was like watching a Broadway
production.

The lines of Dan’s wiry body became a work of art under the
moonlight. Every peak and valley of his lean muscles was defined in the glow.
He tilted his face up to the skylight and the action reminded Gwen of a man
standing under the cleansing stream of a shower.

Dan stretched out his arms and the change overtook him. He
moaned as his limbs stretched and his boyish face morphed into something
between man and animal. Gwen was mesmerized by the transformation. Even as he
doubled over in obvious pain, she leaned forward to take in every nuance. She
was a detached observer.

When his body had fully changed he jerked his attention from
the skylight and focused on her. He stomped to the barrier between them and
wrapped his clawed hands around the iron bars. She focused on the long strings
of saliva dripping from his newly formed jaws. “I will kill you, bitch!” he
growled.

Gwen couldn’t help but smile. The miracle she’d witnessed
was something outside of reason and she was honored by the enormity of it.

“Not tonight you won’t,” she whispered.

Everything she had read in that journal, every line she had
studied, had foretold what she would see tonight, but nothing had prepared her
for the awesome beauty of it. Gwen sat back in the chair and wrapped her
fingers over the padded armrests. She rocked serenely while Dan Hunter met the
moon.

She weathered his viscous threats then kept watch while he
collapsed on the cot’s bare mattress and panted as sleep overtook him. For all
the young man’s fear and pain, Gwen couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

Six Months Later

Gwen slipped the amulet around her neck and led the frail
woman into the late afternoon sun. Jenny Williams was the third new wolf that
Gwen had been charged with seeing through the change. The little hippie had
been bitten while attending an outdoor concert in northern Wisconsin. She’d
insisted that she was a vegetarian, but had eaten ravenously when Sergei and
Alex presented her with rare steaks and runny eggs.

The women slipped into the hidden opening in the stacked
stone wall and picked their way down the dim tunnel. Jenny looked frightened,
but didn’t protest when Gwen locked her into the cell. “What’s going to happen
to me?” she asked.

Gwen settled into the overstuffed rocking chair outside the
iron bars. “You’re safe here. I can’t explain what’s about to happen. You
wouldn’t believe me even if I could. But know this, nothing you can say or do
will shock me. I don’t take any of it personally. Don’t worry. It’ll be over
soon.”

The formerly peace-loving Jenny ripped off her clothes and
stormed around the cell. She frothed and spewed murderous threats through the
bars while her guide smiled serenely and rocked in her chair. Gwen plucked a
tattered paperback from the basket beside her and when she opened the cover the
subtle scent of cherry pipe tobacco wafted up to her nose. She smiled at the
memory of her grandfather and silently thanked him for leading her to this
adventure.

Jenny threw herself against the bars. “I will fucking kill
you, you stupid cow!”

“Not tonight, you won’t,” Gwen said. She set down her book
and watched the little blonde’s lithe body transform. Her willowy arms and legs
bulged with new, lean muscles and the tiny, upturned nose pushed out into a
long snout. Her ears slid up the side of her head and molded into sharp peaks.
When the yellow fur poked through her skin, the new werewolf stepped under the
skylight, threw back her head and howled at the full moon.

Gwen knew that though Jenny’s body was going through an
actual transformation, much of what she was witnessing was illusion. How much
of it was real and how much of it was lunar magic was still a mystery to Gwen.
John Chaney had left behind detailed instructions on how to do her job, but
some secrets were reserved only for the moon people.

Pride and longing washed over Gwen. She was honored to guide
this fledgling through her initial trial, but wondered if she’d ever travel
that path herself. With Alex’s guidance and input from the elders, she’d
accepted the role of human consort. She knew that the council was biased—they
were invested in the future of pack.

It was her lover’s opinion that she’d taken to heart. “There’s
plenty of time to think about whether or not you want to become one of us. I
still have the second dose of tea and you can take the potion at any time.”
Alex had said. “You can serve the pack while you decide and in the meantime we
can still be together.”

Gwen glanced in the cell as the fully shifted Jenny
collapsed on the cot. The little blonde werewolf panted and twitched in her
sleep. She would be out cold for the rest of the night and only return to her
human form when the first rays of morning sunshine streamed through the
skylight. Gwen would watch over her tonight and every full-moon evening for the
next several months.

The first night was always the worst, and once she’d gotten
through this trial, Jenny would be mated with Sergei. The dark werewolf had
petitioned Alex for her on the same day she’d arrived in Talbot and his request
had been granted.

Jenny whined in her sleep and Gwen recalled the lusty look
in the woman’s eyes when she’d met the Russian. The little blonde had
immediately agreed to the match. It was within Alex’s power to deny the union
without grounds, but he had proven to be a good and fair leader. He and Gwen
had accepted Sergei’s apology for the attack. All three knew that it was the
desperate act of a man who was watching his position as alpha slip away.

Gwen was proud of Alex and proud to be his. The two had
become mates without fanfare or ceremony. Their passion for one another seemed
to grow every day and their lovemaking changed with the moon phase. Gwen
thought it was like having two lovers in one man—at turns gentle and frenzied.
The memories of their time together flooded her mind in a slideshow of sexual
images and her body responded.

When she thought of his strong body looming over her and the
way he filled her so completely, her pussy throbbed and wetness soaked her
panties. She squirmed in her chair and ground her thighs together, but that
only made her longing more intense. She was just about to snake her hand down
the front of her jeans and relieve her aching need when she heard shuffling
from the mouth of the tunnel.

Squinting to see in the dim lamplight, Gwen leaned forward
in her chair. The copper-colored werewolf prowled out from the shadows and Gwen
felt her heartbeat quicken.

“Were you thinking of me, love? I can smell your want.”

The deep, gravely timbre of his voice bounced off the stone
walls and caused a shiver to speed up Gwen’s spine. She cast a glance in the
cell and, seeing that Jenny was still dead to the world, stood and stripped off
her clothes. When she turned, Alex was in front of her, his amber eyes flashing
in the flickering light. He reached out and dragged the back of his hand over
her cheek and across her throat. She cried out when he ran a sharp fingernail
down her sternum and over the rise of one breast. He pinched the aching nipple
and the juices gushed from her, smearing her inner thighs.

His gaze was so intense that she had to fight to break it
and take in his beautiful man-beast body. When she saw his hard cock straining toward
her, she licked her lips and knelt on the cold stone floor and took him into
her mouth. A low growl rumbled from his chest and she could feel the vibration
on her tongue. She sucked hard on his engorged shaft and he wrapped his hand
into her hair, guiding her movements for a moment before yanking her to her
feet.

He pushed her back into the chair and draped her legs over
the padded arms then sank to his knees in front of her. The feel of his shaggy
jaws along her skin sent a shiver through her body. She stroked his enormous
head as he licked a path up her inner thighs then teased her outer lips. He
played outside her opening until her clit crested through her glistening curls
and she whimpered for contact. “Please, Alex!” she finally cried. He shoved his
long, thick tongue into her, contorting it to touch hidden places deep inside.

Hooking her arms under her knees, Gwen stretched herself
wide and lifted her hips into his face. He pulled back long enough to lap the
cream from her throbbing sex before plunging back into her slick canal. As her
orgasm built, Gwen let go of her knees and pulled him into her. When he grasped
her calves and clawed at the soft flesh, she exploded in release.

Before she could catch her breath, Alex was on his feet. He
pulled her from the chair. “Grab on,” he commanded, placing her hands on his
shoulders. Gwen did as she was told and he reached behind her to take hold of
her thighs, and easily lifted her against his hard body. Clinging to him and
pressing her face to his, Gwen cried out when he impaled her on his thick rod.

His erection stretched her wide and every movement was
ecstasy as he effortlessly bounced her against his body. With each lunge, her
nipples were grazed by his hairy chest, fueling her lust. Just as she felt
herself climbing again, his tempo increased to a superhuman pace. “Yes, Alex!
Yes!” she panted and tightened her grip on his neck as the second climax rippled
through her. Alex drew out her orgasm with his manic thrusts and when she
thought she could take no more, he pulled down her hips until he was buried to
the hilt and she felt his enormous cock swell and jerk inside her. He threw
back his head and howled. While his cum seeped from her, Gwen rested her cheek
on his chest and from far off she could hear the howls of the other pack
members answering their alpha’s call.

* * * * *

Gwen dropped her book into the basket and glanced into the
cell. The morning light had returned Jenny to her human form and she sat naked
on the cot. “How are you feeling?” Gwen asked.

The little hippie rose and pulled on her clothes. “I feel
great! I’m starving, but awesome!”

The new werewolf’s sunny demeanor was a complete one-eighty
from her mood the night before. Gwen knew that it would continue to improve as
Jenny realized her full potential. Before long Jenny would be stronger and
faster than any human. Her senses would become incredibly acute, she’d have
perfect health and her life expectancy would double or even triple.

Gwen unlocked the cell door. “Let’s get you something to
eat.”

Jenny drew her consort into a big hug and whispered in her
ear, “Thanks so much, Gwen. I know I’ve got a long road ahead of me, but I’ve
been given a gift. I never imagined I could feel this way.”

Gwen returned her hug then led her through the tunnel.
Sergei and Alex were waiting for them outside the hidden entrance, both leaning
against Alex’s golf cart. Jenny sprinted to Sergei, launched herself into his
arms and covered his face with kisses. The big Russian laughed. “How did she
do, friend?”

“Came through with flying colors,” Gwen said. “She says she’s
hungry though.”

Sergei looked down at her. “Is that so?” he teased. She
nodded up at him and raised her eyebrow.

“Is it only food you’re hungry for, tiny one?” he asked. She
slowly shook her head and licked her lips. “Then I shall take you home and make
sure you are satisfied,” Sergei said, then bent down, hefted her over his
shoulder and slapped her on the ass. He took off running toward his farm with
his giggling mate bouncing against his broad back.

Gwen listened to Jenny’s laughter fade, and wrapped her arms
around Alex’s neck. “Long night?” he asked. Nodding, she climbed into the cart.
She was silent on the ride back to his log house. It
had
been a long
night. Between the adrenaline rush that accompanied watching a new werewolf
transform and the frantic lovemaking she and Alex had shared, Gwen was
exhausted. Her body was sore and the first hint of a headache was building
behind her forehead. She couldn’t imagine how her grandfather had kept it up
into his old age.

She followed Alex up the wide stone steps and through the
house to the kitchen. Settling in at the breakfast bar, Gwen watched Alex as he
pulled eggs and steaks from the fridge and set them by the stove. He grabbed a
mug and set it in front of Gwen. “Coffee?” he asked.

Gwen reached out and touched his hand. He looked across the
granite countertop at her, and when she was sure she had his attention, she
shook her head. “No, my love, I don’t want coffee. I’d rather have tea.”