by Harry Nix
“You really don’t remember? I knew that was a side effect of going a little wild but I guess I never really believed it,” Nia said.
“Going wild?”
“Well, not wild Wild with the capital W. Transformation wild. You don’t remember the alleyway? Fighting the weredog?”
“Fighting the-”
Then it came back. The cold cobblestones. The monster dog. Throwing the coffee. The attack.
The kiss.
Alex groaned and grabbed his head as the memory slammed into him like a cement block.
The kiss... but then the black. The nothing, until the floor and the toy monkey.
“You turned into a wolf girl!”
He practically shouted it and even pointed a finger at Nia.
“Easy as pie,” she said and then transformed in front of him. Between one blink and the next she now had wolf ears sticking up from her red hair. She had copper fur covering her curvy body. She was still completely naked, of course so he couldn’t help but be drawn to gaze at her as she rolled on her side to show a fluffy tail sticking up from that perfect bubble butt.
“You’ll be able to do it too if you practice,” she said.
Another blink of the eye and she was smooth skin, no ears and tail. Alex gently swayed on the spot – he could feel her transformation. It was tugging at him, like her doing it meant he could follow along.
Nia rolled on to her back again and this time parted her legs.
“Now, Alpha, please come here,” she said.
The word rolled over him and some distant part noted he should rightly be freaking the hell out over it and others (like weredog) but it also felt... true. Correct. The world was as it should be and before it had been wrong.
He took a step, hearing the wooden floor creak beneath his tread. The bed protested too as he put his weight on it. Hadn’t he lost fat? Now he seemed like he was far heavier than before.
“Good boy,” Nia whispered as he began to stroke her feet. They, like him and the rest of her were dotted in tiny blood droplets. As he planted a kiss on the sole of her foot he tasted the blood and realized it was his, and hers.
That thing in the alleyway was a weredog... so was she a were...wolf?
He kissed his way up Nia’s calf, past her knee and to her inner thigh. She giggled at first and then sighed as he climbed higher up her body. There was something familiar about the curves of her body, the taste of her skin, the scent of her.
He kissed a semi-circle, going up past her bellybutton and down again, coming closer, brushing against her as she sighed.
“Please,” she said, reaching down to tug his hair.
He gave her a long slow lick, her sigh abruptly cut off as he swirled his tongue. Alex grabbed her cute little butt with both hands, tilting her hips and moving fast and slow, changing tempo as Nia gasped beneath him.
The taste of her was delicious and the sounds she was making were driving him wild.
Soon he built up a rhythm and her groans and sighs were replaced with short breaths. She was getting close now, her legs starting to twitch, Nia tipping over the edge.
She cried out, one hand pulling his hair, the other flung over her mouth to muffle the sound. He kept going, pushing her further but then she had both hands on top of his head and was squirming away.
“No, no, it’s too sensitive,” she gasped.
“No matter,” he growled.
He gripped her wrists and in one smooth move rose up her body and into her. She instinctively tipped her hips back as he pushed her wrists down on to the bed.
“Oh goddess,” Nia moaned.
Her cheeks had flushed and he realized she had a small scattering of freckles across them he hadn’t noticed before. Between the sounds, her green eyes and the liquid heat, the urge to bite her, to dominate, to possess her utterly was overwhelming.
Nia was still riding aftershocks as he plunged into her again and again and soon she was gasping, pleading, moaning beneath him. At some point he pushed her knees up, letting go of her wrists and gripping the back of her neck with his hands. She was curled up beneath him, his body utterly under his control.
Time slipped away in the haze of it. Normally the world would narrow, his entire focus the girl on his bed but strangely, Alex felt his senses expand. He could hear small animals in the forest, distant birds chirping and bees drowsing along. There seemed suddenly an invisible pool of warmth around him, moving like the tides. A cold spot drifted past his feet and then Nia opened her eyes beneath him.
“Is that magic?” she asked in a shocked tone.
She could feel it too – the connection of their bodies pulling her into it.
Nia went to speak again but soon lost all ability to do little more than moan. Alex could feel the warmth around him, pushing against his body. Although it was separate from him, it felt like it was running down through his muscles, as luxurious as a hot bath. When he moved, he felt it move too.
Alex increased his pace, feeling familiar tingles down in his lower back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the toy monkey, nodding and rocking like crazy, small golden sparks moving over it.
It’s magic he thought and then there was nothing more but the pure rush of Nia beneath him, the flood of heat through his body and Nia shaking in return.
It was never good form to fall asleep immediately but Alex couldn’t resist it, nor could Nia. Her saw her eyes closing and felt his doing the same. He saw for a moment that various things in the room had been floating off the ground, held aloft by golden sparks before sleep overtook him.
The last thing he heard was the thumps of them falling to the wooden floor and Nia’s contented sigh in his ear.
3
Nia woke up first and smiled at Alex sleeping beside her.
It had been an extremely wild three days. It was a shame he couldn’t remember it but apparently it would come back to him soon enough... and she was more than happy to help him reenact their time in bed.
She gently ran her fingers over his shoulder, noting the growing muscle. It was still incredible to her that he’d never shifted until she’d pulled him with her. Since she had, he was undergoing a transformation that usually happened much earlier in a werewolf’s life.
There were a thousand questions about the how and why of his life and now with things floating around the room and golden sparks a thousand more about magic. She’d felt it while they were connected. Magic users could share their connection if they so chose and she’d done so with her friend Juno, a witch, from time to time.
There were plenty of magic users around – witches and warlocks and sorcerers and garden variety hedge mages – and plenty of werewolves and other were-creatures but a magic using werewolf? She’d only heard of such things in stories. If a werewolf ever used magic it was usually a wand, a ring, an artifact of some kind supplied by a magic user (or stolen from one). Werewolves usually preferred teeth and claws to spells.
“Where have you been my dearest?” Nia whispered to Alex. The path to finding him seemed absurd now – so many decisions that had led her to discover the weredog tracking someone. Then her stalking the city convinced there was a hidden werewolf she had to find first. Weredogs were brutal vicious things sent with a single purpose – to rip a werewolf to pieces. That she’d finally found Alex shortly before the weredog had was incredible itself.
Now after seeing his magic she wondered if that had played a role? Had he been unconsciously shielding himself? Or had someone else and it had been wearing off? Plenty of nights she had felt herself getting closer but had always seemed to miss the target she was tracking.
But then she’d found him, just as the weredog had. The fight had been vicious but she’d managed to kill it however it had almost killed Alex. She’d known he was a werewolf but it made no sense that he hadn’t shifted... until she realized that he didn’t know what he was.
She had pulled an old trick that parents did on their young – a nip of blood and transform and the children
were pulled along, the blood calling to blood. When it was children it was easy – they were young and couldn’t run far in that mindless wild state the first transformation took them into.
Adults were far more difficult to control and Alex had certainly proven that, transforming into a black wolf and bolting out of the alleyway with lightning speed.
She’d had to hide his belongings on a rooftop (after snooping in his wallet), along with the dead weredog before she could chase after him. Thank the goddess it was still early in the morning with few people around and Alex’s wolf instincts were already working – he’d avoided being seen as he’d run. No sighting meant no pull on the Great Barrier. Didn’t need other supernaturals getting involved right now.
For the first two days she hadn’t spotted him at all – just his tracks and what was left of his kills. At one point he’d taken down a black bear that had crossed his path, tearing it to pieces.
She’d finally caught up to him on the third day and then the pursuit had reversed, him chasing her, beguiled by her scent.
He’d chased her cross-country as she lured him closer to a safe-house she knew that was owned by a friend. Alex had chased, getting closer, running after her in his hybrid form, standing a good seven feet tall with sharpened claws. In just the three days he’d already grown taller and was still adding on weight.
She shivered a little at the memory of it all... him smashing through the door downstairs, unable to stop to work a doorknob. Him leaping up the stairs, cornering her in the room.
He was an Alpha and he’d chased her until she’d turned and caught him.
Their mating had been wild and violent, slashing at each other with sharpened claws, biting and growling.
She had submitted to him but she was a proud werewolf and that meant a fight, during which he’d overpowered her. He’d bitten the back of her neck as she’d knelt on the bed, presenting herself to him.
Nia took a deep breath and tried to move her thoughts along but this singular moment could not be pushed away.
Alex was an Alpha and she’d mated with him. He’d claimed her and it was absolute. She was his now, until his death, or hers.
That he apparently hadn’t known he was a werewolf, or a magic user, meant that he was sure to be surprised when he woke up and discovered he now had a werewolf mate... or wife, in other words.
Her own father had had six wives, her mother being the second. It was what packs did and now to think that going to Baxter looking for a job of all things had resulted in finding an Alpha and becoming his first wife? It was incredible.
She stroked his back and Alex sighed in his sleep. Once he awoke they’d have to get started on those thousand questions... and at some point she’d have to talk to Juno. Would it be possible for her to help train Alex? What would the other magic users do about a spell-casting werewolf?
She suspected she already knew the answer given the various groups usual responses: they’d put him to death.
It appeared someone had already tried, given the weredog they’d sent after him. And if they sent one, surely another would follow.
Nia smiled to herself at the idea of introducing Juno to Alex. Alex may have been a regular person days ago but now he’d transformed and that was in body and mind. He’d be sure to start looking to add to his pack as soon as possible. As first wife she could guide this process somewhat, with an eye as to strengthening the pack... and adding a little blonde witch sounded good to her.
For now she closed her eyes and rested her palm on his skin. He was running hot, the transformation even now strengthening his bones, growing muscle and healing his wounds. She snuggled in close beside him, enjoying the heat from his body and soon drifted off.
4
Alex awoke from a fragment of dream. He’d been chasing a pig – no, a boar, a giant of a thing, splattered in mud with sharp tusks. They’d already fought and it had sliced his arm before bolting. He leapt, an astonishing distance through the air, landing on its back and knocking it to the ground. Before it could rise he’d swiped at it, ripping its throat out. Then he’d feasted on the boar, his muzzle wet with warm blood...
He opened his eyes, the image of the boar before him. The fragment of dream had so much savagery, violence and blood but he felt nothing but a calm contentment about it all. Even crunching into the boar, wet muscle ripping in his teeth felt right, and good.
Nia resolved from a blur as he focused his eyes. She was watching him with a happy half-lidded gaze. He supposed he looked the same – that freshly screwed post-orgasm look.
“Hey,” Nia whispered and reached up to brush the side of his face.
Mine a voice inside answered, and like killing the boar it came with that same calm contentment, the feeling of rightness.
“Hey,” he whispered back and stroked his fingers down Nia’s arm. A rush of goosebumps followed and she gave a little shiver. She was naked, as he was, and the closeness of her, the warmth he could feel coming from her body was intoxicating. He could smell her, a sort of spice and heat together. Despite the fact they’d just been together, certain body parts had strong opinions about what should happen next.
Nia glanced down and giggled. “Round three?”
Alex just smiled at her, even as he felt himself grow harder. He felt no urge to cover himself up, and the strangeness of that feeling caught his attention. To be naked, vulnerable and wanting in front of a girl he barely knew... it was strange indeed.
“Is it really round three? I feel like I know you... you know?”
Nia winked at him. “Well, if you mean know me, like the biblical know me, then yes, you know me. Knew me quite a few times last night actually. Knew me on the bed, on the floor, against the door...”
She was grinning at him. Alex laughed and shook his head.
“I’m sorry but I really don’t remember any of that. I don’t even know your last name! Why would that be?”
Nia put a hand to her throat in mock affront. “You don’t remember some of my – and probably yours – finest bedroom work? My good sir, I cannot believe it!”
Alex shook his head, thinking that he should be more concerned than he was. But this... calmness... it was more than just post-sex bliss. It was like something deep within him had forever been out of place and now had moved. He was where he was meant to be, doing what he was meant to do.
He glanced around the room at the blood droplets and damaged sheets. Okay, maybe not the blood so much, but in bed with this wolf girl? Yes, yes, yes.
“Why did I just dream about killing a boar? What are you? You had a tail! Why is there blood everywhere?”
Even as he asked his questions, Alex was finding it hard to concentrate with Nia in front of him. The message from between his legs was loud and clear: jump her right now!
Nia glanced down again and smiled.
“How about we get dressed and go downstairs so we can actually talk without various body parts getting ideas?” she said.
She reached out and brushed a finger against his hardness. The blood suddenly pounded in Alex’s head and then he groaned as Nia suddenly leapt up from the bed and pulled on clothes from the floor.
“Just get dressed... oh, wait, these are all April’s clothes. Um... don’t worry. We’ll find a clean sheet and then look for clothes later.”
With that she bolted out of the room. Alex got up, quickly checked the closet for any clothes (nothing, unless he wanted to wear a mini-skirt) and then followed her out.
As he’d seen from the window, they were on the second floor. The polished boards extended out of the room and down the corridor to a landing and staircase. There were various other rooms coming off the corridor and Alex knew, without really knowing how, that the house was empty.
“Here, it has unicorns on it but it should fit,” Nia said, pulling a sheet out of a linen cupboard down the hall. She tossed it at him and then went running down the stairs.
Alex looked at the sheet. It was covered in sparkly unicorns in va
rious poses. After checking the cupboard and finding it only filled with multiple unicorn sheets he shrugged and fashioned in into a kind of toga before following Nia downstairs.
On the bottom floor he found the front door splintered and hanging off one hinge. There was dried mud splattered in the entranceway and he gave a double blink when he saw the imprint of a large clawed foot.
“Werewolf,” Alex murmured to himself.
“Yup, that’s you!” Nia called out from another room. From the sound of things she was clearly in a kitchen. Alex heard a sizzle as she dropped bacon into a hot frying pan.
He followed the delicious scent, his stomach suddenly grumbling and making its desires known, namely: eat all the things.
As his nose had advised, she was cooking bacon and rushing around getting food out of the fridge. He sat on the stool on the other side of the kitchen counter and looked around. This wasn’t quite a mansion but it was too big to be a house either. From the plates stacked in the cupboards and the double cook tops it looked like a small dormitory maybe.
“So, can you tell me what’s happening to me?” Alex asked.
“You can’t remember because, as I said, you went little w wild. It happens in the first shift. It’s a sort of mindless wild state where you’re just an animal. It’s only temporary though – a few weeks and it’ll all come flooding back.”
“Including last night?”
Alex was having trouble keeping his eyes off Nia. She was wearing a skirt and t-shirt but whomever April was, she as shorter than Nia. As a result, the skirt was very mini-skirt and showed off her legs, and the curve of her butt.
She whirled around with a knife in one hand and a red pepper in the other.
“Oh, you betcha. And if you’re having trouble remember, I am more than happy to reenact it for you.”
She threw the pepper on the chopping board and started slicing.
Alex looked down at his unicorn toga until the sudden urge in his body to leap the counter subsided.
“That’s gonna be a thing too for a while. Your werewolf side is fresh out of its cage for the first time in twenty-five years. It wants to run.”
