Moon Phases

She led them along the seashore where their tracks would be rubbed out by the incoming tide, towards Hythe. This stretch of beach is almost totally wild with only a golf course and an army firing range abutting the endless sand. They travelled the five miles or so at a steady lope until they reached the car park that announced the start of the holiday village.

Immediately, the mood changed from the carefree gambol it had been as they flew across the sandy shore, to a careful appraisal of the surrounding area. The car park was empty, with nothing but harsh street lamps and white lines on black top.

Music was blaring from a pub across the main road and light from the shop windows flooded the pavements outside. The occasional car drove along the road. Alice was careful to avoid the lit areas and stayed out of sight from the drivers as they passed.

They angled away from the main street and passed through an alley towards the sea end of the town. The houses started to space out the further from the town centre they went, but still Alice was cautious.

Eventually, they reached the sea wall and took cover in a buddleia bush that leaned on the concrete of the sea defence wall. In front of them was a grassed area used during the day as a playing field for the local school children. At night, it had another fascination for play of a different kind and Alice knew that. They waited.

After some time, when total nightfall had dropped, a couple entered the park and sat on a bench at the far end. Still Alice waited, watching to see how things would pan out. Her patience was rewarded, because another couple came into the park and sat on the bench immediately in front of them. The girl was giggling and had obviously had a bit too much to drink.

Alice waited, the pack followed her lead. Their excitement increased in exponential increments as the time ticked by, until they were positively jumping in anticipation. It was almost unbearable to just crouch there, waiting for the sudden burst of energy that would signal the final point of the hunt.

The couple at the far end got up and walked away hand in hand, leaving the later couple to the park and their unseen audience. It looked as if the hunt was going sour shortly after, the male got up, pulling the drunken girl to her feet. The packs collective disappointment was quickly replaced by elation as he laid the girl on the grass. They watched as her clothing was stripped and the couple started to mate.

Alice signalled to one of the females with a simple lift of her snout. She slipped out from the cover of the bush. It was a practiced ploy to distract the victim. She crawled on her belly, whining as she neared the couple. They sat up and made calling sounds to what they mistook as a dog in trouble. It was a fatal mistake. In a blur of moving fur, the pack broke cover and descended on the pair. Alice took the male in the throat, cutting off any chance of a cry, while the decoy did the same to the female. Pretty soon, all that remained of the victims was bloody clothing, two heads and the extremities.

Jack silently watched the horrific scenes of carnage. Both fascinated and appalled at the same time. Once again, the smell of their blood and shit, repelled him, but he watched and marvelled at the precision of the attack.

Sated, the wolves returned to where Jack waited for them. A massive excitement was coursing through the wolves and in their exuberance, they rushed Jack, falling over him and buffeting him in playful joust. Alice stalked away, heading for the lair. They followed, but at a leisurely pace, their stomachs bloated and full.

Lucy, who had been the decoy, rubbed herself against him and blatantly offered him her sex. Jack dutifully took her aroma in, but found that she was not ready to mate. It didn't stop her though and she pushed him away from the pack towards the dunes. Soon they were far behind and isolated.

Her message was clear as she turned and confronted him. He could almost hear her asking, so Jack, are you going to fuck me, or what?

She lie on her side and spread her hind legs, exposing the soft fur and under belly. Again, Jack smelled her. She was in a state of arousal and, although not in season, was very ready to mate.

Playfully, she jumped up and ran around him until he started to get dizzy. With a deft move, he stuck a foreleg out and tripped her then jumped on her to pin her down. She did not resist his advance and turned under him so that her sex was raised and her tail twisted to one side out of the way.

Perhaps it was the lack of pheromones exuded when a bitch is on heat, but Jack seemed to take for ever getting excited. He had mounted her, but his cock didn't respond as it had with Alice twenty-seven nights previously. Eventually though, the friction of him rubbing against her sex, produced the desired result. His cock found her opening and although almost dry, entered her in a savage thrust that made her howl.

Relentlessly, he pistoned into her, driving deeper and deeper until his knot banged against her outer walls. She was too tight and dry to accept him all the way, but he managed to climax, spraying sperm all over her rump. Satisfied for now, she wandered away to leave him cleaning himself.

He heard Alice in her silent approach and was ready for her attack. When it came, instead of an unprotected flank, Alice encountered his mouth and a full set of teeth. She was no match for his superior size and weight. After a short fight, he had her by the throat and could easily have ended her life right there and then. As it was, he had the taste of her blood on his tongue. It was foul and the reflexive desire to gag made the decision to release her that much easier.

She limped away, once more heading for the lair. Jack followed at a distance, his hunger put to one side for now.

When they got back to safety, Lucy was excitedly running around the others, yelling her success in seducing Jack, proudly showing of his seed where it dried on her. She stopped in mid-stride as they entered, cowering a little as Alice passed close by, but Alice ignored her and went to her own private room away from the rest.

Lucy took up the crowing of her success until jack batted her once, tumbling her into an untidy heap against one of the settees.

They transformed after a while and after a short sleep, Jack picked up his bike and left them to their slumber to return home and a good meal of raw steak he had taken the trouble to get in. It hardly satisfied him, but the edge of his hunger was taken off.

That night, he made his way back to the lair. Lucy was in a terrible state, bleeding from several wounds and limping badly on what looked to be a broken forepaw.

Alice was nowhere to be seen, but a trail of blood led from the lair away towards the beach. He found her, dying from some deep gashes to her throat and shoulders. Her lifeblood was staining the golden sand.

She sighed and lifted her eyes towards him in silent pleading. Her transformation back to human form was a slow drawn out process, the effort too much for her.

"I'm sorry." She managed to whisper. Her heart stopped and her eyes closed for a final time.

Four grey shapes descended on her and ripped the carcass to pieces. Her growing pups had died with her, already formed into tiny furless miniatures. The four finished the job and stared at him in silent challenge.

Disgusted, he turned and went back to the lair. Lucy hobbled to him in greeting, but was really too weak to do more than acknowledge his entrance. He sat beside her and waited, not really knowing what for, but he waited alongside her until the morning.

The four murderesses returned during the early hours and looked at him with distain. They were not about to accept him now that Alice was gone. What need did they have of him? Until the question of hierarchy was sorted out, none of them would come into season, so he was just an extra for the moment.

When the morning light fell, they had all transformed into human form. It was obvious that Lucy's wrist was at least fractured and she was going to struggle. Although quite a bit older than the four remaining members of the pack, in her current condition, she would be unable to fight for supremacy and therefore, set the pecking order.

It was Simone, a black girl, who became un-elected spokeswoman.

"You're not wanted here Jack." She told him. "We have no need for your kind so you may as well fuck off now."

It occurred to Jack that she was just a bit too big for her own good.

"Simone..." He quietly started. "...I would be careful about how you treat your mates." His warning was said in a low and dangerous tone that left no room for error in its malice. The implied threat hit home and she backed down.

The others watched the confrontation with interest, but her capitulation ended the spectacle, they fell to getting comfortable for sleep.

A somewhat relieved Jack thought about there being only the one more night until the current moon phase passed for another twenty-seven days. He also slept, but in the room previously occupied by Alice. Her smell invaded his nose; he dreamt of her.

Dusk fell and found the diminished pack ready to go out on the hunt. Lucy was in no condition and had weakened during the day. Her wrist/paw had swollen to more than three times its normal size and her wounds had become infected.

Jack thought she would probably die by the morning or certainly by the next evening when, even in human form, she would be too weak to do very much and either dehydration or hunger would account for her. He tried to feel pity, but somehow, it just wouldn't happen. He left the lair and the pack for the last time and hunted alone.

He took no thrill from the hunt, killing a sheep was all too easy. The stupid animal was too dozy to react. Half-heartedly, he ate and then disposed of the remains in a near by ditch.

Pack and friendless, Jack returned home to try and plan how he would survive.

A piece in the local newspaper a few days later, described how three girls were found shot dead and naked in a popular lovers meeting place. Police could find no identification and there were no missing persons listed that matched the descriptions. A smaller piece two or three pages in, reported the finding of a woman who had obviously crawled to safety in a dilapidated house basement after a terrible beating, only to die of dehydration. The pack was finished.

He couldn't mourn the loss of their lives, but he felt a sudden profound loneliness. He may not have fitted in, but they were his own kind and now, as far as he knew, he was the only one.

Present.

Jack's lifestyle had altered now to accommodate the regular alterations. By keeping a diary and being careful, jack managed to drive his motorcycle to places widespread in order to make his kills. Although he didn't particularly enjoy the hunt, he soon found that eating raw meat was no substitute for a freshly killed carcass. It was something to do with a need for hot blood he reasoned.

By spreading his hunting grounds, he was able to restrict himself to sheep or the occasional pig. Never returning to the same place and always hiding the remains, keeping the danger of discovery to a minimum.

Jack drove to Tenterden with the intention of finding the wild boar that lived in the forest knowing that, even if he missed them, there would be plenty of Red Deer as a stand by. Stalking deer did at least provoke some excitement. The shy creatures needed to be carefully tracked or even ambushed. They had the advantage of large ears and fleet escape, making them something of a challenge.

His luck was good, and shortly after dark, he located a group of the wild boar in a culvert. Their eyesight is not particularly good, so he was able to be almost among them before the alarm was raised.

He singled out a sow and separated the group by diving through the middle and then angling away and up, splitting her from the rest. In desperation, she tried to run, squealing her fright as he closed. His killing bite took her by the scruff of her neck, but as she died, an older tusker came flying at Jack, catching him a glancing blow with one of his razor sharp teeth that curled wickedly from the side of his snout. The searing pain in his side told Jack that he was in trouble, but he defended his kill and drove the Boar away. He returned to the sow and ate his fill before limping back to where his bike had been hidden and his transformation.

The damage was pretty serious. A large gash had been opened up on his flank and blood flowed freely from the wound. It was serious, needing stitches.

The girl seemed to materialise out of thin air. Passing between two trees, she took a step or two towards him. He growled a warning for her to leave him alone.

"Shhh." She hushed his growls and held her hands palm out, signalling her lack of intention.

Still he growled, but with less conviction. She stepped closer, closing the distance to a few feet. Jack could do very little about the girl. The pain from the wound was burning into him and he was feeling quite weak from the loss of blood.

Then she was crouching beside him. With a few strokes on his head, Jack succumbed to her touch, his resistance dissipated.

"Quite a nasty wound you have there." She needlessly informed him. His blood was matting his coat, making the black fur even darker as it coagulated. He whimpered and fainted.

The eastern sky was already showing first light when Jack woke. Groggily, he looked around and found that he was lying on a wooden cot in a shack or shed. There was very little furniture, just a table and a chair. In the corner of the room stood a packing case up turned with a two-ring gas cooker.

He noticed the lightened sky through the grimy window and immediately tried to rise. The pain in his side stopped him in the effort; he flopped back down and whined a little, feeling very weak and dizzy.

She stirred and got up from some sacking she had been laying on to check on him. Expert hands checked the wound on his flank, testing the skin to see if it was scabbing over. His fur got in the way a little, but by being careful, she managed to see enough with out opening the wound again.

Jack lifted his head to look at the girl and knew he was about to transform and there was nothing he could do about it. He was too weak to get up, let alone run anywhere.

The window lightened more and the first rays filtered through the grimy window. His transformation complete, Jack looked at the girl, wondering what her reaction was going to be.

If she was shocked, she hid it well. Her expression was only quizzical as his fur withdrew into his pores, his snout shortened and ears shrunk. His four legs shimmered into two legs and a pair of arms, complete with hands and fingers. The change only took a few seconds; she stood, stock still as she witnessed it.

In human shape, the wound didn't look quite so bad. It was deep and had bled quite a lot, but already, the werewolf healing process was underway and gradually, the wound was closing. He was still very weak and his usual exhaustion after the first night, was greatly magnified.

Jack broke the silence.

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Why sorry? It had to happen. It's not like I could go out or something and find a wolf replaced by a man is it? How long?"

"How long what?"

"Have you been this way; A werewolf?"

"Six months or so I think; time blurs." He then told her the story of his life up to now and about the pack.

By the time he had told her everything, sunlight was streaming into the shack, and Jack had to shield his eyes.

"That is one of the down sides, intolerance to sunlight. I had better get back and get some clothes on." He knew he wouldn't be able to make it through the forest. Although the tissue around the wound had almost completely healed now, the combination of light and the loss of blood would probably finish him off.

"I think you had better stay here. Am I in any danger Jack? I mean, will you attack me in wolf form?"

"Since my turning, I haven't had any human company at all so I don't know how I will react. I did say though, that as a wolf, I couldn't stand the smell of human flesh, so I think you will be okay."

It occurred to him that she hadn't told him her name and he knew nothing about her at all. He had been so engrossed in telling her his life story, that it might have appeared as if he wasn't interested.

"What do I call you?" He waited for her answer as she opened the door just enough to slip out.

"Denise. You can call me Denise or Den for short. I won't be long. You rest here and try to sleep."

He did sleep and only woke when she returned several hours later. It was the sound of his motorbike that woke him. His stomach growled to let him know that he was hungry.

She sidled through the door carrying two plastic bags and his clothes under her arm.

"Apart from the obvious, I didn't know what werewolves eat so I bought some liver and hearts. Will that be okay?"

He laughed. It felt foreign to laugh, but her expression and ignorance struck him funny. It was the first time he felt relaxed and could laugh since the night on the beach.

"I eat anything normally." He told her. "It's only when I change that my diet becomes specialised. Then it is a different hunger all together and has very little to do with needing food, but is no less urgent. Without a kill, my lupine side will die and so will the other side of me. Thanks all the same and I'm famished."

Although he was still naked, he got up, completely healed and took the bags from her while she struggled to get through the door.

She cooked the liver while he dressed and handed him a plate of liver and baked beans with a slice of thick bread. It tasted like the best meal he had ever eaten and the tea completed the food.

"Denise." He started. "I know nothing about you, why you live in a hut in the middle of the forest or what you do. Tell me all about you."

They passed the afternoon with Denise telling him of her life to this point. She had been married to a guy who liked to beat her up when he had a drink and didn't stick to their marriage vow of excluding all others. Their friends sided with him, believing her to be lying. After the separation, she found herself ostracized and shunned by the group of people she had though of as friends. It was as if he held them all in thrall.

Her resultant depression led to a breakdown and hospitalisation for two years. Since then, she had shunned people and preferred to live in the quiet seclusion of the forest tending injured animals or just watching nature go about its business. The medical people had signed her off permanently, so she had to visit town once a week to pick up her social security and shop for food. Other than Tuesday's, she had no contact with the outside world and that was the way she liked it.

Jack had been feeling sorry for himself on and off since his turning, but after listening to Denise's story, he realised he didn't have it so bad. Sure it would be nice to have a couple of friends who lived a night life, but on the whole, he was okay and better than most.

As darkness descended, he changed. Denise opened the door and silently, he slipped out into the night, to hunt under a full moon.

After his appetite was satisfied, the black wolf returned, there were still several hours of moonlight left, but he found himself returning to the shack and the girl.

She stood at the door, looking out and wondering if he would return. Even from several yards away, he could smell her, could hear her blood coursing through her veins. He wanted her. He needed her as a friend, someone to belong to, someone to be with, a companion, and a pack mate. He wanted her as a lover and approached on silent pads.