The Company of Wolves

"So you didn't like the movie?"

"I would have gone with something a little more highbrow for a first date."

"But it's a classic!"

"So is my father's Yugo."

Sean sipped his wine. Nia slid an inch closer to him on the couch.

"Well, I don't care, " she said, refilling her glass. "I like 'The Wolfman,' I think it's kind of sexy."

"What, a grown man, covered in hair, panting like a German Shepherd?"

"No. The idea of a man who..."

She paused, and Sean guessed that it was a calculated pause purely for drama's sake.

"...completely loses control. That's sexy." She looked at him.

"It is?" Sean held out his glass and let her refill it.

"Sometimes."

"But why a werewolf? It's so tacky."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a metaphor!"

"For what?"

"The id."

"You're losing me."

"It's about people's fear that under the surface we're all still animals, and that all of our business about being civilized is just posturing, and that one day we might-"

"Lose control?"

"Yes!"

There was a pause. Sean looked into his glass. Nia looked at him.

"What do you think makes a man lose control?" he asked.

"Desire," she said. Her hand was on his knee.

"How?"

Sean saw a quick flash of pink as Nia licked her lips.

"Maybe his body wants something so much that it just goes back to that primitive state, and then he...takes it."

"But what-"

He never finished. They nearly toppled off of the couch as Nia threw herself onto him, her lips pressed against his in an open-mouthed kiss.

"Like that," she said when they came up for air.

"Oh," he said.

Nia straddled him, kissing his neck, sliding her mouth up and lapping at his earlobe. He squirmed a little. She giggled and bit the ridge of his ear. He winced.

"Well now you've got me really curious honey," she said. "Can I see what's going on down here?" She put her hand on his crotch.

"Wait-" he said.

She unzipped his pants. "I hate waiting," she said, and dropped down to her knees. "Are you out control baby? I want to see it."

"Hang on-"

She slid his pants down. "Come on Sean. Show me if you're out of control..." And then she looked.

As it turned out, he wasn't.

Sean blushed. "I'm sorry! It's not you. I just, I mean, I had it, and then I kinda..."

"Lost it?" she said.

Sean sat up, staring at the floor. Nia sat next to him and massaged his shoulders.

"It's okay," she said. "It happens."

"Yeah, I know," said Sean.

She kissed the side of his neck. "Probably my fault anyway. I moved too fast. I always do that."

He stood up. "I need to use your bathroom."

"Second on the right," she said. He felt her eyes on the back of his head as he left the room.

He splashed water onto his face, staring at himself in the mirror. Did this have to happen tonight, he wondered? He couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. One second everything had been go, and then the next-

Nia tapped on the door. "You okay in there?" she said.

"I'm fine." Sean tried the door but was surprised to find it wouldn't open. "I think the door is stuck."

"No it's not, I'm holding it," said Nia.

Sean blinked. "You're what?"

"I've got my back to it," she said. She sounded like she was laughing.

"Well why?"

"Because I'm naked out here baby."

Sean froze. "Nia, I'm not-"

"You did hear me when I said I'm naked, right Sean?"

Sean felt a tingle at the back of his neck.

"Yes. Why don't you put some clothes on and let me out?

"I gotta tell ya Sean, I don't see that happening anytime soon." Now she was definitely laughing. "The only thing between you and me is this door. Must be frustrating."

"Nia, I don't think that tonight is-"

"Sean, I've got my legs spread."

Nia was whispering in that throaty way that he had previously only dreamed about.

"Now I've got my tits cupped in my hands. You always liked my tits, didn't you Sean? I've seen you staring at them. I just licked the tip of a finger and I'm rubbing it around and around one of my big brown nipples, and oh, look at that, they're getting so hard. I wish you were out here to give them some attention."

Sean felt something coil up tight in his stomach. It hurt. He tried to talks but words were suddenly impossible. His throat felt tight and strangely hot. He itched all over.

"I'm just squeezing them and massaging them around and around in a circle. You know even before you asked me out I used to imagine your hands doing this, when it was late and I was all alone in my bed."

Sean slid to the floor. The pain in his belly became more intense, and his skin felt like it was on fire. He scratched his arms and winced. His nails were suddenly long and ragged, and his fingers and hands seemed to have grown larger.

"I used to dream about you putting little kisses right here over one nipple, then right here over another, then standing behind me and squeezing them with both hands. Did you ever dream about that Sean? I know you did. You've got a dream come true standing right out here. You just have to want it bad enough. Do you want it Sean?"

Sean opened his mouth again but all that came out was a twisted growl from deep in his throat. He felt his body starting to twist and contort. His legs snaped back and the muscles of his thighs rippled. His spine curved in an impossible way. He heard the fabric of his clothes tearing. This can't really be happening, he thought.

"No answer honey? I guess you need a little more encouragement? Do you know how wet I am right now? How wet you made me just a few minutes ago on the couch? I'm surprised you can't smell it."

Sean's face felt strange, so he stumbled to the mirror. He almost cried out when he saw bright yellow eyes staring back at him, and a jaw that protruded. He opened his mouth and saw a black tongue licking long canine teeth. This is not real, he thought, this cannot be real.

"I'm touching myself down there Sean. I've got one finger that's rubbing my pussy lips, and in a second I'm going to stick it in, and it's so hot and wet in there."

Sean's body was burning up, and his muscles ached and throbbed, and somewhere at the back of his mind there was a little buzzing noise urging him to just stop thinking and do whatever felt natural.

"I think this might be the wettest I've ever been. I think I must be about to lose control..."

Sean saw the black fur sprout from his hands, traveling up his arms, over his shoulders and down his body. He tried one last time to talk, but his jaw became distorted as his face stretched out into a muzzle. He gripped the edge of the sink and the porcelain cracked.

"Mmmph, now it's in Sean, and I'm pushing it up into myself, and it feels sooo good, and my other fingers are rubbing around and around my hot little clit, and you'd better get out here right now because if you don't then I'm just about to-"

There was a bang and a crash and Nia (fully clothed) backed out of the way just in time. Sean stepped over the splintered door, his long black muzzle pulled back in a snarl over dripping fangs. His enormous yellow eyes looked down at her, and his long tongue lapped at his lips. He flexed his claws.

Nia looked him up and down. "Oh my God," she said. She had her back to the wall. She went pale. Her eyes were wide. Her voice trembled.

And then she grinned.

"Oh my God. You ARE an animal!"

With a howl, he threw himself at her.

***

Sean woke to find he was sore all over. His muscles screamed when he sat up. Oh God, he thought, this is the worst hangover ever.

He realized there was a particular pain in his chest. Something had gouged his flesh from the shoulder down to his stomach. It looked like he'd been clawed by some animal.

Holy shit, he thought, what happened last night? He looked around. The room (Nia's bedroom?) was completely destroyed. A broken ceiling fan swung overhead and the bed seemed to have split in half. Even the wallpaper was in tatters.

"Good morning lover."

Nia appeared in the doorway, sipping coffee. She climbed up onto the wrecked bed and kissed him.

"Good morning," he said. "What the hell happened?"

"We had a wild night."

"I can see that." His head was throbbing.

"You were a real animal." She grinned.

"I must have been..."

"In fact," she said, sitting on his lap, "you wanna know the hottest part?"

She leaned in very close, hot breath whispering in his ear:

"You brought out the animal in me, too."

And she bit his ear, hard.