Halloween Offering

The huge dark she wolf made her way through the brush carefully, following the scent of the man, again. While she knew she should stay away, avoid humans, she found his odor strangely alluring. She was quiet wanting to see but not to be seen. The time was coming, the moon was going to be full tonight. Halloween. She could feel it in the air. Mating time. Most of her kind were gone now. Only the humans were left. Still the instinct was there. She shuddered slightly as the moon made itself felt. Here in the wilderness she was alone. She lived here now, in the forest and the caves camping and hunting, surviving, avoiding others. Avoiding the fragile human kind. She could not remember ever seeing one of her kind. Perhaps she was the last. The instinct to mate was powerful.

She watched him in the stream below her hidden ledge. He was naked bathing in the cold stream, his worn clothing stacked in a heap on a rock that still held some warmth from the sun even now. She watched him dunk his head in the water and pull back up shivering and tossing the water from his face, wet hair flying.

"Strong" she thought. This human was exceptionally strong. His smooth body glistened, his muscles rippled in the fading light. "Why was he was here?" She had been following him quietly for days. He seemed to be living in the little cave one valley over from hers. She had watched him hunt and had watched him sleep. Sometimes he seemed to hear her. His head would come up, listening. It looked almost like he was sniffing the wind. Surely he could not smell her.

A pebble rolled down from the ledge. His head snapped up and he was looking directly at where she had just been. She trusted that the evening shadows would hide her as she slunk off into the darkening forest, her going preternaturally quiet for such a large wolf. Once a bit farther away, no longer worried about noise, she ran, a shadow among shadows, racing back to her valley to think, to consider the coming moon rise. Her form seemed to flicker back and forth, human to wolf as the moon came up, until finally back in her camp site she appeared to be human again, not a form that she preferred but it was mating time and even without a mate the changes came. She dressed in the ragged clothing she had scavenged, lit a small fire and began to pace as she always did when she was considering.

Back at the stream the man stood and listened. His nostrils flared as he did indeed sniff the air. For the last few days he had felt watched. He had seemed to catch the scent of a woman in the air. He knew that here in the forest back beyond human touch, there could be no human female. He had come here for that very reason. There had been...accidents. It was wise to avoid females. And now, at this time of year the urges were strong.

He knew that he was different. His foster parents had found him at the edge of the forest, a naked babe crawling among the trees. No one had claimed him so they kept him until they had died in a house fire when he was only 12. He had drifted from place to place since then. As he grew older it became more and more apparent that he was not like the other boys. The moon seemed to make him crazy sometimes. He shuddered with more than cold, wondering what he might have done on those moonlit nights. he had dreams of hunting and mating. Chase and catch. He did not want to look too closely at the dreams.

No, he would not be going back to civilization. He could not behave the way he should there. He was handsome, a fine physical specimen who attracted women. And sometimes he even managed not to damage or frighten them. He had no desire to harm anyone. But the urges were getting stronger. he sensed that he was in his prime. That it was time to take a mate. None of it made sense to him. He only knew that he was stronger, faster, and crazier than any other human male he knew.

He snatched up his clothing shivering only a bit in the frigid fall air. Sniffed again. There it was again, that damned smell. He moved toward the ledge, nose twitching. It was stronger here. The brush was disturbed. Someone had been watching him. Animal or human? Even in the growing darkness he could see the trail. He was drawn to the scent and to the trail almost against his will. As moonrise continued and the trail became more clear, he began to run, following the scent and the tiny disturbed places. He snatched the strand of long black hair he found hanging from a branch and sniffed it as he ran. A woman had been through here. There was no turning back. He would find her. He would have her. The fires he had ruthlessly suppressed began to smolder deep in his gut.

As he approached the next valley the faint scent of wood smoke was added to the mix. his mind registered that a campsite was ahead. The camp site of the woman who watched him. How much had she seen? Why was she here in this forest so far from civilization? He stopped abruptly looking down at the almost naked woman pacing, stalking almost, back and forth restlessly in front of the tiny fire. So she was here. He tried to turn away, couldn't. She looked up and saw him standing there, half clothed, dripping with river water and cold sweat, panting slightly. She smiled. He was lost.

She watched him scramble down the cliff toward her. "Very well then" she thought. "A gift from the gods for Halomas." She would not be alone this year. The rites would be celebrated on this moon rise. She had heard that the scent of her kind could drive humans and wolf men both mad at these times. It was a shame that she had not met him before, when she was more in control. Perhaps they could have gotten to know each other, come to an arrangement. He was an outsider, rebel human to be living out here. He was strong, he might survive the mating but she would have to kill him anyway. Instinct said you could never trust a human. He could not leave here.

He strode toward her quickly, watching her making no effort to reassure her, ready to block her no matter which way she would run. She did not run. He did not sense fear. He hesitated for a split second, puzzled, before his need drove him on. He reached for her and ripped the tattered shirt from her shoulders exposing her breasts. Instead of screaming or fighting, she snarled and tore his shirt free also. Her hands reached out to pull him to her even while his hands closed on her breasts. Her mouth sought his, then moved on the side of his neck biting and nuzzling, sharp teeth, almost painful. His hands ripped her shorts pulling them off in rags, daring her.

The two of them were lost in their own passion. Each made more frantic by the violent need of the other. Biting and snarling, kissing and nuzzling , clawing at each other and shedding the last rags, they fell to the ground, each seeking to dominate the other. Completely oblivious to anything but the incredible heat that arose between them, they sought to mate. He looked at her in amazement as her eyes changed shape and color and began to glow yellow in the moon light. Snarling, he threw his head back and howled as he forced her to the ground trying to mount the woman with the insanely tantalizing scent. She bit and scratched him, bringing blood with teeth and nails, but finally he had her there under him.

His teeth closed on the back of her neck, holding her there, as he mounted her and began the age old mating of his kind. Frantically thrusting into her as she succumbed and raised her hind quarters to give him access. Fur filled his mouth as he growled his warning and continued to thrust into the female who was now neither human nor wolf. Her breasts were heavy in his hands. Her body, lightly covered with delicious warm fur. Her ears had regained their wolf like points and her fangs had raised fire on his chest and neck. His back, under the new layer of fur, was lacerated from her claws before he had finally subdued and mounted her. They were locked together now mated and mating. Both heaving together, howling at the moon. They were two of a kind. maybe the last two, but they were together now. They would be together forever.