My Solemn Oath Pt. 01

"Ah, but I do. We are best friends, and we have made a promise to each other." I patted his hand and then placed my hand on his thigh. I could feel the thickness beneath the material. His body was shifting much more quickly than even I detected. "I know as well as you that when you get like this it spells disaster. Remember when you forgot your tea last time? I was in Grafburg and returned to find you missing. You were in Kilnshire looking for her. She's what, nearly seventy years old now? You scared the daylights out of her before she realized it was you and not a wolf." I ran my hand up his thigh, rubbing a thumb over the hardness beneath his slacks.

He sat straighter, taking a breath and holding it so his chest puffed out. "Aye, and all because I told you I didn't need it. My mistake. You always know best." He grinned, a sharp canine appearing beneath his upper lip.

"So finish your meal and let me help you relax, and then you will have your tea and rest and tomorrow all of this will be gone and you will be yourself again." I stood, strolling to the counter where I remembered leaving his cup of tea.

"I hardly think I'll be myself, but as close to being myself as possible I suppose." Harvard wasn't nearly my age, my time seemed to move more slowly than his. I understood how I was different from others but he didn't. For that reason, I allowed myself to show the age that he understood. Thirteen decans is a long time for anyone to live, but near impossible, save that I was not like him. Harvard was, himself, seventy-three but appeared like a young man. Partly thanks to his good genes, but mostly because of the tea, which kept his wolf under control but also stopped his aging.

"You're as normal as you need to be." I picked up his tea and headed for the bedroom. "I'll wait for you." My hand shook as I walked, my fingers so tired it was difficult to keep the tea from sloshing out of the cup. I set it on the nightstand and snapped my fingers, creating a flame to ignite the small lamp. When the wick burned, I turned the knob, increasing the size of the flame until the room was aglow, then shed my dress and dressing gown, lying them over the small wooden chair at the foot of the bed.

The room had a chill to it, the nights cooler than they had been a moon previous, but not cold enough to need an iron to warm the mattress. I left my shoes and pantaloons next to the dress and folded the blankets down, sliding beneath the sheets. I made enough coin at market to afford a down mattress, but the straw bed was comfortable enough. Besides, it was a gift from her, and how could I do away with it when it held so many good memories?

Harvard entered, but my back was to him. I lay on my side watching his shadow on the wall opposite me. He pulled his suspenders off his shoulders then sat on the chair and removed his boots. I closed my eyes, fighting the exhaustion that tried to steal me into dreamland, and when I blinked them back open the bed was shaking. Harvard turned down his side and slid in without shutting the lamp off.

"I can wait, Winter. Just give me the tea and it will hold off the shift until you return. You're too tired." The compassion in his voice moved me. If he were what I desired, his kindness would have moved me to serve him more humbly, love him more fully. But sapphists like myself are not capable of that sort of love. I could offer my body, but never my heart--not fully as he deserved.

"And if I return to find the tea didn't work? Or that you ran out? Or that you--" He pushed a finger over my lips silencing me. I saw the gray fur sprouting on his chest. I knew he'd not last until seventh day. "Lie down and let me care for you. Please. I will feel awful if the wolf returns and you find yourself being hunted again." My body shivered with the recollection of having to chase away angry hunters who drove him to the forest mercilessly.

Harvard lay down and I pushed my tired body upward, sliding over to him. My hand found his erection, a slight bulge midway up it. It was worse than I suspected. I stroked him, gripping him firmly and finding my fatigue fading slightly as it aroused me. I was not attracted to him, not in the way one might think of attraction, but I was fond of his heart, and he always made sure to pleasure me in return for my kindness.

"I can just make this quick," he whispered. "I hate doing this to you. I feel like I'm using you."

"You are." I grinned as I straddled him and pushed the covers down. "But it's okay because we take care of each other."

I rose up, holding him upright and sliding down around him. It was a familiar feeling, but today it was different. Nearly two decans since she was gone to the day. My heart felt the ache but I pushed it away with an image of her beneath me instead of him. I rose and fell on him, hearing his pants of approval. His clawed fingers dug into my hips as he rose to meet me in a rhythm all our own. Four decans and I never got used to the feeling of his cock swelling inside of me, stretching me.

"Gods, woman.... You know how to make this incredible." He thrust harder, making me lose my rhythm until I let him take over. Beneath my fingers, which I splayed on his stomach, I felt the fur thickening. It was that simple, no fanfare, no foreplay, just him getting release, until his thumb pressed along my sensitive spot, rubbing it.

The way he touched me was different than her, but it worked. His ministrations brought me to the edge until my body was seizing around his thrusts. I felt the bulge in his cock swelling more significantly, the last indicator of how soon his release would come. I wasn't ready yet, though. I wanted him to take me with him into ecstasy, and he knew it. Without asking him, he knew it.

He thrust upward as he massaged my clit with the rough texture of his thumb, and I took handfuls of his fur, riding him as he pounded me harder. When he let the deep growl rumble up out of his chest I felt in in my entire body, the vibration stimulating parts I needed touched. I snapped, groaning and gasping. I felt his body locked inside mine, swollen to the point he'd not pull out until his release came, and I clenched around him.

"Now... right now..." he growled, furthering my climax. I felt his body expel his seed into me, the heat filling me. He could no longer thrust, his body lodged in mine, but my convulsions still milked him, making him twitch and spasm.

When I calmed, I lay across his chest as usual, waiting for his cock to return to normal. He pulled the covers up over our sweat-dampened bodies and I listened to his heart pounding. My cheek pressed against the skin of his chest, now lightly peppered with the same gray fur that blanketed his stomach and thighs. He wrapped his arms around my back and held me, though it wasn't the intimate sort of union romantic lovers would share after sex. Still he cared for me; I knew that. Besides, he had no choice but to remain inside of me until the swelling went down--part of the consequence to his action and my failure.

"It was good. Thank you." I felt him reach for the tea and his body tilt to the left. Then I heard his slurping.

When we awakened and he helped me load the cart, he'd be Harvard Thane again, not this strange half-breed man-wolf no one could love. I did what I did because he deserved to know that feeling even if there were no true love attached to it.

Someday, I'd find someone who would know me in the same way.