The Coward and the Wolf Ch. 02

"Sarah could you come walk beside me for a second?"

She dutifully moved to walk beside him, before inclining her head, "I am honored my master."

'Master' still sounded strange to Steve's ears, but he was disconcerted to find the more he heard it the more he enjoyed it. He made a note not to let it go to his head.

"So Sarah is fine right, you don't have any nickname you would prefer." He knew he could call her whatever he damn well pleased, but letting her know he cared for her opinion would certainly make her appreciate him much more.

It would also help him to have a source of information that wasn't just Talia, as he still didn't trust her. The small talk had the added benefit of helping distract him from all the wary looks being cast in their direction.

"Sarah is fine. It is all I have ever been known by." There was a pregnant silence as he waited for her to go on. When she didn't, he came to the conclusion he was going to have to do much of the talking in this relationship. The life of a loner had evidently not done much for her social skills.

"So how old are you Sarah?" He didn't really care about her age; he wanted to know whether they used the earth years he was accustomed to, or some different way of keeping time.

"I am twenty one in earth years, my master." Right, so they had evidently adopted their god's time keeping methods. Although how they managed to track earth time in such a primitive environment he had no clue. The question was added to the long list of things he needed to ask Talia.

"So what do you think of being adopted into my pack Sarah?" He turned around to catch her reaction, if it was anything less than pleased he would have to be more cautious about entrusting his safety to her. He needn't have worried. She was grinning ear to ear, a quite intimidating sight when you have so many teeth.

She immediately started rapid firing words at him, "I am honored to be selected as champion by the servant of the God of Soldiers. When I had heard you arrived, I did not think much of it. It seemed a world away from me. As a warrior without talent, I was cast out from my families pack and have since lived a life away from my brethren." She was discreetly stealing glances at him as she spoke.

Steve couldn't help but wondering, 'was she embarrassed by that?' it was an emotion he didn't think a werewolf was even capable of having. The tan woman to his right had just gotten a lot more interesting to him. She continued on completely unaware of his amusement.

"I never gave up hope though. I trained daily, sparring when someone was willing to interact with a pack-less. I never won, even against the young pups. It soon came to be that whole days would pass by and no one would be willing to lower themselves to being my sparring partner." She was getting upset now, obviously reliving some painful memories. Even if Steve hadn't set those events in motion, he was still profiteering from them. He felt like more of a scumbag than usual as he walked beside the tan girl.

She eventually caught hold of her emotions and continued, "I had been waiting all morning for anyone to work up the apathy to spar with me. That was when you arrived.

You were like a vision straight out of legend; I had never been as scared in my life as when you leapt on me. I thought you were going to smite for being an insult to the gods."

Fat chance of that, he doubted he could have killed her with his bare hands even if he was given a five minute head start. Werewolves were built tough.

"So could you imagine how it felt when you asked me to be your champion? At first I thought you were mocking me. Then when you commanded me to defend you, I felt an energy surge through my body; it was like all the chains on my limbs had been unlocked. For the first time in my life my body moved as I willed it.

I struck down all foes as they came at me. It was the most wonderful feeling watching your foes break under my strikes. I felt like everything in my life had led up to that moment."

Steve felt happy for her. As well as a bit uncomfortable by her zealotry. He tactfully ignored the sadistic glint she had gotten in her eyes. The licking of her lips as well.

"It was all finished too soon. I turned around to thank you for the opportunity you had given me."

Her voice turned hard now, "That's when I saw one of those bitches on top of you. She was trying to partake of something she had no right to. Defiling your pure form with her presence."

Steve wouldn't put it quite that way. He might have enjoyed it under different circumstances.

It seemed Sarah was not under the same assumption. She was angrily speaking in that same fire and brimstone voice Old Testament preachers got.

"I struck her from you. The deceitful bitch had been trying to take advantage of your ignorance of the mortal world to have her way with you. I could not and will not allow it. I realized then what my purpose is. With the power you have given me I will defend you from all threats, even those that you do not realize exist.

In all things I will be your sword and shield, and when needed I will be your advisor. If the need takes you I will even go so far as to use my body, unsuited as it is, to release your lusts, and if you need it I will bear and nurture your young. I am your servant and protector until the day I die."

'Fuck me Talia! You said you would get me a devoted bodyguard. Not a religious fanatic'. While Steve knew that Sarah would be an excellent asset, he felt incredibly uncomfortable with her sudden mindless devotion to him. He didn't deal well with people who felt they had purity of cause in their life; it clashed with his own ethically bankrupt personality.

He knew he would get used to her with time; but it certainly wasn't going to be today and probably not tomorrow either.

He almost leaped for joy when he saw Talia's massive tent. He was not normally inclined towards great feelings of excitement, but considering all the crappy stuff that had happened to him since he woke up in that field, getting a new bodyguard and fuck buddy was worthy of celebration. Even if they were a sociopath who was obsessed with him. You take the good with the bad.

Steve half expected something to go horribly wrong as they crossed the courtyard, but they made it to the entrance of the tent without incident. Although Sarah stopped in front of the tent to say a quick prayer.

Considering Steve or Talia were likely the ones she said the prayer to, he didn't really see the point. Still it never paid to come between someone and their beliefs, so he said nothing. If he was honest with himself this was more an act of apathy than respect. It was hard to take a religion seriously when two of its deities had been smeared with semen in less than thirty six hours. He entered the tent, chuckling at his private insights.

Steve was halfway across the opening lounge area, reveling in the success of his mission when something large and white grabbed him and threw him across the hall. He got a moment to appreciate the amount of air time he achieved before he crashed into one of the sofas. Fortunately said sofa was soft. He bounced off it, and hit the floor. The floor was not soft.

He could worry about pain later; he rolled over so he could view his opponent. What he found was a very pissed off and nude Talia looming over him. A wonderful view he felt he could have appreciated just as well without being flung across the room. He didn't know whether to fear for his life or be turned on. He eventually settled for both.

She placed one heavy foot on his chest, forcing him to the floor. A position he was getting very tired of. She looked down on him as she spoke, "Dearest servant of mine, can you imagine a reason as to why I might be annoyed at you?"

Steve thought it over. He answered with the only answer he could bring up "...No?"

Talia looked like she was about to bring her foot down harder on him, before a spear butt spun round the side of her head to smack into her, causing her to stumble to the side. Steve took the opportunity to scamper behind the spear's wielder, Sarah.

He had come to a conclusion. Claimant authority beats god's authority. Good for him in surviving Talia's current displeasure, bad for him if he was still Talia's ally and Michael ordered his own pack fight them in future.

Talia turned around. The spear hadn't even left a mark on her. She looked remarkably calm now considering she had just been smacked by a spear butt. She spoke in a much calmer fashion, "The reason I am annoyed dear servant, is that I have heard rumors. Rumors that you chose to claim your latest protector not in my name, but your own."

Thinking back he supposed his words certainly had been to that effect. She was supposed to have been his bodyguard anyway. What difference did the fine print make?

He voiced his opinion from safely behind Sarah's ready form, "So what? It's not like you told me to claim her in your name. What's the big deal?"

Talia stared at him in momentary confusion, before relaxing. She sat down on the sofa before speaking again.

"It means that Sarah here will follow you and you alone. If you had claimed her in my name, I could have commanded her to defend you, but she would still have been mine to command."

She almost looked sheepish now, "I had not realized you did not understand the exact import of your words. I have acted rashly, I thought that by claiming her in your own name, you did not trust me and sought to claim her power for yourself, so as to break away from me."

Motherfucking cultural dissonance. He also realized that if things had gone as Talia planned, Sarah would have been his jailer and bodyguard. He had to remember to be more careful of Talia in future; no matter how much he enjoyed her company.

So Sarah was his and his alone. While it was true that Steve hadn't intentionally done as Talia said, it was exactly what he would have done provided he had known of the exact specifications of claiming a pack member.

He just didn't realize that his claims didn't automatically transfer to someone higher on the hierarchy. It didn't seem tactful to mention that, so he kept a poker face as he was celebrating at his unintentional good luck on the inside.

He placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder as he moved to sit down on the sofa facing Talia. Sarah took this as the signal to relax and sat down next to him. He couldn't help but notice that she deliberately placed her spear in an easy to reach position.

It seemed Sarah was willing to defend her master against her own god if need be. Steve was ecstatic. Talia looks like your plan to make her 'fanatically' devoted has come back to bite you on the ass with this one.

It seemed Talia noticed the spears position too. He saw a glint of controlled anger in her face, before it was submerged again. Steve thought she was acting like a kid who was worried her toys might get taken away. Or run away if they thought they might make it.

He was certainly entertaining the thought. First though he needed to find a wizard with enough power to help him. If what Talia had said was true, he could think of five other likely candidates. Still, it never paid to count chickens, he would bide his time until he was sure.

Talia cleared her throat before she started, "Well it seems word of your escapades has spread throughout the camp. The main gist of it is that you lured a number of young females to the arena, at which point you chose the one you thought most suited to be your champion," She gestured at Sarah. It was accompanied by an unpleasant up and down glance of Sarah's body before she dismissively snorted. Considering she was secretly the one responsible for its flat state it was a needlessly cruel act.

Sarah for her part was spitting venom with her eyes at Talia, it seemed the two had just met and were now at ends with each other. Were all werewolves this possessive of their pack mates, or just these two? Or maybe it was just that the two didn't occupy the same hierarchy due to his blunder, and neither refused to back down? That certainly fit with the image he had of the two thus far.

He wished he felt flattered by the attention, but considering he had known both of them combined less than forty eight hours, it felt much more like he was a chunk of meat being yanked on by two dogs. Sarah discreetly moved one hand to his knee, and the other toward the spear.

Talia ignored it and grudgingly continued, "At which point your new champion defeated all her rivals single handed. You then proved your dominance over her by having her service you."

Steve noticed that Talia had casually opened her legs slightly as she spoke, but she wasn't looking to tease him. Her eyes were on Sarah. Sarah was staring at the pink slit between the curvy wolfs legs with growing interest. Her nipples were gradually hardening in time with her burgeoning arousal. It seemed Talia was planning on winner Sarah over, or more likely subjugate her with her sexuality.

As he observed the two watching each other, he wondered how accepted homosexuality was in this society. It didn't seem unlikely considering how much they were turned on by shows of strength. In fact he had been noticing some uncomfortable stares from some of the males while he had been out and about.

Talia was most certainly beautiful, especially by the more practical standards of werewolf society. He didn't know whether or not to be worried about having Sarah stolen away from him. He doubted it, considering she was selected for her near maddening devotion to the one who would 'save' her. It was still a thought that niggled away at him behind his own growing lust as he observed the pair of females.

Talia was enjoying playing with the androgynous female. She had watched Sarah grow up from the very first day she was born, and every day thereafter right up to this one, slowly shaping her life until she reached this point. In that regard she was as a mother to the young woman. The fact that said supposed daughter was now staring hungrily at her cunt lips gave her a naughty tingling in her loins.

She looked over at Steve, who was trying desperately not to stare himself. He thought himself clever with his schemes and plans, but before her he was as a child. The difference in their experience was just too great. She knew he was only pretending to dance to her strings, but it was no matter. She let him have that small comfort; it only made it easier to pull the more subtle intricate strings.

She didn't want to hurt him however. He was valuable to her in the same way that Sarah was. A project that she had invested great amount of time and effort into. He was in that regard closer to Sarah than he would ever know.

Steve was trying not to stare at the moistening lips between Talia legs. He gradually brought his eyes up to meet hers. "So what now? I'm sure you have some amazing scheme to do away with Michael."

He felt a lot more confident in speaking to white wolf with Sarah on his side. It was good to know he had someone he could rely on. It would be dumb to trust anyone fully, even if they were honor bound to do his bidding, but he felt he could trust her not to betray him out of convenience, which was a measure of trust he couldn't extend to Talia.

He leaned across one hand to caress Sarah's puffy labia lips. She moaned appreciatively. If Talia wanted to play the flashing game, he could too. As if reading his mind Talia opened her legs wider.

She spoke completely normally as she began kneading her own breasts, "Actually, I plan to challenge him to a duel at the end of the week. It will be a pretty simple job to claim that a mere mortal has no right to rule over the divine, and that your rightful place is with me."

Steve dipped one finger into Sarah's moist depths, causing her to open her legs wides and lean back on the sofa panting lightly. He constantly maintained eye contact with Talia, "So I assume Michaels not going to just accept that and go home?" It sounded absurd, but he could always hope.

Talia leaned back on her own sofa, her free hand now going to caress her own vaginal lips, spreading them obscenely in front of her audience. The musky smell of Sarah's and Talia's arousal filled the tent.

She spoke with a voice that was tinged only slightly with a moan, "No my servant, he won't just accept it and go home. In fact it would be rather inconvenient for me if he did. He will likely claim that if the gods did not want one of their own to be ruled by a mortal they would not allow him to win in a contest of arms. I will then agree and challenge him to a duel."

She moaned as she drove two fingers into her cunt, before continuing, "Michael will likely be overjoyed. If I accept the duel and he defeats me, he will likely claim me by mating me there and then. In the eyes of the tribe my defeat would be the will of the gods, and he would be made tribe leader completely and worshipped as a new god. At which point I imagine he would go on a crusade against our neighbors with the intent to conquer all of Sapheros. A bloody war would ensue the likes of which my kind hasn't seen in generations."

Talia stood up now, and walked over to him. Sarah observing this carefully extracted herself from the sofa. Despite the fact that she didn't like Talia on a personal level, she was perfectly willing to let her perfect form mate with her master, even if only to enjoy the sight of the two divine beings wrapped around one another. She pushed her fingers into her soaking cunt as she sat down and watched on, eager for the proceedings to begin.

Talia casually came to a stop in front of him. His cock was pointed straight up in anticipation, the bulbous head bobbing in time with his heartbeat. She grasped his shoulders with both hands, and he was powerless to resist her as she moved his head forward until he was right in front of the glistening flesh of her cunt, he was so close, he could feel the heat emanating from it. She held him still there, delighting in his desires being held in check by the light hold she had on his shoulders. She was utterly in control, and they both knew it. She said but two words "Lick, servant"

He immediately moved in and sucked, kissed and nibbled her womanhood; he felt her grip tightening on his shoulders. Her hands tensing over the muscle of his shoulders, squeezing the hard muscle, letting it tense and be broken by her strong fingers, over and over.

She felt him begin to tease her outers labia lips apart and drive his tongue deep into her. She began lewdly gyrating her hips, impaling herself deeper on his tongue as he desperately attempted taste as much of her as he could.

He felt her hands slide up along his neck to grasp the back of his head tightly, forcing his face further into her, cutting off his air supply from his nose as her musk completely filled his airways, leaving him dizzy and only able continue his tongue's ministrations of the white werewolf.

All the while she was trying to drive his face deeper into the heat of her fiery cunt, violently rocking his head back and forth as she thrust onto him with her hips. She felt his freed hands grasping her sweat soaked legs, moving up the heavy damp fur to grasp at her fleshy buttocks, squeezing the soft round flesh as he pulled them apart, exposing the ring of her anus to the cool air, before pushing the butt cheeks against each other in time with her thrusts.

She felt her orgasm building, first in the core of her loins, spreading outwards over her hips picking up speed before blasting up the nerves of her spine to culminate in a howl that ripped forth from her throat as she arched her back and ground herself ever harder onto Steve's face. Her sweet juices sprayed directly into his mouth and streamed down his chin. He was left with little recourse but to gulp down her lady spunk or drown in it. His Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed the sweet fluids.