The Queen of the She-Wolves

"Look, Kyra, I know you're sick of hearing it from me, but there is something rotten lurking beneath the veneer of this heaven."

"I assume so."

"You do?"

She clucked her teeth at him. "Of course there's fuckery! Did you think I was born yesterday?"

"That's the first time I've heard you make sense all day. Great. So... let's get out of here?"

"No!"

"Why the fuck not?"

"In case you didn't know, we don't have the diadem yet."

Red jumped up from the bed. His hands went to his head in disbelief, and he paced a tight circle.

"Kyra, she knew we came for the diadem!"

"So what? I'm still going to steal it. You can't tell me that thing isn't worth more than a pretty copper. Look, I came here for the diadem, and I will take it. I'm the Witch Thief, remember?"

"They're not some slovenly Portoan merchant or an absent-minded wizard you can easily take advantage of. They are ancient, shapeshifting wolves. They'll sniff out all of your tricks. Literally!"

"Hey! I take issue with that statement. Notall the merchants were slovenly. Come on, Red. We're partners! Don't tell me you're willing to give up a score of a lifetime."

"I am willing, and so should you be. Look, today those beautiful women are stroking our -- well, you were there -- but tomorrow, they're tearing us to shreds with their fangs."

"Come on, we can handle them. We took on anarmy of goblins, didn't we?"

"No, not an army, and you nearly died, remember?"

"Minor detail. I'm only saying we can take them if it comes to it. Which, by the way, it'll never come to it. Trust me. We make a good team. Don't you think we make a good team?"

Red narrowed his eyes on her. In her eyes was unerring confidence that he never saw in a person in such precarious circumstances, and he couldn't decide if this was good or bad. He sighed and, at great pains, acquiesced.

"So, how're we doing it, Kyra?"

"No idea. We'll wing it. I always wing it."

Red winced at that and replied sharply, "I don't."

"And that's why we make a good team. We balance each other out."

"We have so far. But that can change."

She shrugged.

"I'm not worried."

Then, she hopped off the bed and stepped closer to him. Close enough for him to feel her radiating warmth.

All the while, she fixed her gaze up into his eyes. He was taken aback by her approach and the lustful excitement in her face, which was a new sort of excitement -- he realized she was still hot, and he might be the remedy to quench that heat. His heart beat faster. His cock began to grow again.

"What are you doing?" He muttered.

"So, I wanna talk about that time you kissed me back there in the forest."

"Ha! You kissed me."

"Was it I that kissed you? Minor details."

Kyra wasn't shy about pressing her body against his. His hard cock, hardly concealed by the borrowed silk robe, pressed against her hardly concealed mons.

"How was it? Was it a good kiss?" She asked. Her hands went down to his ass cheeks, gripped them with a surprising harshness that caused him to flinch.

"It was an awful kiss. But not bad considering the circumstances."

She smirked.

"Well, let me try again."

She kissed him. Her tongue slid into his mouth. Her hands went up to his back and gripped his muscles. Her nails dug into his skin as she pulled his body more tightly against hers.

She held her lips to his for a lingering moment before drawing back. She studied his face to gauge his level of satisfaction with it.

"Well?"

"Did you hex me, witch?"

"I don't do hexes."

He raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Hey! You don't actually think I would bewitch you, do you? The implication hurts my feelings!"

She pushed him back and crossed her arms, and scowled at him.

"I believe you have me hexed, and I'm helpless to fight it," Red replied.

Her warmth quenched any remaining apprehension of his. His burning desire for her, which he had, up until now not known, was now all-consuming. Nothing inhibited his desire. He wanted to satiate it. He grabbed her, brought her to him, and kissed her, then pushed her onto the bed and fell atop her.

But just as he had his hand wrapped around the sash of her robe to pull it loose, Lillian and Calliope knocked at the door and entered with their clothes in hand.

Red jumped off Kyra. Kyra straightened her robe and her hair and said, "Good timing, ladies. I was just wondering about supper."

They giggled knowingly at what they had just interrupted, and Lillian responded, "On behalf of the Queen, we are pleased to inform you that dinner will be ready shortly. We shall assist you in dressing for the evening."

"No, we can dress ourselves. Thank you."

The girls handed over the clothes and left.

Putting aside their interaction from just before they were interrupted, Red and Kyra dressed in the clothes that were prepared for them.

Kyra's was a porcelain white gown with a seductively low neckline and a hem that flowered out gracefully on the marble floor. With a bit of sorcery, Kyra fashioned her hair into a beautiful, thick braid. Exotic and colorful flowers, none of which Red recognized, sprouted out from the braids.

Red's attire was a soft silk tunic and trousers. It felt pleasant and cool against his skin.

"Gods, you look like the sort of nobleman I would just love to swindle," Kyra remarked.

They faced the mirror together. Kyra put her arm through Red's.

"We look like the sort of couple I'd love to swindle," she corrected.

Red, interlocking his fingers with hers, said in a pretentious tone, "Shall we dine with the Queen this evening, my lady?"

Matching his pretention, Kyra replied, "That is an enchanting idea, Sir Red."

They bowed at one another and laughed on their way to the dining hall.

***

Despite its immense size, the dining hall was intimate and cozy. A single large banquet table stretched across the middle of the room, and it was covered in a white tablecloth and was full of the sort of food fit for a royal wedding -- wild boar roasted whole, venison, goose, and cornucopias of fruits and vegetables that colored the table like blushing gemstones from the Windscour Desert.

Dozens of women each sat at their places at the banquet table. Ophelia sat at the head, and to either side of her were vacant spots meant for Kyra and Red.

Lillian and Calliope awaited them at the entrance and led them to their seats beside the queen.

"I trust that you are finding your stay a pleasant one?" Ophelia asked once they were seated.

"We are indeed," Kyra replied, and without any pretense of poise or coyness in the presence of the queen, she swiped the wine chalice in front of her and took a swig, then snagged a goose leg from the goose platter and took a healthy bite from it.

Red did all he could to refrain from smacking Kyra for her obscene lack of etiquette -- something he normally would not care about, but today he'd rather not test Ophelia's line between gracious host and a vicious man-eating she-wolf. He gave Kyra a glaring eye, but she smiled at him with knowing defiance. He could only helplessly and blankly watch her antics, cringe on the inside, and pray to the Gods that she doesn't overstep her bounds.

Ophelia watched Kyra only with amusement, much to Red's relief, and she replied,

"Well, we certainly do hope that you are comfortable with your stay. You see, we do not get many guests here, as you can imagine. We crave any opportunity to play host even if only to hear of the news of the outside world."

"The hospitality is very well appreciated, and we're more than welcome to share all that we know. What news would you like to hear?"

Ophelia drank from her chalice, and -- surprising Red -- she yanked a chunk of goose flesh from the golden-roasted bird and bit a huge mouthful from that chunk, much in the manner that Kyra had earlier. He looked around the table and observed that the women there were all eating and drinking in the same manner -- a manner he expected a party of dwarven raiders might enjoy their meals over a campfire and not courtly ladies in a banquet hall. But he reminded himself that these are not human ladies, so they are perhaps not used to the sort of etiquette he was.

Ophelia noticed Red's trepidation and said to him, "Please eat, ranger. You must be hungry.

Kyra urged him to eat with a nod of her head. So, he grabbed a piece of venison and ate it. The meat was sumptuous and warmed him up from the inside. Ophelia smiled as he showed on his face that the food was agreeable.

Kyra was not shy in interrogating the Queen about the palace, its history, the beautiful consort that occupy it, and of Ophelia herself. Red knew that these questions only served the purposes of discovering how they might get their hands on that diadem currently nestled in Ophelia's soft hair, but he was intrigued to know the mysteries of this palace as well. In particular, he was interested in knowing why only scant knowledge exists in all of Leinyere of this palace's existence, yet why it felt so familiar to him.

Ophelia explained:

"The Greywood keeps its secrets well. The Great Mother Ouksenn once resided in the palace and, in her later years, had grown tired of the antics of man. She created the forest to isolate herself from the politics of the world. Though she had long passed into the next realm, her daughters are still here to protect her legacy. For thousands of years, we have protected this forest.

"I can see by the looks on your faces that you believe this to be a vain task. Rest assured, this is not a vain task. This is not a monastery to an antiquated religion. We serve a practical purpose to the realm and its inhabitants."

"Which is?"

"Leinyere's forests are its lifeblood. Without them, all would succumb to blight and starvation. If the forests die, so does Leinyere."

"Methinks a terrible end," Kyra mumbled with a mouth full of goose as she wagged her goose leg at Red.

"So, you protect the forest. Thus, you safeguard the inhabitants of Leinyere from doom."

"That is our charge."

"And what manner of creature are you?" Red asked though he was sure he knew the answer.

"We are Lycan. Shapeshifters. Ouksenn was mother to both Man and Wolf. Lycan are the perfect coalescence."

"You are all female?"

Ophelia smiled. "Like I said. Perfect coalescence."

"Indeed..."

"We are not as delicate as we appear. We are, all of us, exceptional warriors. That is a fact you do not want to test."

"I would not think to test it," Red said.

"Me neither," Kyra replied mid-gnaw on her goose leg.

After their meal was done, Queen Ophelia again assured them that they were welcome as long as they needed to stay. She walked with them back to their bed chamber and bid them good evening.

Chapter 5. A Useful Spell

Red did not carry an ounce of the worries that weighed heavy on his heart before dinner. He, and Kyra, were full and drunk of the wine from dinner, and it was exuberant drunkenness.

The sisters, Lillian and Calliope soon entered the room to bring them more wine in crystal carafes and lush grapes for dessert. They were each as lush as the grapes, each wearing translucent silver nightgowns that draped from their shoulders like smooth waterfalls and did barely anything to cover their supple and youthful nudity.

Their seductiveness excited Kyra in particular, and she was not shy to pull one aside -- it wasn't clear in their drunken minds which was Lillian, and which was Calliope -- and kiss her hungrily as if she were the dessert. The other sister sat beside Red, poured him wine, and fed him grapes.

"We felt that you were in need of our company tonight," the sister sitting next to Red said. She poured his wine again after he took two sips, and as she poured, the nightgown fell purposefully from her shoulder, revealing her breasts.

"Oops," she said but did not move to fix her nightgown. This one was Calliope, Red ascertained, and he could tell because her eyes were green whereas Lillian's, he remembered, were blue (or was it the other way around?)

Kyra, not one to be shy when it comes to pleasure as much as anything else, pulled the nightgown off Lillian and pushed her onto the bed and climbed atop her, and kissed her, starting with the lips, but then moved down her supple body, kissing her body to taste every sweet morsel of her. Lillian writhed and moaned, and at times, laughed and squirmed when a particular kiss was placed on a ticklish part of her body.

Being more reticent, Red poured Calliope a glass of wine, which she took graciously.

"I'd like to thank you," Red said to her.

"For what?"

"You saved my compatriot's life the other night."

Calliope smiled coyly as she sipped her wine.

"We were on a hunt and heard the commotion. We thought, perhaps, we would be lucky to find easy food, but we found you instead, hopelessly lost, and we took pity. That is all."

"Thank you, all the same." He replied.

"To surviving," Calliope said and raised her glass. He clinked his to hers and drank.

Unsure of what else to say to her, he only drank and smiled at her whenever she caught his eyes.

"You are a silent one," she commented.

"Silence has never gotten me in trouble," said Red.

"Yes, but it may deprive you of some of life's pleasures."

She sipped her wine, placed it gingerly onto the table, then, taking the initiative, rose. She stepped back and let her nightgown fall into a soft pile on the floor. With her small, perky breasts, and her virginal loins covered in soft blonde hair, she was a desirous young body, and she knew it. She let Red's eyes feast on her body for a moment before grabbing his hand again and leading him to the bed, where Kyra already had her tongue between Lillian's thighs, bringing Lillian to a high ecstasy.

Calliope sidled up next to Lillian and to Red, she said in an innocent voice,

"I've not been with many men."

This served to excite him more. His cock grew and throbbed painfully.

She clenched the sheets, and parted her legs, and eyed Red with lustful anticipation.

"Be gentle with her," Kyra said with a sly and encouraging smile that glistened with Lillian's sex.

Red threw off his clothes and climbed onto the bed, and slid onto Calliope's petite, hot body. She craned up to kiss him. As he entered her, he could tell by her tightness that she was indeed not accustomed to men. She clenched the bedsheets tighter, and her thighs quivered as she took his cock, and she gasped and breathed hot desire into his ear.

Lillian, next to her, was reaching orgasm, yelping sharply with every flick of Kyra's tongue against her swollen clit.

Calliope's hands clawed his back to brace herself against his thrusts and against the impending tidal wave of pleasure. Her nails were so sharp, he felt them cutting into his skin, drawing blood. The pain was invigorating and seemed like an invitation to put more power into his thrusts, so he thrust powerfully and deeply into her.

"Oh!." "I'm going to --" She cried breathlessly. Before she could finish her statement, her body did it for her. She seized up and cried out sharply, and her pussy gushed with fluid. This, in turn, triggered his orgasm. It triggered something else inside him too. Something visceral, something savage. Wolves howled, and the howl sounded as if they came not from the forest outside, but from inside this bedchamber or even inside himself, and they spoke a familiar language. His scent sharpened and soon, he was flooded with the musky smell of the women in the room, and it drove him mad. His orgasm swelled up in his cock, and he thrust one final time firmly into Calliope's tight, quivering slit, and he exploded in powerful waves, pumping her full of his hot cum before collapsing atop her, gasping for air.

Sweat was a messy confluence between their bodies, lovely evidence of a heat of passion blown away by a frigid pine-scented wind from the forest.

"That was...," he said.

"You were magnificent," Calliope breathed as she planted tiny kisses on him.

Beside them were Lillian and Kyra in each other's arms, and Lillian complained,

"Awww, I wanted to have a go with him too."

"I wish I could oblige, but I'm only a mere mortal," he said.

Kyra shot him a wicked grin and said to him, "Don't worry, I've got just the remedy."

She pranced over to the nightstand where her wand lay. She picked up the wand and spoke an incantation and waved it at Red, and suddenly he felt the refractory fatigue vanish from his body. He regained his vigor, as did his cock.

"My Gods, Kyra. Now that is quite a trick," Red exclaimed.

Lillian and Calliope clapped in glee as his cock stiffened.

"At least a few tricks I've learned at the academy are useful," Kyra replied, and to give another example of said tricks, she flicked her wand at Calliope, and Calliope shrieked and shuddered as her hands went down to clutch her pussy. She flicked her wand at Lillian too, and Lillian responded in the same way.

"Oh, that feels so wonderful! Do it again," Lillian gasped.

"Now, now. Let's save room for dessert," Kyra chided playfully.

Then she pushed Red onto the bed and laughed as she said, "spoil the child, dear. Don't spare the rod."

He replied to her, shaking his head, "there's always something new to discover about you, witch."

"You haven't even begun to explore my depths. That we'll work on shortly."

Then she pointed her wand at Calliope and said, "you there, I've yet to be satisfied."

"As you wish, madam," Calliope replied enthusiastically. With a hungry grin, she crawled across the bed and rose to her knees to give Kyra a kiss, then went down to suck on her breasts, then farther down to her clit. Kyra flicked her wand, and Calliope jolted and squealed. Kyra then waved her wand at her wine glass, and the wine glass floated over from the table across the room into her free hand, and she took a sip as Calliope dove in to lick her.

Lillian flipped herself over and went to her knees for Red, wanting to take him from behind.

"Take me, ranger," she said and wagged her hips at him. Between her thighs, her pink, tight pussy waited moist in anticipation.

He held her steady by her soft hips as he thrust.

"Harder," she begged, and so he penetrated deeper. He discovered quickly that Lillian liked it rougher than her sister, and so he gave it to her rougher, thrusting powerfully and as far in as he could go, and she screamed in ecstasy, and soon, his orgasm welled up again. Lillian felt it in his twitching cock and cried, "I want to feel you cum inside me."

It wasn't a wish he felt necessary to deprive her of, so he exploded into her, pumping her full of his seed, and she cried out and came too. He pulled out, and his cum seeped from her pussy down her thigh.

"Hey! Don't make such a big mess," Kyra complained. Now, with one hand, she was holding Calliope's head to her pussy, while with the other, she was using the wand to pleasure Calliope. With each flick of the wand, Calliope's muffled cries came out from between Kyra's thighs.

Soon she grew bored of Calliope's tongue, so she pushed Calliope back onto the bed. Calliope breathed hard, as if she had just surfaced from a deep dive into the lake. She wiped her mouth of Kyra's sex with her forearm and sidled up next to her sister.

Kyra waved her wand again at Red, and again, he felt his vigor restore.

"This will be the last time. Any more can lead to permanent damage," Kyra said.

"Aww," the sisters complained in unison.

"My turn," Kyra sang. She pushed Red to the bed, slid up his body to kiss him, then sat straddling his thighs and guided his cock into her pussy.

Kyra was older than the other two (as far as he could tell), but her body was just as fine, and more voluptuous, and it was more than her body that excited him. She may or may not be more beautiful than the Princess of Melima, but beauty was a mere facet with Kyra. Her energy and her boldness, too, turned him on, but more than anything else, it was her soul that did him in. A lost soul, perhaps, but bare and raw and as exciting and invigorating as a whipping wind off a cold sea. A beauty that cannot be substituted by youth.